Hidden Treasures on the Internet

by Alison DeLuca

Image by 470906 from Pixabay

Over the past few weeks, I went looking for beautiful and positive places on social media. In the middle of endless bickering and infinite selfies I found some accounts that exist to make our lives  more wonderful.


1. Without a doubt, Tank Schottie's Twitter account comes first in that list. Tank is a Special Olympics athlete. He loves his dad, he loves the Olympics, his teammates, golf, dancing - and he really loves anyone who follows him.

He became internet-famous when the Special Olympics nearly lost their funding. Tank explained how much sports meant to him and his fellow athletes and, as a result, wound up on CNN and other news programs.

Tank will dance for everyone on Fridays. He sends messages of happiness and love every day. If you want some pure sunshine in your life, you just can't do any better than to follow Tank.

2. Love books? (Of course, you do.) And movies? Folklore, fairytales, and myth? The Library Haunter serves up all of the above with sly tweets and mysterious humor about gothic fiction, Flannery O'Connor,  and just real life:

• I wish we would all get more creative with our compliments, like instead of saying “hey hottie” you could call her “an elf-witch of terrible beauty, and all who look upon you fall under your spell.”
• if you see me crying, it’s not because I’m depressed, it’s because there are 129,864,880 books in the world and I’ll never read more than a fraction of that.

3. Maybe you had a rough night and need some cute animals? How about the Hungover Owls Tumblr account? They post nothing but pictures of owls who look hungover.

Really.

Pages and pages and pages of them.

Did you know most owls look hungover all the time? Because they do.

4. If none of these accounts work and you're still feeling blue, it's time to go for the real magic. But magic isn't real, you say? Au contraire.

Li Zikai, a young Chinese artist, has a YouTube channel that features achingly lovely videos of her being an actual Disney Princess. She spends her days making furniture, clothes, and incredible meals for her granny.

Allow me to explain - when I say she makes her own clothes, I mean she whittles a ruler, refurbs an old sewing machine, creates lavender dye from grape skins, weaves her own wool, raises silkworms and makes a silk cloak.

When Li Zikai makes dinner, she heads into the mountains to pick quinces or herbs, usually followed by several puppies and a lamb. She catches a fish from the stream running through her garden. Do you get the idea?

The camera crew captures her creating the most amazing treasures with lush cinematography and soothing music. I dare you to watch just one video - Li's channel is seriously addictive. And healing.

(Of course, you've already found another of the nicest places on the internet - Girl Who Reads is awesome. )

What sites would you recommend?

Alison DeLuca is the author of several steampunk and urban fantasy books.  She was born in Arizona and has also lived in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mexico, Ireland, and Spain. Currently, she wrestles words and laundry in New Jersey.

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