hi all! my good friend sun and i are starting up saffron lit, a literary + arts magazine dedicated to amplifying the voices of south / central / west asian + mena writers and creatives. we aim to provide a space for brown asians to share work joyfully & without being boxed into writing solely abt identity and trauma (though such work is also necessary & welcome!)
we are now open for submissions for our very 1st issue, up until september 15th. from poetry, fiction, scripts, visual art, and everything in between, throw us whatever you’ve got… we’re so excited to see your work! you can learn more about our submission guidelines here if you’re interested 💓
our staff applications are also currently open! we’re looking for readers + editors for poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and art, as well as a graphic designer or two. if you’re a south / central / west asian + mena creative and would like to work for our fledgling litmag, be sure to apply here!
We need to dismantle the systems in place that allow white people to get away with offering black people sub-par services based on the excuse that our bodies are more difficult to work with. Black hair is not more difficult than white hair, it simply requires a different skill set. Tattooing vibrant tattoos on black skin isn’t more difficult than tattooing white skin, it simply requires a different skill set. Photographing black people isn’t more difficult than photographing white people, it simply requires an understanding of photography. Doing makeup on black skin isn’t more difficult than doing makeup on white skin, it simply requires different products. Working with black people is not more difficult than working with white people you’ve all just been taught that it’s not valuable and therefore not worth learning how.
This is extremely similar to the dilemma faced by disabled people. It is no more expensive to design a building with ramps instead of stairs, it’s only when you create the building first and have to tear down the stairs and replace them that you incur costs. If we teach the skills of inclusion from the beginning, there should be no additional costs for services and accessiblity for anybody.
Initially I wasn’t sure I wanted to diverge from the axis of race over to disability, but I actually think that the analogy of that building and how it’s only after we’ve institutionalized inequality that costs are incurred trying to fix it, is a valuable one so thanks for the contribution.
when one character brokenly says “i have nothing to offer you” and the other character looks at them with fond exasperation, because there’s nothing else they could want except the gift of their love. that shit gets me.
So one of my favorite things about WALL-E is how, even though it takes place in a future where humans have screwed up the Earth big-time, and we’re living in this impersonal complacency dystopia and everything, all the human characters (or at least the ones we meet at the time of the narrative) are good people.
And like, in that vein, I love Captain McCrea’s arc—his sense of wonder at discovering the vast, complicated beauty of our Earth; his shift, when his romantic notions are shattered, not to despair but to heroism; the way he takes on the true meaning of what has been a cushy figurehead position, and becomes a real decision-maker and leader.
But another thing that always really catches my attention is the little scenes when WALL-E meets John and Mary. WALL-E doesn’t look or act like the Axiom robots, so they both react to him with some confusion—but at the same time, they automatically return his politeness. Just by the simple act of exchanging names, they accept WALL-E’s invitation to engage with him, and they begin to count him as a friend. John and Mary don’t do anything big to impact the main conflict or anything. But it means a lot that when their routines are interrupted by a strange robot, their first impulse isn’t to be annoyed or suspicious, but to be friendly and nice without a second thought.
And these positive qualities aren’t limited to the humans that have been directly touched by WALL-E’s eccentricity. When the deck tilts in the climactic scene, everyone reaches out and tries to help each other. Everyone cheers for the captain when he stands up to AUTO; everyone feels for WALL-E and EVE in their moment of tragedy. And everyone seems excited and hopeful about the prospect of returning to Earth and starting something new.
I just really love the optimism in this movie. I love how the story posits that being kind and caring and curious and brave really is the natural state of humanity, and it’s just that sometimes we need a little push to remind us of that.
This analysis actually made me cry almost as much as the movie.
Now YouTube has a habit of recommending me the weirdest stuff recently, but today i got this on my recommendations
And about halfway through listening to this, I went and read the comments, literally I could not stop reading I was there for hours, here are some of my favorites
First off, Oliviaalee’s channel is a godsend for writing. My favorites right now are:
