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Are you 🫵 pissed off about the Lilo and Stitch monstrosity remake? Do you want to know how you can actually make a difference in supporting the people and ecosystems of Hawaii?

Tourism is a big issue in Hawaii (which the remake got rid of the original's commentary on because it makes foreigners look bad). I'm not gonna promote it, BUT I know that realistically, thousands of people arrive here every single day by the airplane-ful. And the majority of them aren't educated on the socio-cultural and economic impacts of tourism. SO, I'm making this post in an effort to educate visitors. If you or someone you know is visiting or moving to Hawaii (whether by circumstances in or out of your control), here are some suggestions on how you can give back!

You can donate to the Hawaii Community Foundation, which has been instrumental in giving aid to the displaced community of Lahaina after the Maui wildfires in 2023. They also provide scholarships to students of under-represented communities.

If you're interested in visiting Kualoa Ranch, you can do their Mālama Experience where you get your hands dirty giving back to the ‘āina (land)!

There are other organizations you can join to volunteer with, too, like Kupu and Mālama Maunalua. Check them out; maybe you can help with a beach cleanup or plant native trees! These are both non-profit organizations that accept monetary donations.

Visit the Bishop Museum to learn about Hawaiian history and culture! They also have events focused on sustainability and conservation.

If you're visiting Hilo on the Big Island, go visit the Laulima Nature Center! They're a non-profit aimed at protecting Hawaii's native species, and they even have an online store that ships to the US mainland and internationally! (After I post this, I'm gonna head on over and get myself a manu o Kū pin ♡)

A few other tips I have:

DO: Respect the locals' homes. Several beaches and hiking trails have access points in residential areas. Please be mindful to keep your voices down when passing by, and park ONLY in designated parking areas.

DO: Wear reef-safe sunscreen! Sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate are banned in Hawaii because they are known to damage coral reefs.

DON'T: Approach wildlife, particularly honu (sea turtles) and 'īlio holo i ka uaua (Hawaiian monk seals). Stay at least 10 feet (3 meters) away from turtles and at least 50 feet (15 meters) away from monk seals. If you see someone harassing animals, report them to the statewide NOAA Marine Wildlife Hotline: (888) 256-9840. You can also contact the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources.

DON'T: Collect sand, rocks, or other natural items to bring home with you. This is to protect the ecosystems and also out of respect for Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians), who have cultural beliefs regarding lava rocks in particular. Taking lava rocks is extremely disrespectful.

DON'T: Litter! Please throw away your waste in proper trash cans. If you see a bin that says "ʻōpala," that's a trash can!

Many Kānaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians) are moving to the US mainland because the cost of living in Hawaii has been driven up so high (because of people moving here), they can't afford to live in their ancestral home. So, if you are going to visit or move to Hawaii, please:

- Make the effort to support local businesses, especially those owned by Native Hawaiians!

- Educate yourself and your loved ones about actual Hawaiian culture!

- Try Hawaiian food, like poi!

- Learn some Hawaiian words and don't be afraid to ask how to pronounce words correctly!

- Donate to a food bank!

- Watch films and read books written by Native Hawaiians!

My hope is that whoever sees this post will use it to educate themselves, their friends, and their families who are considering visiting.

My background is in sustainability and the environment, so that's what I know to suggest off the top of my head. If any Kānaka Maoli read this post and have suggestions to add, please do!

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My Aces and Aros Story

While I have a minute, I wanted to talk about how I got involved in editing an anthology. Editing isn't usually my gig, but it's actually very personal, so maybe buckle in? If you just want to TLDR, here's the link, support Ace stories and creators!

DO IT!

This story goes all the way back to the beginning of my comics making career. As many of you know, my first widely published book was a book called Princeless about a black princess who decided to save herself instead of waiting around to be saved. It got this great queer female fanbase really quick and a lot of them asked me "Is Adrienne Gay?"

The unsatisfying answer was "It doesn't matter, this story is about not needing to be saved, sexuality is beside the point". However, I and those readers really liked the idea of telling a story of queer heroine in the world and thus Raven Pirate Princess was born.

Spinning Raven off meant giving her a crew and I wanted that crew to be filled with queer women of different stripes from different parts of life and that meant doing some research into sexualities I knew little about. Eventually, I decided to make Quinn (seen here carrying her girlfriend Zoe to safety) demisexual.

The result of that research was me doing a lot of looking into demisexuality and going "But isn't that just everyone?"

Reader, it is not.

It is me though.

That took me a while to digest and come around to, but eventually a I came out. I'm very happily married and in love, so daily it changed nothing.

EXCEPT...

It absolutely did. There's an immense power in having a name for that thing that is going on inside your brain that makes it not like other brains. It's incredible to be able to say "this is how I am" and have people understand.

Time went by and then I got this cool invitation from @alannawrites.bsky.social who was putting together a team of aspec creators to write a story about a certain girl who had been displaced into a comic book world coming to terms wither asexuality. You may have heard of her.

Or possibly played as her in a popular video game

Here I got to work with an all aspec team of creators for the first time in my life and tell a story that I hadn't realized I'd been working on my whole life. And having moments where something that spoke to me also spoke to that team was amazing.

We felt like we were all from the same planet...

It was an incredible feeling I then got to experience at every convention I did that year as more and more people came up to and came out to me, talking about how much it meant to see their experience, which is so rarely explored in comics, on the page. That was something else and you all mean the world to me.

So, when @comicuno.bsky.social & @philfalcowrites.bsky.social asked if I wanted to coedit an anthology full of stories about and by ace folks, the idea of getting to facilitate a ton more people having that experience was way too much to pass up. I mean...imagine...

I knew I wanted to write a story for the anthology as well, but I wasn't sure what to write about. I knew I wanted to bring back

@bailierosenlund.bsky.social and

@kellysue.bsky.social who had made our Marvel story so perfect. Then it hit me, there was one story that would be the perfect intro

So our story is called "Introduction" and it's about the Ace umbrella, learning we were under it, and finding community through making a comic where we all got to share our ace experience with eachother. Now, we're comic book characters and you an support a lot more people having this experience

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It’s kind of insane how much has changed, because the Sailor Moon anime is considered a classic now that even dudebros don’t want to say anything negative about it but if the series came out today they would call it ‘woke garbage’ or they say the queer characters would be so forced, there also be endless debates on wherever or not Haruka and Michiru’s relationship is toxic or not. And I’m so glad it came out in the 90s.

It really is crazy how everything pre-Gamergate gets a pass from chuds even if it explicitly has progressive themes, lol. I say this all the time, but if characters like Ellen Ripley or Sarah Connor came out today there would be endless videos by anti-woke sloptubers crying about how they're "forced diversity" or "DEI" or whatever.

It really shows how poisonous this culture war bullshit is. Obviously representation in media has never been perfect and there's always been bigoted people who hate female/queer/POC characters on principle, but it's gotten so much worse since the Gamergate era. Like it's honestly pathetic and embarrassing how these people throw up and piss their pants if they're asked to engage with a character that isn't a cis white man.

Anyway, I'm also glad that Sailor Moon has escaped the culture war. If I get wind of anybody saying that it's "woke DEI propaganda" that "exposes children to LGBT propaganda" or whatever I'm going to beat them over the head with one of my many Sailor Moon wands.

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Something I Noticed About Soul Gems

This is more so my own interpretation rather than an observation, but the way the shell of a Soul Gem is structured reminds me of a bird cage.

Especially with this image from the Magia Record Manga.

Idk, I like the idea, but do you think it has any weight? Thoughts?

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life is so much better when you have a work of fiction to obsess over

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Sailor V

I really like how this one turned out. I hope you like it~

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Sailor Moon x Meiji Co.

New Super Sailor Senshi illustrations by Naoko Takeuchi for the nut chocolate collab with Meiji Co 🍫🌰❤️

November 2024

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STARTING TOMORROW

Scientists in weather and climate are live streaming for 100 hours to make their case to the American public.

They are live streaming, but engagement is necessary for it to work. SHARE THIS WITH PEOPLE, RECORD THE STREAM, POST CLIPS OF IT THAT ARE FUNNY, if you can tune in, PLEASE DO!

This is something that has to be heard by as many people as possible. Put it on in the background! See if you can get other people to watch it! Do whatever you can do support those who are trying to be supported! Anything and everything helps!

TUNE IN HERE

article I posted screenshots of here

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the fucking budget bill of hell passed the house that removes HRT from medicare, general medicare spending cuts, student financial aid cuts, and oh yeah lets the teump regime ignore court orders even harder and lets for even harder executive overreach. they did this shit at motherfucking 2 am so people wouldn’t notice too

it passed house like i said but still needs to pass senate.

tell your senators to invoke byrd rule which is a goddamn real thing apparently

call your goddamn senators i swear to god

and if you’re in DC there’s a protest going on as we speak

go do your civic duty you piece of shit

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Redraw~ (2020)

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i actually need to know people's thoughts on this because at least in my experience the answer to this has drastically changed since i was on tumblr in the 2010s and its driving me fucking insane

*im talking about fandom takes specifically. not someone being horribly evil about a real-life issue or or blatantly factually incorrect. literally just harmless fandom disagreements or differing interpretations of a text/character/etc.

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★ 【门徒】 「 homura & madoka 」 ✔ reprinting permitted (2.22.25)

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korrasami doodle

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As an adult you must cultivate the skill of “Gross! Oh, well. Not my business.”

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I’m a little bit obsessed with these magical girl -esque weapons I saw on Mandarake. They’re sold, and I can’t seem to find the brand “Rameb” they’re listed as being from.. but I needed to save and share!

Links to listings: White Morningstar / Pink Morningstar  Nailed Bat / Studded Bat

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fanfic titles be like “we have not touched the stars (nor are we forgiven)” and then you look at the tags & the first one is “anal fisting”