#British Asian Trust

[celestial-fang]

Fulgrim and his sons

-

Was testing brushes and thinking about the fact that when GW makes the EC army they need to hire one of us gay Asians to design them. We’ve mastered the formula of morally depraved white haired bishies and you simply can’t trust the British to understand

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Ethnic groups in Scotland were over two times more likely to experience the death of someone close to them during Covid-19 than the white population, according to a groundbreaking report released today by researchers from the University of St Andrews.

The report, entitled Racism, belonging and Covid's legacy of ethnic inequalities in Scotland drew on data collected by the Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) and was authored by Professor Nissa Finney from the School of Geography and Sustainable Development.

The EVENS data was collected between February and October 2021 to document the experiences of ethnic and religious minorities in Britain during the Covid-19 pandemic. Respondents were asked to consider bereavement since February 2020.

It found that, in Scotland, experiencing bereavement was highest for those identifying with 'Any other' ethnic group (68%), Indian (44 %) and Pakistani (38%). The national average was around 25%.

Similar levels of bereavement experience were found for ethnic minority groups in England and Wales.

The report is a collaboration between researchers at the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) at the University of St Andrews and the University of Manchester and the Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector umbrella body BEMIS, and has for the first time collated data to show the ethnic inequalities in experience of bereavement during the Covid-19 crisis.

The report also collated data around various questions relating to discrimination and racism in Scotland's ethnic groups, including attitudes to nationhood, belonging, political trust and relationship to policing.

It revealed that 9 in 10 Black Caribbean respondents in Scotland had recent experience of racist insult. Other minorities – Chinese (44%), Other Black (41%, and White Irish (33%) – had also experienced insult in the last five years for reasons to do with their ethnicity, race, colour or religion.

Professor Finney said: "The disproportionate impacts of Covid-19 on ethnic minorities in Scotland and the rest of Britain aren't over. People are still dealing with its consequences day to day. Living with the loss of someone close to you doesn't end when vaccination programmes stop.

"Our research with the EVENS Survey shows that ethnic minority people are more than twice as likely to have experienced Covid-related bereavement compared to White British. In Scotland twice the proportion of people identifying as Black and Asian compared to White British experienced the death of someone close to them during Covid.

"Our new data reveal that racism is becoming normalised. Over 80 percent of ethnic minorities experience racism during their life. In Scotland 1 in 10 Black, Asian, Arab and Chinese people have experienced unfair treatment from the police due to ethnicity or race in recent years. And most ethnic minorities worry about racism. For Black groups particularly, most accept racism as a fact of life. This is a very concerning state of affairs.

"The EVENS Survey shows very strongly that most ethnic minorities have a strong sense of feeling part of British and Scottish society and high levels of trust for Government, particularly Scottish Government."

Nissa Finney is Professor of Human Geography at St Andrews, Director of the Evidence for Equality National Survey, founding member of the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE), and member of the ESRC Centre for Population Change. She has researched, taught and published widely on ethnic inequalities, residential mobility, housing, neighbourhood change, segregation and research methods.

Category Health

/Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here. pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/351424296/Racism_Covid_and_Belonging_in_Scotland_CoDE_BEMIS_DEC2024.pdf

[isupportzaynxliamxziam]

Sunday, 5 January 2014 / part II

While Liam posts about his holiday in Peter Island, Zayn's also active on social media, showing he's spending time with his cousin

credits: Zayn's Twitter

Although Zayn has been appointed an official ambassador for the British Asian Trust a couple of days ago, he doesn’t attend the trust of today, even though it’s a large fundraising dinner organised by Prince Charles.  Ziam believers assume Zayn’s with Liam and  his family on holiday and that the photos he tweeted are intended to debunk that

[ilikeevilblondes]

Question tag game!!

Thank you for tagging me @bad-wolf-circe omg hello!!!

No clue if im doing this right but i copied the questions from @damneddamsy hiya !

(warning: there is a photo ish of me, do not read if you are not ready to perceive me as more than just some rando on the internet lol)

Basic shit: Emmy, 18, she/her, "British" , too chalant

do you make your own bed?

only if my entourage of servants don’t do it for me. (yes).

i always love doing it because for christmas my mother gave me a life-sized body pillow of my dog (?? shes a labrador??) so I get to tuck her in every morning before school.

favourite number?

8.

The first time I met my now best friend we were about five and she said her favourite number was 7 because she was born on the 7th in 2007, and asked me what mine was and I panicked and said 8. So, for thirteen years, it’s been 8 because I’m that unoriginal.

and 69 because I am a thirteen year old boy

what's your job?

Child of the stars and disciple of the universe. (I am still a student in sixth form) (to any Americans or whatever, im a senior in high school)

BUT i will be up up and away to uni this september to study Politics and International Relations to become dictator of the world sooner or later, obviously.

if you could go back to school, would you?

I mean shyit i kind of already am FUCK LET ME OUT LET ME OUT LET ME OUT

can you parallel park?

Hate to affirm stereotypes, but I’m of Asian descent and a woman and i cannot drive. (Plan to pick it up in uni HOPEFULLY fingers and toesie woesies crossed)

do you think aliens are real?

No clue, but i believe in whatever the fuck mark zuckerberg is. Someone tell bro he can blink

can you drive a manual car?

Only in mario kart maybe. which i dominate.

what's your guilty pleasure?

Pitbull (the artist not the dog)

Country music

Downton Abbey

Old men with greying hair that are twice my age and over and are probably a little mean. Currently, Joel Miller (pedro pascal version, soz game joel. Game joel and I have beef lowkey. Long story, involves a certain Arthur Morgan from rdr2).

writing filthy smut! typical aro/ace spectrum person behaviour I know

video games (rdr2, spider-man ps4, halo, etc)

reading some booktok books 😬😬😬😬

any phobias?

Whole raw chicken. cried and freaked the fuck out once at the ripe age of 11 when my mother asked me to massage oils and herbs into a whole raw chicken for a roast, it’s a touchy subject.

Live fish

Steve Buscemi sorry Steve Buscemi

favorite childhood sport?

Swimming (funnily enough, i love breaststroke the most) (get it? because of that one fic I wrote?? yeah?? no?? yeah ok)

Badminton

Ultimate frisbee don’t laugh, it’s a real sport.

do you talk to yourself?

I mean yeah, I am the funniest person in the world according to myself and I am a valid source trust me bro

tattoos?

One! Here are some pics that absolutely no one asked for from when I first got it done:

(face reveal at 12 subscribers spoiler alert you WILL fall in love with me) (do not fall in love with me i got shit to do)

favorite color?

Papa smurf blue

do you like puzzles?

FUCK no.

Lastly, probably a question people have wondered:

"Emmy, why is your username ilikeevilblondes but all your fics are about joel miller, a man who is neither evil nor blonde?"

I'm so glad you asked omg!

Well, firstly, because when i first got tumblr, i was mad obsessed with Homelander (he is still fine shyt, sue me) and also Boyd Holbrook as the Corinthian and i was like, well they're both evil and blonde i think i found my username!

And secondly, because ilikebigoldmenwithbigbrownpuppydogeyes was too long.

Victims tagging: @doeeyestoji @mrs-hardy-hunnam-butler-pascal (and whoever else reads this and wants to do it next) y’all seem chill!!

[marta-bee]

More Aldarion & Erendis time. I want to take a step back from all the fun character-drama between our titular leads and talk a bit about the political situation. It's definitely turning how I think of the Numenor story on its head, but in a good way.

I've always thought of Numenoreans as prideful men who saw themselves as better than other men, their natural rulers, etc. Very imperial stuff. Very prideful generally, and pride goeth before, etc. Their thinking they could bring Sauron as a captive into their own land. The very questioning of mannish mortality. It's what did them in in the end.

A&E is set in a much earlier time though. Aldarion is only five generations removed from Elros, and was only born about 250 years after Elros died. And for the most part they're unconcenred with the wider world. You see this in Meneldur's pushing Aldarion to remain in Numenor and not go adventuring abroad, long before he married Erendis or even began courting her. His first duty was to love and know his own land, and for the people of Numenor to know him. It feels isolationist, but I don't take it in the modern Trumpian sense or even the America staying out of WWI while Europe bled and died sense. There's this idea that the Numenoreans have been given a gift of peace and having enough, and it's their job to live in that and let it heal their national soul.

Gil-Galad sends Tar-Meneldur a letter that changes that.

Ereinion Gil-galad son of Fingon to Tar-Meneldur of the line of Eärendil, greeting: the Valar keep you and may no shadow fall upon the Isle of Kings. Long I have owed you thanks, for you have so many times sent to me your son Anardil Aldarion: the greatest Elf-friend that now is among Men, as I deem. At this time I ask your pardon, if I have detained him overlong in my service; for I had great need of the knowledge of Men and their tongues which he alone possesses. He has dared many perils to bring me counsel. Of my need he will speak to you; yet he does not guess how great it is, being young and full of hope. Therefore I write this for the eyes of the King of Númenórë only. A new shadow arises in the East. It is no tyranny of evil Men, as your son believes; but a servant of Morgoth is stirring, and evil things wake again. Each year it gains in strength, for most Men are ripe to its purpose. Not far off is the day, I judge, when it will become too great for the Eldar unaided to withstand. Therefore whenever I behold a tall ship of the Kings of Men, my heart is eased. And now I make bold to seek your help. If you have any strength of Men to spare, lend it to me, I beg.

Should they keep living in peace, content in their little island's safety, or should they start preparing for war? And Meneldur knows he can't decide, abdicates the throne, and lets Aldarion step in.

It's a good impulse, to help, but it's borne out of a morally rotten premise. This is Sauron, of course everyone should help. But to think that the Numenorean uniquely are able to help, and that the men of Middle-earth are incapable of resisting Sauron sticks in my craw. It sets up the Numenoreans as having a natural nobility somehow missing from other men. Where what Glorfindel should be doing is recognize the potential for good in the humans not yet caught under Sauron.

Perhaps he's doing that too, or at least trying to. But the point is, I don't think the Numenoreans get to see that. They think they're specially responsible for resisting Sauron, which makes them special and other men almost chattel.

As an American, I'm feeling more than a bit seen, and not in a good way.

As a Tolkien fan, I'm a bit uncomfortable with how much I suspect Tolkien accepted this. It's not a stretch to imagine him viewing the English as the protectors and saviors of all those grubby men who could not be trusted to govern themselves. (Talking about Africans, Asians, and all sort of then-British colonies here.) I need to think about whether the rest of the Numenor story is a critique of that idea; whether this belief in their own superiority and their being central to fighting against Sauron was a subtle kind of pride that led to their fall or whether he thought of that later pride as something else entirely.

I like thinking they're connected because it makes for a better story. But I'm not sure if it's what Tolkien meant here. I know if he meant Gil-Galad's assessment to be genuine, I don't like that.

[shuinami]

Part 3: How to write an MLE-based London accent authentically

Part 1: Who, What (London Accents) | Part 2: When, Where, Why (Black Londoner Culture since Windrush)

As I conclude this little guide, I'd like mention that my ask box and DMs are always open if anyone has further questions or anything 🤎

In this section, I'll go over some advice, the grammar and vocabulary and provide some suggestions for references.

Section A: Basic Tips

When to use slang

The concentration of slang is key to differentiating characters as well as writing an accent authentically. As an MLE-based speaker who is not actually a roadman (meaning a gangster, though many people misuse the term to refer to anyone who uses MLE, especially if they are working class), like most of us, Hobie does not utterly kill it with slang that would likely not be understandable to the people he’s with. There are a lot of phrases and idioms/metaphors that seem self-explanatory once you know what they mean or that seem similar to Americanisms (e.g. roadman = street/hood nigga), but of course, as someone who doesn’t use the terms, hearing it in passing, it probably wouldn’t be understandable, despite the speaker thinking it is. 

Coming from a diverse place, often with immigrant parents who don’t even speak English as a first language, if fluently at all (not in the case of most black Caribbeans from former British colonies, but remember Asians and Africans are more plentiful here), trust me, we know what we sound like 😂! Most of us code-switch, as we learn standard English in school and, until more recently, where more people are 3rd gen+ immigrants as opposed to 2nd, we actually tend to pick up MLE slang from experiences outside the home as we grow up. At the same time, some people really don’t care at all and don’t change how they speak for anyone haha. I don’t recommend trying to write code-switching if you’re not extremely familiar with MLE because you’ll probably lose the flow and also, Hobie only eases up a little bit after his intro.

My point is though, that not every single sentence needs to have slang in it. Most should, but if you’re trying to be serious or sexy, for example, and you feel the need to tack on some slang just to convey Bri’ishness, even if it doesn’t really fit, don’t do it cause it’s no more authentic than just writing plain English in those scenarios.

When talking to people from his own dimension, however, slang it up if you’d like, because the expectation would be that a (working class or ethnic) Londoner would understand him. 

For humour, mocking and teasing, we love to use slang because a lot of it is funny, even to us. Like I said, we know what we sound like. Those are the moments when more obscure slang (such as Cockney rhyming slang) might come out for comedic effect.

It’s good to have some balance, so not every word needs to be substituted. If you couldn’t read it without a fucking huge glossary, you’ve probably done a bit too much.

Writing the Accent

It’s good in moderation. ‘Luv’, ‘ain’t’, replacing the last g with an apostrophe in -ing words - you all have those things down, it works, good job. 

HOWEVER, it is very clear that a lot of you have no clue what letters we do and don’t drop/change and in what words, as well as a lot of you going OT with removing the T’s from the middle of words. I know it kind of sounds like that to you but it reads like an over-exaggeration or mockery, particularly because most London accents, including Hobie’s, are much lighter in comparison to Brits from other areas, in which such omissions and alterations of letters would be somewhat appropriate but still, in moderation. I don’t recommend typing out the accent often, just sprinkle it around for a bit of flavour but don’t consistently write in that way because your writing loses legibility and it gets quite distracting.

Content

The stereotype of British people liking sarcasm is true for most and, in general, we like to have, what we call, ‘a bit of banter’. We’re a jokey people, even if those jokes can be a bit harsh or teasing. Confusingly, even if we are joking around, it doesn’t mean necessarily we’re being friendly, joking is just how we communicate (e.g. “Oh boy, humbling reality Spider-Man has arrived”, “What does that do?” “Apart from having a great name?”, “super humane and not creepy”, “this is a great look…”). I think most people have got this down really well, so keep it up guys 😎🤙

Another thing is cussing, swearing, profanity, whatever you wanna call it. We do it a lot for no reason, mainly spamming the word “fuck(ing)”. So have fun with that if you aren’t already.

We’ll get into it more in the terms of endearment section of Section B but, basically a lot of Londoners are typically not too mushy or affectionate, as is the stereotype for big city people and, additionally, British people in general aren’t the most direct in their words. Obviously, some people are but it’s not the culture if you’re trying to write proper ‘authentic’ haha. For a lot of us, saying sweet stuff can be quite laborious when sincere or cheesy or confrontational levels of direct really 😂 We ain’t the friendliest of types through our words so I'd recommend relying more on context for the sweet factor unless it's a stand-out moment.

Different parts of the UK, even within England itself, have different slang

Idk what else to say about this but yeah, there’s some phrases I’ve seen people use that have me scratching my head cause “nobody [from my area] says those words in that order” but I’m guessing it’s down to people incorporating slang which is more commonly heard up North because it’s all classed as British/U.K. slang when you look it up so, just be wary of that.

Section B: Grammar and Vocab (the thing you’ve been waiting for 😂)

I’ll link a document here so I don’t clog up your dash more than I already have. Feel free to bookmark it or anything, I’ll update it if needed. The contents are links to the relevant section so you can just click those if you’re not trying to read the whole thing.

I only included some highlights of the things that are easy enough to explain just by writing them out with their meanings but it’s by no means an extensive list. I’ve studied a few languages but I’m not a linguist so I just did my best.

If you want to go more heavy with the Cockney slang, I’ll leave it to someone who’s more familiar with it (or not… lol) to explain those terms and when to use them properly.

Section C: References

Of course, it’s all good and all that I’ve given you instructions but to make it sound natural, you’d need a point of reference. Here are some references of black North West Londoners from the early 80s, black East Londoners, black Londoners more generally and a Daniel Kaluuya interview so you can get a better feel of how we sound:

Clip from ‘No Problem’, the first Black British Sitcom

The accents within this one group of siblings is very varied and none of them use MLE, as per the time period. The two younger sisters have accents most similar to Hobie’s. The show follows a group of siblings of Jamaican descent living in a council house in North West London, first released in 1983.

Clips from ‘Chewing Gum’ by Michaela Coel [CW: they're awkwardly talking about sex in a lot of the clips + don't listen to Candice's boyfriend, Aaron, he's not from London lol]

The show takes place in Tower Hamlets, which is in East London and was first released in 2015. Tracy has a similar accent to Hobie and also uses a mix of more general/Cockney-influenced slang and MLE, so this one should both be a fun watch and be useful, you’ll also want to pay attention to Candice who has a more MLE lean to her speech.

Clips from the Foot Asylum crew most of them are MLE speakers, see some examples of our banter with friends lol

Clips from ‘Top Boy’

Another show that takes place in East London, this time in Hackney, which is an area known for being kind of rough in terms of gang activity. Almost all the characters speak exclusively MLE in this show. If you want to watch it, TW for violence and gang activity, death, etc. (18+). You can tell based on the ones I’ve chosen that Sully’s my favourite character lmao.

Fun fact, as you might hear the character, Dushane, reference, Sully lives on a canal boat for a while as a form of refuge. I know a bit about boat dwellers in London from a lecture at uni but if anyone wants me to do more research and do a post and explain the waterways and stuff, again, feel free to drop an ask and I’ll do it :)

Clip from ‘Love Island’ just pay attention to the black islanders, Tyrique and Whitney

I just finished watching this year's Love Island UK so I thought I’d throw the clip of Whitney, Lochan and Tyrique fighting in here lmao

& Daniel Kaluuya talking about Spiderpunk to bring us full circle✨

[impossiblesuitcase]

In wires and nerves one of the guards in the palace is seen wearing a pointed Asian rice farming hat and a thrown over vest. That’s got to be racist or stereotypical because 1. It’s the future and even now that would be horrible armor to wear, and 2. Why would royal guards be wearing rice farming hats? They have tons of money to fund their army and guards’ attire

I personally thought they were inspired by Joseon dynasty guards:

The illustrated hats looked closer to this to me than the Chinese farmer hats.

Based on how incompetent these guards were at stopping Cinder from kidnapping Kai, I would say this guards are mostly decorative, like the ridiculously dressed British royal guard:

The impractical attire usually suggests that they are more for show than actual combat. The palace would have an official swat team that handle bigger threats than the guards and they would be dressed accordingly.

Ultimately, we should never trust the Wires and Nerve art anyway.

[star-sim]

THE I CAN FIX HIM SYNDROME IS GETTING TO YOU VANYA... RUN WHILE U CAN 😭

looks like he had to negotiate his way into earth is crazy... but i have seen people i know like some Interesting Creatures i will trust ur judgement...?

i don't know how gpa works also can someone explain i go to a british school 😓

I CANT FIX HIM HE GOT A PERM 😭😭😭

lord save all the asian men in southern california who act like bangers who one day decide that they need a perm

ppl are always like “ooh asian ooh socal with the beach waves 😍” WRONG we have so many boys here that either 1) don’t shower or 2) wear cologne and suddenly think that they are THE shit, i feel like it’s universal for men to be disappointing

idk how to explain the gpa system without using even more american terms but for scale, a 1.0 is failing every single class, a 1.2 is justtt right above that

[houseofbrat]

William has had a LOT of meetings this month!

He is also trying to inflate his number of days worked and no. of engagements because Lazy Heir will head to France to see his team in April, interrupting his precious holidays.

It will be interesting if he goes with all his children and wife, if he only goes with George and Louis or George and Charlotte, or George alone. I mean, he needs to cover the fact that he refuses to do his real job (summer tours, going to Women's Football Cup) when he is on holiday because 'oh it's precious time to spend with my children'; but he won't have any problem to leave them alone if he has his hobbies as priority, so he will need to take them with him (even against his controlling nature of blaming them for Aston Villa's bad luck) or plan what excuse he will pull.

Anyway, his stupid fans will say that Kate send him and that nobody need to say something against him because he already worked so much (doing 7 meetings of 20 minutes) and because he is handsome, so his handsomeness cover up for all his laziness. lol but are the same people having a problem with C&C for hosting so much receptions, well, at least they are meeting many people from different backgrounds, charities, etc… W isn’t able to deal with people who have a variety of interests apart from mental health, sustainability and wildlife, because he is so uneducated in other topics, that’s why he doesn’t do receptions and sticks with private meetings with people of his own foundation and Earthshot.

Yeah, I'm sick of all the crazy, fangirl fawning that happens over W&K. They don't and WON'T do their jobs, but their fangirls pretend they're the best thing that ever happened to the universe.

William's workload is on par with Prince Richard, who is in his 80s and is 33rd in line to the throne. The Royal Foundation barely does anything. If Will & Kate both did more regular, royal engagements instead of focusing on their "pet" causes, then the paltry level of the Royal Foundation wouldn't be so bad.

If you take a look at the British Asian Trust, which is just one of the charities Charles started, it had an operating budget of more than £10 million recently. It was started in 2007, which is just two years before William and Harry started their foundation.

Will & Kate's foundation is such small potatoes because they don't attempt to do much of anything. All of their big projects are just large pr operations. Earthshot Prize is an award show; that's pure pr. The Centre for Early Childhood? Almost solely a pr campaign as seen with the "Shaping Us" campaign. Homewards? A small amount of financing and coordination between existing charities but the rest is pure pr hype.

Will & Kate's fans are shallow people. All their posts, tweets, and cult worship is because Will & Kate are deemed to look good in photos. This is why they have so many posts about their looks and how "hot" they are.

Reminds me of the "Jasmine" story arc on Angel (tv series).

[gregheiferly]

sweetpea pls i could go onan on about this wuthering heights adaptation 😭😭 i need emerald fennell to burn in hell idc idc idc!! the fact that jacob elordi is playing heathcliff and the actor playing edgar linton is half pakistani???? is she retarded?? and same about the costuming idc if i sound like a pretentious bitch. the dress is fugly and makes me physically ill looking at it ntm the hoops are way too prominent for the time period like ughhh… anyway sorry for this long unnecessary rant 😭 I loved nymphetamine so much brw it was super cute and you’re soo so talented I might play gta soon <33

I know… I don’t like emerald fennel either way I would never trust a white southern British lady with the name emerald tbh and yeah like genuinely I’m so??? like that’s such an important fucking part of the book genuinely what it’s also funny to me in the 1939 edition that merle oberon played cathy!!! and it came out in 1983 that she was actually part south asian and the lady she called her travelling maid was her mom 😭😭 it’s ok.. the costuming made me gasp OFF THE SHOULDER HOOP SKIRT IT LOOKS LIKE THE KARL LAGERFIELD CHANEL GOWN LIKE OMG IM PRAYING THAT ITS SOME OTHER FILM CALLED WUTHERING HEIGHTS AND NOT A PLAY BY PLAY ADAPTION.. I genuinely wish they had cast northern British actors I’m so serious.. it’s so grating to hear poorly done accents on screen like ik that sounds bad but it grates on me so fuckin bad esp when there’s sooo many talented British moc and British actresses!!! a lot of them r working with unpaid theatre troops but sure… Nate Jacobs and Barbie

[triviareads]

do you have diverse modern romance recs?

Yep! I've (mostly) organized it by author:

Naima Simone: I'm obsessed with literally everything this woman writes, both Harlequin and not Harlequin. Naima writes a lot of fabulous Black heroines (and she writes great body diversity as well) and a decent amount of POC heroes as well. My favorites include . Black Tie Billionaire (Black heroine, Asian hero), Secrets Of A One Night Stand (Black heroine, Pacific Islander hero), and Trust Fund Fiancé (both the hero and heroine are Black). The best thing about Naima's books is just the uniformity in how she writes every body type as attractive and desirable and the sex is very hot. Would absolutely recommend.

Katrina Jackson: I haven't talked about Katrina enough, when she's out here doing the most for mafia romances and spy romances with diverse characters. I could happily read her novella Beautiful & Dirty over and over, but it's a prequel to the mafia series which ends with my favorite, The Don, which has a Black heroine. Katrina also wrote a spy series (The Spies Who Loved Me!) and the first in that series, Pink Slip, has a Black heroine who's lusting over her married bosses (the wife, Monica, is Latina I believe) and surprise, they're both into her too.

Angelina M. Lopez: Angelina writes excellent Latino rep. Her fictional town Freedom, Kansas, which is the setting in multiple stories, has an amazing Mexican-American community she builds on. I'd recommend After Hours on Milagro Street, which has a Mexican-American heroine, as well as her upcoming Full Moon Over Freedom, which is next in the series. The way she melds culture, magic, and romance is gorgeous. Also! Lush Money, which is set within this universe, has a Latina heroine and is very fun and worth reading.

Tara Pammi: If you want to read about Indians in India or Bollywood-centric romances, Tara is the author. I liked Claiming His Bollywood Cinderella and The Secret She Kept in Bollywood (that man is suuuch a DILF he's great).

Jadesola James: I've talked about her before (see here) but Jadesola has written a couple Harlequin Presents stories set in Africa. I'd recommend The Royal Baby He Must Claim and The Princess He Must Marry, which are about sisters who are Nigerian princesses.

Talia Hibbert: The Brown Sisters books are bangers, sexy and emotionally comforting at the same time. I'd recommend all of them: Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown. I also love her novella Guarding Temptation, which has both a Black hero and heroine and Wanna Bet? which has a Black heroine and a British-Indian hero (thanks for reminding me @viscountessevie).

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai: The hero and heroine are in-laws (well, her husband, his brother, is dead) so the romance was very emotional and slow-burn, but the pay-off was absolutely worth it. The heroine Sadia is Pakistani-American, and the hero Jackson is of Japanese and Hawaiian ancestry. Alisha also delves pretty deep into South Asian family dynamics which hit a liiiittle too close to home, but I can't deny the accuracy.

Reel by Kennedy Ryan: This a romance between an actress and her director (both are Black) and I particularly appreciate the amount of research Kennedy Ryan put into the Harlem Renaissance, Black artists of that era (she created a fictional artist to base the movie off of), as well as their contributions to the Civil Rights movement which I think isn't discussed enough.

Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey: See here.

From what I recall, Katee Robert did a pretty good job of body diversity without super explicitly mentioning race in her Fairytale Villains Who Fuck Wicked Villains series.

[insert-username-here566]

Regarding Garroth, Dale and Donnas' accents. Basically, with Brittish slang, Garroth is made fun of for sounding posh, with scottish slang, Dale is barely understood and Donna is an absolute southern sweetheart?

no no no. i won't make fun of people like that. no. i wanna make it studdle to reference where they came from. like, accents are from different places. i like to think dale came from the Neapolitan villages (for my rewrite that is), donna spent most of her life in the water villages which lead to her adopting their accents. and Garroth is from O'khasis hence his accent. Zane will also have British slang laced into his voice. Nana/KC will have a tu'la accent which i haven't figured out which Asian culture to reference for her and people from tu'la.

i understand where you're coming from and trust me, i am well aware for the effects of real world accents and how they are portrayed and the xenophobia that can be implied by them. also dale isn't the only one with a Scottish accent so is Dante and Gene and brenden/kiki also have accents bc they are from scaleswind. I also plan for Aaron and Travis to have a accent different from the rest

i know how i worded the joke was bad but this isn't meant be a joke on those accents it's to show phoenix drop is a mixing pot of people and cultures because it's accepting. sorry if my other post made it sound otherwise.

i'm trying to show diversity and joked bc idk how to write accents well and am still learning.

[4dmc]

I went to replay some Nico cutscenes for future drawing references.. and well I'm so sorry but I'm gonna be honest.. if Kat is to the haters Nico is sort of doing that to me

I can't believe it. Now I'm 50/50 about her character. I know I have had opinions on Nico before but I realize maybe I'm just seeing things & I'm like Nico is like reboot Dante genderbent if I'm going to be controversial here: they're both rough and rude in the exterior but they're kind to the select people they know (also they let her be the smoker something that was edited out of reboot Dante because y'know.. whiny hypocritical fanbase & everything)

Maybe I'm just seeing things and I'm like "nahhh you like Nico"...

But now it really feels like because Capcom may have seen the way haters do not like Kat "for having no personality" which is hurtful because this is the most usual comments against quiet introspective characters AND real people (me & the circle of friends & even some online mutuals in their lives we're just like that ig🤷‍♀️

That I think they overcorrected and let the mocap actress and the writers make Nico too much

I can't explain it. Maybe it's the stereotyping on the "southern belle" or in Japanese culture the Kansai/Southern country bumpkin thing that they just went for

Or maybe it's the sudden rudeness against Nero sometimes like wtf "Up your butt" sounds like an edgy annoying 10 year old who responded, not a rough edgy tough as nails 20 something woman who has a lot on her plate

I do admire her actress for wanting to make a spin on her character to be a little more happy go lucky but some of the lines are actually a bit cringey.. I'm sorry i know someone explained to me she's like that one "rude" friend in the group, when I felt Nico commenting on Lady's predicament when she fell out of Artemis and into Nero's arms, was kind of below the belt for insinuating Nero is cheating on Kyrie

Like.. no girl not right now. But okay... Sure... 😕

Someone might come in and say reboot Dante is rude and unlikeable too and to that I say... Well now you know how i feel about Nico now

And to give Dante DmC credit he's usually rude to demons and knows how to weaponize it for results (results will vary😂. And the few times he's rude to people reveals his isolated past & trauma. The biggest turn around and proof of his kindness is literally an entire car ride scene with Kat where he's the one who reaches out to her about how they can trust one another now. He knows how to communicate, and his camaraderie with Kat changes from then on.

which is the one thing that just cements it to me he's just the better Dante I'm sorry. And on videogame screen too sorry yeah I'm glazing this character for years

.. but I think personally the worst of all is the colorism. Her alt skin gives away some deeply rooted Asian colorism that even I have to deal with here. But on her og design the concept really shows they want her brown/dark skin. But they have referenced a mixed racial British model whose skin is not as tan

Like don't get me wrong. Emily Bador is not in the wrong here. I used to follow some of her work especially on makeup commercials so how she looks is going to depend on the brand who hired her too

But her photos with the costume gives away that she isn't tan. Like idk Capcom I feel like Nico needs more stirring in the pot as a character overall

Like.... Overall DMC needs more stirring in the pot if they are planning part 6

[kazz-brekker]

quite honestly. i gave babel to my little sister who is a White Queer™️ in the worst way possible. imo the intended audience is people who are 1. privileged 2. thick headed and 3. victim complex. i love my sister but the girl has never had an original or nuanced thought in her life bless her heart.

Hmm yeah. I'm not entirely sure I'd say that the intended audience for Babel is privileged white people since the author is an Asian-American academic (and the one privileged white girl in the cast is portrayed in a pretty negative way) but since reading it a few years ago I've soured on the way that I hoped a book that would be a really meaty, complex look at the history of the British Empire felt more like a Colonialism 101 explainer, complete with footnotes making sure you understand the author doesn't agree with the racist stuff some of the characters are saying. I mean, just because not everyone who's going to pick up the book is, say, familiar with the writings of Olaudah Equiano doesn't mean we need to get our hand held when it comes to explaining that racism and colonialism are bad, you know? It felt to me that the author didn't trust her audience to understand she didn't agree with all of the perspectives the book included without outright stating it, which felt pretty condescending to be honest.