Yanina and Peter are an interracial couple.
She is white and first/second-generation Eastern-European American.
He is Black and multiple-generation African-American and Caribbean-American.
Yanina is from working-to-middle-class people. Her family began late in the 20th century to arrive in the US from political upheaval in Eastern Europe. Elders worked in factories and mills in the new country to eventually starting their own businesses and branching out on a whole in different fields. They still remember their Eastern-European roots by frequenting other Eastern-European cultural businesses, eateries, as well as creating opportunities within their communities.
Peter is from upper-class people. His family is Old Money. Between ancestors buying loved ones early to live in small enclaves, outsmarting the system, investing amongst themselves and in the broader American scale, helping other Black people to build larger communities as well as intermarrying monied West Indians and wealthy Africans, his family's different branches are at varying levels of wealth.
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I have established that Yanina grows up in a lower-middle income neighborhood. She is also around different ethnic groups. Her friendship circle has been diverse.
One thing I wanted to establish is when Yanina and Peter are dating, that he IS NOT the first Black person she has interacted with! Though I'm a sucker for interracial romance, I can't stand that trope, and it is usually with a white person dating outside, that this is the first encounter of the 'other' when they end up in a romantic relationship!
Now, I understand certain cultures discourage inter-dating, and even dating on a whole. Those are exceptions. What I will not tolerate in the stories I enjoy is when the white (or any other race/ethnicity) character is inter-dating someone and they have NEVER interacted with those people beforehand! Especially when the character lives in a multicultural community!
I can understand if you've never dated an Eastern-European, but, depending on where you live, I'm sure you've gone to school with/bought from/or even been assisted in a medical office by someone who is Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, or Russian.
You don't know how annoyed I get when, in most comedy shows, the white character dates someone outside their race, and they say "I have never interacted with someone like you before!" No no no no no no NO.
Though Yanina dating Peter is dating a Black person for the first time, it is NOT her first time being around Black people. She's had Black schoolmates, she has Black friends (NOT 1. Or 2. Or 3. She has MANY). She's had Black teachers, and, as an adult, has Black coworkers. She also is an aspiring spoken word poet and looks up to many poets, not all of them white, and her mentors are Black and from other ethnicities as well.
As I said before, there are always exceptions and valid excuses, but it gets annoying when there are obviously other folks in these characters' worlds and they only interact with them when they're dating or in a romantic relationship with them?
So, my question to those other stories: if that couple breaks up, does the character NEVER EVER INTERACT with that group again?
Makes no sense! Especially when one lives in communities that are often than not, diverse.
Thank you for allowing me to rant, dear readers and we will see each other again!
I think it's a given that if you've been reading my blog, I have very strong opinions.
I also like being as informed about a variety of topics.
I don't shy away from being uncomfortable when learning about new things.
I also try not to lay the emotional burden of information on friends and loved ones by trying to teach myself or passively learn from others who have already uploaded blogs, videos, and/or any kind of research.
So... SUMMER TO WINTER is a fluffy Slice of Life/Romance Comedy/School Life webcomic. But it will deal with topics such as racism, colorism, sexism, misogyny, health care, mental health, the state of public and private education in the US, as well as a host of other topics and social/societal issues.
Sexual acts and intimacies will be discussed between partners, spouses, and lovers in healthy ways. I will try to encourage and promote healthy romance (this does not mean CLEAN ROMANCE. There are other writers for that) and downplay and even discourage toxic relationship views.
My characters communicate. They talk a lot. I do, too, and what didn't help was I was a substitute teacher, a speaker at various functions such as Career Days, New Student Orientations, and workshops, as well as I was a former college lab tutor. But as an Introvert, those moments were also hell, no matter how small or large the crowd was.
I was raised by a school teacher and well-read and well-informed parents. Politics will be mentioned. Religion and Faith beliefs, too. My cast of characters are inclusive and varied, so cultural ideas will be mixed in as well as gender diversity. People exist and so they will they exist in my webcomic.
Childbirth, adoption, and fertility will be mentioned. As a chronic health sufferer, chronic conditions, autoimmune disorders, allergies, and disability will be in my story.
Even though the story is romantic, even though it is comedy, I want to include these because my characters deserve joy and love and affection in whatever form those come in.
Just as I do. And you, dear readers. Even you.
Sorry I have been MIA... A lot going on but I still want to keep this blog going.
First, still dealing with house issues: insects, cracks, and my mother had to terminate at least two contracts, one dealing with clearing out the vents.
Had to give up my web host as their costs became even more expensive.
Next, still trying to working from home as my health has gotten even more unpredictable.
Because of my 2022 medical emergency, I had to put off things to set up for my freelancing.
That meant putting off watching virtual and online classes to teach myself new art software and illustrator applications - I couldn't sit up for long periods and I stopped sleeping in my bedroom.
After all this, I needed to change my health insurance.
I also couldn't set up a new website. Plus, I was still debating which hosting companies to use.
I also ended up getting stiffed by a webhost company that did not even have the common decency to have their call times and days on their website, the host never even answered my question about logging in.
I went off on them in an email and they had the nerve to send me the WHOIS registry rules (which I already know as my previous website was 15 years online!) and nothing else!
I will be dissing them online.
Now here are some good news: SUMMER TO WINTER the webcomic is now official on my old Tumblr account! I created a secondary blog to host the webcomic. Soon, when I have my website, I might migrate it.
Summer to Winter is also on ComicFury, a longstanding webcomic hosting cooperative I learned about on YouTube
It is also on GlobalComix, a comic platform that showcases independent comics, small publisher, large publisher, and self-published comics! They also have a YouTube channel and offer workshops as well as podcasts and articles about their company and the comic industry.
So, my webcomic is in good hands!
I will be uploading an episode per month. Sorry, this is my speed for now. Who knows how much faster or slower I will be in the future?
Summer to Winter already has five episodes up and an upcoming special for the March month!
See you in the next post, Dear Readers!
I like revising and updating my webcomic hashtags/keywords. Had ‘public schools’ as one but, after going through a manga/manwha/manhua site, will be changing to ‘school life’.
This will be more inclusive since my #webcomic will be involving scenes and situations in an educational environment. Many of my characters are educators. My protag and the rest of the cast often discuss their school memories or what they're experiencing now.
Also, the webcomic won't just be in public schools, but private(parochial) schools, academies, colleges, universities, technical/vocational schools, HBCUs, boarding schools, PWIs, and satellites.
