The meaning of life for a male anglerfish
Dec. 27th, 2024 10:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
asakiyumesovay linked me to a story from 2012, "Aquatica," by MC Clark, in which a male anglerfish's effort to avoid his own biological drive and the blandishments of a female anglerfish lead to profound conversations. Really gripping story that creates a full, meaningful vision of the anglerfish life cycle--which is one of those life cycles that seems really alien from a mammalian point of view. It's easy to sympathize with the male anglerfish's desire to outrun biological determinism, but it's not merely survival he's after--as the female anglerfish points out, death comes either way--it's wanting to perceive or understand something more than just the cycle.On the way to visit my dad on Christmas Day a small murmuration passed over our car. It was breathtaking--thinking about it makes me stop breathing. Dark bodies, wings, pale sky--a tessellating collectivity. Then on our way back later in the day, we saw bobcats in a meadow. Bobcats are so strange, if you're used to domestic cats: they're like someone has taken a domestic cat and given it extra-strong, extra muscular legs... and reduced its tail.
Saw this and wasn't sure at first whether it was a branch on the path or the shadow of a branch.
(It was a shadow)
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Date: 2024-12-27 05:22 pm (UTC)Oh I just love starlings dances in the air! We sometimes seem them out over the weapons station a couple blocks away, where there are numerous acres of flat land with nothing on it. (Most of the ordinance has been quietly taken out over the years. I hope the nukes included.)
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Date: 2024-12-27 05:37 pm (UTC)You live that close to a weapons station, wow! Yeah, i sure do hope the nukes are gone, too.
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Date: 2024-12-27 06:19 pm (UTC)But the cool part was watching big battleships maneuver in and out of the very tight harbor there next to Seal Beach, the tiny town on the other side of the station, where we used to live until the rich people discovered it, and turned the funky town into McMansionville, every house worth a million plus--as all the windows look into each others' bedrooms a few feet away.
We used to live right on the beach when spouse's grandmother was alive. The daily dog walk was so much fun, and the seagulls would come flying from all directions when they saw me and daughter (then tiny) come outside with food to toss to them.
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Date: 2024-12-27 09:08 pm (UTC)But I love your memories of how it used to be, walking with the dog and the seagulls <3
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Date: 2024-12-27 06:34 pm (UTC)It is a branch! In the shadow world. It only looks flat here.
I am so glad you loved that story. It's stayed with me for years.
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Date: 2024-12-27 09:09 pm (UTC)That story is just wonderful. So *complete*, so *full*. I loved it.
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Date: 2024-12-28 09:08 am (UTC)Your tag of "ineffable" is a perfect description of the indescribable thoughts and scurries of fancy it sent me upon.
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Date: 2024-12-28 09:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-12-28 04:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-12-28 09:04 pm (UTC)