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psychedddd-out · 1 year

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𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐭 #𝟏: 𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐚𝐦 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐏𝐬𝐲𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝟏𝟎𝟏? ♡

Written: February 25, 2023 Psychology has always been something I am afraid of and not in a terrifying and screaming way, but in one that excited me because it's like going to an unknown place for the first time; I don't know anything about it, but the journey is something I want to take on just for the fact that it looks and feels fun.

If I were to pick a word that would most describe myself before Psychology 101, the word has to be eager. From our freshmen orientation for the behavioral sciences majors, I remember we had a question on which subfield of BehSci we prefer the most. A lot answered psychology. I, on the other hand, answered anthropology because I admit, I really am a person of culture. At that moment, I thought, what could be so captivating about psychology that my fellow students preferred over the two (anthropology and sociology), and so it happened, I became very eager and excited to take Psychology 101 in my freshman year's second semester due to my peers' influence and also because it's required.

At first glance, I do feel like in Psychology 101, we're going to be talking a lot about the mind and how it influences behavior - a sort of more biologically inclined approach in understanding humans, which I am excited to face. I've always been fond of looking at behavior from a sociocultural perspective. Thus, this new and fresh approach would be something that can challenge me and help me garner a more complex perspective as I venture into my degree program in the future.

Other than this, I feel like Psychology 101 will be like taking a dive into a deep pool except the pool is my own self. As I learn more about how my mind affects my behavior, I'm also getting to know myself more along the way. This will certainly be helpful in detecting some behavioral patterns within myself so I would know what to do about them. Not only will I learn about psychology, I'm also going to be learning about who I am.

Another word I’d like to use to describe myself before this course is vague in some sort of way. In reality, I do have a clear image of myself right now, but I also feel like venturing into Psychology 101 will bring more clarity to who and what I am… or if who I am right now is who I really am or it’s just an illusion created by mind. There’s so much to explore!

All in all, there’s so much to look forward to in studying Psychology 101! Eager is an understatement to how I really feel in taking this course and words wouldn’t be able to express how I really feel. I hope to one day come back to this blog post after finishing the course and see if that eagerness lasted until the end. I hope and feel that it will! So, would you come and join me?

DRAFT: Panimula • Ang psychology ay nakakatakot pero parang ang saya niyang pag-aralan at i-explore kaya nakaka-motivate na aralin ito • Para akong pupunta sa isang lugar na wala akong kaalam-alam pero ang exciting

Katawan • Isang word for me na madedescribe ko sa sarili ko ay eager before Psych101 kasi willing talaga ako matuto. • Sa lahat ng branches ng BehSci, ang pinaka-fave ko ay anthro talaga pero dahil mahilig ako mag-explore, gusto ko rin pag-arala nang bongga ang psychology • Ang unique ng psych kasi biological kumbaga yung approach niya • Pag pinag-aralan ko yung psych, di lang psych mapag-aaralan ko kundi yung sarili ko na in a way • With this being said, isang word pa na makakapagdescribe sa’kin ay vague kasi nga diba kilala ko na sarili ko before psych but mas makikilala ko pa at mas magiging clear pa yun after ng psych

Konklusyon • Words can’t really express gaano talaga ako ka-excited na pag-aralan ang psych pero ang alam ko lang talaga ay excited na ako dahil alam kong marami akong matututunan dito

Word Count with Draft: 670 Word Count without Draft: 500

#Spotify

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crusherthedoctor · 3 years

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Sonic Heroes: Sweet or Shite? - Part 1: SILVER

There are some heroes I like. And there are some heroes I don’t like. But why do I feel about them the way I do? That’s where this comes in.

This is a series in which I go into slightly more detail about my thoughts on the heroes in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and why I think they either work well, or fall flat (or somewhere in-between). I’ll be giving my stance on their designs, their personalities, and what they had to show for themselves over the course of time. Two things to keep in mind:

1. These reviews will be focusing mainly on game portrayals. Though alternate media will occasionally be mentioned, it'll be for the sake of adding onto a point if a portrayal is similar enough, or to compare and contrast if a portrayal is different enough.

2. These are just my own personal thoughts. Whether you agree or disagree, feel free to share your own thoughts and opinions! I don’t bite. :>

Anyhow, for today’s installment, I decided to challenge myself by starting off with a complicated one. Born from the future, and never content to stay put in said future, it's the saviour whose debut came from the most unfortunate game... Silver the Hedgehog.

The Gist: Once upon a time, in the distant future, there was an idealistic young hedgehog named Silver, gifted with the power of telekinesis for reasons unknown. With his amazing potential, he was truly destined for a wonderful, prosperous li-just kidding, it was shit.

“All two of us.”

For as long as he knew, the world was forever plagued by Iblis, the terrible Flames of Disaster. Cities stood in ruin, flames stood high, the floor was lava... it was a bitter life to be certain, all thanks to Iblis. Not even defeating the titular creature did much good, since it would simply come back to be a shitty boss fight another day. What was he - and his friend, Blaze, a character we definitely never saw before and definitely didn't have a completely different backstory before - to do?

Trust the first person he sees, of course. Even if they look like they might be related to the same Flames of Disaster that he fights so constantly.

If he had eyelids, he'd be winking at the camera.

This mysterious fellow, Mephiles the Dark, informed Silver that if he were to wipe out Iblis for real, he would need to take a trip into the past, and eliminate the root of the problem... Sonic the Hedgehog? That was what Mephiles claimed, yes. What was his proof? There was no proof.

That was good enough for Silver.

Oh look, it's Fleetway Sonic.

After an elaborate series of events, which should sound exciting but really isn't because it was just Silver going “Iblis Trigger grrr” in varying tones of voice, he was finally able to corner the blue hedgehog... twice! And despite having less fighting know-how than the hero who saved the world plenty of times, he effortlessly came close to killing the blue hedgehog... twice!

This looks like a jobbing for...

Why twice? The first time was halted by Sonic's friend Amy Rose, who Silver had met beforehand after she mistook him for Sonic, an understandable mistake that even the keenest of eyes would be forgiven for making.

The second time was also interrupted, this time by Shadow the Hedgehog. There's only room for one controversial non-blue male hedgehog in this franchise, sonny boy. Actually, his reasons were more benevolent than that: he wanted to show Silver the truth about what was going on, by time travelling to the incident that gave birth to Iblis. Why was one able to to this, so long as more than one Chaos Emerald was present? No one knew.

That was good enough for Silver.

“I challenge you to a dumb-off.”

As it turned out, Iblis was one half of a sun god called Solaris, the other half being the aforementioned Mephiles. The Duke of Soleanna wanted to reunite with his late wife by harnessing Solaris' power, which succeeded from a certain point of view since he's dead now too. The resulting blunder split Solaris into two halves. One half was all brawn, with little capacity for intelligence. The other half was Iblis.

Understanding the error of his ways, and after making peace with Sonic, Silver went back to the future to try something different, which consisted of doing the same thing he always did. Luckily for him, the script decided it would work this time, albeit at the cost of Blaze sacrificing herself... Maybe? Sort of? It’s not entirely clear what happened to her, and it’s not like this was the last we ever saw of her.

~La laaaaaa, la laaaaaa, la laaaaaa, heading to a better game, la laaaaaa~

But ohhhhh nooooo, turns out THAT didn't solve anything either! In the present, Sonic was killed by Mephiles, after the latter realised he should probably do that already if he wanted to make any progress at all with his plan. This incident led to Iblis being brought into the present, and they fused to become the omnipotent Solaris once more. Such power... such divinity... such devastation...

Actually, he was really easy. The antlion from Underground Zone was harder.

Manchild robots - 1, god of time - 0.

With their super forms in tow, Silver, Shadow, and the revived Sonic joined forces to defeat Solaris, with Sonic in particular going the extra step in retconning Solaris out of existence entirely. Since time itself reset, meaning Iblis was no longer a memory, Silver's timeline was given a second chance. What was he to look forward to in this new, promising future?

Shit.

The Design: Let's take a closer look at Silver's appearance, shall we?

Or rather, a certain thing that's wrong with it.

He's holding up fifteen fingers.

Yes, you all know what I'm pointing to: the hairstyle. Let it be known that I'm very aware of the intention behind this design choice. It's supposed to be based on the Japanese Red Maple Leaf, which holds a lot of relevant symbolism for Silver's character. This is a fine idea in theory, and I can respect the intent and the creativity.

But here's the thing: If it looks like a ganja leaf, people are going to say it looks like a ganja leaf. I know some fans will gnash their teeth at me saying this, but the fact of the matter is that intentions and ideas, no matter how good they may be on paper, don't always translate well into the final product. Unleashed Secret Rings Black Knight Sonic '06 in general is certainly no stranger to showcasing examples of that, and Silver's hairstyle is no exception. There are ways to incorporate symbolism in a character’s design without making them look like meme bait in the process, and no amount of “umm ackshually” will change that, I'm afraid.

That said, there's another reason why I'm staying clean of Silver marijuana: it doesn't work for a hedgehog character. With the other hedgehogs, their hairstyles are simple and get the point across: Sonic's goes without saying, Shadow's is more angular to befit a slightly rougher hero, and Amy's is a cute bob cut of sorts. But Silver? Even without the ganja, you've still got the two tentacles making up the back of his head.

I'd rather not be reminded of hentai quills, thanks.

“I thought Crusher-san would like it :’(”

I do find it hilarious that they went through numerous designs for Silver, and this was what they chose to go with. Some of his prototype designs may have fared better had any of them been used instead... but we didn't end up with any of those ones. We ended up with this one, therefore I'm judging this one.

But don’t worry, it’s not all bad with Silver...

The Personality: As far as actual character goes, Silver's personality is as straightfoward as most characters in the series, yet it's no less interesting, because it took a while for it to fully evolve to what it currently is. The seeds of his character - a good-natured yet awkward and rather insecure kind of guy, who doesn't fully understand how the present time works - have always been there, but it was often downplayed in earlier titles due to him being hungry for Iblis Trigger blood... or being an arsehole for no reason.

Although to be fair, everyone in Rivals is an arsehole for no reason.

Eventually though, after the writers gave him a Snickers, these traits got more opportunity to shine. Mostly in side media admittedly, but it's been noted in the games as well. With no Iblis to angst over, he's proven to be a surprisingly bubbly chap, who just wants to know how you're all doing, fellow anthro kids. And whereas his naivety was previously used for intended tragedy to benefit the evil plan of a guy who thought taking the -istoph- out of Mephistopheles would make him inconspicuous, now it's been used for a bunch of low-key contexts that do a much better job at endearing him to the player.

Finally, something I can relate to.

Hell, he even seems to have learned from the Mephiles incident, as he was quick to make it clear to the next shadowy deep-voiced anthro with demonic eyes he met that he wasn't gonna fall for any of them fibs no more, ya hear?

“YouTube and Twitter don’t count.”

All in all, it works well enough, in my opinion. His personality does pave the way for some funny and wholesome moments, and since they’re no longer trying to build him up like he’s Shadow 2.0, he's nowhere near as much of a tool as he was before. So I guess you could say... I like it?

Does this mean I can say that I like the character as a whole then, design and '06-induced idiocy aside?

Well, not quite...

The Execution: This is where the complication part comes into play. We know now that I like his personality, not so much his design, but that's only the half of it. It would be more accurate to say that I like his personality... and dislike everything else.

Aside from that, obviously.

For starters, the creation process for his character and story was summed up with, in their own words, “Think Trunks from Dragon Ball Z”. So he comes off as rather lazy and uninspired. Now I'm not expecting my Sonic characters to be 100% unique, there's always going to be similarities to other franchises no matter what you do, even if subconsciously or by complete coincidence. Taking inspiration in itself is no big deal at all.

But... was that it? Copying a DBZ character to such a blatant extent? Was there no other thought put into it?

Naturally, this ties into an overarching problem: the franchise's mid-00's habit of trying way too hard to be the anthro Dragon Ball Z. Sonic has had DBZ influences since the early days, with the Chaos Emeralds and Super Sonic, but it didn't assimilate itself into every waking aspect of his universe. It was merely an additional flavor that added to the complete package, in the same way that a Death Star with a moustache didn't mean the franchise was suddenly Star Wars the Hedgehog.

But come the turn of the millenium, nearly every main title in the series ended with Super Sonic and/or Super Shadow saving the day, while everyone else either stood around being useless, or only helping in ways that no one actually cares about. Including the in-universe President apparently, since only Sonic and Shadow were featured in the photo on his desk.

Amy smiled. “I guess the rest of us can go fuck ourselves, huh?”

This reached its peak with - of course - Sonic '06, with Silver in particular being an obvious result of this then-ongoing trend. And yes, it would be unfair to use him as a scapegoat, considering it was already a problem long before he turned up. But moreso than even Shadow, it's an era that Silver is forever a relic of, for better or for worse.

But it doesn't stop there. Since Silver is considered a mainstay character, his gimmick of being from the future also creates problems of its own, because in order for him to make further appearances, he keeps turning up for little explained reason, and thus he suffers the Deadly Six problem of being shoved into places where he doesn't belong, for fanservice's own sake. Take Sonic Colours DS for example, where he went back in time JUST to check out Eggman's theme park... Okay...?

On one hand, I’d visit it too, since it's made by Eggman. On the other hand, I’d stay clear of it, since it's made by Eggman.

And when there IS a justification with more weight to it? It's just recycling the '06 routine of trying to avert his ruined future, which isn't much better. The cause may differ depending on the story, but if his future is a permanent shitehole for one reason or another, he might as well cut out the middle man and stay in the present altogether, since that's where his friends are anyway. But they seem intent on not doing that, despite the future schtick being a noose around his neck at this point.

In hindsight, maybe this was a hint to how the rest of the arc would turn out.

And then there's his dynamic with a certain purple cat... No, not Big. The other one.

“I’m here, by the way.”

Simply put: I don't like this dynamic. At all. Or rather, I don't like how they keep milking it. Blaze's backstory was radically changed to justify her presence in Silver's future, and it really shows, since she barely even shows up half the time, as if the developers themselves forgot she was in the game. But her backstory has since been restored to her original alternate dimension interpretation, so hanging around with the grey hedgehog is all good now, right?

To be brutally honest, I probably wouldn't care for this dynamic regardless. But I would be more willing to tolerate it, and I'd refrain from groaning every time they're seen together... if they weren't intent on playing it up so much in spite of '06 being wiped out, sometimes with a bit of commentary involving their thoughts and memories, which only succeeds at making things more confusing. If Blaze is around, Silver will be nearby, and if he's not at first, he will be soon enough. This franchise does have a problem in general with restricting who's allowed to interact with who (I personally believe Sonic Heroes may have led to this, or at least it accelerated it), but I'd argue it's at its most insufferable here, with Blaze's potential and her entire world taking a backseat to being the sidekick of Ganja Man.

And you might say “Well, it's part of the franchise now, so you'll just have to accept it”. To which I ask: Have you accepted Two Worlds? Have you accepted Solo Sonica? Have you accepted Sonic's friends not doing much as of late?

Yeah. That's what I thought. “It’s just how it is” doesn’t mean you can’t criticise it.

Meanwhile, Marine is lucky enough to get so much as a shout out.

So yeah, I have quite an extensive list of grievances involving poor Silver. But... very little of it has to do with him, right? They're all indirect problems that he just so happens to be linked to, as opposed to someone like Chris Thorndyke, who is genuinely a shit character through and through. This is more comparable to Tails being bitchy in Lost World, or Amy being manipulative in Chronicles, or Sonic being a smug dumbass in IDW, or Shadow not wearing a Hawaiian shirt in Boom. Frustrating, regrettable, but not really the character's own fault.

Yet even after all that, there's one last kick in the teeth... How do you fix all this? And how do you fix it when he's since gained a sizable fandom, many of whom like him for these very attributes? If you leave it as it is, you're stuck with this big, awkward mess that everyone pretends to ignore. If you try to do something about it, you'll get complaints about disrespecting the True Silver Spirit, and you’ll get questions about why you didn't create a new character instead... And if you did use a new character for the sake of a clean slate, THEN you'd get complaints about not using Silver.

It's a tough call to be sure, and it's such a shame because like I said, I do appreciate his personality, so I can't say he's bad outright. But with all this... clutter, I can only put him in the average category. So, in he goes.

Crusher Gives Silver a: Thumbs Sideways!

Well, I'm glad this one's out of the way. Putting my thoughts into words with Silver was harder than it should have been. I do slightly regret starting this series off on a rather downer note, but rest assured, it's a lot more positive from this point onwards, since while I have higher praise for some heroes more than others, the hero characters as a whole fare a lot better than the majority of villains not named Eggman.

I guess you could say that I hope to show why Sonic's friends aren't as shitty as the haters would suggest. ;)

#Sonic Heroes: Sweet or Shite?#Opinion #Sonic the Hedgehog #Silver the Hedgehog

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alolanrain · 4 years

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Boundaries

“Can you stop?” Ash turned to Miette who had suddenly grabbed his hands. His long tail slapped against her leg and his and the doberman anthro looked a bit ashamed. “I’m not wanting anyone touching me today.”

“But you let Serena do it.” Miette pointed out and hugged. Dropping Ash’s hands and he brought it up to his chest. Pressing his other fingers into the palm to crack some of his junctions.

“I don’t like it when she does it either!” Ash couldn’t help but hiss. Fur bushing up on his tail as it continued to lash in annoyance. “I don’t like it when Bonnie tries to suddenly brush my tail when I already had brushed it or when Clemont decides to pull in my ears to get my attention when he can just call my name. Respect my boundaries.”

The last sentence must have hit Miette hard because she wilted and pinned her ears back. “I’m sorry.” She muttered.

“You should have already known that.” Ash stated. Leaning back tiredly against the wall and watched through a doorway as Serena got ready for the contest that was about to start soon, the girl completely oblivious to what’s going on behind her. “Respect everyone’s boundaries, not just mine and yours, it’s only the polite thing to do.”

Miette now looked truly scolded and Ash huffed before turning away. Rubbing the bridge of his nose as the thought of another conversations on do’s and don’ts with his friends later on. People of Kalos in general, Ash had found out, where very keen on touches. Which Ash loves don’t het him wrong! It’s just that they can’t take a simple ‘no’ without getting huffy about it.

Serena perked up when she noticed Ash walking towards her. The brown tabby swung her tail over to curl it around Ash’s tail but he jerked his away and wrapped his tight around the leg furthest away from her.

“Ash.” Serena frowned.

“My boundaries, Serena.” Ash looked interesting the mirror and noticed the dark circles under his eyes, pulling at the skin slightly before looking at Serena in the mirror. “How many times have I told you that tail holding is for couples only in Kanto cultures?”

“But your in Kalos now,” Serena frowned, “and friends twine tails all the time.”

“No,” Ash turned to look at her actual face instead of the mirror, “they don’t Serena. Clemont has made comment after comment how weird you kept trying to twine our tails together since we aren’t a couple, even then Bonnie stayed how cute it was, and we aren’t a couple.”

“We could be.” She pointed out. Fur fluffing up in anger and being called out by Ash once again.

“Serena, I’m gay.” Ash hissed. Shocking the girl. “I’ve stated my general likeness for guys and even made a few comments about passing people. I’ve stated my sexual identity by waving a pride flag during the Kalos pride parade last week.”

“I just thought you were doing that to be good ally.” Serena looked frantically as she was metaphorically cornered.

“No Serena, I’m very much gay, but this isn’t about that.” Ash took a step back, “this is just about the tail holding. I’m asking you, for the tenth time, please stop already.”

He didn’t wait for her answer. Moving around until he got back over to where he and Miette were standing earlier and looked back at Serena. “I hope you win still Serena. I have business to do while your gonna be compensating so I’ll meet up with you and Bonnie and Clemont once I’m done.”

Just like that he was out of the back stage room, down the several hallways, and out the doors. Pulling up his phone to see where the next Champion meeting is being held at in the city.

————

He and the gang were helping out at a large day care slash nursery with Diantha the next time he got asked for someone to touch his tail.

“Ash,” Diantha’s smooth voice drifted behind Ash’s back, making the boy turn as much as he can while holding a baby Eevee in his arms, “you have egg shells in your tail.”

“I do?” Ash asked. Tail pulling itself up and Ash furrowed his eyebrows. “I can’t see anything.”

“It’s at the base,” she explained, “I can get them for you?”

“Please.” Ash held still as Diantha’s giant angel wings kinda foulded over her and Ash as she reached down while still holding a baby Chespin to her chest. Both babies cooed at each other, Eevee popping her head over Ash’s shoulders.

It only took like five seconds for Diantha to brush off the egg shells, luckily they were in large chunks. She straightened up and brushed a hand on her pant leg knees, getting rid of anything that clung on like dust or something else.

“Thanks!” Ash perked up. Smiling even wider when Diantha chuckled and nodded. Though as he turned he caught Bonnie’s slightly jealous stare. Ash doesn’t know why Clemont little sister loves his tail so much, she’s got lovely little golden eagle wings to take care of herself.

————

Class in Alola was going good, that is until almost everyone was scared by Ash screeching and his tail flinging something across the room. The mysterious object had almost hit Mallow and Lana if they hadn’t ducked out of the way. It crashed into a podium and Tsareena caught it easily, holding it up into the sunlight so that everyone in class could see it was a carry-on brush.

“Kiawe!” Ash sprung up from his chair and swirled over to the black panther anthro behind him. Who looked to serious and dignified for anyone’s liking. “What the utter fucking hell?!” The curse had slipped out of Ash’s mouth before he had time to process it, though that didn’t matter when Kiawe stood up to to face Ash angrily.

“Ash!” Kukui stood up from his desk. Large gray angel wings streatched a little from behind his back as he tried to get his borders attention.

“You had a knot in your tail!” The panther shouted back. “It’s very rude to come to school ungroomed.”

Ash spluttered at how justified Kiawe sounded, making his fur stand on end even more. “That doesn’t mean you get to touch me without my permission!”

“I was doing you a favor!” Kiawe shouted back. Both of their haunches rose as Ash took a step forward in challenge.

“Both of you,” Kukui got out from behind his desk, “stop now this intsiant.”

“A favor is tapping my shoulder during break time or offering a brush during lunch.” Ash hissed again, “not ignoring the principle of basic boundaries and doing so yourself even without warning me either.”

Before both Kiawe could retaliate, Kukui had opened his wings more and shouted both their names. Making the two flinch and tails curling around their legs as the looked up at the angry teacher.

“Kiawe, go to the east hallway.” Kukui commanded.

Kiawe growled and snatched his brush from Tsareena as he went. Turning to hiss at Ash one more time who stood his ground and puffed his chest out in another silent challenge. Kiawe took a step back into the room in anger.

“Kiawe!” Kukui bellowed, making every student flinch, “hallway. Now.”

The panther scampered out and down into the hallway to go slump against a wall until the Professor came to get him.

Ash didn’t dare give any inkling or look as the cat who caught the green macaw until Kukui turned around and glared down at him.

“North hall,” he swung his hand to point to the opposite one that Kiawe entered, “now.”

“But that’s not-“ Ash started but was drowned out by the Professors own growl. “Alright I’m going! Even though it’s not my fault.” Ash muttered the last part while scooping Pikachu up from his desk and slinking out of the classroom to sulk. At least the north hallway has windows that looked out into the forest and the coast line that he could see from the third story of the building.

Ash slumped down onto a banister and forced himself to watch the clouds roll by and burning the sound of waves crashing on far off shores into his mind. Waiting for the Professor to talk to Kiawe before coming to him.

It wasn’t long, maybe like half an hour to fourth five minutes, Ash doesn’t really know since he lost count after twenty minutes. Ears flicking as he heard Kukui’s heavy steps before seeing the white coat and tan chest in the corner of his eyes.

“I’m not apologizing.” Ash stated. Refusing to look at the Professor and even going so far as to turn his back to the older man when Kukui joined him at the banister.

“Ash.” Kukui sighed disappointingly.

“I have nothing to apologize!” Ash’s voice rose an octave.

“You have to understand though,” the Professor tried to calm himself down so he could explain to his border, “Alola’s, and especially Akala’s, practices and religion are very stricted on grooming and presenting to everyone. Kiawe-“

“But what about my practices and religion?” Ash butted in. Staring at his teacher with hurt eyes and clenched teeth.

“... what?” Professor Kukui paused. Caught off guard by Ash’s sudden burst of anger once more.

“What. About. Mine?” Ash seethed. Looking even more furious. “Kiawe comes from a very different ethic and background from me. He doesn’t know how Kanto does their grooming practices because he never asked, unlike me who actually learned as much as I could before coming to Alola.”

“Kukui was left mouth gapping as he tried to scramble to calm Ash down. “But-“

“Unlike Alola,” Ash continued to truck on, “Kanto’s grooming is sacred. Only for direct family like mother and siblings or mates. Kiawe is niether a sibling, mother, or a mate to me.”

“Well I see where you’re coming from-“ the Professor tried butting in again.

“And that’s besides the point that Kiawe didn’t even ask me first! Instead of just trying to yank my fur out of my tail.” Asb snarled as he started to pace a little up and down the hallway as he ranted. Pikachu looked at his trainer with a complex stare before glaring at Kukui when the man moved closer to the Pokémon. Cheeks sparking as Pikachu bared his own teeth at the Professor.

“My tail is sensitive! It takes me an hour to even comb out the most basic knot without hurting myself. So I’m sorry I didn’t have the time to get a big knot out of my tail before school started, not all of us have short and easy hair like Kiawe.” Ash turned back to the Professor with something close to a closed mout yowl. “It’s not my fault and I refuse to apologize when Kiawe ignored my basic boundaries as a human being and never asked in the first place how my region see’s grooming practices as.”

Professor Kukui’s year sunk deep into his hands. The quiet that insued after was only broken by Pikachus soft coos when Ash returned to his partner.

“Head to Principal Oaks office,” Kukui finally made up his mind, turning around without facing Ash, “I’m grabbing Kiawe and will meet you in there.”

Ash didn’t say a word but he bristled and hissed under his breath at his teacher. Swiping Oikachu up and storming loudly to the principals office.

Principal Oak’s eye brows flew up as Ash and Pikachu came stomping into his office. The boy doing a half-ass bow and a lame apology for being so brash before sinking down into one of the two chairs in front of the man’s desk. Refusing to answer any questions until Kiawe came into the room, escorted by Kukui who looked extremely tired about this whole thing. The man couldn’t help but feel the migraine building up in his brain.

Another yelling match insued only five minutes after both boys were sat down near each other. Two cats anothro’s hissing and spitting vile words that Principal Oak didn’t even know they knew. Kukui looked even more done while the situation escalated.

Principal Oak spread his eagle wings wide, glad for a second he made his office wide enough to accompany his wing span, and growled at the boys to sit down and be quite. The man punched the bridge of his nose and he gathered all of what the three had told him and yelled at each other.

“So, Principal Oak?” the Professor glared down at the two boys who looked far together justified on their behalf, “what’s the verdict?”

Both boys looked at the Principal before glaring back at each other. There was only one thing to do in this situation.

“On behalf knowing both Kanto and Alola’s traditions and practices... Kiawe will be getting one hour of after school detention which he will be learning about as much other regional practices and religion in that hour and a call home to his parents about what happened today.” Principal Oak grabbed a red slip from his desk and signed off on it, handing it to a horrified Kiawe who stared wide eyed at the red detention slip. “On the fact that he disrupted class, ignored another student’s boundaries, and in fact happened to hurt said student even if it was on accident.”

“Mr. Micron will be watching over detention today and I wouldn’t be late since he can be quite harsh.” Principal Oak sighed heavily before looking over to Ash who squared his shoulder and glared right back at the old man.

“I understand that Kiawe didn’t know about how Kanto goes with grooming, but you could have told him before hand.” Oak pointed out.

“He never asked.” Ash bit out. His harsh words made Kiawe’s fur prickle. “None of them asked unlike me who wanted to learn everything I could without defending people, even then my fur is sensitive and it takes hours working out a big knot which I don’t have time for with other things in my schedule.”

Oak hummed knowingly before turning to his computer, pulling up Ash’s school profile and noting multiple doctors scribble and notes about how surprisingly sensitive Ash’s fur is. “You’ll also be staying behind to do detention, half an hour and on an opposite day the Kiawe. Your mother and my cousin will be getting a call to since Professor Oak is also listed as a guardian of yours.”

Ash silently took the red slip, noting his stars Tuesday of next week instead of Kiawe’s Thursday of this week. He chose not to say anything but pet Pikachu between his ears. The mouse Pokémon cranes his head to coo worriedly at his trainer.

“Professor Kukui.” Principal Oak called putting to the teacher. Startling the man a little as he must have been spacing off. “After this you’ll need to find someway into fitting a study section of other regions religious and traditional practices, the sooner the better, since we can’t have this happen again.”

“But sir-“ Kukui looked a bit panicked and Ash couldn’t help the slight vindictive feeling brewing in his lungs even though he tried to punch it down.

“No.” Oak was hard to shut the Professor down. “This is the first time your class had a border amongst their rank, sooner or later this would happen. Though I wished things would have settled outside of class,” he gave both boys a pointed stare, “this would also give your students an edge if they ever wanted to leave Alola to go travel across the world, let’s not forget that Ash took his time to research and respect our ways as much as he can. It’s only good if we do the same.” He looked up at the Professor who stared at him with wide guilty eyes. “Do I make myself clear?”

“Principal Oak sir-“

“Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?”

“... Yes sir.”

“Good,” Oak huffed, leaning back to look at all three before him, “now out of my office and back to class. I’ll be sending you an email explaining what I want happening during that untinfo study Professor Kukui.” All three walked out of the Principals office and Oak can’t help but place his head on the desk. Sighing and near screaming. Wings fluttering behind him in stress.

#wolfy writes #ash ketchum #professor kukui #principal oak #kiawe #mallow #lana #serena #miette #bonnie #clemont #champion diantha #not your average calico!au

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armoreddragon · 4 years

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This last weekend I was in the dealers’ den at Anthro New England. It was my first time vending at a furry convention, and it went pretty well! I sold a bunch of masks, took a couple tail commissions, and got some art from neighbor vendors.

Between this and Arisia last month, it was good to get some insight into which sorts of things in my line of products resonate with people in those contexts. The most popular things for catching peoples’ eyes were the robot dragon drone hood, scale tail, and pet rocks; while the things that sold the quickest were the raven skull masks, scale mail bracelets, and leather fortune cookies.

I’ll definitely be looking into more conventions and other venues to sell stuff at. The big challenge will be logistics--since I don’t have a car (it’s way more trouble than it’s worth when living in Boston), getting myself to non-local cons will require making better friends with people who go places and carpooling. (Or I guess learning to drive and renting a car, but that’s even more expenses.)

I’ll also need to think about how to diversify my product range, because it’s definitely true that only a relatively small minority of people will actually buy a mask, even if they really like it. So I may resume working on everyday-carry sorts of things, like the notebook covers I’ve done in the past. I’d kinda like to do more leather bracelets again, but last time I had them at a con I only sold like 2 of them, so that didn’t seem to be a winner.

I’ll also be looking into cons with art shows, because I think the big hoods may have a better chance at selling in that sort of context.

Anyway, things were fairly successful on the whole, and over the next couple months I’ll be mulling over how to improve more.

#craft fair #Table #setup #convention #haha business #Thoughts

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ekakinomi-forgrownups · 4 years

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"Better luck next time, fellas!" ~Mr. Peanut to 2nd and 3rd contenders Geniusman (Tottemo! Luckyman) and Mettaton EX (Undertale) as he proudly shows off his "Loving" Cup that he won for being the official Winner Of My Heart this year

Hi, everyone! How are you today? I bet you're pretty tired of being mostly cooped up inside. But don't worry--I have something right here that might catch your interest.

As some of you may know, March is National Peanut Month. Now, that's not exactly something worth celebrating for peanut allergists...but, on the other paw, March is also National Nutrition Month, National Kidney Month, Optimism Month, Spiritual Wellness Month, National Women's History Month, Irish-American Heritage Month, and International Listening Awareness Month, among even more things. March is also, of course, the first month of Spring. So there's much more to celebrate in March than just peanuts.

However, in this blog post, I'm going to celebrate peanuts. I could go on and on about peanut butter, my favorite food ever, the average jar of which is made with hundreds of peanuts. But, I'm just going to focus one one peanut this time--one of the most famous peanuts of all time--the one and only Mr. Peanut, mascot for the Planters brand of nuts and snacks. Why? Because he's my biggest cartoon crush.

.......say waaaaaaa~~~t?

But isn't he dead?

youre just posting your april fools joke too early

Nope. It's all true!

All the recent hub-bub about Mr. Peanut, including the infamous commercial where he literally dies, reminded me of this earlier commercial I saw on T.V. back in 2018 (the first video featured in this post), which utilized the same sleek design he was animated in during his passing. After finding it on YouTube, I found other videos of him, and this social media browsing eventually brought me to his Twitter account, where I browsed all of his posts from 2018/19. I immediately fell for his optimistic attitude, his sweet personality and especially his support for his friends and followers...and the rest is history. He has the looks, he has the heart--and now he's helping me to grow up.

But why him?? How could an overdressed anthro peanut top, let alone compete with, these practical princes of men? How would crushing over a cartoon help me grow up in any way? And last (and strangest) of all, why am I suddenly going "nuts" over the now-defunct version of a character who just 2 months ago died and came back as a baby?

I will answer all those questions in approximately...right now!

Being autistic, I have a more child-like mind-set than others my age--one facet of this is the ability to immerse myself in imaginary worlds and connect with characters. Thinking of characters, "talking" to them and even trying to act like them has gotten me through many a tough time. As I take inspiration from their personalities and actions, I find more fun and creative ways to spice up my every-day life, stay calm when things get stormy, cheer me up when I feel down, or pep me up when I get sluggish and demotivated. I use different characters to help me with different aspects of life. The two types that always helped me the most were characters with pure hearts, and characters I had crushes on.

Recently, though, I had been looking for a character that would help me take on one of my toughest challenges--accepting the fact that the world is equally as cruel as it is kind, while staying a calm and collected person, and then handling it all just by myself--to put it in two words: growing up. I won't go into detail (in this post, at least), but life had been extremely cruel to me last year. I had a lot of trouble accepting it, and I was losing my self-control. But considering that I'm going on 23 now, I knew that I had to get it together, or else I would stay a crying ball of nerves, trapped on a bed, forever. Being one of the less restrictive aspects of having the heart of a child, I knew that modeling myself after a good-natured fictional character would be a perfect start--but I needed one exceptionally powerful character to pull this off. I needed a crush with a pure heart.

Then it suddenly and silently occured to me, as I continued to take in his various pictures, videos, GIF's and Tweets, that Mr. Peanut was it.

His sleek and curvy body, his elegant limbs, refined features and gentlemanly disposition--not to mention the fact that he's wearing white gloves and has one eye always covered--immediately calls to mind my best cartoon crushes: Geniusman from the anime "Tottemo! Luckyman" and Mettaton EX from the game "Undertale" (who are both looking salty alongside Mr. Peanut on the winner's podium in the top picture). But what really got me was what he didn't have that the other crushes did, he made up for with his unique personality, that my other crushes, in turn, didn't have:

You see, Mr. Peanut rests comfortably on two fine lines that few characters have even been able to stand on. The fine line between "handsome and stylish" and "conceited and mean", and the fine line between "peppy mascot" and "mature and modest gentle-man". All except for a "brief" 10-year stint where they tried to "re-invent" him (Yes, I'm talking about the one who spent the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade dabbing), he's always been a gentle, friendly, quiet character whose main goal in life (besides selling nuts) is to help people and make them happy, "shelling out" plenty of pep while also remaining proper and well-composed.

He never got angry for more than a second or two, and handled (almost) any problem he faced in the smartest, most dignified and most fun way possible. And of course, he's very sweet and always thinks of those he cares about first. He also, despite being a mascot for snacks, loves to play sports and stay fit and healthy--and he encourages others to do the same. And finally, despite being a mascot in general, he always had this quiet, unassuming air to him. He made all his necessary appearances and entertained his customers, yet he always acted very natural about it and never hammed it up or acted super wild and goofy--a thing that most other cartoon mascots fail to do.

So he's not just eye-candy--he's also a perfect role model. That covers the "first of all". Not only does he give me the incentive to be a dignified lady who always does the right thing first, but he gives me that euphoric, limerance-enduced energy I need to really want to act upon it. All my aspirations to be more courteous, be more proper and elegant, be more brave, lead a healthy and active life-style and be a good mascot for Ekaki No Mi are finally coming to fruition. That covers the "second of all".

Yes, this all sounds very silly. But In a "nut-shell", he's the reason I'm finally growing up, so in a way, this is all anything but silly. I would be a hot mess without him...which is exactly why I'm speaking of him in present-tense (using "is" instead of "was"), and pretending he never became Baby Nut or even died in the first place. Here's where I cover the "third of all".

For those who don't already know about his apparent death and resurrection: for their big pre-Super Bowl LIV commercial (the second video featured), Planters took a very unusual, very controversial approach: Their preview commercial depicted Mr. Peanut sacrificing himself to save his friends by letting go of a branch on a cliff that was too heavy to hold him and actors Matt Walsh and Wesley Snipes. The actual Super Bowl commercial (the third video featured) depicted his funeral, which the Kool-Aid Man, among others, attended. A magic tear from the Kool-Aid Man caused a peanut plant to grow out of the ground and sprout a "Baby Nut"--the official reincarnation of Mr. Peanut. Here are the two commercials, in order:

But what people often don't realize is that Mr. Peanut is a cartoon--a form of art--and art, except in very specific cases, is meant to be interpreted by the viewer. If the story isn't satisfactory, people can ignore some parts and pretend that others play out differently, until it fits what they believe in. And the characters and their actions can hold secret meanings that only the viewer sees. In fact, the same character can don different personalities and clothes, and exist in different universes, doing different things--all at the same time. (Think of all the different versions of Mickey Mouse that exist at the same time, even today.)

So is the case with Mr. Peanut. As long as his original likeness still exists--anywhere in this world--he's still alive and well. And even if the actual Planters corporation says he's Baby Nut now, he's still the same old Mr. Peanut in another part of the Internet, in another part of the world, or in any alternate universe. Many, actually. In one of them, he could be "Miss Peanut". In another, he could be a radical "Teen Nut". And in another still, he could actually be the evil capitalist peanut everybody says he is--you know, the one who struts around in his aristocrat clothing while roasting his fellow "pea-ple" and selling them to humans as food in order to get richer...

...which I like to think is not true, because the real peanuts he sells for your eating pleasure could never have flexy bright-yellow shells or humanoid features, could never breathe, cry, blush, say "Whoa!" when startled, wear clothes, be cuddled by a person with a peanut allergy without triggering it, and couldn't even survive on their own for more than 4 months, let alone 104 years. When they grow, it doesn't happen in the blink of an eye--peanut plants take about 3 or 4 weeks to mature (on days that strictly aren't frosty, no less), and the peanuts themselves grow under the ground--totally different from how Baby Nut came into being.

In short, the peanuts we eat aren't cartoons, like Mr. Peanut is. And since he is, I can interpret him any way I want, just as any other person can. So he doesn't have to be a cannibalistic capitalist. He can be the dapper yellow fellow who sells and eats yummy, natural and nutritious morsels that happen to look a bit like him--think of how humans eat little crackers and gummies that look like other people--and, most importantly, is not dead and never will be, because people still love him and believe in him, and belief and imagination transcend death, at least when it comes to fictional characters.

(I especially have the right to believe he's dead because it's one thing to kill off a character in a series for story reasons--it's another thing to kill a revered and internationally-known brand mascot just to create a social media buzz and generate profits. Now that's capitalism!)

But at the same time, I can't help but admit that it was at least a unique social media experiment, and despite the nasty secret intent behind it all, it was very interesting to finally get to see how Mr. Peanut would die, how he got born (and reborn), and what he looks like as a baby. And honestly, with his big round eyes, squidgy body and dainty features, I actually think Baby Nut is pretty cute--certainly too cute for me to want to break out a mortar and pestle and make peanut butter out of him--but he's just not Mr. Peanut. Mr. Peanut was such a unique character that it takes some very special minds to make a character that even comes close to a replacement--sadly, Baby Nut just doesn't make the cut.

Thanks to the power of love and imagination, though, he's still his good old self in my heart. Besides, he may just grow up and come back some day. So in conclusion, he still is, not was, and always will be, the best role model and "husbando" I could ever ask for. He's got the looks. He's got the love. He's cute. He's graceful. He's dapper. He's daring. He's silly. He's sexy. He's serene. He's cheerful, and he always brightens my day. He's everything I could ever want, and more.

Some day I plan to release an art collection featuring the lovable legume sometime in the near future. I would have each picture creatively high-light a different aspect of his personality, taking inspiration from charming vintage art-work that would fit the theme of the picture as well as actual Planters merchandise, and I would utilize various retro art styles and techniques from different time periods to give each picture a distinctive "old-fashioned" vibe.

The collection will be available on all my art web-pages, including my possible future Patreon (if I can get enough subscribers!), and I'm hoping I can also get it shown off in a gallery somewhere (if there are enough Mr. Peanut fans here in Athens to want to see it.)

youtube

One of my favorite commercials featuring him ever, back when he was (canonically) alive and well.

youtube

The commercial where he literally dies.

youtube

The commercial where he comes back to life as a little baby peanut.

And that concludes my post. The credits for the videos go to Planters and KraftHeinz, and the cover photo for this post goes to my imaginary friend, Mini Minoux. Do you love Mr. Peanut, too? And if you do, what do you love about him? And what about Baby Nut? Is he “yea” or “nay”? I'd be happy to hear your thoughts in the comments--though please, keep it reasonable and don't be too harsh. We're in the company of a gentleman. ;.3

#mr peanut #baby nut #cartoon crush #blog #national peanut month #peanut #peanuts #planters #ekakinomi #cartoon crushes

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unialien · 4 years

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Sci-fi Designs Sketchdump

For those who loves sketchdump, here's my very first chunks of sketches I did when I was drawing on my ultra mini sketchbook which it became handy for those who are bored. 🖋😁 I did many of them, I did those as a experiment to try new designs & ideas, perhaps like humors. Not only critters, I finally did machines like robots & drones! 👾🤖 And hey here's me as I was doing sketches happy! 😍 And did I forget I did Virus critters based on that kind of Coronavirus? 😜 I hope you guys enjoy my very first sketchdump! 🤩

💠BIO

🔶Top Sketches

1. This kind of alien I draw, like it's some kind of biomechanical humanoid creature. I dunno what is it's, but this suppose that it's based on what I imagine from the creations of the Xikzons they did. That first day was kinda awkward that I did trying to do a trick on sketching without using pencils. However, that could be a potential alien I could draw on my tablet soon.

2. This looking silly alien sketch I draw, is something based on a Gordanian designs. It has a large sack in their chest like from my first digital work I did years ago. And actually, looks pretty fatty by their looks pretty useless, maybe it's female that take care of the eggs for the queen.

3. This third creature it's some kind of worm centipede, by it seems that only live on the underground. Also look at the body and it large eye, looks like I did add up biomech stuffs that might be one of the creations from the Xikzons likely with the DNA fused from the Gordanian it seems.

4. At the middle, I drew an alien wasp creature kinda inspired from my favorite game Metroid Prime. I didn't think what to draw next that day 2, so silly draw an bug.

5. At the left it some kind of new Gordanian creature design head resemble of a chameleon or an gecko like. Large horns & striped sack on both side of their head dunno. Gonna had to draw in the future design an chameleon alien critter design based on the Gordanian species I design.

6. At the right you'll see an pretty cool horrific Biomechanical Desifigurated Alien design kinda like from an scifi horror game I played last time a year ago. The entire body it's full of tentacles, machines & disgusting stuffs. And... this is probably an ideal candidate that are one of the creations from the Xikzons.

🔶Middle Sketches

7. The head you'll see it's my old friend creature design Sharpangoldan having a smile. This is kinda like an Anthro look, but it just a portrait of my favorite old creature.

8. At the right are some machine drones eyeballs, sentries like from the Xikzons it seems. They looks like when I sketch this guys are like security drones, it can be small at it seems.

9. At the left, both of this cuties are from my old 3D work creature I designed years ago that was called a Spirit Fairyan. It was pretty precious, I think sooner or later gonna do a new concept art of this cutie.

10. At the right it's a nasty Biomechanical alien creature, kinda like naga worm, this is pretty pure alien that I designed. I had to warn, this could be an nightmarish thing that can eat ya. And possibly another candidate that could be one of the creations of the Xikzons.

🔶Bottom Sketches

11. This odd floating creature sketch I did is based on a Coronovirus. I did something for a peculiar challenge for those who are at home drawing something related to this virus. What your looking it's an alien capable of delivery a pack full of slimes of baterias that it's filled with dangerous virus. By drop that in the surface if you see this organic sphere, I imagine can be ugly if anyone on the zone getting a huge mess of mucus can be serious sick. This is something like if someone got in a plane sick, then yes that's the idea I did. Lesson is don't let anyone travel new place if sick.

12. Another virus alien creature based on that Coronavirus it's a pod alien carry full liquid slimes of bacterias of viruses. What it's seems the idea it's to stay away in safe of this creature, if it does, it will explode full of disgusting & slimes stuffs that can infect radial close range. This is another lesson to never get close if someone is sick.

💡Note: I think would a great idea for both virus creatures to add on my project, I just need to make it better.

13. Here's some great couple of sketches in one page about machines designs, at the top left I did some sort of Repturriam obsolete machines wearing a robe, they can levitate. Also in bonus a portrait down a machine Repturriam head, no emotions, but it seems happy. And lastly some bunch of reptilian machines, they are good boi's.

14. My last one it's something special, it's me myself as anime. As an artist that loves to draw full of imagination of my own critters designs. I been happy be an artist for many years since I started this project.

🔻Time Taken: 1 hour each one (3 per day)

MADE ALL TRADITIONAL ON SKETCHBOOK. EDITED ON PROCREATE. USED ON iPad 6th Edition.

All designs created by me. ©Unialien.

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selunare · 5 years

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Back to Tumblr + Practice Experiences

Hi everyone! After over a month hiatus I am back to Tumblr. I hope you have been all doing well:)

It's been an amazing break. My art style and anatomy changed a lot over the last weeks and I am more statisfied with my drawings. My main focus were 5 minutes challenges (all in all I did 40 since november last year), studying anatomy from photos, creating or redesigning characters and practicing poses a bit.

5 minutes challenges is something I can recommend to everyone who wants to strengthen their drawing skills. They are also great practice if you need to warm up or don't know what exactly you want to draw. It helped me much to loosen myself from expectations and perfectionsmus because it is normal that the sketch won't become a detailed masterpiece in just five minutes. Often I just drew my usual front view bust drawings but I noticed the differences between the individual sketches and that helped me to get a better eye on what looks right or wrong. Sometimes I also got nice ideas for using the sketches for better drawings.

Before I started with my practice, I had no idea how important anatomy and references are and how much of a difference they can make if you practice with them. Just recently I drew a picture with two of my OCs and it still surprises me how much you can improve with just references and drawing a proper anatomy. I will upload a picture of the process as soon as it is finished as I think that it could help other artists as well.

Designing characters was something that I enjoyed but I was often too blocked to come up with new ideas. During my hiatus I started to change that and tried out new things. I designed quite a few characters from my fantasy story and it was such an amazing experience to breathe life into them through drawing. Drawing and writing complement each other so well. I also got a little bit further with my story project. For the first time I wrote a scene from the perspective of my antagonist and now I really like him and his connection with one of my other characters. Suddenly the characters started telling me their story and I even finally know the story goal of one character. It took me so long to get to that pointxD

In my last journal I talked about changes that were to come as soon as I came back to tumblr. So I will reveal them: I already started with this process but I want to go into another direction with my drawing style. It will be less Sonic styled and more Manga and maybe Anthro like. I am still not sure how I should best explain it but I guess it doesn't matter because you will see it when I upload new drawings anyway. I want to keep my old stiff drawing style behind and evolve further and that's why I will change my username. I thought long about this step and it took me a while to find a fitting name. As soon as I have Core Membership on deviantart I will change my name on tumblr and deviantart.That doesn't mean that I will not draw Sonic characters anymore. It just means that it won't completely look like the official Sonic style anymore.

Completely random note: Paint Tool Sai Version 2 is just amazing:D I enjoy using it a lot. I will get back soon to uploading drawings:)

#practice #back from hiatus

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queens-scouts-hq · 6 years

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Finding the Right Art Style

Everyone struggles in that quest for the ever elusive "art style". I did too. I still do.

I've always leaned towards a more "western" look and majority of the time, my art has that Disney-esque kind of feel.

But coming from an animation background, I also understand that besides "personal" art style, there's art direction. That's basically the principles, the shapes, the look and feel that the whole animation project will embody. Think of the curves and squishy shapes of Lilo and Stitch versus the sharp, edged structures of Atlantis.

If you go through the other designs in both movies, you'll notice that they all follow just about the same principles. You can't just plant Stitch into Atlantis or Milo into Hawaii without it just breaking the coherence of the scene.

Now, there isn't really a right or wrong way to go about things. Both styles serve their purpose and both styles work very effectively. If it works, it works. If it has appeal, then you're on the right track. If the style fits the tone of the story, then you're doing fine.

Going into Queen's Scouts, I started with just drawing in my personal style, just working with the proportions and looks that felt natural to me.

And to be honest, it's already a pretty solid look. There's appeal to it and the form is there. As I put more time and work into the project, I started to lean towards a Zootopia kind of look, which fell pretty close already to my natural style.

It was to the point where I was even using their style guide for Queen's Scouts.

And the results were actually turning out okay.

I liked how it looked but I started to feel like I could push it further. I felt like there was structure and there was some semblance of contrast between Gaia and Tris. But I wanted to push it further.

What stood out at first was the blandness of their uniform. I wanted to save the red design for superiors, but as David and I started working on the actual comic pages, I was starting to think the grey uniforms would be too bland.

I started thinking about my niece and nephew, started thinking about how I could draw something that they would enjoy.

I made these illustrations and printed them on shirts as birthday gifts for my niece and nephew (my niece loves to play with slime and my nephew is super into transformers and both adore my corgi). Through making these, I challenged myself to work outside of my usual style. I played with shapes, proportions and just design in general.

That's kind of when I started looking at other styles outside of Zootopia. I skimmed over the styles other artists use when they draw animals and "furry/anthro" characters. I wanted something that would stand out but also still hold appeal and familiarity.

I started looking into Kung Fu Panda and fell in love with the flow and clarity of their designs. Their lines of action are confident and clear, their anatomy flows into each other. Lines and curves just work in sync in this simple yet highly effective way.

So from there, I challenged myself to figure out a style somewhere between the initial Zootopia look and the Kung Fu Panda look I was starting to be drawn into. I started with a sketch still very close to the previous design, then pushed myself to add more flow, then pushed myself even further.

And that now brings us here.

I won't say it's final because knowing my need to push myself everytime I feel stuck or stagnant, this might change once more in the next comic issue. But for the opening Queen's Scouts title, I want something that will look and feel this way.

The paw design I'm going for is very close to what was developed for Kung Fu Panda but the feet are closer to Zootopia. Heads are a little bit of both, and a little bit of my inherent style.

Next step is now to see how well this simpler look will mix with David's prop and background designs.

Because given the more realistic look of David's prop designs, more push and pull may be needed for either his prop designs or my character designs.

We'll see where things go from here.

But I'll say this: the best styles evolve from challenging yourself, finding the right influences, and listening to what your story asks for.

Thanks for reading, be sure to check me out on facebook and instagram for updates on the Queen's Scouts project.

#art style #art direction #character design #furry #anthro

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caitlinrking · 5 years

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My Family & Folk Foods - Ethnography

Final Ethnography Assignment for Teresa Milbrodt’s ANTHRO 1150/ENGLSH 1700 Introduction to Folklore Genres Spring 2019.

My Family & Folk Foods

The group I observed is my immediate family. My immediate immediate family consists of my parents, Jayson and Jenny, my sixteen year old brother Corey, and my thirteen year old sister Chelsea. My dad’s side, the King Family, consists of my grandpa Larry and grandma Linda, my aunt Jamie, my seventeen year old cousin Claire, and my fifteen year old cousin Brooke. My mom’s side, the Hagen Family, consists of my grandma Jody and grandpa Bob, my aunt Debbie, my aunt Susan and Uncle Kent, and my fifteen year old cousin Griffin. We are small town folk. All of my grandparents either grew up on farms, waking up early and taking care of livestock and crops, or had extended family with farms. My parents and aunts did not grow up on farms, but their cousins did. My siblings, my cousins, and I grew up even further from the direct rural upbringing than them. However, at my family’s heart, my dad’s side especially, is heavily influenced by country living. This country living is exemplified in the genre I am studying, which is Folk Foods. I hope to illuminate my family’s attitude towards food, and how their relationship with food has impacted their lives. I hope that my family sees how our traditions have affected our family dynamic and how it has shaped our relationship with people outside of the family. In a broader sense, I hope that other people not connected to this folk group are able to read about my family’s traditions and use that knowledge to reflect on how their relationship with food has shaped them. My status in relation to the group is that of the eldest daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, and cousin. I have obviously known the people in the family either my whole life, or in the case of my younger siblings and cousins, their whole lives. At the start of my observations, I gave them a rundown of the assignment. I had to explain what the class was, what folklore even meant, what an ethnography was, and how folk foods can include food that is not necessarily homemade or original to the group. Nearly all of the ideas I used in my ethnography were outlined following the explanation of the assignment by whatever relative(s) I was speaking with or near. I designed my questions for my interviews to be fairly open-ended so I could get the most information from my relatives, while still being focused on the genre I’m studying. Since I am already familiar with my family, I know that some of them, my dad’s side especially, are a bit rambly. So I knew that most of the people I would be speaking with would be very willing to answer my questions. My primary interview with my grandma Linda King took place over Facetime. My other primary interview with my grandma Jody took place over the phone. The secondary interviews I had with some of my other relatives took place over text. My ethnography heavily relies on the interviews I conducted with my grandmas. As a result, I designed my ethnography to act as a pseudo-autoethnography. Each section is headed by the question that spurned the conversation between myself and my grandmas, respectively. I did not split my paper by who I was interviewing, I put the stories they told me together, which further exemplifies my family’s value of togetherness.

- Meet the Grandmas -

My grandma Linda was born on a farm. She is the youngest daughter with four older brothers. She grew up tending to crops, raising chickens, selling eggs, and nurturing livestock. My grandma Jody was born on a farm. She’s the middle child of three, an older sister and a younger brother. She grew up on a dairy farm, milking cows, churning butter, raising chickens, and nurturing livestock.

- First Memory -

Linda

What would you say your first memory of food is in regards to our family or when you growing up?

I was probably four years old, really sick, and my mom sent one of my brothers out to kill a dove.

Oh my god

Well it was like a little chicken, like it was dove hunting, and she cooked that and made rice soup for me because I was so sick

That was not the answer I was expecting *laughs* but on brand. I don't know why I didn’t think an answer like that would come up.

*laughs* is that not a good answer?

No that's a great answer!

It was one of my first memories because I can remember where we lived and I wasn't very old

That's really interesting. Did that happen a lot, like did she make that often?

Yeah like we didn’t run to the grocery store every time- I mean they were farmers they lived off the land basically, we had cows and she probably didn’t have a chicken to- like it was something quick to make.

Like single serving?

Yeah. Not so much that I ate the dove, but it just for the broth like you would a chicken.

Jody

What would you say your first memory of food is in regards to our family?

We lived in the country on a farm, I remember Mom doing fried potatoes and fried bologna- remember when, oh well you probably don’t- Susan (my aunt) said that that was her favorite food because her grandma made it. We made homemade ice cream, turned it in the hand freezer.

Did you guys grow your own potatoes and other food like that?

Yes we always had a garden and we would eat out of that… we also had chickens, so a lot of eggs and we would make fried chicken. I mean, really that’s what everybody did. We canned of course so we had things during the winter, took the glass jars and we would put them in the basement. Your dad said he just bought tomato plants

Yeah I figured. It’s interesting how we really just started doing that in the past five years or so. The conspiracy is that they [my parents] just waited until all three of us could be their garden minions to start the whole production.

Yeah your dad and your grandma [Linda] really take hold of that. She certainly had a lot to say about the tomatos your dad bought.

Haha I’m sure she did. So how often did you guys make homemade ice cream? I know we make it on occasion, how did you guys?

Well, we had our milk and cream and bought the sugar and salt. and we had a hand crank machine.

Did you guys have a cow?

Well we lived on a dairy farm when I was eleven or twelve. A lot of cows, yeah we sold milk to Prairie Farms.

Really? Like Prairie Farms Prairie Farms?

Yes my uncle Barney, your aunt Ada’s husband, he worked for Dad and did the milking, at night and in the morning. We even churned… I don't know I could explain that.

I’ve seen it before don’t worry I’ll get it.

Well the churn would take off the milk and the top part would have cream for coffee and ice cream… no wonder we were all fat. I lived on three different farms, and then got married at the last farm.

- Taught from Mom -

Linda

Going to when you were older, like teenage or maybe twenties, what is a dish that you learned from Grandma Omi or your grandparents that was taught to you?

That would probably be our durcheinander.

I have no idea what that is? What is that?

I thought your dad’s made it before.

Can you tell me what it is?

Well it's very German because you know my family is german and when you had leftover boiled potatoes, you would slice them, and fry them, and then she would take eggs flour and milk and mix it together and pour it over the potatoes and stir it up and it would just make the potatoes go farther. Like my grandma always used to say like a spur of the moment, that would be something she would fix because it would feed more people. We always called it durcheinander and I always thought it meant potatoes and eggs but I’m not sure if that's true.

I have no memory of Dad or you making that.

If said it to your dad he would recognize it

*Discusses the possible spelling of durcheinander and looked up the meaning and found that it means “confused or mixed up” which greatly amused her.*

Yeah that was a staple at my mom’s and my grandma’s. Another favorite I was thinking about, one of my fondest memories as a teenager. We’d wake up and go to church on Sundays, my grandma, aunt and uncle all lived near us, you know, the three house, and we’d up go to church at ten in the morning. After my grandma, my aunt, who you know was mentally challenged, they would come for sunday dinner, and my mom would always fry chicken, and it was always fresh chicken, because we had chickens, and mashed potatoes and gravy. And one of the things that was always my job was, and this was before cool whip in a container, before they made that stuff, if you wanted something special with whipped cream, it came in a box and it was powdery, and you had to put it in a cold bowl and very cold milk and use your beater or mixer until it was whipped cream. And that was my job to make whipped cream. I think you can still buy that too.

That’s so interesting about the whipped cream-

This also makes me think of something my mom, me, your Aunt Jamie and I think Brooke [my fifteen year old cousin] will do is that when someone is sick, we make the homemade noodles and have Chicken Noodle Soup.

Glad you brought that up, is that something Grandma Omi taught you?

Yes and then we taught Aunt Jamie but I can remember my grandma making it so I know she taught Mom and since I was older and Mom was older when she had me I remember she taught me.

So a family recipe?

Yes

Yeah because how we, well not we because I don’t make them, how you guys make the noodles like dumplings like they’re kind of thick?

Yeah you take flour and egg and broth, you cook chicken to get your broth, and then you mix those with salt and pepper until you make your dough and roll it with a rolling pin, cut them in strips and then you drop them into the broth. See I was more brought up on dumplings, we called them slickers, instead of the thin noodles.

Jody

Going to when you were older, like teenage or maybe twenties, what is a dish that you learned from your mom?

My mom… used to put a roasting pan… like I kind of do and your mom does too… and she’d cut potatoes, carrots, and onions with a roast and cook it in or on the stove. We do that a lot. My dishpan cookies were passed down from Mom and my lemon bars were her recipe.

Oh I love the lemon bars. Plaza 900, the dining hall I work at has them sometimes and they’re almost… tough compared to yours.

Yeah mine are kind of like gooey butter bars.

Yeah yours are squishy and amazing. Nothing compares.

And for desserts we… you know me I like all of them, my favorite… because we [her mom and her sister Fran] had the chicken and the eggs… we made like an Angel Food Cake? It took about a dozen egg whites and since we had the yolks we had sunshine cake or sponge cake… it was kind of like angel food cake I guess. I’m not sure.

You do make Angel Food a lot.

It’s one of my favorite. My Grandma Ames also made her own bread or buns that were good on Sunday morning which is something I never do… how the time changes

- Signature Dish -

Linda

When your looking at our family… what would you say is our signature food?

Probably your grandpa’s barbecue pork steak. What do you think?

Probably that, and I’m the horrible child that doesn’t like it that much. I’m sorry Grandpa I love you.

Or just steak and potatoes a lot. Ribeyes

When did he start making that? Because I don’t really remember it until I was like twelve or thirteen. Like I’m sure he made it before that but we would have been so little would you have made that for us?

Oh well we cut it in little pieces for you. Cook that first, cut two or three up and feed all you kids first. You used to eat it.

Oh don’t say that like its a horrible thing.

Oh I’m just saying you used to eat it. I don’t know why you don't eat it now. We also... here’s another favorite, I have two pans of mushrooms sitting on the stove.

I know Mom told me that you were saving them, I’m coming home-

No these are the ones Jamie just found. I just cut them

Oh she found them this weekend?

No just tonight at Mike’s dad’s in Carrollton

I’m glad they’re finally coming in.

*She gets up and shows me the mushrooms soaking on the stove.*

They’re actually getting big too! But yeah I’m coming home next weekend so don’t eat them all without me

Oh I’ll save you some. I’m putting them in the freezer.

Yeah that’s what Mom was telling me. Thank you! But yeah kind of back to the Morels, the mushrooms, my first memory of those is at Uncle Bob’s at like… age nine or ten? When do you remember going and getting the mushrooms?

Oh forever. I mean that's something… every year they would go mushroom hunting. Probably the first time I ever went that I can remember… one of the fun times I can remember, we had relatives that lived in Alton, which felt so far away, and they would come for the weekend and stay and camp and we would mushroom hunt all weekend, and they had a son my age that was a cousin that was fun. I was probably ten. I never did find very many.

Same! There’s basically no point in me going out and looking.

Your mom found three the other day, she was so excited.

I know! I told her that that's more than I’d ever found and she said me too! It cracked me up, she said they were auctioning off a pound of them at the district auction last week?

Yes!

The most niche Jerseyville thing.

Oh caitlin they’re selling them forty five dollars a pound!

People just need to go out and look for them

Some people can't or have the resources or they're old. Like grandpa shouldn't be out there either because he gets the poison ivy so bad. Okay! Next question!

Jody

When looking at our family, what would you say in your opinion our signature food is? Like a favorite of yours to make for us?

Well brownies, I take a pan to your house a lot since you’ve been in school... banana bread, any of the rice dishes.

Oh those sound good.

Yes I make the one with tomatoes, hamburger, rice, and cheese or the one with chicken, rice, and mushroom soup.

Amazing food. My favorites.

Oh what’s my favorite thing to make? On holidays I like to make cookies. I love cake. It's so much easier with the mixes now… everything's easier. I don’t know a Texas Cake is really easy and is kind of from scratch and serves quite a few people with the jelly roll pan. And something we do here at the house… well the one thing we have not done in a while is the egg rolls. We do tradition kind of on the holidays, always a turkey on thanksgiving. Of course I like to bake, when we have company.

- Taught Kids -

Linda

What is a food that you remember passing down to either Dad or Aunt Jamie? Or maybe Grandma Omi or Grandma Lela?

Once again the durcheinander… I don’t know I’m not really sure that I really taught them too much how to cook. I mean Mom and Grandma Lela Mae did a lot of the teaching… well maybe… well your dad didn’t help with that.

What?

Making the jelly.

Is that something that Grandma Omi did a lot?

Oh yeah. Grandma Lela Mae and Grandma Omi did that… canning. Like tomato juice.

Because when I think of that I don’t really remember Grandma Omi doing that, probably just because I was too young. More of those memories are of Grandma Lela and you doing that are your house.

And I guess freezing the corn too.

Yeah. Grandma Omi or Grandma Lela?

Both.

When I was writing that question I kind of had Yum Yum in mind… which I know you said you don’t really cook, that’s more of an Aunt Jamie thing.

Yeah I haven’t made Yum Yum in a long time because your grandpa won’t eat it. I haven't made it for years. In fact I’m not sure if I ever made it like Grandma. Jamie makes it because her girls like it. I don’t even remember fixing it that much when your dad and [aunt] Jamie were here.

That’s interesting. I’ll have to ask Aunt Jamie about it.

Jody

What is a food that you remember passing down to Mom and Aunt Susan and Aunt Debbie?

I don’t remember if I ever taught them how!

Grandma [Linda] said the same thing.

Since I babysat, I was always here so I just made meals. Well… when your mom and dad were dating she wanted to make him Texas Taters, which is pretty easy to make. Just potatoes, cheese, and cornflakes.

We have that all of the time.

I also remember going with Susan to the store to figure out what kind of roast to get… all sorts of kinds, like a rump roast… which we probably can't afford. They watched me a lot. They made cookies and kind of went by the recipes.

Yeah one I thought of before was how you guys kind of make a day out of making fudge and caramel for holidays.

Yes we do that now. Even my when I was young, Mom and her friends would come over and cook them when we lived at the dairy farm near Medora.

It’s interesting how you said that they [my mom, aunt Debbie, and aunt Susan] just kind of watched you and never formally learned. I’d say that’s probably the same for me. Like if I ask to make something, Mom will just point me in the direction of the book of recipes.

You mean a cookbook?

Haha yes that’s the word. Like for me the one that stands out is the peanut butter chews. Like I first made them myself for a soccer banquet at like fifteen? I asked her to help me and she was like “it’s not that hard, just don’t burn the peanut butter and syrup.”

Yeah that can be tricky, you just have to be quick about it because it can harden before mixing the cornflakes.

I think I still made her stand with me but I basically taught myself.

Yeah they [my mom, aunt Debbie, and aunt Susan] kind of did the same.

After studying my family, I have found that our relationship with food functions primarily to reinforce group identity, educate, and provide psychological comfort. The reinforcement of group identity is exemplified in how we have our own traditions with food that we see as defining characteristics. This isn’t to say that my family has secret recipes that only we partake in, but our upbringing, being rooted in farm life, traditions and signature foods define a facet of our group dynamic. Our upbringing being connected to farm life is a huge facet of our family that is regularly exemplified in our food related traditions and spreads to other traditions within the group, even those not including food. The function of education is fairly straightforward. The people in our family have taught, whether that be through formal teachings of recipes or just through observation, the next generation what and how to cook foods that have been a constant within our family history. My family’s relationship with food provide psychological comfort like it would any other family. We have our foods that we make to bring comfort to people, both within and outside of our family. Which exemplifies my family’s value of togetherness and how we learn from the people around us and the people around us learn from them. In the future, I want to speak with more people in my family. Interviews with my aunts, grandpas, and parents would be just as beneficial as my initial interviews with my grandmas due to the fact that everyone in my family has a level of responsibility when it comes to preparing food. I discovered some dishes that I had never properly heard my family talk about before. I would like to not only learn more about the dishes I discovered in this initial investigation, but to learn about other dishes that my family used to make in the past so that I can continue our traditions.

Turned in 8 May 2019 3600 Words

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(via Your failure of imagination is not my problem – anthro{dendum})

January 10, 2019

Written by: Zoe Todd

In November 2016, I flew to Zurich to deliver a talk on my work on Métis legal-ethical paradigms, prairie fish, and the Anthropocene. When we booked the tickets earlier that summer, it didn’t occur to me that I’d asked my hosts to book my travel for the night of the US Presidential election. So, as I set out from Ottawa, the Canadian capital, on the evening of November 8, I entered a strange and disorienting patch of space time that took me through multiple timezones, geographies, and national boundaries while the fate of American governance hung in the balance. At 6 PM, in the Ottawa airport, things still seemed hopeful. Maybe Trump wouldn’t win. Two delays later, I finally made it to Toronto. There, at our international departures gate, things were taking a turn for the grim. TV screens around us showed that Hillary was slipping, and Trump was gaining steam. I turned to a fellow passenger and said ‘wow, we might wake up to a Trump presidency’. Her face widened in horror: “don’t you dare say that!”.

As we boarded the plane, many of us realized there was no wifi onboard. There would be no obsessive refreshing of twitter feeds or CNN polls as we flew over the moonlit expanses of the Atlantic. We were locked in, for better or worse, for the next seven hours. As we flew up and over the eastern coast, over Newfoundland and out into the Atlantic, whatever was going on back in America was inaccessible to us. When I awoke in the morning, we were readying to land at Heathrow. Just seconds before the tires touched the tarmac, I felt an overwhelming sense of nausea. I can’t explain it, but somehow I knew in those seconds when we came back into contact with the earth, that Trump had won. (The canny pilots waited until we were about to deplane to announce the election result, and the spirit of the entire economy section deflated, save for one man who shouted a muted ‘woohoo’ before reading the room and shutting the heck up).

This made for a dramatic backdrop for my first visit to Switzerland.

The evening of November 9th, strangers gathered in a large auditorium style classroom on the campus of ETH, the fabled Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics university in Zurich. My lovely hosts welcomed me, and I gave a talk on Métis law, watersheds, fish collapse, kinship, and oil and gas spills in my home province. At the end, the audience engaged in a deeply respectful way, asking questions about Indigenous theory, environmental issues, etc. However, the mic made its way to a young man who seemed to be somewhat agitated. He lobbed a softball question at me about spirits, I think. And then, his body language shifted. He had caught me in his snare! Aha! If I believed in spirits, then clearly this wasn’t science! I can’t remember the exact details of his next question, but it was not the words that mattered. It was the form, the energy, and the weaponization that mattered. He pounced on the mic — and launched into an accusation of my work being ‘anti-science’ (a sin to end all sins in a STEM institution).

I tried to answer, but he kept going, working himself into a froth. This clearly wasn’t about the content of my work, or even about ‘questions’. This was about the affront of my Indigenous presence in his rational space. How. Dare. I. Exist. In. Academia.

My hosts grew concerned with his hostility, and he was eventually asked to leave. When he left, the audience erupted in spontaneous applause. And we continued on.

(They weren’t going to let a Trump win, or the emboldened rage of the right, stop them from being good hosts, from looking after their guest, or from enacting some basic forms of care for their invited speaker).

A little while later, I shared this experience with a mentor. I shared my account of being heckled by a member of the audience. She compassionately corrected me:

“You were attacked, Zoe. That is an attack.”

Since that conversation, I’ve reframed my understandings of my experiences of white hostility in the academy. They are many. They are sometimes hilarious (“he said what to you?” a colleague will laugh as we parse out the latest experience). They are often dispiriting (you can only put up with hostility from dominant society for so long before it starts to wear you down). They are monumental (‘a whole department behaved that way?” a friend will whisper in shock as I share a story over a long overdue lunch). They are sometimes mundane. I am not the first nor the last to write about this — so many brilliant BIPOC scholars have outlined their own stories of surviving white hostility in academia and beyond. Sara Ahmed (2018) draws on her work with interlocutors working in diversity policy contexts to demonstrate how refusal to absorb certain forms of hostility from dominant groups impacts those who speak up:

“Another practitioner describes: “you know, you go through that in these sorts of jobs where you go to say something and you can just see people going ‘oh here she goes.’” We both laughed, recognising that each other recognised that scene. The feminist killjoy, that leaky container, comes up here; she comes up in what we hear. We hear each other in the wear and the tear of the words we share; we hear what it is like to come up against the same thing over and over again. We imagine the eyes rolling as if to say: well she would say that. It was from experiences like this that I developed my equation: rolling eyes = feminist pedagogy.”

In Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine (2015) states: “Because white men can’t/police their imagination/black men are dying.” (cited also by Kellaway in this interview with Claudia Rankine in the Guardian). White imagination is murderous.

As Ahmed references in her above mentioned 2018 piece, in his work in the UK with the UCL campaign “Why Isn’t My Professor Black?”, Dr. Nathaniel Adam Tobias C—- (2014) challenges the failure of the white british imagination to formulate the academy as one that includes Black professors:

http://www.dtmh.ucl.ac.uk/videos/isnt-professor-black-nathaniel-coleman/

These forms of white imagination, which inform violent white supremacist actions against Black people in America, the UK, and other white supremacist nations, are pervasive. I do not want to co-opt this work that Ahmed, Rankine, and C—- are doing, but rather to explain how it informs my own understandings of how white imagination operates to evacuate — sometimes very aggressively evacuate — Indigenous bodies and thinking from academic spaces.

Informed by this work, what I have come to realize is that many of the hostile encounters I have experienced in academia are, at least on some level, about failure of white people’s imagination. Failure to imagine Black, Indigenous and other racialized bodies in the hallways of academe. Failure to imagine epistemologies beyond those that fester in euro-western academic paradigms. Failure to imagine possibilities beyond jealously guarded white (often male) syndicates. Failure to imagine that white folks occupying space on stolen land ought to perhaps….ahem…tread a big more humbly. They are also about racism, white supremacy, sexism, classism, elitism, insecurity, jealousy, and greed.

But it is failure of (white settler) imagination that I can tackle the most directly with the energy and resources that I have at my disposal right now. (I keep doing my fallible best to disrupt white supremacy, sexism, and other forms of structural violence, but those are a much longer term struggle). When someone lashes out at me at an invited event for my use of Indigenous methodologies, Indigenous philosophy, Indigenous citational praxis — I reframe it for myself as their failure to imagine something bigger than they occupy. Through this framing, I am able to stop, or at least try to stop, taking these attacks personally. To mentally reframe these attacks in a way that doesn’t destroy me. I have to do this to survive. (I am not saying you have to do this. Everyone’s survival is multifaceted and complex).

But, I also want to address my white academic colleagues directly: this hostility is happening on your watch. When you invite Indigenous scholars into your colonial institutions, as guests, as colleagues, to share our knowledge on lands stolen and violated by the institutions you occupy and uphold, you have a duty to be good hosts and good colleagues. The toxicity or dysfunction of your department, the decades long disputes that shape your Faculty or Senate or tenure processes – these are not my problem. If these explode during my visit, you might want to, energetically speaking anyway, clean house a little. Because your guests aren’t consenting to travel hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles to be attacked or mocked. When you invite a guest into your space, there is an implicit expectation you will be on your best behaviour. In fact, visiting is one of the things that deeply informs Métis being. Hosting and being hosted is one of the ways we build up our nationhood, renew kinship obligations, and restore relationality. We take hosting, and being hosted, very seriously.

This goes beyond visiting and hosting, though. It stretches into the very fabric of academia. To how we conceive of how to be and how to formulate knowledge. But the casual dismissal of pervasive white settler hostility in academe is conspicuous when juxtaposed with how frequently any form of refusal or accountability from Indigenous scholars (and BIPOC scholars) is immediately parsed as inexcusably hostile. Isn’t it a little rich for white scholars to be able to be dismissive, rude, to raise their voices, to shout, to bodily intimate people, to go out of their way to humiliate Indigenous and other scholars? But if we so much as firmly refuse this, let alone openly address it, we are unprofessional and shrill? Marked as ‘difficult’ and whispered about by the very people who take glee in ‘cutting us down a peg’ at any opportunity?

A further concern: if you are a white scholar treating me, your peer and colleague, with hostility and contempt, it gives me a VERY good indication of how you treat Indigenous students. In 2004, Comanche scholar Joshua K. Mihesuah wrote about the reasons that Indigenous students drop out of school in the USA, and among the most significant reasons he lists are hostility in academic environments:

“Many dropouts and “stopouts” (those who leave for a while but return) choose not to conform to the values of the dominant society, and many remain frustrated because the academy does not meet their needs.” (Mihesuah 2004: 191)

“There still is a lack of respect among many university faculty, staff, and administrators for Native cultures. In Flagstaff, for example, despite the Navajo, Hopi, Walapai, Havasupai, and Yavapai Apache reservations’ geographic proximity to the border town (there are twenty-two tribes in Arizona), it is surprising to learn that few faculty have visited those communities. Insensitivity and stereotyping, both blatant and subtle, of Indigenous peoples are pervasive in classrooms. “Given” tribal names such as Papago, instead of the self-determined Tohono O’Odham are still used by professors; Squaw Peak and Squaw Peak Parkway are names that persist in Phoenix (although they have been renamed after fallen Hopi soldier Lori Piestewa); and despite Natives’ concerns about the ski resort on Natives’ sacred Mount Humphreys in Flagstaff, plans are in the making to expand the resort by using reclaimed water for snowmaking (which many Natives and environmentalists fear will increase the number of ski runs). New legislative and congressional lines have been drawn to include Flagstaff and large portions of the Navajo and Hopi reservations. Natives have high hopes for more political clout, but many non-Natives are concerned that Natives will get more than their share of funding, although there is no historical precedent for this concern. These topics are debated in classrooms, and quite often, Native students are too intimidated to speak up to express their views and stance about the ignorance of their instructors and classmates. Students continually fail Gateway courses (basic math, English, and science) because professors tend to have a “cut it or you’re out” attitude.” (Mihesuah 2004: 192-193)

Many of the behaviours Mihesuah details here are things that students have quietly brought to my attention that my own colleagues have perpetuated against them at myriad institutions across North America and Europe. So, again, if you can barely treat an Indigenous professor with respect, I can safely assume students are not being treated with respect either. So let’s cut the niceties and start addressing this white academic hostility directly.

(January 12 edit: for an article that explores what happens when white hostility is formalized into a wholesale dismissal of a discipline, please see Dr. Robert Alexander Innes’ piece “Introduction: Native Studies and Native Cultural Preservation, Revitalization, and Persistence” in American Indian Culture and Research Journal 34:2 (2010) 1-9. In this piece, he articulates how a white political science scholar in Canada elevates a misinformed understanding of Indigenous scholarship to dismiss the entire field of Indigenous Studies. Hostility indeed.)

Ultimately, I hope that white settler scholars will step up and do the labour necessary to address the way that their peers lash out at Indigenous scholars and other marginalized communities. I hope that my white peers will pay attention to the tone their peers use when they don’t understand an Indigenous philosophical approach, or how they respond when they feel threatened by Indigenous law and praxis. I hope they will challenge their colleagues when they, unabashedly and unapologetically, attack that which challenges their very ontological claims to knowing and being. I hope they will take note of the ways that BIPOC scholars are policed for their tone, language, wording, bodies, and being but white scholars are often allowed to be inexcusably hostile and violent.

You can take a cue from my colleagues in Switzerland, who kindly told their peer to find a way to engage respectfully or to leave. I mean, if you are hosting a guest or building any kind of collective, why would you allow your community to treat someone disrespectfully? It’s really that simple.

Works Cited:

Ahmed, Sara. 2018. Refusal, resignation, and complaint. Feminist Killjoys blog. https://feministkilljoys.com/2018/06/28/refusal-resignation-and-complaint/

C——, Nathanial Adam Tobias. 2014. “Why Isn’t My Professor Black?”. http://www.dtmh.ucl.ac.uk/videos/isnt-professor-black-nathaniel-coleman/

Mihesuah, Joshua K. 2004. “11. Graduating Indigenous Students by Confronting the Academic Environment”, pp. 191-199 in Indigenizing the Academy, Devon Abbott Mihesuah and Angela Cavender Wilson, editors. University of Nebraska Press.

Rankine, Claudia. 2015. Citizen: An American Lyric. Graywolf Press.

Zoe Todd

Zoe Todd (Métis/otipemisiw) is from amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton), Alberta, Canada. She writes about fish, art, Métis legal traditions, the Anthropocene, extinction, and decolonization in urban and prairie contexts. She also studies human-animal relations, colonialism and environmental change in north/western Canada. She holds a BSc (Biological Sciences) and MSc (Rural Sociology) from the University of Alberta and a PhD (Social Anthropology) from Aberdeen University. She is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. She was a 2011 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar.

[Entire article — click on the title link to read it at anthro{dendum}.]

#indigenous #indigenouspeople #academia #racism #prejudice #discrimination #culture #anthropology #sociology #decolonization

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miistniightarchive · 7 years

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Hey guys i just wanna say, i don't like telling anyone what to do. But id rather just suggest stuff. You can disagree with me on this topic and im glad to listen :")!! But this is my opinion and if you dont agree then just leave! I do myself draw fanart and fandom related things here and there, and I think its something really fun and nice to do!! But I've been seeing a lot of artists and even some of my artist friends who end up only drawing that sort of stuff since its what gets more followers and notes. I personally, think its something sad. But dont get me wrong! There are artist who like and would rather draw fanart only, and im fine with that. But i think theres a difference when someone is having fun w/ it, and just doing it cause they want followers, notes, and some confidence? I love doing fanart! Its always fun and its something special for me everytime. But im not going to keep drawing it because people like it. It ends up losing its pizzazz and becomes like a job, where i gotta start contributing to the fandom or people will "forget" me. I draw fanart when i want /ask for requests :)! I'm an artist who enjoys doing my own stuff, i guess "original" stuff. But stuff thats not so much tied to a franchise/person/ etc. " oh but miisty aren't you part of the furry fandom???!!1" Yes! And no at the same time :D Last time i checked, the "furry " fandom isnt owned by anyone, i dont reference my "furry" (i prefer to call them anthros) characters to one "main furry" character. I either make my characters based simply off of animals or just randomly, and in my style i prefer to have them on (cause theres a bunch of different ways you can draw an anthro character). But i put a lot of effort and thinking into my characters that i sometimes dont see them being part of the furry fandom, they become my original characters!! :D just really fluffy lol! Making a furry character is honestly the same as making a human character. And no one complains about a human character oc being part of a fandom/ fanart for something (key word is oc). Anyways, like i was saying. Im an artist who likes to do my own stuff a lot more than just drawing fanart. And i know theres a ot of other artists who does the same! But i believe we should get the same support as those who draw fanart more than ocs. Artists who put more effort into making their characters, lore, etc dont get the recognition as someone who draws simple fanart and then everyone is all over them. I can be bitchy, im not gonna apologize for it but i would favor an artist who has the creativity and determination who keeps on making ocs and creating lore, and showing off their own creations. Someone who can built their own confidence naturally, than having someone give them the confidence for something that shouldnt represent them. Some would disagree with me. But let me remind you again, if you enjoy drawing fanart, just cause YOU enjoy it. Then im really happy. You have that natural confidence in you. But if you draw fanart and wait for the veiws, and wait for the followers, you wait for the notes, etc etc. Then i just feel sad when you brag about it, or get surprised. Honestly, you should've seen that shit coming, wheter being an experienced artist/ just starting. Theres also artists who draws fanart to gain attention and gain followers just so then they can start drawing oc stuff and have more people see it. First of all, ive always seen that sort of stuff as clickbaiting. Don't get me wrong. That shit works, youre gonna get followers and attention. But in my opinion, its more awarding doing your own shit and doing that shit good. Challenge yourself than taking the easy route, cause then you might end up commiting to something you could possibly regret. I like to stay true to myself. I think its 10x better being yourself and do things you wanna do. That it needs to be recognized in some way you know? We need more rolemodels or atleast support these rolemodels who shoot off these amazing and original content!! Need rolemodels who are confident and let others know to be confident in their own ideas and skin. Ive experienced being the type of artist who drew mainly for a fandom (fnaf) and saw how people favored the fnaf content than my own. I started it actually as an experiment, an experiment than proved me right on something. While drawing fnaf stuff It was nice but fucking sucked when i posted my own shit i put more effort in, cause not much cared. I ended up stopping making the fanart and wanted to keep only doing my own things. People ended up ignoring my own stuff/ lil attention that i ended up stop posting in there at all. Since it was an experiment it wasn't like i was gonna keep staying there. After that i kinda understand that whole weird and sad concept. Again, i think there needs to be a lot of support/recognition for the artists who do their own thing. Just as equal to artist who draw fanart :") REMINDER: THIS IS MY OPINION, IF YOU DISAGREE I 100% UNDERSTAND. Say your own opinion! People have different views, and different ways interpreting things!

#miistymumbles #long post #support original artists #miistniight #support

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