Let's have a Love-In!

January 20, 2017 7:21 AM

In the face of all the negativity and despair, let's have a little space just for love (I've been told it's all we need). Feel free to share your favourite quote, song lyric, poem, anecdote or thought about love, or let us know what you love most in the world - people, pets, hobbies, MetaFilter, gin, whatever. Leave the hate outside, bring the love.
posted by billiebee to MetaFilter-Related at 7:21 AM (166 comments total)

For just sheer goofy relief, I have gotten a lot of mileage the last couple days out of the i lik the bred post.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:27 AM on January 20, 2017 [27 favorites]

It's Friday! Time to crank up the volume for my current favourite Friday tune.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:33 AM on January 20, 2017

A song I live my life by:

I believe the sun should never set upon an argument
I believe we place our happiness in other people's hands
I believe that junk food tastes so good because it's bad for you
I believe your parents did the best job they knew how to do
I believe that beauty magazines promote low self esteem
I believe I'm loved when I'm completely by myself alone

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality
I believe that trust is more important than monogamy
I believe that your most attractive features are your heart and soul
I believe that family is worth more than money or gold
I believe the struggle for financial freedom isn't fair
I believe the only ones who disagree are millionaires

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

I believe forgiveness is the key to your unhappiness
I believe that wedded bliss negates the need to be undressed
I believe that God does not endorse TV evangelists
I believe in love surviving death into eternity

I believe in Karma what you give is what you get returned
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
I believe the grass is no more greener on the other side
I believe you don't know what you've got until you say goodbye

Affirmaiton by Savage Garden
posted by INFJ at 7:36 AM on January 20, 2017 [9 favorites]

I am old, so this song does it for me.
posted by JanetLand at 7:44 AM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

I hadn't seen the i lik the bred post. Fucking thank you so much!!!! Now I know what I will do with my day!!!

Also, I love you MetaFilter. Here's a hug (((((((((( )))))))))))).
posted by Sophie1 at 7:51 AM on January 20, 2017 [8 favorites]

Today I learned that wolverine boots, famous for being long lasting, have an active and lively resell market for used ones that are a fracation of the retail price.

I feel like comfortable boots will be an investment soon.
posted by The Whelk at 7:59 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]

Today seems like a day for Nina.
posted by genuinely curious at 8:01 AM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

My two-year-old, almost three, did a craft at day care yesterday. It's an owl that says "HOO LOVES YOU" on it. The teachers asked the kids "who loves you" and wrote their answers underneath.

Every other kid (really): Mommy and Daddy.

My daughter: Juicy and Papa.

Juicy is the nickname of one of my friends, a guy who evidently is every kid's favorite uncle, judging by the way they treat him. I think it's funny as hell, if embarrassing to explain to the teachers, but also indicates that, you know what? This kid is gonna be alright (barring nuclear annihilation).
posted by uncleozzy at 8:01 AM on January 20, 2017 [7 favorites]

Put a little love in your heart. (I love you all, and don't know what I'd do without you.)

After work, I will buy groceries, and go to the gym, and tidy the house, because the beau is going to host a oneshot RPG session on Wednesday. He's been wanting to do something like for almost three years. I will be cooking and the character I get to play is like the Flash (superspeed, time-space manipulation), with super hacking skills. It's gonna be awesome.
posted by PearlRose at 8:02 AM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

Cruelty does not beget love, or deserve it; but experience and observation teach us that kindness, justice, love, and respect win love.

Mrs. Jacob Martin. Guide-posts on Immortal Roads. 1882.
posted by audi alteram partem at 8:06 AM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

If you don't have it, get Neko Atsume on your phone and play that all day, it's a super chill adorable kitty game that has seriously helped my mental health since the election.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:15 AM on January 20, 2017 [21 favorites]

I have been lurking for 10 years and even though I rarely post, Metafilter is one of the places I love most on the internet. You guys also led me into a career I love!

10 years ago I posted a question asking for advice on how to narrow down what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I got a bunch of responses telling me that I didn't have to narrow it down, and encouraging me to go to college. I tried a bunch of different things thanks to those answers, and finally found my passion! Now I have an associate degree, am two classes away from a business management certificate, and I have a meeting on February 3rd about opening a physical storefront to sell my jewelry in my town.

<3
posted by d13t_p3ps1 at 8:19 AM on January 20, 2017 [64 favorites]

If you don't have it, get Neko Atsume on your phone and play that all day, it's a super chill adorable kitty game that has seriously helped my mental health since the election.

My brother! I'm determined that today is the day I'll finally get enough fish to buy the fancy antique chair.
posted by holborne at 8:19 AM on January 20, 2017 [19 favorites]

This love of life makes me weak at my knees
posted by FelliniBlank at 8:20 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Into My Arms- Nick Cave
posted by threetwentytwo at 8:23 AM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

Sometime in the late '80s, I saw a Canadian compilation of short animations which included a simply drawn, black-and-white story about how the world would have looked different for the absence of one man. The first half was this man's terrible day, filled with annoyingly stupid bad luck in his dealings with others; the second half was a repeat of that day, but focused on the truly bad things that happened to the others because he wasn't there. I think about that short often.

You may never know the difference that your kind word or deed made to someone. You may never realize that something you did had a constructive result. Keep acting as though what you do and say matters anyway. Because it does.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:25 AM on January 20, 2017 [20 favorites]

I've always loved this Dream Academy cover of John Lennon's "Love"

Love is you, love is me, love is everyone...
posted by dnash at 8:26 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Last night I organized a ukulele flash mob in front of South Station in Boston. A bunch of people dropped out at the last minute and the management company pulled our permit, so I wasn't expecting much. Since you don't need a permit to busk on the streets of Boston--and since the weather was nice--I brought the flash mob outside. I left out a tip jar if anyone wanted to donate money, with the proceeds going to the ACLU.

We ended up with 20 ukulele players, and we made $30. I will be donating the money we made to the ACLU in the name of the guy who pulled our license.
posted by pxe2000 at 8:26 AM on January 20, 2017 [15 favorites]

/r/wholesomememes is another good antidote to despair!
posted by jason_steakums at 8:29 AM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

I love this place and I love you all, especially you, and I'm so grateful you're here. I also love gin and I'm about to go and drink some with a couple of friends so I may drunkenly post again later.
posted by billiebee at 8:30 AM on January 20, 2017 [16 favorites]

My three-year-old has discovered Neko Atsume on my phone, and now he crawls into bed with me every morning at 6 asking "Can I snuggle you and check on the kitties?" and it is the best thing in the whole world.
posted by beandip at 8:38 AM on January 20, 2017 [32 favorites]

I posted this over in the FPP: If you're looking for a safe space to shelter in place, the MeFi MST Club is hosting a SECRET INAUGURATION IGNORING MARATHON. It's not really MST3k content, but more just general weirdness, and anyone can suggest content.
posted by valkane at 8:42 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]

The commercial districts of Portland Maine are papered with these hopeful signs. It made me feel happy, even today.
posted by donnagirl at 8:53 AM on January 20, 2017 [9 favorites]

Here's something that's been making me feel better today:

"Let us not follow vulgar leaders who exploit the fear of death, and promise the bliss of salvation. If we are truly happy, they will have nothing to offer." -- Deng Ming-Dao
posted by holborne at 8:54 AM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

My kitty, Oscar is being especially photogenic today.
posted by ActionPopulated at 8:55 AM on January 20, 2017 [20 favorites]

My proudest moment as a father occurred this week, when my 5 year old built an AT-AT at school.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:58 AM on January 20, 2017 [15 favorites]

Oscar is a beautiful fluff.
posted by INFJ at 9:06 AM on January 20, 2017 [6 favorites]

this is a sweet little pick-me-up (yes yes, its buzzfeed, go look! its sweet)
posted by supermedusa at 9:13 AM on January 20, 2017 [11 favorites]

Labelle's Chameleon has been on heavy rotation in my living room these past few weeks.

The title track is really something. And, strangely, so is this comment from the YouTube link (!!):

The cover art is puzzling. Why are we seeing the back of their heads? Because Labelle is in the forefront of a progressive movement -- arm in arm -- with nothing ahead of them but blue skies. The back of the album jacket shows these visionaries smiling broadly. President Nixon has resigned amid the Watergate scandal, the Vietnam War is over, and we're dancing to disco. The future is bright. Ironically, it was their final album before their break-up.
posted by otenba at 9:17 AM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

Love Is All - Roger Glover (feat. Ronnie James Dio)
posted by rhizome at 9:23 AM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

Advice from a fellow survivor, for my fellow survivors: "surround yourself with women who understand you, fight for others in order to strengthen yourself, and heal others to heal yourself." [source; avoid reading if you're already feeling overwhelmed]

I love you all. I don't even know what else to say.
posted by amnesia and magnets at 9:29 AM on January 20, 2017 [12 favorites]

I normally have twitter on a second display all day at work. Today it's an instagram page pulled up to #catsofinstagram
posted by advicepig at 9:36 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]

This clip always helps me for some reason. Perhaps because of the sheer joy and unapologetic goofiness of everyone involved.
posted by chicainthecity at 9:40 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]

Among the recent SF/F short stories in this FPP, there are several I enjoyed that have care for others as a principal theme--the ones by Rebecca Ann Jordan and A. Merc Rustad are lightest:

Kelly Sandoval, "The Right Sort of Monsters"
Carrie Vaughn, "That Game We Played During the War"
Rebecca Ann Jordan, "We Have a Cultural Difference, Can I Taste You"
Karin Lowachee, "A Good Home"
A. Merc Rustad, "This is not a Wardrobe Door"
Margaret Ronald, "And Then, One Day, The Air Was Full of Voices"

Incidentally, my other favorite short stories were by Bolander, Jemisin, Kim, McAuley, and Abercrombie. I have to admit I'm still working through the novelettes!
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:43 AM on January 20, 2017 [12 favorites]

All I have to offer is pictures of my cats being cute/weird:
1 2 3 4
posted by specialagentwebb at 9:50 AM on January 20, 2017 [10 favorites]

Because I like keeping things simple, "All you need is love."

The Beatles had that right.
posted by pizzakats708 at 9:50 AM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

My facebook feed is full of cute dogs.
posted by INFJ at 9:57 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Here's what I'm usin'.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 9:58 AM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

Numbers three and four of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet settle me and make me cry in a beautiful way today. I love you all.

He says,

Always trust yourself and your own feeling, as opposed to argumentation, discussions, or introductions of that sort; if it turns out that you are wrong, then the natural growth of your inner life will eventually guide you to other insights. Allow your judgments their own silent, undisturbed development, which, like all progress, must come from deep within and cannot be forced or hastened. Everything is gestation and then birthing. To let each impression and each embryo of a feeling come to completion, entirely in itself, in the dark, in the unsayable, the unconscious, beyond the reach of one's own understanding, and with deep humility and patience to wait for the hour when a new clarity is born: this alone is what it means to live as an artist: in understanding as in creating.

In this there is no measuring with time, a year doesn’t matter, and ten years are nothing. Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn’t force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are there as if eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly silent and vast. I learn it every day of my life, learn it with pain I am grateful for: patience is everything!

...

Here, where an immense country lies about me, over which the winds pass coming from the seas, here I feel that no human being anywhere can answer for you those questions and feelings that deep within them have a life of their own; for even the best err in words when they are meant to mean most delicate and almost inexpressible things. But I believe nevertheless that you will not have to remain without a solution if you will hold to objects that are similar to those from which my eyes now draw refreshment. If you will cling to Nature, to the simple in Nature, to the little things that hardly anyone sees, and that can so unexpectedly become big and beyond measuring; if you have this love of inconsiderable things and seek quite simply, as one who serves, to win the confidence of what seems poor: then everything will become easier, more coherent and somehow more conciliatory for you, not in your intellect, perhaps, which lags marveling behind, but in your inmost consciousness, waking and cognizance.

You are so young, so before all beginning, and I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer. Perhaps you do carry within yourself the possibility of shaping and forming as a particularly happy and Pure way of living; train yourself to it--but take whatever comes with great trust and if only it comes out of your own will, out of same need of your inmost being, take it upon yourself and hate nothing.
posted by a good beginning at 9:58 AM on January 20, 2017 [13 favorites]

Pet pictures!

Atlas

Atlas and Tobias (although here they remind me of that scary group of owls gif where one is moving his head around and the other is (hacking up? eating?) a mouse)

Atlas photo-bombing my attempt at photographing the PITA shelving unit I bought for my growing funko pop collection.
posted by INFJ at 10:02 AM on January 20, 2017 [6 favorites]

Monster number 1 in action. My home has never been the same after his arrival.
posted by mightshould at 10:12 AM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

I fucking love you guys.
posted by knownassociate at 10:14 AM on January 20, 2017 [7 favorites]

Also, yes, gin.
posted by knownassociate at 10:14 AM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

I'm home with laryngitis, and I slept through/boycotted the inauguration. I have lots and lots of beer and chips.
posted by jonmc at 10:21 AM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

alcohol is a disinfectant and chips... something something electrolytes idk
posted by specialagentwebb at 10:28 AM on January 20, 2017 [6 favorites]

sure. feed a cold, starve a fever, beer & chips a throat.

At least that's how Uncle Andy used to tell it.
posted by softlord at 10:30 AM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

Welcome to Night Vale has always been something that I adore and has given me comfort in bad times, and I've re-listened to the Street Cleaning Day episode several times recently. (WTNV's brand of comfort skews very deeply weird, I realize.)

And now I've got my ticket to the live show in April and I wondered if they deliberately opened ticket sales today to be something good to focus on, because you know, it helped. A lot.
posted by Sequence at 10:31 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]

Toilet Paper the Cat, ESA - I love this little emotional support animal and her human. So adorable together.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 10:31 AM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

are these the american chips or british chips?
posted by INFJ at 10:31 AM on January 20, 2017

American chips. And this laryngitis/sore throat has been hanging on for about a month, so they have me on antibiotics.
posted by jonmc at 10:34 AM on January 20, 2017

Doll Maker - I love wasting time making these.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 10:41 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

I love this idea, I love this community here. I especially love cute pet (or any animal!) and kid pictures.

Taco, perturbed by being disturbed

Thanks for being awesome, you guys. <3
posted by Fig at 10:42 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]

You guys, The Good Place had its season finale last night, and it was fucking amazing.
posted by Etrigan at 10:43 AM on January 20, 2017

❤ you billiebee and all you mefites.
posted by ellieBOA at 10:51 AM on January 20, 2017 [6 favorites]

Conversation Heart generator
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 10:56 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Somebody To Love - Queen cover by Kol HaMishpaha - a family band from Israel. I just adore their cover. They're so happy together.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 11:04 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]

Bedlam in the Birdbath - birdies taking a bath.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 11:05 AM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

Supaman - Prayer Loop Song - he builds the music, raps, and fancy dances all in one video. Pretty impressive.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 11:08 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Hi. I love you guys. I really do. I honestly can't express how much all y'all mean to me.

My song for the day is “Everybody's Free” by Aquagen, featuring Rozalla.

Brother and sister
Together we'll make it through
Some day a spirit will lift you and take you there
I know you've been hurting but I've been waiting to be there for you
And I'll be there just helping you out
Whenever I can

Cause everybody's free to feel good

P.S. My second choice was “L'Internationale” by Tony Babino.
posted by ob1quixote at 11:09 AM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

Doodle Date, which is the cutest UK couple that art together on a date every Sunday and Mary doodles, an artist and improve performer. I like to watch them work. It's soothing.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 11:13 AM on January 20, 2017

Sorry, because I know it's sometimes tedious to read about, but I love my kids so fucking much.
It's like, the biggest, hugest love I can ever imagine. And now all 3 of them are teenagers and there's this weird kind of dual thing going on, where I'm so proud of who they are becoming as people and how smart and compassionate and progressive and sophisticated they are but also I feel like they don't really need me all that much anymore and I'm missing that quite a bit lately, since I was the stay-at-home parent for all of them. And then I get sucked into this vortex of weepy love-nostalgia-pride-memorylane. But as much as they have changed, many things have remained the same: here's a typical note my son would leave for me when he was a little guy vs. a recent note he stuck on the front door for me to find after he had left to go to a party (he's 15 now.) I just love both of those. And I hope they know how much I love them and always will (I sure tell them enough.)
I have to digitize about 20 years of family videos before they decompose and I don't know how I'm going to make it through that without melting into a puddle of dad tears.
Gah, sorry. Love to you all.
posted by chococat at 11:17 AM on January 20, 2017 [29 favorites]

This came up in my devotional reading last night, and man oh man would the world be a better place if more of us lived this out. I'm gonna try harder:

"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality." (Romans 12:9-13)
posted by jhope71 at 11:18 AM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]

I would just like you to know
That red wine hot chocolate
Is not overrated.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:20 AM on January 20, 2017 [7 favorites]

My wife is a third grade TA. Since her birthday is tomorrow, the students asked her to bring in a treat for the end of the week.

So, we made brownies last night, but realized halfway trough that we didn't have enough oil for the mix. We did, however, have a bunch of coconut oil, and oil is in the name, so we went with that.

Our kitchen ended up smelling like a beach and the brownies came out frighteningly spongey and jiggly. Our sample pieces were kind of strange. But that's what we had for her to bring.

She just texted me what the students are saying:

"These are the best brownies that I've ever had in my entire life!"

"Can you bring these in every day??"

"I wish my mom made brownies like this!"

:)
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:26 AM on January 20, 2017 [19 favorites]

Message of Love, The Pretenders

Now the reason we're here
As man and woman
Is to love each other
Take care of each other
When love walks in the room
Everybody stand up
Oh it's good, good, good
Like Brigitte Bardot

Now look at the people
In the streets, in the bars
We are all of us in the gutter
But some of us are looking at the stars
Look round the room
Life is unkind
We fall but we keep gettin' up
Over and over and over and over and over and over

Me and you, every night, every day
We'll be together always this way
Your eyes are blue like the heavens above
Talk to me darlin' with a message of love

Now the reason we're here
Every man, every woman
Is to help each other
Stand by each other
When love walks in the room
Everybody stand up
Oh it's good, good, good
Say I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you

Talk to me darlin'


posted by Daily Alice at 11:34 AM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

I have some work to do today so I came to the library. On my way I went to the dump (transfer station) and I got a lovely text from ColdChef passing the love around and so I have been trying to do the same. The library has a huge BILL OF RIGHTS display right in the front entryway and I appreciate the hell out of that. Had a nice but brief talk with my librarian about all the bad things we hope happen to truly bad people and wish for everyone else to be okay. This is my poem for today

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

- Wendell Berry
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 11:36 AM on January 20, 2017 [30 favorites]

Viridi is this game app I found on android where you take care of a cactus. Like, that's the whole game. You plant pretty cacti, you take care of them, and if you're feeling sassy you spray the snail with the water mister so he's wet. It's surprisingly relaxing.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 11:38 AM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

Postino "I Love It"
posted by needled at 11:52 AM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the state of affairs in our world now. Ours is a time of almost daily astonishment and often righteous rage over the latest degradations of what matters most to civilized, visionary people.

You are right in your assessments. The lustre and hubris some have aspired to while endorsing acts so heinous against children, elders, everyday people, the poor, the unguarded, the helpless, is breathtaking. Yet, I urge you, ask you, gentle you, to please not spend your spirit dry by bewailing these difficult times. Especially do not lose hope. Most particularly because, the fact is that we were made for these times. Yes. For years, we have been learning, practicing, been in training for and just waiting to meet on this exact plain of engagement.

I grew up on the Great Lakes and recognize a seaworthy vessel when I see one. Regarding awakened souls, there have never been more able vessels in the waters than there are right now across the world. And they are fully provisioned and able to signal one another as never before in the history of humankind.

Look out over the prow; there are millions of boats of righteous souls on the waters with you. Even though your veneers may shiver from every wave in this stormy roil, I assure you that the long timbers composing your prow and rudder come from a greater forest. That long-grained lumber is known to withstand storms, to hold together, to hold its own, and to advance, regardless.

In any dark time, there is a tendency to veer toward fainting over how much is wrong or unmended in the world. Do not focus on that. There is a tendency, too, to fall into being weakened by dwelling on what is outside your reach, by what cannot yet be. Do not focus there. That is spending the wind without raising the sails.

We are needed, that is all we can know. And though we meet resistance, we more so will meet great souls who will hail us, love us and guide us, and we will know them when they appear. Didn't you say you were a believer? Didn't you say you pledged to listen to a voice greater? Didn't you ask for grace? Don't you remember that to be in grace means to submit to the voice greater?

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good.

What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these - to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.

Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.

There will always be times when you feel discouraged. I too have felt despair many times in my life, but I do not keep a chair for it. I will not entertain it. It is not allowed to eat from my plate.

The reason is this: In my uttermost bones I know something, as do you. It is that there can be no despair when you remember why you came to Earth, who you serve, and who sent you here. The good words we say and the good deeds we do are not ours. They are the words and deeds of the One who brought us here. In that spirit, I hope you will write this on your wall: When a great ship is in harbor and moored, it is safe, there can be no doubt. But that is not what great ships are built for.

- We Were Made For These Times
Clarissa Pinkola Estes
posted by supercrayon at 11:57 AM on January 20, 2017 [26 favorites]

I love my son incredible amounts. He's 13 and on the spectrum. Life gets hard. His big job in the house in taking care of our cat - Professor Pumpkin Pants the Great Pumpkin Cat. Every morning he gives her a scoop of food, a bit of breakfast sausage, and a fresh bowl of water. Learning all the steps and doing it consistently every day has been a hard fought process that he manages with ease now, and when he'd accomplish it I'd say to him, "You take such good care of Pumpkin Cat. That's a good job. Thank you." Then he'd grin at me.

Well, he slowly absorbed that praise and started turning it out and using it on everyone. His teacher helps in in class gets, "Mr. Dan, you take such good care of me. That's a good job. Thank you." Then he started using it to comment on actions he wasn't even part of. Like he told my mother's ER doctor the one time, "You take such good care of my Mim. That's a good job. Thank you."

I developed one hell of a cold last week. Snot for days. So I'm standing there sniffling and my son hands me a tissue. I blew my nose and thanked him and he said, "I take care of mommy. I take good care of you." I told him he did and asked why.

The why wasn't something I ever added to the original praise, I wanted to see if he could answer a why question. Why questions are hard. Sometimes I ask him why he's done something and he gets quiet as he turns the question over and over in his head and then he answers by repeating the question. Or he answers by quoting his current favorite movie. "Caution, rogue robots." And, "This. Is. Serious!" Sometimes the answer is a redirection to something he wants. Why did you butter the cat was once answered with, "Butterflies are not birds."

So I asked why do you take such good care of Mommy expecting silence or nonsense. Instead he smiled and said, "I love you so much."

He loves me so much.

Things might get hard in the coming days. The next four years could be hell for a single parent of a special needs kid. But my son takes care of me because he loves me so much. Thanks to him I think I'll be just fine.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 12:11 PM on January 20, 2017 [88 favorites]

On days like today I just like to go back to that video of a chicken jumping through a hoop.
posted by Kabanos at 12:21 PM on January 20, 2017 [11 favorites]

Hmm. Well, I love this goofball. We've been together for 30 years. And these two bed hogs, Rocky and Zoe. And my brother George, who is a giant dork. And Younger Monster and his adorable fiancee! And Elder Monster and his wonderful fiancee and her parents, who have been dear friends for 25 years! And my cow mask, which alas does not lik the bred.
posted by MissySedai at 12:22 PM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

I like this place and the people who make it what it is. I've been busy most of this week and today playing video games. If you feel bad, try to find a video-game if you can. Video-games always make me feel better. I hope you find what makes you feel better. Much love.

ps - I'm playing Darkest Dungeon, it seems to fit with my mood this week.
posted by Fizz at 12:22 PM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

I recently started playing Good Pizza, Great Pizza. You make pizzas for people. It's fun and silly.
posted by INFJ at 12:26 PM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Awwww, thank you for sharing, 80 cats! That made me smile!
posted by Gyre,Gimble,Wabe, Esq. at 12:29 PM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

For fans of the Flop House podcast (or even if you've never heard of it) the catchy-as-hell fan-made song and video Rocket Crocodile in the World of Tomorrow always makes me happy. I'm giving it five-out-of-five Amazings!
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:31 PM on January 20, 2017

Legend has it that Harvey Coreman peed himself during this skit on the Carol Burnett Show.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 12:33 PM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

I have my mp3 collection on shuffle and this came up. Oh, fuckital.....
posted by jonmc at 12:38 PM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

I've been in bed with the flu since Sunday. Today I made it to the couch and I'm watching one of my favourite things -- Pete Seeger: The Power of Song . Love you all!
posted by atropos at 12:39 PM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Self-link alert, but worth it for the face:

I have set up work Slack to randomly post a pic of my rescue pup when I need it. I have used it a lot today.
posted by middleclasstool at 12:44 PM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

I love metafilter and gin and work and street drumming and these peanut butter cups (Justin's dark chocolate nom) and my friends. I'm gonna go take a break from work and call one of those friends right now and tell her I love her, too.
posted by ldthomps at 12:47 PM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

Mefi, you are fabulous!
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 12:49 PM on January 20, 2017 [8 favorites]

I am enjoying the case/lang/veirs cover of Patti Smith's People Have the Power.

I took a fresh look at the lyrics, and I especially like these words:

I awakened to the cry
that the people have the power
to redeem the work of fools
posted by terooot at 12:54 PM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

Q: In these dark times, when we are very much in need of hope, what can we do to remind ourselves that love is real?

A: well it is easy to see that love is real when you think about the way the sun shines or the way CHANNING TATUM looks handsome with his new haircut. so you can think on these things and consider that there are other timelines where channing tatum does not exhist or even one where he is a large frog. but it is also important to remember that IT IS OKAY TO BE SAD and IT IS OKAY TO BE WORRIED this is a normal part of being a buckaroo, then we consider this [and] move forward togeather as courageous bucks

--Chuck Tingle

(hat tip to Rainbo Vagrant in this thread.)
posted by zompist at 1:01 PM on January 20, 2017 [9 favorites]

So, as many might know, Portland has been getting hammered with snow in the past couple weeks. One of the things that I've been loving lately is the Oregon Zoo posting videos of various animals playing in the snow. It's really been helping me cope. This one of Lily the Elephant playing in the slush made me so happy to see.
posted by FireFountain at 1:02 PM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

Self-link to a picture of my son and Professor Pumpkin Pants the Great Pumpkin Cat. She's very orange, hence the name.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 1:03 PM on January 20, 2017 [12 favorites]

This video of a reporter being scared by a chicken is the love I have for today.
posted by advicepig at 1:28 PM on January 20, 2017 [12 favorites]

The way the guy recording the waffle poots video just laughs and laughs at the end always makes me feel a little bit happier. This is a guy who is living life to the fullest. And by god, farts are always funny.
posted by DingoMutt at 1:41 PM on January 20, 2017 [6 favorites]

The hairy rodent sons BlueNorther and I share bring us great amusement and joy daily. I made a swift collage of the members of what has been referred to on the Blue as The Gay Military Rat Collective (which name we accept on their behalf with great pride).

I was going to write a long (and fairly sentimental) screed on exactly why they are The Best & Cutest & Most Fabulous Rats In The Universe Ever, but opt instead for simply affirming that, when life is bleak, a warm vibrating furry body (or three) snuggled inside one's clothing, poking its tiny nose out at intervals to demand yoghurt drops and milky-bones, is a grand and comforting thing. (Even given the occupational hazard of the occasional piddle and/or garment-nibbling.)

Lest the above still sound rather too soppy, then, as a palate-cleanser, I leave you with an account of their reception of their Christmas present:

Me: "Merry Christmas, lads!"

Rats: WTF IS THAT

Me: "It’s a nice big wheel for you! Now you can exercise whenever you want!"

Rats: NO THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Me: "Oh, come on. Here, let me just pop you in so you can - "

Rats: RELEASE ME FROM THIS MOVING RODENT-EATING HELLMACHINE IMMEDIATELY

Me: "Alright, I’ll leave you to get used to it - "

Killick: STAHP HALP MUMMY STAHP :thump:

Me: "Killick, you’re meant to get inside it, not jump onto the top and then fall off when it moves…"

Rats: SPINNY EVIL RAT-FLINGING DEVICE TAKE IT AWAY

Me: "That cost twenty quid, you ungrateful little buggers."

Rats: WHIRLY DEATH CONTRAPTION NO NO NO
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 1:49 PM on January 20, 2017 [17 favorites]

Love
Love is strange
Lot of people
Take it for a game
Once you get it
You never want to quit, no no
After you've had it
You're in an awful fix

Many people
Don't understand, no no
They think loving
Is money in the hand
Your sweet loving
Is better than a kiss
When you leave me
Sweet kisses I miss

Sylvia
Yes, Mickey
How do you call your lover boy?
Come here, lover boy
And if he doesn't answer?
Oh lover boy
And if he still doesn't answer?
I simply say
Baby, oh baby
My sweet baby, you're the one
Baby, oh baby
My sweet baby, you're the one
posted by Stanczyk at 1:52 PM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

I thought I would share my Good Doggo For Mefites To See
posted by corb at 1:56 PM on January 20, 2017 [18 favorites]

Our kitty, Seamus, shows you how I feel about the internet today
posted by advicepig at 2:01 PM on January 20, 2017 [10 favorites]

I am doing science experiments with my kids and snuggling my baby. I love being an adult because I can buy the science kits that *I* want and I feel a great sense of accomplishment when I succeed, as I hardly ever succeeded at science as a kid. This week we are doing MudWatt and I am just pleased as punch my little bacterial colony is powering my light steadily. I am crouton petting it hardcore.

Later I think I'll play Lite Bright, and then retreat to Green Gables for a few days.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 2:20 PM on January 20, 2017 [8 favorites]

Make Everything OK
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 3:04 PM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

The nicest place on the internet.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 3:11 PM on January 20, 2017 [1 favorite]

Because I like keeping things simple, "All you need is love."

The Beatles had that right.

One thing I love about that lyric is that in the chorus, the line "All you need is love, love" takes the second love and makes it the British term of affectionate endearment, similar to the use in "Would you like a cup of tea, love?"

All you need is love, love.

Oh wow, it had never occurred to me to listen to this song this way, and now I will never hear it any other way, and just that one little detail has made this song so much better in my mind. I love MetaFilter for things like this, really, thank you hippybear.
posted by misozaki at 3:14 PM on January 20, 2017 [8 favorites]

I am sorry. Cannot find the love today. Thanks for trying. I appreciate it.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:21 PM on January 20, 2017 [6 favorites]

This is my comfort song today; I hope it helps someone else, too.

R.E.M. cover of Robyn Hitchcock's Arms Of Love

I love you all. Always have, always will.
posted by vers at 3:36 PM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

More doll makers.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 3:49 PM on January 20, 2017

Okay. Off for home. Be careful getting there yourselves and chin up everyone.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 3:52 PM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

Things I'm nerding out about lately:

The first Slowdive song in 22 years is good

It's NAMM week, which means new music gear announcements. This $60 drum machine is super deep if you use it with Microtonic. I've got my eyes on Elektron's new drum machine which might hit the sweet spot for many different things, including sampling.

The NES Classic is now hackable to load more games with a simple exploit called "Hakchi2" (note: you'll need Windows; I've tried doing this on Wine and haven't been successful yet) so now it appears to be the ideal way to play emulated NES games. If you can find it. But I've heard tell there's a massive restock coming soon.

Also, Awesome Games Done Quick was last week, and all the videos are archived on youtube. So that's hours of speedrun entertainment if you need distractions.
posted by naju at 4:03 PM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

I love my dog. But of course I do. He's the best dog ever.
posted by maxsparber at 4:03 PM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

Phineas and Gus announce their unified feline agenda.
posted by nicething at 5:26 PM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

Of course, of COURSE, a few hours after posting indulgently about our cuddly little squeakers, I am now sitting in the bathroom at 1.15 a.m. having broken up the first Major Scrap between the Lewis / Les Mis trio in months, letting them discharge all their energy by careening about the place like fuzzy pinballs, and currently refereeing The Case of the Snatched Pasta Twist, The Event of the Stolen Mealworm, and The Problem of the He Started It, Mum, Honest; I Didn't Do Nothing, I Swear. :siiigh:
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 5:28 PM on January 20, 2017 [5 favorites]

Atria Books:

This weekend, celebrate the Women’s March. To celebrate the indomitable spirit inside every woman, and in recognition of that spirit being unleashed in this weekend’s historic Women’s Marches, Atria Books is making seven remarkable books available for free download to everyone in the continental U.S. from Friday, January 20, through Sunday, January 22. Funny and heartbreaking, beloved classics and new voices, fiction and nonfiction—they are all stories of strong women overcoming adversity, taking second chances, and sharing their authentic voices with the world.

The books include:

* Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
* House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
* Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl by Issa Rae
* Girl Who Escaped ISIS by Farida Khalaf
* Things I Should Have Told My Daughter by Pearl Cleage
* Niña Alemana (The German Girl Spanish Edition) by Armando Lucas Correa
* Redefining Realness by Janet Mock.
posted by erratic meatsack at 6:27 PM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

THE BURNING Of THE BOOKS

When the Regime commanded that books with harmful knowledge
Should be publicly burned and on all sides
Oxen were forced to drag cartloads of books
To the bonfires, a banished
Writer, one of the best, scanning the list of the Burned, was shocked to find that his
Books had been passed over. He rushed to his desk
On wings of wrath, and wrote a letter to those in power ,
Burn me! he wrote with flying pen, burn me! Haven’t my books
Always reported the truth ? And here you are
Treating me like a liar! I command you!
Burn me!

- Bertolt Brecht
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:13 PM on January 20, 2017 [4 favorites]

Oh - if you haven’t signed this petition at We The People maybe do it? It’s the first one of the term, and it would be nice if it got all of the requisite signatures on day one.
posted by Going To Maine at 8:09 PM on January 20, 2017 [2 favorites]

I brought home a deaf, dalmatian-mix puppy to foster today, although I'm thinking we're probably going to adopt him. We named him Sullivan, or Sully, after Annie Sullivan.

He's my anti-Trump.
posted by bibliowench at 9:28 PM on January 20, 2017 [7 favorites]

My first girl friend, my first love used to sing this song to me. I love the song. It reminds me of young love, of hope, of a future.
posted by AugustWest at 10:35 PM on January 20, 2017 [3 favorites]

I've always been more of a lurker than a poster, but you guys are my people. <3
posted by Defying Gravity at 11:32 PM on January 20, 2017 [7 favorites]

Oh yes - I’ve been absolutely loving the re-issue of Dear Nora’s Mountain Rock, which is the soft late-90s/early-aughts sparse-instruments-kind-of-tuneless-but-very-sweet indie rock that I love. Maybe I’ll get out my Softies albums, or some early Shins, next. But this is pretty great.

(Also, there are all kinds of protest comps out now that are donating their proceeds, and that makes me feel good. Pitchfork rundown, bandcamp rundown, and neither is complete.)
posted by Going To Maine at 12:17 AM on January 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

billiebee - thanks for creating this much-needed MetaTalk.

The thing I most like about the world is, well, the world. Outside ("Outside is the best game" is a mantra) to be specific. I'm lucky in that I have countryside about five minutes walk away and, combined with being self-employed and working from home, there are often flexible options for walking over fields, through woods, getting away from the mechanised sounds of "civilization" and just listening to birds, animals and the wind in the corn, barley, grass and trees.

There's a large (by English standards) field about four miles away, so it's a short stroll with a packed lunch. It's a good viewing gallery for nature as, several times now while I've sat at the top, a rabbit has burst from one of the hedgerows and made a dart across the field, pursued by a fox. Sometimes the rabbit wins; sometimes the fox gets their lunch while I'm eating mine. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a strangely satisfying reminder of nature, animals, and the randomness of things.

Oh, also am rather fond of a nice sunrise or sunset.
posted by Wordshore at 12:25 AM on January 21, 2017 [8 favorites]

I just found my new mantra, which I love, on BuzzFeed: They tried to bury us. They didn't know we were seeds.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 1:27 AM on January 21, 2017 [7 favorites]

I played this Talking Heads song at both of my weddings. I'm pretty sure it felt about right both times.

"This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)"

Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me round
I feel numb - born with a weak heart
I guess I must be having fun
The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground
Head in the sky
It's ok I know nothing's wrong... nothing

Hi yo I got plenty of time
Hi yo you got light in your eyes
And you're standing here beside me
I love the passing of time
Never for money
Always for love
Cover up and say goodnight... say good night

Home - is where I want to be
But I guess I'm already there
I come home - she lifted up her wings
I guess that this must be the place
I can't tell one from another
Did I find you, or you find me?
There was a time
Before we were born
If someone asks, this where I'll be... where I'll be

Hi yo
We drift in and out
Hi yo
Sing into my mouth
Out of all those kinds of people
You got a face with a view
I'm just an animal looking for a home and,
Share the same space for a minute or two
And you love me till my heart stops
Love me till I'm dead
Eyes that light up, eyes look through you
Cover up the blank spots
Hit me on the head
Ah ooh
posted by Stanczyk at 2:19 AM on January 21, 2017 [6 favorites]

It got down to eight and the wind was whipping right through the old windows, lifting the attic covering up and down, rattling the roof vents, etcetera, but I was fine. Warm in a well-made world.

But then one of the dogs comes in and stares at me. Not just any dog. The prescient dog. The dog that's always right. So I get up. We go out. Look around. Listen. Dog is certain Death is on a fine mount just over the ridgeline so we wait until I'm really cold. Robe is lifting and the tie is slapping me in the face. It's nasty out there. Nothing is coming.

Dog in my bed. Fine. Plenty of room. Everything is rattling and shaking but I got dog expanding within the bend of my legs and it's all good and then a very quiet and solemn "Dammit!" comes from the bathroom and I have to get up again but I'm giving minimal attention to this because I would prefer to be asleep and certain things like thinking or speaking will ruin that. Kiddo missed. "It just went everywhere!"

His clothes aren't wet and I don't feel like mopping or going over page 9 in the penis manual again so I put my finger up in front of my lips and we go back to my room and the bed has accumulated another dog. So we get in and the deep breathing starts and I'm almost there and somebody is staring at me. My housemate's daughter. Her hair might as well have been on fire.

"He. Was. Sleeping. With. Me." Nobody told me about this. "He. Is. Warm." He got that gene. So Sorry. Get up here. I fold her in because of the honesty of the complaint and the only thing I can hate at this hour is Grendel.

Things are going ok. I'm 14 and my mom is saying "That's great, but you should never ride the Iguana" but she's dead and I'll ponder that later. There are so many creatures with limbs under over and around me when housemate number three comes in to both ascertain the status of her daughter who has also made her way down and she tells me we gots to gets outs. Big Trouble out there. She saw it from upstairs.

So I'm trying to sit up and everything is in the way, baby arms, dog legs, the whole pickled web of warmth. It closes over the thermal spot I've left like I was never there. You should watch that sometime and repeat to yourself that you are not important. Trousers had been picked for me. Toolpocket where you can put a pistol and that's just where your hand is hanging anyway.

"So we don't want the dogs?" Nope. Just want you. BEHIND ME! That was an order. I thought I'd already surrendered. Chose that phrasing to gently remind her.. nevermind... less I have to think the better. This person hates being cold but she's putting all of that and a bunch of other darkness into the task at hand so it's hands up just do it territory.

Being supportive of someone who is counting on you but really just wants you to be invisible is not a subject you learn in school. It's the illusion, the final practice, that last step. Stand to the left or wear a belt cause you don't want that eject tumbling through the entire length of your flannels while you invent a new dance.

Second one, and I can't help saying "Lead and left, left some more. Remember the wind." And I just shut up after that or I'd be next. I don't even need to be here. Iron sights at night and she's got this.

Talvisota over, we look in my room. Who would disturb that? Useless dogs and children trusting us. Both of us wanted hot water and I lost the toss but making bacon is actually better and now I know this and you can give individual scoldings as whatnot emerges from the hall sniffing the air.

Why are you making bacon when it's still dark? Don't even. You slept through all of that? All of what? Oh...oh... Yeah can you stir this? I got to go mop that before somebody steps in it.

Every living thing both in and out of the house ruined my night but everything really just wanted to snuggle in my bed. With or without me. I love them all.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 2:30 AM on January 21, 2017 [7 favorites]

BE JOYFUL THOUGH YOU HAVE CONSIDERED ALL THE FACTS.

Difficult day. This poem has been on my mind. I can't honestly say that I'm feeling the sentiment, but I'm working on it.

Thanks for this thread (and for you folks). It helps to know you all are out there.


Love the quick profit, the annual raise,
vacation with pay. Want more
of everything ready-made. Be afraid
to know your neighbors and to die.

And you will have a window in your head.
Not even your future will be a mystery
any more. Your mind will be punched in a card
and shut away in a little drawer.

When they want you to buy something
they will call you. When they want you
to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.

Denounce the government and embrace
the flag. Hope to live in that free
republic for which it stands.
Give your approval to all you cannot
understand. Praise ignorance, for what man
has not encountered he has not destroyed.

Ask the questions that have no answers.
Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.
Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.

Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus
that will build under the trees
every thousand years.

Listen to carrion -- put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.

Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?

Go with your love to the fields.
Lie down in the shade. Rest your head
in her lap. Swear allegiance
to what is nighest your thoughts.

As soon as the generals and the politicos
can predict the motions of your mind,
lose it. Leave it as a sign
to mark the false trail, the way
you didn't go.

Be like the fox
who makes more tracks than necessary,
some in the wrong direction.
Practice resurrection.

Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, Wendell Berry
posted by she's not there at 3:57 AM on January 21, 2017 [9 favorites]

I love how this community so often genuinely, freely offers support to those of us who need it. And I love that billiebee posted this.

Here is a picture that I took ten steps from my front door. Just to celebrate the beauty that's out there in the world for us all to find.
posted by Too-Ticky at 4:09 AM on January 21, 2017 [18 favorites]

At the moment, I am particularly aware of and grateful for MeFi in general, especially both some old friends and some new friends. You know who you are.

If you are thoughtful and kind and you reach out and connect to the best in other people -- as is true of many mefites; which I know from personal experience -- then you are something about the cosmos and my life that I truly love, making everything else worth it. I mean that -- the repeated revelation of the good in other people -- is a gift that more than makes all the suffering and other not-good stuff in my life seem small and unimportant.

Each of you -- thank you for those moments when you are your best selves. Truly.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 4:45 AM on January 21, 2017 [12 favorites]

I've been hurling myself into my fandoms to make myself happy.

A horror movie may be a strange place to find comfort, but my interest in The Thing has provided a source of help and something to focus my positive feelings on, and the fan event I'm going to in about a month and a half is something in 2017 that will be good and fun.

I've also been throwing my creative energies into making playlists and finally starting serious work on my novel.

Thank you, Metafilter, for being such a kind and welcoming community. You've provided guidance and support and a place to express my fury when it was needed most. You reminded me that there is a lot of good in this world, I'm not fighting alone, and there is a great deal to fight for. MF is the best. <3
posted by thedarksideofprocyon at 6:07 AM on January 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

Update: Today, for the first time in two weeks, I woke up with my voice working. Antibiotics are doing the trick.
posted by jonmc at 9:49 AM on January 21, 2017 [7 favorites]

Also, how in the world did I miss this?
posted by jonmc at 10:46 AM on January 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

Unexpected good feels - at the women's march in Vermillion SD, just when we were winding down and about to march back, a cop stops the crowd and calls out for someone by name... crowd gets quiet and it's uncomfortable... and then the cop holds up a phone - "...because you lost your phone!"
posted by jason_steakums at 12:11 PM on January 21, 2017 [5 favorites]

"Light One Candle" by Peter, Paul and Mary
Sung by Peter Yarrow, Noel Paul Stookey and Mary Travers (RIP).
Written by Peter Yarrow

What is the memory that's valued so highly
That we keep it alive in that flame?
What's the commitment to those who have died
When we cry out they've not died in vain,
We have come this far, always believing
That justice will somehow prevail!
This is the burning. This is the promise,
This why we will not fail!

Don't let the light go out!
It's lasted for so many years!
Don't let the light go out!
Let it shine through our love and our tears.
posted by TrishaU at 12:44 PM on January 21, 2017 [4 favorites]

My love for you all is fierce and powerful. I went to the march in Denver this morning because of the influence y'all have had on my life; I could not have gone pre-MeFi due to my quivering social anxiety about that many people but all y'all's strength is inspirational.

. . .but now I've fled into the woods because I'm a little introverted ball of emotion and needed some quiet trees and snow, and I just saw a mountain chickadee! And people. . . I fucking LOVE chickadees. They're my favorite bird. They're so humble and darting and cheerful and curious! I love them so much. And they sound like this. They give me so much joy and I felt so happy when I saw it, so there you go, a little love for our bird friends today too.

and little chickadee I love you so much you have no idea how much I'm going to fight for you and your habitat among other things I'm fighting for
posted by barchan at 12:49 PM on January 21, 2017 [30 favorites]

My therapist strongly suggested I do arts and crafts as a means to help defeat my anxiety. I present to you my first completed project: Ananda

The first definition of Ananda I ever heard was from the book A Wrinkle in Time. Charles Wallace names the dog Ananda, and defines it as "that joy in existence without which the universe would fall apart and collapse. But I recently found another definition I like better: "a joy that changes and dances itself in many ways to enthrall your mind and keep your attention occupied and interested forever."

Also in the final picture: The best photo I have of my kids and I together. I think Little God is around 6 and Baby Goddess is around 3.

Also in the final picture: some of the dozen post-it notes I have all over my walls reminding me that "It's not what they take away from you that counts. It's what you do with what you have left."
posted by The Almighty Mommy Goddess at 3:11 PM on January 21, 2017 [13 favorites]

So as I had posted above, we spent time with the grandtwins today, delivering some long overdue holiday presents but our thoughts were with like-minded folks out and about. Then one thing led to another, and here we are, feeling the love, with our granddaughter's presents....
posted by Lynsey at 3:28 PM on January 21, 2017 [6 favorites]

"And people. . . I fucking LOVE chickadees. They're my favorite bird. They're so humble and darting and cheerful and curious!"

More appropriate than you know! There's an excellent, but difficult, book, Radical Hope, about how Chief Plenty Coups of the Crow led his people through contact with the European settlers to the Americas, which examines ethics and our ethical responses when faced with utter cultural devastation -- such as Global Warming, or the Trumpocalypse -- and how to live with and through the horror of such a thing. It's a difficult book, but ultimately a joyful one, in that it is possible to survive, and eventually thrive.

As a young man he had a prophetic dream, in which he saw the buffalo disappearing and replaced with cows, and the forest falling, all except for the tree where nested the chickadee, which became his spirit guide. They nest near humans, they're curious enough that they pay attention to the warnings and doings of OTHER animals (including humans), heeding warnings of coming predators or following along to food sources. They're small and humble songbirds, not great hawks or owls, but they learn, they adapt, and they survive. They're remarkably courageous in satisfying their curiosity, and they will watch and learn from any and every source. From the chickadee, Chief Plenty Coups knew that he had to watch and learn as voraciously and courageously as possible, not just from his people and their ways but from everything available, and adapt, and that was how the Crow would survive. And he did, and they did. He became chief in the year of the Battle of Little Big Horn, and he spent the next decades of his life fighting for the survival of the Crow when the US wanted them destroyed. He took the tools he could from the white men and used them to argue down the US Senate. He won (most of) their tribal lands and protected them from gold prospectors and land speculators. He brought the Crow peacefully into the 20th century, and was so respected in Washington that he was the only Native American invited to speak at the dedicated of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. (Inspired by George Washington's Mount Vernon, he donated his house and land as a state park so others could learn from his life, too.)

The book, and the story, and the chickadee, have been a source of hope and solace to me as a parent facing these incredibly difficult times. When I see a chickadee, or hear its call, I think of the lessons of the life of Chief Plenty Coups, and the ethical responses to catastrophe that Radical Hope draws from his life, and I feel like, it's going to be shitty, but we can survive. We can hear the chickadee and follow her guidance -- learn, adapt, survive, using every tool at our disposal. And there will still be beauty and birdsong, even in the midst of utter catastrophe.

This is the first time I've shared these thoughts publicly, which are deep and hyper-personal and hard to articulate, so they may be a bit of a mess, but the book has meant so much to me these last couple of years (as a parent whose children will face the worst of what's to come), and the chickadee has become for me too a symbol of hope and survival. I have a necklace with a little chickadee charm I wear on my worst days, to remind me of the radical hope of Chief Plenty Coups and of the chickadee who guided him. People think it's just because I like birds, which I do, so I usually just agree that's the reason for it, rather than trying to explain the idea of radical hope in the face of cultural catastrophe. But really it's there for the hope.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 3:43 PM on January 21, 2017 [32 favorites]

> Just to celebrate the beauty that's out there in the world for us all to find.

That reminded me of The Howdon Tip Piano (refuse worker playing on a dumped piano at a North Shields tip).
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 4:23 PM on January 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Love lost
Fire at will
dumdum bullets and shoot to kill
posted by the hot hot side of randy at 5:36 PM on January 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

♥ to all of you.

barchan's lovely comment about chickadees, and then Eyebrows' reply expanding on chickadees... Eyebrows, at first while reading your comment I was content and smiling and excited to get a new History Time story from you, then by the end all I could think was Wow, this is so much more meaningful and relevant and heartfelt than I would have expected... I will never think of chickadees the same way again.

I wish I could be more eloquent here but yeah, thanks for sharing that and for everyone else sharing the love. You're all so smart and compassionate and hopeful. It's one of the things that I love about MetaFilter specifically. Thank you.
posted by rangefinder 1.4 at 5:42 PM on January 21, 2017 [2 favorites]

Hey now, hey now now now
sing this corrosion to me . .
posted by the hot hot side of randy at 5:42 PM on January 21, 2017 [1 favorite]

After all the marches (10,000 marchers in our little town of 30,000, and so many of us at the magnificent DC march), all this energy and excitement, I keep coming back to this E. B. White letter:

As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society—things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man's curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.

Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.

posted by RedOrGreen at 9:28 PM on January 21, 2017 [11 favorites]

My girlfriend found out her tumor was benign on inauguration day, and instead of marching we spent Saturday curled up in her hospital bed watching cartoons.
posted by coppermoss at 6:55 AM on January 22, 2017 [38 favorites]

We joined a hiking group and today was our first venture up the Mourne Mountains. I love nature. As well as the beauty and peace, I like to be reminded that our lives are just the blink of an eye compared to the scale of life on this gorgeous planet we're lucky enough to live on. No matter how bad things are, nature abides. In my own tiny corner of the world, these hills that I walked up today in cold winter sunshine have stood quietly throughout the lives of all my ancestors and will be here long after I and everyone I love is gone. The world can be full of sadness but this too shall pass and the hills will stand, silent and beautiful. That makes me happy.
posted by billiebee at 10:02 AM on January 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

I just listened to that new Slowdive song naju posted while also scrolling through Wordshore's sunset photos (and enjoying Too-Ticky's sunset as well). It was a great experience. I love sunsets and dream pop too. Thank you for that.

This morning I chased frisson by relistening to stuff from a couple of the frisson threads. There's a lot of love in those videos and songs and crowds.

I went to the women's march in St. Louis yesterday and felt so much love. I brought my pride flag and held it high all the way past the courthouse. I feel like it was consecrated in the love and positive vibes and total lack of judgment of the march. Then the friends I marched with took me to a coffeehouse I'd never visited to try their favorite crepe, the Crepe of Monte Cristo (or as they call it, God Mode, named for its awesomeness). In the car they played me their favorite German and Dutch metal and techno. Last night, I finished the main part of the Diablo III anniversary event.

There is despair in my life, as in anyone's, but lately I have been choosing to focus on the love I feel. I'm fortunate to have found myself still with the capacity to love and with some places to direct it. I posted another song to Music recently after about a 5-year hiatus, and although the song itself is about the loss of love, and about leaving, the recording of it for me was nothing but joyfulness and love. Joie de vivre. It's one of my favorite songs.

Thank you for this thread. In my head now: The New Pornographers' "The Bleeding Heart Show."
posted by limeonaire at 10:44 AM on January 22, 2017 [5 favorites]

The first definition of Ananda I ever heard was from the book A Wrinkle in Time.

Apologies for the pedantry, but that's actually from A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the sequel to A Wrinkle in Time
posted by holborne at 11:22 AM on January 22, 2017

“Happy New Year (Prince Can’t Die Again)”
posted by Going To Maine at 3:33 PM on January 22, 2017

It's not really "love," but these are some songs that have seen me through the night before. You may already know them, but hey. Music.

Patty Griffin - Rowing Song
The Weakerthans - Plea From a Cat Named Virtute (just, y'know, never ever look up the rest of the songs in the series)
Raashan Ahmad - How Long
Nujabes & Pase Rock - Yes
Haruka Nakamura & Substantial - Soar
Tracy Chapman - Change
Saul Williams - Wine / Do You Know?
Aphex Twin - Rhubarb (Daly City Twins acoustic guitar cover)
Yasunori Mitsuda & Millennial Fair - Creid
Swans - God Damn the Sun

and
Ween - Ocean Man
because we all contain multitudes.
posted by byanyothername at 3:51 PM on January 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Maggie Roche, rest in harmony.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:26 PM on January 22, 2017

For the past couple of years, I had my clock radio turned to the local NPR station. I liked the reporting, even during the election despite it being problematic, and especially the weekend shows. "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me!" was a favorite of mine, and I even learned to appreciate "Prairie Home Companion".

The night of the election? I tuned that radio to KEXP and never turned back. And one of the first songs I heard when I woke up the next morning? Earth & Sun & Moon by Midnight Oil.
posted by spinifex23 at 7:05 PM on January 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Also - related to this thread - I want to buy and cook with some long ziti. Maybe make ziti volcanoes, which I suggested in the thread.
posted by spinifex23 at 9:02 PM on January 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

The Kylie Minogue cover of the Bee Gee's "Night Fever" is one of my favorite things from 2016. (I've tweeted that people should love it approximately 20 times.) I heard it in a club for the first time this weekend and it was such an amazing feeling: I'm too old to feel that young on a regular basis but it was really nice while it happened.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:02 AM on January 23, 2017

143 comments & no Kravitz yet? Well here's some Love Love Love for y'all.
posted by headnsouth at 11:23 AM on January 23, 2017

A lot of good stuff here! Myself, I find I am getting a big boost of better feelings from our dog and our recently acquired kittens.
posted by bearwife at 12:01 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

What with the world, my career, and a ton of other things I won't go into, I'm feeling particularly bereft of any kind of hope right now. Going to work my way up from the bottom of this thread and hope the good vibes aren't too glib for me to feel.
posted by Donald Trump Sex Nightmare at 1:43 PM on January 23, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm sorry, this is a love in, but this -
Donald Trump Sex Nightmare: I'm feeling particularly bereft of any kind of hope right now.
- is utterly epony-sob. You and me and about half the country, buddy.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:07 PM on January 23, 2017 [5 favorites]

Bearwife, I tried looking at pictures of your kittens and just so you know flickr is requiring a yahoo login to view them.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 2:17 PM on January 23, 2017

Oops, 80 Cats. (How eponymous as to my comment, btw! 2 kittens FEELS like 80 cats!) I've now fixed the privacy setting for those pictures, sorry about that.
posted by bearwife at 4:28 PM on January 23, 2017

“How does one hate a country, or love one? Tibe talks about it; I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain plowland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it's not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That's a good thing, but one mustn't make a virtue of it, or a profession... Insofar as I love life, I love the hills of the Domain of Estre, but that sort of love does not have a boundary-line of hate. And beyond that, I am ignorant, I hope.”

― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness
posted by chmmr at 2:06 AM on January 24, 2017 [1 favorite]

Me, I like bread and butter. . .
posted by y2karl at 5:52 AM on January 24, 2017

There's a new Neil Cicierega mashup album and it's gonna be doing a lot of heavy lifting for me I think.
posted by cortex (staff) at 6:33 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

Oh my goodness, bearwife! Look at that fuzzy belly. That is a particularly floofy cat perfect for snuggling. Congrats on the acquisition of more furkids.
posted by 80 Cats in a Dog Suit at 7:43 AM on January 24, 2017 [2 favorites]

um...hi. is there still a love fest going on in here?

I have spent a few minutes every evening laying on the floor with our labs & petting them. It makes us all calmer. Animals really do make us better people.
posted by yoga at 9:49 AM on January 24, 2017 [8 favorites]

I know how much you all want to hear about our kittens (and snuggly dog.) So let me tell you that yes, floofy cat with fuzzy belly (Jasper) is a joy to snuggle with and loves fuzzy belly rubs, but his sleek small silver leopard like sister (Agathe) edges him slightly in this skill, as she simply arches herself over your local warm body part (curled arm, chest, side of the head/neck) and falls sound asleep, purring.

When they are awake, like all kittens, they are maniacal holy terrors who use us as launching points.
posted by bearwife at 12:34 PM on January 24, 2017 [5 favorites]

Remember, no matter what might be going on in your life, somewhere in the world, a mohawked man is playing AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" on a fire-spouting set of bagpipes.
posted by the hot hot side of randy at 7:13 PM on January 24, 2017

Just joined the ACLU.

Got fed up, looked at my budget, and decided that eating out can be put on hold for a little while. Plus, I have plenty of food to cook at home. So that money went to the ACLU instead.
posted by spinifex23 at 12:54 AM on January 25, 2017 [5 favorites]

What do you call the act? The Lovecats!
posted by Room 641-A at 4:44 AM on January 25, 2017 [1 favorite]

One of my all-time favourite songs! I love you Room 641-A.
posted by billiebee at 4:51 AM on January 25, 2017

Woo-hoo! Achievement unlocked!
posted by Room 641-A at 5:53 AM on January 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

rescue workers found three fluffy lil puppers still alive in the rubble of that italian hotel avalanche disaster and that's been getting me through the day lately
posted by poffin boffin at 12:05 PM on January 26, 2017 [6 favorites]

I have been desperately ill for the last two weeks. Both eyes, larynx, nose, ears...virally infected. I'm finally getting around the corner, but have literally no voice, sounds are weirdly all-other the place, like half a pitch off rather randmly, and it seems like my SWEET sensing tastebuds have left. Fuck whatever this was. And because I don't normally get sick that often, I am a huge, huge baby when I do get sick.

But the worst and best part was a friend went on vacation literally the day I got sick, and I had agreed to take his dog for a week. What a sweet, gentle, lovely animal this Aussie cattle dog is. I tried to be as good a puppy parent as I could be, but he essentially spent the week listening to me croak "woe is me".
posted by maxwelton at 12:15 PM on January 26, 2017 [7 favorites]

I call Next! on borrowing the cattle puppieeee.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:10 PM on January 26, 2017 [1 favorite]

Do you all know about EmergencyPuppy on Twitter? It used to be just a basic collection of cute puppy pics to turn to when stressed, but it had gone silent for a while. He started up again this week, pairing puppy pictures with positive political thoughts. It's great!
posted by dnash at 1:31 PM on January 26, 2017 [8 favorites]

Oh, also, Over The Garden Wall remains just great.
posted by Going To Maine at 10:06 PM on January 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh good, someone fired up the OtGW beacon. That is the best show and our family's new Halloween tradition. You can have your Great Pumpkin. I celebrate with Dr. Cucumber.

Look, we've reached land! Feel the dirt! Ahhhh, smell that tree!
posted by middleclasstool at 12:28 PM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]

Yes sir, young man!
posted by Going To Maine at 8:16 PM on January 31, 2017 [1 favorite]