a linger and a lurk.

Ardneks, Illustrations.

Fantastic illustrations by Indonesian artist Ardneks that are inspired by his personal life.

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When we read books we instinctively try to categorize books based on the kind of book they are, oh this is fantasy, post-apocalyptic, etc. and we try to find out things and clarify what kind of world it is and whether or not the things in it are make believe and how make believe they are.

So what if I…Messed with that process?

For instance. A book is set in Ohio. We mention the names of cities in Ohio and pieces of Ohio’s history and famous landmarks in Ohio and it’s incredibly well researched, even down to the names of museums in Cincinnati or something. We’re talking very firmly established in the facts of a place. It’s kind of an eerie book and in some ways the setting seems weird or cloudy or dreamy but it seems grounded in just the amount of facts that are in it about the setting.

There are little factoids dropped here and there. At first very boring ones. Something that happened at an Ohio water treatment plant in 1995. What it takes to serve on a jury in Ohio. Ohio laws about spraying pesticides on corn. Facts about corn itself. Probably one of those cutesy little facts about weird local laws.

They start to get…stranger. The little bits of worldbuilding. Did you know that Ohio has had more nuclear power plant accidents than any other state? In this small town in Ohio, you used to need a license to perform an exorcism! This charming small town’s mayor is a ghost. In Ohio, it is legal for doctors to draw more of your blood than they need to sell to third parties. There are no Dollar Tree’s in Ohio. (Have you ever seen a Dollar Tree in Ohio? Are you sure?)

At some point the reader catches onto something that is clearly not right. Maybe the book states at some point that Indiana is to the east of Ohio instead of the west. This is clearly a mistake, and they move on.

Some things about the everyday realities of the setting seem peculiar. There seem to be quite a bit of packs of wild dogs about, and mold seems to grow a lot quicker. Grass is described very strangely—a shade of green that isn’t very characteristic of grass. There seem to be a lot of cults, and there are a lot of empty lots in town enclosed with razor wire for no apparent reason. Sometimes a character’s hands grow suddenly cold, and they panic and hasten inside. Frostbite? Is it the climate? Why does the author write that way?

At some point, though, it becomes clear that the author is fictionalizing a bit. It may certainly be the case that nuclear accidents have occurred in Ohio more than any other state, but the tale of how deer from that area glow in low light is probably made up. And though that famous televangelist existed and it seems plausible enough that he owned tigers, like some kind of janky drug dealer would purchase, it seems implausible that he regularly fed people to them.

As the story continues, more and more facts seem a little off, though. The spatial relationship of Ohio to its surrounding states, and the shape that Ohio is (it’s described at one point as having a panhandle, and as bordering East Tennessee) seems to make less and less sense. The wild dogs are massive, and have smoldering eyes like hellhounds. One nuclear disaster apparently wiped out a full sixth of Ohio’s population. The deer, plagued with cancer from the radiation, have turned carnivores. The wild horses run under a red sky—the sky is always described as red. The original capital of Ohio is lost, its stones dashed down in the war that made its citizens turn to cannibalism. The invasive plants of Ohio can pry open windows, and once choked a woman in her sleep. The people of Ohio dream more frequently of birds of prey gouging out their eyes than people in any other state. There are plagues of rats in Ohio that sometimes devastate towns. In Ohio, unexplained disappearances are rarely investigated. There are eagles in Ohio—their wings blot out the sun. Ohio briefly seceded from the Union in 1922, and there are those that still believe in the Free People’s Empire of Ohio. Ohio shares a border with Arizona. Ohio has a coastline on the edge of a dark and perpetually cold sea.

It becomes abundantly clear that this is not Ohio. It is something else, named Ohio and superficially wearing Ohio as a skin, but it is not Ohio. And looking back, it is hard to tell when it stopped being Ohio. When it stopped being just quirky Americana and an eerie mood and started being…this. Small details were off early on, but these were not noticed, because they seemed so normal. The sky was always described as red, but that was because it was supposed to be sunset…right?

and filled with lgiht humor, legit cooking, and charming life stories

And believe it or not, it gets better. Rosa’s also gives out sweatshirts to the homeless (or sells them to the general public) that has information on local soup kitchens and even computer training in the area, on an insert sewn inside the sweatshirt.

(Details)

PERSONALLY I FIND BASING A PART OF ONES IDENTITY AROUND CONSUMING A PIECE OF MEDIA TO BE UNHEALTHY BUT BEYOND THAT I HAVE SEEN MANY CIRCUMSTANCES WHERE PEOPLE WILL ASCRIBE A FALSE IMPORTANCE TO FAN CULTURE PUTTING IT ON PAR WITH VERY REAL POLITICAL STRUGGLES AKIN TO LGBTQ RIGHTS OR THE PLIGHT OF BLACK AMERICANS

WHILE THIS COULD JUST BE SIMPLE IGNORANCE I FEEL IVE SEEN PEOPLE EQUATE THEIR PARTICIPATION IN FAN CULTURE WITH POLITICAL IDENTITY OFTEN ENOUGH TO CONSIDER THIS A PATTERN

THIS MAKES ME THINK THAT SOMETHING ABOUT FANDOM CULTURE CAUSES IT TO ENCOMPASS SOME PEOPLES ENTIRE LIVES TO THE POINT WHERE THEY VIEW THE WORLD THROUGH THE CONTEXT OF FANDOM

AN EXAMPLE THAT JUMPS TO MIND IS THE APPLICATION OF "STAN CULTURE" TO POLITICIANS WHICH HAS BEEN AN OBJECTIVELY IRRESPONSIBLE AND DAMAGING THING

I THINK IT TIES IN TO A LARGER PROBLEM OF CELEBRITY WORSHIP AND PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS IN WHICH A PERSONS RELATIONSHIP TO A PIECE OF MEDIA IS SUBSTITUTED FOR ACTUAL RELATIONSHIPS THAT FOR WHATEVER REASON ARE NOT BEING FILLED

As some of you know, I start a Masters next year and I’m really excited to have that opportunity! Life has been shit, and this is me moving forward and wanting to contribute more to my community and world around me.

I’m at a disadvantage for two reasons:

My laptop is a hand me down and very old. It doesn’t turn on unless it’s plugged it, so if I knock the charger at any point, it dies. This is not at all helpful for trying to get assignments done, nor run statistics and other data.

I don’t have any external support and even now on a student allowance, there’s really no chance I can get my first car on my own. Having one would be life changing for me: I could get a good job to help get myself into a better position, do more work experience and also continue to do volunteer work at a greater scale!

I’ve set a ko-fi goal of $5000 - this should be able to get me a decent laptop for my masters (with a warranty for a few years in case anything else happens) and get myself a cheap but reliable car!

Please don’t contribute unless you have the means to, because life can be so so hard, and is so so hard right now. If you do contribute, I cannot thank you enough. Taking back my life and building a future is feeling so empowering, and this is one massive step forward for me.