The Skellingcorner

writingwithcolor

Filipina-British-American Immigrant

Hey everyone! I’ve been following this tumblr for a while and I love it. Not only has it addressed problematic representations of Asian people in the past, I have also learned a lot on portraying other non-Asian people of colour. I’m currently working on an alternate universe-dystopian novel where the Cold War turned “hot” but with people of colour as the main characters. I have come across novels that portray this, but it’s often from a white person’s perspective.

While I am fully Filipina by blood, I identify as a Fil-Brit-Am: born in the Philippines, lived in England for 12 years and currently live in America. Below is what I have experienced and/or observed.

Beauty Standards

Just like what some people have said on here, whiter = more attractive. In the Philippines, walk into any beauty store and you’ll instantly see tons of skin-whitening products. With women, pale skin was a beauty staple; with men, being handsome meant being “tall and dark”, but not “too dark”. In England, it was such a double standard. I went to a mainly white secondary/high school where for white girls, it was attractive to have tanned skin (the more tan = more attractive) while girls of colour were seen as the opposite. In America, you were “exotic” (my situation) or shamed.

Daily Struggles/Culture

Oh man. Balancing conservative Filipino values with those of the less conservative English was a struggle, especially going through puberty. While it was normal for my friends to hang out in the park after school everyday, date who they wanted and just get home before it was dark, my parents gave me a strict curfew (always way earlier than when my friends would go home) and pressured me to not date until finishing college. Back then, I resented my parents for what I saw as my lack of freedom. Looking back now, I understand why. We lived in a neighbourhood where crime was relatively high and during the time, it was also where a surge of immigrants from East Asia flowed into the UK. As you can imagine, our presence wasn’t welcomed. My parents were simply trying to protect me.

Dating and Relationships

For a lot of immigrants, education was THE way to progress to a more secure future. During my teenage years, my parents emphasized this with the whole “no dating until you finish college and have at least some form of a stable job”. They mellowed out after some time. In some talks with my mother, she said that my dad and her would prefer me to marry a Filipino because they would have a better understanding of our culture. However, if he is a good man, loving etc, the race wouldn’t matter.

Food

In England, I discovered staples such as the “English breakfast”, cake with custard, scones, fish and chips, Indian curry while keeping to Filipino dishes at home (adobo, pancit anyone?). Even though I had the option to bring lunch to school, I decided to have meals from the cafeteria. Whether that was from a moment of other children thinking my lunch food was weird or I feared of being seen as different, I can’t remember. In America (with more diverse communities anyway), they’re more open to food of other cultures.

History Repeating in the Workplace

Philippines - you’ve guessed it: colonialism. From beauty standards to power, whiteness is seen as the best. Just like another poster has said, it makes me sad that Filipino culture has been eradicated through the ages and that I never got to experience it.

England and America - Having benefited from colonialism, there is a lot of colonial mentality (though subtle). From stories I’ve been told from my parents and their generation, this is common in workplaces. White people are fine working with people of colour until they hear that a person of colour is applying to be their manager. Then they suddenly have a problem (with the whole mentality of “people of colour can’t be leaders” crap).

Identity Issues

With three cultures part of my identity, I never really knew what my identity was or even how to identify myself. I always had the feeling of “belonging everywhere and nowhere” at the same time. it was only until last year that I discovered a term for it: third culture kid (or fourth for me I guess). Third culture kids are people who have developed multiple cultures from having lived in multiple places: one from their parents’ culture, one they grew up in and the third being a combination of the two. It has helped me with my depression, as it stemmed from the fact that I had no label to call myself while everybody else seemed to. If you are like me, I would suggest the book Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds by Ruth E. Van Reken and David C. Pollock. It helped me a lot.

Misconception/Micro-aggression/Religion

In England, discrimination was more towards the Asian community (in particular, the Muslim community despite living there for a long time). In secondary school (high school), I had the typical comments of “chink” and talking to me in a mocking Chinese accent. I remember one time when a guy asked me where I was from - I answered “Philippines” and he immediately said, “so basically Japan?” *rolls eyes*

As I was raised Catholic, the family went to church every Sunday. After some time, due to some pressure from my mother, I became an altar server. We became pretty close to the church community. What I didn’t remember is when we first attended mass, (as my parents told me later) they had openly looked at us with disgust. This shocked me as I couldn’t imagine the church goers being so mean. Talk about “loving your neighbour”. Makes me wonder what would have happened if I didn’t become an altar server…

Things I’d like to see less of

- Asian women being portrayed as submissive, shy, petite or as the Dragon Lady

- Asian women only being seen as scientists (with the whole smart, nerdy Asian trope). What about writers? Mechanics? Musicians? Leaders even?! One of my characters is an Asian woman who is an investigative journalist.

Thing’s I’d like to see more of

- Asian people being friends with or at least, being respectful towards non-Asian people of colour (in particular, black people). It’s my hope that my generation and the ones after ours will bridge that gap.

- That writers of colour get more representation.

I look forward to learning more from y'all!!

Read more POC Profiles here or submit your own.

POC Profiles Philippines pinoy Filipino Filipina poc in europe eurocentric beauty standards exotic relationships food colonialism identity identity issues third culture third culture kid micro-aggressions religion representation Asian East Asian southeast asian submission

sweetlittlevampire

Media Law report: check!

Sweet is rambling Student Life

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment worldbuildingjune

Day 17: Medicine

worldbuildingjune

Time to put our magic and science together for the good of mankind! Or to like heal a papercut, either way. But today’s prompt extends past the ways that we heal 2d6 damage to the face, but also how healthcare works in general in your world.

Are there widely available systems in place to help someone who’s fallen ill? What are the costs? Is there a cost at all or is it seen as something done for the moral good of curing a fellow person? How about mental health?

Also this is a pretty rad chance to talk about gnarly diseases in your world as well which may or may not have an accompanying cure.

Get Curing, and GET BUILDING!

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment worldbuildingjune

Day 16: Magic

worldbuildingjune

Zip zap! It’s Magic day! Today’s the day where you describe the systems of magic that exist in your world, or even just talk about the way people believe magic exists in your world.

Magic systems can be complex things that dip into sci-fi but if your system isn’t as ambitious, remember, as long as your systems and conceits are consistent, it’ll work within a world and story.

Important details to remember when thinking about magic is considering who can use it, what its limits are, how its learned, how its used, does it have a will of its own, what do others think of the use of magic? And many other questions since after all, magic has the potential to be a major force in your world, perhaps as much as any technology if its widespread enough.

No get to conjurin’ and GET BUILDING!

weneeddiversebooks

publishersweekly.com

The Art of Diversity: A CBC Panel

Issues of inclusion and representation in picture book art were the focus of a recent Children’s Book Council panel.

“Being authentic can also mean staying true to one’s vision. “I don’t think this is a secret. Most artists please themselves in their work,” Cummings said. Yet, once an illustrator has created something that pleases their own mind and senses, they then have the opportunity to step back and think about their audience. The question to ask might be: “Is there more that I can do?””

the-enchanted-storybook oakenfawn

culturenlifestyle

Whimsical Animated GIFs Capture the Beauty of Solitude by Ivy Berces

Sixteen-year-old artist Ivy Berces composes stunning whimsical illustrations, which pay an homage to the beauty of peace one finds in solitude.

Keep reading

Source: culturenlifestyle.com

writingwithcolor

goggles-and-gears-blog asked:

(1/2)So, my main character identifies as African American, but I am worried that I might have accidentally made it seem like only lighter/mixed African Americans would be of value? I tried to subvert the 'black men can't/shouldn't be fathers' trope, and so her biological father is a white man who abandoned her mother when he realized she was pregnant. Her mother and father are both rather dark-skinned, very smart (they both work at Harvard, or used to - her mother may have moved on), and happy.

(2/2)My main character would only know the second man her mother ended up loving, and it would have been most of her life - they met right after her mother was left, and although they didn’t start dating until my MC was about a year old, it’s been so long that she wouldn’t remember a time without him. But I’m worried - would people be more likely to see it as saying that white men can be less reliable than AA men, or would it seem like I would only ever write someone who’s lighter?

Subverted Absent Black Father + Single Black Mother

Mixed-Race Light-skinned MC

I’m not too concerned with the mixed race light-skinned Black MC. It’s always great to portray dark-skinned monoracial Black women, yeah, and when folks (who aren’t of the identity) constantly/only create mixed race characters, particularly light skinned, that’s when I feel weird. Otherwise, it’s never a problem in itself.

However, mixed race B+W doesn’t equal light-skinned. Genetics work how they want. Mixed race people come in all shades and hair textures. There are mixed b&w people with light skin and 4c afro hair, medium brown skin and straighter hair, dark brown skin and loose curly hair, etc. So your concern about writing someone lighter is erased if you just make her not so light.

My issue is the absent father aspect of your question.

Absent Father - Abandoned Black Woman

If you have the missing parent for essential plot reasons, then I won’t encourage you to write that out. I will tell you that making the deadbeat father into a white man doesn’t erase all harm. The Absent Black Father not only demonizes Black men, but, when one’s involved, devalues Black women.

Trace your logic. Why do we need to keep placing Black women in situations where they’re discarded and devalued? Subversion isn’t always desired in terms of representation. Personally, I feel that not perpetuating the harmful piece of representation in the first place is preferred to putting a “twist” to a trope.

Let me emphasize what Elaney said in the mod wishlist regarding the representation we (as mods) want to see:

Lastly, I personally do not want these tropes to be explored and subverted by people, I want them to be avoided entirely because I feel that normalizing positive representation rather than commenting on negative representation is far more beneficial and validating to the people these works are supposed to help and represent. We don’t need sympathy, we need empathy!

Your ask works under the impression that there has to be an abandoning parent element in the first place. Does there, truly, for significant plot reasons? There wouldn’t be a need to subvert anything if there was no abandoning parent in the first place. Honestly it seems more “revolutionary” to have two parents together these days. What’s cliche is there always needing to be an abandoning/missing/dead + single parent element going on.

Black women are often deemed as perpetually single, good for sex but not a relationship, and as the least attractive. Media conveniently considers romance overplayed when it comes to Black women, while white women in the same books and shows are given relationships. Tons of sh**ty articles and “stats” are published that serve only to call Black women ugly and unworthy and essentially just put us down.

By having this white man abandon the Black woman, it’s going down that same path of portraying Black women as less desirable and worthy of support.

Of course, these things happen, whether it’s a father devaluing a Black woman as the underlying reason or their separating under common differences. Such stories can still be written, and there’s indeed a place for them…in the right hands. It’s always best left to those who have the experience or those willing to dedicate themselves to research, fact and nuance-checking with appropriate beta-readers.

Giving the mother a new, loving relationship does help amend the Black woman/devalued aspect well, though. The new father being a Black man is also a positive touch. Giving the mother a support group (people who love and support her platonically) always helps too, especially during the time of abandonment, as would most suggestions in the Strong Black Woman tag.

~Mod Colette

goggles-and-gears Black Black women Black men Absent Black Father Strong Black Woman stereotypes tropes Single Black Mother asks

weneeddiversebooks

yesmagazine.org

Why Young People Need Diverse Books

All children need to see inspiring, courageous characters–who look like them–in literature.

“Research shows representation in the media is an important part of identity development, particularly for marginalized individuals. However, people of color continue to be underrepresented in many mainstream mediums, particularly children’s literature.“

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment worldbuildingjune

Day 15: Technology

worldbuildingjune

Time to consider the technologies present in your world! This doesn’t even particularly have to do with the futuristic technology, but could very well just be considering the level of technology in your world. Do they have computers? What sorts of manufacturing processes are available?

This technology level can decide a lot of later prompts such as what weapons are available? What medicines are available? What forms of communication are available?

But also you can use this as an opportunity to talk about sci fi concepts present in your world as well, which help drive plots.

Now go forth and GET BUILDING!

writingwithcolor shiraglassman

shiraglassman

There’s a new fantasy book out starring Muslim kids! Click here to read an interview with the author (the source of the pic above, btw) in which she reveals some interesting tidbits about her experience getting published, including the fact that if you wind up getting a book deal while you’re in college, they might count it as your thesis!

On to my review: In The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi, a Bangladeshi-American tween named Farah, And Her Two Friends, have to battle a sadistic, hidden game-master in order to rescue her brother from a board game. They have to play by his rules – showing up on time for each game, not making it too obvious they’re trying to bust out, and only looking for poor Ahmad during their few moments of free time. The games include, for example, life-size Mancala with holes big enough to fall into that are also full of bones, so the whole thing is very cinematic veering on kiddie-appropriate horror.

My favorite characters were the other prisoners of the game, who populate what’s basically a timeless Bangladeshi city complete with souk and palaces. The tween MC’s meet a mysterious woman who keeps feeding them decadent lunches and then forgetting them entirely, a cute guy in a hot air balloon who’s been trapped in this world since he was their age (I don’t think he was described as cute in-text but he appealed to me and I liked the resolution of his storyline), and best of all–a Resistance composed entirely of lizards, led by Henrietta Peel. Yes, a female resistance captain who is also a lizard. I sure hope there’s fan art!

The comparisons between the elevator pitches for The Gauntlet and that movie Jumanji are obvious, and possibly also to Labyrinth, but like JKR (who also built on the shoulders of MANY giants), Riazi shines most in all the bits that are completely new – the cultural setting, for example, and the surprise resolution. Warning for readers who are the type to get hungry for what they read – you are going to need snacks. There’s even a game about snacks–that was one of my favorite parts.

Props to Riazi for a poignant bit of imagery in which we find out, when Farah gets the chance to drink moonlight, that it “tastes lonely.” I love concepts like that. Also, Farah’s from New York City and has just moved to a less diverse school where she’s the only hijabi, so when she sees others who look like her in the game-world’s marketplace, her reaction is “the feeling spread through her, a gulp of seltzer, bright and bubbly…”

There are bits where I felt like the references to real life got too detailed–for example, at one point they have to do something reminiscent of riding a skateboard, and it’s not just “like riding a skateboard”, there’s an extra note thrown in there that it was her cousin who taught her to ride–but maybe these are there to give the audience a greater picture of Farah’s “regular” life since we only meet her the morning of her getting sucked into the game.

I would highly recommend The Gauntlet as a book to hand the young person in your life who’s into the “kids getting into fantastical adventures” genre. I did have a good time reading it, but I guess I haven’t read very much Middle Grade lit in the past twenty years because it did feel a bit young for me (but it should! I am not the target audience; I’ll be thirty-six this fall.)

TW for random blood and bones that don’t…. belong to any of the MC’s? Just used as horror elements.