December Consumption

People do not realize that when we say Israel is a settler-colonial state, we mean it was literally devised in junction with European imperialism around the turn of the century.

Political Zionism was founded by Theodore Herzl. Originally, Zionists were not specifically interested in the land of Palestine as a colonial project. In fact, Herzl was debating making Argentina the focus of mass Zionist migration, which is quite ironic considering Argentina's colonial and Aryanist past. British-controlled Uganda was also offered as a possibility by Joseph Chamberlain, a Conservative imperialist.

To encourage mass Jewish migration to Palestine, he worked with the British, who had recently drove the Ottoman Empire out of the Levant, and now boasted political dominance in the region, thanks to the Sykes–Picot Agreement between the UK, France, Italy, and Russia which covertly authorized British influence in Palestine, which had become a target of colonial expansion. He specifically wished to collaborate with Cecil Rhodes, a British imperialist who played a lead role in colonizing Zimbabwe and Zambia, and later took inspiration from his time spent extracting wealth from Africa as the founder of mining conglomerate the British South Africa Company.

Herzl’s personal goals for Zionism were colonial. He said in a letter to Rhodes:

“You are being invited to help make history. It doesn’t involve Africa, but a piece of Asia Minor; not Englishmen but Jews […] How, then, do I happen to turn to you since this is an out-of-the-way matter for you? How indeed? Because it is something colonial […] I […] have examined this plan and found it correct and practicable. It is a plan full of culture, excellent for the group of people for whom it is directly designed, and quite good for England, for Greater Britain [...]”

At that time, Palestine was predominately populated with Arab Muslims and Christians, as well as Arab Jews (Old Yishuv) and Druze. Jews made up around 6% of the population. The Ottoman government specifically released a manifesto at the start of Zionist migration condemning the colonization, stating:

“[Jews] among us […] who have been living in our province since before the war; they are as we are, and their loyalties are our own.”

The Balfour Declaration of 1917 on behalf of parliament, officially established the British Mandate of Palestine, sowing the seeds for the modern state of Israel, by means of the UK's ongoing occupation of the region.

Zionism was never about promoting Jewish culture or safety; it has always been tied up in Western (settler-)colonial expansion. !من النهر إلى البحر

One of the funniest (and unmentioned on tumblr) interactions in TSH is when Richard bumps into Dr Roland who talks about his imaginary car

‘I was uncertain if this referred to Bud or to a literal blue jay or if, perhaps, we were heading into the territory of senile dementia’

not sure if anyone is interested in this but here is a list of the most joyfully vital poems I know :)

You're the Top by Ellen Bass

Grand Fugue by Peter E. Murphy

Our Beautiful Life When It's Filled with Shrieks by Christopher Citro

Everything Is Waiting For You by David Whyte

Lawrence Ferlinghetti Is Alive! by Emily Sernaker

Instructions for Assembling the Miracle by Peter Cooley

Barton Springs by Tony Hoagland

Footnote to Howl by Allen Ginsberg

Song of the Open Road by Walt Whitman

Tomorrow, No, Tomorrower by Bradley Trumpfheller

At Last the New Arriving by Gabrielle Calvocoressi

To a Self-Proclaimed Manic Depressive Ex-Stripper Poet, After a Reading by Jeannine Hall Gailey

In the Presence of Absence by Richard Widerkehr

Chillary Clinton Said 'We Have to Bring Them to Heal' by Cortney Lamar Charleston

Midsummer by Charles Simic

Today by Frank O'Hara

Naturally by Stephen Dunn

Life is Slightly Different Than You Think It Is by Arthur Vogelsang

Ode to My Husband, Who Brings the Music by Zeina Hashem Beck

The Imaginal Stage by D.A. Powell

Lucky Life by Gerald Stern

Beginner's Lesson by Malcolm Alexander

Presidential Poetry Briefing by Albert Haley

A Poem for Uncertainties by Mark Terrill

On Coming Home by Lisa Summe

G-9 by Tim Dlugos

Five Haiku by Billy Collins

The Fates by David Kirby

Upon Receiving My Inheritance by William Fargason

Variation on a Theme by W. S. Merwin

Easy as Falling Down Stairs by Dean Young

Psalm 150 by Jericho Brown

Pantoum for Sabbouha by Zeina Hashem Beck

ASMR by Corey Van Landingham

A Welcome by Joanna Klink

From Blossoms by Li-Young Lee

At Church, I Tell My Mom She’s Singing Off-Key and She Says, by Michael Frazier

Movies I think fit into the DA aesthetics II

CHAOTIC ACADEMIA

- Rushmore

- Igbo Goes Down

- What We Do in the Shadows

- The Double

- The Favourite

PUNK/GRUNGE ACADEMIA

- Blue Spring (2001)

- Brick

- Sound of Metal

- Nightcrawler

- Mystery Train

DARK ACADEMIA

- Hurrah, We Are Still Alive!

- Suspiria

- The Moth Diaries

- Phantom Thread

- Incense For the Damned

- The Red Violin

- Howl

- Eyes Without a Face

- Carnival of Souls

LIGHT ACADEMIA

- Picnic at Hanging Rock

- Daisies

- Cinema Paradiso

- The Crimson Permanent Assurance

- The Children’s Hour

ROMANTIC ACADEMIA

- Carol

- Portrait of Lady on Fire

- Vita and Virginia

- The Handmaiden

- Only Lovers Left Alive

- Orlando

‘touching‘ shot by vassilis karidis for fantastic man, issue 30

The development of Lynch's body of work is informed by a realist's optimism that there is an exit from the linguistic labyrinth and that this exit is richly available to us [...] His use of language—and of cinematic vocabulary—suggests that, once we understand that we ourselves have created cultural forms and that they only have the meaning we give them, we are free to understand the forces in the universe that are truly larger than we are and how they connect us to a greater reality.

Martha Nochimson, The Passion of David Lynch

“In cyclamen flowers the red of summer combines with the blue of autumn into a pinkish purple, and their fragrance recaptures all the sweetness of the past; but as you inhale it for longer, there is a quite different smell behind it : that of decay and death.”

— Marlen Haushofer, The Wall (tr. by Shaun Whiteside)

New York Movie-how I feel when I look at Edward Hopper paintings

Dinner Party-for dinner parties with friends (this one is collaborative so feel free to add some of your songs as well)

painting-self explanatory; for when I’m painting

dumb luck-a soundtrack to a sapphic art heist movie idea

More of my playlists :)

To Live Forever- a TSH playlist (songs I think fit) 

 matchbox cars- for driving all around Tokyo with friends (futuristic and retro at the same time) 

coming of age- if I made a teen show, this would be the soundtrack

House Arrest- for cleaning the house with a robot version of you

summer- for wasting your days with your small group of friends

mockingbirds- songs I’d listen to when I fake my death

clementines- for laying on your bed, feeling full and complete 

sunflowers- based on that Holly Warburton painting  

A Burst of Light, Audre Lorde

Fuck your zodiac sign, what Series of Unfortunate Events book do you most relate you?