Latest Posts by arguablyacademic - Page 3

you know what hits me about the "on purpose on purpose im going to love you on purpose" "i'll take care of you, it's rotten work, not to me not if it's you" "im going to love you without a single string attached" "i don't know where to put it all the love i have for her, i'll take it" "i walked in love with you with both eyes open choosing to take every step"?

they all have the same desire, they all desire for someone to Want it, for love to not be an accident or something that happens without recognising it, they all have the overtones desire of wanting someone to deem you worthy of love, to see you and meet you and know you and Want to love you, to make that choice and stick by it because loving you or being loved by you is something so deeply worth it and fulfilling and moving and powerful that they Want it, in their soul they crave to love and be loved

they're such varieties of the basic desire to be wanted

they say these things and they mean "love me because i am lovable" not "love me because you find me desirable/you have realised you already do/you want something from me" etc

it's "love me because i am me and you are aware of that" and it's something you can just scream to someone when you can't find another way to say "i am choosing to love you because loving you is something i want to experience no matter the outcome"

love them . On purpose, on Purpose and by choice and intentionally you will Love Them

Sophie’s Exhaustive Dark Academia List

For a while now, since my dark academia rec list was such an unexpected success, I’ve wanted to create a list of all the dark academia books I’m personally aware of, regardless of whether I have already read them, as sort of a resource for the community. I have now done just that!

The titles in bold are the ones I have read. The ones I would especially recommend (which, okay, yeah, are almost all of the ones I’ve read) are in bold and italics. Note that this doesn’t mean I loved absolutely everything about the recommended book, just that I think it was good or worth reading overall. 

If anybody is aware of a dark academia read that didn’t make the list, please leave a comment and I’ll update the list! Thank you! And thank you to everyone who has already recommended titles to me, helping me compile this list! :)

Also, just to be clear: My personal definition of dark academia would be a story that is set at a school or university or focuses heavily on academia otherwise (maybe the characters are in a secret book or debate club, discuss academic topics, something like that) and in which something bad or dark happens. This could be a crime (violent or non-violent), an accidental death, something supernatural going on… Note: Some of the books on the list (meaning of those I haven’t read) might only fit a looser definition of dark academia, e.g. maybe they have a dark subject matter and include some intellectual elements, even if the setting isn’t actually an academic institution. 

And now, without further ado, enjoy!! As I said, I hope this will be a good resource for the dark academia community! And I want to update this list regularly so that it’s as exhaustive as possible! :)

A Beautiful Doom (Laura Pohl)

Academy Gothic (James Tate Hill)

Ace of Spades (Faridah Abike-Ayimide)

A Fatal Inversion (Barbara Vine)

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Holly Black)

A Great and Terrible Beauty (Libba Bray)

A Lesson in Vengeance (Victoria Lee)

An Education in Ruin (Alexis Bass)

A Question of Holmes (Brittany Cavallaro)

A Separate Peace (John Knowles)

As Good As Dead (Holly Black)

A Student of History (Nina Revoyr)

A Study in Charlotte (Brittany Cavallaro)

All Summer in a Day (Ray Bradbury)

As I Descended (Robin Talley)

Bad Habits (Amy Gentry)

Black Chalk (Christopher J. Yates)

Brideshead Revisited (Evelyn Waugh)

Bunny (Mona Awad)

Cat Among the Pigeons (Agatha Christie)

Catherine House (Elisabeth Thomas)

Different Class (Joanne Harris)

Dismantled (Jennifer McMahon)

D.O.G.S. (M. A. Bennett)

For Your Own Good (Samantha Downing)

F.O.X.E.S. (M. A. Bennett)

Gaudy Night (Dorothy L. Sayers)

Gentleman and Players (Joanna Harris)

Girlhood (Cat Clarke)

Give Me Your Hand (Megan Abbott)

Good Girl, Bad Blood (Holly Black)

Good Girls Lie (J. T. Ellison)

Hex (Rebecca Dinerstein Knight)

House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski)

How We Fall Apart (Katie Zhao)

If We Were Villains (M. L. Rio)

In My Dreams I Hold A Knife (Ashley Winstead)

Kill All Your Darlings (David Bell)

Killing November (Adriana Mather)

Miss Pym Disposes (Josephine Tey)

Murder Scholastic (Janet Caird)

Ninth House (Leigh Bardugo)

Party Girls Die in Pearls (Plum Sykes)

Peace Breaks Out (John Knowles)

People Like Us (Dana Mele)

Picnic at Hanging Rock (Joan Lindsay)

Private (Kate Brian)

Shadow of the Lions (Christopher Swann)

Sleepwalking (Meg Wolitzer)

Special Topics in Calamity Physics (Marisha Pessl)

S.T.A.G.S. (M.A. Bennett)

Summer Sons (Lee Mandelo)

The Basic Eight (Daniel Handler)

The Bellweather Revival (Benjamin Wood)

The Book and the Brotherhood (Iris Murdoch)

The Case for Jamie (Brittany Cavallaro)

The Club (Takis Würger)

The Deceivers (Kristen Simmons)

The Devil Makes Three (Tori Bovalino)

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks (E. Lockhart)

The End of Mr. Y (Scarlett Thomas)

The Furies (Katie Lowe)

The Furies (Natalie Haynes)

The Girls Are All So Nice Here (Laurie Elizabeth Flynn)

The Hand on the Wall (Maureen Johnson)

The Ivies (Alexa Donne)

The Lake of Dead Languages (Carol Goodman)

The Last of August (Brittany Cavallaro)

The Lessons (Naomi Alderman)

The Likeness (Tana French)

The Lying Game (Ruth Ware)

The Maidens (Alex Michaelides)

The Mary Shelley Club (Goldy Moldavsky)

The Night Climbers (Ivo Stourton)

The Orchard (David Hopen)

The Secret History (Donna Tartt)

The Secret Place (Tana French)

The Shadow Year (Hannah Richell)

The Swallows (Lisa Lutz)

The Truants (Kate Weinberg)

The Vanishing Stairs (Maureen Johnson)

The Wave (Morton Rhue)

The Wishing Game (Patrick Redmond)

The Wyndham Case (Imogen Quy)

The Year of the Gadfly (Jennifer Miller)

These Violent Delights (Micah Nemerever)

They Never Learn (Layne Fargo)

They Wish They Were Us (Jessica Goodman)

T.I.G.E.R.S. (M. A. Bennett)

Truly Devious (Maureen Johnson)

Trust Exercise (Susan Choi)

White Ivy (Susie Yang)

Without Anette (Jane B. Mason)

I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU.

anne carson, euripides / dead poets society, 1989 / a text between me and a loved one / you remind me of you, eireann corrigan / columbus, 2017 / puppet, tyler the creator / rooftops of tehran, mahbod seraji / you can't be depressed, neil hilborn / russian doll, 2019 / miss stevens, 2016.

the power of wearing a long ass coat. unmatchable

home is the first grave

@filmnoirsbian x (from @willemdafoegf 's post // catherine lacey // chen chen // silas denver melvin // aloha from hell, richard kadrey // courtney love prays to oregon // @heavensghost // st. lucy’s home for girl’s raised by wolves // x // taylor swift’s “my tears ricochet” // this post @ceemetery

buy me a coffee

Franz Kafka, Diaries, 1910-1923 // Jorge Luis Borges, The Aleph and Other Stories // René Magritte, La reproduction interdite // Andrés Cerpa, The Vault // Penelope Scott, Sweet Hibiscus Tea // Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous // Aron Wiesenfeld, The Pit // Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet // Clementine von Radics, “Sweet the Sound” from Dream Girl

shout out to everyone who participated in the january-february mass depressive episode

🌙Witchy phrases☀

Chase the hare around the blackberry bush- this won't end well and you know it won't end well so don't even try it.

Tell the bees - notifying the insects of a good news or bad new in the family so that the bees could share in the joy or mourning.

Acting a fawn - being shy.

lil imp - when someone is being mischievous.

Trust the trees - have faith.

Bees in the brain - you're being dumb.

Run the rabbit round the rose bush - if it sounds to good to be true then it is.

All bone and brimstone - very bad news

Knock on wood - hope the good spirits in trees keep you safe.

A cat may look a king - a person is not what they seem.

The vixen's bite is always right - always trust your instincts.

Don't be a dillweed - don't be a jerk.

A watched pot never boils - take your mind off things, time will pass anyway.

Don't be a honey badger - don't be badger/bug others.

Sweetest tongue has sharpest tooth - beware that person might seem sweet but they aren't.

As fit as a butcher's dog - doing very well.

Wise as a witch's cat - very smart.

That's a rat king if I ever saw one - that person is no good.

Don't sell me the devil's dog - don't lie to me.

Seeing snakes - being in extreme fear.

By hook or by crook - any means necessary.

Like a bluebells kiss - something or someone who is good or sweet.

Did you kindle the brindle cat? - did you do something foolish?

Oh my stars - another form of " oh my "

May the bees bless - wish us luck

You worry me like a wasp - you worry me a lot.

Ask the angels - I don't have your answers.

Only the green knows - only the earth divine know.

The grims growling - something bad is happening.

Even good seeds can make deadly weeds - even good intentions can end badly.

Best be a rabbit - be humble and kind hearted.

Screwed the redcap - you really messed up.

Muttering/mutter to the moths - being very quiet.

Humble bumbles never fumble - best to be humble instead of prideful.

Jump the candle/sun - being foolish

Tell it to the crickets - I don't wanna hear it.

Red ring promise - keep your promises.

Cry to the moon - it's okay to be upset.

Head in the hollows - overthinking

When it's written in a web - I don't believe you.

A friend I recently made sat down with me for supper today and asked if I’ve read The Secret History because I “dress as someone who would’ve.”

A non-exhaustive list of how people have described my outfits 

-Like the curious George clock dealer 

-Like Sherlock and Cas from SPN had a baby 

-A 50’s husband 

-Professorcore

-A mix of a medieval peasant and a university professor 

-As if I found a blazer in the dumpster and said “I can fix him” 

-A preppy schoolboy who is gay and mum sent him to boarding school

-Robin Williams in The Dead Poets Society 

-A Professor 

-Like a hobbit 

-Like I was going to church but also had to solve a mystery

Beautiful Latin phrases ~ part 2

• veni, vidi, vici - I came, I saw, I conquered.

• vivamus, moriendum est - let us live, for we must die.

• ergo dum me diligis - so long as you love me.

• alis volat propriis - she flies with her own wings.

• sic mundus creatus est - thus the world was created.

• aut inveniam viam aut faciam - I shall either find a way or make one.

• mors certa, hora incerta - death is certain, its hour is uncertain

• mors mihi lucrum - death to me is reward

• aeternum vale - farewell forever

• mors ultima linea rerum est - death is everything’s final limit

• nascentes morimur - from when we are born, we begin to die

• mors vincit omnia - death conquers all

• omnia mors aequat - everything is equal in death

• tempus edax rerum - time, devourer of everything

One of my best friends has decided she wants to learn how to do makeup but she didn’t want to wear it herself because its bright colourful eyes and lips and glitter and she hates the attention. 

Now. My entire closet is made up of brown and black and dark greens and blues. I do not wear makeup but I also don’t care about people starring. So now, she wakes me up every few days super early to do my makeup. And you know what? It’s one of my favourite parts of the day. She puts on my hot pink eyeliner and I walk to my modern literature class feeling hot as hell. Telling everyone my friend did my makeup so proudly. And I’ve suddenly realized that no matter how much I hate mornings and the fact that by the end of the day my makeup is smudged it is all worth it to see my friend beam at me when she sees me and I tell her how many compliments I got. Because she still won’t wear eyeshadow anything outside of neutrals and I still won’t wear clothes brighter than a navy blue. And its like I have a little part of her every time I go to class. 

𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨:

1. empty perfume bottles

2. abandoned castles

3. pressed flowers

4. smell of soil after rain, Petrichor

5. old books with dust all over them

6. walking all alone in a museum hall

7. languages that humanity no longer uses

8. stars, the moon, the entire universe and it’s secrets

9. old paintings

10. late night conversations

11. thunderstorms

12. vintage love letters

13. gothic architecture

14. waves hitting the shore at nighttime

15. candles that smell like seasons

16. stained glass windows

17. An empty library

18. writing poetry

19. family heirlooms

20. enjoying peaceful silence

Shoutout to @stardustemotions for making the former half of this thread.

never let anyone tell u how many commas can go in a sentence, u measure that shit with ur heart

MY TA SHOT SOMEONE IN THE FOOT AND THE PROFESSOR WAS SO FUCKING QUICK LMAOOO

The best dynamic for a group of characters: every single one of them is the weirdest person you will ever meet, but in wildly different ways.  Every time you think you’ve identified “the normal one” they casually reveal that they don’t think birds exist, or they fistfight grizzly bears on the weekends, or they collect human skulls, and you realize again that none of these people are remotely normal.

Also they’re found family.

every now and then i have to think of the roman family from two thousand years ago that buried their little daughter in a boy's athletic-themed sarcophagus and i weep a little because that's the softest declaration of love i can possibly imagine

“maybe the curtains are blue because the author just liked the color blue” set human critical thinking skills decades back

a uni survival guide: tips from a phd

if there's one thing i know about, it's college. i've done it, i've taught it, i've lived and breathed it. these tips are for first years in particular, but honestly for everybody. i think it's so important for people to have balanced lives in these years -- academics are not everything. you know what didn't help me in the real world when i was afraid i wouldn't live through it? my fancy college note-taking format. you know what did help me? the friends i made there who i knew would get on a plane and fly across the country in a matter of hours if i told them i needed them.

academic

- figure out where class is held ahead of time: don't be that kid who's late on day one, i beg of you

- use the writing center: especially for basic grammatical editing, which a lot of professors don't have time to mark on papers

- speak up in class: talking through ideas helps you work through them, and asking questions about something you don't understand can open up great lines of conversation

- find a regular schedule that works for you and stick to it: my college schedule was morning free time, class, lunch, class, practice, homework. that consistency was a life-saver

- keep a planner: it's so important to have a central place to track deadlines, assignments, and engagements

- annotate your reading: when you're stressing about a paper topic, being able to go back to what you've highlighted and written in the margins is a life-saver

- color-code your coursework: i use the same color highlighter, pen, and notebook for any given class. it's super helpful

- if you can't focus while studying with friends, don't: i reserved group studying for days when i didn't have important work because i can't be in a room with other people without talking to them. if your school has one, the quiet floor of the library is your best friend

- treat yourself to a "fun" class: art was always my place to just sit back and chill, a way to end the night all zen in the darkroom instead of conjugating russian verbs in a fluorescent-lit cinderblock prison. for you, it could be gym, it could be pottery, it could be some random course about, like, the history of cooking or something -- explore!

- profs are people too: don't be too nervous around them. also, know that if you're struggling -- even b/c of something in your personal life -- you can admit it, and they'll almost always understand why you missed a deadline or bombed a test

- go to office hours: it's the only way to get to know professors in big courses, and it's so helpful for both your grades and learning how to navigate relationships with authority figures

social

- don't let academia keep you from your friends: it's a case-by-case basis, but sometimes it's okay to let the reading slide and spend time with friends. i graduated seven years ago and my college group text still talks every day. that's so much more important to me than the fact that i never finished brideshead revisited

- joining a club is one of the best ways to make friends: i played ultimate frisbee through college and it was the source of so many lasting relationships, as well as the way i met all my local friends when i was abroad

- say yes to things you don't know if you'll like: you'll surprise yourself. me? turns out i love drinking games. and theme parties. and skinny dipping. and rock climbing

- don't be that person who looks down on their peers for partying: honestly? that person kind of sucks. you don't have to party if you don't want to, but actually, a lot of those people are super nice and also good at school -- don't just write them off!

- show up for your friends: go to their games, their concerts, their art shows, their standup nights. show them that what matters to them matters to you, too

- set aside a night to do a group activity with others: whether your vibe is wednesday night trivia, a weekly "terrible movie" showing, or a get-high-and-watch-nature-documentaries-type thing, these are great ways to liven up the week and de-stress

- this is a great time to figure out who from high school really matters to you: you don't have to force relationships that were built mostly on convenience if there are friends at uni with whom you click more. people you became friends with purely based on the coincidence of where your parents lived do not have to be your forever friends. they can be! but they don't have to be

personal

- don't expect too much of yourself: a 4.0 is not the end-all, be-all. if your family or somebody tells you it is, tell them to call me, and i will personally talk some sense into them

- take advantage of university support services: mental health counseling, free yoga classes, multi-cultural societies, etc

- drink water: please, please don't get kidney stones in the middle of the semester, says the girl who got kidney stones in the middle of the semester

- let yourself take breaks: if you need to lie to a professor and say you're sick when really you're just feeling down and you need to sit in bed and watch a movie, that's totally valid

- don't freak about individual assignments: my students come to me freaking over a B+ and i tell them, honey, no job interviewer is ever going to ask you about your second paper from communications 101. i wish i'd known that

- go see speakers if there's someone interesting coming to campus: these talks are always cooler than you expect. i'll never get over the fact that i didn't go see anita hill when she came to my undergrad

- do your laundry on the same night every week: i can't explain why this is so helpful but it really is

- keep up on the news and the memes: read the school paper, the school blog, the memes page -- college politics and inside jokes are fun and convoluted and fascinating

- set the groundwork for long-term self-care: all of the above is really just to say -- university isn't just for learning about the french revolution, it's also about learning how to balance, how to handle failure, how to ask for help, how to make a salad that doesn't totally suck, etc

The feminine urge to take 21 credit hours and then complain about it when finals start up.

friend: you look stressed me: haha yeah it’s the stress

@nathanwpyle

I literally love this.

I couldn't stop laughing for 20 minutes.

No joke.

keating: where’s charlie?

cameron, remembering that charlie got his head stuck in a tuba after keating told him to leave it alone, and that he’s supposed to cover for the dead poets as they frantically work together to free charlie's head from the tuba: who’s charlie?

I am both the worst and best partner for group work. On the one hand we won the debate and destroyed the team so successfully that the prof had to step in to help the prosecution. On the other I made them meet in person three times before today and ensured that nobody left the study room before everyone of us knew what we were saying. It took 4 hours. We have 10 pages of notes.

regarding the röttgen pietà, elle emerson

What the Living Do, Marie Howe

there seem lot positive for ppl who struggle but manage school, but not much for ppl who fail, who drop out, or never able go in firstplace

so just wanting shoutout at fellow ppl who couldn’t manage, who never been able, & may never be able. we’re worth love, too, no matter what knowledge got in head - we’re more than just number.