The Influences and Inspirations!

Just off my chest about #RepresentationMatters! There is a hashtag going around social media until it's expanded to Netflix keywords under certain films and TV series.

I remember in middle school, I started to write a comic called Cool Style Kids(original title by one of my brothers), 

Speak about representation matters concerning writing my Cool Style Kids now Greenview You when my French-speaking classmate read my comic and got excited for seeing one a character speaking French the word "deja." 

One title “Courage, Dana” about becoming a hero and how sudden fame can not only warp ideas about yourself but cause envy and jealousy among the people you thought cared about you.

How could one forget what started it all? How could I forget some of my earlier influences? The Boy Who Could Fly? And Flight of the Navigator? Disney once showed all their programming on a single channel - yeah, I know. In the new world of massive cable/digital/dish marketing, what a concept- 

 A series to fall for...

When I get hooked on a series, I really stick with it! Case in point: anyone remember Sweet Valley High®?

 

This was one of the first series I got obsessed with through peer pressure, but this was positive pressure as many of my friends and classmates I liked were reading it. Two identical twin sisters: white-haired blondes and blue eyes. 

Dealing with internet trolls

Won't forget watching the MV "Joanna" by Kool & the Gang and commented that since the song was about the fond memories of a former Cotton Club(which was segregated) star, who happened to be a Black woman, and how white audiences even loved her and a rando popped up disregarding my views that it isn't that deep. This was back when I used to argue with randos online. I don't waste my time anymore. No more "throwing pearls before swine" sort of thing. I'm going to block you. I understand more that insecure guys want to shut you down. Even worse when they see you present as a Black woman. 

When Your Experiences are Ignored and Dehumanized

The GOP are rolling back civil rights and human rights.

Bigotry keeps NO ONE SAFE. Being a bigot towards trans folks has not only put more trans and gender nonconforming people in more danger, but even folks who are cisgender(you identify with the gender you were assigned at birth) will get caught up in the danger.

I was that "tomboy" but parents encouraged me. I could play video games, watch science/nature shows, play with 'boy's stuff', could watch SFFH/cartoons on TV. One of the few gender-conforming was to wear dresses at church as a kid.

When I was in middle school, my voice changed and instead of it becoming higher, it got lower. 

I was already being bullied for being flat-chested. And now I was bullied for having a deep voice! 

Even when I began trying to be more feminine with clothing and make-up in my 20s, my "womanliness" was never enough. 

I was bullied for being a tomboy in elementary, bullied for not hitting puberty soon enough in middle school. And then, as a college student, when I did dress up, got attention I didn't want. 

I began going back to my tomboyish/masculine-presenting self from my 30s. I'm now 50 and am fully gender nonconforming. 

This is my version of who I am. People should be allowed to present any way they should without harassment and abuse.

Again, BIGOTRY PUTS US ALL IN DANGER.

I Hit the Big 5-0

Can't believe I, God Willing, will be reaching half a century. That's wild. 

With all my chronic sicknesses, disorders, and allergies I've gone through since being a toddler, I didn't expect to reach this age. Hell, I didn't expect to see middle school!

Imagine my utter surprise when I made it to my high school graduation ceremony! God is GOOD. 

But, be that as it may, things have not been easy to navigate. I didn't expect to reach adolescence, so I really didn't have dreams or plans once I got to college. So, I just focused on what I did best, which was drawing. 

Now, with an MFA, I'm managing some kind of adulting and still feel I'm messing this up. Funny thing is, so many people think I got things together! Yikes...

I'm just winging it, to be frank. 

About Journaling

"Bluesky Threads"

Trying to find the month and year I bought a journal before I begin writing in it... Yeah, definitely NOT neurotypical.

I have general journals for regular notes I take while watching certain YouTube videos. I have separate journals- 1 for my sci-fi and 1 for my fantasy. I ain't doin' that no more! Fantasy and science fiction can share a journal. They’re thicker than the journals I used to buy.

Also, the comic, Summer to Winter, has its own library. It used to share with other stories, but I quickly learned to give it its own journal "series."

FB is BS

Facebook has so many aspects wrong with it and I have loathed it since the beginning.

Someone said we need to dismantle patriarchy but not go to matriarchy because male virgins are sacrificed... Um, where did you get that from, my guy???

Here was my response: Lesley Tiyesha Phillips Yeah, no. Matriarchal cultures DO NOT SACRIFICE MEN. Check out the Tuareg peoples. I believe the Himba. And several American indigenous cultures. Some of the Polynesian, Samoans, etc. Matriarchal means centering those who are vulnerable in a society: the young, the old, and the disabled. Most of the sapient mammals such as whales, lions, hyenas, elephants, and many others are matriarchal. They also don't sacrifice their males. The ancient Celtic folks(Irish, Scottish, and Welsh) were mostly matriarchal as well.

I am so fed up of this platform and it's why I left and removed my membership from several groups and wish to join no new ones.😒

My webcomic is featured on The Duck Webcomics!

THE DUCK WEBCOMICS ADDED SUMMER TO WINTER ON ITS FEATURED LIST. You can check it out on: https://theduckwebcomics.com/Summer_To_Winter 

Deconstructing One's Identity

As a Black Xtian, though I grew up as a church kid: VBS, Sunday School, the whole nine yards, our parents encouraged reading and learning as much outside the faith. 

Our beliefs were to ground us and to lean on, but, we were encouraged to think for ourselves, think critically, not take all of the Bible literally, and which books were contextually to be taken symbolically. 

I have been going through deconstruction myself and getting back to my Blackness and my Caribbean identity more and more as I've gotten older.