a compulsive obsession with cleanliness is beaten into us from birth, don’t curse, don’t scream, that’s dirty, don’t wear that, don’t touch that, that’s dirty, have sex, don’t have sex, that’s dirty, you made a mess, clean it up, your brother made a mess, your father made a mess, clean it up, pills instead of a gun, blood’s dirty, don’t play in a dress, you’ll get it dirty, open the windows and boil water with cinnamon and vanilla when da smokes, it’s dirty, older brother not learning he smokes til five years later, he can’t know, that’s dirty, don’t want things, don’t need things, desire can’t be pure, not yours, are you a virgin? have someone else’s hands taken that cleanliness? would that be so bad? of course it would, doesn’t he know there’s no cleanliness left in me to take? he doesn’t care, he’ll take my filth if it’s all i have, as long as he’s taking, as long as it’s all i have left, don’t love her, don’t touch her, that’s dirty, ive cleaned this kitchen ten times, it’s still dirty, da spilled his drink clean it up, he can’t know how bad he’s getting, this house must be clean, clean of him, clean of sin, clean of evidence at least, i’m not clean anymore but i try to be, i have to try, i can’t be dirty, and now it’s not about staying clean but only appearing to be, plato said there’s a class of woman who are receptacles for filth, a sewage system of women at the bottom, and i’m part of that, it feels like it, and now i’m a hopeless cause, i’m tainted, i’m dirty, and i can’t let it spread, what’s around me must stay clean, i can’t infect the world around me, i have to hold the filth inside and keep the world safe, but every woman is this way so what world is there to care for, because no one cares, no one sees, but they don’t want it dirty either, do they.
IN THIS HOUSE WE celebrate black women sculptors because Dark Academia has a slight Michelangelo fetish and sometimes it’s good to mix things up. Left to Right: Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller & Elizabeth Catlett, Selma Burke & Simone Leigh, Edmonia Lewis & Augusta Savage
black academia
the joy of discovering a new secondhand bookstore and then bringing far too many books home
Minneapolis, MN. May 28th 2020
Desi dark academia is just a group of multilingual STEM students with an extensive knowledge of history, who recite Tagore, purely out of memory
me, mentally flipping through the various daydream universes i’ve crafted up like records in a crate: hmm, which fantasy shall i indulge in tonight?
the inherent romanticism of having a friend that checks on you even when you're being an emotionally distant shriveled up idiot
in this essay i won’t
I know that this year's ramadan has been very challenging as mosques were closed and in a month of unity, meeting with friends and family just wasn't possible. I am very sorry you will not be able to celebrate Eid as you usually do because everyone is working hard to maintain social distancing. I heard that many muslims were kindly helping and donating more generously during that holy month, to that, as a citizen of the world going against a global pandemic, I am very thankful. I hope you will keep staying safe and want to tell you that better days will come.
Mimi your friendly ghost 👻💜
Mouhamed Ndiaye , Taslimi Diaby , Bintou Konate & Mamadou Lo by Jean Baptiste Mondino for Numero Homme Magazine - October 2019