You've Escaped

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For the LOST fan already missing the just-ended series: Station ?? - The Stacks by photographer Paul Octavious

When I was a kid, I had this US Presidents fact book that I read in the bathtub. I had sensitive skin and was allergic to bubble bath as a kid so my parents tried to make up for this bubbly wonder of childhood by giving me unlimited bath toys but all I wanted in the tub was a book, specifically this one. It got soggy and I read it over and over but it just became the bathtub book, you know? The pulpy pages swelled with moisture like my fingers as I turned the pages. I learned that George Washington did not have wooden teeth but dentures made of cow teeth among other animals. I learned that most presidents had been Episcopalian. I learned that Woodrow Wilson and I shared a birthday, December 28th. James Madison was the shortest President at 5’4” and Martin Van Buren and his wife spoke Dutch at home. Zachary Taylor died of eating a big glass of milk and a bowl of cherries on a hot summer day. Abraham Lincoln was the only president to receive a patent, for this device that lifted boats over shoals. Ulysses S. Grant was actually born Hiram which I always pointed out to my dad over dinner post-bath since that was his name. Theodore Roosevelt lost the eyesight in one eye from boxing in the White House. Gerald Ford is the only President whose two assassination attempts against him were made by women. Calvin Coolidge is the only President to have been sworn into office by his father. James Buchanan was the only bachelor president. These facts were more interesting to me then and they still are now, more interesting in some regards than the policies of these Presidents. Of course I have researched and studied the actual administrations of many of these men and drank in the information but there’s something about the human element of a story. I feel this way even when discussing athletes with my boyfriend, I have this curiosity to know which person enjoys sailing and which guy has a specific quirk. I want to know what makes people tick, the things they do behind closed doors, the things they are reading in their bathtubs. It’s what we do when we’re alone that says the most about who we are.

So I am late to the Etsy party because I am slow on the uptake a lot of the time. I got almost all of Gabe’s Christmas and brithday gifts via Etsy this year and it turned out splendidly, he loved his Batman felted t-shirt and his Evil Dead messenger bag so much he looked like a little kid on Christmas morning. I’ll be featuring some Etsy shops that I have bought from as well as ones that some of my favorite people run. My dear friend Erica who you might know from tumblr already is one of my favorite photographers and she now has an Etsy for this specific purpose to sell her photography. Erica’s photos are not only much more beautiful than most of the ones I’ve seen on Etsy (or the internet in general) but they are also a STEAL at the prices she’s putting them up at considering I’ve seen some pretty lame photos on Etsy for $50 and up. Not only this but Erica also lovingly and thoughtfully packages each photo and makes each one a special little self-gift which come on, we all deserve to give ourselves some art now and then. So if you need art for your wall or a gift or just something to remind you of one of your favorite cities, check out Photography by E.

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via marley & Paris 1962

francesca woodman

i drink it up!

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I want you to write
a story on my skin with
every kiss and touch

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I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.
-Martin Luther King, Jr.

there is a string between us holding together our bones, and we move together through our days, your step pulls me back as the turning of my head lifts your hand. some days i feel it grow tight, the space between us looming large and i can’t see over the mountain that grows there on those dark days. when it’s slack and we can move freely within our respective worlds, it is easy to see how close we are, how simple it is to see you from anywhere i stand.

And that’s why books are never going to die. It’s impossible. It’s the only time we really go into the mind of a stranger, and we find our common humanity doing this. So the book doesn’t only belong to the writer, it belongs to the reader as well, and then together you make it what it is.

-Paul Auster

last night i dreamt i had forgotten my name cause I had sold my soul but awoke just the same, i’m so lonely, i wish i was the moon tonight

item #3 on the separate christmas & birthday lists: sophie calle’s take care of yourself

available here in case you love me.