As Summer Starts To Wind Down, I Think We Could All Use A Nice Little Souvenir From The Season To Help

As summer starts to wind down, I think we could all use a nice little souvenir from the season to help get us through the winter months. My own summer memories are very peach-centered, as I remember getting excited as a kid for the peaches to ripen on our little peach tree at home, grown from a tough lil peach pit someone threw away by our garage. This print is 100% available as both a piece of wall art AND a card over on my INPRNT shop! Click those words to check it out and help me pay for ice cream (and groceries/rent/student loan debt) if you are able and you like my work! I'm juggling a PhD program and arting, so all support is most welcome.

Also I am gonna be getting ready for autumn and All Hallow's Eve pretty soon, so if y'all are into that.... keep checking back!

It was my birthday today! I turned 30. :) It was a very quiet day, but I think that's okay. Having a giant birthday bash would have felt like I was saying goodbye to something. When really, it's a day like any other, the only thing that's changed is the number on my government record, and I'm really very okay with closing the book on my 20s. I'm cool with being "old". "Old" in very heavy air quotes because actually I'm still ridiculously, painfully young. I just magically don't get hit on as often by creepy old dudes. I'd say that's a pretty big plus. My 20s were incredibly tough and weird, but I learned a lot and now I'm excited to start a new decade of my life where I'm still young but maybe slightly less stupid. ON TO 40!

"I Died Today: A Valentine's Day Greeting" by L.K. Blackham on INPRNT

Hey, guys! Valentine's Day looms over us like a giant pink balrog, and what better way to appease the beast than to give a quirky, cool card that I bet no one else has seen and/or gotten and will surely remember forever? That's right, I've got a sexy, sexy card in stock here that is currently ON SALE! It's drawn by me, for you, each line infused with love and morbid bewilderment, printed by the patron saints of quirky holiday cards over at INPRNT. It features a depiction of the beloved patron saint of affianced couples, beekeepers, happy marriages, love, the mentally ill, plague, and epilepsy! Yes, it's true, Saint Valentine does more than just help the lovey dovey couples out there - he also wants to make sure you're practicing good mental self care and taking your medications regularly. Your relationship to your partner is important, sure, but what about your relationship.... with *yourself*?

The Wikipedia article also says he's the patron saint "against fainting", so I guess just avoid doing that on his saint's day. Be chill.

Man, the more I learn about this man the more I think I love him. Celebrate Valentine's Day and help support a poor indie artist/grad student! (That's me. I'm the poor artist.)

Darktober 7

"... Mz. Collins (she rather coolly corrected me when I called her Mrs. Stoddard-Collins) told me I'd be living up on the third floor, in the "attic room". "I hope that's acceptable," she said, "the name is a bit ominous, I know, but I promise it's comfortable."

"I don't mind! It sounds lovely." I said, very sincerely. After all the shared bedrooms, rundown houses and sketchy, cheap studio apartments I've lived in (and also shared), a spooky attic sounded rather wholesome.

Right then, we all heard the sound of old hinges creaking as the double doors were cracked open.

"Oh, there you are! I was just about to mention you." Mz. Collins said. She was smiling, but there was concern furrowing her brow. "Victoria, this is David. David, this is Victoria Winters, your new tutor. She'll start teaching you on Monday."

I turned, ready to greet the wide-eyed little boy I'd been told I was going to teach (and nanny, but I noticed that Mz. Collins had left that part out). Instead, I met a pair of large, glinting brown eyes that stared at me unblinkingly - not filled with nervousness at meeting a stranger, but genuine, decidedly violent hostility. His wild blonde hair was tangled and full of leaves and twigs, his clothes covered in dust and dirt, torn in a few places. Clearly, he'd been running wild in the woods all day. How appropriate, given how much he reminded me of trickster fairies from European mythology - the ones who are just as likely to stab you as help you.

"Hi, David." I said, pasting a well-trained friendly smile on my face. "It's nice to meet you."

He stayed silent. If anything, his expression became even more hostile.

"David." Mz. Collins spoke quietly behind me. "Say hello, at least."

David's mouth twisted slightly, and he looked down at his shoes. He clearly wasn't happy to meet me, but he wasn't going to say no to his aunt. "Hi." he muttered, word barely perceptible. And with that, he disappeared, running up the stairs in the foyer.

Mz. Collins sighed. "David is a good boy." she said. "I promise."

Darktober 3

"September 11, 2019

My name is Victoria Winters.

Praise be to the gods, universe, and everything, I have made it to Collinwood (separate from Collinsport, apparently!) intact. Turns out the job offer was legitimate after all and I don't have to worry about kidnapping. Yet.

It's strange. I've never felt so... unsettled, before. Growing up in the foster system, "unsettled" was just my default. I never "settled" anywhere, so how could I feel "unsettled"? But here..."

There is hope. I promise. Young people just won their case against the state of Montana. Ecuadoreans braved escalating political violence to vote against oil drilling in the Amazon. Brazilian deforestation is down by enormous amounts since Lula took office. They’ve invented hydropanels that synthesise pure water from the air. People are farming in solar parks. A ship just launched for its maiden voyage using rigid sails designed to mimic wind turbine blades. EV sales are taking off, and, more crucially, cities are re-assessing their very relationship with the car. By the 2024 Olympics the river Seine will be safe for people to swim in again. More and more people are replacing their gas boilers with heat pumps. Solarpunks are growing crops in their back garden and distributing them to their neighbours. Great tracts of land are being given back to nature. Young people are channelling their energies into meaningful careers. Pilots are leaving the aviation industry. Yes, the world is dark and terrible and full of awful dangers that keep you up at night, but we are a huge movement that grows every day in numbers and power. Your small actions matter. Our collective triumphs are increasing. Things are going to get harder, extreme weather will be more common, but with ingenuity, resilience and crucially, COMMUNITY, we can build an equitable world on this strange, tired old planet. See you in the future.