Why Men Need To Stop Whining About Fitzwilliam Darcy

why men need to stop whining about fitzwilliam darcy

I thought of giving this a more conciliating title, but what the hell.

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“Food’s a lot better, we used to boil everything.”

I’m reading A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression, and I just encountered this passage, which had me imagining the meals of Steve Rogers’ childhood in uncomfortable and depressing vividness:

Among the foods on Atwater’s “expendable” list were eggs, butter, chicken, meat, and fish. Fruits and green vegetables, though commendable as a source of bulk, were likewise unnecessary, their consumption discouraged. Condiments and seasonings (Atwater called them “food adjuncts”) inflamed the appetite, leading to overconsumption, another form of waste, and were therefore to be avoided.

His food budget now appropriately trimmed, the worker was left with unadorned potatoes, cabbage, turnips, dried peas, and assorted cereals, the cheapest available sources of both energy and protein. The New York quotas [weekly food relief supplied to the poor by city government starting in 1930] paid tribute to the sturdy, utilitarian foods recommended by Atwater as replacements for more expensive fare. The cooking instructions that came with the quotas were equally Atwater-esque. On the premise that nourishing food should all be “plain,” the city provided homemakers with instructions to wring the most nutrients from the accompanying ingredients while ensuring the utmost in culinary simplicity:

All vegetables should be thoroughly washed, pared and cooked in enough salted boiling water to cover. cook with cover on the pot and until tender. Save water that vegetables are cooked in for soup stock.

Dried beans are to be soaked in cold water over night. In the morning cover with fresh water, heat slowly and cook until skin will burst.

Macaroni–cook in salted boiling water until tender. Drain water, then rinse off with cold water.

Vegetable soup–potatoes, onions, cabbage, turnips, beans and barley.

Stock for soup can be made from the vegetables that they are cooked in.

Beans–plain–or cooked with onions and tomatoes.

Macaroni–plain–or cooked with onions and tomatoes.

Cabbage, carrots and onions, raw sliced or boiled.

Turnips–plain–cooked or mashed with potatoes.

George Barbier, Illustrations for Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos, 1934. During his life, George Barbier was one of France’s most acclaimed illustrators and designers, a forefather of the art deco movement. But after his death in 1932 he quickly sank into obscurity. It’s only in the modern era that his work has been reappraised.

George Barbier, Illustration for Les Chansons de Bilitis by Pierre Louÿs, 1929.

Barbier is notable for his bold depictions of female sexuality, and an aesthetic in his design work that a modern critic called ‘a kind of lipstick lesbian chic’. Many of his illustrations have a sapphic subtext, featuring women together in intimate poses, or women embracing people of ambiguous gender. Some show women dancing or being affectionate with figures that appear to be male but on closer inspection are clearly women in drag.

George Barbier, Le Feu (The Fire), 1925. This illustration shows a woman reclining in the arms of a person of indeterminate gender.

In his illustrations for Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Les Chansons de Bilitis, this subtext became outright text, with women naked together, kissing or making love. For the time, these illustrations were extremely daring and verged on the pornographic (even if they seem quite tame by today’s standards).

George Barbier, Illustration for Les Chansons de Bilitis by Pierre Louÿs, 1929. 

Little is known about Barbier’s personal life in his hometown of Nantes, but we do know that in Paris he moved almost exclusively in homosexual circles. He was an intimate friend of the dandy and poet Robert de Montesquiou, and mixed with gay intellectuals like Marcel Proust.

George Barbier, Les dames seules (the single ladies), 1910. This early work is particularly striking for its apparent depiction of a butch/femme subculture among gay women in Paris. His sexuality gave him access to the underground gay scene in Paris, and his knowledge of it filters through into his work. Although many of his illustrations are fictional, fantastical, or historical, here and there we see glimpses of the hidden lives of queer women in fin-de-siecle Paris. It also makes his work particularly notable, IMO, because unlike many of his straight male contemporaries, he did not depict sex and romance between women for the titillation of the straight male gaze. His women are complex, resisting bland stereotypes or didactic stories of innocence and fallen virtue. They are beautiful, sensual, dangerous and daring. Even idealised, they seem like real people. They have a self-possession that resists objectification. Their sexuality belongs to them, not to the viewer. Links: * The Forgotten Art of French Illustrator George Barbier, New York Times, 2008 (With thanks, much of the detail of Barbier’s life is drawn from this article). * George Barbier: Fashioning the Queer Identity, MA Fashion Blog, 2016. * Further illustrations from Les Liaisons Dangereuses. * Further illustrations from Les Chansons des Bilitis.

Just signed up! So excited to participate in a fannish exchange that doesn't depend on my ability to produce fanworks!

WELCOME TO THE FIRST OMGCP SECRET SANTA GIFT EXCHANGE!

“Whaaaat? Isn’t this already is a thing?”

Well, we’re trying to kick it up a notch this year, because for this SS gift exchange, instead of giving gifts over the internet, in the form of artwork and/or fics, you’ll be sending a physical gift directly to your person!

“Holy whaaat? How the heck do you expect us to do that?”

Well, when you sign up, you’ll be partnered with someone and you will receive their URL + address, so that you can send them a gift!

“Wait, what kind of gift do I send them? How do I know how much to spend? What if I want to do it but can’t spend much?”

Now, now, my friend, calm down, and take a deep breath, and I’ll answer your questions one after another.

Depending on who they are and what they like, you’d pick a gift to send to them! It doesn’t even have to be OMGCP related and––

“––Wait how do I know what they like?”

Well, I was getting to that!

They obviously like OMGCP, but if you want to find something else they like, you’ll have to spend some time getting to know your person, preferably through anonymous asks right here on tumblr dot com, and find out what kinda stuff they like!

As for spending, it really depends on what you can afford! Please, do not feel pressured to do something super expensive, okay? Because the gift can be anything from a gift card to a piece of jewellery. And better still, it doesn’t have to be store bought. You can make them a friendship bracelet, knit them a scarf or a hat, and I swear they will love it!

But keep in mind, you’ll still have to pay for shipping, yeah?

“Okay, simple enough, I think. But when should I send it by?”

Obviously, it’s up to you, but ideally, the 10th of December for international shipping and the 15th for local? It really depends on how long your postal service takes to deliver, so you might want to check that out when you plan!

“One last question! When’s the last day to sign up?”

The last day to sign up is the 25th of October, which gives everyone plenty of time to decide whether they want to do the gift exchange or not!

Sidenote: if less than 50 people sign up, I shall delete this and pretend it never happened!

Any more questions? Head on over to the askbox!

Excited and ready to join? Sign up here!

DON’T YOU JUST LOVE HOW MANY AU’S SHE BLESSES US WITH?? WHAT DID WE DO TO DESERVE HER??

i’m in this very odd bubble 

like logically, i know i have a lot to do

but like, emotionally, i’m just.. not.. registering it??? i’m not so much calm but like.. standing in a sound proof fishbowl watching all of my obligations press their faces to the glass, yelling and knocking, and like, my homework and emails are teaming up to make a battering ram and my job is trying to tunnel under and i’m just standing here watching it all in muffled, deaf silence like “ok”