#diaspora feels

[animatedamerican]

Hi Toon! I hope you've been well <3 🌟 for forgive us the days forgotten to fear or Letters?

(from here!)

Hello! I'm good, thanks. <3

Oh man, tough choice. I think I gotta go with Letters because forgive us the days forgotten to fear is just so, so long.

Letters is the second of two short fics I wrote with a stealth Jewish headcanon for Caleb Widogast. I say 'stealth' because nothing is explicitly named as Jewish, and I did it that way for two reasons. Firstly to sidestep around the question of how any real-world ethnoreligion could exist in the secondary world of Exandria; secondly, and more importantly, to underscore the fact that the Dwendalian Empire is currently a place where unapproved religions must be practiced in secret, deniably.

Just about everything I put in that story involving Caleb's upbringing with regard to the Proper Treatment of Books is based on the Jewish traditions I was raised with involving specifically holy books, such as printed copies of the Tanakh or prayer books or anything bearing God's name. If you drop one by accident you kiss it when you pick it up; one must not stack other objects on top of them, or leave them lying open; copies too worn to read must be buried rather than discarded. Without a specific religious tradition to tie to those practices, it made sense to me to generalize them to all books, and that worked fairly well as a Blumenthal tradition of quasi-reverence to the written word itself. (I've also found in myself, and in others I've known who were raised with similar traditions, that we often do unconsciously extend some measure of that reverence to all books.)

All that is to highlight one line in the very last section, where shortly after Caleb has first disintegrated and then burned the ancient writings on time travel in Aeor, and immediately after drawing a direct connection between the burying of books and the burying of bodies, the story says:

"But he is a child of Blumenthal, and burning the dead will never feel any more right to him than burning the living."

I don't recall whether or not I was consciously thinking of a certain Ray Bradbury quote when I wrote that, but I may as well have been.

[mueritos]

happy pride to all queer children of immigrants

patreon

[wutheringheightsfilm]

How do we support Cubans and their resistance to western imperialism

I'm so glad you asked anon! A great way to start is to by actually listening to Cubans and their own stories and news. There are some really good organizations and accounts on Instagram (and many of them have their own publications outside of Instagram, so if you don't have the app, you can still follow what's going on)

Here are the ones I recommend:

@ bellyofthebeastcuba < news outlet that focuses on cuba

@ nationalnetworkoncuba < this is a coalition of many different orgs that are actively working to get the US gov to lift the blockade, etc; they post a lot of actionable things you can do to get involved physically, as well as opportunities for stuff like webinars! here is their website.

@ ratbcuba < this is a british org dedicated to solidarity with cuba

@ caribbeansolidaritynetwork < not strictly cuba oriented, but a network committed to the liberation of all of the caribbean! they also have events like study circles (and you can access their readings online if you can't go in person)

@ ghpartners < this is a nonprofit actively working to get donations in order to send medical supplies to cuba, right now they are working on delivering pacemakers to the island! here is their website.

Other than that, I really, really encourage you to start learning as much as you can on Cuban history and the history of their resistance, as well as their history of working alongside other resistance movements. Cuba worked in solidarity with the Black Panthers, with numerous African countries fighting for their own liberation, with Vietnam, and even more. National Network on Cuba has a really good political education page where you can start that includes a book list and articles list, as well as youtube videos of documentaries. This is a Google drive from NNOC that introduces the concept and history of Guantanamo Bay. There's going to be an Afro-Cuban reading list released on the NNOC site soon, so definitely check back for it.

This is a timeline of the Embargo to help you get introduced to that. This is an article about Afro-Cuban resistance fighters during the revolution. This is an article that discusses the atrocities committed by the Batista regime.

Before you read any of Fidel Castro's work (particularly his famous speech, History Will Absolve Me), read this page first on the history of the attack on the Moncada Fort on July 26, 1953, a year after Batista’s US backed coup d’��tat. It gives the historical context necessary to read Castro's History Will Absolve Me speech.

This is a PDF of some of Che Guevara's speeches in a collection called Che Guevara Talks to Young People. While the Introduction insists this is not "Che Guevara for beginners" I still think it's a good jumping off point. Here is an interview with Assata Shakur talking about her experiences in Cuba.

I hope this list helps, and of course, it's not exhaustive. I just hope I gave a good enough foundation for anyone who wants to start learning!

[average-hua-cheng-fan]

another reason i think that xie lian felt an instant connection on the ox cart is because he and hua cheng both grew up in xianle.

there are maybe 4 people still alive that grew up in that culture. based on my own experience, you can pick up on things like accent, cadence, references, and humor that suggest a person is from the same place as you without consciously noticing it. that sense of comfort and similarity probably played into their instant chemistry.

[binomech]

As someone who loves trans Kim as a headcanon, it bothers me a little when people use this as basis for that reading.

I think that when discussing Kim's sexuality or his gender the intersection between them and his race is crucial. Deciding to ignoring how this exchange is about having a blatantly Seolite name is not as exciting a choice as many people think it is.

Him resenting his heritage, which his body and name betray, as a direct link to the racist violence he experiences, the death of his parents during the Revolution and what hopes they put in him when they named him, doomed to never know and to always potentially disappoint just by being who he is (a gay man, a tool for Moralintern policy, a vacholière) and that very name being also a presentation card that immediately generates expectations in the white people around him...

All the things that could be different: If I had been born in Seol, would I still be gay? How would my life be? With a different name, here, perhaps? And my parents, would they have loved me? Would I have failed them? Would I have joined the RCM? Could the commune have succeeded?

Harry is haunted by all the expectations carried by his name, he wants "one he hasn't ruined yet". This is Kim saying, yes, my name also haunts me, but it's mine like my mistakes are mine; the only way not to drive yourself insane is simply accept that you can't imagine a life you haven't lived.

[lavampira]

d'alia + her turali outfits

[koshercosplay]

Still trying to get It If you are anti Palestinian or not

but for what it's worth, I purposefully keep my opinions on i/p carefully off this blog

oooh scaryyyyyy a jew who won't tell you if they're A Good Jew or A Bad Jew

[mamawasatesttube]

11 or 27? I love when my blorbos can hold each other tenderly

11. "Just hold on to me." 27. "I'm going to carry you, okay?"

“I dunno exactly what kind of escape attempt you were going for, when I can hear exactly where you are, y’know.” Kon alights atop the fencepost next to Tim’s perch. “C’mon. I know you hate being sick, but Ma’s got a nice, hot pot of soup with your name on it waiting.”

Tim doesn’t say anything, just turns his face up into the wind and sniffles. It’s not cute; he sounds like he’s in danger of dry drowning from mucus alone. His nose is red and runny, his cheeks flushed bright with the cold. He’s got a shawl wrapped around himself, but it’s snowing. That’s nothing.

Tutting, Kon shrugs off his own jacket and wraps it around Tim’s shoulders. “Robbie…”

Tim sniffles again and coughs hoarsely, twice. His fever still hasn’t broken, and his eyes are too bright as he drops his head onto Kon’s shoulder. “I wasn’t trying to run off.”

Kon snorts. “I should hope not. Where’d you be running to? The cows?”

Tim doesn’t rise to the bait, doesn’t bicker back with him. He’s just silent for a moment. He sucks in a rattling breath and blows it out, coughing again; the cold air can’t be pleasant on his sore throat. “I just… wanted to watch the snow.”

Softening, Kon wraps himself around him, his TTK enveloping the air around Tim to try and warm him up a little. “You couldn’t do that from the window seat, Robbie?”

Tim shakes his head. “Not like this.”

Kon’s quiet. Tim opens up, sometimes, but never with prodding. Prying is a method of last resort with him, because it takes a metric buttload of effort. The rare moments when Tim chooses to open up, to share tiny things from that steel trap of a head he’s got… Kon cherishes them.

Sure enough, his patience pays off. Tim turns and tucks his cold face into Kon’s neck. He seems to have realized he’s cold; he’s shivering, and Kon pulls him closer.

“My mom,” Tim starts, voice hoarse. A dull ache tolls through Kon’s chest, coupled with breathless warmth, because Tim never talks about his mother. There must be something special about the snowfall. “She was half-Chinese. Did I ever mention that?”

Kon shakes his head, though it’s unnecessary. They both know Tim never has.

“Her mom was from this tiny village just below foothills of the Himalayas, or something. I don’t even…” He breaks off to cough, and Kon winces. “I don’t even know the name. I don’t know my grandmother’s name. My mom, she… she barely told me anything about that side of the family. I don’t think—I don’t think my grandma told her much to begin with. But the one thing I did know… there was this one photo. The single photo I ever saw of my grandmother as a little girl. She was playing in the snow, out on a big field. It looked…”

He trails off, and Kon’s heart tugs in his chest. He knows a thing or two about a heritage forever out of reach, about growing up on the outside and looking in.

“It looked a little like this?” he finishes, gentle as he can, and Tim nods.

“I dunno what even reminded me of it,” Tim mumbles. His energy seems spent after the explanation, and he sighs, sagging against Kon’s chest. Kon can feel his eyelashes brush his neck as he closes his eyes. “But then I wanted to… I dunno. Sit here.”

Kon presses a kiss to the top of his head. He gets it, but Tim’s sick, and it’s cold out. And Ma’s inside, fretting because Tim slipped away the second Kon ran out to the store for her. “I’m gonna pick you up now, ‘kay?”  

“Mmhmm.” Tim sniffles again, horrible noise that it is. “Ugh. I sound gross.”

“You do,” Kon agrees, kissing his hair again. “Just hold on to me, sunshine. Soup ‘n’ tea are waiting for you. We’ll get you feeling better in a jiffy.”

“Yeah. Okay.” Tim’s fingers curl into the front of Kon’s sweater, and Kon easily scoops him into his arms. He flies back towards the farmhouse, and the snow falls gently around them.

[creekfiend]

I just really need ppl to integrate the fact that Jews being explicitly racialized and violently targeted for elimination under white supremacy is in fact the reason this is all happening to begin with so perhaps rhetoric which conflates is with the group of people who have been ethnically cleansing and genociding us for centuries is like, not the hottest thing to do idk

[atopvisenyashill]

Fancasts From Atop Visenya’s Hill

-> Bellegere II Otherys, the Black Pearl of Braavos

She was so lovely that the lamps seemed to burn brighter when she passed. She had dressed in a low-cut gown of pale yellow silk, startling against the light brown of her skin. Her black hair was bound up in a net of spun gold, and a jet-and-gold necklace brushed against the top of her full breasts.

[sanska]

Was thinking about my warring states Hatake farmer ocs and realised that Kakashi should never meet these guys because it’d give him such an identity crisis lol

Man’s appears to be the last of his clan (The Hatake, if you will), and depending on how much Sakumo managed to pass on to him and how much Kakashi has even bothered engaging with his heritage after all that, how much does Kakashi even know about his clan customs anyway?

When Konohans living post Sakumo’s death say Hatake they are referring to this one guy, but he’s been raised his whole life to be the model Konohan ninja instead of a Hatake. If he meets a bunch of Hatake with completely different customs (not even ninja! They’re civilian farmers), clan specific cues and behaviour that he had no one teach him to recognise, and they are so wary of outsiders from having grown up in an era of war and bloodline thieves, will they or even Kakashi himself accept him as Hatake?

Fandom likes to paint the Hatake as a super close knit clan so imagine Kakashi he sees these guys together laughing and helping each other and he’s all alone and so damn lonely but he doesn’t know how to get close to them or understand

Basically culturally alienated Hatake Kakashi and you better hope the Hatake clan members he meets are nice and wants to adopt/accept him but there’s inevitably going to be a lot of messy feelings and misunderstandings going on before they get there

[pjharvey]

seeing someone with a pride flag bracelet plug her ears and roll her eyes when the names of murdered palestinian children are read outside a DNC convention By A Palestinian is next level evil i’m not reblogging the video bc it doesn’t feel productive and i don’t like having things on my blog that make me angry but wow i hope an anvil falls on her head

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Rani Choudhury Must Die

YA contemporary romance

two ex-best-friends turned rivals due to family expectations and competing in science competitions realise they’re dating the same guy

when one gets into the european young scientist exhibition, they decide to team up and create a new project - an app to expose cheaters, planning to expose him in their final presentation

but the more time they spend together they remember why they were friends, and maybe start to get crushes on each other…

Bangladeshi-Irish diaspora experiences & messy teenagers

[unopenablebox]

i admit that i find it a little bit frustrating how Wildly Astonished other antizionist jews act when i tell them my israeli jewish family have lived in the region since [some unknown length of time before 1800 when there start being records about it]

[brekkie-e]

Whispers into the void. Psst psst the most groundbreaking thing you can do in this fandom is make a dalish character on good terms with their clan. Actually, your character will be so much more special and unique, statistically speaking, if they're on good terms with their clan. Like. Both in canon content and fandom. Your oc will be so much cooler and different if they're not an outcast or loner or longing for something more. I promise. There are cool things you can write about for characters who love and are loved by their people.

[anonymousdandelion]

after too long in exile

I hear Yiddish and feel immediately at home.

I hear Yiddish and the rhythms sound like family.

I hear Yiddish and my heart yearns for more.

I hear Yiddish feel Yiddish want Yiddish am Yiddish

I hear Yiddish and I do not understand a word.