Anoushka Ray

Even when today’s intellectuals do attempt to step outside of their academic niche, their knowledge is often questioned because of the very nature of specialization. A historian writing on politics or a physicist dissecting philosophy might be met with skepticism because intellectual authority is tightly policed within rigid boundaries.

Fear of war, fear of invasion, fear of plague, fears that make it simply not worthwhile constructing things, or planting trees or even planning next year's crops. And fear of the supernatural, which means that you daren't question anything or change anything. The late antique world was full of meaningless rituals, mystery religions, that destroyed ... See more

But the worst part, the part I try not to say out loud, is wondering if they think of me too. Or if the silence only feels sacred on my end. What if they forgot my birthday? What if they’ve never once replayed a moment in their head the way I sometimes do, involuntarily, like a scratched record? What if, to them, I was just a brief interlude… a cha... See more

Sometimes, I think silence used to be quieter. Before we were all online, before updates and photo dumps and “seen” receipts and Instagram stories that tell you someone’s alive, even if they’re no longer in your life. Back then, silence was space. Now it’s static. It’s the absence of a ping that should’ve come. The profile you could check, but don’... See more