Richard Papen Didn’t Have To Call The Dark Academia Community Out That Hard By Saying His “morbid

Art around Capitol Hill (CHAZ) in Seattle ❤️✊🏼

A Guide To Exploring Abandoned Churches

If you go alone, don’t bring a flashlight. You’ll see things you don’t want to.

Don’t bring groups bigger than 12.

Bring water and some snacks, but no wine.

If you have to sleep there, sleep in the sanctuary, but not on a pew.

If you try to read the hymnal, the words won’t be english anymore.

The Bibles will be blank until you confess.

Don’t go into the confession booth. The man talking to you is not the priest, and you don’t want to know what he really is.

The cross on the wall changes locations, don’t look at it for too long.

If you see someone praying at the altar, don’t approach them. If they approach you, don’t talk to them. Leave immediately.

If you hear the organ playing while you’re in the basement, know that your time is running out.

If it plays while you’re in the sanctuary, your time is up.

Take whatever you want, but if you find that one of your possesions is missing, don’t look for it. Let them have it. It’s not worth your life.

If you find a rosary, don’t put it on. It won’t help.

The water isn’t holy anymore. Throwing it on the demons in the shadows won’t work.

Drink the wine if you wish to never leave.

Don’t get seperated from your friends.

If you spend the night, leave at sunrise otherwise you’ll enter another plane of reality with no way back.

If you don’t spend the night, leave through the doors you came in.

You might look behind you after leaving and see that the church isn’t there anymore. It means that they took what they wanted.

Never enter the same abandoned church twice. Even (especially) if you forgot something inside. That’s a lure. On your second tour through, they will know enough about you to keep you there.

Indian academia

Recently I have seen a lot of excellent posts in the dark academia tags which call out the euro-centrism of this subculture and also give great recommendations for non-white cultural academia. So I decided to put together works of Indian authors that I read growing up in India as a literature student. Please note this list leans heavily towards works centred on Bengal due to my own heritage, and is by no means comprehensive or meant to represent the entire, varied diaspora of India.

Historical/political fiction:

the lives of others by neel mukherjee: chronicling the rise and fall of a bengali family against historical events like the partition, the 1943 famines, the bengal emergency etc. diverse cast of characters retelling history through multiple povs, lyrical prose, incredible research providing an insight into naxalite bengal. talks about how it feels to be a leftist when you are born and brought up in bourgeois privilege.

the lowland by jhumpa lahiri: everything!! written by jhumpa lahiri!! should be savoured!! but this gorgeous book in particular made me UGLY CRY. to summarise without spoilers, it's a story about two brothers, separated by inches and then by miles, a story about student revolutionaries, bengal burning and boston beaches, and it's a story about a beautiful, brilliant, tormented woman who loves and loathes in equal measure.

the shadow lines by amitav ghosh:** intergenerational trauma, dhaka riots and the entwined histories of two families- one in london and the other in calcutta. sharp, bittersweet and sometimes rather scandalous. if you enjoy ggm's works try this.

a flight of pigeons by ruskin bond**: after her father is killed in the 1857 sepoy mutiny, an anglo-indian girl, her mother, and female relatives are given shelter by the muslim family of one of the chief rebels. set in north india near UP, ruskin bond's writing is powerful and explores found families and the price of imperialism and war. chef's kiss.

train to pakistan by khuswant singh: the horrors of post independence sectarian violence as recounted by a fictional village on the indo-pak border with a population largely comprising muslims and sikhs. a harrowing read but evocative and honest.

shalimar the clown by salman rushdie: allegorical story about the kashmir valley unrest, told through the insane, shakespearean revenge tragedy spun out by kashmiri tightrope walker shalimar who falls in love with boonyi, a beautiful pandit girl, a love that dooms him.

a fine balance by rohinton mistry**: four strangers' lives spill into each other as india crumbles under the 1975 emergency. this one has everything political commentary, social satire, depiction of economic hardships and a whole range of characters from diverse backgrounds. side note: it's a pretty heavy and tragic read, please be careful.

Societal stories

the guide by rk narayan: raju, an impoverished, street smart boy in a fictional south indian town takes to conning people as a tour guide but things spiral out of control when he has an affair with a married classical dancer. allegorical writing, funny and eccentric, and there's a LOT of satire about desi stereotypes: fraud religious leaders, scandalous village affairs, neocolonial mindsets and well, dancing. had a great read of this one. don't watch the film, it's inaacurate and the author himself didn't like it :(

malgudi days by rk narayan: set in the same town as the guide, a collection of short stories about the colourful lives of small town dwellers, from astrologers to doctors to postmen. it's funny and poignant in equal measure. there's not a single mediocre story in here, they're all just......charming.

interpreter of maladies by jhumpa lahiri: stories set in boston and bengal about ordinary indian people and ordinary indian lives which are just so, so MASTERFULLY written and in such crystal bright detail it feels all too real. I recommend a temporary matter, when mr pirzada came to dine, sexy, mrs sen and this blessed house.

em and the big hoom by jerry pinto**: a goan family in late 20th century mumbai + their experience when the mother is diagnosed with bpd. I haven't read this book but it was highly recommended by my friends + authors who are greatly esteemed by me

any and every work by ruskin bond because my man literally GREW up around ayahs and tonga drivers and lonely gardeners and sad kite-makers and friends in small places. I recommend road to the bazaar: a collection of short stories about north indian children involving tigers in train tunnels, beetle races, rooftop gardens and the feeling of being home again.

the white tiger by aravind adiga**: epistolary novel that deals mostly with the class struggle in india as told by a village boy, who travels to delhi for work and his slow rise to success through monumental obstacles. a good read to look into the lives and the plight of underprivileged workers and the persisting class disparity in globalised india.

city of djinns by william dalrymple: travelogue/memoir/anecdotes of the author's time in delhi as he researches for the detritus of history in the country capital. non fiction but every bit as riveting as a well spun story.

Retellings/Biographies

rajkahini (transl: stories of kings) by abanindranath tagore: stories about the rajput rulers of western india and their glorious, semi-mythological histories of battles and heartbreaks and visions. the author was often termed a lyrical artist because his descriptive prose is so good it feels like a painting put into words.

empress: the astonishing reign of nur jahan by ruby lal: a feminist biography of my favourite figure from history, nur jahan, and her deliciously satisfying ascent as the sole female sovereign in the line of the great mughals. but wow, what a woman.

the palace of illusions by chitra banerjee divakaruni: retelling of the great epic mahabharata but from draupadi's point of view. poetic and magical, and her descriptions of female rage and the unfairness of society even in mythical canon is SUPERB.

Poetry!

sarojini naidu: patriotism, society, feminism, romance

nissim ezekiel: postcolonial, satire

ak ramanujan: society, classical retellings, folktale inspired poetry

agha shahid ali: socio-political, ghazal inspired poetry

tishani doshi: feminist, contemporary

eunice d'souza: contemporary, gender politics

Pure self indulgent recs

hayavadana by girish karnad: a ridiculous, criminally hilarious play-within-a-play about a love triangle and accidental body/torso swaps and a goddess who couldn't care less and a man with a horse head. yeah.

devdas by sarat chandra chattopadhyay: pls stop shoving the movie down my throat it's the cringiest depiction of bengali culture ever but yeah the novel is 💗💗 and it's about childhood sweethearts dev and paro, the cost of obsessions and lusts and an enigmatic courtesan chandramukhi who keeps loving the wrong things.

any and every work by rabindranath tagore should be considered academia but in particular his short stories, like the kabuliwalah and the postmaster.

the byomkesh bakshi series by sharadindu bandyopadhyay: written in the vein of poirot but in colonial bengal, follows one (1) sleuthy boy and his sidekick as they unravel psychological crimes and murder mysteries. some stories are just genuinely scary and all have eclectic casts. sharadindu said homoerotic/feral women/immoral genius people rights!

Like I said this list is not comprehensive!!! But I tried my best!!! I think we should really try to decolonize our reading tastes. And yes I purposely left out Arundhati Roy (because she is literally the only Indian author ever recommended in lists) Vikram Seth (because I do not like him) and Roshani Chokshi (because any one of the above)

I hope you guys get some good picks from this list :)

[** has heavy trigger warnings]

don’t you fret, monsieur marius

i don’t feel any pain

a little fall of rain can hardly hurt me now

- a little fall of rain, lés misérables

i’ve been saying this to myself this morning and i’m going to say it to you in case you need to hear it: you are not here to be physically attractive. that is not your purpose. you are here to learn new things and be kind to people and listen to your favorite music and pet cute dogs and read big books and drink good coffee. you are here to see beauty in the world and create it when you can’t find any. you are not here to impress people with how you look.

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Hi I'm indy I'm a new follower I plan on going in to computer science! Any advice ?

Hi there! Ohhh that’s so awesome, good luck! Computer science is an amazing subject to study! I was terrified at first because I haven’t had much experience in coding before going to uni, but you’re going to be just FINE trust me!  ✨

💻  first of all DON’T BE SCARED YOU CAN’T CODE - that’s why you’re going to computer science in the first place, to learn to code. Of course, there’s going to be people who are pro-coders already, but don’t get intimidated by them, find your own pace and just do your thing! They’re probably repeating the year anyway or they transferred.

💻  I know in computer science you’re mostly like ‘why do I need lectures when I need to CODE not listen about coding’, but trust me GO TO LECTURES - I attended (almost) every lecture possible during my first year and it really made a World of a difference especially if you’re a newbie to all of this! You’ll meet the professors and you’ll know what they’re expecting of you and they’ll probably tell you some funny stories as well. Plus you’ll have more familiar faces on the campus :) 

💻  DO SOME READING - there’s one lecture that I didn’t go to and that was a mistake I tell you. I didn’t go because the lecturer's voice was boring and I was literally falling asleep. But after I did some reading about the subject before the exam I realized his words were very valuable, but unfortunately if you already knew a bit about the subject, so if you have a subject that bores you - do some reading on your own and then go to the lecture. you’ll get much more information out of it! 

💻  CODE AT HOME - after you’ve practiced some skills during the classes, go home and practice them again on your own. Try doing something useful or fun with it. Like make it print out “Yolo” in a circle (I did that, no regrets lmao)

💻  INSTALL ALL THE SOFTWARE DURING YOUR FIRST WEEK - install all the things you’re going to need during the year on your first week, honestly, please do! It’ll save you time later on. As soon as the professor mentions what you should install, note it down, go home, install it. 

💻  PRACTICE EVEN REALLY SIMPLE THINGS - if you don’t understand anything just type it on youtube and you’ll find plenty of the video tutorials which ARE AMAZING. They helped me a lot with understanding some stuff I couldn’t get a grip of. And I know you’ll find some stuff that you’re like “I don’t need to practice this, this is trivial” IT’S NOT and you’ll get it wrong if you don’t code it at least once, just do it, it’ll take like 30s. 

💻  here are some links which really helped me out and I would recommend checking out beforehand: * c++ step by step video tutorials with Bucky (Bucky saved me before the exam)* learn c++ in one video ( doesn’t really teach you c++ in one video, but there’s some useful stuff especially if you’re new to this) * sorting algorithms with hungarian folk dance (lmao these are really useful, I promise) * codeacademy (here’s just basic coding, but good to start with :) )*  introduction to 3D graphics with Blender ( THE GOD OF BLENDER) and finally:* incredibly realistic wolf animation 

HAVE FUN, RELAX AND GOOD LUCK! ✨✨✨✨ Hope this helped! 

Chaotic academia is ignoring the deadline and just thinking "these essays get submitted when they get submitted"