Battle of the Hijabs (Under read more because this got longer than I thought and I started ranting about why representation in media fucking sucks atp and why the TV show Quantico is the worst):
Coming in at number 1, getting the gold: LITERALLY ALL THE HIJABIS IN WE ARE LADY PARTS like the variation in hijabs alone is so beautiful I love it, iykyk, Stream Bashir with the Good Beard. Like very real to life with different styles and personalities, don't you just love when shows actually treat hijabis as real human beings
All the hijabis from every version of Skam (except Italy fuck you)
Goldie is like next bc the actress isn't a hijabi but like I feel like they depicted being a hijabi really well for the most part like with her thinking she wanted to take it off and realizing everything about herself was nice it was very complex and well done imo
Qadri's next cause tbh I liked her style and the fact that she wore al Amira hijabs. I know everyone's like oh those are for little girls or they're ugly but tbh it makes sense bc I feel like being that she's training to be a surgeon and it is very convenient cause who's trying to be calling a code and fight with some chiffon or jersey material?? Not me! (They lose points for that one scene cause you mean to tell me she's only going to use her hijab to stop the bleeding and nothing else?? Come again?? She's in a hospital!!)
Next is Adina from The Bold Type, tbh idk how to feel cause she's a lesbian and played by Nikhol Boosheri and I was excited at the time but tbh some of her choices def had me scratching my head and I feel like they could've did a bit more to showcase her identity ykwim
Marjan from 911 Lone Star cause bro what the hell was the praying scene, did y'all talk to one Muslim? Download the Learning to Pray app on your phone I'll send you a link like be SO FR, then them saying her masjid kicked her out bc her hijab accidentally came off (which happens so much in television) like...again did you talk to anyone, I could see backlash yes but I just *sigh* again which Muslims did you talk to like idk about y'all but a stiff tug or strong wind has tested my hijab before like it happens, we cover back up and move on
Bottom 2 but not thee bottom, Nadia from Elite (hear me out cause the bottom of the list will make sense) obviously its so low because she wore hijab and they had some decent commentary at first, and then removed her hijab, and for Guzman ol racist crusty lip ass like, this who you risking it all for??? GIRL??? Like if Vic Mensa asked to see my hair I'd let him see that and much else (I'M KIDDING, I'd marry him first ok, astaghfirullah) no fr like but it's even that like they made it that she's more confident without her hijab people like her more, like it's obviously same old song like hijab is removed and suddenly liberation like they could've showed it in a more tasteful way if they wanted to but what did I expect from Europeans esp Spaniards like
And coming in Dead Last Raina Amin, tbh girl its not even about you...WHO WROTE THIS. Cause I watched it back in the day cause you know representation but like *pauses before I sip my coffee* hold tf on. Like where to even begin, the cop propaganda? What do you have to prove, cause they tried to get me i would've been like get tf off my porch. Like and the FBI? How did they even recruit the twins? The government watchlist? Blair Imani slid up in the masjid to snitch? I mean, what the hell? And this show had so much talent to be so extremely questionable (and that is putting it mildly). But we're discussing the twins rn. Raina specifically. So it doesn't even stop there. Like so much was wrong, so you mean to tell me she's in love with a man who used to be an IOF soldier, who helped them actively target Palestinian women for God knows what (the show implied certain things), like WTF is this, like everyone wants to talk about her removing her hijab and kissing him but like we have bigger fish to fry, that is like at the bottom of the problem list. Like did we see the man they put her with and she still loved him later EYE. And then two more things and then I'll shut up. Okay so they were working for the Government to infiltrate terrorist cells whatever bc they were going to attack American soil. No mention of how terrorist groups like the ones they're depicting mostly target minority sect Muslims and lead to their deaths that usually go unnoticed by anyone who is not them, Iran and Nigeria, if I remember correctly are where a lot of the casualties are from. I hate propaganda cause its the same old shit like we really pushing the agenda huh? And hijab removal scene again worst part cause you know what I hated after this other stuff cause red flags with major red lights and a bullhorn. But there was something where they had to change their look because their twins but like as one person but one is a hijabi, the other is not. So they were like we have to find a middle ground, someone who's easily targeted because they're muslim but also loose (I'm paraphrasing but you see what I'm saying?) Like fuck y'all. Fuck whoever wrote this. Like from head to toe Quantico is like an absolute clusterfuck of everything terrible people do with hijab characters (not to mention the rest of the cast but that would be even longer) but dead last because like maybe some of the others on this list at least tried if they're not terribly misguided but this depiction is like dangerous, it's a reminder why we don't just get all our info from TV and other fictional narratives, we talk to real people and we learn real things because this is absolute bullshit to say the least
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2022 Reading Challenge Report
Creating this spread in my journal has become a highlight of my year. Past efforts are here: 2019, 2020, 2021. Each year I spend a little more time on my mini cover drawings and each year I'm a little happier with how they turned out.
My reading goal for the year was 100 books and I barely made it: 101. I had to really book it to reach my goal (heh, see what I did there)
Some years it's sort of hard to pick my "Best Books", but this year it was relatively easy. Eight books in particular really stood out. I could have just left it at eight, but there were two additional authors that I came across this year that I read several books by and am quite sure I will continue gobbling up their oeuvres as long as I can. (I've never in my life seen that word as a plural—can that be right?) So as a 9th pick, I just named them both: Ashley Herring Blake and Alexis Hall. I read several of Blake's books this year that would have absolutely changed my life if they'd been around when I was a kid/teen and Hall is here because literally everything he writes is fucking hilarious.
The full list with metrics are after the jump:
My top 8 and other stand outs are in bold below
Non-Fiction (23)
Star Child: A Biographical Constellation of Octavia Estelle Butler, Ibi Zoboi
How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, Kiese Laymon
(gn) The Drawing Lesson, Mark Crilley
The Art of Visual Notetaking: An Interactive Guide to Visual Communication and Sketchnoting, Emily Mills
(gn) Windows on the World, Robert Mailer Anderson, Jon Sack, Zack Anderson
All Boys Aren't Blue, George M. Johnson
Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like "Journey" in the Title, Leslie Gray Streeter
(gn) WE HEREBY REFUSE: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration, Frank Abe, Tamiko Nimura, Matt Sasaki (Illustrator), Ross Ishikawa (Illustrator)
(gn) Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts, Rebecca Hall, Hugo Martinez (Illustrator)
(gn) Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos, Lucy Knisley
(gn) Foundations of Chinese Civilization: The Yellow Emperor to the Han Dynasty, Jing Liu
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America, Beth Macy
Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement, Tarana Burke
(gn) Go to Sleep (I Miss You): Cartoons from the Fog of New Parenthood, Lucy Knisley
Notes on Grief, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
(gn) The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History, David F. Walker, Marcus Kwame Anderson (Illustrations)
BLUU Notes: An Anthology of Love, Justice, and Liberation, Takiyah Nur Amin, Mykal Slack, eds.
(gn) Passport, Sophia Glock
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People, Kekla Magoon
(pb) Nicky & Vera: A Quiet Hero of the Holocaust and the Children He Rescued, Peter Sís
Refugee High: Coming of Age in America, Elly Fishman
(pb) Afghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan, Tony O'Brien, Mike Sullivan
(pb) Wishes, Mượn Thị Văn, Victo Ngai (Illustrator)
Fiction (59)
Red at the Bone, Jacqueline Woodson
American Street, Ibi Zoboi
Husband Material, Alexis Hall
Rise to the Sun, Leah Johnson
(gn) The Last Session, vol. 1, Jasmine Walls, Dozerdraws (Illustrations)
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, Becky Chambers
(gn) The Montague Twins: The Devil's Music, Nathan Page, Drew Shannon (Illustrations)
Record of a Spaceborn Few, Becky Chambers
Something Fabulous, Alexis Hall
Honey Girl, Morgan Rogers
(gn) Fantasmas, Raina Telgemeier
Purple Hibiscus, Chimamanda Ngoni Adichie
The Violence, Delilah S. Dawson
(gn) Coven, Jennifer Dugan, Kit Seaton (Illustrations)
Children of God, Mary Doria Russell (re-read)
Boyfriend Material, Alexis Hall
Skye Falling, Mia McKenzie
Liar & Spy, Rebecca Stead
The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell (re-read)
A Psalm for the Wild Built, Becky Chambers
(gn) Oddball: Sarah Scribbles #4, Sarah Andersen
Girl Made of Stars, Ashley Herring Blake
Everything, Everything, Nicola Yoon
A Closed and Common Orbit, Becky Chambers
(gn) Slaughter House Five, Ryan North (adaptor), Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Albert Monteys (Illustrations)
Pretend I'm Dead, Jen Beagin
(gn) The Crossover, Kwame Alexander Dawud Anyabwile (Illustrations)
Don't Check Out This Book, Kate Klise, Sarah Klise (Illustrations)
Light From Uncommon Stars, Ryka Aoki
The Mighty Heart of Sunny St. James, Ashley Herring Blake
Hang the Moon, Alexandria Bellefleur
(gn) Alice in Leatherland, Iolanda Zanfardino, Elisa Romboli (Illustrator)
Ivy Aberdeen's Letter to the World, Ashley Herring Blake
Delilah Green Doesn't Care, Ashley Herring Blake
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls, Anissa Gray
(gn) Across a Field of Starlight, Blue Delliquanti
Ain't Burned All the Bright, Jason Reynolds, Jason Griffin (Illustrator)
Count Your Lucky Stars, Alexandria Bellefleur
I Kissed Shara Wheeler, Casey McQuiston
(gn) The Bride Was a Boy, Chii, Beni Axia Conrad (Translator)
Payback's a Witch, Lana Harper
The School for Good Mothers, Jessamine Chan
(gn) The Sacrifice of Darkness, Roxane Gay, Tracy Lynne Oliver, Rebecca Kirby, James Fenner
Read Between the Lines, Rachel Lacey
The Ex-Girlfriend of My Ex-Girlfriend Is My Girlfriend: Advice on Queer Dating, Love, and Friendship, Maddy Court, Kelsey Wroten (Illustrations)
(gn) A Shadow in RiverClan, Erin Hunter
How to Find a Princess, Alyssa Cole
The Girl in the Well is Me, Karen Rivers
American Spy, Lauren Wilkinson
Stay With Me, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
(gn) Be Gay, Do Comics, Matt Bors, ed.
(gn) Cheer Up: Love and Pompoms, Crystal Frasier, Val Wise (Illustrator)
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Becky Chambers
This Winter, Alice Oseman
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill, Abbi Waxman
(gn) Stone Fruit, Lee Lai
Heartstopper, vol. 4, Alice Oseman
(gn) Squad, Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Lisa Sterle (Illustrator)
(gn) Shadow Life, Hiromi Goto, Ann Xu (Illustrations)
Read with the kids and/or for Homeschool planning (19)
Front Desk, Kelly Yang
The Midwife's Apprentice, Karen Cushman
(pb) Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Daniel Minter (Illustrator)
The Wednesday Wars, Gary D. Schmidt
(gn) Twelfth Grade Night, Molly Horton Booth, Stephanie Kate Strohm, Jamie Green (Illustrator)
(gn) The History of Western Art in Comics Part One: From Prehistory to the Renaissance, Marion Augustin, Bruno Heitz (Illustrations)
(gn) Magical History Tour #4: The Crusades, Fabrice Erre, Sylvain Savoia (Illustrator)
A Year Down Yonder, Richard Peck (re-read)
A Long Way from Chicago, Richard Peck (re-read)
The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman (re-read)
The Night Diary, Veera Hiranandani
The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman (re-read)
(pb) Prisoners of Geography, Children's Ed.: Our World Explained in 12 Simple Maps, Tim Marshall
The Great Brain at the Academy, John D. Fitzgerald
(pb) The 1619 Project: Born on the Water, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Renée Watson, Nikkolas Smith (Illustrator)
(pb) Unspeakable: The Tulsa Race Massacre, Carole Boston Weatherford, Floyd Cooper (Illustrator)
The Whale Rider, Witi Ihimaera
(pb) Mr. Watson's Chickens, Jarrett Dapier, Andrea Tsurumi (Illustrator)
The Golden Compass, Philip Pullman (re-read)
(gn) = graphic novel or graphic novel format
(pb) = picture book
I read 101 books this year
Authors of color: 40
Black authors: 28
Cis-women, trans & nonbinary authors: 73
Graphic novels: 34
Queer characters: 47 (34 main characters)
Audiobooks: 22
Picture books: 8
Read 25 Books by Black Women Authors: Only read 23
I think next year I won't do the Black Women Authors challenge. I hope I will still read as many or at least a significant number of books by Black women, and I think it's a really great idea. I'm going to resist doing it this year, though, because I noticed a crummy impulse in myself as I was keeping track of the books, like I was "getting credit" for reading books in this category and that feels kinda gross. We'll see how I do without striving for a cookie.
I would like to read more picture books in 2023, and maybe be a little choosier about the graphic novels I read. I really love graphic novels, but I read some clunkers this year. I was also pretty light on nonfiction and I'd like to read a little more this year. In any case, I know it will be another great year of reading! See you next year!
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