Reasons I Don't Like You

"there are some bad people in that place, and he's going to be exposed to things he's never seen."

Kill a gay man - get three years in prison. ONLY three years.

AND have your family have the fucking nerve to say shit like that and be listened to.

Day in, day out, black teenagers get in similar positions and it is NEVER reasonable that jail will do more harm than good to them. It is NEVER reasonable that they might need substance abuse counseling vs incarceration.

(1) Prisoners of the War on Drugs

(2) Prison Town: Paying the Price

(3) Prisoners of a Hard Life: Women and Their Children

So how's the future looking right now? Well apparently it's close to some combination of Jennifer Government and A Handmaid's Tale.

I never thought the concept of 'a jury of your peers' could be so fucking disgusting.

America's War on The Non White/Non Mainstream Other.

Fanfuckingtastic.

State Of...

Moved.

Attempting to settle in.

DSL withdrawal. Remedy next week.

In the meantime don't think I'm not trying to keep up, I am.

Dear Livejournal

Discus (and others) are climbing up to take the one thing that made you unique - a sense of community.

I'm currently reading a lot of blogger thoughts about the program and there's all this talk of 'Controlling your own comments' and 'No clear migration'

And all I can think of is that I "lost" all my comments when I left Livejournal behind. And my decision to blank the journal makes it all even more lost to the general public.

Anyway I just emailed Disqus Support to get info on their TOS and Privacy Policy. If I like what I hear - I'll switch over. I miss threaded comments and the feeling of community/conversation from LJ.

Who Is Rachel Moss?

Why is Rachel Moss being shunned as transphobic, fatphobic and emotionally abusive towards children?

Well apparently for Rachel Moss, WisCon was for the Lulz.

WisCon is not my thing. It may very well never be my thing. However setting off a chain reaction of hatred on the internet that involves people's pictures being posted with mocking of size, status as a PoC, mocking of their disabilities and leading to like minded, nasty racist individuals trolling for pics so they can post them with the words 100% Nigger - THAT SHIT GOES BEYOND DIVERGING INTERESTS!

Actions have consequences. Rachel Moss took some actions. A google bomb shunning is a consequence.

Am I taking the AngryBlackWoman's Blog side over Rachel Moss? Hell yes I am. Cause I ABW is owning their words.

Rachel Moss? How To Win Friends & Influence People on Line 1. They want to give you your money back.

B-Day Wishes

Happy Birthday K-Box.

When you finally get some sleep, may it be filled with rotund older women, who'll sing you sweet lullabyes after fighting off an alien invasion while fully clothed,fierce and packing weaponry for bear.

Tokyo Pop Says - Blow Me. Who'll Sign Up?

I seriously, SERIOUSLY, hope that minority creators are too well versed in the history of cultural appropriation, theft, sacred space violations, actual rape, land stealing, slavery, indentured servitude and more - than to sign a contract that cheerfully states they'll be giving up their rights to their creative product.

Why signing a Tokyo Pop Manga Pilot Pact (and/or other of their contracts) IS FOR SUCKERS!

Why a folksy contract is like a folksy President, Prime Minsiiter or Premier and IS FOR SUCKERS!

I'm shouting about minority creators but if anyone, white, black, brown, gold, red, bronze, green, purple signs up for this in a flurried rush of "But I'll MAKE IT BIG AND RENEGOTIATE" I will feel incredible sad for you. Sad and helpless, because you'll have created this mess yourself.

The US dealt with a writer's strike in Hollywood over late last year and early this year. What was it about? RIGHTS! Rights and rights to proper compensation.

Why do unions go on strike? Rights! {yeah yeah, there are those idiots who mess it up for everyone - but I'm talking in general here}

This should get talked about. There are too many young people who tremble and get stupid at the thought of making a career out of something they love to do. HELL, I get all a trembling and dreamy eyes at the thought of bylines and book credits. I'm also cynical and believe in the concept of healthy selfishness.

Many people point out that this 'Pact' smells like a clone from the recording industry - y'know those people who sue their customers. I know nothing about how it works in present day or what the twists are for rap vs R&B vs NeoSoul (and yes rap gets a small r. Sometimes it's all cause I say so). I do know that I've read enough books and articles and have enough friends who were thoroughly and disgustingly all things boyband to know that crap and shit contracts have happened and do happen in pop and rock. I know N*SYNC (is the star fucking right?) was one.

All I have left to say right now is:

MOTOWN.

JERRY SIEGEL & JOE SHUSTER

BILL (bless him) FINGER

Heard of them?

Heard of Prince? Ever wonder why he changed his name? (The Artist Formerly Known As)

Haven't? Then Wikipedia is your friend.

Go forth, learn, educate. Don't be a sucker.

OLPC XO -2

Ambitious. Innovative. Cool.

And when I say cool, I mean:

Easier access to information.

Ease of text book distribution.

Ease of program learning for the future.

Ease of education.

Ease of mental expansion; art, music, creation/creativity.

The reason I'm writing about this in this journal? I am fed. the fuck. up. with people who see the OLPC as it stands and the company's dream for the future and start talking about how what 'those countries really need is water filters and food'.

You're wrong.

You're. so. fucking. wrong.

Likely cause quite a few of you making that statement associate 'those countries' with the ads that come on tv that talk about for 50 cents a day, you could feed a starving child.

I grew up in a third world country. We know to boil water to drink. And before you talk about the Caribbean being different somehow, I'll state that I grew up on the side of a mountain in the middle of a jungle. I drank rain water, my grandmother's home was a homestead and as a little girl I read books by kerosene lantern.

So please, shut the fuck up.

Education is EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING.

And in this day and age to not have general computer skills is a set back. Heck I've experienced that set back. Not from lack of general computer skills, but because I went to a school, right here in the US, that couldn't afford some of the necessities of the AP Biology program.

I got to college and I'd never used Quattro, far less on a laptop. I didn't know what it was for. I panicked. That panic changed my entire perspective on the class. All of a sudden I was listing everything I didn't know instead of what I did.

Now imagine that not for a single class in college. But that you've made it out of your village to university level, or you've made it out of your village and now you need to get a job. But the jobs that aren't grunt, physical labour, regardless of your smarts, require you to know things like the Windows Operating System, spreadsheets and email and wireless connectivity; because the jobs that pay are all with banks, broadcasting, or with companies that are outsourcing to your nation of residence.

What then?

There has been too much giving of fish to countries that instead need to be taught and learn how to fish in this new millennium. And if you don't know what I'm referring to, will you be upset if I say you're not well read? Will you be frustrated?

Pause a second and imagine feeling that way about something that you currently think of as basic, but that's really not for others.

I'm not saying that infrastructure is a bad thing. I'm not saying that there aren't places that could use help with infrastructure. How that help is given, however, is an entry for another time - because I have issues with the lack of respect for cultural norms of various areas, as if progress means doing things the white American or British or European way.

But infrastructure is not just about housing and water and food. It's about the ability of a community to fend for itself; police itself, protect itself, provide for itself. Giving them only food and water makes them dependent there after.

You don't just feed and cloth a child, you educate them. Why should a county rich with it's own history, currently poor because of the politics of a conquering and colonializing Europe - which tore tribes and families and the political system then in place apart, be treated as less than a child?

For my own self, the thought of children and adults in those countries, finding their way into the 21st Century; to create and enrich, perhaps in art and literature - well that just makes my world better.

Who knows what SF writers and artists may be handed tools meant for both education and play.

I can't wait to see and read what they have to say.

Faces of Colour

The first was here

WOWIO.COM has turned me onto The Razor Kid. Another Asian super-hero. A teenager. And a hero who's difabled. (Differently abled is too damn long to type out, and disabled feels weird. Welcome to Willow's comic blog vocabulary).

Unlike Superhero G who started off Japanese, I'm unsure which Asian ethnicity Alexander Tanaka is. His surname seems Japanese, but right now I'm not assuming.

Alexander lives in a world where superheroes need certification to do their jobs. He didn't start off wanting to be a hero. He's a genius and he was intending to follow the flow of his own brilliance. Then he stumbled into a horrendous conspiracy that then cost him his arms and he found his heroism.

I am seriously wishing there was a Pay for Download digital format for this comic. Because I'd spend the money for each installment. I want to support this product, this character.

Put out by Ronin Studios, whenever #2 comes out it should be available at Indyplanet.Com and ComixPress.

Extra Babble

It's only one issue, with some backstory on the main site. But I'm really giddy about an Asian hero. I realize that the loss of the arms might seem skeezy to some. That some how the Asian man had to be hurt etc. Truthfully I only realized that perspective several days after my "OMG! Asian Hero Kid! Genius Smarts! OMG Difabled Kid Kicked ASS!"

Goodbye Cruel - Nah, Just Taking A Break

I started this post two days ago, before real offline life interrupted. I was typing out a post to request that people no longer deliberately send me images of Marvel and DC cocking up horrendously on issues of race - if I stumble over it, that's on me. But I don't need my pressure skyrocketing up like someone's trying to win a Carnival prize, no matter what their original intent was in showing me the image.

I never finished the post.

I was suddenly hit with this mental whirlpool.

There I was, comparing mainstream comics to the mainstream public feminisphere and there was this correlation of becoming what you hate the moment you have even a little bit of power - and my brain just spasmed.

The word cockslapped came to mind. As in, have I been raising my voice and fist for the dubious honor of being cockslapped? Considering how gross I find penises, the mental image was quite disruptive.

From the original non-published post:

Mainstream comics and mainstream (or at least prominent) feminism (oh so white) have a serious amount in common. Comics won't listen to the women won't listen to the minorities.

On and on the message goes "This is not for you. This is for everyone (male/the sisterhood). Why are you making so much noise? Can't you see what we're doing? Why don't you just have your own?

"Put aside your blackness for this cause, put aside your womanness for that step up. Are you more interested in having JL covers with frequent women on the cover? Or frequent minorities. Pick a side. We hold the power and we'll dribble and dole it out."

The honor of being cockslapped...

When mainstream comics decides to promote a character of colour; but said character is bleached, or made more 'palatable' with more and more white features; lighter skin, different nose, straighter hair. (Don't get me started about Misty and the blue eyes)...

When comics decide to promote a female character but she's busting out of her top, or waving her shiny latex ass to the viewer (Catwoman covers)...

When a prominient self-named feminist notices a problem that affects WoC and PoC and thinks the gratitude for her bringing it forward to attention should negate her lack of pointing out the work that came before - by women of colour...

The link on my blog under the graphic title: PoC MEANIE, leads to a comment thread on livejournal where appeasing white folk, or 'You always catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.'is described as:

Also known as "Listen n*****, watch your manners now boy. You be nice to me, and I won't put you in your darkie place like you should be. Why do you presume to attack me. If I want to call your worthless sp** or P*** ass a sp** or p*** I can. It's been used before and it'll be used again. If you want me to change, get down on your knees and suck my big white cock and make me feel good about adjusting my attitude. After all, everyone agrees with me and you're the minority after all.

Yes, that's it... more tongue... now SUCK MY BALLS BITCH, that's putting honey on it. That's sucking away the liberal guilt... now stay still while I come down your throat..

Yes... yes...

There, last drops in your eyes.

Now kiss it and zip me up."

Cocksucking, cocksucker, a term that's flung around as an insult that's used to describe an action with a focus on it being done only by women, or gay men.

Though at the time I was thinking of it more as oral rape. "Please me via the orifice you use to nurture yourself. My cock is out, your mouth should be on it. Pleasure me and receive whatever I give out, be my receptical and then maybe, MAYBE, I'll listen to you"

And please, no one come into my journal to discuss cooercion and rape and what is rape and what isn't. You won't get published for one thing. And I will do something horrible to you, for another.

The sum of it all is power-tripping. Power is a heady thing, especially when you've never had it, and you've been scratching and climbing to get it. The people in charge of mainstream comics right now? They used to be powerless fans, reading week to week and wishing they had the power to change things. Now they do. And they have.

Goodbye MaryJane.

Goodbye Crisis, hello Crisis. And Crisis. And...Crisis.

The femiblogsphere exists and now there are women, white women, who are getting heard and noticed etc, etc, etc,. Who are getting book deals - which I bring up because Marcotte did say that people were only criticizing her because they were jealous and wanted to ruin her career. She got a sniff of power and it was 'SCREW Y'ALL DARK BITCHES'. Though truthfully, given her attitude, she'd probably had that mentality for a very long time before.

In the two days since I started writing the original and likely now forever unpublished post, there have been several incidents like in this ongoing conversation, where I just ended up shaking my head.

If the sex of those self labeled feminists was changed to male and we put them on Newsarama...

Y'know it's ok to love an ideal. I love America the ideal. But at the same time I am not burying my head in the sand, ass up, ignoring the things America, the country, government, citizenry is doing and have done in the past that go against the ideal of what this country could be.

But apparently when it comes to feminism, when it comes to comics, specifically the big two superhero universe comics, that's exactly what their proponents are doing. To point out what is wrong, is to attack, is to not really care about it in the first place, is to have no love for it at all. To point out what is wrong and to get fed up with explaining over and over again and with spoon feeding over and over again is to be an irrational and angry NOT TRUE FAN.

And damn, if using that term doesn't make me think of Laurell K Hamilton Troobies who will defend to the end an adventure series turned plotless and extremely bad written porno. Now I realized that that the Troobies identify with the books so much and that the books may have helped them explore areas wherein they felt shy and lost and had no where to start looking, that criticism of the books feels like an attack on them personally. But I don't believe every comics fan is some basement dwelling mouth breather who has no self identity other than through comics. And it's a ridiculous image to have about white women (and others) and feminism - no matter what their actions say.

It's just plain. Power. Tripping.

And I'm fed up with it.

My calling out the big two specifically has always been about equality. I want to see everyone get a power fantasy, hopefully at least three. I want said power fantasies to have flush support casts and interesting backgrounds. I want those universes to reflect the diversity of the world. I want equality.

And I'm calling out comics because popular culture reaches a large group of people. Popular culture can TEACH and expand minds. It's why I think movies and tv should be held accountable for misrepresenting cultures and peoples. Without preaching, popular culture can show you a different world, tilt your mind about a concept.

Popular culture IS the real world. It's the slang you speak, the clothes you wear, the products you buy, the concepts you integrate into your sense of self and your place in and around the world!

But don't talk to me about the big two unless it has something to do with DAZZLER. I'm going to take a break and explore other universes, other characters. It hurts, because these two universes were what I cut my teeth on, what I learned to read on, how I associated the concept of a punch with Batman sending a villain back three steps to smack up against a brick wall.

It hurts.

But there are other universes, other characters I could be pointing out. There are other modern myths I can embrace. So I'm going to do that for a while. It's time to regroup and praise while I figure out what my next step forward will be. Because seeing comics and the feminisphere as equal in their power tripping and ignoring is a big deal for me. I mean feminisarchy is a damn stupid made up word and doesn't even say what I want it to mean. WWS says that (White Woman Syndrome). Seeing a ladder and comics and the feminisphere as one tugging on the leg of the other to be noticed while mashing the hands and heads of anyone trying to climb up alongside is just...

Mind. Blown.

It's like this XKCD Comic except there should be a third panel where the girl stick figure tells a darker male or female stick figure "Wow, PoC suck at Math."

Becoming. What. You. Say. You. Hate.

Note: To anyone who'd been paying attention I'm going to switch FACES OF COLOUR, from the PoC Carnival Blog, to here.

Extra Note: I'll be moderating comments as usual but I don't know if I'll be replying.

Vixenification Right On Damn Schedule

FUCK YOU, DC

Give with one hand and take away with the other. Vixen has been getting on a lot of covers this year; As a White Woman