#iaw Larry thoughts

[indiaalphawhiskey]

Hello hello! I’m new here but not new to the fandom by any means but I’ll be truthful, I’ve been inactive for years. I saw one of your answers floating around Twitter so I decided to dust off ye ol’ tumblr and have a chat. My question is: does it ever just feel? Overwhelming? I firmly believed in H&L for years but it got to the point where we were analyzing tee shirts for hidden messages (this is post RBB/SBB saga) and celebrating when one of them wore blue or green or certain numbers and it just felt like I was participating in nitpicking. Like the fandom was literally nitpicking tiny things to validate our beliefs. Then I left. You’ve been here for years. It never feels overwhelming at times? Like “what are we doing analyzing tee shirt references or other minute things? Has it really come to this?” I think I struggle with guilt feeling like “are we actually listening to them? Do they want us to do this or are we way overstepping?” And I don’t know how to reconcile those feelings. Your thoughts?

Yeah, of course it feels overwhelming. There have been some particular points that come to mind where I was personally like 'dude, I'm out'.

But, what I'm getting from your ask is that you largely felt overwhelmed based on the content you were surrounded by, and not what was actually happening. And to that I say: a big portion of the fandom remaining somewhat fun is making sure you're getting content from the right people. In other words, people who know their shit -- who know facts, who will honestly differentiate between canon and headcanon, and who are also willing to adapt their understanding of who Larry are now versus who they were in the earlier years.

For example, the blogs I follow don't read into coded clothing anymore, unless it's in an overtly attention calling way, like at Glasto. And, even then, the call to read into Louis' shirt came from a series of events -- liking the tweet + H stunting -- and not just because he was wearing a shirt, you know what I mean?

Sure, the blogs I follow will make memes and jokes, but they know that the coded clothing heyday of Larry is very much over, the same way the era of RBB/SBB is also over.

Longevity in fandom (in any fandom, as I've learned) is down to finding people who can have measured and reality based conversations about things, and who know when to put headcanon and speculation to bed. I think a lot of the more measured takes on Larry have been buried by the Old Guard leaving, because I remember a time when we really really really cultivated a culture of vetting and fact-checking, and it feels like we've largely lost that.

A lot of us have forgotten the reason we got into Larry in the first place, which was to support two people who were asking us to see them and their love. Signaling to us. Fighting for themselves and needing our support to do it.

I think there are much fewer Larries now who hold true to that call, and are willing to adjust their expectations based on what we're reading from older Larry and what they need from us now. Many more people would now prefer to treat this like a huge game of Come Out Clue and then will throw tantrums when they're no closer to "winning" than they were a year ago.

And yeah, if those are the people you're seeing content from, then I'm not surprised it took a toll on you.

[zot3-flopped]

indiaalphawhiskey*tumblr*com I think that anon meant this blogger. She is not new, been around for years and is a larry smut fic writer m|m fetishist like Gina. She writes very long posts about "stunts" as tinhats call them. Another psedo-intellectual manipulating minors in this fandom

If IAW is the one then yes, she's been around for five years plus. I thought it could be @bluewinnerangel who seems fairly new unless she's a rebrand.

[carltonejones]

Coldwater, Mississippi is going to be on fire for the 3rd Annual Building Power Summit. Get your passes now at Blackindependence.org/blmms.html See us about our sponsorship packages too! Mwalimu K. Bomani Baruti Biographical Sketch Mwalimu K. Bomani Baruti is the co-founder and co-director of Akoben Institute, an independent Afrikan centered full-time and after-school home schooling and tutorial program for middle and high schoolers. Over the last half decade, Bro. Baruti has also taught various Afrikan centered evening classes for adults at the Institute and online. Included in these was a writers’ workshop for those interested in writing and self-publishing. Moreover, he is an experienced chess teacher who taught chess at independent Black schools for over a decade. Bro. Baruti is the author of eighteen self-published books: Excuses, Excuses: The Politics of Interracial Coupling in European Culture, negroes and other essays, Chess Primer: An Introduction to the Game of Chess, The Sex Imperative, Homosexuality and the Effeminization of Afrikan Males, Asafo: A Warriors Guide to Manhood, Complementarity: Thoughts for Afrikan Warrior Couples, Mentacide and other essays, Kebuka!: Remembering the Middle Passage Through the Eyes of Our Ancestors, Eureason: An Afrikan Centered Critique of Eurocentric Social Science, Battle Plan, Notes Toward Higher Ideals in Afrikan Intellectual Liberation, Sesh: An Afrikan Centered Guide to Writing and Self-Publishing for Warrior Scholars, Nyansasem: A Calendar of Revolutionary Daily Thoughts, Yurugu’s Eunuchs, Centered: Building Afrikan Realities, IAW: A Warrior’s Character and Message to The Warriors. He is currently working on a book entitled Asylum which examines the insanity of european culture and Identity which will reconceptualize a number of sociological concepts in Afrikan centered terms. Bro. Baruti (fka Larry D. Crawford) served as Assistant Professor of Sociology at Morehouse College from 1991 to 2001. Committed to the students, he has served as the faculty advisor to numerous student organizations at Morehouse College, as well as other institutions in the Atlanta University Center. He received his graduate training https://www.instagram.com/p/B0eSziGHFh-/?igshid=an8vw94b3o5a