my head is bloodied but unbowed

vanessa | xxii | ♍️ luminous beings are we, not this crude matter

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“Quid, Si Comantur?”: Pic(k/t)ing Put Entangled Epistemologies of Ex(cess) in (Em)bodied Techne ~ in which, a hairy explanation for the “unfunded”, liner notes for the BCAD production of Iphigenia in Aulis, and musing on our potential for chromatic classical futurisms. And Corona Borealis is open for submissions. {link in bio} Thank you @patrick_semple_ for creating such beautiful art for this piece!!!!! (at Manhattan, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CP6moaZs38z/?utm_medium=tumblr

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slow creepin back to makeup #4theeRithim (at Manhattan, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPipt49MdLZ/?utm_medium=tumblr

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angles 📐 (at Washington Heights) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNvWTLVMGY-/?igshid=16njwzt0n3p6f

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spring light + shadows >>>>>>>> #nofilter (at Washington Heights) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNncK1osMJH/?igshid=1mxzu14kly96n

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So excited to be talking with @bryantjermaine this Friday about ancient poetry and rap, swing by digitally if you’re able! 🏺🗣✨ 7pm GMT | 1pm EST | 10am PST (at Oxford, Oxfordshire) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMNFw3ns5Qt/?igshid=eifawc23homo

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sun keeps teasin when it’s below freezin 😒🥶☀️ (at Washington Heights) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMIKS3VM229/?igshid=1rzwonrjuxkjw

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when you finally have the autonomy and wallet to create the looks that have been knocking around in your head since circa 2007 🥲🥲🥲 (at Manhattan, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMD-Ulyscqr/?igshid=rl1k8mbqehi9

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clearing out the drafts (2019 flashbacks) 🖤🤍⬅️❔➡️🤍🖤 (at New York, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CL65groMc_l/?igshid=2dlo3594q5f7

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90s bayang (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CENJLiRp9VK/?igshid=1kz3tkyriy19h

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the raccoon babies who live up in the blackberry brambles have officially become Curious Youths 🦝 (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEFSSf5pzMp/?igshid=1k41xe8b64r6w

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ovid’s metamorphoses 6.61-9 🌬🕸🌈 https://www.instagram.com/p/CD2EOOOJtJk/?igshid=wwvono3jiec1

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pills.mp3 by st. vincent 💊 (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCzFG87J-4h/?igshid=tba3n9y7avd5

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AN OPEN LETTER FROM A ST. PAUL TEACHER TO @mngovernor LINK TO FULL LETTER: https://twitter.com/theoctopiehole/status/1282814469551185921?s=21 https://www.instagram.com/p/CCma5ITpVRW/?igshid=r5b2i52nn19r

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sage yonic drippings 🌱🍑🍯 (at Seattle, Washington) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCaDkMxJkhw/?igshid=9kv6mwklhl8u

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paris is burning screening in the capitol hill autonomous zone 🔥🖤 https://www.instagram.com/p/CBSLOV5p7jE/?igshid=ty1ki7llmzhj

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A Tale of Two Creons: Black tragedies, White anxieties, and the Necessity of Abolition

Black Lives Matter, Antigone, & NYC at the Birth of a Sundown Nation

Greek tragedy is all about Athenian anxiety playing out on the acted stage. On the American stage, White anxieties have necessitated Black tragedies and reactions in the very fabric of our society. Why wouldn’t I return in kind by highlighting it through my own academic lens, with one of the most famous plays from all of antiquity?

Antigone resonates. Her uncle flouts justice by playing god with her brother’s corpse, and she refuses to let him be at peace, even after her death in prison. It’s why her play has been so reactive around the Black Lives Matter movement: No Justice — No Peace.

The timing is everything in Antigone. And timing is the game America has been playing with Black people since 1619. There wasn’t time in the 1830s to give a Black slave a classical training to change the minds of racists. There’s not time for me to stage a production of Antigone to convince the public. So instead I have to innovate and tiptoe the tightrope around the ever-evolving techne of American racism to something new, something hybrid, something all mixed up. But hey, I’ve got one Black parent and one White parent — mixed has always been my vibe.

You want a protest? Here’s a Greekin’ Negroid. I’ll give you a protest.

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Okay wow, deeply surprised that I still knew my tumblr login. I’m not sure who’s still around, so I guess I’ve got some years to sum up real quick. 

Hey folks. So I was a Glee fanfic writer back in the early 10s, and I ended up taking a gradual--and then abrupt--exodus from tumblr for several reasons: mental health issues that I worried were only growing as my brain tried to figure out connection on new digital mediums, my own conflicting feelings around my identity and how much the show I wrote fic for and loved really didn’t help during that time either, and also I got really distracted learning ancient greek and deciding to become a classicist for some reason. 

After college, there was being a barista, and being an activist, and trying to figure out my life and space, and then abruptly deciding to get my masters in classical studies at columbia in nyc. 

Everything’s been wild and crazy. This moment in history is wild and crazy. But also, it’s always been wild and crazy in this country. 

I’ve written an article highlighting the history of white people policing the politics of black abolition--starting in the 1830s with the suggestion that they should learn ancient greek--while remixing Sophocles’ Antigone into an argument against Cuomo and De Blasio to abolish the NYPD and Rikers (so small stuff). 

If any of you have loved my writing in the past and are feeling so many things during this moment that you don’t know how to express, I strongly encourage you to read it. 

Hope everyone’s staying safe and well. 

With love, v ness