#because I feel like that really does fit my identity as someone in the diaspora

[akkawi]

I have been obsessed with this exact fucking dress for 3 years.

#I used to not like them as much but I actually now really resonate with post '48 thobes #intifada thobes especially #because I feel like that really does fit my identity as someone in the diaspora #I could spend years and years researching and trying to bring back a destroyed records of what my specific ancestors wore in a specific city #But that's impossible and the whole point is that it's impossible because of what has happened #And it really reflects how the national identity has changed. #refugee children in camps don't know what cities their family originally from but they know what their homeland is #so the identity becomes more unified via the nation as opposed to the regional traditions which have been purposely destroyed by isntreal #im akkawi obviously. #The generation within my family's memory all dressed in more modern clothes because they were big city mfs #and the generation before them has been lost and of course those records have been destroyed. #I spent 3 years trying to find what is me And what kind of dress I should make that would most reflect me and I realize THIS IS THAT #anyways I want to make smth like this is what I'm saying. the red trim is insane i love it #look at the non-traditional motifs of the guys with a slingshots and the flag and al quds

[kindlespark]

this is gonna be SO long and rambly sorry anyway i saw a post abt how babel does queer characters and it got me thinking abt why the tropes it uses would usually turn me off other stories but didn’t here

MAJOR BABEL SPOILERS //

i feel like i’d be more mad abt how robinramy ended up in babel if it marketed itself as queer lit at all or if its fans were going “WOW AMAZING QUEER REP” abt it. but no one told me any of that, so finding out they were gay was just a fun little bonus surprise to me. i get why ppl are eh abt robinramy not getting together/technically still being subtext (which i dont think is really true btw like the book literally says “robin was falling in love” but idk i guess if you were stupid you might’ve assumed that it was falling in love with oxford given how romantic some of the other language is (WHICH IS ALSO THE POINT bc i think robin’s friendship with ramy blurring into romance is why he romanticised like all his friendships/experiences in oxford BUT IM GETTING OFF-TOPIC)). i just think robin’s repression abt being gay was intrinsically tied to his attitudes on imperialism (wrt refusing to acknowledge anything that complicated his life until it was too late) and i don’t consider it a cop out or queerbait. like i genuinely don’t think robinramy could ever have gotten together without drastic alterations being made in terms of plot and character. plus i think it’s clear that kuang didn’t want to write a story with any kind of focus on romance at all, because it’s not that kind of book. there’s no successful het romance either, so it grates a lot less. the only reason romance is included at all is to show the ways in which white entitlement manifests. so the tragic way robinramy played out just made sense to me.

and i speak as someone who accidentally spoiled myself on You Know What in the middle of reading and i was like ugghh boooo dreading it the whole time expecting to roll my eyes when it happened but then when it did i was like. wow im actually not that mad LMFAO 😭😭😭 actually thematically the book sets it up so well that i believed that this was unfortunately the only way it could’ve gone. babel is about the loss and tragedy and grief that colonised people experience. it’s about the lengths people will go to to uphold empire and the lengths ppl will go to to tear it down like idk 😭 i guess it is bury your gays but it didnt bother me this time because i thought it fit thematically ❤️ i enjoy tragedy as a genre a lot and i would’ve made it gay anyway you know. thanks rf kuang for doing it for me so i didnt have to.

WHICH IS ALL TO SAY that i guess if you’re going into babel for the queer rep without appreciating that the story is fundamentally a tragedy it would feel like it’s just reusing tired tropes….. but i think the choices kuang made were rly deliberate and not in a way that feels like trauma porn or shock value. the book is fundamentally about the struggles of poc so the layer of queerness that was introduced felt like a subtle extension of the experiences of characters of colour in the book, and i enjoyed and related to it as a queer chinese person who kind of realised they had to prioritise their fight for the liberation of poc over queerness mainly because the idea of western queer liberation cannot be dissociated from imperialism and many aspects of homophobia as we know it was an export of christian european empire into our colonised countries in the first place and FUCK THIS IS A WHOLE OTHER TANGENT ABOUT HOW I THINK RAMY AS A CHARACTER IS EMBLEMATIC OF THE TENSION AND STRUGGLE THAT QUEER POC DIASPORA HAVE BETWEEN OUR IDENTITIES GODDAMNIT OK FORGET IT POST CANCELLED i just rly think babel’s handling of queer characters is fine and makes sense and i like it personally and maybe i will make a coherent analysis about it one day but that day is not today byeeeeeee

#/ #// #sam speaks #byeeee ive been trying to type this post for over an hour but i give up #slashes are there bc i dont want it to show up in the main tag it’s rly incoherent and also subjective #babel #babel spoilers

[ghinanotlinetti]

A Review of ‘Ayesha At Last’ by Uzma Jalaluddin

Ayesha At Last is a modern-day take on Pride and Prejudice and the story is centred around characters who are Muslim and immigrants from South Asia living in Canada. Ayesha was living in Hyderabad, India until she was 7-years-old and had to migrate to Canada with her family due to unfortunate circumstances. She’s got a bubbly personality, is passionate about literature and wants to be a poet, but is stuck trying to make a teaching career work for her. Khalid is a first generation South-Asian-descent immigrant. With the passing of his father, him and his mother move to another part of Toronto for a fresh start, his mother begins a search to find a wife for him. He’s mysterious, you could say he’s religious, pious, his outward appearance is somewhat strikingly Muslim/ethnic, it triggers some people but he doesn’t care. Ayesha and Khalid meet and the story unfolds from there.

For this review, I’ll be talking about the plot so careful for spoilers if you haven’t read the book! I also want to firstly say that art is subjective; a story isn’t going to be everyone’s favourite, there’s going to be people who really enjoy it and others who might not get it. When I was reading the book knowing that it was an adaptation, I knew what to expect but there was somethings that I didn’t expect at all. The book follows a specific love story formula, reminiscent of a Nicholas Sparks novel and following Jane Austen’s storyline with a touch of Bollywood-like drama; it works well for those stories written by those authors for their target audience, but when i read this story I wasn’t too sure of who the target audience was. Don’t get me wrong, I like Jane Austen, some of the Nicholas Sparks stories are okay and I love Bollywood including the drama Bollywood stories narrate because they do it so well, but for me the formula and the characters felt awkward. It’s not that it isn’t done well, I think Uzma Jalaluddin wrote a beautiful story, but I personally didn’t get some parts of the story. For instance, the title of the book is Ayesha At Last and the book open’s the story with a scene of Khalid looking out his window with a view of Ayesha who’s on her way to her job. I wanted more Ayesha from the story, and that’s not to say that Khalid isn’t important to the story, it’s just that I found it misleading given the book’s title. There's definitely villain type characters used in the story, and I personally would've liked it better if they were more fleshed out. A character that I really really didn’t get was Tarek; I think having this character as a villain was confusing when the story already has Khalid’s mother that fits the role perfectly as the bitter hard-to-impress mother of the son. He’s connected to Khalid's sister in the past and I personally thought that there was going to be some sort of confrontation between those two in the end (there wasn’t). That whole thing with Tarek and Hafsa and the website... umm??? Yeah, it was a bit overkill for me with some parts, I just don’t like cliches but I get that some things had to be written, it is after all a love story and an adaptation. On the other hand when cliches are written and it just somehow works with the story, that’s when I don’t mind it at all. My absolute favourite characters are Ayesha's grandparents. I love the dynamic, love the role that they play, and they say the most touching, inspiring things throughout the story! Our wise and humble elders truly are a treasure to society. I thought the parts of the book which the author narrates the reveal of Ayesha’s true identity was so well written, hands down my favourit part of the book along with the dialogue between Ayesha’s grandmother and Khalid’s mother. The build up in tension for me was perfectly done!

This book is something I would love to have read in high school instead of *insert Caucasian author who writes YA novels here*. I love seeing representation, especially for Muslims and especially when the story doesn’t involve the hijabi girl taking off her hijab and falling in love with a white boy *insert eye-rolling emoji here*.

I read this book recently in a few days, I tend to speed read when I’m reading stories like these. I’m fully recovered from being sick the past week, Alhamdullilah! I’ve got a lot of books piling up on my reding list and I’m glad to be having more time for myself to read, I miss reading. This book was 8/10 for me. I’m glad it’s out in the world, because I hope it means we get to see more stories with us Muslims and diaspora in them. Should’ve been done sooner, honestly, but anyway moving on - I hope future stories don’t feel that it’s necessary to follow a formula, it’s fine if it does but it’s definitely not necessary. Has anyone else read this book? Would love to discuss this story with someone’s who’s read it to see what other people think out of pure curiosity!

Last edited: May 26th 2020

#ayesha at last #uzma jalaluddin #book review #books #pride and prejudice #family #marriage #love #muslims #representation #hijab #religion #spirituality #love story

[padawan-historian]

WOW Analysis: White Male Schools of Thoughts

This week we will break down several white male arguments that are circulating across the media. The first school of thought is the Individual Identity Academy.

Some of their mottos include:

Just because I am a straight white guy does not mean I oppress people!

White men are the most discriminated group in the United States.

Why am I being held responsible for things that I have no control over?

The problem with these phrases is that, unfortunately, many of the students reciting these words are miseducated and lack context – especially about identity.

•

We each have a personal identity – a recipe that is uniquely made by us. But, outside of ourselves, we have in-and-out group identities. “Ingroup identities are beliefs about a group held by its own members . . . According to self-categorization theory, people’s ingroup identities (i.e., beliefs about the qualities that characterize their ingroups) exert a powerful influence on their personal identities” (Bosson and Michniewicz 425-426). However, unlike most marginalized and minority groups in the United States, white (heterosexual) men have rarely been labeled in groups outside of extracurricular or social activities.

•

When phrases like white privilege are utilized in discussions, young white men attending the Individual Identity Academy tend to think that they are being criticized. They are. White privilege is a broad term that is used to highlight white individuals who lack a certain amount of awareness in relation to race issues. They think that since, in their lives, they do not receive any forms of special treatment face-to-face that means white privilege isn’t really a thing. They fail to recognize the context behind the conversation – that there are systemic forces at work that have created avenues for white men to be successful while everyone else must overcome additional obstacles and parameters in order to have a chance at succeeding. Even though some individuals have overcome institutional barriers, that does not excuse the inequities that were put in place in the hopes that they would fail (there is a larger conversation we should have about poverty and the role of capitalism, but I will save that chat for another day).  

•

While some white Americans may experience prejudice based on their race (or be members of ethnic minorities who, historically, faced persecution in the United States – including Italians and Irish immigrants), black and brown Americans have endured a chain of unbroken discrimination and dehumanization that has left their communities with multigenerational trauma and little to no economic mobility. Along with these inequities, many people of color experience varying levels of double consciousness, an internalized sensation that WEB DuBois describes as “the sense of looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness” (DeBois 12). He notes that since American blacks have lived in a society that has historically repressed and devalued them, these black and brown people have difficulty unifying their black identity with their American identity.

•

With the advancement of technology, black and brown Americans, along with other marginalized groups, have the opportunity to share their narratives and realities to a larger audience across social. Members of the African Diaspora (the millions of African descendants across the globe) can affirm our shared history, celebrate our ancestry and promote self-love and personal healing in the face of a world where many of us, still face economic and social barriers based on racial divisions.

•

From a very young age, I knew that I was black and that some people would not like me because my skin color was different than their own. In high school, this feeling manifested into one of profound anxiety and isolation as I stood alone as the only black girl in my year. Educator and author of Why Are All of the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum notes that “If you think about classrooms or workspaces or conferences, wherever we are, we go into these spaces and we look for ourselves. You want to see yourself represented. In that sense, when young people walk into a classroom, they want to see someone who they identify with, maybe because they’re the same race. It doesn't always have to be racial identification. [A student] can identify with a teacher because she likes music [or] identify with [educators] because they are into sports. But to the extent that kids of color walk into classrooms and rarely see someone who looks like themselves in that environment, that’s a missing link” (Anderson). It took me years to realize that, during that time, in my desperation to fit in, I was, in fact, unable to form truly meaningful connections with many of my classmates. I was profoundly lonely.

•

This sense of loneliness is often interpreted as being misunderstood. Everyone makes jokes about teen angst and broodiness, but we rarely discuss that behind that often lies a sense of alienation and loneliness. Those who are misunderstood want to find a place to belong and want to form connections with people, but a mixture of self-preservation, insecurity and anxiety often prevent them from taking those steps. Instead they remain isolated and defensive – trapped between systems.

•

Like many young people, young white men exist in an undefined state. Cultural anthropologists refer to this period in life as liminality – "a traditional phase of a rite of passage during a time where the individual is experiencing a lack of defined social status" (Understanding Spirited Away: Consumption and Identity). This stage is often best depicted during adolescence when young people begin shedding their old roles as children and begin taking on the social responsibilities as young adults. 

•

Pupils of the Individual Identity Academy see themselves as individuals, but exist in a world filled with ingroup identities. Black feminists. LGBTQ allies. Animal rights activists. Social reformers . . . or social justice warriors. The increased visibility of these groups - especially in spaces that were historically dominated by young white men, including video games and comics - is perceived as an attack on their sense of self. In their quest to find a place to belong, they have encased themselves in these small communities declaring that any changes that move towards inclusion and equity is, in fact, a form of oppression. They imagine a world where white men are vilified and denied opportunities because of their race when, in reality,

•

White privilege is the freedom from recognizing the societal and institutional policies that have denied (or limited) black and brown Americans’ access to professional services, economic equity and educational opportunities. When people call you out because “your white privilege” is showing, instead of thinking “Why am I being held responsible for something that, I feel, has nothing to do with me?” take a breath and try a few alternatives.

• Affirm Your Privilege: Dear students, having white privilege doesn’t make you the villain in the story. Laugh and say “I still have some work to do,” because WE ALL DO. I grew up in a middle-class neighborhood with two highly-educated (heterosexual) parents. My exposure to systemic racism and inequity is relatively low in comparison to black and brown (and white) Americans who are in lower economic brackets. I am physically able and while I do have ADHD, my parents had the economic means to connect me to specialists and counselors throughout middle and high school (THAT 👏🏿 is 👏🏽 privilege👏🏾).

• Find Your Identity: We celebrate our American blackness because there is a shared history and cultural language through our music, food, clothing, magic, spirituality and dancing. Connect with your heritage through art, music, food, folk costumes and jewelry . . . not through secessionist flags and arguing about old statues.  

• Use Your Tools: Inheriting privilege means that you have, within you, the power to help others. "The function of freedom is to free someone else," (Toni Morrison) and, in order to free others, we must first have the right tools. Education is one of the most powerful tools in our world. �� Educate yourself through reading, listening to lectures (not just YouTubers and bloggers) and limiting your Twitter intake 🧘‍♀️

• Complacency is Just As Dangerous as Ignorance: There is a noticeable difference between white men's (and women's) brand of oppression and the oppression black and brown people experience. White individuals tend to focus on themselves. Black and brown individuals focus on their ancestors and their descendants. We aspire to change discriminatory policies, strengthen legal protections and reform public education. White people . . . want people to stop criticizing them online. They are not trying to engage in conversations, they are seeking validation and acceptance based on misinformation.

• Its Not Always About You: Believe it or not, there are systems in place that create inequalities and inequities within our society (CAPITALISM flashes across the screen). Racism is a weapon of social engineering built upon constructs that are meant to segregate and control people. Unless I'm addressing you directly when I say "white people" to refer to social inequities, chances are I am not talking about you, Charlie.

Catch up with me on Instagram ☀️ +🍷

#wow + beyond #masculinity #white privilege #social just warrior #sjw #individuality #our history #oppression #Beverly Daniel Tatum #bell hooks #Individual Identity Academy #schools of thought #white masculinity #ingroup identity #capitalism #find your idenity #cultural studies #racism #double conciousness #web dubois #wow analysis

[rockofeye]

How do you know if an offering for the ancestors is enough? Does knowing names and having a family tree give an advantage? What do you do with the food you make for ancestors? Throw it out? Give it to friends/living family? How do you stop feeling insecure about your connection with the ancestors and how you try to heal that? What do you do when you live in a colonised country and information on your people and their practices are scarce?

How do you know if an offering for the ancestors is enough?

That’s something you have to learn over time as you get to learn and listen to your ancestors. They communicate what they want and need, and if what you are giving them fits that. Generally, my guide is to give the best that I can offer at that time and let them know that this is the best I can offer, particularly if it is not what I usually give them.

Does knowing names and having a family tree give an advantage?

It can, if you want to speak to specific ancestors or call specific ancestors to work for you. It’s not necessary for ancestor work, though; a lot of people do not have an extensive family trees and have powerful ancestor practices.

What do you do with the food you make for ancestors? Throw it out? Give it to friends/living family?

I think that depends on the ancestors, the tradition a person is working from, and what the purpose of the feeding is for. Sometimes ancestral food can be eaten by living descendants after a period of time, sometimes the food for the dead should remain only for the dead, and sometimes consuming the food of the dead could be detrimental the general living-ness of the person eating it. Some food should be disposed of outside, or buried, or burned, or simply wrapped and placed in the trash. It all depends on your ancestors, the tradition you are working within, and your ancestors themselves.

How do you stop feeling insecure about your connection with the ancestors and how you try to heal that?

That’s kind of a fake it ‘til you make it thing. The only way to build confidence and connection is to just do it–build the practice, refine it so that it works for your and your ancestors, and do the work. Ancestral healing and healing in general is an active process, so it comes as a byproduct of getting your hands in the dirt, as it were, and doing it. 

For someone who is feeling insecure about their ancestral connection, I would suggest giving where that insecurity is coming from some deep thought. Is it because they feel they are not doing enough? Does it seem like their ancestral practice is not as effective or deep as they judge someone else’s to be? Whatever the cause, the ancestor-descendant relationship is between those two parties only–ancestors and their descendant–so those are the only parties that matter. If someone feels they are not doing enough, maybe do something different. I tell clients and students often that comparison is the thief of joy, so if someone is using what other people are doing as a yardstick, they will always feel less than.

What do you do when you live in a colonised country and information on your people and their practices are scarce?

This is a complex question that I read in two different ways, so I’m going to answer both ‘translations’ of how I read it. If I am missing the point, please let me know.

If we are living on colonized territory (which, if we live in the US or in Canada, we are) and are looking for information on our ancestors who were colonizers (in one way or another) of the land we live on and their religious beliefs, there are things we can do to both to acknowledge the deep abuses committed by our ancestors and move forward as ethical ancestral practitioners on colonized territory.

I am grateful to have been taught to use land acknowledgement as part of centering Indigenous American history, voices, and land presence, and I utilize that in my ancestral practice to acknowledge how my ancestors benefited from the colonization of indigenous property and how I continue to benefit from living on colonized land. I don’t honor Indigenous Americans as part of ancestral practice since that is not my ancestral reality and I am not Indigenous, but I name the land my ancestors and I have benefited from because I would not be here if not for my ancestral presence there. 

I firmly believe that being an ethical ancestral practitioner on colonized territory means working to address the trauma caused by ancestors, which means doing hands-on reparative work with our ancestors to interrupt the cycle of ancestral trauma continuing to repeat itself (ie, history repeating). That’s a long and committed process which is deserving of it’s own post, but it is something folks with any European ancestry should really be looking at.

If we are living on colonized territory and we are individuals who have had our cultural identities and practices compromised or suppressed by colonization, it must feel very frustrating and isolating not to have good sources of information or to be able to find connections to our ancestral cultures.

From here, answers sort of converge in terms of seeking out information on ancestors and their religious practices. While the advice can vary wildly based on individual situations, there are some very basic general stepping stones to finding information on ancestral practices and cultures:

Look for reading lists. Might sound obvious, but googling up ‘welch history reading list’ can give you places to start and books/articles with bibliographies to explore. Similarly, you can google specifically for decolonized resources on your ancestral culture or tradition. There’s a solid basic booklist for decolonized Indigenous American history here, and an expansive reading list on a decolonized look at African politics and political history, just for example.

Read critically. Utilize bibliographies and reading notes, and go to those publications and see if what the author wrote reflects/matches and what additional info is there. The wealth of information I have found from chasing down sources is HUGE.

Search for ‘folklore’. An immense amount of actual practice is persevered under the heading of folklore, which makes it more palatable and less threatening for majority culture. For example, dancing in Haitian Vodou is vital and central to ceremony, and ceremonial/temple dancing is classed as Haitian folkloric dance in the mainstream world. Lots of folklore illustrates about practices ancestors may have engaged in and reflects actual stuff that can be used as puzzle pieces.

Contact cultural centers and culture bearers. Even if there is no local surviving cultural group for your ancestral practice, someone somewhere knows something and they in turn will have their own network. Many Indigenous communities have connections across widespread areas, or have historical archives that can be accessed with permission. Cultural centers often have elders on staff or as contacts, and even areas that have tourist presence can refer back to the actual culture. Many cultural practices are tied to place or to specific Diaspora, and so reach out to those physical places and Diaspora centers for assistance.

These might be challenging conversations to have: ‘hi, my family is from Place and I don’t know anything about that, who could I talk to’ might be hard, *but* fruitful. 

Learn the language the culture does ‘business’ in. While colonization insists the common language be English, most information about specific cultural practices will be in the majority language of the culture. Outsiders coming in to Haitian Vodou often complain that there is so little authentic material available to them, and yet they have not learned Haitian Kreyol or French, which is the majority language of Haiti and Haitians and the language that 95% of the materials written about the religion are written in. If we are looking for our ancestors and ancestral practices, learning the language they spoke and the language they spoke with their spirits can open a LOT of doors.

Look for culturally relevant events. Keep an eye on museum events, library talks, dance festivals, cultural festivals, etc. If you live near any big city, you are probably close to religious centers that serve specific cultural groups–many cultural groups who attend mainstream denomination churches also maintain cultural practices alongside their attendance, and you may meet folks there who are connected with ancestral things. These are places where you can meet culture bearers or folks who can connect you to actual culture bearers. My spiritual mother is an example of this–she travels and teaches extensively at universities in the US and internationally about Haitian Vodou and Vodou culture, and she is not the only culture bearer that does.

Ask your ancestors for guidance. The very first step in ancestral veneration is to welcome your ancestors home, and when you do so you are inviting their presence and influence into your life. You can ask them to open the way for you to reconnect with culture as they lived it and to put your feet on the right path to do so. They will answer in their time, which can be slow or can be fast. They are the key to learning about where you come from and who you are in that framework so, above all, lean on them.

 I hope this answers your questions and is helpful. If I have misunderstood what you’re asking and you’re up for clarifying, I am happy to revise what I have offered to fit.

#ancestors #ancestral worship #Ancestral Veneration #cultural religion

[youreallyshouldtalkmore]

How to enjoy a Fanfic that does not include you...

....Because apparently we still need to have this conversation.

Seriously, it's 2018 and four months since Black Panther has come out and I still see posts about the lack of other BP/Readers so I thought, being the kind soul that I am, I would try to help you out.

(Though I think this can apply to any fandom....it’s just for the sake of this piece I will use Black Panther because it’s what prompted this blog...) 

Now I'm going to disclaimer this:  If you are a bit sensitive, you are free not to read this post. I am trying my hardest to be as nice and kind as I can be but, given this topic, people will want to come for me no matter what I say. But we gonna have this conversation anyway because apparently we still need to. Try to read this as me HELPING you rather than me trying to hurt your feelings.  Then perhaps this won't sound as harsh or bad to you.

This is a guide on how to enjoy a fanfic (or other media) where the reader (or character) does not look like you. There are those of us who have been doing this for years and upon further reflection maybe it's a difficult concept to grasp. So I will attempt to break it down and hopefully demystify this concept.

I briefly mentioned this in my other blog post, " Black Panther Fandom Inclusivity aka Where’s the Spotlight?"  so I will use that as a jump off point:

" Since the dawn of Hollywood, we African-Americans have been dealing with the same problem: "white people are excluding us and are being mean" but we couldn't do anything about it.

So, here is the art that minorities have mastered and have been doing when reading fanfic that does not default to them...make up an alternative persona. In your case, as a white person, make up a black persona in your mind and engage in the fanfic in that way."

I will now take the time to further break down exactly what I mean by this.

I'm African American....

When I read a fanfic....let's say Legolas/Reader I do not imagine myself as an African American woman reader. I actually imagine myself as a white woman reader.  Just on default, if I read a Legolas/Reader, I automatically assume the reader is white. If they mention descriptions then I add those to my "white female persona"

Sounds simple, yeah?

I personally don't find the concept to be hard but let's look at it further.

This would apply to everything in my life that I have had to enjoy that was not defaulted African.

Count with me exactly how many personas I actually have.

I love K-dramas. Sometimes I like to imagine that I'm in a K-drama but I'm African American.  So what do I do?  I imagine myself as a Korean woman who is in the drama. Hence I have a "Korean" persona.

I love Wuxias and other Chinese dramas. For example, I love watching Eternal Love (the web drama) and I have often imagined myself in the relationship with Mo Lian Cheng.  So, I put myself into the body of Qu Tan Er to enjoy it. Sometimes I even change or alternate plot points just so that I can get my own story idea in there.  Hence, I have a "Chinese" persona.

I love Bollywood. There goes an "East Indian" persona.

On occasion, J-dramas crop up. So, I have a "Japanese" Persona.

When I watch the movie Apcalypto, I take on an "Aztecan" persona.

I'm sure I have a "Native American" persona as well.

How many is that? That is 6 personas that I imagine myself as; and that is just off the top of my head.  Now let's try not to read this as stereotyping; I know that someone will want to go there.  Let's try to stick to the point I'm trying to make here.  This is not about trying to be another race; this is just a mind thing...pretend, if you will... in an effort to find a way to enjoy something that is not of your own culture.

Whenever I wanted to enjoy a story I made a persona for myself that fit into it. I have done that since the beginning of my time. Shoot!!  At one time I had an anime version of myself because I loved anime!  I had a cartoon version of myself because I loved... I don't know....X-Men Evolution!  We can get really "silly" here. I'm sure I had a lion version of myself because I wanted to enjoy the world of Lion King! I loved Kovu so I would imagine myself as Kiara!  

You see where I'm going, don't you? You get it?

Now, that being said.....I admit that in the last couple of years I have felt this "weight"; especially in the last year.  As much as loved my K-dramas and C-dramas, there were times when I could not watch them because even with my personas I still did not feel included. I wanted to be there. I wanted to be cool. I wanted to fly. I wanted to wear the cool clothes. It was becoming a bit burdensome to have to interact within a persona in order to enjoy some media.  What I wanted was to be able to enjoy it while still being myself!  But did I complain?  No!!  There was nothing I could do to change what was on my screen.

But now we have Black Panther and it has opened and closed so many doors in my head until it's not even funny!!!... but that's another post.

So...Honestly?  I have no sympathy for you because you now have to do the same things we had to do for so long.  You (white people, in this instance) have had a looooong time to enjoy being yourself in every type of media.  Now, here we have one movie to come out that is not all about you and already you are ti'ed?  Please!!!  Talk to me after you have had to deal with this for decades...or close to a century!

In addition, do you even understand what we feel when see our BP husbands with white lovers and, therefore, why we aren't going to interact with those fanfics? This is not those 1930's movies where the white woman comes to the jungles of Africa and all the Africans think she's a goddess.  (And don't talk to me about Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra, either!) 

But we don't even have to go that far....let's just stick with Black Panther. Because in fanfic we usually ignore the pairings in the movie for the sake of our personal enjoyment.  So if we take M'baku's words seriously, he's already married,  if you heard or watched the deleted scene you’ll know about W’Kabi and TChalla/Nakia is my movie ship, ya'll!  But in fanfic....we’re the Nakia, thank you;  but I digress...

That being said, if you will, allow your mind to fathom these hypothetical situations and work with me here:

Let's assume a white woman gets into Wakanda and let's say T'Challa meets and marries her.  Since T'Challa works with the Avengers, perhaps this could happen.  (Though personally, I have no interest in the other Avengers; never have.  So in my fanfics I don't even deal with T'Challa as an “avenger”...)  So, T'Challa's white wife becomes Queen.....of Wakanda!   A white woman as Queen over all these black people? That doesn't strike you as.....hmm....? Well,.....okay....!

Let's assume that a white female could meet M'Baku. Let's ignore, for a few minutes, the fact that he's a traditionalist.  He's back up in Jabari Land and to get there she'd first have to get into Wakanda.   So, ok... let's just say she managed to get there and they meet and get married.  Ahh, but we'd have the same problem....M'Baku's wife would be Queen/Lady/Mother/Chieftess of the Jabari Tribe.  And here we are.... back again to that 1930's trope of white woman having rule over those black African people....people who see her as a goddess!

It seems now that every eye is on Erik Stevens, aka Killmonger, waiting to see what kind of lady he will choose.  So, you say that surely he'd could have a white lover...okay....but let's think about this.  Erik lost his family and he cares enough about his own people to want to free them from their oppressors.   I think he's quite a bit concerned with how colonization has swept across the world. And who exactly did the colonizing....? Yeah..... 

And somehow as a white woman you would be okay with Erik?  

Frankly, he scares me and I'm an African American woman... but okay. He's hot. I get it. The brotha is finnnnne! Now, personally I do feel some kinship with him. We'd be able to talk about identity and many other things.  We could go to museums and explore African culture.  Shoot, I've done head cannons and fanfics about that. But I digress....

Now, W'Kabi isn't my husband. I see him as more a big brother figure to me but let's think about him. He seems to be the leader of the Border Tribe or at least he carries some weight there.  So, his wife would have some weight too.  And if she is a white woman.... again over all these black people.....?

Please understand the general reaction of the African and African diaspora every time we see this is:

And you seriously cannot see why we won't have it? A white woman with all this power over a black nation?

Now, don't whine....I can hear your protest now:  But it's just our imagination!!

It's YOUR imagination!  And the rest of us don't have to hear it or interact with it if we don't want to. You are not entitled to come to us and tell us what we should or shouldn’t write in our fanfic. You have eyes and hands....if it bothers you look away and click off of it. It’s that simple. 

I think that no matter which angle you come from you are going to have problems writing any of the BP men with white women.  But, hey, we aren't saying not to write your fanfic.  We are just saying that we don't want to interact with them. 

The rare times I saw an T’Challa/WhiteReader fanfic.....what’d I do? 

I politely scrolled on past. 

The author didn’t hear a peep from me. 

Which reminds me...answer me this.  What are you having problems with? Is it the fact that you ask us to write a T'Challa/WhiteFemaleReader and we won't do it? Or the fact that when you write a white female reader you don't feel like enough people are reading it? Or you don't get enough likes on it? Or is it that you don't feel like people are interacting enough with yours because of all the above mentioned stuff?  I'm just curious, actually.

So I would suggest that you learn to master the concept of enjoying fanfic with the alternative persona of your choosing; because we aren't going to let go of our black kings and queens.  Us sistas aren't going to stop writing our Black Reader fanfics.  

I already have fanfics coming out. I don't label them as Black Reader until the subject requires me to do so.  But I think when you read it, the Black female reader will be obvious.  

And if you think that Black Panther is the beginning and end of phenomenal stories from and about Africa and the African Diaspora.....you're sadly mistaken.

So recap....

You're white.  Imagine yourself as a black woman and then read that T'Challa/Reader fanfic .

You're Latino. Great.  Imagine yourself as a black woman and read that Erik/Reader fanfic.  

That being said, let me quickly speak to the other POC's of the world.  I'm a little disappointed with the posts I've seen from some of ya'll with complaints that you feel excluded as well. I would expect that you would understand the need and desire for a nation to have its own oasis. I understand you haven't gotten yours yet.

We want you to have your own Wakanda.  It's not that we don't, so don't go there. We want you to have what we of the African Diaspora are feeling now.  

You just can't have ours!

I'm sorry if that sounds harsh but it's true. And before you say, "Well, you just don't care about us either", let me say this: 

Let's be honest, if you had gotten your Wakanda before we did, I'm sure you'd feel the same way. At least don't lie to yourself.  You'd want others(whites and other POCs included) to interact silently and let you have your paradise.  

So if your soul answered a resounding "YES!!", as it should, why then are you having this problem and why am I having to do a PSA to POC here as well?

Now, I personally want to get my own ideas out one day and build an Oprah like empire. Not just for kicks and giggles but because after I've said what I wanted to say, I want to help other people say what they want to say.

God as my witness, if I had an Oprah Empire right now, I would hand you money and get the devil out of your way and let you go make your own Wakanda. (Provided that it doesn't go against my morals because sista has a reputation to maintain; like when you think of Disney there is an image behind that brand....hmm?)

So before you think that I'm being mean, I'm not.

But I am disappointed that even POC's don't get it.

I'm annoyed that I even have to write this blog post because we are still having this conversation.

I get it. Black Panther ushered in a new concept of blackness. Reality has been bent to an angle of indefinable proportions and we did not see it coming. We all have to get use to this new reality. 

It’s just this is taking longer for some of us than others, it seems.

So again, I write this out of love.

And I hope you receive this in love.

Thank you and as always Wakanda Forever!!

#black panther #black panther fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #marvel #fanfiction #satire #t'challa x reader #killmonger x reader #m'baku x reader #killmonger #t'challa #m'baku #black tumblr

[chelseaartlab]

Rāpare (9.2)

Discussion of independent - artists collected?

“Constructive Criticism” > I like this and I would do that differently...

Hanne Lippard

Performance artist? Reading… faux fur, tinsel, red lippy, a celebration? ‘cheap,’ trashy?, everyday.

Her rhythm of language came from typography - decided that spoken voice has more ‘persona’

Translating text to sound

“Taking words out of cold state”

Seeks spam mail as degenerate; ‘b-language’ > b-movies

Cheap and trashy language

Using film presents the sounds/actions of receiving SMS - communication that is neither what we hear or who we meet, but still an instant message

Methods:

Audio installations, writing books (typography), audio as live performance (reading) - with ‘music’ accompaniment - rhythms,

Body language in film - how you read faces etc

Collecting fragments of language (from all over the place)

Use of words - ‘tongue twisters’ (known phrases); individual words listed for rhythm/sound rather than meaning; but also translations of words based on meaning; repetition; degeneration of words.

Using found language (eg. online personality/stress tests) as the leaping off point…

Things “we” do… things I do…

Art an come from our habits/obsessions eg. writing lists

Comfort and discomfort - sibilance sssss’s - mouth noises - (misophonia - can’t tolerate mouth sounds) - “the tongue is warm in my mouth” - visceral qualities of speech.

What language do you think in? - what/who is the voice in your head?

George Dickie - definitions of art : limits of language and thought - see also Wittgenstein language games - basic principle is that words have meaning because of the context and the ways we use them. Art works have a meaning because of where we see/experience them eg. in an institutions (they might have a different meaning in another place); conversely words can change and/or lose meaning if we use them in ‘different’ ways.

Words = meaning : the hallucinogenic quality of words (test yourself on the ‘stroop effect’)

Words have meaning if there is someone to hear/read them (metaphysical question posed by George Berkeley - “If a tree falls in the forest with no one to hear, does it make a noise?)

Can words get in the way of thinking?!

When you ‘say’ things out loud you find out whether or not they mean anything/what you meant.

For Hanne speaking is an act of making

She doesn’t refer to her work as poems/poetry: is she appropriating poetry for ‘contemporary art’?

Hanne asks questions but not for you to answer - rhetorical questions.

Hanne makes eye contact through the screen - acknowledges a distant (mediated) audience. In theatre : “breaking the fourth wall”

Performance is ‘taking on a persona’ : she also ‘plays the role of artist’

Stress of being constantly ‘connected’ - constant tones of message arrival.

Contemporary icons (iconicism) iconoclastic

Her tone was distracting - there is a ‘blandness’ to her persona, shows up how hard it can be to attend/concentrate/hear.

Douglas Rushkoff : https://rushkoff.com/books/present-shock/ - now we commercialize people’s attention - “attention economy” - meta-data collecting

Media Studies / Spoken word poetry / Artist’s books / automatic text generating (https://app.inferkit.com/demo)

Task: using auto-text function of text message app. Start with a found text, add 5 words from auto-text suggestions, and one word of your own choosing - continue this sequence till your ‘done’ (task was given 10 minutes)

her set ups or stage props are usually common house hold items. ones that are reoccurring are fans and wires.

I think her work is sort of like white noise that we are meant to listen to.

she uses a soft voice when she speaks. sounds like she is hypnotizing us.

I found that the apple ringing tone although associated with stress was edited to sound more relaxing. I think this speaks to egnoleging your stress and changing your environment to de stress.

I also see a correlation between the feeling of zoning out to the sound of my alarm and listen to Lippards work.

Hakiar

sound in general, language, muilt lingual, coming together to listen to a person speak (the actual act of her work is taking you away from your phone), listening, appreciating communication,

Rebecca Ann Hobbs

New Zealand artist

I liked:

Measured the bridge - measuring by dance

But it wasn’t accurate enough to really say yr measuring the bridge

What is being measured? Does

Video is 2’48” - a whole 2” over.

Was the walk actually to measure because she didn’t start or finish at the beginning or end of the bridge

It takes 2’33” to ‘measure’ in her own time

There is a difference in experience/travel between dancer and camera - she might get left behind

Dance & walk - expressive motion

Appropriating dance culture > hip-hop; ‘dancehall’ - Jamaican origins now in Aotearoa.

Place: bridge over the Manukau - good place for fishing - between Onehunga and Mangere Bridge - ‘south Auckland’ - Māori and Pacifika neighbourhoods.

Dancer is wearing headphones - makes her isolated from other occupants of the space.

Removes items of clothes being stripped off

Part of a series - perhaps things become clearer if you watch more…

Is it “sexualised”? In some ways yes and other ways no…

Dancehall - night clubs etc. suggests sexualised environment

What is the relationship between removing (reducing) the sexualising aspects of Dancehall and the (objective, empirical act of) measuring.

Is this international black identity (politic) > overarching response of shared experience by people of colour - particularly the expression via hip-hop.

Maungataketake: efforts gone in vain to rebuild/replace Maungataketake - volcanic cone that was quarried (in the 1930s… i think)

Polystyrene is bad environmental material

Futile activity

Lack of communication

Why 15 minutes? - it’s so long and unedited - the effort takes a ‘long’ time - endurance performance.

Is 15 minutes a long time? - relative time - the average amount of time spent with an art work in a gallery is 6”.

Endurance: looked heavy and difficult, doing the same movements over and over.

Connections: isolated feeling - wide open space - not being noticed - location (Maungataketake is also south Auckland… near the airport - part of Ihumātao area) - the first is a journey (a to b) but the second is ‘pointless’, just keeps going in the one place - the camera angle is similar even though one moves like journeying, the second is still like sitting - both share a movement in and out of the frame (tension of miss framing) and wide angle landscape format - appearance and action in/on the landscape, it is segmented eg. broken by dance movements; sliced in polystyrene; what is the political implication?

Martin Awa Clarke Langdon & Qiane Matata-Sipu are both Māori. Rebecca calls herself a “mozzie” - Māori diaspora in Australia.

Performance and critique of colonial land practices - occupation and dispossession, land confiscation and surveying (subdivision into privately owned “unit title”)

measurement is such a strict action to do, it dose not rely on an individuals interpretation, it's even across the board

she personalizes measurement, the woman moves across the bridge in her own way another person would do it different, but they are both walking the same distance.... everyone lives the same day but each do something different with it.

hip hop is a dance discipline that doesn't have the same hard rules as styles such as ballet. it was created from people who didn't fee like they could express themselves in society. its a fitting style because it encourages individuality.

south auckland used to be one of the lower income parts of auckland, it represents the Maori and pacific people of an urbanized and westered country. She is encouraging self expression to these Maori and pacific.

in relation to Hakari:

she celebrates movement, culture, expression of self, expression of culture, being proud of who you are, not allowing yourself to be oppressed, recognizing the hard ships one can go through being part of minority, not caring what people think,

Independent:

Practice: Hanne Lippard

- make another text work

- make a new one

Practice reading/performing it. Film/record yourself (this is as documentation but also reflection - how could you say/perform differently - see “spoken word” )

Be ready to perform this in a breakout next class

Make a Rebecca Ann Hobbs related work

Copy these notes into your ‘workbook’ - add, extend, correct: append to each section ideas in relation to Hākari eg. what is being celebrated.

You have full access to the library - use a mask on-site please

Digital access to Google via library - tips on using Google well: https://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=1&sid=94140fe5-18e3-45ce-a0a5-05201d2ab91c%40sdc-v-sessmgr02&bdata=JkF1dGhUeXBlPWlwLGNvb2tpZSx1cmwsdWlkJnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#AN=100259629&db=ers

Referencing: please note Artists name, title of work, year, media… sometimes very useful to know where exhibitied/performed - website citation &/or book citation.

[asianamericanrepresentation]

Author Highlight #5: Roshani Chokshi

Roshani Chokshi (Rosh-Knee Chalk-She) is the New York Times bestselling author of Aru Shah and the End of Time, The Star-Touched Queen, A Crown of Wishes, and The Gilded Wolves, among other works. Her work has been nominated for the Locus and Nebula awards, and her books have appeared on Barnes and Nobles Best New Books of the Year and Buzzfeed Best Books of the Year lists. Chokshi lives in Georgia with her husband.

Many of Chokshi’s literary works are inspired by her background as a mixed-raced Filipino and Indian American woman who grew up reading abridged, translated fairytales and books on Filipino and Indian mythology. For instance, her series with big-time bestselling author of the Percy Jackson series, Rick Riordan, and his imprint for diverse own-voices authors writing mythology for young readers called ‘Rick Riordan Presents’, Aru Shah and the End of Time, is about a young Indian-American girl named Aru Shah who accidentally unleashes the gods, goddesses, and demons of Hindu Mythology into the real world. 

Chokshi, stating in a LA Times interview: 

"My parents did an incredible job of inspiring me and my siblings to be voracious readers from the start...I think a large part of that is because we didn't learn our parents' native languages growing up. We only spoke English at home and so the way that we connected to parts of our heritage was oftentimes just through fairy tales and world mythology books. You couldn't really understand your own background without that."

Despite growing up with these stories as part of her heritage, Chokshi has had to do research for all of them. She says:

“I did inhale this mythology growing up, but India is such a vast country that there are so many different versions of the same tale.”

Across numerous interviews, Chokshi reiterates how she brings her personal background to these tales without changing them in a way that does not fit. Besides adding a glossary in her books to help her readers sort out the many different mythological figures, she also includes an explanation that emphasizes that her story is not intended to be a comprehensive guide to the mythology in question. She acknowledges that some people, particularly of those within the Indian and Filipino community, will and have reached out to her to claim that she has gotten something wrong. She says: 

“But we should take out the word 'wrong' because when it comes to mythology, especially in Hinduism, our mythology is a living thing. It's so closely tied to our religious identity. To call something wrong is to cancel out someone else's truth."

What Chokshi talks about here regarding a person’s truth is interesting. When it comes to Asian American literature, there should not be limits as to what is included within its binds. The fact that the Asian American community can sometimes police its own members and what kind of stories they are allowed to pull from (despite being inspired by these stories as a child of immigrant and diaspora parents, which I believe gives them the right to write about) is harmful and needs to stop. By policing what kind of content other Asians are allowed to produce and what kind of stories we are allowed to tell, we inevitably use the oppressor’s tools to oppress our own people. This relates to the issues in constituting Asian-American Feminisms and how...

“Any attempt to fix definitions of...Asian-ness, more broadly, through objective racial, national, or ethnic criteria, and to impose it as a category of state regulation must be resisted because to go down that road is to go the way of endless arguments over authority, authenticity, and voice, and ultimately reproduces race consciousness and racism” - (Lee 29) 

Lastly, I feel compelled to include this quote from Chokshi about the importance of representation, from Book Voyagers Blog:

“So many of the stories I loved shared characteristics that I wanted to write something that would be familiar to fairytale fans and also new because the story drew on different cultural traditions. I also felt an obligation to write this for my younger self. Growing up as a fantasy reader, I never saw people like me represented in those stories. I wanted to change that. There were times when I felt discouraged from writing The Star-Touched Queen. I felt like no one would even want to read this because it was too unfamiliar or they just had no interest. But so far I've been proven wrong in the best way possible.”

Goodreads profile

Barnes and Noble link to buy Chokshi’s books; available where all books are sold.

Sources: 

Lee, Jo-Anne, et al. “Issues in Constituting Asian-Canadian Feminisms.” Asian Women, Women's Press - Canadian Scholar's Press, 2006, pp. 21–45.

“How Roshani Chokshi Came to Write a New Series for Rick Riordan.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr. 2018, www.latimes.com/books/la-ca-jc-fob-roshani-chokshi-20180411-story.html.

“THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN: Interview with Roshani Chokshi.” The Book Voyagers, thebookvoyagers.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-star-touched-queen-interview-with.html.

#teresa tran #asian american literature

[fabulesque]

Hi, I'm writing a story where one of the main characters is Jewish and I was wondering, if someone is ethnically Jewish, are they considered white? I'm sorry if this is a dumb question !! I really want to write her accurately :) Have a nice day, thank you

No it’s good that you’re asking! Please don’t ever feel bad for asking questions about things you legitimately don’t know. This is a debate within the Jewish community (though then again, we’re a group that debates whether to eat latkes with applesauce or sour cream, so we’ll pretty much debate anything. Side note: applesauce is better). Also, thank you for taking steps to educate yourself on the nuances of Jewish identity! Too many authors and creators just default to antisemitic stereotypes or beliefs about Jewish people, so it’s awesome that you want to make sure you’re writing an accurate portrayal of a Jewish person.

This is gonna be long, so I’ll put the rest under a read more. Also, I’m probably giving you more discourse than you asked for, because I love writing unnecessarily long answers (it’s a Jewish thing). If, after reading this, you still have questions, please feel free to message me some more; I’d be happy to talk about Jewish identity, both related to myself and in general.

Also, anyone can reblog this.

First, let’s recognize that Judaism is an ethnoreligion (that is, both a religion and an ethnic group). People can be Jews without being ethnically Jewish, and not all ethnically Jewish people are religious, but the Jewish community encompasses both these groups and many more besides. I’m not religious, but I am ethnically Jewish, and I know there are several converts on this site who are not ethnically Jewish, and many of them are probably better versed in Jewish theology and culture than I am (case in point: @brehaaorgana).

Applying contemporary concepts of race to Jewish ethnicity is tough. Let’s take me for example. I am ethnically Jewish. My parents are Jewish, their parents are Jewish, going all the way back to a rabbi in Eastern Europe (I think present-day Poland) in the 1600s. There may be bits and pieces of other groups in me, but my primary ethnicity is Jewish, and I think of myself as Jewish.

Now, if you’ve seen my selfies (which you should because I’m hella cute), it’s obvious I have white skin. While I have Jewish features (prominent nose, dark hair, etc), my skin is white, and this means that in a lot of social situations I am perceived as white. As such, I’m in a weird in-between spot where I reap the benefits of interpersonal white privilege without necessarily accessing the systemic aspects of it. My skin color and physical features are not treated as indicators of my abilities in the way that people of color are, but I also have to deal with what I and many Jews call “goyische bullshit” (goyische is a Yiddish word and it’s an intracommunity term, but basically it means non-Jews. Not just Christians, but all non-Jews). Western society is pretty Christian-normative, and that can cause problems for non-christians, even if we’re perceived as white. Just think of all the white politicians who openly invoke Jesus in their speeches. Am I really the same race as them? I’m not inclined to think so.  

So I’m in a strange in-between place. I’m not a person of color, but western definitions of whiteness almost universally have the subtext that whiteness requires christianity, or at least cultural christianity (other side note: lots of us get pissed at atheists for criticizing “abrahamic religions” when really they’re culturally christian and are projecting all the negative aspects of christianity onto Judaism and Islam). In essence, trying to categorize Jews as white or non-white is attempting to fit an old group of people into a new box. Usually I think of race as phenotypic presentation, and so I am white in that respect, but so much of western whiteness excludes me and others like me that it’s an ill-fitting label, which is why I view ethnicity as more important. I would find more community with a room full of Jewish people of color than a room of white goyim.

This does not mean that I don’t still access parts of white privilege. I am not likely to face increased rates of police violence, I do not have to worry that my name or my hair will be considered unprofessional, and I see people who generally look like me in media (though a frustratingly large number of Jewish characters or Jewish-coded characters are villains, so take from that what you will). But I don’t fully access white privilege as a result of christian hegemony.

The western world has a long history of antisemitism (for example, the SAT being created as a way to reduce the number of Jewish students getting into top universities). Neo-Nazi movements are making a resurgence, and the majority of religious-based hate crimes in the US target Jews. Furthermore, antisemitism exists on both sides of the political spectrum. For every right-winger who calls us greedy shylocks, there’s a leftist calling us Zionist colonizer scum.  

But I’ve gotten off track; going back to your original question, there is one place where I do need to correct you. Not all ethnic Jews are white-presenting. Jews are a varied ethnic group, with different subcategories of us everywhere in the Diaspora. I, for example, am Ashkenazi, which means I derive my heritage from Eastern Europe. There are also Sephardic Jews, who are of North African extraction, Mizrahi Jews, who are Middle Eastern, and many other groups. The first Jewish synagogue in the Western Hemisphere was in Recife, Brazil, and as more of us emigrated to avoid the pogroms in Europe, a larger Latino-Jewish population developed. And of course, I can’t leave out Kaifeng Jews, who are Chinese. Basically, the community is diverse, but not many people outside of it are aware of this diversity.

tl;dr, ethnic Jews might present as white, but no, you shouldn’t consider us white (we don’t all have white skin, and even those of us who do don’t fully fit into the social category of whiteness and have complete unconditional access to white privilege).

@tikkunolamorgtfo might have more to say on this, but here’s my take on this question.

#jumblr #judaism #long post #original #my commentary #ethnicity #white privilege #anon #ask

[mystic-headcanons-r-us]

Hello :) could you do RFA (including V and Saeran) teaching MC Korean :)

Hey Anon (^v^) This ask is so unique are you by any chance Korean? Just curious! No matter where you’re from, we love you and thank you for your support! I may have gotten too carried away in my content but still, hope you’ll like it! Love, Mod Yoo.
ScenarioFem!MC could be someone of other nationality or a Korean “dong-po” (diaspora in English) born and bred in a foreign land (where English is their main language) outside of Korea where she grew up as an orphan. Under special yet personal circumstances, she returned to Korea wanting to start anew in her home country. Unfortunately, she doesn’t know where to start: clueless to her native language, doesn’t have any acquaintances. A member of a cult (from which its leader’s intent is to cripple the entire RFA) led MC to a seemingly deceased RFA leader’s secret apartment. MC was told that the accommodation will remain free-of-charge as long as the unit’s upkeep is maintained.


***Start imagining that each of the MM character is the only one fluent in both the English Language and Korean Language, in their respective canons. Each one of them will get MC to attempt at translating (note: she could always use internet, but we all know how accurate they turn out.) a sentence after they mastered the basics (some of them get surprised by MC instead). Assuming that V tasks the character-in-canon (excluding unknown) to manage the invites with MC, and the other RFA members will be helping her to pull through her 1st party.***

(p/s I’m no Korean language expert, please don’t penalise me and instead enlighten me if I made any mistakes. ^^;”)

Yoo-sung Kim- Is the sender of the first message after MC gets into the private Messenger.- “저 시험을 봤지만… 그건 꾹 떨어질 것 같네요.” I took a test but I think I’ll fail it for sure!- Confused MC is confused to no end, like what are those oddly formed symbols?- When Yoosung notices that she legit couldn’t understand anything, he starts to type in English topuniversitystudent, - She’s beyond delighted. Needless to say, both of them quickly grew closer as he became her Korean teacher and to help her with the guests e-mails.- They usually meet up at Yoosung’s campus library, or once in awhile cafes to study together.- Is not the most patient, but instantly rationalises that it’s harder on her part.- Stocks up so many kinds of Korean candies and snacks which almost instantly become her own favourite.- Does really well at keeping her interest piqued on learning the language.- “우리가 처음 만났을 때, 난 당신이 정말 친절하고 예쁘다고 생각해서 당신에게 빡졌어요. 너랑 나랑 사귈줄래?”

Zen/Hyun-ryu- He completed English Language courses to fit in to Western productions.- When MC appeared in the chatroom, Zen had been the nicest person.- Jumin offered to take on the responsibility of the party guests emails instead of Zen, with concerns for Zen’s handling of difficult guests which he gladly agrees. - The whole situation is intimidating so she took the courage to call Zen, hoping he’d not be too busy with work to take her call.- “어? 아가씨는요? 무��� 일이 있었어요…?” Oh? Miss MC? Is anything wrong…? He sounds just like the way he is in the chats.- His talentedmusicalactor voice envelopes her letsnotforgetjaeheetoo with warmth after all the commotion.- However, she didn’t understand a word he said and tries really hard to communicate failsmiserably. Zen chuckles heartily in his own amusement, and finds her extremely adorable.- Astonished MC is astonished when Zen starts blurting out fluent English . What a r-e-l-i-e-f.- Starts exchanging phone conversations and SMSes more frequently, especially when he manages to catch a break time off work.- Takes every opportunity to teach MC some Korean, be it by typed/voice messages or calls.- Is very busy but kind and sincere, hardly gets mad at her when she repeats the same questions. He just plays it off with his own cute act.- Finally found time to meet her over a meal for the first time.- Walks her back to the nearest spot where she has to continue to the apartment on her own.- Hands her a small hand-written note just before he had to leave for work. - “It’s short but I can’t wait till she translates it.” He murmurs to himself.- “난 너를 너무 너무 많이 좋아해 졌어. 넌 나의 아가씨가 해 줄래?”

Jae-hee Kang- Wanted MC be sent to the police thiswomanhasgotnochills.- Relents on grounds of RFA leader’s instructions.- “MC씨, RFA에 환영합니다.” Welcome to the RFA, MC.Her tone still unpleasant.- Realises her misconception about MC because she understands zero Korean. - Why would someone infiltrate RFA with harmful intentions knowing she’s at such a disadvantage?- Sends her apology in fluent English, becomes Baehee in a millisecond.- Honestly informs MC that she needs to start learning the language in order to properly take on the role of being the RFA’s party organiser.- Would love to personally tutor MC but woman has got so much work she’s got no time to, plus now there’s an additional task of replying to party guests.- Goes to the bookstore and buys all the best materials for MC to aid her learning. Tells MC that she has to give self-learning a go. To take note of all the questions and e-mail them to her at her official e-mail, where she’ll be 300% responsive.- Before Jaehee can test MC’s level of understanding for Korean language, MC sent her a text message that reads:- “난 당신을 신경 써. 난 당신의 친구 이상으로 해도 돼요?”

Ju-min Han- Something about this man draws MC’s attention and a natural instinct to understand and protect him. To her, there’s just something hidden under his tone of voice. Stern, but never menacing. - She’s right, but she doesn’t get a word he says, “전 MC의 능력 보기로 기대하걨습니다.” I’ll look forward to seeing MC’s abilities.- How’s she going to fit in at all? His gut feeling that she’s innocent.- Wouldn’t let her know that he’s very fluent in English, in fear that she’ll discover the tangled world in his mind that’s devoid of emotions. At least in his own opinion.- Gets Jaehee to hire a private tutor and ensures MC travels safely to and fro Rika’s secret apartment and his penthouse. He picks and buys all her new stationaries too.- When she starts learning at his place, he stays back in the office working.- On the rare occasions when he’s home while she’s there, he’d observe her from afar: her cute gestures, smile, the way she interacts with Elizabeth the 3rd, how she looks so adorable when she’s trying so hard to focus etc. - Doesn’t realise that she could sense his presence. It took him awhile to accept the fact that he’s fallen head over heels for her.- Months have passed when he received a message from MC through a private chat.- “주민씨. 나도 사랑해요, 제발 날 피하지 마세요.”

707/Seven/Luciel/Sae-young Choi- He’d have known when he hacks checks through the national registry for her file.- “당신의 은행 계좌는 이미 도용했습니다.” was his first sentence said to her in a call.- “Huh? What? Doesn’t erm catch erm immi…do…da?” she stutters in confusion.- Bursts into laughter.- Translates the sentence to her *coughs* 17 languages *coughs* englishshouldbeoneofthem. Assures her that it’s a joke and her bank account is safe.- Teases MC to no end. Making her more than determined to learn the language,- Doesn’t have the luxury of time to properly teach her anything, nor can he reveal his identity to her.- Hacks into one of the best schools and registers her as a student with courses all paid off. thisissobadasswhatcanisayitsagent707.- “If MC is able interpret a Korean paragraph for me over the CCTV, the Defender of Justice will reward her!” He casually promises.- Watches over her on the way to class, in class, coming back to the apartment, even when she studies at home.- He knew deep down his heart that there’s a high possibility that MC will be able to pass his challenge. He just couldn’t anticipate her reply.- “당신은 날 좀더 조심해야 돼. 난 위험한 사람이야. 난 당신과 같은 천사를 자격이 없어. 근 당신이 이미 알고 있었을 거라 확신해요. 그래서 어떤 선물을 원해?” Breathes and wait.- “알고있어. 근데 아직도 당신을 원해. 당신의 모든 것을 사랑해. 당신이 아시 죠?”

V/Ji-hyun Kim- Goes through the file on MC that Saeyoung sent to him. Becomes aware that MC is illiterate in Korean language.- Foresees that MC won’t be able to master the language in time to carry out email duties for the party.- Sympathises with her situation but getting her out of it now is going to put everyone’s life at risk.- Positions himself to protect both Mint Eye and the RFA so that he can ensure no one gets into harm’s way.- Helps MC learn the language so she could at least mingle with the members.- Asks Saeyoung for help to send some e-books to MC’s e-mail.- Calls the apartment’s private phone daily at a fixed timing and guides MC through the difficulties she encounters with the language patiently.- MC does as he says without any complaints, nor does she question him. She’d fallen for him from their first conversation, but kept it a secret to avoid burdening him.- It’s the first in such a long time he experienced genial trust and warmth, doesn’t take him long to know that he cares deeply for MC.- Completes the replying to all the party guests and logs into the messenger (when every one is asleep) as he intends to type long farewell messages to the members that he cared so much for. Not wanting to face their responses.- Personal messages to MC (who unbeknownst to him had been wide awake the entire time), reads:- “당신과 나는 끼리에, 항상 널 선택하겠다. 당신은 내 결정을 이해할 필요가 없지만, 제발 당신은 내 마음 안에 영원히 있을 겠다는 것을 믿으세요.”

Unknown/Saeran Choi- Would’ve also known that MC couldn’t understand Korean language when the cult leader instructed him to dig up her files.- Wanted to be the one to lead her to the apartment. Unfortunately, onlyinmyscenarioplease the leader sent someone else off to it.- Angered, he snuck out of the building to head to her apartment.- “Oh hello! Were you acquainted to its previous owner?” she chirps at the door.- Slightly taken aback, he muttered “Yes, a friend.” without a doubt, she lets him in.- How can someone be so trusting? She behaves nothing like anyone he knew.- Takes a bite of her freshly baked waffle, is delighted when she added a scoop of his favourite food: ice cream.- “Umm… Do you understand Korean? If you do, can you teach me some? I just joined this group that wants me to help them invite party guests but I can’t do Korean and they’re all too busy to teach me…” MC sparks another conversation.- Stays silent for a good 10 minutes before speaking in doubts “Will you make me this *points at empty plate* every time if I come and teach you?- “Of course! Thank you so much! We can start tomorrow!” MC skips around joyfully as he observes her in awe.- That’s when he decides that she would be his and solely his and remain where she’s safest (away from Mint Eye for now at least). - He’ll find a way to escape the cult and remove his trails just to stay with her and keep her within his own sight.- “Meanwhile, go on the Internet and read about Hangul. Try to decipher this short sentence if you can.” remindmehow707challengedmc Hands her a note before he leaves.- “날 기다려 줘, 내 천사.”

.

.

.

.

.

.

What each character/MC said at the end

Yoo-sung Kim “I thought you’re kind, friendly and pretty when we first met. I’ve fallen for you since then. Can we date?”

Zen/Hyun-ryu “I’ve come to like you too too much. Would you be my lady?”

Jae-hee Kang (by MC) “I care for you a lot. Can I be more than just your friend?”

Ju-min Han (by MC) “Jumin, I love you too. Please don’t avoid me anymore.”

707/Seven/Luciel/Sae-young Choi “You should be more careful of me, I’m a dangerous person. I don’t deserve an angel like you. I guess you already know. So, what kind of present do you want? (MC replied) “I know. But it’s still you that I want. I love all of you, do you know?”

V/Ji-hyun Kim “Given a choice between you and I, I will always choose you. You don’t have to understand all my decisions, but please trust that you’re always in my heart - forever.”

Unknown/Saeran Choi “Wait for me. My angel.”

#mystic messenger #mystic messenger imagines #mystic messenger imagine #yoousung kim #mystic messenger yoosung #jaehee kang #mysticmessenger jaehee #jumin han #mystic messenger jumin #zen hyun #mystic messenger zen #hyun ryu #jihyun kim #mystic messenger jihyun #saeyoung choi #luciel choi #mystic messenger 707 #mod Yoo

[ocean-in-my-rebel-soul]

#100DaysofWriting: Day 3 (Part 1)

Day three! Character questions! Yes!

Oh man, I can talk about my OCs all day. Introducing Tez, the druid I love so much!

Name, alias: Tez, the Silver Lady, the eternal druid

Race: (clockwork, kinda, see below)

Age: 137

Gender and pronouns: while her people don’t use gender roles as we see and experience them, Tez is femme-presenting but ultimately genderless and uses she/her pronouns

Sexuality: clockwork don’t experience sexuality the way their organic neighbors do, but do form familial and romantic bonds and create “children” together, typically in polycules. Tez is probably demiromantic? I didn’t write her with a specific sexuality/romantic alignment in mind but she developed a bit without me looking and found a partner, but it took her a while to get there. So maybe demi, maybe potentially allo but slow about it?

Physical description: Tez is a 6′8″ humanoid clockwork woman with silvery metal skin that has a cool undertone/sheen to it and grey eyes. She is very human-like, compared to others of her race, with an artfully sculpted, expressive face. She has “scars” gouged out across the plates of her abdomen and upper thigh, leftovers from a violent altercation early in her life. 

Class: Druid/Paladin (in this world, druids exemplify the classic druid class and also take on elements of clerics or paladins, depending on their particular temple’s teachings and focus or on the individual’s dedication to the elemental forces.)

Favorite tidbit: I have a scene where she wild-shapes into a bear and it’s glorious. Just imagine a bear made of metal, coming at you with razor sharp teeth and claws. She just... demolishes her enemies. 

Series tag: Ocean's 100 Days of Writing

==

Day Three

What’s your character’s motivation? What motivates them to act like they do?

Tez

Tez is our primary protagonist. She is a member of a long-lived metal/clockwork race (which I've struggled to name a few times over, and they’re not truly clockwork, more analogue to androids than anything, but it’s hard for me to find the right words) that was introduced to this plane during a planar shift some hundreds of years before the story begins, and she is the only one of her people to have been "born" to this new world--at least, as far as anyone really knows. Tez grows up within the druidic enclave dedicated to the Earthshaper, estranged from the clockwork people since birth. Never fitting in with the clockwork people nor with her druid brethren, Tez has been hollowed out all her life by questions she can't answer alone: who is she, really? How did the unique circumstances of her birth coincide, and why did her father seemingly disappear that same night? Where does she fit in the world?

One of the many things compounding her alienation is the fact that Tez can access divine and primal magic, which sets her that much further apart from most of the clockwork diaspora, as their magic system does not seem to work outside their home plane. This is a direct boon of the Earthshaper, and so Tez sees her role as a druid more of a job than anything meaningful on a personal level; she gained the boon, now she pays for it. Accordingly, her role as a druid is something distant for her. People, plants, and animals all die around her, but she will outlive them all. Only she and Nature are constant, in her mind, and so she doesn’t often foster connections on a personal level with the world. Tez tends to keep to the more densely packed regions of the holy forests, rarely attending to villages and communities, and while she has made the occasional friend, she finds herself more comfortable in the presence of beasts than with sentient people.

She's slowly come to desire researching and trying to get to know the clockwork people through infrequent visits to their enclave in this new world. She has very conflicted feelings about clockwork society, and as far as she's concerned, they've made it plain that it's a mutual experience. Still, she yearns for some sort of understanding, some way to reconcile these identities or lack thereof within herself. She is fighting both her need to know and her fear of finding... nothing. Tez is most afraid of figuring out that she is ultimately insignificant, meaningless, because that would mean spending the rest of her very long life with the concrete knowledge of that fact--and who wouldn't be freaked out by that? Tez was left to the druids on the day she gained consciousness with nothing but a note from the father who has seemingly abandoned her, and since then has been wrestling with her sense of self and lack thereof.

But change does come. During an infrequent visit to the clockwork city, Tez discovers her father's hidden laboratory and a series of journals he'd kept as he had created her; that same night, she is asked to act as the city's ambassador to the world around them and ultimately aid the clockwork people in establishing themselves in the world. She agrees reluctantly, only swayed after she receives a vision from the Earthshaper, urging her to act. Tez soon gets swept into a tangled web of political intrigue, divine commandments, and treachery amongst gods and people alike.

As she pays more attention to people and the lives around her in her pursuit of her growing mission, Tez's goals become less self-centered and expand to include the world as an interconnected system. She learns to understand the spark of personhood she finds in her slowly growing array of allies, and for someone who has been set apart from others for most of her life, she comes to clutch at those sparks dearly. These connections prove to be vital to her growing and changing as a person, and it is through them that she finds her place in the world.

So, that's kinda a general and vague overview of Tez! We’ll learn about Julaa tomorrow!

#Ocean's 100 Days of Writing #100 days of writing #the wip project #ocean writes #am writing #writeblr #my original content #Tez #HiFanWIP