#its from nov 2021...i was So young

[andromerot]

[oswlld]

Eight (8) Shows to Get to Know Me

tagged by @talays-portkey ♥ ty for tagging me and having me walk down memory lane for the past few days (spent too much time in all the tags microdosing on my upbringing)

DISCLAIMER: i wanted to showcase defining eras in my life/made an impact in a substantial way; i’m also recommending an ep to watch with each one, which isn’t part of the tag format but imma do it

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i. LOST (2004-2010)

this was my whole world for my entire hs existence and into my early college years. half of the shows listed here stems from my first love of the ensemble cast, their interwoven yet clandestine storylines, and the mystery box. at my first sdcc, half of the cast was present when they debuted p1 of the series finale (you’d think i was dead the whole time fksfsk;lv)

the jessi special: The Constant (04x05)

ii. Fringe (2008-2013)

yes, i faithfully followed jj abrams into another insane show. i think it actually altered my brain chemistry, rewired something in me, devoured a piece of me. once LOST was over and Fringe brought in the alternate universe, i dove in head first and never resurfaced

the jessi special: Making Angels (04x11)

iii. Doctor Who (2005-Present)

i think it was technically winter 2010 when i started binging this show because s6 was my first time catching it live (was young and naïve, i caught it on bbca lol) ive been on hellsite for almost two years at the time and fully became a fandom blog, so it was inevitable i would love this series. i think it was the first show i made gifs/edits for???

the jessi special: The Doctor’s Wife (06x04)

iv. Lizzie Bennet Diaries (2012-2013)

oh look, my dna makeup shifts again. i actually started watching this show the week leading up to Darcy Day and can still vividly remember the migraines from binging 8-10min eps times 60ish worth of content. this show got me into writing my first fic, running an rp blog, creating instrumental playlists, making a DWxLBD blog, AND eventually flying my ass back to CA to meet the cast and beloved mutuals at VidCon

the jessi special: A New Buddy (ep56)

v. Orphan Black (2013-2017)

happy international women’s day to this show and this show only! i think of all the shows listed here, this is the first time since LOST i caught all the eps in real time from the very beginning. this was filling the hole Fringe was about to carve deep in me. but if you cut me open, you will find the beth-shaped hole that nothing/no one has been able to fill and likely will never fill til the end of time

the jessi special: The Collapse of Nature (04x01)

vi. Shadowhunters (2016-2019)

im willing to admit that the reason i got into this show was because of the wedding kiss haha i saw the clip, signed the adoption papers on the spot, and went on to write a 100K+ wip series. admittedly, i confess that this was a DNF and never finished the last season... i abandoned my boy.gif

the jessi special: Of Men and Angels (01x06)

vii. Sense8 (2015-2018)

a show about eight children than i gave birth to, that i raised on my own, that i will defend on my death bed and beyond??? that show sense8?? yes that show sense8. fun fact, when they did the screening of the finale in Chicago, the cast ended up sitting three rows behind me in the theater and i could hear them talking in between scenes the entire evening. wish i could bottle that feeling up

the jessi special: I Have No Room in My Heart for Hate (02x07)

viii. Bad Buddy (2021-2022)

and we finally made it to the current decade! its nov 2021, im fresh off leaving my previous job and still getting situated in my new position, yet this show was a siren calling to me in the dark mist of my life. i ended up saving the binge watching for the week of my bday and my whole life shifted again. it must have been so alarming on the outside, seeing me go from making 1-2 edits a month to 1-2 edits a day for almost THREE MONTHS. the fact that i still cont to avg two edits/week since then... oy lol

the jessi special: Ep10 (shocked pikachu.jpg)

and ill also throw some honorable mentions too: Chuck, The Good Place, Vice Versa, Twenty Five Twenty One, Once Upon a Time, and Elementary

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now tagging @pranink, @icouldhyperfixatehim, @noxclara, @curious-earth (no pressure tho!)

[niobefurens]

Actual People.

The Abyss: Seeking Permission Through Onscreen Humiliation

For femme triple threats—actors/writers/directors—the subject of humiliation, embarrassment, and debasement is both limiting and empowering.

Long, Interesting.

•

09 NOV 2023

Actual People (Kit Zauhar, 2021).

—Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Humiliation is one of humanity’s cruelest jokes, one of its most repugnant punishments. The Latin root of the word, “humus,” translates to “earth,” or “dirt,” the idea that a person loses dignity and returns to something inhuman, crude and trampled on. The fear of being humiliated is a specter persuasive enough to shrink whole personalities, curtail ambitions, end life as someone knew it. Many mainstream filmmakers avoid its narrative possibilities because, maybe, to degrade a character would mean to degrade the film itself. I don’t think that’s the case. To see humiliation depicted onscreen can be like witnessing a corpse flower blooming: compelling, strange, beautiful; yet you’re very glad you’re not in the room during its unfurling.

I’ve always been drawn to films that allow the power of humiliation to overcome a character; my filmmaking in both ambition and practice have been shaped by my yen to explore this unspoken taboo. And I’ve discovered several role models in quest who shared my goals, my ethos, even my gender. When I looked at the debuts of the femme filmmakers I admired, I found that many of them wrote, directed, and starred in the projects that helped launch their careers. So I did it as well. And I did find some validation with my first feature Actual People (2021), in which I play a “faildaughter,” a young and often middle-to-upper-middle-class femme protagonist who is a bit of a virtuoso when it comes to self-humiliation. When confronted with challenges (ones that are notably padded by a level of financial security), the faildaughter will zig when she should zag, have weird and sad sex when she should abstain, and quit like a coward when it’s not even that taxing to persevere (the most popular example is probably Phoebe Waller-Bridge's eponymous Fleabag, whose adventures in incompetence were not only compelling, but relatable).

At the beginning of a filmmaker’s career, there are fewer eyes on their projects and therefore little to no expectations, bringing about the chaotic combination of more creative freedom with few people who want to be involved. This leads to some artists, either brazenly or defiantly, jumping into the role of the “triple threat,” meaning that they write, direct, and star in their own film (I’m co-opting this phrase from theater, in which the term refers to a performer who can act, dance, and sing).

A New Leaf (Elaine May, 1971).

On the other much longer end of the spectrum, there were the male triple threats who came in the form of charismatic cowboy legends (Clint Eastwood), neurotic intellectuals (Woody Allen, Nanni Moretti), mumblecorers like Joe Swanberg and Andrew Bujalski, and legends like Orson Welles and Charlie Chaplin. The range of the masculine triple threat seems endless; they’ve been heroes, lady wooers, assholes, good-intentioned guys, lovable normies, leeches, losers, sometimes all within one movie. And they continue to be. 

This is not true for many, most, of the contemporary woman writer/director/actors. Each of their worlds and their bodies in their worlds tell a more unified story: more often than not, a story of embarrassment, social faux pas, ungraceful but earnest attempts to assert their importance in a world that seems to not want anything to do with them. Particularly, the films that begin a femme triple threat’s oeuvre feel like they were born out of a singular primordial organism, squirming, writhing, already mortified at the prospect of being alive on this earth.

In A New Leaf (1971), pioneer Elaine May’s first film that she writes, directs, and stars in, she plays a bumbling cash cow, easy prey for a narcissistic and soon-to-be-broke buffoon. Issa Rae was first the “Awkward Black Girl,” constantly and gracelessly in distress. In Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005), Miranda July’s unnerving portrayal of an aspiring video artist bares her tenderness like an open wound for the world to prod at. Of course, there’s Lena Dunham, first getting fucked in a construction tube in Tiny Furniture (2010) by a guy who is somehow insidiously nonchalant, then in Girls (2012-2017) wading in the tepid bathwater of shame, lingering in it till she shivered with cold. 

Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1997).

In many of these films, there’s a self-reflexive, almost meta quality to the narratives. The protagonists are seen lurching through life in search of meaning and acceptance, simulating, we assume, similar struggles to those of the real-life filmmaker. At the same time, the artists seem to view the act of filmmaking itself as a means of self-searching and self-definition, a process of translating their lived experiences into something with technical and emotional resonance. Desiree Akhavan’s Appropriate Behavior (2014) explores a desperate and delusional Brooklynite going to great lengths to win her ex back, playing a woman so embarrassing even her family winces at her antics. Cheryl Dunye’s Watermelon Woman (1997) shows a young, aspiring filmmaker invalidated by the faux liberalism of racist academia, navigating a dead-end job, and enduring the cringe-inducing scrutiny of her interracial relationship. Joanna Arnow’s work, including her short film Bad at Dancing (2015),and her recent fiction feature debut The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (2023), put her deadpan persona front and center of all manners of sexual, social, and even familial debasement in the name of trying to understand where and how she fits into the various communities and relationships she sees as making the mundanity of her life worthwhile. A review in IndieWire by Ryan Lattanzio characteristically cites her “willingness to degrade herself on camera.” 

This all seems counterintuitive if you want to establish yourself as an auteur worth investing in. This promise of a big future has unfortunately become the primary marker of a successful debut: not necessarily what has been accomplished but how quickly your larger and more expensive follow-up is announced. If that’s the case, why would a femme triple threat not position themselves as some kind of glamorous maneater, a very “strong and powerful” lady, or at least some pensive ingenue who the camera always seems to catch in the most soft and flattering lighting? We know that actors are not their characters, but the boundaries of identity become blurrier when the actor is writing the part for herself (and oftentimes there is a level of auto-fictitiousness to the plot). And unfortunately, I don’t think the world is ready for a woman triple threat who makes films about how amazing her onscreen personas are. I think, actually, that woman would receive a record-breaking number of death threats. But women still need to make movies, and they still need to be seen. 

When I considered the emotional scaffolding of my character in Actual People, I knew that the foundation would be forged from embarrassment, exploring a character who was flailing and failing, self-absorbed while lacking self-awareness, wanting so openly and grotesquely that her desire felt like an infection other people didn’t want to catch. This was, perhaps paradoxically, the easiest way for me to get what I wanted for my career: a premiere, an audience, streaming, the next project. It had to be through the tactics of self-degradation. 

The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed (Joanna Arnow, 2023).

I often received the question of why did I want to act in my own project, especially as an overstretched, struggling indie filmmaker on a dismal (or, in industry parlance, “micro”) budget? I have a lot of answers I give, about liking to act and the justification of my theater background, the scarcity of roles for racially ambiguous actors, et cetera. But if I’m considering the conception of femme triple threats as a whole, I wonder if my multi-part participation is a declaration of an artist’s complete and total competence. Not only can this woman write and direct, the triple-threat suggests, but she can carry a film with her presence. 

This notion of self-sufficiency is crucial. If you are making your first film without the privilege of being a nepo baby or a pre-established industry darling via connections, previous jobs, or dating the right person at the right time, you are casting “no-name” actors (a phrase I believe should be banished from the casting glossary, but I know I have no sway). Without access to more established performers who oftentimes don’t want to take a chance on a first-time filmmaker, casting prospects can become quite bleak. The alternative to hiring known actors is a widespread process like an online casting call, which could attract upwards of hundreds of eager actors, most of whom are far from qualified for the available role. So, the filmmaker decides she’ll just do it herself. And the femme triple threat is born.

There is also some comfort in knowing that if the film is poorly received, as so many independent endeavors threaten to be at some stage of production, you’re not putting another young woman’s image in jeopardy. Onscreen nudity was and continues to be a serious consideration with my films. I thought, If I’m not willing to get naked for my own story, why should another actress? Especially for a young woman who is “unknown” as a performer, nudity in an indie film can feel exploitative, risqué for the sake of it, a film school formula to show some level of seriousness for the project (for example: black-and-white, grainy film + naked waifish woman = something French-looking and therefore “art”). But this sense of an auteur bearing all for her own project, emotionally or physically or both, has the impression of a riskier gamble. She’s putting herself, her dignity, on the line. At least if the gamble doesn’t pay off, she only has herself to pick back up.

Tiny Furniture (Lena Dunham, 2010).

In a New Yorker article about two seminal pieces of vulnerable and all-bearing woman-made works, Girls and Sheila Heti’s How Should a Person Be? (2010), Anna Holmes writes, “The passions provoked by the show—among both critics and admirers—suggest something both refreshing and a little startling: that a pop-culture product that focuses mostly on women and intimate, sometimes gruesome details of their lives, is still considered a provocation.”

The provocation comes from a general audience being shocked that they are meant to take the minutiae of a woman's worldview seriously because of the attention and seriousness the material is shown by the artist herself. Let’s say that a film or show chronicles female friendship on a microscopic level, we see how these characters interact, we become privy to their inside jokes, we understand their past even if we did not participate in it. Many mainstream films use female friendships as easy plot devices. Femme friends are side characters good for a few quips, blatant foils to the protagonist, or sexy foreshadowing to preempt the betrayal of a stolen fiancé. But that doesn’t have to be the case. If a filmmaker takes the time to make an audience understand the intricacies of a friendship, that this bond is as powerful and complex as romantic love, then whether that friendship survives or how this intimacy changes becomes crucial to the plot, energy, and point of the story. The artist is saying that the character's friendship, however trivial one could disregard it as, is not only important, but necessary, to making the film go forward. It’s being taken seriously, and therefore there are aesthetic, tonal, and technical considerations to be made. Maybe in the real world this “storyline” wouldn’t even be given the dignity of narrative, but on screen the minutiae of so many women’s lives (people’s lives!) gets its moment of glory.

There’s the argument that in a sexist landscape people don’t necessarily want women to succeed, so it’s easier for a woman to make work that debases herself before someone else can on their own terms. There is perhaps some truth to that, but there’s a big difference between self-flagellation that elicits pity and vulnerability in the name of self-empowerment. These films, which I believe succeed most magnificently when they make me cringe, squirm, die a little inside, and rebirth me into a more receptive and courageous thinker, are definitely not interested in pity. They demand to be on an equal playing field of empathy. The vision feels more sacred, like modern martyrdom. To put yourself so vulnerably on screen, and to do so knowing there is a high possibility of condemnation, is a sacrifice, but at least it’s one that the artist is in control of. Unfortunately, unfairly, maybe being a woman means having a body always on the precipice of some kind of sacrifice, and you can either accept it or let someone else take control of the ritual. The lore of legendary filmmaking is rife with horror stories of women who allowed a male director to take control of their body and psyche. They gave themselves up for a vision that was deemed greater than their individual suffering, but the films don’t necessarily honor this unnecessary loss. If a film actually necessitates a sacrifice from a woman, shouldn’t she make it for the sake of her own vision and ideals?

Appropriate Behavior (Desiree Akhavan, 2014).

To sacrifice something means that the thing given up has power and value. To degrade someone means that that person also holds in them the potential to be venerated. You don’t knock someone down unless there is the threat that they can destroy you. When humiliation is given the spotlight, it is deemed something worth filming and showing the world; even the smallest acts surpass trivialization—there is this uncompromising humanness that must be recognized, like someone has just been stripped bare in front of you and you mourn in real time that you have no covering to offer them. After all, can’t “humus,” earth, dirt, imply a person has been brought down to the most fundamental forms of existence? The film’s stakes, however small, become charged, brutal, meaningful, and you’re a part of them. You understand them. Perhaps without the audience ever fully realizing it, the woman on screen who they thought was so pathetic and unruly has gained full control of the viewer's attention and empathy. And maybe even respect.

In 2022 Elaine May, already long considered a legend, received an honorary Oscar. Akhavan went on to win Sundance. Issa Rae recently won the Trailblazers Peabody Award. There are countless other successes from these artists that once bared all and asked for nothing but someone to watch them in return. They are more than respected, they’re revered, lauded, canon. They let their onscreen personas have the most awkward sex, cry over bad decisions, suffer, fail at the easiest things, get taken advantage of, have their hearts broken by the wrong people, and a thousand more humiliations. And we took them seriously too.

At the same time, May hadn’t been able to make a movie since 1987 because she was continuously stifled by the patriarchal bureaucracy of the studio system. The gender disparity in Hollywood is still abysmal. Among the dozens of successful women auteurs I admire, some of whom I have the privilege of knowing personally, I know the struggle for funding, validity, and respect can be as difficult as when they first started out. As I attempt to get my third film off the ground, the prospect of acting in my own project feels not only like a financial hindrance, but potentially spiritually draining; I wonder if there would be anything left of me once I call the final “cut.” After all, sacrificing yourself over and over again is fucking exhausting.

Kit Zauhar

[screenshots123]

📆 25 Nov 2023 📰 Researchers probe Kawasaki disease causes as infections plunge amid COVID outbreak 🗞 Mainichi Japan

Since the coronavirus pandemic began, the number of young children affected by Kawasaki disease in Japan has sharply declined, according to a nonprofit agency that studies the mysterious illness.

The disease, discovered by Tomisaku Kawasaki in 1967, affects mostly children aged under 5, causing inflammation of the blood vessels. Additional symptoms can include redness of the eyes, a deeply red-colored tongue and a full-body rash of the same color. Viewing the sudden change in patient numbers as an opportunity for scientific insight, experts are moving forward with research into its causes.

In serious cases, the illness can cause lumps in the coronary arteries, the blood vessels that transport blood to the heart, damaging the heart muscles. Such lumps form in about 3% of patients and can leave aftereffects.

The number of children affected by Kawasaki disease was on the rise prior to the coronavirus pandemic, reaching around 17,000 in 2019. This figure represented a rate of 370.8 per 100,000 children under the age of 5, the highest rate of any country in the world.

According to a survey by the nonprofit Japan Kawasaki Disease Research Center, the number of patients declined to 11,173 in 2020 and remained under 12,000 in 2021 and 2022. The rate of occurrence also fell to 250.6 per 100,000 people in 2020, dipping below 300 for the first time in eight years, and remained in the 200 range for the following two years.

Research center director Yoshikazu Nakamura, a public health expert and professor emeritus at Jichi Medical University, said that before the pandemic, the month of January saw the highest number of patients, followed by August. In Taiwan, South Korea and other areas, meanwhile, many patients are seen in the early summer. The seasonal variation makes sense if multiple microbes are behind the symptoms, Nakamura explained.

Nakamura pointed to two potential causes for the decline in cases of Kawasaki disease. First, heightened hygienic measures during the spread of COVID-19 that greatly reduced seasonal influenza cases may have halted the spread of the microbes or viruses that trigger the illness.

The other is the more home-oriented lifestyle with fewer outings. In some cases, infants' diseases are caused by viruses or bacteria transmitted from their caregivers. There is the possibility that fewer outings by parents or other closely residing relatives has reduced the number of opportunities for this type of infection.

Despite some patients having made fewer trips to medical institutions during the pandemic, few with Kawasaki disease's distinctive symptoms such as continuous high fever and red, swollen limbs are thought to have failed to seek medical attention.

Nakamura said, "I'd like to find out and clarify which of the two possible factors was in play by comparing the changes in coronavirus patient numbers over the three years since 2020 with region-by-region breakdowns of the pandemic. In doing so, we may come closer to uncovering the causes of Kawasaki disease. I also want to see the number of patients for this year, as societal activity undergoes massive change."

[malaysiankpopfans]

RADWIMPS Asian Tour 2023 in Kuala Lumpur

General sale begins Thursday, April 13th at 10am.

KUALA LUMPUR, 11th April 2023 — Renowned Japanese rock band RADWIMPS are thrilled to announce an exclusive Asian tour this summer, following the news of a sold-out US tour and the announcement of a European leg. The Asian tour kicks off in Seoul, Korea and will see the band bring their high-octane live experience to Taipei, Taiwan, Bangkok, Thailand, Jakarta, Indonesia and including Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the first time!

Promoted by InTour Live and Sozo, tickets to RADWIMPS Asian Tour 2023 in Kuala Lumpur are priced from MYR368 (excluding MYR4 booking fee). Tickets will go on sale at 10AM local time on Thursday, April 13 via www.ticketcharge.com.my

Lead singer Yojiro Noda says: "I don't even know how to express my excitement. It's been three years and we're all three years older. But our music has matured, too. I will come see you as if you're a lover I was longing to reunite with, so be ready! Can't wait to see you all in person.” Bass player Yusuke Takeda adds: “It's been a while since we played a concert where the audience could scream and shout, so I want to have as much fun as we possibly can.”

RADWIMPS have also recently teamed up with highly acclaimed film music composer Kazuma Jinnouchi to create the perfect soundtrack and score for award-winning auteur director Makoto Shinkai’s latest film “Suzume” now showing in theatres across Asia.

"Suzume” is the story about a young girl traveling through various ruins across Japan while closing doors causing disaster. “Suzume” opened in Japan on Nov. 11, 2022. It was #1 for 3 consecutive weeks with a gross of over 14.22 billion Yen at the box office to date! The international rollout started on March 2nd in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau and Suzume has opened to number one in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Korea and Vietnam so far with over 2 million people have seen the film. The film just opened in one of the biggest markets in the world -China- on March 24th and it sold 70 million yuan (US$10.17 million) in pre-sale tickets ahead of its release, making it the highest number of pre-sales for an animated film in China ever. The soundtrack by RADWIMPS and Kazuma Jinnouchi also recently received “Best Music” at 46th Japan Academy Award.

Formed in 2001, Japanese 4-piece band RADWIMPS made their major label debut in 2005. Soon after, they garnered a broad fan base, with the younger generation at the core. The band has released nine studio albums thus far. The band's creation of music for Shinkai’s previous record-breaking animated feature films "Your Name." and "Weathering with You" led to recognitions at the Japanese Academy Award for Best Original Score. Their musical activities go far beyond Japan, including touring extensively around the world.

In Nov. 2021, the band released their latest studio album “FOREVER DAZE” and went on the road for a nationwide Japanese tour to support the album. “FOREVER DAZE” was written and recorded throughout the pandemic and speaks to the musical challenges the guys faced, their hopes moving forward and features a diverse group of collaborators and experimental elements. The album welcomed guest artists including the famous actor/singer Masaki Suda, as well as two of the most up-and-coming artists, Awich and iri.

RADWIMPS ASIAN TOUR 2023 IN KUALA LUMPUR

Date: July 25, 2023, Tuesday

Venue: ZEPP Kuala Lumpur

Ticket Prices: MYR408 / MYR398 / MYR368 (excluding MYR4 booking fee)

Ticketing: www.ticketcharge.com.my

Hotline: +603-92228811 * All prices exclude RM4 booking fee. * Each transaction is limited to 4 tickets only.

[renbennett]

bibliography

Hirasuna, Delphine. The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946. Google Books, Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed, 19 Nov. 2013, books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_cseAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT9&dq=japanese+internment+camps+life+inside&ots=7UmMg9H6zf&sig=vw_QuRYjttXPaH9AGVCTyT-ZZLM#v=onepage&q=japanese%20internment%20camps%20life%20inside&f=false. Accessed 10 Feb. 2023. This book very specifically details the process of the Japanese internment camps as well as what it was like inside of the internment camps (art, day to day, etc.) I believe this will be a helpful source for my map.

Pettersen, William. Success Story, Japanese-American Style. 9 Jan. 1966. This piece almost seems to justify what was done to Japanese-Americans because it “made them better” and tries to argue that how we treat minorities is not to blame because their levels of success are completely based on “how hard they work”, undercutting the plight and discrimination of black people in the United States.

Densho Digital Repository. “Ddr-Manz-1-112-15 — Toshiko Aiboshi Interview Segment 15 | Densho Digital Repository.” Ddr.densho.org, ddr.densho.org/interviews/ddr-manz-1-112-15/?tableft=segments. Accessed 20 Jan. 2011. This series of interviews with Tokisho Aiboshi documents her specific experience through the process of the internment camps and provides insight into how young Nisei children experienced the confusing and rash decisions of government officials.

https://ddr.densho.org/interviews/ddr-manz-1-1-1/

Dennis- orphan in the children’s village

Saavedra, Martin. Early Childhood Conditions and Mortality: Evidence from Japanese American Internment ∗. University of Pittsburgh, 20 Aug. 2013. What’s interesting about this source is that it documents long-term health impacts caused by internment camps. I believe this will contribute to my map because I hope to map the effects that internment camps had beyond the war.

López-Calvo, Ignacio. One World Periphery Reads the Other. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 14 Dec. 2009, p. 130. I had not realized before reading this that Japanese people living in Latin American countries were affected by the concentration camps. People of Japanese descent living in countries like Peru were located and deported to the United States so they could be sent to concentration camps and after the fact were denied re-entry. Not only had the US nearly forgotten about them after the war, the countries they had come from used this as a way of keeping them out of their countries, while they were lenient with German immigrants.

https://time.com/5743555/wwii-incarceration-japanese-latin-americans/

Yoshida, Helen. “Redress and Reparations for Japanese American Incarceration.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, 13 Aug. 2021, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/redress-and-reparations-japanese-american-incarceration. This article follows the story of Amy Iwasaki Mass and others, who was just a young girl when incarcerated. Mass went on to become a social worker who helped with the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This article describes the lengthy process of receiving reparations for Japanese Americans. For my map, I would like to highlight the amount of time and processes that it took to even get to this point, and hopefully point out the areas it failed to address as well.

Fickle, Tara. “NO-NO BOY’S DILEMMA: GAME THEORY AND JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT LITERATURE.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 60, no. 4, 2014, pp. 740–66. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26421755. Accessed 10 Feb. 2023. In No No Boy’s Dilema, Tara Fickle attempts to use game theory to explain how Asian-Americans and more specifically Japanese-Americans have been used as pawns and also the way in which the government viewed its own citizens as players.

Tokunaga, Yu. “Japanese Internment as an Agricultural Labor Crisis: Wartime Debates over Food Security versus Military Necessity.” Southern California Quarterly, vol. 101, no. 1, 2019, pp. 79–113. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27085976. Accessed 10 Feb. 2023. This article discusses the very real change in agricultural production because of Japanese internment. One thing I really like about this source is that it reminds me of our Nation’s continued prioritization of militarization over the general public’s well being. This applies to the overuse of police force currently as opposed to social reform and it also applies in this article to the food shortage caused by the rash and racist military decision to impose internment camps.

[tallmantall]

#JamesDonaldson On #MentalHealth - #Parents Should Discuss #Depression, #Anxiety And Even #Suicide With #Kids: Experts

By Aya Al-Hakim  Global News WATCH: Canada gets set to launch a three-digit #suicidecrisisline – Sep 2, 2022 - #Parents should have proactive conversations around #mentalhealth and #suicide with #kids, some experts suggest, because they say there isn’t enough talk about these issues. According to the Government of Canada website, around 11 people die by #suicide each day, with around 4,000 deaths by #suicide taking place per year. One-third of these deaths are among those 45-59 years old. The government also states that “#suicide is the second leading cause of death among #youth and young #adults (15-34 years).” READ MORE: #Teachers say #socialmedia is ‘hurting’ #students — but their jobs have also gotten harder “If you actually look and dig a little bit deeper into that data, it’s the leading cause of non-accidental death. So, it’s outpacing most other causes of death,” Mark Henick, a #mentalhealthstrategist based in Toronto, said on the Roy Green Show on Nov. 18 — also the day for International Survivors of #Suicide Loss Day (ISOSLD). “More people die by #suicide around the world than murder and war combined. But we talk about those things every day and we still don’t talk enough about #suicide,” he added. CASA House fills gap in #mentalhealthsupport International Survivors of #Suicide Loss Day (ISOSLD) takes place every year in mid-November, where “those who are impacted by #suicide loss can find comfort, remember loved ones, and share stories of loss, healing, and hope” through special events, according to the Canadian Association for #SuicidePrevention’s website. Henick is one of those people who have been impacted, having had #suicidalthoughts when he was 12 years old. “I think when people open up about these kinds of vulnerabilities, about really scary things, like a #kid being suicidal, it really touches a nerve with people… because it’s something that so many of us have actually experienced,” said Henick. READ MORE: #Suicidalthoughts among Canadians significantly higher during #COVID-19: StatCan The most recent findings by Statistics Canada published in May show that the prevalence of #suicidalthoughts among #adults was significantly higher in 2021 than in 2019, before #COVID-19 hit. The occurrence of #suicidalthoughts among #adults in 2021 was 4.2 per cent, which was “significantly higher” than 2.7 per cent in 2019 pre-#pandemic, according to StatCan. Researchers measured the increase by using the 2021 Survey on #COVID-19 and #MentalHealth, conducted between Feb. 1 and May 7, 2021. Telus improves access to #mentalhealthcounselling The Centre for #SuicidePrevention also reports on its website that “#teens are admitted to hospitals for #suicideattempts more than any other age group.” Michael Zwaagstra, a public #highschool #teacher and author, says he’s “not shocked” when hearing these statistics. “We know that #mentalhealth among young people is a major issue… there’s no question that the last two and a half years of dealing with the #COVID #pandemic and all the restrictions from it have been absolutely devastating for young people,” Zwaagstra, who was also a guest on the Roy Green Show, said. “They have borne much of the brunt of the impact. And so, you add that into some of the longer-term issues that we’ve been seeing with young people in #mentalhealth. And unfortunately, it is not shocking that this is becoming an even bigger and bigger problem,” he added. #James Donaldson notes:Welcome to the “next chapter” of my life… being a voice and an advocate for #mentalhealthawarenessandsuicideprevention, especially pertaining to our younger generation of students and student-athletes.Getting men to speak up and reach out for help and assistance is one of my passions. Us men need to not suffer in silence or drown our sorrows in alcohol, hang out at bars and strip joints, or get involved with drug use.Having gone through a recent bout of #depression and #suicidalthoughts myself, I realize now, that I can make a huge difference in the lives of so many by sharing my story, and by sharing various resources I come across as I work in this space.  #http://bit.ly/JamesMentalHealthArticleOrder your copy of James Donaldson's latest book,#CelebratingYourGiftofLife:From The Verge of Suicide to a Life of Purpose and Joy www.celebratingyourgiftoflife.com READ MORE: ‘I almost took my life’: why some former church-run #school #students are calling for change As a #teacher, Zwaagstra says has seen #students suffering from #mentalhealthchallenges in his classroom, where it plays out in different ways. “One of the most obvious (signs) is simply not coming to class… and in many cases, #students aren’t coming to class not because they are just choosing to skip, but they really are having #mentalhealthstruggles,” he said. Another sign to look for, Zwaagstra says, is the student’s general demeanor. “We see it in terms of disengagement… especially when a young person has that sense of #hopelessness, where they think that things aren’t going to get better. That’s when you see the most profound impact,” said Zwaagstra. #Men suffering in silence encouraged to talk about #mentalhealth He says there are supports in place at #schools like guidance #counselors who can help, and he hopes that young people can talk to a safe and trusted #adult, like a #parent or #teacher, about what they are going through. Henick says it’s a good thing that there’s more support and awareness surrounding #mentalhealth and #suicide in recent years on a public level, but the problem is that people are still being told that if they’re feeling suicidal, they’ll have to go to the hospital. “That’s a good thing. People should continue to do that, but also recognize the reality of the fact that that’s not enough,” said Henick. READ MORE: More Quebec #teen #girls hospitalized for #suicidalbehavior in 2021 public health says In Quebec, for example, the number of #teenage #girls who visited Quebec hospital emergency rooms after attempting to take their own lives rose by 23 per cent in 2021, according to the province’s public health institute. In a report published in January, the institute said that for every 100,000 #girls aged 15 to 19 in Quebec, 1,630 visited a hospital in 2021 because of #suicidalthoughts and 227 went to a hospital because they had attempted to take their own lives — more than twice the rate among any other age group of either #gender. “(The hospitals) might discharge them with some planning, but that’s nearly not enough. I think #parents need to be taking a more proactive intervention for their kids before it ever gets to that point,” said Henick. He says #parents need to have conversations about #depression, #anxiety, and even #suicide with their #children. “There’s this idea that if you talk to your #kids about #suicide, you’re giving them the idea to do it. That’s a myth. If they’re thinking about it, then they’re already thinking about it,” Henick said. If the #children or #youth show tendencies of #self-harm, Henick says that’s when #parents need to be able to jump in — to connect them with ongoing care that isn’t just a one-time visit to an emergency room but to have them speak with a #counselor or #therapist. “It’s one of the key protective factors. Get them volunteering and get them involved and caring about something and really build a whole wrap-around system of recovery that isn’t just an emergency intervention,” Henick said. If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911.  The Canadian Association for #SuicidePrevention, #Depression Hurts and #Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 — all offer ways for getting help if you, or someone you know, is suffering from #mentalhealthissues. For a directory of support services in your area, visit the Canadian Association for #SuicidePrevention. Learn more about how to help someone in crisis on the Government of Canada website. Photo by Brett Sayles on Pexels.com Read the full article

[miens-reading-nook]

Year of the Reaper by Makiia Lucier

Pages: 352 Published: 9 Nov 2021 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Content warnings at the end

Both versions of the cover are absolutely stunning, and as soon as I started reading, I knew I was going to love this book.

From the get go, the picture the author paints of this universe is so fraught with tension and fear, it becomes instantly terrifying in the way only ordinary and real-life things are. Even though the author started writing this book in 2018 and thus was not inspired by the recent pandemic, I think no one alive today can remain unaffected by the genuine dread a world ridden with plague inspires. My first thought when I realized Cas was 18 was to roll my eyes and think, why are these characters always so young, why couldn't he have been 22 or something. But then you get to meet him and know him better and your heart breaks because yes, this boy is too young, and that's the whole point. Cas has spent the last three years in absolute hell, he's been irreparably changed by it, but he is still a boy. He's kind, and sensitive, and even though he's technically a man now, he's still so young in all the ways that matter. Every time he swallowed back tears, I wanted to reach through the pages and pull him into a hug. He is so loved, so cherished by everyone around him, it's so beautiful to see. Especially because it feels genuine. And yes, he's smart, strong, he has really good instincts and he saves the day as a main character is wont to do, but he's also kind, flawed, afraid, vulnerable, and so very, very human. He's so tired of death, so tired of suffering, but instead of turning into a bitter, jaded man, he retains the kindness and gentleness that made everyone hold him in such high regard in the first place. I think things would probably be different if he had found a different situation waiting for him in Palmerin, but regardless, he's so good, even if he doesn't believe so himself. I absolutely love how savage he is in the first flash back, by the way. The descriptions and the mental pictures I got as the story unfolded were so clear that it felt like watching a movie at times, I swear. And this scene in particular is so damn striking. And the hunt for the killer. Throughout the whole story, you're following Cas as he tries to figure out who tried to kill the baby prince when he arrived in Palmerin, and the author is leaving you crumbs and clues for you to reach a very obvious conclusion only to rip the rug from under you in a wonderfully constructed shocking reveal. I'm sure many people guessed who the killer was, but I'll admit the author totally had me fooled. It was an absolute pleasure to find out I was wrong. Cook's son in the corner absolutely broke my heart. I loved this book's take on spirits and afterlife. It's was nothing exceptionally different or groundbreaking, but it felt original in its own way. I loved the lynxes. Such a tiny detail, but I loved the idea of a city littered by pet lynxes, what a choice. And the fact that all of them gravitate toward Cas is wonderful. The surprise queer representation! However small and sad, I loved that the king’s answer to it was to imply half his military is queer too. Reading the author's note at the end and realizing it was inspired by a real story was also very cool. I think I would read more stories about this universe if the author decided to turn this into a series, but it also works perfectly as a standalone. The writing is incredible, the kind that makes you forget you're reading because you're completely absorbed by the story, the plot is great, the characters are fully fleshed and three dimensional, and it has just the right amount of hope and happy endings that you finish the book with a smile on your face even though it's filled with so many heartbreaking things. Content warnings: implied torture, gore, illness, amputation, human experimentation, black plague

[abcnewspr]

ABC NEWS STUDIOS ANNOUNCES NEW DOCU-SERIES ‘GRAILS: WHEN SNEAKERS CHANGE THE GAME’ ON MOREHOUSE COLLEGE GOLF CHAMPIONS WHO CREATED THE LIFESTYLE BRAND EASTSIDE GOLF, STREAMING EXCLUSIVELY ON HULU, DEC. 14

The Six-Part Series Is Directed and Produced by ESPN’s Hannah Storm; Featuring DJ Khaled, Daymond John, Chris Paul and More

ABC News*

ABC News Studios is taking a behind-the-scenes look at the sneaker industry in the new series “Grails: When Sneakers Change the Game,” set to premiere Wednesday, Dec. 14, on Hulu. The six-part series profiles entrepreneurs Earl Cooper and Olajuwon Ajanaku, former Morehouse College golf champions who created the lifestyle brand Eastside Golf to promote diversity on the golf course.

Directed and produced by Hannah Storm and her production company, Brainstormin’ Productions, the series follows the two young Black creators who strike a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to partner with Nike, Inc.’s Jordan Brand in designing an innovative line of golf sneakers and apparel to be worn on and off the course. Their brand, Eastside Golf, is epitomized by a logo of a Black golfer, a unique insignia that they hope will disrupt the industry by authentically inspiring a community to break down barriers, aspire for excellence, and create a future where we all belong.

“I loved directing this series because the mission and story of Eastside Golf is so inspirational,” said Hannah Storm. “In a very meaningful and personal way, we were able to bring together so many incredible people from the worlds of sports, fashion and entertainment to tell this story.  Everyone wanted to be a part of this project, because they believe in what Eastside Golf stands for and the power of diversity and inclusion. Olajuwon and Earl's collaboration with Jordan Golf, resonates well beyond sneakers and golf, because it is the story of a dream come true and the journey towards making meaningful change.”

Eastside Golf and Jordan Brand dropped their first collaboration, the Air Jordan IV sneakers, in August 2021. Following the success of last year’s limited release, Eastside Golf’s latest Jordan Brand capsule collection, “Out the Mud”, launched on Nov. 12, 2022, to even more acclaim.

The series includes interviews with notable figures, including sports stars and industry leaders such as GRAMMY® Award-winning artist and producer DJ Khaled, “Shark Tank” founder and CEO of FUBU Daymond John, Phoenix Suns All-Star guard Chris Paul, sports executive Shawn “Pecas” Costner, founder of Stock X and co-founder of Fanatics Collectibles Josh Luber, sneaker enthusiast Mark “Mayor” Farese, rapper and entrepreneur Joseph “Fat Joe” Cartagena, sneaker influencer Marissa Hill, PGA TOUR golfer and former World Number One Luke Donald, former MLB All-Star pitcher CC Sabathia, PGA TOUR golfer Joseph Bramlett, professional golfer Wyatt Worthington and “The First Pair” author Christyna Pourhabib, among others.

“Grails: When Sneakers Change the Game” is produced by ABC News Studios in association with Brainstormin’ Productions. Roxanna Sherwood is senior executive producer for ABC News Studios. Hannah Storm, Steve Bartels and Shawn “Pecas” Costner are executive producers. The series is produced by Johnson McKelvey. Hannah Storm is the director.

 ABOUT ABC NEWS STUDIOS

ABC News Studios, inspired by ABC News’ trusted reporting, is a premium, narrative non-fiction original production house and commissioning partner of series and specials. ABC News Studios champions untold and authentic stories driving the cultural zeitgeist spanning true crime, investigations, pop culture, and news-adjacent stories. Its subsidiary, ABC News Films, acquires and produces feature documentary films.

ABOUT BRAINSTORMIN’ PRODUCTIONS

Launched in 2008 by award-winning broadcaster, Hannah Storm, Brainstormin’ Productions is a full-service production company that is rooted in personal relationships which help bring to life meaningful and impactful stories. Utilizing nearly 40 years of extensive television and film production and digital expertise, Brainstormin’ Productions creates entertainment in a variety of formats including short and full-length documentaries, branded content, promotional videos, talent services, and other various media projects. For more information visit https://brainstorminproductions.com/.

*COPYRIGHT ©2022 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All photography is copyrighted material and is for editorial use only. Images are not to be archived, altered, duplicated, resold, retransmitted or used for any other purposes without written permission of ABC. Images are distributed to the press in order to publicize current programming. Any other usage must be licensed. Photos posted for Web use must be at the low resolution of 72dpi, no larger than 2x3 in size.

-- ABC -- 

[the-letter-horror-lover]

Time Unravels by lifeisawalkingmonster

Anime » Boruto: Naruto Next Generations Rated: K, English, Adventure & Humor, Words: 692, Favs: 3, Follows: 2, Published: Nov 5, 2021

Boruto characters are not mine but Masashi Kishimoto's

This is a oneshot only

Boruto is 18

Sarada is 18

Himawari is 16

Time Unravels

Boruto, Himawari, and Sarada found a Scroll inside the Hokage's office. Now youre wondering WHAT ARE THEY DOING IN THE HOKAGE'S OFFICE!

"Boruto! Don't touch the scroll!" said Sarada

"Ooohhhh it says that we can go back in time!"

Sarada sighed "Theres no such thing as time travel well in mangas but were not in the fantasy world!""That's cool let me see!"

"Hey don't touch it!"

A blinding light suddenly envelopes them

"There's too many. Hinata's and Neji's Air palms won't be sufficent!"

A bright light appears as Neji jumps to save Hinata from the Ten tails' wood splinters

"Rasengan!" the others looked in shock as an unknown girl did the rasengan

"Hey are you guys alright?"asked a man

The shinobi started talking to each other "Who are they?" "Are they enemies?"

"Hey nii-san why does that look like Uncle Neji from the pictures?"

"Uncle Neji?" asked Neji

"Huh well let us introduce ourselves!" said Boruto with the signature Naruto smile

"My name is Uzumaki Boruto and this is my sister Uzumaki Himawari."

"My name is Uchiha Sarada."

The Allied Shinobi forces started whispering to each other "Uchiha?" "I thought there were only 1 Uchiha survivor!" shouted one shinobi

"Watcha mean?" asked Boruto

"There is one last Uchiha survivor and that's Uchiha Sasuke the S-rank rouge ninja of Konohagakure no Sato

"My dad?" asked Sarada

"What!" shouted a shocked Sakura

"Yeah doesn't everybody know that?"

"Uhh guys why is the Ten Tails and the hero Uchiha Obito who helped fight the Rabit Goddess Kaguya here?" asked Himawari

Ano what do you mean hero?" asked Hinata

"Well it was in the history class that Iruka-Sensei taught us why he said that the 4th Great Ninja War ended like after 2 days like really 2 days?"

Boruto said "Uhh guys why are you all gaping like fishes?" Boruto asked "That's like common knowledge in the village!"

Sarada smacked him at the head "Baka Boruto were in the 4th Great Ninja War because you went to the Hokage's office and stole the scroll!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Neji

"Oh were basically saying that because of nii-san were in the past exactly at the 4th Great Ninja War and we just saved Uncle Neji from dying um

sorry fot being blunt." said Himawari

"Hey Hima is that Hiashi-oji-san" asked Boruto

"It is why does he look so young?" asked Himawari

"Ughhh why do I have to be stuck with the most idiotic siblings but at the same time strongest jonins of the village." asked Sarada exasperated

"What do you mean by strongest jonins in the village?" asked Neji

"Well I'm the son of the 7th hokage and Oohh I have this dojutsu called jougan and i have wind and water affinity I know the rasengan and the complete form honestly there's to much skills I dont wanna explain." said Boruto

Himawari sweatdrops

"Well I'm the daughter of the 7th hokage and I activated the byakugan at 3 well I was able to beat the Hyuga elders in the conflict in the caged bird seal and removed it I also know the complete version of the rasengan I have the summoning toads contract I am Kyuub- I mean Kurama's Jinchuuriki well many more I guess."

"What! Who's the 7th hokage! asked Naruto eyes sparkling "Is it me!" asked Naruto jumping around

"Yeah..." said Sarada

"YATTA!" exclaimed Naruto

"Was tou-chan always this noisy its starting to get on my nerves." said Himawari

"Yeah and mom is also stuttering a lot its scaring me the hell out." said Boruto

Hinata faints Neji catches her and glares at them

"Way to tell her she married her childhood crush."

"I like Uncle Neji already i like his sarcasm its GOLD" said Himawari Neji sighs

Neji thinks 'well this is my family i guess' he smiles

THE END

[truemeg]

cursed child broadway nov 12th 2021 (re-opening)

I'm not going to make this organized because my thoughts and observations are not remotely organized BUT here's a rundown of the re-opening of cursed child on broadway! some stuff I've already mentioned on other platforms so you may see repeats.

Spoilers ahead!

-the one part show doesn't feel like we're missing out on anything. It felt like I was seeing the 2 part show for the most part. Sure, some scenes were faster-paced and some impactful moments had less of a punch than they did before, but all in all the changes didn't feel any different from the 2 part show.

-Lily Luna and Young Harry were cut from the show.

-None of the effects were cut!

-Seeing all the cut scenes, it really does make you see how much "filler" is in the show. Some parts I'm sad are gone (RIP Draco/Scorpius Dark AU scene) and some parts of the show just flow a lot better.

-James Romney and Brady Dalton Richards are an amazing Albus and Scorpius team. You can really tell they created their characters together. When Albus and Scorpius are together they're so in sync and so jumpy and enthusiastic together. Both of them also play their characters with a sense of sadness in them too.

-James' Albus is surly, angry, sad, yet so fierce and determined.

-Brady's Scorpius is a more serious Scorpius than other portrayals. Their Scorpius is saddened and pained but dynamic in his movements, direct, quick-talking, socially awkward, and of course, very happy around Albus.

-Scorpius touched Albus' chest a total of 4 times

-Before 3rd year Harry calls Albus "Al" and Albus whipped his head around and glared at his dad until Harry corrected himself

-When Harry is yelling at Albus in the Slytherin dormitory, Albus kept flinching and curling in on himself and he sounded like he was close to crying

-"You are kind, Scorpius. From the depths of your belly to the tips of your fingers. You are a light in the darkness." -Albus in the library scene

-When Scorpius is under influence of the dementor, Snape asks him who he's doing this for, and Scorpius says "Albus" as he snaps out of it

-when everyone reunited in Godric’s Hollow Scorpius was so excited to see his dad but Draco walked up to him rather forcefully so Scorpius stopped, there was a pause, then the “we can hug too if you like” and they had a big hug AND DRACO LIFTED SCORPIUS OFF THE GROUND

- at one point Scorpius raised his hand so forcefully Brady's sleeve flopped completely over his head

AND THE SCORBUS CHANGES

-There's only one explicit reference to Scorpius having a crush on Rose, it's in the 2nd to last scene. He still asks her out, but as the scene is ending he even lowkey questions if he actually likes her. he also no longer flirts with her in the "bread" scene. instead that's played as Scorpius just trying to talk to Rose and impress her with conversation but he's awkward about it

-Also the references to Albus having a crush on Delphi are gone

-delphi in fact references albus loving scorpius a few times

-Instead of Rose saying "scorpion king" to Scorpius, she asks Albus "are you okay?" There was a pause where Albus and Scorpius were taken aback by that question then albus gave a vague thumbs-up gesture.

-Scorpius hugged Albus so hard they both flopped over on the stairs

-most of the "nice day" final scene is the same BUT

-Albus says to Harry "Scorpius is the most important person in the world to me. he might always be the most important person."

-and Harry immediately says "that's a good thing" and that he "really really likes Scorpius"

-very implied as a coming out/feelings realization moment and harry being approving

-it's all played as "scorpius and albus have these feelings but they're still figuring it out and in different stages of realization, and it's okay"

-ITS JUST SO SWEET

-after the curtain closed and the audience was leaving you could hear the cast cheering backstage

-the audience was so into the show and cheering for every big moment and effect and it was such an amazing experience to be at the first show

I know I paraphrased stuff and there are stuff I missed, and there are other threads and posts about the show from others who were there, but here's what I've got! I can answer questions if anyone has them!

Broadway is back!

[srbachchan]

DAY 5031

Jalsa, Mumbai                     Nov 28/29,  2021                  Sun/Mon  12:24 am

I thought it was another day today. I thought today was a day of work, a delayed day of work, until I was reminded it was a Sunday not the work Monday. “You know what thought did” was that popular refrain from the times of yore, in the times of the young and the times when the groups of friends would gather together for just debate and argument. Most of the time unreachable to a fertile solution, but debate, yes. Conclusion or not.

So is conclusion such that it must be nurtured each discussed day ? I wonder. At times it is best to leave the debate and the conclusion, than to allow it to remain with you, in the ruin of an unfinished structure.

I did often. Not because I did not have legitimate reason to carry on, but because the time wastage on unnecessary chatter could have been utilised for better opinion and justified response.

Is then response the righteous form of discussion. Formality of the reason could coerce one to do so, but mostly it has been habitually different from the norm. The one that asks, be the one that needs reactive response. The reason could be the inquisitive learning, or one of professional recruitment of the job that requires such, to be able to monopolise commerce.

The power of the medium that communicates has ever been the most powerful tool. The power that has replaced it or is in the process of overtaking it, has now been prevalent. Each 7.5 + billion humanity now has found voice and opinion. Communicative urgency and importance has been overtaken by every individual. Shortening the distance then between the asking and the asked. They that ask be now in almost the subjunctive. A irrealis mood, which refers to what is not necessarily real. Often contrasted with the indicative. And that has given the rise and strength to the billions to be either in belief or disbelief. Nothing today has the face of factual reality. For, the multiple react of the other, in contrast and differing opinion, has value too. It has the reach that the earlier did not and could not. Feed the mind and body with the food for thought and he or she shall have the ability to debate its factuality or not, simply because there is provision now on the palm of his or her hands to have their own version and researched factuality.

We are an advanced generation. We are at the mercy of the knowledge now provided by information that travels at the speed of light through the wires of response, laid down on Earth and the skies and the Oceans of this Universe. We have found a way to counter, debate and discussion. All you need is an instrument the size of your palm.

Th fear and the apprehension of ‘not knowing’ at times does not exist. All is known, yet unknown. And that is the beauty of the life we lead and live. Now.

.. it is the wonder of subjective fear in the eyes that shall ever be of challenge to us all, in the varied forms of justice and injustice. Period.

Amitabh Bachchan 

[s1utspeare]

y'all i am losing my entire fucking mind

so if you know me like, at all, you know that i am absolutely obsessed with theatre, especially musical theatre, and lately, I've been trying to study foreign musical theatre, especially Asian musical theatre (which is entirely due to the Korean Hamlet rock opera, which i discovered like three years ago and listened to on repeat even though i had no idea what anyone was saying lmao). ANYWAY i've found as of late that Korea has numerous musicals based on Western classic literature, which fucks because 1) musical theatre 2) most of those stories would be made better by being musicals but western musical theatre either won't do them or fucks them up (like there's a Dorian Gray musical??? i've been waiting for one of those for fucking ages???? help)

so today i am going to talk about the Korean musical Frankenstein (프랑켄슈타인 ), which will be opening Nov. 12, 2021, and running through February of 2022 at the Bluesquare Shincard Hall (if you have a chance and can go see it for me, please do) and how fucking GALAXY BRAINED IT IS. NOTE: I am not a Korean speaker, nor do I have any connections to the culture, so if I make an error or say anything offensive, please let me know (My credentials are that I have a degree in theatre and have read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein an unfortunate amount of like four times). Also these are my personal opinions and interpretations of the text, so don't take them as fact, and feel free to discuss your own interpretations!!

The show was first written and directed by Wang Yongbum, with musical composition and direction by Lee Seongjun, in 2016, where it sold out its 23-show run and was given a 3-week performance extension because of how popular it was. It's since been performed 3 times, coming back to the stage in 2021 for a fourth.

As far as my knowledge goes, Korea has a fairly limited musical theatre canon, at least for original Korean musicals. Typically, when they perform musical theatre, they outsource to other countries for shows, or adapt shows from other languages for Korean audiences, which is absolutely fine, but that makes Frankenstein very exciting, because it is an original Korean show, and made by a team that is known for their original shows. They're also known for not casting kidols in productions in order to draw ticket sales, so the fact that this show did as well as it did with odds stacked against it is incredible (also the amount of tech work in this production is??? incredible).

Anyway the songs all slap and the production value is ICONIC and they double-cast every single part, which brings me to my main topic of conversation: the absolutely galaxy brained decision to make this incredibly gay and also good.

so in the original version of frankenstein, victor is a terrible disaster bastard man and i hate him. If i saw him in real life i would punch him in the face. He is gay and homophobic. a terrible person and a terrible scientist. actually the only character i like in this book is Henry, who deserves the world actually.

WHICH IS WHY THIS MUSICAL GOT ME SO HYPE!!! because they MADE HENRY A MAIN CHARACTER!!! and not only that, but they changed the script so that Victor is like, a military general, I think? idk he's tasked with creating like superhuman soldiers for the military, and since his parents died when he was young, he's got some sort of weird notion that he's cursed, so he decides to go PLUS ULTRA and just. make people. and to do this he grabs field surgeon henry dupre and is like "bitch let's make some people" and henry's like "fuck ok"

now, in the novel, victor is obviously. very into men. given the fact that he creates the most perfect man imaginable with the best proportions and all of his kinks as his creature, but then becomes disgusted with him due to his repression. BUT IN THE MUSICAL henry gets accused of murder and sentenced to death, but before he dies, he sings a whole love song to victor and they hold hands through the jail cell bars and he asks victor to use his body for science, to complete their shared goal, which UM. BITCH. THAT'S????? FUCKING ROMANTIC AS SHIT anyway here's the love song bc it's making me go insane i literally started sobbing when i watched it for the first time. not only is it gorgeous, it's also so full of love and lost dreams and the desire to stay with someone even after death? catch me crying in the club. please do yourself a favor and listen to it, it's gorgeous

Edit: I watched a version with dialogue at the beginning and basically Henry takes the fall for a murder Victor did and when victors like “why did you do that when you’ll die?” Henry says, “because you’ll live” 😭😭😭😭

BUT THEN. THEN. VICTOR HONORS HENRY'S WISHES AND USES HIS BODY TO CREATE THE CREATURE, BRINGING HIM BACK TO LIFE. WHICH. FUCK. makes SO much more sense than him just being like "oh fuk big scary monster lol" and freaking out. if he freaks out because that's his lover, the person he cares most for, and he's just sentenced him to a lifetime of being almost-human-not-quite? I'd freak out too. (Also the lab set when he’s making the monster FUCKS HARD)

(anyway then he like??? sells him to a fighting arena?? idk there's this whole dance number with them throwing henry all over the stage and chains and he gets punched a lot. very very fun you know).

i won't spoil the ending but just know that it's WAY better than the book, with like, an actually satisfying ending for both the creature and victor (satisfying plot-wise), and I'm obsessed with the changes they made, and also just how this musical is tonally and everything overall? i'm gonna start learning korean just so i can go watch theatre.

uhhhh this really wasn't that much of a post just??? i needed to scream about this??? also the love song is once again gorgeous, please go watch it if just to see how beautiful the actor playing henry in this version is

if you're interested in watching more of this show, they have a whole performance of the first act songs here. The cast album (with at least half of the songs) is on Spotify.

The writer said that in the future he hopes it could come to Broadway or West End and I fucking hope so too!!! pls cry with me about this show i'm absolutely not okay

[jaimebluesq]

Untamed Fanfic - Completed and WIPs

I love talking about my fics way too much so please feel free to PM me or send me an Ask about any of them, whether completed, WIP, or just an idea in the works.

Update Completed Nov 14th/2021

COMPLETED FICS & Online WIPs

GEN:

A Laugh After Mourning - Nie Mingjue's first visit to Lotus Pier as sect leader, and Nie Huaisang is sad and shy his first ever visit there. Wei Wuxian makes things better.

The cat had found herself a new pet - Nie Huaisang awakes to chaos in his aviary and has to chase the suspect.

His Favourite Client - Modern Day AU - After years spent apprenticing at a tattoo parlour, Nie Huaisang gets to work on his most important client yet.

Think Outside the Shell - (aka the story that started the Nie Sect Murder Tortoises - the rest of the series is SangYao, but the first is Gen)- As the Tortoise of Slaughter erupts from the water, Jiang Cheng witnesses an insane sight...  Just as the Tortoise's mouth was about to reach Nie Huaisang's head, the young man snapped his fan shut and used it to smack it on the nose. “Bad Xuanwu!” The beast's head pulled back slightly, looking just as confused as Jiang Cheng felt.

Nothing Mutt-ers as Much as You - Jin Ling can't find his uncle the morning after an injury night hunting, but finds him in a most adorable situation.

Mercy - (Warning for mention of past child sexual abuse) - When Nie Huaisang is invited to the Jin retreat to catch up with Jin Guangyao, he wonders if the man will try to kill him. Instead, he is given a gift that shakes his entire world, and changes the course of his plans for vengeance. (This one was quite emotional to write, these two characters are just so heartbreaking)

SangCheng (Nie Huaisang/Jiang Cheng)

A Lecture on Camp Security - Sangcheng Drabble -  An ill-disguised 'saber talk' is delivered over breakfast with the Nie Sect Officers (guest starring troll-LWJ)

Till the Love Runs Out - Sangcheng Soulmate AU - There is a curse on the main bloodline of the Nie clan where, upon reaching a certain level of cultivation, the curse is activated, making everyone love the cursed one - except for their soulmate, in whom their love dies until they are driven to kill the source of their hatred.  Wei Wuxian doesn't really believe it, though. After all, his friend Nie Huaisang is really quite extraordinary, that's surely the reason why he's so loved, isn't it? But when his friend reveals the curse to him, he wants to help him no matter what. Who wouldn't want to help such a wonderful friend? Now to find this mysterious soulmate...

Sequel WIP - I'll be your light, your match, your burning sun - After the events of "Till the Love Runs Out", Wei Wuxian finally gets Nie Huaisang drunk enough to tell him the story of how he and Jiang Cheng got together and managed not to tell anyone about it until after Wei Wuxian's return.

Portraits of the Aftermath Series: a 6 story arc taking place after the death of JGY, and how the recent events have affected various sects and beloved characters (with a few OCs in the mix) - SangCheng is past and future in the stories, but not yet significantly portrayed - still classifying it here.

Portraits of Qinghe – Wine, Festivals, and Song - “While travelling through Qinghe and partaking in its yearly festival, Wei Wuxian decides to give his friendship with Nie Huaisang another try.”

Portraits of Yunmeng – Birds, Lotuses, and Turnips -  “ Following a cryptic clue from Nie Huaisang, Wei Wuxian takes Wen Ning and Lan Sizhui to an unknown lake in Yunmeng where they discover that Jiang Cheng once attempted the impossible... and succeeded.”

Trouble is My Business - Prohibition Era AU - San Francisco, USA - Chinatown. It's hard to run a business when your main product is illegal, but Nie Huaisang, Meng Yao, and Wei Wuxian don't mind the extra precautions needed to make Laozu's Den a success. But when their musical act cancels at the last minute, they need to find a replacement, which wouldn't be a problem except now Huaisang has to figure out how to do his job while being constantly distracted by the looker on the stage.

SangYao (Nie Huaisang/Jin Guangyao | Meng Yao)

And the rise to the top is the fall from below - SanyaoSoulmate AU - Nie Huaisang doesn’t know Jin Guangyao is his soulmate until he tries to avenge his brother because soulmates cannot kill each other.

Sweet Words Whispered in my Ear - Meng Yao wants to get ahead in the Nie Sect and decides to try befriending Nie Huaisang - only to discover the boy is attracted to him. He decides it's an opportunity he can't refuse... but who is really in control?

The Nie Sect Murder Tortoises Series (While the1st story is Gen, the rest has SangYao content) - This was fun as hell to write, and gives me an excuse to look up shell-related puns, it’s a win-win!

Think Outside the Shell - As the Tortoise of Slaughter erupts from the water, Jiang Cheng witnesses an insane sight...  Just as the Tortoise's mouth was about to reach Nie Huaisang's head, the young man snapped his fan shut and used it to smack it on the nose. “Bad Xuanwu!” The beast's head pulled back slightly, looking just as confused as Jiang Cheng felt.

My Shell or Yours? - While on the road with an injured Lan Xichen, Meng Yao is saved from a group of bandits by Nie Huaisang... riding a XUANWU.  How did he get into these situations?

Wrong Shell, Wrong Time - Nie Mingjue faces against three fools, trying to find out how exactly Jin Guangshan came to be eaten by a xuanwu on Qinghe soil and whether this will cause an inter-sect conflict.  He's going to need a really stiff drink.

SangHui (Nie Huaisang/Nie Zonghui)

The Fragile, Scarlet Tree - WIP - A cultivator conference is rocked by the news that Nie Huaisang is actually the son of Jiang Fengmian.

I'll Carry Your Load - 5 Times Nie Zonghui carried Nie Huaisang's Saber (and 1+1 time Huaisang did the carrying).  Love is carrying your beloved's saber (how very Nie).

This is why I'll always come back to you - During the Sunshot Campaign, the Nie are stuck in camps, homeless as they try to plan how to take back their home.  Nie Huaisang can no longer wait until the war is over to kiss his lover again and decides he needs to grab an opportunity to be together, afraid each battle might be their last. Of course in a crowded camp, there's no privacy to be had... unless one is willing to risk the threat of discovery.

The Man Behind the Mask - (listed as under Anonymous, was default setting when answering a prompt to the Kink Meme challenges) - Nie Mingjue catches his brother unawares in a moment of insecurity and tries his best to comfort and understand him, and is reminded how at times they really are vastly different people.

Nie Huaisang /Multiple - (either multiple encounters/partners in the story, or a poly situation - will specify in description) 

The Three of Us in the Dark - WIP - NHS/Nie Zonghui, NHS/Jiang Yanli, NHS/NZH/JYL - Nie Huaisang returns home from Cloud Recesses to find a party from Yunmeng Jiang already there and in talks with Nie Mingjue to form an alliance that would be cemented by his marriage to Jiang Yanli. The Alliance would give them the edge they all need over the Wen, and it's something he can't refuse outright. He plans to find a way out of the arrangement - his heart already belongs to another, loyal and dutiful Nie Zonghui whom he has loved in the shadows for fear of how their relationship might be received.  After much heartbreak, guilt, war, and love, Nie Huaisang will find a way to uphold both his duties to his brother and sect and those to his heart.

They Get Around - NHS/Multiple dates, Mianmian/Multiple dates - Nie Huaisang and his friend Mianmian have been having a terrible time getting out of a slump in their love lives, so they decide to help each other out by setting each other up on dates. It doesn't always go as planned. (This is a favourite of mine!  An experiment in storytelling from a mostly dialogue perspective, and I playfully poke fun at many of my favourite NHS ships - the title is because I couldn’t get the Beach Boys’ “I get around” out of my head and I thought it fits)

Nie Huaisang/Others - (Some are OCs, at least one other isn’t but is left a surprise until the very end)

A Night at the Purple Peony - NHS/Surprise Canon Male - There is a place in the mundane world where men of certain proclivities can go to meet one another in safety. Nie Huaisang visits for the first time and sets his sights on a masked stranger - and when he sets his mind to work toward something, he succeeds.  But who is this masked stranger? (This was my first smutty romp in years in terms of writing, had a blast!  And I think I low-key ship this pair now.)

What is Remembered in the Darkest Night? - NHS/Original Male - “Days before a push in the Sunshot campaign, Nie Mingjue makes a request of his newest general. Along with other junior disciples, Huaisang will be brought along for the traditional pre-battle visit to a local brothel.“ (Another special one for me, and proof you can write a story taking place at a brothel with little to no smut - if only every baby gay could have the same awakening.)

Winning the Game - NHS/Original Male - In The Untamed, Nie Huaisang passes out at the Qishan Indoctrination Camp while his fellow disciples are taken to fight the tortois of slaughter.  What happens when Wen Chao returns to tell him his friends are dead, he is the last hostage alive, and he is about to be used as a pawn to get his brother to hand over Qinghe?

Others/Others (aka you mean I actually wrote about someone other than Nie Huaisang?!)

I Will Never be Satisfied - Yu Ziyuan/Multiple (Gangbang) - Miserable in her home life, Yu Ziyuan longs to feel alive again. She speaks to an unlikely friend who arranges something special for her, which is why she is blindfolded and veiled in a room with several men.  For once in her life, she is *almost* satisfied.

WORKS IN PROGRESS - Not online

These are the fics I have in the works, please feel free to message me with questions/comments or even story ideas, am always looking for plot bunnies.

Portraits of the Aftermath Series:

Gusu (Lan Qiren tries to help his nephews, a quartet of female juniors discover the legacy of the Gusu Trio, WWX returns to Lan Zhan, and NHS comes to force Lan Xichen out of his seclusion)

Lanling (rotating POVs between Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui, Lan Jingi, and Ouyang Zizhen, Cultivator’s Conference with scandals and intrigue)

Miscellaneous (Back to Qinghe for Nie Huaisang’s wedding to Ouyang Xiwei.  Romances begin, hearts and broken, and Lan Zhan and Wei Wuxian learn the truth about Mo Xuanyu)

New Additions (entirely from the POV of Nie Huaisang, a series of vignettes about his life after marriage - the births of his two children, his turn as Chief Cultivator, and how he eventually goes back to the work of living again, and maybe allowing himself to be truly happy with the one he’d pushed away)

Word of Honor Crossover:  Hello, fan-boys unite!  Wen Kexing is searching for a text in the cultivator world of the  north and reaches Qinghe a month after the death of Nie Mingjue.  He finds himself caught in the politics of sect leadership when he saves Nie Huaisang from a group of assassins.

Untitled Sangcheng Cultivation World Conspiracy Fic: This one’s taking lots of planning but I hope it will turn out sooo goood.  No spoilers!

3Zun & NHS Bodyswap Shenanigans - will be a response to a prompt in the MDZS Kink Meme where Nie Mingjue, Nie Huaisang, Lan Xichen, and Jin Guangyao wake up one morning in each other’s bodies.

Cherry Magic AU - SangCheng - NHS is still a virgin when he hits 30 and wakes up with the ability to read people’s minds when he touches them, and he immediately realizes how it can help him get his revenge against Jin Guangyao.  He’s not the only one, however - the same thing has happened to JC.  They discover they’re in the same boat and fall in love along the way.

Mothers United - Okay, this is just a silly placeholder name - the concept is that Madame Yu, Madame Jin, Madame Lan, and Concubine Nie all knew each other when they were younger and became sworn sisters, before all of their lives went in different directions.  There will be a significant role for Zhao Zhuliu as well.  This is still in the planning stages only.

If the World Was Ending - Post-Sangcheng, Lovers to Friends - They realized young that a relationship between them wouldn’t work, but that didn’t stop them from still loving each other.  When their worlds end, the other is always there for them.

Imperfect Perfect Dream State - NHS wakes up to find he’s had an accident that’s affected memory, that must be why it feels strange that his brother, their father and their mothers are all alive, and why he has a sister-in-law, niece and nephew that he doesn’t remember.  Oh, and he’s sworn brothers with Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng, who each have their own families.  Everything feels happy and wonderful, except for the presence of Jin Zixun who seems intent on tellng him that none of it is real.

Nie Post-Indoctrination Reunion - After escaping the Qishan Indoctrination Camp, NHS is reunited with his brother.

Tortoise 4 - 4th installment of the Nie Sect Murder Tortoises series - this time with Mo Xuanyu and Xue Yang being sent as ‘volunteers’ to help with the impending hatching of the xuanwu eggs - with a healthy dose of Xuanyu/xuanwu name confusion ;)

Many, many others - damn brain!

If you have any comments on existing fics, want to send encouragement for works in progress, or have plot bunnies you’d like to send my way, please feel free to poke me!

[cesenvs3000f21]

Cool Science: Cold Plants

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I have been on this blog, I have missed reading everyone’s post! This week we were tasked with sharing some cool science. The Yukon is filled with AMAZING PLANTS, and the specific area I visited in the Yukon this summer was a hotspot for rare alpine plants.  One (well all but I am going to talk about one) of these plants is probably the coolest.

Saxafraga oppositifolia or purple mountain saxifrage is a beautiful, purple-flowered plant that lives in some of the coldest places on earth.  Before I left for the Yukon I was reading about some of the cool arctic and alpine plants that I might find and when I read about this one it instantly went to the top of my bucket list.

I took this photo in the Yukon using a magnifying glass. See the beautiful purple petals growing amount the rocks.  

Purple mountain saxifrage grows in small cushions on the ground, so it forms clumps and it grows on rocks or on tundra soil, sometimes they can even grow on top of moss.  Like its name suggests it grows at the tops of mountains. If you stop and think about it, it is insane that plants can live at such high elevations because the tops of mountains are cold, windy and buried under snow for sometimes >9 months in a year.  When you think about where plants grow what do you think of? Do you think of a tropical rainforest? Maybe a greenhouse? All of these places would be far too hot for purple mountain saxifrage to survive.  The plant has a number of cool adaptations that allow it to survive. Since it is so windy on the mountains, they grow very close to the ground so they don’t blow away.  Since its time to grow is so short the flowers can open underneath the snow which is my favourite part about it.  Most plants wait until the snow melts and the weather is nice so they can flower, this plant is used to the cold so it will flower when it is still too cold for most other plants.  

See this plant flower while under the snow. Photo by Nergui (2021). 

This plant wins the record for the highest elevation angiosperm in Europe (Korner 2011).  That means of all the flowering plants on the mountains in Europe this one plant can survive higher than all others. It also at the highest latitude site in the world, meaning it can grow further north than most other plants and it grows only 7° away from the North Pole!

The plant is hardy, lives in the cold and knows how to survive in extreme temperatures similar to the people of Nunavut, which is why it is the territorial flower (Nunavut Legislative Assembly).  It is also an important medicinal plant to the people of Nunavut as it can help relieve stomach problems.  It also symbolizes spring as it flowers before everything else and flowers at a time young caribou are born. The flower brings with it good weather and beauty to the land.  

Claire

Körner, C. (2011). Coldest places on earth with angiosperm plant life. Alpine Botany, 121(1), 11-22.

Nergui, Juugee. “Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga Oppositifolia).” INaturalist, INaturalist, 7 Nov. 2021, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100499486.

Nunavut Legislative Assembly. The official flower of Nunavut. The Official Flower of Nunavut | Nunavut Legislative Assembly. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://assembly.nu.ca/about-legislative-assembly/official-flower-nunavut.

[renbennett]

Week 3 writings and sources

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Hirasuna, Delphine. The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946. Google Books, Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed, 19 Nov. 2013, books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_cseAAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT9&dq=japanese+internment+camps+life+inside&ots=7UmMg9H6zf&sig=vw_QuRYjttXPaH9AGVCTyT-ZZLM#v=onepage&q=japanese%20internment%20camps%20life%20inside&f=false. Accessed 10 Feb. 2023. This book very specifically details the process of the Japanese internment camps as well as what it was like inside of the internment camps (art, day to day, etc.) I believe this will be a helpful source for my map.

Pettersen, William. Success Story, Japanese-American Style. 9 Jan. 1966. This piece almost seems to justify what was done to Japanese-Americans because it “made them better” and tries to argue that how we treat minorities is not to blame because their levels of success are completely based on “how hard they work”, undercutting the plight and discrimination of black people in the United States.

Densho Digital Repository. “Ddr-Manz-1-112-15 — Toshiko Aiboshi Interview Segment 15 | Densho Digital Repository.” Ddr.densho.org, ddr.densho.org/interviews/ddr-manz-1-112-15/?tableft=segments. Accessed 20 Jan. 2011. This series of interviews with Tokisho Aiboshi documents her specific experience through the process of the internment camps and provides insight into how young Nisei children experienced the confusing and rash decisions of government officials.

Saavedra, Martin. Early Childhood Conditions and Mortality: Evidence from Japanese American Internment ∗. University of Pittsburgh, 20 Aug. 2013. What’s interesting about this source is that it documents long-term health impacts caused by internment camps. I believe this will contribute to my map because I hope to map the effects that internment camps had beyond the war.

López-Calvo, Ignacio. One World Periphery Reads the Other. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 14 Dec. 2009, p. 130. I had not realized before reading this that Japanese people living in Latin American countries were affected by the concentration camps. People of Japanese descent living in countries like Peru were located and deported to the United States so they could be sent to concentration camps and after the fact were denied re-entry. Not only had the US nearly forgotten about them after the war, the countries they had come from used this as a way of keeping them out of their countries, while they were lenient with German immigrants.

Yoshida, Helen. “Redress and Reparations for Japanese American Incarceration.” The National WWII Museum | New Orleans, 13 Aug. 2021, www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/redress-and-reparations-japanese-american-incarceration. This article follows the story of Amy Iwasaki Mass and others, who was just a young girl when incarcerated. Mass went on to become a social worker who helped with the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This article describes the lengthy process of receiving reparations for Japanese Americans. For my map, I would like to highlight the amount of time and processes that it took to even get to this point, and hopefully point out the areas it failed to address as well.

Fickle, Tara. “NO-NO BOY’S DILEMMA: GAME THEORY AND JAPANESE AMERICAN INTERNMENT LITERATURE.” Modern Fiction Studies, vol. 60, no. 4, 2014, pp. 740–66. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26421755. Accessed 10 Feb. 2023. In No No Boy’s Dilema, Tara Fickle attempts to use game theory to explain how Asian-Americans and more specifically Japanese-Americans have been used as pawns and also the way in which the government viewed its own citizens as players.

Tokunaga, Yu. “Japanese Internment as an Agricultural Labor Crisis: Wartime Debates over Food Security versus Military Necessity.” Southern California Quarterly, vol. 101, no. 1, 2019, pp. 79–113. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27085976. Accessed 10 Feb. 2023. This article discusses the very real change in agricultural production because of Japanese internment. One thing I really like about this source is that it reminds me of our Nation’s continued prioritization of militarization over the general public’s well being. This applies to the overuse of police force currently as opposed to social reform and it also applies in this article to the food shortage caused by the rash and racist military decision to impose internment camps.

Write at least two paragraphs in response to No Monuments answering this question: How would you memorialize the layered history Japanese American concentration camps and connect it with current issues of Anti-Asian violence?

Coming from the works in No Monuments, I think a way that you could tie the concentration camps and current issues would be by using longer lasting organic materials with newer, synthetic materials. I believe this would serve as a demonstration of the continuation into new materials, new worlds, and still connecting back to this traumatic history that has not ended. I believe that many people think we are past issues of racism and don’t see how Anti-Asian violence is driven by a deeply rooted dark force. In many of the No Monuments pieces, they can be perceived differently based on how and where they are being viewed from. This purpose is to point out that to most Americans at the time, incarceration wasn’t a big deal.

These concentration camps were placed in the middle of nowhere, hidden from public view. Photography by internees was not permitted and their struggle was hidden. Still today the struggles of Asian Americans are viewed in completely different ways, with many people not seeing any problem. The model minority myth as well as referring to Anti-Asian violence as singular acts of hatred allow for people to ignore the racism faced by the Asian community. I think a newer piece would benefit from the same obscurity to highlight people’s misconceptions of Asian-American struggle.

Read the three articles above on Hate Crimes and respond to the questions below with at least three paragraphs:

It seems that people have many different opinions about how to go about naming the phenomenon that is anti-Asian violence because of the different implications of the words, specifically when using “hate”. Many of our readings have talked about how hate is not an appropriate word for the deep-rooted racism in our society. Hate more so describes a specific instance. Two of our readings spoke on this point while the other reading had the word hate 529 times. The reading was very educational around the insane amount of hate crimes committed and attempted to point out the importance of government response to this issue, but it negated points made by the other articles. For example, the last reading made many mentions of wanting stricter legislation, which the other two readings would not stand behind.

There is clearly a common issue that is trying to be solved, but with such a deeply rooted issue, people don’t always know where is best to start. A government, ideally, would function like a family. Something bad happens, you tell your parents, assuming they have your best interest at heart. Our government is not family to most of its residents. This was made very clear when thousands of American citizens were forced to leave their homes and businesses to enter internment camps. Asking the government to continue with how they are operating is not appropriate when they are clearly already failing. It’s better to try a new approach.

The reason so many people call to “defund the police” is because our police system has had a long history of violence among minorities, especially black people. Our government puts loads of funds towards their departments constantly when their biggest power is brute force, when violence has only proven to make everything worse, when money could be spent on social rehabilitation, education and health care. Asking a group of people who are already aggressive to use more force could be detrimental to groups that are already disproportionately targeted by the police.