Exemplary Vegetable

Pride and Prejudice and also academia aesthetics and other period dramas

[blossomrosie]

SCORPIO X SAGITTARIUS

  ( for anon )

[ladycondescension]

The (Mostly Light) Academia Capsule Wardrobe

(disclaimer: These are just ideas and you do not have to dress this way or buy new clothes to be ~academic~. Just made this up for myself, inspired by capsule wardrobe rules, and wanted to share.)

Tops:

• a loose white tee shirt

• 2-3 white, cream, or black blouses (maybe one could be a milkmaid-type blouse)

• a cream cotton turtleneck

• a black or brown cotton turtleneck

• a white or cream sweater

• a white button down

• a university sweatshirt

Bottoms:

• a pair (or two!) of nice jeans

• a pair of plaid or neutral trousers

• a satin or velvet formal skirt

• a flowy white skirt for summer/spring

• a wool skirt

Dresses:

• 2 prairie/sundresses

• a more formal, sleek dress in a neutral color

Shoes:

• black or brown boots, such as Dr. Martens

• oxfords

• nude heels

Outerwear:

• a long/trench coat

• a few cardigans

• a blazer

[sib-studies]

As someone who is actually from an African country and whose traditional dances involve a lot of butt-shaking, I’m going to need Westerners not to assume women shaking their bodies or winding their waists is inherently sexual/perverted. The only reason y’all put ballet on a pedestal and view African dances and hip-hop dances as savage and/or sexualized is white supremacy.

[chanebxjkx-deactivated20220110]

In academia, people of color and different cultures are often underrepresented. Many people think that reading Donna Tartt, Sylvia Plath, Shakespeare, Aristophanes, etc., studying the ideologies of Nietzsche and Camus, studying Greek art, learning Latin, listening to Bach and Chopin, etc. makes one an academic. That is so untrue because academia, intelligence, music, art, architecture, and literature also exists in cultures outside of Europe and European Americans (yes, I just called white people European Americans) as well.

[sappylittlebitch]

cultural academia pt. 2

here’s pt. 1

This is a continuation of spreading cultural books to end eurocentrism in academia. There’s definitely more “dark academia” books that fit the aesthetic this time around! Thank you to everyone who added books in the notes of the first post- I just put all those suggestions together in this list so complete credit to everyone who made these suggestions <3

Chinese: 

Shen Congwen

Geling Yan

From Emperor to Citizen 

Life and Death in Shanghai by Niem Cheng

Jin Ping Mei by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng

Japanese:

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai

Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu

Sonezaki Shinju by Chikamatsu Monzaemon

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami

Works of Oe

Tosa Nikki by Ki no Tsurayuki

Torikaebaya Monogatari 

Ise Monogatari by Ariwara  no Narihira

A Fool’s Love by Tanizaki Jun’ichiro

The Golden Death by  Tanizaki Jun’ichiro

Hell Scene

I Am a Cat by Natsume Soseki

The Strange Tale of Panorama Island by Edogawa Ranpo

The Setting Sun by Osamu Dazai

The Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima

Flower Tales by Yoshiya Nobuko

Books of Hayashi Fumiko

Books of Enchi Fumiko

The Demon’s Sermon on the Marrial Arts by Issao Chozanshi

Book of Tea by Okakura Kakuzo

Kokoro by Natsume Soseki

Fool’s Life by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Rashomon by Ryunosuke Akutagawa

Thai:

Garin’s Uncanny Files

Irani/Persian:

Disoriental by Negar Djavadi

Mesopotamia:

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Pakistani:

Poetry of Allama Iqbal

Works of Saadat Hassan Manto

My Feudal Lordand Blasphemy by Tehmina Durrani

The Reluctant Fundmamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

Raja Gidh by Bano Qudsia

Four Tragic Romances of Punjab (Heer Ranjha, Mirza Sahiba, Sassi Punnun, and Sohni Mahiwal)

The Crow Eaters by Bapsi Sidhwa

Indian:

Ramayana by Valmiki

Nonviolent Soldier of Islam by Eknath Easwaran

The Wildlings by Nilanjana Roy

Sivagamiyin Sapatham by Kalki Krishnamurthy

Chitralekha

Chandralekha

Rabindranath Tagore’s short stories

Works of Satyajit Rai

Byomkesh Bakshi

Munshi Premchand (Godan, Gaban, Nirmala)

The River Sutra

Mehlua

(comics)

Nagraj

Chacha Choudhary

Lotpot

Champak

Nandan

Vikram Betal

(poets)

The Golden Threshold by Sarojini Naidu

Gitanjali

Works of Ruskin Bond

Mahadevi Verma

Hajari Prasad Divedi

Arabian:

Hayy Ibn Yaqzan by Ibn Tufail (he lived in Al-Andalus but was Arab I believe)

Filipino:

Works of Nick Joaquin

Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan

The Eight Muses of the Fall By Edgar Calabia Samar

Isabelo’s Archive by Resil B. Mojares

Noli Me Tangere by Dr. Jose Rizal 

El Filibusterismo by Dr. Jose Rizal

Indonesian:

Buru Quartet by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Saman by Ayu Utami

The Years of the Voiceless 

Beauty is Wound by Eka Kurniawan

Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan

(poets)

Sapardi Djoko Darmono

Chairil Anwar

Sustardji Calzoum Bachri

W.S. Rendra

Taufik Ismail 

Wiji Thukul

NH Dini 

Dee Lestari

Mira W.

Malaysian:

Garden of Evening Mists

Brazilian:

O Ateneu by Raul Pompeia

Ursula by Maria Firmino

The Hidden Cause; The Alienist by Machado de Assis (short stories)

The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma by Lima Barreto

Barren Lives by Graciliano Ramos

Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus

Rebellion in the Backlands by Euclides da Cunha

Macunaima by Mario de Andrade

Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon by Jorge Amado

Captain of the Sands by Jorge Amado

Auto da Compadecida by Ariano Suassuna 

City of God by Paulo Lins

Budapest by Chico Buarque

The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas by Machado de Assis

Poems by Vinicius de Moraes

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector

Antologia Poetica by Carlos Drummond de Andrade

Senhora by Jose de Alencar

Colombian:

Works of William Ospina

Chilean:

Works of Isabelle Allende

Mexican: 

Poems by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz

Laura Esquivel

El Vampiro de la Colonia Roma by Luis Zapata Quiroz

(authors)

Gerardo Murillo

Ruben M Campos

Maria Enriqueta Camarillo de Pereya

Aura by Carlos Fuentes

El Llano by Juan Rulfo

La Casa Junto Al Rio by Elena Garro

Amparo Davila

Guadalipe Duenas

Ines Arredondo

Fransisco Tario

Max Aub

Bernado Couto Castillo

Amado Nervo

Adriana Diaz Enciso

Emiliano Gonzalez

H. Pascal (poetry of vampires and ghosts)

Tequila Gotico: Literatura Gotica en Mexico (published in magazine/good intro to gothic lit in Mexico)

Argentinian:

The Invention  of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares

The Tunnel by Ernesto Sabato

Short Stories of Jorge Luis Borges

Nigerian:

Americanah by Chimamanda Adiche

Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo 

Malian:

Fatoumata Keita

Senegalese:

Amadou Kane 

Cheik Anta Diop

Sudanese:

Season of Migration to the North

Native American:

Works of Leslie Marmon Silko

Canadian:

Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan (Ghanan-Canadian)

Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese (Indigenous Canadian-Ojibwe)

Birdie by Tracie Lindberg (Indigenous Canadian-Cree)

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican-Canadian)

British:

White Teeth by Zadie Smith (Jamaican-British)

American:

Works of Gwendolyn Brooks

Works of Langston Hughes

A Naked Singularity by Sergio de la Pava (Colombian-American)

Once again, if your country wasn’t included, that doesn’t mean it’s not important!! Please continue to add more books with their countries in the notes and correct me if I’ve made a mistake!!

[etherea1ity]

[drunkacademie]

Fragments of a Beethovenfest deko I found at a thrift store in Vienna - 2020

[spookumsandmonsters]

Academia style but make it inclusive 🦇✨🥀

[ofbooksandboys]

You should be outraged. You should be enraged and if you are not, if the senseless killing of the black community at the hands of our police force does not anger you please reevaluate your humanity.

To be unmoved by the current issues of our society is a privilege. To prioritize looting and damage to property over lost black lives and police brutality is to lack humanity.

Please evaluate and educate yourself, this is a major issue and we need serious reform and revolution in this country.

You can’t love the Romantics and academia and remain ignorant and complacent.

Photos taken from @thetogfather on Instagram

[frokk]

dark academia but it’s online school

- waking up early in the morning to watch the sunrise, even though you don’t actually need to

- staying up late to read or paint because you don’t have to get up early

- handwriting assignments that should be typed and submitted digitally

- having a coffee cup with you, rather than a thermos because you don’t have to take it anywhere

- still getting ready and dressed so that you can feel focused on your work in the mornings

- emailing your teachers to see if they have any extra reading related to the topic

- turning in all of the assignments for the week earlier than the rest of your class because you wanted to finish them early

- not doing any assignments for the week because you were too interested in researching about different planets or the deep sea

[isabelladjanis]

Jane Eyre (2011) dir. Cary Joji Fukunaga

[fallback]

quarantine literature to pass the time

hello lovely people! it’s quarantine time, and, since a lot of us being stuck inside, i think we’re all looking for something to pass the time. so, i figured i should list some books that will not only fill up hours of your time, but will also maybe help you cope with the long hours spent cooped up indoors. these books go over themes of isolation, quarantine, and cabin fever - but also hope, and perseverance. from these books i hope you will gather strength, and know that we will survive this. i’ll also be including pdf links!

the diary of anne frank - the personal writings of anne frank, a jewish teenage girl living in nazi germany. to escape capture, she and her family were forced to hide in an attic apartment with four other people - for two years. this book is absolutely amazing, and so insightful into life during this era in history.

the shining - one of stephen king’s most famous novels. the story follows jack torrance, a recovering alcoholic who takes a job looking after the renowned overlook hotel in the off season. he, his wife wendy, and his clairvoyant “shining” son danny, snowed in, come to learn that the empty hotel has it’s own agenda. this book is absolutely terrifying, but you won’t want to put it down. (watch the movie too!!)

fallout - a novel by todd strausser (sorry i couldn’t find a pdf for this one). strausser envisions a world without the cuban missile crisis - where the bomb actually dropped. in new york in the summer of 1962, scott’s dad built a bomb shelter in preparation for the worst. and when the worst happens, his family is ready - until neighbors scramble into the bunker too, leaving them underprepared, and trapped for two weeks in absolutely abhorrent conditions. it’s just a crazy book to read, imagining what could’ve happened.

bonus - i have no mouth, and i must scream - harlan ellison’s 1967 short story, and a post-apocalyptic nightmare. in his reality, a supercomputer constructed in a time of war became self-aware, and destroyed the world, except for five people. it keeps them immortal and tortures them to amuse itself, and to express its hatred for the beings that created it. the story follows one of these characters, and you really just have to read it and see what happens. fair warning though, it’s really dark. discretion highly advised.

well, i hope you like these books. i’ll be linking some less-dark ones soon. happy coronacation!

[emerald-lavender]

Realistic Dark/Light Academia things to do during quarantine to make life a bit lighter:

- Simply choosing things based on a color palette can make a big difference. Stick with muted, dark, earth or natural tones. Instead of drinking your morning coffee out of that pink mug, choose the plain ivory one instead. Instead of curling up with the bright blue blanket, choose the black one instead. It’s nice to look down and notice that everything you are wearing or doing seems to fit together.

- Go outside or sit by an open window with sunlight. Read, write, meditate, draw, do anything that isn’t electronic. This is a great thing to do on a study break or when you start to feel overwhelmed or anxious.

- Find a quiet place in your home to work. Make this your spot. Make it as academically aesthetic as you can. Fill it with books, textbooks, pens, notebooks, candles, blankets (remember - don’t underestimate the power of a color palette!) If you choose your spot to be in your bedroom, pick a specific spot in that room. This is where you will do any school or work. When it comes time to work, turn on your favorite study playlist and make a cup of tea.

- Learn a new skill. Even if you are bad at it! Try learning Latin or French. Memorize a passage of Shakespeare. Learn a song on the piano. Write poetry.

- Get ready for the day, even though you aren’t going anywhere. Dress as if you were going to school! It’s not always encouraging when you come to the end of the day and realize you are still in your pajamas. Getting dressed and ready will motivate you to get things done!  

- Journal. Is there a better time to write down your thoughts than during a global pandemic?

- If you live near the woods, find a spot where you can go to escape. Bring blankets and books.

- Take a bath at sunset. Turn off all the lights and light candles. Beethoven or Debussy in the background.

- Have a picnic with your family, or alone, in your backyard. Strawberries, blackberries, bread, wine.

- If you can, sneak onto your roof or balcony at night. Drink and stare at the stars until you start to question your own existence.

- Lay in the middle of the street at night. Feel the pavement against your palms, still warm from the afternoon sun, and remember that life is still beautiful and everything is going to be okay. 

Feel free to add more in the comments!

- B

[starfawn-wildwife]

Anyone else ever follow a seemingly cute tradlife/cottagecore/homesteading blog, only to cringe and hit the unfollow button when you’re scrolling through your dash and see them reblog some vitriolic anti-choice post about how evil abortion is, and how consenting to sex is consenting to pregnancy?? Or is it just me that that happens to all the time?

Clearly I need to find more progressive bloggers with an interest in femininity to follow. I know there are more of us, despite the majority of the community being conservative! To me, there are few things more traditionally feminine than the practice of caring for and protecting ones’ own body and choosing what’s best for it (and your family). Women have been making tinctures to prevent pregnancy (carrot seed, anyone?) and brewing teas to end unwanted ones for literally as long as humanity has existed. Midwifery as a folk practice often included mentoring young women in safe sexual practices for the time, and family planning was of paramount seriousness in a world where childbirth was dangerous and children died so young. Where is my representation for that traditional femininity–the kind that cherishes pregnancy and infants, but understands the importance of being able to choose the right time for them?

I invite anyone who disagrees with this to kindly unfollow me. And for those of you who do agree, please reblog and help me find more like-minded, feminist blogs that still enjoy homemaking and traditional interests!

[verynormalblogger]

hey guys, just in case my blog style made it unclear

fuck traditional and conservative values fuck all of that racist white supremacist sexist gender role submissive bullshit disguised as aesthetics and fuck anyone who thinks those ideals should be universal

thank you, have a great day

[padfootstolemycrumpets-deactiva]

[elizabethjenningz]

If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.

EMMA. (2020), dir. Autumn de Wilde