Seagull Eclipse Religion

My wife, son, and I went to Burlington, VT to see the eclipse on Monday. I’d wanted to see a total eclipse for decades (and I had this particular one in mind for thirty years, ever since my teenage self discovered it would be geographically close to where I might be living in 2024).

I expected to be awed but I was somewhat unprepared for the actual event. Having seen annuar eclipses before, I expected a more dramatic version of that, with more darkness and perhaps a glimpse of the corona through my eclipse glasses.

What I somehow did not process until the moment came: that I could safely remove the glasses for three minutes during totality and see the corona with my naked eye. I watched the moon darken the sun, and through my glasses I could see nothing at that point… so I took them off to look around the landscape, and that was when I noticed the glow in the sky. And I looked, and it was genuinely startling. That gorgeous silver-white corona around the black sphere, in a dark sky with an orange horizon: no photo I’ve seen captures the in-person effect of that silver-white light.

It’s like trying to take a photo of the full moon, and the photo always kind of sucks and does it no justice. The eclipse and its corona were like that. There was an otherworldly sense of, “I can’t believe I’m actually seeing this in the sky right now. This is real.”

The other remarkable detail (among many, but still) was the seagull reaction. We were watching from the edge of Lake Champlain, and during totality, dozens of seagulls freaked the hell out. They flew in chaotic masses, crying out in alarm over the water. The day after, I pictured the gulls forming a new proto-religion based on their experience, and every time one of them flew overhead and cried out, I imagined they were shrieking, “Repent! Repent!”

I won’t get into any deep discussion of the spiritual impact of the eclipse, except to say that even knowing the basic science, and knowing the event wasn’t some kind of cartoon magic from a higher power, it was a moment when any rationalism v. belief argument felt more wrongheaded than ever. There’s no full explanation for what happened in my brain during those three minutes. And anyone insisting that science can definitively explain my subconscious’s reaction to that event is as literal-minded as any fundamentalist, and as naive as those seagulls.

In other words, it was a moment of knowing I really don’t understand the full nature of anything, and I was totally OK with being overwhelmed by my own naiveté.

Snow Moon, Hungry Moon

Is that a full moon I see outside? Yeah no, the full moon is Saturday. But I did that thing everyone does when it’s almost a full moon and they think, “Is that a full…” before deciding it’s ever so slightly not quite round on one side, and then their interest deflates a little, as if they themselves were the not-quite-full moon.

The February full moon is called the Snow Moon, which sounds like an album from early ’00s, or the Hungry Moon, which sounds like an album from ’80s.

On and On and On…

I caught the live video of Black Sabbath’s “Heaven and Hell” on Vevo TV, and Ronnie James Dio had the crowd sing along to the “on and on and on” lyric.

And then he said now I just want the people on the sides of the arena, and they all raised the rock horns and sang “on and on and on.”

And then he said now I just want the people way up top in the back, and they all raised the rock horns and sang “on and on and on.”

And then he said now I just want that guy alone on his couch in Troy, NY, and I jumped up like a shot and…

Heavy Metalists

Recognize the danger.

I Felt Like a Winter Turd Today

Under-slept, crabby about the falling snow, lonely with my wife away. Anxiety grew its cat claws.

So I trusted my routine: writing, workout, healthy food, quality time with our dog, music. I focused on The Thing Directly in Front of Me at the Moment (the paragraph, the pull-up bar, the dog) and each of those things was good at the moment.

In other words, my routine—consisting of good things I otherwise may not have been in the turdy mood for—worked.

You and I, Dear Stranger

A hopeful message (after the next paragraph):

I’m anxious and emotionally ill sometimes. Lacking purpose. Fucking scared! Social media is suffering a brain bleed. A.I. vertigo is real. The internet feels noisy and inhuman. Earth is an expiring egg. My phone screen is a bad window, making me wonder: Is that how people really are??

But you and I, dear stranger, know there’s an Otherworld waiting to be explored.

Imagine reaching out to others without algorithms, ad junk, ugly comments, and corporate crap-factories. Years ago, they called it “mail” or “books” or “human contact.” In the late 90s, it was called “the world wide web.” You could find stuff you liked. People you related to.

Would you like that more? I would.

If you’ve found this blog, we may have things in common. A love of horror books and movies. An ear for dark music. Strange personal experiences.

Here, I’ll be sharing quick, dark, weird material you might like. There’s also an occasional email digest. You can sign up at the end of this post.

I hope you like what I’m offering, and I hope you share back now and then. You know… “mail” and “human contact.” I’ll try to answer somehow.

🩸 Dennis

Better Fire

We should connect with each other not because the world’s burning, but to make better fire.

Heavy Raven

My parents got us a 35-lbs. raven for Christmas. It’s meant for outdoors, but come on. The raven owns that table.

The Sun Will Be Darkened

On Monday, 8 April 2024, a terrible beast will devour the sun. Daytime birds will return to their roosts, believing it is night. Fundamental rhythms will fall to disarray, and the common folk will raise a great din beneath heaven’s frown.

It’s going to be awesome. The Great North American Eclipse, a rare and total eclipse of the sun, will carve its narrow path closer to my home than any total solar eclipse of my lifetime (so far).

My family and I will drive three hours to Burlington, VT to see it. I ordered certified safety glasses today so we don’t burn our retinas.

Will you be close, too? Here’s info and a map from NASA.