i was in lit today & we were analyzing the sick rose - williams blake. my teacher was explaining how the line: "the invisible worm" and similar descriptions in literature can be used as phallic symbols.
i immediately started giggling. i was the only person who laughed ... i was incredibly flustered by my apparent immaturity, but also confused because my class is definitely not comprised of anyone too mature to laugh at a dick joke.
i was right. as soon as my teacher explained that "phallic" was basically synonymous with penis, the entire room burst out with laughter. so then i realized that i wasn't immature, i was just the only person who knew what "phallic" meant ...
is the meaning of "phallic" not common knowledge?
i've always loved studying greek and roman mythology, especially art depicting or related to the myths. whenever i read up on the histories of various sculptures, stories and architecture, terms like "phallus" had always shown up quite commonly to describe symbolic themes.
anyways im clearly still embarassed because i haven't stopped thinking about today's lesson for the past 9 hours ...
I've seen you here before, I know your name
Yeah, you could have your pick of pretty things
You could have it all, everything at once
Everything you've seen, everything you'll need
Everything you've ever had in fantasies
the short stories are actually really provocative and profound, heartrending and disturbing and thought-provoking and funny all at the same time and in such a short amount of space.
but i feel like when n*tflix touched them, they were the first victim of a withering away and soul sapping for me, in which i couldn't bear to be around the kinds of discussions and jokes and everything which were coming up at that time as fundamental misunderstandings of them so it just became very painful and very banal because they were all, in essence, forgotten.
however, that damage is not irreversable.
particularly in the case of a good adaptation, the musical, i have begun to remember all of why i love the short stories so much, just how good and painful to my heart they are, as well as thinking more deeply about some aspects which i had not previously considered or paid a lot of attention to (in lieu of other things which excited me more).
i think the biggest strength of a "good" adaptation and a "good" fandom is that they make you realize things you hadn't, interested in parts that weren't your 'favorite,' and generally expanding your mind and love of the source material. in contrast, a "bad" adaptation or "bad" fandom is that which makes you wish to forget and eventually end up forgetting your love and leaving it behind yourself. "good" is to remember, "bad" is to forget.
I got asked to choose (and share) some of the prettiest books that I own ✨📚
For more “regular” books, my pick was my copy of Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin (published by Everyman’s Library) and two poetry books from the Clothbound Penguin Classics series: Song of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake and Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes and Other Poems by John Keats. For Giovanni’s Room in particular, I both really love the cover and what the book looks like without the cover, with the gold lettering on the spine, and how elegant the endpapers look!
And finally, two honorable mentions: Useless Magic by Florence Welch, and Love Is Enough by Andrea Zanatelli. I love that together they form a sort of set, with the heart imagery framed in the front. Both are beautiful books filled with lots of artistic imagery.
And finally, two honorable mentions: Useless Magic by Florence Welch, and Love Is Enough by Andrea Zanatelli. I love that together they form a sort of set, with the heart imagery framed in the front. Both are beautiful books filled with lots of artistic imagery.
william blake is becoming a huge inspiration to me. i was always obsessed with the chimney sweeper but i just got a copy of songs of innocence and experience and i am so enamored.
As someone who likes gaylor but but became detached, it really turned me off how mainstream Gaylor views required you to disregard excessive amounts of what Taylor has said to be true. Particularly with ATWTMV it really bugged me how some high profile Gaylors accused her of making it up as age gap relationships were topical. Same with people denying she was with John. Like that man is abusive and you’ll aid his agenda because she couldn’t possibly be bi or your ~sources~ couldn’t be wrong
yep! i think the rigidity of opinions and absolute refusal to acknowledge that anything else could possibly be true is really what turned me off in the past couple years. fwiw i know i and a lot of other gaylors had the belief that jm was like The One Real Guy, but i think atw10 was actually a huge catalyst in my shifting mindset even if i didn't realize it at the time. it's frustrating to never be able to take taylor at her word, and i think operating under the guise that someone is lying every time they say anything can pretty easily turn into victim-blaming and just generally getting unreasonably angry at them over things you essentially invented (i've seen this happen countless times and definitely used to get caught up in the cycle). and it's like...i think if this woman is saying she was in these traumatizing and earth-shattering relationships with these men, it feels a little reductive not to be able to take her at her word and believe what she's saying. unfortunately, the way a lot of gaylor rhetoric manifests sort of lends itself to crossing over into these kinds of reductive implications if taken too far (this is true of the antisemitism and biphobia as well). but i also want to caveat that i really hate when everyone who thinks taylor could be queer is painted out to be this way because that's just as bad, not to mention objectively incorrect (not a specific dig at you, anon, just a general point of nuance i think it's important to reiterate).