#A Black Feminist Homecoming

[angrboda007]

Hi!! I'm Boda. I'm a Hellenic polytheist, a fiction podcast fan, solarpunk anarchist, feminist, writer, dungeon master, disaster bisexual, and a huge history nerd.

Podcast recommendations in no particular order: Girl in Space, The Bright Sessions, Limetown, EOS 10, The Antique Shop, The Two Princes, Welcome to Night Vale, Bridgewater, Mirrors, Look Up, Homecoming, Greenhouse, Give Me Away, The Black Tapes, The Silt Verses, Digital Folklore, Passenger List, Wooden Overcoats, DnDads, Malevolent, The Case of the Greater Gatsby, Breaker Whiskey

[protectblackchildren]

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A Black Feminist Homecoming

[owenthetokencishet]

I'm bored. Time to do my extremely Marvel fatigued takes on every MCU... Thing.

-Iron Man: Holy shit it's a movie! It's actually a movie!

-Captain America: The First Avenger: ROCK SOLID. Shoutout to Agent Carter for being cool enough for her own spinoff series

-Thor: there is nothing remotely Norse looking about any of this

-Iron Man 2: -10 points for Elon Musk, whole thing is freakishly libertarian, but I like Justin Hammer as a villain

-The Avengers: Look, you can hate on Joss Whedon all you like and probably be correct, but this was the gold standard of superhero movies for a good while and with good reason.

-Iron Man 3: Character development??? In MY bloated superhero movie franchise????

Captain America: The Winter Soldier: trying to be deeper than it is when really it's just Steve fighting hydra again

Thor: The Dark World: well, that sure was a movie.

Guardians of the Galaxy: James Gunn's skill with the needle drop rivals Quentin Tarantino. Not just in this film but in all of his actually

Avengers: Age of Ultron: oh god why is the ROBOT quipping please make the robot stop quipping. Oh look Quicksilver's dead.

Ant-Man: this would be really good if it was directed by a director instead of two million overworked VFX artists

Captain America: Civil War: Hey, y'know that actually fairly interesting character conflict we brought up about government regulation of superheroes? What if we pretended it never happened by act 3 and then completely ignored it for the rest of forever?

Was there another movie here or did I make that up?

Doctor Strange: I love it when rich assholes meet poetic justice and the costume design on this film was unmatched. Although I still think it should have been directed by Lana Wachowski with Michelle Yeoh playing the ancient one but that's just me

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: teaching your dipshit male protagonist that toxic masculinity isn't something to strive for and showing him how to be better? FUCK YEAH. Also found family in a shitty spaceship my beloved 💖

Spider-Man: Homecoming: this is the closest the MCU has come to an accurate portrayal of Peter Parker, it's only downhill from here. Wait, why is Ganke here?

Thor Ragnarok: It's all the humour of a Taika Waititi movie with none of the compassion. Man's gone on record to say he only makes Thor movies for the money so if this is the price we pay for Jojo Rabbit, Reservation Dogs, and Our Flag Means Death, I'm okay with that.

Black Panther: hey maybe having your villain and only your villain saying racism is bad isn't such a good idea

Avengers: Infinity War: HE CAST TOO BIG FOR HE GOTDAMN MOVIE. Time to strip all these characters down to their barest bones because we don't have the time to do anything more nuanced!

Ant-Man and the Wasp: My Favorite versions of these characters will always be from the 2010 animated series and these ones just don't compare

Captain Marvel: we made a feminist girl power movie! What's particularly feminist about it? Carol gets catcalled exactly once and that's about it!

Avengers Endgame: is it over? No? Oh no.

Spider-Man: Far From Home: Peter Parker is not the "next" Iron Man, he's Spider-Man. Just let him be Spider-Man. Also seriously this is the wrong spidered man for Ganke why is he here

WandaVision: I am completely ambivalent about WandaVision

FATWS: are we supposed to believe that Sam and Bucky are friends? Also didn't fans give Wyatt Russell the 'non white male actor in a star wars movie' treatment for some reason?

Black Widow: 😐

Loki: Started strong and wandered off into the wild blue yonder of selfcest

What if: HEY WHAT IF...? YOU PAID FOR SOME DECENT ANIMATORS INSTEAD OF WHATEVER NERDS WITH BLENDER YOU CAN UNDERPAY AND WORK TO DEATH YOU MULTIBILLION DOLLAR CHEAPSKATES

Shang-Chi And The Legend of the Ten Rings: A post-endgame Marvel Movie that ISN'T hot garbage!

Eternals: couldn't be arsed

Hawkeye: Just different enough from My Life As A Weapon to avoid giving credit to Matt Fraction and David Aja

Spider-Man: No Way Home: Lots of things have been adapted into movies over the years: classic novels, comics, TV shows, plays, even video games! This however, is the first time a comic-con panel has been adapted into a movie. Also, no Spider-Man anywhere ever would EVER say "I just want to kill you myself" get a grip. I think I've now made my point about stealing Miles' best friend and giving him to Peter

Moon Knight: that's not an exciting Easter egg, that's an essential part of the character that you completely cut out and grafted on to the end

Multiverse of Madness: Nothing nowhere all at once. Themes? Character development??? PLOT??? Are you INSANE???? A good movie is one that's nothing but cameos and references to OTHER, BETTER MOVIES!

Ms. Marvel: Y'know, Kamala being a shape-shifter was kind of important because, comedic irony, top text learns she doesn't need to change for others, bottom text is a shape-shifter, you know how it is

Thor: Love and Thunder: haven't seen it, don't really want to

She-Hulk: Attorney at law: please just... Stop.

Comics are very good though! Read some comics!

[whispersofsarcasm4494]

okay but like pukwudgies:

-there literally slytherpuffs

-pukwudgies are literally jellybeans but they come of as scary

-most first years who see them think they're the scariest, espicially the upperclassmen, because the seventh years are literally a bunch of intimidating, drug dealers with resting bitch faces who joke about their emotional trauma and mental health. and then at some point, either the older thunderbirds, horned serpents or wampus will introduce the seventh years to the first years and they're literally the sweetest people on earth

-every seventh year has a favorite first year, who they treat as their own child

-pukwudgies provide all the muggle imports to the other houses i.e candy, beverages, books, magazines

-they treat every exchange like its a drug deal

-they have a literal mafia called "the puks" that along with the mafia of horned serpent rule the black market of the school

-they preach their home remedies and treat honey like a god

-they have a huge rivalry with horned serpent, but every year before the homecoming senior quidditch match, they have a huge sleepover in one of the two common rooms, for a one night only no rivalry party

-pukwudgies have tarot, astrology, and palmistry booths all over their common room

-the entrance to their common room is literally in the kitchens. you go through and theres a wooden staircase that leads down three levels until you reach an openspace common room with a view of the waterfall of lake greylock

-their common room has three levels theres the main one that has the sofas, the windows, and hords of pillows and blankets

the second level that can be reached by a spiral staircase that consists of the hallways that lead to the dorms and 'the booths' where students can sell handmade prducts and give astrology readings etc.

the third floor is just a loft that is a dedicated indoor garden and greenhouse

-there are two seperare hallways that lead to the boys and girls dorms, both of which go up  spiral wooden staircases with plants hanging from the sides

-their the only house with bunkbeds

-the rooms are the exact same except the boys rooms overlook the mountains and the girls overlook the lake

-students have the same dorm the entire time until they graduate so they tend to put up posters and wall art

-they have a tradition of leaving a note and candy after they graduate, for the incoming first years who will get their rooms next

-the notes usually give words of advice, twll stories from their days, and reveal secrets. most pukwudgies keep their letter with them for the rest of their life

-but in the common room they jave a great big wall that his letters from over the years that pukwudgies look at, the oldest one being from 1901

-the pukwudgies run the alumni group

-students are allowed to participate in special clubs run by the upper pukwudgies including but not limited too:

-The Puks: The Art of Buisness and Money (A literal mafia)

-No-Maj Medics: A guide to No-Maj medicine and treatments

-The OWFG: The ordinairy witches for the good, a feminist group that talks about social issues. It primarily focuses on women and womens issues, but many boys join too

-Pukwudgie Future Leaders: like the MACUSA internship club only focuses more on debating and leadership skills and is run by students

-FFG: Found Family Group, a safe space for all to talk, write, or just vent about issues

-The Pukwudgie Gobstone Team: Pukwudgie has the worst gobstone team in the school but the friendships you make last forever(thats basically their slogan)

-The Quidditch Club: Avalibile for any and all quidditch players. It's a combine club between the Horned Serpents and Pukwudgies for all students to learn about the history of quidditch, fan girl over the players, and learn the basic ropes of the game

-the pukwudgie common room has no password or anything you simply have to be a pukwudgie or be with a pulwudgie to get in

-when they take yearbook photos, the ambassadors(a seventh year for each country US, Mexico, Canada) decide a theme for each year and some of the past favorites have been:

Goth Emo

70's parents

Hippies

Dehydrated French Men named Pierre

Salad Dressings

The Different Classes

Dress up like your teacher

- they all somehow have athletic bodies, even though they spend their days inside watching muggle movies and gardening

[laufire]

read in 2022

(rereads were put in cursive)

Prose

@aninkwellofnectar​ In Pursuit of Perfection.

aninkwellofnectar’s Two Halves of a Whole.

aninkwellofnectar’s Starblood.

aninkwellofnectar’s Wishing You Were Here.

aninkwellofnectar’s When The Stars Alight. 

aninkwellofnectar’s We Will Devour The Night.

aninkwellofnectar’s A Close Encounter.

aninkwellofnectar’s The Sanguine Sorceress.

Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid.

Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen.

Isaac Asimov’s The Last Question.

Ray Bradbury’s All Summer in a Day.

Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber.

Angela Carter’s The Courtship of Mr. Lyon.

Angela Carter’s The Tiger’s Bride.

Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.

Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.

Elizabeth Gaskell’s The Grey Woman.

Agustín Gómez-Arcos’ El cordero carnívoro.

The Grimms’ Rapunzel. 

Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. 

The Grimm’s Cinderella.

Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery.

Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word of Unbinding.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Rule of Names.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Trip to the Head.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s Direction of the Road. 

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. 

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Good Trip. 

Ursula K. Le Guin’s Darkness Box.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s Things. 

Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Masters.

Ursula K. Le Guin’s April in Paris. 

Ana María Matute’s Aranmanoth. 

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper.

Charles Perrault’s Blue Beard.

Charles Perrault’s Cinderella. 

Charles Perrault’s Donkey-skin.

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart.

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat.

Edgar Allan Poe’s Morella.

John Polidari’s The Vampyre.

Mary Shelley’s The Invisible Girl.

Elena Sichrovsky’s Apologies for the Fact of Your Body.

Tony Tulathimutte’s The Feminist.

Madame de Villeneuve’s Beauty and the Beast.

Sarah Wilkinson’s The Ruins of Belfont Abbey.

Queen Anait.

The Sealskin.

Vasilisa the Beauty.

Poetry

Miguel Hernández’s Vientos del pueblo.

Homer’s Hymn to Demeter.

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven.

Sappho’s Hymn to Aphrodite.

Plays

George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.

Andrés Sopeña Monsalve’s El florido pensil.    

Euripides’ Medea. 

Lope de Vega’s Fuenteovejuna.

Comics

Batman: Year One.

Batman: Wayne Family Adventures (#1-39).

Batman: The Long Halloween.

Batman: Dark Victory.

Batman: Dark Prince Charming.

Catwoman: The Catfile.

Catwoman: When in Rome.

JC. Deveney & Núria Tamarit’s Giganta: la historia de aquella que recorrió el mundo en busca de la libertad.

Paper Girls.

Robin: Year One.

W.I.T.C.H. (#1-3).

Articles

(this is a last minute addition -December 31st lmao- and I definitely don’t remember them all, especially since quite a lot where on physical magazines and newspapers, but hey)

Everyone is Beautiful and No One is Horny by RS Benedict.

A Love Letter to the Girls Who Die First in Horror Films by Lindsay King-Miller.

Millions of Women Are Injured During Childbirth. Why Aren’t Doctors Diagnosing Them? by Laura Beil.

In Memory of Nicole Brown Simpson by Andrea Dworkin.

The 26-Year-Old Virgin by Domenica Feraud.

Exterminate the men: honoring Andrea Dworkin, a feminist who meant it and paid by John Dolan.

Time Loop Narratives Are About Love by katy.

What Was the Girlboss? by Moira Donegan.

I tried to make rapists better people. Was it all for nothing? by Helen Rumbelow.

Who’s afraid of Amber Heard? by Rayne Fisher-Quann.

Fanfic

amoama’s Ivory (Black Sails, Miranda Barlow).

@angelfishofthelord​ rabbit hearted girl (SPN, Castiel & Claire, 2.8k).

Eione’s Moonlight Walk (Carmilla novella, 100w).

angelfishofthelord’s Lamb to the Slaughter (SPN, Castiel & the Winchesters, 85.k).

@elasticella​ welcome to your life (there’s no turning back) (SPN, Amara/Mary).

@finnicks​ red orchid (Daredevill, Mattelektra, 200w).

firecat’s Homecoming (Vasilisa the Beautiful, Baba Yaga/Vasilisa, 1.6k).

illudio’s Choices and Deals (SPN, Bela, 800w).

@missbrunettebarbie​ Motherhood- it’s a mental illness (Roswell, Nora & Michael & Walt).

missbrunettebarbie’s Four dancing princesses (Charmed, Prue & Piper & Phoebe & Paige).

TNaPKI’s Enemies of the State (Legacies, Hope/Lizzie, Caroline/Klaus).

[emerald-studies]

How to be an ally

(I fixed ALL the links so fucking reblog)

1.  Check In On Your Black Friends/Acquaintances

In my opinion, I believe the best way to be an ally is to reach out to your Black friends and check in on them, consistently. If you can recognize the times we are living in are absolute hell, you should be checking in on the most effected. None of my friends have checked up on me to see how I was doing or just to talk. They didn’t even bring up the protests until I did. It feels very very lonely and scary to not be checked up on by the people who say they support and love you. So, I’m making this the first point because I don’t want anyone else to feel this way, not trying to complain.

2.  Learn More About Black History

It’s important to learn about the Black activists that our history books left out. Yes, Martin Luther King Jr. was, and is, important but we need to reflect on why he was pushed on us so much in our history classes, compared to other Black leaders. Is it because our government would rather us walk down the street holding signs than actually defending ourselves against the cop who’s beating us?

Here’s a master list of activists to start you off.

3.  Go to Rallies and Protests (If you can)

Find protests and rallies in your area by looking on Twitter and search #yourcityprotest. Or watch your local news channel to see where they are (if they’re being covered on the news). Also search on Facebook. Wear a mask.

4. Donate and Sign Petitions

If you don’t have extra money to donate, that’s fine. If you still want to be an ally then sign all the petitions you can. Take a day to research all the ones you can sign/haven’t signed and sign them!

(Also you don’t need to donate to change.org! Directly donate to non-profit organizations and victims’ families!)

George Floyd - change.org

George Floyd - amnesty.org

George Floyd - colorofchange.org

Get The Officers Charged

Charge All Four Officers

Breonna Taylor - moveon.org

Breonna Taylor - colorofchange.org

Breonna Taylor - justiceforbreonna.org

Breonna Taylor - change.org

Breonna Taylor - thepetitionsite.com

Ahmaud Arbery - change.org

Ahmaud Arbery - change.org 2

Ahmaud Arbery - change.org 3

Justice for Oluwatoyin Salau

Pass The Georgia Hate Crime Bill

Defund MPD

Life Sentence For Police Brutality

Regis Korchinski - change.org

Tete Gulley - change.org

Tony McDade - change.org

Tony McDade - actionnetwork.org

Tony McDade - thepetitionsite.com

Joao Pedro - change.org

Julius Jones - change.org

Belly Mujinga - change.org

Willie Simmons - change.org

Hands Up Act - change.org

National Action Against Police Brutality

Kyjuanzi Harris - change.org

Alejandro Vargas Martinez - change.org

Censorship Of Police Brutality In France

Sean Reed - change.org

Sean Reed - change.org 2

Kendrick Johnson - change.org

Tamir Rice - change.org

Tamir Rice - change.org 2

Fire Racist Criminal From The NYPD

Jamee Johnson - organizefor.org

Darius Stewart - change.org

Darius Stewart - moveon.org

Abolish Prison Labor

Free Siyanda - change.org

Chrystul Kizer - change.org

Chrystul Kizer - change.org 2

Andile Mchunu (Bobo) - change.org

Eric Riddick - change.org

Amiya Braxton - change.org

Emerald Black - change.org

Elijah Nichols - change.org

Zinedine Karabo Gioia - change.org

Angel Bumpass - change.org

Sheku Bayoh - change.org

Visit these sites for more info:

http://www.pb-resources.com/

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

5. Educate yourself and others.

Articles:

- “America’s Racial Contract Is Killing Us” by Adam Serwer | Atlantic (May 8, 2020)

- Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement (Mentoring a New Generation of Activists

- ”My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas | NYT Mag (June 22, 2011)

- The 1619 Project (all the articles) | The New York Times Magazine

- The Combahee River Collective Statement

- “The Intersectionality Wars” by Jane Coaston | Vox (May 28, 2019)

- Tips for Creating Effective White Caucus Groups developed by Craig Elliott PhD

- “Where do I donate? Why is the uprising violent? Should I go protest?” by Courtney Martin (June 1, 2020)

- ”White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Knapsack Peggy McIntosh

- “Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12, 2020)

Movies/TV Shows:

When They See Us

American Son

Hello Privilege, It’s Me, Chelsea

The 13th

Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story

What Happened Miss Simone?

The Two Killings of Sam Cooke

Who Killed Malcolm X?

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson

Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce (Lighter in tone)

LA 92

Dear White People

Videos:

- Black Feminism & the Movement for Black Lives: Barbara Smith, Reina Gossett, Charlene Carruthers (50:48)

- “How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion” | Peggy McIntosh at TEDxTimberlaneSchools (18:26)

- American Oxygen - Rihanna

- Formation - Beyonce

Podcasts:

- Malcolm X Speeches

- 1619 (New York Times)

- About Race

- Code Switch (NPR)

- Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw

- Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast

Books:

- The Autobiography of Malcolm X

- Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About RaceBook by Reni Eddo-Lodge

- Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

- Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper

- Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

- How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

- Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

- Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

- The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs

- The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

- This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga

- When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson

- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD

Follow:

- Shaun King: Instagram | Website

- Antiracism Center: Twitter

- Black Women’s Blueprint: Website

- Color Of Change: Website

- The Conscious Kid: Website | Instagram

- Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): Website | Twitter | Instagram

- NAACP: Twitter | Instagram |

- Ziwe | Instagram | (She has discussions about race with White people, kinda grilling them, every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Super thrilling to watch.)

Here’s Some Music Too:

Change Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

Chain Gang - Nina Simone

Missisippi Goddamn - Nina Simone

Fuck Da’ Police - N.W.A.

This is America - Childish Gambino

I’m Not Racist - Joyner Lucas

Fight the Power - Public Enemy

Freedom (Live) - Beyonce

I Can’t Breathe - H.E.R.

American Oxygen - Rihanna

Brown Skin Girl - Beyonce

+

My Playlist With A Few More

Black Artists Matter Playlist

What a large list! It looks so overwhelming! Don’t worry, you don’t have to read/watch/listen to everything. It takes a lot of effort!

Jk.

[foureyedfreezy]

This Miles vs Riri thing needs to die. Just because they're both black teen characters created by Bendis doesn't mean you have to drag Miles into everything whenever Riri comes up. I know Marvel fans hate Riri but the conspiracies are such a reach. She's in MCU before Miles isn't because some "feminist woke" crap alt-righters try to push into their agenda. Sony has the rights to Spider-Man characters, so Disney is trying to find a way to present them in their movies legally. It has nothing to do with Riri or black women. There are so many white characters who are in MCU before Miles but the fandom wants to hate the only black girl with her leading series. Homecoming and Far From Home stole Miles's plot and gave it to Peter, but no one cares about that. Miles has a hit movie, and upcoming sequel, and an award winning PlayStation game. Miles has more content than any of the current Marvel teen heroes, so there's no reason to get mad at Riri coming in BP2. Black men have Blade, T'Challa, Luke Cage, and Miles in their leading roles. Let black women have something that isn't black man's girlfriend or white woman's best friend.

[dailyhistoryposts]

Aimé Césaire

Aimé Fernand David Césaire (1913-2008) was a poet and politician notable for the Négritude movement.

[Césaire]

Born in Basse-Pointe, Martinique, France, a small island in the Caribbean Sea, to lower-class parents who struggled to provide for his education. Césaire, like the rest of Martinique, spoke French but considered himself to be Igbo and a son of Nigeria.

He attended school at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris on an educational scholarship, where he and two others founded the literary review L'Étudiant noir (The Black Student). This was essential to initiating the Négritude movement.

Négritude (French, a literal translation would be something like 'Blackness', and was a reclamation of the derogatory 'nègre') is a framework of critique developed by francophone intellectuals of the American diaspora during the 1930s. Its goal was to raise a "Black consciousness". It followed the Black radical tradition and followed Marxist political philosophy, disavowed colonialism, and argued for a Pan-African community among worldwide members of the African diaspora. Artistically, Négritude was influenced by Surrealism and the Harlem Renaissance.

In 1937, Césaire married Suzanne Roussi, a writer, anti-colonialist, feminist, and Surrealist also from Martinique. Together they returned to Martinique, where they were active throughout World War II. They founded the literary review Tropiques and continued to write poems. In 1939, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (translation Journal of a Homecoming), a poem the length of a book and Césaire's masterwork, was published. It missed poetry and prose to discuss the cultural identity of Black Africans in a colonial setting.

[a younger Césaire]

In 1945, with the support of the French Communist Party (PCF), Césaire was elected mayor of Fort-de-France and deputy to the French National Assembly. He would later resign from the PCF and found the Parti Progressiste Martiniquais, with which he would dominate the political scene on the island. He would remain deputy for 47 straight years before voluntarily stepping down.

During his political career, Césaire continued to write. Notable workers include Une Tempête (The Tempest), a reworking of Shakespeare's play for a Black audience and Discours sur le colonialisme (Discourse on Colonialism), a denunciation of European colonialism and racism. Discours sur le colonialisme says that White colonizers, not the people they colonize, are savages. Césaire argues that modernism, slavery, imperialism, capitalism, and republicanism are linked and act as oppressive forces to empower colonizers. The text also argues that Nazism and the Holocaust was not a singular event in European history but a continuation of the tradition of barbaric colonialism.

Négritude, and Césaire's contributions to it, continue to resonate across the world. Afro-Surrealism, Creolite, and the Black is Beautiful movement all continue the tradition of Négritude.

[princessnijireiki]

me whenever people post "inspirational" photosets of female tv chars or superheroines with "the future looks female!" or some other "empowering" quote abt womanhood or whatever: "nice work putting two whole women of color (maybe even a single black woman) into your gifset of like 25,000 white girls…"

me: "even though there's been like a eighteen x-men movies, the black panther trailer is out, there's 50 years of star trek to work with, and I can literally rattle off a half dozen period pictures or shows with brown folks in them off the top of my head, to say nothing of standalone scifi & how people always post dolores from westworld in these but not maeve, and how fond people are of using bey & nicki lines on these kind of edits, etc."

me: "…but uh, nice elastigirl quote you got there as a caption ig"

[skarchomp]

How much of the mcu was good and how much of it was us getting caught up in the excitement of seeing comic crossovers in the big screen

i was actually just thinking about this 

iron man: i liked it when i was 14 but, to be fair, i was 14

incredible hulk: christ alive how come nobody can make a movie about the hulk, a nerd who turns into the tazmanian devil, even a little entertaining

iron man 2: imagine watching iron man without the benefit of being 14 and knowing what bad movies are and you have iron man 2

thor: tom hiddleston was the first actor to give some kind of actual performance in the mcu which is great and i absolutely hate him for it

captain america the first avenger: this one is actually a fun little pulp action film that i think would work best as a standalone thing

avengers: we really went and let joss whedon get away with calling himself a feminist huh

iron man 3: i thought it was pretty fun but in hindsight every movie after it trying to ignore it and do a different more boring tone really was the first sign of disney tightening its grip on the mcu

thor 2: did you know christopher eccelston was in this movie? i wouldnt blame you if you didnt

captain america the winter soldier: okay yeah this is probably one of the most overhyped films ever made but id being lying if i said i wasnt on board too when it came out. there's a scene where captain america beats up a plane.

guardians of the galaxy: i would love this movie if it starred someone other than chris pratt

age of ultron: WE REALLY WENT AND LET JOSS WHEDON GET AWAY WITH CALLING HIMSELF A FEMINIST HUH

ant-man: nothing amazing, but i appreciated a more comedic and visually interesting superhero film that was fairly small-stakes and just about a guy and not a cop

captain america civil war: well it's sure the best avengers movie

dr strange: who the fuck saw dr strange

guardians of the galaxy vol 2: you know how "the chain" is a really well-made, emotional, captivating song made by talented people, but "hooked on a feeling" is funnier? anyway,

spider-man homecoming: terrible interpretation of spider-man but i was willing to give them a chance, like maybe they just had to work out the kinks in the first movie and the second one would be better

thor ragnarok: breath of fresh air, easily one of the best marvel movies and arguably one of the best superhero movies ever made

black panther: it was nice to have an mcu movie that wanted to have an actual message, it's just a shame it feels like the disney family-friendly wide audience appeal version

avengers infinity war: if a superhero movie is gonna be bad, it should at least have the decency to be funny and boy oh boy i cant tell you how much i laughed at this flick, i mean i literally can't

ant-man and the wasp: super underrated, basically took all the good parts of the first movie and played them up more, these guys are so fucking small lmao

captain marvel: people had to make up discourse about this film because there's nothing actually interesting about it

avengers endgame: when i saw this a dude in the theater laughed out loud when it cut to iron man in the hospital and that guy is all i care about

spider-man far from home: the second one was not better

[aion-rsa]

Ranking Cinderella Adaptations

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A dream is a wish your heart makes, and if your wish is to see countless takes on the beloved fairy tale of Cinderella, then consider your dreams having come true many times over—including this year, with a new Cinderella by way of Amazon Studios. This latest adaptation seems to have combined qualities of many of its predecessors: it’s playfully anachronistic and eschews the traditional Disney or Rodgers & Hammerstein songs in favor of a tracklist of modern pop covers; it also engages with Cinderella’s career aspirations beyond fitting her foot into a glass slipper.

But this Cinderella owes everything to the other soot-stained girls, animated and otherwise, who wished with all their hearts for decades before her. How does the new adaptation compare to the modern fairy tales, animated classics, and another fairy tale riff with an outstanding Stephen Sondheim tune? Check out our ranking of Cinderella adaptations, from worst to best.

10. A Cinderella Story (2004)

This cult classic is a clever retelling, with peak early-aughts casting of Hilary Duff and Chad Michael Murray as the star-crossed, Cyrano de Bergerac-inspired lovers: Sam toils away at her late father’s Southern California diner, under the heel of a delightful Jennifer Coolidge as her vain stepmother, while Austin is the closest thing to high school royalty as the quarterback with a sensitive side. Regina King as the longtime diner employee-turned-metaphorical fairy godmother who gets Sam to the homecoming masquerade dance is the other key bit of casting, but you’d have to really be a fan of the “fairy tales in high school” subgenre to get on board. Plus, the stable of derivative direct-to-video sequels makes the sparkle wear off with each new, formulaic installment released.

9. Cinderella (2021)

Kay Cannon’s (Pitch Perfect) progressive plot urging entrepreneurial dressmaker Ella (Camilla Cabello), her bitterly materialistic stepmother (Idina Menzel), and other original female characters to choose themselves over the supposed security of marriage is not quite enough to balance the cringey modern soundtrack and anachronistic witticisms. It’s too bad, because this Cinderella puts forth ambitious ideas, and any production with Billy Porter as the fairy godmother should be nothing but fabulous. Compared to most of her predecessors, this Cinderella is a distinctively fresh role model for the next generation of kids, but adults won’t find much magic in her story.

8. Ella Enchanted (2004)

This is a tough one, because the source material—that is, Gail Carson Levine’s 1997 middle grade novel—is unquestionably one of the very best Cinderella adaptations: Ella’s curse of obedience is an apt commentary on manipulating young girls into giving up their agency under the guise of people-pleasing. But the film—despite its adorable, baby-faced stars Anne Hathaway and Hugh Dancy—overcomplicates an already daring plot with a throne-stealing subplot (that Cary Elwes, as the unnecessary evil uncle, can’t save) and an unforgivably cheesy cover of Queen’s “Somebody to Love.” Hathaway’s voice is sweeter than Nicholas Galitzine’s rendition in the new Cinderella, but the giants dressed in early-aughts miniskirts strain even the most loose definitions of fantasy. Despite all that, it (mostly) sells Ella struggling against abuses of her obedience in a way that’s still more revelatory than many straight adaptations. Still, you’ve got plenty of better movie choices; forget this adaptation and just read the book.

7. Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1965)

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II originally wrote their classic musical for television broadcast instead of the stage, though it has found its way to the latter. CBS’ second TV production (following the original 1957 version starring Julie Andrews) introduced a bright-eyed Lesley Ann Warren (a.k.a. Miss Scarlet from Clue) as Cinderella, and unlike its predecessor was able to be recorded in color. Between the vivid hues, Warren’s expressive acting, and the array of sets, it all contributed to the feeling of watching a taped performance—an incredibly charming one, at that. But the effect does come off as overwrought at times, making it the lowest of the three specifically Rodgers & Hammerstein adaptations on the list.

6. Cinderella (2015)

While visually Kenneth Branagh’s live-action adaptation of the animated Disney classic hews so closely to its source material that it feels like a lost opportunity to be more original, there are some sly plot tweaks. Lily James’ Ella is not hopelessly naïve about her abusive home situation, yet manages to keep up the mantra of “have courage and be kind” through even the worst mistreatment. Streamlining the classic songs to score strengthens the plot, with Ella’s rare occasion of singing being what ultimately saves her. Fans of the blue dress and romantic vibe will have much to swoon over, even if they’re not surprised.

5. Into the Woods (2014)

Or, then, what if I am? / What a Prince would envision? / But then how can you know / Who you are til you know / What you want? Which I don’t… Anna Kendrick brings us a relatably existential Cinderella in this movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s musical about various fairy tale characters who wind up with questionably happy ever afters—including Cinderella, who decides “not to decide,” then ends up with a philandering Prince. It’s not a complete Cinderella story, but it’s a more memorable performance in a handful of scenes than entire movies have attempted.

4. Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1957)

Despite only surviving in black-and-white form, CBS’ original TV broadcast shines thanks to its star: Julie Andrews, then performing My Fair Lady on Broadway, who makes this Cinderella both an amalgamation of her then-current and future roles and a performance all its own. You can see glimmers of her comic talents as Maria in The Sound of Music—this Cinderella also has more wit than other versions—but it’s her voice that elevates Rodgers & Hammerstein’s adaptation of Charles Perrault’s fairy tale into something timeless.

3. Cinderella (1950)

Few Cinderella adaptations have achieved the same sweeping sense of sheer romance in the Disney animated classic: the painted backgrounds, the dreamy sequences reflected in soap bubbles and sparkling through the palace gardens, the surprisingly high emotional stakes that make the resolution all the sweeter. And while it’s become a common Disney trope, the requisite scene in which the stepsisters cruelly rip apart Cinderella’s dress adds a layer of wickedness not present in the Rodgers & Hammerstein adaptations, nor successfully recreated in any of the live-action versions. The same goes for the goofy mice singing “Cinderelly, Cinderelly”—every subsequent CGI mouse lacks the warmth that goes into a believable animal companion. That said, the animated movie’s legacy is somewhat marred by its direct-to-video sequels of diminishing returns, though you also have to give them props for pulling an Avengers: Endgame 12 years earlier with Cinderella 3: A Twist in Time.

2. Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (1997)

For many of us, Disney’s animated Cinderella was a childhood classic, but The Wonderful World of Disney’s ‘90s production was the first time the story truly felt magical. Rodgers & Hammerstein’s songs were updated with contemporary beats, bridging the forty years between the first broadcast and this version: “Impossible” is one of the best songs from the show, but it hasn’t been truly sung until Whitney Houston is belting it out to a starry-eyed Brandy. The production’s effortlessly diverse casting—Whoopi Goldberg as the queen, Paolo Montalban as the prince, Bernadette Peters as the stepmother—only amplifies the universal nature of the story. Almost twenty-five years later, this adaptation still feels like the television event it was when it premiered.

1. Ever After: A Cinderella Story (1998)

A truly successful adaptation is one that doesn’t have to feel beholden to its source material. By opening with the Brothers Grimm explaining the inspiration behind their own interpretation of Cinderella, Ever After rewrites all of the familiar themes into a historical fiction—specifically, Renaissance-era France—context. Danielle’s (Drew Barrymore) misfortune as an orphan servant girl is so believable thanks to the cruelty of her stepmother’s (Anjelica Huston, a legend) abuse, but so is her determination and ingenuity to rise above her station. While Disney’s animated Cinderella is romantic, Ever After is a romance: Danielle disguises herself as a comtesse in order to spend time with Prince Henry (Dougray Scott), and they develop an actual relationship, complete with rejection once her subterfuge is revealed. Plus, Leonardo da Vinci is there for comic relief and an unintentional fairy godmother assist! If you want your Cinderella story with a compelling feminist arc but you’re also burnt out on the songs, this is your happily ever after.

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Cinderella will begin streaming on Amazon Video on September 3rd.

The post Ranking Cinderella Adaptations appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[thorongil82]

Going Round on a Ferris Wheel

Words: 2531

Fandom: MCU Spider-Man (Spideychelle)

Taglist: @petermjtexts (I did promise a while ago) @seek-rest (they say you write sad stuff, right?) @spideychelleforever (for the little bit you wrote for me before)

You can read on AO3 here

Summary: What few people knew was that Peter loves carnivals. Ever since he was a young boy, he's believed that they are a truly magical place. Sometimes they bring you joy. Sometimes they bring you sadness. Sometimes you can win a prize at every stall you can find. Sometimes you can lose every chunk of food you've eaten that day.

And sometimes you'll see something you'll never see again.

A/N: Ok, so I've been drinking this Valentine's night (not because I had no one to be with, but I did have no one to be with), and churned out most of this tonight. The other was based on something I was planning on anyway. I would apologise, especially considering the day, but if I really wanted to apologise I wouldn't post it. So, there's your warning. Read on!

*****

Anyone who knew Peter Parker; whether they be friends, Avengers, classmates, bodega owners, or villains who he had locked away as Spider-Man, knew that he was a very kind-hearted boy with a wonderful heart. Yes, he could get angry at times - usually if someone he cares about is threatened or hurt by another, or if a certain duo consisting of a bird-man with a shield and a metal armed man keep prodding into embarrassing moments. But, he's known for being smart, sweet and caring, willing to help a stranger in a moments notice. Hell, some people would believe that he could find something to love about anyone. However, there are a few things that Peter loves and cares for above all else.

One of those is his Aunt May, who had taken him in with his Uncle Ben. He owed so much to her as she and Ben raised him with love and care, doing everything they could, despite their dwindling financial situation – especially after Ben's death – to make his childhood life a happy one. And when she found out about his superhero life, instead of freaking out and stressing herself to death like he feared – though she did initially – she was willing to support and encourage him no matter the outcome. Sure, she still would worry for her nephew's safety, as would anyone. But, she was willing to back him up through thick and thin, so long as he believed what he was doing was right.

Another is his beautiful girlfriend, Michelle Jones. Former decathlon captain, protest organiser for several environmental and feminist issues, casual journalist, keen-eyed observer, and enthusiast of the morbid and macabre. He'd fallen for her shortly before Thanos' armies attacked Earth and had tried a few plans before the ill-fated trip to MoMA to try and tell her how he felt. However, after the utter calamity that was their S.H.I.E.L.D. Interrupted European trip, courtesy of the legendary Nick Fury and Maria Hill, they did finally get together as they confessed their knowledge of his identity and their lives where threatened by a charismatic fish-bowl wearing director of special effects.

What few people knew was that Peter loves carnivals. Ever since he was a young boy, he's believed that they are a truly magical place. Sometimes they bring you joy. Sometimes they bring you sadness. Sometimes you can win a prize at every stall you can find. Sometimes you lose every chunk of food you've eaten that day.

And sometimes you'll see something you'll never see again.

*****

As Peter wandered through the carnival, he couldn't help but feel lonely as he travelled through the stands all alone. Since he heard that a circus would be in the district roughly a month prior to their arrival, he had desperately wanted to bring MJ along to the festivities. However, he didn't know if it was possible, as MJ was oversees in Berlin for an exchange student program for her journalism course at NYU, and they weren't too sure when she would be coming back. Only a week ago did they know that she was meant to be coming back today, which sent Peter into a giddy fit trying to plan this wonderful surprise date out. As much as they would need to study for exams; Peter needing to nail the theory for his Advanced Nanotechnology unit and MJ needing to piece together her evaluations for her Journalism assignment based on the events going on in Berlin while she was there – a specialised exercise determined for those in the exchange program – he believed that a nice date night surrounded by the joyous energy, flashing lights and pulsing music would be a great way to relax and reconnect with one another. The fact that they had been video calling one another every single day meant nothing when it came to truly standing in each other's presence, holding onto each other.

When Michelle had first told Peter that she would be coming back today, the glorious information acquired as his Spider-Man persona about the circus and carnival was perfect. He was so excited to surprise her homecoming by bringing her out for a night of joyous adventure the likes of which only children could ever truly know. However, that plan went down the drain as they found out that her flight back had been cancelled, and the next flight was the following day. Seeing as there was nothing they could do, and that tonight was the last night of the carnival, Peter decided to go anyway. Who knows? Maybe he could find something to give to her there instead.

One by one Peter had made his way through the rides and prize stands; more the former than the latter. He had even won a reasonably (see oversized) rabbit that was cradling, beyond all luck, a bouquet of plastic black dahlias, from a hoop toss stand that had been rigged by the owner – though not expecting someone of his talents (see superpowers) to show him up – that he would bring to Michelle when she touched down. He had made his way though each of the rides, and finally all that remained was the Ferris Wheel.

While he stood at the end of the severely dwindling line, a slight chill tore through his body before he threw a hand out and caught a little stuffed Spider-Man toy that that been thrown at his head. Having caught the toy aimed at the back of his head, Peter turned around to see a somewhat solemn MJ smiling back at him with a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes, nowhere near the genuine grin that he had realised over the last few months she reserved just for him. His eyes glance slightly to the cane by her side, along with the slight reddish stain to her upper leg, before returning to her own eyes.

“MJ!” he cries out, running over to her – not completely registering her demeanour – and pulling her up into a tight hug, easily lifting her off the ground and spinning her round in his arms. “You said you weren't coming back today!”

“Well, I thought I'd surprise you,” she replies tersely, glancing around before he sets her back down. “Can't say I'm shocked to see you here.”

“I'm certainly surprised to see you!” he grins, turning towards the Ferris wheel. “Do you want to join me?”

When he turns back and holds out a hand to her, he observes as she glumly looks towards his hand before grabbing it with his. He does remember how she was never one for excessive PDA – no matter the situation – maybe she's still a little uncomfortable. However, as soon as her now unusually pale bronze skin touches his, a frosty chill crawls across his skin, sending him into a tense shudder.

“MJ, are you feeling well?” he asks, putting out the first thing that comes to mind. “Do you need to head home?”

Michelle replies with a simply shake of her head as her chilly grip tightens around his hand.

“I'm fine,” she answers, the grip growing more intimate as she wraps herself around his arm and rests her head against his shoulder. “I wouldn't be here if I didn't want to be with you.”

Peter nods and they silently saunter to the front, MJ hobbling along with her cane as she leans more on her boyfriend, until finally they get to a carriage. When Peter hands the pimply teenage operator two tickets, he takes them with an odd glance back at the young adult, but lets the two on and they pile into a cart, the stuffed bunny sitting next to Peter and the Spider-Man plushie leaning against the back of the chair next to MJ.

“I used to love being on these things,” MJ confesses as the ride jerks to life, lurching round from its resting place as the wheel starts to spin. “My mother used to take me up all the time.”

She folds her arms on the edge of the open window and leans her chin on it, glancing down at the people below.

“We used to play a game,” she explained. “We'd pick out people in the crowd and pretend we were them, talking about anything stupid that we thought we could imagine happening in their lives.”

“Would you like to do that?” he asks, waiting tills she spins around to look at him. Unusually, he finds her looking back with a couple of tears trickling down her face.

“Are you okay?” he asks, getting a nod from her, even though it seems to manage to send a few more tears trickling down her cheeks. “MJ, you're crying.”

“A-Am I?” she stammers, her arms quickly reaching up and wiping away at her face. However, that fails to stop the tears from falling more and more.

“MJ?”

“I'm fine,” she whispers, a small sad smile gracing her face. “I just missed you … so much.”

“I missed you too,” he replies, grabbing her weirdly cold hands and cradling them in his own. While holding her hands, he tries to discreetly glance at the obviously wounded leg, the injury bleeding through her clothes. Nevertheless, MJ's ever keen eyes manage to pick up on his curious peek.

“I was shot.”

“What?!”

“Just before I flew out, a madman attacked the hotel I was staying at,” MJ explains, gripping onto the cane and shuffling over to Peter's side of the carriage. She winces as she steps down on her injured leg, managing to hold herself on the first before collapsing onto him on the second. With his help, she manages to make her way onto the seat next to him, slightly moving the rabbit across to make room.

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“There wasn't anything you could do.”

“But MJ-”

“Peter!” she shouts back, getting him to wince and back up a little. Michelle takes a short breath before dropping her voice.

“There wasn't anything you could do,” she softly repeats. “We were on a completely different continent. Even if you got there, it would've still been too late.”

“But I could've helped-”

“You can't save everyone, Peter!” she says, looking away as her voice starts to break into a whisper. “You can't save everyone ...”

“MJ …”

The carriage falls into a small moment of silence as they rotate round past the apex, rounding into a decent.

“... Why were you here?” she asks gently, her eyes fixating itself onto a certain point on the floor she's noted to be extremely important to look at.

“Well, I was wanting to bring you here on a date,” Peter explains, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. “But, someone said they weren't coming tonight.”

“Says the guy who would drop into my room unannounced and leave a pool of blood on my carpet.”

“I mean, I could have died,” Peter said lively, trying to turn it into a joke. However, the smile on his face quickly fell as he saw that it didn't spread onto her beautiful face.

“Yeah … you could've ...”

“MJ ...”

“So ..” she perks up, clearing her throat, “why did you still come here?”

“Well, I figured I'd get you something,” he replies, gesturing to the stuffed rabbit. Her eyes roam across it in the usual disinterest that he's used to seeing her act with, until they come to the bouquet of her favourite murderous flowers. The straight poker face gives way to a simpering smile as she wraps her hands around the stuffed animal, burying her head into the flowers.

“You didn't have to,” she whispers, her voice starting to break again.

“I know,” Peter replies as he turns away, closing his eyes. “But I wante-”

 The words die in his mouth as his lips are met by hers in a soft, gentle, yet desperate kiss, her lips wet and cold as he opens his eyes in surprise. The slight image of the tears once more trickling down her face, through her own closed eyes, sticks into his mind before he closes his eyes as well and leans into the kiss, pushing back into her for what feels like a life time before he feels her pull away.

“I love you, Peter,” he hears her whisper against his skin, sending it crawling from her tantalising breathe.

“Wait for me ...”

 With the final whispering of MJs voice haunting his ears, Peter's eyes jerk open as the carriage sways to a stop at the bottom. Glancing around, there is no sign of anyone else in the cart with him; no MJ, no cane, and no stuffed rabbit. All that remains of any sign that MJ was ever in there with him is the Spider-Man plushie that she had thrown at his head, along with the damp speckles where her tears had fallen. Grabbing the plushie, Peter dashes out of the carriage and looks around, but cannot see a single small sign of Michelle anywhere that he looks. Glancing back, he approaches the glum teenager operating the Ferris wheel.

“Hey, did you see where the girl I was with went?”

“Girl?” he drones, taking the tickets for another couple clutching lovingly onto each others arms. “What girl, man?”

 With a frustrated sigh, Peter turns away and takes off into the swarming crowd, trying to find his girlfriend. However, with the large bustling crowd, he cannot find even a single luscious hair from her head. When he tries to ring her phone, there's no response – the call going straight to voicemail. Leaving a message for her, he tries searching for her for several minutes before, tiredly, deciding to head home, still trying to ring her all the way back. 

*****

 Ned groggily wakes up to the sound of the TV running in the living room of his and Peter's shared apartment. Wrapping a fluffy dressing gown round his rotund body, he wearily staggers into the room to find the news sounding on the screen.

“Interpol have released details of the suspected terror attack in Berlin last night,” the news reporter relays. “The gunman, suspected to be linked with numerous terrorist organisations, attacked the Radisson Blu Hotel in the late hours of last night. Interpol have declared there were fifteen civilian casualties, along with seven individuals injured. Of those seven, three are in a critical condition.”

“Radisson Blu … Wasn't that where MJ was staying?” Ned mutters, before stopping as he hears a sobbing sound coming from the couch. Walking over, he finds Peter lying cross the couch, cradling a bloody Spider-Man plushie who's head has been shredded in a hole with something metallic shimmering deep within. Tears are flowing from his eyes as the superhero tightens his grip on the stuffed toy, holding it hard to his chest.

“Among the casualties is 21 year old Michelle Jones, a New York resident in Berlin as part of a transfer student program. Police explain she had been shot through the leg before being killed, and that they found her holding onto a large stuffed rabbit. For reasons they cannot explain, there was no blood on the rabbit. Her body will be flown back to be buried by her family.”

A/N: I did warn you … I'm sure some of you may hate me.

By all means, please let me know your thoughts. Doesn't matter if they're good, bad, constructive or what. I'd like to know what you think. And I promise that the next story I write will have a happier ending. Until then, adios!

[lovemesomesurveys]

girl talk

GENERAL WOMANHOOD:

1. Do you like the color pink? Yeah, various shades of it.

2. How easily do you cry? I’m a crybaby.

3. What food do you eat the most of when you’re sad? Lately I’ve been eating a lot of Wingstop. That’s been my thing. I also like my bowl of ramen every night.

4. How often do you experience boob sweat? That has literally never happened to me as I have small boobs. <<< lol same.

5. What time of month is your time? I don’t have that anymore.

6. How moody are you when you are on your period? I got really bad PMS/PMDD and was extra sensitive and moody. I’m like that all the time now even without that.

7. Have you ever thought you were pregnant because your period was late? Nope. That was never a possibility.  8. Have you ever been on the pill? No. 9. Have you ever thought about having children someday? What is your current opinion? I don’t want to have kids. 10. Have you ever given birth? If not, would you ever want to? No. 11. How much do you like decorating for holidays? Christmas is the only one I really decorate for anymore and I go all out.  12. How good of a cook do you consider yourself? I can’t cook at all besides ramen.  13. What is your favorite thing to cook? ^^^ 14. Do you prefer cooking, baking, or both equally? I like making ramen. lol. That’s literally all I cook if you even want to count that cause it’s so easy. Besides that, anything I else I make is oven or microwavable. or a sandwich. 15. Can you sew? Nope. 16. How feminine do you consider yourself? How do you determine that? I mean, if it means makeup and dresses, then not very cause I haven’t worn makeup in over a year and it’s been a few years since I’ve worn a dress. I’m all about comfy casual. That doesn’t make me masculine, though. I’m curious what you think makes someone feminine or not. 17. Have you ever been told that you are too girly or feminine? No. 18. Do you consider yourself a feminist? I mean, I care about women’s rights and believe we should have equal opportunities and such as men and all that.  19. How do you define “girl power”? Uhh, I don’t know. A strong, confident woman.  20. How much of a neat freak are you? I used to be more of a neat freak, but I don’t have the energy or motivation anymore. My room isn’t a disaster, but it’s messier than I ever used to let it get. It’s just cluttered. I need to go through and get rid stuff, but blah. 21. How you ever wished you were born a male? No. 22. Breastfeeding or formula? Mothers should do what they feel is best and works for them and the baby. 23. What is your opinion of equal pay? I think payment should be individual but obviously not based on sex. <<< Yeah, like everyone can’t be paid the exact same. There’s other factors. But people doing the same job and putting in the same work should be paid the same. 24. What is one profession you think needs more women? I don’t care, I think everyone should just do what they’re interested in. <<< 25. Are you pro-life or pro-choice? 26. Have you ever experienced any sexism? If so, please explain. Not that I can think of. 27. Have you ever been called a blabbermouth or a chatterbox? I have my chatty moods now and then. 

28. What is one thing about women you think most men don’t know? I don’t know. 29. Is there anything you dislike about being a woman? Menstrual cycles sucked, but I don’t have those anymore. 30. Complete this phrase: I’m so glad I am a woman because ______. I just am. 

LIFE EXPERIENCES:

31. Did you ever play with Barbie dolls as a child? Yes. I was obsessed with Barbies, I played for hoursss.

32. Have you ever dotted lowercase Js and Is with hearts or smiley faces? Yeah, when I was younger I did sometimes.

33. Have you ever been a Girl Scout? Yes.

34. Have you ever been a ballerina? No.

35. Have you ever been a cheerleader? No.

36. Were you ever voted as homecoming or prom queen? Nope.

37. Have you ever hosted a sleepover? Yeah, with my cousins all the time as kids.

38. Do you belong to a sorority? Nope.

39. Have you ever kept a diary or a journal? Yeah. I had a physical one in middle school up to my sophomore year in high school and then I moved on to online journals. This is my journal now.

40. At what age did you get your first period? 13.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE:

41. What is the longest your hair has ever been? Would you ever grow it that long again? Down to my butt, which is how long it was until I cut a couple inches off recently. It was like that when I was a kid, too. Perhaps even a little longer.

42. Have you had a hairstyle above the eyebrows? Uhh, do you mean bangs? If so, yes. I had them until college and then I did the side swept thing for awhile.

43. What hairstyle do you wear the most? Pony tail, bun, or braid.

44. Have you ever died your hair? If so, how often? Countless times now. I first got highlights in middle school and did that for awhile before dyeing it black my sophomore year. I then went back to highlights until dyeing it red in 2015. I’ve been doing that ever since.

45. What is the heaviest you remember ever weighing? I think 90lbs.

46. How muscular are you? I’m not anymore. :/ I used to have toned arms, but I lost my muscle mass over these past few years due to health stuff and just not being active like I used to be.

47. Do you have any piercings anywhere besides your earlobes? Nope.

48. Do you have any tattoos? If you, where are they and what are they of? Nope.

49. Do you like wearing lipstick or lip gloss? If so, how often do you wear them? I haven’t in a long time.

50. How often do you paint your nails? It’s been a few years since the last time I painted them.

51. Have you ever worn any fake nails? Once. I got them done for my 8th grade promotion. 

52. Have you ever worn fake eyelashes? Yeah.

53. How often do you shave or wax your legs? I don’t have to shave my legs often. It’s never been an issue, like hair doesn’t really grow there.

54. How white are your teeth? I could use a Crest white strip or something.

55. Have you ever been told that you look like a certain celebrity? No.

56. How much do you look like your mother? I have a lot of her features, but a lot of my dad’s, too.

57. How much do you look like your father? ^^^^

58. What do you think is your best physical feature? I like dyeing my hair red. 

59. What do you think is your worst physical feature? Everything.

60. How good are you at communicating through facial expressions? I think my facial expressions give it away. It’s obvious when I’m annoyed or in discomfort.

FASHION STYLE: 61. What type of clothing do you own the most of? Leggings and graphic tees. 62. How big is your closet? Not big at all. 63. Have you ever looked through your closet and though “I have nothing to wear”? Ha, yeah. 64. What is your favorite fashion brand? The only brand I really care about and have a lot of is Adidas.  65. Do you wear skirts and dresses at all? If so, how often? I haven’t in years. 66. What is your dress size? Small. 67. What is the shortest length of skirts and dresses you are comfortable wearing? I like the length to go to my knees and I wear pantyhose/tights underneath. I’m very self-conscious about my legs.  68. How expensive was your prom dress? I think it was like $80. 69. What is the most expensive piece of clothing you currently own? My Adidas clothes. 70. Do you wear high heels or stilettos at all? If so, how often? No. 71. Have you ever worn high heels casually? Nope. 72. How often do you take an OOTD (outfit of the day) selfie? I only take a picture if I really like the shirt I’m wearing.  73. Have you ever worn the exact same outfit from head to toe more than once? Yeah, while at home. 74. How often do you wear a bra when out in public? I wear one whenever I go somewhere. 75. How often do you wear a bra when bumming it at home? I don’t.  76. When you get home from work, how soon does your bra typically come off? I don’t work, but when I get home from wherever I’ll likely just wait until bedtime. 77. Have you ever carried a spare bra with you in your purse? Nope. 78. Which are you more likely to go without: A bra or panties? Bra. 79. Does it matter to you if your bra and panties match or not? Nah. 80. What type of underwear do you typically wear? Hipster/hip huggers whatever you wanna call ‘em. 81. How much of your underwear is white? I don’t have any plain white pairs. 82. Have you ever carried a spare pair of underwear with you in your purse? No. 83. Do you like eyeshadow? I used to wear it sometimes back when I wore makeup regularly.  84. Do you like mascara? That’s a must when I wear makeup. 85. How much makeup do you typically wear? I haven’t worn any in over a year. 86. Have you every gone out in public without any makeup on? I do all the time. A few years ago I never would have done that. 87. How much jewelry do you typically wear? I was wearing earrings I got for Christmas for awhile, but I took them out a couple weeks ago cause my ears were irritated. 88. Is there any kind of jewelry you pretty much always wear? Just those earrings for awhile. Before that, it had been a few years. I used to have 3 rings I wore literally 24/7 for a long time until one day I took them off for some reason and never put them back on.  89. Do you carry a purse at all? I’ve been using a mini backpack. 90. Do you like tube and halter tops? No. 91. Do you like crop tops? No. 92. Are you comfortable showing off a little cleavage? This girl does not have cleavage lol.  <<<  93. One-piece swimsuits or bikinis? I don’t do swim suits. 94. Does it matter to you if your bikini top matches the bottom? I don’t wear them, but if I did yeah I would want them to match.

WEDDING CRAZE:

95. Have you ever been a bridesmaid? If so, how often? Nope.

96. Do you have any desires to get married? No.

97. For how long have you thought about your wedding? It’s not something I put much thought into at all. I’m not the type of person who has dreamt of their wedding day since they were a kid or anything. I honestly don’t see myself ever getting married.

98. How much of your wedding do you have planned out already?

99. Would you rather have a big or a small wedding?

100. Would you rather have a lot of bridesmaids or just a couple?

101. Would you rather have an indoor or an outdoor wedding? Does the same go for the reception?

DATING & RELATIONSHIPS:

102. What is your current relationship status? Single.

103. What is the longest relationship you’ve ever had? 3 years if you count the Joseph situation.

104. Do you consider yourself a hopeless romantic at all? No. I think I’ve just been hardened by life ha.

105. Are you a virgin? If not, which gender did you lose your virginity to? Yes.

106. What personality trait are you most attracted to? Just nice, caring, genuine, patient, understanding guys with a sense of humor. 

107. Have you ever been on a blind date? No. I have no interest in that.

108. Has anyone you know ever tried to set you up on a date? I had a friend who always wanted to do that.

109. Do you use any dating apps? If so, have they ever worked out for you? Nope.

110. Do you kiss on the first date? If it felt right.

111. How often do guys hit on you? It’s been years since that has happened and even when it did, it wasn’t often. 

112. Have women ever hit on you? A friend I had always got flirty when she was drunk. 

114. Have you ever kissed another woman while sober? If so, did you like it? No. I’ve done that while drunk either.

115. Have you ever dated another woman? No.

116. After how long of dating do you typically consider a relationship to be serious? There’s more factors than that.

117. Would you rather your lover give you chocolate, flowers, both, or something else? Something else, honestly. Like coffee.

118. Are you friends with any of your exes? Not anymore.

119. Is sex before marriage wrong? That’s a personal choice. Do what feels right to you.

ENTERTAINMENT: 120. What celebrity do you most admire and why? There aren’t any I admire specifically, I just like keeping up with the celebrity gossip and entertainment. It’s entertaining and a distraction from my own life. 121. Do you like romantic comedies? Do you have any favorites? I’m a sucker for romantic comedies. 122. Do you have a favorite romantic movie? I have several. 123. Who is your favorite Disney princess? Ariel.

124. What is your favorite Disney song? “In a World of My Own” from Alice in Wonderland, “Part of Your World” from Little Mermaid, “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”  from Toy Story, “Hakuna Matata” from Lion King, “Bare Necessities”  from The Jungle Book, “Winnie the Pooh” from Winnie the Pooh... that’s just to name a few, there’s several others. Disney songs are catchy. 125. Do you watch The Bachelor or The Bachelorette? Nah, I never got into that. I can’t believe they’re on their 16th season now. 126. Have you ever watched Sex & The City? I’ve seen parts of it here and there. I never got into it.  127. Have you ever watched any shows such as Project Runway or America’s Next Top Model? I used to watch America’s Next Top Model. Even the last 2 recent seasons. I’d watch it again if they brought it back. 128. Do you like watching any beauty pageants such as Miss America? No. 129. Do you like watching the red carpet arrivals before award ceremonies? Not usually. Sometimes I will. 130. Beyonce or Taylor Swift? Beyonce. 131. Oprah Winfrey or Ellen DeGeneres? I like both.

A PILE OF RANDOMNESS: 132. Are you named after anyone? Nope. 133. How many male friends do you have? I don’t have any friends. 134. Have you ever been considered the mother of your group of friends? Yes. 135. Have you ever called your friend friends your ‘girlfriends’? No. 136. Have you ever called a non-lover a term such as honey, babe, dear, or darling? Jokingly, yeah. 137. How many items do you own that are of a floral print design? I think I only have a few. 138. Have you ever scoffed at something because you thought it wasn’t feminine enough? No? 139. How healthy do you eat? I don’t. 140. What is your preferred way to carry a purse: Clutched in your hand, on your elbow, or on your shoulder? On my shoulder. 141. Besides you phone, money, wallet, and keys, name five things you always have with you in your purse. Hand sanitizer, mini hair brush, chapstick, medicine, and maybe a water bottle.

142. Have you ever lost anything inside your purse? It seemed that way a lot in my bigger purses. I always had to dig around for everything. 143. Have you ever used your bra or your cleavage as a purse or a pocket? No. 144. Do you consider shopping a sport No lol. Especially not when you do it from home in bed like I do. There’s nothing active about that, ha. 145. Do you shop more in physical walk-in stores or online? Online. 146. What is the most amount of money you remember ever spending in one single shopping trip? The most was when I got my first MacBook.  147. How often do you have a girls’ night out? I don’t anymore. I used to sometimes when I had friends and social life.

148. Do you prefer coffee or tea? Coffee, always. 149. How polite do you consider yourself? I think I’m pretty polite. 150. Can you do the splits? Nope. 151. Do you like doing any yoga? No. 152. Have you ever been told that you have cute handwriting? No. My handwriting is shit. 153. How well can you write in cursive? My cursive is awful. 154. Have you ever successfully been on a diet? No. 155. Do you currently or have you ever belonged to a book club? Well, I’ve done a few online Bible study groups.  156. Have you ever talked yourself out of a driving ticked by using your looks? I don’t drive so I’ve never been pulled over. That wouldn’t work, though. I’m ugly and I don’t have the personality or confidence either. 157. Have you ever drunk a non-alcoholic beverage from a wine glass? Yeah, like apple cider. Especially when I was a kid to be “cool” haha. 158. Do you prefer showers or baths? Showers. I haven’t taken a bath since I was a kid. 159. Have you ever snorted while laughing? Yeah. 160. How strict are you about manners? I think they’re important.

[cometcrystal]

okay so i finished daybreak! heres my thots (spoilers)

under a cut because idk how to shut up

the bad (rep stuff first, story stuff second since those are two diff kinds of bad)

the black girl is aggressive and violent

the latina woman turns into a “crazy” gross witch after the apocalypse

anti-asian racism in a line or two

every line is eli’s dialogue is just aave but he’s not even black

the high schoolers have a weird amount of sex (it’s not shown on-screen aside from a couple shots of them making out, but yeah)

the r slur is used in one scene

one nameless bg character is said to identify their gender as a seahorse, which just sounds like annoying attack helicopter jokes

now for the story stuff. josh is a huge fucking dick. i don’t know why he’s the protagonist. the only aspect of his character i liked was his backstory with his father, but everything else was just him being a judgey hypocrite asshole

also, eli SUCKS. i took a quick look in the tag for this show, and he seems to be the fan favorite, and i have NO idea why because every word out of his mouth made me wanna strangle him. and then in the episode where he died, it started playing clips of him with sad piano music, as if every single clip they used wasn’t just him being insufferable. it made his death hilarious instead of tragic bc its like. wow they really expected me to care about this guy huh? when all he’s done is make lowkey bigoted remarks and call stuff gucci?

episode 8 sucked so bad. there wasn’t any apocalypse at all, it was just a 45 minute movie about josh treating sam like his manic pixie dream girl and her having sex with him anyway and then he calls her a slut

the grossout humor didn’t get to me too bad, even tho i usually hate grossout humor. but the uncensored shot of the mutant pug shitting in the first episode was way too much like come the fuck on

the good

most of the characters are really likable and well-written!! i loved almost all of the main ensemble, and the supporting characters were really great too. and the villain was fucking great, it was nice to just see a plain old cartoon villain, and a found family of kiddos + their weird aunt rising up to defeat him

actual gay couple! no gaybaiting here, for real this time! and it’s interracial too which is awesome. AND IT’S WELL-WRITTEN AND REALISTIC. 

the concept/setting is GREAT. an apocalypse where only people under 18 survived, and the teens have all split off into tribes based on their cliques in high school?? that’s really cool and funny. i might read the graphic novel after this to see more of it bc i love an apocalypse and i love a high school movie and this is both of those

josh is the protagonist, but it doesn’t put all the focus on him: it gives the backstories of the other main charas and some of the ensemble, too, and shows what everyone was doing in the couple days that lead up to the apocalypse. it makes for some awesome character-building, and you feel like you know these characters very well in the span of only 10 episodes

a LOT of this show’s humor is built on jokes that are like “millennials are woke now”. ex. instead of homecoming king or queen, they have gender-neutral homecoming royalty. this is in the “good” folder because, instead of boomer political comics, these kinds of jokes in this show, most of the time (not every single time, but most of the time), don’t feel mean-spirited. like i said before, it feels like a young person doing a parody of those jokes made by boomers, and it’s mostly done with love for millennials/gen Z. it feels more like an inside joke than mocking.

speaking of the humor, when the jokes hit, they HIT

the sets were fucking amazing. it really did feel like post-apocalyptic california

none of the cliques/groups are demonized in the end? the jocks are the “villain” group for a bit, but in the end, they’re on good terms with the heroes. 

going off the last point, the cheermazons don’t allow boys into their group, and they have a distaste for men, but there’s not that EXTREME unrealistic man-hate that makes them come across as a negative stereotype of feminists. and they help the heroes, too. i hate men, don’t get me wrong, but i roll my eyes when i see a group like the amazons from percy jackson that like have men as their slaves and shit like that. like sorry you hate feminism so much. anyway the only complaint i have is that, afaik, there aren’t any trans women in the cheermazons, and they should have shown some so that radfems dont get any fuckin ideas identifying w them. there aren’t any trans characters at all, besides the seahorse person mentioned earlier, so that’s a problem that needs fixed in general, but esp. in the cheermazons where there’s potential for a radfem to see them and be like :)

there was a deaf side character that used asl! there were also girls seen with hijabs, one of whom is a leader of the cheermazons along with the deaf girl

angelica is great i love this lil bitch. making weed slime.

mrs crumble has a lot of depth and i love her

im tired of typing now. all in all i give it maybe a 7.5/10. it’s a lot of fun but it does have its problems. give it a shot if you like apocalypse stories or found family, and you can stomach a few cringe-ass insensitive things in what claims to be a woke show

[zm-sc]

On the racism MJ/Zendaya (still) faces

So, it shouldn’t be too long before the new Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer gets released. Therefore I’d like to humbly try to provide help to fight the racism these ladies are victims of, by pointing out what I think are the most reccuring patterns in the commentaries MJ/Zendaya receives. This idea came to me as I remembered I had fun screen shoting messy comments at some point and keeping them in a file just in case I’d need to prove a point, and I guess this time has come

Disclaimer: Sadly, these are in no way edits. Real people, type this stuff online. I'm aware a bunch are just really dying for a redhead, fiery and all that, Mary Jane on big screen, and that a bunch are just jealous fangirls thinking they stand a chance with someone who doesn’t even know they exist, but also none of these are reasons to be borderline, or full on racist. Some usernames are masked because I thought it wasn't that deep but still dumb, some are lucky they didn't appear, and some appear because I think that if one has the nerves to make these kind of statements, probably some exposing can not hurt them

Here we go.

1. Racism:

2.  Rationalization of hatred:

NB: A spot on response to this post

I have no screen shots for this, but the reactions to MJ saying “Therefore I have value?” in the first Far From Home trailer. In which the NEXT second she says she is joking, but you know, gotta make this an issue.I read with my own two eyes that it would "put Peter in a bad mood", or "I hate how feminist she is, makes me hate her and the actress". For this latter point, notice, Brie Larson has been getting the stupidest hate for saying she wanted her press tour to not only be white as men interviewers and being a feminist

But still, let us not be delusional, this remains about race.

3. Language: Let’s see: "Gross, "ew", "too black", “woc aren’t attractive”, “sick to my stomach”, “no chemistry”, “ (bonus: letting a single character ruin your whole love for Peter…..) Oh and bad attitude” “rude as fuck”, “basic-ass negative”, “forced”, “NO Chemistry”, “she made fun of him”. I could go on but it’s not in these posts, but you get me. Like what is gross? What is the standard for chemistry? Is calling him a "loser" truly the end of the world or is it all a reach because MJ doesn't cater to hegemonic feminity, so it makes her rudw? (S/O to Brie Larson again, who is having her whole body language analyzed to prove her co stars hate her/is being compared to every actress who has played a super hero to prove that it's ok to dislike her because she is not "nice" compared to the hegemonic standard these x other actresses correspond to.) Btw, “I love Zendaya but” is a classic too, usually prefaces nonsense

4. "I love x character who is a poc/x black character so this take is invalid”. Wrong. Not being racist towards one race is not a stop from being anti black, furthermore in this case, it is not a stop from not falling into mysoginoir. Very simply, “mysoginy directed towards black womenwhere race and gender both play roles in bias.” It’s all systemic. Loving Ned doesn't prevent you from being anti black. Men are privileged over women and then it’s race coming into play, always. Zendaya/MJ is a black woman, so she is less worthy of everything, and so it makes little sense in these people’s minds that Peter would like her, let alone that he’d want to date her. Ned is a man, so he is not a threat to fangirls’ fantasies, in which you’ll also notice they treat Ned/Jacob Batalon better than MJ (well, whatever "better" is when you aren’t a skinny white boy….).

5. "Liz was better". (Very often is the pov of, wait for it, white girls (often male fans would rather not even have Spidey in a relationship all short, so yeah). Because she was a fleshed out character absolutely not solely designed as a plot device to the Toomes reveal, or because she embodied the behavior that is deemed as THE one women should have if they want a man's attention and so it is easier to project yourself into her than it is to do so with MJ? That was rhetorical. Gender socialization. Hegemonic feminity. Be white, nice, docile, so very sweet and ready to please, or you won't find a man/job! But men can be shitty and yet will be called badass or witty. Think here for a sec, how many people who dislike Michelle for being rude, are into TONY STARK/Irondad? And God knows I love Tony, but as if he is a saintl? From his pre cave antics to the way he was with Peter in Homecoming and some other stuff in between. Also, he would fucking love MJ lol? What differentiates them so much at the end of the day, from the constant sarcasm to the obvious need to hide their feelings behind it? And that she clearly loves Peter, as did Tony but it took him until Endgame to show it. What makes it ok for him to not have shown it from the jump but makes MJ undeserving of character developpement and of Peter falling in love with her in Far From Home after an obviously planned character developpement? The fact that Tony is white and male. That's it

Candice Patton/Iris in The Flash, hell, Serena Williams in tennis, are all examples of this

6. Another thing that does not appear here but that exists, related to MJ or not, is attempting to erase Zendaya’s blackness to deny these reactions could possibly be racially motivated. “She is half white”. Or whatever headass take of the likes. But we know those 50% are not the reason why she is “Not the real MJ”. So which is it? Is she too black or not white enough? The answer is: Both. And both are racist statements, period. The people saying “they should have just named her Mary Jane” are also the same who were all up Zendaya and Marvel’s ass when her casting news dropped, bet

In conclusion, racism has many more faces else than explicitly using the n word, exactly like these microgressions above

They are not ok, because they stem from systematic racism and oppression, including negative stereotyping. This idea that black women are aggressive, not desirable, and not beautiful enough etc is nothing new but it still does not make it tolerable. Nobody who is racist or using a microagression, consciously or not, will actually ever admit it when called out on it. So dare to open that can of worms if you can. And for those who have been called out, please actually listen to why this statement is being made, especially if it's by a POC. That way you should technically never face this accusation again because you'd have listened and learned, instead of not listening and learning and finding yourself getting called names every turn, because you refused the lesson you could have gotten at the last turn

Spider-Man: Far From Home comes out on July 2nd and its press tour is starting today. I'd like to encourage everyone to above all, provide Zendaya/MJ the support she is going to need online, as she will this time get more to chew in this movie than in Homecoming, and yet people will still find reasons to complain, but also to not forget to pay attention in the future, to the frequency of use of these patterns when talking about MJ/Zendaya and to not let them stop you from defending these ladies. Let Z (and Marvel too while at it) know you have their back. She is a very attuned to social media lady, she would not miss the memo, nor would Marvel

A cute edit: We love racism and disrespecting drug addicts for no reason. Carry on though, idiots

[emerald-studies]

How to be an Ally

 Discussions on Race Pt. 2

June 29, 2020

Day 1 of 7

Post with fixed links here!: 

https://emerald-studies.tumblr.com/post/626271345488150528/how-to-be-an-ally

Reblog this one!

[ These are just some thoughts I have in my head about this topic, it isn’t meant to be a purely academic discussion. It’s meant to be a conversation to learn about another perspective. ]     

Also sorry this one took longer than previous posts, I had to do a lot of research.     

-

1.  Check In On Your Black Friends/Acquaintances 

 In my opinion, I believe the best way to be an ally is to reach out to your Black friends and check in on them, consistently. If you can recognize the times we are living in are absolute hell, you should be checking in on the most effected. None of my friends have checked up on me to see how I was doing or just to talk. They didn’t even bring up the protests until I did. It feels very very lonely and scary to not be checked up on by the people who say they support and love you. So, I’m making this the first point because I don’t want anyone else to feel this way, not trying to complain.

2.  Learn More About Black History

It’s important to learn about the Black activists that our history books left out. Yes, Martin Luther King Jr. was, and is, important but we need to reflect on why he was pushed on us so much in our history classes, compared to other Black leaders. Is it because our government would rather us walk down the street holding signs than actually defending ourselves against the cop who’s beating us?

Here’s a master list of activists to start you off.

3.  Go to Rallies and Protests

Find protests and rallies in your area by looking on Twitter and search #yourcityprotest. Or watch your local news channel to see where they are (if they’re being covered on the news). Also search on Facebook. Wear a mask.

4. Donate and Sign Petitions

If you don’t have extra money to donate, that’s fine. If you still want to be an ally then sign all the petitions you can. Take a day to research all the ones you can sign/haven’t signed and sign them!

(Also you don’t need to donate to change.org! Directly donate to non-profit organizations and victims’ families!)

George Floyd - change.org

George Floyd - amnesty.org

George Floyd - colorofchange.org

Get The Officers Charged

Charge All Four Officers

Breonna Taylor - moveon.org

Breonna Taylor - colorofchange.org

Breonna Taylor - justiceforbreonna.org

Breonna Taylor - change.org

Breonna Taylor - thepetitionsite.com

Ahmaud Arbery - change.org

Ahmaud Arbery - change.org 2

Ahmaud Arbery - change.org 3

Justice for Oluwatoyin Salau

Pass The Georgia Hate Crime Bill

Defund MPD

Life Sentence For Police Brutality

Regis Korchinski - change.org

Tete Gulley - change.org

Tony McDade - change.org

Tony McDade - actionnetwork.org

Tony McDade - thepetitionsite.com

Joao Pedro - change.org

Julius Jones - change.org

Belly Mujinga - change.org

Willie Simmons - change.org

Hands Up Act - change.org

National Action Against Police Brutality

Kyjuanzi Harris - change.org

Alejandro Vargas Martinez - change.org

Censorship Of Police Brutality In France

Sean Reed - change.org

Sean Reed - change.org 2

Kendrick Johnson - change.org

Tamir Rice - change.org

Tamir Rice - change.org 2

Fire Racist Criminal From The NYPD

Jamee Johnson - organizefor.org

Darius Stewart - change.org

Darius Stewart - moveon.org

Abolish Prison Labor

Free Siyanda - change.org

Chrystul Kizer - change.org

Chrystul Kizer - change.org 2

Andile Mchunu (Bobo) - change.org

Eric Riddick - change.org

Amiya Braxton - change.org

Emerald Black - change.org

Elijah Nichols - change.org

Zinedine Karabo Gioia - change.org

Angel Bumpass - change.org

Sheku Bayoh - change.org

Angel DeCarlo - change.org

Sandra Bland - change.org

Sherrie Walker - change.org

Darrien Hunt - change.org

Cornelius Fredericks - change.org

Elijah McClain - change.org

James Scurlock - change.org

Darren Rainey- change.org

Visit these sites for more info:

http://www.pb-resources.com/

https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/

5. Educate yourself and others.

Articles: 

- “America’s Racial Contract Is Killing Us” by Adam Serwer | Atlantic (May 8, 2020)

- Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement (Mentoring a New Generation of Activists

- ”My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant” by Jose Antonio Vargas | NYT Mag (June 22, 2011)

- The 1619 Project (all the articles) | The New York Times Magazine

- The Combahee River Collective Statement

- “The Intersectionality Wars” by Jane Coaston | Vox (May 28, 2019)

- Tips for Creating Effective White Caucus Groups developed by Craig Elliott PhD

- “Where do I donate? Why is the uprising violent? Should I go protest?” by Courtney Martin (June 1, 2020)

- ”White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Knapsack Peggy McIntosh

- “Who Gets to Be Afraid in America?” by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi | Atlantic (May 12, 2020)

Movies/TV Shows: 

When They See Us

American Son

Hello Privilege, It’s Me, Chelsea

The 13th

Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story 

What Happened Miss Simone?

The Two Killings of Sam Cooke

Who Killed Malcolm X?

The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson

Homecoming: A Film by Beyonce (Lighter in tone)

LA 92

Dear White People

Videos:

- Black Feminism & the Movement for Black Lives: Barbara Smith, Reina Gossett, Charlene Carruthers (50:48)

- “How Studying Privilege Systems Can Strengthen Compassion” | Peggy McIntosh at TEDxTimberlaneSchools (18:26)

- American Oxygen - Rihanna

- Formation - Beyonce 

Podcasts:

- Malcolm X Speeches

- 1619 (New York Times)

- About Race

- Code Switch (NPR)

- Intersectionality Matters! hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw

- Momentum: A Race Forward Podcast

- Pod For The Cause (from The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights)

- Pod Save the People (Crooked Media)

- Seeing White

Books:

- The Autobiography of Malcolm X

- Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About RaceBook by Reni Eddo-Lodge

- Black Feminist Thought by Patricia Hill Collins

- Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Dr. Brittney Cooper

- Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon

- How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

- Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

- Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad

- Raising Our Hands by Jenna Arnold

- Redefining Realness by Janet Mock

- Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

- So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

- The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

- The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century by Grace Lee Boggs

- The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson

- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

- This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Cherríe Moraga

- When Affirmative Action Was White: An Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America by Ira Katznelson

- White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD

Follow:

- Shaun King: Instagram | Twitter | Website

- Antiracism Center: Twitter

- Audre Lorde Project: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- Black Women’s Blueprint: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- Color Of Change: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- Colorlines: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- The Conscious Kid: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- Equal Justice Initiative (EJI): Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- Families Belong Together: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- MPowerChange: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- Muslim Girl: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- NAACP: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- National Domestic Workers Alliance: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

- Ziwe | Instagram | (She has discussions about race with White people, kinda grilling them, every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. Super thrilling to watch.)

Here’s Some Music Too:

Change Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

Chain Gang - Nina Simone

Missisippi Goddamn - Nina Simone

Fuck Da’ Police - N.W.A.

New Slaves - Kanye

This is America - Childish Gambino

I’m Not Racist - Joyner Lucas

Fight the Power - Public Enemy

Glory - Common, John Legend

Freedom (Live) - Beyonce

I Can’t Breathe - H.E.R.

American Oxygen - Rihanna

Brown Skin Girl - Beyonce 

+

My Playlist With A Few More

Black Artists Matter Playlist

What a large list! It looks so overwhelming! Don’t worry, you don’t have to read/watch/listen to everything. It takes a lot of effort!

  Jk. 

If you don’t want to do some homework and good deeds, then you don’t want to be an ally. And that’s perfectly fine. Just don’t lie to yourself about it.

Tough shit.

-

Discussion time.

Who are your favorite Black activists that you didn’t learn about in school?

(Mine is Huey P. Newton)

Favorite song by a Black artist? 

(Mine is Freedom by Beyonce but the live version)

Let me know what you think here

-Faith