#aletheiaphrikodes

[bondsmagii]

Harvest, cider, spice, and maize for the asks please! 🍂

thanks!!

harvest: what fictional character do you most identify with? Why?

I vibe a lot with the Darkling, from Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy. this would probably get me shot at dawn by most of the people on this hellish site but I am unrepentant. there’s a lot about his character that I vibe with, and I don’t want to go too deeply into it for personal reasons, but there’s a lot there about his brand of loneliness that gets me, and the trauma that such things can make you feel -- being lonely, being Other, growing up in an environment where you’re never safe, and even the fanaticism that comes from that kind of environment. you want to be safe; you want others like you to be safe; you’ll try and achieve that through any means.

it’s easy to look at a villain and say that they’re heartless and evil and irredeemable, but it would be a fool who would look at a villain and say they wanted to be that way. the Darkling didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to be evil. does it make what he did right? no, it doesn’t, but it also doesn’t make it inexplicable. if I could wield shadows and summon demon armies to do my bidding, I would have done the same thing. I’ve been hurt in similar ways; I’ve seen my people tormented in similar ways. you’re telling me that if we had the power to make the people who oppress us and hurt us stop forever, we wouldn’t use it? please. if I could set shadow creatures on the people who brutalised my country and my people, I would. if I could seize power to ensure that me and mine were never hurt or terrorised like that again, I would. and if I had to endure the loneliness I experienced growing up and well into my adulthood for 500 years? you bet I’d be just as fucking deranged.

it might be seen as “progressive” and “woke” to look at villains and declare them outside your own range of emotions and experiences, lest you be deemed Problematic. but it takes a lot more balls to look at a villain and see where they went wrong, and identify the places where you, too, would go equally wrong. denying the darker parts of yourself does not protect anyone from them. it just makes you more eager to ignore them, and easier to let behaviours slip through. I do not trust anyone who claims to have nothing in common with a villain. at the very best they’re in denial; at the very worst, there’s nothing they believe in passionately enough to do anything that matters for, and what kind of an activist does that make them?

also both the Darkling and I are supremely sexy.

cider: a food that you disliked as a child but now enjoy?

c a u l i f l o w e r. hated the bitch as a wean, now I can’t get enough of it.

spice: have you ever encountered a house that you believed to be haunted?

loads! even better -- I’ve lived in several! nearly all of my houses growing up were haunted, most notably the one I lived in from ages 14-18, which had a demonic haunting and it was the most terrifying experience living in a haunted house that I’ve ever had. my university accommodation was also haunted during two of my years there, and one of Vestris’s houses in London was haunted as balls. I’ve also stayed in a few haunted hotels, and explored a few haunted abandoned buildings.

maize: share the weirdest encounter you’ve had with a stranger on the street.

OK so I didn’t technically encounter this person, as I didn’t interact, but it’s recent and funny so. the other night at about 10pm I was parked in the centre of the nearby town waiting for Vestris to come back with McDonald’s and hand sanitiser in that order, and there was a drunk guy on the street. I saw him wandering up towards me and I knew he’d be trouble, so I kept an eye on him.

he went into a small shop and was in there for a couple of minutes, and then suddenly he was catapulted out onto the street and immediately tried to get back in. alas, the door had been closed on him, so he started hammering at the door and yelling, and pushing the door open a few inches before it was slammed closed again. because I’m a nosy bitch, I put the window down on that side of the car and muted my music so I could hear what was going on.

basically the pubs had closed early, and he wanted more drink, but the shop was closed. he was cursing up a storm, apparently not caring that an entire van of police officers were inside, getting idk last minute doughnuts or whatever. so there he is, going ape, and suddenly he tries to get inside and three whole feral hogs (cops) shove him out and start yelling. he’s standing there yelling back at all of them, not giving a single fuck, until they finally get through to him that no, they’re not opening the alcohol section just to serve him, and he can go somewhere else. he demands where. the cop points to a shop literally two fucking doors down that’s still open.

off he goes, but not before getting into a further argument with a couple who were literally just walking past and minding their own business. I have an eye for trouble, and it never fails to entertain.

autumnal asks 🍁🎃🍂

[ayliffe]

Okay I need to know if you've heard of The Lovecraft Papers/Scream for Jeeves

omg? i have not

[cithaerons]

y’all...... guys....... folks........

some highlights:

via https://fineartamerica.com/shop/face+masks/gustave+dore

(thank you & cred @aletheiaphrikodes​ for sending me this!)

[majortomiscominghome]

Tagged by @dying-suffering-french-stalkers

tag game: post your lockscreen pic, the last pic you saved to your phone, and the last song you listened to.

Hmm...

Tag @bisopod @mkls @ohdebt @aletheiaphrikodes @farmboys-hips @kinksheriff @celesticadream and really anybody who wants to! I like being nosy about people's music choices.

[thewildeclub]

I wanted to shout out some of my favorite tumblrs so you can find some of the best dark academia quality content on this site.

@aletheiaphrikodes​

@elistudies​

@seelienymph​

@let-there-be-madness​

@darkmacademia​

@amatthewz​

@linnaeus-devotee​

[prophetworthy]

Tag Game: Screenshot of your lock screen, last picture downloaded on your phone, and last song listened to

Tagged by the impeccable and brilliant: @aletheiaphrikodes

I tag the stunning and interesting: @ours-polaires @countessgradula @ladyinshiningarmor @brotherbedestolemymead @imstephenkingoftheworld

[kralmajales]

tag 9 ppl you’d like to know better/catch up with (I did a mix of both!)

thank u ciela ( @trashmouthlesbians ) and jessie ( @brian-zeller ) for tagging me in this i love both of u <3 

last song: we will commit wolf murder by of montreal is the last song i listened to in full but i am currently listening to in all my dreams i drown from the devil’s carnival . am i listening to my will playlist or my dirk playlist (both of which have both of those songs) that’s for you to guess. 

last movie: lmao confessions of a shopaholic 

currently watching: hannibal w/ ciela!! it is. very good and i am enjoying it immensely. 

currently reading: myths to live by by joseph campbell. also i am rereading homestuck 

currently craving: i am craving the leftover food from last night but i am very sick rn and am afraid i wont be able to keep it down :( i crave for this semester to be OVER i love learning but like,, i would like to be done now. 

tagging (if u want): @nirvanalicious , @cithaerons , @aletheiaphrikodes , @professionalbeard , @undeadnymph , @sunshinequeer , @dumbassology , @taakoshell , @pyomatic

[punkenglishnerd]

When you get this, say five good things about yourself and tag your ten favourite followers

Thank you so much @unholyfruitt for tagging me :)

I value kindness and compassion

I persevere even when things are hella shitty

I am committed to working towards my goals and improving

I have a gift with working with kids

I have a passion and thirst for knowledge and learning

Tagging ten of my fav mutuals (pls don’t feel obligated if you don’t want to do it): @maladyofreverie @ohthoumylovelyboy @pendersleigh-rose @aletheiaphrikodes @aconissa @bibelots @sarcasm-and-glitter @childofthehydrangea @satans-classics @enjolrrs

[tinawiththeglasses]

Tag Game: Post your lockscreen pic, the last pic you saved to your phone, and the last song you listened to.

I was tagged by the amazing @aletheiaphrikodes 🥳 Thanks sm! ☺️

I’m tagging @apprenticeofdoyle @athelari @queerhennessy and @ultralarryus ! 💝💝 And anyone who wants to participate!

[holdenshuntingcap]

This is my proposal to @aletheiaphrikodes :

Hey, um

We should get married..please.

The pros of marrying me include but are not limited to the following:

- I am quite nice in general and can make friends with anyone

- I can tie my shoelaces in under 3 seconds (I timed) and with my thumbs tied it takes me 7

- I make really good gingerbread cookies

Cons:

- i live in NZ

- I have a bad memory

- I like listening to the same songs over and over until I hate them

Here's the ring 💍

[silver-sass]

Tag 9 People You’d Like to Know Better

Thank you @aletheiaphrikodes 😔😍

Last song: “Jessica” by girlfriends

Last movie: I’m Thinking Of Ending Things (2020)

Currently watching: Luke Cage

Currently reading: Looking for Alaska by Peter Jenkins, Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, and Community College Student-Athletes: Regular Students or Pro-Athletes in Training? By Holly Pflum, Daniel P. Nadler, and Michael T. Miller.

Currently craving: Those shitty Tombstone brand frozen pizzas that’re like $2

Tagging (if you want): @mamaalpha, @yourapproachingfeet, @peachesarekindapink, and literally anyone else who’d be willing to do it!

[ayliffe]

For some reason I get Desolation energy from you?

oh huh! i do like setting things on fire...

[cithaerons]

@aletheiaphrikodes i appreciate the support

@the-venereal-bede i could but id totally be lying unless you count tumblr rants as independent scholarship. my email makes it obvious what my field is (not dante literature or medieval studies) so i feel like i should have Backstory.

anyways dr professor heather webb (phd stanford 2004) do u have tumblr. are you out there.

[prophetworthy]

Tag 9 People You'd Like to Know Better

Thank you @aletheiaphrikodes !!

Last song: No One is Ever Going to Want Me by Giles Corey

Last movie: Practical Magic

Currently watching: God let me think. The Vow, Steven Universe Future, Lovecraft Country, GBBO-- I know I have way more.

Currently reading: Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey, but I keep want to reach for a non-fiction. Fiction has been painful for me to get through lately.

Currently craving: England...I watched something set there and all I wanted to do was pack a bag, buy a ticket, and escape for a little while. 

I taggggg: @brotherbedestolemymead, @ours-polaires, @swoopstudy, @takingback-thecrown, @lauramatthers, @ladyinshiningarmor, @imstephenkingoftheworld,  @countessgradula, and @liliialitviak

[prophetworthy]

@aletheiaphrikodes​

Hi! Would you ever consider doing that spirited TED talk about why Lovecraft now appeals specifically to the marginalized people he hated? I'm trying to make sense of it myself and it would really help to hear your informed opinion!! Sorry if you have already written about it or if it's maybe too personal! Hope you guys are doing well during the lockdown :)

Yeah, sure.

Lovecraft’s work deals intimately with the pain and fear associated with feeling alienated from your community, your ancestors, and even yourself. 

A lot of his stories are about how there is something ‘different,’ about you or the people around you, that fills you with unease, but is also difficult to define. Your family feels malevolent to you; you feel like everyone in your small town is watching you, or has bad intentions towards you; you know that there’s something that just isn’t RIGHT about yourself. 

Your community might want to force you into a religion, or even a partnership, that seems unspeakable to you, and which fills you with horror.

Sound familiar?

These themes are relatable to LGBT people, to disabled people, to non-neurotypical people, to biracial people, or to people of color who are being raised in communities in which they are an overwhelming minority.

The Shadow Over Innsmouth is probably Lovecraft’s most famous story. It’s about being trapped in a small town where everyone is a part of a terrifying religion that personally hates you, everyone is being forced into horrifying heterosexual couplings of in which one of the partners is a literal monster, for the purpose of breeding, and in which the protagonist survives, escapes, and the government bluntly condemns his tormentors.

As a gay little kid growing up in conservative Maine, this was big for me.

In the end, the narrator of Shadow Over Innsmouth realizes he’s descended from the cultists of this town, and that he is becoming the thing he previously hated and feared. I also was afraid of never getting out of my town, and one day turning into someone just like the people who made my life miserable. To me, it read like a horrible cautionary tale: get out, and don’t look back. What’s going on here is wrong, and you need to pull yourself away, before the pressures of your family & community turn you into one of them.

But that’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth: a story which features alien miscegenation, sure, but not usually one of the stories that gets specifically called out when people talk abot how racist Lovecraft was.

The White Ape is probably the most racist thing Lovecraft ever wrote (also titled Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family). It’s about a man who goes to Africa, falls in love with an ape, successfully reproduces with it, and then all of his descendants are criminals and madmen, with unpleasant, twisted appearances. It’s told from the POV of one of his more distant descendants, who uncovers this information while researching his own geneology, and, upon discovering that there’s an ape in his lineage, commits suicide by dousing himself in lighter fluid and setting himself on fire.

Yikes.

And yet...this story speaks to me, too. There’s a history of serious alcoholism in my family. My mother was an alcoholic. I asked questions: her father was an alcoholic, and suffered from hallucinations as well. His father was also an alcoholic, and he beat his wife and children savagely. And his parents? I don’t know. No one was ever willing to talk to me about it. But every generation I looked back, there was more abuse, more mental illness, more violence. 

The idea that, if I could look back far enough, I could discover a progenitor that had poisoned our entire family was something I dwelled on, as a kid. Would I want to know the truth? Would it make any difference? Would I have some kind of crisis if I found out that I was a descendant of a rapist, or a murderer? How would I react if I learned that I was a part of a cycle of violence and substance abuse that no one before me had managed to escape?

The White Ape is super, super racist, obviously, but it’s not just racist. Taken another way, it’s a story about dysfunction being passed down within a family. It’s a sins-of-the-father story. And if you come from an abusive home, that’s compelling.

Look, Lovecraft was a mega racist. He was also a man who struggled with mental illness his entire life, who had watched both of his parents die in mental asylums, and who never found success in his life. He was afraid all the time, and he wrote about how frightening the world was to him, and how he never felt like he was truly a part of it. 

The racism sucks. 

The rest of it, if you’re a person who has been mistreated or marginalized, can really resonate.

[punkenglishnerd]

Rules: tag 10 people you want to know better.

Relationship Status: In a relationship :))) Favorite Color: Black and pink Three Favorite Foods: literally anything with raw fish :) sashimi, nigiri, chirashi, poke, even lox :)) Song Stuck in My Head: "I’m Just a Kid” by Simple Plan Last Song I Listened to: “Only Good Times” by Keola and Kapono Beamer Last Thing I Googled: “Linkin Park” bc have you seen their website recently?? Pls check it out!!!!! Time: 10:19 am Dream Trip: Going back to London :) Anything I Really Want: A fulfilling and happy life, and for my loved ones to be safe and healthy

I was tagged by @minaahaarker thank you so much for tagging me!!

Tagging: @ohthoumylovelyboy @pendersleigh-rose @aletheiaphrikodes @aconissa @maladyofreverie @bibelots @sarcasm-and-glitter @holydearlyloved