• [Random] Thoughts,  Black[ness],  YouTube[r]

    QAC 44 – Dear White People: About “People of Color” (POC) | A Rant

    i’ve long since had issues with how some people, specifically white people, repeatedly misuse the term “People of Color” (aka “POC”). at long last i’m finally putting my frustrations into words in the hope of bringing awareness to these issues. in the interest of being as brief as possible, in this video i’ve summarize my issues regarding white people’s usage of this term into two points: treating POC as if they are a homogeneous group. ( @00:29 ~ ) treating whiteness as if it is the default not only in one’s own country, but internationally. ( @4:12  ~ ) obviously when people who consider themselves to be allies to POC make such mistakes the mistakes are honest ones with no ill intent behind them. however, that does not change the fact that mistakes are being made and that these mistakes should be corrected. if you consider yourself to be an…

  • [Random] Thoughts,  Art[sy Fartsy]

    2015 in selfies

    as 2015 comes to an end, it’s time for my annual photo dump. i usually post my annual photo dump elsewhere on the web (i have far too many blogs), but as i was tagged on here by @bi-gray, i figure i’ll post the selfie portion of it on this blog for once. i am going to ignore the rules of the Tumblr meme, though, and post more than 6 photos. i also won’t be tagging anyone because i suck at that. instead, i welcome everyone to take the chance to reflect upon the past year through selfies or photos in general. 🙂 for me, 2015 was a year of working on my left sleeve (which took 9 months to complete), parking myself in various cafes for hours, doodling random stuff, embracing smartphone photography à la Instagram and continuing to learn more about myself while learning to be proud of…

  • [Random] Thoughts,  Black[ness]

    that feel when: Race / Culture

    that feel when you’re with a group of friends and everyone’s bouncing off of each other talking about the difficult life shit that they deal with, then you chime in mentioning stuff that has to deal with race / culture and suddenly things get quiet… ….because, you know. everyone else in the group is white and doesn’t know what to say. opps. the race / culture thing. shouldn’t have gone there with you guys, huh?

  • [Random] Thoughts,  Black[ness],  Japan[ese]

    western bullshit travels & comes out of the mouth of babes. ugh.

    …in one of my classes today we were discussing colors and food. we were in the middle of discussing food that’s yellow and someone’d said banana, so i wrote it on the board under yellow. all of the kids were talking at once shouting colors and foods, but then one kid talks louder to try to get my attention. kid: ne ne! i heard foreigners call Japanese people “yellow”! me: *quickly turns to kid wide-eyed* …what?? kid: yeah, like you know how there’s black people, they call Japanese people “yellow monkeys”. me: *staring at this kid totally wide-eyed and slack-jawed in utter disbelief* *in the seconds of silence while my mind’s thinking a million different things, a few other kids stop talking and stare at me having noted my odd reaction* me: *5 secs that feel like a minute later* that’s hella offensive, where did you hear– never mind, what’s…

  • [A]sexuality,  [Random] Thoughts,  Queer[ness]

    on today’s episode of #ConversationsWithMom….!

    ….so i just had another one of those crazy conversations with my mom (and my sister who was eavesdropping and repeatedly butting in) about sexuality that stemmed from her finally watching a documentary that i’d sent her about LGBTQ people in the black church. i mean seriously, it lasted over an hour and was all over damn place, so i’m not going to try to rehash what was actually said, but the highlights were: mom is still of the mindset that sexual orientation is a choice. she refuses to distinguish between sexual attraction (i used the word “chemistry” with her because she seemed to get that) and sexual behavior/actions one decides to take (or not take). ugh. both mom and my sister think that “everyone is bisexual” because everyone could choose to have sex with someone of the same gender if they wanted to. bi erasure runs in my family, apparently. mom…

  • [A]sexuality,  [Random] Thoughts,  Black[ness],  Gender[queer],  Queer[ness]

    Documentary Explores The Reality Of Being Black And Gay In The Church

    projectqueer:   This week, BET premiered a documentary that shows the experiences of being queer and black in the church and explores LGBTQ individuals of faith navigating religious communities that provide support and belonging for one identity, but may reject the other. The film, titled “Holler If You Hear Me: Black and Gay in the Church,” looks at the intersection of black and queer identities that has grown more visible in the last year as black LGBTQ individuals and their narratives have entered the mainstream, from reality TV to scripted dramas and magazine covers. Clay Cane, the creator and producer of the film, told The Huffington Post about his inspiration for the documentary.  “With ‘Holler: Being Black and Gay in the Church’ my intent was to put the narrative in the hands of black LGBT folk in the church, and to hear their stories,” he said. Cane, a first-time filmmaker, has addressed…

  • 海外に行ったもうひとつの理由は、「どこかに行けば、もっと住みやすい場所があるのではないか」という自分探しの旅でもあったのです。海外を旅していて周囲からは「いいね、楽しそうだね」と言われたけれど、実は旅をしていた時が一番苦しかったと思います。

    逃げたいと思って行ったはずの海外はもっと残酷で、世界中のどこに行っても「She? He?」と聞かれ続けたのです。南極に行った時、男性とルームシェアをするのか女性とルームシェアをするのかで揉めた時に「世界の果てに行っても、性別からは逃げられないんだ。世界中のどこに行っても、自分からは逃げられない。」と気づきました。

    エジプトの砂漠で絶景を見て感動をしていても、心のどこかで自分の身体に苦しんでいる自分がいて「こんなところに来てまでも僕は自分の身体が嫌なんだ」と確信が生まれ、手術を決意したのです。

    ずっと生きやすい場所はないかと探してきたけれど、これからは自分にとって都合のよい場所を探すのではなく、今いる場所を気持ちよく生きられるようにしていこうと思うようになりました。

    杉山文野 - laph FTM マガジン Vol. 10 
    [Random] Thoughts,  Gender[queer],  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

    this quote though

    one more reason why i went abroad was because it was a trip for myself who thought ‘if i go somewhere there’ll be an easier place [for me] to live.’ while traveling those around me said ‘that seems fun, you must be enjoying yourself,’ but actually i think the time when i was travelling was the hardest. life abroad, where i thought i’d be able to get away [from it all] ended up being brutal and no matter where in the world i went i kept being asked ‘She? He?’ when i went to the South Pole i got into a dispute over whether to do a room share with males or females. then i realized ‘even if i go to the end of the world, i can’t escape being gendered. no matter where in the world i go, i can’t escape myself.’ even while being moved by the spectacular…

  • [Random] Thoughts,  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness],  YouTube[r]

    QAC 42 – Yokohama Rainbow Festa + Tokyo Meanderings | Tag Along

    Yokohama recently hosted its first Pride event, Yokohama Rainbow Festa! i decided to go and bring you all along for the fun. 🙂 it’s super rare that i find things for ace, non-binary and other lesser-known orientations at a Pride event,  especially in Japan, but this year i found quite a bit made by local artists. after Yokohama i headed to Tokyo where i met a new friend and fellow non-binary ace. we had yummy vegan food before heading to Shibuya where things got a bit…. Halloween-mob-crazy. Only In Tokyo, i swear. the video is long, but there’s a 14hr day crammed into those 17mins. 😛 obviously this jvlogger type of video is outside the norm for this channel, but if you like what you see give it a thumbs up! literally 2 full days worth of work went into this video, so this wont ever become a regular thing,…

  • [Random] Thoughts,  Queer[ness]

    #SpiritDay2015

    as a teacher i’ve seen and heard of a lot of bullying, especially here in Japan where, sadly, #SpiritDay isn’t even really a thing. even though none of my students will take notice of it, i’ll be wearing purple today in honor of #SpiritDay. ※ took it upon myself to edit some of GLAAD’s #SpiritDay images to make them more accurate about myself and included an illustration of some homophobic and transphobic things i’ve heard my students saying to each other.

  • [A]sexuality,  [Random] Thoughts,  Japan[ese],  Queer[ness]

    spotted: same-gender marriage feature on Japanese news

    there i was, doing stuff on my computer totally not paying attention to the news on TV, when i looked up and saw “LGBT” in big letters on the screen. i ran and got my phone to take photos lmao. the story was about an American and Japanese same-gender couple trying to get married in Japan. about how for the American it was so frustrating because same-gender marriage had finally been made legal in his home country, but here in Japan wedding agency after agency kept refusing them because they wouldn’t perform a same-gender wedding, but then finally after months of trying they found an agency who would wed them. they were even able to be wed at a shrine like they wanted. 🙂 in the end, they also got married in America too, so it was a happy ending! in Japan where LGBT/セクマイ awareness is extremely low and the…