#the brown kid rep is so real

[opheliaweeps]

george karim I love you I hope you’re doing well I hope your research is moving along I hope lucy & lockwood aren’t being idiots in your general vicinity

[theycallme-ook]

Looking at kane chronicles posts online is sooo funny to me bc I didn't have any social media when I read them as a kid so now I can finally see all the ppl going "wooow isn't sadie and Carter's genetics thing crazy??? One looks one race and the other looks like a completely different race and they don't look mixed at all? Must be bc it's fiction" meanwhile my siblings are sitting there. White passing as fuck. And strangers just assume we happen to share the same name

[cy-cyborg]

How The Owl House did amputee representation right before Eda ever lost her arm - Disability in Media

[ID: A screenshot of Eda from The Owl House, an old woman with pale skin, very large, grey hair and pointed ears in a red dress. Beside the screenshot on a dark pink background is text that reads "Disability in media, How the Owl House got amputee representation right before eda ever lost her arm." /End ID]

Dana Terrace's The Owl House has some of the best disability rep I’ve seen on a Disney channel show in a long time, with Eda, the main character’s mentor, being one of many stand-out examples.

Plenty of people have discussed how Eda’s curse and the loss of her magic can work as an allegory for disability and how refreshing it is to see a story (especially one aimed at a younger audience) who’s focus is not on her “overcoming” it, but learning to accept it as a part of her and go from there. Eda’s story tackles a lot of subjects that are often mishandled in other examples of disability representation, from the subject of parents who refuse to accept, to glass siblings and much, much more, The Owl House handles all these topics beautifully.

But one thing that dawned on me during my most recent re-watch of The Owl House is how well Eda (and later Lilith) worked as amputee representation, long before Eda actually lost her arm.

One of the side effects of Eda and Lilith’s curse is that sometimes their body parts, mainly their limbs, can fall off. It doesn’t hurt them, and Eda is seen removing them intentionally at multiple times in the series, but they can always be reattached.

[ID: an image of Eda holding her sister Lilith's hand. Lilith is a pale woman with long, black hair, wearing grey clothes. She is looking at her other arm suprised, as her hand is missing. Luz, a Latina girl with short brown hair and a purple hoodie is looking on, smiling. /End ID]

While most likely unintentional, the way the show depicts this with Eda in particular is exactly what I wish more people would do with their prosthetic-using amputee characters.

Eda detaches her limbs, especially her legs, when they’re inconvenient or when she’s relaxing.

[ID: an image of Eda laying on the couch in a bathrobe, her hair in a towel. She has taken her legs off, throwing them to the other side of the seat. /End ID]

The fact that this is mostly played for laughs is actually a good thing in my opinion (though obviously, the show’s overall tone is part of that), as it shows the audience who are mostly children and teens, that in a world of weird and downright scary (from the perspective of the characters) things, this isn't one of them. It’s just a thing she and Lilith can do, and it can even be funny.

[ID: An image of Luz and Eda dressed as pirates. Eda is sitting on the ground, her legs detached and off screen somewhere. /End ID]

It does startle Luz and Lilith on a few occasions, but that’s more because they didn’t know the curse could do that, but once they’re introduced to it, it’s never really brought up as a big deal again.

I’d love to see more amputee characters who do this with their prosthetics. So often media is almost afraid to have amputees take their prosthetics off on camera or on the page. For some folks, our prosthetics are like a part of our bodies, but that doesn’t mean we never take them off. Show your leg amputee flop on the couch and throw their legs across the room. Have them go without on occasion, not because they have to, but because they just don’t feel like putting them on.

Likewise, the owl house creators never shy away from showing Eda when her limbs aren’t all attached. A lot of media, and kid’s shows in particular, will avoid having an amputee character’s stump visible if they ever do take their prosthetics off - treating that part of the character’s body the same way they treat gore or nudity. I’ve talked before how this actually does have a real impact on how kids in particular react to amputees - I’ve legitimately had kids I worked with cry when I took my prosthetics off, then immediately calm down when they see there’s nothing "scary" under my socks. As much as I love How To Train Your Dragon, it’s very guilty of this. Hiccup looses his leg at the end of the first movie, and wakes up with his prosthetic already attached. The Netflix series has a few instances where he has his prosthetic off, but the camera almost always avoids showing it until he can cover it up again, or is super zoomed-out so you wouldn’t be able to “see anything”. To their credit, they do get better with this in the last movie (though it's still always covered), but for the majority of the series, they are very reluctant to have any shots where hiccup’s leg is in view without the prosthetic (unless they’re very far away).

[ID: a screenshot of Hiccup from How To Train Your Dragon 3, a white man with short brown hair, and one leg missing, wearing armour made of black dragon scales and no prosthetic. He is holding onto toothless's head, a black dragon. /End ID]

Ironically, Eda does (permanently) loose an arm at the end of season 2, but I don’t really have much to say about her as amputee representation on that front, since she’s absent for a lot of Season 3, and when we do see her again, everything is so hectic, the story doesn’t really have any time to focus on her missing limb (which is reasonable). I will say, I do appreciate that they kept the amputation when she's in her owl-beast form in the finale, but there's honestly not much more to say about it. We do see her again in the epilogue after she’s had some time to settle into the amputation, wearing a hook prosthetic, but it’s, once again, too quick to really say anything from a representation standpoint. There's a few little nit-picky things I could bring up, like the fact they seemed to change the type on amputation she had (when she looses it, we see the split was very close to the elbow, but in the epilogue she has most of her forearm again) but those read to me more like animation mistakes or an odd prosthetic/clothing designs rather than a representation issue - and as someone who's worked in animation, given the stress the team was under for the finale, I'm not really worried about it. Like I said, it's more nit-picky than anything.

[ID: A screenshot of Eda, her hair tied back and wearing a red robe and a hook for her right hand. /End ID]

Despite all that though, I still think Eda is still good amputee representation, but mostly because of how they depict her curse’s side effects rather than her actual amputation. She’s honestly one of the only characters that I think you could refer to as “amputee coded” (outside of maybe Teen Titan’s Cyborg), and I genuinely wish more creators would treat their actual amputee characters the same way the Owl House treats Eda in that regard.

[punkeropercyjackson]

I'm pretty sure Atla being Aang's story and never about Zutara is just.......kinda what Atla about instead of making it a bad story lol!Like it's called 'Avatar:The Last Airbender' and the 2nd part refers to Aang being the sole survivor of a genocide which like the characters is based on the real genocide that happens to Tibet,Aang's people,by China.The Water Tribe gang are also genocide survivors because they're native-coded and the Fire Nation is an imperialist empire because it's based on Japan when it was

So Aang's the protagonist because it's about poc trauma and potraying etchnic cleansing survivors as the victims they are but also humanizing them and showing them as heroes and capable of saving the world that tried to wipe them all out!Aang is the good guy because he goes out of way to help everybody,with activism AND direct action and in the comics,he kickstarted decolonization and arguably counts as the inventor of in his world.Atla was created to radicalize the kids watching it and while it's not perfect(see the demonization of Jet and Hama and asskissing of Iroh),Aang is undoubtedly a great role model and relatable to kids of color as well as asian people who come from lesser known asian cultures that're happy to finally get some rep that's not just easian characters

On the topic of Katara,not sorry at all but she's never been meant to be 'the universal female experience' or some other radf.em-adjacent caricature.Yes,she's a girl and it's really important to her she's a girl but she wants to be a girl HER way,not what's expected of her by society.Katara is a brown native american-Inuk girl who was parentified despite having an older brother due to sexism and fell for Aang because he helped her feel like a real kid instead of a mini mom and he fell for her at first sight because he found her indigenous features to be angelic and princess-y and all around perfect and Katara is a punk girl,she refuses to follow the rules or conform to standards or hold herself back for ANYONE and never shuts up about it or refuses to stop acting on it so she's canonically an anarchist,she was Aang's righthand in The Gaang and did her own solo anti-imperalist activity on her own too and provided resources and aid and even emotional comfort for oppressed groups all throught the show so she's canonically an activist and she hates the Fire Nation and ALL bigots and abusers,no expections,so she's canonically anti-authority and anti-establishment too.Katara is a feminist character in the sense she's nothing like women are expected to be and does the heroism and has the personality traits which are said to be reserved for men by the patriachy,ESPECIALLY at the time.And yes,Zutaras,you too to this fuckin' day

Zuko's redemption arc was Zuko's redemption arc.Not an arc about finding a way to make it okay for him to date Katara!ZUKO'S REDEMPTION ARC IS ABOUT ZUKO!Not even Mai had a huge hand in that despite being Zuko's canon girlfriend but that's not because 'she wasn't important to him',it's because he didn't do anything he had to redeem himself for to her except breaking up with her in a petty way so he could work on healing and free himself from Ozai and she understood that by connecting the dots so she forgave him as she gets what it's like to have your parents abuse you because it's 'normal' in their culture-easian culture.Zuko is fundamentally a japanese man,his name,his design,his backstory,his personality,his powers/fighting style,his tastes,his generational trauma.Ozai abused Zuko using techniques created by abusive easian parents specifically since sadly the normalization of child abuse is so wide,different cultures each have their own unique tactics for it and Zuko thought nothing of it until he left the Fire Nation and learned it's not normal at all and that he deserves better.That's how it works for a lot of kids of color,if not most of us

In addition to the giving reperations aspect,Zuko becoming Aang's big brother figure and pseudo-dad is him healing his inner child and breaking the cycle of abuse.Dadko symbolizes peace with their dynamic too,peace for Zuko's lineage because now he gets to be the good dad to Aang Ozai never was to him and grew up to be a good biodad to Izumi largely realistically thanks to Aang giving him experience with raising kids.Zuko's dad friend behavior is a positive trait,'Mom'tara is silencing Katara for your male fave so she can be realize she's not a real kid actually,Aang was wrong and she's not actually beautiful,kind,cool,funny,charming,badass,a hero and deserving of a soft love with someone who's patient with her because he's just happy to her in silence until he thought he'd have to die to save the world and couldn't bear the thought of parting with her because she's his whole world just as he gave her hope she could grow up to save it.And y'all call him a r*pist because they were mutually unspokenly flirting for months and she got angry at him for implying they shouldn't kiss followed up by an implied almost kiss and multiple cheek kisses from her to him so he thought to make up for it out of misreading the room and immediately regretted it and berated himself for making her uncomfortable at the same time an EXPLICITLY non-consensual on her side episode where Zuko kidnaps her,talks badly to/of her,threatens her condesendingly and even steals Kya's necklace is what gave Zutara popularity

Atla is one of the best pg show's of all time because it's not about Zutara but about Aang.Not about cishet romance where the oppressed girl falls for her boy oppressor as it has the 'undesirable' race boy the villain.Then it would've been propaganda and glamorization of Japan's darker history as during Japan's imperialist era,women were treated pretty similarly to black people in the slavery/segregations and i'm making that comparison because as a black woman 1.It's pretty accurate and 2.Zutradras have a misogynoir problem and an antiblackness problem towards black men too by treating black girls as the same white girls like how they do Katara as a brown indigenous girl and moc Atla fans are targeted by the white Z/K suckers on the basis of being 'males' when white women inherently have privilege over moc,black and brown men most of all.They got a transmisogyny problem too since as i stated,their 'feminism' in regards to Katara is ciscentric only and carry r.adfem-like rethoric to how she should be written,plus their hatred of Aang for 'not being a real man' since they see him as amab and he's canonically very feminine and then there's all the anti-trans Zuko headcanons sentiments that only come from them with literally every other Atla ship group being supportive of trans readings of him,as well as for the Avatarverse cast in general.Atla is a love letter to misfits,not a love story for the normies.Aang was right to keep the Air Nomads alive by not killing Ozai because poc shouldn't have to give up our culture to be 'real punks' when punk is black made and whites and westerners are very much the biggest reasons we and other poc we even need revolutions

Kataang is a ship between two punk kids of color and Zutara robs countless abused japanese/asian-american kids of the narrative they needed and still need.The Atla fandom is extremely anti Zutara because it's a papable replacement for a very powerful story that only caters to the very people the series was saying are bad for correct and proven reasons.You can say 'interracial relathionships are so important and that's why should've Zutara happened!!!' but as a black/white biracial woman you're no different than people who only like interracial ships if they have a white person and get mad at poc4poc interracial rep seeing as you whitewash Zuko's writing and you can also say 'No girl would choose Aang over Zuko' but i had a huge crush on Aang and i was told i wasn't a real girl despite being afab because i was an autistic black tomboy and a huge part of his appeal was that he's not the fantasy,he was like me and plenty of girls weren't attracted to Zuko and it's enforcing cisheteronormative to act like we all did just because we're women.Hell,i'm convinced Katara is trans because of her relathionship with girlhood and canon punkhood and bi with a preference for gnc partners because of Kataang and the Katoph subtext and curiously enough NO Zutara shipper who's anti Kataang headcanons her as transfem while most Kataangers nowadays follow the t4t take on it and almost every lesbian i've met in the fandom stans it too and mocks Zutara

Avatar:The Last Airbender is about a tibetan boy who saves himself and everyone else from the system that tried to wipe his people out entierly with the help of a parentified brown native femme punk girl he's in love with and her in love with him back for his own unconventionality and the reason the mc even survived properly was she didn't stand for her older brother's misogyny and the tritagonist is a japanese disabled abuse survivor who's redemptic arc and joining of the good guys is a healing arc that involves holding himself accountable and unlearning propaganda and ACTING on it instead of infantalizing him because he may have been 16 at the the time but literally everyone he'd hurt is younger than him and coddling and refusing to progress isn't actual healing.'Aang is an ugly loser because he shaves his head for cultural reasons and is kind and positive and boys aren't supposed to be if they wanna get girls and Katara should've ended up with Zuko to fix the nation that colonized hers by becoming it's leader and living there and Zuko's arc was ruined because he didn't become a good person for romance but for himself and to make friends' is NOT the hot take you think it is

[caecilius-est-pater]

“aiding in a genocide but making progress elsewhere” are you fucking insane? that is the most evil selfish despicable shit i have ever heard. you wouldn’t be reblogging shit like that if it was thousands of white kids being slaughtered. what is wrong with you fucking people??? absolutely disgusting how do you live with yourself

I usually don't dignify this stuff with a platform but I'm gonna make an exception because I'm hoping you or other people who feel the same way can help me out. I have a real, genuine, honest, not-a-gotcha question: what do you recommend I do instead?

I hate this as much as you do. I don't want Biden to be president, I don't want to vote for him, and I am not voting for him in the primary. I desperately want another option, I just don't realistically see one. Since it seems like you do, I'm serious, please tell me what it is.

Is there a revolutionary movement underway that you think will replace our current system of government before November? If so, let me know where I can find out more, I'd love nothing more than to replace our shitty system. Is there a third candidate with a shot of winning who is pro-Palestine that I somehow haven't heard about? Give me their name and they've got my vote. Hell, is Trump actually pro-Palestine and committed to ending the genocide? I might even vote for him.

But with the knowledge that I currently have (again, if I'm missing info, please tell me!) it seems pretty certain either Biden or Trump is going to win and we are going to be led by a genocide lover no matter what the American people do or what we believe. But I believe that Biden will kill and hurt less people, both abroad and domestically (I'm a queer trans brown non-Christian uterus-possessing child of a brown immigrant, trust me I am very invested in the domestic policy differences between Biden and Trump). That's where we're at: who's going to kill the fewest kids? I don't see a "kill no kids" option but if you do, please tell me what it is and I'll do that instead.

Frankly I think the November election is not the thing we should be worrying most about right now. We should be focusing on ending the genocide and supporting the people of Palestine - donating, contacting our reps, raising awareness, boycotting, protesting, etc. That's what I'm doing and where I'm putting most of my focus. Local and down ballot elections are also important.

How do I live with myself? Badly, as every American should. No matter how many calls I make, protests I attend, it will never be enough. But I sure sleep a hell of a lot better than I would if I was a "just don't vote" type (not saying that's what you are, it's just an opinion I see way too often) and gave up the one tiny bit of political power I have to try to make things a little less bad for at least a few people, so that I can selfishly feel better about myself for having the ideological high ground.

But I don't want to do that. Tell me what I can do not to have to. Tangible, actionable, realistic steps to take to prevent this. I would love to be wrong on this. I would love to change my mind and find a better way forward. Please.

[daystarvoyage]

Hair representation matters in entertainment industry (including black people) Don’t ignore this.

Time to discuss People of color (POC)representation,

Why we need more Hairstyles, inspiration in media for culture.

It's time to debunk HERE I GO!!!

Hello To all the Lovely Stars & Space Voyagers, This is the Brown Sugar Queen Kyoko Cane Aka The Black Crystal Jem Of The Daystar Voyage, I am a Cosplayer, A Fabulous Blerd if you will who does Drag/perform, Making Creative content on platforms involving Family Entertainment Mostly with some variety in it.

I come to talk about something that's been buzzing in my mind about a topic needing to get debunked & spoken about, IS POC REPRESENTATION & HAIRSTYLES IN MEDIA.

GOD POC REP MATTERS IN MEDIA MATTERS ( STOP ACTING LIKE IT DOESNT)

As a black Person Growing Up Myself, It has been a beautiful journey road being a proud African American man coming out as genderqueer, I always Found Comfort & love In My own Skin & even my Hair of all textures, first time I saw the ever Strong lightning goddess storm in the xmen series on fox kids made a great impact in my life in the early days of the 80s & 90s along other favorite shows back then however,

POC representation in the Future of Anime & western animation even in today's media has been distorted Or even limited on how we as black people are drawn. from caricatures To Stereotypes, or to follow a certain trend to make a profit from viewers & fans be it from influencers & popular media or just to be made Fun Of & Mocked, do to make a profit out of our black origins & History.

Example black character such as Usopp One piece.

however there have been great anime that have made our features positive one is Sol Bianca and others

Pokemon, Michiko Hatchin, Naruto & Carole And Tuesday.

Just like In Real Life, We As black people come in so many textures and beautiful complexions as you see in all of animation, & black-owned magazines, such as essence and this one Called Jet in the 1920s through Now celebrating our great culture.

We As Blerds, Black Fans & Cosplayers should have good content in which we can express, & be uplifted by our skin Personality & meaning itself, No matter what background or environment to which we dress, or cosplay a character that's out of our skin tone.

we come so far to the point where we have great indie creators, cosplayers even compays from hair products blogs Manga & comic books.

I'm glad that we are coming into our own and doing better but there's still work to be done, on how Hollywood treats us, and until we see the next all-black piece of media that's when we make it

(Carole & Tuesday, afro samurai & Yusuke on netflix prime example)

NEXT SEGMENT

We need more Black Hairstyles in animation & we need it more than ever.

The Hair Style Topic, oh yes its no big surprise that hair controversy within media has sparked in outrage,or made in impact throughout, be it in and out of workplaces or in the entertainment industry, I do feel at times things could've been handled with care.

From what I've seen we have gotten 2 steps forward, 4 steps back situation of all the controversies coming from the killmonger haircut that's been sported, which is a limited stifled hairdo on how we are only presented and how our hair can be made into cause it's a following trend, Because this is not the only distinct hairsyle to have Iin animated media, A Half Cut Mop will Not do So Put some Soul Glo & Let It Grow.

NOW you may wonder why i decided to put this post of a Disney main character of afro Latina background, well Luz Noceda I feel has great growth coming out to her friends and chosen family, however doesn't change the fact they didn't do anything for her to show ethnic representation other than speak Spanish, Having to show that aggressive Spicy latina Archetype to a Degree, & have a black father mention in season 2, having given no origin story or closure.

throughout the show this showed has shown great lgbt representation even though at times flawed, in the relationship area. ( another topic for a video COmING SOON) however the owl house has fall flat on ethnic & hair representation, Gus is a great example of a character being sidelined a lot too.

for instance luz noceda has been stifled into nothing but that pokemon goh knockoff haircut,

even though there may have been open-minded viewers,who agree on luz hair being styled effectively, making many statements that hair shows so many emotions in animation, Down below

That all hair on poc characters is a good is how you pull it off, in the picture below there tons of great characters in many hairdos complementing them.

sometimes i wish luz character could have handled by poc staff, and have her own break out like the rest of the female characters, cause I kid you not, I met a lot of non-gender-conforming characters or people, who sport many hair designs. It infuriates me such a beautiful person Luz Batista find out the pilot that her character was somewhat sidelined due to the writing Problems & Shipping and I'm baffled how of course white staff members didn't do their research on Afro Latina her cause Luz is beautiful

Knowing other shows such as Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur Do an incredible job of Discussing on how black hair is powerful, magical & comes in many shapes and intricate designs if you know what your doing and I for one have a graceful mother who a beautician coming from her,

We are in an era where black people shouldn't exist or we arent amount to anything and I too had my fair share of my hair being talked about in a nasty way,

This concludes the story post of how black representation should matter support shows out of mainstream like indie projects, cause there paving the way also a video post of my channel and The owl house debunk series thanks.

Now this is has been another topic post , right now getting ready for my epic momocon outing meeting Disney creators, and everything animation, hope everyone has a good one and all the links on good hair and my video post is here below, Have a Have a Nice Cruise & Stay Shining.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Here are just two of the corporate giveaways hidden in the rushed, must-pass, end-of-year budget bill

Yesterday, Congress finally voted through the must-pass, end-of-year budget bill. As has become routine, this bill was stalled right until the final moment, so that Congressjerks could cram the 4,000-page, $1.7 trillion package with special favors for their donors, at the expense of the rest of the country.

This year’s budget package included a couple of especially egregious doozies, which were reported out for The American Prospect by Lee Harris (who covered a grotesque retirement giveaway for the ultra-rich) and Doraj Facundo (who covered a safety giveaway to Boeing and its lethal fleet of 737 Max airplanes).

Let’s start with the retirement scam. The budget bill includes Rep Richie Neal’s [DINO-MA] SECURE Act 2.0, which gives savers with retirement funds until age 75 to cash out their retirement savings — netting an extra three years of tax-free growth for the lucky, tiny minority with substantial retirement savings. This follows on Neal’s SECURE Act 1.0 of 2019, when the age was raised from 70.5 to 72.

The tax-exempt retirement savings account is a Carter-era bargain that replaced real pensions — ones that guaranteed that you wouldn’t starve or freeze to death when you retired — with accounts that let people gamble on the stock market, to be the suckers at Wall Street’s poker table:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/25/derechos-humanos/#are-there-no-poorhouses

The market-based gambler’s pension is a catastrophic failure. Half of Americans have no retirement savings. Of the half that have any savings, the vast majority have almost nothing saved:

https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/scf/dataviz/scf/chart/#series:Retirement_Accounts;demographic:all;population:all;units:have

All in all, America has a $7 trillion retirement savings shortfall:

https://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/IB_19-16.pdf

But for a tiny minority of the ultra-rich, tax-free savings accounts like ROTH IRAs are a means of avoiding even the paltry capital gains tax that you have to pay if you own things for a living, rather than doing things for a living. Propublica’s IRS Files revealed how ghouls like Peter Thiel avoided tax on billions in “passive income” by abusing tax-free savings accounts that were supposed to benefit the “middle class”:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/26/wax-rothful/#thiels-gambit

Meanwhile, Social Security is crumbling, thanks to a sustained attack on it by the business lobby and its friends in both parties. Progressive Dems had sought to amend SECURE Act 2.0 by inserting some clauses to shore up Social Security, and none of these were included in the final bill.

One of the fixes that died was the Savings Penalty Elimination Act, introduced by Senators Sherrod Brown [D-OH] and Rob Portman [R-OH]. This act would have tweaked the means-testing for Supplemental Security Income, which supports 8m low-income disabled adults and kids. Right now, you can’t collect SSI if you have $2k in the bank, a limit that hasn’t been adjusted for inflation since the 1980s (adjusted for inflation, $2k in 1980 is $7226.00 in 2022).

The $2k savings cap means that you have to be substantially below the poverty level to receive $585/month in SSI assistance — this being the only source of income for the majority of SSI recipients. Means-testing is a self-immolating fetish for corporate Dems and in retrospect, this betrayal seems inevitable:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/03/utopia-of-rules/#in-triplicate

(Notice how no one proposes means-testing billionaires when they get PPP loans or hundreds of millions in IRS “refunds” — like Trump, who paid substantially less tax than you did:)

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/21/trump-income-tax-returns-detailed-in-new-report-.html

And it was a betrayal: progressive Dems bargained with Neal and co not to publicly condemn SECURE Act 2.0 if they could get some concessions for the 8 million poorest disabled people in America. In the end, Neal rug-pulled them. Of course he did! This is Richie Fucking Neal, the best friend the Trump tax giveaway ever had:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/13/youre-still-the-product/#richie-neal

As with everything Neal touches, this screws poor people in multiple ways. First, it leaves the SSI cap intact. But it also creates a giant unfunded liability in the federal budget. Technically, there’s no reason this should lead to cuts. The US Treasury can’t run out of dollars, and giveaways to the rich are only mildly inflationary, since rich people put their money in the bank and mostly spend it on buying politicians, not goods.

But because of the delusion that currency producers like the US Treasury have the same constraints as currency users like you and me, Congress will need to come up with “Pay Fors” in future budgets to “make up for” the money they’re giving to rich people with SECURE Act 2.0. Dollars to toenail clippings, they’ll do that by hacking away at the tattered remains of the US social safety net.

Fear not, you don’t need to be a desperately poor disabled person or child to get fucked over by late additions to a 4,000 page must-pass bill! If you can afford to get on an airplane, Congress has something for you, too!

Remember when Boeing (the monopoly US airplane manufacturer that squandered $43b on stock buybacks and had to borrow $14b from the US public to survive the pandemic) told the FAA that it could self-certify its 737 Max airplanes, and then killed hundreds and hundreds of people with its defective planes?

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/12/boeing-crashes/#boeing

The 737 Max was unsafe for many reasons, but one glaring factor was the fact that Boeing sold some of its core safety as “extras” — like they were downloadable content for your Fortnite character — leading to multiple crashes in which all lives were lost:

https://apnews.com/article/ethiopia-indonesia-accidents-ap-top-news-international-news-140576a8e9d4449eae646c8c479fdc3a

Boeing was forced to take the 737 Max out of service, but it eventually brought the plane back, “fixing” the problems by renaming the “737 Max” to the “737 8”:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/20/dubious-quantitative-residue/#737-8

Supposedly, Boeing has been diligently working on fixing the problems with its defective jets that can’t be addressed by a rebranding campaign. This wasn’t voluntary: the 2020 Aircraft Certification, Safety, and Accountability Act required Boeing — and every other manufacturer whose aircraft were certified by the FAA — to meet new minimum safety standards by December 27, 2022.

Every manufacturer met that deadline, except Boeing, and someone amended the budget bill to give the company three more years to meet these security standards. Critically, the new security measures, when they come, will be certified by an FAA that Republicans will control, thanks to the House changing hands.

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/government-spending-bill-waives-aircraft-safety-deadline/

Boeing is slated to ship 1,000 new 737 Maxes, which will fetch $50b for the company. Many of these planes will fly directly over my house, which is on the approach path for Burbank airport. Southwest Air flies dozens of 737 Maxes right over my roof every single day.

As Facundo points out, the FAA can ill afford any more hits to its credibility. It was once the case that if the FAA certified an aircraft, every other country in the world would waive any further certification, so trusting were they of the FAA’s judgment. That is no longer the case: today, the European Aviation Safety Agency does its own aircraft testing, holding jets that enter EU airspace to a higher standard than the FAA does for US planes.

It’s just another reminder that the US doesn’t have “corporate criminals” because the US doesn’t have any meaningful enforcement for corporate crimes. In America, we love our companies like we love our billionaires: too big to fail and too big to jail:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/12/no-criminals-no-crimes/#get-out-of-jail-free-card

Image: Ryan Lee (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/190784293@N05/50862532686

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

Henry Wadey (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flames_%2858765896%29.jpeg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A living room scene, featuring a sofa in the background and a sofa in the foreground. A man's hand reaches into the frame to lift up the corner of the sofa. A broom enters the frame to sweep a pile of dirt under the rug. Mixed in with the dirt are a crashed WWI biplane with Southwest Airlines livery, and an old lady in a rocking chair.]

[stargazinglesbian]

Very very good dump,i know think you're even cooler than i already did :D Now it's my turn!!

So similar to you,i was a tomboy autistic kid who didn't like femininity because of those things but the show didn't come out until i was already and femme.But Reggie is exactly like me when i was a kid so she's eternally having a special in my heart <3 Twelve Forever was one of the first queer cartoons i was fully invested in by myself with no prompting and i binged it quicker than i have any other show!!Todd is so goober and i loved the subtle bi poc rep with him(he's native to me🙏🏼)with 'Your dad's hot too'💀Lives in my head rent free and Esther is literally ME because she's a black pastel femme with peppy weirdgirl autism🥰She's transmasc genderfluid and bigender(boy + demigirl)to me too!!

The theme song is so soothing,the artsyle is just perfect and so shaped and i want to see practically all my fandoms and even original works in it,the lore warms my heart and feels so much like something i would write so it really fits me and feels like home as corny as that sounds and the way it tackled issues means so much to me with how realistic it all was!!!I also have a self-insert!!His name is Persea 'Percy' Brown and he's Reggie's pop punk babysitter attending college in town to become an indie game designer,the Endless Trio's cool big sis and mom friend and Buttwitch's love interest.Sorry but she's so hot and i wanna date her so bad😭The ship name is Witchsitter!!

Overally,i'm eternally grateful Twelve Forever got to exist even not as much as it should've!Also Riley's cotton candy colored mismatched sneakers gotta be one of my favorite genders

YOURE SO REAL FOR ALL OF THIS AHAOWHAKSJ

you're so real for the buttwitch crush, she was hot and everything you wrote about it feeling so comforting and homey is so true!!! as a kid i was always suchhh a weirdo but the show made me feel ok with that, and i loved it for that

the main trio is really the epitome of queer kids seeking each other out and banding together, they all deserve every good thing that comes their way 🩷🩷🩷

[nofr1lls]

I HAVE BEEN TAGGED BT @isomorbism !!!! THANK U!!

r U named after anyone: yeth but I have a couple of names and middle names and such all from family members. yiayia ily 🫶

when was the last time u cried: today actually I had a rlly important convo w ma we sort of had a breakthrough it was good and we don't rly ever talk to eachother like that,,, anyway. nobody asked I cry probably the normal amount honestly maybe once a month or so. usually out of frustration

do u have kids no

do u use sarcasm no. yes. nooooo. shut up

the first thing I notice abt people is whatever facet of them I experience first??? so it differs. idk what else this q means sorry

what's ur eye colour? nondescript non-brown colour. I get super squinty in the sun 👎👎

scary movies or happy endings: errrr where would one b without the other. scary ig.

any special skills? my response to this is always that I'm reaaaaally good at balancing one leg tiptoe like I can just stand there. go me

where were u born? same country I live now. I've only left once

what r ur hobbies ballet, local history, supermarket research, egg peeling, bushwalking, art. blogging and listening 2 tunes also 🤫

do u have any pets does my little(st) brother count. no.

do u/ have u played any sports YES and I'll give U a list rn. I've danced ballet since I was abt 8 and I rlly enjoy it but I have never aimed to get anywhere near professional. its a hobby I do well at the level I'm at. I played tennis all of hs and I was pretty good i was on a few rep teams and played outside school as well I miss it sooooooooo much. soccer and netball I was in teams with my friends sometimes and I sucked ASS but they were fun. in my last years of hs I did track and I'm going to take this opportunity to tell the mutuals that I can run really really fast I'd just like to share that me fact like b4 I ever started training I was the 6th fastest at the 100m in my whole school of over 1200 students including all of the track team kids (I didn't even have spikes 😩) when I was 15 ok just know that abt me and I'll never mention it again it is genuinely one of the things I'm most proud of ok whatever I've wasted my one proper talent bye

how tall r U average height FUCK!!! off

fav school subject prooobs history or art.

dream job dun have one comedian shut up shut up shut up shut up

congrats if U real to the end of this LONG ASS horse-music info post ily forever let's move in 2gether @dacergirl369 @groundbreakingdot872 @acasternaut @ivorysongbird

NO PRESH 2 DO THIS KIND OF TOOK AGES

[mindofawriter22]

Riddle Me That

They say pimps up, hoes down

Rep yo city and that side of town

Give me pound, on the side that’s brown

I’ll show you how I get around

Gotta keep it player, been a G

Since the date of my birth in ‘93

Forever thuggin’ til infinity

Show love to all, that’s the real in me

Been backstabbed they watched as I bleed

Bruised and scarred internally

Couldn’t kill my spirit, the comeback they fear it

The visuals are vivid with every lyric

On a different level, can’t come near it

Another wave of frequency in tune with myself

Turnt to the maximum, ain’t no relaxin’ em

So try and sleep on someone else

Who am I? The kid in the suit and tie

About my business as usual

Hater try to come between my paper

Gon have to arrange for his funeral

Don’t bother no one, so leave me alone

25/8 stay locked in and in the zone

No matter whatever shade is thrown

Not a man on Earth who can clone

The realist in this space, style can’t be replaced

It’s good vibes only

On a chase to get the cake

Hustle and grindin’ all by my lonely

Know how to spot a leech and a phony

Keep you at arms length and outta reach

Long as you don’t touch me, say what you want

Not losin’ sleep over the opinion of sheep

Got the heart of a lion, I ain’t lyin’

Tried to sell me a dream but I ain’t buyin’

Just tryna motivate the others, out the struggle

Look to the sky and see em flyin’

Spread my wings, and watch me soar

So high, way above the clouds

Can’t wait to knock on Heaven’s door

And hear sweet angels singing so loud

[j0kers-light]

Get To Know Me Tag Game!! ✨

Many thanks to @megamindsecretlair for tagging me! I too am a private person but there’s no harm in sharing a lil bit ya know.. it gets the people going 🖤✨

Were you named after anyone?

Yes I am! My government name holds meaning with origins in both Hebrew and Yiddish. I’m very proud of it. I share a name with a celebrity and a family friend.

When was the last time you cried?

Last year on my birthday when my fur baby passed away.

Do you have any kids?

Haha, I wish! No one wants to go in half with me. Plus I have high standards. My child can’t be out here looking any type of way. I cannot deny, baby fever recently been punching me in the ovaries and I get weak in the knees. Ya girl be folding fast. I just love kids!

What sports do you play/ have you played?

None. I’m way too clumsy and I have medical issues that won’t allow me to.

Do you use sarcasm?

What a dumb question. Do humans need oxygen to survive? There isn’t a day that I don’t.

What is the first thing you notice about people?

The eyes, Chico, they never lie. I am huge on eye contact so if your eyes aren’t engaged, I will literally walk away from the conversation. Next would be hands… 👀 I have a big hand kink and no I’m not seeking any help on it. I ain’t got no shame about it. Third thing would be a person’s voice. I fold so fast if a person has all three on point.

What is your eye color?

Dark brown but I have a defect where the color appears to ‘bleed out my iris’ hence the nickname I have, ‘honeypot’ so light and dark brown.

Scary movies or happy endings?

Give me a scary movie any day! I love laughing at them especially the classics. Maybe this is why I like dark humor and are attracted to villains…. 🤔I can stomach all the gore and ‘jump scares’. The only body part I haven’t seen in real life is the brain. I’m patiently waiting though. My time will come.

Any talents?

Uhhh, depends on what’s considered talent. I’m trilingual, I’m a certified nail tech, a great singer. I have more but I’m too shy to add them.

Where were you born?

I was born by the river!!!! I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. But yeah I rep the South, USA of course. The accent only comes out when I’m under stress 🥴

What are your hobbies?

I love history, so learning random things, cooking, reading, obviously writing… 🥴 but I can’t go a day without music. I basically keep my headphones on and only take them off to shower and sleep. Wait. I sleep with my EarPods sometimes so yeah... I’m addicted to music

Do you have any pets?

Not anymore. J was my one and only.

How tall are you?

On a good day, 5’2, but I be talking trash like I’m 6’0.

Favorite subject in high school?

Hands down history. I read/watch daily documentaries or articles about random historical events (all fact checked thank you) just because I like to. I got all types of subscriptions and I follow historians on social media. Yesterday, I brushed up on my knowledge on The Battle of Agincourt and the significance of the English longbow during it. I haven’t decided what today’s lesson is yet. I’ve been so busy.

Dream Job?

I wanted to be a curator 😭

That’s all I got. There’s a ton more but all in good time you will learn more lol 🖤✨

No pressure tags:

anyone can join in! I rarely tag people 🤧

Get To Know Me Tag Game

Thank you for the tag @nerdieforpedro 😚 for anyone who cares, here's a bit about me! 🥹

General rule: I may overshare in dms and authors notes sometimes but Im generally a private person 🤣 to the point Ive lost friends over it. ive been working with my coworkers for 3 years and they dont know shit about me 🤣 I juss really love yall and feel safe with yall so here we go!

1. Were you named after anyone?

No. My mom didnt want our names to announce who we were on applications so we all got regular smegular names. My name is of Irish origin so my yt folks customer service voice got ppl thinkin I have red hair. I mean....technically yes but its buried under my braids 🤣

2. When was the last time you cried?

At the end of The Marvels. The first end credit had me in real, actual tears. On a more serious note, I last cried before my grandma died. Yall, its fn hard being a caretaker. I was not built Ford Tuff.

3. Do you have kids?

*ahem* 🗣🗣 fuck no! 🤣🤣🤣 I dont even have nieces or nephews. Kids make me nervous and Im pretty sure they can smell the fear on me. 🤣

4. What sports do you play/ have you played?

I played basketball and softball in HS. I love and miss softball all the time even though my big behind HATES running.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Sarcasm is one of my love languages. I put that shit on everything 🤣 Physical Touch is my main one since we sharing.

6. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Ooof, tough. Depends. Some quirk like glasses, lisp, moles. How they walk/talk, the way they laugh. I am a lurker by trade. Overly shy kid and writer by nature will do that to ya.

7. What is your eye color?

Dark brown. When that sun hits 🫠🫠🫦

8. Scary movies or happy endings?

I am a HUGE scaredy cat. I dont do scary movies nothin! Happy endings over here! 🤸🏽‍♀️ I will enjoy a thriller but only behind my hands and mostly starring Matthew Lillard.

9. Any talents?

.....no? I have a bunch of useless knowledge or trivia that no one asked for but ya gonna get 🤣 . Juss realized writing is considered a talent 😭 so that too 🤣

10. Where were you born?

US, West Coast baybeee

11. What are your hobbies?

Obvs, writing. Reading, sewing, cons, tarot, tv, listening to music, video games (xbox, switch, PC girlie) , Marvel. Marvel is a hobby. I will talk your ear off. That is both a threat and a promise 😚

12. Do you have any pets?

I have two gorgeous Boston Terriers who run me into the ground every day. Idk why my mom thought two was okay 🫠🫠 my Black ass tide 🥲 👏🏽

13. How tall are you?

Fun sized 5'3 and a half 👏🏽👏🏽🤣 pear shaped. I got ass for days but in the itty bitty titty committee. 😭😭😭😭😭

14. Favorite subject in high school?

Definitely English. My English teacher was so fine 🥲🥲 thats not WHY it was my fave but can ya blame me 😩 I loved reading the books but I hated the themes they shoved down our throats. What if that wasnt MY interpretation of the book??? Hmmm? Some faves include: Their Eyes Were Watching God (Teacake 🥵🥵🥵), Brave New World, Bright Lights Big City (probably where my love of second person is from) , Bronx Masquerade, and The Outsiders. And FUCK the Great Gatsby. If I hear about that damn green light one 👏🏽 mo 👏🏽 fn 👏🏽 time 👏🏽😩😡 and FUCK Of Mice and Men, he aint have to do all that in the end. And DOUBLE FUCK I Know Why the Caged Bird sings. Turned my stomach when she described the SA. Lemme stop 🥴

15. Dream Job?

Writer. I will publish, I will be successful, and I will live the life I want. I claim it 😩 on my Octavia Butler, NK Jemisin, Danielle Allen shit 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Whew! That was fun 😭🤣

No pressure tags: @mybonafidefeelings @bratzmaraj @braverthanthenewworld @multiversefanfics @chaos-4baby @westside-rot @saturn-rings-writes @notapradagurl7 @wide-nose-and-wonderful @blowmymbackout @blackerthings @harmshake @targaryenvampireslayer and who wants to do one. I love learning bout my moots.

[stormblessed95]

Disability Pride Month

Did you know July is actually Disability Pride? And did yall know I'm Disabled? I have multiple Invisible Disabilities. Meaning that if you met me in real life on any regular day, there is a good chance you would have no idea that I can't remember the last time I wasn't in pain. How we probably have very different definitions of the word exhausted. So I hope everyone will take the chance to just do a little something for the month of July to increase your own awareness. Especially if you are able-bodied. Look into ablism, learn about the Spoon Theory if you don't already know it. (Highly recommend that one! Would be willing to talk about it with yall if you have any questions!) Try to be a little more conscious of how you never know what someone is dealing with and don't judge someone for using mobility aids, even if it doesn't look like they should need it. Or "you don't look sick." Or for someone who parks in a handicap spot but isn't in a wheel chair. And for anyone else who is disabled here, I hope you take pride in who you are this month too. Every part of you! And I'm willing to talk about it if anyone wants to 😊💜

And on that note! I'm actually here to celebrate just a bit with yall in my usual way when I make posts not about BTS. By sharing books!! So here are some books that I've throughly enjoyed that have Disability Representation in them!!

1. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

Fantasy thieving crew heist novel. Rep includes Chronic Pain, Mobility Aid Use (cane), PTSD, Dyslexia and Addiction. It also is now a Netflix show! You should read the books though!

2. Sick Kids In Love by Hannah Moskowitz

YA Contemporary Romance novel. Rep includes Rheumatoid Arthritis and Gaucher disease. (Made me cry in a good way!)

3. One For All By Lillie Lainoff

Historical gender bent three musketeers Retelling. Rep for POTS.

4. Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Romance fiction, rep for fibromyalgia

5. All the Right Reasons by Bethany Mangle

YA Contemporary Romance. Rep includes EDS. (Haven't read this one yet, but on my TBR!)

6. The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd Jones

YA Horror Paranormal Fantasy with Zombies. Rep for Chronic Pain

7. Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy as a Mecha Retelling of the rise of the Chinese Empress Wu Zetian. Rep includes Cane and Wheelchair usage.

Thanks for letting me share! Happy July Everyone! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! And if you have any good recs for me, please feel free to share them as well!

[mahoushojoe]

hmmmmmm thinking about zia rashid

first of all...holy shit, why is her name zia? there is not a single person in egypt named zia. zia is supposedly a girl born in a rural village in upper egypt. zia is just. not a name she would have. it's not egyptian. as far as i know it's not even middle eastern. like, sometimes people really nitpick stuff when criticizing these things online but this really isn't a nitpick, like. just common sense! common sense and respect for the culture and heritage you're exploiting for your cash cow franchise. the bare minimum. you didn't even have to deeply research Common Girl Names In Upper Egypt. You could have just named her, like, Sara or something, and it would have worked just fine.

like the reason the name is such a big deal is that zia is one of like, two egyptians in a series ABOUT egypt, and yet she's just...not. she doesn't feel egyptian. through her we know nothing about egyptian culture. her name is a Not Like Other Girls name. we don't know whether she's muslim or coptic. she's the Egyptian Rep but she's just Not Egyptian, and the fact that she has the personality of a piece of cardboard doesn't help. it feels like egyptian characters are often purposely distanced from being egyptian in media like this because a) the writers don't want to put in the effort to research and b) it would force them to confront the colonial implications of the media they're writing.

her village is like, comically orientalist- rick could have looked at a map of egypt and known that absolutely nowhere in egypt do they have places named in formal arabic like that. it's called village of the red sand, right? it's given this long mysterious sounding formal arabic name as a result, and just... it's not how egyptian place names works and it's also not how any place name would work, period. a more realistic thing would be if rick had put in the work to at least get an IDEA of the egyptian dialect of arabic -better yet, the UPPER egyptian dialect. Like if the village was called Raml Ahmar it would have been like. Believable. Grounded. And like, in Zia's childhood, supposedly this entire village gets like eaten by sand or something, and... there. Nobody notices. Like if something like that happened in the US it would be a huge deal and everyone would know about it, but since egypt is this like, Desert Of Mystery, things like this just happen and nobody cares I guess.

zia herself isn't even in the books like 60% of the time. like she's either a puppet or like, in a magical coma or something, and when she IS there she's this like Quiet Strong Girl Of Few Words so she doesn't really have a personality beyond being a #girlboss. she is very open to going on dates with a boy and KISSING him at some point even though a girl from upper egypt wouldn't be caught DEAD publically doing those kinds of things, culturally speaking. on that note, zia doesn't know what a mall is. egypt has malls. zia lives in cairo iirc and cairo does, in fact, have several LARGE malls. so all this converges to show zia as this Mysterious Girl From The Third World(tm) and again, as mentioned before, to distance her from her being egyptian.

so like these all seem like nitpicky details, but they all converge to send a message: rick does not care about egyptian culture enough to research it. since the people of modern egypt are poor and brown and all the cool ancient stuff can be conveniently stolen and whitewashed, egypt has no value to him besides being an occasional setting. and it rubs salt in the already gaping colonial wound left by the british and the french and the ottomans and whoever else took a chunk out of us and left us to bleed- which is: exploit egypt for the artifacts and degrade and disrespect the rest.

i'm gonna be honest- i wasn't expecting perfect egyptian rep from a white american man and i wasn't looking for it from him either. but what grates on me is disrespect. what grates on me is laziness. tkc is probably gonna be a lot of kids' introduction to egypt and this is the message it leaves in their head; this is the mindset, that egypt is worthless and only the ancient artifacts are worth taking seriously. and then that devolves into the way tourists and expats arrive here asking to be treated like royalty and treating the locals like shit and paying them pennies. it devolves into museums refusing to give us OUR artifacts that they LOOTED during imperialism. it devolves into the microaggressions i face on the internet every day, where I cannot talk about the serious problems this country faces every day without some annoying american making a king tut reference or whatever. tkc isn't the reason behind all of this, it's far from the only media that has ever done this, it's not even the worst offender. but it feels bad to constantly see the blatant disrespect people have for you and your heritage and it feels bad to constantlyq have it relegated to a joke pop culture reference and it feels bad to be constantly spoken over.

again: im not waiting for representation from riordan or his ilk. i don't need his crumbs. but the disappointment i felt when reading about zia was real, and so was my irritation at her characterization and the way it's supposed to represent me.

tl;dr when you write a book about a colonized and exploited country and people, please afford them a little fucking respect. the bare fucking minimum. this is why i'm not at all excited for the upcoming tkc adaptation and for my own sake i won't be engaging in it, although i dread the upcoming pop culture wave that will happen as a result.

[punkeropercyjackson]

No Hobie Brown would not listen to popular white alt bands or do thirst traps or bully his friends as 'hidden affection',he's afropunk personified and adultified black minor rep please settle down and just let him date Miles so he can be a real kid

[nolabballgirl]

Eid 2022: Muslim Books Wrap-up and Review Part ii

so in part i here, i focused on recently published contemporary literature/poetry, fantasy, and graphic novels (2017 to present) with muslim main characters i've read over the year. now i'm going to turn to young adult and lgbtq muslim fiction. frankly i was impressed by how many books have come out in the last few years alone in these categories. now i wish the quality of the writing was just as amazing (but that’s another story 🌙)

these books represent a wide spectrum of the muslim experience. from practicing, non-practicing, or questioning one's faith, to spanning cultures, nationalities, and ethnic origins from across the globe. and we're only scratching the surface. without further ado:

ya:

all my rage (2022/sabaa tahir *tw: abuse, addiction) - this book fully wrecked me. it's so heartbreaking and yet hopeful at the same time. a lovely friends to lovers story of two pakistani american kids living in the mojave desert in california, whose respective families are just trying to live out "the american dream." p.s. tahir's "an ember in the ashes" is an awesome fantasy series!

salaam with love (2022/sara sharaf beg*tw: gun violence) - good post ramadan read as it follows a pakistani american teen from a small town who visits relatives in nyc for the entire month of ramadan. it's a coming of age story but also about the main learning more about the religion and ramadan in general. there's an unnecessary subplot involving gun violence that took away from the tone mid-story, and the ending was slightly unbelievable, but otherwise a fun read.

misfits in love (2021/s.k. ali) - this is a sequel to saints and misfits but you don't really need to have read the first one to read this. we follow our egyptian-indian hijabi protagonist at her brother's wedding and like all weddings, there's lots of drama (especially boy drama!) this was light-hearted and fun, but also did a good job in addressing intra-muslim racism (especially anti-black racism) and how to cope when it occurs amongst family members.

all american muslim girl (2019/nadine jolie courtney) - despite the cheesy title, i thought this was a fresh take on the muslim teen experience. it's a coming of age story of a white passing Circassian girl from a non-religious muslim family near atlanta, georgia. in exploring her heritage, racism, and fitting in, she comes to islam and decides to be muslim. so it's all about her finding her faith and making sense of it all, with some really layered intra-faith explorations amongst her friend group too.

love, hate, and other filters (2018/samira ahmed*tw: terrorism) - okay, this book was a mess. ostensibly a coming of age story about an indian muslim girl living in the midwest us. but it was full of cliches (brown girl pining for the white crush; oppressive indian parents, etc.) structurally, the author drops a mass casualty/terrorism event in the middle of the book, but then picks up with the "romance" like nothing happened. very little grappling with the main's cultural and religious identity. and the ending is incomprehensible given the 200 pages that came before it.

a very large expanse of sea (2018/tahereh mafi) - a coming of age story set in 2002 (right after 9/11) of a hijabi persian breakdancing teen. i enjoyed the subversion of stereotypes and the realistic depiction of racism and double standards in that time. i could have done with a little less romance but overall the main's conflicting emotions felt very real.

lgbtq lit (mostly wlw):

note: there aren't too many books with practicing queer muslim rep yet. most have mains that fall into the category of culturally muslim/raised in a muslim household but marginally practicing or not at all. for practicing rep, in addition to one book below, i would highly recommend watching "we are lady parts" on peacock (wlw hijabi who regularly prays!)

the henna wars (2020/adiba jaigirdar) - wlw high school rivals romance between a bengali girl and brazilian irish classmate in ireland (not exactly enemies to lovers but eh, close enough). so this isn't the most well-written book, but it was cute. props to an interracial woc couple and complicated sibling dynamics.

hani and ishu's guide to fake dating (2021/adiba jaigirdar) - fake dating and grumpy/sunshine tropes galore between muslim and hindu (?) bengali high school girls in ireland. kudos for a practicing muslim bisexual co-main! a nice exploration of culture and religion overall with both girls, who are quite well-developed on their own. i just wish we got more of their relationship together which felt the most underdeveloped of the whole novel so i wasn’t as invested in their relationship as i was in them separately. but overall, cute.

the love and lies of rukhsana ali (2019/sabina khan *tw: intense homophobia; sexual assault; death) - okay, i really disliked this book. setting aside the writing style which i did not care for, this book verged on trauma porn for me by taking the kitchen sink of homophobia, misogyny, racism, etc. and throwing it all at this poor bengali girl. yes, life is not all sunshine and roses but this was bleak. and don't get me started on the ending! the book would have benefitted from sticking with 2-3 topics and exploring them well.

zara hossain is here (2021/sabina khan *tw:islamophobia) - so i liked this better than her first book (love lies of rukhsana ali). but this author still has the propensity of putting her queer characters through harrowing situations so be warned. this novel is about a bisexual pakistani teenager in texas and the racism and islamophobia she and her family face. again i think focusing on a few major themes would have helped focus the storyline.

you exist too much (2020/zaina arafat *tw: addiction) this was a hard book, not only for the subject matter but because the main, a bisexual palestinian woman, is pretty unlikeable. but the writing is honest and there's something to be said for rooting for a woman to overcome her addictions, tackle her mental health issues, and stop her self-destructive behavior. i also enjoyed the vignettes of self-discovery from her childhood in palestine/jordan.

honorable mention: darius the great is not okay (2018/adib khorram) - this is cheating because the main isn't muslim; he's a persian, zoroastrian boy. but this book is so good and really deftly tackles the subject of mental illness, loneliness, family pressures and trying to fit in. it mostly takes place in iran with some gorgeous descriptions of the architecture/mosques in yazd too.

[eli-elien]

loz au

Story summary:

These are short stories or something more than this, who knows. The overall story is about the relationship between a green cladded knight named Naofumi, a Gerudo prince known as L'arc and the princess of Hyrule, Therese and what stands in the way of the trio's relationship.

Most of this is based of BOTW lore and what comes after it and of course I have my own original ideas for this.

Naofumi Iwatani the holder of the triforce of courage

The second eldest to the Iwatani family, the first being his immature spear-man of an older brother Motoyasu, Naofumi always gets confused for being the eldest due to him being quiet and the mature one. He also has two little brothers, Isuki and Ren, who both like him, want to follow in their fathers shoes as a royal knight to the Hyrule kingdom.

Naofumi learns that unlike his brother, his style leans more defensive than offensive, so he chooses a rapier to use once he does become a knight. But he's pretty good at picking stuff up like bows, spears and regular swords that need alot of strength behind it.

But before he became a knight between the ages of 15-18 he's the apprentice of a blacksmith/or craftsman and becomes a blacksmith/craftsman for real later on but resigns and becomes a knight.

During these four years in a village he moved to he met a blue-haired girl wearing bracelets and what looked like very expensive clothes cloaked by a dull brown cloak.

She asked for him to make an accessory with this gem she found near a Hylia statue she was praying next to and decided this was what her next accessory was gonna have. Naofumi takes  the job and says that was a good find since gems like this are and finishes it in about three days. 

He's surprised to see her cry and even more surprised when she hands him an amount of rupees that only a royal would have and she heads off while thanking profusely while Naofumi is still standing there, too stunned to speak.

He gives some of the rupees to his mentor saying "I used your equipment and you taught me all of this so this is thanks".

A few weeks after the girl left Naofumi and his mentor are getting requests left and right til he resigns and becomes a royal knight and everyone is awed at how skillful he is and because of his rep and heritage is assigned to the princess and protect her.

Therese Alexandrite Hyrule the holder of the triforce of wisdom

Therese, like the princesses generations before her, has the power of the goddess Hylia and it's prophesied that she will seal away a great evil and that there are signs of this evil soon appearing.

She's always been a quiet child who has an interest in gems, magic, and hand-to-hand combat which was surprising but welcomed. She, as a child, couldn't find kid to be her friend because of a class difference.

One there's a meeting between the races and the leader of the Gerudoes brought her son, which was peculiar because the Gerudoes are known to birth mostly girls so it's rare for there to be a boy of Gerudo descent.

"Hey. Why are you here all by yourself?" The red-head asks the girl.

Therese slams a book, "W-what are you doing here!" 

"Just exploring! Anyways," the boy puts his hand, "Hi I'm L'arc! And Mother brought me along as 'learning experience'. But I'm glad theres a kid my age here! You're the princess right!"

"Oh my apologies, yes I'm Therese! Nice to meet you L'arc." They shake hands and that is the day that she gains a friend and someone who understands the pressure you're under as a future leader.

[ yes she is the girl who asked Naofumi for the accessory ]

She's taken aback that the boy who made her the lovely bracelet that she cherishes to this day, would be her personal knight to protect her on her journey to unlock that "sealing power" of hers.

She hits it off with Naofumi and they become quick friends although he doesn't talk as much.

She asks L'arc to come with them but he said he couldn't but didn't give a reason why. Huh.

L'arc Berg Dragmire the holder of the triforce of power

Like Therese he is basically royalty and an only child but instead of being quiet and reserved he's quite the troublemaker and his mother is relieved that he found a friend in somebody like Therese.

He can be quite childish but mostly due to being hot-headed and angry for whatever reason but most of the time his anger is justified.

His favorite weapon is the scythe and he (like his triforce) has alot of raw power just at age of 17 but he needs his weapon fixed so he went to a place that Therese recommended.

And what do you know his scythe comes back fixed and even better than ever! And the person who did the job, just like his friend said, sure is a pretty hylian boy.

"Wow! Ha ah you're so awesome! What's your name-oh uh sorry my friend came here and didn't catch it but I wanna know who you are as well, so mystery pretty boy, what's your name?" L'arc says looking at the boy.

The boy in question replies, "M-my name's Naofumi Iwatani and I'm actually just an apprentice! Ju-just wanted to learn blacksmithing and craftsmanship ha ah."

It turns into a conversation of praising the flustered boy and other topics of course and just like his friend (whom he suspected was the blue-haired girl) gave a ton of rupees too and left on horseback towards the gerudo desert.

He hangs out with therese less and less due to both of them training to be a leader in their own way but still they love eachother's company.

At age 20 he learns about the bodyguard for therese so that she can safely traverse the land and is happy that it turned out to be the pretty he met a few years ago but says that he's not able to go.

Therese know that the excuse of "studying to be king" is just an excuse but if he's excusing to go OUT then there must be something.

She questions him of course but it's fruitless because it turns increasingly aggressive til he goes to his room not opening his door.

She doesn't know what to do, she's seen him like this before but just once when some yiga person stole a family heirloom but it was only directed at the yiga clan.

"All I can think of is to let him cool off. I'll come again soon L'arc." She said to herself.

[ in L'arc's room ]

The red head punches a wall, "Just...SHUT UP ALREADY!"

It started out as a whisper to muttering and clear and clean cut demands for choas and destruction, specifically the destruction of the "hero" whatever that meant.

"AlL yOu neEd iS to gO oUt anD FiNd HIM!" 

L'arc is on his knees tired from the argument from before and this mysterious entity, "I already told ya I dont want to kill this hero! I dont wanna kill anyone!"

He stands up, "Who are you! Why the hell are you here and want to kill this hero!"

"revenge" the voice said in a scarily calm voice.

"and I am Demise"

Something, something in L'arc's soul KNEW, he knew that name like it was ingrained into his mind and into the atoms that created him.

And that terrified him.

More explaining!

In most of the games our loz big bad is the fallen (I think I haven't brushed up on loz lore that much) gerudo king who is the bearer of the triforce of power and like link and zelda always fated to reincarnate and meet eachother as enemies. But in some games sometimes we can see this ganon be remorseful and in I believe skyward sword the reason for ganon being who he is, is because of Demise.

Demise is a demon who is sealed by skyward sword link and presumably wants revenge for that I guess, listen i uh really need to learn more of the lore if i wanna write this which i dont know if I'm gonna ha ah

I feel like this @shieldherostuffs worthy to at them so here ya go Alex