If This Is Your First Time Protesting, Here Is A Comprehensive Guide On How To Prepare, What To Do, Police

ben wyatt is the only man in my life that’s never disappointed me

bring back homeric epithets. call people brave-hearted, swift-footed, laughter loving and loud thundering. view the world with its rosy fingered and saffron robed dawns, its wine dark seas. make your own, walk across kiln fired earth and moss soft as sea sponges. be dew-eyed and soft-cheeked and silver-souled, deft-fingered and bright-tongued. gaze up at the many-storied stars and feel the warmth of the ancient sun, father of gods and men, as it beats down on the shimmering world, soft spun like caterpillar silk

wholesome student life things that we should collectively start romancizing

waking up and being genuinely thrilled to go to class because today is THAT CLASS you love so much you’d like it to never end

coffee breaks with friends, chatting and joking about this particularly hard essay and the prof’s mannerism

coffee breaks on your own, as you absent-mindedly watch the people around you, while thinking about what you’re working on

finding this book you’ve been dying to read for so long, and borrowing it from the library

the feeling of excitement that goes through you whenever you remember The Book is in your backpack

understanding everything during demanding classes and being genuinely interested in the subject

buying a New Special Pen and taking colorful notes that look super pretty

not being able to shut up about your school projects (no your friends dont really care about the intricate details of what you’re working on, they don’t even have the same major as you, but they’re happy to hear you rant with such a burning passion)

actually doing the extra reading and having your curiosity so piqued by what you’re reading that you go on and on and suddenly its 1am and what happened

printing the project you’ve spent so much time and energy on and feeling the paper’s warmth

actually submitting that project without feeling awful about it because you know you did your best and aren’t responsible for what happens next

when you finally finish this Super Hard And Important Essay at like 3am, open the window and feel the cold night air on your burning cheeks and everything is dark and quiet and you can see the moon and you’re at peace with everything for a few minutes

when this professor you admire says you did a great job and/or that you’re talented!!!!

realizing two concepts that seemed so far away from each other and that you discovered in wildly different contexts are actually interlinked, then Realizing™ things and linking concepts/works/articles to each other at the speed of light & being super excited about it

being so deeply immersed in your work that you didn’t realize two hours have passed

finding the Perfect Spot at the library

that Pure Joy moment when you FINALLY understand that super obscure sentence/text

when you feel anxious because you’re not done with your homework & the deadline is super tight & your friend tells you they aren’t done yet either

same but with an even more intense relief feeling when you realize you both haven’t even started yet

when the professor starts a new reasoning and you can predict what the next idea/the final conclusion will be

when the professor mention your favorite novel/author/fictional character in class and you feel like your internal screech of joy could shatter glass

the Academic Salt™ that has you like 👀👀

when the professor tears apart an author or scholar you hate and you’re like YES I WANT BLOOD GIVE ME BLOOD

when you learn that Cool New Fact that makes you reconsider your whole life

leaving the library after a long productive day and feeling like nothing is real but experiencing everything more intensely

leaving the library at night after a long study session and everybody has left already and its just you and the long neon-lit corridors then stepping outside and smelling the crisp night wind

feel free to add your own!!!

“It is June.  I am tired of being brave.”

– Anne Sexton, ‘The Truth the Dead Know’

one day some of you will actually go outside and go to pride and you’re going to meet old black queens who refers to themselves as femme, you’ll meet people from small towns who still use the word transsexual, you’ll see that your local activist organization set up a stall about your local LGBT history that includes leather bar’s history, you’ll see lesbians in groups refer to themselves as “guys” and “boys”, you’ll see someone with breasts and pasties and little else have “he / him” painted on his chest, and you’ll be so caught up with your terminally online attitude that instead of appreciating the wide diversity of people who exist in the LGBT community who are brave enough to share themselves you’ll just be formulating posts and tweets in your head for when get home about how “problematic” it all was and it’s honestly tragic

Concept: We’re sitting on the couch together and we’re both super tired. I can hear the rain outside falling and tapping against the window. You lay your head in my lap and I gently stroke your hair. Everything is peaceful as the rain lulls us to sleep.

How you, yes, YOU, can be both PUNK and A PRETENTIOUS BASTARD (dark academic) at the SAME TIME.

(yes, I do recognise that making a 'how-to' type list is basically the opposite of punk, leave me alone.)

Read poetry (I highly recommend John Cooper Clarke).

Be angry all the time, not at people around you, but at capitalism, social injustice, the government, and societal constructs.

Read Marx.

Doc Martens should be your best friend. Yes, they're expensive. But they're also high quality and will last you a lifetime (I've had a pair for about five years now, and they've literally grown with me).

Ratty blazers are cool.

Drink fruit juice, don't take drugs. In the beginning, the punk movement was very anti-drugs, so gangs of them would get together to drink fruit juice instead.

Only quote the insults from Shakespeare's works.

Wash your hair in beer. (Just trust me. My great grandmother washed her hair with beer, and she had great hair.)

Berets

Black velvet (whilst usually more goth) can definitely be adopted.

Know that 'modern' or 'new' doesn't necessarily mean 'better'.

Go to protests, talks, lectures, anywhere where you might be able to make a difference. Say something about anything you feel passionately about, don't stand for things you feel are wrong.

sometimes making tea is less about drinking it and more ab it keeping you company