Representation is a gift

When I began SUMMER TO WINTER, I noticed more than one brown or Black reader and/or friend asked if (Peter) Dunlop is Black. 

The relief and joy in their faces, or in their voices, or text messages become even more so when they see other Black characters of varying cultural backgrounds, on my Instagram page. 

And there is an unexplainable reaction when my readers realize even the white characters' cultural backgrounds are also explained.

Decolonizing my own work...

When I drew a cat character back in high school, this was around the time I began to formulate characters for my Tabber the Red series. One of the more important female characters, a male student called her 'thunder thighs'. A male character 'looked gay'*.When working on characters for my scifi dog comic, one athletic-looking female character 'looked like a lesbian', as if one's body type determined one's orientation! 

I have gotten a lot of flack, criticism, and insults towards my OCs (original characters) since I could put pencil/pen to paper. And when people attack my characters, I feel as if they're attacking me. One particular hurtful comment was when a close friend and fellow artist told me to kill off my main female character because she wasn't 'good enough for the main male character', who happened to be a gangster! 

Now you probably noticed a pattern here. Most of the harshest critiques are towards my female or femme looking characters. We already know why this is and I can discuss it another time, but, the point of this post is to understand how important it is to me as an artist to show diversity even within my speculative fictional worlds. That's why even my anthro cat characters will have locs and braids. That's why I make sure that this October artist month, when I show my Tabber the Red fantasy-sword&sorcery characters who happened to be tattooed, scarred, or wearing mendhi and/or henna, I put a footnote that all those body markings have nothing to do with war or becoming a warrior and everything to do with cultural/ethnic/tribal/national identity. 

Since I pull inspiration from real-life beliefs and practices, the same respect I will accord to others, I will do so for my fictional people. To me, culture and ethnic identity is important and not to be appropriated as gimmick or 'trendy'. I'm doing my research. I'm speaking to others. I will learn, so that when my characters express themselves, the identity will be as seamless as the 'air they breathe'.

There will be more 'decolonizing' for my OCs and in my writings. Just you wait and see.

*That character that was called gay? It seems that even if that person meant it as an insult, I realized while writing the character that he is indeed QUILTBAG and I'm writing in his sexual identity and orientation into the story. So, I guess that long ago person did me a favor by 'outing' my cat character! 

Sunday rant about Facebook's dysfunction

So sick of how segregating and silencing many of these FB groups are.

The Sailor Moon Fan group I just left wouldn't allow me to post a Sailor Moon Tumblr post (& I credited it).

This is the same reason I left that Women's Writer, Editor, and Agent group.

They allowed other postings but when I posted articles about Black and Brown women in the publishing industry, the moderator wouldn't allow it.

A comic book and collector's fan group wouldn't allow my posting about the death of a recent legend in comics who happened or be Black.

And the Science Fiction writer's group I left wanted to silence minority voices and tell us politics weren't allowed in scifi. Since when has science fiction NOT been political?

And don't get me started on the amount of Christian and Black History groups I had to leave because of that exclusivity!

Friends and family, if there's a group you believe you should add me to, please PLEASE do me and yourself the favor of checking how INCLUSIVE the FB group is. Because Facebook is such a dysfunctional corporate enterprise, this platform often reflects that. Thank you and enjoy your Sunday.