#also i specify asian bc i live in a majority asian area

[peregrine-rnendicant]

i WAS having a good day on a nice (if overly hot bc the weather report lied to me) walk to the library where i got to check out some sci-fi and manga books that a librarian recommended and then finished like 2 of those mangas/graphic novels by the park lake

but THEN some dumbass transphobic middle aged asian bitches had decided to set up a table in front of the library when i was returning my finished books to talk about how they think kids shouldnt be allowed to undergo gender-related surgeries and

i mayyyy have almost gotten in a yelling match with them bc i heard them telling some guy he was gonna destroy his kids and felt like i had to step in

my blood was boiling the entire like 45 minute walk home and not just bc i was wearing jeans in 80F weather

[sortagaysortahigh]

Howdy Lex!🤗💜

So, I know you go to an HBCU and I was wondering what your thoughts are about these tweets:

Hi bby!!! Okay so from personal experience white people attending hbcus is a double edged sword. for the most partat my university a lot of the white people we do have are here on sports based scholarships bc we’re a D1 school, however something that most students dont realize is that white people oftentimes get things like diversity grants because on a large scale theyre technically “diversifying the school”, and it looks good on paper however we’ve had multiple incidents where everyone found out xyz is a trumpie or a racist and just taking advantage of the grants and sports based scholarships theyre getting. This semester I literally had a german white girl call my professor the N word-hard R and all a few days after the election, infront of my entire class. Not to mentipm the fact that these diversity grants don’t receive as much funding as other major based grant programs from my university which means that latinx students and some asian students are not getting said grants-mainly pacific islanders and filipino students bc most south asian students do typically get these grants as well since theyre “merit” based and honestly on an institutional level stem majors and business majors look better for the school-for the record i specified south asian students bc literally according to the major based diversity breakdown at my uni the majority of south asian students are in stem or business. I worked in admissions as a sophomore so ive seen the breakdowns

But like the second tweet says i definitely think that the white people who do come to hbcus and actually stay do get the chance to learn more about black culture, black history, and overall black excellence. However there are definitely moments in class when white people do get ahut down or fact checked by other students-especially when theyre speaking on issues that quite frankly they dont have any business speaking on. I think its important for them to know and understand that a lot of the conversations that happen regarding race are not for them and they should sit back and observe before putting in their two cents that nobody asked for. Ive sat in a sociology class and watched a white girl get shut down for trying to speak on the overpolicing of black neighborhoods because she thought that the cops were necessary bc “theres more crime”. Throughout that specific semester it was evident that she actually learned a lot when she stopped trying to throw herself into conversations for the sake of looking good/impressing our prof. It’s important that these white people are WILLING to learn more and educate themselves while unlearning their implicit biases and prejudices.

Then theres also the white people who grew up in the black culture-which I know a few of at my university and most of them are dope ass people. They chose to go to an hbcu because they were comfortable in that environment already and while everyone does experience some form of culture shock when going to college a lot of them “fit in” somewhere and they tend to find their group/groups of people. And trust and believe its very evident when I meet a white girl thats from the area that I live in because I live in a predominantly black area-and i think anyone who lives in these types of areas definitely know what I mean.

Honestly hbcus have a place for everyone-esp bc there isnt just one type of black person or one type of hbcu student. I think when it comes to “diversifying” these spaces there has to be more work put in on the administrative side that benefits non-black poc the same way the shit already benefits white people. But these are black spaces and while they are welcoming-theyre here for a reason and i don’t wanna be the bitch to say “dont get too comfortable” but thats the truth-white people shouldn’t get overly comfortable in these spaces because they are BLACK spaces created for the advancement and education of black people. Plus white ppl shouldnt be treated like some god sends for coming to our schools to educatethemselves-which is definitely something ive seen a lot from certain hbcu alum *cough* Howard *cough*

Which i think brings me into my final point and somewhat petty point, if white people wanna go to hbcus-esp those who arent here solely for sports, and even then include those mfers too-they ahould be looking into more than just the big hbcus: howard, morehouse, spellman, famu, etc because at the end of the day those schools are heavily funded by not only alum but celebrities (bc theyre ignorant and think these ar ethe only hbcus/important hbcus which is ✨false✨) and most of them are private/leaning in that direction. If they wanna get the hbcu experience then they should be educating themselves on what hbcus truly are, what theyre about, and looking into the schools that arent overly hyped by the media and the black bougiouse. I also hate Howard university and it’s students but thats another beef for another day skdkd

[mrsrcbinscn]

BDRPWriMo Task #16: TV Soundtrack -- Music In Just Trust Me

So, I was gonna do ten songs but I ran out of interest so here’s just two. I’m gonna re-do this task as just a part two of last years, where The Robinsons were a tv show lmao.

But I wanted to post this bc I did work hard lmao

so here’s 2 songs in the fake tv show Just Trust Me

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 Just Trust Me is an American TV show produced by Netflix. Franny is one of the show’s co-producers, along with fellow Seoul Hanoi’d band member Mary Xiong, and several other Southeast Asian Americans connected to entertainment. 

Just Trust Me is loosely based on the lives of Franny Sor Robinson, Mary Xiong, and Lydia Manivong, a Lao-American director and screenwriter who grew up in the same small Georgia town as Franny Robinson.

The show is set in the current day though, not the 90s, which is when Franny was growing up.

The five main characters are:

Zoey Vongvilay - a Lao-American girl whose mother immigrated from Laos and whose father is the first-generation son of Lao refugees; the character is played by a Canadian actress who is mixed Lao-Chinese-Vietnamese. Lydia Manivong’s life provided a lot of inspiration for the character.

Serey Sim/Nielson - a Cambodian-American girl whose biological parents both immigrated from Cambodia, but they divorced and her biological father isn’t in her life. The character has a white American step-father (whose last name she legally takes in season 3 when she surprises her family with the name change on a visit home from college) and step-brother, and a biracial little sister. She is played by a Cambodian-Burmese-American actress. This character is based heavily on Franny, with some key differences

Franny is biracial, her biological father is white

Franny’s real life step-father, who adopted her and IS her father as far as she is concerned, IS white but he is from Switzerland, not the US

Franny has two step-brothers, not just one, and has no younger half-siblings

Her mother didn’t immigrate by choice, she was a refugee resettled to America in the 70s, but since the show takes place in the 2010s-2020s, that had to be updated so it would make sense for the mother to have a teenage daughter

Song Bee - A Hmong-American girl whose parents immigrated to the US, her mother as a child, her father in his 20s. She is played by an actress of mixed Hmong-Thai-Indonesian-Pakistani-white background. Parts of her are inspired by Mary Xiong

TaShana “Shayna” Brewer-Pham - A girl with a Jamaican immigrant father and first-gen Vietnamese-American mother. Franny was insistent that one of the main characters be biracial. Originally, it was going to be Serey’s character (her original name was Serey Nielson, a nod to Franny’s husband’s first name being Cornelius), but when the Japanese-black actress auditioned for what was supposed to be a recurring character with no specified ethnicity named “Julie”, the writers, one of whom was black-Vietnamese herself, wrote TaShana for her.

George ”Fitzy” Fitzpatrick VI - A boy who is fifth generation Japanese-American on his mother’s side, and even more Irish-American on his father’s side. He was a recurring character in the first season and was moved to main in the second. He’s played by a biracial Japanese-white actor.

Setting: Originally, a small town in Texas, then, in season three, when the main five move on to university, largely in Austin with scenes in their hometown as well.

Premise: Just Trust Me is a comedy-drama about five young Texans of diverse backgrounds as they struggle with identity, expectations, stereotypes, school, part-time jobs, romance, and social lives. There are subplots involving many other characters, but the main 5 are in every episode.

Franny’s character in the show: Ary Meas/Aunty Ary, Serey’s aunt, is played by Franny Sor Robinson. She is a recurring character (usually in 3-5 episodes every fourteen-seventeen episode season) and is usually there to bail Serey out of trouble with her mother (Ary’s sister), or who Serey tests out sharing major news with. Ary is eccentric and a bit of a disaster, but a disaster who loves her niece. She always has a new suitor, and has been married and divorced since the series began.

Theme song: Geraldine by Avett Brothers

  1: Episode 1x01: San Rafael

  Song: Jeas Cyclo by Yol Aularong

  The scene opens with Serey pedaling furiously on her bicycle, at an ungodly speed with her backpack on. She almost hits an armadillo but shrieks and swerves out of the way and not long after she’s back on course, she hears a car engine rev and laughter. She looks over her shoulder and rolls her eyes and groans because coming up behind her are the biggest assholes in school. They drive recklessly and speed through a muddy puddle, splashing mud all over her, and startling her off her bicycle and into a ditch. She looks up into the camera and spits out ditch water and dirt. 

  Serey flicks some mud off of her and hops back on the bicycle. 

  Cut to school and Serey beelines for the girls’ bathroom. As the song fades out, another student appears from out of frame with some clothing folded up in her hands. 

  “Brought your real clothes!” She chirps. 

  “Thanks, Zoey.” Serey sighs, drying her hands, then she begins stripping right there in the main part of the bathroom and changing outfits. 

  The true Franny story: [from an interview given at an event premiering the first episode] “We lived pretty close to my high school, so even if we could afford cars for my brothers and I, I probably would have bikes before it got to be winter anyway. But some people really hated me, like really hated me, so I’d been run into ditches like Serey, yeah. It got to the point where I’d keep my real nice clothes at Daniel’s — Daniel Maitland, my partner in Dara & Danny — at his house, and call him every night and tell him what outfit pack for tomorrow. That went on for a school year, until those kids graduated.”

  Why Franny chose this song for this scene: “I wanted the first song the viewer heard to grab them and let them know what kind of show this was, like who it was a show about. It’s about Southeast-Asian-Americans living in the South. They are influenced equally by pop music they listen to with their friends, the indie music they discover on Spotify alone in their rooms, the country music playin’ at restaurants in their towns, and the music their parents and grandparents brought with them from Asia. So I wanted the Asian influence to smack everyone’s ears in the face. 

  2: Episode 3x05: George Not Straight

  Song: The Cowboy Rides Away by George Strait

This is the episode where George “Fitzy” Fitzpatrick comes out as ga to his conservative Catholic parents. He’s at a Mexican restaurant on karaoke night in their hometown during fall break with his parents and the rest of the Core 5, and the actor that plays Fitzy actually sings this song. In the scene, Fitzy sings his karaoke song but he keeps looking between his parents, his friends, and the Latino man who is a recurring character (Jose Ruiz) and was Fitzy’s ex boyfriend. 

  Jose broke up with Fitzy in season two after Fitzy refused to come out to his conservative family. Jose respected his decision but also asked that his decision to not want to be a secret be respected as well, and ended the relationship. 

  Before he can finish the song, Fitzy just trails off and sighs and stands there on stage, frozen. He looks dead at his parents as the karaoke track continues on and says into the mic. “Mom...dad…”

  Serey gasps, TaShana mutters ‘he isn’t…’, and Song goes ‘he is!’

  “I’m gay. I love men.” And drops the mic and calmly walks off stage, into the throng of tables, and his four best friends scurry out of the restaurant behind him. 

  The original song plays while they’re running to the pond in their favorite spot in the woods, and they jump in the water in their clothes and splash each other, they’re having fun!! But Fitzy’s expression flits between joy and anxiety as he plays with his friends like they’re kids again

  Franny, on this episode: I’m queer. I came out as bisexual before I even knew that there was a word for what I was. I told my family “I feel about girls the same way I feel about men.” They accepted me, but they were worried about me. We were from a conservative, rural area, and was already a woman of color you know? But I knew kids at my high school - White kids, black kids, Asian kids, Hispanic kids, whose parents were ultra conservative. And some of those parents loved their kids more than their wrong opinions, but others were like Fitzy’s. Like, I had a black male classmate that was kicked out of his home for being gay sleeping in my bed with me for two weeks until he moved on to the next friend’s house, becasue he had nowhere else to go. Queerness is not exclusive to white people and neither is homophobia. Serey’s character has always been openly bisexual, like I was by her age when the show started, and for our families it wasn’t a big deal. But we wanted to represent multiple queer narratives, not just one.