#Belonging and identity

[max11237]

Women Photographers and Mexican Modernity 2024 (for free)

Description:

The photographers discussed in this book probe the most contentious aspects of social organization in Mexico, questioning what it means to belong, to be Mexican, to experience modernity, and to create art as a culturally, politically, or racially marginalized person.

By choosing human subjects, spaces, and aesthetics excluded from the Lettered City, each of the photographers discussed in this volume produces a corpus of art that contests dominant narratives of social and cultural modernization in Mexico. Taken together, their work represents diverging and diverse notions of what is meant by Mexican modernity.

[fosteringinsc]

Why You Should Avoid Saying "This is My Foster Child" When Introducing a New Child

“Why Avoid Saying ‘This is My Foster Child’ When Introducing a New Child. Introducing a new child into your life, whether through fostering or adoption, marks a beautiful and transformative experience. It’s a time of growth, love, and the creation of lasting connections. However, the manner in which you introduce your newest family member can significantly impact their sense of belonging and…

[sharkylad]

Thinking about the fact that Mabel and Dipper didn't know they had two great uncles.

Yeah they are 12 and at 12 I had a shotty understanding of my family tree- But really? Nobody brought up their great uncle? Stanley? Especially since they'll be staying with his twin brother, Stanford?

Shermie never went to Stan's fake funeral, which to me means the twos relationship was strained on some level. If Shermie is older that means his view of Stan was poisoned in some way, that even as kids they weren't close. If Shermie is younger then he never even got to meet Stan and all he knew about him was how he failed his family. Hell, people probably barely mentioned Stanley TO Shermie.

The fact that Stan had become a black stain upon the Pines family name makes me so vividly upset. Stanley faked his death and the family just- seemingly decided to strike him from the record. To pretend he didn't existed to spare themselves the sadness and shame.

Stanford and Shermie Pines. The only children worth mentioning of Filbrick and Caryn Pines.

It was never Stanford that was lost to the world. It was Stanley, ever since he had to leave New Jersy- it was always him that had to be struck from the record. Change his name, change his state, change his affiliations, destroy the remains of ghost that was Stanley Pines. Kill him so the family doesn't bring him up, doesn't ask questions, stops asking "Stanford" about his twin.

I just keep thinking about the fact that since the day he made one single mistake all the way up until Ford walks out of that machine- Stanley Pines was killed and did not exist. And Stan himself had no one to blame, he had to play the part in his own demise- He is the only one who ever knew Stanley was alive and has been for decades.

He lives in the multitudes of every personality he's ever taken, all in the hope that he himself can stop being Stanley Pines.

[t0bey]

some eye dee vee commissions

[lesbianjackies]

hold my hand and say it with me: jackie taylor is not a femme

[cryptidmickle]

(Amnesia au) does shadow milk ever nerd out over things like the sage of truth? Like, does he ever get random flash backs of fun facts and is like "huh, why do I know that platypuses sweat milk?"

(I love your au btw!)

he absolutely does! the nerdiness dies hard, and losing all his memories does not bring it to an end

once he gets more comfortable in the kingdom hed start sharing more random facts or knowledge, snarkily and polite to white lily about older magic, condescending and perhaps a little excited to pure vanilla, with a nervous sort of showmanship to the gingergang and faeries,,,

oh this all sounds so cute i need to draw this

[loneberry]

“To belong is synonymous with banality.” —Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet “I could have had a father, a mother, brothers, sisters, an astrological sign, a life line on my palm, an Ayurvedic type, a blood type, a religion, opinions, I could have had a favorite color, I could have had a lucky charm, a talisman, icons, idols, I could have had wounds, longings, complaints, regrets, I could have said I’m from a generation, a country, a city, an era, a class, I could have laid claim to a gender or a sexuality, I could have sought a way to define myself, I could have believed in identity, or gone in search of my own, I could have been a victim or a culprit, I could have said J’accuse or Mea culpa, I could have looked for my roots, a reason, a why, I could have believed in genealogy, in sociology, in DNA, gone looking into the rabbis, the noblemen, the Basques, the ministers, or the junkies, I could have believed in all of that…” —Constance Debré, Name  “Origins should always be betrayed. To accept them is to compromise; give in that very first time and all the other times are made possible. It’s the primal act of complicity, of cowardliness, the first humiliation too. Whereas refusing origins is the first interruption; it then becomes possible to go on refusing.” —Constance Debré, Name “There is no belonging that doesn’t exclude someone.”  —Todd McGowan, Why Theory episode on The Public

I used to read narcissistically. I wanted to see myself in what I read. I wanted to find my tribe, my niche identity group. I had an anguished relationship to my mongrel identity, feeling neither authentically Chinese, American, and god knows, definitely not Italian. But something happened maybe 9 years ago—I became completely at peace with my non-belonging, or what Lacanians would call my constitutive lack/alienation. I shed the defensive part of my personality and grew curious about the world. Now difference interests me much more than sameness. I'm not tormented by the question of home, I don't waste energy on feeling out of place in the academy, out of place everywhere. I used to feel like I was chafing against every context I was in. Now I'm just interested... I can get interested in almost anything—the history of Portugal, the arcane technicalities of finance, Persian poetry, bone collector caterpillars, Soviet cinema, whatever. Once I let go of the aspiration for belonging I could relate to the world more freely, for something's relevance to me personally no longer mattered.

[cauldron-of-oddities]

Why on earth would Jinx leave if this is how she felt?

Working with this idea in a fic, so my head is preoccupied with it.

Maybe it's about a need vs a want.

She's always needed the affirmation and love of another to confirm herself, to have a role and a sure identity.

Vi, then Silco, and to an extent, Isha (though I consider her a bridge between the two. In needing to be someone for Isha, Jinx found a part of herself again as Isha embodied part of Jinx/Powder)

And maybe she's worried it's all need again. She's becoming who they need because she needs them to define her.

Or so she thinks

And being away for a while sort of affirms that who she was amoungst the firelights and Ekko was true.

She was her, and with the love and safety being healthy, she grew into herself.

Only because she can't recall just being her and being loved she needs to get out.

And with her precived curse... she leaves

After a while away and just living for herself, she realises she's not so different separated from them. That process that Isha started, that Ekko and the firelights helped nurture was all her.

And that's when the penny drops. She doesn't need them to define her. She *wants* to be with Ekko and the others because they made her happy. Because there was no need to play a role, but rather the acceptance, just be you in a community. There's love and friendship and safety and a home, somewhere to belong just as you are, and it is a beautiful and easy thing to return then too.

[sclappin]

July's Postcard of the Month is going out to Patreon patrons!

There are actually two ways that you can get this postcard this month:

the usual way, by signing up for my Postcard of the Month tier on Patreon, or (this month only!) if you saw Slade fight Gabriel Skye in the Ralph's parking lot on June 21st and you recognize yourself in this illustration, contact me with some kind of proof and I'll send you one for free.

(Also, if you signed up in time for the June one and have not received yours, do not worry! There was a delay getting the second batch printed, but they're going out now alongside the July ones.)

[lorebird]

In which Ford struggles so badly to relate to other people that he wonders if he’s really human at all. The more isolated he becomes, the harder it is to reconcile with his own humanity.

[canisalbus]

In this hypothetical AU of minmaxing the assassination attempt he then somehow makes it to Vasco an utter mess because he has no where else to go...hmmm

.

[rubypomegranates]

“Naming children after their parents is stripping them of an identity, reminding them who they belong to.”

Agustina Bazterrica “Tender Is the Flesh”

[zehl0w]

Zenitsu agatsuma has got to be the biggest egg I have ever seen in my entire life

[fromtheseventhhell]

I love how people are only ever interested in defending Arya's right to be weird-looking. It's never defending her intelligence from people who claim she's incapable of thinking for herself, highlighting her importance to the plot and refusing to see her as just a prop, acknowledging how much of her story gets stolen and given to other characters, talking about her trauma or how often it gets erased and overlooked, seeing her as more than just an attack dog/bodyguard, etc. Nope. It's just a "why can't people let Arya be ugly/unconventional looking? :(" post every other week because people are, for whatever reason, obsessed with how Arya is visually perceived. One of the most misinterpreted characters yet the issue is only ever with her being portrayed as "too pretty" or the wrong "type" of pretty. This fandom will entirely rewrite a character's motivations, values, and role in the story to the point that they consider references to canon "hate" but! The true injustice to canon is we acknowledge that she is described as pretty several times. Arya simply existing as her pretty, important, and non-conforming self is too complex and confusing for people to comprehend 😔.

[t0bey]

chibi identity v oc commission! 👩‍🌾

[thechrysalisbrewproject]

A Song at Dead Man’s Cove by Ana Yudin is a hauntingly lyrical tale of myth, memory, and generational trauma that lingers like sea mist long after the final page.