#but she also got 6% 'indigenous american' which is kind of a lot?? when it comes to ur dna i feel.. that's crazy

[sunkern-plus]

hey what is street fighter 6 about. saw your tags on my post

HOLD ON I NEED TO FIND THIS. i have so many posts that even the TAGS reference street fighter games ALONE that it's impossible to find the insane shit i blab about. hold on.

okay, couldn't find your username on your blog so i'm gonna search "street fighter 6" to see if i can...OH THERE WE GO it's about the ability to make fat (even up to SUPERFAT) player characters in street fighter 6 and be able to befriend (you can't technically date anyone because your world tour masters range from like...15 (lily hawk) to 19 (kimberly jackson) to like 26 (luke sullivan) to...however old e honda, zangief, and blanka are to outright decrepit and old but also vaguely like...60s???? but also immortal??? like jp and akuma) world tour "fighting masters" who through the power of "being in a yakuza/like a dragon esque game engine/regular dlc additions" you can learn the fighting styles of in YOUR very own oc YOU made yourself (and your size does NOT restrict you from performing insane feats of strength. you can be my size, 26-28 on top/24-26 on bottom largefat, and move as fast and nimble as chun li, jamie siu, or kimberly jackson, or you can be as tiny and thin as makoto or current snake hand master and utter FREAK (super affectionate) aki and learn how to suplex people like zangief or learn how to make LITERAL HOLES IN THE GROUND WITH YOUR POWERFUL ASS like e honda. yes, at any size)

so basically street fighter 6 follows your create-a-character (by the way, the CANON create a character is a rather average build looking black nonbinary (as they use they/them canonically when they're referred to when in trailers, and they/them corresponds to the "human" gender option, which you can have ANY physical feature as that, including massive boobies) character that i call fabian ferrera who is kind of a woobie) as your create-a-character learns What Strength Is. they befriend a rival named bosch, who is kind of like...if silver from pokemon was nicer? and you meet all sorts of fighting masters all to clear ken masters' name, uncover the secrets behind the mad gear gang, whatever's going on with rudra because i'm not even NEAR that, and foil jp's plot to become dictator of nayshall, a fictional global south country that he's kinda ruined and you're helping the anarchist revolutionary kalima help stop at some point in the story, again, i'm nowhere near that (because i have adhd and avolition from what is DEFINITELY schizo obsessive disorder and also have way too much schoolwork to do).

also, did i tell you the game is surprisingly SUPER leftist? luke being a private military contractor aside (and it's explained that likely his joining of the military was brought on by the trauma of losing his dad and implied that the military exploited it), chun li quit being a cop because she realized that mindset was unhealthy for her, guile regarded his time in the military as a mistake as it left him neglecting his family and chasing a man who was by that point no longer alive (guilenash is a popular ship in the game but i prefer chunnash because both are unmarried and chun li is almost certainly canonically bisexual with her preference for men canonically being "strong blonds with massive pecs" aka...charlie, and also thor? because she hits on thor in marvel vs capcom but that's besides the point) and jp (and ken by proxy, because he was tricked into believing he was doing good for a global south nation by FUNNELING CRYPTOCURRENCY INTO IT AND JP'S BANK) basically represents jp morgan/lockheed martin (i joke a lot that if takayuki nakayama got his way he'd name jp lockheed martin), in addition to (for a LONG time) shadaloo being a metaphor for colonization, imperialism, and destabilization of global south countries through taking of indigenous lands (as seen in the street fighter ii gaiden manga) and funneling of the drug trade into latin american countries, which the cia often did to install dictators (which...m bison basically is). and spoiler, jp IS an arm of shadaloo! specifically an accountant. so the jp morgan aspect is more apt!

anyway, street fighter has a LOT of attractive characters, both in this game and not in this game, and since i have WEIRD taste (except for poison, who is canonically conventionally attractive but because i'm a little freak and prefer bigger people whether it's fat, muscle or both in general i like to imagine her in sfvi as a fat butch (canon trans!) openly unlabeled sexuality/"just poison" woman with an apple shaped body (with slightly wider hips than me if only because my hips are unusually small for most genders), either no makeup or Divine-But-Punk makeup, no bottom dysphoria and LOVING IT (especially to affirm my girlfriend who wants to be as fat as me but can't because of Worse Digestive Issues Than I) and, of course, gigantic boobies she partially grew herself and partially got "store bought" (aka top surgery) though my poison Hot Take is...very unpopular among Normal fans of street fighter), i'll recommend you My Freak From Street Fighter 6:

-marisa: plus-size (not necessarily CANONICALLY fat, just wider than a good majority of even muscular cis women, but i personally like to interpret her as musclefat because canonically she eats like a king and regularly holds feasts and there's no WAY marisa, who views mass and strength as power much like zangief, wouldn't be even just a LITTLE chubby) red-headed GORGEOUS slab of meat of a woman who is OPENLY, CANONICALLY BI???? yes. YES. she is THE bi butch lady icon. she wears her hair in a literal GLADIATOR HELMET cut. she wears mostly slick suits. SHE IS IMPLIED TO WANT A POLYAMOROUS MARRIAGE WITH THE WORLD TOUR CHARACTER AND HER TWO ARRANGED MARRIAGE CANDIDATES (one is male and one is female, and your world tour player character CAN be nonbinary if you wish, as i've said before, so wlm/wlw/wlnby ICON!!!!). she is CANONICALLY implied to be both attracted to zangief (though gag comics' emphasis on her rather silly, appearance based attraction to zangief is a Bit Obnoxious and bordering on bi erasure of the "of course she only wants MEN!!! she's BI!!!" kind of bi erasure nobody talks about) AND manon (who is a femme maybe implied lesbian perfectionist pearl from su type. yup, marisa and manon are (to me) bispearl (without the semi racist su baggage because admittedly su needs to be criticized despite it genuinely being a good show for lgbt rep that ISN'T white/light skinned and feminine), and i'm LOVING IT). marisa is absolutely so sexy and gorgeous and you KNOW she'd love a fat player character because not only does she consider body mass in general an extreme display of power and attraction (she's like zangief AND rufus but instead of pure muscle or pure fat, BOTH attracts her equally), she LOVES food and will make sure you don't fall into diet culture beliefs about restricting and "being good" and as active as she is especially in leisure, she DEFINITELY won't make you feel guilty about being "lazy" or "unproductive" because marisa is PROBABLY catholic and protestant work ethic is NOT that girl's issue! she's NOT gonna make manon feel miserable about not being "strong" all the time so why is she gonna make YOU feel miserable for eating a lot or being occasionally lazy or wanting to be unproductive?

sorry for how this ramble got more insane as it went on. i love street fighter 6. i love street fighter, period. i swear i know more about the street fighter characters than 99 percent of the fandom. it is my favorite special interest and there is NO shortage of interesting lore to glean from it.

thank you for listening to my insanity.

[privatelife]

also im like really tempted to do my own ancestry thing cause i wanna know my exact statistics ya know obviously dna disperses differently so like im so curious now... but that shit's expensive AND they'd have my dna on file? idk man

[palmett-hoes]

Do you have any fan casts or strong takes/feelings on the foxes’ appearances? Fandom tends to use the same Pinterest models, which feels wrong to me.

i do in fact! i've actually been meaning to make a post about how i choose to write all of the foxes' ethnicities anyway

but yes i absolutely agree that the typical pinterest model types u generally see on edits is not how i see any of them. nor is reece king or froy gutierrez or lucky blue smith one of my FCs for anyone

for a lot of them i don't necessarily have a single specific FC so much as i have like,, a general impression of features that i will see on various different people, who all may look wildly different from each other or who may not even look how i see the character as a whole but do have a specific feature i associate with them. mostly it boils down to the Energy i get tbh and that's just a Feeling i cant even explain

fun fact im a tiny bit face blind so that might account for some of why i'm so all-over about this

may as well go chronologically. some of them i definitely have more thoughts on than others

1. Dan

ethnicity: Afro Native (Sioux)

features: medium dark skin. buzzcut, killer fade. she often styles it in waves. she's very butch, wears a lot of basketball and cargo shorts, tank tops and flannels and jerseys, hiking boots. skinny but muscular, with a very rectangular body shape. defined jaw. probably like 5'4 or 5'5

FC/Energy: sometimes i get some dan energy out of janelle monae but more butch. lotta dan energy out of samira wiley. lashana lynch

2. Kevin

ethnicity: a lot of things tbd, but he's pretty multi-ethnic. i like the idea of kayleigh being half- or a quarter-japanese in addition to irish because it gives her more of a reason to go to japan for her undergrad. wymack is from d.c. which is a majority black city for its actual residents, but i also like the idea of him being Pasifika/Hawaiian. HOWEVER - and this is pretty important to my read of kevin's character - he's white passing, and has been mostly treated as a white guy who tans his whole life, like occasionally asked if he's italian maybe. learning that his father was a Distinctly Not White Man was a big shock to him.

kristin kreuk, lindsay price, phoebe cates, and marie digby are all half-asian actresses i base kayleigh on

i suppose i base his story partially on broadway actress carol channing, who revealed publically that she was a quarter black when she was like 80 years old. though maybe wentworth miller, a biracial actor who knows his father is black but also doesn't know him, is more accurate to kevin's story. then keanu reeves is a white passing actor with asian ancestry

also none of these people look anything like how i picture kevin lol. kevin is just like,, a guy. handsome ig. but kind of in a CW character kind of way

actually

kevin looks exactly like young jason momoa

3. Andrew

ethnicity: kayin/karen from myanmar

features: fat and muscular, very wide and heavy. this blog is basically all andrew body type refs. medium-olive skin, has a bit of a greyish tinge that makes him look a bit eerie or unhealthy. deep set, droopy eyes; looks so tired. flat face with a low-bridged nose. crooked teeth, especially his canines. natural hair black-ish but he bleaches it light blond. has the beginnings of martial artist punching callouses in his knuckles

FC/Energy: holy shit the characters i feel have Andrew Energy are all over the place. pedro pascal. babe ruth (yes fr). oddjob (harold sakata) from goldfinger. the jinn (mousa kraish) from american gods. gaear grimsrud (peter stormare) from fargo. takeshi kovacs (joel kinnaman) from altered carbon. and i wanna be clear, it's these characters specifically, and generally NOT the actors outside of that specific role. except pedro ❤️

4. Matt

ethnicity: cuban

appearance: matt has more of an Energy than specific features to me rn. that energy is Warm. he has that Warm bro jock dude energy. kind of a marvel hero build, hunky and muscular. very rectangular face. has this haircut:

5. Aaron

i get to cut myself some slack and not go AS in depth about aaron because he and andrew are identical twins

ethnicity: kayin/karen from myanmar

appearance: similar build to andrew, less confident and casual posture and body language. less apathetically murderous and more emotive expressions. better teeth bc his mom took him to the dentist. yes also bleaches his hair

celebrities: probably a lot like the difference between the characters and the actors. andrew is the characters and aaron is how the actors actually look. idk ive never looked at someone and thought 'hey! looks like aaron!'

6. Seth

ethnicity: have been going with half-vietnamese. considering looking into various south asian possibilities like pakistani

appearance: string bean build. that's all i have to offer

7. Allison

ethnicity: allison's very up in the air for me. she and seth are the two foxes i feel fine with being white, but im committing to having no white foxes sooo. i would say i generally see her as either half-middle eastern or chinese

appearance: plus sized and hourglass shaped. heart shaped face. taller, like 5'8 or 5'9. she has a pretty fraught history with her appearance and her parents payed for/pressured her into getting a nose job to have a 'prettier' nose. she also bleaches her hair blonde. she gets it done at a salon tho the twinyards do it in their bathroom

FC/Energy: elle king and nadia aboulhosn are my main inspos for her, esp body type but nadia esp in Vibes

8. Nicky

ethnicity: multi-ethnic. his mother is southern mexican Indigenous, possibly oaxacan. his father is mixed white/kayin

appearance: definitely takes after his mother while his father is white passing. dark brown skin, warm undertones. slightly stocky build. tall ovular head and thin aquiline nose. he's kind of just,, the opposite of the twins ig, so like their facial features look very different, which is a big part of why people don't make the connection between him and the twins alongside the difference in their skin tones, heights, and builds. nicky's build and features are very vertically-oriented, with a tall head, narrow-set eyes, thin nose with a high bridge, etc. the twins are horizontally-orienged, with broad, flat faces, wide-set eyes, wide noses with a low bridge, etc.

FC/Energy: yalitza aparicio, not a guy but one of the few Mexican Indigenous stars in the film industry and i really like her features for nicky. she's oaxacan

9. Renee

ethnicity: Black. african american

appearance: plus sized, circular/apple body shape. round face. dark skin. microlocs to a bit past her chin, bleached white and dyed at the ends. she and allison go to the salon together. femme but plain style, a lot of blouses and long skirts, practical shoes. knuckle callouses. about 5'6

FC/Energy: dominique fishback. tracie thoms, esp in RENT. gabourey sidibe. nicole byer, but not in Energy. brandy, for some reason, probably bc i think she has very serene Energy and is a little bit otherworldly. like if brandy played arwen or galadriel from lotr it would make perfect sense to me, and that's the Renee Energy™️

10. Neil

ethnicity: mixed. Black/Jewish on both sides. his father is polish ashkenazi and afro-brazilian. his mother is Black British and algerian jewish

appearance: very... sharp. like sharp all over. does that make sense? sharp features, sharp face shape, sharp angles to his body. he's got what i vaguely think of as a 'basketball build' not meaning tall but meaning very rangy and angular and lean. all limbs. seth has a similar build. lighter brown skin. he has waardenburg syndrome which is actually where he gets he gets his eye color, and his eyes are very large and widely spaced as well. freckles freckles freckles. freckles everywhere. 4a hair but at least during canon it's not very healthy and thus the curls aren't well-defined. he grows it out long enough to tie back and starts taking better care of it in post-canon. wonky, slightly crooked teeth, with a gap between the fronts

FC/Energy: now neil i actually have a ton for. mostly models which im a lil ashamed of bc i do try to draw more from athletes. alton mason is a main body type ref. mugsy bogues is good to see what i mean about the basketball build without the height. here're the boys: cykeem white, luka sabbat, désiré mia, Leo Hoyte-Egan, dylan hasselbaink, this beautiful stock photo model i've never been able to track down

i think about him every. goddamn. day.

in terms of like,, real ppl and not models: corbin bleu, especially during Jump In. figure skater elladj balde. rayan "ray ray" lopez from mindless behavior. A$AP Rocky a lil bit, maybe i just like his hairstyle idk

two more models i think are important: carissa pinkston and ralph souffrant

[bellaslilpapercut]

Eclipse reread part 2! This is gonna cover a lot of chapters because I forgot to include stuff from chapters 4, 5, and 6 in part 1 (in my defense your honor, this book is very grating to read). Awayyy we go:

1. so chapters 4-6 really could have been one chapter tbh since the plot is: Bella ditches work at Newton’s Outfitters to hang with Jake and then writes some graduation invites with Angela. She pushes her rusty old behemoth as fast as it can go through driving rain but then hangs outside with Jake the whole time so I don’t really know where the rain went. She also manages to hear Jake gasp through her closed car door! Super sonic! Anyway, Bella insists that Edward is a good guy, Jake makes Bella hold his hand, Jake explains imprinting (yuck we can skip that), and then Edward drives threateningly past Bella while she’s on her way to Angela’s house. Angela reminds Bella that, at his core, Edward is a teen boy who is Totally Jealous of how Ripped and Sexy her 16 year old best friend is. Then Alice kidnaps Bella. Fun times!

2. During the imprinting convo it becomes very apparent that Meyer thinks the worst thing that can happen to a girl is getting broken up with. Somehow Leah got the “worst end” of the Sam/Emily/Leah fiasco despite Sam turning into a “monster” and Emily getting literally mauled in the face. What’s worse is later in the book, during the “Legends” chapter, when Bella wonders if Leah thinks Emily’s scars are a form of “justice.” Yea, Bella, that’s justice. 

3. I love this Rosalie quote but hate the entirety of they way meyer writes her story. Others have mentioned it before but Meyer writes Rose's dialogue there as if Rose is an author and not like...a person telling a story. An easy fix would be to format Rosalie's story "flash back" style rather than have her narrate all the way through. Then you can include all the superfluous details of exactly what everyone's voice sounded like and all the excessive dialogue tags you want.

I also Violently Abhor this quote here:

Yea, meyer, the Hot Girl hates your self-insert because her stupid ass brother didn't have the hots for her. It just reads like weird middle school revenge fantasy "I only hated you because you were so Special!!!" Sure, sure. Also "all those females!" People don't talk like that @stephanie

4. I do love the scene when Bella “escapes” from Alice with Jake (I don’t know why i put escape in quotes, Alice could definitely murk Bella) but then that whole adventure ends with Jake telling Bella he’d rather she die than turn into a vampire. And yeah, fair buddy, but also you’ve known Bella for a long time. This should not be a surprise to you at all even a little bit. a) she mentioned it before, b) you knew she would never get over Edward even if your plan in NM had worked, and c) you’ve known that she’s fully obsessed with the Cullen’s since you started hanging out with her again. The last time you guys hung out she went on an impassioned rampage about how lovely and good and fantastic Edward is (footage not found) I really don’t know why you’re surprised that this hard-headed girl is prepared to commit to vampirism for him. She is not normal lmfao.

5. The legends chapter. Oh boy. Stephanie, Meyer, Smeyer. Honestly it might have been less offensive if she had just made up a whole new tribe to give these backstories to, for all that they have in common with real Quileute legends but actually that would still be offensive and terrible anyway. I don’t know how to describe this adequately but if you’ve ever seen G.I. Joe’s portrayal of indigenous people that’s exactly what meyer made Old Quil and Billy’s dialogue sound like. Just absolutely dripping with Mystical Native/ Magical Native trope from the content to the tone. https://mthg.org/ Because it can’t be plugged enough.  

6. The legends chapter ends with this Wuthering Heights quote:

I have no qualms with it's inclusion, if you really want to push the Edward is Heathcliff and Bella is Cathy agenda, I don't believe it but fine, whatever. But those last two paragraphs are such a dumb way to end a chapter. Every chapter ending should make the reader want to turn the page: this makes me want to shut the book (actually I did take a long break after this lmfao). Anyway, just end the quote on "drank his blood," bold those three words, and end the chapter there. Don't go back and say "the three words that stood out were... Anyway it could have fallen to any page I believe in coincidence teehee!!" That's just annoying.

7. Okay guys I hate to say it but Edward does get a lil bit of ~character growth after the first few chapters. He comes home after having Bella kidnapped (she decides not to be angry, surprise surprise) and is all "so I've been thinking about it and you're right my Beloved Angel Face or whatever, please hang out with Jacob but also wear a helmet on your motorcycle my Beloved Dumb Idiot or whatever" (paraphrase). And he also says this in chapter 12:

Which is like, man I hate when I agree with Edward but I agree with Edward here. Now I know from MS that he only wants Bella to stay human because he's creating an Unfolding Drama in his head but this bit of dialogue is really sweet. And it's funny that he thought Bella didn't want to marry him because she just wanted to use him for immortality but it's also a Dark Reminder that he's literally only romantic with her because he can't read her mind and can't tell that she's just as obsessed with his looks as the other Teen Girls TM.

8. uuuh Jasper’s Backstory Time. This is so infuriating to read for so many reasons. So we know that smeyer got Jasper’s name from a confederate memorial/ listing (from a New Moon Q&A but the link isn’t secure so I can’t share) so I know that his backstory was always meant to be Confederate Soldier which makes everything else about his characterization just baffling. Again, he was the only Cullen that was genuinely kind to Bella besides Carlisle for the entire first book and he’s still incredibly kind during Eclipse (which is another issue I have though because no one mentions again that Jasper tried to eat Bella and they stand close to each other and hang out and Bella’s never like “this is scary, this dude tried to kill me” but i digress). The point is: smeyer knew he was going to be a confederate from book 1. She never addresses that this was bad, she never has Jasper mention that he regrets his role in the war, he is the only Cullen that’s actually capable of empathizing with humans anymore (Carlisle cares but I would not categorize him as empathetic), it just... None of these pieces fit together. This is a fraught and bloody history that smeyer throws in with no thought to how it might alienate black readers (though tbh she constantly emphasizes “white beauty” throughout the series so I doubt she cares) and the editors don’t question it either. No one, at any point in time, said “Hey, steph, you know confederates fought for slavery, right?” Every black american deserves reparations. White women and men who glorify the civil war should be the first to pay up. 

9. I’m gonna jump back to chapters 9 & 10 here (target & scent, respectively) to say: no tension is being effectively built. I get it, someone stole your clothes. You’re annoyed because you have nothing to wear and Victoria is scary. But where is she? Where is the volturi? Move it along, please! This is one of the challenges of 1st person narrative because the author is stuck in the eyes of, usually, the person who knows the least. Meyer is not a talented enough author to make this interesting. Not to bring up THG again but Suzanne Collins really knew how to work 1st person. Everything that Katniss asserts with certainty throughout the series gets either confirmed or denied by the narrative, keeping it interesting. She assumes the worst of the people around her so we’re pleasantly surprised when people violate those assumptions. We’re kept on edge by how little Katniss knows and SC never gifts Katniss with more knowledge than she could be expected to have. Bella is constantly gifted with knowledge and her assumptions are rarely proven wrong. You can dig into the canon a little bit more, read the lexicon and the guide, and find all the examples of Bella being unreliable or making wrong assumptions. But within the narrative she is rarely incorrect. She doesn’t get opportunities to grow out of her false assumptions (while Edward does, at least in Eclipse). So to keep the Victoria debacle interesting, smeyer has to plant seeds like- during these two chapters- Bella thinking of Laurent and Victoria while the cullens discuss who could have been in Bella’s room. That just doesn’t cut it for me. 

This is hella long and I’m only halfway through the book. I probably should split the second half into two parts as well but based on how talented smeyer is at stretching out the mundane, especially just before the climax, I probably wont need to. 

[dillydedalus]

april reading

oh yeah this is a thing. anyway in april i read about uhhh.... first contact (twice), murderers on skis & victorian church politics

the yield, tara june winch a novel about indigenous australian identity and history (now and throughout the 20th century) in three narrative strands. imo the narrative strand that consists of a grandfather writing a dictionary of his language (wiradjuri) in order to prove a claim to some land is by far the strongest, but overall i liked this quite a lot. 3/5

land of big numbers, te-ping chen a solid short story collection focused on modern china and young(ish) chinese people, both in china and the diaspora. i particularly liked the stories that had some slighty surreal or speculative elements, such as one about fruit that strongly evoke emotions when eaten and a group of people stuck in a train station for months as the train is delayed, which imo use their speculative aspects in effective (if not super subtle) ways to talk about society. 3/5

the pear field, nana ekvtimishvili (tr. from georgian by elizabeth heighway) international booker prize longlist! a short, fairly depressing read about a 18-year-old girl at a post-soviet school for developmentally disabled childred (but also orphans, abandoned children & other random kids) who is trying to get a younger boy adopted by an american couple. there seem to be a lot of novels set at post-soviet orphanages etc & imo this is a well-executed example of the microgenre, with the pear field full of pears that are never picked bc they don’t taste right as a strong central image. 3/5

the warden, anthony trollope (chronicles of barsetshire #1) ah yes, a 6-part victorian series about church politics in an english town, exactly the kind of thing i’m interested in. not sure why i committed to at least the first two entries of the series but here we are. despite this lack of interest (and disagreement with most of the politics on display here) i found this quite charming; trollope has a gift for an amusing turn of phrase & making fun of his characters in benevolent ways. 3/5

the lesson, cadwell turnbull first contact scifi novel set on the virgin islands, where an alien ship arrives one day. the aliens seem benevolent & share helpful technology, but also react with extreme violence to any aggression. they claim to be on earth to study.... something, but it’s never entirely clear what. the book makes some interesting choices (like immediately skipping over the actual first contact to a few years in the future, when the aliens are already established on the islands) but i thought much of it was kinda disjointed and confusing. 2/5

the heart is a lonely hunter, carson mccullers look, i get it, it’s all about the isolation & alienation (& dare i say loneliness) of 4 miserable characters projecting their issues on the central character singer, who is kind and patient and also deaf and mute, thus making him the perfect receptacle for their issues without really having to connect with him as a person and how that isolation hinders them socially, artistically, emotionally, politically, but like... i didn’t really like it. i didn’t hate it but i just felt very meh about it all. 2.5/5

acht tage im mai: die letzte woche des dritten reiches, volker ulrich fascinating history book about the last week(ish) of the third reich, starting with the day of hitler’s suicide and ending with the total surrender (but with plenty of flashbacks and forwards), and looking at military&political leadership (german and allied) as well as prisoners of war, forced laborers, concentration camp prisoners, and everyone else. very interesting look at what kästner described as the “gap between the not-anymore and the not-yet.” 3.5/5

firekeeper’s daughter, angeline boulley) i’ve been mostly off the YA train for the last few years, but this was a really good example of contemporary YA with a focus on ~social issues. ANYWAY. this is YA crime novel about daunis, a mixed-race unenrolled ojibwe girl close to finishing high school who is struggling with family problems, university plans, and feeling caught between her white and her native familiy when her best friend is shot in front of her and she decides to become a CI for an fbi investigation into meth production in the community. i really appreciated how hard this went both with the broader social issues (racism, addiction) and daunis’ personal struggles. there are a few bits that felt a bit didactic & on the nose (and the romance... oh well), but overall the themes of community, family, and the value of living indigenous culture are really well done & i teared up several times. 4/5

the magic toyshop, angela carter i love carter’s short stories but struggle with (while still liking) her novels so far. this one, a tale of melanie, suddenly orphaned after trying on her mother’s wedding dress in the garden, coming of age and awakening to womanhood or whatever. carter’s really into that. it’s well-written, sensual as carter always is, and the family melanie and her siblings are sent to, her tyrannical puppet-maker uncle, his mute wife and the wife’s two brothers, both fascinating and offputting (& dirty) make for an interesting cast of characters, but overall i just wish i was reading the bloody chamber again. 3/5

barchester towers, anthony trollope (chronicles of barsetshire #2) (audio) lol tbh i still don’t know why i am committing to this series about, again, church politics in 19th century rural england, but it’s just so chill & warm & funny (we love gently or not so gently - but always politely - mocking our characters) that i’m enjoying it as a nice little trip where people do some #crazyschemes to gain church positions or fight over whether there should be songs in church or whatever it is people in the 19th century fought about. it’s very relaxing. there also is a lot of love quadrangleyness going on and that’s also fun. trollope has weird ideas about women but like whatever, i for one wish mrs proudie much joy of her position as defacto bishop of barchester, she really girlbossed her way to the top. 3.5/5

semiosis, sue burke (semiosis #1) i love spinning the wheel on the “first contact with X weird alien species” & i guess this time we landed on plants! plant intelligence is interesting and the idea of plant warfare is really cool. i do like the structure, with different generations of human settlers on the planet pax providing a long-term view but this allows the author to skip over a lot of the development of the relationship between the settlers and the plant and locating the plot elsewhere, which i think is ultimately a mistake. i might continue w/ the series tho, depending on library availability. 2.5/5

one by one, ruth ware a bunch of start-up people go on a corporate retreat to a ski chalet in the alps, avalanche warning goes up, one of them disappears, presumably on a black piste, the rest get snowed in & completely cut off when the avalanche hits and then they get picked off *title drop* (altho really not that many of them). nice fluff when i had a miserable cold (not covid) but fails when it tries to go for deeper themes... like an attempt to address classism and entitlement sure... was made. also like what kind of luxury skiing chalet does not have emergency communication devices in case internet/phone lines are down...  i’d have sued just for that. 2/5

fake accounts, lauren oyler the microgenre of ‘alienated intellectual(ish) probably anglophone person has some sort of crisis, goes to berlin about it’ is my ultimate literary weakness - i almost never really like them, they mostly irritate me & yet i can never resist their siren call. this one is p strong on the irritation, altho at least the narrator does not ascribe much meaning to her decision to go to berlin after she a) discovers her boyf is an online conspiracy theorist (probably not sincerely) and b) gets a call that said boyf has died, it’s really just something to do to avoid doing anything else. but other than that it’s so BerlinExpat by the numbers, like she lives in kreuzkölln! put her somewhere else at least! there is one scene that elevates the BerlinExpat-ness of it all (narrator asks expatfriend for advice on visa applications, expatfriend assures her that it’s really easy for americans to get visa, adds “especially now” while literally, as the narrator remarks, gesturing at the falafel she’s eating) other than that, the novel is.... fine. it’s smart, but not really as smart as it thinks it is, which is a problem bc it thinks it’s just sooo incisive. whatever. 2/5

the tenant of wildfell hall, anne bronte this is reductive but: jane eyre: i could fix him // wuthering heights: i could make him worse // wildfell hall: lmao i’m gonna leave his ass anyway i enjoyed the part that is actually narrated by the titular tenant of wildfell hall, helen (which thankfully, i think, is most of it) because the perspective of a woman who runs away from her abusive alcoholic of a husband is genuinely interesting and engaging, while gilbert, the frame story narrator who falls in love with helen, is.... the worst. i mean he’s not the worst bc the abusive husband arthur is there and hard to beat in terms of worseness, but he’s pretty fucking bad. imagine if helen had found out that gilbert attacked her secret brother over a misunderstanding, severely injured him & LEFT HIM TO DIE & then (when dude survived & the misunderstanding got cleared up) apologised like well i guess i didn’t treat you quite right! she’d have to run away from her second husband as well! poor girl. 3/5

[the-gal-in-the-greenblue-armor]

So apparently it’s Shaman King’s 20th anniversary. Which means I’ve been thinking about the series for several days and need to type out my thoughts about it otherwise I’m going to be stuck in this brain hole for the next 2 weeks until another series briefly distracts me.

I’m going to throw this under a “read more” and be warned that I may touch on some mild to slightly spicy spoilers.

I just want to start this short essay off by stating that Shaman King is one of my all time favourite manga series. It was one of the first 4kids anime I watched on Saturday mornings when I was like...8 and was the second manga series I rediscovered when I was 13 (the first was One Piece) and the first series I finished (sort off since the series has 2 endings but I’ll cover that later). It’s one of the few manga series where I periodically reread from start to finish every few years and whenever I finish reading it think “Man, I love this”. 

Is the series perfect? No, there are some obvious flaws in the mangaka’s design of one of the main characters (who’s African-American) and the Patch Tribe (a fictional North American Indigenous Tribe that’s hella VITAL to the plot). The characters themselves are good multi-dimensional beings, but how they’re drawn would definitely not have flown had the series been released in modern day. 

However, the series has a lot going for it in terms of its characters and the reoccurring themes in the narrative. So let’s dive in shall we?

The Main Characters:

1. Asakura Yoh is the main protagonist of the series. Like many shounen protagonists, his dream is to essentially become the greatest “x” ever. In this series that title is the “Shaman King”, who is basically a god-like figure who has beaten all the other “world’s greatest” shamans in this massive tournament that takes place once every 500 years. However, our boy Yoh deviates from other shounen protagonists because his initial motivation is that he’s lazy and figures out that if he becomes the Shaman King, he won’t have to work and can just “chill out” for the rest of his life. His later motivation comes into play when he sees all the crazy folks fighting in the tournament and thinks “yikes, probably shouldn’t let these people be given this ultimate cosmic power”. 

What’s most interesting about this protagonist is while he is undoubtedly a “good” person, he seems to fall under the category of “neutral”. Despite his grand ambition, he wouldn’t be considered an “ambitious” person. Heck, when he meets someone that has a better reason for becoming the Shaman King he almost quits on the spot. He’s content to just go with the flow and see where it spits him out in life. Practically nothing fazes him and his easy-going nature unnerves his uptight allies and foes. However his greatest strength is his single core belief that “anyone who can see spirits can’t be all bad” and that philosophy allows him to befriend pretty much every character in the series, “good” and “bad”.

2. Kyoyama Anna is Yoh’s fiance and one of my all time favourite female characters. She would sell you for a corn chip and stab you without warning. She’s tough and straightforward and terrifies every character who meets her. Yoh promised her that if he becomes Shaman King she’ll be taken care of for the rest of her life and dammit she’s wants that good life. So she acts like his coach and puts him through her “torture training” because if it were up to him he would nap all day. Despite her clear personality differences with Yoh, they genuinely love each other and trust and respect each other. There’s no drama between them and I live for that good relationship goals.

(Note, the next few characters are going to have shorter descriptions because spoilers and I can’t NOT talk about them because I love them) 

3. Oyamada Manta is Yoh’s best friend. He can see spirits but isn’t a Shaman. He’s a nerd that freaks out pretty easily but as he becomes closer with Yoh, he becomes braver. He’s kind of used for exposition since he’s not from a shaman family or background. Probably cannot legally say fuck.

4. Tao Ren: antagonist turned protagonist. Goes through some incredible character development and redemption without completely compromising the core of his character. Acts somewhat as Yoh’s rival. Arrogant and hot-headed with a snarky attitude. Would order a single black coffee with a car full of kids at a McDonald’s drive through.

5. Horohoro Usui: lovable idiot but also hecking strong and goes from 0 to 100 real quick if you fuck with him. From the Ainu tribe (Northern Japanese Indigenous Tribe). Loves nature and snowboarding. 

6. Lyserg Diethel: a relatively level-headed British boy who is out for revenge against the guy who killed his parents. Definitely a “looks like a cinnamon bun but will actually kill you”. Has a conflicting friendship with Yoh as their personal philosophies don’t match up at all. 

7. Chocolove McDonald: an African American shaman. As previously stated, his character design didn’t really age well. The mangaka drew him with big lips and a big nose. In the North American manga, he’s somewhat censored (they downplayed the lip thing but erasing the lines between his lips and the rest of his face. Looks a little bit better but still a bit yikes). Initially introduced as a comic relief character but once you get into his backstory and as the story progresses, he’s a pretty grounded character who’s just trying to make up for the awful stuff he’s done. Out of the 5 main male characters, he’s formally stated to be the strongest and most well-balanced out of all of them. He’s a character that I love more with every reread.

Main antagonists:

Hao: Introduced once the Shaman Fight starts. A bit sadistic and playful. Has reincarnated himself twice trying to become the Shaman King. Has killed tons of characters without remorse. Doesn’t really care about anyone and wants to kill off humanity because he hates humans. 

The X-Laws: an extremist group formed with the sole goal of taking down Hao. To them, justice is absolute. They don’t believe in second chances or redemption. Their goal is for their leader to become Shaman King, kill Hao, and purge the world of “evil”. The main protagonists don’t like this group AT ALL.

Reoccurring themes:

Consequences: One of my favourite things about this manga is that every action has a consequence and no character is safe. Character was redeemed? Too bad, their past is coming for them and doesn’t care that they’re a good guy now. Got revenge on another group? Well that other group is coming for you to get revenge for your revenge. As Yoh states: Violence only brings about more violence. 

Forgiveness: this series is big on characters learning to forgive themselves for what they’ve done or forgiving others for not living up to their expectations. Forgiveness plays a large role in almost every character’s development. 

Mortality: In a series about ghosts and death, this theme was inevitable. What is interesting is that at the end game of the series, the main characters mourn the fact that they’ve become desensitized to the casual violence of their new lives and that they can continue to fight even after watching their friend be brutally murdered in front of them without pausing to take it in. 

Other cool things:

Shaman King has two endings: the original ending and the true ending. The original ending is a cliffhanger for when the magazine that was publishing it went under and the mangaka had to quickly wrap up the series because he wasn’t sure if he’d get the chance to actually finish it. The true ending was when another publishing company picked up the series a few years later, which allowed the creator to publish the last 15-ish chapters and write the intended ending he’d been working on.

There are 2 versions of the series: the original and the redraw. The original version treats readers to the manga’s visual transformation from beginning to end. The style of chapter 1 is drastically different from that of the last chapter. This is the version you’d find in the North America releases. The second version is the redraw. The mangaka redrew the entire series in his polished art style from start to finish, to my knowledge little was changed plot wise.

This essay kind of went a bit all over the place but the bottom line is that I love this series. I love its weird integration of philosophy and religion from around the world. I love it’s visual transformation. I love that the characters are flawed and can’t be truly placed in the traditional shounen character tropes. I love that the female characters aren’t over-sexualized. I love that the series blurs the line between what’s good and bad. And I love how the plot unfolds and keeps me coming back to reread it and fall in love all over again.

I love Shaman King.

[virtuissimo]

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse (Review)

Roanhorse has effectively cemented herself as a visionary in indigenous futurism with her rich world-building, her casual commentary on the powers that be, and even her dynamic and lovable characters, but I think it’s perfectly clear that this is her debut novel. She definitely gets lost in the sauce plot-wise towards the end, and there are several points where the potential for improvement is obvious. Nonetheless, she’s got me rearing for the next book already, and I will definitely be following this series.

This is the kind of book where I really think you can get the most out of it if you go in blind with very little prior knowledge of the book, and it really is a good one. I encourage yall to give it a go. If you don’t care about getting a little more detail, I’ll go into a spoiler free section.

No Spoilers

Okay, first thing I’ve gotta talk about is the setting. First off, it’s AWESOME. The setting is about 6? 7? years after an apocalypse. The explanation for it is really organic and it informs a lot of how the book proceeds.

Idk if this counts as a spoiler so it’s in its own paragraph, but basically the apocalypse was a series of natural disasters around the world plus a major flood that drowned out most of the continental U.S. except for a few walled off city states. The walls are specifically and emphatically NOT the ones that the Trump administration is gunning for—Roanhorse dismisses that quite quickly. These walls were ones that local communities decided to put up, and they are made of beautiful materials that have cultural significance for the Dine.

My favorite thing about the setting is the societal organization. Dinetah is a really interesting place because of the ubiquity of Dine people & culture, but also because Roanhorse obviously has a lot of really interesting thing to say about what apocalypse means to a people that have already had their apocalypse. They already had foreign invasion and genocide, they already had their numbers chipped away to a shadow of its former size, they already had their land destroyed beyond recognition. So what does it mean when in apocalypse destroys the society that destroyed yours? I think Roanhorse’s answer is that it did more good for the Dine than bad. They are freer and safer in an apocalypse, even DESPITE the presence of monsters everywhere.

One thing I really liked about her approach to Dinetah was the use of language. To quote a journal entry I wrote about this book: “Roanhorse makes creative use of Dine words and language. There is no glossary, and sometimes there isn’t even an in-text translation. English speakers are forced to pick up Dine words with no life preserver just as so many non-English speakers are forced to do the same in our world.” Most of the concepts, like clan powers and ghosts and monsters, have a Dine word attached to them, and you learn to recognize them as you read. She doesn’t remind you of their definition either: you either paid attention the first time it came up or you’re screwed! It was just an interesting stylistic choice, and I enjoyed the experience.

Another note about the setting that I love: I LOOOVE the references to the other citystates. I think one was New Detroit? New Denver? And there was a Mormon citystate (when I read that I screamed) and there was one called Aztlan (!!!!!) which was very exciting for me. I have complicated feelings about Aztlan because I think most people who live in this post-apocalyptic citystate would probably not be indigenous Mexicans but rather americanized mestizo Chicanos who think they have an inherent claim to the land just because they colonized it first, but I think as an indigenous author I can trust her to develop a nuanced view of Aztlan and what that means for Mexican Americans (especially consider the fact that she had several sensitivity readers mentioned in her acknowledgements). I really hope we get a chance to explore those in future books.

Oh, also: there are no white people in this book. Like, none. They reference them in vague terms, but I don’t think there was a location or scene that had a white person even in the background, and there were certainly no speaking parts for white people in this book. So basically I loved that. I do that often in my own writing but it’s so rare in mainstream fiction. There is a family that is not Dine in the book, but they are a large black family. With regards to the writing of the black characters: I noticed that her physical descriptions of them sometimes had words that I’ve seen on lists of What Not To Say About Black Characters (comparing skin color to food, particular words used to describe hair, etc.), but I flipped to the author bio and she apparently is black as well as indigenous so I guess my concerns weren’t really relevant lol. One of these characters is also gay, and I thought his characterization was a little bit weird, but it’s fine I guess.

Now I haven’t seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I’ve read a spinoff from the same universe and have heard enough about it to see the obvious inspiration that Roanhorse took from it. This is not necessarily a bad thing, of course; Buffy has a very particular energy where it’s fantastically easy to get invested. Maggie Hoskie as a hero is easy to love, and even as someone who doesn’t typically like lengthy action sequences, I found the fighting scenes thrilling. However, at the same time Roanhorse commits some of the same mistakes in writing her female protagonist that Joss Whedon so famously introduced into the mainstream, and there are a few times where it becomes difficult not to roll your eyes.

As I’ve seen other reviewers note, Maggie as a character is very reliant on the men in her life. She describes early on how her life was saved by Niezghani, an immortal godlike monster slayer, and his presence in her thoughts influences nearly every decision she makes throughout the novel. Some people have a problem with this; I personally think this is a fine set-up. The author takes great care to show how unhealthy her relationship with Niezghani is. Even when Maggie is talking about how great and powerful he is, how she should be grateful that he even gives her the time of day, we as a reader can tell something is very wrong with their relationship from the very beginning. I don’t really like the direction Roanhorse went with Niezghani (I’ll get into that in the spoilers section I guess), but I thought this relationship as a premise was fine.

I think where she slipped up a little was in putting her relationship with Kai, a mysterious and charming medicine man who helps her on her investigation/quest/whatever, as the center of the story. I guess technically we’re not certain about this since the whole series isn’t out yet, but I think it’s safe to assume this guy is endgame. The whole first half of the book is spent getting to know Kai, which I think is fine because he is a great character and truly charming. (I’m always suspicious of “”charming”” type characters because more often than not the author makes them annoying and presumptuous.) He actually seems to care about the things that are happening, he doesn’t make assumptions, he understands boundaries, and his kindness is genuine. I like Kai, okay, he’s great. BUT I think that spending so much time with him instead of ruminating with Maggie some more was a mistake.

I can understand WHY roanhorse did this: Maggie is someone who is very wrapped up in her thoughts, and 9 times out of 10 her thoughts are really fuckin depressing. I just think that a lot of time was spent characterizing Kai when it could have been done in less time and more efficiently.

The main thing about Kai is that his skills as a medicine man are very mysterious, and Maggie becomes curious very early on about the nature of his abilities. The answer to her questions, though, aren’t given until very very late in the book. In fact, we don’t understand everything about his medicine man secrets until like 10 pages from the end. I think this is way too late. First off, we don’t get to see him in action very much, and the way things go I really wish we had. Second, Roanhorse just wastes a lot of time in the beginning and crams a whole lot in the end. From a world-building perspective these sections are really cool and fascinating, but plot-wise it’s extremely inefficient that we learn about Kai in bits and pieces like this, especially since all of his secrets kind of come out one after the other all crowded at the end. I don’t know if she got the right balance in that tradeoff.

Another critique I’ve seen people have is that all of Maggie’s problems AS WELL AS the solutions to her problems revolve around the men in her life. I did think it was strange that Maggie was essentially the only major female character in the whole book. There was Rissa, but she was a minor character and didn’t have much agency in the plot. I would say that Maggie did have agency, and the way she carries herself both in conversation and in action both suggest that she is making her own decisions independent of male influence. I see where these critiques are coming from, though, and I agree that more of her story should have been herself rather than obsessing over these men.

Minor spoilers I guess: One scene that I think most socially conscious people rolled their eyes at was the decision to create a plot point where she had to get all dolled up in a sexy outfit because Reasons. And then people had that weird Oh My God So Hot moment that we are all so fond of (/s). Annoying tropes like that rear their ugly faces from time to time, but this is the only one that really irritated me.

Yea. I mean. It’s a good book. I think yall should read it. As I’ve said, the worldbuilding and setting is awesome, the characters are super cool, the action is cool and Actually let’s just get into the spoilers.

SPOILERS

Coyote was one of my favorite characters. I think Roanhorse may have wanted him to be a morally gray could-be-either-side type of character, but I really saw him as a straight up villain just because he never actually did help them in a way that didn’t backfire. I love reading him though; the sheer chaos that he brings to every scene really appealed to my gayer side. I don’t know if this is an aspect to him that is commonly seen in folktales or something, but I did think that he was a little over the top creepy about the sex stuff though. When he said that shit about Maggie jacking off to Niezghani I was just…ok he’s crossin some Lines here. Also he was constantly making Kai and Maggie uncomfortable sexually, so I don’t really get why they were always so willing to trust him. Still, he was SO interesting. Whenever he showed up I was instantly enthralled.

One thing that got on my nerves a little was that from the very beginning, it was very clear that Kai and Maggie being endgame is a given. Don’t get me wrong, Roanhorse put in the work to make them seem like a really organic and natural couple. And I guess it’s kind of respectable that she didn’t try to pretend like it wasn’t gonna happen, cuz we all knew. But I think it was a little annoying that EVERYONE, including Tah and Longarm and Grace and Coyote and Kai and EVEN MAGGIE at times were basically of the attitude that they were just biding time until they eventually hook up one day. She really didn’t have to do all that; I liked them as a couple already!

Okay but plot-wise, I have to say this, but Roanhorse REALLY got lost in the sauce there. The final battles were so complicated, and there were actually 3 different scenes that felt like they could be the final battle but then there was more (the battle where Rissa got gutted, the Niezghani versus Maggie fight, and the Black Mesa battle). I feel like she couldn’t decide on a conclusion for book one and just threw all that in there for good measure. In any case, it made the last third of the book really messy and unfocused.

I think she also had too many Reveals. Like, Niezghani revealed Kai’s identity, Kai reveals his true intentions, Coyote reveals his plan, Maggie reveals her counter-plan, and Coyote reveals the circumstances of her nali’s death. TOO MUCH. It was all so cloudy and confusing towards the end, especially with regards to Coyote’s plan. First of all, I didn’t really understand what his plan was on first read, and I ESPECIALLY didn’t understand why he took the time to explain it to her. Second off, I didn’t understand Maggie’s counterplan (I don’t think it’s explained in too many words?) and I ESPECIALLY didn’t understand how they planned to have Kai survive. (Now that I’ve had time to think about it I suppose it’s related to his fast healing situation probably, and they just decided to murk him and see if he was actually immortal or whatever the fuck.) Also Kai and Maggie had that whole conversation about their love life right in front of Niezghani………messy as fuck and also is this really the time?????

One thing I really liked about the beginning of the book was that Maggie was such an unreliable narrator when it came to Niezghani. Like, it was pretty obvious that he’s garbage from the beginning, but Maggie just idolizes this man and you have to like scream into the book WHYY??? But the only way that she’s able to idolize him that way is that he presents himself as a mentor, as an authority, and maybe not so much as a caring figure as much as someone to look up to. He is, if nothing else, RESPECTABLE. But when he finally shows up in the Maggie v Niezghani fight, he is not respectable. He is overtly cruel in a way everyone, including Maggie, can see. He is overtly manipulative. He is overtly uncaring and honestly terrible. But this portrayal of him is SO MUCH LESS NUANCED than it was at the beginning of the book. I wish Roanhorse had had the guts to make him more complicated. To make him ACT apologetic or ACT like a mentor, but to make him a hypocrite. That, to me, would have been much more interesting. I understand that trauma informed a big part of the reason Maggie trusted him in the first place, but I wanted to meet the smooth and enchanting man that Maggie fell in love with but all I saw was this horrible person who never even tries to hide how horrible he is.

Of course, as this is just the first book, we don’t really know what is to come. Since Niezghani is just chillin under the dirt, I think we can assume that he’ll be back. Nonetheless, I’m a bit disappointed that he was pacified/restrained at the end of this book. I kind of hoped that after this confrontation, Maggie would have an epiphany about all the shit he put her through, and then in following books he would be the main antagonist. They would have various run-ins, but only in the final book has she truly built up the strength to get her comeuppance. Or something like that. I just wanted Niezghani’s role to be stretched out is all. I wanted her arc of truly unpacking all of that mess to be over the course of several books, not just one novel in which she’s also distracted by her budding romance with Kai and also the monster stuff.

So yea. It’s a good book. There’s problems, as I’ve clearly stated, but honestly a lot of them come across to me as rookie errors. This is her debut novel, and I don’t think it’s that weird for her to use these tropes in ways that I as a reader don’t care for. However, I definitely think that the pieces are there for her to make excellent use of her setting and characters and pull together a really energetic and thrilling series. Looking forward to returning to the Sixth World!

[justanothercinemaniac]

Epic Movie (Re)Watch #160 - Star Trek Into Darkness

(GIF originally posted by @forquicksilver)

Spoilers Below

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes. #227

Format: Blu-ray

1) The opening scene for this film is a lot of fun. It is a nice isolated adventure which reestablishes the world and the dynamic of the crew while also setting up some character interaction/arcs to come.

2) Hmm, wonder which Star Trek film this is going to take reference from...

Spock: “Doctor, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

3) Remember this question:

Kirk [when he has to either save Spock’s life or follow the prime directive]: “If Spock were here and I were there, what would he do?”

Bones: “He’d let you die.”

4) London.

The opening scene with Noel Clarke in London - with his obviously sick daughter, elevated by Michael Giacchino’s subtle and somewhat haunting score - does well to set up the titular darkness the film features. It is somber, slower paced, and much more clawing than what we’ve seen before.

5) Sassy Spock returns!

Captain Pike: “You givin’ me attitude, Spock?”

Spock: “I am expressing multiple attitudes simultaneously, to which are you referring?”

6) Kirk’s key conflict throughout this film is how he deals with mortality. Outside of the death of his father, it is not something he is familiar with. And even that was something which occurred literally the day he was born, meaning he has no memory of it. Yet it still guides his actions. Everything he does - letting the indigenous species from the beginning see the Enterprise to save Spock, attempting to save the species in the first place - is striving to prevent what happened to his father. Kirk plays god not out of ego but because he doesn’t wish anyone to feel the emptiness he knows from that kind of conflict. But he has to learn to let it happen. He has to learn to deal with it, otherwise he’ll go on a bad path. Look at what he almost did when Captain Pike died. He almost let himself get played and go against the core beliefs of Starfleet just to make sure no one else got hurt. But death is a part of life. And he will come face to face with death in a way in a similar-yet-unique way as he did in Wrath of Khan.

7) The whole “Kirk loses his command, has to go back to Starfleet academy, only to become a first officer and immediately get his command back” thing feels sort of frivolous. I feel it would have been much more effective to have him just be on probation or something, because this sort of undermines the lesson he was meant to learn. There’s not much of a consequence to it.

8) The bar scene between Kirk and Pike (calling back to how they met in the first film) is something I have mixed feelings about.

Kirk: “How did you find me?”

Pike: “I know you better than you think.”

Kirk [in reference to the bar fight from the first film]: “Yeah, that was a good fight.”

Pike: “A good fight? I think that’s your problem right there.”

For the most part I think it is a nice piece of the film. It gives us one last good look at their relationship, Pike’s mentorship, and the respect Kirk has for Pike before Pike’s death in a little bit. However - for me - it doesn’t feel like it matches up with when Pike was railing on Kirk earlier in the film. At all. There is this dissonance there I just cannot remedy.

9) The key conflict between Kirk and Spock in this film is interesting. We’ve moved past the place of sheer conflict they started out in the 2009 reboot to a place of respect but there’s still this dissonance between them. They’re not the strong pair that we are used to yet. The best friends. That’s what they become in this film, but they’re not there yet.

Kirk: “Do you understand why I went back for you [to save your life]?”

[Spock does not have an answer.]

10) Hey look, Robocop!

11) At the meeting of the captains, Kirk - even though he’s been disgraced - still says his piece. Yes it took some convincing but he notices something no one else could and stood up for it. And so continues the tradition of Kirk standing up for himself.

12) Spock’s mind meld with Pike plays into his own arc of dealing with death (similar to Kirk’s) very well, but more on that later.

13) Alice Eve as Carol “Wallace”.

With one noteworthy exception, I truly enjoy Carol’s presence in this film. Alice Eve has always been a favorite of mine and I think she does well in the part. Carol Marcus was an interesting character in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and it’s fun getting to see this younger side of her. She is probably one of the characters with the most underused potential from the original series of Star Trek feature films and I’m glad that - at least for this film - they decide to explore that potential more. More on that one exception later though...

14) It is good to see that Kirk, Bones, and Scotty - while all loyal to Kirk - care more about making sure he is okay than following him blindly. They all act as voices of reason to their captain and their words do set in, it is just a delayed settling.

15) I think Scotty resigning was a nice surprise. I honestly was not expecting it and it lends itself to a few things:

Kirk realizing just how sketchy some of this stuff is.

Kirk being pushed/pushing himself to places he’s never been before.

An organic & unique way of including Scotty later in the film.

16) Love this.

Kirk [about Spock]: “Sometimes I want to rip the bangs off his head. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.”

Uhura: “It’s not you.”

Kirk: “It’s not? [Beat.] Wait a minute, are you guys fighting?...Oh my god, what is that even like?”

17) Even Chekov knows what a red shirt in Star Trek means.

Kirk [giving Chekov’s Scotty’s old job]: “Go put on a red shirt.”

Chekov [nervously]: “Aye sir...”

18) So one thing that sort of confused me was the fact that Carol is British in this film while in Wrath of Khan she was American. My theory is that the results of the Kelvin made Admiral Marcus (her father) a much more paranoid man, which we know lead to his wife leaving him. I feel like his wife is British and since Carol takes on her mom’s maiden name I have a feeling she grew up more with her than in the original timeline. Hence her British accent. But that’s besides the point...

19) I like that Uhura knows and uses Klingon in this film. In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Nichelle Nichols objected to a scene where Uhura had to hurriedly learn Klingon since she felt her character should already know it. In this film, she does! Yay! Progress!

20) According to IMDb:

When calling down to the shuttle bay, Sulu commands the crew to prepare the transport captured during the "Mudd incident last month", a reference to the same character who appeared in Star Trek: Mudd's Women (1966) and Star Trek: I, Mudd (1967) as a rogue trader. He also appeared in the comic prequel "Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness".

Last I heard, Rainn Wilson (of “The Office”) would be playing Harcourt Mudd in the upcoming Star Trek TV show “Star Trek: Discovery”. Moving on...

21) I feel like I’d be Kirk in this scenario.

Kirk [as Uhura and Spock start arguing on a dangerous mission to the Klingon home world]: “Are you - are you really going to do this now?”

22) This is so important to Spock’s arc throughout the film:

Uhura: “At that volcano, you didn't give a thought to us. What it would do to me if you died, Spock. You didn't feel anything. You didn't care...”

Spock: “Your suggestion that I do not care about dying is incorrect. A sentient being's optimal chance at maximizing their utility is a long and prosperous life.”

Spock [later]: “You misunderstand. It is true I chose not to feel anything upon realizing my own life was ending. As Admiral Pike was dying, I joined with his consciousness and experienced what he felt at the moment of his passing. Anger. Confusion. Loneliness. Fear. I had experiences those feelings before, multiplied exponentially on the day my planet was destroyed. Such a feeling is something I choose never to experience again. Nyota, you mistake my choice not to feel as a reflection of my not caring. Well, I assure you, the truth is precisely the opposite.”

That’s it. Right there. I don’t think there’s any more analysis needed. Spock is dealing with death in a similar way Kirk is, except he is dealing with much more relevant and painful memories he is trying to avoid. Kirk has to learn how to deal with those kinds of experiences as opposed to death as a concept.

23) Remember how I said I love that Uhura can speak Klingon now?

Uhura [convincing Kirk to avoid a fight with Klingons]: “You brought me here because I speak Klingon. Then let me speak Klingon.”

I love that she takes such an active role on Kronos of trying to avoid conflict. I love that she puts herself out there for her crew and her team. I just love it all.

24) Here we have Kirk just beating the shit out of “John Harrison” and “Harrison” not doing anything about it because it doesn’t really effect him. Or the plot. I get that Kirk is dealing with how “Harrison” killed Pike, but can’t we just have him hit him once, see it does nothing, and move on?

Also I will talk about Benedict Cumberbatch as “John Harrison”, just not yet.

25) I love Carol Marcus in this film. I think she’s smart, competent, is able to hold her own with Kirk well, and just works really well. However, I hate - hate hate hate - this moment:

So according to IMDb:

Writer Damon Lindelof apologized on Twitter for the seemingly gratuitous and much criticized scene where Alice Eve strips down to her underwear. J.J. Abrams would counter the criticism later when he appeared on Conan O'Brien's talk show and premiered a deleted scene featuring Benedict Cumberbatch showering. For her part, Eve staunchly defended the scene, and stated that she was very proud to show her her body after working out intensely for the shot. She has maintained that doing the scene was not forced upon her, and that in no way she felt exploited by this.

I like that Eve herself was comfortable with it, that makes me a bit more comfortable with it. However, gratuitous is totally the right word. It literally serves no purpose other than to objectify Marcus when she is so much more than her body. It’s eye candy for Kirk in a film written by guys, directed by a guy, and produced by a guy. And at the end of the day the filmmakers DID cut the scene with Khan, they did not cut this scene. I just...do not like this moment. At all. It feels pointless and makes me sad every time I see it. Again, I like that Eve was comfortable with it. But from a storytelling standpoint it just does not need to exist. At all.

26) I do enjoy the scene immediately following Carol’s strip down, which is where she and Bones take a torpedo to a nearby safe space to try and open it up only to risk blowing it up. It’s a simple, short, yet tense scene which I think is an elegant piece of conflict. It also plays into something which was a regular occurrence in the first film: the idea of if something can go wrong it should go wrong.

27) Alright, Benedict Cumberbatch as John Harrison.

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

Cumberbatch as Khan is a very mixed bag for me. Like I have a lot of different feelings about it. I like that he is able to play the intellect/physical prowess of the character well, but obviously no one will ever be able to touch Montalban’s performance so there’s not really a point in trying. Since this is an earlier version of Khan, he’s a lot less wrathful than what we’re used to. He’s also less poetic and greener (as is the rest of the crew, in relation to the later of those two). But Cumberbatch is also able to give Khan a brief vulnerability we are not exposed to in Wrath of Khan, specifically in his care for his crew. So in terms of the performance alone, I think Cumberbatch does a nice job. He is a terrific actor so I’m not surprised. But...

I don’t think they should have gone with a white actor, if I’m being honest.

For one thing, Ricardo Montalban is Mexican. And based on what I’ve read about the character’s episode in the original series (I’ve never seen it myself, so I might not be totally right here) he was a ruler of Asia and the Middle East before being deposed and cryogenically frozen (I read on Wikipedia that he’s Sikh, but it still is Wikipedia so there’s a chance that’s not 100% accurate). None of this really screams, “white british guy,” to me. This is a criticism of the casting, not Cumberbatch or his performance.

In an interview with Trekmovie.com, cowriter Bob Orci said:

"Basically, as we went through the casting process and we began honing in on the themes of the movie, it became uncomfortable for me to support demonizing anyone of color, particularly any one of Middle Eastern descent or anyone evoking that. One of the points of the movie is that we must be careful about the villain within US, not some other race"

I do understand the issue there, but Khan is not meant to be representative of all Middle Eastern people or a certain ethnicity. He is a visual representation of himself but he is an individual. It’s not like you are writing him to be the big bad Middle Eastern bad guy. You’re writing Khan, and in the past Khan has been non-White.

Again, this is not a criticism of Cumberbatch himself but of the casting decision. I think Cumberbatch does a fine job in the film, I just think a non-white actor should have been cast. Now that I’m done talking about that...

28) This is Kirk at his most frightened.

He see no way out right now. Admiral Marcus is going to blow his ship out of the sky with his crew, so he pleads with Marcus to just take him and spare his crew. He knows what it feels like to lose a loved one in a situation like this, he knows the hole it leaves in your heart even if it isn���t one he can’t define in the same way as Spock. He wants to spare them so they can go home to their families. Just like he wished his father was spared. And when he can’t do that...

Kirk [to his crew]: “I’m sorry.”

I think Kirk’s emotional conflict in this film is one of its standout elements (possibly its strongest), and whatever other issues this film may have I’m glad it does that well.

29) Fans of voiceover actors will recognize Nolan North as a member of Admiral Marcus’ crew.

North is most famous for his role as Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series of video games, but also has voiced Deadpool on a number of occasions and even the Penguin in the Batman: Arkham video game series. He’s one of the most prolific and talented voice over actors there is and I believe JJ Abrams included him because he’s a fan of his work.

30) Similarly, Bill Hader voices the computer on Admiral Marcus’ ship and would collaborate with JJ Abrams again on Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens as a voice consultant for BB-8 with Ben Schwartz.

31) I think it’s nice that the tribble (a fan favorite from the original series) is included, but it’s sort of just awkwardly placed while Kirk is talking with Khan just so it can establish a way to resurrect Kirk later in the film.

32) The dive Kirk and CumberKhan make from the Enterprise to Marcus’ ship is a great set piece in the film. Supported by strong visual and great action, it has the potential to be considered iconic Trek a few years down the road.

33) It makes so much sense that Zachary Quinto Spock would call Spock Prime to ask about Khan.

(GIF originally posted by @tomfooleryprime)

Spock Prime: “Khan Noonien Singh is the most dangerous adversary the Enterprise has ever faced...”

Spock: “Did you defeat him?”

Spock Prime: “At great cost, yes.”

34) I like that Kirk is not stupid enough to actually trust Khan.

Scotty [after Kirk tells him to stun Khan when he’s given the signal]: “I thought he was helping us.”

Kirk: “I’m pretty sure we’re helping him.”

35) Wow, the ego on this guy.

Admiral Marcus: “If I’m not in charge our entire way of life is decimated!”

That does not justify the horrific crimes, attempted murder, or extortion you’ve committed. This guy pisses me off way more in 2017 than he did in 2013.

36) Khan crushing Marcus’ head is very strong for me. It feels like it’s straight out of a horror film and really shows just how dark this character is willing to get in the fulfillment of his wrath (see what I did there?).

37) The preceding mental chess game between Spock and Khan is very nice, though. It shows just how smart each is, how they’re intellectually matched, and see to succeed Spock must use Khan’s ego (a flaw he has always had) to his advantage. Khan underestimates Spock and just how crafty he can get, to his own disadvantage.

38) Remember note #3? Where Kirk was wondering what Spock would have done if the roles were reversed? Well Trek fans know what Spock DID do when the roles were reversed in the past (alternate timeline? I don’t know). We know Spock very willingly sacrificed himself to save the crew, and so does Jim.

Spock [about the trick he pulled on Khan]: “It’s what you would’ve done.”

Kirk: “And this...this is what you would have done.”

Kirk admits that he’s afraid and that has been his conflict all along. He’s afraid of death, or mortality. Not just for him, but for his crew as well. For his loved ones. But his need to keep them safe outweighs his fear for himself. And this is how Kirk learns to face mortality, by sacrificing himself (as opposed to dealing with Spock’s death in Wrath of Khan). As I said before, a similar-yet-unique way of facing that conflict.

39) Of course this had to be somewhere in the film.

40) When the Enterprise crashes into the San Francisco bay it destroys Alcatraz. JJ Abrams had a 2011 TV series on Fox named/surrounding Alcatraz that was cancelled in its first season. Hmmm....

41) I like the final chase between Spock and Khan through San Francisco but I always feel its sort of extra. Fun to watch but maybe a little long. The real climax was Spock/Khan’s mental chess game and then Kirk sacrificing himself, this just does not carry the same amount of conflict with it.

42) So Khaan’s blood can...cure death?

Whatever you can do to keep James T. Kirk alive, I guess.

43)

Kirk: “Dr. Marcus, I’m glad you could be a part of the family.”

Okay, I actually googled why Carol Marcus was left out of Star Trek Beyond and the reason I found I actually REALLY like. This is a quote from Simon Pegg, who cowrote Beyond in a somewhat rushed amount of time.

“With this it felt like we would under-serve her if we included her, she might end up feeling like she hadn’t been given the amount of screen-time she deserves, so rather than bring her in and just have her be a supporting role, like, have her not be in this one, and when the time comes [bring her back], the worst thing to do would be to have her in the film and have that character be killed, and that felt like a cynical thing to do. We thought rather than have Carol Marcus not be used to a reasonable capacity, let’s just not include her, have her be alive, in canon, and ready to come back at any time.”

I’m actually REALLY glad they went that route, because more often than not characters are included out of obligation and killed off because they can’t think of anything better to do with them.

While I do enjoy Star Trek Into Darkness, it is a mixed bag for me. I think the acting is still topnotch and the conflicts each character deals with (ESPECIALLY Kirk and Spock) make for incredible storytelling. Sometime it can feel a bit extra and convoluted however, I’m disappointed in the whitewashing of Khan (even if I do think Cumberbatch did a nice job), and I find the underwear shot of Carol gratuitous. Overall I think it’s a good film just not a great one, and occasionally a problematic one. I do enjoy it. It’s not like I feel like I waste 2 hours of my life whenever I put it in, and this is about the third time I’ve seen it. I just am very aware of its flaws. I hope some of that makes sense. If you want to watch it, watch it. If you are more of a fan of it than I am, fantastic! It’s still a good Trek film (there are much worse Trek films out there), but if it comes down to watching this or any of the rebooted Star Trek films I’d go with any of the other two. Or even better, Wrath of Khan. Maybe I should stop talking now.

[muchosbalidos]

Despite my hesitation about visiting yet another big city, I chose to make my way to Medellín next since I’d heard so many wonderful things about it.

Medellín, as most know, has a “checkered” past, to put it mildly. As recently as the late 1980’s it was considered the most dangerous city in the world due to the urban war between the Medellín Cartel, funded by the infamous Pablo Escobar, and rival cartels such as El Cartel del Valle (“The Valley Cartel”).

Well into the 1990’s, even after Escobar’s death, the crime rate remained high though it descreased slowly over time. Then in 2002 the President ordered the military to carry out “Operation Orion”, aimed at disbanding the urban militias of the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in English) and the AUC (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia or United Self-Defenders of Colombia in English). By 2006 the mission was complete with more 3,000 armed men giving up their weapons.

Today, it is a much different place. In 2013 Medellín was named the most innovative city in the world by the Urband Land Institute because of it’s advances in politics, education, and social development. It was also named the preferred corporate business destination in South America and given the Verónica Rudge Urbanism Award conferred by Harvard University to the Urban Development Enterprise.

Additionally, Medellín shares first place (with Santiago, Chile) on Indra Systemas’ list of the best cities to live in South America, with Barcelona, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal sharing the honor in the European version of the list.

So you see, my friends, it is not the scary place it once was. Are there areas that are unsafe at night, especially for a foreigner? Sure, but there are places in San Diego I have told visitors not to go at night! Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Not long after arriving I was distracted and spending lots of time on own when there were loads of interesting travellers from all over the world in my hostel. I knew I needed to make a decision. My money was very low, I was tired from 9+ months of backpacking, and, most importantly, I knew I needed to (be able to buy a ticket to) fly to Spain in September of 2017 for a good friend’s wedding. Thus, I decided to use the money I’d received from Christmas and my birthday to fly back to the States.

It was far too expensive to fly back to San Diego. The cheapest flight I could find was from Medellín to Miami ($150 - tuppence!) so I booked it. Though my flight wasn’t for a few weeks, meaning I had some time to chill out, plan, and explore the city!

Thankfully, I found a HelpX host so I wouldn’t have to pay for accommodation during my remaining weeks. That would’ve been expensive! My host was an American woman named Danielle that was running an organic chocolate business out of her home, where she had converted the garage into a factory. I was invited to stay with her in exchange for taking pictures of the products for her websites along with the necessary editing. And, actually, I hoped to learn a bit about chocolate making as well. ‘Cause, mmm, chocolate.

She had a sweet little pup named Lou and an enormous, snarky, furry-as-fuck cat/demon called Trixie. I only made eye contact with her once because that one incident sent me into an allergic fit like no other. I sneezed and sniffled for 2.84 days! Honestly, I don’t know how I survived. …or *IF* I survived. What if this is like “Sixth Sense” where (SPOILER ALERT!) Bruce Willis is dead but doesn’t know it? Sweet Jesus, has Danielle really interacted with me since then?!

Debatable death aside, my time there was quite leisurely. She didn’t care what hours I worked as long as the job got done. Some days I’d get inspired and work oodles and others I’d barely work, if at all. Plus, the house had like 29 bedrooms (or maybe just 6 - I dunno, I’m a bad estimator) and it was only the two of us living there. Her room was on the bottom floor and mine was upstairs. It was very private. And quiet. A welcomed change from the crowded 8-to-12 bed hostel rooms I’d grown accustomed to.

Danielle lent me her laptop which was good because all I had was my shitty tablet which was getting shittier by the day. It would’ve been a fool’s errand to try and do the kind of editing I needed to on it.

When I wasn’t working I was planning my return the States. Between organizing stays with a CouchSurfer in Miami, my brother in New York, my cousin in D.C., and finding another HelpX host, I had a lot to do. I was definitely not used to so much pre-planning.

It rained fairly often so I didn’t venture out and explore as much as I normally would have. And on top of the rain, I had a weird thing going on with my ankle that made it painful to walk in my hiking/walking shoes; and the only other walking utensils I had were sandals. There were a few very nice, sunny days - after all, Medellín is “the city of eternal Spring” - that prompted me to gander out.

One fine day I set out walking aimlessly and came across what I thought was just a hill with some trails. Turns out it was called “Nutibara Hill”, named after the indigenous Chief Nutibara, and there was a pueblito (“little town”) at the top as well as a viewpoint that looked out over Medellín (1). It was all a bit touristy for my taste but the view was super duper, particularly as the sun began to set (2).

On another occasion I met up with a girl from North Carolina using the “Hangouts” feature on the CouchSurfing app I’ve mentioned several times before. We met at Parqué Botero (“Botero Park”), named after Colombian artist Fernando Botero and contains several of his sculptures (3,4,5), many of which he donated to cities throughout the country.

We wandered around the park and the surrounding area for a few hours and stumbled upon Parqué de la Luz (“Park of the Light”). Granted it was daytime so there were no light shows to be seen but it was still visually interesting (6,7). After grabbing some lunch and chatting a bit more we parted ways and I walked home.

Finally, on the eve of my departure I met up with one last person. I’d finished working on the pictures for my host so I had the day to myself. Naomi, a German girl, and I met up for lunch and coffee and sat there chatting, laughing, and sharing stories for an hour or two. She had just arrived in South America and I was about to leave after 10-ish months so I had a lot of input on places she was likely to go and on lesser known places she hadn’t known about. It was a great way to end my time in South America!

January 22, 2017

[awithana]

psa: indian culture with a dash of sikhism

some of this gonna be nitpicky but-

as a Sikh Indian American (born and raised in America) i have noticed a few things that have rubbed me the wrong way, and i just wanted to spread some information. i’m sure most of y’all don’t need this info but if one person learns something that would be cool. this is gonna be all over the place

1. this one is real nitpicky but it’s chai, not chai tea. also naan, not naan bread. this one doesn’t matter much, but it’s still nice to know. it’s the same way most people just call tortillas “tortillas” and not “tortilla bread”

2. India is in Asia!!! in this day and age, we should all know that there are 7 continents and India is not one of them. India is in South Asia (not a continent, i’m sure you know but just to be safe-). Indians are still Asian even if we don’t look like the stereotypical Asian

3. there is not a language by the name of “Indian”. India has 22 official languages, including: Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, Urdu, etc. do not ask “do you speak Indian?” or “are you speaking Indian?”, instead consider asking “do you speak any languages?” or “what language(s) do you speak?”

4. stop asking if we are American Indian. when someone says they are Indian there is a higher chance that they are from India, rather than being an indigenous person. 

5. just a reminder: Hindi is a language, a Hindu is a person who is a follower Hinduism

6. this one kind of goes for any BIPOC but an Indian person does not know every Indian person. don’t assume someone might know someone, just off of their race. also it is not interesting to hear about all the Indian people you know. when you talk to a white person, you probably wouldn’t talk about your white neighbor, or white doctor or white coworker just because they are white.

7. don’t assume anyone who looks somewhat Middle Eastern or South Asian is Muslim. the amount of times someone has asked me why i’m not wearing a hijab is unbelievable. first of all, not every Muslim woman wears a hijab. second of all, don’t assume someone’s religion. that should go without saying but apparently some people need to have it said to them. it’s heartbreaking to hear stories of people who are not Muslim being told islamophobic things (nobody should be saying islamophobic things to anyone!!!). It’s not dark comedy to shout “Allahu Akbar” at people. 

8. do not use arranged marriages against Indian culture until you have educated yourself on it. i will never support arranged marriages with children involved or marriages where the someone does not consent. arranged marriages have changed a lot from what people take these old stereotypes

“A 2013 IPSOS survey found that 74 percent of young Indians (18-35 years old) prefer an arranged marriage over a free-choice one. Other sources report that as many as 90 percent of all Indian marriages are arranged. Despite doubling in urban areas since 2007, only about 1 in 100 Indian marriages end in divorce.” Psychology Today 

9. you can not convince me that Indian representation in American media is okay. never have i ever and yesterday are great examples of what South Asian representation should be. besides this, what are some very famous examples of Indian characters. Apu from the simpsons and Raj from the big bang theory have not helped Indian stereotypes. i don’t mind them but when this is some of the only representation of Indians that people see, it can be harmful. 

one time i was having this conversation and someone brought up Kali from stranger things. it was great to see her, but she was only there for 2 episodes. it’s nice to see Indian characters but what I want is more shows with characters that Indians can relate too or see themselves in. i don’t see myself in Apu or Raj and it hurts if the only characters that look like you are over-exaggerated stereotypes.

10. Indian clothes are not a costume, so do not call them that. this part will be written in the experience of an American Sikh girl, so it might differ from what others have experienced.

there are many different styles of clothes and they are not all saris.

pretty much everyone in my family wears American clothes everyday except for my older aunts and great-aunts. there is nothing wrong with wearing Indian clothes in public, and if you appreciate someone’s clothes you can compliment them. don’t ask for a picture of the Indian costume (the way that never have i ever showed an accurate depiction of this)

Gurdwaras are Sikh temples. To be respectful, people entering should cover their heads and dress modestly. Sikh women typically wear chunnis, a long scarf, on their head. they are not hijabs or any other Muslim head covering. everyone should keep their head covered while in temple, but when not in gurdwara it’s okay for a chunni to be draped on shoulders.

a popular dress for temple is a salwar kameez aka a suit. they are modest and can be very detailed or very plain. the suits have long loose pants (salwar), that are normally tighter near the ankles. they have a long tunic/dresslike top. they are also worn by younger girls.

saris are generally not worn by young girls. saris have a shorter top that normally shows some of your stomach. there’s a long skirt that has a long fabric that wraps around covering the front of the stomach and laying over the shoulder (that was a horrible description). these are typically not worn to gurdwara, but to parties.

11. this might just be me but: if you’re not Indian don’t do an Indian accent. it’s so annoying. it’s just interesting to me how people will say not to AAVE, or imitate Chinese accents, both rightfully so, but the same people will give all the reasons why it’s okay to imitate Indian accents. i really don’t want to offend anyone because i know it’s not the same but i’m tired-

12. here’s some Sikh rules, i myself don’t follow a lot of these rules but they might be nice to know for a few of you.

kesh, not cutting hair, is a Sikh rule because it is a way of honoring God’s gift of hair. Sikh men and women may go their entire life without cutting their hair or shaving. some Sikh men wear turbans which protect a Sikh’s hair and it should not be removed in public. do not ask someone to remove their turban. most of my family cuts their hair and that’s okay. my uncles and my grandpa wear turbans, yes turbans can be removed in the privacy of a home.

kara, an iron bracelet worn at all times that signifies a permanent bond to Sikhism. my father has been wearing his for so long that he cannot physically take it off now (a pain at airports). some parents start putting them on their babies. i no longer wear a kara because i got mine when I was around 11 but it was not a high quality one and it rusted very quickly. when I was wearing one, a classmate pulled it off and used it as a stencil. don’t be like that classmate.

a lot of Sikhs are vegetarian because one of the Sikh commandments is not to eat sacrificial meat. some Sikhs include eggs as something they do not eat. some Sikhs will eat chicken and turkey, but not red meat.

so that was a rant- i don’t think anyone will see this but if you do, i hope this was maybe relatable or educating lmao

[itsfinancethings]

(MILAN) — When luxury fashion lined up social media posts to show solidarity with Black Lives Matters protests, brands got a whole lot of blowback.

Transgender model and actress Munroe Bergdorf jumped on L’Oreal’s #BlackoutTuesday posts to accuse the beauty brand of hypocrisy for having fired her three years ago when she complained about racism in strong language. U.S. actor Tommy Dorfman, who appears in a recent campaign for Salvatore Ferragamo, called out the Italian luxury brand for what Dorfman called a “homophobic and racist work environment.”

And ordinary Instagram followers piled on, challenging fashion houses to do more than post a black square on their virtual real estate, to instead make runways, magazine covers, boardrooms and creative studios living showcases of diversity.

Global fashion brands have faced racial backlashes in the past, notably in the wake of scandals like the Gucci knitwear recalling blackface, Prada’s Little Black Sambo bag charm and Dolce&Gabbana’s anti-Asian comments.

The U.S protests against systemic racism, which are spreading around the globe, are also putting the spotlight on the fashion world in its role as a cultural beacon, and emboldening insiders — some with lucrative deals that often assume their discretion — to speak up.

“People have the fire under their bottoms,” said Tamu McPherson, an American content creator based in Milan who collaborates with top luxury brands. “Their stories are strong and their voices are being heard. If the industry ignores them, they can be kept accountable. Everyone is sharing, and corroborating, their stories.”

McPherson has been working with luxury brands in Milan, Paris and New York since 2013, contributing to digital campaigns, story-telling and in-house diversity training.

“In seven years, I am still one of the only black people invited into those spaces. That is unacceptable,” said McPherson, who urged greater racial inclusion in a letter posted June 6 on her “All the Pretty Birds” website, in which she described the fashion industry as “steeped in racism, anti-Blackness and white privilege.”

“For years, they did not want to listen. Now they are listening because of the pandemic and the shocking murders we could all pay attention to, because there were not any distractions. This is the moment,” she said.

Ferragamo courted criticism when it responded to the protests with a post that said, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.”

Dorfman shot back that people at the fashion house “have said heinous, transphobic, body phobic and racist things directly to me. I called them out every time and they promised to change.”

A person close to Ferragamo said that the brand is committed to inclusivity, noting that it features models of all colors in its runway shows. Nearly half of Ferragamo’s Fall 2020 runway models were of diverse races.

The pushback against the industry has had some early results. Bergdorf, who was sacked as L’Oreal UK’s first openly transgender model in 2017 for decrying “the racial violence of white people,” has now accepted a role as consultant on the U.K. Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board to help “influence and inform the brand.” The offer came after she highlighted the hypocrisy of the beauty company’s June 1 statement that it “stands in solidarity with the Black community, and against injustice of any kind … Speaking out is worth it.”

The Fashion Spot, which has been tracking diversity on runways and magazine covers, has reported progress since launching its surveys in 2015. The Spring 2020 season had the highest level of diversity on runways in the four main fashion cities of Paris, Milan, New York and London, at 41.5%, only to dip for the Fall 2020 shows, to 40.6%. That remains an improvement from 17% in the website’s inaugural survey for Spring 2015.

New York and London have led in diversity, while Paris and Milan tend to lag, according to the Fashion Spot’s data.

After her post, McPherson said she has gotten feedback from some brands that her appeal was being shared internally.

“The focus truly is on getting representation of Black, Indigenous and people of color integrated and hired at all levels of an organization, especially in decision-making positions and senior roles where they can advocate, educate and inform decisions,” McPherson said. “Now is the opportunity to rebuild.”

After coming under fire for designs deemed racist, both Gucci and Prada last year announced long-term strategies to both promote diverse voices that have not been properly represented in fashion, including with scholarships.

This time, the reckoning has gone to the fashion world’s highest levels. Anna Wintour has apologized in an internal email for not doing enough to elevate Black voices and publishing images and stories that have been racially and culturally “hurtful and intolerant” during her 32-year tenure at Vogue. Her comments came as Samira Nasr was named the first editor in chief of color in the 153-year history of U.S. Harper’s Bazaar.

Supermodel Naomi Campbell — the first Black woman to appear on the cover of French Vogue — is publicly calling for equal pay for models of color and more representation generally, while acknowledging that in the past she has chosen to deal privately with such issues.

“It is not something I call out, because I am personally someone who wants to rise to the challenge,” she told CNN. But she said, “in my business, it has gone on for long enough.”

[artsoccupychi]

How to Avoid Hidden Added Sugar in Your Food

At GSG I try to be all about the good things you eat–and do–to fuel and strengthen your body.

I want to be all about what to say yes to. Not so much about what you gotta say no, no, never  to.

But sugar? It’s everywhere, and it’s nasty stuff.

I’ve written before about how sugar can ruin your health–not only is it cancer’s favorite food, but it’s as dangerous as alcohol and cigarettes. It causes inflammation, addiction, weight gain, and diabetes.

I’ve also written about beating my own sugar addictions–and recent research is showing that “addiction” isn’t too strong a word.

Jeff O’Connell refers to sugar as “America’s deadliest habit,” and Dr. Robert Lustig famously describes how sugar and street drugs have a lot in common in the way they affect the human brain and behavior.1,2

One study has even shown sugar to be more addictive than cocaine.3

And when we give in to the cravings, sugar “rewards” us by making us feel weak, without willpower, out of control, and guilty.

But you know this. It’s likely you’ve already decided to reduce or eliminate sugar in your diet, and I’ll bet you’ve read a lot of labels, noticing added sugar in everything from bread to soup, and even ketchup.

But while you might know that manufacturers put sugar in all kinds of foods that don’t seem like they need it, did you also know that they’re also concealing it by using dozens of different names for “sugar?”

The ingredient may not say “sugar,” but it’s going to trigger the addictions, create the inflammation, and increase your risk of cancer and diabetes, just the same! The first step toward knowing how to avoid hidden added sugar in your food is learning some tricks for spotting them on food labels.

Other names for sugar on ingredient labels

The more we catch on to how deadly sugar is, the more the food industry produces alternatives with tricky or technical names. They would prefer you know less, rather than more, about what you’re eating.

But the list of sugar’s variant names is long.

Most folks are savvy to “sucrose,” “fructose,” and “high-fructose corn syrup” (HFCS) as names for added sugar. Because the -ose suffix was assigned by biochemists to indicate the presence of sugar, you can sleuth for sugars by looking for ingredients with that ending: besides sucrose and fructose, look for dextrose, mannose, maltose, saccharose, and glucose, as well.

Another tip is to watch for “syrups.”  Syrups are created by boiling down and concentrating the juices from high-sugar plants like cane and corn. HFCS is the most notorious sugar syrup, of course, but any “syrup” on an ingredient label is an added sugar: malt syrup, rice syrup, refiners’ syrup, carob syrup, maple syrup, and golden syrup are a few more examples.

There are other ingredients with names that are familiar to you, and are even from whole-food sources, but are still concentrated sweeteners and can be considered “hidden sugar:” fruit juice concentrate, honey, maple syrup, molasses, and sorghum.

More ingredients that may not be immediately obvious as being added sugar include muscovado, panocha, treacle, dextrin, and barley malt.

What about the sugar “hiding” in fruit?

The anti-carb folks will hate me for this one. But here’s a fact:

Yes, there are sugars in fruit, but nobody ever got diabetes from eating fruit. In fact, nobody gets fat from eating fruit, either.

(Now, if you’re eating lots of fruit AND you’re eating lots of refined sugar, then you have a problem. But let’s just assume that all of the sugar in your diet comes from fruit.)

Some indigenous people who have no access to Western packaged foods eat lots of fruit, in season. Some cultures, in some parts of the year, it’s the majority of their diet! And they don’t have inflammation, or weight problems. Their diabetic population is approximately zero.

Ignore the diet industry, including the current “low carb” popular trend. Its survival requires you buying their line so you’ll buy their packaged foods. And the line they’re selling is to vilify whole foods with natural sugars in them, which confuses the issue, because we have a problem with refined sugar, not with whole foods that contain natural, simple sugars.

Fruit isn’t your problem. Fruit is packed with phytonutrients and antioxidants and minerals, plus loads of soluble and insoluble fiber, to clean the digestive tract and slow down impact on blood sugar.

If you’re going to worry about sugars, worry about the isolated, concentrated kind. Not the kind you pick off a tree or vine.

What is All This Hidden Added Sugar Doing to Our Bodies?

The sugar industry is trying to wrap C12H22011 (i.e. sugar) up in pretty, natural bows by giving it names like evaporated cane juice and fruit nectar. And we are taking the bait. By the end of 2015, “alternative” sweeteners reached $1.4 billion in annual sales.4

The average American consumes 152 pounds of this sugar—including “natural” and “processed”—every year. 152 pounds! That’s about 6 cups every week! And what’s all that sugar doing to our bodies? It’s making us sick in dozens of ways.

Why is sugar bad for you?

Here are just a few of the 100-plus negative effects sugar has on your body:

Fuels addiction. Sugar stimulates the same part of our brain as opioids do: the complex reward-center that leaves us constantly seeking our next “hit”.5

Damages cells and tissues. Researchers from the University of California San Francisco conducted a study that revealed cell aging and sugar consumption went hand in hand. The protective units of DNA (called telomeres) were shorter in those participants who drank the most soda. Shorter telomeres are associated with chronic diseases of aging like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, and are found in people that smoke cigarettes.6

Steals happiness. A study conducted by Harvard School of Public Health linked foods that create inflammation, such as sugar and refined grains, with an over 40 percent greater chance of developing depression.7

Feeds Cancer. Guess what researchers feed cancer in a Petri dish in order to keep it alive while they search for a cure? Sugar.

Ever since Otto Warburg won a Nobel Prize for discovering that sugar feeds cancer, study after study has confirmed the cause and effect.8 A cancer cell has 19 insulin receptors, compared with a normal cell’s 2–which is why cancer cells mop up sugar that’s fed to them, and grow. In fact, people undergoing scans for cancer drink a concentrated glucose (sugar) solution infused with radioactive material–since cancer cells readily uptake the sugar, the scans light up the tumors feeding on the radioactive glucose.

The sugar industry has known this connection for decades–they tried to bury their own research conducted some 50 years ago, confirming the link between sugar and cancer.9

Accelerates aging. Sugar destroys the skin’s collagen and elastin—components that make our skin strong and gives it that “bounce-back” ability. Researchers in England and the Netherlands found that those people with the highest blood sugar appeared older than those with the lowest.10

Suppresses the immune system. Once your blood sugar reaches 120 mg/dl, your white blood cell’s ability to seek and destroy bacteria and viruses is reduced by 75 percent. And blood sugar isn’t even considered “high” until it reaches 130 mg/dl!11

Damages kidneys, brain and eyes. Sugar builds up in your blood vessels and becomes like sludge when it hits your tiny capillaries. Areas in the body that rely the most on these blood vessels and are susceptible to damage include the kidneys, brain, and eyes. In fact, sugar consumption has been linked to macular degeneration—Americans’ number one cause of vision loss.12

Contributes to heart disease and strokes. Sugar stimulates the liver to dump harmful fats into the bloodstream, leading to high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries.13 In the last 25 years, Americans’ consumption of table sugar has increased by 500 percent, while their intake of fats has gone down. Yet heart disease continues to rise.14

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, the glut of high fructose corn syrup on the market has led to the most common disease in America—fatty liver. This, in turn, has led to diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, cancer and dementia.15

What’s the recommended daily sugar intake?

The American Heart Association recommends no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar per day for women.

I recommend no added sugar.

Don’t let the sugar industry fool you with their 61+ names for hidden added sugars. It’s estimated that 74 percent of the packaged foods sold in supermarkets contains sugar.16 The good news? They haven’t started injecting our beautiful, whole fruits and vegetables with the sweet stuff…yet.

In order to help you choose foods that are free of what some refer to as the “White Devil,” I’ve listed 37 of the most commonly used words for sugar on a wallet-sized card. It’s yours for free–my way of helping you live the healthiest life possible.

  –Robyn Openshaw, MSW, is the bestselling author of The Green Smoothies Diet, 12 Steps to Whole Foods, and 2017’s #1 Amazon Bestseller and USA Today Bestseller, Vibe.

Learn more about the anti-diet she followed, in a free video masterclass she teaches about how to regain your energy, ideal weight, and stable mood with a whole-foods lifestyle.

    Resources

1. Jeff O’Connell. Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind America’s Deadliest Habit and the Simple Way to Beat It. New York: Hyperion, 2011.

2. Robert Lustig, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth“, University of California Television, 26 May 2009; uploaded to YouTube 20 July 2009.

3. Magalie Lenoir, Fuschia Serre, Lauriane Cantin, and Serge H. Ahmed. “Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward.” PLOS ONE. Public Library of Science, n.d. Web. 01 Aug  2007.

4. Alternative Sweeteners. Freedonia Group. https://www.freedoniagroup.com/industry-study/alternative-sweeteners-2819.htm

5. Thomas Kosten, and Tony George. “The Neurobiology of Opioid Dependence: Implications for Treatment.” Science & Practice Perspectives 1.1 (2002): 13-20. Pub Med. Web. 26 May 2017.

6. Norris, Jeffrey. Sugared Soda Consumption, Cell Aging Associated in New Study. UCSF. 10/2014. https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2014/10/119431/sugared-soda-consumption-cell-aging-associated-new-study

7. Inflammatory dietary pattern linked to depression among women. Harvard School of Public Health. Nov. 2013. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/inflammatory-dietary-pattern-linked-to-depression-among-women/

8. Hyman, Mark MD. Why you Should Never Eat High Fructose Corn Syrup. Huffpost. 01/2014. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/high-fructose-corn-syrup_b_4256220.html

9. Hewings-Martin, Yella PhD. Sugar and Cancer: A surprise Connection or 50-year Cover-up? Medical News Today. 11/2017. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320156.php

10. Tracy, Betty. Caring for Your Masterpiece: Health and Nutrition. Betty’s Books. 04/2013.

11. Sugar and Your Immune System. Alternative Health Atlanta. http://alternativehealthatlanta.com/immune-system/sugar-and-your-immune-system/

12. Hitti, Miranda. High-Sugar Foods May Affect Eyesight. WebMD. 07/2007. https://www.webmd.com/eye-health/macular-degeneration/news/20070713/high-sugar-foods-may-affect-eyesight

13. Corliss Julie. Eating too much added sugar increases the risk of dying with heart disease. Harvard Health Publishing. 11/2016. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/eating-too-much-added-sugar-increases-the-risk-of-dying-with-heart-disease-201402067021

14. Sawyer, Jodi RN. Sugar’s Sour Side Effects. Dr. Oz. 05/2012. https://www.doctoroz.com/blog/jodi-sawyer-rn/sugar-sour-side-effects

15. Whiteman, Honor. Study Links High Sugar Intake with Increased Risk of Breast Cancer. Medical News Today. 01/2016. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/304636.php

16. Hidden in Plain Sight. UCSF. http://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/hidden-in-plain-sight/#.WyDMAYpKjIU

  Disclosure: This post may contain Affiliate links that help support the GSG mission without costing you extra. I recommend only companies and products that I use myself.

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[dear-ilenas-friends-blog]

Dear My Sister’s Friends,

Hi! Whats up? We’ve never met, but I’m _____’s sister, Allison. I’ve heard more about you than I’d care to admit, and honestly I’ve got some issues with all of you, but that’s not what I’m writing this for. You all for the most part seem to be a very Pro-Trump group of people. I wish I felt okay brushing that off, being like “oh whatever they have their beliefs I have mine.” But the country has progressed too far into the abyss, and we are only 11 days into the presidency. So we need to talk. This is going to get rough. I don’t really care about your feelings, just FYI.

#1. The ban on citizens from muslim-majority countries is unconstitutional, as is the complete freeze on the Syrian refugee program. Allow me to remind you of WWII and the Holocaust (do not deny it happened, if you do we have a bigger problem on our hands). While the Nazis of Germany and the Fascists of Italy and the Communists of Japan slaughtered millions of people they felt were a threat to society, the United States refused to take in refugees, citing our need to stay out of the war. The US allowed MILLIONS of people to die while we sat back and watched. WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN AGAIN. Oh what's up maybe you were never taught the poem on the statue of liberty? I had to sing it in third grade, and it goes like this: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”. Yeah we don’t turn people away. This whole fucking country was started by people escaping religious persecution in England. And DO NOT EVEN GET ME STARTED on the fact that we slaughtered indigenous people in order for the immigrants to live here (unnecessary).

#2. Let’s chat about women’s rights. Okay let’s assume that most of you don’t want to get pregnant at the moment, but one of you does. You don’t want that baby? TOO FUCKING BAD BECAUSE THE MEN IN THIS COUNTRY THINK YOU WANT THAT BABY. Some one them think that if you got pregnant from rape (god forbid) your body could just shut down and boom no pregnancy. Oh do you want an abortion? HAHA GOOD FUCKING LUCK. The way your precious president is going, women will not only have limited access to abortions, they may not be able to get them in time. There is a proposed ban on abortions past 6 weeks currently sitting in the senate and let me tell you something, most women do not know they’re pregnant until at least 8 weeks. THAT MEANS YOU WILL BE WAAAAYYYY MORE LIKELY TO HAVE TO CARRY THE CHILD. Oh and, on a related note, they are not children at conception. Fuck that. It’s a fucking zygote until brain waves are present at 25 weeks. And if the woman wants an abortion, her life is ALWAYS more important than the child’s. Yes, in case you forgot, zygotes are what happens when a sperm fertilizes an egg and it begins to grow into a fetus. FETUS. NOT CHILD. Mmmm want some free birth control? Of course you do! I get my pills for free, so does Ilena, so do you. Condoms are pretty free at the health center (or your RA has them - they’re always there just FYI). Bros, the new administration does not want your pills (or IUD or implant or whatever form of contraception you used) to be free. Actually, they don’t want them there at all. Besides the fact that men are running the government and are fundamentally stupid about how women’s bodies work (ask a guy what hole women pee out of- just do it), they also seem to forget about separation of church and state (you know jesus doesn’t believe in birth control blah blah blah see 19 kids and counting for more explanation). I will get more into separation of church and state later. Don’t worry. It’s coming. Anyway, birth control. Remember that. It’s a big deal.

#3. Okay. Separation of Church and State. Hotly debated. Basically it means that we are not a Theocracy, or a government governed by the rules of the bible (a la  the Vatican or...Spain in the 1500s). For some unknown reason, peeps in the government (read: men) think that we aRe kind of a theocracy?!? And love to use the bible to back up research. Okay. There’s a whole lot of shit wrong with that, starting with the fact that the Bible is...kinda not real, and ending with the whole Separation of Church and State clause in our GODDAMN CONSTITUTION. I would also like to take this moment to inform you of a very interesting concept called the American Civil Religion, which is basically the overlying tone of religion that weaves its way through our principles and governmental officials. Why do we always have to say “God Bless America”? Which god? Whose god are we talking about anyway? It doesn’t matter. That’s American Civil Religion. The belief that America is bLeSsEd by God in any way (this is also American Exceptionalism, which is the thing where Americans think they’re better than everybody else and ugh). Google “white savior complex” if you really want to get more into this topic.

#4. Shall we chat about people being nominated by Trump? IDK are you familiar with your currently president’s newest pick for the Supreme Court? Gorsuch? Yeah that guy is literally the worst. He sides with corporations over workers’ unions, has fought for domestic violence to be decriminalized, and would like to appeal Roe v. Wade (that’s the abortion one, in case you didn’t know). Let’s see, who else. Oh yes, his entire cabinet is...well...a clusterfuck. He chose a former CEO of ExxonMobil (oil giant, biggest oil spill in history, ruined the environment NBD) as his Secretary of State. Do you know what the secretary of state does? They go country to country, negotiating and meeting with heads of state, furthering our relationships with allies and creating new relationships with countries. The secretary of state is the most important job in the government next to the president. The most accomplished people have held the position (Madeline Albright, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Thomas Jefferson). I just realized you probably don’t know who Madeleine Albright is. She was the first woman to be Secretary of State, and she’s a badass. Look her up. Tillerson has no governmental experience (unless you count testifying in congress to save his ass) How can he be expected to be the country’s top diplomat? Let’s see, who else? Oh, let’s hit Betsy DeVos. You’ve heard of her right? She’s just a casual multi-billionaire nominated for Secretary of Education. She’s the one who said schools need guns because of bears. She’s also the one who has no experience with public education, and would like to take funding out of public institutions (cough cough University of Massachusetts Amherst cough cough) and give it to private schools and charter schools. Most of you had to take out loans for school right? Yeah good luck paying those off with her in charge. Bernie wanted to make college free? DeVos has no idea how to set interest rates for loans, and the way she’s planning on allocating Education Department funds makes it look like those rates will only increase. So good luck getting out of debt. Department of the Treasury? Steven Mnuchin, former Goldman Sachs executive. If you spent any time being angry at Hillary for taking money from Goldman Sachs, thank you new Secretary of the Treasury, who by the way, has zero governmental experience. Secretary of Defense? General James Mattis, a retired Military commander who (thankfully) knows that torture does not work (looking at you Trump). Department of Justice? Jeff Sessions, who famously criticized the NAACP and ACLU while seemingly praising the KKK. Figure that one out. Health and Human Services? Tom Price, and ultra-conservative who has fervent opposition to Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) (aka the whole reason you can stay on your parent's health plan until you’re 26). Who else who else...oh yeah Ben Carson, Mr. “I’m not experienced enough to be in the white house bye”, or better yet, Trevor Noah’s best impression to-date. Bro has zero experience in Housing and Urban Development, minus being poor in Detroit. He’s a pediatric brain surgeon….so yeah. Housing. No. Ah the Department of Energy and Rick Perry. The guy who famously said he’d want to eliminate the...department of energy. AWKWARD. Yeah, not a scientist. Climate change denier (though he’s recanted that recently) and oh did you know that the Department of Energy is in charge of our nuclear weapons? Yeah neither did he. The Department of Labor? Andrew Puzder, the one-time chief executive of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. (fast food chains). He’s a constant critic of minimum-wage laws (aka why should we pay people a lot of money so that they can live instead of struggle - let them struggle!) aaannnnddddd shockingly he has no governing experience whatsoever. Only a few left, stay with me! Secretary of the Interior nominee Ryan Zinke was a Navy Seal (that’s cool). He firmly supports mining and drilling on federal lands - which is big no no for environmental preservation. The Department of Commerce’s nominee is Wilbur Ross (shockingly another rich white guy) who...has no experience in government and doesn’t care about workers rights. Honestly no one cares, but the Department of Agriculture’s nominee is Sonny Perdue and he’s pretty whatever, and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs pick is David Shulkin who is from the Obama Administration so...that’s cool. I know what I just laid out is a lot. If you want to know more about the good the bad and the (mostly) ugly, check out this article: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/trump-cabinet-tracker/510527/ - it’ll give you all the info you need. It’s important to note that there are two women vying for seat on the cabinet. Elaine Chao (who has already been confirmed as the Secretary of Transportation) and Betsy DeVos (who may not be confirmed for so so many reasons). There is one black man (Dr. Ben Carson...who’s special) and the rest of the guys are old, white, and rich #DrainTheSwamp.

#5. Presidential decorum. For those of you wondering, Trump has none. 0/10. Watch, I’ll put it on a scale against other presidents. Barack Obama was a 10. Bill Clinton was a 6. Reagan was a 7. Nixon was also a 0. See what I’m getting at here? Trump tweets. Oh does he tweet. SAD! He bullies people. He bullies DISABLED PEOPLE. He...can’t read? We don’t know. Our current presidents is...I don’t even know how to describe him. He believe Fox News. But he thinks CNN is fake news. No, wait, is all news fake news? The screenshot I took of his inauguration (which I watched on CNN.com) was that fake news? Did i imagine giant swaths of people missing? And then, after seeing that picture everywhere, why did Sean Spicer (ugh I’m not even going there) get up and lie to the entire press corp and country about it? We’re not all stupid. I have eyes. I’m college-educated. I know there were less people at Trump’s inauguration than there were at Obama’s. And both of those had less people than Reagan had! I wouldn’t really care if not for...alternative facts. Ah, alternative facts. The line spewed by the ever-terrible Kellyanne Conway. Alternative facts. Lies. They are the same thing. We cannot allow our government to dictate what is true and false. They will choose what makes them look good. And that will be detrimental for our country.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I won’t lie to you guys. I got distracted a bunch of times while writing this. I’m at work, after all. But I got distracted because I had to stop to read articles that were coming out AS I WROTE about what’s going on. So I’d like to share what I read every day. Here are some of the things that distracted me:

http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/02/us/milo-yiannopoulos-ivory-tower/index.html?adkey=bn

http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/30/politics/trump-travel-ban-live-blog/index.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-defends-troll-milo-yiannopoulos_us_589315e9e4b0af07cb6b992f?8mapjo6cymohia4i&

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/us/politics/donald-trump-islam.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/us/politics/trump-supreme-court-gorsuch-senate-democrats.html?ref=politics

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/02/tillerson-diplomats-must-be-team-despite-personal-beliefs.html

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TRUMP_IMMIGRATION_SANCTUARY_STATES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-02-10-52-37

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MOBILIZING_MUSLIMS_MAOL-?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-02-02-09-49-14

Please read these (and others) and educate yourselves. You can have an opinion if you’re not educated, but your opinion will be thin (and possibly uninformed) if you don’t back it up with FACTS. ACTUAL FUCKING FACTS. I DON’T DO THIS ALTERNATIVE FACTS BULLSHIT.

Anyway I’ll probably have to write more eventually, but I hope this at least maybe made you think? Or laugh? IDK I’m pretty funny sometimes. Or if you now hate me, well that’s fine too I guess…? Actually no it’s not. I’m pretty cool.

Oh! My next rant will be on Anti-Semitism and Racism and the intersectionality of Racism and Sexism in our country! YAAAAYYYYY

Peace out bitches

Wait no I’m not done I forgot! Going all the way back to the ban on people coming to the country, there are exactly 0 people from any of those countries who have attacked up. Peeps who have attacked us come from countries we didn’t ban (but trump has business ties to so ). ALSO. WHITE SUPREMACIST MEN DO MOST OF THE TERROR ATTACKS IN THE COUNTRY GET IT THROUGH YOUR GODDAMN THICK SKULLS. IT’S NOT MUSLIMS. IT’S THE WHITE MALE RACISTS. Okay the end.