Related Recs

🩸

My obsessive interest in gore vidal Appropriately started with my own self-interest

My dad had always told me we were related to Al Gore and Gore Vidal and of course I knew who the former was but never really bothered to read much about the latter.  His first name comes from the family name of his mother. I started getting into genealogy and came upon an essay by Vidal that had been published in The New York Review of Books called The Ruins of Washington where he writes about our shared Anglo-Irish ancestors who came over in the 17th century and owned a large portion of the land that would become Washington, D.C.  Our ancestors sold the land and as the families branched off they migrated further and further south ultimately ending up in Mississippi.   My grandfather was best friends with Gore’s uncle and my dad grew up with Gore’s first cousins, so though the cousinage between us is distant on paper, the kinship bond and shared culture was still there. I was so excited to see what else Gore Vidal had written about our family that I downloaded his essay collection The Last Empire, where he writes: “But then the Gore genes are strong, making for large noses and ears and, in many, chinoiserie-style eyes, more gray than blue. Blake certainly had inherited the Gore sharpness of tongue …  If there is an uncomfortable truth to be told, at least one Gore can always be counted on to bear sardonic wit-ness.” “They are also known for their forensic skill, wit, learning— family characteristics the Vice President modestly kept under wraps for fear of frightening the folks at large.” Which is an eerily accurate and specific description of me.  As I read more of the essays in this book, I began to realize Gore Vidal was right about literally everything in the world and that his quote in my bio is true.  He was so much more than he’s known for in pop culture. As I devoured as much of his work as I could, especially his non-fiction writing, I developed a deep parasocial connection with him and found in him a kindred spirit.  Beneath his prickly acerbic exterior was a profoundly vulnerable and emotionally wounded man with mommy issues from his BPD mother.  I love his fiercely anti-institutional autodidactic spirit.  He’s my role model and I think we also look alike and have similar cunty arrogant vibes/minds. In The Last Empire he writes that the Gore family will selectively pick and choose who to claim as family no matter how distant the relation is.  I delusionally believe that if he were somehow alive today—and also not ravaged with wet brain—as a deep personal mythos weaver himself who had once found meaning in his own family story, he would be honored that I feel this way about him.  Thank you if you read this rather lengthy volume of Tater Hole lore 🥔🕳️

@taterhole

Apr 5, 2024

📖

Avi family lore story:

When my grandma's sister passed away around the time my mom was 10 (this was 1982), her husband decided to not really speak to my grandma's side of the family even though my mom and grandma had a really good relationship with their kids (my mom's cousins) and they didn't really communicate with each other as much, and two of their kids ended up becoming pretty well known (one is a chef and the other does stuff with MSNBC) so now I have famous relatives who I only met once when I was 5. They live far away from me and I'm pretty sure they have no idea who I am, and my grandma's sister's husband lives in my state like 30 mins away from me and runs a doctor's office but I have never seen him in my life for the reasons mentioned above. So yeah I have a whole side of my family I don't really know at all. It's also crazy how my mom just casually told me this. Through that grandparent I'm also related to another bunch of well-known people who came from a town/city in Slovakia according to ancestry.com (back when it was called Austria-Hungary) who likely have no idea of my family's existence but that's a whole different story

@av100

Jul 7, 2024

📹

I need to update a little here

1) my high school is the center of a Netflix documentary. It’s not good. 2) my mom was in the army and in Germany the same exact time Jeffrey Dahmer was. She was taken in and assessed where he was stationed, but she was not in his regime. my brother and i only found this out a few months ago and we told her about it. she was very distraught 3) my great uncle was in an acapella group that was sampled in Young Thug’s “I Know There’s Gonna Be”. Never met him before he passed though. 4) there is a house music singer named Barbara Tucker who i listened to as a kid. Her song “Beautiful People” got me through some times in high school. Turns out her father was in the same group as my great uncle. I contacted her last summer to ask about him and she even gave me her number (but I’m just gonna respect her privacy). She’s a lovely woman 😂

@chiawase_

Mar 10, 2025

Top Recs from @taterhole

🧳

Starting over

“Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage.” — Anaïs Nin This is uncharacteristically raw and personal, even for me, and pretty heavy! I know many of you have seen me posting through it and I feel safe to talk about it openly now that I’ve safely landed at the start of my new life. It’s honestly even a little bit embarrassing but I think it’s important to share. I’ve never publicly mentioned it on here, but I have a husband; as of Friday, we’d have been together for 11 years, and we’ve been married for 3 years as of 2/22. I realize now that I wanted to explore what I looked like outside of my relationship with him because I had lost that. This is why PI.FYI has been so meaningful to me as a space to express myself and connect with people—to rediscover my voice. I had been living a lie this entire time, to others but worst of all to myself. He’s been verbally and emotionally abusive, physically but without touching me, to the point that every day I spent with him I was in danger. I’ve been shrinking myself and walking on eggshells to avoid making him insecure and provoking his casual put-downs and fits of rage, while hanging on for dear life to the threads of good I could see. I’ve wanted so badly to leave, more than anything, but I felt like there was no way out and that this was just something I would need to endure indefinitely—but someone who is so very dear to me helped me see that I have wings to fly, not by acting as my savior but by reminding me of my own power. The emotional safety they built and the gentle care they showed me made me feel like I could open up to them. With their encouragement I was brave enough to tell the truth to my friends, my family, my boss, and they have received me with warm, loving and open arms and rallied to support and protect me. The financial and  logistical aspects were the most intimidating to me and it’s going to be tough for a while but I’m going to be better than okay! Now I’m opening up to you. This isn’t the only abuse I’ve suffered in my life, and my old therapist told me she believed it was my mission to share my strength and light with others to inspire them and show them that change is possible. I hope that by sharing this, I can reach even just one person who is going through something similar and show that they are not alone, and they are not weak. People with certain backgrounds may be more vulnerable to abuse, but it can happen to anyone. It thrives in darkness, shame, and isolation—and breaking that silence is the first step toward freedom. Leaving is the scariest thing I have ever done but I have so many angels around me, and I am endlessly grateful. Thank you for being here with me 💌

@taterhole

Mar 16, 2025

🧸

Never changing

My dad teases me about how when I was a little kid, my favorite thing to do when I was on the landline phone with somebody—be it a relative or one of my best friends—was to breathlessly describe the things that were in my bedroom so that they could have a mental picture of everything I loved and chose to surround myself with, and where I sat at that moment in time. Perfectly Imperfect reminds me of that so thanks for always listening and for sharing with me too 💌

@taterhole

Feb 23, 2025

🕊

Finally Quitting the job that you hate

Schedule sent my resignation email for the morning, effective immediately ✅💅

@taterhole

Feb 27, 2025