Happy Halloween from...

...the Lady of Poison and Grief.

Gia Carangi for Armani

I saw a series of photos on Instagram last year of Gia Carangi in some stunning Armani pieces. These two were my faves - clean, classic, and effortlessly stylish.

Still unbelievable...

In going through the tens of thousands of photos and screenshots saved on my phone and deleting tons of them, I came across the below post from September 2024 on JeffreyMixed's page. Why did I comment that I thought this was so funny....what does it mean? Dog food? Dog eat?? Then it dawned on me. The presidential debates where that fucking clown claimed that immigrants were eating people's pets in Ohio. It is so embarrassing that he is considered a leader. 

Natalia Meets Jane Goodall

Stars

(as seen on Bindi Irwin's Instagram account - 29 August 2020)

Steve Keene

Here's the best of Steve Keene artwork that I kidnapped off his steve.keene Instagram account.

More from Mel Odom

Statue of Liberty

Country of Desire

Night Flight

(kidnapped from Mel Odom's Instagram account: a13mel.odom)

Man or Bear

Last year I kept seeing posts on Instagram and hearing about a debate. It went like this: would you rather (as a woman) be alone in the forest with a man or a bear? When posed to a man it would be: would you rather your daughter be alone in the woods with a man or a bear? Not once did anyone online, that I read/saw, or the people I asked in real life, choose a man. 

These were some of the comments on posts about the debate that left me shuddering:

• If I survive the bear attack, I won't have to see the bear at family reunions.

• The worst thing the bear can do is kill me.

• The bear sees me as a human being.

• After what those men did to that monitor lizard, the bears are not safe with men either.

• The bear doesn't get enjoyment out of it.

• The bear didn't pretend to be my friend for months beforehand.

• No one will say that I liked the bear attack.

• No one will talk about the bear's "bright future".

• If the bear and the man both wanna hurt me and I scream loud enough, there's a better chance that the bear will actually run away.

• A bear wouldn't film it and send it to all of his friends.

• The men getting angry at this don't realise that there are fates worse than death.

Titus Kaphar

If this body...

I'm sure I saw this on Insta earlier this year, but I can't really be sure. It made me pause and really think. I genuinely love my body, although it is actively decaying and there's way too much of it at the moment. I appreciate that I can still walk, though not run, and my knees do still creak and click, and I often wake up in discomfort, but rarely in pain, and how after fifty years, this body still manages to keep me alive. If I saw me walking down the street, I'm sure I wouldn't even notice me, but if I were on a park bench in lovely St. Stephen's Green, on a grey Irish afternoon, people-watching, and I saw my current body walk past, would I still see everything that's wrong? The big belly, the baggy jeans that make me look blobbier, oversized button down shirt in dull colours so no one notices me, a face with splotchy skin and giant Eraserhead grey hair, dark circles under my eyes, too many chins, and tobacco stained teeth. What would I think? Honestly, I'm really not sure. I don't have a body that anyone would envy or covet as their own, but I wouldn't hate it because as much as I'd like to change and improve this body, I really do love it. I love it for all the good things it's done for me and continues to do for me. So, I wouldn't hate it, but I don't think I'd be all that impressed by it. 

The Onion - Veggie Posts

Few things in this miserable world of ours can make me laugh like reading old Onion posts off Instagram. Good gravy, they are a dang riot. These two still make me LOL for real.

Helen in Leeds

This spectacular photo by Helen was published to her Insta page on 27 November 2019 with the note "Tree with fairy lights, or festive Stranger Things monster? 🧐 rainy days in Leeds followed by cosy evenings with mulled apple cider 🧡" 

Waits Brilliance

(Someone said that this is a paraphrasing of Ezra Pounds.)

Molly at The Eras Tour

On November 3rd 2024 Molly posted that she got to see Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour in Indianapolis. I was only peripherally aware of the tour at that point, but seeing the photos she posted on Instagram left me with my mouth open at the sheer size of the audience. 

Beyond Inviting

(photo kidnapped from IG account bugungunlerdenkitap - terrible handle. I have no idea how I found them, but I loved their account.)

Violence Is Sometimes The Answer

Single and not lookin' to mingle.