Mucus In My Pineal Gland

by Juliana Huxtable

If real power begins where secrecy begins, then, as we frantically search for dick pics of Justin Bieber or our next door neighbor who we’re convinced posted the faceless Craigslist ad seeking an Asian bottom, we’re seduced into a beautiful distraction in which we are convinced, by virtue of our victorious toppling of the lives of others, that we indeed have nothing to hide.

Genres: Poetry, LGBT, Queer, Transgender, Nonfiction, Gender and Sexuality

188 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2017

Reviews

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

My introduction to Juliana Huxtable was through stumbling onto her self-titled tumblr back at the turn of the late 2000s to the teens. She became a quick fave and I've kept up with her work ever since – a personal goddess of wit and aesthetic. Her tumblr was and is a gorgeous cyberspace and her relatively recent debut & continued presence as IRL cultural producer in New York & international art scenes has been cool to follow (of course she been been throwing parties, so respect).

ANYWAY THE BOOK

FEELS LIKE CYBERSPACE

I read it all fast on a beach trip and was like whoa. Hypertext realness or some shit. The formatting and layout is everything. I'm forever grateful for how she busts open the binaries of life, and also for teaching me the word "pastiche." Recommended to anyone who live/d/s in the digital and is now a little more grown, out here straddling the landscape IRL.

PS I just want to give her & House of Ladosha a shout out for introducing SO MUCH SLANG into the tumblrsphere. Who tf was saying HAM before that?

[Kathleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I WALKED INTO A ROOM

THE FLOOR WAS COVERED IN NECK RUFFS, OUT-DATED COLLARS, CORSETTES, VEILS, TAPESTRIES AND BROKEN PIECES OF GRECO ROMAN COLUMNS

A LARGE FAN AT THE TOP OF THE ROOM BLEW SHREDS OF PRINTED JPEGS OF CONSTITUTIONS, DECREES, REVOLUTIONARY TEXTS AND OTHER THINGS OLDER WHITER VERSIONS OF 'THE MAN' PAST USED TO CERTIFY IN WORD THE MERGER OF THOUGHT AND OBJECT.

THE WALLS OF THIS VERY LARGE ROOM WERE COMPLETELY COVERED IN SCREENS LOOPING SCENES OF AMERICAN ACTORS SPEAKING IN BRITISH ACCENTS PLAYING CHARACTERS, BOTH FICITONAL AND 'REAL'-ISH IN NATURE SUPPOSEDLY IN ANCIENT EGYPT, 18TH CENTURY FRANCE, BABYLON, SO FORTH AND SO ON ... ALL IN BRITISH ACCENTS

THE HISTORICAL REVEALED ITSELF TO ME AS COSPLAY , A FANTSY-FICTION WHO'S OSTENSIBLY MODEST VOICE FORGOT THE SPECIFICS OF THE SITUATION

[Ellie Botoman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“extraterrestrials among us / disenfranchized so-called citizens / id photos, gals in facial recognition software / humanoid voguing replicant voguing dirty / pornographic polytheism in / 480 x 360 pixels / in phantom breakbeat forms summoned in colored / gestures dancing across retina display screens”

[Sigrid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Juliana Huxtable is a singular and irreplaceable talent, unlike any other in our generation. The poems in Mucus act like an acid bath, dissolving anything and everything into a here congealing, there separating mass of bubbling identities and experiences — always clarifying distinctions at the very moment they collapse back in on themselves.

Encountering Huxtable’s artwork from a distance soon after I came out (to myself) as trans (before this book was published), it was already clear that she had managed to give shape and character to a particular post-tipping-point moment: where anything and anyone seemed possible and yet, since so many trans people were finally sharing their experiences out loud, the shared and unshared (heavily racialized) challenges we face seemed all-the-more omnipresent, and harrowing. This also came through as I read: Whether writing on the unique excitement afforded by genre-mashing DJ sets, or on the intimacies, vulnerabilities, and embarrassments of revealing oneself to a lover, Huxtable’s writing feels less “of” the moment, and more like the moment itself. But of course, the artists and writers who define a moment often pass into history as the next moment arrives. Huxtable, by contrast, feels just as relevant as ever— indeed, it is difficult to imagine what trans artists would be doing today if this book had not been written, if her art had not been made.

The most compelling, enduring, and inescapable part of the work is the voice that rings through, IN ALL CAPS, from every page and passage. Those who follow Juliana’s socials will recognize it as the same voice that blares over her twitter feed. This utter refusal of variation in tone, bleeding between “real life” and art, between various poetic speakers, without regard for traditional boundaries, is for me the very best example of our hunger for connection and our hatred of timid compromise. It’s like the alien voice from old UR or Funkadelic records suddenly wakes up and remembers, “We want the whole world,”—finally taking hormones, coming into her own—“This time we’re invading from the inside out, and you’re going to help.”

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew of Huxtable's work as a DJ in NY, but I had no clue she'd written a book until I'd stumbled upon it at a store while passing through Marfa. I read it all over 3 days. The revelatory poetry and essays have an insistent tone, and the adventurous page layout/type treatments give the writings a sense of tangling/untangling. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and will definitely re-read it.

[Gabriella Ramirez]

“The spaces I grew up wanting to inhabit were digital sims clubs, labyrinth and underwater world in 3D fishtank screensavers, play place structures in flash animated sites who contents took up to 20 minutes to load , geo cities with empty frames and click through a/v experiences in image mapped coordinate links...” (92)

[Erik Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

"If real power begins where secrecy begins, then, as we frantically search for dick pics of Justin Bieber or our next door neighbor who we’re convinced posted the faceless Craigslist ad seeking an Asian bottom, we’re seduced into a beautiful distraction in which we are convinced, by virtue of our victorious toppling of the lives of others, that we indeed have nothing to hide."

[nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vile. Addictive. Grows in the brain and lies poison under the tongue to choke you or make you realize how the structures are broken and unjust.

Perhaps better read in 2017 than now. It is angry and rightfully so. But it exists at a time when we didn't know much about the systems and the people in power. This is to say that Huxtable was ahead of their time. Still is. But worked better for tumblr circa 2012 than it does now.

[Giulia Goldston · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of an art book than a book of poetry, Huxtable's book focuses on the body, sexuality, and the internet. The sticky web of these things all together. A smartly made book, and a beautiful object to own.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

damn.

[elio · Rating 5 out of 5]

five stars. ten stars. eleven stars! pornographic polytheism in 480 x 360 pixels. perfection. absolutely vile.

[Perla Zúñiga]

Es una biblia.

[JJ]

fuck man, trying to read anything & even something short and snappy like this, while working full-time is hard wtf. anyway cool book

[Mathilde · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5!!!

[a ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

so potent that it shoots a bullet into your core. a must read

[misha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great potential! Would’ve benefited from a better editor.

[Siggy · Rating 3 out of 5]

good but definitely dated at this point where it starts to get a bit tiring

[chicken · Rating 4 out of 5]

a dated read but timeless still

[zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

ok i'm finally writing a review for this book three months later.....

huxtable is witty, cutting, and very real indeed. love the layout of the book toooooo