larisanicholephotographer - Tumblr blog

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What I'm Doing...

I just have so many questions

Like how and why.

I remember sitting through my summer internship last year, expecting to find something unexpected in my studies. The "unexpected" I hoped to find was a newfound interest in learning about the history, art, and culture of pre-colonial Africans. The institution I was interning for seemed to have a grasp of these kinds of issues, but they didn't move in any meaningful direction with any meaningful sense of urgency.

Here is what I know. Black art in antiquity exists but we'll never see it in the mainstream because, like the institution of slavery itself, it is too controversial.

While I wait for the opportunity to pursue this research in a formal academic institution, I want to investigate who these Black Europeans were. I want to find out what their occupations were, what their religions, customs, and culture were before colonization transformed the African landscape, and, eventually, the perspective of the people who traveled halfway across the world to exist in Europe before their choice was taken away.

My reading is as follows;

Black Tudors by Miranda Kaufman

African Europeans by Olivette Otele

The Black Prince of Florence by Catherine Fletcher

Balthazar by Kristen Collins and Bryan Keene

Black in Rembrandts Time/ the Rembrandt House Museum

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It's been a minute

I haven't used this platform much because other social media platforms have dominated my free time. Entirely my fault, by the way, because nobody is forcing me to use them, but still, there is an addictive quality to many social platforms that don't immediately present as problematic; however, deep down, there are behaviors that happen about yourself that you know aren't really you. I began to see this in myself, but with no self-control or regulation for usage, I just kept using the platforms. Seeing specific topics made me angry, which was fed by seeing things that enraged me even more. Livid at the attitudes shared by many about issues critical and directly impactful to me, I spiraled even more, waging a ridiculous ideological battle against faceless profiles of people who I didn't know, who didn't know me, who were most likely bots anyway but again...those addictive qualities you push way to the back of your mind to ignore them do become more apparent The behaviors become more irrational until the line between "it's just social media" and reality is completely gone.

Now, this wasn't the case for me, that I struggled with telling the difference between reality and social media. Still, it was certainly true for me that I couldn't manage my emotions healthily and productively while on the platforms.

How I moved away from it all was a mixed bag of random happenings that forced me to look at what was necessary. The first event that began to transform my relationship with social media platforms was that I have finally come within a semester of completing my undergraduate degree in anthropology. The coursework and reading material helped me frame the experiences I was having online in a much healthier social and cultural context. I was able to get to a point where I could finally understand why someone on the other side of the country could never agree with me ideologically-- and it is because, culturally, we exist in two different worlds. We're taught differently, worship, and are shaped and molded with entirely different moral standards and ethical obligations. It's only natural that our politics will reflect our social environment.

The other event that reframed my relationship was that my youngest daughter was diagnosed with benign Rolandic epilepsy. She experienced her first seizure in July and three more in August. After an MRI and one of two EEG scans (we haven't scheduled the last one yet), I've spent all my spare time reading up on epilepsy and joining support groups to learn how other parents and guardians have navigated the diagnosis.

I feel devastated on the one hand. It feels so unfair that any child would have to manage such a heavy burden. On the other hand, she has no idea what's happening to her. She has no memory of the events, and besides the routine medication we keep her on, she doesn't recall the process we must go through to bring her back to baseline.

If you've made it this far, thanks so much for reading. It feels great to get this emotional weight off my chest. I'll update this platform a bit more (with parameters in place) and, hopefully, get back to my photography soon.

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Smile! 

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©2020

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My husband and I were occupied with work yesterday afternoon when I heard this deep, intense buzzing noise coming from our bedroom. Chris stayed on his phone call but I went to inspect.  I was about to dismiss the noise when finally this thing appeared (pictured above).  Um, I screamed because..well. look at it! But my husband who’s trained in the handling of seemingly dangerous animals managed to catch it. I will spare you the details of how it came to pass but suffice to say the next morning (today)  it was unresponsive and thus we preserved the lifeless body in ethanol and decided to ID and photograph it. 

Initially, what I thought we were looking at was a “murder hornet” (Vespa mandarinia). It had been reported that the giant Asian Hornet  had  recently arrived in Philadelphia and I am but a few short minutes drive away from the city and thought, well, that was fast! My husband had his doubts and began going through his field books to properly identify what species of hornet we were looking at. 

We found out via  https://extension.psu.edu/european-hornet that this was in fact NOT a murder hornet--it was a European Hornet (Vespa crabro) a very large wasp native to Europe that has been here since the 1800′s. 

I’m pretty sure there is a nest somewhere close by because I saw another one hanging out by my office window earlier this afternoon. I’m hoping we can keep them out of our house and at a safe distance from our home because I would hate to have to harm these magnificent creatures. 

All images ©2020. contact moniklephotos@gmail.com for usage. 

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European Hornet.  Often mistaken for the now infamous “murder hornet” aka Giant Asian Hornet. 

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aaand a kiddo portrait to finish off my very weird way to kill time during this #covid-19 quarantine 

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Fried Cabbage, cheap and delicious eats anyone can do. 

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Garlic, onions, tarragon and basil 

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Cooking during quarantine 

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Is that a smirk or a smise? #headshots #babyheadshots #phillyheadshotphotography #twins #godoxad200 #nikonphotography #headshotphotographer #phillyheadshotphotographer #nikond750 (at 47arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7B3-j4j60U/?igshid=1mahht8k9oc5t

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Baby girl <3 (at 47arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/B7B27oNjtrx/?igshid=1h1kuge43et4l

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