the etsy homepage has a collection of strangely familiar (in a proustian madeline sort of way) items that sent me back in time momentarily to my little dorky 15 year old self, obsessed with jean-pierre jeunet and idly rendering my high school into some future/past (and yes, steam-powered) patina green industrial facility instead of paying attention in class. oh. my. gosh. why didn’t little valerie know about steampunk??

i absolutely love that there is a crazy and very specific community for just about any bizarro aesthetic out there. even if i had known about steampunks, i can’t say i would have ever been able to commit myself so fully as to openly claim allegiance; i feel mega strong affiliations to too many conflicting groups (i’m a pisces, what do you expect?) to choose one that’s so specific, but what i wouldn’t have given to hang out with some of those dorks. and i do say that with all intended kindness.

steampunk! oh lord. that just made my day.

EDIT: apparently i missed the nyt article, which ian pointed me to. those dudes look so rad! the kids in the smaller photo, not so much.