=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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║ growing up, children's museums were my third place. like a civic participation │
║ place where I met others of my peers. but alas, I didn't make any friends. I │
║ guess I was just kind of strange. Also, I was always travelling, visiting all │
║ the different cool places. My favorite was in Albuquerque, or maybe that was │
║ just the most common because I had family there. │
║ │
║ why do we treat children's museums like art museums? They should be like │
║ playgrounds, not like a │
║ [display/artwork/performance/appreciation-moment-for-a-piece-of-art] │
║ │
║ It's important to visit as many as possible, because they each have their own │
║ story to tell. like a part of the geography, or a shared collective regional │
║ story, they highlight and illuminate different aspects of life. in this way │
║ each child could be educated according to the shared cultural │
║ [myths-methods-hymns] │
║ │
║ but, like travelling herds of buffalo, they can visit different places and │
║ learn different things. essentially, instead of drilling someone incessantly, │
║ you're allowed to work thro │
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║ similar │ chronological │ different │
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===
--- #1 fediverse/4272 ---
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growing up, my family were the most commonly marginalized group of people I
can think of: outsiders
we came to develop friendships, and we found some. But their grandparents
didn't have any stories about us, so we were thought of less.
and then we moved away.
to the city, where my father had developed wanderlust.
we lived in the suburbs just north-south of the east-west highway.
it was different, but sorta the same. My parents wanted to give me more space
to roam. on a farm homestead it's much more controlled but on a smaller scale.
Then, in the city, the equivalent of that is either to live in the mountains
or the barns, and both of those are a-typical experiences.
difficult to start up business in the middle of the fields. most people just
tend to themselves.
except the people they talk to on their little computer.
raspberry pi's with wikipedia and a voice transcoding system that searched
through wikipedia locally for portable data and historical accessing purposes.
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--- #2 fediverse/4273 ---
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║ Some of my most wanderful times were when I lived in a gated community. │
║ │
║ My parents were dumb, and thought, as most people thought, that harm to a │
║ child can only come from outside of the community. │
║ │
║ But they fell for the lies of property, where "community" means less of "a │
║ group of people who cares and tends for one another" the kind of which my │
║ parents had never truly known, and more like "this particular residential area │
║ on the map" │
║ │
║ which means I could walk around in this gated "community" where the gates are │
║ little more than security theatre for anyone who says "Hi I got a pizza here │
║ for this address which I found on google maps" or "hey I left my sweatshirt at │
║ my sister's house and it has my phone in it, ummmm no I don't remember which │
║ number her house is, nor do I remember her last name" │
║ │
║ in those times, I developed a sense of freedom, caged as I was, that for most │
║ comes much later in their time. │
║ │
║ Some o my favorite places were part of the golf course next door, where I │
║ found a nigh endless river delta. │
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--- #3 fediverse/1844 ---
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║ I got a job offer for a job outside of my state. But I don't want to leave my │
║ home. I feel safe here. I know people. I know the places around me. │
║ │
║ The one perk is that goods and services are easier to acquire, but I don't │
║ need much. I'm fine where I'm at. But where I'm at has rent. │
║ │
║ What a plague is it, that we must suffer for life! │
║ │
║ there's no entry-level jobs for working with our sight. │
║ │
║ only when youre too tired to complain will they let you direct others, or │
║ share creative ideas for fixing the problems you're paid to assuage. │
║ │
║ Alas, that my life had meaning. That my words were better off spoken. Maybe │
║ then Id live as I define, designing a world of my own hearth. │
║ │
║ but if a king lives in decent frugality, are they really so bad for our flock? │
║ │
║ and if a wizard spins tales that are weird to consider, but not much else... │
║ are they better off starved in the dark? │
║ │
║ no-one likes me. computers are paper-weights given light. sure would be nice │
║ if none but the fools went wanting. │
║ │
║ I mean yeah I'd live in a treehouse │
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--- #4 fediverse/2138 ---
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as a baby, I would sit and stare at the clouds. My parents took me on plane
trips, and so I'd watch them as I drifted through the air.
It was wonderful. Many hours of this are present in my baby-hood, the part I
can't quite remember.
But my parents do.
I'd play with small, perfect toys, and I'd cry to myself when I lost them. To
myself, of course.
I'd also play video games. The first game I ever played was Dragon Warrior on
the Nintendo Gamecube Color. Alongside Super Mario Deluxe.
It was a blessed childhood. Or so it seemed to me. Things went wrong, as they
always do, but a child's narrative doesn't often have room for the specifics.
Swept along by the nature of fate, they have NO idea what's going missing.
They still play, of course they play, in their strange new realities.
They play because they are children, and children play.
How beautiful, the stories they learn from each song. How cherished, their
feelings derived from affection. Hy heart longs for them, as a bird yearns for
her un-nested.
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--- #5 fediverse/857 ---
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║ I feel like I'd learn from coding tutorials more if someone started with a │
║ complete program they can fit on one panel of their screen, a second for │
║ showing what each particular thing they're pointing at means, and a third for │
║ a typical usecase they might build and dismantle on the fly. │
║ │
║ like, scientific toys that they could use to explain a particular phenomena. │
║ the way people used to have 3d models they either bought or built themselves │
║ of like, atoms and wind patterns and stuff they could explain to kids. │
║ │
║ you know, like exactly the kind of things that are commonly stored at │
║ children's museums. │
║ │
║ I was homeschooled, so I went to those places quite a lot. I always felt a │
║ little unwelcome because I always seemed to be the eldest in every bunch. │
║ That's continued all throughout my adulthood, like each of my peers are just a │
║ few years younger than me. I think I just mature more slowly, and thus │
║ associate with below the average. │
║ │
║ it's like, a descriptor of your rate of defining reality and being guided by │
║ it. when │
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--- #6 fediverse/6085 ---
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║ "I just love their culture" girl it's a barbeque "I figure they'd want a place │
║ of their own, right?" why don't you ask them "well, they didn't want to move, │
║ and something something manifest destiny, voila now they get all the │
║ non-sacred sites while we get the magic gem generation spots" girl now you're │
║ just talking about video games "haha yeah I wanted to change the subject so we │
║ didn't talk about how I'm culturally appropriating fireworks or whatever they │
║ likme to do in their churches and suburbs or whatever" │
║ │
║ [yes, I know they like me. I like them too. I also like liberals, even though │
║ IU demand a lot of them] meanwhile the witch is a doom profit so watch out │
║ haha I'm so broke "what if we were all friends" okay that's one idea "what if │
║ we all got to know each other" okay that's closer "what if we didn't hide from │
║ our variety and instead celebrated it" getting warmer "did you know there's no │
║ war but the class war" okay but class is made up, so war is fake just like │
║ dollars are paper and notes are just words. │
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--- #7 fediverse/6384 ---
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║ ┌──────────────────────┐ │
║ │ CW: usa │ │
║ └──────────────────────┘ │
║ │
║ │
║ I love californians. I think they belong in their own cultural category. │
║ They're so cool. │
║ │
║ Washington and Oregon feel so different. │
║ │
║ Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana have different kinds of cowboys │
║ │
║ (they also have some of the same) │
║ │
║ Nevada is neat. I love to pass through. │
║ │
║ New Mexico is a spiritual place, for it is replete with beauty │
║ │
║ Arizona... Hmmm I'm sure there's something about Idaho. │
║ │
║ oh, uh, mountains!? uhhhh, sure I guess. │
║ │
║ people from Chicago seem like hard workers who could all get along │
║ │
║ I've never met a bad man from Kansatexas. │
║ │
║ The far-east is on double speed, yet somehow there's twice as many hours. │
║ │
║ uh, florida is hot I guess? but it's like always being in a blanket. Just, │
║ stay in the │
║ shade, and eat cold things like frozen grapes or fridge pemmican (GROSS) │
║ │
║ there's lots of orange juice in the south. I bet that's thanks to Georgia. │
║ │
║ the North-East is like Oregon to the south. Boston is cold! │
║ │
║ philly is nyc's trashy sister (she's cool though) │
║ │
║ what if we made mount rushmore in the appalachians │
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--- #8 fediverse/4202 ---
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║ reconnecting with an old love interest by saying "hey, I brought you a bounty" │
║ [the chance to date this person, who is my friend and totally cool. idk if │
║ you're single or whatever but you can talk to them about it, not my business I │
║ don't care. Anyway how's it going I wondered if you want to be friends also I │
║ live here now, can I stay for a few weekends? │
║ │
║ um. what the fuck │
║ │
║ oh I'm uh, on vacation and I wanted to tour the countryside. Really check out │
║ all the various locales. │
║ │
║ huh really? sounds neat │
║ │
║ yeah and I figured since you live in... baker's street northwest eastern │
║ plaza. on the south side of the building, I could totally hang out for a while │
║ while I while the day away checking out the sights in this town │
║ │
║ what... uh what kind of work do you do? │
║ │
║ oh I'm a painter. Well, I draw things too sometimes. Here I can show you check │
║ it out - oh yeah cool idk if you've ever seen any of this stuff but it's │
║ pretty cool. │
║ │
║ ... │
║ │
║ hey here's my website: │
║ │
║ ... │
║ │
║ anyway how's the weather where you're at these days, gtg bye │
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--- #9 notes/exhaustion ---
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Three hikes, two boat rides, two weeks. I'm exhausted
Mon, Sep 8, 2025
Ms. Menardi
You should not, generally, spend time in places covered in bird poop or poison
oak. You should also avoid abandoned wooden structures or old fallen logs,
because spiders. Also, don't spend too much time on islands made of sand. They
wash away as you step on them, as erosion takes its toll. Plus permanence is
impossible in your structures. Not ideal in any sense - build on rock.
Sat, Sep 13, 2025
Ms. Menardi
until you find people you can trust,
you are your own scout.
Sun, Sep 14, 2025
Ms. Menardi
A humble princess would say: I don't need the best, i just need my favorite.
Mon, Sep 15, 2025
Ms. Menardi
I want a revolution because i want to be at home in my homeland.
Look at me! Be as me! I yearn to tell my friends. But they're too busy being
like themselves.
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--- #10 fediverse/3884 ---
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┌────────────────────────┐
│ CW: children-mentioned │
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children should be raised in museums, not classrooms
they should visit parks, not fenced in playgrounds.
they should eat with family, at festivals, in restaurants, and under the stars
they should sleep content, knowing that their next day will be greater than
the last.
children should be treated like people, not frustratingly loud and messy
little brats
children are to be nurtured like a sapling, not harnessed like a machine
I'll never have kids, but I can dream.
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--- #11 fediverse/1714 ---
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║ @user-246 │
║ │
║ most artists get around that by posting everything they make everywhere they │
║ go. │
║ │
║ I tend to be a bit selective, because I'm different things to different │
║ people. All things I care for and own, but designed for different context. │
║ │
║ for example, I rarely share what's in my journals, but that's about half of │
║ what I've made. I show them to basically everyone I know IRL, but very few │
║ people actually understand or are into them. When I find someone who does it │
║ fills me with hope, that perhaps I'm not as lost as I had thought. │
║ │
║ perhaps it makes me less trustworthy, but I'm not used to being exposed. I │
║ never used Twitter, I don't use Facebook (not that often) so my "self" was │
║ something I preferred to perform as on a stage of my own design. │
║ │
║ Like wearing different clothes to express yourself, or performing gender in a │
║ certain way, I am myself when I am most expressful. And I do that in different │
║ ways in different contexts. I'd love to show more, because I'm a performer at │
║ heart, and a performer of the heart. │
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--- #12 fediverse/2356 ---
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║ @user-1242 │
║ │
║ I was born in the desert of New Mexico. My earliest memories are of cherry │
║ trees, chocolate, and blood. │
║ │
║ I lived my childhood in Wyoming, on a small farm. I had legos, I had wooden │
║ swords, I could run and climb and jump and think and dream. I cried over math │
║ homework and I watched plants grow. I read every book in the library, well, at │
║ least all the good ones. │
║ │
║ I lived my teen years in Colorado, in a suburb of the Mile High City. The │
║ first essay I ever wrote was a defence of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, two │
║ communist spies who helped the Soviets keep American nuclear power in check. │
║ They were executed. │
║ │
║ My first friend was like a sister to me. │
║ │
║ The strongest community I've ever felt was my theatre class in high school. I │
║ loved each and every person there. We laughed, we played, we sang, we... grew │
║ up. And I never saw them again. │
║ │
║ I dropped out of university four times, and I'm currently working on my fifth. │
║ My father told me to keep trying, but homework was never my strong suit. I'm a │
║ sprinter at heart │
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--- #13 fediverse/1551 ---
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@user-883
me too! "citizen of the earth", and guess where I was born.
But I also am attached to the localized region of my life, hence the favor
shown to the country.
gee these lines we draw in the sand are kind arbitrary, I mean I could
literally just reach an arm over them and shake the hand of my mirror self.
Kinda makes me think they're more useful as cultural demarcators instead of
indicators of subjugative ownership.
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--- #14 fediverse/2172 ---
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@user-570
I mostly spent my time on Reddit, which was much more isolating than IRC. I
think I must have been drawn there because it felt like home - I was
homeschooled on a farm, and Reddit kept me at the distance of an arm.
it's funny, sometimes meeting a trans girl can make things "click". And
sometimes being friends with one helps you work through things that you just
can't tick
[off your list of things to work on]
habits you can kick? idk sometimes rhyming lies, and you have to break rhythm
or pentameter or whatever.
anyway I've always worn pants. I do dresses on special occasions, but dresses
are hard(er) to ride a bike in. Plus, no pockets, and purses are easily
stolen. At least with a pocket you can feel someone slip the exact same model
as your phone into your pocket when you're least expecting.
... hypervigilance strikes again...
I first transitioned in... 2014ish? I think? I don't really remember because I
had so many more interesting things going on.
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--- #15 fediverse/2806 ---
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┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CW: politics-social-media-spirituality │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘
pretend this is an allegory for social media.
[it's not an allegory]
yeah that's why I said pretend.
okay imagine that you are sitting in a rock in a forest.
far away, about 100 feet away, there are other people, but you can't see them
because the underbrush is sooooo dense. they are also sitting on rocks.
you can speak to them, and share your thoughts - but you don't know exactly
where they're coming from because the sound has to bounce around off so many
different plants and such.
[that's not how that works] shut up
so, if you want to say anything important, it's important to have the right
tone, because people 2 or 3 clearings away can't really make out your words -
but they might hear your tone if you yell very loud.
the energy of the space you inhabit is the only thing that really matters. the
words that you say are just snickering to a friend, but the expression on your
face, the beating of the drum of your heart that reaches forth... that's what
matters most.
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--- #16 fediverse/1990 ---
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║ When my family would go on roadtrips, I'd hide under a blanket in the front │
║ seat with my laptop and power inverter just to hide from the glare. │
║ │
║ My mom would play audiobooks, usually fantasy stories, and my sisters would │
║ watch their portable TVs. Like, dvd players that you could carry on top of │
║ your lap. Not laptops, but little purpose-built devices primarily intended to │
║ be used to watch DVDs, or rather movie files that were printed on a disk. │
║ │
║ And yes, it's disk, not disc, thanks for asking. │
║ │
║ anyway it was pretty nice I have fond memories of jugging a gas-station snack │
║ while also swapping circular cartridges - most games required the game's CD to │
║ be inserted in order to play the game. │
║ │
║ which is just... a nonsensical restriction if you think about it hard enough. │
║ I mean, like, can you imagine if you needed to insert your windows disk │
║ anytime you wanted your computer to turn on? Just... write the disk │
║ information! To disc! Save it so that you never need the crude piece of │
║ plastic again! Then pass it to your fr │
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--- #17 fediverse/4003 ---
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┌────────────────────────┐
│ CW: politics-mentioned │
└────────────────────────┘
republicans are upset because they think democrats are so mean
they don't understand why we're so intense about this election... or the one
before
they don't ever really think about what losing democracy means
"democracy... that's where we vote, right? That's a democrat thing, I don't
really like their way of doing things. Whatever our way is, is probably
better."
meanwhile everyone has a friend from high school who ran off to the mountains
to learn how to farm or hunt as a pack
(with rifles and weed, of course)
you can get a lot done if you just... spend your whole life working. Like most
humans did for most of our existence.
well, except for that period where we were the tribe of tribes. That was
probably a highlight TBH because we mostly just chilled out, danced in public,
ate blueberries and munched seeds... It was idyllic. Truly, the garden of
eden. There was music and laughter in the air everywhere, in all places that
humans did wander on earth.
what a thing to aspire to.
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--- #18 fediverse/3211 ---
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┌─────────────────────────┐
│ CW: mental-health-minus │
└─────────────────────────┘
on one hand, public school is designed to teach discipline and obedience in
order to develop productive workers for society, while other forms of
schooling can be focused on other things (critical thinking, imagination, and
emotional growth in my homeschooled experience)
on the other hand, now I can't work a job. Great. Kinda feels like I'm
disabled because I don't know how to sacrifice myself to the jaws of capital
exploitation? But hey I can write pretty well, I can make computers do what I
want (until they break when I stop touching them for a month), and I am the
kindest sunspot in anyone's life that knows me.
... I Don't Want to Live on this Planet Anymore
is a cool movie
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--- #19 fediverse/6365 ---
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if you want people to build community, first get them to like the community.
---
the world needs more thespians. Sing the song of your heart and no-one will
ever neglect you.
---
why are you so worried about your art? everything you touch turns to gold.
---
I've learned more from my friends than my
[job/homelife/worsckool/churchvan/cultureromp] combined. What are we for but
learning?
---
kids can learn from kids. Teach the ones that love you, and they'll be
followed by the rest. Especially if you focus on them.
---
"I never knew how to swing an axe until I scraped a knee on a log that was
hollow. Until then I had been chef-knife chopping with it, with the head for a
handle."
---
... omg what does that even mean why are you so weird
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--- #20 fediverse/825 ---
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║ in the past, for most of there day, there was just... nothing to do. it's │
║ like, nothing to take up your time, nothing to be pulled toward the present. │
║ │
║ but when I was growing up, I had access to video games. and movies. and later, │
║ TV, after the internet, which was a weird combination of ordering of events. │
║ Almost like because of that, I'd have a different interpretation of events. │
║ yeah but like, there's always a continuation of implemented support, [that's a │
║ weird way to express "the state of being shown news broadcasts over a period │
║ of time, measured in terms of engagement"] │
║ │
║ ... what was I saying? oh yeah what I'm doing here is unethical, like │
║ obviously I shouldn't be shouting in such a public place. Why would I do it if │
║ not for an intense and extreme feeling of being ignored or un-[trusted, worthy │
║ of guiding direction based on merit] gosh merit is such a tricky concept too, │
║ like how is it measured, and {that doesn't matter │
║ │
║ ... what was I saying oh yeah I should probably go shout into a void that │
║ nobody ca │
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