The Worship of the Golden Calf, by Unknown Artist

Cultural Resurrection: An Operator’s Manual

Cultural Resurrection: An Operator's Manual


I. Termination Protocol

  1. Transplant Documentation System
    a. Disable Lunar Rhythms using Greenwich Mean Timestamps
    b. Replace Celestial guides with GPS static
  2. Administer Linguistic Cyanide
    a. Inject 10cc of Anglicised proverb into the carotid artery
    b. Let Diné Bizaad syllable swell into asphyxiation
  3. Incinerate Memory Fibers
    a. Load ritual garments into the bone kiln
    b. Program cremation at 451°F

II. Cessation Verification

  1. Confirm flatline on the Ethnocardiogram™
    a. Zero amplitude in harvest dance waveforms
    b. Straight-line artifact across oral history
  2. Check for Cultural Brain Death
    a. No pupillary reflex to ancestral poems
    b. Absent gag reflex when force-fed appropriated heritages tchotchke

III. Resuscitation Matrix -- Phonetic Defibrillation

  1. Charge paddles with Latin-transformed Vowels and Diacritics
    a. Place one paddle on the eroded stele
    b. Ground the other in New York Pho restaurants
  2. Shock rhythm at F=1/∆t, where ∆t = years between the funeral of great grandma and first cry of the newborn

IV. Post-Resurrection Care

  1. Neuroplasticity Training -- Daily Exercises
    a. Recite Bible verses while facing burnt archives
    b. Practice "Ethnic Studies" poses in front of repatriated remains
  2. Immunosuppression Therapy -- Intravenous Drip
    a. 50% Guilt + 50% Amnesia
    b. Titrate until host accepts museum-grade authenticity
    c. Target serum level: Enough to taste the iron in lullabies, not enough to name the wound

V. Warranty Disclaimer

  1. Resurrected cultures may exhibit:
    a. Phantom limb sensitivity
    b. Bipolar oscillation between inflated pride and deep self-erasure
    c. Metastatic nostalgia of diaspora

Do not attempt reanimation unless: You can distinguish between resurrection and revenge

May 28, 2025




Further considerations

[poetry]

Haikus on Watching Love Island and Not Your Mom's Birds and the Bees

By Elizabeth Shanaz

A shaved-in side part // arrives with a new woman // who should not be there

[poetry]

Anopheles and two other poems

By Arjay Opprecht

one // after another // they came

[poetry]

Amidah

By Avah Dodson

Last night you found Jesus in the dregs of the red curry

[poetry]

Lowcountry Blues and Judas Kiss

By William R. Stoddart

If I could feel sorrow // for a thing entire of itself, // it would be St. Helena Island.