We joke about the whole "talking about gender with cis ppl vs talking about gender with trans ppl" thing. But when it comes to expanding what's possible for queer children's literature, suddenly a lot of people are playing shadow puppets in Plato's cave allegory.

Someone needs to capture and upload this moment to Tenor

"when someone brings chips to the party"
"when your crush shows up to the function"
"hearing your dog chewing on something it's not supposed to"
"there's a sale at half price books"

The possibilities are endless. The memes write themselves

Trulyyyy the way cultures transform in different contexts

I think this is why over-simplistic views on diaspora and how cultures intermingle with each other annoy me so much. It's not a case of one identity over another. It's about an entirely new thing borne out of that intersection of history.

It even happens the other way around! When I write a Chinese character, my southeast asian-ness is assumed to override the purity of the east asian experience.

Based on the area/ generation, chindos can have varied levels of connection to their source culture. But to not acknowledge how that was systemically erased is ignoring the elephant in the room. So being told you're not SEA-enough when you had your Chinese name removed feels like a slap in the face.

Thanks! Ahaha I just realized i picked a bunch of blue pieces for this. But at least y'all get to see all the different ways I use blue!

Thank you!!! ❤️

Jes is the con man and Cin is the one voiced by j,k simmons