Vampyre, not Vampire.

Some of them drink the blood of humans.

A bizarre and fascinating offshoot of the Goth subculture, Vampyres (as opposed to Vampires) are a loosely tied group of both late adolescents and adults that fashion themselves to be vampiric in one sense or another: whether they’re modeling themselves after the vampires of pop-fiction writer Anne Rice or the classic blood-suckers found in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, those who call themselves Vampyres all have a few traits in common.

Above all else is the fixation on blood: whether they drink it or use it to initiate new members, all who fashion themselves Vampyres share the sanguine obsession. Fashion is a close second; attire is dominated by Victorian style clothing and macabre jewelry. A melancholy countenance is the salt on the rim of the Vampyre-cocktail.

With offshoots ranging from the psychics of the Kephrian Order to the pagans of the Coven of Sahjaza, the differences between those who follow the Vampyre lifestyle are almost more numerous than that which ties them together.

There's no denying that the Vampyre lifestyle is becoming for this generation what the Goth movement was for those of the 80s and 90s.


WC: 195

Abstracts

Legacy of Blood:

Native American culture has been decimated, and all of it that can be preserved must be. The blood of the Mohegan people runs through my veins by virtue of my Grandfather’s father, and alongside that legacy are a wide array of artifacts unique to the Native Americans of Connecticut, all of which have a story behind them. This study would shed light on Mohegan culture as a whole through both the oral traditions of my Grandfather and studious research of aforementioned artifacts.








God: The Archetypical Hoodoo Doctor:

The African-American folk magic of Hoodoo is about as blasphemous to Christianity as a religious practice can be. Passed on through families and social contracts until the recent electronic era, the practice of Hoodoo has remained largely unknown of- it is by no means as recognized a movement as its sister religion of Voodoo. This study would focus on defining what it is that makes Hoodoo so unique through both a study of the artifacts distinctive to the Hoodoo practice and the rituals in which they are involved.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight, Red sky at morning, sailors take warning:

For thousands of years, since the very earliest of human civilizations, predicting weather has been of the utmost importance: from the merchant about to send forth his ships on a trade excursion to the farmer about to plant his crops, if one couldn’t anticipate the twists and turns of weather then they were doomed to failure. In the time before satellites and the Weather Channel, weather lore was the guide that served in these crucial predictions. This study examines the factual basis behind weather lore through the science of meteorology.

Growing up in HoCo

HoCo.

For those who don't know, this is the slang term for Howard County, the area where I've lived my entire life. If one is a Marylander, they'll probably have a sense of the HoCo stereotype, but for those who aren't natives I'll explain just what it means to grow up in Howard county.

In 2010, Ellicott City was deemed the second best place to live out of the entire United States of America, and HoCo is enmeshed in Ellicott City. Go figure, there's always been a standard to live up to.

From as early on as preschool, my Mom has stories of how cut-throat the entire system was with regard to academics: if you didn't get your child the best of everything, they would surely fall behind and be trampled; if you got them the best, which Howard County offered to those with the balls to take it, then they could go anywhere.

If I ever needed proof as to the truth of Mom's words, all I needed to do was look to the droves of overbearing parents enrolled in PTA and the soccer moms and dads screaming at their children on the field. The screaming, more often than not, was far from encouraging.

Howard County, although it has the best textbooks and the best places to shop, eat, and hang out, is not a place where I would choose to raise my own children.