A Rlly Good Trope Is A Teenager Who Was Forced To Grow Up Too Fast Suddenly Being Surrounded By Teens

A quick TLDR summary of potential words to use instead of “Tribe”:

- nation

- people/peoples

- community

- chiefdom

- kingroup

- village

- kingdom

- civilisation

- mob (used specifically by and for First Nations Australians)

Where to use each will come down to context

for example “chiefdom” or “kingdom” might be better used communicating the specific social/political structure of certain peoples, while words like “community” or “village” might be better employed by members of the community as a casual referential term (I.e. “we better get back, the rest of the village might be wondering where we are”)

Of course, (from me at least not necessarily OP) take this as a grain of salt as I am neither a linguist nor someone who has any real experience as part of a chiefdom, Kin Group or Mob.

My contributions are specifically based on what little I have picked up from First Nations friends of mine, and may not be representative of how all First Nations people feel about such terms. It is important to understand that while there may be similarities in social structures, different peoples (especially in Africa which had a vast variety of different cultures, physical and social/political infrastructure, and traditions).

So often people of colour are lumped together as all having lived in the same cookie cutter stereotype of what a white imperialist interpretation of a primitive society. This blatantly ignore the vast and incredibly unique and beautiful complexity of different cultures all over the world that are so much more interesting, in favour of not having to think about them at all or god forbid entertain the idea that there may be alternate ways of living than the one we are used to.

my first reading in my African history class this year is about why using “tribe” to refer to ethnic groups stems from a racist desire to make African conflicts sound primitive or stemming from a desire to pretend that these are just ancient conflicts that have always existed. great article and I also feel like I’m vicariously experiencing the bullshittery that this author has been subjected to from people they’ve tried to talk to about this. like the article remains extremely professional but you can just hear in the tone that they’re talking through gritted teeth, you can practically see the customer service smile

[ID: a screenshot from a section of the article titled “But why not use ‘tribe’? Answers to common arguments.” Under the bullet point for the argument “Africans talk about themselves in terms of tribes” is written, “Commonly when Africans learn English they are taught that tribe is the term that English-speakers will recognize. But what underlying meaning in their own languages are Africans translating when they say tribe? Take the word isizwe in Zulu. In English, writers often refer to the Zulu tribe, whereas in Zulu the word for the Zulu as a group would be isizwe. Often Zulu-speakers will use the English word tribe because that’s what they think English speakers expect, or what they were taught in school. Yet Zulu linguists say that a better translation of isizwe is nation or people.” /end ID] 

translation: “ ‘Oh ho ho but some Africans themselves say tribe!’ You dipshit. You fucking donkey. When someone has a word that means “nation” or “people” in their own language but then when they learn English YOU TELL THEM IT TRANSLATES TO “TRIBE” then THAT WILL BE THE WORD THEY USE. Maybe if you LISTENED TO THE LINGUISTS OF THAT GROUP you’d have more accurate information. Asshole.”

each point is repeated over and over with like five different examples because you just know there are dipshits out there who will keep arguing.

to the anonymous author of this article for the Africa Policy Information Center I hope you have a good day every day and experience fewer people being assholes about this, your patience is actually legendary

A Short Poem about Pain

I wish my pain had meaning

The foundation of my character

an apotheosis built on aching muscles

On digging pits for concrete in the rain

So that I may raise up a better version of myself

The bitter work that gave us monuments

So that one day we may wipe our brows

With the backs of calloused hands

And smile when others stare in wonder

And care to imagine the nature of its formation

I long for that fight

For scars others can trace with gentle hands

And understand just enough of the nightmare that left me bloodied, battered

Worn ragged but still alive

And I wish I had that comfort

Of running my hands over old wounds

To acknowledge that pain, see it plainly

Hold assurance in my hands, that proof

To validate it as it were

To tell me that was real,

That it might be over now

Instead I’m locked by my own hand

Lying in cool tiles, on stinking carpet

Staring at nothing at all

Nothing on my mind

No real sign,

no blood, no scars,

no story to tell.

Wondering how such pain could come from nothing at all

that ‘pakige?’ post but me, a couple hours after posting a fic, like ‘comints?’

I've been wondering for a long time which one of my OC drawings i should be posting first, and then I drew this shitty masterpiece and i figured we only live once so why the hell not?

I'll probs do character sheets later, but I have hands and a bunch of fully formed characters saved on my laptop so i may as fucking well make that you're problem.

(the tired millennial's name is Hokama Tora btw)

There's kind of a lot coming after this too, so... heads up. Been working on these poor assholes and writing a hell of a lot of notes on worldbuilding and character dynamics and plot.

Asks are open if you know... if you wanna... maybe... know more...

idk sometimes you just get off a writing high and you want to doodle Izuku from an au you made a bunch.

I really hate the concept of “little t trauma”. Hate it.

“Big T Trauma”, the logic goes, is for things that are “actually bad enough’, like war veterans or rape survivors. Or people who survive natural disasters or terrorist attacks or car accidents.*  “Little t trauma” is said to be for things like “interpersonal conflict”, infidelity, divorce, “financial worries or difficulty”, “legal trouble”, “death of a pet”, “bullying or harassment”, “loss of significant relationships”, or emotional abuse.*

And it’s bullshit.

*Examples taken from various articles on the subject I just looked up in preparation for this rant.

Plenty of people survive car accidents and sexual assault and war without lasting mental health issues.

The perceived severity of the traumatic event doesn’t actually matter. What matters is how your brain reacted to it.

You can have PTSD or other serious traumagenic disorders from bullying at school, or “just” emotional abuse, or neglect, or just from not having your needs met. If you’re marinating in stress long enough, it causes SO MANY problems.

Poverty is extremely traumatic! Your brain doesn’t necessarily understand the difference between “someone is routinely causing me serious physical harm” and “we run out of money for food by the third week of the month”. It just knows to interpret these things as threats to your continued survival. They cause you to produce stress hormones and other physiological responses. I’ve probably known people who have severe, ongoing issues due to just about everything on that list!

Your brain is trying to make sure you don’t die, and all the fucking logic in the world about “Well I wasn’t ACTUALLY in danger” or “Well she wouldn’t really have hit me” or “it was just kids being kids” doesn’t change that.

Every single trauma survivor I’ve ever known has thought that what happened to them Wasn’t Bad Enough to Count, because Other People Have it Worse. Every single one.

I think we’re so close to starting to realize that, as it turns out, a whole metric FUCKTON of people have experienced traumatic events and it’s affected a LOT more people than we initially believed. We’ve started to understand that it’s not just war vets who get PTSD.

But it’s like we’re desperate to come up with a reason that no, actually, it’s not that the systems we have in place routinely damage people severely - or that a lot of very common parenting techniques cause serious harm. We have to subdivide it further into little categories, and you should stop being so dramatic. OBVIOUSLY it that wasn’t bad enough. To be clear, I understand that this terminology was PROBABLY well-intentioned. “Look, a whole host of experiences can be trauma! We should acknowledge that!” - or at least I hope it was. But it’s that implied “[but obviously it’s not as bad as the people who have REAL problems. Don’t you know some people had to deal with TERRORISM!?]” that makes it bullshit.

People who are really struggling with awful, serious things already have enough trouble being taken seriously and taking their own pain seriously.

This concludes your irregularly scheduled rant about how mental health is discussed.

Having an OC story and characters that you’re overly invested in is really just being in a fandom hell with yourself and no one else

hot artists don't gatekeep

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

Height Weight Chart. You ever see an OC listed as having a certain weight but then they look Wildly different than the number suggests? Well here's a site to avoid that! It shows real people at different weights and heights to give you a better idea of what these abstract numbers all look like. Free to use.

Update on my MHA fic Blood Born:

Some badly photographed watercolour paintings I did in 2020 to cope with Quarantine.