Lillianhowan - Lillian Howan

Thank you to TuftsNow of Tufts University for selecting The Charm Buyers for Summer Reading! Thank you to Grace Talusan for writing The Charm Buyers review for Tufts!

Lagoon of Niau

photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan

Evening Approaches; My Father’s Garden

Bora Bora, approached by the sea

photo: Bruno Leou-on

Monday, June 1, 2015: First “Protect the Creators” Day on Tumblr

First, I want to thank all of you who answered my question and who liked and reblogged my original call to action, as well as those of you who sent me messages. For a while it seemed there was very little interest, but it is now taking on a life of its own, and this is wonderful.

Monday, June 1, 2015: Protect the Creators Day

Monday, June 1, 2015, No content except the “Protect the Creators” (PtC) photo. You can reblog others’ posts of it or download a PtC logo here. There are several languages, though perhaps English is the best way to go, since Tumblr staff is located in the US.

Use the PtC jpg as your avatar during Monday, June 1, 2015, or use it as your avatar now. Click on this link, to access the Google Drive folder that has all the signs I created. 

Tag the post “protectthecreators.” As towermill suggested, this is a great way for staff to see it trending. It may be a good idea to also tag it “staff,” “tumblr staff,” “staff.tumblr.com,” and “support.tumblr.com.”

Spread the word. Are you in?

Baobab Tree, Manoa Valley

fort fort lointain / far, far away

Vahitahi

photo: Francoise Holozet-Howan

Reason No. 15: Some words actually look like the thing they describe.

From Buzzfeed: 15 Reasons Why Learning Chinese Is Easier Than English

Algy has many wonderful Tumblr friends of all ages, from those still in their teens to those who are so far past the age of majority that they have forgotten what that means 😉

He knows that quite a few of his friends (no names mentioned!) are not exactly in their first youth any more, some have health problems of concern regardless of their age, and some who are still young and healthy themselves are gravely worried about their families or friends.

And Algy knows that many of these friends have been living the most extraordinary lives for the past year or so: shut in, sometimes alone, cut off from their families and friends, and existing in a strange limbo of anxiety and fear for their own health or for their loved ones, yet trying to cope with it all as best they can. Some have even suffered illness or bereavement… or both… It has been a long, sad, sorry and difficult time.

But as Algy perched in a bush full of beautiful red buds, basking in the first sunshine of the year which had any hint of warmth in it, he knew that the coming spring was not the only change that was in the air now…

At last the miserable situation which so many of his friends had had to face was beginning to change too, and he was truly delighted and relieved to hear that several of his more vulnerable friends had already been vaccinated, and others were expecting their vaccines very soon.

He knew that hope - and help - really were on the way now, and the gallant officers and troops of the vaccine cavalry were galloping as fast as they could possibly go, bringing relief to more and more beseiged people every day 😍

So today Algy is thinking especially of his most vulnerable friends, and prays that just as the buds of the azalea bush will soon open to reveal beautiful flowers, their lives too will soon blossom once again. He sends extra special fluffy hugs to all those who are still living in a state of seige, or fear for their loved ones, together with this lovely poem:

Something’s moving in, I hear the weather in the wind, sense the tension of the sheep-field and the pilgrimage of fins.

Something’s not the same, I taste the sap and feel the grain, hear the rolling of the rowan ringing, singing in a change.

Something’s set to start, there’s meadow-music in the dark and the clouds that shroud the mountain slowly, softly start to part.

[Algy is quoting the poem Something’s Moving In by the contemporary English poet Matt Goodfellow.]