Samson Tausig > Recent Status Updates

Chapter 2

• Explore Johnny’s experience of queer hookup culture
• Club with Jerry, Jerry doesn’t want a TV
• Rude Guy in Cab before hookup

Chapter 1

• Johnny Grant - Narrator
• Living Alone in Nova Scotia House - Partner Jerry has died
• Johnny was 19 and Jerry was 45 when they met
• NSH - Grief, love and a once flourishing queer community
• Impact of Aids crisis - How it impacted Johnny and Jerry’s world

“I was not trapped. I was there because I wanted to be.”

• Colin is deep in the ritualised dynamic with Ray; dominance and obedience
• Meet Kevin - Another boy belonging to Bob
• Ray’s presence remains physically solid but emotionally closed off.
• Ray then dies suddenly and unexpected
• The circumstances around Ray’s death are treated with discretion partial secrecy
• His dad dies - Buys House

“The pain had a rhythm and the rhythm was pleasure”

• He visits Ray’s flat, where the dynamic becomes more controlled.
• Ray establishes subtle rules, about behaviour, language, testing his compliance.
• Their conversations mix banter, instruction & quiet humiliation, blurring affection & dominance.
• He is actively participating in the arrangement, aware of imbalance yet increasingly invested in it.

• Colin’s 18th (1975), goes walking alone on Box Hill.
• Wanders into a biker hang-out & notices Ray, older, self-assured & gorgeous.
• Ray singles Colin out; conversation is casual but charged.
• Colin narrates everything with cool, analytical detachment, even as he’s flustered.
• He is no longer just observing — stepping into Ray’s control.

“I was eighteen that day, though not for long.”

Chapter 7 - Chaotic Soulmate Just Dropped 💅🏽

• We meet Sea Captain - Marmaduke Bonthrop Shelmerdine
• Orlando and Shelmerdine sense something uncanny in each other
• Each suspects the other isn’t bound by traditional gender rules
• Their connection skips small talk
• They marry quickly, but it feels equal and liberating rather than restricting
• Shelm leaves for sea; Orlando remains independent

Chapter 6 - Victorian Vibes & Existential Spirits

• Time jump to 1840: England is now fully Victorian - serious & emotionally repressed
• Society expects women to be fragile, modest & domestic
• The era feels foggy and restrictive; Orlando senses the pressure closing in
• She reconnects deeply with her writing
• Marriage Obsession Everywhere
• Feels torn between social expectation & her wild side

Chapter 4 - Pg.133 Onwards

• He re-enters english high society as a woman
• Navigates strict 18th Century Rules
• Can she legally own what he once did? - legal issues
• She feels how limiting womanhood is
• Orlando realises gender is partly a social role
• Marriage pressure intensifies, because society thinks that’s her ultimate purpose
• Despite outside pressure, she stays mentally independent

Chapter 4 - Up until Page 134

• Post Constantinople Chaos - He flees with Romany Gypsies living in nature
• She experiences a life without rigid class rules
• She realises gender changes how the world treats her
• The Romany eventually see her as too English; she doesn’t fully belong anywhere
• Returns to England as Woman
• Back in London, she confronts strict 18th-century expectation - marriage

Chapter 3

• Orlando is living it Large & Rich in Constantinople
• He falls into a mysterious deep sleep for days
• Chaos begins to unfold around him as he sleeps
• WAKES AS WOMAN - unbothered, calm & same soul
• No panic - Accepts the change instantly
• The Gender Rules Hit - Freedom & Safety Changes
• He is still Orlando now just as a Woman

My Dungeon Shook

* Letter to My Nephew on the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Emancipation*

• Baldwin says US is built on lies bout race - not his fault
• White Society created the idea of Black Inferiority
• Urges self-love and dignity as acts of resistance
• Anger is justified - Must not turn into hatred
• Survival means clarity not bitterness
• Future of US Depends of Black people standing up

The Farewell Message

• Departure is necessary
• Love will always linger
• The soul moves on
• Endings bless beginnings
• Memories will always remain

✨ “A little while, and my longing shall gather dust and foam for another body.”

On Death 🪦

• Death is not an end
• It is a release
• Life continues
• Love remains
• Fear dissolves

✨ “For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.”

On Religion 🕍

• Faith is daily life
• Not seperate from life
• Love is worship
• All paths converge
• God is within

✨ “Your daily life is your temple and your religion.”

On Beauty 💄

• Beauty is everywhere
• You are beauty yourself
• Seen through love
• Not Perfection
• A way of seeing

✨ “Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror.”

On Pleasure 💗

• Pleasure is sacred
• Not a shameful thing
• Enjoy it without excess
• Gratitude deepens joy
• Balance Desire

✨ “Pleasure is a freedom-song.”

On Prayer 🙏🏼

• Prayer is Openness
• Listening, not asking
• Presence is devotion
• The soul speaks
• Silence is Prayer

✨ “You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the fullness of your joy.”

On Good & Evil 👍👎

• One contains the other
• Evil is wounded good
• Compassion over judgement
• Humanity is complex
• See the whole

✨ “Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil.”

Chapter 2 - The Power Glow Up

• He grows up, drops teenage drama & steps seriously into public life & ambition
• He becomes a favourite with the Royal Court - adored
• Poetry Haunts Him - Art still remains his emotional core
• Post Sasha - He keeps everyone at arms length
• Constantinople Ambassador - Sent abroad - major status shift
• Years Pass - Orlando barely ages

Chapter 1 - The Rest - Heartbroken Isolation Era

• Orlando is all in for Sasha - Plans future, ignores reality
• Orlando refuses to see how distant Sasha is & slippery
• She leaves England with another man - ghosting him
• Orlando absolutely spirals
• He shuts himself away for days - rejecting society
• Time Bends Again - Orlando exists outside normal ageing

Chapter 1 - Pg 1-30 - “Hot Rich Poet”

• Orlando - Rich Elizabethan nobleman - aware of privilege
• He lives in a grand house, writes poetry & hosts parties
• He becomes obsessed with poetry - yearns for literary greatness
• Falls Dramatically in love with Sasha - Russian Princess
• His mood is chaotic, showing how young & despair he is
• Time feels weird - Hinting Orlando wont age like others

On Time ⏰

• Past and Future flow together
• Time Lives within you
• Now is everything
• Do not chase it
• Be Present

✨ “Yesterday is but today’s memory, and tomorrow is today’s dream.”

On Talking 🗣️

• Words can wound or heal
• Silence has wisdom
• Speak from truth
• Let meaning breathe
• Listen Deeply

✨ “In much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.”

On Friendship 🤝

• Friendship is honesty
• Silence matters
• Share Joy & Sorrow together
• Freedom within closeness
• Expect nothing ever

✨ “Your friend is your needs answered.”

On Teaching

• Teaches awaken, not fill
• Light passes through
• Learning is shared
• Wisdom already lives in you
• Guide, do not command

✨ “The teacher leads you to the threshold of your own mind.”

On Self Knowledge 🪞

• You are an ocean of knowledge
• Truth unfolds slowly
• Look inward gently
• Mystery remains
• Knowing is becoming

✨ “Say not, ‘I have found the truth,’ but rather, ‘I have found a truth.’”

On Pain 💉

• Pain breaks the shell
• Growth hurts
• Suffering teaches depth
• Healing comes through feeling
• Do not resist pain

✨ “Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.”

On Reason & Passion 🧠💃🏽

• Both must coexist
• Passion steers the soul
• Reason keeps course
• One without the other falls
• Harmony is wisdom

✨ “Reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns.”