༝ A redraw of an old squall meme from two years ago.
This is the piece I redrew all the way back from 2022 😔
Oh my god I can’t believe my post went VIRAL lmao
when your notp is the most popular ship in a fandom
Xeha mom and baby xeha! requested from my last post!
★:・゚・゚。✷ Request more Kh characters ! ⋆.ヽ. ✳︎・ ゚。✷・
a response to the “canon did it first” excuse for racism
Whenever someone points out that certain metas/fics/headcanons have racist implications, the overwhelming response tends to be that it can’t actually be the product of racial bias—because it’s just “canon.” After all, if a character really is cruel, petty, or abusive in the source material, how can Fandom be held responsible for writing them in character?
On the surface, this can seem like a perfectly good argument—except that it completely sidesteps the actual implications.
Consider, for example, the following interpretations (all from real metas):
Finn from Star Wars is a predator—he’s obsessed with Rey.
Scott from Teen Wolf is a rapist—he attacked Derek.
MJ from the MCU is a fake MJ who should be replaced—her hair colour is wrong & she’s mean.
Iris from The Flash is a b*tch who should be killed off—she’s useless & whiny.
Each of these statements could be explored at length for the bad faith readings that they are, but for the purposes of this meta, let’s assume they are all correct.
What would be the implications of that?
If Finn, the first Black character with a leading role in a Star Wars film, is a sexual predator towards a white woman—a trope that has a horrific, racist history—why then is the meta using that discovery to explain why the white fave is superior, instead of a furious exposé on Disney’s racist depiction of a Black man?
If Scott, one of the few heroic Latino leads on US television, is a rapist and secretly the villain—when only 3% of all leading roles go to Latino men, as opposed to 22% of all Latino roles being related to crime—why then is the meta using that to elevate three white male faves, instead of calling MTV out for its bait and switch? Why is it not righteously angry at yet another racist depiction of a Latino character?
If Michelle, a mixed Black woman in the role of the most iconic superhero love interest of all time, is just a fake MJ and not the “real” love interest—when Black women are already relegated to less than 4% of all speaking roles in film, never mind the rarity of playing a romantic lead—why then is the meta focused on getting a “real” (white) MJ to take over her position, instead of pushing Disney to make her status as MJ as explicit as possible?
If Iris, one of the few Black women in a lead role on network television, is a b*tch who’s useless and whiny—when Black women are consistently over disciplined for being seen as louder/more disruptive than their peers—why does the meta choose to solve this by murdering Iris, instead of petitioning the writing staff to stop leaning into racist tropes?
This is only a sampling of popular metas—and only a few of the endgame conclusions that have to result—but the point is that the racism is not a bug; it’s a feature. If they were actually true, it would make the source material so reprehensible as to make supporting it unconscionable—but that’s not what they’re used for. Instead, time and time again, they’re just used to push the COC out of their own narratives.
If a meta wants to claim it cannot be racist because it’s simply restating what canon did, then it must consider whether or not that makes canon also racist. And if it does—what does it want to say about that? Is the meta going to continue that racist pattern? Call out the creators for their stereotyping? Create additional metas and fics to attempt to address the revealed problem?
And denying that—if none of those options seem tenable—then maybe the correct response is to question whether the original meta was all that accurate to begin with.
I’m still super proud of this one (and the other foretellers lie in varying states of finish in my WIPs folder)
my links! https://hamsphrey.carrd.co/
In honor of BHM, we've compiled a list of some of our top favorite reads (thus far) that are either by Black diaspora authors and/or the main character is Black. Feel free to add your own to this list!
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For my recommendations, I've focused on escapism and/or black woman romances only, because we all can use a bit of joy. These are adult reads by Black authors.
The King’s Seer (series) by L.S. Bethel | Genre: Feudal, Fantasy, Romance, Alt World, BWAM (Hero is Korean-Coded) | Link (My new favorite series)
Voices and Visions by Lashell Collins (Touched Series) | Genre: Mystery, Psychic Detective, Romance, BWWM | TW: Escape from off-screen domestic violence, murder | Link (Love this series so far!)
Taken to Voraxia (Xiveri Mates Series) by Elizabeth Stephens | Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, Fantasy (BWAlien &Alien) Coded race | TW: Kidnapped bride | Link
Taken to Nobu (Xiveri Mates Series) by Elizabeth Stephens | Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, Fantasy (BW&Alien) | TW: Kidnapped bride | Link
Unfrozen by Regine Abel | Genre: Paranormal Romance, Sci-Fi BW&Alien/Monster | TW: Torture, experiments (briefly at beginning) Link
I Married a Naga (Prime Mating Agency, #2) by Regine Abel | Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, Marriage of Convenience BW&Alien/Monster | Link
Rescued by Her Relic by Paulina Woods | Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, BW&Alien/Cyborg, Apocalypse | Link
The Alpha Promise by Hayat Ali | Genre: Paranormal Romance, Vampires, BWAM | Link
Deena's Deception by G.S. Carr | Genre: Western, Historical Romance, Mail-order Bride, BWWM | Link
Chosen by Tiffany Patterson | Genre: Paranormal Romance, Shapeshifters, BWIM (Indigenous hero) | Link
Honorable mentions at the top of my to-read list
Death at a Seance by Carolyn Marie Wilkins | Link
Conjure Women by Afia Atakora | Link
The Gatekeeper by K. Alex Walker | Link
A mix of fictional narratives, memoir, and politics/culture. All adult reads.
The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa | Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance | Link
*Kindred by Octavia Butler | Genre: Sci Fi | Link (*Triple recommended by multiple mods!)
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby | Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense | Link
Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosely | Genre: Mystery | Link
Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor | Genre: Mixed/Meta | Link
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Genre: Bio & Memoir | Link
Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon | Genre: Memoir | Link
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall | Genre: Politics, Society & Current Affairs | Link
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander | Genre: Politics, Society & Current Affairs | Link
If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin | Genre: Fantasy, Romance | Link
They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib | Genre: Nonfiction, Essay Collection | Link
Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaoabi Tricia Nwaubani | Genre: Young Adult Realistic Fiction | CW: violence and sexual assault | Link
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo | Genre: Young Adult Realistic Fiction | Link
Copper Sun by Sharon Draper | Young Adult Historical Fiction | CW sexual assault and slavery| Link
After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson | Young Adult Realistic Fiction | book deals with racism, incarceration, and the foster system | Link
The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste | Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult (violence against activists) | Link
Each of Us A Desert by Mark Oshiro| Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy | Link
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas| Genre: Young Adult, Realistic (racial profiling, Black Lives Matter) | Link
Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas| Genre: Fantasy | Link
Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat| Genre: Short Stories (violence in Haiti) | Link
Monster by Walter Dean Myers | Genre: Young Adult (racial profiling) | Link
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler | Genre: Sci Fi (tw for apocalyptic climate conditions)| Link
Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler | Genre: Sci Fi (tw for apocalyptic climate conditions)| Link
This is a two-part series taking place in a sometimes uncomfortably realistic near-future climate apocalypse. Lauren Olamina is a young woman with a hyperempathy disorder who is determined not only to survive, but to make sure her loved ones, her greater community, and humanity as a whole survive as well. To do this, she will have to found a settlement and a religion.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin | Genre: Fantasy | Link
I’m still in the middle of reading this one, but it’s already a compelling and suspenseful story of dynastic succession and powerful but unpredictable magical beings. Don’t spoil it for me!
Raybearer duology by Jordan Ifueko | Genre: Fantasy, YA | Link
The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson | Genre: Gothic/Horror, Fantasy | Link
James by Percival Everett | Genre: Historical, Literary | Link
Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope | Genre: Fantasy, YA | Link
The Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk | Genre: Historical, Fantasy | Link
The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk | Genre: Historical, Fantasy | Link
We recommend buying your books at your local bookshop (esp. BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ friendly spots) when you can, smaller online bookstores or checking them out at your local library (the Libby app is great for ebooks and audiobooks) or of course at the author's first preference. Also: if a store doesn't have a book, sometimes they can order it for you.
As for online book trackers, The StoryGraph is Black-woman founded!
Happy reading!
~WWC
This tweet lives rent-free in my head now. Hands-down the best comment about the relationship between art and artist.
"I'm not waiting here for you anymore. Otherwise, I really will end up breaking."
I hope we see her again :(
mideum. an archive for my meta posts and critiques. formerly/notoriously known as alphaunni lmao
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