Top-shelf post, but on a slightly unrelated note: I've always preferred referring to them as coats. And I feel that euphemism should be more popular!

Interesting read. I'm no artist and so was never into DeviantART culture, but even I could tell, between the handful of times I'd visited, how awful its gotten. A shame how natural it seems for this to happen to platforms, reddit in particular is the one I hate the most, though that at least seems to have its eventual successor: https://join-lemmy.org/instances

Anyways, for any other artists interested, here are a couple more DA alternatives:

• https://www.artfol.co/discover

• https://www.artgram.co/

• https://sheezy.art/

Anyways, been converting old family home video tapes recently and decided to write about it. It's tied to 32-Bit Cafe's 'Back to School' code-jam and the IndieWeb Carnival 'Rituals' themes.

VHS to Digital

First Paragraph:

"Do you know what VHS really stands for, traveler? It’s: “Various Hurdles and Suffering”. That ain’t no contemporary definition neither. My father recently spoke to me of his experience with his home video collection from the late 70s / early 80s. He dealt with a big move and, alongside the business of everyday life, had ended up leaving the tapes unattended for over a year. When he finally returned to them, he tried to play each one to no avail. To his surprise, they’d been covered in mold and when he took the matter to a repair shop they told him he’d lost everything, including the player, and that he should throw it all away; out of concern for his, and his family’s, health. Naturally, the loss of mementos such as, but not limited to: tenderly captured fragments of my brothers’ childhoods, lead to considerable sadness..."

@starbreaker hosted September's IndieWeb Carnival:

• Power Underneath Despair - In your darkest hour, what saved you? What helped you find the strength to carry on?

• Last Call

• His Own Entry: The Power of Satan Compels Me

I feel like starbreaker fugging mastered using anger as a life-force and I'm jelly as hell. For the most part at least, as I also know that anger / hate / defiance isn't all sunshine and butterflies, despite being more likely to accomplish what you want.

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@the-syreth-clan also participated with their entry:

• A Love Letter for Martina Syreth

The power another can have on us, our well-being, our will to live is, life-changing. A ride or die partner can mean so much. I didn't touch on relationship(s) particularly strongly in my own as I really wanted to encourage as much autonomy in a struggler's headspace / situation as possible. But powerful for sure.

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@andreixyz as well:

• Power Underneath Despair

Man, I'm very close to my parents, so I know anything negative is going to hit me like a train, but in relation to dogs. What a powerful force of good they can be! Dogs, they live on such a simpler, more straightforward plain of existence. Incredibly good at grounding us, at telling us reminding us: "Yo. Bich. Water, now! Food, now! Walk, now! Love, now!" Just their very being can get us back to moving (on), doing, living.

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And I think I'm the last from this forum to contribute:

• Salvations - ♫ Maybe you're the same as me ♫

I commented mildly on each post, but if you're at all interested in this topic (Suicide and its ilk), look forward to starbreaker's Wrap-Up. I'll link it here once it's posted.

Bravo, incredible work. Well done, yo.