One: @LSD
An Oye Diranoid Film
A trippy triptych trailing the trio of black women that traversed the trials and tribulations the triads that life presents. Toppling their totems of tyranny, tragedy and trauma the perspectives of three, in three eras is triple parted into a film that fractals in concept and story.
The Roots:
LSD History, Family History, Connection with LSD,
Opens with Alicia’s narration and presentation of her thesis on the history of Psychedelia in the SouthEastern United States. Her friends, Simone and Denise tell her it’s perfect and sure to earn her funding to explore more psychedelia Cut to her older mostly white all male professors patronizingly thanking her for her time, but deny granting her any funding to continue her research
Hear her inner monologue as she suppresses her rage, eyes transition from full of light to dullness, lips tighten, hard swallow, a face of composure, hands tighten and foot rapid taps as the response drones out as her inner monologue explores the intersectionality of appearing presentable for men and appearing presentable for white people.
She starts to partly express it in the hallway/waiting room area walking to the bathroom where she collapses and cries
She’s interrupted as a lone older black professor makes a point to have her come to his office hours
When visiting in the office hours, the professor pulls in his secretary a black woman in her mid 30’s
Alicia is finally able to express how she’s felt over the last 6 years at the school, Iyi and Maude have to break her down a bit to get her true response, because she’s not used to talking to school staff on a level playing field.
Alicia is encouraged to take her work elsewhere, maybe look at historically black colleges, Somewhere where black people get more recognition.
Grandma Haffmon was born in 1855 the daughter of a Swiss owner and a descended Ghanaian slave on a small cattle farm. Her 3rd great grandmother had been enslaved in her home land and shipped across the Atlantic. Leticia Serwa Darko was a cattle farmer in Ghana and when brought to Georgia she found herself doing forced labor at an American ranch. Leticia knew the wonders of cows lied beyond their kinship, their milk, their hide or their meat. The gold in her cows and any cows at all was in their shit.
They inquire about her, what she likes to do, what she plans on doing in the future and eventually land on how she got so interested in psychedelics
Alicia Down the rabbit hole.
From 14-17 Alicia’s grandma noticed her depression and offered her mother to fix her. Her mother constantly said no until the week she refused to get out of bed. Her mother agreed and let her try her Old Ghanaian wise tale’s treatment harvesting certain mushrooms from the fields of the cow farm they owned. While sitting out in the sun and watching Disney's Alice in wonderland outside in the amphitheater, when she sees the rabbit sprint across the grass. Now at the peak of her trip she’s able to go through her experience. Cool visual showing the brains neurons in a field changing and altering her depression. Also presented with a vision of the future where she will become a crime boss, she will kill people and she'll have to make a decision between her kids and her life style.Her mother is the queen, her brothers are the cards. Her grandma is the cheshire cat, She tells her she’s in a rabbit hole as much as you keep digging down you’re eventually gonna have to come out.
The Bond:
Chemical Bond, Sistahood, Black Love
Primarily affecting the serotonin receptors in the brain LSD's chemical structure is similar to serotonin. It binds to and activates serotonin receptors, particularly the 5-HT2A receptor subtype, as it leads to altered perceptions, mood changes, and a distorted sense of reality. Simone is reading a paper on the effects of LSD in the brain outloud to
At 17 Alicia’s boyfriend, Satchel Stearnes, had helped an elderly white woman who was his neighbor. Beechebeile Harriet’s parents had been abolitionists on the underground railroad moving escaping persons across the states of Tennessee and North Carolina. She had happened to marry an abusive racist after the devastating loss of her first husband in a Klan related fire he tried to help put out in which members of the terrorist organization had killed him for. Beechebeile’s step son had been just like his father, cruel, bitter, ignorant and racist but since she had raised him he had a soft spot for his adopted mother. He did not take kindly to the “tall bulky nigger” walking out her front door when he came to visit and he made sure to tell her as well as his concerns of “him assaulting her, stealing from her or what ever other sort of evil niggatry was up is sleeve.” Beechebeile would always say that the hatred he directed towards Satchel was more harm to her than anything he could’ve done. Alicia had been witness and target of the racist tangents he’d go on. The nice old lady passed the night after Satchel helped her and her son came to visit. The morning after a few of her things had gone missing and her rotten shitstick step son was there to point the finger at Satchel, when almost everyone could figure it was him. The courts gave Satchel 3.5 and years hard labor in the state penitentiary. Alicia could afford to visit him every other month. She gets into Morehouse School of Medicine Satchel was released only to be drafted into the Korean war in 1951 a week after his release. The night before he left again Alicia asks if they can get married and Satchel says he wants to buy her the biggest diamond he can when he gets back.
The Art of The Cook Up:
Chemical creation, Drug manufacturing, Making Art/music
They collect the ticket stubs from ticker tape parades which are made with blotters paper leftovers, washed, sterilized, printed and drop then turned into confetti and shipped out
The Drop:
Taking of substance, Release of Drug, The removal of bad people
Sheets in the middle of single hits-Simone’s ideas on making blotter art, by taking one hit she can envision infinite sheets leading to her specialty made checkerboard of 13 active tabs and 12 undropped with a printed pattern to match
The Upbringing:
Coming up, Childhood, Motherhood
After a year in the war Satchel’s father passed from a stroke and on emergency leave he goes back to bury his dad, see his family and visit Alicia. While spending a night with her, they both take shrooms, Alicia’s new medication for her depression and she sends him off to the war the next day with a bible full of shrooms and a few weed ginger snaps. Satchel heads back to Korea and keeps the bible on him at all times. Alicia is pregnant and is excited but scared to tell Satchel
Inspired by the photography of Oye Diran
