Collected Item: “Vie Darling Oral History, 2022/07/11”
Title
Vie Darling
Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.
Kit Heintzman
Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.
kheintzman@gmail.com
Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.
kheintzman@gmail.com
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#12Steps, #addiction, #ADHD, #AFAB, #ancestry, #artist, #astrology, #Autism, #Black, #California, #colonialism, #CPTSD, #epigenetics, #femme, #immigration, #Indigenous, #IndigenousLiberian, #Liberian, #LiberianAmerican, #LosAngeles, #Maryland, #NewYork, #nonbinary, #premonitions, #queer, #race, #racism, #slavery, #sobriety, #spirituality, #suicidality, #trauma, #wellness
What is the format of your recording?
Video
In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.
New York City, New York
What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*
high femme non-binary AFAB using they/them/theirs pronouns
What is the age of the interviewee?
25 to 34
How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*
Liberian-American (person of African descent, known colonially as Black)
Describe the oral history.
Some of the things we discussed include:
Working as a healer; cosmic wellness.
Identifying as a witch as a child; growing into an identity as an ethereal being; coming from a family of spiritual experiences: telepathic communication, ascension, speaking with ancestors, shadow work, Dark Night of the Soul.
Childhood premonitions of lockdown, mediumship.
Spiritual awakening at 18 years old.
Connections with past lives, light DNA, auras.
White supremacist interpretations of spiritualities.
Self medicating with drugs and alcohol; getting sober.
Houselessness; being in constant travel throughout the pandemic: Maryland, New York, California, Georgia.
Returning to New York once school went back to campus, working on a BFA.
Modern medicine working with spirituality, rather than against it; loving science.
Transgenerational trauma and epigenetics; ancestors who were enslaved in the USA and then repatriated to Liberia; family’s involvement in the The Liberian Civil War (1989-1997); family members incarcerated, tortured, and murdered; transgenerational distrust of the American government.
Going into Bellevue Hospital after the recommendation of a friend, being misdiagnosed, held against will, hospital communicating information back to parents.
Self-diagnosis; lay diagnosis; misdiagnoses.
Being without health insurance in New York.
Beginning a care network during lockdown; at first focused on the pandemic serving queer BIPOC artists, increasing free fridges; shifting focus to jail support during the BLM protests.
Having money but being held back for not having the credit.
Having Boomers for parents.
Surviving child abuse.
Staying sober as a way of staying safer during the pandemic; the pandemic doesn’t eliminate the risks of dying from overdose or murder.
Liquor stores and bars staying open during lockdown.
Boundaries and being a safe space for ourselves.
Divesting from the false matrix of colonialism, not just decolonizing but indigenizing.
The predatory exploitation of people coming into their spiritual awakening.
Other cultural references include: Australian bushfires, The possibility of the USA going to war with Iran, Harry Potter, Li-Meng Yan, Poro Society, Sande Society, Jethro Kloss’s Back to Eden (1939), Thomas Jefferson, Hunter College, MBTA, Stranger Things, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Matthew Shepard Story (2002), Logo channel, bell hooks, Marxism, Mad Max, Instagram Live
See also:
https://www.viedarling.xyz
On what date did you record this oral history?
2022-07-11T17:36