#this also goes for pacific islander heritage month | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

xtruss · 11 months ago

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Warning for China? US Reclaims Airfield Used to Firebomb and Nuke Japan in WWII

Up to 240,000 people were killed in the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 in the closing days of World War II. In the years and decades since, eight other nations have come into possession of nuclear weapons, but the US remains the only nation in history to have ever used them.

The United States is restoring a mothballed airfield on the Pacific island of Tinian in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The airfield, situated roughly 2,300 km southeast of Japan and about 3,000 km southeast of mainland China, carries the grim status of having served as the launch point for the B-29 bombers used to drop atomic bombs on Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945. It was also one of the main staging areas for B-29 attacks which leveled Japanese cities in conventional firebombing attacks, which killed over three times more civilians than the atom bombs did.

“If you pay attention in the next few months, you will see significant progress, especially at Tinian North,” General Kenneth Wilsbach, US Pacific Air Forces commander, told Japanese media this week regarding the reclamation plans.

The airfield is said to have “extensive pavement underneath the overgrown jungle,” which will be cleared “out between now and summertime” of 2024, according to Wilsbach.

The revitalization of Tinian is meant to serve as part of the Pentagon’s strategy of stationing additional resources in the Western Pacific surrounding China, and spreading out deployments to prevent concentrations of easily targetable manpower and equipment.

“You create a targeting problem, and you may actually take some hits, but you still have preponderance of your forces still creating effect,” Wilsbach said of the deployment strategy, known in Pentagon-speak as ‘Agile Combat Employment’.

Aerial view of Tinian Airfield during WWII.

Besides Tinian, the Pentagon has made moves to substantially expand the size of the US’s military footprint in allied countries, including unprecedented trilateral drills and operations with Japan and South Korea, and to establish new capabilities at sites across Australia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

The US strategy of “containing” China goes back to the early 1950s, when future Eisenhower Secretary of State John Foster Dulles outlined the so-called “Island China Strategy,” in which the series of islands around the People’s Republic were to be turned into heavily armed and fortified outposts with offensive weaponry to target the mainland and prevent the Chinese Navy from exiting its home ports.

US Bases Near China Desk. © Sputnik

The People’s Liberation Army has created a series of workarounds in response, including the construction of ballistic missile submarines capable of evading the watchful eyes of the US and its allies, and ground-based ultra-long-range nuclear and conventional missile systems which can target American bases across the region in the event of a crisis.

The atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are among the most controversial pages in US history. For decades after the attacks, US government officials and many Western historians deemed the bombings a necessary evil to force Japan to surrender amid fears that a naval invasion would cost the lives of tens if not hundreds of thousands of US soldiers. In the Soviet Union and modern Russia, the bombings have been characterized as a gratuitous display by the Truman administration of America’s newfound superweapon, and a message to its erstwhile Soviet wartime allies about Washington’s plans to become the masters of the post-war world order. The atomic bombings coincided with Operation August Storm, the term applied to the Soviet invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria in August 1945, which saw the Red Army crush the 1.1 million strong Japanese Imperial Army in less than two weeks. Soviet and Russian historians believe that event, and the threat of a Soviet invasion of northern Japan, ultimately had more of an impact on Emperor Hirohito’s decision to surrender than the atomic bombings. Some revisionist Western historians have since adopted the Russian point of view.

— Ilya Tsukanov, Sputnik, Friday December 22, 2023

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jmdbjk · 2 years ago

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Happy Tumblr Anniversary to me

Exactly 1 year ago I started blabbing on this hellsite. A lot happened in one year...

• Oct. 2021: In the Soop 2: people were analyzing the clues Bam was throwing down to prove if Jimin and Jungkook lived together. And then we get this followed by an invitation to partake in ramen:

• Also Oct. 2021: Jimin’s birthday VLive when he made a phone call to JK (suspiciously staged?) and Jungkook immediately (less than 1 minute) zips up or down the elevator to join him briefly.

• Nov. 2021: BTS historically wins the AMAs Artist of the Year Award and during that acceptance speech, JK had us hanging because “in 2022 we’re gonna focus on....” feeding jk some pizza…

• Also Nov. 2021: The PTD LA VMinKook VLive when Jimin and Jungkook officially name their (fake) YouTube channel “Mingoogie.”

• Dec. 2021: Jin unleashes Super Tuna on an unsuspecting world and surprised himself with an instant hit.

• Also Dec. 2021: the creation of individual Instagram accounts and we are blessed with a series of photos from Santa Monica Beach including this one...

• Jan. 2022: The Hunger Games of Artist Made Merch began.

• Also Jan. 2022: the world stopped for a week from Jan. 31-Feb. 5 when Jimin was admitted to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy and treatment for COVID simultaneously.

• Feb. 2022: Jimin finally is discharged from the hospital and goes home to recuperate and shares with us on Weverse that he’s watching “The Notebook” for the nth time.

February was a particularly meager month for us as we did not get as much content as we had been.

• March 2022: We discover Jimin’s new moon tattoo and his “Youth” tattoo behind his ear and we collectively freak out. And JK seems to have covered some of his tattoos…and we start seeing more nipples... the normalizing of naked Bangtan has begun...

• Also March 2022: Jimin blesses us with the “air ass slap” video.

• April 2022 (the month that kept on giving): Jimin April Fools us by changing the Twitter handle of the BTS official account to Jimin Park and every post appears like this:

Also April 2022: The Grammy Awards... and Rolling Stone inadvertently reveal they are Jikookers:

Also April 2022: PTD Las Vegas...

May 2022: The Perilla Leaf Debate raged on... and proved they can’t be a couple because those darn leaves get stuck together. Ok whatever you say...

Also in May 2022: BTS is invited by the White House and President Biden to speak during our National Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. And they did amazing...(this photo is surreal)...(and we see you Jimin and JK)...

Also May 2022: Jikook just Jikooking in Washington DC at Dave and Busters? (courtesy of @uarmyhope).

June 2022: The bombshell heard ‘round the world. BTS going on hiatus/not a hiatus, BTS embarks on Chapter 2... and oh look, Namjoon already said they would perform Run BTS (actually practically spoiled that choreography was being created for it) and right before this he sort of said old songs like Mic Drop and Fake Love might be popular with fans but they are ready to move on from them... go watch it again. Calm down people.

July 2022: Hobi killed it with Jack in the Box and Hobipalooza.

Also in July 2022: They are THAT couple at a party...

Aug. 2022: VampKoo drops and Armys (who were in the midst of some sort of Werewolf fantasy) were in shambles...

Sept. 2022: Jungkook’s birthday WeLive (with his lil hairclips) and Jin’s interrogation of who came to wish JK happy birthday in person...

Also in Sept. 2022: All we needed was a leather-gloved hand to cause a massive orgasm within the fandom...

Oct. 2022: Jimin’s birthday... the thirst trap birthday wish/invitation/horn-fest...

And here we are, full circle. So much more happened other than what I mentioned here! But I hope everyone can see what has remained consistent: Jimin and Jungkook being together. Now we are waiting for the big event of the year, Yet to Come in Busan. We’ve seen the sneak peeks of them rehearsing and we know Jimin and Jungkook are STILL happily being in each other’s space.

Also, the constant downplaying of what they are and have. So. much. energy. wasted. on that. Just accept it my friends. It is what it is.

And these words I’ve seen more times in the last year than in my entire lifetime before BTS: hypocrisy and heteronormativity. And the big “H” word... homophobia. Attitudes and views that are sadly still prevalent. I will admit, I have LEARNED A LOT being here. If only everyone else were capable of opening their minds to ideas that might be different than what they think they know.

On a much brighter note, I’ve encountered many of you who follow my crazy ramblings and you have enlightened me, made me feel like I belong here, bring me joy and make me smile every day. I will keep saying it, I love you all. We are in this Bangtan shit together and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Looking forward to what’s to come.

#rolling stone are jikookers #jimin #kookmin #jungkook #its a great day in the jikook neighborhood #jikook in the sheets #i dont know where that jikook in the sheets tag came from #it was supposed to just be jikook #jikook #happyanniversary #happy birthday bro

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interact-if · 3 years ago

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Day 5 of our Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Featured Author Interviews, continuing with Allie!

Allie, author of College Tennis: Origin Story

Will the once-great Cargill Coyotes succeed in reclaiming the NCAA Div I championship title for the first time since the 90s? Will you succeed in making a name for yourself, both on and off the tennis court? And perhaps more importantly…how much are you willing to sacrifice in pursuit of these dreams? Start at the bottom as a newly-recruited freshman at Cargill university, and claw your way to the championships. Forge lifelong friendships, pursue budding romances, attend classes, and rush term papers -or party- till the sun comes up.

Read more about College Tennis: Origin Story here. Play the Demo here. Tags: Sport, Slice-of-life.

Allie is also the author of Merry Crisis.

[INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!]

Q1. Hello! Could you tell us a little bit about to yourself and your project?

Hi! Really thrilled to be part of the IF community - thanks for having me! I’m Singaporean Chinese, 25, an urban planner by day (scattered hobbyist by night/weekend). Nice to meet all of you! :) I have two public projects at the moment. Both are character-driven, slice-of-life IFs that deal with similar themes: family/friendships, coming-of-age in one’s early 20s (CT:OS) and mid/late-20s (Merry Crisis), self-worth and ambition, plus a healthy dose of lightheartedness/romance. In College Tennis: Origin Story, the main character is a college athlete plunged into the chaos of life on a varsity team, with shenanigans on-and-off the tennis court. There’s a fiery, surly-but-secretly-sweet rival, a confident, laid-back captain, a fun-loving hometown best-friend, a snarky, non-committal foreign exchange student, a bumbling fool of a roommate, a well-meaning but potentially estranged dad, and a suite of other characters. Merry Crisis is a little closer to home, and certainly more of a hobby project. The current demo chapter was written in 2-3 feverish nights, and centers around an MC who lives in New York post-college, and returns home (to Singapore) for Christmas. A week back home - nothing can go wrong, right? I envision this IF to be somewhat of an Asian-take on holiday movies - heartwarming, a little sad, a little frustrating/traumatic, but big-hearted, all the same.

Q2. What inspired your current project?

For College Tennis: Origin Story, the simple answer is that I love sports games, especially sports games that focus on the story / inner-conflicts, i.e. the “heart/soul”, rather than pure mechanics. What goes on in a tennis player’s head when they’re down 40-love at a crucial point? When I discovered IF, everything just clicked. It’s the perfect format for exploring these stories because it allows both introspection and reader/player agency.

Merry Crisis was born purely from being back home after living overseas for more than 4 years. It was… an experience. I wanted to write something about the complex relationship we have with our families, our birthplaces, and our first-loves. And capture all the bittersweet feelings about loss of innocence (knowing what lies beyond the grass pastures of one’s birthplace), the loss of freedom (going back to being somebody’s child, somebody’s sibling, etc. rather than untethered, foreign), plus the things that one gains, too, by ‘coming home’ - the immediate feeling of familiarity, of ‘belonging’ to a place.

Q3. Do you pull from your own identity for inspiration? How has that been reflected in your work?

For College Tennis: Origin Story, I write based on what it was like to play in a varsity team in an American college as a person-of-color, and a non-American queer person. A lot of the characters are based off of real-life friends (and uh, exes). I hope that brings some…soul, or flavor, and a bit of realism to the characters and their stories. I also try to borrow from my own experiences for the biggest plot-points/beats that I’ve planned out, e.g. when writing Rayyan and Tobin, I channel the experience of needing/wanting to prove one’s worth, to be seen as perfect, or worthy, or ‘twice-as-good��, as a POC. With Genevieve/Guillaume, I wanted to write about what it was like to feel like college is a transient, fleeting dream I’ll wake up from one day. Merry Crisis is essentially me forcing everyone to inhabit my world, if only for a week over Christmas. Short answer: The IF very much pulls from my own experiences/feelings, mostly of simultaneously loving and wanting to flee this place I call home. Long answer: As a queer Singaporean woman, you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve been asked when I’m going to get married, whether I’m ever going to have kids, and whether I’m queer because no dude would possibly like me (insert laundry list of potential reasons: because I’m too tan, westernised, argumentative, over-educated etc.) Even my straight friends grapple with the same expectations, especially as we approach our mid/late-20s. I wanted to give everyone the dubious honor of coming up with their own answers to these pesky questions :)

Q4. What are you most excited about your project?

Finishing it, so I can go write something else. Just kidding (not really).

For both College Tennis: Origin Story and Merry Crisis, I’m excited about fleshing out the characters, their motives, feelings, backgrounds, and seeing where the story leads. I love character-driven books, movies etc. and I get excited thinking about all the directions and themes I can explore by telling these different stories (as well as through MC’s possible relationships - platonic or otherwise - with these characters!)

P.S. For Merry Crisis, The romantic options are meant to be quite distinct people, and if I’m to get slightly ‘literary’, they also symbolize a different kind of archetypal relationship with Singapore / societal pressures. There’s the American-ex, a soul-mate, representing everything that feels ‘right’ but irrevocably different; Then there’s the Singaporean-ex, aloof, successful, the epitome of what MC could’ve been, if they’d toed the line, stayed home. Then there’s the neighbour, loose and brash, unperturbed by the rules / conventions that seem to constrict both local and foreign worlds.

Q5. What has your experience writing an IF and with the IF community been like?

I know it sounds cheesy, but I love writing and reading IFs, I love the IF community, mostly because I love the two-way conversation between creators and their audience. It’s so great how collaborative and active and interactive and nurturing/nourishing the IF community feels. A big thank you to everyone who has supported me in some way or form, and to everyone who’s played/read the IFs or left a note. It most definitely made me smile!

Q6. What changes in the IF community would you like to see?

IF/text-based games leave so much more room for non-mainstream stories to be told (after all, how many blockbuster movies, or triple-A games feature main characters/ROs that are non-white, or queer, or non-binary etc.?!) I’d love to see the IF community continue to grow, and continue to feature diverse voices/stories!

Q7. What piece of advice would you give to fellow creators?

Don’t be afraid to take a step back, and go do something else that seems unrelated (I’m a big believer in the notion that everything we do provides us with unique perspectives, experiences, relationships etc. that we can bring to the other aspects of our life). Take breaks! I also love the idea of “tinkering” and experimenting, because it removes the pressure of creating something great. Creating (and celebrating) shitty things, things that fail, things that’ll never be completed, ugly/imperfect things etc etc. is so important!

#if: events #Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month #API 2022

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rockislandadultreads · 3 years ago

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Even more fiction picks for AAPI Heritage Month

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

A coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino-American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin's murder. Jay Reguero plans to spend the last semester of his senior year playing video games before heading to the University of Michigan in the fall. But when he discovers that his Filipino cousin Jun was murdered as part of President Duterte's war on drugs, and no one in the family wants to talk about what happened, Jay travels to the Philippines to find out the real story. Hoping to uncover more about Jun and the events that led to his death, Jay is forced to reckon with the many sides of his cousin before he can face the whole horrible truth -- and the part he played in it.

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

What is the purpose of a map? Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map. But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating. To her surprise, she soon discovers that the map is incredibly valuable and exceedingly rare. In fact, she may now have the only copy left in existence... because a mysterious collector has been hunting down and destroying every last one—along with anyone who gets in the way. But why? To answer that question, Nell embarks on a dangerous journey to reveal a dark family secret and discovers the true power that lies in maps... From the critically acclaimed author of The Book of M, a highly imaginative thriller about a young woman who discovers that a strange map in her deceased father’s belongings holds an incredible, deadly secret—one that will lead her on an extraordinary adventure and to the truth about her family’s dark history.

Strangers We Know by Elle Marr

Adopted when she was only days old, Ivy Hon knows little about her lineage. But when she’s stricken with a mystery illness, the results of a genetic test to identify the cause attract the FBI. According to Ivy’s DNA, she’s related to the Full Moon Killer, who has terrorized the Pacific Northwest for decades. Ivy is the FBI’s hope to stop the enigmatic predator from killing again. When an online search connects Ivy with her younger cousin, she heads to rural Rock Island, Washington, to meet the woman. Motivated by a secret desire to unmask a murderous relative, Ivy reaches out to what’s left of a family of strangers. Discovering her mother’s tragic fate and her father’s disappearance is just the beginning. As Ivy ventures into a serial killer’s home territory, she realizes that she may be the next victim of poisonous blood ties.

The Verifiers by Jane Pek

Claudia Lin is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls—and that she's just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency. A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she's landed her ideal job. But when a client goes missing, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate—and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age.

#Fiction #Books to Read #booklr #AAPI authors #asian american heritage month #asian american pacific islander heritage month #to read #Book Recommendations #reading recommendations #tbr #highly recommend

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faraway-wanderer · 4 years ago

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BOOKS BY ASIAN AUTHORS MASTERLIST #stopasianhate

In light of recent events and the growing anti- Asian hate in the US and UK over the course of the pandemic I wanted to put together a masterlist of books by Asian authors. Obviously, it’s not extensive and there are HUNDREDS out there, but supporting art by Asian creators is a way of showing support; read their stories, educate ourselves. It goes without saying that we should all be putting effort into reading stories of POC and by POC because even through fiction we’re learning about different cultures, countries and heritages. So here’s some books to start with by Asian authors!

Here is a link also for resources to educate and petitions to sign (especially if you don’t read haha). It’s important that we educate ourselves and uplift Asian voices right now. Your anti-racism has to include every minority that faces it.

https://anti-asianviolenceresources.carrd.co/

for UK peeps, this is a good read: We may not hear about the anti Asian racism happening here, but it is definitely happening. https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/culture-news/a35692226/its-time-we-stopped-downplaying-the-uks-anti-asian-racism/

THE BOOKS:

· War Cross- Marie Lu ( the worldbuilding in this is IMMENSE.)

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life. The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit.

· Star Daughter- Shveta Thakrar

A beautiful story about a girl who is half human and half star, and she must go to the celestial court to try to save her father after he has fallen ill. And before she knows it, she is taking part in a magical competition that she must win!

· These Violent Delights- Chloe Gong (I told my little sister to read this book yesterday bc she has a thing for a Leo as Romeo- so if you want deadly good looking Romeos, badass Juliet’s and to learn about 1920s Shanghai- this is for you.)

The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery. A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. A Romeo and Juliet retelling.

· The Poppy War- R.F Kuang (My fave fantasy series just fyi- it’s soul crushing in the best way. Rebecca Kuang is a god of an author).

A brilliantly imaginative talent makes her exciting debut with this epic historical military fantasy, inspired by the bloody history of China’s twentieth century and filled with treachery and magic, in the tradition of Ken Liu’s Grace of Kings and N.K. Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy.

· Loveboat Taipei- Abigail Hing Wen (Really heartwarming and insightful!)

When eighteen-year-old Ever Wong’s parents send her from Ohio to Taiwan to study Mandarin for the summer, she finds herself thrust among the very over-achieving kids her parents have always wanted her to be, including Rick Woo, the Yale-bound prodigy profiled in the Chinese newspapers since they were nine—and her parents’ yardstick for her never-measuring-up life.

· Sorcerer to the Crown- Zen Cho (if anyone is looking for another Howl’s Moving Castle, look no further than this book)

At his wit’s end, Zacharias Wythe, freed slave, eminently proficient magician, and Sorcerer Royal of the Unnatural Philosophers—one of the most respected organizations throughout all of Britain—ventures to the border of Fairyland to discover why England’s magical stocks are drying up.

· Emergency Contact- Mary H.K. Choi (very wholesome and fun rom-com!)

For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. When she heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

· Jade City- Fonda Lee (I am reading this currently and can I just say- I think everyone who loves fantasy and blood feuds in a story should read this.)

JADE CITY is a gripping Godfather-esque saga of intergenerational blood feuds, vicious politics, magic, and kungfu. The Kaul family is one of two crime syndicates that control the island of Kekon. It's the only place in the world that produces rare magical jade, which grants those with the right training and heritage superhuman abilities.

· A Pho Love Story- Loan Le

When Dimple Met Rishi meets Ugly Delicious in this funny, smart romantic comedy, in which two Vietnamese-American teens fall in love and must navigate their newfound relationship amid their families’ age-old feud about their competing, neighbouring restaurants.

· Rebelwing- Andrea Tang

Business is booming for Prudence Wu. A black-market-media smuggler and scholarship student at the prestigious New Columbia Preparatory Academy, Pru is lucky to live in the Barricade Coalition where she is free to study, read, watch, and listen to whatever she wants.

· Wings of the Locust- Joel Donato Ching Jacob

Tuan escapes his mundane and mediocre existence when he is apprenticed to Muhen, a charming barangay wiseman. But, as he delves deeper into the craft of a mambabarang and its applications in espionage, sabotage and assassination, the young apprentice is overcome by conflicting emotions that cause him to question his new life.

· The Travelling Cat Chronicles- Hiro Arikawa

Sometimes you have to leave behind everything you know to find the place you truly belong...

Nana the cat is on a road trip. He is not sure where he's going or why, but it means that he gets to sit in the front seat of a silver van with his beloved owner, Satoru.

· Super Fake Love Song- David Yoon

From the bestselling author of Frankly in Love comes a contemporary YA rom-com where a case of mistaken identity kicks off a string of (fake) events that just may lead to (real) love.

· Parachutes- Kelly Yang

Speak enters the world of Gossip Girl in this modern immigrant story from New York Times bestselling author Kelly Yang about two girls navigating wealth, power, friendship, and trauma.

· The Grace of Kings- Ken Liu ( One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time!)

Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards.

· Wicked Fox- Kat Cho

A fresh and addictive fantasy-romance set in modern-day Seoul.

· Descendant of the Crane- Joan He

In this shimmering Chinese-inspired fantasy, debut author Joan He introduces a determined and vulnerable young heroine struggling to do right in a world brimming with deception.

· Pachinko- Min Jin Lee

Richly told and profoundly moving, Pachinko is a story of love, sacrifice, ambition, and loyalty. From bustling street markets to the halls of Japan's finest universities to the pachinko parlors of the criminal underworld, Lee's complex and passionate characters--strong, stubborn women, devoted sisters and sons, fathers shaken by moral crisis--survive and thrive against the indifferent arc of history.

· America is in the Heart- Carlos Bulosan

First published in 1946, this autobiography of the well known Filipino poet describes his boyhood in the Philippines, his voyage to America, and his years of hardship and despair as an itinerant laborer following the harvest trail in the rural West.

· Days of Distraction- Alexandra Chang

A wry, tender portrait of a young woman — finally free to decide her own path, but unsure if she knows herself well enough to choose wisely—from a captivating new literary voice.

· The Astonishing Colour of After Emily X.R Pan

Alternating between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, The Astonishing Color of After is a novel about finding oneself through family history, art, grief, and love.

· The Gilded Wolves- Roshani Chokshi

It's 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.

· When Dimple met Rishi- Sandhya Menon

Dimple and Rishi may think they have each other figured out. But when opposites clash, love works hard to prove itself in the most unexpected ways.

· On Earth we’re briefly Gorgeous- Ocean Vuong

Poet Ocean Vuong's debut novel is a shattering portrait of a family, a first love, and the redemptive power of storytelling.

· Fierce Fairytales- Nikita Gill

Complete with beautifully hand-drawn illustrations by Gill herself, Fierce Fairytales is an empowering collection of poems and stories for a new generation.

BOOKS BEING RELEASED LATER THIS YEAR TO PREORDER:

· Counting down with you- Tashie Bhuiyan- 4th May

A reserved Bangladeshi teenager has twenty-eight days to make the biggest decision of her life after agreeing to fake date her school’s resident bad boy.

How do you make one month last a lifetime?

· Gearbreakers- Zoe Hana Mikuta- June 29th

Two girls on opposite sides of a war discover they're fighting for a common purpose--and falling for each other--in Zoe Hana Mikuta's high-octane debut Gearbreakers, perfect for fans of Pacific Rim, Pierce Brown's Red Rising Saga, and Marie Lu's Legend series

· XOXO- Axie Oh- 13th July

When a relationship means throwing Jenny’s life off the path she’s spent years mapping out, she’ll have to decide once and for all just how much she’s willing to risk for love.

· She who became the sun- Shelley Parker-Chan- 20th July

Mulan meets The Song of Achilles in Shelley Parker-Chan's She Who Became the Sun, a bold, queer, and lyrical reimagining of the rise of the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty from an amazing new voice in literary fantasy.

· Jade Fire Gold- June C.L Tan- October 12th

Keep sharing, signing petitions and donating where you can. The more people who are actively anti-racist, the better. And if your anti-racism doesn’t include the Asian community then go and educate yourself! BLM wasn’t a trend and neither is this. We have to stand up against white supremacy, and racism and stereotypes and we have to support the communities that need our support. Part of that can include cultivating your reading so you’re reading more diversely and challenging any stereotypes western society may have given you.

Feel free to reblog and add any more recommendations and resources of course!

#stopasianhate #books by asian authors #anti racism #i'm so sickened by everything that's happening and i hope that this list does encourage people to read books by asian authors!!!#ya #poc authors #fiction #i haven't all of these yet #asian writers #asian authors #masterlist #antiasianracism

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theresabookforthat · 4 years ago

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Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month: Young Readers

May is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and this week—May 3 to May 9 —is also Children’s Book Week with the motto “Every Child a Reader.” Therefore, we are celebrating the following glorious stories, for children and adults to share, that honor the rich cultural history of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders:

THE MAGIC FISH by Trung Le Nguyen

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR by the New York Public Library • Kirkus Reviews • Booklist • Publishers Weekly

This beautifully illustrated YA graphic novel follows a young boy as he tries to navigate life through fairytales. Tiến still enjoys reading his favorite stories with his parents from the books he borrows from the local library. It’s hard enough trying to communicate with your parents as a kid, but for Tiến, he doesn’t even have the right words because his parents are struggling with their English. Is there a Vietnamese word for what he’s going through? Is there a way to tell them he’s gay?

ANY DAY WITH YOU by Mae Respicio

Kaia and her family live near the beach in California, where the fun of moviemaking is all around them. This summer, Kaia and her friends are part of a creative arts camp, where they’re working on a short movie to enter in a contest. The movie is inspired by the Filipino folktales that her beloved Tatang, her great-grandfather, tells. Kaia hopes that by winning a filmmaking contest, she’ll convince her great-grandfather not to move back home to the Philippines.

PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING by Randy Ribay

A powerful coming-of-age story about grief, guilt, and the risks a Filipino American teenager takes to uncover the truth about his cousin’s murder.

THEY CALLED US ENEMY by George Takei, Justin Eisinger, Steven Scott, Harmony Becker

A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei’s childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon—and America itself—in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love. Available in a Spanish edition here.

THE UGLY VEGETABLES written and illustrated by Grace Lin

In this charming story about celebrating differences a Chinese-American girl wishes for a garden of bright flowers instead of one full of bumpy, ugly, vegetables. The neighbors’ gardens look so much prettier and so much more inviting to the young gardener than the garden of “black-purple-green vines, fuzzy wrinkled leaves, prickly stems, and a few little yellow flowers” that she and her mother grow. Nevertheless, mother assures her that “these are better than flowers.” Come harvest time, everyone agrees as those ugly Chinese vegetables become the tastiest, most aromatic soup they have ever known. As the neighborhood comes together to share flowers and ugly vegetable soup, the young gardener learns that regardless of appearances, everything has its own beauty and purpose. THE UGLY VEGETABLES springs forth with the bright and cheerful colors of blooming flowers and lumpy vegetables. Grace Lin’s playful illustrations pour forth with abundant treasures. Complete with a guide to the Chinese pronunciation of the vegetables and the recipe for ugly vegetable soup! Try it…you’ll love it, too!

WATERCRESS by Andrea Wang; Illustrated by Jason Chin

Driving through Ohio in an old Pontiac, a young girl’s parents stop suddenly when they spot watercress growing wild in a ditch by the side of the road. Grabbing an old paper bag and some rusty scissors, the whole family wades into the muck to collect as much of the muddy, snail covered watercress as they can. At first, she’s embarrassed. Why can’t her family get food from the grocery store? But when her mother shares a story of her family’s time in China, the girl learns to appreciate the fresh food they foraged. Together, they make a new memory of watercress.

The book is illustrated by award winning author and artist Jason Chin, in an entirely new style, inspired by Chinese painting techniques. An author’s note in the back shares Andrea’s childhood experience with her parents.

LAXMI’S MOOCH by Shelly Anand, Illustrated by Nabi H. Ali

A joyful, body-positive picture book about a young Indian American girl’s journey to accept her body hair and celebrate her heritage after being teased about her mustache.

WHEN YOU TRAP A TIGER by Tae Keller

WINNER OF THE 2021 NEWBERY MEDAL

WINNER OF THE ASIAN/PACIFIC AMERICAN AWARD FOR CHILDREN’S LITERATURE

When Lily and her family move in with her sick grandmother, a magical tiger straight out of her halmoni’s Korean folktales arrives, prompting Lily to unravel a secret family history. Long, long ago, Halmoni stole something from the tigers. Now they want it back. And when one of the tigers approaches Lily with a deal—return what her grandmother stole in exchange for Halmoni’s health—Lily is tempted to agree. But deals with tigers are never what they seem! With the help of her sister and her new friend Ricky, Lily must find her voice…and the courage to face a tiger.

DANBI LEADS THE SCHOOL PARADE by Anna Kim

An Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Honor Book

Danbi is thrilled to start her new school in America. But a bit nervous too, for when she walks into the classroom, everything goes quiet. Everyone stares. Danbi wants to join in the dances and the games, but she doesn’t know the rules and just can’t get anything right. Luckily, she isn’t one to give up. With a spark of imagination, she makes up a new game and leads her classmates on a parade to remember! Danbi Leads the School Parade introduces readers to an irresistible new character. In this first story, she learns to navigate her two cultures and realizes that when you open your world to others, their world opens up to you.

FATIMA’S GREAT OUTDOORS by Ambreen Tariq; Illustrated by Stevie Lewis

An immigrant family embarks on their first camping trip in the Midwest in this lively picture book by Ambreen Tariq, outdoors activist and founder of @BrownPeopleCamping. This picture book debut, with cheerful illustrations by Stevie Lewis, is a rollicking family adventure, a love letter to the outdoors, and a reminder that public land belongs to all of us.

THE DOWNSTAIRS GIRL by Stacey Lee

By day, seventeen-year-old Jo Kuan works as a lady’s maid for the cruel daughter of one of the wealthiest men in Atlanta. But by night, Jo moonlights as the pseudonymous author of a newspaper advice column for the genteel Southern lady, “Dear Miss Sweetie.” When her column becomes wildly popular, she uses the power of the pen to address some of society’s ills, but she’s not prepared for the backlash that follows when her column challenges fixed ideas about race and gender. With prose that is witty, insightful, and at times heartbreaking, Stacey Lee masterfully crafts an extraordinary social drama set in the New South.

FRANKLY IN LOVE by David Yoon

An Asian Pacific American Librarians Association Honor Book

Frank Li has two names. There’s Frank Li, his American name. Then there’s Sung-Min Li, his Korean name. No one uses his Korean name, not even his parents. Frank barely speaks any Korean. He was born and raised in Southern California. Even so, his parents still expect him to end up with a nice Korean girl—which is a problem, since Frank is finally dating the girl of his dreams: Brit Means. Brit, who is funny and nerdy just like him. Brit, who makes him laugh like no one else. Brit…who is white. Desperate to be with Brit without his parents finding out, Frank turns to family friend Joy Song, who is in a similar bind. Together, they come up with a plan to help each other and keep their parents off their backs. Frank thinks he’s found the solution to all his problems, but when life throws him a curveball, he’s left wondering whether he ever really knew anything about love—or himself—at all.

For more on these and related titles (for kids and adults) visit the collection Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month

#AAPi #penguinrandomhouse #there'sabookforthat #asianamerican

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letterboxd · 4 years ago

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Bridging the Gap.

Filmmaker So Yun Um highlights ten underrated Asian American and Pacific Islander films set against the backdrop of America.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month has many film lovers seeking to celebrate Asian American cinema. Beyond Minari, Always Be My Maybe and Crazy Rich Asians, there are dozens of films that depict the Asian American experience. In choosing to focus on ten of the lesser-seen, I contemplated the notion of what defines AAPI cinema.

For me, it goes deeper than films that have been directed by, or star, Asian American and Pacific artists. Having watched a wide selection of Asian American films, I can firmly say our cinema, no matter the genre, puts Asian Americans at the forefront on both sides of the camera. I believe the essence of Asian American cinema was born out of resourcefulness, mining themes and ideas that distinctly bridge the gap between Asian and American culture. These films tell stories that explore the vast differences between the two, and the ways in which they coexist, whether comfortably or uncomfortably.

In selecting these ten underrated AAPI films, I searched deep to find stories with uncompromising vision and character; stories about Asians that could only be told within, and against the backdrop of, America. These ten films highlight intimate, distinct and unfiltered experiences mostly unseen at our local multiplexes: family and cultural obligations, generational and cultural gaps, and raw, mostly obscured views of American life.

Chan is Missing (1982) Directed by Wayne Wang, written by Isaac Cronin and Wayne Wang

There would be no Asian American independent cinema without Wayne Wang’s Chan is Missing. Shot on black-and-white film, this striking noir follows Jo, a San Franciscan cab driver, and his nephew, Steve, as they track down the titular Chan after he disappears with their money. Wang’s unpredictable directing career spans neighborhood intrigues, rom-coms and family movies; alongside which, he has kept a strong focus on Asian American stories (he helmed the adaptation of Amy Tan’s generational bestseller, The Joy Luck Club).

In Chan is Missing, for the first time on screen, we get to finally see an “ABC” (American-Born Chinese) story from the source, with an all-access pass to the often misunderstood terrain and people of Chinatown. It’s the tightness of the plot and the authenticity of its characters that make this movie such a classic. Even after 40 years, Chan Is Missing doesn’t feel dated—its laugh-out-loud dialogue (they actually utter the word “FOB”!) and moody tone capture why Chinatown continues to be an enigma. Spoilers: Chinatown runs by its own rules.

Available on DVD via Indiepix Films.

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002) Directed by Justin Lin, written by Ernesto Foronda, Justin Lin and Fabian Marquez

Justin Lin’s directorial debut film is a visionary portrait of Asian Americans that’s still relevant two decades on. Since its release in the early aughts, there has yet to be a film that explores the nuances and complexities of the average Southern-California Asian American teen like this film does. Better Luck Tomorrow focuses on a group of Asian American overachievers who become bored with their lives and enter a world of petty crime. It’s loosely based on four Sunny Hills High School students and the real-life murder of Stuart Tay, a teenager from the OC.

With its depiction of overachieving A+ students who are also foul-mouthed, drug-taking kids, this film was the launching pad for many iconic Asian American actors today—Sung Kang from the Fast and Furious franchise, John Cho (Star Trek) and my personal favorite, Jason Tobin, star of the Warrior TV series. (It’s entertaining to see the seeds of the Fast and Furious series planted in this film in the character of Han, played by Sung Kang, before the explosion of the franchise: one of the characters mutters, “Rumors about us came and went fast and furious”—and the rest is history.)

Better Luck Tomorrow still stands as the most iconic film to capture the suburban Asian American teen existence in all its good, bad and ugly light. “I was part of a movement,” Tobin recalled in this GQ oral history of the film, “and it was a culmination of all the battles I had fought before that to get Asian faces on the big screen.”

Available to stream and rent on multiple platforms.

The Grace Lee Project (2005) Directed by Grace Lee

If you’re an Asian American who grew up in California or New York, chances are, you know at least two Grace Lees in your life. But growing up in Missouri, Korean American filmmaker Grace Lee was the only one she knew with her name. She soon discovers that with the name comes a certain stereotype, that of the “good” Asian—quiet, well-behaved and a hard worker. Lee goes on a quest to interview a wide range of women who have the same name and soon discover if this wildly common stereotype is true.

Lee’s witty, autobiographical documentary is effortlessly funny and insightful. The Grace Lee Project dives deep into identity politics to reveal that sometimes, a name is simply a name. This was the start of Grace Lee’s journey as a filmmaker and she continues to be an important voice in not just the documentary space but in narrative stories as well.

Streaming on Kanopy.

Saving Face (2004) Written and directed by Alice Wu

Alice Wu’s Saving Face is a timeless queer love story. Produced by none other than Will Smith (yes, that Will Smith), Saving Face follows a Chinese American lesbian woman and her traditional mother (played by Michelle Krusiec and Joan Chen, respectively) as both battle with their reluctance to go against cultural expectations and reveal their secret loves. It’s part family drama, part rom-com, exploring expectations specific to Asian women across generations.

While most Asian American films focus on familial obligations through the point of view of the children of immigrants, Wu’s film considers the conflicts of both daughter and mother. For Asian Americans, it’s a tale as old as time but with a twist that shows that no matter how old you get, you still have to, unfortunately, fight to be who you are. I also highly recommend Wu’s spiritual sequel, The Half of It, on Netflix.

Streaming on Amazon Prime and Tubi, and for rent on various VOD platforms.

In Between Days (‘방황의 날들’, 2007) Directed by So Yong Kim, written by Bradley Rust Gray and So Yong Kim

So Yong Kim’s debut feature, In Between Days, follows Jiseon Kim, a Korean teen immigrant, who falls in love with her best friend while navigating the challenges of living in a new country. Director Kim is a masterful storyteller and captures life as it should be seen: unfiltered and trivial at times, but using the mundane to find cinematic magic.

I like to categorize So Yong Kim’s work as a showcase of extreme intimacy. Her story features painfully delicate characters and moments so real, you’ll wonder how any of these scenes could be fiction. There’s a sense of vulnerability and loneliness that fills the air as Jiseon struggles to assimilate to a new country, replete with toxic relationships, self-sabotage and unrelenting jealousy. So Yong Kim’s work is so painfully real, it hurts to watch.

Available on Kanopy and Amazon.

Ping Pong Playa (2007) Directed by Jessica Yu, written by Jimmy Tsai and Jessica Yu

There are two things that embody countless Asian American men’s experience: their love for basketball, and their love of rap music. Ping Pong Playa covers both, and is exactly the kind of Asian American comedy I’ve been waiting for! Christopher “C-Dub” Wang (played by co-writer Jimmy Tsai) is a wannabe baller and a supreme slacker who has to step up to the plate when his family’s business and ping-pong-champion reputation is on the line. In addition to being centered around an Asian family, the core of the film rivals any other low-brow, underdog sport film.

Laugh-out-loud hilarious, this is Academy-Award-winning filmmaker Jessica Yu’s first narrative feature, following a groundbreaking career full of daring documentaries (her Oscar was for this portrait of writer Mark O’Brien, who spent much of his life in an iron lung). Seeing C-Dub as an NBA-loving slacker turned ping-pong playa felt validating; it showed that even if you’re a lazy and immature Asian, you can always find something to succeed at.

Streaming on Tubi, and for rent on Amazon and iTunes.

In Football We Trust (2015) Directed by Tony Vainuku and Erika Cohn

While Salt Lake City, Utah, is seen as predominantly a white Mormon town, it in fact has the largest population of Pacific Islanders in the US mainland, due to the strength of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ proselytizing in the Pacific. The documentary In Football We Trust follows four Polynesian high-school students, as they chase their lifelong dream of attaining professional recruitment. Told in moments of adolescence, the film follows the greatest challenges for these four young men, as they chase their dreams while trying to grow up.

In no time, they’re faced with the harsh reality that just maybe, football isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. As much as their hefty attributes and builds serve as their greatest advantages, these boys’ cultural and familial obligations become both their greatest motivations and, possibly, their downfall. Filmed over the span of four years, first time filmmakers Tony Vainuku and Erika Cohn chronicle the NFL hopefuls as they navigate the pressure to balance dreams and family to win a golden ticket out of gang violence and poverty.

Streaming on Kanopy, and for rent on various VOD platforms.

Spa Night (2016) Written and directed by Andrew Ahn

In his directorial debut, Andrew Ahn perfectly captures a specific corner of Los Angeles’ Koreatown. Spa Night’s focus is David, a closeted Korean American teenager who takes a job at a Korean spa to help his struggling family, and then discovers an underground world of gay sex. You may recognize Joe Seo as the goofy bully in the Netflix hit show Cobra Kai, but it’s Spa Night where you can see him truly shine—he won Sundance’s US Dramatic Special Jury Award for Breakthrough Performance.

Seo delivers a powerfully restrained performance, exploring the burden of hiding your true self from your family. Spa Night is more than a coming out story, it’s also about the broken American dream that so many immigrants experience. Ahn’s direction is finely tuned, honing in on the specificity of Koreatown. It is an acutely queer story of second-gen Asian Americans, where coming out is never really about just you, but also your family.

Streaming on Kanopy, and for rent on various VOD platforms.

Punching at the Sun (2006) Directed by Tanuj Chopra, written by Tanuj Chopra and Hart Eddy

Mameet is young, angry and has always lived in the shadow of his basketball-legend brother, Sanjay. When Sanjay is suddenly killed during a robbery at the family store, Mameet spirals and takes his anger out on anyone and everyone. Coping with loss at a young age is hard enough, but Punching at the Sun mixes in the specific anxieties of being a South-Asian man amidst the backdrop of post-9/11 America. In doing so, the film addresses the difficulty of juggling teenage angst and immigrant identity—Mameet is not afforded the option to express his anger and grief.

Cathartic and emotionally validating, this is a simple yet nuanced slice-of-life story that conveys the heaviness of growing up with the weight of the world on our shoulders. In Mameet’s case, thank goodness, he ultimately shares some of that burden with his comical friends and knit-tight family.

Available to rent on Vimeo.

Meet the Patels (2014) Directed by Ravi Patel and Geeta Patel, written by Ravi Patel, Matthew Hamachek, Billy McMillin, and Geeta Patel

In the romantic documentary Meet the Patels, Ravi Patel is a dutiful first-gen son whose parents are continually nagging him to marry a nice Indian girl. With Ravi's sister Geeta Patel co-directing and co-writing, and his parents in the frame, his film (and true-life story) are indeed a family affair. What starts as his journey to find a wife to make his family happy becomes an enlightening intro to Indian culture and modern love—think dating apps, weddings and a Patel Matrimonial Convention (gotta see it to believe).

Humorous as it is outrageously charming, Meet the Patels ultimately shows the struggles and cultural expectations most immigrant offspring face, on top of the million other obstacles of trying to find your one and only true love in this mad, mad world.

Streaming on various platforms.

Related content

Ten Underrated Asian American & Pacific Islander Films, a Letterboxd list

Best Asian American Films: So Yun Um’s list

Debbie Chang’s comprehensive Asian American film canon list (also features Asian-Canadian, Asian-British and other diaspora)

Bellamy’s list of feature-length films directed by Asian Americans

Follow So on Letterboxd

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sunjourhealthcare · 5 years ago

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May is Better Sleep Month, as well as Asian Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We appreciate the contributions of the Asian community around the world, and we also want to encourage better sleep. This goes especially for the men around the world struggling with BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia), also known as prostate enlargement. As a man gets older, his prostate gland grows in size. Due to the fact that it's situated under the bladder and surrounding the urethra, an enlarged prostate may cause men to experience frequent urination, especially at night. Getting up to go to the bathroom many times a night can disrupt a good night's rest. We want men to know it's important to address their BPH and consider their options when it comes to symptom management. We also want the public, regardless if you're not a man or a man with BPH, to know that this condition exists. The first step to solving a problem is acknowledging that the problem exists in the first place. Although frequent urination at night could be dealt with by keeping a bed pan under the bed so you could potentially fall asleep faster, if men don't take action with their overall health, BPH could interfere with quality of life. For men with BPH to get a good night's rest, drinking healthy fluids like water during the day and less fluids at night is a start. It may sound counter-intuitive to drink fluids regularly if you're experiencing frequent urination, but not drinking fluids at all could cause dehydration, and it can also make the urine in your bladder thicker, causing irritation and difficulty in passing. Mild BPH can be managed with watchful waiting if recommended by your doctor, and in that watchful waiting period you may make lifestyle adjustments such as reducing diuretics (tea and coffee) which make your bladder more active, reducing bladder irritants such as spicy foods, reducing excess body fat through physical activity and a nutritious and portion balanced meal plan, and warm baths to increase blood circulation to the prostate. We hope that this month, you can achieve better sleep from managing your BPH! Asian men have a low incidence rate of prostate problems like BPH, and it has been suggested that this may be to the inclusion of more plant based nutrition in their diet, including soy. We could learn from the example of the Asian community in how to consider plant based treatments (TCM, traditional Chinese medicine) and adding soy to our meals, which is high in protein but low in fat. Let's give it up for better sleep and the Asian community!

#bph #umooze #men #menshealth #man #health

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loretranscripts · 5 years ago

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Lore Episode 25: The Cave (Transcript) - 11th January 2016

tw: body horror, cults, death, kidnapping

Disclaimer: This transcript is entirely non-profit and fan-made. All credit for this content goes to Aaron Mahnke, creator of Lore podcast. It is by a fan, for fans, and meant to make the content of the podcast more accessible to all. Also, there may be mistakes, despite rigorous re-reading on my part. Feel free to point them out, but please be nice!

During his historic journey aboard the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin spent over a month on an island off the coast of Chile known as Chiloé. It wasn’t his final destination, but he still managed to work and collect information and specimens, including a small, endangered fox known now as “Darwin’s zorro”. He also witnessed the after effects of an earthquake and made note of a rainbow that transitioned from the typical semi-circle to a full circle, right before his eyes - but it was the people he encountered that seemed to impact him most. He later wrote: “They are a humble, quiet, industrious set of men. Although with plenty to eat, the people are very poor, and the lower orders cannot scrape together money sufficient to purchase even the smallest luxuries”. He also noted seeing a pair of black-necked swans, but thankfully Darwin didn’t have the same view of birds that the local people did, and still do, actually. One local historian recalls how, when he was a boy, a hunch-backed heron flew low over his fishing boat. When he told his father, the older man grabbed his shotgun and waited for the bird to return. Why? Because for as long as anyone could remember, the people of Chiloé have believed that some birds are more than they appear. Some people, it seems, believe they are warlocks. Seeing one was a bad omen, hinting that someone close to you would die. All of us are ruled by authority to some degree, whether it’s through our government, our religion or our family ties. Often, it’s all three. But there’s another governing body, one that’s as old as time itself, and on Chiloé, it controlled people for centuries. Sometimes, you see, people are ruled by fear. I’m Aaron Mahnke, and this is Lore.

The Incas called it “The Place of the Seagulls”. They stayed away from the area, believing it was the border between their empire of prosperity and safety, and the cold, dark wilderness to the south. Chiloé isn’t a large island, perhaps less than 100 miles from north to south, but it’s certainly the largest in the collection of small islands there off the coast of Chile, and to visit it is to go back in time: green hills, mountains in the distance, dark waves of the south Pacific lapping on the shore where colourful houses are built on stilts to stay above the mud and the rocks. Darwin described it as beautiful in 1835. He wrote of the mixture of evergreen trees and tropical vegetation, with the rolling hills and thick forest – and all that green, Darwin postulated, was due to the enormous amount of rainfall. Grey skies and wet soil are a constant of life in Chiloé, then as it is now, and while most people have never heard of the place, the unique churches there have an architectural style that’s earned them classification as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There are churches, of course, because Jesuit missionaries built them shortly after arriving at the beginning of the 17th century. But don’t let these European artefacts fool you; the culture the Jesuits encountered when they arrived was far outside their realm of experience. The Chiloé of old was home to a vast collection of myths and legends that informed almost every aspect of life, and because much of the economy and culture of the island was built around the fishing industry just as it is today, many of those stories have elements of the sea in them. One example is the legend of the ghost ship known as the Caleuche. According to the stories, the Caleuche patrols the waters off the coast of the island, moving both above the water and below. The ship itself is a sentient being and has the ability to sense when someone from the island has drowned. After they die, these people are brought onto the ship by two sisters and their brother, where their new life can begin. That life consisted of both an eternal party aboard the ship, as well as working as sailors in the transport and unloading of illegal cargo for the island’s merchants. Even today, there are many in Chiloé who claim to have seen the ship, still patrolling the cold waters offshore.

There are other legends that haunt the island as well. Stories speak of the Trauco, a sort of forest troll or little person who lives in hollow trees, deep in the forest. Their task is to protect the trees, but they have also become a convenient scapegoat for unwed mothers. The Trauco, so they say, is irresistible to virgins who wonder into the forest, and those women frequently return home pregnant. La Pincoya is said to be a woman who appears to fishermen along the coast. She is described as young and beautiful, but her hair is covered in wet kelp, and the locals consider her to be an omen, although the outcome depends on the circumstances. If she appears facing the sea, your fishing nets will overflow; if she’s facing you, though, those nets will be empty; and in the rare instances when she appears right in front of a person, legend says it is best to close your eyes and run as fast as you can, lest she seduce you and lead you down into the sea. And one more legend is that of the basilisk, a creature that appears elsewhere around the globe. In Chiloé, though, the basilisk is more than just an enormous snake. Here, it also has the head of a rooster, and hatches from an egg. Some stories tell of how the basilisk will nest beneath a person’s house. During the night, it will slither out and suck the air from the lungs of the people sleeping inside. For as frightening as some of these creatures and stories might be, though, none of them compare to the legends of the Brujo de Chiloé – the warlocks of the island. They have struck fear into the hearts of the locals for centuries. They have shaped many aspects of their culture. They have been blamed for tragedy, for loss, and even for illness and death. Most frightening of all is the simple fact that, unlike all the other legends found on the island, the Brujo were real.

We know the Brujo were real because they were brought to trial in 1880. Almost overnight, what was once little more than a whispered legend - as sort of Chilean bogeyman, if you will – took on flesh and bone, and what the investigation uncovered was truly shocking. Let’s step back, though. It’s important to understand where the warlocks came from, and the short answer is that we don’t really know, but there are ideas, and many of them hold promise and truth. The most common theory is that something powerful was formed as a result of the collision between the indigenous culture and the Catholic faith of the Spanish when they first arrived. The ingredients for this new breed of legend had been there for a very, very long time, though. On one side, we have the machi – these were the traditional shaman of the Chilean culture, the healers, the wise people. Their realm was that of revelations, interpretations of dreams and serving as the oracle for their community. On the other side, there was the kalku – these were the practitioners of black magic, considered to be the witches and warlocks by most people. Unlike the machi, who sat at the centre of their society and were documented religious figures, the kalku were more mythical, spoken of in stories and whispered about at night. The kalku are described as machi gone bad, those who became more interested in selfish gain than serving the community. I know this will be a gross over-simplification, but think of the machi as the Jedi and the kalku as the Sith, the light side and the dark, and as Han Solo recently said, “It’s true. All of it.”

Enter the Spanish conquistadors. They arrived in 1567 and brought countless stories with them of European witches, but the culture in Chiloé has always been very male-driven, and so the idea of a female witch was converted to the male warlock in the public narrative. This melding of religions has actually happened in many countries across the centuries, where the Catholic faith would meet ancient beliefs and rather than wipe it out, would blend with it, unintentionally becoming something new. And that’s how the Brujo were born… maybe. Some scholars make reference to a story from the 17th century of a Spaniard named José de Moraleda, who met them machi and wanted desperately to impress them. He challenged them to a magical duel, and after they brought in one of their best machi, Moraleda was defeated. As a prize, the Spaniard handed over to them a book of spells that he claimed had been gathered from around the world. It was with that book of spells, the legend says, that the Brujo built their cult. Some still refer to it by its original name – the Recta Provincia, “The Righteous Province” – and according to them, this secret group manipulated the culture on the island for two centuries. Initiation into the group was complex and drenched with the occult. The first step was to wash away any remnant of Christian baptism, and they did this by bathing in one of the local rivers for 15 nights in a row. Some of them were instructed to murder a relative or a close friend, and then, when all of that was completed, they had to run around the island naked while invoking the devil’s name. The Brujo maintained their power over the people of Chiloé through an odd mixture of supernatural rumour and mafia-like control. They would most commonly force local farmers to give them produce or money, but they were also known to bribe local authorities and even created a shadow government that ruled in the places where the Spanish didn’t reach, and rather than use violence or traditional weapons to enforce their policies, they used the threat of a curse. Ultimately, it was this game of blackmail and protection rackets that brought an end to their reign over the people of Chiloé, and so in 1880, over 100 members of the cult were arrested and interrogated. Many were released when they turned out to be nothing more than machi looking for nothing more than a community to belong to, but some were held for trial on the charge of murder. The darkest revelations from the trial, though, were never believed. The supernatural creatures, the book of spells, the secret, hidden cave where the cult maintained their seat of power – all of this was passed off as folklore and superstition. However, eye-witness testimony says otherwise.

The trials revealed many new details about the Brujo and their beliefs, practices and inner workings. Some almost sound like they were pulled right out of a children’s book, they’re so simple and benign, while others are downright chilling. For example, one of the men on trial in 1880 revealed that each warlock carried a pet lizard with him. This lizard, according to the man, would be tied to the warlock’s forehead and, because it was magical, of course, it gifted him with powers. These warlocks were even said to communicate and interact with the ghost sailors aboard the Caleuche, using seahorses as aquatic carrier pigeons to pass messages back and forth. Other stories spoke of how the warlocks recruited new spies for their sect. According to the legend, these warlocks would kidnap young women and would give them a special elixir to drink. Once ingested, these girls would vomit until their stomachs and intestines lay on the ground at their feet. Then, lightened of their load, they would transform into birds and do the bidding of their master. None of this, though, compares to what the Brujo were said to have kept in their cave. One of the men on trial in 1880, an elderly man named Mateo, claimed that in the 1860s, he had been asked to visit the cave to feed the creatures kept there, and although his testimony was rejected by the court as fantasy, some have been left wondering. The cave, it is said, was difficult to locate, and rightly so. It contained multiple magical items, including the books of spells the group had received from the Spaniard Moraleda, as well as a bowl that was said to show the future to those who looked into it, and because these were objects of power for the warlocks, they needed to be carefully guarded. The entrance was a door hidden beneath the grass and soil in a rocky canyon near the coast and, with it, a metal key. Mateo told the court that he opened the entrance to the cave only to find two creatures inside that nearly defied description. One was called the chivito, a humanoid creature that was briefly described as “goat-like” and walking on four legs, but it was the other thing in the cave that Mateo had no trouble describing because, at first glance, it appeared to be nothing more than a bearded man. This man, though, was deformed – not mildly or by birth, but intentionally and drastically. He was called the imbunche, and although the one that Mateo witnessed appeared to be old, he said that they typically began as infants.

Now, this next part isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s necessary to understand the level of cruelty and barbarism that this cult practiced. According to writer Bruce Chatwin, who visited the island in 1975, the locals still maintain a good amount of folklore around the creation of the imbunche. The warlocks would kidnap a male, six-month-old child, Chatwin recorded, and then deliver it to the one known as “the deformer”, who lived inside the cave. This man’s job was to shape and disfigure the infant’s body. Its head would be twisted daily until, after many months, it faced backwards. Limbs and fingers would be disjointed, and even its ears and mouth would malformed by the deformer. The final characteristic, according to Chatwin, is the right arm. It would be bent backwards and the hand slipped in to an incision made on the right shoulder blade, and the wound would be sewn up, leaving the arm permanently affixed to the child’s back. Why this was done is something that history has forgotten over the years, but the impact is just as powerful today. Left to guard and inhabit the secret cave of the warlocks, the imbunche was seen less as an act of torture and more as the creation of an essential part of the cult’s society. When one imbunche died, another would be created to take its place. This is the level of darkness these real-life warlocks were capable of, this is what powered the fear they used to enslave and control the people of the island, and this is what many of them confessed to on the stand, that spring in 1880. As a result, many of the accused were sentenced to long prison terms. These were men who had killed, who had cursed neighbours and blackmailed businesses for protection money, and yet the courts couldn’t make their rulings stick. Just one year later, nearly all the warlocks were released. The reason? It was impossible to prove they had belonged to a secret society of black magic, as horrible as the stories had sounded. No one, they thought, could be that evil.

In a world where authority often falls to those with the most wealth, the most weapons or the most connections, it’s unusual to find cases where some other power allows people to rule. But if the story of Chiloé teaches us anything, it’s that fear can be just as powerful as any government official - fear of death, fear of poverty, fear of the unknown. Those who called themselves part of the Brujo in 1880 were card-carrying members of a cult that wielded fear like a weapon. Thankfully, the trial helped to put real faces to the shadows that had plagued the people of Chiloé for centuries. Whether or not they received punishment for their crimes was secondary – the warlocks had been exposed, shattering their illusion of fear. But while many saw the trial as the end of that nightmare, there are some who aren’t so sure. In 2006, the local court there in Chiloé issued a restraining order against Manuel Cardeneus and his brother-in-law. Due to a physical altercation they had had with the 66-year-old farmer named José Marquez, they were prohibited from coming within 10 meters of the old man. When asked why he attacked the farmer, Cardeneus said it was because of an illness his father had been suffering through. Pain had become a constant part of the man’s life, and it had gone on long enough. Cardeneus claimed that his father’s illness had begun after an encounter with Marquez all the way back in 1992. The pain hadn’t stopped since then, and after consulting with a local shaman, they were told why. According to the machi¸ the farmer had cursed their father with black magic, which begs the question: did the trial of 1880 really wipe out the cult of the warlocks, or did some of them slip through the government’s net, living on to spread and grow their sect into the 20th century and beyond? After all, neither the cave nor its occupants were ever found.

[Closing Statements]

#lore podcast #aaron mahnke #podcast transcripts #folklore #cults #dark history #chile #south america #25

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sebeth · 6 years ago

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Giant-Size X-Men

Warning, Spoilers Ahead…

Extra Spoiler Warning for the Deadly Genesis miniseries and Wolverine: Origins

Giant-Size X-Men #1, “Second Genesis, ” by Len Wein and Dave Cockrum.

Winzeldorf, Germany – Kurt Wagner flees from a mob of crazed villagers.

“Perhaps things would be simpler – safer – if I had stayed with Der Jahrmarkt but the life of a carnival freak is not for me – not for Kurt Wagner! Let them come if they must – let them try to kill me! At least if I die, it will be as a man!”

The villagers overwhelm Kurt. Kurt is able to teleport so I’m not sure why he wasn’t able to escape the villagers. Perhaps he exhausted himself from earlier teleportations? Didn’t Kurt have around a mile-range with teleportation jumps in the early days? That should have given Kurt quite the head-start in the chase. You would have to be very determined to chase – on foot - an individual that has that much of a lead.

Why was Kurt wandering the town in his circus outfit? Wouldn’t civilian clothes be more inconspicuous?

“I only came among them to learn yet all I’ve learned thus far are the ways of blind, unreasoning violence!”

Was Kurt testing humanity’s reaction to his appearance? If so, the townspeople failed.

Kurt dives into the crowd and brawls with everyone – which quickly turns against him.

The crowd freezes right before they stake Kurt. Enter Charles Xavier: “You are a mutant, Kurt. I can help you find your true potential.”

“Can you help me be normal?”

“After tonight’s misfortune, Kurt – would you truly want to be?”

“Perhaps not. I only want to be a whole Kurt Wagner! If you can make me that, teacher…I will go with you.”

It’s easy for the Professor to dismiss “being normal”, it’s not so easy if you have blue skin, pointed ears, fangs, glowing yellow eyes, a tail, and three fingers per hand.

I had “Savages” from Pocahontas and “March of the Witch-Hunters” from Wicked going through my head as I read this scene.

Quebec, Canada: Wolverine meets with Charles Xavier at a secluded military installation. Xavier informs Wolverine that he “has a need of mutants – a desperate need!” Wolverine jumps at the chance to “get out from under the red tape and rigmarole”.

A military-official objects to Wolverine’s resignation: “The government has invested a great deal of time and money turning you into what you are now...you haven’t heard the last of this!”

Foreshadowing!

Nashville, Tennessee: The Professor recruits Sean Cassidy, the Banshee, to the X-Men.

Can’t a man watch the Grand Ol’ Opry in peace?

Sean comments “Twill be nice to tread the straight and narrow for a change.” A reference to Banshee’s time in Factor Three. At least I think I’m remembering the group’s name correctly.

Kenya, East Africa: Villagers entreat “Ororo, Great Goddess of the Storm, come unto us and ease our burden!”

“I am here, my children. What do you wish of me?”

The villagers offer to sacrifice goats and chickens if she ends the drought and brings rain. Storm agrees to do “as they plead”.

Cue a rainstorm.

Xavier congratulates Ororo on her beautiful display.

“Wh – Who are you? What business have you in Ororo’s land…an…offer? What have you to offer a goddess?”

Ororo agrees to leave with the Professor after he offers her “the world”

Ororo’s debut isn’t very flattering to her character. The arrogance is off the charts. Ororo knows she isn’t a goddess – she’s an orphaned street rat – but she’s referring to villagers much older than her as children and claiming the territory as “Ororo’s land”. Why do the villagers have to approach her to end the drought – if she’s acting as a caretaker she should have produced rain before it reached drought levels – instead it appears that she’s on an egotistical power trip. To top it off, Ororo ditches “her land” as soon as she’s offered a better deal! No wonder Dr. Doom’s attracted to Storm!

Osaka, Japan: The Professor recruits Sunfire to the X-Men.

Lake Baikal, Siberia: Peter Rasputin rescues his unnamed sister (Illayna) from a runaway tractor. Xavier would like Peter to come to America. Peter asks his parents what he should do. Peter’s father responds: “Do as your heart tells you, my son. It will not betray you…Dosvidanya, Peter. Our love goes with you… We are already proud of you.”

The Extraordinary X-Men series has a scene where Illanya reminds Peter that their father made him sleep in the barn like an animal. It never rang true to me. Granted, the Rasputin parents don’t have much onscreen time but it didn’t seem true to their characters. Peter’s debut scene clearly shows the love the Rasputins have for their son – he definitely wasn’t sleeping in the barn. Peter also transforms in front of the village and no one even batted an eye – so I’m throwing the Extraordinary X-Men scene out of canon!

Giant-Sized X-Men #1 was published in the midst of the Cold War/Red Scare – it was rather gutsy to make one of the new characters a Russian hero – and one that didn’t have to do a heel/face turn or redeem himself from his Communist leanings.

Camp Verde, Arizona: “John Proudstar does not like the reservation. He does not like to watch the old ones, sitting slumped against their doorsteps, dreaming dreams of glory long gone. John Proudstar is an Apache – and he is ashamed of his people.”

John chases down a bull and wrestles it to the ground: “There, horned one – do you see? There is still a man among the Apache!”

Yeah, take that, poor bull!

Xavier approaches John to join the X-men. John’s not impressed: “You’ve got five seconds to vamoose, white-eyes…The white man needs me? That’s tough! I owe him nothing but the grief he’s given my people!”

Xavier implies John’s a coward causing John to change his mind and join the team.

John Proudstar isn’t a likable character. Unfortunately, John’s never allowed to develop past the angry young man/proud warrior stereotype.

Charles muses to himself: “But will you – will any of you X-Men be equal to the task that lies before you? Or will you carry the world down into ruin?”

Let’s talk Deadly Genesis. The mini-series retconned the events of Second Genesis. We discover Professor Xavier launched a rescue operation before he assembled the members of the Giant-Sized X-Men team. The team consisted of four foster children of Moira MacTaggert: Vulcan, Darwin, Petra, and Sway.

The four were total newbies whose only training consisted of psychic training by Professor Xavier. The four believed they had trained for months for this rescue mission but had only received hours of training. The four manage to rescue Cyclops, put him on the jet, and send him back to Westchester. The four attempts to rescue the others but are annihilated. Scott witnesses the massacre from the jet. Xavier erases the memory of the rescue attempt from Scott’s mind – along with the fact that Vulcan is his younger brother.

Some don’t like the Deadly Genesis revelations as they are not flattering to the Professor. Let’s be honest, the Professor was never a great man. In the original run, he had creepy thoughts about Jean (his underage student) and faked his death to his students. No, having Changeling replace him during his “death” doesn’t make it better. Not to mention all the times he bailed on his “life’s mission”.

If we include the events of Deadly Genesis, the Professor responds the massacre of newbies by composing a team that’s mainly newbies! Clearly, Xavier’s intelligence is overrated.

Let’s check the members’ resumes:

Kurt: Performs in a circus, runs from villagers

Peter: Farms

John: Chases bulls, whines

Ororo: Lounges in a chair, accepts villager’s offerings, makes rain storms

Sunfire has very limited experience.

Banshee and Wolverine are well-trained and very experienced. I’m not sure if Xavier is aware of the depth of Logan’s experience – to be fair, neither is Logan at this point.

Wolverine and Banshee are the only logical selections to send after the captured X-Men. The original team had more powerful members – Cyclops, Jean Grey, Iceman, Havok, Polaris – and were captured. I don’t know how the Professor expects this team to do better. Did it never occur to Xavier to call the Avengers or Fantastic Four and see if they could help?

Back to Giant-Sized X-Men:

Westchester, New York:

The team assembles at the school. Peter and Ororo love their costumes. It’s implied Professor X designed the costumes. I wonder if Peter ever wondered why his costume didn’t have material on the sides of his chest/abdomen. Ororo should have many questions about her costume – for starters, why am I half-naked and the rest of the men are fully clothed – or 75% clothed in Peter’s case? And why are Peter’s boots mid-thigh length? Peter will be a brawler – I can’t imagine that would be comfortable to run in. And what’s with the pointed shoulder pads – to stab someone in the eye?

Did John Proudstar add the feathered headband to his costume as a sign of his heritage? Did Professor X throw it in? Would John resent it as a stereotype or appreciate the nod to his culture?

For the record, Dave Cockrum is one of my favorite artists and few can top his character designs. Storm’s original costume and the Imperial Guard designs are a few of my favorite Cockrum designs.

Professor Xavier introduces the group to Cyclops. Scott recaps the events that led to the recruitment drive: Professor Xavier detects a new mutant presence on the island of Krakoa in the South Pacific. Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, Angel, Polaris, and Havok travel to the island. It’s mentioned that Beast isn’t available for this mission – this is around the time he was working for the Brand Corporation. The group lands on Krakoa but are ambushed. Scott regains consciousness, realizes he’s unable to fire his optic blasts, and retreats to the mansion. Scott’s powers return at the mansion but with increased intensity.

Did Scott retain his power up? Or was this forgotten and never mentioned again. Did the other imprisoned X-men receive power-ups? If not, why was Scott the only one?

Sunfire decides he doesn’t wants to be part of the rescue mission: “I do not even like my fellow mutants! I certainly will not risk my life to help them!”

I’m sure the feelings mutual. However, Sunfire changes his mind and rejoins the group mid-flight.

We discover in Wolverine: Origins, Logan attempted to leave the team. In fact, he had only joined under Romulus’s orders. However, Xavier performed some mind-magic and changed Logan’s mind.

Is the Professor also behind Sunfire’s mood swings? Or behind Storm’s sudden decision to leave “her land”?

While not flattering for the Professor, it would actually be better for Ororo. Otherwise, her exit from Africa reads as “screw this, I’ve found something better and shinier.” Not very Goddess-like.

The X-Men arrive at the island. Scott splits the group into pairs: Cyclops/Thunderbird, Sunfire/Nightcrawler, Storm/Colossus, and Banshee/Wolverine. Sunfire objects to pairing up with Nightcrawler. Wolverine complains about Banshee’s sonic powers. Enhanced hearing has many drawbacks! Peter leaps out of the airplane causing Storm to panic: “You fool, you cannot fly!” Peter responds “Of course not, but I can land with the best of them!”

Scott gets the brunt of Proudstar’s attitude: “Yes sir, General One-Eye Sir! I just hope you’re not leading me into another Little Big Horn! It’d be just my luck to be the first Indian massacred by….”

Can we nominate Scott for sainthood? He had to deal with Wolverine, Thunderbird, and Sunfire and didn’t kill any of them.

Scott and Proudstar find a temple as do Storm and Colossus.

“John Proudstar has never much liked the jungle”.

One small line but it merits mention. Is John’s dislike of the jungle a personality quirk or does he have an actual reason? Giant-Size X-Men was published in 1975 – the same year the Vietnam War ended. Was John drafted and did he serve in Vietnam? If he did, it would have added another layer to John’s character and his bitterness with the “man” and the United States government.

Banshee and Wolverine battle giant crabs and reach the temple. Nightcrawler and Sunfire battle golden birds and snark at each other: “I begin to think the mutant community is no more hospitable than the human…” The duo also reach the temple.

The group find the original X-Men inside the temple. Angel warns that it’s a trap and the new mutant is the island itself.

The group battles Krakoa, the “island that walks like a man”. Professor X mentally joins the battle. Storm, Polaris, Havok, and Cyclops team up to deliver the final blow. The X-Men retreat as the island breaks apart.

The issue ends with Angel asking “What are we going to do with thirteen X-Men?”

Krakoa could have used more fleshing out – is it a mutant that turned into an island or a mutated island? What exactly are its abilities? As it is, it’s relegated to a plot device – and a boring one at that.

Poor Scott didn’t even realize his entire future could be summed up in this issue: a lifetime of mutants questioning every command and mouthing off at every opportunity. Poor Scott had to deal with Thunderbird, Wolverine, Sunfire, and Havok this issue.

The recruitment scenes were the best part of the issue. You could tell Banshee and Sunfire had previously appeared in the X-Men series as their recruitment only took one to two panels. Wolverine had made an appearance in the Hulk, also written by Len Wein, so he had a bit more panel time. Storm, Nightcralwer, Colossus, and Thunderbird’s recruitment received more page time as they were completely new creations. The battle with Krakoa was “meh”. Krakoa doesn’t become fun until he joins the Jean Grey school decades later.

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asiantheatre · 7 years ago

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May is Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and every weekend this month we’re playing theatre videos that you voted for here!

Movie Night #3 is Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 featuring Shoba Narayan as Natasha and Nick Choksi as Dolokhov. This show featured the 1st South Asian Broadway leads in 10 years. We will be streaming this on Saturday, May 12th, at 8pm Eastern Standard Time on rabbit!

Summary: “Inspired by a 70-page slice of War and Peace, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 brings us just inches from Tolstoy’s brash young lovers as they light up Moscow in a “heaven-sent fireball" of romance and passion. Natasha is a beautiful ingénue visiting Moscow while she waits for her beloved fiancée Andrey to return from the war. In a moment of indiscretion, she is seduced by the dashing (but already married) Anatole and her position in society is ruined. Her only hope lies with Pierre, the lonely outsider whose love and compassion for Natasha may be the key to her redemption… and to the renewal of his own soul.”

This show runs for 2 hours and 40 minutes. (video)

RULES:

1. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO FILL OUT THIS SURVEY IN ORDER TO CHOOSE WHAT WILL BE PLAYED THIS MONTH AND THE TIMES IT WILL BE PLAYED. This form will also help us with upkeep for asiantheatre. I think it goes without saying you should be following us.

2. YOU MUST BE FOLLOWING US TO SEE THE JOIN LINK. This show WILL BE STREAMED ON RABB.IT AND YOU MUST MAKE AN ACCOUNT IN ORDER TO VIEW (as per the rules of the site). It’s recommended that you make this before the start of the stream.

3. If any of our videos played during this event becomes public due to someone not following these rules, asiantheatre will stop gifting/streaming all together. Please check /tagged/gift in the search bar to see boots that were gifted by their masters.

4. asiantheatre has the right to cancel this event if there are no members available to host or if an issue arises due to rule #3. For the most part, even if only 1 person is watching, we will still play the video.

If you have any questions or concerns about this event please send us an ask. ALL ARE WELCOME TO THIS EVENT: ASIANS/PACIFIC ISLANDERS, AND THOSE WHO AREN’T, ARE WELCOME! Please reblog this to spread the word. See you soon!

#apihm #shoba narayan #nick choksi #great comet #natasha pierre and the great comet of 1812

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naturolly · 4 years ago

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May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada, also known as Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in the US. Since Naturolly is a Canadian woman-of-colour owned business, we would like to take this opportunity to introduce our founder, Angel He. From Angel: “I was born in the city of Guangzhou and I am a first-generation Chinese immigrant living in Canada. I moved to Toronto with my parents in the early 2000s when I was 8 years old. I graduated from University of Toronto with a B.Mus. (Hons.). My love for music stemmed from: my maternal grandparents and great-grandmother who fostered a deep appreciation in me for visual art and music; my paternal grandfather who showed me his love for poetry and song; and my paternal grandmother who played the accordion. I remember one of the first landmarks we visited when I arrived in Canada— it was the Bethune Memorial House to pay respects to Dr. Norman Bethune, a Canadian whose altruistic medical contributions in China touched my parents. Since then, Canada has treated me well. Not only does Canada have a rich history, but there is also an abundance of nature. I enjoyed going on overnight camping trips in the outskirts of Toronto and explored plenty of great hiking spots within a stone’s toss away from the city. All these outdoor experiences facilitated my deep connection with nature. Ever since the pandemic, AAPI in North America have been subjected to escalating amounts of hate crimes. According to @stopaapihate, 3,795 cases of anti-Asian hate crimes were reported from March 2020 to February 2021. These numbers are just reported incidents-- I can imagine the actual number of cases to be much higher. I am infuriated by the wide-spread targeted violence, I feel grief for the loss of innocent lives, and I am heartbroken for people whose lives are permanently changed. The safety of my grandparents who currently live in the US are on my mind more than ever. My heart goes out to AAPI, to black lives, to health care workers, and to all the people who are marginalized, oppressed, and suffering. I stand with you.” https://www.instagram.com/p/COVlbYlngcp/?igshid=19v9bqk7hgegn

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premierdetroit · 4 years ago

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Photo by Sthanlee b. Mirador, 2017

As a Filipino American born and raised in the Bay Area, I was lucky to easily find people who looked like me. From historic neighborhoods like SOMA Pilipinas and Japantown to the Bay’s deep roots in Black and Latinx culture, I found diversity in people, culture and food.

I saw fewer people who looked like me in mainstream media like TV shows, magazines or music videos. How could I be surrounded by so much diversity, especially within my own Asian American community, that wasn’t reflected in the shows I watched or my favorite songs? Where was our story?

Fortunately, today looks different. I’ve seen Filipino artists go platinum, reach millions of YouTube views and become household names.Still, there are so many Asian American stories unheard and undiscovered. I’m still searching for storytellers who look like me, and stories that sound like mine.

Richie, who also goes by his DJ name TRAKTIVIST, knows what I’m talking about. Richie is a Filipino American Bay Area native like myself. “I was born in Daly City, grew up as a DJ, and joined a mobile DJ crewaround the time when there was a scene for Filipino DJs,” he says proudly. Daly City is nine miles south of San Francisco and nearly 58% of its population identifies as Asian.

“As a DJ you realize you play so much stuff that's on the radio,” he says. “But at some point you realize there's so much music coming out of our community. Why am I not playing that? Why am I not looking for that?”

The Asian American community has faced erasure from popular American narratives and history, and are largely absent from mainstream American media. Partly because of this, Asians in America are seen as a monolith. “When I grew up, being Asian wasn't something that most of us were told to be proud of,” Richie says.

This is why Richie spent over a year building TRAKTIVIST.com, a discovery platform dedicated to helping people find music made by Asian North Americans. TRAKTIVIST.com’s catalog also allows people to search for music by filtering ethnicity, instrument, genre and playlists.

“I was trying to figure out who's who and where do they exist? [It starts with] who you know, who people know, but after that, I had to turn to the internet. It was a search.” Richie used Google tools, starting with Search, to find and compile artists. While it was easier to find current musicians, it was challenging to find Asian American artists from the past. He dove deep into archives of forums, blogs, social media, websites and YouTube to find artists and their stories.

Through Google Search, Richie and his TRAKTIVIST.com team have discovered over 1,500 Asian American artists across numerous decades and genres, and continue to use Google tools to search for the undiscovered.

Richie is committed to surfacing overlooked or forgotten stories. He recently published “Grammy Firsts,” a collection celebrating Asian American firsts of the awards show. And with Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage month approaching, we asked Richie to create a playlist celebrating the diversity of Asian American stories and artists — which he graciously did.

Talking to Richie, I find myself coming back to a word that we center the Filipino Googler Network, an employee resource group, around: kapamilya, or belonging. Through music, I hope we can find kapamilya, be able to see one another, find ourselves and have our stories be heard.

With the recent rise in anti-Asian sentiment and violence in America, Richie has found the music he’s discovering to be a source of healing. “When we think about our communities and what we go through…” Richie says, “...whether through film, TV poetry, music, any art form, all of it matters. My job is to make sure these stories get broadcast and receive as much attention as possible.”

Read the whole article: CLICK HERE from Sniply: Search Brought to you by: PremierDetroitSEO.com Brought to you by: PremierDetroitSEO.com

#Premier Detroit SEO #Blogger

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thetristoneera · 7 years ago

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Sooooooooo, I’ve been working on a Mighty Ducks fanfic. A lot. A whole lot. Like I’ve been spotted in flying V’s all fall, a lot. Even in Minnesota a lot. So the thing is, there’s a purified strong essence of inclusion with this fanfic. I have Asians, Indians, Blacks, Latins & Whites in the rank of the main team. From all around the world, want to figure out how I came up with it? Well, here it go…

In a land of imagination… There’s a round table of elite spell binders that call themselves, “Full Guardians of the Universe”. Their technology is beyond splendid & their home planet is eons away from the Milky Way. It’s safe to say that they are immortals, friendly immortals; all they want to do is show their home planet how entertaining space travel is. Every time they come across humanoid species, they use their incredible chain of satellites to set up documentaries based on how interesting civilization is; that are light years away. They are beyond sneaky with how they move & have yet to be detected by anything; they look at Planet Earth for a full decade; researching it before they set up the Documentary of the Milky Way. They have dabbled in several things but all of them decided to indulge in hockey as the seventh documentary of this world. They have successfully infiltrated humanity to the point that they were able to do what they want within a ten year span but after deciding on making a free summer camp of hockey & to hand picked one thousand fifteen year olds around the planet for it; they didn’t mind extending it a little. After the summer camp came to an end, they created a scholarship for sixteen different academies, invited thirty students for each; veterans & rookies they found absolutely inspiring through out that summer. All of the parents say yes to it but no one knows how inspiring the Mighty Ducks Trilogy were to this magical round table. The scholarship is purposel set up for individuals to go after their dreams but they didn’t realize how entertaining the summer camp would become after the sixteen hand picked teams start a ruckus across their world.

Now, you may be wondering; why I did all this & how I came up with all of this. It’s because of the euphoria I magically manifest in my own system. Imagination land is an infinite place, the summaries, plots, stories & twists I create upon universes are not a joke. I’m constantly filtering which ones I should keep or let loose. This is one I definitely let loose, so here are the beans… I’m in this fanfic, alone at first; like all of the rookies, we have ambitions that do not lie with hockey. The veteran fifteen year olds that grew up with it or street hockey, were invited to the summer camp at a 3/5 capacity with the rookies being mostly 1/3 capacity. The summer camp took over two months in Australia, in one of the most snowy regions in a facility that was designed to be a psych ward. Because Full Guard had riches that were unlimited; they bought the facility out for preparation for one thousand kids while building two ice rinks & fortifying a frozen lake for hockey as well. Because the spell binders were so powerful, everyone invited to the camp always felt welcomed because of all of the spells placed in the architecture, the vegetation & the grounds. There was no excluding or bullying when it came to the summer camp because the Full Guardians of the Universe are of the Haaldeirez species; a humanoid carbon based life form species that are of thinner variations of human species. They have gem stone based eye balls that glimmer & move at the slightest amount of light. Comes in full spectrum of the rainbow but their insides are all black, from the bones to the teeth to their digestive system to their nervous system. They always look healthy & fit but range from the adult heights of 6’ to 8’ tall. Their skin is also the full spectrum of the rainbow but only in pastel colors; with thick to coarse to thin to fleauxing hair that are usually effervescent glow in the dark colors. Unlike humans, the Haaldeirez do not have malicious DNA/RNA; they are completely peaceful as well as completely powerful species that have no real bound but the mortality rate. Full Guardians may be around 22,000,000 years old but that’s because of the immortality spells they made that allow them to feed off of space air. Majority of their maximum spells, hell; all of their maximum spells reflect from space air, since it’s immortal. All of their satellites are built on nanotechnology that feed off of space air with fleets of gundams, mobile suits & spaceships that protect a Pluto Sized Satellite to send the video feeds they collect around the universe. Because of their intellect, even though their spaceship is the size of one of the Milky Way planets; they have cloaking mechanisms in place that keep them remarkably hidden. As well as allowing them to devise their plans for documenting intelligent life forms; yet, the inspiration humans provide to them over the safe summer camp; will inspire them to make the sixteen special teams while giving all of the kids super powers while transporting them all the way to their home planet to learn how to deal with them. They are not to be taken lightly, but no one will ever figure out about them because no one will ever reach their home planet; not any time soon at least. Moving in a giant spiraling circle, the Full Guardians have traveled so far; the number of miles cannot be spoken in one or two breaths. The total mileage is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000; give or take seven. Wondering how they transport the kids to the Feiro Rotation (the Name of Their Galaxy) to visit Planet Ozeva. The birth planet of their species that belongs to a single sun with a weird alignment of fourteen planets. Each of them are aligned with one another, making seven pairs. There’s two dead planets that hover directly over the sun, the other six pairings actually rotate, Ozeva was the first to habitat humanoid species; the neighboring planet that rotates ahead of Ozeva was the second. A planet of the next pairing behind their alignment was sustained naturally to habitat, so their species could utilize another planet. The rest of the planets don’t have enough elements, life forms, are within enough distance of the sun with an ozone layer that can habitat life with out support or spell binding. The Feiro Rotation is a beautiful galaxy, but it looks like lavender mist outside of it because of all of the spell binding the Full Guardians have done since they were born. All of the solar system activity with radio activity from the satellite feeds have changed it from being a misty white solar system to a misty lavender solar system.

Moving along, these kids…

Rookies: Diane Guerrero, Francia Raisa (Almendarez), Jaimee Wallace, Jared Tarquini, Jazmyn Wallace, Olton Vermillion, Selena Gomez, Sopheton Ferrara, Stephanie Tejada, Terrance Barnes & Tiffany Boone

Veterans: Brandia del Guozo, Emilio Mauvio, Emily Blackville, Jipzi Kiyoko, Jubilee Enayam, Juliette Blackville, LaSwan Black, Millennios Turaun, Zelena Crocodile & Zorik Kiyoko

Super Veterans: Atrotus Meteor, Chester Gold, Dylan Bronze, Eziki Xiahou, Idola Volbez, Localu Sugimoto, Rhiegot Jons, Theodore Castle & Wolven Silver

From Iceland to Canada to Japan to Mexico to France to the Pacific Islands to Ireland to the United States of America to North Africa to Great Britain to Turkey & to China. Culture, heritage, nativity, ethnicity & attitudes across the board of a lot of differentials. The Full Guardian who hand picked the Mega Mallards goes by the name of Lucius Logan to this world; he looks like Chris Chalk but talks like a molten double chocolate cake, in human form. His voice is hypnotic because of the spells in place he puts on himself, he means no harm but his real voice is very demonic to the point it has three echoes. It’s how all of the Haaldeirez sound, like triumphant beings of massive power; so he tones it down to sound more safe, comfortable & deluxe. The teams that syphon through the footage of the documentaries took heed to all of the kids he liked out of the thousand. All of his choices were out of a mere forty four but he felt that the connections made during the summer camp had to stay connected; especially when it came to the twin sisters. There’s a lot of back stories in between them individually but collectively, this team belongs together like the fifteen other special teams made during this epilogue. Wondering how I’m going to turn it into an epilogue? Well…

Full Guardians of the Universe will bestow fifteen super powers onto the kids of their teams, a boy & a girl with the same power each; down the line & connecting five of the powers for each gender with an animal. Making six animals in a group of five connected by the super powers for each gender, acting as the catalysts needed to make the spells work to give the kids super being qualities so they can harness super powers safely. In order to bring that into effect, upon the night before the first day of school; the kids will have three pieces of chocolate connected by a spell called Decadence Projection Existence. Making it so that something delicious will project their vessels across existence; even dimensions. The kids will be transported to one of the space colonies over Planet Ozeva, in a circle of thirty rainbow lit incubation teleportation beds; so that the kids’ bodies will appear in two places at once, but eight days behind their time. Because for every hour they sleep, is a day in the Feiro Rotation. Yup! Gotcha! Didn’t think I was going to do that huh? So the kids will be talked into having super powers, why they were chosen, where they are & the whole learning process of everything. Where they’ll be guided magically into their super powers, get some space travel in, learn how to space travel & break into the atmosphere of Planet Ozeva to be welcomed by a parade of people that have seen the Documentary Ending of the Milky Way. Into a grand palace for the kids to stay the eight days while their real bodies are sleep. Their lives will forever be changed by this & when they wake up in real time; all of them will still be able to access their memories so that they can use their powers successfully. The fifteen powers are: astronomy, dark, death, earth, electricity/lightning, explosion, fire, life light, mirror, psychic, rainbow, vegetation, water & wind.

If you’re wondering, the mother ship of the Full Guardians of the Universe is named Valdepozeiron. They have it cloaked directly above our solar system, the same distance from the sun as Planet Earth is. They have decided to stick around for four years to watch the kids grow through out high school as hockey players, in light of the Mighty Ducks. After every graduation of a grade, the kids will endure a sixteen team tournament. The outcomes will always be different but Full Guardians won’t tell them that the final tournament will depict which team will face their genetically made Mighty Ducks team that includes all of the characters from the movies who have been raised in an alternate dimension where everyone on the team went through a similar high school situation as the kids did. So yes, this fanfic will be developed as a four season fanfic. So yes, I realize how ridiculous my imagination is. So yes, you can ask me questions. Unless you have my Facebook; my Facebook is where all of their individual background stories reside but lastly; I will describe the relationships to be among the team.

Stephanie Tejada, Jaimee Wallace & Jazmyn Wallace are all of the BGC alumni; I love them so because they are mad hilarious & yes I’ve imagined them as characters who play hockey even with them starting off as rookies at the ages of fifteen. Stephanie will eventually get into a budding relationship, separate ones with a few guys of the Moonfield Academy; where the entire team is stationed at. Jaimee & Theodore will eventually become an item. Jazmyn & Dylan will eventually become an item.

Chester Gold, Wolven Silver & Dylan Bronze are all friends who grew up together in the peewee leagues of hockey in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The three of them together have played so much, they are considered super veterans. They are destined to enter the big leagues professionally with all of them having the ability to be on an Olympic team. The three of them even know LaSwan & have lost against his team on occasion. Chester will find himself in many messed up situations with Emily & Juliette; because both of them like Chester & he likes the both of them in return. Drama. Dylan & Jazmyn will eventually become an item. Wolven & Terrance became an item during the summer camp then turned into pen pals when it was over; but became an item again once they both arrived at Moonfield Academy.

Zelena Crocodile & Brandia del Guozo will eventually become an item.

Jared Tarquini & Olton Vermillion will eventually become an item.

Sopheton Ferrara & Rhiegot Jons will eventually become an item.

Jipzi Kiyoko, Zorik Kiyoko & Localu Sugimoto all grew up together to be best friends in the matter of which their party-holic parents are best friends. Even as neighbors. Gulp. All three of them have tremendous intellect that makes everyone question why on earth are they into hockey. Yet, their parents let them be who they want to be. During the summer camp, halfway; when the rookies were finally mixed to be with the vets in terms of room arrangements; that’s when Lucius discovered that majority of his team would form right before his eyes. Jipzi, Jubilee, Jaimee, Jazmyn & Localu immediately become best friends way before they make it to the camp because the announcement of the scholarship listings. The five of them were already a nuisance hurricane in the summer camp because of their connections with Stephanie, Tiffany, Emily & Juliette. Jipzi & Eziki will eventually become an item. Zorik & Tiffany will eventually become an item. Localu will keep the promise to her father about not dating anyone during high school.

Emilio Mauvio & Diane Guerrero will eventually become an item.

Jubilee Enayam & Atrotus Meteor will eventually become an item.

Idola Volbez & Millennios Turaun will eventually become an item.

LaSwan Black’s history with the Metalloids (Gold, Silver & Bronze) will unfold to make LaSwan more of a threat as a hockey player. They have squared off on the ice before the summer camp but didn’t during the summer camp because they were deemed as two different classes. Yet, before the hockey season begins, LaSwan will continue to be a threat to the three of them when it comes down to fighting for positions on the team. Like the super veterans, LaSwan has definite leadership qualities that deem him as captain material. When the coaches begin the deliberations for team positions; rivalries among the team will start to build because LaSwan will be the main person trying to set a standard for the team, in the same ways he did in the peewee leagues.

One big happy family, for the most part, during the summer camp; all of them got along. Arriving at the airport in Minneapolis; the home guys even stayed there until everyone’s flights arrived. The thirty of them reunited & shared group photos to be added to their social media sites. Had a ball on the shuttle ride over to Moonfield Academy, then had a ball seeing the mansion they were all going to be staying in. A beautiful spacious mansion with a huge cylinder in the middle that had fifteen individual girl rooms on the second floor & the same for the guys on the third floor. They had everything they needed & more, because Lucius wasn’t shy with spoiling them at any chance; but they won’t figure that out until the hockey season actually starts then Jaimee & Jazmyn are going to joke about going on a shopping spree. But if I ever make it as a writer, this will be one of my guaranteed fanfics. Like the Streets of Rage, Spyro the Dragon & Zombies Ate My Neighbors fanfics…

PS there are sixteen members of the Full Guardians of the Universe; they have merrily sat around their round table for more than twenty million years. And yes, every crew member of their mother ship are welcome to sit in on their round table meetings as well as watch the broadcasts of them.

#the Mighty Ducks #Fanfic #Fanfics #Characters #Faces #Imagination Land #Read All About It #Everybody Loves Me #Diane Guerrero #Francia Raisa #Jaimee Wallace #Jared Tarquini #Jazmyn Wallace #Selena Gomez #Stephanie Tejada #Tiffany Boone #Inspired

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