Ship-wise, I Didn't Much Like Seward Included In The Polycule, Tbh. I Like Morally Ambiguous Characters

Ship-wise, I didn't much like Seward included in the polycule, tbh. I like morally ambiguous characters a lot, but Lucy doesn't need Jack's brand of dysfunction. She already feels way too responsible for others' happiness. Seward + Van Helsing, though? I love it. I'm not always a fan of the teacher-student transgression romance but these two seem perfect for each other. Jack is already morally gray and prone to boundary stomping. And VH strikes me as a *really* out there guy.

I may be ascribing some of my own biases to Stoker, but it's my impression that Stoker is critical of Lucy's upbringing. He has Mina think about how pliable Lucy is due to how her life requires her to be pliable less than a week before Dracula starts preying on her. I see this as intentional. He's saying, "Look, this lovely young woman is entirely unprepared to fend of anyone else's will, and it's the fault of the way society shaped her. This other young woman, free from such expectations and pressures, will have a far better chance." If Stoker was creating this story as a way to illustrate fears of the influence of the Foreign Other, I think there are two possible ways to look at it. 1) The evil foreigners will destroy everything that is most delicate and beautiful in England. 2) We are wrong to raise nice young ladies to suppress themselves because it makes them weak in the face of such an incursion.

How Lucy is treated by all characters in this novel always just. Baffles me. And it's not just a man infantilizing a woman thing either. This conversation today happened between two women. Lucy is a full adult, albeit a young one. Maybe she is at most a year or two younger than Mina. She is about to be a wife. Why is her own mother treating Mina like an adult confidante and her own daughter like a 12 year old who she needs to find a guardian for. Why does Mina think this is normal? Why does Lucy never gets to know anything? How come Mina came away from school with a full profession and her independencewhile Lucy didn't. I would simply chalk this up to Bramathan's ideas of womanhood, except for the fact that once again, Mina is canonically an active independent adult seeming woman. I've been thinking about what he could be trying to say with these choices for months.

It occurs to me that I haven't yet articulated something percolating in my mind. I've never read Dracula but I have been exposed to a (very different) stage production and the 90s movie. And I've seen plenty of references to it in other media and people imitating Bela Lugosi saying "I vant to suck your blood."

Which brings me to my point. Up until recently reading Dracula Daily, I just never even questioned the concept of Dracula, and most vampires in general, wanting to hunt and kill people for their blood. Like, blood is their food; when they are hungry they want human blood, like mosquitoes or ticks or whatever.

However, since reading Lucy's description of her experience being preyed on by Dracula, it's made me think I have been missing Stoker's point. And that many vampire story creators also don't address (and they certainly don't have to).

Dracula is feeding on Lucy's soul. The blood is incidental. He's draining her of herself. That's why strength of character makes a difference. Mina has built her character, the strength of her soul, in ways Lucy was always prevented from doing. Same with the captain of the Demeter. As captain, he was a stronger character than any other crew member, so he could resist being consumed. It's about way more than blood.

Idk if I'm conveying my epiphany very well. It's not that the idea of vampires eating souls is new to me. It's more that I think the blood part of it has been way overemphasized. Blood consumption has become the defining characteristic of vampires, and I think it's not at all what Stoker was trying to convey. They are demons that consume the spirit of a person. That's what makes what they do so evil and devastating. If it was just blood, it could be neutral in certain circumstances. But it's not blood. It's everything that makes a person who they are.

As I said in a previous post, I played Lucy in my middle school's production of Dracula. Now, this was sixth grade, and I am autistic, so to say I felt awkward and behaved in cringey ways towards the boy who was Arthur is... putting it mildly. He did not take it well and got vocally frustrated with me. So I didn't like him, and as a result, I have lingering hostility towards Arthur! 😂

Today's entry did nothing to soothe my feelings towards him:

"When Arthur came to lunch he looked quite grieved when he saw me, and I hadn't the spirit to try to be cheerful."

So I may be overreacting but fck that guy. *He* was grieved? Like, come on, man. Her mom is dying, her friend is gone, and she's sick. Step tf up, Art. You're it. Be the change you want to see, my dude.

I bet it's that walking through a door thing. When you walk through a door often it clears your mind; I gather this is evolution at work because survival demands you have all your attention ready for whatever's on the other side of the door. That's why you'll be in the kitchen and think, "I need my notebook," but the instant you go through the door to the living room where you left it, you can't remember why you left the kitchen.

Anyway, I'm guessing opening an app maybe be similar enough to opening a door that it does the same thing. The calculator and the clock are side-by-side, so it's easy to miss-tap and open the wrong one. As it opens, your mind gets cleared. And then you're staring at the calculator blinking with confusion until you piece together what your original intent was.

me staring at my calculator app for 45 seconds before i remember i was trying to open my clock app to set an alarm

In light of my recent monkeypox post, A LOT of people seem confused or unaware of the growing public health concern. Here’s some high level info

Monkeypox is a rare disease from the same virus family as smallpox. Since May ‘22, a concerning outbreak has been occurring across many countries, including the US, that historically have not reported the virus

Symptoms can include fever, headache, muscle aches and backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion, and a rash that can look like pimples or blisters that appears on the face, inside the mouth, and on other parts of the body

The current outbreak appears to be spreading mostly through close, intimate contact with someone who has monkeypox. It can spread via direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs, or body fluids; respiratory secretions during prolonged, face-to-face contact; touching items that previously touched the infectious rash or body fluids; and pregnant people can spread the virus to their fetus

Most of the confirmed cases of monkeypox are men who have sex with men (MSM). This is not because MSM are biologically more susceptible to monkeypox. MSM generally have a better relationship with medical practitioners than heterosexual men, so they are more likely to get tested. Monkeypox is likely a concern for the broader public too

Good news: We know a lot about monkeypox (unlike the case with COVID). It is not transmitted as easily as COVID and is not as deadly. Two vaccines already exist

Bad news: In the US, the Biden Admin is dragging its feet on vaccine roll out. Most people, even at-risk populations, can’t get them yet. Most people are also unaware of this outbreak because the media is failing to inform the public. I hope this post helps shrink the info gap a little bit. Please consider spreading the word and adding to this post with more info and resources