Before Dracula, there was Carmilla—literature’s first major vampire, and she was a lesbian. Published in 1872, Le Fanu’s novella features Laura’s tortured attraction to the mysterious Carmilla.

“I experienced a strange tumultuous excitement that was pleasurable, ever and anon, mingled with a vague sense of fear and disgust.”

Carmilla whispers,

“You are mine, you shall be mine, you and I are one for ever.”

The novella predated Dracula by 25 years and established the lesbian vampire archetype. Though Dracula (born 1400s) is older in his story than Carmilla (1698) in hers.

I came across this fascinating study abt how the Chincha Kingdom in Peru fertilized their way to success w/ seabird poop! They used guano to grow surplus maize, which they traded w/ the Inca for ceremonial beer. They even celebrated this in their art, showing seabirds & sprouting corn together!

Here’s something wild: an old Texas coal mine is now a garden feeding 3,000 people a year. The Dewey Prairie Garden near Jewett grows 10,000 pounds of produce for local food pantries—turning land that once powered plants into something that actually nourishes families. Pretty cool redemption story.

Just read this fascinating study where older adults (65+) did brain training for 10 weeks and reversed about a decade of brain aging. They actually measured brain chemistry changes. Kind of makes me think about what I could be doing now at 50 to keep my brain sharp down the road. Read more here.

Rant: I am frustrated that I can’t edit the date because of the post(s) I accidentally add today’s date when it should be last Friday at that time when it was scheduled. The mobile site doesn’t make it easy to change the date. Sigh. Any idea how can I fix the date on the phone?

Cc: @help

I’ve been diving into HTML and CSS articles lately, and it’s such a blast learning new tricks and codes to experiment with! It can get stressful trying to figure things out sometimes, but the excitement of discovery makes it worth pushing through.

Great read on the power of blogging. I agree with most of what’s said here—blogs give us space to explore ideas, lower the stakes of writing, and let us think in public without the pressure. They’re working spaces for active learning, not performance stages.

This year: more bloom than doom. Bloomscrolling means intentionally curating uplifting content instead of doomscrolling. I won’t avoid hard topics—open wounds need discussion—but I want scrolling that serves me, not just drains me. Small shifts, better mental space. Read more about it here