dove00

[dove00]

thank you to @boostergold07 for donating to the DC for Gaza ROUND TWO!

the prompt was for hawaiian booster gold!!!

Find out more HERE: https://dcforgaza.carrd.co/

[dove00]

Work In Progress for a Kara Story…

Warning for past racism, Dawn Raids, and xenophobia

Context: Kara made a friend in Midvale and this friend’s dad overheard her saying that she wished her parents didn’t send her to Krypton.

Kara and Aulelei were looking over all the papers trying and failing to find a connection when someone called from the kitchen doorway.

“Aulelei. Go make me some tea. I want to talk to your friend.”

Aulelei got up and started to make tea as her dad sat down across from Kara.

“I didn’t mean to bring all this—“ Kara started to explain…everything when he shook his head.

“Did Aulelei tell you why my family left Aotearoa in the 1970s?”

Aulelei seemed to pause for a moment and then continued making tea.

Kara shook her head.

“Ah, can’t blame her. I don’t…” He sighed. “I was a young Sāmoan kid running around. My father had moved us there when I was young. They needed more workers and then they…well, decided they didn’t need that anymore.”

Aulelei sat the tea in front of him and sat down beside Kara.

“Dawn Raids started in…1974. Never came for the Americans or the Europeans or Canadians. Some brave Islanders saw the Black Panther Party in America and…” He looked Kara in the eyes. “They were inspired by them. Called themselves the Polynesian Panthers.” He smiled a bit.

“My father moved us again. Thought it safer. Certainly didn’t ask me or my opinion.”

Kara nodded.

“Sometimes, parents make choices for their children. I’m sure I did this for Aulelei and her siblings. It’s not easy but it’s the way of life. You just have to continue living with the choices.”

He took a sip of tea. “You’re doing a good job. That little boy is alive because of you.”

Kara smiled and he nodded. He smiled at Aulelei and took his tea into the living room.

[dove00]

Hi!

I was wondering if anyone is still interested in my Tana Moon rewrite!

I wrote chapter one some time ago and I plan to continue! I apologize for the wait!

Thank you for the people who liked Chapter One!

I thought I’d give some plans that I have:

- Tana and Superboy will work together.

- Nanaue will have a variety of moments.

- Arnold will be back…but maybe not how you think.

- Okay. I was talking to my friend about Tana being queer and I want to explore that. Especially because as QTPIs (Queer and Trans Pacific Islanders), we don’t have a ton of representation for it. I think she and Superboy could have a sweet mlm and wlw solidarity.

Let me know what you all think! Bye! :)

[dove00]

Hi! I realized (a little late lol) that all these discussions about Tana are happening and I am going to use that to talk about books written by Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) authors! I have either read or am currently reading!

Lei and the Legends series

Two books are currently out (Lei and the Fire Goddess and Lei and the Invisible Island) and it’s by Malia Maunakea.

A girl goes to Hawai’i Island to visit her Tutu and accidentally upsets a goddess. Read to find out the rest!

Kapaemahu told by Kumu Hina

The story of four healers that were māhū that have healing abilities. (There’s also a short film for this)

Hammajang Luck (still reading) by Makana Yamamoto

After being released, a character finds they’re being reunited with an ex who has one last heist for them.

Feel free to add more. As someone who’s Pasifika but not Kanaka, it’s important to lift up.

[dove00]

Hello , I am Shareef Alamoudy, I am from Gaza married and have twins children Husam and Ahmed, five months old, they came after four IVF. My wife and I came to Egypt in June to do IVF and my wife got pregnant and we got stuck in Egypt after the war, I was an employee in Gaza and my wife was a math teacher and now we have no income, my twins was born in April and one of them (Ahmed) has heart holes, needs custody, a lot of treatments and costs, and now he needs special milk and medication.

I also have herniated disc, I cannot work hard in Egypt

I need an operation that costs 2,000 euros..

I live in a rental apartment that costs me 200 euros a month.

life requirements like food and other things 400 euros.

Please Help me 💔🙏🍉

[dove00]

Hi! I don’t mean to take over your post. Everything you said is so interesting!

I wanted to also look at this and how you brought up māhū people. I remember seeing people misunderstanding and spreading misinformation.

Thanks.

In addition to your post, I would like to add that Hawaiian culture, hula, and the language were banned not by Natives but by the colonizers for a long time. I believe people had to speak it in secret to keep it alive.

Then, during the sugarcane plantations time, and people from other groups came to the islands from around the world, Hawaiian Pidgin was to help the workers understand. Why do I bring this up? Pidgin would later become a language spoken throughout the islands. Some people have it as their first language. But! There was a call to keep Pidgin out of schools. And people were looked down on if they spoke it.

Sorry! I went all over the place.

Unimaginable Utopia vs the believable Colonized World

"Why can't we make Krypton, Superman's home planet, flawed or evil instead of a utopia (as it was traditionally portrayed)?"

Much of the justification for an evil or flawed Krypton is that it "adds depth" or "makes it believable/ interesting" when Krypton isn't a utopia. Because utopias, in a lot of people's minds, are unimaginable. We can imagine aliens, distant planets, magic, superpowers, but utopia without suffering is "ridiculous".

I have been gripped by this Little Joel video on Omelas: How We Talk About Utopia for ages now because I think it succinctly wraps up everything I feel about the topic. Omelas and Krypton are both fictional worlds (in the case of Omelas, explicitly a fiction within the short story fiction where the author herself encourages you to imagine utopia with her as a thought experiment), yet in the demand to make these fantastical worlds more "believable", suffering (regardless of how nonsensical) needs to be added in order to "make sense of the good that exists". The idea of utopia without suffering is unimaginable.

For Krypton, this means any sort of interpretation from "Kryptonians are colonizers now" or "Kryptonians are evil aliens who hate Earth, plot twist!" or "Kryptonians have a class system that punishes progressive thought" or "Kryptonians are racist, sexist, ableist, etc."! Somehow this fictional alien world has to look a lot more like our flawed world in order to be "believable". But that's not the full picture. Many real world societies in themselves are hard to believe, especially in the American mindset.

["From A Native Daughter" by Haunani-Kay Trask excerpts]

People are shocked to learn of societies outside of the West with more broad systems for gender, or that queerness existed at all in indigenous cultures around the world without the influence of white people. Societies outside of a patriarchal or capitalistic system? Is that really possible?

["From A Native Daughter" by Haunani-Kay Trask excerpts]

I'm not here to paint all these cultures as perfect or necessarily enlightened before colonialism set them back. But I am saying that the way many of these societies were built were so unimaginable to colonizers that they had to lie and label these worlds as barbaric or worse-than-they-were as a means of "civilizing them" through colonization. Projecting familiar European structures on them, regardless of accuracy. "These indigenous genderqueer roles are perverse, they must fit our binary two gender system!" And now all of these cultures are set back, and we'll never really know what they'd have looked like had they been allowed to develop and grow without colonizers intervening. Many have bought into the European structures enforced on them. Because that's believable.

(American Missionaries in the 1800s abolishing the genderqueer practices of the Māhū, from Kumu Hina documentary)

The basic premise of Superman is that he was born on a utopian planet, but sent to Earth as a baby when said planet faced world-wide destruction. He is raised by his adopted American parents and culture. Superman is by all technicalities, an undocumented immigrant.

So why do I think utopia is important to Superman mythos? Isn't there an argument to be made for portraying a refugee allegory when Superman leaves a bigoted Krypton to find safety in a flawed Earth? Because any other alien character in DC's roster could do that. Martian Manhunter used to be written as coming from a utopian Mars, but I personally think that him fleeing from a bigoted one works better for his themes. What makes Superman different? What makes him unique from all these alien migrants?

Because being the Man of Tomorrow, an ideal to strive for, is inherit to the best Superman stories. Part of what makes his rivalry with Lex Luthor so compelling is that Lex Luthor has bought into the flawed Omelas premise. He's been raised to believe that power without stepping on someone else is impossible. So when he sees Superman, he's frustrated that this alien man flaunts power without malice. It's unimaginable to Lex that someone can be powerful and selfless. It's even become a meta discussion for fans that someone as kind as Superman is unbelievable. "Too good to be true".

When you remove utopia from Superman's backstory, this contrast is lost. Superman just becomes an exception from an evil planet. A miraculous white savior, assimilated into American culture to be our hero.

(the infamous, xenophobic John Byrne panel)

Nowadays, people want to shake up the formula. It's a trendy twist to make Krypton a planet of colonizers. Or maybe a morally grey one. Or a feudal, classist, and bigoted one.

Superman is no longer a guy from a native utopia who hopes to bring our flawed world into a better tomorrow like the one he came from. He's now just magically the best guy from the shitty planet. Sometimes he's like that because his Kryptonian parents happen to be activists (Absolute Superman). Other times, Superman is good because he was raised by upstanding American citizens. He's not like those other aliens; barbaric, feudal, bigoted. Superman's good because he's assimilated into being an American. And he will spread that American goodness throughout the galaxy to bring them into the American Way- oh wait that's the less progressive line, I mean- "A Better Tomorrow".

Think for a moment about Superman as an immigrant allegory and how that parallels real human experiences for a second. What does it mean to change Superman's home planet to be something "more believable"? To add elements of American/western bigotry into these distant sci-fi worlds? Why make Kryptonians evil colonizers like yourselves? Why make a Superman that disavows his Utopian Kryptonian roots? Why make a Superman that assures us he is more human than alien? It's because our modern imaginations are limited by colonial constructs. New writers think they're twisting the Superman formula, but they manage to bring it backwards to xenophobic directions.

"The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain."

-Those Who Walk Away from Omelas, Ursula K. Le Guin

[dove00]

as a society we need to normalize platonic soulmates. please. like literally live with your best friend. raise a kid/pet with your best friend. why should people have to "be alone" and not experience some parts of life just because they never fall in love. stop making the world revolve around fucking romance.

[dove00]

I wanted to talk about representation and reimagining characters. As we have seen, some people are against the Superboy 94 characters reimagines.

So, I wanted to play a game. It’s called: find me a Pasifika character.

Find me one on this cover

Or this one (Please don’t send hate)

Now, you’re probably curious as to why I am asking this. If you didn’t know, these are DC covers for AAPI Heritage Month. AAPI is Asian American and Pacific Islander. Pacific Islanders are “Polynesian,” “Melanesian,” and “Micronesian.” The reason these are in quotes is because it’s what the white people that “discovered” us called our cultures. Note: Filipinos are not Pasifika.

Did you find any Pacific Islander characters? No? Well, that’s because that aren’t any on either of those covers. And that’s just two years out of all the times DC has done AAPI covers.

Why do I bring this up?

We are constantly ignored and erased — even in a month that is supposed to represent and celebrate us. The only DC character that is Pasifika that is somewhat main is King Shark. And he’s not here.

[dove00]

idk why SB94 fans insist that they're "not racist" when they hate on Tana Moon because "well I dislike Knockout too, and she's a white woman! So it isn't racism" like. Then it's misogyny.

Karl Kesel wrote a queer woman who was predatory to minors on top of writing an exotified predatory native woman and you're still trying to make this about Kon? Media criticism,,,please,,,

[dove00]

🥳🥳🥳🥳👏👏👏

IT FUCKIN YURI DAAAAAAAAAAAY

[dove00]

Heart of the Ocean Ch. 1

I finished the first chapter of my Tana Moon reimagine!! Hope you enjoy!! Again, inspired by @jesncin ! Warnings: past experimentation, bullying, fire, and kidnapping.

Summary: There have been missing people in National City and people believe it is the work of King Shark. 15 years old Tana works with a person with powers to prove his innocence, find the person responsible, and save the day. But it’s not that easy.

Tana has been living in National City nearly her whole life.

Her family moved here when she was seven after her dad got a new job.

Tana locked the door and walked through the hallway to the stairs.

The elevator has been broken as long as Tana can remember. It’s fine. Just the way things are.

Tana has had eight years to get used to the apartment complex.

She said goodbye to the aunties talking by the mailboxes.

“Have a good day!” Aunty Aulelei called out.

They’re not actually related, but Tana has known the woman the whole time living here.

“Thanks. You, too!” She waved and got out the main doors and onto the sidewalk.

The bus picked her up about 7 minutes later.

Arnold is waiting for her and saved her a seat, that she takes.

“The news said there was another kidnapping.” He said.

“Whatever happened to hello?” She joked but then got more serious. “That’s the third one this week.”

Arnold nodded seriously but his lips quirked up after. “Hello Kailani.”

Kailani smiled. Tana is a nickname but Arnold never really called her that. It’s mostly reserved for people she doesn’t know.

When she was in second grade, she introduced herself as Kailani and her table mates thought her name was weird.

The teacher put a stop to it and told her the name is amazing.

Still, she said some people called her “Tana.”

At recess, a boy named Arnold Kaua approached her and said Kailani is one of his cousin’s names.

They’ve been friends since.

The bus stopped at the school where they could see missing person posters on the ground.

All missing kids and teenagers. The first victim went missing three months ago.

A little boy, but it didn’t gain as much attention as Kailani thought it should’ve.

He was friends with Arnold’s little sister and Arnold and Kailani have been on the case since.

As they got off the bus, a senior boy knocked Arnold’s books out of his bag.

Arnold frowned and picked them up.

“Hey!” She yelled after the laughing senior. “Don’t be a jerk!”

“It’s fine, Kailani. He’ll learn to regret it.” Arnold tried to diffuse the situation but clearly the bully heard and walked back to the sophomores.

“What did you say to me?”

“Well, really I said it about you - not to you. And I said one day, in the future, you’d regret being a, as we’ve established, jerk.”

The senior grabbed the front of Arnold’s shirt, wrinkling it.

“Let him go!” Kailani demanded.

“What are you two going to do, huh? Make me disappear?” He snorted and pushed Arnold to the ground. “My dad knows it was someone like you. Stay—“

A gust of wind blew and suddenly, the senior was gone.

Huh?

Suddenly, they heard screaming. Kailani helped Arnold up and rushed to the sound.

The senior was in the center of the cafeteria covered in peanut butter and jelly.

He was telling everyone to shut up but he didn’t look all that scary.

“Woah.” A voice said behind them. She turned to see a guy with a jacket and sunglasses on top of his head. “What happened to him?”

Arnold shrugged, “Who knows?“

“Who are you?” Kailani asked the stranger.

He shrugged. Then he must realize how interesting that is because he rushed to say, “Um. Call me Conner.”

“He’s in my fourth period.” Arnold said. “Conner, this is Kailani. She writes for the school newspaper. She expects to be the editor in chief one day.”

Kailani snorted. “And I’m going to get it.”

Conner smiled a bit. “That’s, uh, cool.”

They walked away from the cafeteria.

“It would be cooler if I could write about the disappearances.”

“You’ve been keeping up with that?” Conner asked.

She nods. “I know some people don’t see them as missing and rather as runaways but that’s not the case—“

“I believe you.”

Kailani paused and then nodded again. “Good. I like him.“ She told Arnold then walked away.

She hears him ask her friend, “Is she always so…”

“Intense?”

“Yeah.”

“Pretty much. You learn to love it.”

The trio met back up later at lunch.

Arnold sighed and showed her a post on a social media app.

“What? That makes no sense.” Kailani complained.

“What?” Conner asked.

“They think King Shark did this.”

Conner seemed confused, so Arnold explained. “He’s a Hawaiian demigod. He’s a shark.”

Kailani continued, “He’s been on the radar of a lot of people. They spot him and try to catch him on video. He got the name King Shark but Moʻolelo knows him as Nanaue.”

That night, Arnold called Kailani.

“So. What do you think about Conner?”

“He seems a little unsure about the theory of Nanaue’s innocence but he eventually came around.”

Kailani could almost hear the eyeroll. “I mean. What do you think of him as a person?”

“He’s nice. He seems sweet but I feel like he’s hiding something.”

“Yeah, maybe. Who knows?”

“I-“

A loud BOOM on the other side of the phone cuts Kailani off.

“Arnold?! Arnold, are you okay? What was that?”

“Get away!” Kailani hears him yell and then a thud.

“Arnold!”

The call is ended on his side.

Kailani rushed out of the apartment building, thankful for once that her parents work late on Fridays.

She grabs her bike and rushes to his family’s house.

The National City Fire Department is there and putting out a fire.

“Kailani!” She hears and turns to see Arnold’s mom sitting at an ambulance.

“Aunty. What happened?” Kailani asked.

“They came and they took my baby.”

“Who?”

“The same people who took Alvin!” Arnold’s sister interrupted.

The first responders had to get them to a hospital.

“Be careful, Kailani.” Arnold’s dad said. “This is bigger than you and Arnold.”

“Kailani?” A voice said from behind her. She whirled around.

Conner stood there. “How can I help?”

Meanwhile, Arnold is shocked (literally) awake and finds himself on a table.

“Good evening, Mr. Kaua.” A voice said from the darkness.

“Who are you? Where am I? Where’s my family?”

“Your family is fine…for now.” Pause. “As for where you are, you’re in a lab. See, we don’t like people poking their nose in other people’s business. Normally, we try to find people with parents who can’t afford to spend time or money looking for their kids.”

“Alvin…” Arnold realized.

“Gone but never forgotten. His tests were able to help us truly understand the Silver.”

“What?”

“As for who we are, we are Cadmus.”

[dove00]

i hope everyone is prepared for how insane i will be tomorrow when we see absolute linda park.

[dove00]

Maka is literally two apples tall look at her

She's so baby and she's hated because she's so cool.

[dove00]

Hilarious and awww!! Maka!! This is all I’m saying on Red Hood’s solo.

Look at her. She doesn't even know what a Red Hood is.

[dove00]

people are against tana moon being reimagined because shes a groomer and a pedo actually! same with knockout, a white woman!

Me: writes a post talking about how characters are victim to racist and misogynistic writing.

Anon: misses whole point and instead of just scrolling, decides to leave a hate comment on anon.

[dove00]

It’s so…interesting when people who are so against Tana Moon being reimagined and claim “well, can’t you give love to other Native Hawaiian DC characters” never have those other Native Hawaiian characters on their blog. Like, maybe DC has a problem with a lack of representation for Pasifika characters as a whole. Maybe that’s why people try to give dignity to a WOC character that was created by racist people. Maybe that’s the whole point!

I can go on and on about how DC (and Marvel) see Pasifika characters as background characters if they’re there at all.

Yes, I know Marvel has more, including Maka Akana’s solo but that’s not the point.

Maybe stop trying to have fictional characters be applied to real people. Tana, like Talia and Catalina, are written by white people and their biases are shown!

So when we want to give them more depth, maybe think about who created them and how they were used.

[dove00]

So fun being a fan of a female character or wlw ships. Like yeah, big day for the ship: one new person posted something about it.