aunttwat

[aunttwat]

Arabic dark academia

Having tea first thing in the morning, the afternoon, evening, night and whenever you have nothing to do and whenever you have everything to do

Practicing calligraphy, hoarding calligraphy pens and quills like a dragon hoards its jewels

Youre now a calligragon btw

Pretentious hand written letters

Fragments of poetry and prose on the wall

In Egypt you can buy a vintage gramophone (as far as I remember)

Wrinkling your nose at orientalists who have clearly never been anywhere near the culture they're trying to portray.

Appreciating the orientalists who have in fact been there and paint like it. (Sorry to disappoint but there were never sexy slave babes roaming the streets)

Mourning for the scholars of Al Andaluas and times when Arabic was the language of science

Arguing over e'arab (the value of a word with regard to others in the sentence) and balagha (it translates to "eloquence" but is more like a complex version of figures of speech) of words

Arabic being such a complex language you get carried away sometimes

Passing the allotted wordcount so you start going over your paper and compressing a whole sentence, consisting of a conjunction, a subject, a verb and two objects into a word in desperation

Words like فأسقيناكموه (faa'skainakumooh) meaning "and so we have let you drink it" being an example.

Tea over burning coal. Over logs (hatab) tea over bokhour/oud hits different and you know it.

Brewing coffee over low heat and humming to Layali Al Ouns

"No offense but I like real coffee" when someone mentions starbucks

Um Kulthoum and Asmahan are superior you cant change my mind.

NO I DID NOT FORGET ABDUL HALIM HAFEZ I WANTED HIM A BULLET OF HIS OWN.

Fareed al atrash concerts at 3 am.

Nothing you ever cook will be under seasoned.

Reciting poetry to yourself in the mirror

Big chunks of jewelry (usually gold) engraved or woven through with intricate patterns and swirls. Wearing four bracelets in one hand is absolutely fine and under dressing is a myth

Owning swords is not out of fashion (ancient arabs were well known for their swordsmanship) but using them is, unfortunately <3

Wondering how they won wars with these swords. I couldn't even lift it enough to stab myself if I wanted

Extra names. People called شهد honey (shahd), جمال beauty (jamal), زهرة flower (zahra), ليلى night (laila), سماء sky (samaa), مهند/سيف sword (mohanad/saif) and صفاء purity (safaa) like it's the most normal thing in the world (which it should be, along with names of ancient gods)

Poetry from the abbasid era describing palaces and fountains and music so eloquently your heart skips several beats and you wonder how it is still beating at all and if, after all, you have been born in the wrong era.

Classic poetry from the school of Apollo brimming with romance and yearning you have never seen matched.

Poems that tear at your heart and stitch it whole with every bayt (verse? The equivalent for it) and you keep coming back for more.

Stories so well told that you swear you can see the princes and charmers and musicians and dancers all flicker to life in the flames before you

Historical masjids and churches.

Going to the palaces and shrines and towers from the ancient days of yore

Not exclusively (as neither is anything on this list) arabic but BRAIDS and braid jewellery that clinks when you shake your head

The unwavering belief that poetry is meant to be sung.

Singing poetry because it is meant to be sung

Thick eyebrows

Lining already lash lined eyes with kohl.

Beautiful brown eyes. Honey eyes. Chocolate eyes. Freshly turned earth eyes. Eyes that hold all the ethereal beauty of the world.

Hair styled in dark, thick curls or braids

Savouring the way the words move around from your throat to your chest to the tip of your tongue, like liquid gold,

The sweet music from the strings of a qitharah (string instrument)

Scented candles are cute, but have you ever heard of oud (perfume infused wood)? Anyhow one of my Sudanese friends make it AND IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

Wanting to study with the scholars of baghdad and azhar so bad

Recognizing that for all your culture, some of it is inspired by others and that's okay.

Please add what you can to this list. It is far from complete.

[aunttwat]

ya novels that i consider dark/chaotic academia but kinda aren’t

- truly, devious by maureen johnson. i mean, it takes place at a boarding school, there’s murder. it makes sense. there’s secret passages, murder, it takes place in new england (i think), and practically every character is so incredibly pretentious its incredible

- the name of the star by maureen johnson. EUROPEAN boarding school and murder. AND GHOSTS. i honestly am not finished with this book yet, but it takes place in england and there’s ghosts, fancy boarding school, fancy library, adventures in major european cities. what more could you ask of a novel?

- the book thief by markus zusak. its historical fiction, and for some reason all historical fiction gives off academia vibes. not to mention the dark tones and themes in the novel. it’s incredibly heavy but yet the narrator makes it easier to get through without sobbing 

- the perks of being a wallflower by stephen chbosky. it’s depressing, it’s a teen coming-of-age esque story, and it just has a slight air of pretentiousness to it. the movie is also incredible

- a wrinkle in time by madeleine l’engle. most sci fi doesn’t really fit D.A. (imo), but the whole concept is rooted in darkness and knowledge, not to mention the writing style. the setting is also so mysterious, strange, and cozy. while there is no murder or death or anything, it has extremely dark undertones and it’s one of my favorite books from middle school

- down and across by arvin ahmadi. it’s almost the opposite of DA somehow, a brainiac learns to let loose and enjoy himself, but georgetown? crosswords? biking through the capitol? uhm yes i smell some academia vibes

- greenglass house by kate milford. it’s set in winter, which (aside from autumn) has the most dark academia vibes, and it takes place in a large, mysterious house with secret areas. there’s murder, ghosts, and mysterious guests. the whole thing just screams dark academia, and even though it’s aimed for middle schoolers, i still reread it to this day.

i’m sure there’s more, but that’s all i could think of lol. feel free to add more if you’d like!

[aunttwat]

Hades/Pluto

Small devotional acts.

Donate to organizations that support suicidal individuals

Wear more metal

Eat/drink fermented things

Stay up late – enjoy the night

Help clean up cemeteries – weeding, picking up garbage, leaving fresh flowers, etc.

Get jewelry/crystals like obsidian, smoky quartz, garnet, etc.

Burn a candle, remember those who died unjustly

Use more vinegar – get red wine vinaigrette the next time you have a salad

Go searching for animal bones or fossils

Drink some mint tea

Offer coins/a few dollars to those who need it

Sit on the edge and observe

Bring flowers or a nice card for the people who work in hospice care

Start saving your spare change

Do your assigned tasks to the fullest of your ability (even if they suck)

Wear deep reds and blacks

Learn to keep your emotions in check and stay collected, when needed

Drink black coffee

Spend more time in the shade

Make responsible choices, even if they seem boring

Pay for someone’s meal

Volunteer at a nursing home

Learn CPR and the Heimlich maneuver

Plant a poplar tree

Support someone who needs to put a pet down, in whatever form that takes

Eat more chocolate

Practice your poker face

Host a dinner/visit with friends

Grow some roses

Go for a nighttime drive

PRACTICE LOVING YOURSELF

Many, many, many other things not said here

[aunttwat]

This album is absolutely beautiful yallz

#song recs

[aunttwat]

reblog if you’re lgbtq+ and listened to fireflies by owl city as a child its for science

[aunttwat]

How to live the jester academia aesthetic in every day life

-your study space is any space. if you feel slightly motivated by doing homework in bed, then do it there. if you need a desk (organized or messy) in order to work, then you do you.

-procrastinate with creativity. got a hobby you enjoy that’s infinitely better than reading some old book that’s not really all that important anyway? spend four hours working on that instead.

-wear literally whatever you want. you don’t need button ups, vests, or dress pants if that’s not your style. a sweatshirt, floral skirt, or ugly ass thrifted hawaiian shirt will do just as well if it makes you happy

-don’t get bogged down by depressing things just because it’s “aesthetic.” thinking about the inevitability of death might be nice for some people, but turning yourself into a moody asshole isn’t good for you in the long run. enjoy happy things, romantic things, as long as they don’t always end in tragedy. 

-consume media you enjoy. if you find classics boring, don’t feel obligated to read them. if poetry isn’t you thing, then that’s fine. if you don’t like classical music, indie, etc. blast some pop music in your bedroom or whatever else your into. the interest does not the jester make. 

-finally: do your best. don’t push yourself to be constantly searching for and taking in new knowledge. take a break, be mindless, allow yourself to relax until the next time you need to learn something new. 

[aunttwat]

Second-hand dark academia

• A faded button down shirt that’s too big for you, yet somehow fits you perfectly.

• Buying an old book and inhaling the scent of the pages. Reading the previous owner’s annotations and talking in love.

• Raiding your grandmother’s closet and finding the perfect brooch. Wearing it everywhere you go for a week.

• The feeling of a shoe that’s already been broken in to someone else’s feet, so right and so wrong.

• Spending late nights sewing by candlelight. Chopin playing softly in the background as your needle weaves in and out of fabric.

• The feeling of walking into your favorite second-hand bookstore. The adventure of never knowing what you will discover.

• The leathery ends of an old postcard. You hang it on your wall and secretly read the note on the back, creating history for someone you don’t know.

• Your favorite teacup, chipped at the corner from some unknown mishap. It smells like English breakfast.

[aunttwat]

h u m a n a n a t o m y r e f e r e n c e s

(hand-drawn)

[aunttwat]

i want a crow best friend

[aunttwat]

Here's the ADHD Checklist! I finally made it, it's originally from this post. But I've put it in a more easy to read manner.

Requested by: @partykeet I hope this helps!

If you don't know if you have ADHD or not but have an inkling you might, these are important questions to consider when self diagnosing and researching into the disorder!

Executive Dysfunction

Do you struggle with getting things done?

Do you mean to do it and you don’t?

Do you feel overwhelmed by trying to do it?

Do you forget to do it?

Do you feel like you can’t for whatever reason?

Emotional Dysregulation

Are you often told you’re overemotional?

Are you told you overreact?

Do you feel like you can’t control your emotions?

Do you often go from one emotion to the next?

Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD)

Do you react strongly without meaning to?

Do you get really depressed after wearing yourself out?

Do you feel awful after someone’s criticized you?

Do you often spiral when something goes wrong?

Do you feel like you can perk back up when that person asks you what’s wrong?

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

Do you have a hard time waking up?

Do you have a hard time going to bed?

Do you have very vivid dreams?

Are you aggressive and irritable when someone wakes you up (for like, school)?

Do you struggle keeping a consistent sleep schedule over vacation or summer break, even on the weekends?

Inattention(Dissociation) and Hyperfocus

Do you often zone out?

Do you daydream?

Do you get disinterested often?

Do you feel like you can multitask (listen to music and read at the same time)?

Do you get so absorbed in something that when you return to reality, hours have passed by?

Hyperfixation and Emotional Hyperarousal

Do you have “obsessions” or things that feel incredibly pleasurable/taste good when you interact with them?

Do you have a loud mind that runs a thousand miles a minute?

Do you feel overwhelmed or stressed out by your mind?

Do you overthink or overanalyze things?

Is your head really foggy or thoughts blurry?

Working Memory, Inattention and Object Permanence

Do you seem to have memory problems?

Like you cant remember something someone told you to do (homework, chores)?

Or you easily lose things, having it just been there?

Do you forget that things exist after having them put away?

Do you forget important things like birthdays, dates and numbers, but remember other “trivial” things?

Do you have a hard time remembering the past or your childhood?

Stimulation and Stimming

Does listening to music help you get things done?

Do you need to watch something while you’re eating and get distracted if you don’t?

Do you feel dissociated or distracted when you can’t listen to music or have your phone out?

Do you constantly fidget, shake your legs, play with parts of things?

Do you feel like if you try to stop fidgeting, you’ll feel an urge to do it more?

Do you have a million phone games?

Do you feel like some games aren’t enough to play on their own but some are too much that you can’t focus on anything else?

"Money Blindness" and Impulsivity

Do you have trouble with money when given control over it?

Do you spend money on things other people find pointless or useless?

Do you have trouble with microtransactions?

Do you feel like when you buy something that you’ll have enough money left for things you need?

Are you often broke? Especially if you claimed that you would save money?

Do you often feel like the consequences of buying something aren't that serious?

Time Blindness

Do you have a hard time keeping track of time?

Do you feel like you’re often late to things?

If not, do you have anxiety, and often panic about the time?

Do you often have a hard time keeping a schedule?

Do people say you have poor time management skills, but no matter what you do, you can’t fix it?

Habits, Executive Dysfunction and Disorganization

Do you have poor hygiene?

Do you struggle to remember to brush your teeth?

Is it hard taking a bath/shower? If so, does it take a long time to get into the bath or shower?

If left to your own devices do you wear the same outfit for days?

Do you often look disheveled despite trying to be organized and clean?

Do you often rub off makeup or have messy hair?

Do you try to be organized but no matter what, you can’t?

Boundaries, RSD, and Volume Control

Do you struggle with boundaries?

Do you have a hard time controlling your volume (either too loud or too quiet)?

Do you feel like you’ve ruined everything when someone tells you that you did something wrong?

Do you think you’ve offended people when you haven't?

Do you have a hard time judging reality correctly (like you think you’ve offended or hurt someone and you feel awful but it didn’t bother them that much)?

Disclaimer: Don't say someone who self diagnoses is faking. If you relate to these questions and symptoms, you definitely are not faking. ADHD is a disability that is incredibly hard to manage. People who have it don't like it as they have likely struggled all their life. Being undiagnosed and unmedicated is damaging and traumatizing. Be kind to people, especially if they don't have access to medical help.

[aunttwat]

Upcoming virtual academic lecture on forensic art recreations of historical figures! (Jane Austen, Vivaldi, Robert Hooke, Egyptian Pharaohs, and others). Reserve your place now!

The Bath Royal Literary and Scientific institute is hosting a lecture by an accomplished forensic artist next Tuesday, November 24th, at 2:30pm ET (7:30pm GMT).

The first 10 people who message me your interest will get a free ticket! (Otherwise, it’s a couple dollars). It looks absolutely fascinating, and we’re hoping to get a great turnout. Since it’s virtual, we’re welcoming participants from all over the globe!

Lecture description:

Melissa Little is an accomplished portrait artist who also has an extensive career as a forensic artist working for different police forces around the UK. In relation to this work she has studied the psychology of memory and perception.A more unusual challenge for her has been to carry out extensive research to produce likenesses of famous historical figures for whom there are no contemporary portraits. Jane Austen, Antonio Vivaldi, Robert Hooke and even an Egyptian pharaoh – Psusennes I – have all been brought to life for modern audiences through Melissa’s skill.

See event description and buy tickets here: https://www.brlsi.org/events-proceedings/events/live-putting-face-history-jane-austen-robert-hooke-vivaldi-and-others

Please shoot me a message if you’re interested in attending! You won’t have to do anything you don’t want to; you just watch along on Zoom. There will be a Q&A at the end in which you’re welcome to participate, but it’s up to you!

[aunttwat]

"...the only psychologist from whom I have anything to learn." - Nietzsche

"Dostoevsky gives me more than any scientist, more than Gauss." - Albert Einstein

"So great is the worth of Dostoevsky that to have produced him is by itself sufficient justification for the existence of the Russian people in the world: and he will bear witness for his country-men at the last judgement of the nations." - Nikolay Berdyaev

"...a prophet of God," and "mystical seer." - Vladimir Solvyov

"He lived in literature." - Konstantin Mochulsky

"Russia's evil genius" - Maxim Gorky

"...the Shakespeare of the lunatic asylum" - Count Melchoir de Vogue

"...an author whose Christian sympathy is ordinarily devoted to human misery, sin, vice, the depths of lust and crime, rather than to nobility of body and soul" - Thomas Mann

"Dostoevsky was human in that 'all too human' sense of Nietzsche. He wrings our withers when he unrolls his scroll of life." -Henry Miller

"He who gets nearer the sun is leader, the aristocrat of aristocrats, or he who, like Dostoevsky, gets nearest the moon of our non-being." - D. H. Lawrence

"Dostoyevsky wrote of the unconscious as if it were conscious; that is in reality the reason why his characters seem 'pathological', while they are only visualized more clearly than any other figures in imaginative literature... He was in the rank in which we set Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe." - Edwin Muir

[aunttwat]

I went to the bookstore today and an employee had put books like the goldfinch, 1984 and animal farm, catch -22, lord of the flies, Grimm's fairytales (which is admittedly the odd one out BUT YOU GET THE PICTURE) in the erotica novels section and it made my day whoever they are they deserve the world

[aunttwat]

Dat is beautifull

“According to Greek mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.”

— Plato, The Symposium 

[aunttwat]

Oh to listen to Mozart's Lacrimosa in an empty cathedral.

[aunttwat]

my dark academic life as a filipino girl

inspired by @bioiogy

• learning how to write baybayin

• reading noli me tangere and el filibusterismo

• drinking blue ternatea while watching the rain drops slide through the window

• taking pride in my morena skin, golden eyes and thick wavy hair

• daydreaming about bahay kubo’s, coconut trees and hammock

this is literally only i can think of atm im sorry kssksks

[aunttwat]

No Procrastination November (Day 7)

1. Read psychoanalysis of Sylvia Plath's creativity and death

2. Read love letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. (I cried)

I feel blessed that I chose to study literature.