#she was born of examining complicated relationships with gender

[keeperesque]

I don't want to jump the gun and start planning characters months before the release or anything and I think I've been good about that but I did realize this would be the perfect opportunity to play Dottie. But also. Elf.......

[saintsenara]

lamentation sirius black & walburga black teen | 2.1k words

they would give me a guest room at the top of the house, where a view of london unfolded before me like a pen-and-ink drawing, and the walls were soft and pink, their paper patterned with undulating roses. the house seemed, then, like a paradise.

but that was before. before they sold me to a man i did not love. before my sons were born. 

my sons are both dead now.

walburga's portrait is told that sirius is dead.

this piece was written for @womenofthehouseofblack fest, [you can find the other fics in the collection here].

author's notes under the cut

i found the prompt for this piece - what would happen when walburga's portrait was informed of sirius' death - immediately intriguing, because walburga’s portrait is a character i find incredibly interesting; firstly, because she is described in ways which make her sound ancient when she actually died in her early sixties, and secondly, because she provides a fascinating insight into how the wizarding world thinks about mental illness.

i have always hated the fanon about black family madness - particularly since it is so frequently only applied to the women of the family - due to the way in which it undermines the harry potter series’ focus on the value of choice. turning walburga and bellatrix’s cruelty into something innate or genetic distances them from the reality of what they did and how their decisions affected other people. it also prevents them from having complicated emotions and motivations, and - above all - it prevents them from having the capacity to atone for their deeds.

it also denies the fact that a huge amount of mental illness is treatable.

i have always had the headcanon that walburga’s relationship with her sons was affected by untreated postnatal depression - also a theme in nor all that glisters gold [author’s notes here], another piece of mine for this fest - which is exacerbated in lamentation by the additional pain of her high-risk pregnancy and traumatic birth experience with sirius. unable to bond with her son, who she thinks is a changeling, but confined to the house with him by the rigidity of gendered pureblood social convention, her illness spirals into psychosis.

the wizarding world seems to be of the opinion that mental illness doesn’t really exist. when this is examined through the lens of gender, an obvious parallel appears between women’s writing about mental illness in the nineteenth century - walburga, who is, in canon, a pastiche of the madwoman in the attic [the most famous example of which is, of course, bertha rochester from jane eyre] deserves an examination from the other side of the trope. the repeated motif in lamentation of the roses in the wallpaper is a reference to charlotte perkins gilman’s the yellow wallpaper - one of the clearest examples of the damage done to victorian women by the isolation and condescension they received from men in lieu of any holistic treatment for their illness. walburga’s dialogue - the portrait’s screams competing with a more lucid monologue - was inspired by the contrast between how antoinette "bertha" rochester speaks in jane eyre and how she speaks in jean rhys’ wide sargasso sea.

and, as antoinette gets a chance to speak for herself in that text, walburga gets a chance to speak for herself here - something she is denied in the canon narrative, which reduces her to an incoherent, screaming bigot [even as kreacher tells us that sirius leaving home broke her heart]. lamentation offers some contextualisation for the canonical walburga’s obsession with blood and its purity - she does, after all, a significant amount of bleeding in this piece, which naturally distresses her - and with belonging to and being a real member of the family - after all, regulus was snatched by the fairies, and dragged down into the netherworld; sirius left and then came back and then was snatched himself.

an important postscript: both postnatal and antenatal depression are common conditions. they affect more than one in ten pregnant women, they can strike anyone in any circumstances [you can experience them even if your pregnancy was "easy" or if you have a lot of support in the first weeks of your baby’s life], and they are never your fault. they can be serious - and it’s crucial that we challenge the pervasive myth that they are "less serious" than other forms of depression - but they are inherently treatable. the best thing that you can do is to know the signs of these and other perinatal mental illnesses, whether for yourself or for someone else, and make sure to seek help if any of them seem to be present. a diagnosis of postnatal depression does not mean that you will be seen as an unfit parent, and it will not automatically result in your baby being taken away.

the following pages may be useful:

action on post-partum psychosis - for anyone who experiences psychosis during and after pregnancy, provides useful information, resources for health professionals, and advice on how to access support.

association for postnatal illness - for anyone who experiences a mental illness during and after pregnancy, provides useful information and resources.

birth trauma association - for anyone who experiences post-traumatic stress disorder after birth, provides useful medical and legal resources, as well as links to support groups and other contacts.

breastfeeding network - for anyone who wishes to breastfeed and requires support, has links to local support groups.

home start - for parents who need support, provides advice on topics from mental health to financial aid and can offer direct support to families in need.

maternal ocd - for anyone who experiences obsessive compulsive disorder during pregnancy or after birth, provides useful information and resources.

pandas - for anyone who experiences depression or anxiety during and after pregnancy, provides direct support.

postpartum men - for men who experience mental illness during or after (their partner's) pregnancy, provides useful information and resources.

[jonahdeforest]

Roundtable Presentation: Laughing Through Color, Something New (2006, directed by Sanaa Hamri and written by Kriss Turner)

Which of the non-white stars transcend their racial or ethnic origins so that they do not signify ‘otherness’ through their constructed characters?

Something New surrounds the romance between Kenya (Sanaa Lathan), a career-focused CPA and Brian (Simon Barker), an adventurous landscape architect. The main barrier in their romance is their differing cultural backgrounds; Kenya is black and Simon is white. Kenya feels pressure from her community to date within her race and Simon does not always understand the nuances of her racial identity. In this sense, the crux of Kenya and Simon’s relationship is an apparent inability to transcend their respective ‘otherness.’

How does the film present characters with more approachable and recognizable ethnic backgrounds for global audiences?

To my understanding, the film’s target demographic is black women. As such, the film presents certain cultural touchstones that would be familiar to black audiences. With the exception of Brian, the white characters are not central to the story and largely exist in service to the narrative of their black contemporaries. This subtly subverts the conventions of romantic comedies, which have historically done the opposite.

In what ways does the film examine ideas or situations not expected of the film’s genre?

In many ways, Something New is a very traditional rom-com. It features meddling parents, a matchmaking coworker, a gaggle of gal pals, a suave romantic foil and a happily-ever-after ending. Sanaa Lathan herself has a everywoman charm that evokes the screwball comediennes of yesteryear and Barker is the type of hearthrob that was born to induce celluloid swoons. Within this adherence to genre is an interrogation of the black upper middle-class milleu. Kenya’s inner circle is sceptical of her relationship in part because of how it complicates respectability politics by devaluing black men. A particularly interesting scene happens towards the end of the film at a black debutante ball. Taking place in an opulent ballroom, we see a group of girls in ivory gowns escorted onto the dance-floor by a fleet of besuited boys. Kenya, who is dressed in her own princess-like ensemble, begins to verbally express dissatisfaction at the expectations attached to such a public display of respectability. It is in this moment that she realizes her participation in black high society is tied to her loneliness. It also allows her to have a perfectly-timed Cinderella moment, rushing out of the ballroom with the intent of winning Brian back.

In what ways does the film subvert gender roles typical to the genre?

Kenya has a higher-income job than Brian and chases after him in the final sequence; subverting the “guy loses girl” trope that prevails in the romantic comedy genre.

How does the casting center around white heteronormativity despite or in spite of its perceived diversity?

Given the film’s premise, I would say that the racial component of this question is not applicable. However, the couple is very much heteronormative and the film still espouses a narrative that is centered around marriage/coupling.

@theuncannyprofessoro

[rockislandadultreads]

New Title Tuesday: Nonfiction

A Cook's Book by Nigel Slater

A Cook’s Book is the story of Nigel Slater’s life in the kitchen... from the first jam tart Nigel made with his mum standing on a chair trying to reach the Aga, through to what he is cooking now. He writes about how his cooking has changed from discovering the trick to whipping cream perfectly, to the best way to roast a chicken. He gives the tales behind the recipes and recalls the first time he ate a baguette in Paris and his first slice of buttercream-topped chocolate cake.

These are the favourite recipes Nigel Slater cooks at home every day; the heart and soul of his cooking. Chapters include: the solace of soup, everyday dinners, a feast of green and a slice of tart. Then there are, of course, the ultimate puddings and cakes with sections on the silence of cheesecake and biscuits, friands and the brownie. This is Nigel Slater at his finest.

The Parenthood Dilemma by Gina Rushton

Should we become parents? This timeless question forces us to reckon with who we are and what we love and fear most in ourselves, in our relationships, and in the world as it is now and as it will be. When Gina Rushton admitted she had little time left to make the decision for herself, the magnitude of the choice overwhelmed her. Her search for her own “yes” or “no” only uncovered more questions to be answered. How do we clearly consider creating a new life on a planet facing catastrophic climate change? How do we reassess the gender roles we have been assigned at birth and by society? How do we balance ascending careers with declining fertility? How do we know if we’ve found the right co-parent, or if we want to go it alone, or if we don’t want to do it at all?

To seek clarity on these questions, Rushton spoke to doctors, sociologists, economists, and ethicists, as well as parents and childless people of all ages and from around the world. Here, she explores and presents policies, data, and case studies from people who have made this decision - one way or the other - and shows how the process can be revelatory in discovering who we are as individuals. Drawing on the depth of knowledge afforded by her body of work as an award-winning journalist on the abortion beat, Rushton wrote the book that she needed, and we all need, to stop a panicked internal monologue and start a genuine dialogue about what we want from our lives and why.

The Risk It Takes to Bloom by Raquel Willis

In 2017, Raquel Willis took to the National Women’s March podium just after the presidential election of Donald Trump, primed to tell her story as a young Black transgender woman from the South. Despite having her speaking time cut short, the appearance only deepened her commitment to speaking up for communities on the margins.

Born in Augusta, Georgia, to Black Catholic parents, Raquel spent years feeling isolated, even within a loving, close-knit family. There was little access to understanding what it meant to be queer and transgender. It wasn’t until she went to the University of Georgia that she found the LGBTQ+ community, fell in love, and explored her gender for the first time. But the unexpected death of her father forced her to examine her relationship with herself and those she loved. These years of grief, misunderstanding, and hard-won epiphanies seeped into the soil of her life, serving as fertilizer for growth and allowing her to bloom within.

In The Risk It Takes to Bloom, Raquel Willis recounts with passion and candor her experiences straddling the Obama and Trump eras, the possibility of transformation after tragedy, and how complex moments can push us all to take necessary risks and bloom toward collective liberation.

Tupac Shakur by Staci Robinson

Tupac Shakur is one of the greatest and most controversial artists of all time. More than a quarter of a century after his tragic death in 1996 at the age of just twenty-five, he continues to be one of the most misunderstood, complicated, and prolific figures in modern history. Drawing on exclusive access to Tupac’s private notebooks, letters, and uncensored conversations with those who loved and knew him best, this estate-authorized biography paints the fullest and most intimate picture to date of the young man who became a legend for generations to come.

In Tupac Shakur, author and screenwriter Staci Robinson - who knew Tupac from their shared circle of high school friends in Marin City, California, and who was entrusted by his mother, Afeni Shakur, to share his story - unravels the myths and unpacks the complexities that have shadowed Tupac’s existence. Decades in the making, this book pulls back the curtain to reveal a powerful story of a life defined by politics and art - a man driven by equal parts brilliance and impulsiveness, steeped in the rich intellectual tradition of Black empowerment, and unafraid to utter raw truths about race in America.

[dead-loch]

Esmaa Mohamoud, To Play in the Face of Certain Defeat (exhibition)

"Mohamoud draws on the modern industry of professional sports, which she equates with a covert form of neo-slavery. The London, Ontario-born artist transforms athletic equipment and symbols to illustrate pervasive, discriminatory behaviours and attitudes based on race, class, gender, and sexuality. She examines collective and individual struggle, focusing on the homogenization of bodies within high-level athletics, and the enforced play out of competitive violence between Black subjects. Through sculpture, photography, video, and installation, she investigates how high-level athletics operate as sites of corporate profit and discrimination.

The dozen artworks in this exhibition consider a variety of concerns. Mohamoud’s appropriation of basketball jerseys within Victorian-era ballgowns, for example, complicates the sport’s fraught relationship with queer, gender-fluid, and female identities. Reconstructed football equipment, including branded black leather footballs and African wax-printed helmets, celebrate cultural plurality through their exuberant, diverse designs, while also protesting the staged enactment of Black violence for entertainment."

One thing that can't easily be shared but was easily my favourite piece in this exhibition was a video/projection installation titled From the Ground We Fall, which had Nina Simone's Ne Me Quitte Pas on repeat playing over it. The video is a performance set in a field, where two players (football in this case) are connected by chains and each of them are trying to run in opposite directions, meaning they continually pull each other backwards. I would go up to close out the exhibition and just stand in the small room that housed this piece, watching and listening. The projection took up 3 walls, which meant you were surrounded by the activity. (it's been a couple years and I couldn't find confirmation of the song, but I'm fairly certain it was Ne Me Quitte Pas. If you know better, lemme know and I'll edit!).

"The explicit frustration and lack of progress shown in the video expresses the ubiquitous presence of racism throughout North American society. The activity mirrors a common situation in disenfranchised communities within marginalizing systems, wherein community members are often pitted against one another."

Source: Esmaa Mohamoud | Art Gallery of Hamilton

[ahb-writes]

Book Review: The Impossible Girl

The Impossible Girl by Lydia Kang

19th Century America

Asian lead characters

crossdressing

dual lives

gender studies

romance

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A biracial girl with two hearts. A sculptor who lives in the absence of affection. A medical student with no money and no friends. And a gallery of the hungry, the foolhardy, and the restless, seeking cash in hand to unearth the dead. THE IMPOSSIBLE GIRL posits these anxious figures as all-too-likely foils of their own story in mid-19th century New York. When the path to wealth, recognition, and romantic loyalty is barricaded by the greed of others, one need only sink to a lower level of avarice to muster the strength to surmount the troubles ahead.

Cora Lee is a biracial girl, born to an outcast mother of the New York middle-elite, who scraps and scrapes for money. She enjoys the camaraderie of her doting uncle, Alexander, a timid sculptor, and she keeps the company of a housekeeper and a few others. But for the most part, Cora's desire to chart her own future is wrought with danger. She is an unmarried woman, yes. She has Chinese heritage, yes. And she is a medical rarity, a human with two hearts beating beneath her ribs, yes. But Cora is also the city's most reputed and unyielding resurrectionist.

THE IMPOSSIBLE GIRL is about digging up the dead for spare coin. Whether sold to medical schools for examination or elsewhere, it's a lucrative affair. And sometimes, a rather complicated affair. Who scouts the grave site? Who pays off the guard? It's difficult but exciting work. If digging up dead bodies means Cora doesn't become one of them, then so be it. But Cora's smart, and she and her crew get stuff done.

This is also a novel about people who are trapped, by city or circumstances, by family or familiarity. Breaking free of the confines set by the class adherents who came before is a mighty task. And as one would expect, not everyone makes it out alive.

At its foundation, THE IMPOSSIBLE GIRL is a fun and clever novel. Cora slips from light to shadow, taking on the guise of a nonexistent twin brother ("Jacob") as she crosses over, from an upper-class Asian girl to a lower-class resurrectionist. Cora must conquer both worlds to earn enough money and presence to free herself. This theme, while clear at the outset, is later muddled through a multitude of competing side stories and delightful but underused red herrings. The novel gets too caught up in the excitement of its own unusualness, and so risks falling prey to ordinary moral overtures by its conclusion.

Perhaps that was the aim. If so, Cora's relationship arc with a bright-eyed medical student named Theodore matches that of the narrative pace for pace. Theo is overeager and annoying, but he's also the perfect ally for a witty 20-year-old woman who memorizes medical textbooks and sells dead bodies on the sly.

But if that wasn't the novel's aim. If these brief glimpses into the shallow affairs of the wealthy as well as the smudged, selfish idealism of the impoverished were not so purposely severed and interrupted and hemmed in, then THE IMPOSSIBLE GIRL is a book full of what-if scenarios that may well have ratcheted up the drama but never dared try. Betrayal is common among resurrectionists, but this seemingly common artefact of work is left unfulfilled elsewise until the novel's climax. Also, abundant secondary characters give the novel its color and flair, but they don't always settle on the right tone. Further, feuding medical professionals and lecherous sideshow-men pressure characters to make bad decisions, and yet, these unique supporting characters themselves are somehow free of action and guilt.

THE IMPOSSIBLE GIRL also falls into the rut of period-fiction stories whose cross-dressing female protagonist is intelligent and ambitious, but is eventually "outed" and threatened as a result. Exciting and dramatic, and possessing an inimitable narrative voice, certainly. But in the end, readers find a familiar refrain.

❯ ❯ Book Reviews || ahb writes on Good Reads

[giftedverse-confidential]

Marie Lee-Shifukukan

Marie Lee-Shifukukan, born Eun-mi Lee, is a Korean-Canadian engineer at Toronto Support Labs. She's the one who made a majority of the support equipment for all the Canadian Heroes.

She is married to Cloud Nine (Karly Shifukukan) and has a son named Skylar.

Description

Marie is a short, fat woman with a round face, tanned skin, and dark brown eyes. Her hair is dyed teal and is her natural black at the roots. On her left (or right) eyebrow is a silver piercing. She can commonly be seen with a large pair of black goggles with dark green lenses resting atop her head.

Marie tends to dress in a very stereotypically masculine manner with tank tops/wife beaters, flannels, etc. There are times where she's been mistaken for a man.

Personality

Brash, tough, and loud, Marie is a natural born wild child. With the mouth of a sailor and a big attitude, she makes herself stand out and isn't afraid to speak her mind. Firing back at negative comments, standing her ground during arguments, even not being afraid to fight, she's the poster child for a headstrong rebel. Marie is also not afraid to tease or joke on others, as she does with Soregum (@floof-ghostie).

As an engineer, Marie is one of the best in both her city and Canada. She puts a lot of passion and grit into making support items for the heroes of her home, including her wife. With her works being high demand and highly praised, so much so that there have been talks of promoting her to the head of the support labs.

Despite being a busy bee, she always makes time for her wife Cloud Nine and son Skylar. Marie sometimes brings Skylar to work with her and has a little playpen she built for him to play in.

History

Marie was born in Busan, South Korea. Her parents owned a small convenience store before selling it in preparation to move to Canada. When she was 2 years old, Marie moved to Canada and adopted her name.

Growing up, Marie had a complicated relationship with her femininity. She never really fit in with other girls because gravitated towards more traditionally masculine things and dressed like a boy. Part of her felt like a boy but didn't want to be one. This made her feel disconnected from most girls her age.

Things got worse for her when her father became permanently disabled after getting into a car accident, leaving Marie's mother to be the breadwinner.

Marie discovered she was a lesbian in high school. She had trouble coming to terms with her newfound sexuality as well as telling her parents. To cope with her struggles, Marie would build things with used car parts from the local junkyard. She used engineering as an outlet to her problems both at home and at school.

What started as a way to cope then became something that Marie was genuinely passionate about. It also helped her come to terms with both her gender and her sexuality. After graduating high school, Marie applied for college to major in engineering.

While there, she met her future wife Karly and they started dating before eventually getting married and having their son Skylar.

Relationships

Karly Shifukukan | Cloud Nine

Marie is a Human, therefore she doesn't have powers like Karly and Skylar.

Marie and Karly are very much in love and always have been. They contrast each other in all the right ways.

Abilities

Master Engineer: Marie is one of the best engineers in the world of the Giftedverse. She's built a myriad of devices from any type of material, mostly from car parts.

Mechanical Intellect: Marie is very intelligent when it comes to machines and their elements. She can tell what something is made of and how it works just by examining it.

Strength: While she doesn't have super strength, Marie is considerably strong due to all the work she does in the lab. From lifting heavy objects to screwing in bolts, Marie has some incredible arm, upper body, and leg strength.

[desk-work-expert]

So this is mostly an out of character curiosity but how does Nanao truly feel about the Ise curse? How do you the mun interpret it how 'real' do you think it is? How real does SHE think it is? Your Ise curse headcanons hand them over. (Please?)

unprompted || always accepting || @marigoldmelancholy

Nanao's feelings in the manga about the Ise curse tie very closely to how she truly feels about it, and there are a couple of reasons for this.

She knew before the Lille fight ( canon shows she knew pre academy, even if she had to build up the pieces over time and still didn't have a complete picture during the Lille fight) and has therefore had time to digest the information and form her own opinion on it. Her declaration just before she and Shunsui emerge from Lille's shadow isn't jut her trying to make an injured man feel better, but the result of many years of thought. She is not one to make snap judgements over something as serious as this, nor is she one to spare Shunsui's feelings when she feels the truth is necessary (we see this during the soul society arc, where she and Shunsui discuss helping out Jushiro. She cares but isn't blinded by it). We also see during the Lille fight that Nanao has some understanding of her family history (having been raised by some elderly Ise clan members) which adds further weight to the idea that some of Shunsui's revelantions are not new to her.

Her approach to the curse, in the panel below, tallies with the Nanao we see throughout the rest of canon. She is not one to indulge in superstition, and the Ise Curse certainly falls into that category. This panel also shows her deep respect for Shunsui and how she looks to him for guidance (again, something we see between them in the soul society are as well as the diamond dust rebellion film). The way their relationship functions leaves me willing to believe that if he's so certain of Shunsui's view here, then her own view is also certain.

3. Nanao's feelings about her mother and her demise are complicated, and this in turn affects how she views the curse. As much as she loves her mother, she also sees her attempt to conceal the sword as foolish and somewhat pointless considering how close she wound up to Shunsui anyway. The fact her mother was willing to put so much faith in the curse to do what she did has made her stop and consider the curse in the past but, in her mind, does not offer enough evidence to support the idea that the curse is real. This is an old tale and even the most respected people can belive odd things. Her mother also wasn't in her life very long compared to other people which also makes it harder for Nanao to understand her perspective and get a sense of what she truly believed.

She also feels that it's hard to definitively say that the curse was the cause of any men marrying in to the family when she knows of no recent marriages into the family and Shunsui's tale takes place so far in the past. She accepts that this is somewhat faulty logic, but is also unwilling to put too much trust in something that essentially exists in legend to her.

As for how much she believes in what Shunsui told her, Nanao absolutely believes that her family is matrilineal and there is something in her family makeup which prevents male heirs being either born or kept around. Whether this is genetic or the curse, she is unsure, but the fact her sword is a hereditary one leaves her more open to the idea that maybe that has something to do with it than she normally would be.* I think if she ever had her own children, this would be something she could examine in more detail.

*I think it's important to note here that we never actually get any details about the matrilineal nature of the Ise clan in canon and I think it's important to question what this looks like. As a mun, I personally think that it's possible that babies of both genders are born within the clan and that maybe the male children are either stillborn or adopted out/killed (it would fit with the idea that the Ise family are essentially a group of preistesses), although the mystical element of the sword fits right in with the bleach universe and I don't really have the heart to discount it.

[gutterdreamer-rp]

*slides onto your feed* looking for new RP partners? Me too! Here's a quick look at my main FFXIV OC:

≫ BASICS ≪

FULL NAME: Shrike Elaine Delaney

NICKNAME(S): n/a

BIRTHDAY: 31st Sun of the 1st Umbral Moon

AGE: 30

SPECIES: Hyur

GENDER: Cisgender Woman (ish)

ORIENTATION: Demi-ish Bisexual

OCCUPATION: Working Artist

FAITH: Minimal, Dismissive towards traditional Halonic practices

≫ APPEARANCE ≪

BUILD: Slender beanpole, mostly made of leg

EYE/HAIR: Black hair. One dark brown eye, one half-silver eye

VOICE: Low and husky, faint hints of an Ishgardian accent

HEIGHT: 5 fulms, 10 ilms

PIERCINGS: Ears, navel

FASHION: Swings between “starving artist” and “artistic goth”. Favors dark colors, extremely tall boots, and suspenders.

≫ BACKGROUND ≪

BIRTHPLACE: Ishgard

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Ul’dah, mostly

EDUCATION LEVEL: Some formal education, self-taught about many other things

≫ RELATIONSHIPS≪

BIRTH ORDER: Younger

SIBLINGS: Luci Delaney (older sister)

PARENTS: Phillip Delaney (deceased) and Elaine Delaney (deceased)

SIGNIFICANT OTHER(S): It’s complicated

≫ PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE ≪

MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good/Neutral depending on the situation

JUNG: INFP - the Mediator

POSITIVE QUALITIES: Imaginative, loyal, open-minded, passionate

NEGATIVE QUALITIES: Quick-tempered, spiteful, pigheaded, reckless

SPOKEN LANGUAGES: Eorzean Common, Old Elezen with an Ishgardian dialect

≫ OOC INFO ≪

Crystal/Mateus

PST timezone

Ingame/Discord RP friendly

21+

Enjoys a wide variety of RP styles

≫ BRIEF BIO≪

Born in Ishgard and raised in poverty only just above Brume-levels, Shrike spent her childhood and teen years as removed from the Dragonsong War as she could get, choosing instead to focus on her dreams of being an artist. She worked as a drawing tutor to help her father and sister make ends meet, often working for the noble families she quietly resented. One such position introduced her to a young nobleman who tried to play at being a bohemian while still being comfortably upper class. Despite her initial dislike of him, they eventually fell in love and became engaged- much to his wealthy family’s chagrin. For a brief, happy period of time, they flourished in the city’s artistic, free-thinking circles.

Ishgard being Ishgard, Edwin and Shrike eventually drew unwanted attention from the inquisitors. Edwin was killed, and his family turned the blame for his death on Shrike, who they viewed as a corrupting, heretical influence. Suddenly completely unemployable, with a target painted on her back and grieving, Shrike chose to flee the city to Gridania, where she spent most of the next decade in a greyed-out, numb state. It’s also where the strange, strong dreams began- dreams that she wrote off as her imagination trying to claw its way back to life.

Maybe she should have examined them a little closer….

A year ago, Shrike moved to Ul’dah, driven by a desire to take control of her life again and reclaim the vibrancy she’d once had. Things were going well, even if she was still made her living via the financial whims of a ruling class she resented. And then...things started to unravel rather spectacularly, and now she is trying to understand a creeping power she didn’t know she had and that threatens to change her from within.

≫ PERHAPS YOU… ≪

Knew her in Ishgard, or know of the lingering resentment Edwin’s family still holds for her

Have commissioned work from her/hired her as a tutor

Met her through various artistic social circles in Gridania or Ul’dah

Have a sensitivity to odd aether and recognize something is amiss with hers

You can find more info at her carrd. Feel free to send me a message if anything here's struck your fancy!

[alizrak]

Chaos Rising Review (Spoilers under the cut)

Non-spoiler review:

Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy (Book I: Chaos Rising) is a fascinating new book by Timothy Zahn that takes us on a journey between the “present” and flashbacks, looking at Thrawn’s early days starting with the Academy. It’s an examination of how these experiences slowly serve to build him up as the character we have come to know in the newer “Imperial Trilogy”, as seen in Thrawn 2017, Thrawn: Alliances, and Thrawn: Treason.  

“The peace of the Ascendancy, a beacon of calm and stability, is shattered after a daring attack on the Chiss capital that leaves no trace of the enemy. Baffled, the Ascendancy dispatches one of its brightest young military officers to root out the unseen assailants. A recruit born of no title, but adopted into the powerful family of the Mitth and given the name Thrawn.

With the might of the Expansionary Fleet at his back, and the aid of his comrade Admiral Ar'alani, answers begin to fall into place. But as Thrawn's first command probes deeper into the vast stretch of space his people call the Chaos, he realizes that the mission he has been given is not what it seems. And the threat to the Ascendancy is only just beginning.”

For me, this book has become a personal favorite on par with Thrawn (2017), and it does so by bringing an amazing cast of characters to life in the galaxy far, far away. Learning about them and how they interact with Thrawn and each other is the book’s greatest strength.  

The way the Chiss culture is explored here feels fresh and gives the Ascendancy a life of its own. There is a tug of war going on between the military and the civilian side of their society, something I was looking for beyond the conflict of the Empire and the Rebels/Republic. This also means the Ascendancy has a “complicated” relationship with Thrawn that adds to what we already know is his weakness… politics.

For newcomers, this is a great starting point. You’ll get to the core of who Thrawn is and why he behaves the way he does during the “Imperial Trilogy”. There’s still a very marked difference between this Thrawn and the Rebels version, which makes me appreciate the books even more. You’ll root for these characters and wish things turn out well for them because we know that getting swept up in Thrawn’s plans can be a very dangerous proposition.  

Thrawn’s genius still shines through during the battles and while we know he survives these encounters, there are consequences and repercussions for each of his victories and for the people around him. In any case, while you can obviously expect math and physics to play a big part during the battles, this might be the story with the most HEART of all the Thrawn books.  There are moments of joy, sadness, fear, confusion, and a fair amount of HOPE, things we don’t always get from a Thrawn-centric story. It affected me deeply and I read it again as soon as I finished. Hopefully, you’ll feel the same way. 

I'm so grateful to Zahn for writing this story and I can’t wait to see where it goes in books two and three. I highly recommend this book!

9/10 

SPOILER REVIEW:

From the very beginning, I was swept up in the emotions of the story, something I was not expecting. The memories of young Thrawn getting thrown into the politics of the Mitth and the struggles of being a Navigator from Thalias surprised me by how much my heart hurt for them. And yet, there’s always a hint of hope and that reminder that someone in the universe does care, bringing a smile to my face. 

Seeing a socially awkward Thrawn fumble his way through, even with his fellow Chiss, and trying to find his place in the world is a real treat. As someone who constantly checks herself about not rambling on about my interests, because I fear I’ll upset people or they’ll think I’m weird, it made me really identify with this younger version. 

For the characters, the one I loved maybe the most was Che'ri, the nine year old navigator assigned to the Springhawk, providing us the point of view of a sky-walker. It can be difficult to read sometimes, how these children are experiencing their situation and the people around them in a very distinct way. I really felt her anxiety, her loneliness, her fear, and her hope. Zahn did a wonderful job with her and those with “Third Sight” Force abilities.   

And speaking of Che’ri, we learn that she was the pilot who was with Thrawn during his adventure with Anakin Skywalker in Alliances! Experiencing that first encounter with the future Darth Vader, from Thrawn's and Che'ri's POV, was perfect and very sweet. I’m so glad that we get confirmation that Thrawn is actually very understanding and patient when it comes to kids. Indeed, he looks for ways to encourage them, to become the best version of themselves, as he’s helping anyone willing to learn. 

The other equally important character is former sky-walker and Che’ri’s caregiver, Thalias. I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical of Thalias at first when she’s introduced to us as an adult. I loved her first encounter with Thrawn as a child inone of the “memories” chapters, but I worried for her grown-up version. I was starting to fear Zahn was setting her up just to be a romantic interest for Thrawn, and while it didn’t happen in this book, I still see the potential for that later on, especially when her goal becomes supporting Thrawn. And while it was a rocky start for me, I did come to like and appreciate her, giving us perhaps the most “humane” face of the Chiss so far. She became a favorite for me. 

There was a bit about gender roles being a little too on the nose for me. It wasn't so much that it detracted from the story, but it was noticeable enough to make me raise an eyebrow once or twice. In any case, it was amazing to see how Thrawn is surrounded by capable women. The Empire Trilogy was a bit lacking with this, only having a few important females actually engaged with the main plot (Pryce, Faro, etc), but Chaos Rising was seriously an improvement. 

And for people waiting for Thrass or Formbi, we don't exactly get to see them. There's one single mention confirming Thrass died but no other comment about him being Thrawn's brother or what transpired in the Vagaari incident. Instead, Thrawn mentions he believes he had a navigator older sister when he was very young and she was taken away. My mind was blown. No name was given, but I'm sure she will come up in some of the next books. 

There is a callback to Outbound Flight, specifically Thrass and Thrawn’s iconic exchange about his wish to help people outside the Ascendancy. This time, Ar’alani is the one explaining they can’t do that, but she promises to support him if he gets high enough as an Aristrocra to change their policies from the inside. I think in general this sets an amazing precedent. You know me. I can't help but think about how this could influence future stories with Ezra and Thrawn. To see Thrawn's accomplishments and need to help others, even if he's forbidden to do so as well as how he risked his career again and again, going out of his way to stop these attacks, made me hopeful. I feel it resonates with what Ezra went through and reinforces in me the idea that the middle way he's looking for is them working together. 

Going back to the book, while I felt the main villain (Yiv, the Merciful) was quite scary... there was something missing to make him truly memorable to me. I still can't place my finger on it. I'll need to read the book again to make a better judgement about him. In this case, I was not reading the book because Yiv felt compelling, but more about how Thrawn and company were reacting to him. And speaking of villains, the book ends with the reveal of a new enemy... but just like with Yiv, I felt disconnected from him. We only got a few lines from that one, so I can't tell for sure what to expect from him, but it seems like another guy in a long list of warlords that Thrawn will defeat. Which makes me wonder if we will get any female rivals in the following book. 

In general, I loved the book. I loved the characters. I loved their struggles and how they get to solve these problems. Thrawn always has a card up his sleeve, but there will surely be repercussions for what he did at the end. We know not everyone is happy with him… but I can’t wait to find out what else he will do. In a way, this book would work as a stand-alone story if it wasn’t for that reveal at the end, so I believe anyone could grab it and have a great time. 

[chicagocityofclans]

Jev ‘Patch’ Cipriano → Matthew Daddario, Daniel Sharman, Robert Pattinson and Liam Hemsworth → Human Shifter

→ Basic Information 

Age: 229

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Straight 

Birthday: October 20th

Zodiac Sign: Libra

Religion: Buddhist

→ His Personality Patch is a complicated soul with a mixed and unusual personality. He just wants to be happy and live in the moment. He keeps his past under wraps and is often accused of keeping more lies than telling the truth by those close to him. Patch doesn’t believe he’s a liar but admits to avoiding questions he does not wish to answer. Keeping his troubled past behind him, Patch can come off as an old soul who is much older than what he seems with the tendency to be warm, kind and bright; just a delight to be around when the moment calls for it. He hates negativity and keeps a small circle of true friends. A circle he doesn’t wish to expand while he works on his self worth and self improvement. Being completely focused on himself lately as dimmined his warmth as he is now oftentimes cold towards those he doesn’t know and easily drop unnecessary criticism or insults. As of lately, Patch's gregarious lifestyle has slowed down. 

→ His Personal Facts

Occupation: Medical Examiner 

Scars: Yes

Tattoos: Yes

Two Likes: Life and Dancing in the Mirror/Singing in the Shower

Two Dislikes: Negativity and Hypersexualization

Two Fears: Humanity and Global Warming

Two Hobbies: Chillin Like a Villain (Batman - Mr. Freeze) and Expanding His Knowledge

Three Positive Traits: Carefree, Inspiring, Observant

Three Negative Traits: Dismissive, Frugal, Shameless

→ His Connections

Parent Names:

Marco Cipriano (Father): Marco looks around the same age as Patch and it freaks Patch out. When he was a child his father was his father but as an adult, Marco has become a close friend, only switching to father mode when warranted. 

Giuseppina Cipriano (Mother): Patch mother is a godsent. Just like Marco, she can pass as a teenager or young adult and Patch is more embarrassed by people trying to hit on her rather than people hitting on his dad.

Sibling Names:

None

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

Lisa Caster (Ex-Girlfriend): Patch met Lisa in Canada. They dated for a few months before Patch ended things. She wasn’t his type but she was nice enough for Patch to want to give it a try and see if things would fall in place.

Elena Mcgomery (Ex-Girlfriend): He and Elena dated for a total of five seconds before she jumped over to someone else. When that relationship didn’t work out for her, Elena tried to come back to Patch but he wasn’t having it. 

Akasha Humbaba (Ex-Girlfriend): Akasha meant the world to him and Patch had nearly proposed to her. However, Akasha's parents had different plans and left with her. Patch tried many times but could never find her again.

Giulia Depp (Ex-Girlfriend): Giulia was a local human shifter that his parents tried to hook him up with but after a few dates they agreed to be just friends. 

Jane Swan (Ex-Girlfriend): Jane was one of his recent girlfriends that praticed polygamy without Patch knowing about it. It didn’t last when he found out.

Platonic Connections:

Churchill Darling (Best Friend): Church is more like family to Patch than some of the other human shifters.

Judson Cleirigh (Best Friend): Judson introduced Patch to another view of the supernatural world.

Robert Fischer (Best Friend): Patch has known Robert since childhood and sees him as an older brother.

Vincent Kane (Good Friend): Patch has known Vincent since childhood and sees him as an older brother.

Ronan Cleirigh (Good Friend): Ronan is Judson’s dad and puts up with a lot of their antics. 

Sirius Cobic (Bossman): Just like Ronan, Sirius puts up with a lot of his bullshit and Patch is grateful.

Ryan Cleirigh (Godson): Ryan is Judson’s son and Patch godson. He loves the little bugger. 

Monteith Burns (Friend): Monty is one of the newer members and Patch tries to include him in his outings. 

Adelaide Blanchette (Friend): Addie is one of the newer members and Patch tries to include her in his outings.

Jia Cleirigh (Friendly): Jia throws the best parties and has wicked charms Patch love getting his hands on. 

Rachel Sloane (Friendly): Patch noticed her in the Underground when she was human and when she was turned into a vampire. 

Hostile Connections:

Jaxson Idris (Hate):  There’s no need for anyone to follow or try to annoy the crap out of Patch but Jax seems to mess with him on purpose. 

Louis Martin-Rovet (Dislike): Judson has told him about Louis and the rats keeping an eye on him. 

Pets:

‘Bastian (Monkey): He didn’t steal it and it’s not illegal. That’s the important part. 

→ History Jev was born to Marco and Giuseppina in the Tuscany region of Italy. Their family was successful at finding new faces and building identities for people who needed to get lost. Their family followed the old way of practicing changing smaller aspects of themselves. Instead of changing their entire appearance to someone who already existed, they practiced changing their eye color, hair color, jaw structure, age appearance, body type and/or other structures and features. That’s where Jev earned the nickname Patch. He had a hack for patching together unbelievable faces. Patch was around the age of 14, when his parents offered Sirius and his followers’ new identities for the New World. Patch parents were intrigued and knew a lot of people from that world would need a fresh start or be a breeding place for new face shifts. That started their journey with nearly 60 other human shifters towards Ruperet’s Land where Sirius had planned to join the Hudson’s Bay Company in the fur trading business but also to establish homes in the mining and industrial towns across Canada and the United States. 

That’s how they continued for a few years as Patch learnt about other supernatural creatures, he only heard stories about as a child. His first supernatural friend that wasn’t a human shifter was a moose that was caught by hunters. Patch helped him out of the bind, and they became close friends. It was then that Patch and Vincent created a way to help those animal shifters that needed protection from hunters. They got paid and built relationships with the locals. They ran into a group of vampires from Iceland and Norway, who had heard rumors about Canada having longer nights. Patch parents helped them with new identities but beyond that they were no help to them. Patch bonded with one of their Zygotes but lost contact with her after her change. Next was Judson and Ronan Cleirigh, a group of warlocks that came up wanting to help their cursed cousin. Patch bonded immediately with Judson and they’ve been attached by the hip since. It didn’t take much to convince Sirius to move them down to Chicago. It was a new town and Judson had hinted towards their large number of different species and lawlessness. Their reformed family of 213 human shifters slowly left Canada and traveled down to Illinois. 

They acted as mediators when they first arrived. Taking payments to privately help solve supernatural on supernatural crimes, street robbery, murder, petty thievery, prostitution, rape, missing children and poaching. Taking note from New York, Philadelphia and Boston, Sirius pushed to establish and form the Chicago Police Department. Patch wasn’t really interested as he spent most of his time with the Cleirigh family or Underground with the vampires. Judson introduced him to the world of travel and the vampires were pure entertainment as they expanded the Underground. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that Patch joined the force, but he found himself more comfortable among the dead in the morgue and helping the vampires by faking the deaths of their zygotes when the time called for it. He plans on remaining in the said position until it is time to take over his parents’ business. Patch gets by, by changing his face every few years or simply aging face up like his parents thought him.

→ The Present Patch is working towards getting his godson, Ryan together with his coworker, Kate. They’re a perfect match for each other and have been running circles around each other for months. Patch had recently told Kate that Ryan likes her too and that the poor boy is too shy to ask her out. He plans on telling Ryan the same thing to get things moving. This decade seems to be the decade of love because Patch is also trying to find a special someone for Churchill too. Churchill denies needing someone but Patch thinks that having someone special is always worth it. He is worried that Churchill will single forever or possibly sleep with the wrong person and cause a lot of drama. Patch has been working on building Church a new face and identity for when shit hits the fan or whenever he agrees to start dating again.

[dragonofyang]

On Love and Lions Part 1: An Analysis on Love in VLD

“I have always believed that unity is where true power comes from, and true unity can only be born of love.” --Gyrgan, Paladin of the Yellow Lion

Voltron: Legendary Defender is a cartoon on Netflix that–with the final season available to watch on Netflix–has extremely regressive and harmful messages. The S8 on Netflix carries lessons about how war is good, that men shouldn’t respect the wishes and desires of women, that violence and abuse mean even victims aren’t deserving of forgiveness. Everything about that is 100% antithetical to what VLD was about throughout the prior seasons and each harmful message is another nail in the coffin of the original narratives of peace, respect, and fundamentally how everyone is deserving of love and forgiveness, regardless of the circumstances of their birth.

In fact, the theme of love in VLD is something we at Team Purple Lion wish to discuss. It’s arguably the most absolutely fundamental theme of the show. Love destroys the universe, and love saves it over and over again. And love would have rebuilt the universe, but thanks to the edits ordered by the trademark holder, the universe that should have been born from love was instead born from one girl sacrificing her life because she saw no better option. She didn’t even get to tell her only remaining father figure goodbye. What kind of message is that? In the original final season, prior to the executive meddling, we should have seen how love was such a powerful force in the universe that it could not just repair this reality, but all realities. And it’s not just romantic love, but six types of love.

Now, for those of you more familiar with our work, we’ve discussed some pretty big concepts in VLD and how they’re addressed, and there will be even more in future episodes of our reconstruction Rise and Atone. VLD engages not just with its own predecessors in the Voltron franchise, but Beast King GoLion, Labyrinth, Frankenstein, and Maureen Murdock’s The Heroine’s Journey is all but the story bible for Allura’s arc. The concepts we are about to discuss date back to Ancient Greece, and while love can be more than these concepts, it’s important that we have a framework through which we can discuss and analyze love as it appears in VLD without getting lost in all the examples.

In American culture, “love” is not very well-differentiated between kinds because we only use one word: “love”. While we use it across all sorts of contexts, we have to add modifiers when we don’t mean romantic love or familial love, which are the most commonly-acknowledged forms of love. VLD, being written and edited by primarily Americans living in America, also encounters this issue, but it does not focus solely on romantic love, which can complicate how to interpret love in the show. We, however, would like to argue that not only is it all love, but it doesn’t all have to be good love, familial love, or romantic love. At the end of the day the plot is driven by love in its many forms. Love is so baked into the story that it’s quite difficult to extricate, dare I even say impossible, and that ultimately is part of why we were able to reconstruct so much of what was lost in S8.

The Ancient Greeks had many words for love, but we feel it’s important to discuss the dialogue that VLD engages in with various forms of love, using the Ancient Greeks’ framework as a guide. The model gives us concrete definitions of different kinds of love, and can help us as an audience understand the various forms of love that are present in VLD. It’s important that we define the different ways we can observe love being portrayed because much of VLD relies on the writing adage of “show, don’t tell”.

So without any further ado, let’s dig into what, precisely, is love.

As stated earlier, we’ll be using terminology coined by the Ancient Greeks, specifically six categories of love that we feel are most prevalent in the show. We’ve also deduced our own examples of these forms of love when they’re taken too far or flat-out discarded, which will be discussed in a companion article.

The six forms of love are as follows:

Eros: the most famous kind of love, an intense (and often sexual) passion for another being and seeing the beauty within them. This is the love that most closely aligns with romantic love as we understand it in a modern American context.

Philia: an affection and loyalty between friends, notable for its platonic nature, it is the love that arises between friends, and can be found among family, but the modern equivalent would be the found family trope.

Storge: this is the intrinsic empathy between individuals, primarily the attachment of parents to children. This form of love was primarily used to describe familial relationships, and the patience one sometimes needs when around blood relatives.

Philautia: put simply, this is self-love in its purest form. It is acknowledging your needs, wants, and happiness without apology. The Ancient Greeks considered Philautia to be a basic human need.

Xenia: while many might not consider this to be a form of love, it is hospitality, or as we define it, love between a host and their guests. Specifically, this would be the care a host gives to their guests in both physical (food, gifts, etc.) and non-physical (respecting rights, protection, etc.). Hospitality is massively important because if you are good to someone while they are in your home, they will be equally good to you if you visit theirs.

Agape: this is a Greco-Christian term, ultimately, and is a little more difficult to understand because it can be confused with other forms of love. At its core, though, it is a pure and unconditional love such as that between spouses, families, or God and man. It shouldn’t be confused for other forms of love such as Philia because unlike the other forms of love, which only focus on one aspect of humanity, Agape is the unconditional and universal love for everyone. It’s sexless, unlike Eros. At its core, it’s the love born of goodwill to all people, regardless of circumstance.

While these are only six categories, there are many ways of interpreting love, especially since there are so many avenues to see love–in good and bad forms–in VLD. These categories are also not inherently hierarchical, and are not presented in any particular order. Agape is the main exception, being more convoluted in its nature, and thus is discussed at the end. It also narratively serves as part of the culmination to the plot, so it carries a greater weight in relation to the alpha plot of the whole story.

Now, let’s examine how they present in VLD. As an official reminder, please remember that all analysis of VLD is done from a ship-neutral stance and we are not proposing any endgame romances. The sole purpose of this article is to discuss observable portrayals of love in its various forms, and to analyze both the text and the metatextual messages resulting from them.

Eros: Passionate Love

Eros�� arguably this is the most contentious form of love presented in VLD, if only because of all the ship wars that occurred in the fandom. Eros drives the shipping communities of fandoms across the world, because it often stems from on-screen chemistry or the potential of the fleeting seconds where a spark flies but does not catch in canon. The beauty of Eros is that it ripples quietly through fiction, or it can be a tsunami ready to devour the story. It’s the quiet whisper of two women sharing a private moment, to the shouted declarations in the heat of battle. Eros thrums through fandoms in a desperate tempo for seeing a love as passionate as you can feel in characters who may never share more than a glance.

Plato actually had quite the influence on the word “Eros”, because “Eros” or erotic love, was largely regarded as a type of madness brought upon a person by seeing someone whose beauty strikes your heart with an arrow (Cupid’s arrows, anyone?). Eros is the love that drives you to despair if the object of your affections is cruel or uninterested, and it burns like a fire. “Falling in love at first sight” is the key concept here, and you can see it reproduced in fandoms across the world, though many cultures have their own names and terms for it. Henry George Liddell and Robert Scott define “Eros” in A Greek-English Lexicon as “love, mostly of the sexual passion”. Plato, however, redefined the word to include a nonphysical aspect. He discusses it in Symposium and says that while (physical) Eros can be felt for a person initially, with contemplation you can and will fall in love with a person’s inner beauty, which for Plato was the ideal, since he specifically emphasized the lack of importance of physical attraction. In fact, Jung–who coined the Anima and Animus–has a similar approach, with an emphasis on unity within the self by accepting your internal Eros which manifests as your feminine Anima/masculine Animus.

In the text of VLD, Eros is remarkably subdued. This is partially due to its rating. Being a Y7-FV show, VLD can’t really have explicitly sexual content. Sure the implication can exist, but a lot of times sex has to be carried through metaphor if a story is to address it at all. Take the juniberry as an example. It’s a three-petal flower of a deep rose and softer pink, delicately topping a green stem, with a yellow pistil. In much of literary history, flowers represent female sexuality and beauty, and they are common representations of youth across genders.

Now, in strictly biological terms, flowers as a sexual symbol is a 1:1 accuracy in analysis, because the flower is the reproductive organ of a plant. I’d like to analyze the juniberry from a biological perspective, because understanding the anatomy of a flower can help us understand its role in literature as a metaphor for sex. The whole point of the flower is to be able to spread pollen across individual plants, whether by wind or by pollinators such as bats or bees, and breed to produce more plants. The actual reproductive organs of flowers are called the stamen and pistil, respectively. The stamen produces pollen, while the pistil collects pollen in its ovule to fertilize and create seeds. A stamen is a very slender filament, topped with what’s called an “anther”, which is where the pollen is actually released. The pistil, meanwhile, has a thicker base with a long body, usually topped with a few tendril-like structures called “stigma”.

Diagram by the Association of Societies for Growing Australian Plants [ID: A simple cross-section diagram of a flower. Three petals are visible on the far side, with reproductive organs drawn in the center. There is also a stalk and sepals at the bottom. Along the sides of the cross-section there are labels. On the left, a category called “Stamen” is labeled, with “Anther” and “Filament” pointing to two parts of the thinner reproductive organ. “Receptacle” marks the base of the flower, and “Peduncle (flower stalk)” marks out the stem. On the right, we have the label “Petal” and three labels under the category “Pistil”: “Stigma”, pointing to the top portion, “Style” pointing to the stem-like feature, and “Ovary” pointing to the rounded bottom. The label “Sepal” marks the leaf-like structure just under the petals. End ID.]

Now, when we look at the juniberries we see in canon, we can see that at no point are any drawn with stamens. They all have a single pistil growing from the center, and they’re topped with three stigma, meaning that all juniberries drawn on-screen are female juniberries.

Juniberries are a quintessential symbol of Altea, and they represent home to Allura, as well as what she’s lost. However, they also represent how Allura’s relationship to her own femininity is not some mystical thing determined by forces beyond her. Colleen gifts Allura a juniberry that was selectively bred from flowers she had available, and it’s identical in every way (that we can see) to the juniberries native to Altea. The message, though it’s subtle, is quite clear: Allura is in control of her femininity and can define herself however she pleases (“highlands poppy” versus “juniberry”). After the sexual undertones that threaded her relationship with Lotor, this is a very important message to convey, especially since a patriarchal story would punish Allura for the metaphorical sex in physical ways, such as how the season 8 on Netflix does.

Allura isn’t simply a vessel for male desire, nor is she a strong female character who doesn’t need a man. Her story is about finding agency separate from male expectations, without forsaking her own femininity in the process. Like the juniberry, she is feminine, but she is able to define herself, and the dark entity masquerading as Lotor reminds her of that with their conversation about calling the juniberry a “highlands poppy”. That’s what makes Lotor so dangerous to a traditional patriarchal values system: he reminds Allura that she has a choice.

It’s important to note that during their interactions Lotor never gives Allura a choice in the sense that he, a man, is allowing her one; he simply steps back and encourages her to make the choices to which she is entitled and to act on her emotions and desires. She is an agent of her own free will, and Lotor, being first her Shadow, challenges her to be smarter, quicker on the battlefield, and then as her Animus he challenges her to look inward and become in-tune to her own inner wants and needs. The other Paladins can offer some aid in that, but none of them strike her anxieties or hopes the way that Lotor can, being the crown prince and heir to her sworn enemy, and being half-Altean and half-Galra. He is, in a fundamentally physical way, the union of two races that were at war before Altea’s destruction, and to a survivor of that war, that forces Allura to question the beliefs she held in the beginning of the story. The stakes of success and failure are much higher with Lotor in the picture, and it’s easier to focus literary tension on two characters than five or six, so as a result of that persistent tension, we as the audience are given plenty of chemistry between two characters to spur Eros.

As we discussed last year in “Legendarily Defensive: Editing the Gay Away”, Keith was meant to have a gay relationship with another Paladin. We refuse to write conjecture on what his endgame romance was meant to be, however it is important to discuss Keith’s Eros in a metatextual sense. For example, let’s look at Keith and Shiro. Keith is a legacy character that dates all the way back to 1984 Defender of the Universe. His romantic subplot was relegated to excised footage and extremely subtextual if it managed to squeak past the axe. Shiro was able to be queer, however, due to the fact that he’s a DreamWorks-owned character who is new to the franchise, meaning that there isn’t a legacy that needed to be upheld.

Keith’s queerness, however, still acts as a spur to fuel the potential for Eros, and helps build tension between him and his fellow male Paladins. And I specify male Paladins because during season 2, Keith and Allura go off in a pod by themselves to see if Zarkon is tracking either of them. During the scenes with Keith and Allura together, it’s important to note the background music is remarkably flat and lacking in romantic cues. In prior iterations of Voltron, Keith and Allura are implied as endgame (DOTU), have the beginnings of an on-screen romance (VForce), or straight up just fuck on the page (such as in the comics). It stands to reason that this scene should at least imply some form of passionate chemistry here, but largely it’s two friends confiding in one another and trying to find reassurance as they confess their fears. Keith doesn’t have a moment to admire Allura’s beauty the way we see Lance and Matt do, and Allura doesn’t blush like how she does with Lotor or Lance. Without markers for any kind of Eros, the scene is a quiet moment of contemplation away from the stress, only to be broken by Shiro telling them to get back because the Galra Empire found the Castleship again.

So then where do we see passionate chemistry for Keith? At the risk of starting the ship-war again, his chemistry largely exists with Shiro and Lance. Shiro, narratively, functions as his Mentor, someone to guide and believe in him, who then gives up his position of leadership (sort of) so that Keith can grow. Bringing Shiro back prematurely makes it harder to see, but in a traditional Hero’s Journey, the Mentor figure teaches not-quite-enough to the Hero before disappearing, and the Hero grows on their own and becomes their own person. Naturally, this makes Keith and Shiro have tension, especially since Shiro was brought back prematurely due to marketing, so their relationship dynamic had to change to accommodate Shiro’s return. Lance, however, constantly baits and teases Keith, and Keith frequently rises to it and they argue. They butt heads and don’t have that sense of camaraderie that Keith and Shiro do, so right off the bat there is more obvious tension between the two of them. Eventually, Lance and Keith learn to trust each other, and in season 8 we finally see them settle their rivalry as they prepare to face Honerva. So while Keith’s dynamic with Shiro is more focused on camaraderie and growth, Keith’s dynamic with Lance is more focused on pushing each other to be better warriors and teammates.

Philia: Friendly Love

In VLD, we’re shown that friends can be found anywhere if you’re willing to put down the blasters and try to make them. We’re also shown that just because you’re on the same side of the battlefield, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re best buddies. Commander Lahn pledges his loyalty to Lotor after his base is saved by Voltron, and Keith and Lance butt heads so often you’d think one would sooner drop the other into a black hole. However, we should never discount the power of friendship, or rather, we should never discount the value of platonic relationships. This includes everything from friendship, to the found family trope, to the mystical bond the Paladins have with their Lions. Philia is the companion’s love, firmly rooted in platonic–and often intellectual–admiration.

Philia, as defined in A Greek-English Lexicon by Liddell and Scott, is “an affectionate regard or friendship, usually between equals”. Where Eros is the fiery passion between sexually-attracted adults, Philia is the platonic love between people who respect and trust each other. This is the love that flows like water, endlessly filling and refilling your emotional needs with good company, good advice, and generally just a good presence. Friendships are the ports we anchor ourselves at when the seas become too rough, and in VLD, where space is the most dangerous frontier and most of the universe is your enemy, friends are more important than ever for our Heroes and Heroines.

[ID: A screenshot of S4E1 “Code of Honor” with Allura, Lance, Coran, Shiro, Pidge, and Hunk sharing a group hug with Keith. Coran, Hunk, Pidge, and Allura are all crying, while Keith, Shiro, and Lance are smiling. End ID.]

Everywhere you look in VLD, you’re sure to find some kind of camaraderie between friends. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk make the Garrison Trio (or as I like to call them, The Planck Constant), and they get into shenanigans together. In fact, it’s entirely likely that had Lance and Hunk not decided to follow Pidge up to the roof, they never would’ve found Shiro, and subsequently Blue Lion. Later, when Voltron has allied with Lotor as the new Galra Emperor, they reprogram a sentry to become the eternally-fantastic Funbot. If you want a prime example of the fun that could be had between friends, those three are quintessential to the definition of Philia. They’re the first Youths you meet in the story, and it’s through their eyes we watch as a far-off intergalactic war comes to Earth at last. The show has us follow them as the audience, and we watch as they meet up with Keith, save Shiro, and then find themselves going from Earth to Kerberos in less than five minutes, and then by the end of their day, they’ve awoken Allura and Coran and are on Arus, thousands of lightyears away from their home.

We see the Paladins go from a rowdy group of teenagers with Shiro as the head to a group of five Heroes and Heroines capable of saving the universe. Lance helps Pidge get all the GAC coins she needs for a video game, and he’s always got the team’s back with his sniper rifle. Hunk always is ready to lend a hand, even when he’s scared of flying Yellow, but when the Taujeerans are in danger of falling into the acid as their planet breaks apart, he’s right there holding them up while the team gets the arc ship ready for takeoff. Our Paladins are the embodiment of the power of friendship, trust, and perseverance, and it’s that tenacity and dedication that should have carried our six Paladins to victory and brought the Purple Paladin back into the light he thought had forsaken him. Black, Red, Green, Blue, Yellow, Purple, and White, together in a bond of pure platonic love. There’s an old phrase I’m sure you’re all familiar with: “blood is thicker than water”. The power of Philia and found family in VLD challenges that notion in the original S8 when Lotor is offered his vindication. “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.”

Pick any two of our main protagonists and you’re sure to find a thread of Philia connecting them, because when you fight together as one, you inevitably become closer as the trust builds between you. In fanfic terminology, this is the root of the found family trope: strangers and friends finding themselves in a gripping adventure together, and discovering that they’re stronger together than they could be apart, and coming to see these people as more than colleagues or acquaintances. They become your family and people to defend, and the people you trust to have your back when it’s time to face down an enemy together.

That’s part of why Keith leaving for the Blade of Marmora is so fractious. He’s growing into a leadership role and obviously accustomed to it, but with Shiro’s premature return, there’s some growing pains as the incumbent leader and the former leader unintentionally butt heads. Keith needs to be in Black Lion without Shiro to complete his growth, but without a way to easily integrate him back into the team without messing with the legacy, Keith has to go. And like with any good friend, when you have to say goodbye, it’s a bittersweet affair. The team doesn’t want him to go, but in-canon he feels he can do more good with the Blade, but the meta reason is that his Hero’s Journey has been arrested. But, like with any good friend, the team is able to reunite with him at a later date and he integrates back into the group. They are wiser to the world, harder, but they are together again. And they need that unity when it’s time to face Honerva and go into battle for not just their universe, but all realities.

Storge: Familial Love

In English, we have many concepts of love, but generally we only treat the single word of “love” as a word for “love”. As a result, we tend to use other words to modify the type of love we mean, which can get things kind of sticky if you talk about X type of love but don’t specify that it’s X type and not Y type. With familial love, it can be relatively understood without being specified, but as you can see by my explication here, I still have to modify the word “love” with an adjective to describe the next kind of love I will be discussing. Storge, the familial love.

A Greek-English Lexicon defines Storge as “love, affection, especially of parents and children”. Storge, unlike Philia, is not a platonic admiration for a companion in the family, however it does denote respect. Storge is also not the idealized unconditional love of Agape (which we will discuss toward the end of this essay). Storge is the instinctive love for those in your family, especially between parents and children. I also argue the key aspect of Storge is that your family–for all the times you want to tear out your hair–will love you for the rest of their lives. And you’ll love them, because they’re people who have your best interests at heart, even if they don’t always express that well.

Coran, Coran, the gorgeous man himself is Allura’s second father figure (after Alfor), but he’s the only father figure for Allura in the show that’s alive. Coran’s protectiveness of Allura is well-documented. He was furious when she got captured saving Shiro, he warns her to be careful healing the Balmera, he worries for her in Blue, but at no point does he actually prevent her from making her choices. He wants her to have a full life, a happy life, or at least as happy as one can be when you’re one of the only survivors of a war. He’s a father through and through, and even if Allura is Alfor’s daughter by blood, Coran is the one who supports her during the most difficult stage of not just her life but the universe’s life. He loves her, he consistently reminds people to respect her and to think of what’s best for her. Not just as a princess of Altea or the heart of Voltron, but as a daughter. Alfor was her father, but he died before he saw her face the trials in the plot. Coran, however, he gets to see her grow into a woman even greater than what Alfor could have ever imagined. The audience might find him a little frustrating (such as in S8E1 “Launch Date”), and Allura takes his protectiveness in stride, but at the end of the day Coran is a gorgeous man with his heart in the right place, even if his execution is a little off the mark on occasion.

The Holt parents are also good examples of Storge. We see Colleen and Sam fight to tell Earth about what’s been going on, as well as finding their children. Colleen herself is a solid mama bear that anyone would want to have fighting for them in their corner, and we can see she gives no fucks about protocol when she’s told she can’t stay on Garrison grounds with her husband.

[ID: Colleen Holt glaring, her husband Sam behind her looking equally annoyed. She glares at Admiral Sanda (off-screen) as they argue. The subtitle reads, “You’ll get me the clearance.” End ID.]

While Colleen doesn’t hesitate to ground Pidge for running away to space, the fact of the matter is that she and Sam fought like absolute hell to protect their kids in the ways they had available to them. Storge is the love parents have for their children and these two human characters are the perfect examples of it, even if Pidge chafes a bit under being grounded. Sam and Colleen’s love for Pidge and Matt and Coran’s love for Allura are the perfect avenues to explore how Storge is love, even if it’s frustrating, but they also serve as an excellent foil for how that love can be horribly twisted.

Philautia: Self-Love

In S1E1 of VLD, when our human protagonists meet Allura, Sendak is barreling through open space to their location and hellbent on capturing the Blue Lion. Allura is able to talk to Alfor–or rather, his hologram–to seek guidance in the upcoming battle, and he says, “You must be willing to sacrifice everything to assemble the lions and correct my error.”

With VLD, there’s this idea of sacrifice, of giving your life for the greater good, but when discussing acts of love, we also need to talk about acts of love for yourself. We see many instances of characters sacrificing themselves for the greater good, the belief that their death will bring an eventual victory to the Paladins of Voltron and free the universe. Allura throws Shiro into an escape pod so he doesn’t have to suffer the abuse again, but in the process becomes a prisoner herself. Ulaz gives up his life to save the Paladins and keep the Blade of Marmora base secret. Thace sacrifices himself so that Galra Central Command can go offline and the plan can move forward. Keith nearly kills himself trying to break through Haggar’s barrier at the battle of Naxzella before Lotor intervenes and destroys the ship with a blast from his Sincline ship. Sacrifice is a massive part of the show, and needless sacrifices are always undone, but what message do continuous sacrifices leave us with as the audience? It leaves us with Alfor’s lesson: you must sacrifice everything to correct my mistake.

When you’re writing, one of the most basic things you must do to drive a plot forward is change something significant. In the beginning of a story, Character A might think Character B is wrong and has no idea of what it takes to do something, but then Character B later on needs to surprise Character A by proving they can do that thing or that they don’t need to. It forces Character A and the audience to rethink their initial assumptions, and it encourages tension and dialogue between characters that otherwise might not exist. It’s an internal motivation, and one that audiences will pretty much always find more gripping and compelling than a simple monster-of-the-week scenario. VLD is no different. “All Galra are bad/Altea is good” leads to meeting the Blade of Marmora and Alteans who took over their universe. The challenge to a character’s worldview is what makes turning these initial ideas on their head so satisfying.

So what could challenge the idea that you have to sacrifice everything? Especially to correct the mistakes of someone else?

Love. Not for others, not for family, not even for the greater good.

But for yourself.

To quote Audre Lorde, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” Philautia is the love in which you put yourself first, not because it’s selfish, but because it’s self-care. Self-love is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “an appreciation of one’s own worth or virtue” and Philautia has been recognized for millennia as a basic human need by the likes of Maslow and the Ancient Greeks. Recognizing your own needs and worth is a fundamentally radical decision, especially if you are in a position where you’re expected to prioritize the needs of others before your own.

S1E1 of VLD offers us pretty much every worldview that gets challenged later on in the series, except for Alfor’s. We see Alteans can be equally cruel, that Galra are not all evil. Voltron is a great protector, but it is also a great weapon, and Keith even calls it an alien warship in the very beginning, highlighting the danger Blue–and consequently Voltron itself–poses by merely existing. Philautia is not the exertion or prioritization of your desires, but the assertion of your needs. It can easily swing too far into selfishness and vanity, but making yourself heard is never a bad decision, and for those who are marginalized, women, trans people, disabled people, neurodivergent people, nonwhite people, it is an act of defiance. The sins of people in positions of power are not the burden for their victims to bear. If protesting is too much or too burdensome, simply taking the time to care for oneself is enough, because you can’t pour water out of an empty cup. Alfor’s plea to Allura was always meant to be overturned with the finale, especially since she’s facing down the antithesis of everything she believed in season 1. Honerva is selfish, manipulative, abusive, and an Altean woman. Alfor would ask Allura to give up everything she has left to destroy Honerva, but in the original and unedited season 8 Allura would have taken that plea and turned it on its head.

VLD’s Princess Allura is the first and only iteration to be a nonwhite girl and voiced by a black woman. Having her sacrifice herself is an extremely harmful message to little girls of color everywhere because it’s not the burden of girls of color to save the world. Their duty is to love themselves and know they’re able to be as brave and kind and intelligent as they’d like. Princess Allura’s arc is about a girl learning to not shoulder the burden of violence, but instead choosing to relieve herself and choose healing and creation, and in turn, her reward would be the literal universe at her fingertips.

And Allura isn’t the only character to learn to love themselves. Lance, as well, learns to become comfortable with himself. At first he’s comfortable and cocky and immature in Blue Lion, but then as the seasons progress and he finds Red to be more of a challenge, he learns he has to follow through with his actions and decisions. He learns that to fly Red, he can’t hesitate and just has to roll with the punches. He dubs himself “the sharpshooter” of the group, and at first he gets laughed at, but then he saves Slav from being trapped in prison once more by firing and making a near-impossible shot. He doesn’t have to forge ahead and fight recklessly, he simply has to see an opportunity and take it.

All our other Paladins learn to become more comfortable with themselves, as well. Hunk becomes more confident in being the voice of reason, and becomes an A+ diplomat in the process. Pidge is able to open up and be honest with her team about her secrets and fears, and in return is blessed not just with that weight off her shoulders, but the knowledge that her team is her family just as much as Sam and Matt are. Keith, too, learns that he doesn’t have to go it alone all the time. He’s able to relax and trust his team, and rather than burdening himself with doing everything, he’s able to rely on the skillsets of the other Paladins and make them a stronger team by focusing his attention on directing them, as opposed to commanding them.

Another interesting example of Philautia is Lotor himself, who at no point is uncomfortable with his mixed heritage, even when he’s called a “half-breed” or when one of his parents blames half of his heritage for his failings. The main reason that it’s not as blatant is because by the time the story begins, he’s been at peace with his heritage and his place in the Galra Empire for a long time, and thus does not play a significant role until he has his breakdown at the end of season 6.

This form of love is quite possibly the most frustrating, if only because so much of its payoff was in season 8. We should see Allura not give up her life in the name of sacrifice, but rather choose to become a goddess in the name of love. We should see Lance become unshakably confident in his abilities when it’s time to face the biggest bad guy of the series. The final season was meant to be a season won through love, and self-love is quintessential to that victory, because it gives viewers the message that your acceptance of yourself is vital to the world. It’s an important lesson for little girls everywhere to know that their worth doesn’t lie in how much of themselves they can give away, but how much of themselves they cultivate and grow, because if you trust in yourself and choose love, then you’ll be as powerful and strong as Princess Allura. It’s possible to be the brave and chivalrous Paladin while also being the princess who likes the occasional sparkly thing.

The lesson of Philautia in VLD is one of embracing your limits of what you can give, and reminding the world that you matter, because loving yourself is the greatest act of defiance when you’re faced with an enemy who wants nothing more than for you to make yourself smaller, weaker, more amicable if it would please them. It’s the reminder to be gentle with yourself, no matter what battles you face, because caring for yourself is just as–if not more–important.

Xenia: Love for the Stranger

Hospitality is a massive part of many cultures, I personally had a relative (who has since passed) who would always have an open door for the poor families in their neighborhood and the stove would always have something cooking. My own mother will cook especially for you if you need her to. There’s a reason “Southern hospitality” is famous. Good food, good company, and ultimately safety are what sets Xenia among the categories of love as defined by the Ancient Greeks. In VLD, this form of love is very sparse in comparison to love such as Philia, however it’s extremely important that our heroes engage in it. To quote Coran, “70 percent of diplomacy is appearance. Then 29 percent is manners, decorum, formalities and chit-chat” (“Changing of the Guard”). The remaining one percent, which Allura notes, is actual diplomacy and fighting for freedom. That’s essentially what hosting, good and proper hosting, is. It’s taking someone into your home and providing them with material comforts and necessities such as food, as well as non-physical ones like safety or protection, or extending and respecting their rights.

A good host will anticipate their guests’ needs because they have a love for their fellow strangers, and they show that love by providing for them. Xenia is the love of the stranger who has taken up space in your home and respecting their need to do so, but it’s also a reciprocal love. By extending your hospitality to a person, they will be more inclined to do the same for you and yours in the future. In Greece it was a complicated dance of gift-giving and receiving, spurred by the belief that one would incur the wrath of a god in disguise. While offending the gods was a big fear, it’s important to remember that good hosting and good guesting will create a deep bond between both parties because you’re respecting one another. Respect your wayward traveler and welcome them into your home, and they will entertain you with tales from far away lands, and in the future you will find a place at their table. Respect your host and the space they provide you, and you’ll receive gifts and care fit for a god. This giving and receiving encourages goodwill between strangers, and providing care to someone you don’t know is an act of love in its own right.

There’s a rule in American food language: “never return an empty dish”. This rule is especially prevalent in the US South and Midwest regions, but the general idea is that when you meet someone new (i.e. a new neighbor) you bring them a dish of something to welcome them and introduce yourself. You make small-talk, help them get acquainted with the area, wish them well, and then go on your merry way. Then, once your new neighbor has settled, eaten the food you gave them, and had time to make something new, they come knocking on your door and return that dish to you with a new food in it.

That’s a facet of what Xenia can encompass, and we see Xenia acted out in three key ways in VLD: Allura recruiting people for the Voltron Coalition, Lotor hosting the Paladins during their alliance, and Hunk showing his care for others through cooking.

Allura, for all her charms, isn’t that great of a diplomat, especially in the beginning of the story. When she meets the Arusians, she accidentally informs them that their dance of apology isn’t enough, which then makes them think they need to sacrifice themselves on a pyre. She thankfully recovers and lets them continue the dance, and then invites them into the Castle of Lions later. With the leaders of the rebel planets, she has a good presence and is rather suave with her guests, however when attention moves off her and onto the Paladins, and when the question of Voltron comes up, it’s extremely difficult for her to take control of the situation again. The loss of Shiro was fresh, and she really didn’t have a good answer that would reveal they couldn’t form Voltron, so she struggled with taking control back. This isn’t an indictment on Allura, but it is meant to point out how Xenia is not easy to learn. As we follow the Paladins, however, Allura gains confidence in her ability to speak publicly, and as they gather more allies it becomes easier for her to encourage alliances. She goes from panicking and trying to keep Arusians from dying to being able to communicate with allies and command a room. Xenia doesn’t come as naturally to Allura as it does to Hunk, and Lotor has had millennia of practice, but the important thing about Xenia is that you extend your hand and make the effort, even if it’s a little clumsy, because in the end you’re caring about strangers and welcoming them into your home and telling them they have a place at your table.

However, where Allura falls short in Xenia, we see both Hunk and Lotor shine. Let’s examine Lotor’s expertise, first.

Lotor is ten thousand years old, and it’s implied he’s spent much of that time playing the political game of the Galra Empire, as well as learning about other planets. It’s canon that he has a thirst for knowledge, and so couple his curiosity with his need to survive a very blood-driven political environment and you have a golden host forged in fire. It’s difficult to surprise Lotor, since he’s pretty much always two steps ahead of everyone. When he forges an alliance with the Voltron Coalition after his victory at the Kral Zera, Lotor has banners hung that bear the same symbol that Zarkon and Alfor fought under, which also adorns the shield on Green’s back. He specifically sought to recall the good times between the Galra and Alteans, and personally greeted the Paladins on his flagship. He encourages the Paladins to explore and use whatever resources they need, because as their host, Lotor–and by extension the entire Galra Empire–is now at their disposal. He’s the ever-perfect host, inviting his lower-ranked guests to make themselves comfortable, and acknowledging Allura’s rank as princess and personally escorting her along. In a lot of other high fantasy or sci-fi stories, showing the heroes around would get palmed off to a servant of some sort, especially if the host is duplicitous. However, Lotor affords our Heroes and Heroines quite a bit of respect compared to what other characters in his place might do, even going so far as to offer his own personal time to the princess when he has an empire to claim still. Given the canon politics, Lotor logically should have been in constant communication with various officers and securing their loyalty to him, but instead he takes time to approach his new allies and make them feel welcome in the headquarters of their former-enemy.

So while Lotor is arguably the best example of good hosting I’ve ever seen in a show (without it turning out to be some sort of ploy), Hunk’s style of Xenia is equally good if in a different way. While Lotor is shown to essentially be a master of decorum, Hunk is a master in the kitchen and the art of making room for everyone at the table. Hunk has only been in space for a few months to a few years (depending on when in the series we’re talking), he hasn’t had the millennia to research planets and learn all their customs, or train in diplomacy to make up for any lack of education. He’s just a guy from Earth who likes to cook and who especially likes to cook for others. In all prior iterations of Voltron, Hunk has always been “the food guy” or “the slightly dumb, but lovable one”. It’s not particularly flattering, and VLD even pokes fun at how flat his character is historically in “The Voltron Show!” by adding fart gag noises. In VLD, however, we see that Hunk is intelligent and brave, if anxious, and he’s more at home in a home than he is in a Lion. Hunk is a good Paladin, but he is quite possibly the best diplomat in the whole show.

A large part of Hunk’s diplomacy lies in listening. When he’s out in the field, he’s quite possibly the best listener out of the entire team. When there are guests on the Castleship, or when the Alteans are on the IGF-Atlas, he doesn’t just listen, he welcomes them. In scenes from season 8, we really get to see this shine, because as Hunk says in “Day Forty-Seven”, “food has a way of reminding people of moments in time.” Bringing good memories with food can go a long way to putting stress and anger behind people.

Every person has a dish that, when prepared, makes them relax and think of happy memories. In Hunk’s kitchen, everyone eats, and nobody is unwelcome. Whether you’re Commander Lahn and working with Hunk to save your planet from devastating radiation, or you’re an Altean who just wants what’s best for your people, Hunk will meet you halfway and try to see things from your perspective, and offer you a cookie because he feels like it. Hunk’s Xenia is not wrapped up in protocol or etiquette. His Xenia is found just across the kitchen table, with a plate of warm food and a friendly conversation, ready to listen to your troubles and offer a hug, if not a solution.

Agape: Unconditional Love

Now that we have discussed the five prior categories of love as defined by the Ancient Greeks, let’s examine Agape, which can be difficult to conceptualize. “Agape” originates a Greek term, however it wasn’t used very often until Christianity came into the picture, and thus it encompasses far more than even xenia does, because while Xenia is love in the form of courtesy to travelers, Agape’s prevalent definition stems purely from the idea that God loves everyone unconditionally. In fact, “agape” is the term used in the Bible to describe the unconditional love of God, but when you translate it to English, the word simply becomes “love”, losing the weight that it carries in Greek.

The idea of unconditional and divine love is not unique to Christianity or the Ancient Greeks. Throw a rock in any direction and I’m sure you’ll find a culture with a similar concept to Agape. The key aspects of unconditional love is that it is sexless–meaning attraction is unnecessary to feel Agape–and that it is founded in goodwill for others. It feels cheap to throw the quote “love thine enemy” around in this section, because that discounts the importance of Philautia as we discussed it earlier in this essay, but at the end of the day that’s what Agape means. The Bible–which influences much of the definition of this kind of love–would have people forgive the ones who do them wrong, but forgiveness does not mean forgetting, and loving someone doesn’t require forgiving them either.

In VLD, a man loved a woman so much he tricked his closest friends and allies into opening a rift in an effort to save her life. In the process, they both died and revived, cursed with immortality and a thirst for destruction. Zarkon was a man who loved Honerva so much that he doomed the known universe to 10,000 years of his tyranny. Honerva, when she regained her memories, sought vengeance against Voltron for not just losing her son, but also because she blames everyone around her for being the reason why her own son rejected her time and time again. Honerva is the antithesis to Allura in pretty much every way, and in the edited season 8, Lotor is condemned to a cycle of abuse because he’s never offered an opportunity to speak, just like how he was violently silenced by his mother when he disobeyed his father on the colony planet in “Shadows”. Honerva, however, is not.

[ID: A screenshot of S8, featuring from left to right: Lance, Keith, Allura, “Shiro”, Pidge, and Hunk. They face Honerva, who is facing away from the audience so we see the back of her head and suit. Screenshot from “Seek Truth in Darkness”. End ID.]

[ID: A shot of “Allura”’s hand grasping Honerva’s wrist and vice versa. Screenshot from “Seek Truth in Darkness”. End ID.]

Allura being a paragon of growing into Philautia gives other characters the ability to do the same, but as @leakinghate notes in “Seek Truth in Darkness”, that is not Allura’s hand, just as that is not Shiro next to Allura in the prior screenshot. Allura is not the one who was most wronged by Honerva. She was asleep and hidden from the universe. Lotor, however, was subjected to centuries of abuse by the hands of his parents.

Agape is a complicated love, one that requires a person to be able to love everyone unconditionally, but love does not necessarily mean “forgive and forget”. It’s important that Allura impart the enlightenment she gained on her Heroine’s Journey, because this is the point where she can be at peace and claim her cosmic reward, but she cannot do so without the person who was most wronged being able to face his oppressor: Lotor.

[ID: A close-up shot of Lotor glaring at the audience, with the subtitle text reading, “maybe I will take pity on you when the time comes.” Screenshot from “Seek Truth in Darkness”. End ID.]

As @leakinghate​ pointed out, Allura is the one to use her abilities to restore Honerva’s sense of self, but Lotor being present makes this confrontation all the more poignant and intense. This is the opportunity for us to see Agape in its full glory, but with the edits to the final season it’s a pale shadow of what could have been. The universe is about to be reborn because Allura and Lotor stay behind to repair the rift in all realities. We need that Philautia that Allura is able to embody, but we also need Agape. We’re shown countless times throughout the show that good and evil are not so clearly delineated, and that there are shades of gray everywhere. Lotor has been hurt so much by the one person alive who should have loved him unconditionally.

And rather than continue the cycle of abuse and take vengeance, he chooses to let go. We should have seen him take his power back, not in a godly or violent sense, but his power over his fate. He is not his father. And he is not his mother. He is more. By confronting her in this rift of all realities, we see the foreshadowing of season 6 come into full swing and while we are missing much of that original sequence between him and his mother, it’s important to realize that regardless of the content that was removed post-production, he takes pity on his mother in a sense. She’s a flawed person who made bad decisions. He does not owe her forgiveness, and he does not owe her love, but in her finally letting go of not just him but all the spirits of the original Paladins, Lotor himself is able to be free to love in the way he was denied: unconditionally.

The universe needs people who love themselves enough to choose a path of peace, and it needs to be made with the unconditional love of a parent, a friend, a lover, a god. It needs the eternal goodwill of its new creators because the people of the new universe will fuck up. They’ll make mistakes and hurt each other and Weblums will eat planets and the circle of life will continue. But being able to look at the fucked-up universe and say “I love you” is a power that not many have. It takes courage to look at the universe that has wronged you, wronged billions, hurt the found family that’s accepted you, and still find a way to love it.

The new universe is made of love just as the old one was. It’s made with passion, for friends, for family, for strangers, and for yourself. It’s made by people with love and hope and the intent to make the world they live in a little better every day. And that, ultimately, is the true love that spurs the story of VLD forward.

Stay tuned for a companion meta soon, in which we will discuss these forms of love and how they can be twisted and taken to unhealthy extremes.

Works Cited

Dos Santos, Joaquim and Montgomery, Lauren. Voltron: Legendary Defender. Netflix.

LeakingHate, et. al. “Legendarily Defensive: Editing the Gay Away in VLD”. Team Purple Lion. 12 Mar 2019. Web. https://www.teampurplelion.com/gay-romance-cut-voltron/

LeakingHate, et. al. “Seek Truth in Darkness”. Team Purple Lion. 2 Mar 2019. Web. https://www.teampurplelion.com/seek-truth-in-darkness/ Liddell, Henry and Scott, Robert. “Eros”. A Greek-English Lexicon. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3De%29%2Frws

Liddell, Henry and Scott, Robert. “Philia”. A Greek-English Lexicon. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dfili%2Fa

Liddell, Henry and Scott, Robert. “Storge”. A Greek-English Lexicon. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dstorgh%2F

“Self-love”. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/self-love

Payne, Will. “Botany for the Beginner”. Australian Plants Online. 2006. http://anpsa.org.au/APOL2006/aug06-s1.html

Potter, Ben. “The Odyssey: Be Our Guest With Xenia”. Classical Wisdom Weekly. 19 April 2013. Web. https://classicalwisdom.com/culture/literature/the-odyssey-be-our-guest-with-xenia/

@leakinghate​ @crystal-rebellion​ @felixazrael​ @voltronisruiningmylife​

[thesilverheroineproject]

7 ‘strong’ women: writing better female characters

Bridget at Now Novel 

Gone are the days where female characters in novels tended to be simpering, dependent and virtual cardboard cutouts. To celebrate the strong – but also the not-so-strong, the complex and vivid – women in fiction, this week we’re talking about 7 great females characters and what they can teach you about better character writing.

However, before examining the character development of strong female characters, it’s important to define what is meant by a strong female character. Writers have grappled with this definition and cautioned that it is important to allow a strong female characters to have weaknesses. Developing a strong female character doesn’t simply mean creating a protagonist who defies prescriptive gender expectations. It means developing a character who is well-rounded and real. Most importantly, perhaps, a strong female character is one who acts rather than one who is acted upon by societal and other pressures that revolve around her sex or gender.

The female characters below all exemplify good character development:

Writing characters who have a strong sense of self: Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre

We can reach back to the classics for one of the novel’s earliest strong female characters. Jane Eyre survives an abusive childhood, first in the home of the family charged with caring for her and later at a boarding school, only to find herself working for a man who has his own complex and disturbing relationship to women [no spoilers here].

One of the most remarkable aspects of Jane as a character is that she is, in one sense, a victim of circumstance, of the time and place into which she is born and her station in life, and yet despite that she seizes agency and makes her own choices even when those choices are very limited. This begins with her rebellion against her cruel relatives, continues in her care for her fellow students in the abusive boarding school and culminates in her rejection of Mr. Rochester.

A lesser writer than Charlotte Bronte might have written a similar book in which the same series of incidents unfolded and showed Jane as passive in the face of those incidents. Yet it is her resilience, her determination in the face of suffering and her own sense of self that stands out in this novel. The lesson from Jane Eyre is that your character will be engaging and interesting if she has the agency to choose her response to things even when that response changes little or makes the situation worse, as is often the case for Jane.

Other strong female characters also find a way to thrive in gender-regulated societies:

Isabel Allende’s generations of vibrant women

Critics have described Chilean author Isabel Allende’s novel House of the Spirits as a kind of woman-centred companion or response to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, which foregrounds the historical experiences of mainly male characters. Allende’s novel examines the lives of women amid upheaval wrought by men, but it is always the three generations of women that provide the vibrant core of the novel. Clara Trueba is the matriarach of the tale, but her daughter Blanca and granddaughter Alba are just as strong.

Unlike some of the other female characters discussed here, all three of the Trueba women are strong characters and strong women who defy oppressors in more traditional ways. However, their commitment to causes such as education and health care are shown to be ultimately more effective in securing change than the revolutions the men carry out.

The lesson from the Trueba women is that strong female characters do not necessarily have to refuse or abandon all characteristics or roles seen as traditionally ‘female’ or ‘feminine’. For these women, these roles actually turn out to be the most effective ways for them to remain strong and bear up under the suffering they endure.

The heroine’s journey: Lauren Olamina and Octavia Butler’s Parable novels

In her classic science fiction novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, author Octavia Butler gave her character a disability. Because of a drug her mother took when she was pregnant, Lauren Olamina suffers from a condition known as hyperempathy in which she feels whatever a living thing near her is also feeling. However, in most other ways, Lauren’s character arc follows one that is traditionally depicted as predominantly male. She becomes a leader for her people and founds a new religion.

There has been some criticism of Joseph Campbell’s study of the hero’s journey as a distinctly male construct. Lauren’s character arc from a teenage girl to the leader of a new society demonstrates that there are no character arcs or paths of development that need to be reserved exclusively for male or female characters.

When developing your own strong female character, there is no reason she cannot command an army or rise to a high position of influence just as a male character might. It’s always good to remember that you can write the world you want, not merely the world you have.

Some female characters are so memorable that fans feel they should have been the main characters in their books:

Brains over beauty: Hermione Granger

Many readers of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter fantasy series love Hermione even more than Harry. Hermione is probably the smartest pupil in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and she’s also loyal and brave. But she isn’t perfect. She can be a know-it-all. She talks too much. She is sometimes bossy.

Hermione’s negative traits are as essential to her existence as a strong female character as her positive traits are. In a world where girls are often assumed to have the most value if conventionally beautiful and adept at social interactions, Rowling created a girl who is described in the books as somewhat less than beautiful and often socially awkward. Yet Hermione remains one of the most beloved characters of YA literature.

The lesson from Hermione is that it is important make sure your strong female character has flaws, and it is even better if, as is the case with Hermione, some of those flaws are inextricably connected to the characters’ strengths. After all, the reason Hermione is a know-it-all is because she very often is the smartest person in the room or the only one who is correct about something. If Hermione is bossy, it is because sometimes the people around her need to be bossed.

The unlikable heroine: Katniss Everdeen

Some readers find Katniss Everdeen a hard character to like. However, Katniss lives in a hard world that only gets harder as the Hunger Games series goes on, and it is that hardness that saves her. Katniss is also a reluctant heroine. She steps up to fight in the first round of hunger games to save her sister and the second time because she has to. Katniss does try to protect the helpless, but she does so on an individual basis. She has no desire to become to face of the revolution and is pressured into the role.

Katniss possesses many characteristics that are thought of as traditionally male, and to some degree, she was criticised for characteristics that would be much less likely to be singled out if male characters had them. Whether or not Katniss is entirely likeable — and plenty of readers adore her — the lesson for writers here is that they should focus on writing people first and genders second.

Katniss would have been a very different character and the Hunger Games series a very different set of books if their author, Suzanne Collins, had felt pressured to make Katniss worry about her looks or fret about boys. A second lesson is that authors should be unafraid to make their protagonists into characters who are sometimes difficult to relate to, as real can be.

A change of view: Cassie Maddox in Tana French’s The Likeness

Tana French’s character Cassie is a particularly good example. The reader first meets her in the crime writer’s first novel, In the Woods. Cassie is the best friend and colleague of homicide detective Rob Ryan, but the novel is written from Rob’s point of view. When we next meet Cassie in French’s second novel, The Likeness, the story is told from Cassie’s point of view. Therefore, we get a fascinating look at character development from two different angles. A further complication is that Cassie spends much of The Likeness pretending to be someone else.

Cassie is well-developed as well. A policewoman, she exhibits courage and intelligence, but the challenges she faces in The Likeness uncover unexpected vulnerabilities.

The women of speculative fiction: Margaret Atwood and Offred

Margaret Atwood’s unknown narrator in The Handmaid’s Tale is another fascinating example of how a writer can develop a strong female character. Because the dystopian world Offred lives in is so restrictive, Atwood does not have access to many of the usual tools a writer might use to develop character. However, she manages to develop a character who rebels in small ways under oppressive and degrading conditions.

The narrator known as Offred remains nameless and we learn very little about the typical aspects of her life that we do with other characters. From reading her story, we can learn how to develop a strong female character without access to information about things like friends, career and leisure time activities.

Writing strong female characters is a matter of understanding that these characters should have weaknesses as well as strengths. By reading the stories in which the characters listed above appear, you can study the variety of approaches that writers use to develop characters and get a sense of the diversity of fully realized female main characters that exist.

Who is one of your favourite women of fiction?

X

[transastronautistic]

queer history: a chat with Anne Lister and Leslie Feinberg

you know what i’d love to witness? a conversation between Anne Lister and Leslie Feinberg. can you even imagine it??

Lister wrote, “I am made unlike anyone I have ever met. I dare to say I am like no one in the whole world.” but i think she’d quickly realize that Feinberg is “made like” her -- that Feinberg has a very similar sexuality and gender expression to her own, and truly gets what it’s like to be persecuted for those things. Lister’d be so thrilled and relieved to find she’s not alone!

and Feinberg? when ze was younger, ze was desperate to find hirself in history -- just like Lister, ze was convinced that “No one like me seemed to have ever existed” (Transgender Warriors, p. 11). Feinberg would absolutely recognize Lister as a part of the big beautiful queer history that ze eventually discovered.

there are many parts of Feinberg’s story that come to mind as i watch Gentleman Jack -- such as when Lister is talking to the little boy Henry, who asks if she’s a man, and she replies:

“Well, that's a question. And you are not the first person to ask it. I was in Paris once, dressed extremely well, I thought, in silk and ribbons, ringlets in my hair. Very gay, very ladylike. And even then, someone mistook me for a...Mm. So, no, I am not a man. I'm a lady. A woman. I'm a lady woman. I'm a woman.”

when i watched that scene, i immediately thought of this passage from Feinberg’s Transgender Warriors:

“...I was considered far too masculine a woman to get a job in a store, or a restaurant, or an office. I couldn’t survive without working. So one day I put on a femme friend’s wig and earrings and tried to apply for a job as a salesperson at a downtown retail store. On the bus ride to the interview, people stood rather than sit next to me. They whispered and pointed and stared. ‘Is that a man?’ one woman asked her friend, loud enough for us all to hear. The experience taught me an important lesson. The more I tried to wear clothing or styles considered appropriate for women, the more people believed I was a man trying to pass as a woman. I began to understand that I couldn’t conceal my gender expression” (p. 12).

over a century separated these two, but people who could or would not conform to their assigned gender suffered in both eras. both of these people longed for a connection to a wider community of people like them, longed to know why people like them were persecuted and hated and told that God reviled them. but while Lister did manage to cultivate a tiny haven for herself of loved ones who accepted her, she never found the wider community that Feinberg found -- the world of “drag queens, butches, and femmes,” a world in which “I fit; I was no longer alone” -- a world that extended beyond gay bars, deep into past millennia as well as across the entire globe!

Feinberg worked hard to dig up the answers to all hir questions of why -- “Why was I subject to legal harassment and arrest at all? Why was I being punished for the way I walked or dressed, or who I loved? Who wrote the laws used to harass us, and why? Who gave the green light to the cops to enforce them? Who decided what was normal in the first place?” (p. 8). what ze concluded was that the rise of class so many ages ago is what sowed the seeds of transphobia.

in Transgender Warriors, Feinberg argues that in ancient societies that followed a matrilineal system and shared all resources communally, whenever agriculture enabled some men to begin accumulating and hoarding resources, an intolerance for gender diversity would also arise (see pp. 42-44, 50-52). once these men had capital, they had power. the Few could use their capital to bribe, to threaten, and to control the Many. eventually these men would twist their communities into a patriarchy in order to ensure that they could keep the power in their own hands. for patriarchs rely upon a rigid gender binary to keep their power, wherein those assigned male are placed above everyone else. after all, if men behave "like women," how can we place them above women? if women behave "like men," will they try to force their way into the dominant group? if some people are too ambiguous to be categorized into either group, what does that say about our argument that this binary is the natural way of doing things or divinely ordained?

i think that there are some aspects of this history that Lister would be excited to learn. she’d recognize herself as one of those women trying to force their way into the dominant group, and agree that the patriarchs of her day were not happy about it. she’d appreciate Feinberg’s scholarship around those religious texts that she as a Christian and Feinberg as a Jewish person shared, how Feinberg shows that it was not God but men who decided that the gender binary must be enforced. Lister would heartily agree that her nature is God-given, not God-hated.

but the conversation between Lister and Feinberg would very quickly break down, for the same reason that transphobia sprung up: because of class.

not long into their discussion, Feinberg would be like “and that’s why Capitalism is the root of all evil and people like us will thrive only once we’ve overthrown the landed gentry and disseminated all the wealth” and Lister would be like. “excuse me. i am the Landed Gentry. the lower classes will get their callused hands on my wealth over my dead body"

and the relationship would promptly dissolve from there -- and i’d take Feinberg’s side 1000% and hope ze could knock some humility into Lister’s classist ass!

but anyway to me the similarities between these two historical figures combined with the stark differences in their worldviews only goes to show what an enormous factor class is! Feinberg notes this fact, that “trans expression” has existed among all classes -- and that social privilege makes a big difference in a trans or gnc person’s life:

“For the ruling elite, transgender expression could still be out in the open with far less threat of punishment than a peasant could expect. For example, when Queen Christina of Sweden abdicated in 1654, she donned men’s clothes and renamed herself ‘Count Dohna.’ Henry III of France was reported to have dressed as an Amazon and encouraged his courtiers to do likewise” (80).

(to be fair to Henry III, his gender non-conforming ways were used against him to justify his overthrow. but for a time, he had the means to express himself and to gather others who were like him into his court.)

if Feinberg had been born in the uppermost class of hir society, would that have protected hir from much of the cruelty and violence they experienced? after all, ze would never have had to scramble for a job, to try desperately to conform to gender expectations just to survive. Lister was able to spend much of her life refusing to listen to the hateful words circulating behind her back because to her face people tended to be much more polite. would Feinberg have had that experience too, had ze not been of the lower working class? would ze have never gone through the pain and struggle that caused hir to dig so ferociously into the history of transphobia and queerphobia?

it’s much less likely for someone at the top of the food chain to question the food chain -- even if they notice how the Way Things Are does work against them in some ways. Lister was unlikely to notice how a social hierarchy that pits the wealthy above the poor is intrinsically linked to the structures that pit men over women and confine each person into a rigid binary box -- because to notice that truth would have been to her own detriment. she may not have wanted to keep the cissexism, but she did want to keep her wealth.

As Feinberg puts it in Transgender Warriors when discussing afab people who fought for the Confederacy in the US Civil War, “just being [trans] doesn’t automatically make each person progressive.”

Lister was not prepared to fight a battle against her own privileges, even if it would also have been a battle against her own oppression. that doesn’t mean that those of us looking back at her story today can’t treasure what we have in common with her! we can. after all, in Transgender Warriors, Feinberg recounts the stories of the more “problematic,” complicated figures in queer history right alongside the ones that better fit hir own views. ze finds value in their stories despite the flaws, and we can too.

but at the same time, we have to acknowledge where Lister fell short, and do the hard work of examining our own privileges and considering how we can be better than Lister. we can instead be like Feinberg, whose marginalization -- as a butch lesbian, as a Jewish person, as a transgender person, and as a lower class person -- inspired hir not to cling to the privileges ze did have as hir only foothold in the power structure, but rather to be the best ally ze could be to people of color, to trans women, and others:

“We as trans people can’t liberate ourselves alone. No oppressed peoples can. So how and why will others come to our defense? And whom shall we, as trans people, fight to defend? A few years before he died [Frederick] Douglass told the International Council of Women, ‘When I ran away from slavery, it was for myself; when I advocated emancipation, it was for my people; but when I stood up for the rights of women, self was out of the question, and I found a little nobility in the act.’ I believe this is the only nobility to which we should aspire -- that is, to be the best fighters against each other’s oppression, and in doing so, to build links of solidarity and trust that will forge an invincible movement against all forms of injustice and inequality” (p. 92).

so, yeah. i’d love to hear these two people chat. i relate deeply to both of their experiences and think they’d find a lot of commonalities between themselves. ...and then with Feinberg i’d love to give Lister a piece of my mind when it comes to her classism.

[eelsafetyvideo-blog]

Tuba Girl

Masculine Role Confusion, Heteronormativity Challenged, Gender Construction, Intersexuality; all found in a single episode of a cult classic t.v. show that ran for a single season? YES!

The 1999 Judd Apatow show “Freaks and Geeks” is a favourite of mine. When I was about 9 or 10, my mom, who had watched the show when it aired on television, started renting the episodes for me from Blockbuster (I’m dating myself, I know). We would watch them, two at a time, every Friday until we finished the cruelly brief masterpiece. It has remained a favourite of mine since and, with the revolution of streaming sites, I was able to revisit it frequently. The last few episodes feature a character lovingly referred to as ‘Tuba Girl’ (she plays the tuba in the school band). The surly and uninterested character Ken, played by a very young Seth Rogan, develops a crush on Tuba Girl and pursues her with the help of his freaky friends. Ken and Tuba Girl begin to date and everything is going smoothly until she reveals something about herself. Feeling as if their relationship was developing into a deep connection, Tuba Girl decides to share her most intimate details with Ken. I know what you’re thinking, I’m not being euphemistic here. She tells him a secret she has kept life long. Tuba Girl was born with both ‘male’ and ‘female’ sex characteristics, known as being intersex. 

Before I get to Ken’s reaction, let me just talk about intersexuality for a moment. This was the first time I had heard of intersexuality. The only representation of it I had ever seen, and come to think of it, it may still remain the only representation of it I’ve personally seen on television. This sparked interest in me. It may even be the first time I consciously thought about gender and the first polka-dot of spreading ink in my understanding of gender as a construction. I went on to do some light research on my desk top computer, googling “intersex” and presumably starting on Wikipedia. I found out that about 2% of the population is intersex (about the same percentage of people with red hair) and there are almost endless ways that a body can present as intersex. There are variations in genitalia and hormones that all produce different results. This was my introduction to a very important topic. This television show, relegated to t.v. history after an untimely cancellation, and it stuck with me. My point here being: representation matters.

That representation was not excellent, but I wouldn’t call it uninformative either. I wouldn’t call it misrepresentation. Tuba Girl explains to Ken that, although she underwent surgery as an infant, this fact-of-self is still important to her. The show is set in the early 80′s in suburban Wisconsin... not the most welcoming place for difference. Ken, a counter-culture angsty rocker dude, a boy who was shown to be emotionally reserved throughout the show, reacts as you may have thought (or not). He kinda freaks out. But he doesn’t reject her or freak out AT Tuba Girl, he just processes this information with wide eyes and proceeds to bolt from her house. Ken is confused. He understands that she just shared something very personal with him, he gets the gravity of that, but for the life of him he cannot understand WHY she told him, why is this ‘still a part of her identity’? He consults a friend, explaining that she was born with “both the gun and the holster”. For Ken, the confusion seems to be rooted in his conception of gender roles. Ken understands himself as a boy or a man and he understands his role in life and with Tuba Girl through that binary lens. He understands himself to be the penetrator, the bread-winner, the traditionally masculine role. Because gender is understood on a binary for Ken, he is confused about Tuba Girl’s role; does she perform male traits now? If so, does that mean he must take up the feminine roles? If that’s the case, will he be made fun of, emasculated? Where does this leave him within his identity? It’s as if his world has been turned upside down. Ken is confused on his role as a man, on the role his masculinity plays, on if this threatens it. These are questions we may all ask when first waking up to gender as a social construct and it is important and interesting to examine them, especially in such a context.

Tuba Girl appears to be lucky in the sense that she identifies with her assigned gender. Many intersex folks that underwent nonconsensual surgeries as infants may not identify with that assigned gender. Intersexuality happens in about 2% of the population as I said above. That is a natural way that the body presents, that the human is formed. People are intersex and can identify on the binary, on a spectrum, or outside of gender entirely. Just like those born with definitive sex characteristic. The two are separate for, as we learned in class, gender is constructed by culture and learned and performed, not assigned from the heavens and handed down as law. It is who they are, and because that falls outside of the binary, society has difficulty excepting this. In Fausto-Sterling’s “Sexing The Body: Dueling Dualisms”, intersexuality is represented in an athlete. This athlete knows she is a woman, she identifies as a woman and that is what matters, both to her and eventually to the Olympic Committee. Identity is a multi-faceted concept and people contain worlds. No doctor, no parent, no third party should ever make decisions regarding another person’s identity. This is what has happened often for those with intersex characteristics, as if they’re being-ness is not enough, or is too much. This is why we study gender and why we study it’s different cultural conceptions. So that everyone has a chance to live their truth. So today I say, thank you Tuba Girl for beginning the process of opening my eyes to gender identities and the complicated culture that sits behind them.

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

25 Amazing Books by African-American Writers You Need to Read

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25 Amazing Books by African-American Writers You Need to Read

Black History Month gives us 28 days to honor African Americans and the ever-expanding contributions they make to culture. Literature in particular has been a space for black authors to tell their stories authentically, and bookworms seeking good reads can choose from an array of fiction, poetry, historical texts, essays, and memoirs. From literary icons to fresh, buzzworthy talent, we’re highlighting 25 books by African-American authors you should add to your reading list today.

1. KINDRED // OCTAVIA BUTLER

Background: iStock. Book cover: Amazon.

Octavia Butler’s Kindred (1979) is one of a string of novels she penned centering black female protagonists, which was unprecedented in a white-male dominated science and speculative fiction space. This story centers Dana, a young writer in 1970s Los Angeles, who is unexpectedly whisked away to the 19th century antebellum South where she saves the life of Rufus Weylin, the son of a plantation owner. When Dana’s white husband—initially suspicious of her claims—is transported back in time with her, complicated circumstances follow since interracial marriage was considered illegal in America until 1967. To paint an accurate picture of the slavery era, Butler told In Motion Magazine in 2004, she studied slave narratives and books by the wives of plantation owners.

2. HUNGER: A MEMOIR OF (MY) BODY // ROXANE GAY

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In the second entry of her divulging 2017 memoir Hunger, Roxane Gay reveals, “… this is a book about disappearing and being lost and wanting so very much, wanting to be seen and understood.” The New York Times best-selling author pinpoints deep-seated emotions from a string of experiences, such as an anxious visit to a doctor’s office concerning gastric bypass surgery and turning to food to cope with a boy raping her when she was a girl. In six powerful parts, the daughter of Haitian immigrants and National Book Award finalist reclaims the space necessary to document her truth—and uses that space to come out of the shadows she had once intentionally tried to hide in.

3. THE FIRE NEXT TIME // JAMES BALDWIN

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James Baldwin is a key figure among the great thinkers of the 20th century for his long range of criticism about literature, film, culture, and revelations on race in America. One of his most widely known literary contributions was his 1963 book The Fire Next Time, a text featuring two essays: one a letter to his 14-year-old nephew, in which he encourages him not to give in to racist ideas that blackness makes him lesser. The second essay, “Down At The Cross,” takes the reader back to Baldwin’s childhood in Harlem as he details conditions of poverty, his struggle with religious authorities, and his relationship with his father.

4. BETWEEN THE WORLD AND ME // TA-NEHISI COATES

Background: iStock. Book Cover: Penguin Random House.

After re-reading James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, Ta-Nehisi Coates was inspired to write a book-long essay to his teenage son about being black in America and forewarns him of the plight that comes with facing white supremacy. The result was the 2015 National Book Award-winning Between the World and Me. New York magazine reported that after reading, Toni Morrison wrote, “I’ve been wondering who might fill the intellectual void that plagued me after James Baldwin died. Clearly it is Ta-Nehisi Coates.” Throughout the book, Coates recounts witnessing violence in “the streets” and police brutality growing up in Baltimore, his time studying at historically black Howard University, and asks the hard questions about the past and future of race in America.

5. INVISIBLE MAN // RALPH ELLISON

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Ralph Ellison’s 1952 classic Invisible Man follows one African-American man’s quest for identity during the 1920s and 1930s—and decades later, this is a struggle that many continue to encounter. Because of racism, the unnamed protagonist, known as “Invisible Man,” does not feel seen by society and narrates the reader through a series of unfortunate and fortunate events to fit in while living in the South and later in Harlem, New York City. In 1953, Invisible Man was awarded the National Book Award, making Ellison the first African-American author to receive the prestigious honor for fiction [PDF].

6. BELOVED // TONI MORRISON

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Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1987 novel Beloved puts Sethe, a former slave in 1873 Cincinnati, Ohio, in contact with the supernatural. Before becoming a freed woman, Sethe attempted to kill her children to save them from a life of enslavement. While her sons and one daughter survived, her infant daughter, “Beloved,” died. Sethe’s family becomes haunted by a spirit believed to be Beloved, and Morrison provides a layered portrayal of the plight of post-slavery black life with a magical surrealism edge as Sethe learns she must confront her repressed memories of trauma and her past life in bondage.

7. ALL ABOUT LOVE: NEW VISIONS // BELL HOOKS

Background: iStock. Book Cover: Goodreads.

In the 2000 book All About Love, feminist scholar Bell Hooks grapples with how people are commonly socialized to perceive love in modern society. She uses a range of examples to delve into the topic, from her personal childhood and dating reflections, to popular culture references. This is a powerful essential text that calls on humans to revise a new, healthier blueprint for love, free of patriarchal gender limitations and dominating behaviors that don’t serve mankind’s emotional needs.

8. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X // MALCOLM X, ALEX HALEY

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In 1963, Malcolm X would drive from his home Harlem to author Alex Haley’s apartment down in New York’s Greenwich Village to collaborate on his autobiography. Unfortunately, the minister and activist didn’t live to see it in print—The Autobiography of Malcolm X was published in 1965, not long after his assassination in February of that year. The books chronicles the many lessons the young Malcolm (born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska) learned from witnessing his parents’ struggles with racism during his childhood; to his troubled young adulthood with drugs and incarceration; and his later evolving into one of the most iconic voices in the movement for black liberation.

9. THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD // ZORA NEALE HURSTON

Background: iStock. Book Cover: Harper Perennial.

During Zora Neale Hurston’s career, she was more concerned with writing about the lives of African Americans in an authentic way that uplifted their existence, rather than focus on their traumas. Her most celebrated work, 1937’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, is an example of this philosophy and brings to light Janie Mae Crawford, a middle-aged woman in Florida, who details lessons she learned about love and finding herself after three marriages. Hurston used black southern dialect in the characters’ dialogue, as to proudly represent their voices and manner.

10. THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS // MICHELLE ALEXANDER

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The Jim Crow laws of the 19th and 20th century were intended to marginalize black Americans during the Reconstruction period who were establishing their own businesses, entering the labor system, and running for office. Although a series of anti-discrimination rulings, such as Brown vs. Board of Education and the Voting Rights Act, were passed during the Civil Rights Movement, Michelle Alexander’s 2010 book argues that mass incarceration is the new Jim Crow impacting black American lives, especially black men. In the text, Alexander explores how the war on drugs, piloted by the Ronald Reagan administration, created a system in which black Americans were stripped of their rights after serving time for nonviolent drug crimes.

11. SISTER OUTSIDER: ESSAYS AND SPEECHES // AUDRE LORDE

Background: iStock. Book Cover: Penguin Random House.

Originally published in 1984, Sister Outsider is an anthology of 15 essays and speeches written by lesbian feminist writer and poet Audre Lorde. The titles of her works are as intriguing as the content is eye-opening. For example: “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” examines the way people, especially women, lose when they block the erotic—or deep passion—from their work and while exploring their spiritual and political desires. In “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House,” Lorde explains how feminism fails by leaving out the voices of black women, queer women, and poor women—which are ideas that are still shaping conversations within feminism today.

12. THE AUDACITY OF HOPE: THOUGHTS ON RECLAIMING THE AMERICAN DREAM // BARACK OBAMA

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Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope was his second book and the No. 1 New York Times bestseller when it was released in the fall of 2006. The title was derived from a sermon he heard by Pastor Jeremiah Wright called “The Audacity to Hope.” It was also the title of the keynote speech the then-Illinois State Senator gave at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Before becoming the 44th president of the United States, Obama’s Audacity of Hope outlined his optimistic vision to bridge political parties so that the government could better serve the American people’s needs.

13. THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS: THE EPIC STORY OF AMERICA’S GREAT MIGRATION // ISABEL WILKERSON

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During the Great Migration, millions of African Americans departed the Southern states to Northern and Western cities to escape Jim Crow laws, lynchings, and the failing sharecropping system. Isabel Wilkerson, the first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in journalism, documented these movements in her 2010 book, which involved 15 years of research and interviews with 1200 people. The book highlights the stories of three individuals and their journeys from Florida to New York City, Mississippi to Chicago, and Louisiana to Los Angeles. Wilkerson’s excellent and in-depth documentation won her a National Book Critics Circle Award for the nonfiction work.

14. BROWN GIRL DREAMING // JACQUELINE WOODSON

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Jacqueline Woodson’s children’s books and YA novels are inspired by her desire to highlight the lives of communities of color—narratives she felt were missing from the literature landscape. In her 2014 National Book Award-winning autobiography, Brown Girl Dreaming, Woodson uses her own childhood story in verse form, to fill those representation voids. The author came of age during the Civil Rights Movement and subsequently the Black Power Movement, and lived between the laid-back lifestyle of South Carolina and the fast-paced New York City. Through her work, we are reminded of how family and community play a role in helping individuals persevere through life’s trials.

15. REDEFINING REALNESS: MY PATH TO WOMANHOOD, IDENTITY, LOVE & SO MUCH MORE // JANET MOCK

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Janet Mock, an African-American and Hawaiian transgender activist and writer, began her career in media as a staff editor at People. In 2011, Mock decided to share her story with the world and came out as a transgender woman in a Marie Claire article, and after landing a book deal, she released this New York Times bestselling memoir in 2014. Mock used her platform to speak in full about her upbringing as a young girl of color in poverty and identifying as transgender—a courageous move that set her on a path to being an inspiring voice for those facing difficulty in accepting their identity.

16. FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES // CHARLES M. BLOW

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In his 2014 memoir Fire Shut Up in My Bones, New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow opens up about growing up in a segregated Louisiana town during the 1970s as the youngest of five brothers. In 12 chapters, Blow offers an extensive look at his path to overcoming the odds of poverty, the trauma of being a victim of childhood rape, and his gradual understanding his bi-sexuality. Although these are hard truths to tell, Blow told NPR in 2014, he wrote this book especially for those who are going through similar experiences and need to know their lives are still worth living, despite their painful circumstances.

17. I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS // MAYA ANGELOU

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If you read anything by the late, great, prophetic poet Maya Angelou, her 1969 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings should be at the top of your list: It provides an in-depth look at the obstacles that shaped her early life. Angelou’s childhood and teenage years were nomadic, as her separated parents moved her and her brother from rural Arkansas to St. Louis, Missouri, and eventually to California, where at different times she lived in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland. Besides the blatant racism she saw unfold around her in the South, a young Maya also faced childhood rape, and as a teen, homelessness and pregnancy. Angelou, who was at first reluctant to write the book, achieved much success with the text as she became the first African-American woman to have a non-fiction bestseller.

18. BABEL-17 // SAMUEL R. DELANY

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In 2015, Samuel R. Delany told The Nation that when he first began attending science fiction conferences in the 1960s, he was one of only a few black writers and enthusiasts present. Over the years, with his contributions and the work of others like Octavia Butler, whom he mentored, he opened doors for black writers in the genre. If you’re looking for a sci-fi thriller taking place in space and centering a woman leader protagonist, Delany’s 1967 Nebula Award-winning Babel-17 is the one. Rydra Wong, a spaceship captain, is intrigued by a mysterious language called Babel-17 that has the power to alter a person’s perception of themselves and others, and possibly brainwash her to betray her government.

19. SPLAY ANTHEM // NATHANIEL MACKEY

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Readers of Nathaniel Mackey’s poetry are often intrigued by his ability to merge the worlds of music (particularly jazz) and poetry to create soul-grabbing rhythmic prose. Splay Anthem is a masterful work exhibiting his style, and the 2006 collection includes two poems Mackey had been writing for more than 20 years: “Song of the Andoumboulou,” a ritual funeral song from the Dogon people of modern-day Mali; and “Mu.” Splay Anthem is woven into three sections, “Braid,” “Fray,” and “Nub,” in which two characters travel through space and time and whose final destinations are unclear. Mackey’s nonlinear form is deliberate: “There’s a lot of emphasis on movement in the poems, and there’s a lot of questions about ultimate arrival, about whether there is such a state or place,” he said in an excerpt from A Community Writing Itself: Conversations with Vanguard Writers of the Bay Area.

20. THE HATE U GIVE // ANGIE THOMAS

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Angie Thomas is part of a new crop of African-American authors bringing fresh new storytelling to bookshelves near you. Her 2017 debut young adult novel, The Hate U Give, was inspired by the protests of the Black Lives Matter movement. It follows Starr Carter, a 16-year-old who has witnessed the police-involved shooting of her best friend Khalil. The book, which topped the New York Times bestseller chart, is a timely fictional tale which humanizes the voices behind one of the largest movements in present times.

21. NOT WITHOUT LAUGHTER // LANGSTON HUGHES

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Take it back to where the Harlem Renaissance legend Langston Hughes began his novelistic bibliography. In 1930’s Not Without Laughter, Sandy Rogers is an African-American boy growing up in Kansas during the ’30s—a story loosely based on Hughes’s own experiences living in Lawrence and Topeka, Kansas. Hughes vividly paints his characters based on the “typical Negro family in the Middle West” he grew up around, he explained in his autobiography The Big Sea. In this way, Hughes paved the way for more storytelling about black life outside of urban big city settings.

22. SALVAGE THE BONES // JESMYN WARD

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Jesmyn Ward’s 2011 novel Salvage the Bones merges fiction with her real life experience surviving Hurricane Katrina as a native of a rural Mississippi town. Ward tells a new story through the eyes of Esch, a pregnant teenage girl who lives in poverty with her three brothers and a father who is battling alcoholism, in a fictional town called Bois Sauvage. Through this National Book Award-winning tale, Ward writes an emotionally intense and deep account about a family who must find a way to overcome differences and stick together to survive the passing storm.

23. DON’T CALL US DEAD // DANEZ SMITH

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Don’t Call Us Dead is a cathartic series of poems that imagine an afterlife where black men can fully be themselves. Danez Smith’s poignant words take heartbreaking imagery of violence upon the bodies of black men, and juxtapose them with scenes of a new plane, one that is much better than the existence they lived before. Upon arrival, it’s a celebration, as men and boys are embraced by their fellow brothers and are able to truly experience being “alive.” Smith’s prose sticks, and you will think more deeply about the delicacy of life and death, long after you’ve put the book back on the shelf.

24. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD // COLSON WHITEHEAD

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Colson Whitehead brings a bit of fantasy to historical fiction in his 2016 novel The Underground Railroad. Historically, the underground railroad was a network of safe houses for runaways on their journey to reaching the freed states. But Whitehead invents a literal secret underground railroad with real tracks and trains in his novel. This system takes his main character, Cora, a woman who escaped a Georgia plantation, to different states and stops. Along her journey, she faces a new set of horrific hurdles that could hold her back from obtaining freedom.

25. DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS // WALTER MOSLEY

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If you’re into mystery but don’t know Walter Mosley, it’s time to catch up. The crime-fiction author has published more than 40 books, with his Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins series being his most popular. Mosley’s 1990 debut (and Easy’s debut as well) Devil in a Blue Dress takes the reader to 1940s Watts, a Los Angeles neighborhood where we are first introduced to Easy, who has recently relocated to the City of Angels after losing his job in Houston. He finds a new line of work as a detective when a man at a bar wants him to track down a woman named Daphne Monet.