#i think that's the case with a lot of POC especially those who live in other countries

[hestella]

Hannibal Lector: A New Face

A/N: I'm currently not done watching Hannibal so there are A LOT of mistakes and it probably won't make any sense lol please tell me out of the kindness of your heart if you want me to fix anything or want to let me know. Also some scenes are improvised by me, I don’t own any characters except for my OC(which is, well, you), all credits to Hannibal NBC and Red Dragon series. LOVE YOU ALL

Warnings: mentions of violence, sexual violence, blood, murder, use of Y/N(cause I can't think of a cool name), Fem!reader, kind of POC reader?, psychopath reader, trauma, mental illness, BLIND READER

Will Graham was gifted a special talent, the talent to see and read a person's mind, no matter how wicked or broken it was, he was able to know exactly what and why and how. His talents were greatly appreciated from the FBI, especially solving murder cases.

He had some of friends, but there was one particular and close friend he had, her name being Y/N.

She seemed to be also have a special natural-born talent. After an unfortunate event, she was permanently blinded and needed to have a walking sick with her, but she still was able to memorize and observe the smallest details of practically anything she felt and heard. Her talent was also what the FBI needed, but she never actually applied, or even participate on those kinds of stuff, unlike Will.

In fact, she was just a plain old professor, teaching philosophy, she gave lectures in colleges and universities for a living.

At first Hannibal thought she was boring, until he actually got to meet her.

When Jack got to know Will, it wasn't that long after he also got to know Y/N. Will constantly mentioned her, about her abilities and how she would have thought about some things. Will knew better than to actually mention FBI cases to her, but the other way, there wasn't anything stopping him. If Will was doing lectures, not with the FBI, Jack automatically sought her for help. She reluctantly accepted, not because of the work itself but for Will, thinking that he would heal when she solved some cases for him, giving him a break. She had control of her lectures, so she was at least more flexible than Will. And with all seriousness, she was good. It was different from Will’s way of investigation, but she was able to collect evidence according to the case and end up with a conclusion, which actually helped Jack a lot, since Will’s investigation relied on his assumptions, that he himself couldn't really make sense.

"Whoever that killed these girls probably has some kind of women that look like those victims. It can be a daughter, a long gone crush, a mother...someone that they have deep connection, whether it's positive or negative. That makes them most likely a male." She explained, after listening to all the information she needed.

"We already assumed that this was a male, unintentionally. Any other observations?" Jack said.

"It's most likely a daughter, though. Young, all from different campuses. He chose these campuses specifically, I'd say, probably one his daughter goes to, or is planning to go to." She continued. "However..." She stood up, walking towards the board with the pictures, wandering her walking stick from side to side.

"He...he has a thing for killing. he's not doing this for pleasure, it's...it's more like art. Precise, like....." she turned around. "...like those people who hunt wildlife." she said.

"...what?" Jack asked.

She bit her lips, not knowing how to say it. "...like those people, I can't, I can't explain it." She looked towards Will, or just turned around where she sensed he was, for help.

Will nodded. "..yeah, I get it. I can see that, wildlife hunters."

"He probably also owns some personal space, like a cabin, out in the woods where he can dissect and dress the animals he hunts. That's probably where he killed these girls too. He would have been used to it, if he used to, or still currently is a hunter." She muttered.

"Yes, where he can butcher, cool, and storage animals, and apparently people. Even if someone accidentally saw blood or, smelled something from there, it makes sense because it's for that purpose, except it's for animals." Will continued.

She nodded and looked back at Jack, her eyes not really focusing exactly to him. "...did that help?" she asked.

"...quite." Jack looked at her only white eyes.

“im glad,” she gave him a faint smile. “But I’ve been trying to ask…is there someone else here? Apart from Will, me, and you?”

“allow me to introduce myself, Ms. Y/L/N, I’m doctor Hannibal Lector. I apologize for my unintentional ambush,” Hannibal stood upon respect, even if she couldn’t see.

“ah, so you were the one. I thought I was having delusions,” she turned her head to face him, her white eyes staring somewhat at Hannibal. She walked towards him and reached out her hand, which Hannibal accepted gently and respectfully. “No need to apologize, Dr. Lector.” She gave him a smile too.

“I should say you’re quite flexible on communicating, even though you’re visually impaired. Different from Will, you try to have eye contact with people. No offense, by all means,” Hannibal muttered his short observation.

“I’m not offended, it’s true. But there’s no need to psychoanalyze me, doctor.” She let go of his hand and reminded him, slithering away from Hannibal’s attempt to make her step out of her circle.

Hannibal wasn’t able to get a hold of her. She rarely talked, but rather tried to hint the FBI about the evidence. He tried inviting her to dinner but she was always somehow reserved. She surely seemed careful about who to let in her circle.

Hannibal tried to step into her personal space by packing up food that he made and giving them to her. He planned to do that to Will too, getting to know him and partially using it to show her what kind of a person he was. His plan was this: pack breakfast for Will, then let Will tell this event to her, and then eventually making her comfortable enough for him to make breakfast for her too. It was getting two rabbits by one stone.

Hence, that was what happened. A second of silence surrounded the two, as they chewed and swallowed the food.

“Agent Crawford told me you have a knack for the monsters,” Hannibal mentioned.

Will put down his fork and looked at him. “..I don’t think the Shrike killed the girl in the field.”

Hannibal also put down his fork and leaned a bit forward. “The devil is in the details. What didn’t your copycat do to the girl in the fields? What gave it away?”

“..everything. It’s like, he had to show me a negative to prove that-“ he sighed. “Y/N would’ve explain it better,” he muttered. “it’s like he had to show me a negative so that-so that I could see the positive.” He rubbed his face.

“….Y/N?” Hannibal muttered.

“Crawford wants her. I don’t want her to be, but I feel like she can see more than I can.” Will looked around. Hannibal noticed this.

“…May I ask you a question, Will?” Hannibal said, his breakfast long forgotten. Will just waved his hand, nodding his head. “Do you live with someone else here?”

“..yeah, we, Y/N and I thought it wouldn’t be that bad of an idea, rather than getting separate rooms…” Will explained. Hannibal nodded. So that was the thing he felt was off about the house. He was honestly surprised, but didn’t let that out.

“where is she, then? Sleeping? I would love to share this meal with her too, if she can,”

“She leaves at 4 in the morning to go to her job.” Will replied, taking another bite of the food. “and she’s strictly vegan, so I don’t think she’ll be able to eat any of these,”

“I see. Her job, which is..”

“Teaching. Modern philosophy at Johns Hopkins.”

“ah, Johns Hopkins. I should’ve known.” Hannibal almost gave him a smile.

With the additional information, it was too easy for Hannibal to roll Jack Crawford up and persuade her to be one of his patients too. He added a little bit of extra reasoning with her injury, telling Jack perhaps the right therapy may make her sense more, and less be obstacled by her blindness. It wasn’t his initial goal to help her sense like a not-visually-impaired person, but he was confident it was possible.

He decided to pay a visit to her lectures.

(Should I make this a series??)

[authoralexharvey]

INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @theglitchywriterboi

Who You Are:

Sparrow Aiden || He/xe

I'm Sparrow Aiden, I'm genderfluid/a trans guy & bi & mixed. My current favorite book is Flesh Eater by Travis Riddle

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Fantasy, horror, and sci-fi. Young adult.

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

Probably like fantasy. I just think it's really fun & you can make your own rules for the whole universe [which you can do for others ofc but still-]

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

Romance. I write romance in my stories, but I don't think I could do that as the main focus, especially not smut [I respect it though, just very much not for me writing wise-]

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

Queer people & queer POC. I think people outside those groups would still enjoy it, at least I hope !!!

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

I don't really normally have a theme in mind - maybe death is inevitable & we can't prevent it no matter how much power we have. Also friendship & shit.

What themes or tropes can you not stand? What about them turn you off?

The one character that's always bullied for no reason ??? Like Meg from Family Guy or Jerry from Parks & Rec. It's just needlessly mean, & at least in Jerry's case he is simply trying to be nice & not doing anything :(

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

A lot of things, but mostly Deaths Diner. I've been working on it since like 8th grade [so like 7ish years ??] & I'm still not close to done 😮‍💨. Second main WIP is The River By The Hotel & a few years but idk how many exactly. Not near as long as Deaths Diner though.

Why do you write? What keeps you writing?

I really enjoy writing !!! & I've always wanted to be published - not for money or anything [though money would be nice] but because it's one thing to sew it in a document, but a whole different thing to be able to hold it & have it impact other people. Plus I've always wanted to give people joy & if people get that from my writing that'd be very cool - even if it's only one person

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

Since I was little. But the first time I knew I WANTED to be a writer was when I was watching Doctor Who w/ my family & after the intro it said "Written by [whoever wrote that episode]" & I thought that was so cool !! Like someone wrote that & my family & I are interacting w/ it & enjoy it !! [& being a screenwriter would be cool, but it wasn't really for me environment wise so I turned towards writing stories/books & I liked reading anyway so-]

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

It mostly comes randomly, but anything tbh. Sometimes its from a movie or show, sometimes it's from a book, sometimes it's just a "Hey, wouldn’t a story about [X] be interesting haha… Wait that's actually amazing-". The inspiration for Deaths Diner actually came about through the latter. My brother jokingly said "Haha, we should have our own show" & me being a dumb 8th grader was like "WE SHOULD !!!" So I started scripting it. Then I realized our lives aren't interesting enough to have a show based off us, so I added ghosts, then one thing lead to another & long story short it's absolutely nothing like our lives [But I think it's still really cool-]. The inspiration for The River By The Hotel is also [very loosely] based off my life too. Basically as a kid my brother & I WOULD go to hotels to visit our mom & at one there were two kids. My brother & I did go over to the river area w/ them. The stuff that didn't happen was all thr paranormal monster stuff. [But that was brought on because when we went home my little brother told me he almost fell in, so I was like "What if he did & the river was actually a portal to another world ?"]

What work of yours are you most proud of? Why?

Probably Deaths Diner. I'm still on the first draft & while it's nowhere near done, I've worked so hard & long on it, it's like my baby. I can't wait to be finished w/ it though so I can start the second book in the series

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

I haven't yet. But I really want to !! Hoping to publish something this year or next year

What part of the publishing process most appeals to you? What part least appeals to you?

Most appealing is being able to get a physical copy of my book, because it's like "Yooo I did it !! I actually did it !!!". Least appealing is probably the critics. I know even the best books & the books I love have people that don't like them, but still. It's daunting publishing something you spent so much time on because of the thought people might despise it.

What part of the writing process most appeals to you? What part is least appealing?

The actual writing is most appealing, because its fun to write, the editing is least appealing. Mostly because I get in my head about the quality & get stuck trying to fix everything - even when there's nothing to fix [or nothing major]

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

Kinda chaos. I just write when I feel like it & I'm a bit of a pantser [maybe more like a plantser though] sometimes, especially w/ a series, I know the majors stops [like we start here, then this happens in the middle, then the end happens. But how I get there I don't know & even w/ the stuff I do know its like a loose idea.] but w/ stand-alones I normally don't know that. I have some scenes planned, but other than that I have zero idea how the book will end

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

A few years now. I wanted to join to have a place to share my writing & to make friends w/ other writers

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

Aaaa this is so hard I really like all my writeblr mutuals/friends it's hard to pick but Uuuuuuhhh- @jezifster, @daisywords, @writing-is-a-martial-art, @athena-anna-rose, @penspiration-writing, @caligraphyzev, @writingpotato07, @writewithfire, @pen-of-roses, @e-lisard, @ashen-crest, @the-finch-address, @cryptid-s-wips, @chrismerle, & so many others !!! I don't know how I stumbled onto all of them, but they're all cool people & cool writers

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

The community & event

What do you think writeblr could improve on? How do you think we can go about doing so?

I don't know tbh

How do you contribute to the writeblr community? Do you think you could be doing more?

I think I could interact more. I'm very forgetful so sometimes I forget to reply to stuff or post things. I try to share others writing & stuff

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

All kinds, other people's writing & short stories, peoples replies to tag games, etc

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

Updates about progress

Finally, anywhere else online we may be able to find you?

On twitter: @WriterGlitch & on Instagram: @TheGlitchyWriter [though I'm most active on tumblr]

[heterosexistly]

Trying to explain how queerphobia + racism intersect in this fandom especially with the treatment of Eddie, Buck, Buddie, and now BuckTommy.

Oliver and the fandom already touched on how henren and David/Michael shouldn't be ignored because of Bucktommy (as that one anon said the white boy supreme).

I think:

• "People are jumping ship from buddie to bucktommy because they don't truly care about Eddie."

Lines of thinking: Eddie is ignored as the POC in favor of Buck and another white character (+ his role with the bigotry in the past).

While this fandom does have a problem with ignoring, incorrectly portraying the people of color on 911, including Eddie, and while some people may be doing this due to racism, in this instance most people are just celebrating being queer and feeling seen.

This is where the queerphobia steps in. People being happy about someone's queer journey (Buck in this case), should not be seen as a negative thing just because you don't like that person.

• "Buck is not receiving the same level of anger for spraining Eddie's ankle as Chimney received for punching Buck"

Lines of thinking: Buck is white, is being excused for his violent behavior, Chimney got hate because he's Asian.

Chimney did get hate because he's Asian and this fandom is racist. So those who were hating on Chimney, block them, especially if they are excusing Buck's actions. Fortunately, the show, through Maddie and Buck, all say that Buck was wrong. Probably why nobody else echoed it online + the excitement for Bi!Buck and being that much closer to canon Buddie.

I get the confliction when it comes to hearing Eddie felt bad, but Buck did not hurt Eddie on purpose and Eddie and Buck understand each other which is why Eddie feels bad because he also didn't mean to hurt Buck. (Of course Eddie living his life shouldn't hurt Buck in any way but the show says that, too. (Could say something about buddie being in love here but I digress.))

I also get wanting to see Buck apologize. He makes a lot of mistakes and some of them are more shitty than others, but he's also a fictional human character and we have seen him apologize to Eddie (3.09).

There's even "you want Buck to hurt Eddie that's disgusting" pre basketball scene line of thinking which wanting conflict between buck and Eddie shouldnt come at any cost since this show isn't dark and we want our relationships to be healthy here but it's an accident in this case.

And it is fine to not like Buck, to be tired of seeing him after s6 centric stuff, but people holding love for both Buck and Eddie in different ways and in different moments does not mean you can be queerphobic.

It also means people shouldn't ever be racist and should seriously examine the roots of their behavior in regards to Eddie, Chim, Hen, Athena, and their extended family members.

I implore a lot of you to realize where people are actually being very sneaky in their racism, ableism, misogyny and queerphobia. In the group chats you are in, with the fics you read and they write, and with that gut feeling that something is wrong but you ignore in favor of being friends.

[ballet-symphonie]

I’m pretty sure there’s nepotism and other shit going on at New York City Ballet, and I’ve stopped following them:

-there’s children and grandchildren of former dancers who got into the company. Roman Mejia is Paul Mejia’s son, Shelby Mann is the granddaughter of Jacques d’Amboise and the daughter of Charlotte d’Amboise and Terrence Mann (Broadway legends!) it makes me suspicious. I mean, Nilas Martins was in the company too, so I’m not surprised nepotism is still going on with the younger dancers.

-apparently there was/is body shaming? even at SAB I’ve heard rumors of kids having eating disorders. Also not surprising considering that the people who worked with Balanchine wanted a look and it was Balanchine himself who started the “skinny ballerina” trend that quickly spread worldwide. Ashley Bouder spoke up about how the higher ups body shamed her on Instagram live like a year ago, and none/few of the company members commented for support. They just posted it on their story. In general, Balanchine companies/schools tend to have a lot of body shaming, especially with how they treated Kathryn Morgan at Miami CB. CPYB (Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet) has a bunch of horror stories on Instagram account called @/cpybstories if anyone wants to read.

-I don’t know if this is really BS, but they still cast roles based on height/size rather than talent. I was hoping for Tiler Peck to do Diamonds but she got Rubies. Same with Midsummer, she didn’t/doesn’t really get Titania because she’s on the shorter side and from what I’ve heard, NYCB likes their Titanias to be tall. (I’m guessing she probably will never get Titania, just because she lacks emotion in her dancing. Saw her in Sleeping Beauty and Nutcracker and she barely acts.)

-the company is still predominantly white. Even PNB is more diverse than them. The BIPOC dancers like Nadon, Mejia, Furlan, Chan etc are only popular just because they fit Eurocentric views of POC (they have lighter skin and straighter hair) plus Nadon is only half South Asian, Mejia is half Peruvian, so they aren’t full blooded POC. The only POC in recent years that didn’t fit those ideals was Amar Ramasar. The kids who appear on stage for Nutcracker, Midsummer, Sleeping Beauty etc are more diverse than the actual company members.

-They didn’t handle Alexandra Waterbury’s case well. Ramasar should’ve been fired and in prison before the pandemic and from the West Side Story revival (that didn’t do well regardless). It also makes me mad that Alexa Malone (soloist) is still dating him and the fact that he’s now a stager too…like he might mess around with the underaged apprentices/corps and the cycle will start again

-Don’t get me started on people like John Clifford and how he wrote public, sexist comments on how he hates crotch shots because of platter tutus. He and a bunch of other older trust people still defend these beliefs to the death.

Hello, there's a lot in here!

Regarding nepotism, the company definitely has a history of hiring both siblings and relatives. I would extend this to ballet in general, many successful dancers today are from dance families, such as Chloe Misseldine, Daniil Simkin, Maia Makhatelli, Vadim Muntigirov, Dmitri Smilevsky, Issac Hernandez etc. But I don't think that inherently means that the dancers benefiting from that knowledge base (knowing what to do, where to train, how to structure their day, exta tips and coaching etc) are undeserving of there spots. I don't think you can watch Meija dance and think he doesn't deserve to be where he is.

On body shaming. Yes, none of this is positive and none of it is news either. There has been a history of toxic body shaming culture at nearly every major ballet school worldwide. Balanchine companies have had a nasty history but so have numerous Russian, European, and Asian schools. It's not a problem exclusive to SAB/NYCB.

Yes, NYCB typecasts. I'm honestly quite a fan of it because I don't think it's realistic or responsible to expect every dancer to do everything well and it results in dancers on stage in roles that they're confident in and suit their strengths- which generally leads to better performances. I don't think there's a single dancer at City Ballet who has done all three leading roles in Jewels, Peck is not an exception. I don't believe it's height/size over talent, but a complementary mix of both. Some roles have been designated by the choreographer for X skills and others have been historically dominated by dancers with X skills. And like you mention, there are lots of other factors affecting casting besides just height, acting, vulnerability, partnership, and logistics, which all play a role.

I'm not sure I agree with you that the dancers you mentioned get attention because they are POC who fit Eurocentric standards. Chan and Nadon rightfully got attention for breaking barriers and becoming the first Asian principals at the company. Both have spoken at length aobut how their cultural background and upbringing has both helped and hindered their path. I'd argue Meija gets far more attention from his father than he does from his race and Furlan (if we're considering him popular which I probably wouldn't) for his technical merit. I also think you aren't looking at NYCB's soloist rank fairly, they have Black, Asian, and Hispanic dancers at this rank. Of course, the company certainly could be more diverse but they have the self-imposed limitation of hiring nearly exclusively out of SAB. You yourself noted that the school is more diverse, this is a result of several of their scholarship and outreach programs that have been implemented in the past decade or so. Those programs are long-term investments, they are building a more diverse company now - but these dancers are still in the school. And for what it's worth, PNB is not a low bar, it is by far the most diverse major company in the US and has made hiring decisions accordingly. Approximately 50% of the company is POC which is awesome- but this realistically isn't possible at NYCB because they're not going to be hiring from outside as frequently.

Of course, if not following NYCB would make you happier, then by all means do it. But if these issues are what's causing you distress, I don't think the solution is to simply follow other companies- many of these problems exist across the industy.

Regarding the Waterbury Case, I don't disagree with you but the law is complicated. I remeber reading the case when it came out and I think the main problem is that the case wasn't able to get to discovery because she didn't have enough facutal evidence. If that had happened, I imagine things would have looked a lot different. While I absolutley believe her, she was trying to fight too many battles at once, some of which weren't directly hers, and she didn't have hard concrete proof for most of it. Everything got muddled and I don't think she had the best council either. I don't have any doubt that there's so much more here that exists only in the memories of the individuals involved. But that doesn't count in front of a court - it's about what you can prove not what happened. And NYCB's liability is limited because she was neither an employee nor a student at the time of firing.

However, while I have no comment about his personal life, I agree with you about Ramasar's line of work. It's unfortunate and incredibly disappointing how the dance world regularly absolves men like Ramasar (he's not alone) and basically gifts them back their careers. I could list a whole troupe of men who've been given second chances they don't deserve. Winning in court is an uphill battle, especially when the prosecution is often not coming from a place of strength. I just hope that the slow but steady changes happening in the industry now will prevent history from repeating itself.

And Clifford....I don't have the energy to start with. There's a reason NYCB hasn't hired him back , he's not consistently teaching or running a company, and he's just running his mouth on IG.

[doorhine]

I know that not everyone on here, who lives in the US, will be of voting age next year and I hope that you’re getting (and spreading) information from reliable sources beyond this site. But I need those of you who see this to listen to these people and understand what they’re going through right now. I need you to recognize they’re not the only ones who feel this way and are fed up with how our system works. There are people who could articulate this better than I can and while I’d like to think the words of those I’m trying to uplift right now speak for themselves, I know that won’t be the case for everyone.

I’ve seen Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim people get so much hate for not wanting to vote for the man who is currently supporting their genocide, the deaths of their family members, and Islamophobia in general (including all it’s victims whether or not they are actually Muslim). I need those of you who still have a “vote blue no matter who” sentiment to understand how unreasonable and callous it is for you to expect them (and other people, especially poc who are fed up with this) to vote (again) for Biden because Trump will be “worse”. They are not stupid. They are fed up and they’re not the only ones.

A lot of people voted for Biden last time, including people in this video, (solely) for the sake of getting Trump out of office and look where that got us, both inside and outside the US. None of us want Trump in office but to act like Biden and the genocide he and his administration are supporting (and the other policies they seek to create and continue enforcing to keep this country the way it’s been since it’s inception) are the “lesser of two evils” is a horrendous and dangerous sentiment to have. Genocide is not and will never be the lesser of two evils. I can’t explain how, not below the bar, but nonexistent the bar is to have that frame of mind.

And for those of you who don’t know, I once again want to draw your attention to Claudia De la Cruz and Karina Garcia who are running for president and vice president this coming election and are actually supporting and speaking out for Palestine amongst other important causes. We have an alternative and while I know this site isn’t and shouldn’t be the place where you get all your information, I was there when people turned out for Biden as well as Bernie as a third party (who also supports Israel btw) in previous elections. I know we can and should give these candidates some traction here and elsewhere.  

The Palestinian people have asked us to uplift their voices and work with them, in whatever way we can, to stop this ongoing genocide being committed against them. And I know they have not asked us to vote for Biden who is currently doing this to them along with Israel. They’ve asked us to believe in what we’re doing and can achieve together. To have hope that there will be, not just a ceasefire, but a free and decolonized Palestine. And I feel like for those of you who are trying to do this work, but can’t extend that same belief and hope in a third party who can help this cause, when we actually have a good option beyond two people, two parties who don’t give a shit about us… I feel like you’ve already started to give up. 

Sorry I can’t be “nice” about this, but if you’ve watched the video, read all of this, truly care about what’s going on and choose not to spread awareness on these candidates and support them because your feelings were hurt… I don’t think you’re in this for the right reasons. 

Plus I know those of you who want us to "vote blue no matter who" aren't being "nice" or considerate when you call people stupid or say they're allowing fascism to rise for not wanting to vote for fascists who are also maintaining the genocide against Indigenous and Black people that's been going on since the beginning of this country amongst many other forms of oppression.

For those of you who get it and weren’t aware of these candidates, I hope you spread awareness about them and keep doing what you’re able to do to support Palestine, push for a ceasefire and ultimately decolonization. We’ve built up a lot of momentum so far and we need to keep going. 

The link I put on De la Cruz and Garcia is to their twitter page.

Here is another link to their website.

[acourtofthought]

I feel like SJM missed an opportunity by not making Az’s mate an illyrian (if his mate is Gwyn). Or at least half illyrian. Not Emerie since their personalities just wouldn’t mesh well together. We really could have gotten deep into the conflict + have a pro-illyrian pov. Because Az is pretty much avoiding all illyrians and I feel like having an illyrian mate (who doesn’t hate that she’s illyrian) would make Az want to get involved.

Tbh the whole illyrian situation pisses me off. Rhys and Cass have “hopes” for their people but don’t see the issue that for centuries said people have been fighting and dying to protect Velaris - a city they didn’t even know existed and can’t set a foot in. And let’s face it… I love Rhys, but he’s protecting Velaris, not the Night Court. The whole idea of him being High King is ridiculous - he’s literally the only High Lord whose court is divided in three and he only gives a fuck about one third of it.

Maybe I’m biased but the only character I can see as a potential High King is Lucien. Especially since his mate is Elain. They’re both strong and will probably grow in power (love your theory about Elain having goddess-like powers btw!!) but they’re much more compassionate than Feysand.

I think you made a lot of excellent points.

It definitely looks as if SJM has made Gwyn and Az very compatible, but I think it would have been meaningful if she had been Illyrian. I appreciate that SJM writes diversity in her main pairings (mating canonically white characters with those that are POC) rather than making both characters of the same race but in Az's case, I think him falling for an Illyrian would have made a lot of sense and it would be nice to have two POC main characters ending up together.

I love that though Lucien originally had prejudices against humans, he ended up living in the Human Lands with human friends which will make him more sensitive to why Elain struggled so much with the loss of her humanity. We've witnessed those prejudices disappear in the way he speaks about Jurian and Vassa.

Az has very strong (negative) emotions about the Illyrians regardless of the fact that his best friend is Illyrian (and the other is half Illyrian). Obviously that's not been enough to change his mentality. But falling for a female who felt a true connection to their culture (I imagine there has to be some female who appreciates it while also acknowledging that changes need to be made) would force him to see things in a way that being mated to a non-Illyrian never will. Even if he makes his peace with the Illyrians, he can always keep one foot in / one foot out with them.

And I do think Rhys would not make sense as High King. It's not that he wouldn't be capable because he actually would. But it's going to take more than a couple of years of Rhys taking off his mask for everyone to believe he is who he says he is. There would still be too many suspicions surrounding him and his court for others to feel comfortable following him.

But Lucien.....

I have no doubt Day would follow him, especially after he and Helion learn of what they are to one another. Spring for sure, especially if Elain has any say in it after her book. Rhys doesn't want the position and Lucien has repeatedly shown he's trustworthy. I think Eris would be a bid in to support Lucien. Not only does he seem to want to make amends over the past but he grew up with Lucien and is aware of how intelligent he is. That leaves Winter, Dawn, and Summer. We don't know what they think of Lucien but we do know he has contacts in all courts and I really don't know of anyone outside Beron (and the sons) and maybe Az who has any real issue with Lucien. Not to mention Lucien will now have strong connections to the Human Lands through Queen Vassa and maaayyyyybe someday King Jurian. He's a fighter when necessary but spent his youth learning the ways of not only his court but others through the friendships he'd made.

If SJM goes the High King route, there really is no other character who is canonically more in a position than Lucien. And if he and Elain end up together, I don't think her ability to "convince people to do anything with a few smiles" is going to hurt the publics perception of the duo.

[goosegoblin]

Hi jess. Hope you’re well. Asking you this because im honestly not sure who to ask in my life and ive liked the advice you’ve given to others in the past. So im an american poc, 21 and in college, as is my white bf. We’ve only been dating 5 mos but im more in love and secure w him than anyone ever and he feels the same. We’ve started talking about postgrad plans since we’re going to enter our last year of college. He is planning on a phd whereas im going corporate. He wants to live together after graduation and be in the same city. He’ll heavily consider my choice for location when it comes to grad school and wants me to apply to jobs in those cities. I really want to be with him and I can see a future w him but at the same time it’s really scary. Especially the thought of moving away from my state and moving in with him and starting a life together. I feel like im still young. But i also dont want to be long distance, esp because wherever he picks for grad school he will be stuck at for a few years. Are we crazy to be talking about all this and considering living together (a year later) when we’ve only been together for 5mos? Im aware we could break up before then and my immigrant parents will present MANY issues, but there’s hope in my heart that we’ll work thru all of it together. Or am I being delusional and need to chill out? We still have a few mos but I’ll need to start applying to jobs in the fall and will need to figure out which cities by then. Idk. It sounds crazy to me. He could be the one or he could not. I dont know and my heart wants to run w this but also scary to make decisions when we haven’t known each other that long (even tho it’s been wonderful. Not perfect bc many external obstacles but perfect btwn us). Any advice is much appreciated!!! Sorry this is so long

Hello my friend,

I think to a certain extent this depends on how much this would limit your career options. Are we talking about a career where you can pretty easily find jobs in most cities? Or one that's quite niche, where limiting yourself would make life a lot harder? If you weren't moving to be with him, would you consider moving to another state at all, or would you strongly prefer to stay where you are?

A few other things to consider- if you make these plans and then you break up beforehand, will you have somewhere to stay? What if you break up after a few months of living together- who will leave and who will stay? Will you be alright for money? Will you have a support network outside of him, even if not in person? You say there will be issues with your family- if they're currently an important part of your life, will you potentially lose them if you make this decision? Is that okay with you or not? None of these are leading questions, by the way- they're just things I think are worth consideration.

For reference, I moved in with my then-boyfriend and two other people in a shared house after dating him for around six months. We're now married, so it went pretty well! That being said, it was in the same city I was living in anyway, we were also living with other people, and we were both still attending (the same) university. I am sure many people have stories of moving in together early and having it work; I am sure many have stories of moving in together early and it not working (I suspect, sadly, there are many more of these). Nothing in life is risk-free.

I think if you do go through with it, it's sensible to think of and plan for worst-case scenarios- but I don't think this is a situation where I can tell you what's right or wrong. I think it depends on a lot of different factors. Are there friends or people in your life that you could ask that might know you and your partner better? I'm sorry that I couldn't give more specific or useful advice.

Best wishes and lots of love,

xx

[words-at-4am]

I am posting to vent really.. I feel as though I am stuck in this loop. I’ve worked 7 days a week for the past 3 months straight minus a week for getting the cold. And it’s really messing with my mental health. At first I thought I could handle it.. I was making some more money, I was active every day.. I thought it was making me more productive.

The other is a stable reliable job in the medical field, which I never wanted to be in. One that drains me the second I enter the door. One that is extremely stressful because, while it’s stable and the spot is secure and easy to get to, it pays way less. I’m a pharmacy technician with no schooling background or prior medical knowledge in a low income area. Someone’s always screaming and crying. We are constantly denying ppl there meds because of insurance issues and it’s just mentally a lot on my soul. Not to mention i dam near break down everytime someone asks me an array of questions I don’t know the answer to even after working here for 7months. Rightfully so since pharma n POC don’t have the most trusting relationship. They look at me and think they can trust me, which they can I try my best to fully assist anyone and use every method to help even ones my coworkers would “overlook”. But It’s a lot. I know nothing about pharmacology. I barely took Tylenol before this job. I thought it would be a good stable job to signify that I was finally getting my life in order, dropped the arts, which I love and got a “respectable” profession.

They said I didn’t need any prior knowledge and I’d pick it up as I go.. the only thing I know how to do by heart is fill pill bottles. And even then.. I can’t pronounce half of the pills. Someone ask me a question I have to tell them to hold on and ask someone else…. And they always side eye me. Like somehow I, who was hired with no prior knowledge at all.. should know things they did after years of schooling. If I had a headache I drank tea, I’m Caribbean🤣 I didn’t go buying 3 types of pain killers it’s not “common knowledge” to me. In any case I feel like I need to drop one. I’m so tired now. Bags under my eyes, skin a mess.. I have more money I suppose but not enough to keep running myself into the ground. I have no time for doc appts , hair appts , spend time with family or friends. Do any hobbies, I just sleep. I don’t eat properly anymore I just eat whatever is closest outside..lately I’ve felt the urge to randomly bursted into tears having to go to bathrooms to pull myself together.. I force and drag myself up every morning but especially to the medical job. & no I got no kids. I live with my disabled mother. I know I need to make a change.. But I’m not sure what to do. I don’t want to make the wrong decision & end up without a job. The first one is so finicky they could tell me that it’s not working out tomorrow and that would be it. The medical one is unionized. But tbh I suck at my job.I wanted to go back to school, but it’s been so long since I’ve dreamed of something to do that wasn’t just to survive...

In any case.. I feel like maybe I just stick with the pharmacy because it stable. I am looking for other jobs but there isn’t much luck. I still apply everyday to at least 5. My friends & family say follow my heart and care for my mind. But I don’t want to be the only person in my circle without an “adult” job. Or in school. I don’t want to be end up the broke or liability person, I don’t want to burden those around me, I don’t want to be 25 in my moms home still lost on where to start. I had a rough childhood, abuse of many kinds etc. I never thought I’d make it to 25.. now I’m here I’m grateful.. I just want to be able to take care of myself financially and also have time to care for myself in other ways, then care for my family. So.. yeah this is the first time in months I’ve said a word about how overwhelmed I feel. Sorry if it’s a lot or sounds like it’s not that deep.. it is to me.

And thanks for having a space I can release.

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

Woha why these ppl policing what you should say? Weird? And jkkrs please they can't even hold a debate on those same moments which happened later 2020 and I saw some bloggers tried to talk how they think jkk isn't anything like before and jkkrs like hyenas called out them to the point they had to leave the blog the same jkkrs who says we are sane ones in the fandom lol. They say we are supporters and expects same from whole fandom but in what way? not supporting jkk but their own thoughts, views etc lol. Ofcourse I'll be called as tkkr 🤣 for sayin their hypocrisy but sorry I'm not. And also I don't get this support part, did jkk asked them to support? Or did they even signaled on it? Shippers are always shippers.

It's okay, really. I don't mind that much because I know it's not personal. People aren't nasty towards me here and even if they were, I just ignore those messages unless I wanted to make fun of them. Also, there are exactly 297 asks in my inbox right now, plus 17 I have on drafts and more than half of the total are about jikook, so taking that into account, I really don't think I talk a lot about them lately 😅

Yeah, I think I've said it before that I believe the shipper/supporter thing is bullshit to me. It makes sense if you support Jimin or Jungkook as possible LGBTQ people, but even then it's like, okay you support gay people existing?? that doesn't make you special. You're not some higher being just because you're not homophobic. But almost all shippers want to think they're above others because they are.. decent human beings? Personally, I've always had a problem with that. I hate it, and I hate that most shippers who think like that are straight, and that they talk about Jimin or Jungkook or a possible relationship like they should be pitied and like they're constantly struggling and living like bottom of the barrel citizens because they can't make out at pride every year. I wish they'd stop talking about gay people like we're a charity case. It's really creepy.

Not to mention that historically, never has a straight person done anything significant for gay rights. It was always gays, trans, especially poc lgbtq activists the ones who did and still do everything they can to get basic human rights for lgbtq people.

It's giving:::

[dryades-angeli]

I add my two cents

Halle Bailey is not my Ariel. So am I racist now? - No. I grew up quite multicultural during my childhood. Yes, I went to a school specifically for my disability, there were many children with a migration background. Also or especially POC were well represented. During my office training I also had a POC as a friend. We keep in touch sporadically. And oh wonder, they are normal people. They are not more stupid, more criminal, stronger or more musical than everyone else. If my friend would tell me now that she loves Halle Bailey as Ariel, that would be fine for me. Anyone who likes Halle as Ariel is free to like her. But I also have the right to think that she sucks. And I want to be able to say that freely without being branded a racist. What is racism? "Racism is an ideology that devalues ​​people because of their appearance, their name, their (supposed) culture, origin or religion. In Germany, this affects non-white people – those who are seen as non-German, i.e. not really considered to belong. If people are judged and devalued not according to their individual abilities and characteristics or what they personally do, but as part of a supposedly homogeneous group, then that is racism." - Citation As I have already written, POC have always been part of my life and therefore belong to it. It also doesn't matter to me which country Halle comes from or witch culture she has. She just doesn't look like the original Ariel. Even if her skin color had been white. Casting a blond/brown-haired person or an asian woman for the role, would have sucked just as much. But it's always good to swing the racism club so that the opposing side shuts up. I find this fatal because... 1. You can no longer express your opinion freely if your counterpart is a POC. 2. you no longer recognize the real Nazis. 3. This tends to fuel hatred of POC.

In any case, I won't let my opinion be forbidden. And I really don't care, if Ariel's template is from Denmark or if red-haired people are underrepresented as well. I only find the arguments of the opponents amusing, who randomly cut together red-haired characters from all sorts of series to say that this is not the case. When it comes to that, I'm sure I'll find a lot of dark-skinned characters. Or post a statue of the danish mermaid just because the metal is shit brown. Or the argument that Ariel is just a fantasy. In principle yes. But I personally find it illogical that a dark-skinned person lives deep under water. It is well known that the sun does not shine under water. But those are the little things that I don't want to dwell on. For example, Ariel had a friend who couldn't speak and was black. As a person with a handicap, I would have been very happy, if a story about her had been filmed and POC would have been represented too. I would have found that much better than blackwashing a character. And yes, I didn´t like Blackwashing. What bothers me about blackwashing is that I no longer recognize my favorite characters. These are complete strangers to me. The closeness I had to these characters is suddenly gone. It feels strange to me when Ariel doesn't look like Ariel anymore. This also applies to dark-skinned characters. If I got to know them like that and they look completely different in the live-action adaptation, then for me it's no longer the character. I just want the Ariel I loved growing up. Because of which red became my favorite color, the underwater world is a magical place for me and why I hardly eat any fish anymore. The Ariel from back then inspired and fascinated me. the Ariel now, on the other hand, leaves me pretty cold. And that has nothing to do with racism or any prejudices. Halle Bailey is a beautiful talented woman but unfortunately she is not my Ariel.

[nostalgicatsea]

If it's important for all creators to write more characters of color, why are all your fics on AO3 about white people? I get where you're coming from, though I think people should be able to ship and create for whatever they want, but if you personally have a problem with it, I'm surprised all your stuff is about Steve and Tony who were second highest on your list.

I knew I’d eventually get this message, and I have no problem answering it. 1. When I said we should all examine ourselves for implicit biases, I meant everyone. I’m not exempt. None of us are free from racism, even POC like me.  

2. I agree with you that people should ship and create whatever they want and explicitly stated that in my post, something that people keep ignoring. I was merely pointing out that this problem goes beyond the individual and is more, for the lack of a better term, systemic, and urging people to see if there are any patterns they may not have even been aware of in creation and consumption.   3. I made this handle specifically for Steve/Tony content, though as my Tumblr about page has stated since the beginning: “Other ships and non-Marvel fandoms may occasionally appear too.” I’ve had multiple other writing accounts before for other fandoms (and this may happen when I move on from Marvel at some point, but I don’t know) which I’ll go into in #4. 4. In my post, I said, “if you only create and consume works for a single ship, which a good number of people do (many people only get into a fandom because of an OTP!), it’s fine if it’s a white M/M ship... However, it IS a problem if most or all of your other ships across your current and previous fandoms are white—and if the only media you consume is predominantly or all white.” This applies to me. When I get into a fandom, I hyper-fixate on one ship and that fandom. If a ship reaches the extremely rare OTP status, that’s even more true—to the point that even if I like other fandoms, they fall to the wayside because I’m still stuck in the one with my OTP. This is not unique to Steve/Tony. As for the two non-Marvel fics, those were presents to a friend and wouldn’t have been made had she not requested them.  I also don’t have any issue with ships of color—in fact, I have actively shipped many and still do. I have consumed and made fanworks for ships of color and continue to do so. I’d say 95–99% of my ships were and are those with POC (usually both of the characters are POC), and the same goes for a lot (most?) of the Marvel ships I’m fond of. I still read, look at fanart, etc. of those ships when I’m not hyper-fixating as much. A lot of that has to do with my media consumption. I mostly consumed works that were by and/or featured people of color predominantly or entirely throughout my life. That’s still true now, though there are some areas that have been more evenly split or the balance has tipped over to the white side more than I would like over the past few years (e.g., my TV consumption). That’s something I’m actively trying to rectify! 5. I do have several WIPs and drabbles of POC in Marvel; they just haven’t been posted (this actually applies to a good 99% of the works I have overall because I never finish things, can’t come up with a story for an idea, or can’t get into the right emotional mindset for it). Though I mostly use this account for mostly for Steve/Tony content, I’ve really wanted to get these things done because there are characters of color I care about and have wanted to make works for for a while. 

It’s one of the reasons why I offered several characters, relationships, and entire fandoms of color for beta and digital work auctions for @marveltrumpshate in 2018 and beta and fic auctions in 2019. I’m planning to continue that for MTH 2020, and I’m signing up for @marvelfans4blm too! It’s a good way to make certain or try to ensure that you’re pushed to put your money where your mouth is. However, I also want to say that I plan on writing fics for characters and ships of color separate from charity auctions, just on my own too. 

Anyway, as per usual, this went on too long, but I hope that answers your question! I don’t mind that you asked me it and am glad that you did.

[itsmoonpeaches]

TW: mentions of racism

Why POC leave fandoms, an essay that for some f**king reason needs to be written

There is one thing that a person thinks of when entering a fandom: "What can I do in order to consume more content related to this piece of media that I enjoy?"

A fandom, at its core, is a community of people from all walks of life that happen to adore the same thing. First and foremost, there is pure, unadulterated excitement. What comes next depends on who you are and what you consume, and unfortunately, depends on what kind of people are in a particular fandom.

When I say "what kind of people", I don't mean demographics. I mean the kind of people that are either decent or not.

You might be surprised that I'm implying that there are indecent people in fandom. You might be thinking, "Media now is so much more diverse than it was years ago!" And thus you might additionally be thinking, "Since it's so diverse now that means fandoms attract diverse people! We're so inclusive now and so accepting. Everyone is decent."

Well, if you are one of those people, I envy you.

It's correct that media is more diverse and that more diverse people are active in fandoms, or at least are more open about being a minority in the general population. What might be hiding underneath all that? Racism.

Repeat after me: Just because a piece of media is diverse doesn't mean that its fandom is inclusive.

POC are being more represented now than they were in recent years, but there is a constant exodus of POC from the very fandoms they helped to cultivate.

Their cultures and practices are being white-washed, twisted to fit the benefit of fanfic authors or fan artists, and terribly misunderstood. POC characters are written or drawn in such a way that their identity as POC is eclipsed by the fact that they are suddenly someone they never were. And while it's OK to not know everything about ethnic groups and other minority groups, it isn't OK to ignore what they say when they point out that you are wrong in their portrayal.

Not everyone will be right about everything. Not everyone has the resources or the patience to research things, but there is something so wrong about pushing POC to the side and telling them that their views on their own cultures shouldn't be taken into consideration because it might not be part of the content creator's original plan. This is even more messed up when the original piece of media that the content was created for was either heavily researched or created by POC for POC.

That's not even the last of it. How POC react in fandom to media versus the rest of fandom is different and often criticized.

Take the storylines in media for example. (Spoilers I guess.) For this I'll highlight two:

Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Fire Nation takes control of parts of other nations, perpetuating a war for 100 years. They try to wipe out other kinds of benders that aren't firebenders, and try to colonize. - POC often see the Fire Nation for what it is. That being a colonizer nation. They recognize the effects of cultural genocide, i.e. near-total genocide of the Air Nomads and the near-genocide of the waterbending culture of the Southern Water Tribe. Meanwhile, POC have been criticized and bashed for pointing out the Fire Nation's flaws, and for not loving the enemy nation the best.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Sam refuses to become Captain America at first and takes a whole journey to finally end up in a place where he realizes he can be. - POC, especially BIPOC, point out the significance of Sam's journey. He realizes the trust and enormity of Captain America's shield. He refuses it not necessarily because he doesn't think he's worthy, but because he doesn't feel right. He believes America isn't ready for a black Captain America, and that maybe, they don't deserve it yet. POC are criticized because they see this story and empathize with Sam. Meanwhile, the rest of the fandom hops on Bucky's side and claims that Sam had no right to do what he did because it wouldn't be what Steve wanted and Bucky understood this etc. while refusing to understand that Sam's reasons were because of the backlash and racism he thought he could face. (By the way, it was explained explicitly in the show that Bucky understood later on why Sam couldn't do it at first.)

This all ultimately leads to things like gaslighting, blatant name calling, and you know, actual f**king racism.

"You don't know what colonialism is," a fan might say to a POC fan in the same fandom. "You just don't get that XYZ character has a lot of mental health issues," another fan might say to a POC.

This leads to tone policing.

A POC might say something in a conversation like, "You're being racist and disrespectful. Stop it." But others in the same conversation might say things like, "I think we all just need to be nice. Can everyone calm down?"

All these things are a part of a complicated problem, a problem that is being ignored, just like POC are.

POC leave fandoms because of all of the above. They leave because no one listens to them, and even when they are listened to, they are threatened in a DM. They are tired and angry and hurt.

POC are afraid to speak out because when they do, they are sent triggering pictures in their inbox, asked to leave, told to hurt themselves, told to direct their frustrations with a racist individual elsewhere and not where everyone can see.

Just like everyone else, POC enter a fandom because they want an escape from real life. Yet, they are being confronted with issues that they already face on a daily basis in their real lives, and in many cases in a worse form.

POC stop wanting to speak out. Allies sometimes want to stop too. Why? Because it becomes dangerous.

It becomes a vicious circle. People say that there are no POC in fandoms. POC try to join fandoms, get harassed out, and then people repeat that there are no POC in fandoms. They want content from POC, input from POC...and then this happens again and again.

What exactly does a fandom want? Diversity? Because it sure doesn't feel like it.

[fozmeadows]

race & culture in fandom

For the past decade, English language fanwriting culture post the days of LiveJournal and Strikethrough has been hugely shaped by a handful of megafandoms that exploded across AO3 and tumblr – I’m talking Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Dr Who, the MCU, Harry Potter, Star Wars, BBC Sherlock – which have all been overwhelmingly white. I don’t mean in terms of the fans themselves, although whiteness also figures prominently in said fandoms: I mean that the source materials themselves feature very few POC, and the ones who are there tended to be done dirty by the creators.

Periodically, this has led POC in fandom to point out, extremely reasonably, that even where non-white characters do get central roles in various media properties, they’re often overlooked by fandom at large, such that the popular focus stays primarily on the white characters. Sometimes this happened (it was argued) because the POC characters were secondary to begin with and as such attracted less fan devotion (although this has never stopped fandoms from picking a random white gremlin from the background cast and elevating them to the status of Fave); at other times, however, there has been a clear trend of sidelining POC leads in favour of white alternatives (as per Finn, Poe and Rose Tico being edged out in Star Wars shipping by Hux, Kylo and Rey). I mention this, not to demonize individuals whose preferred ships happen to involve white characters, but to point out the collective impact these trends can have on POC in fandom spaces: it’s not bad to ship what you ship, but that doesn’t mean there’s no utility in analysing what’s popular and why through a racial lens.

All this being so, it feels increasingly salient that fanwriting culture as exists right now developed under the influence and in the shadow of these white-dominated fandoms – specifically, the taboo against criticizing or critiquing fics for any reason. Certainly, there’s a hell of a lot of value to Don’t Like, Don’t Read as a general policy, especially when it comes to the darker, kinkier side of ficwriting, and whether the context is professional or recreational, offering someone direct, unsolicited feedback on their writing style is a dick move. But on the flipside, the anti-criticism culture in fanwriting has consistently worked against fans of colour who speak out about racist tropes, fan ignorance and hurtful portrayals of living cultures. Voicing anything negative about works created for free is seen as violating a core rule of ficwriting culture – but as that culture has been foundationally shaped by white fandoms, white characters and, overwhelmingly, white ideas about what’s allowed and what isn’t, we ought to consider that all critical contexts are not created equal.

Right now, the rise of C-drama (and K-drama, and J-drama) fandoms is seeing a surge of white creators – myself included – writing fics for fandoms in which no white people exist, and where the cultural context which informs the canon is different to western norms. Which isn’t to say that no popular fandoms focused on POC have existed before now – K-pop RPF and anime fandoms, for example, have been big for a while. But with the success of The Untamed, more western fans are investing in stories whose plots, references, characterization and settings are so fundamentally rooted in real Chinese history and living Chinese culture that it’s not really possible to write around it. And yet, inevitably, too many in fandom are trying to do just that, treating respect for Chinese culture or an attempt to understand it as optional extras – because surely, fandom shouldn’t feel like work. If you’re writing something for free, on your own time, for your own pleasure, why should anyone else get to demand that you research the subject matter first?

Because it matters, is the short answer. Because race and culture are not made-up things like lightsabers and werewolves that you can alter, mock or misunderstand without the risk of hurting or marginalizing actual real people – and because, quite frankly, we already know that fandom is capable of drawing lines in the sand where it chooses. When Brony culture first reared its head (hah), the online fandom for My Little Pony – which, like the other fandoms we’re discussing here, is overwhelmingly female – was initially welcoming. It felt like progress, that so many straight men could identify with such a feminine show; a potential sign that maybe, we were finally leaving the era of mainstream hypermasculine fandom bullshit behind, at least in this one arena. And then, in pretty much the blink of an eye, things got overwhelmingly bad. Artists drawing hardcorn porn didn’t tag their works as adult, leading to those images flooding the public search results for a children’s show. Women were edged out of their own spaces. Bronies got aggressive, posting harsh, ugly criticism of artists whose gijinka interpretations of the Mane Six as humans were deemed insufficiently fuckable.

The resulting fandom conflict was deeply unpleasant, but in the end, the verdict was laid down loud and clear: if you cannot comport yourself like a decent fucking person – if your base mode of engagement within a fandom is to coopt it from the original audience and declare it newly cool only because you’re into it now; if you do not, at the very least, attempt to understand and respect the original context so as to engage appropriately (in this case, by acknowledging that the media you’re consuming was foundational to many women who were there before you and is still consumed by minors, and tagging your goddamn porn) – then the rest of fandom will treat you like a social biohazard, and rightly so.

Here’s the thing, fellow white people: when it comes to C-drama fandoms and other non-white, non-western properties? We are the Bronies.

Not, I hasten to add, in terms of toxic fuckery – though if we don’t get our collective shit together, I’m not taking that darkest timeline off the table. What I mean is that, by virtue of the whiteminding which, both consciously and unconsciously, has shaped current fan culture, particularly in terms of ficwriting conventions, we’re collectively acting as though we’re the primary audience for narratives that weren’t actually made with us in mind, being hostile dicks to Chinese and Chinese diaspora fans when they take the time to point out what we’re getting wrong. We’re bristling because we’ve conceived of ficwriting as a place wherein No Criticism Occurs without questioning how this culture, while valuable in some respects, also serves to uphold, excuse and perpetuate microaggresions and other forms of racism, lashing out or falling back on passive aggression when POC, quite understandably, talk about how they’re sick and tired of our bullshit.

An analogy: one of the most helpful and important tags on AO3 is the one for homophobia, not just because it allows readers to brace for or opt out of reading content they might find distressing, but because it lets the reader know that the writer knows what homophobia is, and is employing it deliberately. When this concept is tagged, I – like many others – often feel more able to read about it than I do when it crops up in untagged works of commercial fiction, film or TV, because I don’t have to worry that the author thinks what they’re depicting is okay. I can say definitively, “yes, the author knows this is messed up, but has elected to tell a messed up story, a fact that will be obvious to anyone who reads this,” instead of worrying that someone will see a fucked up story blind and think “oh, I guess that’s fine.” The contextual framing matters, is the point – which is why it’s so jarring and unpleasant on those rare occasions when I do stumble on a fic whose author has legitimately mistaken homophobic microaggressions for cute banter. This is why, in a ficwriting culture that otherwise aggressively dislikes criticism, the request to tag for a certain thing – while still sometimes fraught – is generally permitted: it helps everyone to have a good time and to curate their fan experience appropriately.

But when white and/or western fans fail to educate ourselves about race, culture and the history of other countries and proceed to deploy that ignorance in our writing, we’re not tagging for racism as a thing we’ve explored deliberately; we’re just being ignorant at best and hateful at worst, which means fans of colour don’t know to avoid or brace for the content of those works until they get hit in the face with microaggresions and/or outright racism. Instead, the burden is placed on them to navigate a minefield not of their creation: which fans can be trusted to write respectfully? Who, if they make an error, will listen and apologise if the error is explained? Who, if lived experience, personal translations or cultural insights are shared, can be counted on to acknowledge those contributions rather than taking sole credit? Too often, fans of colour are being made to feel like guests in their own house, while white fans act like a tone-policing HOA.

Point being: fandom and ficwriting cultures as they currently exist badly need to confront the implicit acceptance of racism and cultural bias that underlies a lot of community rules about engagement and criticism, and that needs to start with white and western fans. We don’t want to be the new Bronies, guys. We need to do better.  

[olderthannetfic]

this is a genuine question. i am fully in favor of ao3 and the discourse around it makes my head hurt. but the argument that ao3 should add a warning for racism always felt like a good one to me. as much as i love the site and think antis are stupid thats the one point they have that I've never found a single good argument against, i feel like we should agree with them on that one honestly 😭

--

Part of the disagreement has to do with how warnings actually work vs. how people imagine they work.

How AO3 "archive warnings" are often seen:

Top most important warnings that we absolutely have to have for trigger reasons. These are the things we think are most serious.

What AO3 archive warnings actually are:

A short list of things that are very common, yes, but more important, that are highly enforceable. That's why 'dubcon', which is almost as requested as 'noncon' is not an archive warning but only an additional tag.

Archive warning = the abuse committee fields cases involving this tag, not "this is the most important warning".

However, I do agree that site structure shows our values. I have mixed feelings about adding this warning as a PR thing.

What the warning is supposed to do:

Racists often don't know they're racist and/or are malicious, so they won't add it themselves, but other fans can report a racist fic, and the Abuse committee will add the warning.

What will actually happen:

A lot of people will grudge-report each other's fics. The Abuse committee, which has been chronically understaffed for the entirety of AO3's history will get so backed up they take a year to rule on cases. Either a bunch of POC are forced to look at racism all day for no pay, or a bunch of white people are ruling on cases, also for no pay.

Most cases will be Klance fans reporting Sheith fics for existing, or the equivalent.

Many cases will be reporting POC who are exploring issues highly personal to them and either disagree with the reporter on the uses of art or who just aren't very good writers and failed at what they were attempting to convey. Nonwhite fans and fics centering nonwhite characters will be held to a higher standard, while fics about two white guys that ignore that nonwhite people even exist will get a pass unless they use slurs or something.

Now, I'm sure people will assume that's a strawman, but as someone who many years ago helmed the Abuse committee and who has lived through decades of fandom wank, I can tell you that any rule where you can report people to site management will be misused constantly, egregiously, and viciously.

AO3 has enough trouble handling harassment cases right now. Adding a whole other set of content policing, especially content policing that is relatively more ambiguous and that requires more cultural knowledge than "Does this story contain major character death" is a mess from a logistical standpoint. If and when OTW can pay its Abuse staffers and have like 10x the number they have now, I may feel differently. We are not close to that day.

CNTW:

The other problem is that unless this warning functions radically differently from how AO3 does now, people will just use CNTW as an ass-covering measure. If it is exempted from CNTW, that creates a whole other set of issues in terms of confidence in the archive living up to its mission.

Basically, in the form this warning is likely to take, it won't actually serve to label racist fic or make it more avoidable, so adding it would be a PR move.

Pros to adding it as a PR thing:

It would mean OTW taking a public anti-racist stance.

Cons to adding it as a PR thing:

Did you actually appreciate all those corporations with their hollow BLM emails and tweets? It was a bunch of hot air with zero useful action. One fear I've seen expressed is that OTW could add this warning and decide they'd done their part and stop there.

There are some fears that adding this tag would have a chilling effect on the participation of non-US fans, nonnative speakers of English, and fans writing nonwhite characters in general. How valid these fears are is debatable.

Regardless, there are tangible anti-racist actions OTW can take that will be far more useful, and they are taking them. These consist of building blocking features so that fans can avoid content or people they don't want to interact with.

Many people would like OTW to keep focusing on those features and not waste time on this largely symbolic gesture.

[scarlettriot]

♡ R A N T ♡ I N C O M I N G ♡

I'm mad as fork that I cannot actually comment back to the person who decided to message me a grevance on one of my fics because they were a minor who apparently doesn't understand the meaning of 'do not interact' BUT I am still mad and would like to address this just in case anyone else shares this persons opinion:

I cannot and will not speak for every fan fic author out there but I will speak for myself. Sure, I've thrown together a couple thousand words in an hour or less before and posted it with not much thought going into it. Guilty. But most of my work, especially my chapter fics, I have put MONTHS (going on a full year now) of work into those fics.

I have pulled all-nighters writing, I have bugged the living hell out of my moots and friends with ideas far more than I probably should (you guys are the best and I love you so damn much). I have written thousands of words to highlight and delete it all because it didn't 'feel right' to me. I have scenes and plots that might never see the light of day because I just can't find a place to include them.

So, whatever work/thought you think I've put in, I assure you, it's actually SO MUCH MORE!

If you do not feel like you can relate to the Reader in my story for whatever reason, never you mind the fact that I overthink far more than I should to make my Readers as inclusive as possible, if you cannot picture yourself in the story and it ruins the experience for you then I invite you to not continue reading. Just move along. I cannot appease absolutely everyone and it's taken me a very long while to accept that. So, please, just click away, block me or the story if you must, I will not be offended. Just do not tell me I was careless and put no thought into someone's feelings.

Thank you and have a lovely day.

((as for what was said, I'll post it below if interested--will contain mild spoilers for my chapter fic, She Lit a Fire))

In this story specifically I made the Reader related to Tamaki. I made them cousins and gave no other physical descriptors of the Reader other than she has pointed ears and some scars on her body due to an accident in her past.

The person who messaged me had an issue because Tamaki is obviously Japanese. I am assuming the person who messaged me is a POC or trying to defend POCs because they said they could not relate to Reader because of the relation to Tamaki since that isn't what they look like and I should've clearly stated in the contents section that was the relation.

*deeply inhales*

I AM WRITING THE STORY & INSERT MYSELF INTO IT ALL THE DAMN TIME & I SURE AS HECK AM NOT JAPANESE EITHER!

Aside from being pale, I don't look like him. Then again, I don't even look like most of my IRL cousins!

I do feel bad that this took them so far out of the story that they couldn't enjoy it though.

As a writer, my most important goal is to create a story that my reader can feel immersed and enjoy the tale that I've created. As a fic writer though, writing mostly Y/N's and Readers, I cannot tailor them to every person's exact specifications. I wish I could. But it isn't possible unless someone wants to start sliding me a whole lotta money.

I just, I care a lot about these fics, like, way more than most people probably realize. This one specifically is just super close to my heart and I know I made Reader have more of a backstory and personality to grant the story more depth thus she has some OC qualities about her, but I still try to keep her appearance as vague as possible as well as provide summaries and warnings before each chapter so people are very aware of what they're getting into.

So, I apologize for the rant, especially since the person who needs to see it won't. I just kinda felt like they came after my child and I needed to defend them.

I'd also like to point out that I did state Reader was related to a canon, established character in the two chapters prior to the one it was reveled in. For the sake of the story though, I did not mention who the character was or the relation.

[thevalleyisjolly]

Hi there! If you feel up to it, would you be willing to expand a bit more on the idea of white creators creating poc characters who are ‘internally white’, especially in a post-racialized or racism-free setting & how to avoid it? It’s something I’m very concerned about but I haven’t encountered a lot of info about it outside of stories set in real world settings. Thanks & have a good day!

Hey, thanks for asking, anon!  It’s a pretty nuanced topic, and different people will have different takes on it.  I’ll share my thoughts on it, but do keep in mind that other people of colour may have different thoughts on the matter, and this is by no means definitive!  These are things I’ve observed through research, trial and error, my own experiences, or just learning from other writers.

The first thing I guess I want to clarify is that I personally am not opposed to a society without racism in fiction.  It’s exhausting and frankly boring when the only stories that characters of colour get are about racism!  So it’s a relief sometimes to just get to see characters of colour exist in a story without dealing with racism.  That being said, I feel like a lot of the time when creators establish their settings as “post-racial,” they avoid racism but they also avoid race altogether.  Not aesthetically -they may have a few or even many characters with dark skin- but the way the characters act and talk and relate to the world are “race-less” (which tends to end up as default white American/British or whatever place the creator comes from).  Which I have complicated thoughts on, but the most obvious thing that springs to mind is how such an approach implies (deliberately or not) that racism is all there is to the way POC navigate the world.  It’s definitely a significant factor, particularly for POC in Western countries, but it’s not the only thing!  There’s so much more to our experiences than just racial discrimination, and it’s a shame that a lot of “post-racial” or “racism-free” settings seem to overlook that in their eagerness to not have racism (or race) in their stories.

A quick go-to question I ask when I look at characters of colour written/played by white creators is: if this was a story or transcript I was reading, with no art or actors or what have you, would I be able to tell that this character is a character of colour?  How does the creator signal to the audience that this is a character of colour?  A lot of the time, this signal stops after the physical description - “X has dark skin” and then that’s all!  (We will not discuss the issue of racial stereotypes in depth, but it should be clear that those are absolutely the wrong way to indicate a character of colour).

This expands to a wider issue of using dark skin as a be-all-end-all indication of diversity, which is what I mean by “aesthetic” characters of colour (I used the term “internally white” originally but upon further reflection, it has some very loaded implications, many of which I’m personally familiar with, so I apologize for the usage).  Yes, the character may not “look” white, but how do they interact with the world?  Where do they come from?  What is their background, their family?  A note: this can be challenging with diaspora stories in the real world and people being disconnected (forcibly or otherwise) from their heritage (in which case, those are definitely stories that outsiders should not tell).  So let’s look at fantasy.  Even the most original writer in the world bases their world building off existing things in the real world.  So what cultures are you basing your races off of?  If you have a dark skinned character in your fantasy story, what are the real world inspirations and equivalents that you drew from, and how do you acknowledge that in a respectful, non-stereotyped way?

(Gonna quickly digress here and say that there are already so many stories about characters of colour disconnected from their heritage because ‘They didn’t grow up around other people from that culture’ or ‘They moved somewhere else and grew up in that dominant culture’ or ‘It just wasn’t important to them growing up’ and so on.  These are valid stories, and important to many people!  But when told by (usually) white creators, they’re also used, intentionally or not, as a sort of cop-out to avoid having to research or think about the character’s ethnicity and how that influences who they are.  So another point of advice: avoid always situating characters outside of their heritage.  Once or twice explored with enough nuance and it can be an interesting narrative, all the time and it starts being a problem)

Another thing I want to clarify at this point is that it’s a contentious issue about whether creators should tell stories that aren’t theirs, and different people will have different opinions.  For me personally, I definitely don’t think it’s inherently bad for creators to have diverse characters in their work, and no creator can live every experience there is.  That being said, there are caveats for how such characters are handled.  For me personally, I follow a few rules of thumb which are:

Is this story one that is appropriate for this creator to tell?  Some experiences are unique and lived with a meaningful or complex history and context behind them and the people to whom those experiences belong do not want outsiders to tell those stories.

To what extent is the creator telling this story?  Is it something mentioned as part of the narrative but not significantly explored or developed upon?  Does it form a core part of the story or character?  There are some stories that translate across cultures and it’s (tentatively) ok to explore more in depth, like immigration or intergenerational differences.  There are some stories that don’t, and shouldn’t be explored in detail (or even at all) by people outside those cultures.

How is the creator approaching this story and the people who live it?  To what extent have they done their research?  What discussions have they had with sensitivity consultants/readers?  What kind of respect are they bringing to their work?  Do they default to stereotypes and folk knowledge when they reach the limits of their research?  How do they respond to feedback or criticism when audiences point things that they will inevitably get wrong?

Going back to the “race-less” point, I think that creators need to be careful that they’re (respectfully) portraying characters of colour as obvious persons of colour.  With a very definite ‘no’ on stereotyping, of course, so that’s where the research comes in (which should comprise of more than a ten minute Google search).  If your setting is in the real world, what is the background your character comes from and how might that influence the way they act or talk or see the world?  If your setting is in a fantasy world, same question!  Obviously, avoid depicting things which are closed/exclusive to that culture (such as religious beliefs, practices, etc) and again, avoid stereotyping (which I cannot stress enough), but think about how characters might live their lives and experience the world differently based on the culture or the background they come from.

As an example of a POC character written/played well by a white person, I personally like Jackson Wei and Cindy Wong from Dimension 20’s The Unsleeping City, an urban fantasy D&D campaign.  Jackson and Cindy are NPCs played by the DM, Brennan Lee Mulligan, who did a good job acknowledging their ethnicity without resorting to stereotypes and while giving them their own unique characters and personalities.  The first time he acted as Cindy, I leapt up from my chair because she was exactly like so many old Chinese aunties and grandmothers I’ve met.  The way Jackson and Cindy speak and act and think is very Chinese (without being stereotyped), but at the same time, there’s more to their characters than being Chinese, they have unique and important roles in the story that have nothing to do with their ethnicity.  So it’s obvious that they’re people of colour, that they’re Chinese, but at the same time, the DM isn’t overstepping and trying to tell stories that aren’t his to tell.  All while not having the characters face any racism, as so many “post-racialized” settings aim for, because there are quite enough stories about that!

There a couple factors that contribute to the positive example I gave above.  The DM is particularly conscientious about representation and doing his research (not to say that he never messes up, but he puts in a lot more effort than the average creator), and the show also works with a lot of sensitivity consultants.  Which takes me to the next point - the best way to portray characters of colour in your story is to interact with people from that community.  Make some new friends, reach out to people!  Consume media by creators of colour!  In my experience so far, the most authentic Chinese characters have almost universally been created/written/played by Chinese creators.  Read books, listen to podcasts, watch shows created by people of colour.  Apart from supporting marginalized creators, you also start to pick up how people from that culture or heritage see themselves and the world, what kind of stories they have to tell, and just as importantly, what kind of stories they want being told or shared.  In other words, the best way to portray an authentic character of colour that is more than just the colour of their skin is to learn from actual people of colour (without, of course, treating them just as a resource and, of course, with proper credit and acknowledgement).

Most importantly, this isn’t easy, and you will absolutely make mistakes.  I think the most important thing to keep in mind is that you will mess up.  No matter how well researched you are, how much respect you have for other cultures, how earnestly you want to do this right, you will at some point do something that makes your POC audience uncomfortable or even offends them.  Then, your responsibility comes with your response.  Yes, you’ve done something wrong.  How do you respond to the people who are hurt or disappointed?  Do you ignore them, or double down on your words, or try to defend yourself?  Just as importantly, what are you planning to do about it in the future?  If you have a second chance, what are you going to do differently?  You will make mistakes at some point.  So what are you going to do about them?  That, I think, is an even more important question than “How can I do this right?”  You may or may not portray something accurately, but when you get something wrong, how are you going to respond?

Essentially, it all comes down to your responsibility as a creator.  As a creator, you have a responsibility to do your due diligence in research, to remain respectful to your work and to your audience, and to be careful and conscientious about how you choose to create things.  It’s not about getting things absolutely perfect or being the most socially conscious creator out there, it’s about recognizing your responsibilities as a creator with a platform, no matter how big or small, and taking responsibility for your work. 

In summary:

Research, research, research

Avoid the obvious no-no’s (stereotypes, tokenization, fetishization, straight up stealing from other cultures, etc) and think critically about what creative choices you’re making and why

Do what you’re doing now, and reach out to people (who have put themselves out there as a resource).  There are tons of resources out there by people of colour, reach out when you’re not sure about something or would like some advice!

Responsibility, responsibility, responsibility

Thank you for reaching out!  Good luck with your work!