Phoenician Bowls From The Regolini-Galassi Tomb C. 700 BCE? Caere, Italy "The Regolini-Galassi Tomb

Greek Gods as Things I’ve Overheard in My School

I got a request for Greek Gods as things I’ve overheard, and since school is- quite possibly the best place for these things, I figured why not!

Zeus: “Bold of you to assume that I can’t be more of an asshole.” Poseidon: “People never drink water in class. Drink water throughout class. Drink water instead of class. Don’t go to class.” Hades: “My math grade is almost lower than my will to live.” Hestia: “Sometimes I just want to sit in that fire pit and roast marshmallows as I let the ashes reclaim me.” Demeter: “They said we need more plants around. Replace me with a plant.” Hera: “I need feminism because clearly my future husband is going to be a dumbass and I want to prove I’m better.” Athena: “I like the smell of old books.” *proceeds to stuff face into textbook* Hermes: “I can steal your heart, yes- but can I steal myself a personality?” Apollo: “Music class these days is just idiots trying to find happiness.” Artemis: “I just want to be gay with an instinct to kill.” Hephaestus: “I want to build myself a girlfriend.” Aphrodite: “Maybe one day people will appreciate my inner beauty and not my numerous pimples.” Dionysus: “Time to get DRUNK!” *chugs water bottle* Persephone: “I love flower crowns. They make me want to-” *cracks knuckles* “Kick ass.”

endearments in letters to véra

Rabies is an incredibly lethal virus that kills more than 50,000 people globally each year. About 99% of those people who die from rabies were infected by the bite of a dog. This doesn’t mean that dogs are evil, or that they are disgusting, or that they should be eradicated from the planet to prevent the risk of disease transmission to humans. It does mean that we should do everything in our power to promote vaccination efforts, study disease transmission on a local and global scale, and find ways to prevent infected dogs from encountering and biting humans.

Okay, now are you ready to hear my biggest personal biology hot take?

This is pretty much how I feel about ticks carrying Borrelia burgdorferi (the bacteria that causes Lyme disease) and other arthropod disease vectors. Yes, these animals cause unbelievable suffering to humans by inadvertently transmitting disease, but that doesn’t mean they should be portrayed as evil or exterminated entirely from the environment. Ecologists have been speaking for years on how critical these species are within their established trophic webs, and how their removal could have devastating effects to many other organisms including humans. You can still be scared of or grossed out by these animals (very normal response to a potentially dangerous disease vector), but it’s important to understand that the best way for scientists to minimize the risk of these animals is NOT just eliminating them from the environment. No animal is evil or immoral for the ecological niche it fills, and encouraging a more nuanced understanding of these animals can arm us with better ways to minimize their negative impact to humans.

gothic garden entomology vintage book covers

Quotes: 1.) Louise Glück, From Averno; “Blue Rotunda” 2.) Ocean Vuong, from On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous 3.) Clarice Lispector, from Selected Crônicas; “Excess and Privation ,” 4.) Rachel Cusk, on the reception of Aftermath, as cited in Olivia Sudjic’s Exposure

Art: 1.) Daniel F. Gerhartz 2.) Adrian Ghenie, Henrik Uldalen 3.) Helene Delmaire, Glenn Brown 4.) Alexandra Levasseur

The Great Buddha, Kamakura, Hasui Kawase, 1930

Illustrations of Epic of Gilgamesh by Marek Żuławski (unfortunately censored)

*The quote is from a poem by Song Dynasty poet 苏轼 (Su Shi), but with "old person" replaced by "man"

[eng by me]

Usudi se

Metal fans gay asf…why do you like listening to men scream?