Well there goes one of the songs I wanted out.
If it's not "thousand eyes" I don't want it.
ALT POP GIRLS RATE: COVEN | COMPLETE
- Thread starter Phonetics Girl
- Start date
He/Him
I'm gonna fight you.
she/her
Waiting for the call from beyond
Waiting for something with meaning
To come through soon
63
(this ugly-ass font I made, tho)
7.916
Highest: 10x6 @Crisp X @Trouble in Paradise @Remyky22 @LE0Night @Music Is Life @ufint
Lowest: 5x1 @Sprockrooster
Movement
#5: 86 (6.1)
#10: 83 (7.05)
#15: 81 (7.126)
#20: 72 (7.645)
#25: 66 (7.786)
#28: 63 (7.91607143)
“Picture Me Better” is the cherry on the cake, because it’s very old school. It’s about a friend of mine who committed suicide while I was making the album.”
Dang it, wish I knew this before rating! I should probably pay more attention to the lyrics when it comes to scoring songs. She's not wrong, though - "Picture Me Better" does have a very oldschool charm about it. It makes me picture snow globes and skaters twirling on ice in starlight. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to make me fall in love with it.
Hope the fans can take solace in its constantly upward leaderboard trajectory and the number of 10s being the highest we've seen since "Insomnia".
Pass a tissue for @Trouble in Paradise (10): "A song I’ve cried to. I’m crying now just listening again and trying to put into words just how perfectly she puts into words my own life." :(
@godspeed (9) is very much onto something here: "I think anyone who has lost someone can relate to this somehow uplifting song of grief. I think it's a lovely way to write about the passing of a loved one and a beautiful and moving way to close the album. Thank you so much to this rate for making me re-listen to Titanic Rising. Thank you so much." :)
Tomorrow, an 11 departs.
Commemorations to whoever's losing theirs first.
And I wanted to tell you what you wanted to hear
But you told me to let it all out, dear
64
7.913
Highest: 10x1 @Joli Chat
Lowest: 4.5x1 @Hurricane Drunk
Movement
#5: 33 (8.375)
#10: 35 (8.388)
#15: 53 (7.91)
#20: 57 (7.93)
#25: 64 (7.81)
#28: 64 (7.91304348)
“I wrote this song after I got in a fight with my partner. It was like domestic stuff, like, “You didn’t fold the laundry!”, or something, you know, and a song about forgiveness, like, “Let’s not be mad about the stupid stuff.”
Why her? At the end of the last year I barely knew Sharon Van Etten by name. It was @AshleyKerwin's post in the Rates Queue, where she had been mentioned alongside Angel Olsen, Jenny Lewis and Courtney Barnett that prompted me to decide these artists absolutely must be represented. So I got to Sharon's 2019 LP, Remind Me Tomorrow, in my quest to pick out the tracks I would score highly, and besides the singles, two songs were standing out on first listen - "Hands" and "You Shadow." The latter was slightly lower-key compared to the glittery-nostalgia extravaganza of "Comeback Kid" and "Seventeen," but the former was that distorted rock stormer, fitting the angstfest theme to a T!
In the end, it survived over 20 eliminations, which makes Sharon exactly the 10th out of 20 Extras to lose a/the song. Not too shabby for a noisy downer of an album track!
@constantino (9) probably would have been pleased to see Remind Me Tomorrow included in full: "This album is so fucking good ahhhhh."
@Trouble in Paradise (9.5) highlights the topicality of it all: "Anyone who has been quarantined with their romantic partner either 100% relates to this song or is a cyborg without human emotions." Do grandmas count? (the petty arguments, not the loving relationship part)
Giving out a "hint" for what's in store tomorrow. Proceed to feel mad at your own discretion:
Either fka Twigs', Florence and the Machine's or Weyes' first Blood will be drawn.
Not two of my favourite songs in the rate being wiped out in a single post I-
He/Him
Picture us better
We finally found a winter for your sweater
Got a brand new big suit of armour
It's tough, since you left I've grown so much
If I could have seen you just once more
Tell you how much you're adored
There's no point anymore
Waiting for the call from beyond
Waiting for something with meaning
To come through soon
We finally found a winter for your sweater
Got a brand new big suit of armour
It's tough, since you left I've grown so much
If I could have seen you just once more
Tell you how much you're adored
There's no point anymore
Waiting for the call from beyond
Waiting for something with meaning
To come through soon
ohnostalgia
Staff member
She/her
I need people to stop coming for thousand eyes please and thank you.
she/her
Who's saying goodbye to AN 11?
Let me build up some tension!
Is it Florence?
Kelsey Lu?
Weyes Blood?
fka Twigs?
or maybe Bat for Lashes?
Mitski?
Might it be Caroline?
Hatchie!
or is it in fact....
Who is she, who is she, who is she to say goodbye?
62
7.935
11: yeah... that was mine all along!
TEAM TASTE: 10x4 @finito @Trouble in Paradise @LE0Night @Music Is Life
@soratami when they said Oh Father is not a top 50 Madonna song: 0x1 @Hurricane Drunk
Movement
#5: 54 (8.0)
#10: 40 (8.166)
#15: 73 (7.428)
#20: 73 (7.611)
#25: 67 (7.785)
#28: 62 (7.93478261)
Why her? Look, I can’t always bleat on about my 11 like a deranged stan (this is no shade, btw; I really wish I could!) I’m going to try hard, though! “The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra” is quite simply what art’s about to me. I don’t even remember where I heard it first (probably February 2019 PJ Charts, but I couldn’t find any solid sources on this), but it doesn’t matter. When I hear the opening guitar tones, I am sent. The experience is all-consuming, I begin to sway mindlessly, getting additional (or maybe substracted?) 10 years of my life from each one of Anna’s ghoulish wails. This is the stuff “Get Out Of My House” is made of! And then we hit the downward, ominous slope before the 4 and a half minute mark, where she bursts into this impassioned middle 8/outro and I am eviscerated on sight with my spirit’s flying out there together with those final vocalisations.
Whew!
At least my other 11 contenders made it a bit further.
Someone whose 11 apparently has some mileage left is @constantino (7): "I’m not over how indulgent, pretentious and boring this album was nn." Tea but maybe it was worth it for this one doom piece!
@godspeed (7.5) is befuddled: "I'm not even sure I like this that much but it is so hypnotic and strange and I don't think I've ever heard something that sounds like this song. It's definitely not something that I'm gonna forget about so soon."
Meanwhile, @Cutlery (9) is hit in the right spot: "oh she's quirky and melodramatic. fortunately for her, björk and kate bush are among my favourite artists. the affected vocals are everything."
@LE0Night's (10) help is greatly appreciated: "Miss von Housewolf, it is an nine but let me help defend a good sis from the non-melody-phobic masses who have never had a Swans-stanning period in their musical adolescence. (To Be Kind in particular was kind of formative experience for me, nn. I think she's toured with them, even)"That PM list of traumatisingly tasteless individuals is so relevant every single day ddd
A fitting send-off is provided by @Trouble in Paradise (10): "This was the first song in the extras section I had never heard and it OBLITERATED me! When it started I was like damn, this is like Neko Case going full electric rock witch and then it just kept ratcheting it up! Those vocals!!! How dare she?? Every time I listen to it, it’s a mood and a half. I want to conjure a demon and curse every man who’s ever wronged me. I want to burn down a whole city. I want to transcend this dimension for one full of fire where I sit on a throne made of the bones of my enemy. It’s perfect."
You and me after hunting down @Hurricane Drunk
Next on Season of the Witch:
- a song that, had I been very mean, would've got a 0
- today's 10-givers are tomorrow's enemies
Let me build up some tension!
Is it Florence?
Kelsey Lu?
Weyes Blood?
fka Twigs?
or maybe Bat for Lashes?
Mitski?
Might it be Caroline?
Hatchie!
or is it in fact....
Who is she, who is she, who is she to say goodbye?
62
7.935
11: yeah... that was mine all along!
TEAM TASTE: 10x4 @finito @Trouble in Paradise @LE0Night @Music Is Life
@soratami when they said Oh Father is not a top 50 Madonna song: 0x1 @Hurricane Drunk
Movement
#5: 54 (8.0)
#10: 40 (8.166)
#15: 73 (7.428)
#20: 73 (7.611)
#25: 67 (7.785)
#28: 62 (7.93478261)
Why her? Look, I can’t always bleat on about my 11 like a deranged stan (this is no shade, btw; I really wish I could!) I’m going to try hard, though! “The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra” is quite simply what art’s about to me. I don’t even remember where I heard it first (probably February 2019 PJ Charts, but I couldn’t find any solid sources on this), but it doesn’t matter. When I hear the opening guitar tones, I am sent. The experience is all-consuming, I begin to sway mindlessly, getting additional (or maybe substracted?) 10 years of my life from each one of Anna’s ghoulish wails. This is the stuff “Get Out Of My House” is made of! And then we hit the downward, ominous slope before the 4 and a half minute mark, where she bursts into this impassioned middle 8/outro and I am eviscerated on sight with my spirit’s flying out there together with those final vocalisations.
Whew!
At least my other 11 contenders made it a bit further.
Someone whose 11 apparently has some mileage left is @constantino (7): "I’m not over how indulgent, pretentious and boring this album was nn." Tea but maybe it was worth it for this one doom piece!
@godspeed (7.5) is befuddled: "I'm not even sure I like this that much but it is so hypnotic and strange and I don't think I've ever heard something that sounds like this song. It's definitely not something that I'm gonna forget about so soon."
Meanwhile, @Cutlery (9) is hit in the right spot: "oh she's quirky and melodramatic. fortunately for her, björk and kate bush are among my favourite artists. the affected vocals are everything."
@LE0Night's (10) help is greatly appreciated: "Miss von Housewolf, it is an nine but let me help defend a good sis from the non-melody-phobic masses who have never had a Swans-stanning period in their musical adolescence. (To Be Kind in particular was kind of formative experience for me, nn. I think she's toured with them, even)"That PM list of traumatisingly tasteless individuals is so relevant every single day ddd
A fitting send-off is provided by @Trouble in Paradise (10): "This was the first song in the extras section I had never heard and it OBLITERATED me! When it started I was like damn, this is like Neko Case going full electric rock witch and then it just kept ratcheting it up! Those vocals!!! How dare she?? Every time I listen to it, it’s a mood and a half. I want to conjure a demon and curse every man who’s ever wronged me. I want to burn down a whole city. I want to transcend this dimension for one full of fire where I sit on a throne made of the bones of my enemy. It’s perfect."
You and me after hunting down @Hurricane Drunk
Next on Season of the Witch:
- a song that, had I been very mean, would've got a 0
- today's 10-givers are tomorrow's enemies
Ddd the drama of it all! This one didn't really do much for me. Sorry @Phonetics Boy!
Can I join? @Hurricane Drunk really tanked half the songs in this rate and then dipped.
ohnostalgia
Staff member
She/her
EXCUSE ME? My condolences, @Phonetics Boy
He/Him
Me and @Phonetics Boy getting vengeance on @Hurricane Drunk for giving a 0 to what would have been a worthy rate winner!!!
Just passing by to say that, if I had voted, "The Mysterious Vanishing of Electra" would've surely gotten a 10 from me. When we had that watch2gether session with @soratami, it is definitely the song that stood out the most to me and I kept coming back to it. I found it so captivating for some reason.
It's a bit odd that this song on paper would make no sense to me, but everything about its execution doesn't warrant a single second of paying attention to the technical side of the composition. And that is the point and the exact reason why it works when you listen to it - I can easily compare it to Björk's "Pluto" and Nina Hagen Band's "Naturträne" from that aspect.
An exquisite rawness and an unnerving feeling is present in all of them, yet they are so powerful and you simply drown in their magic.
Her vocals are so unique and used in such a genius was that I was lost for words after hearing it for the first time. The wailing and screaming combined with the incredibly moody and pitch black atmosphere is so impressive. And this live performance confirms the massive talentry:
To be honest, I had to get used to first part of the song, but that outro just had me sold on first listen - absolutely fantastic! Such an astounding song.
Combine it with that music video, and you get one of the most compelling pieces of art I've seen this year.
Of course, an amazing 11 pick, @Phonetics Boy!
Oh, and the current thread title referencing another 10/10 song?
Talent.
It's a bit odd that this song on paper would make no sense to me, but everything about its execution doesn't warrant a single second of paying attention to the technical side of the composition. And that is the point and the exact reason why it works when you listen to it - I can easily compare it to Björk's "Pluto" and Nina Hagen Band's "Naturträne" from that aspect.
An exquisite rawness and an unnerving feeling is present in all of them, yet they are so powerful and you simply drown in their magic.
Her vocals are so unique and used in such a genius was that I was lost for words after hearing it for the first time. The wailing and screaming combined with the incredibly moody and pitch black atmosphere is so impressive. And this live performance confirms the massive talentry:
To be honest, I had to get used to first part of the song, but that outro just had me sold on first listen - absolutely fantastic! Such an astounding song.
Combine it with that music video, and you get one of the most compelling pieces of art I've seen this year.
Of course, an amazing 11 pick, @Phonetics Boy!
Oh, and the current thread title referencing another 10/10 song?
Talent.
Last edited:
she/her
Thank you @Maki! I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
This is one of those days when I feel like racing through the eliminations, cause I'm bored, hmm. The next one deserves its own spotlight, though. Let's see how I feel tomorrow.
she/her
A good day for this one,
numerology and all.
numerology and all.
Funerals were held all over the city
The youth bleed in the square
And women raged as old men fumbled and cried
"We're sorry, we thought you didn't care, oh"
And how does it feel now you've scratched that itch?
How does it feel?
And pulled out all your stitches
Hubris is a bitch
The youth bleed in the square
And women raged as old men fumbled and cried
"We're sorry, we thought you didn't care, oh"
And how does it feel now you've scratched that itch?
How does it feel?
And pulled out all your stitches
Hubris is a bitch
61
7.9375
Highest: 10x4 @Sprockrooster @Trouble in Paradise @Cutlery @Music Is Life
Lowest: 5x2 @Stradiwhovius @Phonetics Boy
Movement
#5: 54 (7.9)
#10: 62 (7.7)
#15: 50 (7.93)
#20: 53 (7.975)
#25: 69 (7.77)
#28: 61 (7.9375)
7.9375
Highest: 10x4 @Sprockrooster @Trouble in Paradise @Cutlery @Music Is Life
Lowest: 5x2 @Stradiwhovius @Phonetics Boy
Movement
#5: 54 (7.9)
#10: 62 (7.7)
#15: 50 (7.93)
#20: 53 (7.975)
#25: 69 (7.77)
#28: 61 (7.9375)
“On this record, I was embracing the femininity, embracing the things I really liked, embracing that you can still be powerful and strong and scary in a pink nightie.”
Ddd I feel like starting this write-up with @LE0Night's (6.5) High as Hope commentary will help me contextualise my thoughts better (and let him explain the reasoning behind his scores for future reference):
"I've... gone several rounds with this one. I was harsh at first, honestly, the average was tickling the underside of a five for a good while there, but, as a favour for @Trouble in Paradise as much as anything, I had a few more goes at it and reeled things in a bit. A small bit, but still. The embittered rate-veteran in me kind of balked at it because past experiences have taught me that whenever I go out of my way to compromise and soften my scores for an album, the rate will kick off and I'll immediately find that the main champions of said album haven't relegated even a single speck of mercy in return, hnn.
Anyway. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like the album. Besides Grace, I mean. And Hunger. Those choruses, ma'am, you were not even trying.
I really do wish I could be kinder to it, had it been stacked up against her own material I very well might have been. But in here, when she up against peaks as ragingly tall and bold as Magdalene and (spoiler alert) Titanic Rising, even our debutantes serving up fresher takes on occasion, I can't in good conscience rate it as anything but the weakest album of the lot. Where Taliah and Natalie (and [REDACTED] too but who cares) are out there pushing their own boundaries, stepping into new territories and all but literally crystalizing into bigger, better and sharper versions of themselves, miss Welch seems content with retracing her own steps and serving A Florence Album™ but rarely leaving any deeper imprints, most if not all of her -isms, both in writing and performance, frequently being so complacently utilized it could feel like they're telegraphed entirely. It's frustrating too because there are moments, like the early parts of South London Forever and that beautiful coda in Patricia, where it genuinely feels like she's fully connecting with emotions as soaring and beautifully carefree as something like the highest peaks of A Sky Full of Honey's escapades in domestic joy, before she again fails to resist the call and sheer contentment of her own comfort zones, sending the whole thing plummeting down to earth again.
Anway. Purple prose, begone. Bottom line. I don't think it's bad. Mostly. It's just not as inspired as the champions of this particular cast."
I... can't help but agree in the case of "100 Years." It does give me Ceremonials bonus track teas, and that's not really cutting it anymore. See, I don't know what I want from Florence the artist, but High as Hope ("June" and "No Choir" aside) was not it. I tried to make myself like it in the second half of 2018. I went on buses just to listen to it on repeat. I clung to "Grace" and "The End of Love" and "South London Forever", asking myself "what's not clicking? why am I bored and mildly agitated?" Maybe I just haven't grown enough to let go of Florence the Witch and let the mundanity in? Do I need grandiose metaphors and baroque imagery to enjoy her music again? If so, then "100 Years" should be my favourite track on the album. It's as bombastic as she gets these days. But I have no desire to listen to it ever again.
It was when I stopped this inner inquiring and let myself just not care anymore that I could move on. There's still a handful tracks to take away from this album and there will likely be on any future ones. I'm just not the hardcore stan that I was from Lungs to the How Big How Blue How Beautiful film and that's okay.
On the counterpoint is @Sprockrooster (10) who says enough with this hateration: "The perfect example of how Florence and fantastic production can turn someting very solid to an extreme high."
But we care, @godspeed (7), oh, how we do: "Not that anyone cares, but this is my lowest score in the main rate. And the reason why I gave "100 Years" a 7 is because I only like it. It's also my only 7 in the main rate. I needed to point that out because I think it is a testament to the quality of the albums included here so yes, congratulations everybody on making GREAT music! If Norman Fucking Rockwell! had been included, "California" would have gotten my lowest score - a 6 to be precise - but it seems like this would a bit of an unpopular opinion..."
And finally, @Trouble in Paradise (10) gets his own genius' Verified on cause why not:
“And the darker it gets, the more I do”
We’re living through tragically dark times, but I have to hold onto the hope that there are countless others working to fight against it. Who see the evil, the oppression and shout enough!
“Then it’s just too much”
Living in this world full of hate and injustice can be quite overwhelming.
“Lord don’t let me break this, let me hold it lightly, give me arms to pray with instead of ones that hold too tightly”
Holding onto a tender love in this cruel world is scary business. As someone well acquainted with loss and the reality that every story doesn’t have a happy ending, letting love be is terrifying. I want to cling on, protect him against everything the world has to offer, but I have to release to the freedom of his own life. All i can do is pray for his safety.
“The streets they still run with blood”
I follow an organization that tracks violence in Boston so my instagram feed is interrupted by reports of shootings, stabbings and homicide. It’s a needed reminder of the violence surrounding my community and particularly the neighborhoods of my students. There’s this inherent urge to shield my students from this cruel reality while knowing I’m powerless to stop it all.
“I let him sleep and as he does, my held breath fills the room with love”
I lay awake through the night, mind racing with the worries of the day and every day that came before or comes after. My love sleeps soundly next to me. Being locked in these thoughts, crying out for support and care, but choosing instead to put his need first.
“Funerals held all over the city, the youth bleeding in the square”
The funeral of George Floyd, the funeral of Tamir Rice, the funeral of Sandra Bland, the funeral of Ahmaud Arbery, the funeral of Breona Taylor, the funeral of Tony McDade, the funerals of countless other Black people murdered by the police despite the cries of so many in the streets for it to stop. Laying in a busy intersection for a die in to protest it all. 8 minutes and 46 seconds lying on the ground, silently screaming out that this is just too much. It needs to stop.
“And woman raged as old men fumbled and cried ‘We’re sorry we thought you didn’t care’”
This pain, this inhumanity is all interconnected. The violence of #metoo is connected to the violence of #BlackLivesMatter and to think otherwise is to stand on the wrong side. Those in power, these old men feigning innocent naivety want us to think none of this was a conscious choice that they had no idea what they did was unwanted. We’ve known it all along, and now that your time is coming “hubris is a bitch” huh?
“Lord don’t let me break this!”
Me praying for my vocal chords as I scream this at the top of my lungs in my car, terrifying my fiance, as I get all this rage out
Ddd I feel like starting this write-up with @LE0Night's (6.5) High as Hope commentary will help me contextualise my thoughts better (and let him explain the reasoning behind his scores for future reference):
"I've... gone several rounds with this one. I was harsh at first, honestly, the average was tickling the underside of a five for a good while there, but, as a favour for @Trouble in Paradise as much as anything, I had a few more goes at it and reeled things in a bit. A small bit, but still. The embittered rate-veteran in me kind of balked at it because past experiences have taught me that whenever I go out of my way to compromise and soften my scores for an album, the rate will kick off and I'll immediately find that the main champions of said album haven't relegated even a single speck of mercy in return, hnn.
Anyway. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like the album. Besides Grace, I mean. And Hunger. Those choruses, ma'am, you were not even trying.
I really do wish I could be kinder to it, had it been stacked up against her own material I very well might have been. But in here, when she up against peaks as ragingly tall and bold as Magdalene and (spoiler alert) Titanic Rising, even our debutantes serving up fresher takes on occasion, I can't in good conscience rate it as anything but the weakest album of the lot. Where Taliah and Natalie (and [REDACTED] too but who cares) are out there pushing their own boundaries, stepping into new territories and all but literally crystalizing into bigger, better and sharper versions of themselves, miss Welch seems content with retracing her own steps and serving A Florence Album™ but rarely leaving any deeper imprints, most if not all of her -isms, both in writing and performance, frequently being so complacently utilized it could feel like they're telegraphed entirely. It's frustrating too because there are moments, like the early parts of South London Forever and that beautiful coda in Patricia, where it genuinely feels like she's fully connecting with emotions as soaring and beautifully carefree as something like the highest peaks of A Sky Full of Honey's escapades in domestic joy, before she again fails to resist the call and sheer contentment of her own comfort zones, sending the whole thing plummeting down to earth again.
Anway. Purple prose, begone. Bottom line. I don't think it's bad. Mostly. It's just not as inspired as the champions of this particular cast."
I... can't help but agree in the case of "100 Years." It does give me Ceremonials bonus track teas, and that's not really cutting it anymore. See, I don't know what I want from Florence the artist, but High as Hope ("June" and "No Choir" aside) was not it. I tried to make myself like it in the second half of 2018. I went on buses just to listen to it on repeat. I clung to "Grace" and "The End of Love" and "South London Forever", asking myself "what's not clicking? why am I bored and mildly agitated?" Maybe I just haven't grown enough to let go of Florence the Witch and let the mundanity in? Do I need grandiose metaphors and baroque imagery to enjoy her music again? If so, then "100 Years" should be my favourite track on the album. It's as bombastic as she gets these days. But I have no desire to listen to it ever again.
It was when I stopped this inner inquiring and let myself just not care anymore that I could move on. There's still a handful tracks to take away from this album and there will likely be on any future ones. I'm just not the hardcore stan that I was from Lungs to the How Big How Blue How Beautiful film and that's okay.
On the counterpoint is @Sprockrooster (10) who says enough with this hateration: "The perfect example of how Florence and fantastic production can turn someting very solid to an extreme high."
But we care, @godspeed (7), oh, how we do: "Not that anyone cares, but this is my lowest score in the main rate. And the reason why I gave "100 Years" a 7 is because I only like it. It's also my only 7 in the main rate. I needed to point that out because I think it is a testament to the quality of the albums included here so yes, congratulations everybody on making GREAT music! If Norman Fucking Rockwell! had been included, "California" would have gotten my lowest score - a 6 to be precise - but it seems like this would a bit of an unpopular opinion..."
And finally, @Trouble in Paradise (10) gets his own genius' Verified on cause why not:
“And the darker it gets, the more I do”
We’re living through tragically dark times, but I have to hold onto the hope that there are countless others working to fight against it. Who see the evil, the oppression and shout enough!
“Then it’s just too much”
Living in this world full of hate and injustice can be quite overwhelming.
“Lord don’t let me break this, let me hold it lightly, give me arms to pray with instead of ones that hold too tightly”
Holding onto a tender love in this cruel world is scary business. As someone well acquainted with loss and the reality that every story doesn’t have a happy ending, letting love be is terrifying. I want to cling on, protect him against everything the world has to offer, but I have to release to the freedom of his own life. All i can do is pray for his safety.
“The streets they still run with blood”
I follow an organization that tracks violence in Boston so my instagram feed is interrupted by reports of shootings, stabbings and homicide. It’s a needed reminder of the violence surrounding my community and particularly the neighborhoods of my students. There’s this inherent urge to shield my students from this cruel reality while knowing I’m powerless to stop it all.
“I let him sleep and as he does, my held breath fills the room with love”
I lay awake through the night, mind racing with the worries of the day and every day that came before or comes after. My love sleeps soundly next to me. Being locked in these thoughts, crying out for support and care, but choosing instead to put his need first.
“Funerals held all over the city, the youth bleeding in the square”
The funeral of George Floyd, the funeral of Tamir Rice, the funeral of Sandra Bland, the funeral of Ahmaud Arbery, the funeral of Breona Taylor, the funeral of Tony McDade, the funerals of countless other Black people murdered by the police despite the cries of so many in the streets for it to stop. Laying in a busy intersection for a die in to protest it all. 8 minutes and 46 seconds lying on the ground, silently screaming out that this is just too much. It needs to stop.
“And woman raged as old men fumbled and cried ‘We’re sorry we thought you didn’t care’”
This pain, this inhumanity is all interconnected. The violence of #metoo is connected to the violence of #BlackLivesMatter and to think otherwise is to stand on the wrong side. Those in power, these old men feigning innocent naivety want us to think none of this was a conscious choice that they had no idea what they did was unwanted. We’ve known it all along, and now that your time is coming “hubris is a bitch” huh?
“Lord don’t let me break this!”
Me praying for my vocal chords as I scream this at the top of my lungs in my car, terrifying my fiance, as I get all this rage out
ohnostalgia
Staff member
She/her