Themarissacooper - Dazed & Confused

meirl

Oh, better far to live and die under the brave black flag I fly

📸: jake_gvf

AUGUST 7: Alice James (1848-1892)

The name Henry James is legendary in the literary world, but a lesser known name is that of his sister – Alice James – who was born on this day in 1848. Today, Alice is famous for her published diaries and her tragedy-riddled life story.

Alice James is photographed lying in bed, where she spent the majority of her last years. In her own words, she had become “an appendage to five cushions and three shawls” (x).

Alice was born on August 7, 1848 in New York City. She was the youngest out of 5 children to be born to the wealthy and intellectual James family; most notable of her siblings were, of course, Henry James the novelist and also William James the psychologist. From the early age of 12, Alice began to show signs of what was then called “hysteria.” The only daughter of the James family and thus the only James child whose intellect was snuffed out instead of encouraged, she ended up having her first nervous breakdown at the age 19. A lifetime struggle with mental illness and sporadic physical ailments would follow. While her older brothers were being sent to Harvard one after another, Alice was at home taking care of their father and writing in her diaries that illness was to be her life’s work.

A rare photo shows Alice (bottom left) posing with friends (x).

A gay man himself, Alice had a special relationship with her brother Henry. Whereas most members of the family resigned Alice to a life of misery in their minds, Henry was consistently writing letters to his little sister encouraging her to “look for the little good in each day as if life were to last a hundred years” and even to take opium if it would help with her physical pain. Alice, for her part, was in a “Boston marriage” with a journalist named Katharine Loring. During the 19th and early 20th century, “Boston marriage” was a term used to describe two women who lived together without any financial dependency on a man. While the public often treated these women as simple “old maids” who lived together platonically, the reality is that many of them were in romantic relationships. Alice and Katharine were no exception, rather they were one of the most famous “Bostonians” of their day – as the two were the inspiration for the protagonists of Henry James’s 1886 novel of the same name.

Katharine Loring reads to Alice in bed. According to one of Alice’s many biographers, Katharine acted as “man and woman, father, and mother, nurse and protector, intellectual partner and friend” for Alice from the day they met in 1873 until her death (x).

When she was 43, it was discovered that Alice had breast cancer. After dealing with depression and suicidal ideation her whole life, she was ecstatic about her diagnosis. She would die a year later on March 9, 1892. One of the last entries in her diary would read, “I am working away as hard as I can to get dead as soon as possible.” Although ignored during her lifetime, the publishing of her diary in the 20th century would drag the name Alice James right alongside those of her brothers’ in the history books.

-LC

i keep thinking about that one blogger on here who mentioned applying to 80+ jobs and still not getting a single callback

honestly, the thing bout depression is that everything makes me want to nap. virtually any trick from anyone to “wake up” my dumbass brain will transform into an excellent reason to go lie down 

take a shower so you’re alert? clean and comfy, the sheets would feel so nice, perfect time for a nap

eat some food so you have energy? nice full belly, time for some rest

go for a walk outside to break grogginess? need to take a break after that and lie down in bed

exercise to get blood flowing? there goes all my energy for the day! definitely time to sleep 

meet up with a close friend? maybe I could curl up on their couch 

spending time with my girlfriend? lets lie down and cuddle

reading or researching? I could lie down while I read and maybe nap after the next chapter

writing? definitely earned a nap after writing two pages

coffee? I could go back to sleep after that easy 

something just scared me and my adrenaline’s racing? time to lock myself in my room and get under covers until I feel safe and then pass out from overstimulation and exhaustion 

In the past 24 hours, I have seen videos of police doing the following (part 2):

** Driving two SUVs through a street full of people. (X)

** Showing a white power sign. (X)

** Shouting "light 'em up!" and shooting at people standing on their own front porch, on a residential street. (X)

** Pulling down the mask of a man standing quietly with his hands up and pepper spraying him in the face. (X)

** Stopping a car of people (not even attending the protest) who were driving home shortly after the 9pm curfew, breaking their window, pepper spraying them, and tasing them. (X)

** Pepper spraying a child in the face. (X- video is of the immediate aftermath, of protesters trying to clear her eyes with milk and water)

** Walking up to a man who was sitting on the ground and kicking him. (X)

** Shooting multiple rounds of rubber bullets at a group of protesters in response to having water splashed on them (X)

** Shooting at a nurse who was helping a man who was bleeding from being shot with a rubber bullets. (X- video is of the nurse explaining what happened to a news crew, and then she runs off to help someone else across the street)

** Shooting an explosive device at a reporter during a live broadcast, as he was walking away from the police (X)

** Shoving an elderly man (walking with a cane) to the ground (X)

** Pepper spraying a member of the press while he was laying on the ground (X)

(Part 1)

Saoirse Ronan and Timothee Chalamet did that.