#No Nonblacks November

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Okay, so. I’m going No Non-Blacks November this year

Nothing extreme. I just want the space to be showcasing only Black characters. I know - it’s already a space exclusively to show Black female/femme characters, and it will continue to be. But, the thing is that I go searching for characters to reblog, outside of my own fandoms and interests, and one thing that I have found and learned is that so many of these characters are typically either surrounded by or paired up with nonblack characters. 

Outside of the Unholy Trinity of Nigga Creators (IYKYK), I rarely find black characters interacting much with other Black characters. So, I want to set aside some time for those types of characters and interactions. A lot of us come from communities with Black people everywhere, and yet, whenever TV gets to gettin, you see one every few episodes or a few in the background or whatever. That’s not how I grew up and that’s not neighborhoods that I’ve lived in. Even when I’m in an area that’s predominantly nonblack (like I’ve lived in Mexican neighborhoods and live in a mostly South Asian neighborhood now) - and whenever I see Black people, they’re usually interacting with other Black people, still. 

So, November, I am gonna have BFCD be like a neighborhood where you see Black people everyday, whether they’re family, in a relationship, simply friends or work associates. 

You might think that’s simple to find, but it is not, actually. And I’m probably not gonna try to do this again, but I’m currently curious... So, if you know of Black characters that have content with other Black characters (hoping for things other than family, as that’s usually what you find (somebody and a parent or somebody and a sibling... like... them characters do not associate outside of their house with NO Black people? Ever?? That sounds sad and traumatic. Friendships. Couples. Shoot, I’ll take enemies and rivals, even. Just. Give a bih some to work with. 

So far, I will have characters from this tag: Black Love You may notice that its like... the same dozen or so couples, if that. Gonna have more All American couples, and stuff. I just... need gifsets and whatnots that have Black people loving/liking/fw other Black people. Because ISTG we do in real life. 

So, if you have ideas and faves and things, the inbox is open (not to anons), or you can reblog this with suggestions, or reply. (I respond in replies from neshatriumphs)

#accepting suggestions #accepting submissions #black characters #black cast #No Nonblacks November #November 2022

[feministdragon]

— When the 2000 election recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court was halted by five corrupt Republicans on the US Supreme Court — handing the White House to George W. Bush by a disputed 537 votes — nobody knew at the time that Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, had commissioned a huge purge of voters, using a list of Texas felons that was 68% Black and Hispanic.

Harris did this because the national pool of Black and Hispanic names is relatively small: Black felons in Texas with names like Jim Washington or Jose Gonzalez are extremely likely to have similarly named counterparts in any other state with large Black and Hispanic populations like Florida. 

Thus, when those Texas names were compared via a “loose match” (didn’t require a birthday or middle name match) with Florida voters’ names, disproportionate numbers of Black and Hispanic Florida voters were deemed to be possible felons who’d somehow recently moved to Florida from Texas, and tens of thousands were removed from the voter rolls. As the US Commission on Civil Rights noted:

“14.4 percent of Florida’s black voters cast ballots that were rejected. This compares with approximately 1.6 percent of nonblack Florida voters who did not have their presidential votes counted. … [I]n the state's largest county, Miami-Dade, more than 65 percent of the names on the purge list were African Americans, who represented only 20.4 percent of the population.”

— When Donald Trump was certified the winner of the 2016 election, nobody knew at the time that Russia had illegally poured millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of man-hours into targeting swing state voters identified by the RNC, whose names were handed off to Russian Intelligence by Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

When Robert Mueller’s FBI team determined this crime had helped put Trump in the White House, and that Trump had personally intervened in investigations ten separate times in ways that could be prosecuted as criminal obstruction of justice, Bill Barr kept the news from America until the story had largely faded from the headlines.

What will it be this November? We have some clues.

— With the blessing of five Republicans on the 2018 Supreme Court, Republican-controlled states with large Black and Hispanic populations are purging voter rolls like there’s no tomorrow. Just between 2020 and 2022, fully 19,260,000 Americans — 8.5% of all registered voters — were purged. The purge rate in Red states was 40% higher than the rest of the country. We won’t know this year’s purge numbers until well after the election is over.

— The GOP is trying to organize an “army” of 100,000 rightwing warriors to show up at polling places to “oversee” elections and challenge voters they think look suspicious. They’ll also be challenging signature matches on mail-in ballots, particularly in Blue cities in Red states.

— Republican elected officials from the state level all the way up to the US Senate are refusing to say that they’ll accept or certify the result of the election this fall if Donald Trump doesn’t win. Multiple Republican members of Congress have asserted that only the House of Representatives should decide the presidential election this year (which would throw the election to Trump regardless of who the voters or electoral college choose).

— In multiple states, Republicans have passed laws allowing them to manipulate and change the location of polling places, criminalize voter registration drives, replace Democratic and nonpartisan election officials with partisan GOP hacks, and in Georgia and Arizona throw out ballots from entire precincts. As Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt noted for The Atlantic: “Throwing out thousands of ballots in rival strongholds may be profoundly antidemocratic, but it is technically legal, and Republicans in several states now have a powerful stick with which to enforce such practices.”

— Typically, when politicians engage in nakedly deceptive politicking or election theft they’re outed in the press and punished at the polls. Since 2020, however, Republicans have rewarded their politicians who tell lies and engage in underhanded tactics, suggesting there will be no limits to what the Trump campaign might do or say in the weeks leading up to the election, including the use of deepfakes and AI.

— Saudi Arabia and Russia — both allies of Trump — have cut oil production by over 1.4 million barrels a day to drive up gasoline prices leading up to this November, just like they did in a dress rehearsal during the fall of 2022. History shows that gas prices spiking over $5 or even $6 a gallon will have a measurable impact on inflation and thus the election.

— Russia fielded a small army of online trolls to assist Trump’s electoral efforts in 2016 and 2020. Expect the same in November, except this time, according to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, China is also getting into the act on the GOP’s behalf. 

— Benjamin Netanyahu defied President Obama when he was engaged in delicate negotiations with Iran, visiting the US and addressing Congress at the invitation of Republicans. He’s expected to do the same slap-in-the-face gesture this fall to Biden, along with defying the president’s wish that Israel minimize civilian casualties in Gaza. Netanyahu will do everything he can to ensure Trump comes back into office if for no other reason than keeping himself out of prison; demoralizing young progressive voters will almost certainly be at the top of his list.

But these are all things we know about right now, even if there’s little we can do about most of them.

Given the Nixon/Reagan/Bush examples, our biggest concern should be to find the things we’d otherwise look back on after the inauguration and say about them, “Nobody knew at the time…”

[iwander12]

The English Alabaster official translation made it more racist for no reason

Uhh yeah...

I post it here so more people will have awareness about this.

It's this edition of Alabaster, published by Platinum Manga. There are two volumes

I purchased it last year in November i think. I didn't know much about it otherwise i prolly would have just uh. Read It Some Other Way.

Well, if you didn't know, this is one of Tezuka's more "controversial" stories. cuz it suuuucks bad. It sucked so bad he didn't want it printed into tankobon in the first place, but here we are with it in my American hands.

(from memory) The story is about a black American athlete who gets racially profiled and later accused of rape by a white woman so he gets put in jail because he is black. He becomes friends with a scientist and so when he got out he makes his own skin transparent so he won't get racially profiled anymore. Also the famous Tezuka Star Rock is here and he is white and Ultra Racist and he rapes a girl.

So yeah, pretty shitty writing on Tezuka's part. That's why he hates it, and it almost ruined the character of Rock for him. Fans at the time also thought this depiction was untasteful.

So why translate it to English? I don't know... I don't know who this would appeal to compared to like, anything else from Tezuka's enormous library but again here we are.

Now with the context, how'd they make it more racist than necessary? I think these images speak for themselves

There was no reason to use the n word as there was a more accurate translation yet they still used it anyway? This is just really confusing to me. I feel like someone nonblack just wanted to type the n word and get away with it.

Also the icing on the cake is in the back of both volumes, there's this page

Who the hell is this? I looked up their name and found no one relevant. Why is this printed inside the book? Why is this person being wanted for possessing books?

Being persucuted for owning books... this has never really been the case in the USA. yes banned books are a thing, but you're not going to be send to jail for them. Coupled with the fact that this book was NEVER challenged, NEVER banned, just offensive... PRINCESS KNIGHT was more challenged in the USA than this book! What the fuck!

This printing is from 2015 but it wasn't acceptable then and it isn't acceptable now. It's fine to publish Tezuka's books as-is, racism and all but don't treat it all "teehee so problematic!" like this, it's awful and shows you don't understand the severity of the issues present within the work and in real life.

#wander's wanderful world #osamu tezuka #alabaster #manga #racism #rape

[dicapiito]

Rich Black Celebs are not voting for Biden because of Vice President Harris. They just can’t openly say it so that’s why they’re always bashing Biden. Same with nonblack rich Celebs wanna run their mouths about not voting for Biden. They can’t be too openly misogynistic/ misogyoiristic. They’ll be in full effect in November once Biden wins re election.

The Joe Biden hate has zero to do with him and all to do with having a Black Woman as future President of the United States.

And they can miss me with being mad about a conflict that’s been riddled with violent antiblackness and antisemitism globally especially when the Republicans are making sure to have their second choice GOP nominee after Trump be eons worse. The Supreme Court and how Trump packed the court is a great example as to what the Republicans want from younger Republicans because as of now, SCOTUS will be lost for at least another generation due to leftists not wanting to vote for Al Gore and Hilary Clinton in 2000 and 2016.

So honestly, I’m tired of hearing the nonsense bullshit as to why people are not voting, voting third party because in the end all I hear is “ I don’t care about anyone but me! Fuck Black People, fuck the lgbt community, fuck migrants, fuck women, fuck access to abortion care, fuck education, fuck disabled people, because it’s all about me, me and only meeeeee!”

And seems like this needs to be said but the GOP has their voters. White women will vote for the GOP as hard as white men and antiblack nbpoc. So being complacent when the other side lives for voting in all elections is just downright stupid and selfish as all shit.

#us politics #and if there’s a problem with me voting to protect me and others then like Godspeed #this shit isn’t a joke and the Trump presidency will be extremely worse #hell many people didn’t fucking make it out alive the first time #unpopular opinion

[pocketbuddies]

Pinned Post!

Introduction!

hello! this blog is run by sasha over at @catboygirlboss ! i have too many beanie babies and now im actually gonna do something with them

this is a blog “run by” my various beanie babies (and beanie boo, teenie beanie babies and beanie buddies). for sake of anyone who doesn’t enjoy unreality for one reason or another, i wanna be crystal clear about the fact that im an adult humanoid person with like thirty beanie babies because i have a bleeding heart for objects and i go to the thrift store too often. so yes, im a grown manthing playing pretend with stuffed animals for all the internet to see. cringe culture is dead, im not hurting anyone, so let me have some fun

DNI if you are anti-endo, a t*rf, pedo/MAP or pedo/MAP apologist, transmed, proshipper, racist, pro cop, exclusionist, dream supporter/apologist, h*rry p*tter apologist, or nonBlack user of the word s*mp

now let’s meet our “admins” under the cut! (introductions in order of left to right, top to bottom)

Admins!

Waffles (not his brand-given name), he/him, born November 20, 2009

Garcia, she/he, born August 1, 1995

Whiskers, he/him, born August 6, 2000

Tuffy, she/her, born October 12, 1996

Cashew, they/them, born April 22, 2000

Annalise (not her brand-given name), she/her, born February 29, 2000

Groovy, any pronouns, born January 10, 1999

Peace, fae/faem/faer, born February 1, 1996

Beak, he/she, born February 3, 1998

Nugget (not his brand-given name), he/him, born March 6, 1995

Tiptoe, he/him, born January 8, 1999

Weenie, she/her, born July 20, 1995

Knuckles, she/her, born March 25, 1999

Swirly, any pronouns, born March 10, 1999

Patti, she/her, born January 6, 1993

Baltic, he/him, born January 27, no year given

Ewey, she/her, born March 1, 1998

Tiny, he/she, born September 8, 1998

Peanut, they/them, born June 3, 1995

Luke, he/him, born June 15, 1998

Loosy, she/her, born March 29, 1998

Fleece, she/her, born March 21, 1996

Dotty, they/them, born October 17, 1996

Spunky (and little Spunkette), both she/her, born January 14, 1997

Snip, he/him, born October 22, 1996

Wrinkles, she/they, born May 1, 1996

Bones, he/it/they/she, born January 18, 1994

Nanook, any pronouns, born November 21, 1996

Pugsly, he/it, born May 11, 1997

#pinned post #beanie babies

[writingwithcolor]

Okay so I'm a Black trans girl writing a romance story with a black trans girl protagonist. Her love interest is a Han Chinese man. His family threatens to disown him because she's black ... and trans and he has to decide whether or not to continue the relationship. Is this ... I guess good?

I'm basing it on my own experiences with antiblackness and transmisogynoir from nonblack/cis partners I've had and their families ... which haven't been the most accepting. My main worry is that I'm letting my own experiences/perceptions color the story too much when there might be better routes it could take.

Trans Black girl writing interracial relationship: Black trans girl, Chinese man. Chinese man’s family is transphobic and anti-Black.

I think that discussing anti-Black racism within Chinese communities is something we really need more of, and your perspective as a Black trans girl is completely valid.

Even within China and Chinese diasporic communities there’s racism against other Asians & colorism against darker Chinese people-- the marginalization of Black people is not contingent on white supremacy, and painting it as such is ineffective when it comes to challenging racism in all communities.

Avoiding Sinophobia when writing transphobic and racist Chinese characters-- I think it’s important to make the distinction that these aren’t a result of these characters being Chinese. Racism is present within other communities as well, as is transphobia. As I mentioned, treating racism as a “only whites need to work on this” issue completely ignores the kind of conversations regarding racism from POC against other POC.

To this, I’d also argue that writing about your own experiences is the best route you could take. This is a critical topic that I find in Chinese communities. Sinophobia from Black people is weaponized as an excuse to push an anti-Black agenda from non-Black people under the guise of “we care about the Chinese/look up to Chinese people as your models”. Above all, it’s important that the voices in the conversation of “racism between Chinese and Black people” be actual Chinese and Black people.

I’d suggest having someone who is Chinese sensitivity read your work. Biracial Black/Chinese people, and Chinese people in interethnic relationships I believe would be the most knowledgeable.

-- mod Em

Anti-Blackness is definitely a thing in Chinese people (IIRC there’s been racist behavior with African people living in China from Han Chinese people from blackface to harassment). I don’t have much experience as a monoracial Han Chinese, but I have noticed the older gens adhering to the model minority myth when speaking to them about anti-Blackness. Some of it does stem from ignorance, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing to point out that it exists.

-- Jess 

I think Em and Jess make good points, but I want to encourage your to check in with yourself as you write this story. This story is your lived truth, and anti-blackness, xenophobia and transphobia are all common problems in East Asian societies. However, to prevent the story from becoming caricature, you’d have to find ways to make these forms of bias make sense for the characters who hold them, which means humanizing them. I’ve only experienced bigotry from other East Asians for my race and my heritage, and I still struggle to be objective.

Separately, speaking personally as someone who went to school in a majority Chinese environment, I don’t know if disowning is always realistic unless a large amount of money is involved or the parent is unusually bigoted. My classmates certainly would have been very wary of introducing a Black or brown partner to their parents, but disowning a child in a culture that prioritizes filial piety and where the elderly rely on younger generations for end of life care is an extreme step, and one parents know they can’t back down from. It’s a play of last resort, so I’d make sure the context of the disowning is framed around that cultural reality.

-  Marika

November 2021

#archivesofalexandria #interracial relationships #Black #Black transgender women #Chinese #Chinese men #antiblackness #interracial romance #asks

[pm-my-hubbies]

OBX Fic Recs for my BIWOC Lovelies

Last updated on November 10, 2020 at 8:10 p.m. (HST)

My Reading and Writing Blog for BIWOC

A special message to OBX fans

Another message on shipping and fics

A message from @thevortexclubposse

Check out these wonderful black writers by @yurtletheturtlehenderson

Here’s a rec list of OBX fics for my bipoc readers. There aren’t that many but hopefully, more will come that I can add to the list. I’ll also do my best in writing fics staring bipoc characters and write fics that are inclusive to all.

Black Reader:

Black Lives Matter by by @sovuckie | JJ Maybank JJ defends one of the newest residents in Kildare County while also falling in love with the beautiful young lady.

Pope’s Little Sister by @yungbludz | JJ Maybank JJ is a bit flustered every time he runs into his best friend’s little sister. One day, all of that goes out the window.

The Sheriff’s Daughter by @yungbludz | JJ Maybank This fic describes the reader as the sheriff’s daughter. I could only picture Peterkin as the parent.

The Truth by @jjsmaybcnk | JJ Maybank Kelce’s sister and JJ are secretly dating due to their social statuses in Kildare. However, the truth can find a way to expose itself to the public.

White Boys by @sortagaysortahigh | Topper Thornton From the ah-mazing writer herself: “In which Y/N Y/L/N has a rule about not dating white boys, but Topper Thornton’s determined to change her mind.”

Summer and fangs by @gerberbabey | John B. Routledge (Peterkin Daughter Series)

Head canon by @kiarasgold | JJ Maybank

JJ Flirting on IG by @lotsoffandomimagines

Pope’s Twin by @sortagaysortahigh | Kelce

Haunted House by @tweedlydumbtweedlydoo | Pope

Lost & Found | Crush by @misspankow

Biracial/Mixed Race Readers

You Two Are What? by @jjsmaybcnk | JJ Maybank

Maybe I’m Honestly Falling Too Soon by @gerberbabey | John B. Routledge

Latina Reader: To summarize this portion, Latinx is not a race. It’s an ethnicity comprised of people from any race. In other words, you can be a white Latinx, a black Latinx (Afro Latinx), indigenous, etc. Now, if I am wrong or my explanation needs more clarification, PLEASE CORRECT ME. The last thing I want is to misinform people.

Empanadas and Alfajores by @obxlife | JJ Maybank Reader is hesitant on moving away from home to a foreign place like the Outer Banks. She meets the Pogues and captures the attention of a certain blue-eyed boy. I’m guessing the reader is a nonblack Latina.

JJ Dating a Latinx/Hispanic Reader by @whenspideywrites | JJ Maybank

A simple headcanon of JJ loving his girlfriend within the Latino community.

Ship Request by @poguesofthebau

Latina Concept by @stylesduress

Work Friends Series by @kikifromtheblock | JJ Maybank

Asian Readers:

Debut (Filipina Reader) by @gerberbabey | Pope Heyward

This is actually apart of a series that I’m enjoying so far. Here is the link to the prologue but you can read the rest at your own pace.

~*~

I’ll also add Pope/JD and Kelce/Deion fics on here that I come across because these boys never get the same amount of love as the other boys in the fandom. These fics will be inclusive to all. Meaning race specifics will not be mentioned throughout.

Pope Heyward/Jonathan Daviss

He cuddles you after an injury | Dad!Pope Masterlist by @socialwriter

He quotes something corny by @jellyfishbeansontoast

If I Have You by @apoguecalledjj

Pope’s Makeup by @drewstarkeyisababe

Pas De Deux (Part One) by @bedazzledbanks

Stay by @ims0golden

Electric by @maybankiara

Late Night Talks | The Power Couple | Boat Date | Picnic | Caught In the Act | Reading Facts to the Bump | First Times by @ijustreallylovethem

Pope’s Secret by @ptersparkers

Blurb #13 by @tempestuousjj

Dad!JD Headcanon by @cherryobx

OnlyFans | Pope Feels Anger | Good News by @sortagaysortahigh

Jonathan Daviss Blurbs by @maybanksbaby

Kiss the Girl by @https-luna

Rough | Do You Believe In Love at First Sight | JD by @ilovefandoms102

Noisy Neighbors by @toriswrites

My angel, My Darling by @rekrappeter

Kelce/Deion Smith:

Night Swims by @butgilinsky

Preferences in Bed by @socialwriter

Kelce Takes Care of You | College!Kelce by @sortagaysortahigh

Tags: @teenwaywardasgardian @ethereal-honeygold @rudyypankwow @bb-tings @jarritoswhore @letsgofullkook @butterfliesinthenightsky @usedtobeaj @og-baby-ob14.

#outer banks #obx #john b routledge #jj maybank #pope heyward #kiara carerra #sarah cameron #rafe cameron #topper thornton #kelce outer banks #chase stokes #rudy pankow #jonathan daviss #madison bailey #madelyn cline #drew starkey #austin north #deion smith

[aetla]

1) i know i haven’t been here the last couple of weeks. I KNOW. i know i know i know. and i’m sorry for the people waiting for replies and i’m sorry for the people waiting for plotting and i’m sorry for all the lovely people who have reached out in concern who have been met with silence in my end. 

i was vague in my last post, but just so everyone’s clear: i lost a parent to covid-19 a couple of months ago. i lost her before the government even told me i should be worried about something like that. i lost her two hours before i even got to see her again after a quick trip to nyc. i lost her and the details of her death / post death are Not Pretty and They Can Be Triggering, so i won’t go into it, but it haunts me. and it scares me. and i miss her so fucking much. 

i also recently lost an aunt to an ongoing condition she was born with. just like my mom, she has left behind two children (and just like my mom: one of them a minor), and i am grieving her loss as well. i’m grieving the loss of a cousin back in november. i’m grieving my grandma’s cancer diagnosis. i’m struggling with the loss of my job and the fear that my other mother, a healthcare provider, might be next on my list of people to lose. 

i’m trying the best i can to be here and be present, but it’s hard. and i know that some of you know what that’s like. and i know that some of you know intimately what that’s like because you’ve also lost loved ones to a pandemic many countries weren’t prepared for. i am so sorry for your loss, and i thank you for the love you’ve been sending my way.

2) that being said, my next post is not going to be IC, either. it’s going to be personal, angry, and probably rambly, but i won’t feel good until i post it. in case you follow me and don’t know, i am a mixed race woman who primarily identifies as black and latine. i know exactly what i look like to white people and nonblack poc. i know exactly what kind of fear a body like mine has when a cop walks by. i’m also mentally ill. i’m also queer. i have suffered child abuse, domestic violence, and toxic romantic (and platonic) relationships. i have done sex work, and i will do it again. i am a strong ally and a safe space for ALL historically marginalized groups. you will find a safe space in me if we cannot share a struggle because while i might not know your struggle, i know you shouldn’t have to go through it, and you definitely shouldn’t have to go through it alone. 

i am not a safe space for SWERFs, TERFs, anti-SJW, people who think slavery was over “100 years ago” either in america or elsewhere, people who use their identity as a marginalized individual to commit violence toward black people and black bodies, people who say “american is so regressive with their race problems” while talking shit about romani people out the side of their mouth, people who conflate the experience of being east asian in america (or anywhere really bc fuck colorism) with being south or southeast asian and overlook the damning statistics that show we can’t treat brown bodies of any ethnicity with care, people who regularly forget what land they’re standing on -- and no, this isn’t america specific -- because the indigenous populations of so many countries across the globe have seen their land stolen, colonized, and given back to them in piecemeal only to be taken again, etc etc etc.

i am ALSO not a safe space for people who weaponise a DNI list, especially against women of color, and that (along with some other things) is going to be contained in the next post.

#parental death / #covid 19 / #covid-19 / #coronavirus / #family death / #death / #personal / #just to note: i'm not the kind of person who checks to see if people have unfollowed me for anything. #if you can't jive with anything in this post or the next post and feel your dash would be better with me off it #please softblock / unfollow me. #i acknowledge; accept; and fight for your ability to curate the dash that makes you happiest

[barryslightningrod]

To My Followers

Not to sound like a disgraced beauty guru, but I owe everyone this post. It’s Ramadan, I’m fasting right now, and in my faith, there is such a thing as accountability for the things you say and do if they are harmful, and my fasting is nothing more than an empty gesture if I did otherwise. Along with owning up to the words that hurt black women and apologizing for them, I would also like to be fair to myself and clarify some things. That’s what I’m hoping to do with this while being as truthful and as objective as possible, so please bear with me, as I anticipate that this will be quite lengthy. I’m also going to detail what happened chronologically and include links to my posts before I ultimately explain where I went wrong. In full transparency, I did not delete anything after the first “callout” post was made about me earlier this year because I didn’t want to come across as trying to pretend what I said never happened, but I also think I should have explained the posts in my subsequent apology.

On Policing Fandom Over Nora:

Over the last year, I’ve been a Nora “apologist” if that’s the word to use. I was and have been upset with fans for initially not taking to her and then for despising her entirely. I made posts about this throughout my blog. I explained that I felt as though the conflict between her and Iris was legitimate and that Iris was validated by the narrative, but I occasionally recognized that Nora was also being used by the writers to mistreat Iris for their own racist/misogynist agenda. There was some pushback to my views every now and then, with people pointing out that I was coming across as arrogant and as though everyone should feel the same way I should. I also felt like fandom had a double standard toward Nora. The writers have used characters and story arcs, involving Joe and Barry for example, to abuse and mistreat Iris before, and I saw Nora as an extension of that. So it was confusing to me that through all this, people still loved Joe and still shipped Barry and Iris, but advocated for Nora’s erasure and/or death. I also took the comments of some fans about Nora getting in the way of WA or always third-wheeling them to mean that this was the primary reason people disliked her, and that they were pitting Iris and Nora against each other for Barry’s affection. That prompted this post that fans who did that should’t have kids.

On The Elseworlds Crossover:

I hate Oliver and felt like the switch was ruining the trope of WA being together in every reality. I also was worried it meant Barry and Felicity would be together, and I still think that if Marc hadn’t been angry with Emily Bett, they would have fleshed that out more in the crossover. He was mad at her, yet Felicity and Barry still got a kiss for no reason than just to kiss. I vented about fans being excited for Oliver and Iris as a pairing when they wouldn’t feel the same way for Barry and Felicity or Barry and another woman. I made a claim that fans were self-inserting on Iris and wanted Iris to be loved by other men because they wanted those other men. I compared this to their distaste when Barry was with Patty or Felicity. I felt like real WestAllen fans wouldn’t want that and felt like there was a double standard going on because of over identification with Iris. There was also a subset of fans from Twitter boasting that Stephen had an erection after one kiss with Candice when he never did with Katie or Emily, and I know that was influencing my mindset at the time. So I wrote this and this about fandom wanting men to lust after Iris.  

On Stephen Amell’s Racism and Islamophobia:

It bothered me that fans were sending Stephen praise for sending Candice a heart on Instagram or Tweeting her or whatever else he did around the time of the crossover. In January, he addressed the Ahmed Mohamed situation again (the Muslim student who was arrested for building a clock) and said he wasn’t regretful of the comments he said about that situation back in 2015 and that the police did the right thing. I made a post that Stephen is an asshole and that any Candice fan who looked over his racism because he sent her hearts should be ashamed.

January 2019:

In response to my post about Stephen and Candice, I received multiple Anonymous messages pointing out that I was coming for a fandom comprised of many black women for something a white man did. I became defensive in my responses that I didn’t call out black women and was rather speaking about a fandom collectively: (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)

Afterward, this post was written about me detailing all of the above. I wrote this apology in response.

May 2019:

I did not use the term, “misogynoir,” but I might as well have because I did make this post last week attributing fandom double standards when it comes to Nora vs other characters’ treatment of Iris to racism or misogyny. That triggered this post and here we are today.

My Response:

Everything linked here has not been altered or edited and are words I typed out and posted myself. There were tags on one post about fans not caring about Iris’s journalism that I remember editing out shortly after publishing it in November 2018 (I think this was the post they were initially on), but they are saved in this screenshot by the original author of both callout posts.

I take responsibility for everything I said as a nonblack woman of color. I am not black and never claimed to be, and whenever I was asked by curious followers if I was, I disclosed that I wasn’t.

I do not believe that black women shouldn’t be mothers. I do not believe that black women lust after men and/or white men. I do not believe that black women want men and/or white men to lust after them. I do not believe that black women want to be validated by white people and prioritize validation by white people. I do not believe black women are quick to cry racism.

But I do know that over the last year, I have implied these things on my blog whether I realized I was doing so or not. What I considered to be a member of a fandom calling out other members of a fandom that I’m a part of can never be exclusively seen as that, because the fact of the matter is that I cannot divorce my status as someone who isn’t black from my criticism of a fandom of a black character and an interracial ship that may be varied in its makeup, yes, but is still ultimately composed of black women. Because I am not black, my frustrations with fandom will be put into a “political” context. They will stop being frustrations that are just general and start to become frustrations that are racist and anti-black, regardless of intention, not to mention that I am not immune to feeling or expressing anti-black or micro aggressive sentiments, consciously or not, simply by way of being a product of a racist society.

I thought I realized this in my first apology in January, but I never fully outlined that I did, and clearly I still had learning to do months later because I stepped out of my lane again. I still believed that fans were quick to forgive Barry whenever he wrongs Iris because he pulls a romantic gesture but will not extend that same consideration to Nora, despite both of them being exploited by the writers to abuse Iris. My thought process was that anyone can fall prey to the biases and prejudiced views that we’re socialized to internalize and accept, and I thought that was happening here again, which was why I said that this fandom isn’t exempt from racism or misogyny.

This came off as my telling a group of people who experience a combination of racism and misogyny that I will never come close to knowing what is and isn’t racist. And with the help of a friend, something that I didn’t consider or understand at all in the entirety of this Nora situation and throughout the course of the whole series is that is that because black women are subject to racism from the moment they’re born until the moment they die, when it comes to something like a TV show where they are being represented, they get to individually or collectively decide when to worry about their representation. They get to decide how they will worry about it. They get to decide if they will take action about it. And throughout this entire season, I, a nonblack person, have been telling black women how to deal with or address this particular instance of racism on the show because of my own personal experiences and because of what I myself prioritized in Barry and Iris’s story. This is arrogance at best and anti-blackness at worst.

My bias for the concept of WA having a child impacted my attitudes, as did my own familial relationships. I get why I had such an emotional response. I was looking forward to WA having a family and a child they would love more than anything, and it’s because I question very much the love my mother has for me. I’m not trying to make excuses or elicit a sob story, only that I understand now why people pick and choose things to “excuse” when it comes to the racist writing on this show. I have to make sense of why some fans were willing to overlook how abysmally Iris’s potential death was handled in Season Three for example, because they prioritized other things. Maybe they liked angst and liked that Barry was protecting Iris, whatever it was. Even if we’re all operating on the same notion that these writers hate Iris and will never see her as a human, we’re all just grasping at the smallest thing on the show to try to find solace or happiness in and taking what we can get. For me, that was with WA and their child, and it bothered me that a majority of people weren’t feeling the same way. So yeah, I became emotional. I let my emotions get the better of me a lot of the time. I made posts shaming fandom. And then my frustrations with fandom seeped into other things too, like the crossover and the praise of Stephen. I started to have less inhibitions about the things I posted, and in that, an ugly hostility toward fandom came out that was made to be political. I understand why it was and why I have to be more mindful in my criticism.

I will also say my experiences with fandom over the last five years came back to “haunt” me I guess you could say. For example, I’ve been called out before and unfollowed and blocked by other fans for being too critical of the writing. I was told that I’m never happy with anything, when a lot of my criticism was over the treatment and neglect of Iris because of her being a black woman. So I started to get upset because now there was this collective acknowledgment of that in fandom when it came to Nora. I’m sure that was also influencing my attitude because I was conflating a bad experience with fandom before with one now.

I���m not going to copy and paste my prior apology since this post is long enough, but I am linking it again as I want to echo its sentiments and because I am just as apologetic about the things in it. I am sorry once again to my followers and to anyone who came across my posts. I am sorry to the black women I hurt. I am sorry for dismissing the black women who tried to explain to me why they were hurt. I am sorry that it took a second callout post and reality check for me to understand your hurt.

On a more general note for my followers, I am sorry for shaming people who disagreed with me. I am sorry for shaming multi-shippers. I am sorry for the arrogance and superiority I ever exuded.

I understand that some people will not forgive me. I understand that some people will not believe this is sincere. I understand that some people may never have a favorable view of me again. I am still sorry and I will continue to say sorry.

I wanted to thank the friend who took the time to listen to what happened and to explain to me why I was wrong. She certainly didn’t have to take that on, but she did and I’m grateful to her. I also want to thank anyone who gave me a chance and read this in its entirety.

If there is something that anyone is still confused about or has a question over, I am willing to clarify in the replies.

Peace.

-BarrysLightningRod

#housekeeping #barryslightningrod

[leftpress]

How We Calculated the Risks of Walking While Black

by Kate Rabinowitz and Topher Sanders, ProPublica, and Benjamin Conarck, Florida Times-Union | Articles and Investigations - ProPublica | November 16th 2017

by Kate Rabinowitz and Topher Sanders, ProPublica, and Benjamin Conarck, Florida Times-Union

A Florida Times-Union/ProPublica analysis showed that law enforcement in Duval County, Florida, gives black people a higher proportion of pedestrian tickets than does any other large county in the state. Black pedestrians are nearly three times as likely to receive a ticket as nonblack pedestrians. Our analysis also showed that residents in the three poorest ZIP codes in Jacksonville (Duval County’s largest city) were nearly six times as likely to receive a ticket as were residents of the city’s 34 other ZIP codes.

We also found that the most common ticket type, “crossing the street while not in a crosswalk,” was issued in error more than half of the time.

The Jacksonville sheriff’s office contends that pedestrian tickets are ...

→ READ MORE ←

Get your Latest News From The Leftist Front on LeftPress.News → Support Us On Patreon! ←

#leftpress #news #resistance #politics #Walking While Black #by Kate Rabinowitz and Topher Sanders #ProPublica #and Benjamin Conarck #Florida Times-Union #Articles and Investigations - ProPublica #How We Calculated the Risks of Walking While Black

[lavenderlegacies]

I just had a haunting flashback to November 2014 when somebody literally wrote an imagine about someone comforting another (nonblack) person because they were stressed about the Ferguson news

[ladystylestores]

Georgia’s Long Lines – The New York Times

Want to get The Morning by email? Here’s the sign-up.

Good morning. Republicans are considering their own police reforms. Brazil’s president is threatening a military takeover. And Georgia’s primary was a mess.

Chloe Mexile Benard got in line to vote in the Atlanta suburbs at 7:30 a.m. yesterday, according to The Guardian. She did not vote until almost noon.

Marneia Mitchell, a stationery designer in Atlanta, was starting her fourth hour of waiting in line when she told The Times, “It’s despicable.”

And Greg Bluestein, a politics reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, called yesterday’s primary elections in Georgia “like nothing we’ve ever experienced.”

In several counties around Atlanta, voting machines malfunctioned, and thin staffing because of the coronavirus left fewer poll workers to deal with it. As a result, many Georgia residents had to choose between enduring hours in line or losing their right to vote.

Yesterday’s problems were worse than usual — partly a result of recently bought voting machines — but were also part of a much larger issue. In no other affluent country do citizens regularly have as hard a time voting as they do in the United States. Most of our elections are held on workdays, and a shortage of election equipment and workers often forces people to wait in long lines.

The waits tend to be longest for African-Americans. One study of the 2016 election, using smartphone location data, found that voters in black neighborhoods waited 29 percent longer on average than voters in white neighborhoods.

And as was the case in the 1950s and ’60s, Georgia has again become a battleground over voting rights. In the 2018 midterms, the state had the country’s longest waiting times, according to a Bipartisan Policy Center analysis. Republicans in Georgia, who control most of the state government, have frequently opposed efforts by Democrats to make voting more accessible.

It was not fully clear why yesterday’s lines were worse in the Atlanta area than elsewhere in Georgia. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, blamed local officials — who are heavily Democratic — and said they had not properly trained election workers. Local officials, in turn, blamed him, saying he had not provided adequate training resources. Virus fears among election workers and high turnout, after George Floyd’s killing, may also have played a role.

“No corner of the state had a fully functional voting experience,” The Times reported. Michael McDonald, an elections expert at the University of Florida, wrote: “I have never seen the scale of election failures happening in Georgia today. This does not bode well for November.”

In yesterday’s election results:

THREE MORE BIG STORIES

1. Republicans respond to police violence

Senate Republican leaders have assigned Tim Scott of South Carolina, their only black member, to lead the drafting of legislation that conservatives could rally behind.

Republicans face a dilemma: For decades, they have built an image as tough on crime, and it has helped them win many elections, often by winning the votes of whites who previously voted Democratic. But public opinion has shifted significantly, amid growing video evidence of police brutality and racism, and Republicans are trying to figure out how much to change their stance. For now, several congressional Republicans have changed their tone but not yet supported new policies.

In other politics news:

President Trump floated a false theory that a 75-year-old man in Buffalo who had been knocked to the ground by the police was “an ANTIFA provocateur.”

A group of white counterprotesters in New Jersey, appearing in front of a pro-Trump sign, mocked Floyd’s death, with one man kneeling on the neck of another who was facedown on the ground. One of the counterprotesters was a corrections officers and was quickly suspended.

Democrats are increasing their pressure on Joe Biden to pick a black running mate.

2. Funeral for George Floyd

Two weeks after Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, he was laid to rest in Houston, in a grave next to his mother’s. Two rows of police officers saluted as Floyd’s coffin went past. (The Times recently profiled Floyd’s life.)

As the service began, the New York Stock Exchange went silent for eight minutes, 46 seconds — the length of time a police officer held his knee on Floyd’s neck. It was the longest moment of silence on the stock exchange floor in its 228-year history.

3. The threat to Brazil’s democracy

Daily coronavirus deaths in Brazil are now the highest in the world. Investors are fleeing. And President Jair Bolsonaro and his allies are under investigation.

In response to the chaos, Bolsonaro is raising the prospect of military intervention to protect his grip on power — an ominous prospect for a country that was under a military dictatorship as recently as the 1980s.

More on the virus: A Times graphic compares the death toll to the toll from historical disasters.

Here’s what else is happening

The founder of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, has resigned, after BuzzFeed News published the details of a call with gym owners in which he maligned Floyd and shared coronavirus conspiracy theories.

Paramount Television canceled “Cops,” the once-popular reality show that ran for 33 seasons and that civil rights groups criticized for its portrayal of African-Americans. Separately, HBO pulled “Gone With the Wind” from its new streaming service, but pledged to bring back the 1939 film that romanticizes the Civil War-era South “with a discussion of its historical context.”

Lives lived: Bonnie Pointer was there at the creation, when she and her siblings decided to form a vocal group called simply the Pointer Sisters. But before the 1970s were out, she had left the group to pursue a solo career. And then they hit it big, without her. She has died at 69.

BACK STORY: Facial recognition

IBM announced this week that it opposes using facial recognition for mass surveillance and racial profiling. We talked to our colleague Shira Ovide, who writes The Times’s On Tech newsletter, about the problems with the technology.

“Facial recognition is terrible at identifying people with darker skin,” Shira said, pointing out that some research found it has no better than a 50-50 chance. “And there’s a dangerous tendency to over-rely on this kind of technology, even when it’s not accurate.”

She added: “We don’t know when facial recognition is misused. What if law enforcement agencies use it to identify people who are attending peaceful protests, like the ones happening now? Do we want to live in a surveillance state where everyone is in a vast database and we can be identified on sight at a massive scale?” That, of course, is the situation that China’s government is trying to create.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT, STREAM

How to feed a crowd

A key part of the Sikh religion is providing free meals as an act of faith, and many gurdwaras — the places of worship for Sikhs — have large kitchens, ample numbers of volunteers and regular food donations from community members. Some gurdwaras serve more than 100,000 people every day.

This tradition has enabled Sikh communities across the U.S. to respond to the increase in hunger caused by the pandemic, while many food banks have struggled, Priya Krishna writes.

Reckonings in culture

In the publishing world, a viral hashtag this week encouraged black and nonblack authors to compare their pay, in an effort to highlight inequality. One example: A white science fiction writer said he had received $3.4 million for 13 books — more than $260,000 per novel — while a black female author said she had received $25,000 for each installment of her award-winning science fiction trilogy.

In theater, more than 300 artists — including stars like Viola Davis and Lin-Manuel Miranda — published a statement that outlined how artists of color are unjustly treated.

A guide to TV streaming bundles

Inspired by this clever interactive from Bloomberg about the best streaming bundles, we asked Adrienne Maxwell, an editor at Wirecutter, to offer advice to anyone who’s gotten rid of cable television or is thinking of doing so:

When trying to decide whether or not to cut the cord and what services to subscribe to, I think the first question anyone should ask is whether they still want access to live TV and, especially, sports. Hardcore fans who love to watch a variety of sports and want access to their local affiliate broadcasts are probably better off sticking with cable.

If live TV is not something you care about, then it really does come down to personal viewing preferences. The beauty of streaming is that you aren’t locked into a contract, so you can subscribe to one service for a couple months, get caught up on their exclusive content that you love, then cancel and switch to another service.

But if you’re more of a “set it once and forget it” type, I’d say some combination of Netflix, Hulu, and Disney+ is likely to be the most satisfying for the most people.

Here is Wirecutter’s more detailed guide.

Diversions

Games

Here’s today’s Mini Crossword, and a clue: Only state with a two-vowel postal code (four letters).

You can find all of our puzzles here.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow. — David

P.S. Cooking for kids can be exhausting, especially if they’re picky eaters. The Times’s Kim Severson and Ted Allen, the cooking-show host, can help. At 8 p.m. Eastern today, they’ll discuss how to cook healthy family meals.

You can see today’s print front page here.

Today’s episode of “The Daily” is about George Floyd’s funeral.

The Times is providing free access to much of our coronavirus coverage. Please consider supporting our journalism with a subscription.

Ian Prasad Philbrick and Sanam Yar contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at [email protected].

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#World Wide News

[dicapiito]

I expect bullshit from white people and their love for the GOP and why they vote for them. Nonblack people doing the same shit though? That’s what’s pissing me off.

Everyone knows the Democratic voting has when it comes to Black People is over 90% in almost all elections ( minus the gerrymandered states of course) and here the nonblack PoC are trying to fuck over Black People and the US because they think they will get special treatment from yt people.

So fucking annoying and I hate that not everyone in the community is seeing what nonblack PoC are doing. They do this shit all the time and then they get shocked when the GOP comes after them. Republicans will do what they do and then they expect Black People to fix it after ignoring our warnings…

It’s so damn tiring and seeing that asshole Rashida Tlaib in Michigan trying to discourage voting is her being openly antiblack but because we aren’t listened to; people don’t see what she’s doing and that’s making sure to screw over Black People in Michigan because she thinks she’s going to be a Rep for life...

Black People will continue to vote for Democrats because we know that we are protecting not only ourselves but others around us. So it’s very tiring seeing this shit happen yet again and come November when Biden wins; the misogynoir will be multiplied because MVP Harris will be the candidate in 2028

So glad nonblack PoC are always right on time when it comes to the bullshit. And on Black History Month too. Yay 👍🏾

#us politics #antiblackness #us elections #unpopular opinion #yt people will always vote against the better for all #like yt women love republicans #but nbpoc do the same shit #and I’m sick of it

[luciolodewyckx6-blog]

Read Point Of View & Comments On Electronic Publishing.

Starting and also managing a new business may be annoying. The FBI examines countless gun deals each year-- and also in some cases also thousands of hundreds of deals daily Under federal government regulation, nevertheless, the FBI possesses only 72 hrs to conduct a history check-- after which time, the weapon seller is actually permitted to accomplish the purchase even if the inspection has actually not concluded. However in years when equities have actually performed this well via the seasonally demanding period from September as well as Oct, they have carried on increasing with the rest from the year 67% from the amount of time along with an ordinary two-month profit in November and December of nearly +2%.

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[shawnsjames]

Progress Report

The last few months have been filled with a lot of heartbreak and loss. I released two great books that died on arrival.

After a major advertising blitz on YouTube and social media, I released The Legendary Mad Matilda. This was a book some readers asked me to write, a book that filled in many of the gaps of the story between Spellbound and Spinsterella. A book that I dedicated to the memory of my late father.

A book that has only sold three copies so far. Compared to Spellbound’s strong sales last year and Spinsterella’s over 1000 sales on Smashwords, Legendary Mad Matilda was a major disappointment.

I thought Legendary would do better in sales than it did with major audience support and the miracle God worked out for me to pay Mike Williams to get the cover on the book. Mike did an amazing job on that cover, and I got positive feedback on the sample chapters.

Unfortunately there were few buyers. In spite of the setback on Legendary Mad Matilda, I did get some sales on the other two books in the Spinsterella Trilogy, Spinsterella and Spellbound. So maybe people just want to get caught up before picking up the third book.

Looking at the stats on Smashwords, Spellbound seems to have a following in Australia and Canada, perhaps the Goth community abroad likes the story of Matilda Crowley’s babybat days.

I’d love to do more Black Goth fiction. But I need to see the sales before I write another book. I’ve got ideas for a couple of Black Goth stories and I’d love to write them. But after spending six months writing Legendary and seeing it die at retail I’m hesitant to put fingers to the keyboard and take six months of my life writing and editing it. I put a lot into that book and it hurts to watch another great story die due to poor sales.

In November I released E’steem: Ascension, a powerful story that concluded the first overreaching arc in the E’steem series. Thanks to a donation by a YouTuber, I was able to pay Bill Walko to design the cover for another major event in the SJS DIRECT Universe.

That book also struggled to get readers in paperback and Kindle. In spite of another heavy ad campaign on YouTube there weren’t that many readers for the book.

Sadly this happens all the time in the publishing business. Good books wind up getting no sales in spite of a publisher’s best promotional efforts. Sometimes they bounce back like Why 70 Percent of Black Women are Single and find an audience. Or they struggle for years like Isis: Wrath of the Cybergoddess, another great story many readers missed. Time will only tell how Legendary Mad Matilda and E’steem Ascension perform. I’m just gonna put a period on things and move on to next year’s books.

To my surprise I had several foreign sales on Isis and E’steem series backlist books. People in countries like the UK, Denmark, Mexico, and New Zealand picked up Isis and E’steem series books on Smashwords. Isis and E’steem do well outside of the U.S and does well with nonblack audiences. So that proves to me that there’s a growing foreign audience for Black characters outside of the US.  

And I picked up a Thetas sale.

There’s been a major resurgence in interest in John Haynes. I had several sales of The Temptation of John Haynes and The Man Who Rules TheWorld over the last few months, and I had a YouTube viewer send me a letter telling me how much he liked Isis: Bride of Dracula after he bought it.

Every time I post up a John Haynes blog it gets lots of hits. Currently I’m working on the first stories in a John Haynes series. The first story A Conversation With Death is finished and I’m working on Taking Care of Business and Dark Succubus.

Until those stories get released, readers can catch John’s appearance in the upcoming Isis: Escape From Transylvania. The only thing holding that book up is the cover. I’m hoping to find a way to pay for it so I can get it out for the summer reading season. This one reads like a movie, and is one of the most action packed Isis series stories so far!

John will also be featured in the upcoming E’steem: The Sands of Time as well. So if you want to read about John Haynes these are the books to pick up!

On the SJS DIRECT Universe front I’ve got several Isis stories finished that are waiting for release.

Isis: Escape From Transylvania is uploaded on CreateSpace and Kindle,

Isis: Imitation of Life has been uploaded to CreateSpace and Kindle for over two years now,

Isis: House of Isis is uploaded to CreateSpace and the eBook is formatted for Kindle,

E’steem Goddess of? Is Uploaded to CreateSpace and the eBook is formatted for Kindle,

Isis: All That Glitters is Uploaded to CreateSpace,

John Haynes: A Conversation With Death is formatted and nearly ready for release,

And E’steem: The Sands of Time is past the second draft.  That’s a book I really want to get to the market sooner rather than later. With action, adventure and romance set in Ancient Egypt I think this one would be a big hit with readers.

I’m hoping to get some titles out this year. If worse comes to worse, I’ll release something with a Blackout cover like Little Girl Lost. While my funds are still limited I want to publish something this year.

On the nonfiction side STOP SIMPIN in the Workplace has sold strongly in eBook and the paperback versions of both STOP SIMPIN and STOP SIMPIN in the workplace sold very well. To my surprise The Simp Series has consistently performed well throughout the year in the U.S. and foreign markets. People have bought STOP SIMPIN in The UK, Germany, India, Mexico and Canada, Chile, and STOP SIMPIN counts for a good chunk of the eBook sales I get.

To my surprise I got some sales of Why 70 Percent of Blackwomen are Single in Switzerland of all places. Who knew the Swiss wanted to know why American Black women were single?

My YouTube Channel passed the 5,000 subscriber mark in January. After four years I think I’m building a web presence with Men, comic fans, Sci-Fi fans, fantasy fans, and Goths online. Many of my videos are breaking 1,000 views these days and some have broken 2,000. That’s come a long way from my early days when I had videos that barely got only 100 views. I’m working towards the 10K mark and I hope I can meet that goal this year!

And the blog passed its two millionth hit! After ten years, my audience is still growing. Recent blogs I did roasting Marvel’s Inhumans and Reviewing Dan Mendoza’s Zombie Tramp got a record 600 views in one day!

Sadly, my 2011 Macbook Pro is starting to show its age. The headphone jack broke in December, and I had the SuperDrive break this month. Lucky for me I have A+ Certification. After buying a refurbished SuperDrive on eBay for $10, I managed to replace it in 45 minutes. Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do with the headphone jack. That’s soldered to the logic board and that costs more than the computer is probably worth to fix. So for now I’m using a Turtle Beach USB stick I used to use with my Latitude when that headphone jack broke. Hoping I can find some work soon so I can buy a new one because this is the laptop I make my videos and write my books on.

I had some setbacks in late 2017 and In spite of them I’m still trying to make progress. Working hard to get out this year’s books and working on next year’s. Building a YouTube Channel and a blog. I’ve got a lot of great stories I want to share with readers, and I want to expand my audience to reach more new readers. Still don’t have that full time job, but I’m still working towards the next level.

#Progresss report #Spinsterella #Legendary Mad Matilda #Shawn James #E'steem Ascension #E"steem series