GRUFAINIA

After my Liam Imagine for universalcorner I thought it would be important to show you guys what Liam’s wink look like, the way he closes both eyes.

Love,

bananena

for universalcorner

———————————————

You are speaking at a conference at the University of Utah, and so far, everything is going great. The royal couples a.k.a. the Givens and the Bushmans seem completely absorbed in your presentation. You are on a roll.

Twelve minutes in, you inadvertently make eye contact with someone, someone who is frowning. That person is Orson Scott Card. For the first time, you stumble on your words, and this loss of balance is enough to make all feelings of self-confidence die inside you like a field of frangipani struck by the frost of winter. Frozen, you have no idea how to get your talk going again. You frantically look out at the audience. Everything is a blur.

But then your eyes focus on someone in the front row whom you hadn’t noticed before: a handsome faux-hawked young man with solid black arrows tattooed down his right arm. His face is sympathetic, kind. Suddenly, he winks at you, though he is bad at it. It’s as if he were blinking his eyes but one eye glitched and was on a 0.25-second delay. Then he smiles, and you smile too, calm. You take a breath, look back at your notes, and begin your sentence again.

At the concluding word of your talk, the audience’s applause roars like the Niagra Falls. You are overcome with emotion. People are lining up to meet you and congratulate you, saying that your talk was a fantastic ending to the conference, that they look forward to your book. Joanna Brooks gives you a hug and whispers “Protestants” in your ear before walking off to join her husband. Even Orson Scott Card wants to shake your hand. “I may not agree with everything you say,” he tells you, “but everything you said about gay celibate Mormons was the bomb-dot-com.” The next person in line you do not expect either, and he is even more handsome up close.

“Alex—may I call you Alex? That was absolutely brilliant,” he says in dulcet British English.

“Thank you so much,” you reply. “And what is your name?”

“I’m Liam.”

“Liam, it’s great to meet you.” You extend your hand. Even his handshake is nice.

“I came all the way from England for this conference because I’m a big fan of Orson Scott Card, but I did not expect to enjoy all of the talks as much as I did, especially yours.” He is still holding onto your hand. “You are amazingly eloquent. I’m not. I’m bad at spelling and geography. But you are a beautiful star. You are my role model.” He brings your hand up to his mouth and kisses it. You blush.

“You are too kind, Liam,” you say, gently pulling your hand away. He smiles nervously.

“I know this is very forward of me, but I was wondering if you would like to exchange numbers. I go back to England tomorrow and begin a concert tour next week. We spend a lot of time on the road.” When he sees the puzzled/concerned look on your face, he pauses. “What I mean is, I want to ask you to be my Mormon studies tutor. And I would gladly cover the traveling expenses for you.”

“Wow, Liam, this is all very sudden,” you say. “I’m going to have to think about it.”

“Please think about it,” he says earnestly, looking into your eyes. He is like a large Labrador puppy, and you feel the urge to adopt him. 

“I will, I promise,” you say.

He smiles, reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a fancy blue flower-shaped candle for you. Then he prances away, but not without turning to wink at you one last time. 

The candle smells like creamy musk and sheer woods. On the bottom there’s a sticker where he has written his number along with a short message: “Alex u r lovely. I want to be a Mormon studies expert just like u. Txt me pls! Love, Liam.”

LEONTES (5.3.110-112)

When we talk about the plot of THE WINTER’S TALE it is always a bizarre thing that *SPOILERS* Hermione’s statue comes to life and she’s back again after being dead for 16 years

But last week when I saw it on stage at D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre and she stepped down from the platform it was really wondrous and compelled me to believe in the unbelievable and when he touched her and said these lines I felt like I was having a vicarious religious experience and I cried

Jean Paul Sartre (via blooddriveatthelumbercompany)

(Source: mycolorbook, via blooddriveatthelumbercompany)

fieldmuseumphotoarchives:

Fossil Friday! Giant ground sloths.

© The Field Museum, CSGEO75817.

Mounted skeletons of Fossil South American Ground Sloth (Scelidodon), Megatherium gallordi composite. Ernest R. Graham Hall (Hall 38). Marshall Field Paleontological Expedition to Bolivia, 1927. Height of erect animal, eight feet; length of burrowing animal, nine feet.

8x10 acetate negative

1932 

CRYING BECAUSE OF THESE LIL SWEETIES AND THEIR WONDERFUL ANTI-BULLYING CAMPAIGN WITH OFFICE DEPOT

My heart is a rainbow puddle in my toes just watching these gifs

(via colorfulstylinson)

jaesama:

omfg

1D tumblr fandom why are you the cutest

(via larry-needs-tbr)

beenwandering:

blakebaggott:

Be Thou My Vision (Acoustic) - Blake Baggott and Alexis Payne

This is a cover of Be Thou My Vision that Alexis and I did!

Ahhhh, Be Thou My Vision is one of my favorite hymns. This is beautiful :)

I listen to this every once in a while, and it lifts my spirits. Thank U bb dino

1 NEPHI 17:41

miss-apple-pie:

@bananena this! This is the set I had!

I loved it so!

miss-apple-pie it’s beautiful!! <3 And BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is my #1 favorite, too! :)

Nisargadatta Maharaj (via jeff-strong)

(Source: pill0whead, via teaintheafternoon)

Printers Row Lit Fest Adventures, Part 3

I’ve always remembered Nathan Englander’s short stories because they amaZed mah face when I read them for class three years ago, they just really stood out to me and moved me and made me

WHY AM I LAUGHING

OMG I’M CRYING NOW

MY HEART IS BREAKING BUT IT IS OK

ACTUALLY NO IT IS NOT OK

SRSLY WHAT IS THIS PROSE&STORY PERFECTION

I told my professor thank you because I feel this Nathan Englander is KIND OF INCREDIBLE and she said “I KNOW, ISN’T HE JUST?!” and recommended I read the rest of the collection FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES 

However #EMO TIMEZ I never got a copy

and at the festival, no monies but YAY credit card!

So all the other guests were already sitting in the multi-purpose room waiting for him, but there I was in the hallway purchasing his new collection right before the event when

HE STROLLED INTO TEH HALLWAY and started talking to the nice organizer ladies there, saying “Thank you so much for putting this together” etc.

Then for a flustered moment I suddenly wasn’t sure if it was really him

because the only image of him in my memory was the picture on the back cover of FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES #fabulous hair timez

But the pic on his new book looks like this

so I had to tell myself “YES IT IS HIM OK?? STOP STARING IN DISBELIEF OK!” Before he left he turned to me and said “Hi!” and grinned. I think I looked really stunned when I said “HI!” and waved back, and the ladies laughed.

After he was gone the ladies said

“He’s cute.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah he’s really cute!”

Then one of them asked me

“Wasn’t he cute? You thought he was cute, didn’t you?”

I was not expecting any of this and thought OMG WELL THAT IS TOTES NOT THE REASON I WAS NERVOUS BUT I MEAN I GUESS SO!! And I wanted to participate in their fangirling which I thought was cute so I nodded and they all giggled

Then in the multi-purpose room he conversed with a fabulous lady named Donna for about 45 min. She asked deep questions and the things he said resonated with me so much, I was relieved knowing that someone understood, and he articulated himself so beautifully, I accidentally started crying directly in his vision in the 3rd row

Thankfully he is an introverted bb who didn’t make eye contact with the audience so he did not see me *PHEW*

He talked about how it keeps him up at night that life and people didn’t follow the rules and logic that he knew and was taught growing up as an orthodox Jew, the social contracts that he was used to didn’t get followed out in the world and “I can’t stand that it is not a holy just world”

“I am cowardly; I am scared of everything”

and it’s this “grey space” of tension and complexity that makes him feel the need to write

and once story worlds take on their own life you have to give them what they need, that is the only justification for anything in a world, worlds “infinite and utterly delicate”

and he talked about darkness vs. humor and writing as an ethical act and a lot of things and sorry I am using too many and’s and not being coherent I just

the whole time SIJFISDJFSJDFO WOW HE MAKES SO MUCH SENSE TO ME I hope he never stops talking and I will just sit here in rapture

But of course time ran out and he went to sign books and that’s when he said he would take a picture with me and I was laughing because the first one turned out blurry and he said, “Now I gotta reset my smile!”

Then he sat down and we had a mini-convo

“Hi mister!” WTF BANANA WHY DID U SAY “MISTER” WHY
“…Hi! You were the first one here!”
“Yes!” ON ACCIDENT THO
“Allie?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for being here. It is so nice to meet you.” OMG HE IS A SWEETHEART HE SAYS EVERYTHING LIEK HE MEANS IT, MY HEART
“Thank you, we read your stories, in Jewish American literature class”
“Really??” HE LOOKED SO HAPPY
“Yes. They were my favorite.” (I wanted to say my favorite was the wigs story but forgot the title and had become very shy)
“Thank you! Where do you go to school?”
“Oh, I went to University of Iowa”

Then his eyes lit up again because (I forgot in the moment tho) he’d studied at the Writers’ Workshop back in the day, with Marilynne Robinson. I asked if he knew my Jewish lit. prof but I’m sure he didn’t ‘cause the English Dept. is separate from the Workshop and my voice became tiny so I bet he didn’t hear me, he was just saying really enthusiastic things since the mention of Iowa like “Yeah, yeah! Great!! Go Hawks!!”

and I said, “Yeah!” and then we said goodbye

THE END

MY LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

BECAUSE NATHAN ENGLANDER

LOVE,

BANANENA

GUESS WHAT WAS ON SALE AT THE DISNEY STORE
GUESS WHO PUT CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH IN TEH FLOUNDER BELLY
AND ATE IT ALL USING MY SEBASTIAN SPOON FROM THE 90s?!?! :’D

(Source: and-and-and-and, via blooddriveatthelumbercompany)