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This Resources Wednesday, we just want to acknowledge the multitude of significant holidays occurring across many different religions this month, and offer happy holidays to those who celebrate them!

It seems like every major religion is having some kind of event happening in April so happy holidays to those celebrating/observing (or have celebrated) the following:

Easter (including Eastern Orthodox Easter)

Ramadan

Passover

Hanuman Jayanti

Vaisakhi

Songkran

I’m sure i’ve forgotten one. So happy holidays to anyone else i’ve forgotten (correct me so I can edit if i’m wrong).

#mod Theo forgot to go grocery shopping for non-chametz foods in time for passover and is now very hungry someone send macaroons #Resources #resources wednesday #religious rep

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We LOVE this guide, both for use in our image descriptions and in our own writing! 

Words for Skin Tone | How to Describe Skin Color

We discussed the issues describing People of Color by means of food in Part I of this guide, which brought rise to even more questions, mostly along the lines of “So, if food’s not an option, what can I use?” Well, I was just getting to that!

This final portion focuses on describing skin tone, with photo and passage examples provided throughout. I hope to cover everything from the use of straight-forward description to the more creatively-inclined, keeping in mind the questions we’ve received on this topic.

Standard Description

Basic Colors

Pictured above: Black, Brown, Beige, White, Pink.

“She had brown skin.”

This is a perfectly fine description that, while not providing the most detail, works well and will never become cliché.

Describing characters’ skin as simply brown or beige works on its own, though it’s not particularly telling just from the range in brown alone.

Complex Colors

These are more rarely used words that actually “mean” their color. Some of these have multiple meanings, so you’ll want to look into those to determine what other associations a word might have.

Pictured above: Umber, Sepia, Ochre, Russet, Terra-cotta, Gold, Tawny, Taupe, Khaki, Fawn.

Complex colors work well alone, though often pair well with a basic color in regards to narrowing down shade/tone.

For example: Golden brown, russet brown, tawny beige…

As some of these are on the “rare” side, sliding in a definition of the word within the sentence itself may help readers who are unfamiliar with the term visualize the color without seeking a dictionary.

“He was tall and slim, his skin a russet, reddish-brown.”

Comparisons to familiar colors or visuals are also helpful:

“His skin was an ochre color, much like the mellow-brown light that bathed the forest.”

Modifiers

Modifiers, often adjectives, make partial changes to a word.The following words are descriptors in reference to skin tone.

Dark - Deep - Rich - Cool

Warm - Medium - Tan

Fair - Light - Pale

Rich Black, Dark brown, Warm beige, Pale pink…

If you’re looking to get more specific than “brown,” modifiers narrow down shade further.

Keep in mind that these modifiers are not exactly colors.

As an already brown-skinned person, I get tan from a lot of sun and resultingly become a darker, deeper brown. I turn a pale, more yellow-brown in the winter.

While best used in combination with a color, I suppose words like “tan” “fair” and “light” do work alone; just note that tan is less likely to be taken for “naturally tan” and much more likely a tanned White person.

Calling someone “dark” as description on its own is offensive to some and also ambiguous. (See: Describing Skin as Dark)

Undertones

Undertones are the colors beneath the skin, seeing as skin isn’t just one even color but has more subdued tones within the dominating palette.

pictured above: warm / earth undertones: yellow, golden, copper, olive, bronze, orange, orange-red, coral | cool / jewel undertones: pink, red, blue, blue-red, rose, magenta, sapphire, silver. 

Mentioning the undertones within a character’s skin is an even more precise way to denote skin tone.

As shown, there’s a difference between say, brown skin with warm orange-red undertones (Kelly Rowland) and brown skin with cool, jewel undertones (Rutina Wesley).

“A dazzling smile revealed the bronze glow at her cheeks.”

“He always looked as if he’d ran a mile, a constant tinge of pink under his tawny skin.”

Standard Description Passage

“Farah’s skin, always fawn, had burned and freckled under the summer’s sun. Even at the cusp of autumn, an uneven tan clung to her skin like burrs. So unlike the smooth, red-brown ochre of her mother, which the sun had richened to a blessing.”

-From my story “Where Summer Ends” featured in Strange Little Girls

Here the state of skin also gives insight on character.

Note my use of “fawn” in regards to multiple meaning and association. While fawn is a color, it’s also a small, timid deer, which describes this very traumatized character of mine perfectly.

Though I use standard descriptions of skin tone more in my writing, at the same time I’m no stranger to creative descriptions, and do enjoy the occasional artsy detail of a character.

Creative Description

Whether compared to night-cast rivers or day’s first light…I actually enjoy seeing Characters of Colors dressed in artful detail.

I’ve read loads of descriptions in my day of white characters and their “smooth rose-tinged ivory skin”, while the PoC, if there, are reduced to something from a candy bowl or a Starbucks drink, so to actually read of PoC described in lavish detail can be somewhat of a treat.

Still, be mindful when you get creative with your character descriptions. Too many frills can become purple-prose-like, so do what feels right for your writing when and where. Not every character or scene warrants a creative description, either. Especially if they’re not even a secondary character.

Using a combination of color descriptions from standard to creative is probably a better method than straight creative. But again, do what’s good for your tale.

Natural Settings - Sky

Pictured above: Harvest Moon -Twilight, Fall/Autumn Leaves, Clay, Desert/Sahara, Sunlight - Sunrise - Sunset - Afterglow - Dawn- Day- Daybreak, Field - Prairie - Wheat, Mountain/Cliff, Beach/Sand/Straw/Hay.

Now before you run off to compare your heroine’s skin to the harvest moon or a cliff side, think about the associations to your words.

When I think cliff, I think of jagged, perilous, rough. I hear sand and picture grainy, yet smooth. Calm. mellow.

So consider your character and what you see fit to compare them to.

Also consider whose perspective you’re describing them from. Someone describing a person they revere or admire may have a more pleasant, loftier description than someone who can’t stand the person.

“Her face was like the fire-gold glow of dawn, lifting my gaze, drawing me in.”

“She had a sandy complexion, smooth and tawny.”

Even creative descriptions tend to draw help from your standard words.

Flowers

Pictured above: Calla lilies, Western Coneflower, Hazel Fay, Hibiscus, Freesia, Rose

It was a bit difficult to find flowers to my liking that didn’t have a 20 character name or wasn’t called something like “chocolate silk” so these are the finalists. 

You’ll definitely want to avoid purple-prose here.

Also be aware of flowers that most might’ve never heard of. Roses are easy, as most know the look and coloring(s) of this plant. But Western coneflowers? Calla lilies? Maybe not so much.

“He entered the cottage in a huff, cheeks a blushing brown like the flowers Nana planted right under my window. Hazel Fay she called them, was it?”

Assorted Plants & Nature

Pictured above: Cattails, Seashell, Driftwood, Pinecone, Acorn, Amber

These ones are kinda odd. Perhaps because I’ve never seen these in comparison to skin tone, With the exception of amber.

At least they’re common enough that most may have an idea what you’re talking about at the mention of “pinecone." 

I suggest reading out your sentences aloud to get a better feel of how it’ll sounds.

"Auburn hair swept past pointed ears, set around a face like an acorn both in shape and shade.”

I pictured some tree-dwelling being or person from a fantasy world in this example, which makes the comparison more appropriate.

I don’t suggest using a comparison just “cuz you can” but actually being thoughtful about what you’re comparing your character to and how it applies to your character and/or setting.

Wood

Pictured above: Mahogany, Walnut, Chestnut, Golden Oak, Ash

Wood can be an iffy description for skin tone. Not only due to several of them having “foody” terminology within their names, but again, associations.

Some people would prefer not to compare/be compared to wood at all, so get opinions, try it aloud, and make sure it’s appropriate to the character if you do use it.

“The old warlock’s skin was a deep shade of mahogany, his stare serious and firm as it held mine.”

Metals

Pictured above: Platinum, Copper, Brass, Gold, Bronze

Copper skin, brass-colored skin, golden skin…

I’ve even heard variations of these used before by comparison to an object of the same properties/coloring, such as penny for copper.

These also work well with modifiers.

“The dress of fine white silks popped against the deep bronze of her skin.”

Gemstones - Minerals

Pictured above: Onyx, Obsidian, Sard, Topaz, Carnelian, Smoky Quartz, Rutile, Pyrite, Citrine, Gypsum

These are trickier to use. As with some complex colors, the writer will have to get us to understand what most of these look like.

If you use these, or any more rare description, consider if it actually “fits” the book or scene.

Even if you’re able to get us to picture what “rutile” looks like, why are you using this description as opposed to something else? Have that answer for yourself.

“His skin reminded her of the topaz ring her father wore at his finger, a gleaming stone of brown, mellow facades.” 

Physical Description

Physical character description can be more than skin tone.

Show us hair, eyes, noses, mouth, hands…body posture, body shape, skin texture… though not necessarily all of those nor at once.

Describing features also helps indicate race, especially if your character has some traits common within the race they are, such as afro hair to a Black character.

How comprehensive you decide to get is up to you. I wouldn’t overdo it and get specific to every mole and birthmark. Noting defining characteristics is good, though, like slightly spaced front teeth, curls that stay flopping in their face, hands freckled with sunspots…

General Tips

Indicate Race Early: I suggest indicators of race be made at the earliest convenience within the writing, with more hints threaded throughout here and there.

Get Creative On Your Own: Obviously, I couldn’t cover every proper color or comparison in which has been “approved” to use for your characters’ skin color, so it’s up to you to use discretion when seeking other ways and shades to describe skin tone.

Skin Color May Not Be Enough: Describing skin tone isn’t always enough to indicate someone’s ethnicity. As timeless cases with readers equating brown to “dark white” or something, more indicators of race may be needed.

Describe White characters and PoC Alike: You should describe the race and/or skin tone of your white characters just as you do your Characters of Color. If you don’t, you risk implying that White is the default human being and PoC are the “Other”).

PSA: Don’t use “Colored.” Based on some asks we’ve received using this word, I’d like to say that unless you or your character is a racist grandmama from the 1960s, do not call People of Color “colored” please. 

Not Sure Where to Start? You really can’t go wrong using basic colors for your skin descriptions. It’s actually what many people prefer and works best for most writing. Personally, I tend to describe my characters using a combo of basic colors + modifiers, with mentions of undertones at times. I do like to veer into more creative descriptions on occasion.

Want some alternatives to “skin” or “skin color”? Try: Appearance, blend, blush, cast, coloring, complexion, flush, glow, hue, overtone, palette, pigmentation, rinse, shade, sheen, spectrum, tinge, tint, tone, undertone, value, wash.

Skin Tone Resources

List of Color Names

The Color Thesaurus

Skin Undertone & Color Matching

Tips and Words on Describing Skin

Photos: Undertones Described (Modifiers included)

Online Thesaurus (try colors, such as “red” & “brown”)

Don’t Call me Pastries: Creative Skin Tones w/ pics I 

Writing & Description Guides

WWC Featured Description Posts

WWC Guide: Words to Describe Hair

Writing with Color: Description & Skin Color Tags

7 Offensive Mistakes Well-intentioned Writers Make

I tried to be as comprehensive as possible with this guide, but if you have a question regarding describing skin color that hasn’t been answered within part I or II of this guide, or have more questions after reading this post, feel free to ask!

~ Mod Colette

#Resources #resources wednesday #writingwithcolor #writing tips

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[ID: Remus, James, and Sirius stand three in a row, an orange glow coming from the right of the image casting a light over them. James stands to the far left, his eyes closed and his arms stretched out in a meditative pose. He wears his robes. He is notably taller than the other two and has a curly afro. In the middle stands Remus, looking up and to the left. He uses arm crutches and has bushy hair. Across his shoulders, a rat with a long tail looks up towards the glow. On the far right stands Sirius, pointing at something in the distance. He wears a sleek shirt and pants and has shoulder-length hair. End description.]

October 4th "Harvest Moon"

#wolfstar #remus/sirius #remixlooonylupin #disability rep

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Weekly Fic Rec

Fic: Dance With Me? and Coat Check by NachoDiablo

Rating: T and E

Genre: AU - modern setting, AU - non-magical, first meeting, clubs/bars, fluff

Word count: 1,791 and 1,916, both complete

Summary: “Remus doesn't usually dance, but Sirius makes him reconsider.”

Major CW: Semi-public sex (sort of)

Mod Theo thoughts: These two lovely fics are based off of this creation by the incomparable @upthehillart. There’s not a ton of words here (Remus and Sirius meet in a club, Remus and Sirius fuck in a club) and yet NachoDiablo does a great job of including the little bits of representational details we need without making it A Whole Thing. Fics like this are a great reminder that including rep in your fic doesn't have to be huge task - a couple details here and there often do the trick. I fell down a bit of a nightclub AU rabbit hole recently, and this one has all the things I love about them - first meetings, sexual tension, awkward introductions and conversations and a slow build to an intense romantic connection. Plus, I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been to a club since 2019, and it’s nice to revisit them from a distance. 

Read it on AO3!

#wolfstar #nachodiablo #upthehillart #trans rep

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Mod Nat’s Massive Binding Guide For Writers

Preface

I’ve been writing this for months now and will be perpetually updating it whenever I can and have enough information to update. Contributions and tips and whatnot are greatly appreciated, the link to give those is at the bottom of this page and should be linked on every page linked here as well.

The version you are currently seeing of the table of contents was last updated 2018-06-15. Please check the original post from our blog to ensure this is most recent version.

This is a guide of binding techniques aimed at writers depicting the honest experiences of these methods. This is not medical advice.

Table of Contents

READ FIRST: Writing Considerations and Health Information

Methods of Binding

1920s bandeau 

Addition methods

Bandages (ace/tensor), Back braces

Cling wrap

Commercial binders

Compression bras

Compression shirts

Corset

DIY binders (elastic, neoprene, tights)

Sarashi

Tape (Trans tape, kinesiology tape, duct/packing tape)

Wrapped cloth

Comments, corrections, clarifications, resource suggestions or requests?

Send it here!

#Resources #resources wednesday #trans rep #trans writing

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[ID: Two panels featuring the same image, one presented as if a magazine cover and the other without the magazine overlay. Sirius and Remus stand side-by-side in high fashion poses. Sirius stands to the left, a bit in front of Remus. Their left arm reaches behind them to touch the left side of Remus’s face, and they stare straight ahead, their lips slightly parted. They are wearing a maroon leather skirt, a sheer button-down unbuttoned from the middle up, and black suspenders. Their chest and arms are covered in various tattoos, including a half moon on the hand cupping Remus’s cheek, and they have several ear piercings, a nose piercing, and a lip piercing. They wear dark red nail polish and lipstick and their shoulder-length wavy black hair frames their face. They have light warm skin with a few black freckles speckled throughout. Remus stands with his right arm draped casually over Sirius’s shoulder. He wears baggy khakis held up by a belt with a gold buckle, a sheer shirt, and a long black sport coat. He stares directly ahead, head tilted slightly to the side. He has light skin covered in many places in scars, including through his eyebrow and over his nose. He has short, wavy dark blonde hair. 

The first image is a magazine cover. “Witch Weekly” is printed across the top in brown script, and just under the title in smaller letters is “Issue 135, Aug 2021″. Several headers placed across the cover read “Beauty news: Lucius Malfoy gives tips on how to maintain luscious locks”, “Fashion news: Sirius Black comments on the latest Muggle trends”, and “Canine takeover: exclusive interview with the wizarding society’s infamous Black Dog and Lycanthrope”. End description.] 

My submission for @lilgaywolf ‘s Witch Weekly dtiys! If anyone of you hasn’t check out this dtiys on insta you should because it has some amazing submissions

#wolfstar #remus/sirius #lunopal #fanart #mod Theo knows nothing about fashion sorry for the probably butchered descriptions in the ID

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[ID: Remus stands gracefully, his left leg stretched out in front of him and his right arm raised theatrically over his head, his fingers flicked towards him. In his left hand he holds a smartphone as if taking a selfie with it. His short, frizzy, light brown hair covers his eyes, but we can see that he is smiling. He has neutral-toned light brown skin with scars across his body. He wears a flowy pink button-down tucked into a pleated periwinkle skirt that falls just above the knee and has a single button at the top. He wears pink and blue Nike sneakers over blue-and-purple striped socks. He has a bracelet or watch on his right wrist and his nails are long and painted pink. The background is largely pink with a large, periwinkle quadrilateral shape behind him. End description.]

Remus in a skirt, commission info expected to be up sometime tomorrow!

#image description #wolfstar art #femme remus #mx2bn-art

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A reminder: You can think of your disability/body in neutral terms.

I see a lot of well-meaning art, story morals, songs, etc. that want people to know that their disability is their greatest strength, it's the thing that makes them unique, it's a hidden superpower, it's badass, it makes them so much cooler than if they were nondisabled, etc.

And that's a valid choice. I lean into the overly-positive motivation all the time, especially when it's combating the negative stereotypes and thoughts about being disabled/having a disabled body.

But at the end of the day, embracing your disability doesn't just mean transforming it into something overtly positive. Sometimes, it helps to realize that you don't need to have a superpower or be perceived as a badass to be valid. You're you. Your disability is part of you. You don't exist in pure negatives nor do you need to justify that existence with overt positives. You're allowed to be neutral. You're you.

#disabilities #resources

[wolfstar-in-color]

[Image description: Sirius and Remus stand side-by-side under an arch of wood and flowers, looking at each other and laughing as the rain falls. Sirius, to the left, is wearing a long white gown, the train of which drags a bit on the earth. He wears white, high-heeled shoes and a short, white, fishnet veil over his long black hair. His skin is medium-dark and spotted with tattoos, and he wears a gold bracelet. Remus stands to the right, his eyes closed and head turned up. He wears grey pants that end mid-calf, held up by brown suspenders over a white, semi-transparent shirt. His black boots are standing in a puddle of gathered water, and his blonde hair is sticking to his face. He has light skin and rosy cheeks. They reach towards each other. End description.]

It starts pouring down rain on Sirius and Remus’ wedding and they just laugh and shout their vows over the downpour and and let themselves get soaked to the skin even while the people in the seats cast drying charms over themselves because rain on your wedding day is good luck anyway

and this was how their love was: all consuming, bone deep, drenching.

Sirius let his dress drag in the mud and the veil stick to his face and their kiss was as sweet and quenching and cleansing as it’d always been.

Pictured: the boys shouting their vows over the downpour

#trans remus lupin #trans sirius black #wolfstar #remus/sirius #questionten #fanart

[wolfstar-in-color]

Fic: Under the Eucalyptus, by @xinasvoice

Rating: Explicit (for sexual content)

Genre: Romance, get together, non magical AU, healing and trauma, disabilities representation (selective mutism, mobility/chronic pain) and accomodations, Australia’s 1990s AU.

Word count: 24,747, 4 chapters, completed. Podfic lenght: 2hr 45min

Summary: On his first day working at the queerest zoo in the Australian outback, Remus meets Sirius, whose smile is bright enough to knock him over. Sirius doesn’t speak aloud, but that doesn’t stop either of them from falling in love.

A soft romance about the value of slowing down enough to listen to each other and watch the sun rise.

Major CW: Past trauma, including family abuse that’s related to PTSD, ableism (but shown critically and mostly set in one character: Snape), references to animal treatment that can be considered abuse, sexual content.

Mod Moth thoughts: I know I’ve rec’ed Xina’s work before, but being able to find podficced works is usually a challenge, and Xina’s podfics are amazing - from her voice to the rhythm and the quality of the audio. I listened to this fic without even realizing it was almost three hours, and laughed at loud, blushed (because the smut is hot and I was in the middle of my weekly shopping), and enjoyed it overall so, so much. I loved Sirius’ portrayal in the fic - he’s full of life and he’s incredibly sweet, so learning through him about selective mutism was amazing. His relationship with Remus is short of perfect, and the attraction and care between them is so well done. If you are looking for a non magical AU that’s wholesome, romantic and soft, but that has also all the representation that you want in it in a way that’s not forced but integral to the plot, then this is the fic for you.

Read it on AO3!

#fic rec #wolfstar #xinasvoice #race rep #disabilities rep

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Fic: Animal Magnetism by Wolfstargarden

Rating: M

Genre: Getting together, AU - modern, AU - non-magical, semi-hurt/comfort, semi-fluff

Word count: 14,547, complete

Summary: "Remus’ eyes flashed and softened. His tongue darted over his lips and molten heat pooled in Sirius’ loins, running from Remus’ fingertips and down through his body. They were too close." Everyone has warned Sirius away from enigmatic Remus, but he's determined to solve the mystery. And it has absolutely nothing to do with the desperate attraction brewing between them.

Major CW: Mental health (specifically bipolar disorder) including descriptions of someone in a manic episode.

Mod Theo thoughts: Folks with severe mental illness don’t get a lot of rep, especially not in a romantic context, but fear not! In this fic, Remus has bipolar disorder and is also a vet (awwww) and meets Sirius and you know the rest. But there’s conflict and nuance and flirting and a teeny bit of smut and a happy ending so go give it a read. And please rec us more fics with good portrayals of mental illness!

Read it on AO3!

#fic rec #fic rec fridays #disability rep #mental illness rep #bipolar rep

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Hi Elliot! So happy I found your blog. I had a question for you that pertains to writing. I've seen a few "good" representations of LPs (like Game of Thrones) and a lot of bad ones. Do you have any tips of what to do and what to avoid to write a character with Achondroplasia? Thanks :)

Hey there! There has indeed been far more bad than good when it comes to LP representation. Here's some tips I would recommend when writing a character with Achondroplasia:

Firstly, do some research. Learn the experiences of little people and learn the terminology.

Avoid making their life a sob story. Yes, you can write about their struggles, but make them a well rounded character! Fill their lives with love and family and sex and adventure.

Smash the the Small and Angry archetype. Make sure the character's anger and frustrations are taken seriously by the people around them, not used as a basis for humor.

Know that I attract a lot of attention in public settings. I get a lot of stares and I don't go a day without being laughed at, mocked, or belittled in some form or another. Despite living in the same place for most of my life, people are still shocked to see me anywhere - whether I'm doing groceries, getting gas, or out with friends, I am the odd one out. I'd love to see a piece of writing that uses that as a tool to shift the lens onto society.

Don't write about mystical "dwarves" write about real dwarfs. Don't pull from Lord of the Rings or some video game to tell our stories - we aren't a made up race we're real people. If you're writing us into fantasy don't make our disability part of what makes us fake.

Make the LP fall in love, and make that love reciprocated - little people are not sexless or loveless or undesirable.

Don't make them a side kick. Don't pull from Snow White or Willy Wonka or Austin Powers. Don't use little people as comic relief or minute characters that push the main character forward.

Interweave accessibility naturally, but don't be afraid to make a note of it - especially a lack there of.

When in doubt, talk to real little people if you can. Ask them questions, learn their stories and perspectives - I can't speak for all of us.

Hope this helps lovely!! - Elliot (they/them)

#little people #resources #fantasy writing #achondroplasia

[wolfstar-in-color]

[ID: Remus and Sirius lay side-by-side on blankets in the shade under a tree. They’re holding hands, Remus on the left and Sirius on the right, and looking in each other’s direction. Sirius has his eyes closed, one arm behind him pillowing his head. He has fawn-light skin and long, messy black hair that falls around him. He has a visibly muscular torso and arms, black armpit hair, and a tattoo of a moon cycle on the bicep of the arm pillowing his head. He is shirtless and wears red bottoms. Remus has slightly tanner skin and shaggy, light brown hair. His eyes are open and he smirks over at Sirius. He is also shirtless, skinnier than Sirius, and has a trail of brown hair leading from his lower belly to under his black bottoms. End description.]

More than a month ago we published the zine and this was my contribution, based on the beautiful story @faabyy21 wrote. If you are interested in more zine content, have a look at the ao3 collection and the different posts on our channel @marauders-pride-fanzine ❤️

#wolfstar #remus/sirius #evax3

[wolfstar-in-color]

February colorful column - What is justice: Prisons, part II

Hello, dear friends! As February reaches its end, Theo and I (Moth) are here again with another reflection about prisons and justice, bringing thoughts both from the HP world and fandom to invite you to reflect with us, but also, hoping to prompt you to keep creating in these themes. 

In the last column, Theo talked about some basics about why prisons don’t work and instead thoroughly dehumanise people, and how Azkaban can be a good example of that. Today, I want to focus on a sticky issue: justice. Or, more so, how we can think of new alternatives for it. So buckle up, because this is a long one.

Keep reading

#tz reblog #prison abolition #sirius black #transformative justice

[wolfstar-in-color]

February colorful column - What is justice: Prisons, part II

Hello, dear friends! As February reaches its end, Theo and I (Moth) are here again with another reflection about prisons and justice, bringing thoughts both from the HP world and fandom to invite you to reflect with us, but also, hoping to prompt you to keep creating in these themes. 

In the last column, Theo talked about some basics about why prisons don’t work and instead thoroughly dehumanise people, and how Azkaban can be a good example of that. Today, I want to focus on a sticky issue: justice. Or, more so, how we can think of new alternatives for it. So buckle up, because this is a long one.

To address this, I’m going to take a detour: I want to start talking about what happens to people after Azkaban. Sirius is an innocent person that goes to prison (which is not as unusual as we want to believe - for example, in the US a study estimated that around 6% to 10% of the general population in prisons were wrongfully imprisoned; and this is just the people that can be confirmed without a doubt. On the other hand, for an in-depth analysis of wrongful death row convictions in different regions of the world, you can start with this resource). Aside from him, we only meet one other person who is portrayed as sympathetic and is sent to Azkaban: Stan Shunpike, who apparently jokes about knowing the Death Eaters’ secrets and is sent to prison for that (I was kindly reminded that Hagrid also spends time in Azkaban in Chamber of Secrets, but we’re going to ignore him/add him to the ‘innocent people sent to prison’ trope). Then, we have a mass of ‘escaped Death Eaters’ who seem to have spent the best part of the past 15 years in Azkaban. We don’t see anyone but Stan, apparently, complete his sentence. We don’t see what life after Azkaban looks like, but for runaways. But as Theo mentioned, it seems pretty clear Azkaban doesn’t even try to hide that its whole function is to punish, not rehabilitate or consider what happens after, and people are just meant to be there indefinitely.

We see Sirius suffer as he has to hide from justice, get confined to the childhood home he left, and lash out at people. It’s also implied he’s abusing alcohol and isolating himself - we won’t deepen on this topic, because talking about Sirius’ mental health would merit its own column. From Stan, we know nothing but that he’s taken hostage by the Death Eaters and Imperius’ed (poor guy, from the pan to the fire). And then we have the former Death Eaters, who run straight back to Voldemort. Now, I’m not going to be the first one to say that the ‘metaphor’ of fascism that JKR tried to write with the Death Eaters is pretty lacking (I can’t find those metas so if anyone remembers reading something like that, let me know to link them), in the sense that she tries to make the ‘bad people’ very monstrous and easy to identify. Also, the Death Eaters work as an extremist cell more than as an institutionalised group that gains official support through legal means, like fascist regimes did. The books do portray how extended the prejudices against Muggles are in the ‘good people’ that are not Death Eaters, which is a common trope of societies before a fascist regime takes hold, but this seems more of an accident than an authorial intent: We see people like Hagrid, Arthur and Sirius who treat Muggles and their stuff as inferior/quirky/useless. JKR doesn’t seem to acknowledge how the actual pipelines into authoritarianism work, and how vulnerability, liberalism and Estate abandonment play into it, but the books do portray prison not doing a thing to change the ideological takes of the Death Eaters, and some seem to even get more radical in their views.

So considering this, do you think there was justice, when it comes to the people that went to Azkaban and then escaped? Did Neville have justice, for example, because Bellatrix was sent to Azkaban? Was that justice dependent on her staying in prison? Or did it depend on her changing her stance on the torture of the Longbottoms, or Voldemort? Would it have been better if her Vault would have been assigned to Neville, his grandmother and uncle? Or maybe if the Ministry made an annual commemoration of the losses of the first war, assuming their own mistakes that allowed the Death Eaters to cause havoc, and recognized the suffering of the Longbottoms’ family? Would it have been better if the Longbottoms hadn't been the butt of the joke for half the wizarding world?

And to make it more muddled, what about Karkaroff? Was it fair that he got free to leave his former life as a Death Eater behind, to become the Headmaster of a school, just because he accused other people? Was that enough - turning his back on his former mates - to make up for participating in an organization that murdered, destroyed, and terrorized people? Was that enough to let him get to another country and act like nothing had happened, to be in charge of educating people on the arts of magic?

And the thing is, what other destiny could any of the people that went to Azkaban have had - whether they were guilty or not? If Azkaban is a torture chamber, then what could have happened after? How can anyone - not only the Death Eaters, but Sirius and Stan - be anything but broken, to say it in a simplified way, when they have been torn down for years upon years?

I don’t have clear answers either - as Theo mentioned, prison abolitionism is a lot about having imagination. It is about imagining with others, too, and discussing what could be, how it could be, and where we could go. But I do think that defining some terms might help here - and here is where I want to dig into the ideas of justice, into some approaches that exist when dealing with criminal behaviour. We hope you do the exercise to think of this in a realistic manner, instead of just trying to think of extreme cases and how they would challenge this. I know it can be hard to swallow these ideas when we think of people that abused us personally. I know it can be even more challenging when we think of agents of the State that actually violate human rights. There’s a whole other chapter to write about police abolition, State crimes, and the demand to ‘forgive’, that transitional justice (the justice centred in post-authoritarian regimes) a lot of times carries, as a mandate that dehumanises and actively damages people. I’m going to talk about this a bit further down, so just roll with me for a second as I cover the basic themes.

I want to discuss three forms of justice, that are the main ones I know: retributive, restorative, and transformative. Retributive justice is the general model of “western,” postcolonial cultures. It basically states that, when a person trespasses a norm established by society, they are supposed to pay in a way that’s proportional to the damage done. This type of justice focuses on how to administer punishment, and so understands justice in that sense: a person does something bad, that person has to pay for it in an equivalent way. In these models of justice, the damage, in general, is not focused on the victim: the damage is done to the society, by breaking “the social pact.” Reparations for victims are not the focus: they come mostly as an afterthought, in the form of civil action that victims can take to demand the State pay reparations. The State, then, is the agent of this type of justice, and it does so to “avoid revenge.” Proper punishment is the question that retributive justice has at its core.

In restorative and transformative justice we have a shift in the discourse and goal. There is discussion about how different these two approaches are, and some authors propose they are two takes in the same general frame, but this varies greatly in different contexts that understand the two issues they frame with different levels of interconnection. Basically, restorative justice centres its focus on the person harmed. Not the State anymore, but the victim and their dignity and rights. In the transformative justice approach the focus is also victims, but it understands justice and power within a complex of systemic issues that include racism, patriarchy, segregation, and xenophobia, amongst others - which means that, whereas restorative justice proposes a change in relationships, underlined by violence rooted in systemic and cultural causes, transformative justice does so while framing the need for institutional, cultural and collective changes in a more direct way. In both these approaches the discussion centres around how to stop the damage from having more negative repercussions and how to avoid boundaries being broken again, which includes people taking accountability in a proper way. This is proposed to happen mostly by making changes on how we relate to each other, how we build and change unhealthy communities to ensure the safety and happiness of people. The goal is to have an answer on how the damage is addressed, and lastly, on what we do with people that violated this “social pact,” considering they are still human beings and part of those communities.

I know a lot of us might struggle with these ideas. We want justice, and we think justice equals revenge. We think that we need to put away people that hurt others; better, even, if they rot in a cell, with all their rights stripped away, and with all their connections severed. We are taught that transformative and restorative justice are ways for people to get away from their crimes. “People don’t change” we are told from the media, and “it’s easy to separate good guys from bad guys - sometimes, you can just take a look at them and know they are bad!”

I hope you can see how dangerous that last phrase is, and how these ideas can impact marginalised groups. I hope that, by seeing our exaggeration of these arguments, you can start to notice how at the base of retributive justice, there’s a problem about what to do with people after they break the law. There’s also a problem with a system that thinks that people change because they are punished, that believes there are good and bad people and that keeping them apart is how to keep the system going, and that things are clear cut and easy.

Most of the time, I’m afraid, they are not ... And punishment has been proven over and over again to be terrible at actually achieving change in behavior - it’s actually pretty stupidly bad, when you check the long term evidence, no matter how much you might have been bombarded with examples of sad-looking dogs and pigeons that were tortured in old-time, white psychologists’ labs.

What transformative and restorative justice do, on the other hand, is not avoid justice. If anything, they build a type of justice that can be even harder to achieve: restorative and transformative justice focus on accountability and reparations, acknowledging that damage cannot be undone, and that damage is first and foremost interpersonal, but that public recognition and action plays an important role in restoration. They re-centre the people that were hurt, what they need, and what the community needs to change. These approaches to justice, we want to be clear, are not focused on the Christian value of forgiveness. They do not imply that the victim has to forgive who damaged them, nor turn the other cheek. There is no need for a person that was directly hurt to live with their aggressor, nor to want to keep them in their lives. Justice, in these cases, does centre on showing the trespasser the damage done and, in doing so, finding ways towards reparation, established by the people and communities that were hurt. What transformative justice focuses on is the systemic changes that are slow to achieve, and won’t be reached or enforced from one day to another, but that can make a perdurable impact in people’s lives.

These approaches, thus, don’t focus only on how to give a fair “sentence,” but also how the rest of us, as part of different societies, get involved in the process of ensuring the integrity of the rights of the victims and, ultimately, transgressors too. This issue - the rights of people that hurt others and how they might need repairs from previous damage too - is a huge issue, though, so I won’t deepen on it and we’ll leave that for another column.

Discussing transformative justice allows us to look at Sirius’ story, and think, first, how a process centred on transformative justice could have taken place to ensure he wasn’t unfairly imprisoned, yes, but also how the English Wizarding Society needed to answer to Harry, to the families of the Muggles Peter killed, and to the people that loved James and Lily. A process like this would also focus on how to stop things like the first war and the murder of the Potters from happening again, doing so by building strong communities with the capacity to connect with people. It would focus on how prejudices played a role in Sirius’ imprisonment, and how to restore his rights after they were stripped away.

A focus on restorative and transformative justice could help us write Sirius’ life after Azkaban, in worlds where he doesn’t die, because these approaches have also discussed the impact of imprisonment on a social and psychological level, bringing to the table how it’s impossible to have proper retribution when the weight of imprisonment extends well beyond the sentence served - and as I’ve hinted, this could be discussed further in the effects of Azkaban on Sirius’ mental health, including the experiences that can be read from a lens of PTSD and substance abuse.

In a world of transformative justice, we could ask ourselves about what to do with the Bellatrixes, with the Tom Riddles, but we could also ask ourselves what to do with the Peter Pettigrews, the Severus Snapes, the Regulus Blacks, the Narcissa Malfoys and the faceless werewolves that align with Voldemort - both before and after they hurt people. With an approach centred on transformative justice, we could start by discussing Sirius’ unfair imprisonment, but we should also discuss the inhumanity of Dementors, the conditions in which werewolves and creatures are kept, and the utterly ridiculous justice system in Harry Potter that takes a kid and puts him in front of all the Wizengamot to be expelled, without a chance of knowing his rights. We could discuss how you can always send someone innocent to the horrible place that Azkaban is, and how, if at all, Bellatrix's imprisonment gives justice to the Longbottoms, to Neville, his uncle, his grandmother, and the friends they had.

In a world of transformative justice, Sirius wouldn’t have ended up in Azkaban, but none of the “bad guys” would have ended up “not paying” and escaping just to build right back where they were before, either. The wizarding world would have had to start by recognizing how that’s just an extreme version of something that’s very much alive and central to its own institutions.

We know these are heavy topics and it might feel banal to some of you to discuss them in the context of fandom, and of the Harry Potter fandom, at that. But we think that writing and reading Sirius and the first and second war from these perspectives is a great way of engaging with these topics and the tensions they bring. Writing and reading about this can help us decide how to position ourselves when it comes to topics like damage, reparation and justice. For now, we want to invite you to question yourself about how you think about justice, what is justice for you, and further the conversation by addressing how we can learn from unfair imprisonment to move towards conversations that centre around marginalisation and reparations in the world, from this small corner of fandom. 

Colourfully,

Moth

#colorful column #prison abolition #cw fascism #cw state violence #both just mentioned #Sirius Black meta #wolfstar in color

[wolfstar-in-color]

[ID: Sirius and Remus lounge on a brown sofa as a warm light glows through the window behind them. Sirius reclines against the arm of the sofa, his school shirt and Gryffindor tie rumpled. He has warm medium skin and shoulder length curly black hair. He looks at Remus as if mid-sentence, and rests his left arm on Remus’s shoulder. Remus sits up, an open book in his hands that he looks down at. He wears gray slacks and a sweater over his school shirt. He has warm light skin, short wavy blonde hair, a sharp jaw, and a few scars across his face. End description.]

little wolfstar warm-up for your wednesday

#wolfstar #remus/sirius #swifty-fox

[wolfstar-in-color]

Weekly Fic Rec

Fic: but in time all the flowers turn to face the sun, @the-crownless-queen

Rating: T rated

Genre: Fix it, found family, wolfstar rises Harry, gender bend, trans Harry Potter.

Word count:  23520, one shot, completed.

Summary: An act of kindness can change a lot. :: In which Harry is a girl and wants to become a Healer, but neither of these really matter as much as the family she builds around herself.

Major CW: Mentions of transphobia and racism (nothing directly portrayed), acculturation issues, mentions of slavery (house elves) and references to prison violence.

Mod Moth thoughts: This fic has brought me so much joy. I don’t usually read Harry-centric fics, and so you should know that Wolfstar is just a side pairing here, but this fic really stole my heart. Harry gets everything she deserves here, without major drama about her journey to come to terms about being trans: it’s just one fact about her, and that’s it. We get to see her beautiful friendship with Ron and Hermione, but also bonding with the girls in the dorms and god, but her relationship with Madam Pomfrey - who’s her mentor here - is absolutely amazing. And while I really, really appreciate adults acting like adults for once here, and really protecting Harry, more than anything what made me fall in love was the rhythm of this fic, the way it flows and works the fanfiction genre by playing with what we already know and what’s new. A fic that had me pacing myself  to read it over a week, because honestly, I just didn’t want to leave this universe.

Read it on AO3!

#tz reblog #gender rep #race rep