Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Add Upworthy to your Google News feed.
Google News Button

Being an author comes with many joys, but few match the incredible experience Joseph Fasano recently had on a flight. The American poet and novelist found himself seated next to a passenger who was engrossed in his latest book, "The Swallows of Lunetoo," entirely unaware that the author was sitting just inches away.

Surprised by the surreal encounter, Fasano quickly documented the event on X (formerly Twitter), sharing a photo of the book in the passenger’s hands and asking his followers what he should do next. One follower humorously suggested he whisper, "Is it better than the last one?" into the woman's ear.






Eventually, Fasano took the leap and struck up a conversation. He asked the woman if she was enjoying the book, casually mentioning he had read it "about 100 times." The woman didn’t recognize him, but warmly responded by sharing that she was traveling to visit family.





media1.tenor.com

Their conversation flowed naturally, with Fasano later updating his followers on X: "I asked them if they're traveling for work or fun and they said 'just a little trip to see family,' and looked directly at me for a moment and...we're still here."

Users reacted enthusiastically to the charming encounter. One user vividly imagined the scenario, writing, "You watch them read it. They’ve just started it so you can quietly suffer through every sigh, sleepy moment—or conversely every moment they seem gripped by it. Do they put it down to eat, or do they eat holding it in the other hand. You suffer. That’s the story now. For hours."

Another user shared their relatable story: "Ok this is in NO WAY comparable but I made a new Facebook friend and 5 days later she changes her banner picture to a photo of herself in front of a mural I painted. She didn’t know until a mutual friend told her in the comments but I was SO touched."



Fasano’s original tweet swiftly went viral, amassing over 2 million views, 20k likes, and nearly 600 retweets. For those unfamiliar, Joseph Fasano is a respected poet and novelist from Goshen, New York. His literary accolades include winning the Cider Press Review Book Award in 2011 for his poetry collection, "Fugue for Other Hands," and receiving critical acclaim for his 2020 novel, "The Dark Heart of Every Wild Thing."

Fasano and his fellow passenger's enjoyable conversation continued well beyond what either of them could have anticipated, turning an ordinary flight into a memorable encounter that resonated widely online.

More For You

scrabble, new zealand, spanish

Nigel Richards, shortly before clinching the world champion title for the fourth time.

He won Spain’s top Scrabble title without speaking Spanish

Some people are good at Scrabble. And then there’s Nigel Richards, a guy who exists on a completely different plane of existence when it comes to letter tiles, triple-word scores, and mind-bending strategy. This New Zealander, who has long been considered the greatest Scrabble player in the world, just did something so wild it sounds like a glitch in the Matrix: He won the Spanish-language Scrabble World Championship… without actually speaking Spanish.

According to a report by the Associated Press (AP), Richards clinched the title in Granada, Spain, after losing just one game out of 24. Let that sink in. A man who doesn’t know the language beats native Spanish speakers at their own game, all while calmly rearranging tiles like some linguistic Jedi.

Keep ReadingShow less
His jaw clicked for five years. AI gave him a fix that worked in 60 seconds.
Representative photo by Canva

His jaw clicked for five years. AI gave him a fix that worked in 60 seconds.

For more than five years, Reddit user u/User2000ss lived with a persistent click in his jaw. The likely culprit? A boxing injury. Anytime he opened his mouth wide, it would shift or pop - sometimes painfully, but always annoyingly. He’d tried everything: pressing on the joint, doctor visits, even multiple MRIs. Nothing worked. So he chalked it up to permanent damage and moved on.

Then one day, almost on a whim, he asked ChatGPT what might be going on.

Keep ReadingShow less
beating anxiety, dogs, mental health, wellness, mental health hacks

A woman walks her dogs and a man jumps on a trampoline

Representative images by Canva

Nearly two thousand people shared how they obliterate anxiety. Here are the 14 best answers.

Anxiety is relentless. It creeps in during quiet moments, lingers in the background of daily life, and sometimes, it just won’t let go. But as overwhelming as it can be, people have found countless ways to manage it—some science-backed, some deeply personal, and some just plain funny.

Recently, we asked our Facebook audience, What do you do that completely obliterate your anxiety? and the responses poured in—over 1,800 in total. While many admitted that anxiety never fully disappears, people shared the habits, tricks, and unexpected methods that help them push through.

Keep ReadingShow less
woman getting proposed to; woman showing off her engagement ring

Michael Maze proposes to Trinity Brooks.

michaelmaze727/YouTube

Paraplegic groom-to-be shocks everyone with emotional one-knee proposal

Michael Maze (@michaelmaze727), a paraplegic motocross athlete, has not let his T3 paralyzation stop him from anything. So, when the avid dirt biker and adventurer proposed to his girlfriend Trinity Brooks (@_trinity.yk_) while grabbing dinner together, he lifted himself out of his wheelchair and onto the ground on his own accord to get down on one knee.

In an emotional video shared on Instagram, Maze showed the entire proposal to Brooks that has the entire Internet in tears. "I asked the table behind us to record when she came back from running to the car," he wrote in the video's caption.

Keep ReadingShow less