#that is not a good mix i am a child of colonization

[twodimentionalgenie16]

intro (a really bad one but this took days for me to complete so

[kookies2000]

Because I feel like it.

Yellow sky? Bare footed characters? Mostly a mess? Over exaggerating some of the Hispanic features. I saw the first episode, and it was just poorly written in general. And what mother calls their son "cochinada." Roughly translates to dirty or trash.

What's good Latino/Hispanic representation?

Colombian 🇨🇴

In the Caribbean region of Colombia, they light up candles and lanterns on December 8, before sunrise. So the candle giving them magic was a wonderful detail. Generational trauma is a thing for us Latinos, and this film handled it in a healthy and matuer manner. And I love how they didn't shy away with how Spaniards attacked and colonized latin lands.

Mexicans 🇲🇽

Yes, us Mexicans love death. 🤣 But hey, I was always taught to respect death, La Muerte, and our ancestors. So, it makes sense that many Mexican films talk about death. But I also like that Maya and the Three have Aztec, Mayan, and Incan mythology. Natives to Mexico.

Dominican Puerto Rican 🇩🇴🇵🇷

Luz mom is Dominican, and Luz dad is Puerto Rican. I appreciate a good interracial couple and a mixed child. Luz name also translates to light, and some Latinos are known for doing witch craft. Or at least knowledgeable about witches and demons, and no, we aren't evil. We just know how to handle this stuff. Plus, the owl has many meanings in Latino culture. To some, I believe the owl is a messenger of death and is telling everyone that death/danger is near.

Afro Latino. Puerto Rican 🇵🇷

I am a massive sucker for interracial couples and mixed kids because of this. I was working at a hispanic store as a cashier. This woman walks past me and starts talking to the bagger. The bagger has blond hair, blue eyes, and white skin. The bagger looks at me worried because she doesn't speak English. So brown skin, black hair, me has to tell the bagger that the lady wanted ice in Spanish. I then talked to the lady in English. Her reaction? "YOU SPEAK ENGLISH!" Same for a dark skinned man. So many people skip me and talk to him in English. He's Dominican, and he only spoke Spanish. I appreciate films that show Latinos in different skin types and features. We're not all brown. So yeah, the mass diversity in this film is just beautiful. And I love how they wrote Miles relationship with his parents. Realistic conflict and healthy communication. Not falling into toxic stereotypes.

Spainard Puss 🇪🇸 Mexican Kitty & Perrito 🇲🇽

Spaniards are considered Hispanic but not Latinos like Mexicans. And again, interracial couples for the win. And I love the realism in their romance that heals through healthy therapy. Many people see Mexicans as toxic, so having Perrito as a therapist and the one helping everyone emotionally, it's nice. Not every Mexican is toxic. And I love how you can tell their Spanish and Mexican even though their animals. Puss Spanish accent, Spanish actor, him being a ginger like some Spaniards, flamingo dancing, and gazpacho. Kitty, Mexican accent, Mexican actress, black fur/hair like most Mexicans, quinceañera, and I love how they gave her a luchador mask. Something that originates from Mexico. Also, my brother and I joke how we as Mexiacns can't swim and Kitty nearky drowns in the 1st film. 🤣 Perrito, he's a chihuahua with a Mexican actor. Enough said. I also want to say death is Brazilian because of his actor.

I don't know much about Spanish culture, but someone said the wishing star has a connection to Spanish culture. Is that true? If so, COOL! Because death is connected to Mexican culture. So, Dreamworks finding a way to combine Spanish and Mexican culture in one film is 100% magical.

There are many more, like Beverly Hills Chihuahua 🇲🇽. 🤣 That film is better than Primos. Emperor's New Groove, Peru 🇵🇪, and Rio, Brazil 🇧🇷. Not Hispanic but Latino culture. But this post is getting long. Primos! A huge step down in Latino/Hispanic representation. Especially since we have so many good films and shows that have proper representation.

[bookwyrminspiration]

and going farther back (SORRY😭) to the asks abt culture and being american but also being something else and trying to figure out... where those separate. how they separate. i feel like it's one of the most diaspora things to envision what it would be like in your parent's place, your grandparent's, your cousin's, etc. like i genuinely do think about it a lot. what if we had never stayed in cambodia but been in china the whole time? what if i had been sponsored to come here as a child the way my parents had? what if i had been born in the broken version of cambodia that is here now the way so many of the people i know have, and then come here to america? my dad has been listening to a lot of khmer music recently (did you know they have The Voice in practically every country???? bc i didn't) and so it has been a thing at the back of my mind recently. what if i lived in FRANCE. WAS FRENCH. it could have been a possibility if several things had happened to tip the scales towards certain people going there instead of the US!!! it is hilarious to think about me being either or or me knowing anything at all bc neither of the languages i am trying to learn feel like languages i belong to and the people don't really feel like that at all, either. something funny is there are a lot of khmer people n the places i have grown up and a lot of chinese people as well, but never (or very rarely) both, never mixed in that specific way. fuck quil i was going to say i don't think i get the big mixed experience of all the groups rejecting you but um. wheeze

anyway though yeah. it is a good day and due to the nature of my life and the fact that my parents are very good parents i do not worry about it a lot, but it is always. really strange to think about. like trying to figure out what the nature of french indochina WAS bc on the one hand colonization fucking sucks but on the other hand i genuinely have no idea what they would be without it? i guess most places have been colonized by someone but it is definitely A Thought Experiment. every time i think about this i am like ok but if france never invaded then baguettes would never have become fundamental to society. would we only have cha kuai (also crying. why is the wikipedia spelling CHAR KUAY. why is the southern chinese anglicization Like That). that would suck

OK. THAT'S ALL THE MESSAGES I HAVE FOR YOU apologies for the several very long messages. we are long lost pen pals sending messages across the world (several states (probably))

Oh my god yeah, I think its super common to compare yourself and imagine what it would've been like if you were someone else, or just slightly different. I know I do all the time. What if Spanish had been my first language until I lost it like my dad did, what if I'd been born in Mexico like all my other mexican family (sans my sister). What if I'd grown up knowing the family house down there. What if my life was based in Mexico and not here, what if they hadn't advised us to stop visiting and I'd grown up familiar with a place that now feels as foreign as the other side of the world but was supposed to mean something to me.

And you can take it so far back, too. What if the Spanish hadn't conquered the Aztecs, what if their empire hadn't fallen. What if it'd survived and I'd lived that life, known those customs like the back of my hand. Or if they hadn't, what if I had been fully Spanish? Born in Spain because my ancestors never came to this continent? Who would I even be?? I think i'd be unrecognizable, the idea of myself as Spanish even though I know there's family history there is so different from the idea I have of myself as Mexican I don't know how to deal with it. but it could've been

Holding your hand in solidarity of being mixed and no groups accepting you. I feel like. Even amongst the rejected mixed people I still don't fit, you know? I live around a high hispanic population, a lot of mexican specifically and so a lot of mexican americans. chicanos, no sabos, etc. And we're all technically mixed, but I always feel like they have more of the Mexican part than I do, so I don't really fit. But even so, there's still enough that I can't ignore it and trying to fit in without it feels like a betrayal. and because identity and heritage plays such a big role here it's like!! I can never not be aware of it, good and bad

I try not to worry about it either, but it's such a thought experiment. And it can go on forever. So many perspectives and experiences. So many possibilities. All the minute changes that would've altered you and your life so much--for the better? for worse? who knows because it didn't happen and can't! but it's like you can't help wonder sometimes.

also! no need to apologize! I enjoy talking with you, the topics and the insights you have. and how much we have in common, it's quite nice to be understood on those fronts. i'm including a pressed flower and some pretty rocks in my pen pal letter across the states <33

[notyonatto]

Thinking about the tags I left under the post on the Carlisle boarding school that stole Native youths. Both my grandmother and grandfather are mixed Native and Irish but have no language (Irish or their respective Native languages), no Native culture. My grandmother has some Native stories and some medicines, but that’s all. My grandfather has nothing. My grandmother’s mother was Eastern Band Cherokee, and and she was stolen as a child by the US government then sold off to a terrible drunkard Irish man three times her age. I remember her. I spent much time with her as a child. My grandfather believes his mother was from Blackfoot Nation, that’s what she always told him, but we have been struggling to figure out exactly which band and where she was originally from before she was stolen. I do not know as much much about her and am still trying to learn more.

Anyway, this post is mostly directed at white people with Native ancestors. My whole life, I have come across other white folks who proudly proclaim they’re partially Native. That’s fine, I am too. But that’s typically where it ends. It’s simply a fun fact. It’s simply something you cash in when trying to show off your unique ancestry to a group of people. But never is it a reflection on colonization. Never is it a reflection on why you have that ancestry. Do you not wonder? How come only a handful of your ancestors are Native? Have you truly investigated your ancestry, or are their lives and experiences simply fun party facts? If you loved your ancestors, you would learn about them. Honor them. Respect them. And part of that for me has always been to fight for the modern justice of Native peoples. I cannot change the past colonization in my ancestral line. I cannot go back in time and protect my great grandmothers. I cannot change the evil things that happened to them, but I can honor them and their legacies of loving their children, loving their grandchildren, of teaching me tenderness and joy when I was a little toddler forming my first memories. And I can honor the strength they must have had to find the space in their hearts to still be capable of tender love despite the suffering and loss and grief they endured. How does one honor that? For me, it is transforming that love into activism. Having those uncomfortable conversations with your family, with other white people. Standing up for injustice, educating yourself, donating to organizations that work to aid modern Native poverty, revitalize Native languages, celebrate and encourage Native art, and uplift Native youth. Uplifting Native voices while making sure not to speak over them.

I do not consider myself to be Native for a myriad of reasons. Phenotypically, I am white. I’m pale and overall look quite Irish American, down to a certain pudginess I’m sure my Irish ancestors are proud of-good for surviving those awful winters. Culturally, I was raised homeschooled in strict conservative Christianity (i do not associate with that religion). And in many ways, I honor my European ancestry- I celebrate Samhain and am pretty connected to Irish-Appalachian culture (fiddles and moonshine and “fuck corporations” type shit), I have many European family recipes from my mom’s side (entirely European American). But I would be utterly and sourly remiss to omit my Native ancestry. And while I struggle to ever consider myself partially Native (maybe if my grandparents were given the chance to learn their languages and cultures, I’d feel differently), I refuse to forget my great grandmothers and their siblings. After all, my first memory was in my mawmaw’s back yard in the mountains. She is my first memory. It was spring, and she had prepared a little Easter party. I found a painted egg, and she clapped and cheered for me, hugged me. My first memory on Earth is of her, and it is light, joy, and love. And I will honor her by transforming that love into activism. For everything she endured and everything her people continue to endure.

So I ask again to all my followers who are white but have some Native ancestry. Do you honor your ancestors, or are they just party facts?

[jellibelli123]

This channel, ooooo!!! Fucking hell, they really went the route of Kerzgesagt in a nutshell whenever politics, specifically climate change, was a video topic. And my radar has been pinging alerts in recent videos up until this point where it went on full alert.

For those who dont know KIAN went under controversy having donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a foundation who has a history of publishing articles that benefit their investment interests, specifically the odd Carbon Catchers KIAN was promoting in any Climate change video as well as the typical "vote with your dollar, its your responsibility" kind of propaganda similar to the late 1900s early climate activism instead of giving real meaningful solutions LET ALONE POINTING THE BLAME ON THE ACTUAL PROBLEM MAKERS, the corporations.

That and the usual "gdp makes the world better" when its not entirely accurate let alone applicable to people who existed without gdp and lots of todays systemic problems like homelessness before getting fucking colonized and genocided, like the SikSika who Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is based off of before being edited to fit a hierarchical society because of death threats from racists. See this for more details about that specifically.

Back to the video in the image

Yeah that was this video, "Just take these three sentences as lenses and put them together to make a better world! Oh and go donate to provide real impact!" And nothing else.

Note i haven't checked who their donors are if they have any, I am pointing out that they sound 1-1 how kerzgesagt did.

But it gets worse!

Their source: Our World In Data which they basically just repeated a statement article from it's CEO (nonprofit my ass). Now in the beginning while my alarms were going off, I decided to dive into this site I've never heard about.

- I first looked at who made it, Oh oxford! Calmed me down a bit...

-oh hey who's this other guy. GCDL? Global Change Data Lab! Sounds like scientists same as Our World in Data! I take a look at them, a non profit. Ok, so who's their donors?..........well wouldn't you know it, but a primary donor is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation!! Panic

But OH IT GETS WORSE!!!!

Ignoring all that because people still do trust the B&MGF, I decide to hold these guys by their word. If they have everything statistics about the ENTIRE WORLD, surely they have stuff about Palestine?.... :3

...surely they would right?

......right???

WELL YES as a matter of fact!

Oh thank god!

Oh sweet summer child the only good thing I found was that it listed Palestine as a country, which shouldn't be a plus cause that's the bare minimum.....but a plus whatever.

Taking a deep dive into many of the graphs they have which are plentiful, I noticed the numbers...were low...and the graphs not going past the year 1950.........uh oh.

I decide to look for death graphs...found not a lot of bumps in coorilation to the many atrocities we've seen happening in real time...

Some graphs where it noted per 100,000 people, it was sometimes 10 deaths-1k deaths depending on what it was focusing on.

NOW TO THE WORST PART

I went ahead and focused on "Deaths in Interstate conflict based on where they occurred". Can you guess how much they had from the Nakba, allllll the way till now?

Nope, lower

Lowerrr

Not even close, here:

A whopping flatline...

Now surely I hear you say, I got something mixed up, scrolls a little bit

Surely I got my Intra mixed with my Inter, maybe I need to select the check marks on the side! Maybe oh maybe scrolls a little more

Oh! Gotcha there, you thought I was going to compare it to the wrong example graph for Ukraine right? Hahahahah-

.......still 80k deaths listed here too, just like in the example graph I definitely didn't almost accidentally use ahahahahahhhhhhhhhhhSILLY!!

But fr fr here's the actual graphs I almost compared incorrectly!

Note according to the site they only list something if it causes 25 deaths a year....the most that's listed on Palestine's graph is 2,287 total deaths in 2014. Not "notes about per 100k", total.

Note that Ukraine's number which I went back and hovered over the spike in 2022 when russia invaded, still shows 80k~ deaths total.

So...what gives?

Well that's just what happens when science gets boarded with Imperialism from corporations and governments; one of the oldest tales in the book of sciences history we are trying to undo today.

The data, can lie.

Always remember to ask who this benefits, my fellow leftists. Is it the people, or those in power?

Always look up opposing info where you can, especially if you are in the US...

Thank you for my ted talk that will more than likely not reach anyone but whatever! Life of a furry I guess lmao!

......anddontsaythegayfurryhactivistgroupLMAOOOO

[1d10tch1ld]

good luck to every transwhite person

I specifically have trauma around it, and yes I am still partially white but changed my ethnic background because I got that much hate on.

People always want to be like, "listen to minorities" when in actually that gives a lot of minorities more privilege over their non-minority counterparts and you get called "racist" or "white" as an insult.

The worst was the word, "colonizer" it made me want to purge out my bones to be pure again or to be pure (I am unsure if that is a form of OCD or something.) well I actually did not do anything wrong but 2020-2022 I would watch black leftist creators religiously and the noticed the pattern of how they treated their white sisters and brothers.

Many attacked white people for not understanding who the video's were directed to, and instead of rewording it for a much clearer understand they would bully and talk down to the users. They would use their ethnic background above us at the time. Which is shitty as an autistic person because they were being targeted and yet blamed for their ancestors pasts. White would only be used as a blanket term to bully those of American, Australian, and US/USA/UK descent because they didn't understand the term well. the term Caucasian came by and I leached off of that as it didn't have the connotation in my mind, now I have gone back to using white and calling myself mixed. That time of my life was horrible so to see people justify things like blackwashing hurts, the whole trend of blackwashing hurts and hurt me really bad when I was only a child.

I genuinely did try to watch the videos but time after time I was just abusing myself, letting myself watch them when I knew they would make me feel bad but I told myself it was wrong to feel bad. And then to see others of my new race just try to dismantle my trauma was heartbreaking, and I know that they don't understand but they don't want to, that's why trans minorities are so much in danger from their own minority and from outside of it.

I hate that RCTA/ECTA became and started off as a grift because when I tell people online they would immediately make assumptions so I don't and I don't like to post pictures of myself for that reason as well. Seeing right wingers take white guilt and trample other people with it is disgusting, they make us look like a joke and it hurts. I am more left-leaning yet still leftism does have a lot of racism, people who think its okay to erase Asian characters and when called out say Black-washing exists yet majority of White media also includes asian characters and yet no one says Asian people can be privileged. Many leftists joke about white guilt, pushing over people who are just trying to survive. A lot of white people without white guilt always try to brush it off and there aren't many places you can voice it without being silenced.

I am not saying don't be white but if you can don't ignore this shit because it ways on people.

[renticat]

Midnight Scrambling

Turns out 5 mins is more than enough because I've been keep repeating myself for this 5 years.

I am not weak, I just love you that much. I long for your companion, but not all the time because you know it yourself too much is gonna hurt us that much but when I don't have you at all I am also dying. This is the worst state of can't live with or without you.

But one day I can, if I stop myself from remembering the good memories and your sweet smile. Actually cause there's nothing left to feel and I am just so lonely.

I am afraid that there's no future of me because I kinda think that's true. I mean what is the point to keep getting hurt trying to know somebody when they don't even want to know me that way? I feel so stupid.

I wish they have yellow tulips instead red because if it's tulip I love it in yellow. And roses I like it in peach color not red, even when I love red i mean I take then but I love particular color for different kind of flowers. Too much red would bore me also. I love all colors. And red poppy is the best so is pink dahlia. Chrysanthemum that I love in many colors but mostly I like it in white, but then that's symbols for death in japan, white chrysanthemum, coincidence? Yeah I guess deep down I long to be gone. Oh don't forget my japanese blood lol lol. No more illegitimate child and mixed people unles it's my great greatt greaatt greattt grandparents. So yeah it's nonsense. I mean I am not like I was in teenager so brainwashed thinking some race are just better because it's not.

There is the colonized mentality here you know, thinking everything that comes from outside is better. But then why you love to use english that much? Well it's for the convenience as unfortunately the British back then did almost colonized all this entire earth and then their language is like vital to everywhere. And also because now here, the imported religion gosh back then there are so many faiths and yeah thanks to all missionaries who just slaughter all the culture (you know I am saying this sarcastically) now if you don't one verse the universe won't let you have some peace of mind.

I should copy the text first because tumblr always managed to lost all my notes (esp if I put q video on it so yeah).

But I am too tortured to write all this as I really just want to lay down on your lap for the last time.

[gravelgirty]

Tales from an All-Night Hospital

My hospital roommate did not have a good prognosis. I'm lying on my back and, under the influence of interesting pharmaceutical cocktails, marveling at how the bed can be adjusted. I'm not the only person at the largest hospital in South Puget Sound for Full Frontal Feline Assault.

Yes, I am trying HARD to mine some humor into the situation because, #@($*Y#@%(Y things are grim in my head--I'm missing work and I also missed my colon exam AND my very, very important Cancer Screen because I wound up here.

For obvious reasons, I do not divulge the details. I can say that she was getting the best of care. That her health issues were making experts scratch their heads in bafflement that the concerning body parts weren't smiling and saying "Cheese!" for their imaging tech. And I never once saw what she looked like, but her visiting offspring were an astonishing demonstration of the broad range of what was genetically possible in a WASP bloodline. Offhand I'd guess Northern Italian-Alpine. A son was dusky and swarthy and could have merrily been wiping Pacific Ave with a bocce ball tournament even though he was in his mere 60's. A daughter was the "White as rye bread" towering version over two meters in height.

Because logistics is its own terrible deity, she was placed further from the bathroom even though she was supposed to do a lot of bathroom activity. Here I am full of enough opioids that I'm wistfully thinking of the days back when my peristaltic action was a reliable event. I don't know how much attention she pays to me, but after a day it appears she has been very alert to her surroundings.

When a child on the other side of the privacy screen asked what messed me up, she strongly suggested it was a bobcat.

This made me think, not so fondly, of the days when my twin was working a slog job at our hometown's hospital in WV nicknamed "Death Valley" and they were too cheap to light the freaking parking lots properly and two people had to go out with the garbage and when she walked out with Bob, he tossed the bag of waste into the dumpster and scared the bobcat (no relation to Bob) that was already in there and it jumped zing out of the dumpster and used his chest as a launching pad to leap forever into that good night while two hospital employees raged, raged, against the dearth of light.

Another thing my hospital roommate was doing. Just in case things made a turn for the worst, she was getting rid of the stuff she didn't want. Again, I have to be very careful about not giving away personal details, but this is the upshot of it all:

Mom (my roommate) had decided in the maturity of her 8+decades she wasn't going to mess around and those heirlooms she had been joylessly dragging around since Grandma Pearlie kicked the bucket (or condescended to make an appointment to join her ancestors, I'm not sure)? She wasn't going to be like Grandma Pearlie.

I am not sure how long I laid in my hospital bed with a zero window view of the snow-caped volcanos while Roomie made her kids play cards for heirlooms, but it seemed like a long time.

Think CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY only mix it up with professional card games that require a minimum of two players. Most of us would think of GIN RUMMY, but towards the end I was thinking of the less well known game called SPITE AND MALICE.

There were a lot of thoughtful old objects that needed, shall we be direct, a home or at the very least, an institution. Perhaps along the lines of TINKERTOPIA. For those of you unfamiliar with the Left Coast's cultural paradigm, think ARCHIE McPHEE only without the inappropriate mummified mermaid (oh my god, so inappropriate) and they're in Seattle anyway. Tinkertopia is a thoroughly Grit City institution, where you can walk in on any given day and find something from the banal (scrap paper) to the ehh? (the blacksmith's anvil in the middle of the shop with a sign that says HAUNTED: NOT FOR SALE!)

or the book that was basically THE HISTORY OF DEAD WHITE MEN'S WALKING STICKS normally for $100 and they were offering $10 to please, God, get it off out hands. Now, please.

So here's Hospital Mom who has two specific goals in life before she crosses over that metamorphically limned river and rests in the shade of the trees:

The punch bowl.

Under Round 1, the oldest daughter lost the game for the punch bowl. In fifteen minutes of quiet slap-slap of pasteboard paper Mom got...bloody with the game and I sensed her victory when Daughter suddenly switched her language to Oldest Born Coping Mechanisms and started talking (uncertainly at first, then with growing confidence), about how why yes, she'd take Great-Great-Grandma's green punch bowl home in a heartbeat because it would be just the thing for Christmas parties.

Untranslatable to this transcription is inflection, but I have heard identical tones from a used car salesman forced to accept a dreadful beater car (named Sanford from Sanford & Son and maybe I mean the TV show with Redd Foxx and maybe I mean the Tacoma version where you can peruse a sarcophagus). Why, no, I'm just thrilled to have this opportunity, sir. How many miles did you say? That probably won't impact the resale value for parts and smelting.

I will probably go to my grave wondering how bad the punch bowl was because at the end of it, the daughter was speculating how it would be a great Christmas party decoration if it was wrapped up in twinkle lights first.

This leads me to imagine a lime-green monstrosity of glass, a shade similar to a disastrous memory of working for a catering gig in WV when a local mayor contracted us to cater a 7:20 am breakfast to a state governor infamous for approaching the Hour of Dawn already drunk as a plaid skunk. That horrible contract included lime punch for a flipping breakfast, like, hello, Mayor, we all know you're trying to deny you ever lived for ten minutes in a trailer on the Eastern Panhandle, but lime punch (the unholy Satanic marriage of lime sherbet dissolved into a seething froth of Sprite or 7-Up or an off-brand clear carbonated soda) just does not DO for a breakfast, especially when the guest of honor you want to toady up to is three sheets to the wind and ready to barf all over his tailored polyester blend as soon as he smells Covington, VA's pulp mill effluem on the north-bearing winds.

The punch bowl is thusly dispensed to the offspring.

That left...something even worse.

A coffee-drinking set.

For those of you who have not yet encountered these, coffee sets are usually china, porcelain, or something just as chippable and delicate with limited units and hard to replace. Common to rare in style, they are unified in their difficulty for replacement parts. If you think tea sets are fiddly, you haven't a patch on coffee sets. Tea sets at least have the comfort of too many pieces and a huge tray to carry it all on...coffee sets for some reason are normally doomed to be an awkward shape for human lips upon the rim, miserly proportions, inconsistent patterns, and what authorix Lilian Jackson Braun described as "fingertrap handles".

Coffee sets are an increasingly common source of bafflement to the average North American, who will rationalize that if the coffee doesn't taste great at least there's a lot of it. Hence the slight embarrassment we get when we order a cup of joe smaller than 20 ounces. A cup that holds about 4 ounces or 120 ml in the New Money is...not up to the task at hand.

Once in a while some company decides (revenge against idiot North Americans?) to make an exclusive set and it is packed and marketed like the greatest thing since pre-sliced enriched white bread. These jokers really get going after economic hardship eras, like the American Civil War/War of Southern Treason, or WWI, WWII, and a strange period where people tried to pretend the rest of the world didn't know coffee from tea.

Or if you want to be overly realistic about it, didn't know chicory from fireweed or roasted holly leaves.

By the time I checked out of the hospital two days later, I still never learned what was so specifically awful about that coffee set. I just know that Mom and her offspring never directly hinted on it...they just invariably said this. No matter who they were, they would refer to the set like this in hushed tones:

"The...(pause) coffee set."

Every.

Time.

It is always the story you don't know, the tale that got away, that will haunt you to your grave.

Like my work? Buy me a Ko-Fi!

[captain-azoren]

"the writers went so hard on making her this seed of evil since she was born" (I am playing Devil's Advocate). Maybe the reason why Iroh & Ursa treat Azula like she was born evil is due to the circumstances of her birth. For the comics explain that Azulon forced Ozai to marry Ursa so they could produce super-powered benders that would ensure the security of his line. But when Zuko failed to show the spark, Ozai almost killed Zuko in anger, with only Ursa's pleadings saving the boy . 1/3

"But what probably happened is that Ozai waited a year until Ursa recovered from pregnancy (and so Zuko would be weaned off by the time another baby arrived) and then forced her to have another baby to "replace" the failure. And so Iroh and Ursa, despite trying otherwise, view Azula as born evil since she literally exists to be Ozai's perfect daughter and Azulon's weapon. Especially since Azula was born with the spark and quickly took after Ozai. 2/3

But in effect creating a self-fulfilling prophecy since their neglect of Azula basically pushed Azula into Ozai's arms and gave her no means to push back against Ozai's indoctrination and grooming. And yes, Ozai groomed his daughter into becoming an emotionally/socially stunned, ruthless, genocidal, murderous, colonizing child general/solider by the tender age of 14 just so he could become supreme ruler of the world. 3/3"

That is one way of looking at it. Still, the backstory for the comics had not been thought of yet when the show was being written, so from a meta standpoint, I'm inclined to ignore the whole eugenics plot.

It's just that, what gets me is, the narrative never challenges Iroh, Ursa, or Zuko or anyone's view of Azula. Not in any substantial way. The most sympathy for Azula comes from Azula herself. We don't get to really see a moment where Azula gets to connect with anyone on a very meaningful level. Zuko, Mai, and Ty Lee don't comfort her at all during The Beach, and the mirror scene is all in her mind. The closest we get is when Zuko shows concern while Azula is falling, but that gets snuffed out pretty quick when she saves herself.

The major issue is that when characters say things like "She's crazy and needs to go down" or "What is wrong with that child?" we as the audience are never asked to question this, we're expected to accept this as the correct viewpoint because Iroh and Ursa are both framed as these scions of goodness that are beyond reproach.

It's not until the comics that Azula gets some acknowledgment as having been groomed and abused to be what she is, but the writing is such a mixed, messy bag. It still portrays Azula as having been a bad seed from birth because of this vague "spark" she had that Zuko didn't, and can't seem to decide if she herself is to blame for her own evil actions.

Again, the issue is that when Azula was being set up, so much focus was put on her having the aesthetics of evil that it ended up undermining her character when it was time to take a closer look. Instead of getting a story of a child soldier who was emotionally abused and groomed to be what she is, the narrative frames her as just being a smug, evil royal who is overwhelmingly powerful and threatening with an undercurrent of sadism.

This ended up working so well that people got way too attached to Azula being the absolute height of villainy to the point that they actively discourage giving her sympathy, despite all the ingredients for a sympathetic and tragic character arc all being ripe for the picking, which is why the comics are so mixed, because they just can't let go of Azula as a villain.

This is how Azula ended up being flanderized from a villain who was highly competent and smug to being a crazed madwoman who is constantly being portrayed as a sadist who tortures and rapes everyone. On that note, it's also why there's this huge glut of really unsavory rape/revenge stories centered around Azula.

Azula as a character exemplifies what is the biggest failing of what is otherwise a masterpiece of children's media; for all the themes of redemption and forgiveness, Azula ends up being seen as the one exception who can never and should never be given a second chance. Maybe at most a bit of sympathy, but only to make the protagonists look good, all because they wanted to create the most badass villain they could.

Azula not being given a chance undermines everything that The Last Airbender supposedly stands for. Aang and Zuko gave Ozai a chance. Jet got a chance, even Zhao of all characters was given a chance by Zuko. Azula is never extended a hand, never tried to reason with, at least not in the show.

I'm hesitant to hold out hope that Azula will get a real chance in the comics. I don't know if the franchise will ever challenge Zuko and Iroh's animosity towards her. When you really get right down to it, the worst thing Azula did was doing her best to survive living with an abusive parent, pushing her to succeed because failure was not an option for her.

I just want this franchise to acknowledge that Azula was a victim, and despite all the wrong she did, deserves to be helped because it's the right thing to do. I want it to stop treating her as irredeemably evil for being superior to Zuko, especially after Zuko disowns their father and has no reason to resent her anymore. I want the fandom to stop thinking that Azula is someone who needs to be torn down and humiliated for striving to be the best in an environment where coming up short meant being burned and banished. It doesn't matter how she was born, she still ended up suffering and no child deserves that.

[muertawrites]

Two Halves - Chapter One (Zuko x Reader)

Word Count: 3,700

Author’s Note: I decided to set this a few years after the war, when Zuko is Firelord. I didn’t want to stray too far from what was canon in the series - what with Katara being the only bender left in the Southern Tribe and also trying not to add extra family members because that always feels weird to me - so the reader in this story is a girl from the village who lost her parents to a raid and was essentially adopted into Sokka and Katara’s family; she stayed behind to watch after the tribe when they left to help Aang, and now, as the chief’s surrogate daughter, is arranged to marry the Firelord to help bring the two nations together. Chaos and sweet, tender romance ensues. This is also going to be a mini series! I have no real plot and no idea how long it’s going to be, but that just adds to the fun of it all. Stay tuned.

~ Muerta 

“You can’t be serious.” 

Sokka, seated beside you, instinctively offers you his hand, which you willingly, eagerly take, gripping it tightly in your lap. You can’t decide if you feel anger or fear; the two mix sourly in your stomach. 

“I am,” Chief Hakoda says. His tone is even, and infuriatingly understanding. It makes you want to scream. “Your presence in the Fire Nation will be key to unite the nations in peace once again. They’ve been closed off from the rest of the world for too long - you’ll be an ambassador for our people.” 

“Then make me an ambassador,” you snap. “Marrying me off to the Firelord is no better than letting him come here and colonize us.” 

Hakoda glowers sternly at you. You shrink back, Sokka giving your hand an assuring squeeze.

“Firelord Zuko has made great strides to restore what his ancestors destroyed in the years since the war,” Hakoda scolds. “He’s an honorable, respectable man. I expect you to treat him as such.” 

You look back up at him, letting out a heavy, defeated sigh. 

“I don’t have a choice in this, do I?” you ask softly. Your voice quivers, revealing the terror behind your rage. 

Hakoda’s expression softens as he stands. He helps you onto your feet, holding you gently at the elbows and looking apologetically into your eyes, one of his hands reaching to brush your hair behind your ear. 

“Just because the war is over, it doesn’t mean the need for sacrifice is,” he tenderly says. “You’ll do great things as the queen of the Fire Nation. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t trust Zuko to treat you well.” 

In Hakoda’s eyes, you see the man you knew as a child, the man who brought you into his family when you lost your own to a Fire Nation raid. You love him as much as you loved your own father, and know he loves you as much as his flesh and blood children; you trust that he would never put you in harm’s way. 

Hakoda leans forward and kisses your forehead, holding you close for a long moment before letting go, breaking contact with you completely. The pain on his face tears a gaping hole in your heart. 

“You leave in three days,” he tells you. “You’ll be in good hands - I promise.” 

Though you know it isn’t for the last time, leaving the Southern Water Tribe hurts so much you think it might kill you. 

You cruise across a calm ocean in a Fire Navy ship; luckily Sokka was allowed to come with you as emotional support, as well as to represent the tribe at your wedding. The presence of Zuko’s uncle is also calming to you, despite how little you know him, and how not long ago you would have considered him an enemy. There’s just something about Iroh that makes you feel safe, and you only hope the same holds true when you meet your husband to be. 

“Zuko sent me to ensure your safe passage,” Iroh told you when you first boarded the ship. “Think of me as your guardian spirit.” 

You stand on the deck, basking in the newly warm weather and taking deep breaths of fresh ocean breeze. The peace of the moment helps you lose yourself, forgetting your fate entirely, if only for a moment. 

“How ya feeling?” 

Sokka sidles up next to you, placing an assuring hand on your shoulder. You reach up and curl your fingers around his, sighing.  

“Awful, now that you’re here,” you tease. 

Sokka chuckles. 

“I could still make good on that promise I made when we were kids,” he offers, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you into the side of his sturdy, familiar body. “I don’t think Suki or Dad would be really happy about it, though.” 

You let out a huff of laughter, remembering all the times you used to play together before the war brought you closer; you used to have intense crushes on each other, and Sokka always promised that he would marry you when you both got older - plans that changed when you effectively became siblings. You lean your head into his shoulder, finding comfort in his presence.  

“I’m just scared,” you tell him. “I always planned for great adventure in my life, and to help people, but… this doesn’t seem like the right way. It feels like I’m being taken prisoner.” 

“They say that having too many plans for one’s life keeps one from finding their true potential.” 

You turn, meeting Iroh’s gaze as he crosses the deck to where you stand. You part with Sokka and bow respectfully, trying to hide the embarrassment that heats your skin. 

“I apologize, General Iroh,” you greet him. “I didn’t mean any offense.” 

Iroh tuts at you, placing a hand on your shoulder to gently straighten you up. He meets you with a kind gaze and a soft smile. 

“Fear is to be expected, my dear,” he says. “You can’t have a great adventure without also facing a great fear.” 

He turns and peers out across the water, inhaling and releasing a deep, contented sigh. 

“The weather is lovely today,” he notes. “Why don’t we all enjoy it together, with a pot of tea?” 

And so a tea set is brought, along with a table and cushions, and you and Sokka join Iroh as he demonstrates how to brew the perfect pot of jasmine green, generously serving each cup. He toasts to your being together, and you drink heartily, savoring the exquisite taste of his famous tea. 

“I understand how you must feel,” Iroh addresses you once you’ve all settled. “Coming to a strange country, among people responsible for so much of the pain you’ve experienced; you’re exceptionally brave for doing what is best for your people.”

Iroh takes your hand, cradling it between both of his. 

“I am sorry for how my nation - my family - has hurt you,” he says. “My nephew and I only want happiness for you with us, and we will do all we can to ensure it; I give you this vow among his.” 

He squeezes your hand tightly, and you grip back, accepting his promise. You bow again, lowering yourself so that your face is almost level with the deck of the ship. 

“Thank you, General Iroh,” you reply. “Your generosity means everything to me.”

When you sit up, Sokka places a hand at your back, giving you a comforting smile. 

“Zuko’s a good guy,” he assures you. “I really think you’ll learn to like him.” 

Your arrival in the Fire Nation, much to your surprise, is met with celebration. As your ship pulls into port, army and navy officers in full ceremonial regalia perform displays of their bending, a traditional band playing cheerful, joyous music to welcome you to shore. A procession of military vehicles escorts you through the streets of the capital to the palace, citizens emerging from their homes and businesses to catch a glimpse as your carriage rolls by. The people who manage to see you are elated, if not curious, staring at you with wide eyes and rapt attention; Iroh explains that many of them have never seen a foreigner, as travel to the nation is only just starting to become somewhat commonplace. You’re confronted by the beauty and grandeur of the city - the tall, elegant buildings with their ornate details are far from anything you’ve ever seen in person, even with the rapid development of the Southern Tribe. 

In the palace, you’re immediately whisked away to your own wing, your quarters designated to a set of quaint buildings circling a scenic courtyard. Tradition dictates that, from the time of your engagement, you aren’t allowed to see the man you’re meant to marry until you’re both at the alter; the first few days of your time in the Fire Nation are spent in seclusion, resting off the fatigue of travel and acquainting yourself with the new culture you must now call your own. Though you have to keep your distance, you’re relieved when, on your first morning in the palace, you find a letter on your doorstep, scrawled in a refined, graceful hand and addressed from the Firelord himself. 

Hello, it says, Zuko here.

I wish I could introduce myself in person, but unfortunately, this will have to do for now. Sokka has told me much about you in the years we’ve known each other, and he always speaks of you highly. My uncle is also already enamored with you, and tells me he already considers you family, so I hope this brings as much comfort to you as it does to me. I don’t think I could have chosen a better woman to rule at my side. 

I have to admit that I’m nervous about getting married. I still feel like I’m too young, and still just figuring things out. But I guess if I can lead a country and make peace after a hundred years of war, I can have a wife and make her happy. I hope I do make you happy - I hope we can be close friends and lead the nation strongly together, for the better of both our homes. 

Please write to me if you need anything. Sincerely yours, Firelord Zuko. 

The candidity and awkwardness of his writing makes you smile, your mind at ease being able to put a voice to his name. You decide to write him back immediately. 

Hello, Zuko, you write. 

Your letter has already made me feel much better. Your uncle is a very sweet, very wise man, and I’m thankful that you sent him to watch over me - he makes me feel like I already have a little piece of a home and a family here. Meeting the man who raised you, I have faith that you’ll be a good husband to me. 

I’m very scared because, unlike you, I’ve never led a country or had to negotiate peace - getting married is the biggest responsibility I’ve ever had. I want to help people, though, and if I can help people by leading them out of the darkness of war, I’m very happy to do it. It isn’t as terrifying knowing you’re also nervous; I’m glad we can be nervous together. 

Please write to me as much as possible until the wedding. It would be nice to get to know my husband before I marry him. Sincerely yours, the bride.”

For the following days, you and Zuko exchange multiple letters; you have one waiting for you every morning, receive a reply by midday, and end each night wishing him pleasant dreams. You learn that he’s very intelligent and, though quite subdued, has a sense of humor much like your own. He has a passion for weaponry and the art of combat, as well as for storytelling and music (he tells you that dancing has recently been unbanned in the Fire Nation, and wonders if you’ll be able to teach him any Water Tribe dances; you promise to help as much as you can). The more you write to him, the less daunting the idea of your marriage seems, and you find yourself feeling excited by the idea of finally meeting him. 

The day of your wedding starts early. You’re woken at dawn, fed a breakfast of tea and jook (both prepared by Iroh, and sent on a tray beside a polished wooden box - inside is a traditional hair comb and a note from the old man, explaining that the comb was given to his mother by his father on their wedding day; the gesture sends you to tears), then sent to the palace baths to be buffed  and primed for your wedding attire. 

You’re stripped down and steeped in multiple perfumed liquids, scrubbed with an array of soaps and exfoliants, and washed so thoroughly you think your handlers might have exposed an entirely new layer of skin. They wax every single hair from your body as well; you only attempt to draw the line when they reach your nether area. 

“Please don’t,” you request, firm but not commanding. “I don’t think I’ll need it.” 

The beautician scoffs at you, pushing you back onto the waxing table and forcefully spreading your legs apart. 

“Foolish girl,” she huffs. “Of course you will. Royal marriages must always be consummated on the wedding night - the Firelord will want as many heirs as you can give him, as soon as possible.” 

Her brute words make you sick to your stomach, and as she rips away the hair between your thighs, tears roll down your cheeks from both pain and horror. You want to believe the man who’s been writing to you for the past five days would never force himself onto you in the name of tradition, but it dawns on you once again that you don’t truly know him, and can’t anticipate his actions. 

Once you’ve been wrung out from your time at the bath house, you’re sent back to your sleeping chambers, where you’re pleased to find not only lunch waiting for you, but visitors as well. 

“Katara!” you cry, flying across the room and into her arms. She laughs, hugging you so tightly you can hardly breathe. 

“Oh, I’ve missed you!” Katara cries, whirling you around a few times before setting you back onto your feet. “You already look so beautiful! How do you feel?” 

“I’m terrified,” you tell her, “but so much happier now that you’re here.” 

“Don’t forget me!” 

Aang waves from behind Katara and you shout with glee, greeting him in the same manner you did her. He also crushes himself against you, and when you pull away, you cup his face between your hands. 

“You look older!” you exclaim, squeezing his cheeks. “You grow every time I see you!” 

Aang laughs, pushing your hands away with a pink blush creeping over his nose and ears. 

“I’m a grown man, and the avatar,” he says, teasingly poking your shoulder. “You can’t keep treating me like I’m still twelve.” 

“I can and I will,” you jest, lightly punching him in the stomach. He cackles and puts you in a (gentle) headlock, rubbing his knuckles into your skull to tangle your freshly washed hair. 

“Hey, kids, that’s enough,” Sokka scolds playfully as he enters the room. “Let’s eat, otherwise I’ll be way too tempted by the spread at the reception tonight.” 

Lunch with your siblings is the last moment of relative calm you have before the wedding and its reality truly start to set in. After the meal, Sokka and Aang leave to help Zuko with his own preparations, Katara staying to help you with yours. Your handlers navigate you into your dress, a traditional gown and robes made of many layers of fine silk and embroidered with dragons and native Fire Nation flowers; the train and sleeves fall so far behind you, you worry about tripping or scuffing the fabric. Once you’re dressed, your face is painted white, your features then outlined as if they were being drawn anew into your skin. You hardly recognize yourself once the handlers are finished with you, the anxiety you felt upon learning of your engagement returning with newfound ferocity. 

Katara is the one to style your hair. Keeping with custom, she knots a portion of it atop your head in a tight bun, using the comb Iroh gave you to hold it in place. She then takes the remainder of your hair and braids it into two sections on each side of your face, the way it would be worn in the Water Tribe; she laces each braid with a string of beads from home, crystalline blue totems to ensure happiness and long life hanging at the end of each, contrasting beautifully with your gown. She cries when she steps back to look at you, carefully dabbing at her tears so as not to ruin her own makeup and dress. 

“You’re so gorgeous,” she tells you. “I’m so glad Sokka never married you like he said he would, he would look awful at the alter next to you.” 

You laugh, opening your arms and hugging her tightly, forcing your own tears back for the sake of the effort that’s been put into your costume. 

For the last few minutes before the wedding, you’re alone; you stand outside the doors of the palace’s grand courtyard, flanked on both sides by guards, listening nervously as Iroh (who’s officiating, per his nephew’s request) praises you and recites a poem in your honor. His sentiments are exceedingly affectionate and should move you, but all you can think of is Zuko; what will he think of you? Will he like you as much in person as he did in writing? Was he just pretending to like you for the sake of your union? What if he didn’t think you were pretty? What if, like the beautician said, he forced you to sleep with him tonight, simply because it’s what’s meant to be done? You chew at your nails, biting them so hard that some of them start to bleed. 

Music swells from inside the courtyard, and suddenly the doors before you swing open. You hold your head as high as you can, stepping forward with as much grace as you can manage and beginning to traverse the impossibly long aisle to the wedding altar. You breathe deeply, scanning the group of people standing before it - you see Katara first, and she nods encouragingly, looking like she’s about to cry all over again. Your eyes sweep over to Sokka, standing beside her, and he seems somewhat shocked by your appearance - not that you blame him, seeing as you look like a complete stranger, even to yourself. Iroh gazes at you from the center of the altar, wearing the expression of a proud father that makes you wish Hakoda were there. Aang stands beside Zuko, and you can tell from his face that he was bored by this whole display until you emerged from hiding; you stifle your laughter at his predictable, endearing disposition. 

Finally, your eyes fall on the groom. The first thing you notice is his stare, cutting into you as he watches you approach; his chiseled, angular features have fallen into an awed expression, one that causes a giddy tickle in your chest. He’s tall, slim, with broad shoulders that carry his wedding robes proudly - his clothing matches yours, the only difference being the armored sheath across his chest that signals his status as ruler of the Fire Nation. You’re reminded that his father wore it before him, and a shudder runs through you as you recall all you suffered at his hands; you push it from your mind, climbing the altar steps to stand beside your betrothed. He gently takes your arm, a warm, timid smile breaking across his lips. 

“Spirits,” Iroh addresses the crowd, “we gather before you to join this man, this woman, and our two great nations in a union of peace and prosperity. With your blessing and guidance, their souls will form two halves of a great whole, coming together to foster a new era of love and commitment not just for their people, but for each other. The bride and groom will now recite their vows.” 

Iroh nods towards you, and you lower yourself onto your knees, bowing before the Firelord. You clear your throat, hoping that the entire country doesn’t hear the quiver in your voice. 

“My lord,” you begin, “I give myself to you as completely as I give myself to my tribe. I swear, from this day forward, to walk confidently by your side in all your endeavors, to uphold the honor of our nations and families, and to be a guiding light into the future for every citizen of the Fire Nation. I will be your support, your comfort, and your ally in all aspects of our life together, and will serve you as loyally and dutifully as you serve me.” 

You stand, taking one of the rings that sits upon the altar and slipping it onto Zuko’s finger; his skin is warm, his palms rough, and he shakes as violently as you do. 

“I give you this ring as a symbol of our union, to represent the bond that holds us for all our days.” 

Once you finish, thankful you didn’t stumble over your words or forget them completely, Zuko kneels, mirroring the way you bowed to him. 

“My lady,” he recites, “by my word, I will serve you honorably and affectionately for all our time together. If you should ask for my compassion, I will give it; if you should seek after my heart, I will offer it willingly; and if I should stray from my path, I will follow you back onto it. I vow to you my devotion, and to bring you happiness and freedom. I trust in you the power to lead and govern my people as justly as I do.”

He stands and takes the other ring, delicately placing it as you did his. 

“I give you this ring as a symbol of our union, to represent the bond that holds us for all our days.” 

In most weddings, this would be the moment when the bride and groom embrace each other in a devoted, passionate kiss; instead, Zuko takes your arm and you face the court of respected leaders and diplomats from across the four nations, gripping each other tightly - you hold each other as if you’re the only support the other has to keep standing. Iroh’s typically soft, pleasant voice booms from behind you:

“I present the lord and lady of the great Fire Nation.” 

Everyone in attendance folds onto their hands and knees, bowing as the band once again begins to play. You descend from the altar, your head feeling like it’s floating miles above your body, and exit through the doors you’d been shivering behind only minutes before - this time, with your husband beside you.

[language-sanctuary]

Hispanic TV Shows Recs (with poc/queer rep)

I’ve decided on doing a post about the most known tv shows in Spanish and I am focusing on shows with POC and queer representation because I am POC and queer, no other reason. Enjoy! 

La Casa de las Flores: A rich Mexican family discovers that the patriarch has a hidden life and a hidden family. Very entertaining series and has queer and trans characters (although the trans woman is played by a cis man, which I find... questionable, but I find the whole thing very respectful, talks a lot about transphobia and homophobia in my cis opinion), which is surprising for a series made in such a conservative country. Definitely recommend! Has been the origin material of many Mexican memes. Link to trailer 

Juana Inés: Mexican miniseries about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, from when she was a young teen until her death. Very dark academia, gorgeous cinematography and very accurate from what I could tell. Really really recommend! Link to trailer 

La Casa de Papel: I haven’t watched this one but everyone I know who has is obsessed with it. It’s an heist Spanish tv series, and has good queer and POC rep. Link to trailer

Club de cuervos: This was Netflix’s first Hispanic original series. Has very famous Mexican actors and it’s about two siblings trying to take control of their father’s sports team. Link to trailer 

Elite: A Spanish series about a private school called “Las Encinas” that welcomes three students from the working class. I’d describe this as the Spanish Riverdale, lots of teen drama, lots of sex and tension between students. Also has murder and investigations. Not my cup of tea but might be yours! Link to trailer 

Desenfrenadas: A coming of age story about a group of four young adults that go on a roadtrip in Mexico. Good story, amazing cast, very good musical choices, original! Link to trailer

Las chicas del cable: Set in 1928 in Madrid, Spain. Four women have just been hired in a new telecommunications company. Definitely a character-focused story, but I really dig it. Has a wlw couple and strong female characters! Link to trailer 

El ministerio del tiempo: The premise of this show is INSANE. A secret Spanish government organization that only very few people know about which purpose is to prevent that time travelers change the present time. I haven’t watched it either but it’s next on my To Watch list. Link to trailer 

Merlí: This is a series that follows the format of “Literature/Philosophy professor challenges their students’ view of their world through knowledge”, very similar to Dead Poets Society. You will learn a lot about different philosophers! (Addition by @lookingat-the-moon: Merlí is a Catalan TV show. The OG is in Catalan and then they translated it into Spanish. After Merlí you can also watch “Merlí: Sapere Aude” that it’s like a continuation of the story) Link to trailer 

La jauría: This Chilean series just came out this year and follows an all-male group that is called “La Jauría” that assault female students from a catholic school, and the investigation that follows to take them down. Very empowering and with feminist values. Could be potentially triggering but if you like crime shows this might be right up your alley. Link to trailer. 

Hernán: This series is about the Spanish colonization that happened in the 15th century in American territories. I haven’t watched it because it pisses me off that the focus is on the colonizer and the event still hurts even six centuries later but I’ve heard is good! I consider it important to watch historical series about very rarely touched issues and it was extremely researched. It is still mixed people talking about indigenous people’s history but I haven’t watched it and cannot emit an opinion. Link to first episode 

La Rosa de Guadalupe: I guess I don’t have to tell you what this series is about. You know, I know you know but I’ll do it anyway. Just pure madness, the craziest situations about teen pregnancy, kidnappings, anime-loving teens, predators, addictions, just everything, but manages to be funny as hell because the acting is so incredibly bad. Link to the funniest and most memeable thing you’ll ever see. 

Mi marido tiene más familia: A Mexican telenovela that made news because it was the first widely distributed series with a gay teen couple. Link to all episodes 

Amar a muerte: Also a Mexican telenovela, also with a homosexual relationship, but this time is between two young women, Juliana and Valentina. I think they’re making a spin-off series based only on them?? Link to trailer and the trailer of Juliantina 

El chavo del ocho: Probably the most iconic children show in Mexico’s history. It started being televised in 1973 and it’s a situational comedy about a homeless child that lives in a neighborhood helped by his friends, and the funny situations he somehow gets himself in. Has had incredible impact to Mexican pop-culture. Very charming characters. Full episodes can be found on Youtube! Link to playlist

Here’s my ko-fi if you wanna compensate me for the time and effort I put into my blog! 

[keltonwrites]

I'm not sure if that's a good thing

“Well you’re definitely the first.” This past week, we screened-in the eastern facing porch on the side of the cabin. The porch slopes to the South, with the brick-on-dirt floor crumbling in that direction as well until it reaches uneven slabs of stone acting as steps down to the “yard” below. A mixed material retaining wall wraps beneath the steps to the south facing garage, holding up one corner of the narrow deck on the front of the house. The deck, in the heat of a high altitude summer, droops off the house like it’s daydreaming about the winter snow’s embrace. It’s safe to sit on, though I would not recommend leaning on the railing.

The side porch takes the brunt of the wind. Our wooden rocking chairs have been rocked some 20 feet into the yard more than once in the two months we lived here. In the myriad of threats we heard about the weather, most people included the wind. We all know how I feel about this ongoing weather intimidation tactic. I asked, “what speed are the gusts?” “Oh, they get up to 70 miles per hour on some days.” This was the first quantifiable piece of weather information someone had offered — an actual number we could react to with data and our historical personal experiences of various weather events. And our reaction was: uhhhh…. OK???? Look, I get it. No one’s preaching the skin benefits of -20 degree wind gusts at 70 mph, building snow drifts against your house in the span of minutes that Cooper could die in. I am not going to pretend that’s pleasant. But 70 mph? Any wind I’ve driven faster than does not intimidate me. I used to rally the horses at 12 years old in winds over 70mph to get them in the barn before the latest tornado whipped through. I helped shutter the resort in the BVI as the Category 5 hurricane rolled in. Even in Topanga, 70 mile per hour gusts were not uncommon in Santa Ana events. We had our single pane windows shatter more than once from debris in the wind. We taped cardboard up and went to sleep. That “70 mph” was all I needed to hear to confirm our next project: we were going to build a catio for these cats, and we were going to do it on the pre-existing porch structure to save time and money. We spent a week framing out the structure. We had to carve into the logs of the house to embed the wood supports for the framing.

And from there, every piece of wood was custom carved and cut to fit around the existing timber supports. The existing porch was so wildly uneven that there are gaps between each piece of old wood and the new framing. Our plan is to mix all the wood chips from the project with mortar/chinking and stuff the gaps — a good solution for the log cabin look. We built a plywood pony wall up to 28 inches from the interior of the porch, which gives a height of ~4-5ft from the exterior ground below. It’s capped with a 2x6” railing for even the fluffiest of cats to find a perch. The exterior will be wrapped with corrugated metal that we’ll quick-age to match the metal that wraps the bottom of the cabin. On the interior of the porch, we’ll use shiplap to hide the framing.

The screens themselves can withstand winds up to 120 mph, but to-be-determined if they can hold the weight of a growing maniac cat who has already tried to climb them. In the event the screens succumb to cat (or wind or snow or neighbor judgment) we’ll reinforce with metal mesh. We’re going to maintain this screen porch regardless of what the screen is. We had the pleasure of running into one of our more industrious neighbors the other day, and Ben asked him, “hey we’re building a screen porch. Is this a terrible idea?” He laughed. “Well you’re definitely the first.” But he liked it. Great way to diminish wind into the house. Simple way to regulate the temperature with massive south-facing windows. And indeed a practical outdoor safe haven for cats in predator territory. Just because you’re the first doesn’t mean you’re foolish — just foolhardy. There’s plenty of that here. This town has the typical mountain town’s truncated version of a colonizers’ history: “established 1881.” But it was plenty established prior to that by the Uncompahgre Band of the Ute Nation, removed by the U.S. Army on September 7, 1881, nearly 140 years ago. The government relocated the Uncompahgre Ute People to Utah, and one year after the Ute were forcibly removed from their ancestral land, San Miguel County split off from Ouray County and was made its own political subdivision in the newly-formed State of Colorado. In 1879, the ore-laden valley already had 50 people living in it, with a new narrow gauge railway only 2 miles away. By 1885, it was a town of 200 people. There was a hotel, a couple saloons, a pool hall. Winters were treacherous; the valley was and is prone to avalanches. But where there’s gold, there’s gumption. The power needed to run the stamp mill to process ore drove innovation. Timber was scarce at such high elevations, so a wood powered steam mill wouldn’t cut it. But the San Miguel River just a few miles down from the mine looked promising. Thus began the development and construction of the Ames Hydroelectric Generating Plant. It was a hit. In fact, it was so successful that the Ames Plant led to the adoption of alternating currents at Niagara Falls and eventually to being adopted worldwide as a viable power solution. The plant remains, but the gold rush obviously didn’t. By 1940, the U.S. Census declared this little town I call home as tied for the lowest population in the country: 2 people. By 1960, it was one of four incorporated towns in the U.S. with no residents. But the joke was on the Census — the town’s single resident was just out of town the day the census came through. 1960 population: 1. By 1980 the population grew to 38, 69 in 1990, and about 180 now. (Plus 51 dogs according to the town’s website.) With modern amenities, it’s easier to be here. Studded snow tires, satellite internet, solar panels, instant coffee. No matter the hardships, there’s the reality of the present. In the 1880s, as the town boomed, the Ouray Times declared, “it will be at no distant day a far more pretentious town than it is now.” That day hasn’t exactly arrived, but I guess it depends on what you consider pretentious. I don’t think the town claims any airs of excellence beyond what’s true. In fact, the town hardly claims anything at all. There’s no sign indicating it’s even here. There’s just the old side and the new side. The new side, the Eastern half, was drawn out in the early 1990s, some 100 years later, and is separated from the Old Town by an avalanche zone—preserved open space for hiking in the summer, preserved open space for surviving in the winter. The town forbids short-term rentals, no one has a fence, dogs roam free, and all the houses have that cabin look to them. A boulder nests in a grove near a trailhead in the center of town with a plaque paying respect to the Utes who called this valley home. There’s no industry here. No businesses allowed. If you want a $7 latte, you can drive the 14 miles required to get it, assuming there’s not an avalanche blocking your path. You can, however, buy a pink lemonade in a

solo cup at the permanent lemonade stand run by the local feral child mafia. Crystals (rocks) can be purchased for an additional cost. We bought one, hoping to buy favor at the same time. The town plan has a few guiding principles, and it’s all in the name of preservation. We must preserve: 1 - the quiet atmosphere 2 - the rustic character 3 - the natural setting

And finally: 4 - protect the health and wellbeing of the people here No snowmobiles, no ATVs, no drones. In fact, the only sign of the outside world here are the passers-through. When you take the dirt road through town to the end, you enter National Forest, and you can hike over the pass saddle at nearly 12,000 feet before descending down the other side into Silverton. The pass road climbs rutted through an aspen forest before scaling across a scree field and then lurching over to the other side. Every day, it seems like 30 or so Texans and Arizonans in lifted and loud Jeeps with unused mods climb over this mountain in the comfort of their air conditioning, simply to drive down the other side. You could hike it, ride it, run it, and ski it, but they don’t. They rev their engines, kicking up dust in a town of feral children and roaming dogs, staring at us instead of waving. I’ve lived here for two months and look how salty I am. I’ll fit in yet. But today, there is a temperature that whispers of perfect trails and the dwindling of ogglers driving 35 in a 15. It’s already snowed in the mountains we see from our kitchen. Today, like a dedication to the Septembers of our youth, you can feel a chill in the air. A temperature akin to pencils and sweaters and reinventing yourself. A temperature that doesn’t exactly sing “screen porch” but could if you had the right slippers on. That’s what I did this morning: put my slippers on and sat there in the cool mountain morning air, thinking about the cemetery behind our house, about the Ute tribe, about the miners, about the mailman who died on Christmas in 1875 on the pass, about the 5 people who died in avalanches here just last year, about the people in their cars on their phones driving through, and all the people who’s very first question to us was, “so are you gonna live here part-time or full-time?” Maybe it will be a hard place to live. But at least we’ll have a screen porch.

Every week I'm writing about moving to log cabin in a small town at 10,000 feet. Subscribe here for free: tinyletter.com/keltonwrites

[tchallasbabymama]

M’Baku’s Love- Chapter 3

Let me know if you want to be tagged, and make sure you check out my masterlist HERE for chapters 1& 2 and my other stories. 

Also, just so y’all know, the last scene has paraphrased lines from the movie (which you should definitely go watch if you haven’t yet.)

Enjoy!

Word count: 2392

___________________________________________________

The day of the open house was upon them and M’Baku was more than excited to get to work with Monae some more. The workday crept by and as soon as the clock struck 5 he hurried out of his office and down the two flights of stairs to the arts wing. He wasn’t entirely sure where he was going, but he followed the sound of drums coming from one of the rooms. He walked up to the door and peeked in, seeing Monae teaching a class full of children West African dance. He leaned up against the doorframe and took in her graceful form and mesmerizing hips. He could have stood there and watched her move forever until one of the kids turned and saw him off to the side.

“Hi Mr. M’Baku!”

Monae and the kids turned towards him and greeted him. Monae’s smile was the brightest in the room.

“Hello children, Miss Monae.”

She sent him a small wave as the children surrounded him, all talking at once and all wanting to show him their moves.

“Alright, kiddos, lets all show M’Baku what you’ve been working on before you get out of here, Ok?”

“Ok!” 

The drummers started back up and the kids started to dance, the looks on their little brown faces making Monae smile at their joy. She watched her students with pride as they finished the number and took their bows. She and M’Baku both erupted in applause.

“Very good, class! Ok y’all can go on home now. If you come to the open house make sure you stop by and say hi, Mr. M’Baku here is going to be my assistant for the evening.”

The kids grabbed their bags to head home, some of them stopping to hug Monae and M’Baku on the way out to their guardians. M’Baku was taken aback since he had not had enough experience around young children to know they have no concept of personal space. Monae laughed at the confused look on his face, a near permanent fixture he was becoming used to by being in this new land. He was just happy he could make her smile. 

After the last child ran out, almost tripping over her shoelaces, Monae introduced M’Baku to her drummers Kehinde and Rodney. They bonded for a bit before Rodney slid out of the way to let M’Baku play his drum.

Monae couldn’t help but move with the way he struck the beautifully made instrument.. Her feet and hips took on a life of their own and she let the beat carry her however it saw fit. M’Baku already thought her choreographed dances were beautiful, but this? Her natural movement called to him as he moved her body with each stroke of his hands. Neither one of them were sure how long they were going for, but Rodney had to clear his throat to break the trance.

“Hey so I uh, I gotta head out. Sorry to interrupt whatever that was.” He pointed between the two, obviously picking up on the chemistry.

“Yeah, no, y’all get outta here. It’s late anyway. See you tomorrow?” 

“Of course.”

“See ya Monae, byyyeeee M’Baku.” Rodney and Kehinde snickered as they left the room.

“So, what first?” M’Baku asked, still coming down from the high he just experienced with her.

“Woo, sorry, let me uh catch my breath real quick...you’re good.” She gestured towards the drum.

“So are you,” he gestured towards her body and she cracked a smile.

“I’m aware.” She walked around him to the other side of the room to start straightening up the space. He joined in and the room was spotless in minutes.

“So,” she clapped. “I figured since the kids love you so much you’d be great at keeping them busy while the adults talk to me. Nakia brought us a bunch of Wakandan children’s books, so how about you read to the kids? You have to do voices though, if you don’t do voices I’m putting you somewhere else.” She was dead serious.

“What kind of monster does not change their voice to read to children?” M’Baku asked incredulously.

Monae’s mind flashed to two years ago when she asked Derrick to do something similar at the after school program where she volunteered. He just read it straight like it was a speech, and the kids were restless. It was a nightmare.

“You would be surprised. Ok so take a look through these and see if any jump out at you,” she handed him the crate full of books and he thumbed through them.

“I do not see any Jabari books,” he pulled out a small notepad and began scribbling his thoughts down.

“You don’t use the beads like the others?” 

“I could, but it is unnecessary technology for the most part.”

Monae nodded, remembering that the Jabari preferred to live analog. 

“Let me run this by you real quick, and you tell me what you think,” Monae started as he turned to give her his full attention. “I have sooooo many Wakandan beads I need to get rid of, so how about I set up a jewelry station across the hall? Just some beads and string, nothing too fancy. Then over in the paint lab I was thinking of using these extra textile scraps and old magazines to make mixed media collages. For the last station I have like a million gourds for the kids to paint, and I figured they could do that next door. I have three volunteers set up at each station, so don’t worry, you’ll have help with the kids. I wouldn’t just throw you to the wolves like that.” She winked at him as M’Baku nodded along, processing everything she said.

“This is not my specialty, but that sounds like a good plan to me.”

“What is your specialty?”

“I am a man of many talents, as you can see, but I am a warrior above all else.”

Her cheeks felt hot as she tried to quiet the damsel in distress inside her brain. She cleared her throat and changed the subject.

“You mentioned that there aren’t any Jabari stories in here. You don’t have to use the books if you’d rather go off the cuff with it.”

M’Baku’s gap toothed smile shone through as his theatrical side woke up from its slumber. 

“You might regret that later.” 

______

The children loved M’Baku so much they barely touched the crafts Monae had set up for them. He regaled the kids, and the adults, with Jabari folktales about snowmen and giant gorillas and how the Jabari came to be.

“And then the Jabari left for the mountains. For centuries, the Jabari and the rest of Wakanda were angry at each other until-“

“Why?” interrupted a kid with his front two teeth missing.

“Well because the Jabari cared more for tradition and old ways, but the Wakandans wanted everything shiny and new. They argued so much they had to move away to keep the peace, and that is when Hanuman guided the Jabari to the mountains.”

“Who’s Hanuman?” asked a little girl with beaded cornrows.

“The god who guides and protects us.”

“My mama says theres only one god and his name ain’t Hanuman,” she responded with an attitude. Some of the parents and kids nodded along in agreement. 

“Well, you see, your mother is simply wrong-”

“Ok, that's enough for now. Let's give Mr. M’Baku a round of applause for storytime, huh?” Monae interrupted before things got too heated, and the crowd clapped for their griot. 

People wandered in and out of the room for the next couple hours, enjoying the crafts and M’Baku’s storytime. Monae kept everything running smoothly, including refilling M’Baku’s water bottle multiple times to keep his voice strong.  Shortly before closing time T’Challa wandered into the room and sat with the children listening to the same stories M’Baku had told so many times that night Monae could recite them herself. When it was over and the last guest had left the center all the staff and volunteers breathed a sigh of relief. 

“I think that went well!” M’Baku said, his voice hitching from overuse.

“Drink some more. Oh yeah, they absolutely loved you. You know T’Challa recorded your dramatics while he was here? You could win a Tony with that performance.” Monae gushed, proud of her, uh, friend. 

“Who?”

“It's an award for stage actors. I’ll make you a list like the one Captain America had.”

“What sort of list?”

“Of pop culture and historical things you should know. He spoke about it in an interview a few years ago and I thought ‘that’s brilliant, I’d do that too’ but I never had the chance...until now.”, her excitement was palpable. 

“That is a good idea, I will have to commend him on that the next time I see him.”

Monae froze.

“I’m sorry, you know Captain America?”

“Well yes, he and some other Avengers have been to Wakanda a couple times.”

Monae was speechless. She’d had a huge crush on Steve Rogers ever since he defrosted.

“I- what’s he like?” she asked, barely forming words.

M’Baku found her obvious fawning amusing and wondered if this is how she would look if she spoke about him to others. 

“He is nice,” M’Baku said before leaning in a little closer. “Especially for a colonizer.”

Monae cackled and they continued to straighten up the room. Once the area was sufficiently cleaned for the night, the two headed out to their cars. Monae yawned as they packed her little electric car full of art supplies.

“It seems it is past your bedti-” he was cut off by the sound of his stomach trying to climb out his body. “Well, then.”

They broke out into laughter, only subsiding when her stomach answered the mating call.

“Would you like to accompany me to dinner? It will be my treat. I was planning on going to The V Spot for some more jackfruit tacos.”

“Mmm, they have these vegan nachos that I would sell my arm for, but I’m so tired I’ll probably fall asleep on you. Next time?” she sent him an apologetic grin. 

“Next time it is, then.”

Monae turned to get into her car before stopping and turning back around to face him.

“You know what? I think I have one good hour left in me. Let’s meet there.”

_____

Both of them were too tired to speak, especially since M’Baku had done enough talking that night to warrant a week of silence. M’Baku paid for their food and they left, still in comfortable silence until reaching the sidewalk.

“Let me walk you home, you should not be out here by yourself.”

“M’Baku I can literally see my building from here.”

“And? Anything could happen between here and there. I would never forgive myself!”

The butterflies in her stomach were in full flight mode, and her face grew hot. She playfully rolled her eyes at him and turned away to mask her blushing face.

“Ok fine.” She said with faux reluctance. She wanted nothing more than to spend every moment she could with this man, but the ring weighing down her finger made it challenging. She knew she shouldn’t feel this way, but Derrick is always out of town on business and she can feel the relationship slipping away. Even before M’Baku swooped in, her feelings for her fiance had started to dwindle. However, she did enjoy spending time with M’Baku and she figured there’d be no harm in taking the short stroll between The V Spot and her place.

“So, which direction?” M’Baku asked and Monae pointed to the right before they slowly took off down the street, arm in arm, in silence once again before Monae spoke up two minutes later.

“Well, this is me.” 

They both just stood there, not knowing how to end the night.

“I’ll, uh, see you tomorrow?”

“Of course...I will say though, where I am from when you walk someone home from a date there is usually a goodnight kiss involved.”

She was stunned at his forwardness, and she could feel her pulse all over her body.

“But I guess this was not really a date, huh?”

“Um, n-no. M’Baku you know I’m engaged.” She said, looking down.

“Yes, but do you?” his eyes narrowed and he tilted his head as stepped closer to her. She didn’t move away, so he took another step forward so that their bodies were almost pressed together. 

“It was date-like.” she conceded.

He slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her in tight, closing the tiny gap of space left between the two of them. Her hands found their way to his chest and his other hand came up to tilt her chin upwards before he placed a light kiss on her lips and let her go. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked over his face. She took in his prominent brow and his strong jaw, his pillowy lips and his soft eyes. He was a giant wall of a man and she couldn’t get enough of how he felt up against her, 

“That’s it?” she teased before pulling him back and making him lean down into a deeper kiss. His hands rested respectfully at the small of her back despite his desire to explore her body more, and hers rested around his neck for the same reason. They broke away quickly when the door of the apartment building opened and an older man walked out with his dog, undoubtedly to go on a nighttime walk around the neighborhood before retiring for the night. He looked at them and shook his head before mumbling something under his breath about heathens. 

They looked back at each other and broke out laughing. 

“You should go,” Monae said softly while fiddling with his collar.

“I do not want to,” he whispered.

“I know, but-”

“You are engaged. I know,” he took her hand in his and brought it to his lips. “Goodnight Monae.”

“Goodnight M’Baku, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

He waited for her to get inside before turning around and heading back the way they came to make the short journey to his temporary home. The entire walk back, he hummed along to an unwritten love song in his head with a goofy smile on his face. He could still taste her and, by Hanuman, he wanted more.

Next Chapter

[revenge-of-the-shit]

Hi, I recently found your blog here and found it a lot insightful! In the BB you ( rightfully) called out the subtle sinophobia hidden within the BB. I am Korean(sorry if I sound like Sery Kim) and I wanted to create a story of how to criticize the CCP without having it negatively blowback on Asian Americans living here in the US. Do you have any tips?

Hey there! Thank you for reaching out. Here's my two cents on writing fiction that's CCP-critical, although when you write things like this, it's important to reach out to multiple Chinese voices, I think: Tl;dr: The most important thing is to show that the government is NOT the people. Separate the people and the government, because the actions of the few do not represent the majority.

If you want to criticize the CCP by depicting its fictional counterpart as a foreign entity in your story, show its impact on the people living within the central country. What I mean is this: let's say your story is set in fictional-USA, and your character is watching the CCP do something in fictional-China. Show the impact that it has on Asian Americans. Show how anti-asian racism rises; show how Chinese families react; show that the Chinese ppl are separate from the government. And honestly, for extra nuance steps: show how the propaganda works. I hate the CCP. So do a great number of my friends (Chinese or not). And family members. But I also have family members living in Canada and in Hong Kong who love the CCP. And it sucks. But what this means is: there's nuance. Not 100% of Chinese ppl love or hate the CCP. There's a mix. Some have been brainwashed by propaganda. Some just... truly believe in the party. There's nuance to it.

If you want to criticize it by writing about characters in the country, there's two routes you can take: a) The character who's the rebel. This is the character who dislikes the govt; who is critical; who works against it or secretly fumes against it. When writing this character, it is vital that they are not the only one. Be careful not to send the message "only exceptional Chinese ppl don't like the CCP" because that's just wrong. There IS hidden resistance; but it's so, so quiet because people need to survive. b) The character who plays by the govt's book. Personally, I'm a fan of unreliable narration done right. Explore the mindset of a character who wholeheartedly believes that their government is always right and that the government is the people. If done right, you could create some terrifyingly nuanced and complex insight into the mind of someone who has been fed propaganda from the moment they were born. And make it clear that there's some doublethink going on - that there's hypocrisy underneath the surface and that there's ISSUES. I'll give you an example of propaganda. (CW: Anti-Indigenous Racism) I'm Canadian. All my life, I've been taught in school and in the media and in the books I read that Canada is a pretty neat country. Sure, we've got some problems, but as a whole people seem polite and all the bad stuff seems left behind in history, right? Wrong. Wrong. This mindset is absolutely fucking WRONG. I celebrated Canada Day for most of my life because I was taught that it was a good thing to do. I never really understood what it stood for other than a nationalistic holiday because it was always taught to me as a celebratory day. I was told that residential schools were closed a long time ago, and I was told that we're better now. No. No we aren't. Canada is literally recovering thousands of bodies of Indigenous children who were ripped from their homes and murdered by the government and the church. Last year, settlers ransacked Indigenous fisheries on our east coast. The RCMP (national police) is still demonstrating disproportionate violence against Indigenous peoples. Canada Day isn't a day of celebration. It's a day where the colonizers celebrated their hold over stolen land while they committed literal genocide on the native people. It should be a day of mourning. Of reflection. But the fact is, I didn't know about this for years because I wasn't taught this. At all. I was taught that the cops were always good, that Canada is nicer than its southern neighbour in terms of racism, and that Canada day is a very good and proud day. And I believed it, because I was a child and it was ingrained my education for the entirety of my schooling. While Canada is certainly more democratic, the fact remains that there's still propaganda entrenched in a cishet white patriarchal system, and it's something I'm still unlearning to this day. Anyhow, I digress. Tl;dr: writing from the POV of a character who has been fed propaganda - and who learns to unlearn this propaganda - can be really, REALLY good if done well.

[the-velveteen-victorian]

Hi Elle! I used to follow you on your old mega-popular tumblr. I really love your new one. :) I know that you've lived in a "super spiritual" community for several years now (not sure if you want me to publicly say the place). What is the community like? Is it more bad than good? What are some strengths and weaknesses of the place/people? Thank you! I've heard mixed things and really respect your insights.

Haha I knew I would get this question one day! If I could title my response, it would be, "Why I've Chosen to Keep My Distance from the New Age Community in the American Southwest." I info-dump and write novels, so get ready! =)

I think there is something to be said for defining things neutrally for yourself overall. Fortunately, I've been able to easily do that in this instance due to: 1. Being introverted and not "needing" a big community experience and 2. Having wonderful friends all over the globe that I am able to interact with all throughout my year. With that being said, if I am being 100% honest and real with you, I truly believe that the new age community where I am is more toxic than good. Here is why. I will have a positive note at the end.

A quick preface: I am not calling out any particular individual(s) and will not be naming names.... quite frankly, there are just too many and I'm not here to humiliate people. Secondly, these traits can take place in ANY community, spiritual or otherwise. But these are things that I feel a spiritual community should be more self-aware of... and sadly right now, they are not.

********ATTENTION: There is a big content and trigger warning here: There will be mentions of sui****, sexual *******, and gaslighting/narcissism, terfs, eating disorders, and other things that could be very upsetting. Proceed with caution and stop reading if you find yourself getting stressed, triggered, or deeply upset.*********

1. Malignant narcissism and community insulation from constructive criticism. I have never seen such a ubiquitous display of malignant narcissism in all my life in a collective, save for some conservative Christian environments in my growing up years. Go onto almost any youtube channel for the Sedona community and you will see very few negative comments… why? (And I have watched this for a long time) Almost ANY criticism of anyone’s channel or blog is instantly removed. There was a time when people who simply noted that some of these small “influencers” were saying toxic things were sent cease and desist letters. The community is very tight knit and displays many marks of a cult. One of these indicators is that they all protect each other and hype each other up on their channels and blogs, while labeling ANY criticism (healthy or not) as someone who is being “triggered.” The younger part of the community cares about looking perfect and having everyone worship them, but has very little spiritual substance. It’s always about who did the alien thing “before it was cool” or “who can do a backflip off of a steep cliff without breaking their neck because their synchronicity is on point.” One youtuber said once that she only wanted to hang out with “pretty” people because they were purer expressions of the divine. The older generation expresses narcissism by assuming they know more than everyone else. Good luck having a conversation on controversial topics with any of them. They are right, you are wrong. If you argue, you are “triggered” and “seeking for truth.” If you don't believe that there are reptilians on the moon with a secret base, you've drunk the kool-aid. Not a good environment to foster open sharing and knowledge. The men have a particular problem with this when it comes to topics of sex and intimacy. If you are a woman and don’t want to “surrender” to your partner (in a lot of vague and unclear ways), you are out of alignment with the divine feminine. Most of the men believe that they should be allowed to "hunt" (look for sexual partners/spiritual twin flames) and that women should do everything in their power to be softly feminine so that they can sync up and recognize each other's souls.

2. A full denial of science and medicine. Look, I get it. We all want to solve our own medical dilemmas and use herbs to cure all ills. I try to solve any (non life threatening) health issues I have the “natural” way first too… often, I have great success! The problem comes when the community rejects all western medicine, most science (that doesn’t affirm their beliefs) and any medical opinion that has… actually been to a real medical school. There is a strong anti-vaccination movement coupled with the belief in using yoni eggs religiously and doing colonics every week (though science tells us this isn’t a great idea overall). I used a different type of yoni egg for awhile to see what would happen, but trust me, your pelvic health is going to be better without them. You will be judged harshly for going to a “mainstream” doctor to get antibiotics for a serious infection and will most likely be gaslit into oblivion regarding “what you did to attract” your infection etc.

I have midwifed for many years now and have extensive “mainstream” training to be able to do this legally. Once, I was working with another midwife on a mother who was having her first baby. The laboring woman had an ideal birth in mind like most people do. Long story short, I discerned while she was laboring that the baby was in intense distress and that the mother was displaying very concerning signs of a life-threatening condition. When I insisted on calling an ambulance and getting the woman to the hospital, the other midwife said that I was interfering with nature. I explained simply that if we didn’t get said woman to a hospital, the baby would most certainly die and the mother’s life would hang in the balance. Her response was that: “Some babies don’t deserve to live and I shouldn’t invite karma by interfering with nature’s course.” I called an ambulance anyway and the mother was taken for an emergency c-section. The mother was very disappointed about not being able to follow her birth plan. However, after the birth (she and baby ended up being okay thank goodness) she sat down with me personally and thanked me for making the decision I did. She said that one of the doctors explained that if I had waited another hour, both she and the baby would be dead. Apparently, this other “midwife” had also had her license revoked a year before for endangering a different laboring person and child. This sounds like a stand-alone freak incident, but I can cite 15-20 other situations just like this one where life-threatening emergencies were viewed as opportunities for good karma and growth… and that western medical intervention would invite bad karma.

Regarding science, if you point to the fact that jade yoni eggs are likely to cause an infection, most of the new age community will scoff and say that they don’t trust science (the logic being that science once explained volcanos as angry gods or something and now cannot be trusted overall). If you don't wear blue-blocking glasses anytime you look at a screen, apparently you've already succumbed to mind control. You get my point… It’s so bad that the new age community is willing to endanger people’s lives and place the blame on the victims for being out of alignment with synchronicity. This one bullet point could be talked about for hours.

3. A lack of discernment and victim blaming. Many have heard about Bentinho Massaro and his crew from that time when they swept through Sedona a couple years ago. The core of the Sedona community started blindly following him… some of them wanted to boost their online platforms by being associated with a well-known figure. Others wanted a guru… and others were just curious and got sucked in by his charisma. All one had to do was google him. He has allegations of physically beating his followers, gaslighting people, torturing animals in his childhood, and ignoring the fact that an alarming number of his followers commit suicide. With all of this knowledge at our fingertips, the popular new age “influencers” went so far as to get in polyamorous relationships with him, validate his platform, and gaslight people who, sadly, committed sui**** because of certain things he said in his teachings. It was insane. Now, many of the people who followed him try to pretend it never happened or that they had no part in it. Many of them claim to have “gifts of the spirit” and to have stellar discernment.

One of the people who got into a polyamorous relationship with this person did an Instagram post where she basically said that if someone is being r*ped they should show their attacker love and surrender to what is happening so that they could experience unconditional love and come back to the "light." I honestly couldn’t believe what I was reading at first when I saw it. The part that was heartbreaking was when I read the comments and watched people (not just women and men) berate themselves for “fighting” while something terrible happened to them in the past. A few of them were teenagers. I made it a point to personally message the ones I was able to, and thankfully, a good number did respond positively. This exact issue has occurred on youtube channels, blogs, and in-person encounters. I’m just citing ONE online instance of this horrible, misaligned belief. Keep in mind that the person who did this post abandoned her disabled child with a family she barely knew to pursue a sexual relationship with Bentinho.

4. TERFS/anti-LGBTQ/anti-feminism. This falls under the categories of relationships, sex, autonomy, and social issues, but expands into much more overall.

A chain of videos came out a couple years ago where about 5 women in the new age community each did a presentation on what was wrong with the “divine feminine” these days. They were saying that women had been erased because they were not conforming to gender roles or seeking out conscious relationships. They all referenced that “women are angry” and basically said it was wrong for women to feel this way and that angry female energy was throwing our whole environment out of balance and even contributing to global warming somehow. They empathized with toxic people/men/known violent incels and said that women needed to get over their traumas and be more available for the divine masculine to show up. They dehumanized women by saying they shouldn’t be expressing anger, glossed over sexual a******, and blocked everyone in the comments who took a stand against what they were saying. The general consensus is that feminists are just angry women who need to get over their trauma.

Many people in the new age community also believe that if you incarnate in a particular body with certain biological parts, you incarnated that way for a reason. Changing it extensively is to erase “the spiritual lessons you were supposed to learn.” Basically, they stand against trans people, nonbinary people, gender nonconforming people… etc. I can go deeper with this if you want, but that is the gist of it without writing a novel within a novel.

Most of them take an active stance against intersectional feminism and use exclusive language to shut out anyone who doesn’t conform to the binary. A few of them are more passive-aggressive about how they do this: refusing to show any support for the LGBTQUIA+ community or mention social issues at all, even when someone is pointing out that they did something hurtful or offensive.

5. Appropriating Indigenous cultures and using past lives as an excuse. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard a white new age person say that something is their “spirit animal” or seen one wear Native American/indigenous headdresses to tight-knit community events, citing that they were “Native American” in their past life and that they are entitled to use these symbols, items, and cultural lexicons because of it. (Not that this is the main point… but they tell trans people that they shouldn’t be trans or insinuate that people should conform to the gender binary because they incarnated in a body type for a reason… but make an exception for themselves culturally? Super hypocritical.)

A couple of “woke” guys from the new age community walked around for awhile saying that the Hopi had adopted them into their “tribe” and that the were given Hopi names. I spoke to a few Hopi people about what was happening and they were shell-shocked. That is not something that they do for one thing, and for another, they had never even heard of these people! Thankfully, the behavior stopped after the two men were confronted about it, but this kind of thing happens all the time in various ways. There is a new age store here with a racial slur in the title… bring it up to the owner and she’ll kick you out and launch a smear campaign. Tell one of the white new age women that just because she studies “different traditions” doesn’t mean it’s okay to do rain dances or perform indigenous rituals (Native American, Australian, and others) without permission and they’ll blacklist you. I think many of the new agers operate within this Trojan horse of “I want to accept and validate all cultures”, but do not actually care at all about indigenous voices, feelings, or opinions. Many of them talked a lot about collective trauma in our nation during Black Lives Matter, but wouldn’t actively support it in any way themselves.

6. Let’s talk about mental health. This could go under the science and medicine label, but I think it deserves its own paragraph. Boy is mental health stigmatized in the new age Sedona community…. Real mental health professionals are painted as people who just want to “drug” you and keep you controlled. People with mental health struggles are instantly blamed. “Hell is just a state of mind, you need to change your mind,” is a phrase I have heard more often than not. Ancestral healing, umbilical healing, and random reiki sessions are somehow supposed to take the place of a licensed counselor.

A huge chunk of the “spiritual” community supported a pseudo-therapist who (without any scientific basis) was preaching that any woman who wasn’t sure if she wanted to have children or not by the age of 25 was toxic and needed to be ostracized because “something is wrong there.” A bunch of people believed it and re-posted/shared the teaching.

Another instance occurred where an unlicensed “hypnotherapist” without so much as a bachelor’s degree in anything was using questionable methods to hypnotize clients. During one session a person experienced a severe PTSD flashback and panic attack. She was not brought out of the hypnotherapy session properly or cared for. She ended up having a mental breakdown and having to spend time in the hospital. The charlatan who was treating her said that the client was willfully unresponsive to treatment and refused to confront her demons…

Anyone who is on anxiety medication, anti-depressants or anything else to support their well-being and mental health will be judged aggressively and most likely verbally confronted at some point if they are open about being on medication. The charlatans will throw essential oils into your space saying that they can cure anything. Others will try to get someone to talk to a new age leader in the “inner circle” and attempt to persuade the client that western therapists/psychologists just want to drug people and ignore the spiritual cause of unrest. They’ll cite earthing, crystals, vaginal wands, special teas, dietary habits, and color therapy as causes and answers to everything…. All while regarding victims of sui**** as unfortunate souls and lost causes etc.

7. A summary. I need to sum up other issues here quite quickly or I’ll be typing all day. XD Many of the women here are terrified of gaining weight or looking older. They hide behind the thinning veil of “health and veganism” to justify their worrisome habits to feel sexually appealing to supposedly “woke” men. Disordered eating and terror of eating one granule of processed sugar permeates the consciousness. You can be judged for anything from buying pokemon cards to eating legumes…. of all things. Most of the men are sexual predators who prey on younger women, rely on narcissism as a personality type, and don’t let anyone get a word in edgewise when their opinions are challenged. Many of the women validate these behaviors and blame themselves when they get hurt citing “spiritual growth” as a silver lining to cure all traumas. I would say that 95%+ of the people in the community present a perfect picture of themselves online while having crumbling relationships and failing inner lives. You might see a post or video about “conscious uncoupling” of a spiritual "power couple" and then find out later that someone was in a relationship with a narcissistic predator or was experiencing physical abuse. Sadly, many of the victims gaslight themselves in the uncoupling announcement. Many people here are predators in other ways… they might launch a health business that uses essential oils to replace therapy. There are con artists all over the place who can range from simply overpricing their wares in alarming ways to trying to entrap people in “business contracts” that devastate their lives. I have had personal UFO experiences here and do personally think that extraterrestrial life exists, but I would NEVER try to manufacture a fake experience… One of the UFO tour guides was having people hide out in the desert and flash lights into the sky while people on the tour wore special glasses. Then she was charging an arm and a leg to channel “spiritual messages” from the e.t.s for her clients and saying that if they didn’t receive the message, something bad would happen to them. This is the fluffiest and lightest post I could possibly do to communicate how bad it is in the “spiritual community” here. This is only the tip of the iceberg.

The good news? Sedona is so much more than a toxic new age community. It is GORGEOUS and it does have many good, healthy/normal people here. =) I have had such a beautiful experience in this place and can’t say enough good things about it. I have easy access to healthy foods, endless nature to explore and bask in, and a growing community of people who call the new age community out on its toxicity. I read what I want, play Animal Crossing without blue-blocker glasses, regularly enjoy going to listen to goth music at my preferred venue (I’ve been demonized for this lol), and eat what makes me feel good. My partner and I have had a beautiful and successful relationship for nearly a decade now and create amazing memories every day. We have good friends all around the world… and I have a solid, BIG group of academic colleagues/friends locally who DO ethically cite their sources and contribute positively to science and higher learning. If you’re into paleontology like me, you are in fossil heaven! =D If you love astronomy or astrophysics, we’re in a dark sky city! There are so many cool things to do from playing in LOTR-worthy waterfalls, to sampling delicious vegan creations, to playing DnD on red rocks with your friends while a *real* UFO passes by overhead. Get yourself a smoothie and organic wrap from one of our incredible food trucks and drive out into the desert while listening to Nightvale with your love or your friends. =)

If you ever want a list of must-do’s while visiting, let me know. I’ve got your back! The point is that I just harped on the negative above, but the good news is that you can completely avoid all of the junk. Keep it or scrap it when it comes to the Sedona new age community? I say scrap it. But you can still pursue your spiritual interests in healthy ways here while enjoying all the yummy creature comforts that the Verde Valley has to offer. I hope this helps and if just one person comes here and has a safe experience because of my thoughts, then every moment I’ve spent writing this was worth it. =) <3

[jellibelli123]

This channel, ooooo!!! Fucking hell, they really went the route of Kerzgesagt in a nutshell whenever politics, specifically climate change, was a video topic. And my radar has been pinging alerts in recent videos up until this point where it went on full alert.

For those who dont know KIAN went under controversy having donors like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a foundation who has a history of publishing articles that benefit their investment interests, specifically the odd Carbon Catchers KIAN was promoting in any Climate change video as well as the typical "vote with your dollar, its your responsibility" kind of propaganda similar to the late 1900s early climate activism instead of giving real meaningful solutions LET ALONE POINTING THE BLAME ON THE ACTUAL PROBLEM MAKERS, the corporations.

That and the usual "gdp makes the world better" when its not entirely accurate let alone applicable to people who existed without gdp and lots of todays systemic problems like homelessness before getting fucking colonized and genocided, like the SikSika who Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is based off of before being edited to fit a hierarchical society because of death threats from racists. See this for more details about that specifically.

Back to the video in the image

Yeah that was this video, "Just take these three sentences as lenses and put them together to make a better world! Oh and go donate to provide real impact!" And nothing else.

Note i haven't checked who their donors are if they have any, I am pointing out that they sound 1-1 how kerzgesagt did.

But it gets worse!

Their source: Our World In Data which they basically just repeated a statement article from it's CEO (nonprofit my ass). Now in the beginning while my alarms were going off, I decided to dive into this site I've never heard about.

- I first looked at who made it, Oh oxford! Calmed me down a bit...

-oh hey who's this other guy. GCDL? Global Change Data Lab! Sounds like scientists same as Our World in Data! I take a look at them, a non profit. Ok, so who's their donors?..........well wouldn't you know it, but a primary donor is the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation!! Panic

But OH IT GETS WORSE!!!!

Ignoring all that because people still do trust the B&MGF, I decide to hold these guys by their word. If they have everything statistics about the ENTIRE WORLD, surely they have stuff about Palestine?.... :3

...surely they would right?

......right???

WELL YES as a matter of fact!

Oh thank god!

Oh sweet summer child the only good thing I found was that it listed Palestine as a country, which shouldn't be a plus cause that's the bare minimum.....but a plus whatever.

Taking a deep dive into many of the graphs they have which are plentiful, I noticed the numbers...were low...and the graphs not going past the year 1950.........uh oh.

I decide to look for death graphs...found not a lot of bumps in coorilation to the many atrocities we've seen happening in real time...

Some graphs where it noted per 100,000 people, it was sometimes 10 deaths-1k deaths depending on what it was focusing on.

NOW TO THE WORST PART

I went ahead and focused on "Deaths in Interstate conflict based on where they occurred". Can you guess how much they had from the Nakba, allllll the way till now?

Nope, lower

Lowerrr

Not even close, here:

A whopping flatline...

Now surely I hear you say, I got something mixed up, scrolls a little bit

Surely I got my Intra mixed with my Inter, maybe I need to select the check marks on the side! Maybe oh maybe scrolls a little more

Oh! Gotcha there, you thought I was going to compare it to the wrong example graph for Ukraine right? Hahahahah-

.......still 80k deaths listed here too, just like in the example graph I definitely didn't almost accidentally use ahahahahahhhhhhhhhhhSILLY!!

But fr fr here's the actual graphs I almost compared incorrectly!

Note according to the site they only list something if it causes 25 deaths a year....the most that's listed on Palestine's graph is 2,287 total deaths in 2014. Not "notes about per 100k", total.

Note that Ukraine's number which I went back and hovered over the spike in 2022 when russia invaded, still shows 80k~ deaths total.

So...what gives?

Well that's just what happens when science gets boarded with Imperialism from corporations and governments; one of the oldest tales in the book of sciences history we are trying to undo today.

The data, can lie.

Always remember to ask who this benefits, my fellow leftists. Is it the people, or those in power?

Always look up opposing info where you can, especially if you are in the US...

Thank you for my ted talk that will more than likely not reach anyone but whatever! Life of a furry I guess lmao!

......anddontsaythegayfurryhactivistgroupLMAOOOO