#she‘s Muslim as far as I know

[idontliketomatoesleavemealone]

Feeling like one of santa’s elves rn

[holly-mckenzie]

My Thoughts on Bump S2 (in no particular order and in bullet points)

The Pacing + Year Of

Okay, so firstly the show felt tonally off to me because... it focused SO much on the parent in comparison to the previous season, it felt like we were getting more of the parents than even Oly and Santi or the other students at the school.

On the subject of the other students/teachers at the school. I know that we got so much of them (and so little of them) because they are creating a spin-off show about the students and teachers. 

Honestly, the “soft pilot” approach felt really strange. Especially when we randomly learnt so much about Madison. Without knowledge of the spin-off, I would have been confused af.

On the subject of the spin-off, I really hope that we get more of Mr Hanover. He’s by far my favourite character in the show. I also am really excited to see into his personal dating life. ☺️

Is the show/spin-off ever going to explain Lachie’s disappearance? I know he’s Oly ex, and they didn’t end up on good terms. But he was fair to be angry at her. He also deserves a better insight into his life and relationships because frankly, the way they dealt with his character in S1 was 😬😬😬

Also, I hope in the spin-off they actually hire writers that will reflect the diversity of the cast. Because as I said, some of the choices were… not good.

Season 2

Okay back to the actual season. I honestly don’t understand some of the changes they made. It truly felt like it changed certain events in S1 

For example introducing the fact that Santi draws v4g1n4s, even though they verbally stated that he draws d1cks in S1.

I’ve thought this before but Oly is a hard character to like. On one hand, she‘s at times ungrateful (which makes sense she’s a teen), but she also, at times, comes off as a bit self-centred and a bit white feminist. Also, the choice to name her child of a politician is cringe.

Matias is kinda an asshole and Rosa deserves better. Like he may have been terrible in S1, but in S2 he is UNBEARABLE. Honestly, Rosa needs to leave him.

On the subject of Rosa. I adore her. Her story arc this season was amazing. I hope that she leaves Matias and starts her own life. Screw the Hernandez family, you deserve better Queen.

I really adore the Rosa/Dom relationship. So happy that it's not romantic, thought their friendship was very cute!

I have a hate/love relationship with Bowie. But he was a fun character and I enjoyed him + his relationship with his family

I just realised that I’ve said nothing about Santi and Oly. I don’t really have much to say about them. They were cute. They are clearly wanting different things in life. So it’s going to be really interesting seeing how the show continues. Especially since they moved in together.

Can we talk about that? They are literally going to drive each other crazy! I see no good outcome of them moving in together. Like if Santi really wants to work as a tradie, they are going to need family support more than ever. But you know what. It’s cool.

The ✨Important ✨ Things

Reema

We got Reema last name bitches! But also her last name being Malick and her being Pakistani is a choice… which is to say it’s lame.

But, on one hand, I really love what we’ve seen of Reema’s home life. I love that her parents are divorced (very frowned open in the brown community) that her parents are Hindu and Muslim, and that she is on good terms with her mum.

HOWEVER, I really don’t trust the writers to be able to deal with any of these choices well. Not that that matters because Reema’s entire story arc resolves around ✨ LOVE ✨.

To be fair, I really love Vince and Reema, but I wish they had given Reema a plot outside of her relationship. Her entire story arc is about Vince… but even Vince has a story arc that has nothing to do with her (him being used by the people around him).

This is highly hypocritical of me because I love Vince and Reema. But when will non-Muslims stop writing narratives that involve Muslim characters falling in love with non-Muslims. It’s very tiring. Like we get it, it’s the ✨ Islamaphobia ✨… but STOP!

Also not to be THAT person, but why did they cast a whole Sri Lankan actress to play an Indian character. Come on people. Not all brown people are the same! Don’t get me wrong, I love Nadie Kammallaweera in the role of Ishani. but it makes no sense because she’s clearly Tamil or Sinhalese and… Safi Arian is clearly not?

Vince (aka bestest boy! 😊)

Vince is honestly the bestest friend and character

I loved that we got to see insight into his story and into his family life

I also loved that Vince loves Babies... 😊

I also love that Vince stood up for himself.

Also, every moment that he had with Vince was amazing

I really hope that we get to see more of Vince in terms of his home life and what not

I really hope we get to see some of his mum and his siblings. 

Vince x Reema 

All of the Vince and Reema scenes were perfect!

Him fasting in solidarity with Reema was adorable and I loved it and also awkward

EPISODE 5! EPISODE 5! EPISODE 5! EPISODE 5!

The entire episode was perfect! They were so cute and I loved him caring for her!

Also, Reema defending Vince and yelling at their friends was truly perfect!

I can’t say this enough! I love them!

On to my controversial thoughts

I know that Vince and Reema have a back and forth bantering thing, but I feel like it is weird?

For example, in S1, when Vince and Reema first interact, Vince makes joke/innuendo about Reema’s French O*al exam, and Reema responds by calling him a “Fat f*ck* and insulting his intelligence. 

Now I don’t know much about Samoan culture, but I am almost 95% sure both are negative stereotypes of the Samoan people group.

Also, Vince flirting with Reema in that way was really strange... especially when you think about the fact that he was so upset at Santi for making jokes about him misting her plants of whatever. 

But beside that moment, Vince is actually super sweet to Reema (if you exclude the part where he is pining for her and she clearly has no interest in him, but he continues flirting).

So its kinda strange that in S2E5, Reema says that she doesn’t hate him and that he was a dick.

Moral of the story, I think they really needed to develop Reema and Vince’s relationship better. 

Like they could literally have the enemies to lovers/can’t be together/mutual pining shit... but they developed the relationship so strange. 

Throughout S1 (up onto Ep8), Reema hates Vince and then suddenly in Ep 8 she decides that she likes him? 

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Also, they were on good terms at the end of S1, then suddenly in S2 she has friend zoned him?

Too much of their development happens off screen and I hate it.

[thevoidwrites]

Of Radwa Ashour

I think it would be a disservice to translate the works of Radwa Ashour. Don’t get me wrong, it is an absolute necessity that everyone everywhere experience the painful art she drew from history, but what are those books without their mother tongue? One would argue, based on her stories, that we, too, are nothing without our mother tongue. (the irony of my writing this not with my mother tongue is not lost on me)

Radwa’s novels are, to me, more history than fiction. This might be the reason historical fiction exists. She tells of crucial times of Arab and Muslim defeat, of the low points of our history. The number of martyrs, the state of affairs, the oppression, are all things to read about and never understand until you experience them through a single family living in Grenata as they try to save some books from burnings, as some of them die of a broken heart, others are killed at the stake for practicing medicine, as the bathhouses are closed down, as a third generation is pushed to the ocean in exile. Pain upon pain upon pain. Pain felt through empathy, compassion.

Radwa is rooted in Arabic, her references, her words, her characters, her stories, they are based on the collective Arab experience; sadly, that experience is usually defeat, but it is something that must be shared upon all our shoulders. Radwa doesn’t tell you much about the politics of the time. She may mention the town of Tantoura putting their hope on a speech by Abdelnasser, but you know he will do nothing, you know all the rulers will betray these people. It’s about these people though, not politics. The direct effect of politics, the effect that matters, is what happens to the people. So, in a way, Radwa is still talking about politics, she‘s talking about the consequences of the collective decisions taken at the time. It’s all in the shared sense of loss that shrouds who we are right now.

Here’s what I expect would happen if this was in English, by far one of the worst languages to write compassionately about pain due to oppression and one that does not revere God as Arabic does. I recently tried to read On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous. I knew nothing about this book except it was loved by many western folk I follow on Twitter and they thought this particular book is needed at this time since it’s written by an immigrant about his experience. So I started it and it was horrific. There is no denying the pain in those people’s lives, but it isn’t written for me, a person who lives quite close to pain already. Similarly, I still haven’t been able to watch the second season of The Handmaid’s Tale and I am yet to get the courage to read the book, although the book may surprise me and be kind like Radwa.

My hypothesis is this. These pieces of media, these books, these movies, these series that are loved by mostly a western audience and are supposed to be about oppression and to represent real pain felt by real people, is not made for the people in pain. It is not made to soothe, to share, to help you feel less alone in your losses. If you are being bombed, you can remember the girl from Tantoura hugging infant Mariam to her chest on the stairs while bombs rained on Beirut and remembering Darwish saying “On this Earth is something that deserves life.” When I’m in fear I remember Radwa, I remember her characters, I remember others who felt this pain as I did and I was not alone. It was still painful, traumatizing, frightening, jarring, but I was not alone in how I felt. My heart, although already weighed by the real world, can still take the burden Radwa writes in her books.

Instead, Ocean’s book was made to shock, to intensify the pain, to make sure numbed hearts feel it. These people get to see their faces, their cities, their comfort shaken on screen to try and fathom what the oppressed so far away might be feeling. To make someone who always felt safe realize how it feels to live with a constant lack, to live with the normalization of transgression, you have to jar them. I do not need to be jarred. The oppressed do not need to be shocked.

It’s like the quote “Nothing ever ends poetically. It ends and we turn it into poetry. All that blood was never once beautiful. It was just red.” The moments Radwa writes about are just red, but she made them into poetry. If someone who doesn’t know this pain only sees the poetry, they might romanticize this moment instead of seeing it for its true nature. For someone who lived here though, you need the poetry to survive. All that red? It’s my blood. It’s our blood. And if there is no escaping that it will be spilt, I can at least rest assured that it will be made in poetry. There’s no point in living otherwise, no point in withstanding this reality, but for the hope, that this is poetry in the making.

The only way out is through. Even while going to therapy, you sometimes have to relive difficult moments, have to change learned behavior, have to reach out to people despite it gnawing at your throat. You have to push yourself through this absolute discomfort and hold your quivering heart in place because what must be done, must be done. Not all pain is the same, this pain to change, to grow, to overcome is necessary. You are transformed by it, a times, you are in control of it. You choose to be in their momentary pain to reach the space beyond. Radwa’s pain is the same. It is necessary, it is beautiful, it promises a safe haven beyond it. None of her books really end well I suppose. No one gets their land back, or gets to reunite with their family, or finds someone they lost along the way. But they grow mints and rosemary under their kitchen window, they help strangers along the way, they bind wounds, and hide books. So you take refuge in those small acts that you do. She reassures you, this is enough, what you do is enough, those little acts are enough. You may not be able to do much else, and that is okay. Rest softer, for you are not alone.