Rome via Brooklyn

640 words 3 minute read time double post

Day 11 was when I did things on a whim and tried to decompress from the travels that happened throughout the weekend. I was able to finish up my solo presentation, shower, and wash my hair. I have been starting to catch up on the news thats been happening in America, especially with the ICE raids and the mayoral elections. Nonetheless, I tried to stay positive, relaxed, and do the most I could with the resources I had, as well as educate myself. We’re supposed to be in a constant state of education, whether rapid or slower (thats with everything). 

Right after I got out of the shower, Joseph texted me asking if I wanted to tag along to see the Basilica of St. John Lateran and walk through the holy doors, and of course, I said yes. I hopped on the train and walked past a hookah lounge that caught my eye, which I considered returning to.

When we walked through the holy doors, I was in sheer awe of the basilica and its beauty. I enjoyed seeing all the gold, and in Christian art, gold was used to symbolize transcendent divine light, which embodies the invisible, spiritual world. Seeing the sheer amount of gold in the room is used to drive a point home of light and heavenly glory. I also believe that the overwhelming feeling is that the architecture of these churches is also meant to define the thresholds of holiness. Another thing I was able to pick up on is the reuse of forms, and I keep thinking, wouldn’t you want to switch it up because this is a brand new religion? I would not want anything to do with the forms, figures, etc of any religion that hated and persecuted me. Thats just me, though. 

After that, we headed to meet where the class was being held, and I was so scared for my solo presentation. I could feel the tension in myself because I didn’t know where we would stop, so I counted the different floors. I enjoyed my presentation topic because I have a weird fascination with death, as I mentioned in my presentation. I like to study various death cultures and how different but the same they are. I like how each culture believes in different things, such as some believe in an afterlife with god, some believe in an afterlife with ancestors and gods, it’s just all so different and intriguing. I am still shocked that someone would put a curse on the back of their own daughter’s funerary altar to lower her mother’s status in society because she was trapped in a marriage and found an escape. Disrespectfully, I hope he got what he deserved. 

All the presentations were intriguing. I especially loved Julia’s presentation about the cursed tablets because when I read about the curse on the back of the altar I studied so it brought more questions about other curses and why they would do that. Oddly, it still reminds me that we still do the same today. If you are on TikTok or Instagram, you would definitely see memes about the Etsy witches and how they do spells for love, money, revenge, career, etc. So my brain definitely connects the two, and as a people, we most certainly did not change at all. I find something very beautiful about that. 

I also got to sit in Livia’s summer dining room, which I never thought I would be able to experience, but I did, and I was such a great experience that I was in awe. I sent my mom a video of the room and talked about all the intricacies of it. All the different species of animals and the keen attention to detail was astonishing. I would love something like that in my house one day. I also ended the day with Jollibee which is a huge plus!