starcle | Reading

parvenu [pahr-vuh-noo, -nyoo, pahr-vuh-noo, -nyoo]

noun

one that has recently or suddenly risen to an unaccustomed position of wealth or power and has not yet gained the prestige, dignity, or manner associated with it (derogatory)

examples

1. In 1952, backed by little more than his reputation as a war hero and a fortune staked by his parvenu father, 35-year-old John F. Kennedy swiped a Senate seat from Republican Henry Cabot Lodge, himself a wealthy combat veteran. Kevin Mahnken, The New Republic, 1 Sep. 2020

2. "...All the senior authorities from the Spanish administration, soldiers laden with decorations, attorneys and magistrates, representatives of Morocco's political parties and the Jewish community, the whole diplomatic corps, the directors of banks, posh civil servants, powerful businessmen, doctors, every Spaniard, Arab, and Jew of high social standing and--naturally--the odd parvenu like you, you shameless little thing, slipping through the back door with your limping reporter on your arms." The Seamstress María Dueñas

origins

1795–1805; < French: upstart, noun use of past participle of parvenir to arrive, reach < Latin pervenīre, equivalent to per- per- + venīre to come

yourlibrarian posting in

common_nature

We were only in Portland for a day but we had enough time for a few hours in the International Rose Test Garden. In fact we didn't even spend that long because it was smaller than expected and some bushes hadn't even bloomed yet (despite what the website said as mid-May being an ideal viewing time). We took about half the time we were there trying to park. It was also the most overcast morning of the trip -- we had amazing weather the rest of the time.

Nonetheless what was in bloom was lovely. ( Read more... )

liminalovertea posting in

addme

Name: Holly

Age: Mid-30s

I mostly post about: Shower-thought essays and musings, fandom, fan theories, world-building, drabble snippets, OC and character development, creative process, occasional IRL that's in a digestible form for the internet.

My hobbies are: Writing, art, paragraph roleplay, video games, reading, book annotation, note-taking theory, journaling, hand-sewing, crochet, knitting, playlist-building, theory-crafting, wiki-building and information management.

My fandoms are: Anything cat-related, The Elder Scrolls, Baldur's Gate 3, Dragon Age: Origins, The Legend of Zelda (Ocarina of Time → Twilight Princess), Silent Hill (1-4), The Evil Within/サイコブレイク, The Apothecary Diaries, Higurashi When They Cry, Hayao Miyazaki, anything horror by Mike Flanagan, anything by Guillermo del Toro, Asian horror, found-footage films, high-end animation.

I'm looking to meet people who: are preferrably 25+ in age, neurodivergent, share my fandoms, are open-minded and fun to talk with.

My posting schedule tends to be: Sporadic, due to fluctuating spoons and hyperfocus binges.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: Anyone under 18, anyone supportive of America's current administration/MAGA/right-wing idealists, excessive political posts, crypto/AI/Tesla/entrepeneurial bros, religious evangelism or witnessing, animal cruelty, bigotry, racism, homophobes, transphobes, lore-policing, drama-llamas, unsolicited mental-health bombs (I'm your friend, not your therapist), overt neediness/attention-seeking, inebriated/intoxicated messaging, atrocious grammar and spelling (my native language is English), toxic behaviors in general.

Before adding me, you should know: I'm west-coast American (and yes, I would rather be anywhere else right now, but can't be), I'm AuDHD (progressively demasking after years of working corporate and burning out) and queer (AFAB genderfluid, pansexual; she/they pronouns). I'm 15-years-happily-married and monogamous. I'm very direct, because I would rather be honest than polite. I grew up in a household where expletives were every other word, so I hope you don't mind if I curse at times. My creative works are intended for mature audiences and are not intended for people who are easily triggered (I do try to tag accordingly, though, I'm not a monster 😅).

blackcatofmisery posting in

common_nature

My mom's garden has a vigorous knock out rosebush just beside it, and various bees adore it. Although I'm severely allergic to bites and stings, I will still follow honey and bumble bees; they're too busy to care about me.

_{Fun fact about me: I cannot smell typical roses. Knockouts are the only roses I can smell.}

( Photos beneath the cut. )

Current Mood: relaxed

sallymn posting in

1word1day

anthropophagite [an-thruh-pof-uh-jahyt]

noun:
eater of human flesh; cannibal

Examples:

'Red Dragon,' which opens nationwide today, is a thriller too timid to thrill because it's the devil we not only know, but that audiences have come to love; it features the best known anthropophagite since Grendel stalked the world of Beowulf. (Elvis Mitchell, Film Review: Taking A Bite Out Of Crime, New York Times, October 2002)

Her prepublication party - an abstracted anthropophagite feast (the photo is by partygoer Bill Richert) - didn't include her dad's recipe for steak tartare, but given her point that we all have 'cannibals in our closets', I think it might come in handy if the global food crisis continues to worsen. (Mike Sula, Carole Travis-Henikoff's steak tartare, Chicago Tribune, June 2008)

The anthropophagites on 'The Walking Dead' on Sunday didn’t discriminate between Daryl the redneck and Rick, a sheriff’s deputy. (Elvis Mitchell, In a Hell, but in It Together, New York Times, October 2014)

The thoroughbred Anthropophagite usually begins with his own relations and friends; and so long as he confines his voracity to the domestic circle, the law interferes little, if at all, with his venerable propensities. (Edward Bulwer-Lytton, What Will He Do With It)

Are not all those sovereigns, who to gratify the vanity of the priesthood, torment and persecute their subjects, who sacrifice to their anthropophagite gods human victims, men whom superstitious zeal has converted into tygers? (baron d' Paul Henri Thiry Holbac, The System of Nature, or, the Laws of the Moral and Physical World)

Origin:

1807, from Greek anthrōpophagos 'man-eating,' from anthrōpos 'man, human' (see anthropo-) + phagos 'eating' (from PIE root bhag- 'to share out, apportion; to get a share') (Online Etymology Dictionary)

lizardjay posting in

common_nature

At the end of last month I visited Indiana for a week, and in that time went on FOUR hikes. There are too many pictures to put here so I'm posting a link to my ~150 picture album: My sister and I are both very into taking pictures so the hikes were very slow :D but I think it really helps in remembering that there's something interesting to see in pretty much every square inch of the outdoors. There is always a bug, or a fungal disease on a leaf, or a shiny drop of water.

The Album

We visited, in order:

Ritchie Woods Nature Preserve
Summit Lake State Park
Shades State Park/Pine Hills Nature Preserve
Southwestway Park

The pictures feature:

many, many insects
a stately gentleman frog, who very kindly let me get within an inch of him
snails
two snakes
cool looking plants/fungi
general landscapes

For the most part the locations are broken up by a couple non-nature photos, except for Southwestway Park (which begins at the photo of the yellow spider in the web). Once you get to the art museum pictures there's no more nature, unless you count the clouds outside the plane window.

( a couple representative photos )

rafiwinters posting in

addme

Name:Rafi. If you come across this post or my profile and you think "hmm, looks familiar," that's possibly because I changed my DW name several months ago. It used to be "Emerald Em."

Age:58

I mostly post about:My daily life, my writing, my disabilities, autism, mental illness, being queer, my wife, fanfic, my gender journey, chronic illness (feh!), the political reality I and my people live in

My hobbies are:writing, crocheting, studying Wicca

My fandoms are:The West Wing, Man from UNCLE, Criminal Minds, some others

I'm looking to meet people who:share similar interests,

My posting schedule tends to be:three or four times a week, sometimes more often

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: TL;DR = don't be a bigoted jackass. Longer version: no queerphobia of any kind, no Trumpers. Be open-minded. Accept my lived experience in my queer self and my disabled body and mind. I welcome respectful questions if you have them, though.

Before adding me, you should know:I don't always have the spoons* to comment on all the new posts that pop up on my reading page when I log in. But I do do my earnest best to read the posts. So I generally know what's going on with my DW friends. Also, the mini-bio in my profile is currently (as of June 14 2025) pretty short--I'm working on updating and lengthening it--so it might not tell you much. If you have questions, please ask!

I am AFAB nonbinary, and again, happy to answer respectful/curious questions. But no phobias. If you don't like it, lump it and move along.

* if you don't know what this means, Google for The Spoon Theory

cmcmck posting in

common_nature

We spent a few days in Conwy in north Wales recently and had wonderful weather for it.

A view across Afon Conwy (the River Conwy) with Conwy castle as a bonus.

( See more: )

Current Mood: photographical
Current Location: ici

arcanetrivia posting in

dw_community_promo

Ahoy there, adventure gamers!

monkeyisland is a community for the beloved classic game series Monkey Island, featuring the comedic swashbuckling adventures of the improbably-named Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate™. Anything about Monkey Island is fair game: your own fanworks (art, fic, videos, games, music, cosplay, memes/silliness, whatever), recs of others' fanworks, livestreams/let's-plays, discussions, news and articles, tips for messing about in the game resources or scripting, requests for hints, screenshots, all that good stuff. If Monkey Island is your ~~jam~~ ~~rum~~ rum and jam (it's an old pirate favorite, everybody knows that), then come on over and have a grog.

full_metal_ox posting in

common_nature

Content advisory: the following images portray animal decomposition and a messy (though not scatological) plumbing mishap, respectively.

This is the very first photo I took in the process of exploring my new surroundings in Florida. I was recovering from a lengthy illness and a lengthy road trip, and coming to terms with a discombobulating succession of life upheavals; accordingly, I began with a local animal in no condition to evade me.

This roughly crow-sized bird (species and cause of death unknown) lay in an oddly heraldic position suggesting a necromancer’s coat of arms, on the disheveled curb strip of a business that was both recovering from Hurricane Ian and changing hands—likewise in a state of transition. The red spot at heart level is a dried wild fruit of some sort.

Taken on 4 June 2023 at 19:48 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

( Fined_be_ye_who_move_my_bones. )

Some while later, I suffered a clog of mysterious blue-gray residue in my bathroom sink (don’t worry; it’s long since been dealt with, although not conclusively explained)—and was fascinated by the delicate poinsettia-like radial pattern created when the water finally receded.

Taken on 20 July 2023 at 14:16 U.S. Eastern Daylight Savings Time:

( Mystery_plumbing_sludge. )

svgurl posting in

dw_community_promo

comment_bingo is a bingo challenge that is focused on using the provided prompts to comment on other people's works rather than creating your own.

Click on the banner below to go to sign-ups or you can also go HERE.

Sign-ups will remain open until the round closes.

light blue background containing community name and goal with a phone icon and other symbols

This round will end up on October 31st, 2025.

pilottttt posting in

common_nature

This ~~big and scary~~^{small and not scary at all} spider was discovered on our ceiling. It was my macro lens that made it big and scary ;)

( See the big and scary spider )

ysabetwordsmith posting in

followfriday

Got any Follow Friday-related posts to share this week? Comment here with the link(s).

Here's the plan: every Friday, let's recommend some people and/or communities to follow on Dreamwidth. That's it. No complicated rules, no "pass this on to 7.328 friends or your cat will die".

Current Mood: busy

thunderschoen posting in

addme

Name: Simone

Age: Late 30s

I mostly post about: What I'm reading (probably some kind of cosmic or folk horror, or something adjacent to that), what video games I've played lately (mostly indie/puzzle/adventure/detective), bits and pieces about my life. Occasionally more personal things if I feel they might be interesting or useful in some way, otherwise I keep it private.

My hobbies are: Drawing, watercolour painting, reading, playing video games, vintage fashion, listening to music (classical, opera, symphonic metal, soundtracks, dark cabaret, electroswing, old jazz, some more modern stuff...), singing and playing the autoharp (I also used to play piano but kinda stopped...still have a keyboard but haven't dug it out in months...), occasionally cross-stitch and embroidery, puzzles, going for walks, learning about pretty much anything but especially animals, mythology, history, and science. When I was a kid, my special interests were Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece, butterflies, cloud formations, the planet Jupiter, and English folk superstitions, and I feel like I've just carried on from there. During the pandemic I got fixated on learning how to identify birds by their songs. You probably get the idea by now.

My fandoms are: I don't tend to write about fandom stuff but the only fandom I've ever been active in is Pokemon. I still write fanfiction occasionally but it's not something I write about in my journal. Other games I love include Portal and the Rusty Lake games but there's lots. In terms of watching things, I enjoy the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Game of Thrones / House of the Dragon, Black Mirror and Stranger Things. I'm getting back into Welcome to Night Vale (podcast) but I'm like 5 years behind...

I'm looking to meet people who: Share some of my interests? Similar age preferred but not essential. If you read and/or play similar stuff to me I would love to trade recommendations.

My posting schedule tends to be: Once or twice a week right now but during busy times I might drop off for a bit.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: If your journal is very fandom-focused, I probably won't have much to say in comments. I'd also prefer to avoid lots of posts about religion and/or politics, regardless of "flavour". I don't really care what your political views are (I mean, unless you're a white supremacist or a neo-Nazi...I'm a mixed race Jewish woman so that could be awkward...) but I'd rather not be reading racist, antisemitic, misogynistic, homophobic, etc. content. Or anything that's overly mean-spirited about anyone.

Before adding me, you should know: I live in the UK, in case you wanted to know that. And I'm autistic, not that it comes up very often in my journal posts. Also, as a sort of "reverse" to the above question - I also don't post about my political views (or anything controversial, really) in my journal.

calzephyr posting in

1word1day

Frankalmoigne

I screenshotted this word, but didn't realize it was such a doozy!

This medieval English legal concept is also spelled frank almoin or frankalmoign and describes a tenure by which a religious body holds land given to them, on the condition that prayers for the soul of the donor and heirs are offered.

puddleshark posting in

common_nature

( Read more... )

glitteryv posting in

recthething

Every Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.

This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)

(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)

So what cool fics/fanart/fanvids/fancrafts/podfics/other kinds of fanworks have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.

BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.

pilottttt posting in

common_nature

It was their first day out of the nest, which they spent on a branch just opposite our window.

( Read more... )

For more information (in Russian), see here.

zan77 posting in

addme_fandom

Name: Zan
Age group: 40s but rapidly heading towards 50s
Country: UK
Subscription/Access Policy: Public, at time of writing

Fannish Interests: Right now I'm mainly into Djo, Stranger Things (as my icon suggests, I'm having somewhat of a Joe Keery year), The Terror, Severance, and my attention to the MCU has been revived somewhat by Agatha All Along, Thunderbolts and (hopefully!) Fantastic Four.

I enjoy reading golden age detective fiction, fantasy, romance and historical non-fiction. I've written a small number of fics but am trying to get out of a block and write some more.

I've been a long time but mostly lurky presence in fannish spaces since the early 2000s, and can also be found as zan77 on tumblr

I like to post about: Not many posts on my dreamwidth yet but I'm hoping to use it to get back into the habit of longer posting.

About Me/Other Info: Outside of fandom I'm also an amateaur bellydancer and enjoy crochet. As I officially enter Fandom Old territory I've started to yearn for the old Livejournal style interactions of my youth! Hoping to find some like-minded souls to talk to.

sweetsorcery posting in

addme

Posting here because I haven't in years, and I struggle to find people who share even one or two interests with me, so the suggested template doesn't fit me any better than most things. I'll use what I can of it, and I apologise for being very rambly. :)

Name:

sweetsorcery

Age: well over 18

I mostly post about: Writing, Fandom Events (Exchanges, Challenges, etc.), Life and Health Challenges. After that, it gets murky, because I often want to post about the many, many things that interest me and then just talk to myself about them instead, because my tastes couldn't be less mainstream.

What are these interests: Writing M/M (see fandoms), Victorian and Edwardian Ghost Stories/Horror/Weird Fiction, Golden Age Adventure Stories, Audiobooks and Vintage Radioplays, WWI and WWII (specifically British Military History, Aviation, and Naval warfare), British Social History from the Victorians through to the middle of the 20th Century, Ancient History, Art (esp. Romanticism, Neoclassicism and Surrealism) and Architecture (esp. Art Deco, Tudor, Jacobean), Archaeology, Ancient Egypt, Paganism, Spirituality, Reincarnation, Mythology, Folklore, Parapsychology, Taoism, British Dance Bands from the 1920s - 1940s, Baroque Music (incl. Opera very selectively), Romantic Era Music, Pop from the 1950s - 1980s, Dancing (sadly mostly passive these days), Romantic Poetry, Old Movies (I say 'old' instead of 'classic' to avoid confusion, because again, my favourites are pretty obscure to most people and include a lot of War Movies), Silent Movies, Age of Sail, etc.

My fandoms have been many over time, but these are the ones I'm most likely to read/write now and in future: Biggles - W E Johns, Famous Five - Enid Blyton, Vienna Blood (still on my first run-through of the TV series, but loving it), Kidnapped - Robert Louis Stevenson, Vintage Ghost Stories (I keep adding to the list of inspiring ones to write about), Vintage War Movies (ditto), 18th and 19th Century RPF, Ancient Egypt RPF

I'm looking to meet people who: share one or more of my eclectic interests

My posting schedule tends to be: What is a schedule?

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: You might assume from my old-fashioned interests that I'm rather conservative. Nope, not unless it comes to wishing people were still polite and well-spoken. Think of me as a kind of Ariadne Oliver type... and if that means anything to you, we might get along well. ;)
While I don't post or read about Politics if I can possibly help it, please keep on your side of the enclosure if you're homophobic, transphobic, racist, ableist, anti-science, anti-personal freedom, supportive of fascist regimes, or prone to diving down conspiracy theory rabbit holes. If you don't believe in the motto "Live and Let Live", we won't get along; that extends to writing too, because while I don't write anything needing AO3 archive warnings, you'll regularly find themes and pairings in my writing that offend conservatives and antis. Also, you must be over 18 too - I don't censor my writing or my posts.

Before adding me, you should know: I'm a Pisces with a Scorpio ascendant, and an INFP, so I'm consistently spinning day dreams and easily distracted. I avoid conflict, but I have claws/pincers for emergencies. I'm agoraphobic and aegosexual.
I have CPTSD and Fibromyalgia, and I do talk about that. I mention this because it's cost me "friends" before, so if you easily get sick and tired of people whose daily life mostly consists of being sick and tired, and who sometimes need to vent their grief about that in their own journal, you might like to avoid me. It's unfortunately part of who I am, but I promise, I don't post detailed medical horrors. If I do post about it, it's usually as an apology for disappearing for a while and under a cut.
I sparingly use generative AI art to help me visualise literary characters of whom no proper visuals exist, but I don't use AI in writing. I don't claim AI art as my own, and fandom icons are about the most public use I make of it; if you're going to lecture me on that, please just move on.
I get hyper-fixated and will post about my fixations at length with the least amount of encouragement.

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parvenu

International Rose Test Garden

(no subject)

Knock Out Honey Bees

Sunday Word: Anthropophagite

say hello to Indiana

longtime DW person, seeking new folx! :)

Conwy

Holy Monkey Bladders! It's Monkey Island™.

A future fossil, and a moment of strange beauty in embotherance.

Comment Bingo Round 7

And now about the spiders

Follow Friday 6-13-25

Time for a new post...

Wednesday Word: Frankalmoigne

Following a path through the bracken in the rain

Community Recs Post!

Chicks of the laughing dove

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Square Peg in a Round Hole

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