I got to hold a 500,000 year old hand axe at the museum today.
It's right-handed
I am right-handed
There are grooves for the thumb and knuckle to grip that fit my hand perfectly
I have calluses there from holding my stylus and pencils and the gardening tools.
There are sharper and blunter parts of the edge, for different types of cutting, as well as a point for piercing.
I know exactly how to use this to butcher a carcass.
A homo erectus made it
Some ancestor of mine, three species ago, made a tool that fits my hand perfectly, and that I still know how to use.
Who were you
A man? A woman? Did you even use those words?
Did you craft alone or were you with friends? Did you sing while you worked?
Did you find this stone yourself, or did you trade for it? Was it a gift?
Did you make it for yourself, or someone else, or does the distinction of personal property not really apply here?
Who were you?
What would you think today, seeing your descendant hold your tool and sob because it fits her hands as well?
What about your other descendant, the docent and caretaker of your tool, holding her hands under it the way you hold your hands under your baby's head when a stranger holds them.
Is it bizarre to you, that your most utilitarian object is now revered as holy?
Or has it always been divine?
Or is the divine in how I am watching videos on how to knap stone made by your other descendants, learning by example the way you did?
Tomorrow morning I am going to the local riverbed in search of the appropriate stones, and I will follow your example.
The first blood spilled on it will almost certainly be my own, as I learn the textures and rhythm of how it's done.
Did you have cuss words back then? Gods to blaspheme when the rock slips and you almost take your thumbnail off instead? Or did you just scream?
I'm not religious.
But if spilling my own blood to connect with a stranger who shared it isn't partaking in the divine
they are absolutely not supposed to do this btw, this happened because of unexpected wind conditions. blimps are intended to be docked horizontally. It’s still quite a sight to see.
the metal tower is called a mooring mass. the tallest mooring mast ever designed was the Empire State Building spire, which was originally built to allow airships to dock.
(this was mostly a publicity stun that never actually, ahem, got off the ground)
For all those in the notes - peregrine falcons hunt by dive-bombing their prey; this falcon however is currently stationary and cannot dive-bomb much of anything. In this moment, the pigeon is safe. The falcon however may not recover from the embarrassment.
my prof just explained on the syllabus that he’s included more points in the class than we needed to pass, so we could skip up like?? 20 small assignments/quizzes/participation!! and still get a very high grade!!
the idea was that we could focus on assignments that played to our strengths - only do the participation stuff if we like to talk out loud - only do the quizzes/readings if we want to do the class remotely - only do online discussions if we like to talk and share opinions but struggle with anxiety in class ect.
and that’s cool enough but then he pulled up DnD character sheets with drawings he’d done of these hypothetical student player classes and how our various accessibility needs could be gamified to ‘max out’ different aspects of the class to get high grades and like!!!!!
hell yeah!!!! let’s treat accessibility in higher education not just as a necessity but as the fun, engaging, and creative aspect of learning that it is!!! I love this!!
EDIT: For proper credit or further questions about his system please find my professor on twitter @/kurtishanlon
i wake up thirsty and i think of palestine. i go to the doctor’s office and i think of palestine. a sign in the corner of the waiting room says ‘this is a place of healing, disruptive behavior will not be tolerated’ and i think of palestine. they probably weren’t thinking of bombs and snipers and mass graves in parking lots. i call my parents and i think of palestine. i drive to the grocery store and i think of palestine. i look at the clear blue sky and i think of palestine. i put the dishes away and i think of palestine. i feed my cat and i think of palestine. i listen to music and i think of palestine. i read poetry and i think of palestine. i text my friends and i think of palestine. i think of palestine and i think of palestine and i think of palestine
Butchered Tongue has completely shattered me. The slow, painful erosion of culture and language, of identity. The faded memories of those who came before us. The desperate yearning for a past that you don't remember because it was ripped from you long before you ever came to be. It makes me think of my great-grandfather, who left to work in America and who only returned, decades later, in a coffin. I wonder if he ever sat in some random Irish pub and simply listened to those around him, hoping to find a connection, for a glimmer of familiarity in the faces and voices of strangers. I think of my granny's cousin, the spit of my uncle, who embraced me and held me close as we said our goodbyes. He never lost his mother tongue even after decades of living far from home. He may have made a life on a foreign soil but home remains the quiet Irish village where he was born and which he might never see again. It's the stack of old photographs sitting in the attic, photographs from all over the world, that are all full of smiling, happy faces but there is not soul left who can name them. All we know for sure is that they were once cherished and that has to be enough. It's the names on headstones, of the many souls buried under names they never used in life, anglicized even in death. Síle became Cecilia, Máire Mary, Dónall/Domhnall Daniel, so on and so forth. It's the words my granny used to use, we don't where those words came from, whether it's older Irish words passed on to her before they faded to the sands of time or words lost in translation through learning English words from various relations returning home after working in the fields or in construction in Scotland, Wales or England for a season or if it's one of those unique sayings, the amalgamation of sayings and inside jokes every family has and that are unique to each individual one. We'll never know which, the knowledge passed with her. We still use those words, carry our memories with us but we feel that loss of history and their true meanings. How does anyone carry the weight of all that loss, all of that heartbreak, all that visceral grief? And how do we prevent more loss, how do we keep the fire burning, keep the glowing embers of our past alive? Keep them from fading into the darkness, never again to warm the heart? This song is beautiful and haunting and it's never going to leave me alone.
STOP STOP STOP I THOUGHT BUTCHERED TONGUE WAS GOING TO BE LIKE EAT YOUR YOUNG BUT ITS ABOUT BEING GRATEFUL FOR STILL BEING ABLE TO KNOW IRISH?????? A U G H
#1 WAY TO HIT ME IN THE MIXED KID FEELS IS TALK ABOUT FEELING DISCONNECTED FROM A PART OF YOUR CULTURE LITERALLY WEEPING ON THE COUCH RN
I didn't realise I was waiting for this song my entire life without even realising I was. I can't talk about it without crying
There are words in my native language I can't understand even if I manage to read it. And this place I call home now, how much of its syllables are truly mine? What language does your brain think in? Mine has the alphabets of three languages trying to find home in my head. Sometimes, I don't know what I'm trying to say until I'm done saying it wrong. A butchered tongue still singing here above the ground.
Quick List of References to Dante's Inferno in "Unreal Unearth" (Part Two)
HELLO !!! there is now an updated list since we have now heard the old album so please go check that out instead:
[ the ultimate "unreal unearth" reference list" ]
[ PART ONE ]
I'm back!! A bit later than intended but here are the rest of the references we currently know :]
THIS WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THE ALBUM RELEASE !!!! please take it with a pinch of salt.
"ALL THINGS END"
This song, similarly to "Eat Your Young", doesn't have many specific references, but, as Hozier himself has said, the song is about the sixth circle of Inferno, 'Heresy'. The act of Heresy is the act of holding a belief contradictory to (especially Christian) religion, and this idea is very prevalent throughout the song.
"Just knowing that everything will end should not change our plans when we begin again."
'Ending' is used in two ways throughout the song. One: A breakup. Two: Death. The latter is important for Heresy, where Hozier clearly defies the idea that death will be the end for him. 'Beginning again' is often a term used to relate to the afterlife, and, here, Hozier shows himself going against God's plan to give him a restart, saying that he won't allow death and finality to dictate how he lives his life.
No specific references to Inferno, but Dante was a religious man, and that theme especially sticks out in this song.
"TO SOMEONE FROM A WARM CLIMATE (UISCEFHUARITHE)"
Now, this placement of this song confuses me heavily, I'll be honest. The word "Uiscefhuarithe" is an Irish word meaning "water cooled", which wouldn't align with where we are in Inferno. We are either in circle six or seven, so 'Heresy' or 'Violence', both of which deal with the idea of heat, fire, or boiling sands/rivers.
Since the song is name "To Someone...", I believe the song could be written towards the idea of someone in this circle of Hell, rather than Hozier, or whoever he is writing as, residing there themselves.
No references with the lyrics we have so far, but the 'warm climate' is interesting for where we are at this point in Hell.
"BUTCHERED TONGUE"
So, at this point, I'm highly unsure of where we are in terms of circles, but I'm trying my best. This song will either be 'Violence' or 'Fraud', yet, as far as I can tell, and please correct me if you spot something I don't, I don't see any specific references to anything in particularly.
"And ears were chopped from young men, if the pitch cap didn't kill them. They are buried without scalp in the shattered bedrock of our home."
However, this lyric does seem to display unjust and violent imagery, so perhaps the song is leaning towards Hozier's distaste of those deserving of the punishment that the circle of 'Violence' holds.
"ANYTHING BUT"
Now, I believe we are at 'Fraud', the eighth circle. The issue with these last three circles, especially the eighth, is that they are split into subcategories, 'Fraud' of which has ten. However, the first few circles of 'Fraud' contain people such as panderers, seducers, and flatterers, and the song appears to be very flattering.
"I'd lower the world in a flood, or, better yet, I'd cause a drought. If I was a riptide, I wouldn't take you out."
This song could be in a similar context to most of the album where Hozier admits to the sin, yet argues against the idea of the sin being a bad thing when it's not practiced in extremity. For example, the 'Lust' in 'Francesca' is portrayed as harmless yet consuming love. Aspects of 'Eat Your Young' convey hunger, 'Gluttony', in a, again, harmless lustful way and then contrasts it with a political hunger.
'Anything But' seems to fall into that category of turning a sin into a love song, as Hozier often does.
"ABSTRACT (PSYCHOPOMP)"
I'm going to make a leap and say that this song could possibly not be about a circle at all, but, instead, the transition from one circle to the next. A 'Psychopomp' is a chauffeur of death, someone like the Grim Reaper or, as aforementioned, Charon, who plays a heavy role in the story of Inferno, and, obviously, Virgil, the second main character of Inferno.
"The poor thing in the road, its eye still glistening. The cold wet of your nose, the earth from a distance: See how it shines, see how it shines."
The lyrics seem to reflect on the idea of something dead, yet also still recognising the beauty in its now-faded life. Since the album seems to be a metaphor for one or more relationships, and the song after this is 'Unknown/Nth', I'm going to make the assumption that this song is Hozier reflecting on the goodness of a previous relationship from the persona of a Psychopomp, delivering this love from life to death.
Inferno is about the idea of death, and Dante spends most of his journey being lead, delivered, and guided through sin by various people, but particularly Virgil, who, after the final circle, he parts with.
"UNKNOWN/NTH"
This song is stacked with references to the Nth and final circle of Inferno, 'Treachery'.
"I'd have walked across the floor of any sea, ignored the vastness between all that can be seen and all that we believe."
'Treachery' is a frozen over lake, where winds grow stronger the closer you grow towards the middle. It's a vast, frozen expanse and, although not a sea floor, crossing the lake of 'Treachery' evokes a similar image in my mind to what Hozier is saying.
"Where you were held frozen like an angel to me."
There are many 'angel' lines but, with the mention of 'frozen' and the ice of 'Treachery', I'll pick this one. The reason why the winds grow stronger in 'Treachery' the closer you get to the centre is because, stuck in the middle, too big to escape, is Lucifer, the fallen angel. The winds are caused by the violent movement of his wings as he tries to move, only trapping himself further.
"You called me angel for the first time, my heart leapt from me. You smile, now, I can see its pieces still stuck in your teeth. And, what's left of it, I listen to it tick, every tedious beat, going unknown as any angel to me."
The imagery of Hozier having his heart stuck in someone's teeth is a metaphor to the fact that, when Dante and Virgil arrive at the sight of Lucifer, they see that he is chewing on Judas, another betrayer of God/Jesus.
"Going unknown as any angel to me" is gorgeous. Hozier realises, as God did with Lucifer, that the one he loves is no angel, but a traitor. 'Treachery' is a betrayal of trust, and the song clearly references neglect or mistreatment of Hozier's love and trust, and the metaphor of God and Lucifer is a beautiful way to put that.
"That I'd walk so far just to take the injury of finally knowing you?"
The walk through Hell is a long and tiresome journey, to which Hozier references here. He relates his experience of this relationship to the walk through Inferno, arriving at 'Treachery' and feeling like, despite the outcome not being a positive one, he finally knows his lover in their painful entirety.
"FIRST LIGHT"
Though we have no lyrics, I have a theory... as always, but, at the end of this day, this title means SO much being the closing track.
At the end of Inferno, Dante and Virgil leave Lucifer stuck, and make their way out of Hell through the same tunnel that Lucifer's body left behind after he was thrown through the earth, down to Hell. They emerge on the other side of the earth and Dante says they can "see, once more, the stars", ending on a cadence of hope, similar to a 'first light'.
I mention in part one of this post the utter darkness of Inferno that Hozier references in the earlier songs on this album, and this title seems like a perfect conclusion to emerging from Inferno, and recovering from the damage he suffered throughout his journey.
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OKAY !!!! If I missed anything, let me know, I'm so excited to know what everyone else thinks of the album, and WE ARE GETTING DE SELBY PART TWO IN LIKE FOUR DAYS ?!?!?!?!?! SOOOO
I'm thinking of doing a long winded break down for each song on the album, and previous albums too, so perhaps I will share more of my theories later since, surprisingly, some of you are actually interested in listening to me word vomit over a text post.
ANYWAYS!!! I hope this was helpful to some people or at least interesting :] I had fun writing it, so <3
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