story now, craft later
The Strange Lamp
by Jordan Richo
This collection is called “The Strange Lamp”. The title is in reference to the phenomenon in which people are snapped out of their perceptions of reality by a single, out of place object, thus revealing the horrific dreamlike state they had previously been living happily within. To exist in this world as a person of color is to be both subconsciously aware and willfully unaware of both a real and imagined identity. The black body has often been a stand-in for inherent monstrosity. And when you
are contending with a violent history, while consuming media and language that seeks to dehumanize you until you believe that your own nature is comparatively disturbed, there is a third point of view that manifests as dreams or fantasy. The out of body experience that Dubois coined as- double consciousness. I wanted to explore these out of body experiences with identity. I wanted to explore how fear and violence manifest in third spaces of reality. How histories of violence and hatred can burrow deep into even our most comfortable spaces and in turn infect our perceptions of our relationships and ourselves. I think it’s interesting to think about hate as the overarching terror in a horror story. It’s so easy to say that hate is the root of all evil despite it being as easy and innate as love. It’s especially interesting when dissecting what can lead one to hatred and violence. The Black and brown experience is the constant poking and goading of an intolerance that is idolized, and when it goes too far, or when someone retaliates, we are told we’ve become the monsters they’ve always imagined us being. Throughout this collection, I wanted to stretch the boundaries of the horror genre, and overlay gothic elements into dreamy narratives that warp the reader’s perception of reality and speak directly to the inner shadow- the thoughts and feelings that make us feel guilt or shame. Overall, I wanted to blend Black storytelling, history, and spaces with the darkness and, yet, warmth of those very same places in hopes of finding a pocket where our shadows can meet and start to understand themselves better.
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