NORMALIZE the thing that looks like an old man living in your basement
DESTIGMATIZE the act of closing your vent to stop his dry whispering– which you cannot tell whether it is random or directed at you– from reaching you
ROMANTICIZE the idea of counting the number of stairs he climbs each night and praying he never makes it to the top
GUYS THIS IS SO IMPORTANT
we HAVE to let people know its okay to experience:
being repulsed by the putrid smell of his bile
feeling sick when seeing your grandparents because of the thing in your basement
locking your bedroom door even though you know it wouldnt be enough to stop him
letting your faucets run for a few seconds every morning because ever since he arrived more and more of your tap water had come out black as ink
knowing exactly what he looks like even though the only time you ever saw him was your first encounter with him at your uncle’s funeral when you were 6
questioning why youre the only one who remembers your dog
why cant anyone else remember your dog
what happened to your dog
oh my god i can still hear him whimpering downstairs some nights
i dont know if its actually him or just that thing taunting me
In the heat of battle, photographer Horace Bristol captured one of the most unique and erotic photos of WWII.
Bristol photographed a young crewman of a US Navy “Dumbo” PBY rescue mission, manning his gun after having stripped naked and jumped into the water of Rabaul Harbor to rescue a badly burned Marine pilot. The Marine was shot down while bombing the Japanese-held fortress of Rabaul.
“…we got a call to pick up an airman who was down in the Bay. The Japanese were shooting at him from the island, and when they saw us they started shooting at us. The man who was shot down was temporarily blinded, so one of our crew stripped off his clothes and jumped in to bring him aboard. He couldn’t have swum very well wearing his boots and clothes. As soon as we could, we took off. We weren’t waiting around for anybody to put on formal clothes. We were being shot at and wanted to get the hell out of there. The naked man got back into his position at his gun in the blister of the plane.”
“And well, there was his butt, and I had a camera. I mean I AM a historian.”
That is the BEST EVER quote about the nature of historians I’ve ever seen