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personally i feel like a political system that relies on tens of thousands of people spending hours upon hours to beg those in power not to pass the "Behead All Orphans Act" is uh. kind of a failure.

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1. “Raven” was an occasionally-encountered name for a girl in the contemporary period, and “Ebony” would be at least recognizable as a name. The other elements of this name are flatly atypical.

2. During this part of the War Period, this character’s hairstyle would not be considered shocking, but it would be viewed as garish and nonconformist.

3. A contemporary music performer known for a melancholy style of music and a gothic and dramatic aesthetic. The title of the work probably comes from one of her songs. However, her aesthetic and attitude has little in common with that in this work, being much more conventional and less garish.

4. A member of the contemporary band “My Chemical Romance”, also notable for a “gothic”, melancholy, and macabre aesthetic

5. i.e. the speaker considers him to be handsome and attractive; despite the pornographic material later in this work, the word “f_______” is here used only as an expletive.

6. Vampires as romantic figures had been increasing in popularity over this period, with a trend away from malicious monsters towards seductive but more benevolent figures, romanticized by their capability of being terrible.

7. Strangely, despite the characterization of this character as a Satanist, “witch” should here be characterized as having meaning similar to “wizard” and not “idolater”, “sorceress”, “maleficar”, or other practitioner of what we today recognize as “witchcraft”. The background material to this work constantly faced accusations of being satanic by an uneducated reactionary public to whom the difference between technology, wizardry and witchcraft was not meaningful (”witch” was sometimes even considered a female equivalent to “wizard”!), which completely failed to diminish its popularity.

8. It is important to understand that “goth” as an aesthetic, counterculture or subculture had a completely different meaning in the contemporary period than it does today – what remains similar is the love of the melancholy, the macabre, the dramatic, the romantic, and contempt for conventionalism. In the mid-to-early-late War Period, “Gothic” people were associated with contempt for morality, certain types of sexual display (usually of a shocking and sometimes fetishistic type), various forms of concupiscence, and a fairly significant connection to the occult and even to outright Satanism, though the latter was all but universally an affectation (this is true of most Mid War Period satanism). See contrast on p 321, The Gothic Movement In the Catholic Church. Moreover, the “gothic” aesthetic as described by this character is a stunted and over-the-top form that has also been corrupted by the counterculture-commericalism that was universal in the Late War Period.

9. A clothing store mostly specializing in counterculture-commercialized and faddist apparel. Critics accused it of being a mercantile vulture that fed by turning more honest and vivacious countercultures into fads.

10. It was almost unheard-of for women in the Mid or Late War Period to wear corsets, but they appeared in the Gothic subculture (which itself heavily borrowed from sources such as Victorian-era clothing, including mourning dress). However, what Enoby is describing is probably not actually a true corset, but a “corset top”, which is essentially a laced bodice. Either would be worn with neither chemise nor overblouse.

11. Probably a nondraped skirt that barely passes her wrist.

12. Hose, stockings, or tights in the form of a wide-open mesh

13. Probably not actually military issue boots; these were tall, heavy black leather boots with lacing all the way up.

14. This character’s outfit would be considered inappropriate for school in the Late War Period, but not shocking to Late War Period mores except by its garishness.

15. Originally meant students at a university-preparatory school; with the extremely high percentage of students seeking to attend university in the Late War Period, this came to mean a subculture of young people who adopted a highly conventionalistic and professionalistic attitude and sought admission to the prestigious and traditionalistic universities in the Eastern United States, often without academics being their true passion. Such people were often viewed as social climbers and sometimes attracted contempt from both their less-professionally-oriented peers and from those who were true intellectuals. 

16. Also known as “giving the finger”; a very rude gesture in the War Period as it is in ours.

18. This phrase went through considerable popular memetic mutation (as did the entire tract): “It was _______ <weather> so I felt ________. A lot of _______ stared at me. I ________ them.” See extra material 34c.

17. I.E. “How are you today?”, “how are you feeling?” as a greeting.

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gk

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Housing Is A Human Right, Martha Rosler Times Square, New York, 1989

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🐟🐟🌕🐟🐟🐟🐟 // swallowtail shiners // gouache on hot press paper

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Underground is a weird place

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throwback to the milves <3

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The content of a child's unrestricted choice of reading material can easily overexert juvenile cognitive cells, resulting in a deleterious nervous excitation. Such a state, if permitted to fester, leads to fits, frailty, even perversions. The written word must therefore be avoided, and strictly, if a child is known or believed to be exposed to unsuitable written works. Nursery rhymes may be recited, calmly and continuously, to those affected, as a balm. The modern physician further recommends a therapeutic eye bandage be applied during a period of seaside convalescence. Tincture of cocaine may be administered.

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The invention of the civilian as a "nonpartisan," "neutral" figure has exacerbated the depoliticisation of the Palestinian cause. To be deemed a civilian necessitates that we exist in a mythological dimension where we are without perspective. Our cause, as imagine in this mythology, is no longer understood as a liberation struggle but as a "humanitarian crisis," where revolutionaries are not part and parcel of our nation, motivated by political aspirations and dreams of emancipation. Instead, they are interpreted as rogue actors senselessly wreaking havoc to the dismay of helpless bystanders – the disinterested women and children, the impartial paramedics and journalists. In such ahistorical readings, which obfuscate the power imbalance between the occupier and the occupied, the militant is evacuated outside of the context that gave rise to him or her in the first place; the newscaster is expected to present the killing of her siblings as if she were an unbiased observer; and the nurse whose patient is a beloved coworker maimed by an airstrike is expected to maintain "professionalism," to not seek revenge on the drone operator.

Mohammed El-Kurd, Perfect Victim: and the Politics of Appeal (p. 61)

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Wachaza the Great Squid, for the upcoming publication "Spawn of Molokka: The Cephalopods of Glorantha"

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Nona's birthday 🐩🐕🐕‍🦺

Commission for @bensavagae

commission info

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Four times taller than the Niagara Falls, the majestic Kaieteur Falls in Guyana sits in the Amazon Forest. At a dizzying 741 feet, it is also known as the world’s largest single drop waterfall!

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Tigers with a frozen milk brick on a hot day