2022 Opening Thoughts

Plus my “Dark Monastery Manifesto”

I am not optimistic about the new year. The pandemic rages on. The world is going to hell, suffering from the extremes of corporate greed, politics as blood sport, and ignorance. As we face yet another year pumping ourselves up with resolutions and goals, I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking why bother?

On the other hand, if this year is going to be a grinding continuation of the last, I need a fresh point of view. I’m happy to roll along with the same mix of projects — studying, writing, diving deep into family history or the history of found objects, communing with the stars, etc. But to keep it interesting, I think I’ll whip it all into my personal METAVERSE — but not the neonate metaverse of Big Tech, which will shove consumerism and more “influencers” down our cartoon-version throats. I’d like a metaverse of the imagination — someplace to mentally “go,” supported by books and art and nature.

Or I’ll define a coherent world that becomes my own SUBCULTURE, subcultures being all the rage now in youthful social media. I’ve been reading about the internet subculture “Dark Academia” — part of a “neo-aesthetic” movement glorifying books, learning, handwriting, and the life of English Oxbridge students. It takes inspiration from the Victorian Aesthetic [aka Arts & Craft] Movement.

Sounds good, till you dig deeper. “Dark Academia” winds up looking pretty superficial. Candle-lit libraries as Instagram backdrops. Old books and weathered leather bags as TikTok props. A spread in Cosmopolitan featuring Dark-Academia-inspired mini-skirts — really?

I’ll have to invent my own subculture. “DARK MONASTERY” — something like that.

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