I like Solaire and Warhammer

Nothing will dispell the "the curtains were just blue" myth faster than writing something yourself, because the amount of pretentious symbolism i am putting in my silly little fanfics is ridiculous. I mean SO much with these words, literally every single one of them. This fic has twenty five typos and zero correct uses of punctuation but if there's curtains you bet your ass I put thought into what colour they were.

I also personally think it's important to rephrase this whole idea - it's not always about *symbolism*, specifically, so a broader way to think about it is "why did the author think it was important to tell us the curtains were blue?"

This can include symbolism, yes, but it can also encompass so many other reasons you might choose to convey such things to the reader. Maybe it's to give the reader a clear picture of the scene. Maybe it's to set a mood. Maybe it's to show us what the character is observing & what their state of mind is. Maybe it's to set something up later. Maybe it's... Etc etc etc.

Even if the curtains don't *symbolize* anything, per se, it can still be very interesting to explore what line of thinking led to those words.

the fact that we made it through the Cold War is nothing short of a miracle. I wish we talked about Mutual Assured Destruction more in schools

William Gibson once suggested that the days on which we almost destroyed the world with nuclear weapons should be recognized as international holidays, to raise awareness of how very precarious the situation has been at times.

If you would like to observe such a holiday, October 27th should be Vasili Arkhipov Day. During the Cuban missile crisis he was first officer on Soviet submarine B-59 off the coast of Cuba. When the destroyer USS Beale began to drop depth charges to force them to the surface, his captain decided that WW III must have started, and ordered his men to arm and fire a nuclear torpedo at a group of American ships. Due to a strange circumstance, the captain had to seek Arkhipov’s approval to fire the weapon, because while he was only second in command of the sub, he was in command of the flotilla of which the submarine was a part. Arkhipov, outnumbered three to one, steadfastly refused to give his approval.

Important context: Arkhipov had previously been involved with a nuclear incident aboard another sub, and cited the things he witnessed happening to the crew as one of the reasons he refused to give approval.

zephyrswarm

Happy Vasili Arkhipov day

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