#as andre 3000 said:

[odysseys-blood]

see the thing that frustrates a lot of black folks is that we're expected to show up for everybody else (not to say we shouldnt, the struggles of one opressed people affect us all which is why we're supposed to support each other and keep community) but the reverse isnt true. no one else believes they gotta show up for us too. we're at the bottom of the barrel and it often feels like everyone else thinks we can stay that way as long as yall get boosted up and then you can forget about what we go through. and it happens over and over and over again

[firelise]

Hate that Andre 3000's new album is being marketed as "having no rap" when it should be marketed as "an hour and a half of perfect mood music for sleeping, meditating, or seeking childlike wonder"

[creatingblackcharacters]

“Across cultures, darker people suffer most. Why?” Multiethnic and Multicultural Blackness

“Across cultures, darker people suffer most. Why?”- Andre 3000

Tell me what's wrong with this picture.

Hint: This is Miles Morales- from the video game depiction- canonically an Afro-Puerto Rican. Jefferson is Black American; Rio is Puerto Rican.

So why is the Cuban flag on their wall?

This is what happens when no one (with any saying power) in the board room is representative of the group being depicted! And mind you, this was produced under SONY and MARVEL, for the PS5, a product under two brands that combined churn out hundreds of millions in profit! And… No one on any level corrected them until the beta came out and fans saw it. That's how pervasive this sort of ignorance of other cultures can be. How are you writing a story about a character, and you don't even know how he identifies?

Multiethnic & Multicultural Blackness

Realistically, you’ve probably walked past many a biracial, multicultural, or multiethnic Black person before and assumed they were “just Black”. One example: Rae Dawn Chong- known as Mama du Pointe du Lac- is Afro-Chinese, but that Chinese background did not play into the role she played. A more personal example: my recent loctician was also Afro-Chinese, with very dark skin (she made jokes about how her eyes reveal it, but we can’t make those jokes here). I would have never known.

Point is, we reacted to what we saw, and that’s not an accident. Blackness is treated as a monolith, and an indicator of social level whether you realize it or not. You see a ‘Black’ person, and without wondering any further about their identity, you will treat them as you’ve been socialized to treat ‘Black’ people! But every Black person is not the same!

You don't have to write an entire essay with citations mid-story about how you learned so much about the Afro-Chicana or Afro-Iraqi experience for your main character. We didn't ask. But, slipping natural things here and there into the story of a character’s culture helps cement that yes, this character has this multicultural identity and it matters to them; it is who they are, it has an effect on their life and character in some way. It is how you deepen the character and show respect for the culture you are depicting!

I love using Miles as an example, so here’s a good example. In Across The Spiderverse, he goes to a party to celebrate Jefferson’s new position. In that scene, Rio walks through a mix of all his family members. Even when he speaks with his parents in this scene, they managed to incorporate his Afro-Puerto Rican identity without shouting to the rooftops “HEY! HE’S BLACK AND LATINO! SEE HOW I’M TELLING YOU?”

Race vs Ethnicity

The Black experience stretches as far as the African diaspora- worldwide! It's why it's frustrating when people assume "Black people" means "United States" and the West's perception of "Third World Africa" (especially when it comes to existing in media that people have strongly claimed is just White). Latin and Central America? West Europe? East Europe? Southwest Asia and North Africa? The Mediterranean? East Asia? Australia? You will find Black people!! Just because we aren't the majority doesn't mean we aren't there!

But just because we're Black doesn't mean we're all "African-American". Ethnicity is "the quality or fact of belonging to a population group or subgroup made up of people who share a common cultural background or descent." Race is "a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society."

"But I thought you said Black is an identity!"

It is! Black does not only mean “Black American”. The reason Black Americans identify as just Black (which is why I demand that you show respect by capitalizing it) is due to the loss of our specific heritages from the enslavement meant to scourge us of them, to make us property. To call us by our actual names would be acknowledging our equivalent humanity and culture. In order to enforce slavery without qualm, they had to be violently removed. Black Africans of numerous ethnic groups, now violently forced into this amalgamation, had to come together and forge something new. We had to find a common connection- our Blackness (and that experience as defined by whiteness in this society) was it. It also functions as a reclamation of our identity, of our presence in this world. We are a culture, we are an entire group of people, and we should be acknowledged as such.

Again: all Black people are NOT the same!!! This is like… anti-racism 101, but so many people continue to fall for it, even those ‘well-meaning’. You cannot ask one Black person to represent the ENTIRETY of the world's Black experience. Many other factors will come into play, and this includes their culture.

Keep in mind how being multicultural and/or biracial and Black will put many people at a crossroads that is complex and difficult to traverse. There will always be parts of incomplete acceptance, an extra layer of code-switching based on where you are and who you're with. A Black Kenyan is not a Black American, who is not a Black Greek, who is not a Black Colombian, who is not a Black Filipino. They're different cultures, that will treat each other differently. Society- from strangers to your own family- may try to pull multiethnic Black people one direction or another- are you ‘Black’ enough, are you ‘technically Black’, are you ‘technically’ something else, are you that ethnicity enough?

(I will discuss Black biracial people with whiteness in the next lesson, because I felt like the interracial and biracial White & Black topic needed its own talk, but this is relevant there as well.)

Where- In the world- Is-

Coming back from the opening of this lesson: keep in mind that you need to know specifically WHERE your character is from! For example, just saying they're "Afro-Latino" reveals very little- there's an entire chunk of the planet that falls under the "Latin America" category (as defined by U.S. standards).

A follower of mine- they identify as Caribbean Latine- sent me this in discussion about the topic:

"I wish people actually thought about where their Afro-Latino characters are from. It’s always very vague and it’s so reductive because an Argentinian Afro-Latino is very different from a Puerto Rican Afro-Latino. This is very subjective but I think this issue is pretty blatant in The Owl House. They flash the Dominican flag a couple of times, but when it comes to actually making her Afro-Latino…I don’t think they did a very good job. They barely made her Black in the first place. I don’t want to dog on the voice actors too much because there are a million factors that might have affected this but. When they make a point to have the characters speak Spanish, it’s really noticeable when the accent/dialect doesn’t align with their ethnicity. Dominicans have a really identifiable dialect in Spanish. When the Afro-Latino characters speak in Spanish, it’s the most neutral accent I’ve ever heard. This is such a me-issue, but this is to say that people should actually research where their characters are from instead of vaguely painting them as Afro-Latino. We are all SOOO different. Our dialects vary so much that sometimes an Afro-Mexican and an Afro-Puerto Rican won’t understand each other even though we speak the same language.”

WHO are we talking about? How does that factor into their identity, and the way the world- both in story, and how readers from around the world- will perceive them? Will an Afro-Dominican know that they're supposed to relate to your character if they're vaguely Latino?

Note:

While I was doing my research, I noticed that searching for “Afro-_” doesn’t always offer much, as it does the ubiquitous antiblack experience and roles in politics and resistance. And while I think that’s super cool and mandatory, I think another way to approach this would be to focus on the culture as a whole, and then go from there. So for example, if I wanted my character to be Afro-Mexican- maybe even from a specific location in Mexico, or their family is from that area- it would be easier to look up the cultures and activities of that area itself, and then inform with my knowledge of how Blackness is treated there.

As I am not a member of these groups, I thought it would be better for me to find resources that better explain, than to try to speak for them myself. Hell, just from doing this research, I learned that I have far more to educate myself on. There are so many good resources out there! People speak on these topics that y’all want to know about, and there are so many books and videos- find them and educate yourselves! This is a long section filled with links, so I'm going to put them under a readmore.

I also could not possibly sit here and name every single ethnic combo because that would be endless. So what I'm going to do is give some broad strokes of a few major groupings, that will hopefully start you on the path of how to conduct your own research!

The African Diaspora

This is such a good resource. There are short chapters going into the details and history of Black people in many regions, all around the globe. I’m honestly in love with how this is set up. It's a good starting point!

Black Africans

This one isn't specifically an example of multiethnicity; I just want to emphasize that there are many ethnicities and cultures within Africa itself! One is still multiethnic if they are Black American and Ivorian, for example! As the birthplace of humanity, there are plenty of ethnic groups in Africa with endlessly rich cultures, and all of them will come with different foods, fashions, languages!

Notable Figures: Nelson Mandela, Tobi Lou, Patrice Lumumba, Tems, Wizkid, Kwame Nkrumah, Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Wangarĩ Maathai, Agnes Tirop, Chéri Samba, Sheikh Abdullah Ssekimwanyi

Internalized antiblackness in African countries is due to the long and violent history of western imperialism in Africa. “The Carving Up of Africa” by European nations has long worn on the continent, its resources, and its peoples, and that includes remnants of their beliefs. Another pervasive idea in media is that all African peoples are ‘poor’, ‘living in huts’, and ‘starving’. There are people doing that all over the world, it is not inherent to being Black African. But even if that were the case- and it is not, every African does not live that way- it would still be the fault of aforementioned imperialism. Please do your research, and do not EVER write that if someone is African, they ‘must not be used to food’ or ‘have never seen such magnificent things as [what white character offers]’.

Afro Latinos

Notable figures: Celia Cruz, Frantz Fanon, Zoe Saldaña, Colman Domingo, Lupita Nyongo, Gina Torres, Cardi B, MJ Rodriguez

Notable music styles- Reggaeton? Salsa? Rumba? A lot of the best music of the area has roots in Blackness.

Antiblackness in the Afro-Latino community

Colorism plays a huge role in perception, to the point of putting you into classes of people. From the same Caribbean Latine follower:

Also, they have to do research on racial groupings in LATAM. It’s unavoidable. A Latino that’s considered Black in the USA may not be considered Black in LATAM. This is because of Blanqueamiento. That is a LOT to explain, but TLDR: A big difference between racism in the USA and racism in LATAM is that white people aren’t focused on segregation. It’s racism through imposition. “Blanqueamiento” refers to whitening and it’s the belief that you can cleanse the bloodline by having children with white people. The lineage will get increasingly lighter. That is why whenever a child comes out lighter than their parents, people will praise the parents for “bettering the race” (mejorando la raza). So a light skinned Black person in the USA may have another racial classification in LATAM (prieto, moreno, mulato, etc)."

One example is 'pelo malo' (bad hair)- how afro-textures are deemed unwanted, as a holdover from Spanish colonization and ideas of whiteness being equivalent to purity. Another severe example is of the slur "mayate"- apparently, it means "f*ggot black bug". If you're Black, and someone ever calls you this, know that you are being severely insulted. If you are interested in more Afro-Mexican history, Colonial Blackness by Herman Bennett is a book that follows the stories of enslaved Africans and their descendants in 17th century Mexico, questioning the existing history told that often leaves out their presence.

Afro Indigenous

*Indigenous doesn't just mean "to America", though the links are to the Afro-indigenous experience in the U.S.

Notable Figures: Crispus Attucks, Lucy Parsons, George Henry White, Charlie Patton, Jimi Hendrix, Eartha Kitt, Lena Horne, Ausben Jordan

What’s interesting is that it was much harder for me to find solid evidence of people who are Black Natives, mainly because it seems this history was lost and/or never recorded, or due to Blood Quantum and antiblackness, not acknowledged. That is something worth thinking about, if you are writing an Afro-Native character.

Blood quantum: A system developed by the United States federal government to determine how much “Indian blood” an Indigenous person has and if they are qualified for Tribal enrollment. Blood quantum limits accessibility to citizenship and is designed to decrease enrollment numbers. Today, some tribes still use blood quantum as criteria for Tribal enrollment. As part of their sovereign status, every federally recognized Tribe determines its own criteria for membership and enrollment.

Further reading:

Young, Black Native activists say it's time to appreciate Indigenous diversity

Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage

Blood Politics: Race, Culture, and Identity in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma By Circe Sturm (2002)

We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power By Caleb Gayle (2023)

Afro-Arab/SWANA

Notable figures: Bilal ibn Rabah, Fatima Bernawi, Layla F. Saad, Samirah Srur Fadel, Ahmed Osman, Sara El Hassan (known as bsonblast), Ali Jiddah, Maryam Abu Khaled

Here's an amazing resource cataloguing the history of Afro-Palestinians, as well as a timeline of the solidarity between Black Americans, Afro-Palestinians, and Palestinians!

I sat here and tried very hard to come up with a way to summarize this, especially given current events in our world, and I found that at this moment, I lack the skill to do it. Not because there’s nothing to say- God knows there’s plenty- but unraveling the intersections that comes with the SWANA experience would take me far longer than a summary. I think Maryam Abu Khaled can speak on her experience far better than I, anyway:

Afro-AAPI

Notable figures: apl.de.ap, Michael Ealy, H.E.R., Karrueche, Rae Dawn Chong, Naomi Campbell, Naomi Osaka, Chanel Iman, Anderson Paak

Interview from famous R&B artist, guitarist, actress for Belle, and Afro-Filipina: H.E.R.

There is a strain between Black and Asian communities, in the United States and beyond, white supremacy playing a major role. But that does not mean that we cannot move forward together, or have not shown one another solidarity.

One of my biggest pet peeves that happens often in fandom spaces is fans who claim that Asians- East Asians in particular, but Asians in general- don't know what Black people are and what we look like. It's racist to every ethnicity and background involved. Yes, there are Black East Asian and Black South Asian people. Yes, these countries have access to the Internet to look up what we look like. There have been plenty of well-drawn Black people by those artists. Just like every white artist isn't going to draw a caricature, every Asian artist isn't going to. It all comes down to practice, their commitment to their craft, and their commitment to not being racist. Being from these areas is not an excuse for not drawing Black people accurately- the same amount of effort they can be put into depicting a white person (that would also be a minority in these places), can be put into depicting us as well. Knock it off.

Conclusion

Antiblackness is unfortunately ubiquitous, yes, but that doesn’t mean the rest of every Black person’s life experience is going to be. We are everywhere on this planet, which means there’s a planet’s worth of experiences to be had. If you decide that you want to create a Black character with a multiethnic or multicultural background, you need to commit to that! Even by mentioning their music, or their food, or- if you’re going to get into it- how others might treat them due to their Afro-identity. Something that lets us as the viewers know that you didn’t just write a white person and then claim they were “Afro-Blank” for clout. If you mean it, do it, because as always, it’s the thought that counts, but the action that delivers!

[culthermag]

Andre 3000’s “ 47 Messages “ Jumpsuits for the OutKast Reunion Tour in 2013. Every night he wore a different jumpsuit with a conversation starting message printed displayed on the front of it. In his own words, he said that he thought the fashion statement ( quite literally ) could act in a progressive manner, aiding socio-cultural concerns.

All 47 jumpsuits went on to be displayed in a gallery at The Savannah College of Art during Art Basel Miami. These jumpsuits also went on to spark a collection of t-shirts with the same messages. [ x ]

[cinnamonorchid]

Sometimes you gotta step from behind the piano or whatever Andre 3000 said

[tododeku-or-bust]

Sorry if this is a weird question, but why do some Black Americans believe that they are the only Black people on the planet? I just had a situation on Twitter where someone tried to correct me saying that I am not Black because I am not American and then told me how I was supposed to classify myself in a sincerely imperialistic tone. Is there any context for this happening? I'm curious bc I am not familiar w/ the US context and this is the third time someone has tried to act like they know more about my race than I do. Like I'm sorry but I'm not gonna pretend I'm not Black. That's just how it is in my country, I don't understand why everyone has to change how things work because some people in the US are bothered [I don't know if this is helpful but to clarify I am the daughter of an Angolan father and a Brazilian mother. Both are Black]

I will admit, it makes me uncomfortable, and I don't appreciate the generalization, nor am I going to act like we all feel the same as your individual experiences on Twitter. We don't think we're the only Black people on the planet. I could ask the same of the world and why everyone thinks the people of color of the United States are all on the same page with its white citizens, when that too is incorrect and has far more nuance. 👀

That being said, yeah they were wrong to approach you that way about your identity. It might have been due to a misunderstanding; I actually just wrote a little about this in a recent lesson of mine, about the differentiation between the identities. Because there's "Black" as in Black people, and there's the identity of "Black" that Black Americans have.

Plus the diaspora wars is a whole thing, but I'm sorry I'm tired and I don't think I can explain it as well as others might be able to. You may be familiar with it already, anyway. I don't know why this Twitter stranger told you you weren't Black. I'm sorry for them doing so. They were wrong. But please don't treat us as a monolith based on your negative experience.

[wumblr]

you would think the soundcloud tag would be better than the music tag, because tumblr autotags it, and there isn't a genre of broadway drivel called soundcloudicals that is impossible to filter out, flooding the tags with people who post every day about cats and newsies for some reason -- and yet, somehow, the soundcloud tag is also full of hazbin hotel fanart. i had to see someone say "i can't believe we live in a time where people post anime edits of the founding fathers because of hamilton" and imagine my dawning horror as i realized they think that's good. meanwhile, on my dash, andre 3000 shirt with 600 replies from the exact same naruto fans back in 2019 about how white privilege can't exist because their life is hard. and i'm having this fun discussion with someone who thinks a music industry boycott is going to help gaza somehow, which when i pointed out how they're not getting any traction because that's an absolute nonstarter, which neither the gaza boycott organization nor the musician's union have asked for, they said noooo i am clearly getting no traction because no one cares. this is not to say there's nothing cool in there because obviously there is but AUGH girl. help

at least i am keeping my blood pressure up

[eminsunnytoons123]

I was imagining something....

☀️What if there is a Dimension in "class of 3000: back to the SING!" Where Sunny was never born? Something like in the "its a very muppet Christmas movie"?☀️

I already imagined like, a short story where Philly Phil has shown Sunny and everyone in the reboot cast his like, a Giant time box, and he tested it on Sunny so he can go to a Dimension/world like how would everyone look like if he was never born, and he had a special watch where everyone can see whats going on in the Dimension/world Sunny is in. And everyone else in that Dimension look very different obviously, and Sunny needs to pretend to have another name and not to say that he is an international music star because he could break the future, so he Said that he is named "Andre" to everyone in that Dimension. And when it was time for him to get back to the normal westley town, everyone in that Dimension somehow realized that Sunny is a "time traveler" and they try to Chase after him, but he successfully escaped ^/////^

[stonedfemmeblues]

a few years ago i got really fucking stoned and listened to around the world by daft punk with my good headphones and convinced myself that the robot voice saying “around the world” sounds sad the second time it says it and i kinda still stand by it. there’s just a sadness to his voice. i feel it. the first time he says it his voice is neutral but the second time it’s like… contemplative. like he remembered something sad about the phrase. it’s very affecting. like, yeah. around the world. around the WOorld. i get what he’s saying. it’s just in my nature as an empath to feel the robot’s emotions very deeply, i’m very in tune with it. i hope he’s found his peace. i truly wish him the best with all my heart because he obviously has another side to him that he isn’t sharing with most of the world. but me? i pick up on stuff like that. he’s a lot like me, he’s very in tune with his emotions. but he has to hide it. i imagine it’s a combination of many factors. i imagine that he feels an obligation to keep up appearances in regards to his emotions because he’s like a party robot or something so he has to make people dance. and we all remember when andre 3000 said “y’all don’t wanna hear me, you just wanna dance.” i’m sure those words ring true for mr robot man. everyone comes to him for music to dance to, but they don’t allow him to express his more complicated emotions because that would bring down the mood. there’s also the factor of gendered expectations. perhaps the robot feels unable to be vulnerable and share his emotions openly because of the expectations tied to traditional masculinity. perhaps he would be shunned by the other robots for a more open display of emotion. there’s also the most complicated factor: his status as a robot. robots generally aren’t considered to be capable of emotion, yet he obviously is. there is a possibility that expressing his emotions any less subtly would pose a danger to him if the government found out that he was experiencing emotion. they might shut him down for his emotions. this factor is also the scariest and most likely to keep him silent but i hope it isn’t true. whatever the true cause of this suppressed sadness is, i hope that he one day is able to express it. i yearn for a world where he can openly be a sad robot. i yearn for a world where all robots can openly express all their most complicated robot emotions. robots all around the world. perhaps that image is what popped into his head when he was saying “around the world” the second time. we’ll probably never know but it’s a nice thought. dream on robot man, feel everything you can feel even if it must be in private, one day you can cry your robot tears together in public with your robot friends around the world. one day.

[cartoonemotion]

hiii. after watching class of 3000 what character interactions do u think would be most fun to explore. I almost typed explode

YAAAAY this is such a good question !!!!!! honestly as an ensemble cast i feel like class of 3000 overall balances itself and its cast interactions out pretty well (lil d, eddie, and philly phil maybe get some more extra centric episodes in my opinion though. granted it makes sense for lil d since there was an interview where andre said that the character was supposed to in some way kind of be based off him as a kid/his experiences in school)

ALL THAT TO BE SAID !!

pretty much tamika and anybody else. being fully transparent, this is bias cuz tamika is arguably one of my faves of the show and while she does actually get moments to shine i feel like shes just a liiiittle underutilized. when they start using her to set up gags about eddie being clearly infatuated with her instead of that being more of a consistent background detail it starts really negatively effecting the writing of both characters imo. she and madison have some charming bits and that episode where theyre paired up together but i would have also loved to see more of a dynamic between her and kim !! kim's very artistic and expressive and wants to be something of a trendsetter but is obviously (for very reasonable 12 year old reasons, i think) invested in still being apart of the "in" crowd and other people's perception of her, and i think that mirror's tamika's whole thing of being cool and tough but being afraid that that image might be compromised if she lets more of her softer side come through (her collecting dolls, baking cookies with her goofball dad, and actually really enjoying very mushy displays of affection for example) rather nicely ! plus their instruments (turn tables, misc percussive instruments and the harp) would go nicely together imo

I ALSO THINK tamkia and lil d would be fun to explore !!!!!! they kind of start off strong in the beginning of the first season but theres less of it as the show goes on which is a shame ! its funny to watch them squabble almost like siblings but its very clear that they still like and care about each other-- i mean in one episode where tamika goes to hang out with some other girls lil d laments that he misses her threatening him and when she shoves him he exclaims "we missed you tamika !!!" very earnestly !!! it would be nice to explore tamika's side of that yknow !!!

maybe the writers thought philly phil and madison were too similar since theyre both kind of eccentric goofballs to have them paired up more often but i think they could play off each other really nicely ! after all madison is supposed to be more of a ditzy but friendly hippie type and philly phil's mostly just socially inept and kind of clumsy, i think you could find a lot of comedy potential balancing that

i also think philly phil and kam could have gotten more screen time as a duo, seeing as they have the whole geek and nerd dichotomy going on. kam is more of a skeptic whereas philly phil seems to be more willing to believe in things like aliens and santa claus and unicorns even though hes a "man of science", i think it was a real missed opportunity to not have him and kam maybe get into friendly arguments about it or something, or maybe realize they have converging interests (like kam's belief/enthusiasm for bigfoot)

i like lil d and eddie's friendship ! it read to me like eddie was the closest to lil d out of everyone in the group, and i say that even without taking "eddie's money" into consideration (even though thats a great showcase i feel like as to what im talking about !) like everytime lil d needs to pay for something and hes just like "its whatever eddie's got it" eddie just does with very little to no complaint, idk !!! i just like em. plus i think they illustrate again some of the stuff andre was talking about in his goal of exploring the culture of atlanta and his own experiences there since lil d and eddie come from bankhead and buckhead respectively, and him (andre 3000 i mean) mentioning that he went to school on the other side of town with a whole bunch of ppl including the mayor's kids lol

i just love sunny's little individual mentor moments with the kids in general !!!!!! obviously he and lil d are big one and kind of the show's highlight for obvious reasons, but i also really love the one on one moments he gets with kim, which happen way more often than i initially expected !!! i would have loved to see him sort of guide and mentor again tamika a bit more too again to possibly help her reconcile both elements of her identity as both a no-nonsense butt-kicker and somebody with more "childish" or "girly" interests. and also him and philly phil, just because i think. it would be zany. and good for hijinks.

[tiredwitchplant]

Everything You Need to Know About Veggies and Fruits: Russet Potatoes

Potato (Solanum tuberosum)

*Poisonous *Kitchen *Medical *Feminine

Folk Names: Blue Eyes, Flukes, Lapstone, Leather Jackets, Murphies, No Eyes, Pinks, Red Eyes, Rocks, Taters, Tatties

Planet: Moon

Element: Earth

Deities: Axomamma

Abilities: Image Magic and Healing

Why Poisonous?: The vines, sprouts, peelings and tuber of potatoes (the part before potatoes start to be created) are poisonous. The poison in potatoes is solanine, a glycoalkaloid poison that in even in the nightshade family that can cause gastrointestinal disturbances such as vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Be careful to not digest potato juice but once a day.

Characteristics: Is a perennial plant that can frow to 3 ft. Has branching stems with compound leaves, white or purple flowers, green berries and swollen tubers.

History: Native to Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Many potato species were cultivated by the Quechua and Aymara people in the central Andres. It has been documented; however, that it was cultivated first by the Incas in 3000 BCE. In the early 16th century, the potatoes were then introduced to Europe by Spanish voyagers and then the New World. By the time it arrived to Spain, there was a weird rumor that potatoes were an aphrodisiac and is even mentioned in Shakespeare with that belief. Putting potato peelings outside a girl’s door during May Day (Salaman) was considered expressing contempt to her. They also act potatoes for good luck and was a symbol of dependence not just in Ireland but in other countries as well.

Growing Potatoes:

Is it easy to grow potatoes? Yes

Rating: Beginner Friendly

Seed Accessibility: Yes

How to Grow

Video Guide

Where to Get Seeds

Magical Usage:

Can be used as poppets for image magic

Carried in one’s pocket can cure toothaches and guard against rheumatism, warts and gout

Carrying in the winter time will protect against a cold

Eating a potato dish before the new year was said to bring success and propensity to the home

Medical Usage:

Taken in moderation, potato juice can help with peptic ulcers and relieve pain and acidity

The mashed-up pulp was used externally to soothe painful joints, headache, backache, skin rashes and hemorrhoids

Potato skins in India are used to treat swollen gums and heal burns

Recipes for Kitchen Witchery:

Potato Rolls – good for grounding, energy and transformation

Indian-Spiced Pea and Potato Wraps – giving intentions to spice will bring power manifestation

Grilled Potato Foil Packets with Lemon Dill Crème Fraiche – prosperity and good fortune

Sources

[littleeggrock]

sometimes i think im a little insane for trying to connect two fairly different interests but then i remember the studio that animated the Netflix show Arcane (Studio Fortiche, absolutely phenomenal in everything they do) also made a music video for Gorillaz, ("genre bending" virtual band, made Feel Good Inc and Clint Eastwood) and said song was a collaboration with both Andre 3000 (one half of 90s rap band OutKast, the guys who made Hey Ya!) and Converse, the shoe brand. you can see the storyboards for said music video up on the wall in the behind the scenes Arcane series called Bridging the Rift, and various figurines for the band in the background of interviews with studio members :)

[soracities]

When I read the phrase “on earth we’re briefly gorgeous” I imagine it being said by Andre 3000, which makes it even better.

oh imagining andre 3000 recording a spoken word vers of the poem absolutely has me soothed rn <3

[sivavakkiyar]

andre can do anything. lowkey I’m reminded of that thing Questlove said about D’Angelo learning guitar before Black Messiah dropped, that he said he literally couldn’t put anything out until he felt that it was on the level of FZ, Hendrix, Eddie Hazel, Prince. I wonder how Andre is on flute

thinking about other music before I even hear it is bad practice, but I hope it does something for me like that Pharaoh Sanders Floating Points thing which just blew me away

[subdee]

Tagged by @hxhhasmysoul thanks again munen!

I will tag: @nangke @syncopatedid @autumnxsunflower @trashsketch @applepi00 @mariposahxh. Only if you want to!

Favourite colour: these days, purple

Last song: Replacements - Answering Machine. Unless you count the baby music that plays from the baby toys, then it's Itsy Bitsy Spider

Last movie: I said it briefly on here, but it was "Barbarians" on Halloween. I went in blind after seeing it on an online best-of spooky movies list so all I'll say is it was seriously messed up and I still think about MANY of the scenes, especially when I have to go down to the unfinished part of my basement. It's been so long since I've watched a real horror movie (not a parody) that I forgot they can be genuinely disturbing.

...I'll say one more thing, it's a horror movie directed especially at women. I mean it's a horror movie about things that women, more than men, are likely to find upsetting and scary, especially in the beginning.

Other stuff I watched this year: I'm still on my Great British Baking Show kick! Currently on season 8, after the switch from BBC to Chanel 4 and after they changed the presenters. This show is terrible because it just makes me crave sweets - and I always crave sweets when the weather gets colder - and as a rule, there's nothing like that in the house. Like I'll eat some strawberries or part of a cantaloupe or an apple slice with honey because that's the only sweet thing we have. Anyway, I like the new presenters.

Shows I dropped this year/didn't finish: The Marvelous Ms. Maisel. We'll probably get back to it, but it was too hard to watch while also scrolling my phone / making the baby's food for daycare / cleaning the baby bottles / etc. during the one hour of free time I have every night before bed.

Currently reading: the BNHA manga as it releases each week, that's about it.

Currently listening to: the local jazz radio station, the records I have in my house. Carole King - Tapestry was the last one. And Andre 3000's new record with the funny tracknames.

Currently working on: STAINING THE BACK DECK, oh my God we've spent the last three weekends on this. But it needed to be done, it had 30 years of mold on it.

Current obsession: I was gonna say the baby, BUT ACTUALLY. I started watching the Scott Pilgrim anime and I'm four episodes in. The show tricks you into thinking it'll be a rehash of the comic by being a beat-for-beat recreation of the first volume - including the visual gags! - until suddenly, it's completely different LOLOLOL I had to get my comics off the shelves, and reread them to be sure that yeah, no, that's definitely not how it happened before. Gonna avoid the show tags bc spoilers, BUT HERE ARE MY PREDICTIONS:

It's a smart move for the show to switch the metaphor from Scott fighting the evil exes (your new girlfriend has baggage that makes you feel insecure, you have to deal with your insecurity by winning a fistfight against each ex to prove you are worthy of her) to RAMONA fighting the evil exes (you have to deal with your own past and put it behind you before you can move on). Because like, yeah there is a metaphor when Scott fights the exes, but it's an annoying one that centers the feelings of an insecure dude over the feelings of the girl he's dating.

.... though I'll miss the focus on the mundane in the original comic, how much it reminds you that Scott is a loser but he's like, trying to improve. Like you know he's a loser from the jump because he doesn't have a job and he's a mooch and he's dating a high schooler, but briefly you think he might be kinda cool because he picked up Ramona, but then she tells him he has to get a job AND HE CAN'T so you're like... oh. Yeah this guy actually is a loser. But (as Ramona says) perhaps he's a loveable loser? He does keep landing these great girls ...

And we can still do that exact same speculation without Scott on screen, as Ramona learns more about him in the course of her investigations, so that's pretty clever... I wonder if Ramona will actually like him if she ever manages to rescue him :p.

Anyway since this show is now a whodunnit...

As of episode four, vegan boyfriend #3 seems superficially like the person who kidnapped Scott, but it's too early for him to be the real kidnapper.

The next most obvious suspect is Wallace, because it's clear Young Neal didn't actually write the movie script, and only Wallace (probably) knew what Scott said to him that morning, before he went to the party and met Ramona.

Why would Wallace do it? To get Scott out of the apartment and become a movie star, maybe...

But I actually think Wallace is ALSO too way too obvious, and he's being set up as the person you'll suspect all the way up until the final reveal at the end...

I think it's probably Giddeon, in the end, again, actually. Like we know he has all these cameras set up to observe Scott and research him, right? Maybe he noticed Ramona was using his head as a shortcut and started his research early...

Why would Giddeon do it? Maybe part of a ploy to make himself appear sad and pathetic so Ramona will feel sorry for him and he can get close to her to date her again? Maybe he knew Scott would beat all the other ex-boyfriends (as written in the movie script) in a straightforward series of fistfights so he's trying a different approach?

Either way, I doubt the storyline with Giddeon is over. Even if it is, though, I'm really enjoying that this remake throws the original script out, because it's fun to speculate and fun to play spot-the-differences. Like maybe it IS Wallace, you know? Why not!

Though it is a shame that this is no longer a show about being a loser and 'leveling up' your life - the videogame conceipt is more of an aesthetic choice now and less of a thematic metaphor - and about the Canadian indie band scene.

On a final note, I know we're supposed to not like the scrubs - or would he be considered a fuckboy these days? - like Scott, but I always found him pretty relatable, personally. Especially because I was dating a woman when the comic came out, like, the idea that you landed this great girl but you need to fix yourself before you can date her... it resonated. :P

Anyway. Don't tell me how it ends XD I'm too obsessed to not finish this mini-series quickly, but I also only have an hour of free time a night.

[noneofusareverno]

Andre 3000 said he’d be okay if you listened to this new mixtape of mine at midnight instead of his long-awaited album.