Christa Wolf, From “Cassandra: A Novel And Four Essays”

Illustration from What the Moon Saw for Fairy Tales from Hans Cristian Andersen by Dugald Stewart Walker (1914)

Research ideas for bored people

Religious cults in ancient societies

Poison and why it’s so prominent in mystery novels

Methods of forensic investigations throughout the years

Influence of fashion based on past media

The transition to the Renaissance and renaissance philosophy

The pioneers of Pop Art

Artists in times of war

Music and political propaganda

Symbolism in surrealistic art

The Trail of Tears

Dead branches of evolution

Art Fraud

Barbie doll fashion

Southern Asian Empires

Advance of science and maths in Islamic kingdoms

Dark academia and its subtle racism and elitism/classisms

What defines as ‘alien’ in different cultures

Opium War

Modernism in South America

Egyptian revolution

White washing in media

Racial identity in the Caribbean

History of puppetry in Chinese drama

Problems revolving organized crimes

Cuban missile crisis and the Cold War

any true crime case that fascinates you

Your views on immortality

Feral children and the impact of isolation

Themes of self discovery in Albert Camus ‘The Stranger’

Early concepts of feminism in literature and then later on music

Add some of your own in the comments :)

can i come over and do this

currently reading:

except for palestine: the limits of progressive politics by marc lamont hill & mitchell plitnick

palestine: a socialist introduction, ed. by sumaya awad & brian bean

on my non-fiction reading list:

the question of palestine, edward said

the hundred years’ war on palestine, rashid khalidi

palestinian identity, rashid khalidi

ten myths about israel, ilan pappé

the ethnic cleansing of palestine, ilan pappé

on palestine, noam chomsky & ilan pappé

blaming the victims: spurious scholarship and the palestinian question, ed. by edward said & christopher hitchens

the case for sanctions against israel, ed. by audrea lim

justice for some: law and the question of palestine, noura erakat

freedom is a constant struggle, angela davis

the butterfly's burden, mahmoud darwish

on my fiction reading list:

minor detail, adania shibli

enter ghost, isabella hammad

salt houses, hala alyan

men in the sun, ghassan kanafani

the doppelganger in horror and science fiction should be studied

2025

DO IT SCARED

DO IT FOR THE JOURNEY

BECOME UNGOVERNABLE

CHANNEL THE OTHERWORLDLY

WRITE LOVE LETTERS TO YOUR FRIENDS

WORSHIP THE GOD OF LITTLE JOYS

LAUGH WITH YOUR THROAT BARED

TRUST THE SHARPNESS OF YOUR TEETH

DO NOT FORGET TO SCREAM

I’m fine

favourite poems of june

chase twichell the snow watcher: "hunger for something"

hester knibbe hungerpots (tr. jacquelyn pope)

jan beatty an eater, or swallowhole, is a reach of stream

sally wen mao the toll of the sea

peter everwine rain

rebecca lindenberg the logan notebooks: "poetic subjects"

john kinsella native cut wood deflects colonial hunger

katie peterson permission: "the truth is concrete"

linda hogan dark. sweet.: "innocence"

jános pilinszky (tr. george gömöri & clive wilmer) van gogh's prayer

david sullivan the day the beekeeper died: sulaymaniyah

sandra simonds you can't build a child

kari edwards bharat jiva: "ready to receive remains..."

george kalogeris rilke rereading hölderlin

philip nikolayev letters from aldenderry: "a midsummer's night stroll"

franz wright the raising of lazarus

erin belieu black box: "i heart your dog's head"

joseph brodsky collected poems in english, 1972-1999: "the hawk's cry in autumn"

jonathan galassi north street and other poems: "may"

stanley kunitz the collected poems of stanley kunitz: "end of summer"

robin blaser the holy forest: collected poems of robin blaser: "a bird in the house"

liu xia (tr. jennifer stern & ming di) empty chairs

wilfred owen exposure

mahogany l. browne this is the honey

diane lockward the uneaten carrots of atonement: "for the love of avocados"

peter balakian ozone journal: "here and now"

(tw: miscarriage) kathryn nuernberger rag & bone: "translations"

ailbhe ní ghearbhuigh conriocht ["werewolf"] (tr. billy ramsell)

craig arnold meditation on a grapefruit

anzhelina polonskaya (tr. andrew wachtel) to the ashes: "a few words about van gogh"

support me

han kang, winner of the nobel prize for literature, refused to celebrate because of the wars: 'With the war intensifying and people being carried out dead every day, how can we have a celebration or a press conference?'

toshiyuki mimaki, co-chair of Hidankyo, the A-bomb survivors’ group that won nobel peace prize, said: 'Gaza right now is like Japan 80 years ago' and had thought the prize would go to those working hard in Gaza, not to Hidankyo.

arundhati roy, winning the PEN pinter prize, in her speech at the british library: "Not all the power and money, not all the weapons and propaganda on earth can any longer hide the wound that is Palestine."

alaa abdel fattah, who was named PEN Writer of Courage by Roy, is in egyptian prison. but in 2021 his mother brought his letters from prison on gaza: Free Jerusalem; tranquil Alexandria, Bride of the Sea; Beirut, the Sheltering Tent — the symbols seem more real than the cities. But Gaza and Cairo are both cities that resist romanticization and so elude song. No one sings to Cairo, but it is the capital of the Arabs. No one sings to Gaza either, but it remains the indisputable capital of Palestine. Both are always present in a crisis. [...]

Do I have the right to dream of escaping to Gaza? Do I have the right to dream of a road to Cairo that passes through Gaza? Does a captive have the right to ask for help from the besieged? I know that these questions show how ancient I am, but I’m an Arab and Palestine’s always on my mind. And, in my defense, I’ll say that I refused to be humiliated in my country, and I never lowered my banners, and it should count that I stood in the face of my oppressors: an orphan, naked and barefoot, and my solace is that the tragedy I’m living is but my share of yours. I call out to you: you are always on my mind."

these are the things the brave and intellectual people of our time are saying. it is possible to be principled. it is always possible to be principled. it is also possible to be less than that—look around and you'll see it in all the writers and artists of our time who are abdicating their roles within humanity. we're living in a time of perfect clarity.