u/sadvacation03

I wish I could eat a mountain
Or eat a mesa
Not in millions of bites
But
My head would grow
Until my mouth, like a whales, could wrap around the face of the mountain, biting a clean chunk off
And it would be squishy clay
Taste of cool mud and smell of petrichor
I would eat patches of thicket
With some trees
And they would weave between my teeth as do the fibers of meat
The branches would peel apart in the way of grape tree bark
A wood jerky
Ah so delicious
And as I go eating mountains and mesas
My body doesn’t tear or combust
The mountain is simply
Eaten
And it is good

Approximately 5,000 years ago people discovered the strengthening properties of the mineral asbestos. Soon after, the flame retardant properties were discovered. Later, Pliny the Elder coined the term ‘asbestinon’. At the time, it was a mythical material that was fabled to originate from magical animals. Wealthy and notable figures were known to make a show of throwing asbestos infused napkins into flames, inspiring awe amongst the witnesses. The qualities of asbestos allowed people to experience the godlike power of fireproofing. The industry, as many, began in the mid 19th century. The boom even lead to there being a town called Asbestos, Quebec. People slowly began to catch on to the toxicity, with the first official acknowledgment being that of a woman, Lucy Deane Streatfeild (let’s fucking go). In the early 1900s, the danger of asbestos began to be more widely recognized. However, people did not want to give up the overpowered material. There is a known US industry cover up detailing efforts made in the 1930s to obscure the dangers of asbestos. As of now, only 66 countries have banned the use of asbestos.
Asbestos is toxic, carcinogenic, and leaves your lungs full of fibrous shards 😦. It takes up to multiple decades for the associated illnesses to manifest.
I enjoy the poetry of how people thought they had found a magic, protective material, only to later find there had been a price all along. And just like it took thousands of years for us to put the damn asbestos down, you all must wait tens of years to find out if you’ve secretly been dying from asbestos exposure this whole time……..

Now: would you rather the immediacy of burning, or the gradual agony of asbestos exposure?

Detritus on the floor of a Spin Cycle in the heart of Texas.

I recently came into ownership of a book titled “Pay It Forward”, referring to the featured script of the eponymous movie. The book is an intermixed combination of the script, a manual of style for gendering German nouns, and screenshots of a “fecal photo archive”. Said archive is screenshots from an Instagram account that was active during the pandemic. The account was private, and populated solely by daily images of the poster’s poop!!!!
Point is, in the back of the book there are multiple blank pages. The purpose I assigned to these pages is a dedicated space for my personal poop art.
The first drawing depicts my relationship to poo. It hovers menacingly over me, out of my control. It is divinely imposed on me, to my complete terror. However, I am wearing a sexy bra, indicating a level of intrigue.
The second drawing is my exploration of the fact that all humans are donuts.
The third is my comic about using public restrooms.

Fun fact: second to NYC, Austin has one of the longest running Rocky Horror Picture Show showings! After the movie came out in ‘75, and initially flopped, a theater in NYC gave it a second chance and began showing it. Two weeks later, Austin started showing it too!! Last night was a 50th anniversary show at the Lake Creek theater. The cast was amazing, especially the mad scientist himself. This movie is frivolous and sexy, but it’s also a beacon of acceptance for many queer individuals. Austin is among the cities that boosted the movie to its current status as the most popular cult film!
(Banana for scale on Riff Raff)