Woke-ish: The Commercialization of Progressive Causes and Movements

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Isabella Danilejko
on
Scopio

Introduction

Welcome back readers.

This post will deal with faux-gressism and how being politically correct has been coopted by the media and corporations to seem woke without doing anything substantive to advance the progressive causes they claim to care about.

In the current political climate saying or doing the wrong thing could cost you your career, so often you’ll see people on social media spouting buzz words like inclusion, diversity or saying that Black Lives Matter or trans right s are human rights.

Faux-Gressives

 Now while some of them are genuine with their beliefs in these causes and movements, others have realized they can make bank by hopping on the band wagon of whatever cause is trending. And still others will virtue signal in an attempt to seem progressive when all they care about is gaining internet clout and woke points.

An example of both was how the summer following the murder of George Floyd, many people put #BLM in their bios, and in the case of many white editors they opened their DM’s to Black and brown writers. Yet, months later when people had moved on many of those same white editors ghosted the Black writers who queried them. An here we are over two years later and the  publishing has all but forgotten about The movement for black lives and resumed publishing the same white authors and their whitewashed stories.

A similar thing happened with Asian and Pacific Islander writers in the aftermath of  the Atlanta spa shootings last March. In both cases the response wasn’t authentic and done to seem like “one of the good ones.”

This is problematic for several reasons.

First, it tells communities of color they only matter when it’s politically convenient, something which we already know and are sick of.

Second, it shows us how little Faux-gressives think of us. We aren’t stupid and see your actions as the performative allyship that it is.

Third, it proves like we’ve been saying all along that the publishing industry could have been giving us priority but chose not to until doing so would get them likes and retweets. Moreover, it shows us how little Publishing values us and our work.  Repeatedly Black writers have called out Publishing’s race problems, only to be met with charges that we’re blowing things out of proportion or to be told that we’re being the stereotypical angry Black person.    

 If publishers and others who claim to care about Black lives, trans rights, and violence against the Asian and Pacific Islander community actually did, then they’d be implementing permanent policies to address these issues.

Instead, they post a few tweets and call it a day. Don’t open your DM’s to marginalized folks when doing so is trending, do it year-round. Moreover, don’t just tweet, donate to these causes and advocate for them because people’s lives are at stake. We aren’t statistics or a demo to be pandered to. We are whole people and deserve to be treated as such.

Walk the walk and don’t just talk a good game. Which brings me to my next point.

PC Police

Second to the faxu-gressives who are all about hollow actions, the pc police are all about words. They monitor others’ language and actions for anything that might be offensive, then rile up the internet hate mob. As with faux-gressives, they don’t do anything of substance to improve the conditions of the peoples whom they claim to be acting on the behalf of

. Instead, what happens is people dogpile on the offender, who then either doubles down, apologizes or is bullied off social media. This results in people becoming more polarized, marginalized folks getting more harassment from the other side attacking in response, and nothing changes.

This is bad enough, but there have been several cases of popular progressive YouTubers who’ve policed others language and behavior to hide their bad behavior.

 You have Onision who is alleged to have been grooming underage girls. Then there’s Shawn Dawson who is alleged to have asked several underage girls to make twerking videos for him. You also have Shawn Dawson’s friend James Charles who is also accused of grooming girls. Yet, because they are “progressive” they’ve been given a pass.

I don’t think I need to go into detail why this is a problem. There is no excuse for the above behavior. Instead of making echo chambers where criminals can hide, we need to focus on actionable ways to help progressive causes flourish. And that starts by allowing for dissenting opinions and open debate based on facts. However, this doesn’t mean entertaining Nazis, transphobes or anyone else who believes marginalized folks don’t have a right to exist or have the same rights as everyone else. 

But as I will explore next, even sincere movements have been coopted by corporate America seeking to make a quick buck.

Woke Capitalism

Anyone who’s paid attention over the last decade has seen a shift in how businesses market depending on the time of year. In February, they play up caring about the Black community by showing ads that predominantly feature us. Then they go back to ignoring us once March First hits. Then in June they turn their logos rainbow-color in honor of Pride Month. In November they go pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. In each case, these half-assed attempts are heralded as though they’re doing the most, when they’re doing the least. This is performative allyship at best and pandering at the worst.

Most of these companies couldn’t care less about these causes and communities as you only need look at their donation history to see that many of them support politicians who are trying to strip the LGBTQ+ community, communities of color, and women of their rights. They also have horrible histories when it comes to hiring from the marginalized communities they claim to support.   

Furthermore, in recent years there have been multiple reports of how companies like Meta (formerly Facebook), Apple, Google, and other large corporations have engaged in less than stellar behavior while pretending to be progressive.

In the case of Meta, they actively pushed misinformation and inflammatory posts to their users because their algorithms said those would get the most engagement, something which continues today. And when it comes to Instagram and teens, the higher ups at Meta knew that the app was detrimental to the mental health of their young users but continued promoting it to them. They in fact were planning a version of Instagram for children 10 and under. And they only reason they haven’t released it yet is because of the backlash they receive following the announcement of this app.

In the case of Apple, they make their products in countries where workers are paid slave wages and treated horribly.

As for companies like Google and Disney, they actively censor their products and media for totalitarian countries like China and Saudi Arabia, which have a long history of human rights violations.

Repeatedly we see Big Tech and large corporations willing to do and say anything to make money, even if people suffer for it.

Conclusion

And it’s this commercialization that I take issues with. People’s lives and existence aren’t something to be packaged and sold. “Black Lives <atter” isn’t a slogan to slap on a shirt and sell at the swap meet for $20. There are people behind those words, and they demand to be respected. Our elders fought and died for the right to exist, the right to vote, the right to not be gunned down in the streets like a rabid animal.

And how do we repay that struggle?

By turning it into a cutesy key chain or tote bag.  

We need to do better.

We can’t depend on corporations to do the right thing; we can’t wait for superman to save us. We have to be the ones we’ve been waiting for. It’s up to us to be the change we want to see. And that means voting with our wallets and supporting causes we care about, because as long as we live in a capitalist society, money rules the realm.

Call to Action

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. If you liked this post, please share it with your friends on social media and join my mailing list (link in menu).

Also check out  Palingenesis, my debut YA novel about a Bullied Black boy who learns he’s evil’s chosen one and must fight the devil to protect the boy and world he loves.

Character Profile: Matthew Mitchells

Introduction

This week’s post is a character profile of Matthew Mitchells, a member of Josh’s friend group, the Squad.

Description

Matthew Richard Mitchells is fifteen, five-foot-eleven, and 235lb with black hair and brown eyes. He’s allo, cis, het, and white.

Personality

Matthew is a jerkass with a heart of gold. He can be a bit of bully and takes things too far sometimes. He’s also rude and crude. But he’s there when his friends and family need him. Most of the time.

Likes

He likes grossing people out and offending them to see where the line is. He also loves working out and going four wheeling and mudding up north. He loves country music, whisky, and southern food.

Dislikes

He hates people who can’t take a joke and who are too pc. He hates cleaning his room and anything that involves him thinking too much, like reading and math.

Goals

His main goal is to bench 1000lb. Second, he wants to join the wrestling team and dominate like a boss. Third, he wants to go into business with hid best friend Henry Huntington selling health drinks.

Desires

 He desires to be strong, respected, popular, and for girls to sleep with him. Also, he wants to make tons of money.

Fears

He fears being a nobody, needles, and losing his bros Lance and Henry.

Morality/Religious Beliefs

 Morally he’s lawful evil and exploits all the loopholes in the system to get what he wants without regard for others, save his family and friends. Religiously, he’s Roman Catholic but only goes along with it for the sake of his grandmother.

Political Alignment

 He’s an anarcho-capitalist and leans heavily libertarian.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading. If you liked this post please share it with your friends.

Next week’s post will be on the commercialization of being progressive and woke.

Forever Young: The Infantilization of Gen Y and Z

Photo by  Maksim Chernyshev  on  Scopio

Introduction

It seems whenever the news isn’t trying to scare us with something, they’re trying to divide us, and one of the ways they often do this is by pitting generations against each other. Baby Boomers are entitled brats who wrecked the economy. Gen X are largely ignored while Gen Y(millennials) and Gen Z are painted as kids who don’t know anything and are constantly on their phones.

In fact, Gen Y and Gen Z often get lumped together and viewed as the same amorphous blob of people.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Older Millennials, such as I, didn’t get our first cell phone until college and we didn’t get the internet until our late teens. Whereas younger millennials like my cousins and Gen Z’ers have had this technology since birth.

 For instance, my brother Christian is seventeen years younger than me and is quite different from me. He grew up with DVDs, tablets, computers, and the internet since he was a toddler and spends most of his time online when not gaming. Whereas I didn’t get my first PC until I was thirteen and the PlayStation One was the height of gaming technology.

Moreover, when I was growing up, we played outside and only came home when the streetlights came on. Unlike my brother, who prefers socializing with his friends online.

Gen Z and Y often get confused with each other because younger Gen Y’ers share many similarities with Gen Z such as their affinity for technology, plastering their whole lives on social media, and a penchant for slacktivism.

However, despite how old we younger generations get, we’re seen as perpetual children.

The Kids Are All Right

The dominant image of millennials is that of the broke college kid who spends all their time with their face buried in their phones, but this isn’t true. Older millennials like myself are pushing forty, own our homes, and many of us have families and kids of our own.

Sure, we’re addicted to our phones, but so is everyone else.

 Moreover, younger Gen Y and older Gen Z have been adults and in the workforce for a while now. So, this picture the media has of us being entitled kids who don’t know how to hold down a job or manage our money because we blow it on lattes, avocado toast, and expensive gadgets isn’t true. Yeah, there are some of us like that, but that’s true of people of any age.

Furthermore, Younger Gen Y and Gen Z often get criticized for not being politically active, yet they’ve been at the forefront of many of the recent political movements. It’s Gen Z’ers like Greta Thunberg and Xiuhtezcatl Martinez who’ve been leading the push for climate change reform. Likewise, it was Gen Z and Gen Y who showed up in force at Black Lives Matter protests and who used their social media skills to raise awareness about George Floyd and put pressure on the DA until they brought charges against the officers involved in his murder.

Moreover, during the height of the pandemic, it was teens who stepped up to make mask and other PPE using 3-D printers and created websites tracking the spread of the virus and later websites to coordinates getting vaccines. All of this while the supposed adults in charge were too incompetent to do anything right.

So, this notion that the younger generations are naïve crybabies who only know how to complain about things without offering any solutions is false. We have our issues, but what generation doesn’t.      

Gen Y, Gen Z, Gen Whatever

All that is to say the whole debate over which generation is better or who had it better/worse is a ploy used by the media to keep us separated. The science behind cohort groups is flimsy at best and was created by demographers so that corporations could use this data to targets products at consumers.

It also plays into our egos.

No one likes to hear they’re getting old and no longer relevant, so when the media or a corporation comes along and tells you the younger generations are awful and nothing like your “good” generation you’re primed to respond to it. But the truth is no generation is perfect.

Conclusion

Whatever your generation, it doesn’t matter. We all have our struggles and triumphs. We all have things about other generations we don’t like or understand. And eventually we all become that gif of the old man yelling at clouds. But growing old is a natural part of life. Just because Gen Y and Z are younger than you, doesn’t make us kids. Respects us and we’ll respect you.  

Call To Action

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2021 Wrap Up

Photo by  RODRIGO ESTEBAS  on  Scopio

Introduction

Welcome!

As we move into the new year, I thought I’d take this time to go over how 2021 panned out for me.

Spring/Summer 20201

I spent most of the spring rewriting Palingenesis, and the summer getting ready for its release and trying to build buzz for it. I put a ton of pressure on myself and learned a lot of what to do better next time.

First, I’d invest the time into reaching out to beta readers and book reviewers in advance, so I’d have reviews ready on launch day. I’d also have a longer preorder campaign and offer exclusive swag to entice buyers.   

Second, I’d lower my expectations. I thought I’d sell way more copies than I did, and I was depressed when I only sold a few books. I’ve since learned likes on social media rarely translate into sales and that I must market myself and my work better going forward, which means getting out of my comfort zone and over my fear of public speaking and talking on the phone.

Third, I’d use the time leading up to my book launch better. Instead of worrying about every minor detail and whether my book will sell, I’ll spend that time outlining and drafting the next one.

Fall 2021

Due to lower-than-expected book sales, I spent most of fall questioning my worth as a writer and a person. I slipped into a deep depression and for my mental health, I went on hiatus from Twitter and other social media sites and from writing.

The time away from my WIP gave me clarity and showed me that I can’t tie my self-worth and identity to writing. My hiatus also taught me that I can and should do other things than writing.

Since taking a break at the end of September, I’ve rediscovered my love of gaming, drawing, and reading manga/webcomics. This experience has taught me that I can’t give 110% 24/7 and need breaks, so from now on, I’ll take the last three months of the year off. I’ve planned my writing schedule for the next few years and have factored these hiatuses/vacations into them, so there shouldn’t be any major interruptions in book releases (knock on wood).

Winter 2021

Like many people, I packed on the pandemic pounds, so I plan to spend the rest of this winter and the coming year getting in shape and eating healthier. I’ve been on the big side since I was a kid, but these last two years I’ve done a bunch of stress eating and am now close to 300 pounds, so I need to make a course correction.

I’m also going to get a part-time to help with my bills, which will mean less time to write, so I’m pushing back the release date of Pandemonium (Phoenix Diaries #2) to 2024. I’ll keep you posted if things change.

Conclusion

While things haven’t gone as I’d expected, I’m grateful to everyone who has bought a copy of Palingenesis. I’ll implement all the lessons I’ve learned this year and try to do better next time.

I’m not going to lie. It sucks that I’m not a best-selling author, but I’ve only just begun.

 Stay safe and may you have nothing but luck, love, and success in 2022.

 Happy New Year!

Home For the Holidays

Photo by  Adinarayana rao Rayavarapu  on  Scopio

Introduction

Welcome back readers. Well, with the Holiday season upon us, I thought this would be a good opportunity to explore how various characters from my novel Palingenesis spend this time of the year. But before I get to that, if you celebrate, what do you do? Do spend time with your extended family, or are you more the type to visit your parents and call it a night? Let me know in the comments.

I also know this time of year can be lonely and hard for those of us who can’t go home because of our sexual orientation or gender identity. I want you to know you are loved and valid every day of the year and that family is more than who you share DNA with.

Without further preamble, let’s dive right in.

Travis

 Whenever he can, Travis spends Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years at his grandmother’s. She makes all the all the food from scratch and lets him eat his fill without any comments on his weight, unlike his family. Then they spend time listening to old music on her phonograph, while she regals him with stories of her youth. And on New Year’s Eve she lets him stay up late and sip from her flute of champagne.

When he has to stay home, Travis spends the time locked in his room gaming or reading so he doesn’t have to deal with his family.   

Josh

 Josh spends most of his holidays with his friends when his parents aren’t home. For Christmas and Easter, he always goes to Midnight mass with Jason. Then it’s either back to the Jason’ s house or the house of one of his other friends.

When his parents are home, they have their meals catered and do a White Elephant gift exchange, which usually ends with him being stuck with the crappy gifts because his mother throws a fit if she doesn’t get what she wants. Then his father locks himself in his study and smokes cigars and drinks whisky until he passes out.    

Jenny

  When she has them off, Jenny spends the holidays making cookies and other baked goods for her friends. She donates the leftovers to soup kitchens. She spends Christmas day volunteering at a free clinic. As for New Year’s Eve, she watches the ball drop on TV while rereading Twilight.   

Agent Anderson

When he can get the time off, Agent Anderson spends Thanksgiving with his large family, where his older brothers make him feel like a kid again. He spends Christmas at the Nursery, the holding facility for metahumans (kids with superpowers a la the X-men), and passes out gifts he bought with his own money. He feels it’s the least he can do since many of the kids there haven’t seen their family in years.

Jason

After Christmas Midnight Mass, Jason goes right to bed and sleeps in the next day. After dinner with his family, he hits up his social medias trolling for hook ups. When Josh stays with them, Jason is on his best behavior. They exchange gifts and game awhile before bed, and all the next day Jason tries to make Josh feel like he’s wanted and loved.

He spends most New Year’s Eves at parties with David getting hammered and trying to pick up guys and girls to varying degrees of success.

David

David celebrates Chanukah with his immediate and extended family, who fly in from all over the country. They have a big family dinner on the last night of Chanukah, then exchange gifts.

 After his extended family leaves, David will have a small Christmas celebration with Jason and Josh, where they give gifts, mostly videogames or gift cards, and pig out on junk food as they have marathon gaming sessions.

Oblivion

As evil incarnate, Oblivion spends the holidays whispering to people to give in to their baser instincts. He delights in causing strife between family members and considers it a monumental victory when he can push someone into dying by suicide.

Grams

As mentioned above, Grams loves spoiling Travis when he comes to stay with her. But when he can’t, she spends the time knitting sweaters and socks for the homeless and puts her cooking skills to work making a feast for the less fortunate in her community. She also throws a charity auction for New Year’s, with all proceeds going to UNICEF. She and her friends also get together to exchange gifts and reminisce about old times.    

Rachel

Most holidays, Rachel is busy working at her family’s restaurant. When she can sneak away, she and her friends have a party at Josh’s house and sneak drinks from his parents’ liquor cabinet. Afterward, she helps her grandmother take plates of food to the elderly and poor in their community.

Once the restaurant is closed and cleaned, they got back to their house and feast on all her favorite Chinese and southern dishes that have been warming on the stove and in the oven.   

Brianna

 Brianna’s relatives drive in, and the kids spend the holidays laughing, singing, and playing games. The women help in the kitchen while the men drink and watch football.

She and her cousins dish on the boys they’ve hooked up with and the family gossip of who’s going broke, who’s cheating on who and with who, and who’s failing school. Unlike the rest of her family, they don’t make fun of her for not being fluent in Spanish or having darker skin.

Matthew

Matthew’s family alternates between going to his uncle’s house and his uncle’s family coming to their house. When at his uncle’s house, he and his cousins will sneak shots of Jim Bean, then load up on their ATV’s and go hunting for whatever they can find and eat what they kill. If they don’t bag anything, they’ll eat the meal their moms cook, which takes all day as they have so many people to feed.

When they have Christmas at Matthews’s house, he’ll sneak Henry over, and they and his cousins will have a game of football outside, even if there’s a foot of snow. By the end of the game, everyone’s tired, hungry, and a mess, so they take turns showering, then join their dads watching the football game on the big screen in the living room. When their moms aren’t looking their dads let them have a beer each. After eating all the men have to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen.

Henry

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only times Henry breaks his strict diet. Knowing this, his parents go all out cooking his favorites—double-fried chicken, biscuits and gravy, baked macaroni and cheese, turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, and pecan pie with homemade vanilla ice cream.

To work off all those calories, Henry hits his weight set, then plays two-hand-touch football with his cousins. This devolves into pick ‘em up mess ‘em up, and a fight or two breaks out until their dads tell them to knock it off and come inside.

At that point their Uncle Scott is drunk and ragging about the illuminati and Israel, so Henry and his dad have to drive him back to his house because he’s the only one Uncle Scott listens to when he gets like that.     

Conclusion

Thanks for reading and happy holidays, however you celebrate.

Call to Action

If you liked this post, share it with your friends on social media. Also, if you still have some shopping left to do books make a great gift.  You can buy mine here. 

Pobody’s Nerfect: How Idealized Body Types in YA Are Problematic

Photo by  Cristian Urriaga Sepúlveda  on  Scopio

Introduction

“My eyes traced over his pale white features: the hard square of his jaw, the softer curve of his full lips—twisted up into a smile now, the straight line of his nose. The sharp angle of his cheekbones, the smooth marbles expanse of his forehead . . .” –Bella, New Moon.

Sorry for torturing you like that, but my point is the characters in YA novels, especially the love interests, are often not just attractive, but modelesque.

Raise your hand if you’ve read YA novels where the teenage characters never have to deal with acne, bad breath, being under or overweight and it not being played for laughs.

Moreover, raise your hand if you ever felt like you were reading a personal ad the way some of these characters are described in such excruciating details. Sure, everyone enjoys some eye candy, but by making all or most of the cast attractive it teaches young readers the wrong lessons, which I’ll discuss in turn.  

The Plain Jane

Photo by Ramsés Moreno on Scopio

This first body type is the most common in YA and are usually the main female character and their basic descriptor is being average looking; some famous examples include Bella Swan form Twilight, Hermione Granger fromThe Harry Potter series, Clary Frayfrom The Mortal Instruments series, and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger games. The problem with this body type is that it teaches girls not to be okay with their looks. Often in these stories the message is, “OMG! that super cute guy likes me despite my plain looks.”

 Instead, we should teach girls to find a partner who values them because of who there are, not despite it.

The Plain Jane also trains girls to view girls more attractive than them as enemies, and that paradoxically looks do matter.

Mr. Perfect

Topless man in blue denim jeans with yellow flower on his chest

Likewise, the male love interests are almost always some Adonis who knows exact what to do or say to sweep the female protagonist off her feet.

This teaches girls to objectives male bodies and and gives them unrealistic expectations when it comes to relationships, especially when said male love interests are physically, emotionally, or psychologically abusive.

     YA novels need to have a more diverse spectrum of beauty standards for everyone and stop romanticizing abusive and toxic behavior like stalking.

Sadly, this is not the case, as I will show next.

Model Land

In these stories everyone is attractive, they can eat whatever they want, never work out, and still be in perfect shape. They never have to face the issues we mere mortals do. These characters’ defining trait is their attractiveness and they often fall victim to the designated love interest, and in the worst offenders, such as Tyra Banks’ (yes, that Tyra Banks) Modelland, they are literal models.

The problem with this is many-fold.

First, it teaches young readers to be superficial and that if they don’t meet society’s and the media’s expectations of beauty, then they don’t matter. That they have to strive for perfection in their appearance or no one will like them.

Second, it contributes to negative body image issues and issues with disordered eating. Young readers, girls in particular, are constantly being bombard with the message they have to be hot or they won’t find love and happiness.

Third, it’s unrealistic. People come in all shapes, yet rarely do you see protagonists who aren’t attractive, in shape, and sexually appealing and this needs to change.  

We need to see more diversity across the board, not only in appearance but in race too.

But not too Black: Colorism, Featurism, and Eurocentrism

Man and woman smiling

Anyone who’s followed this blog for a while now knows the lack of diversity in the media is a pet peeve of mind.

As I wrote here, YA and publishing in general has a race problem. Namely, they value whiteness above everything, and the result is European features are prized above those of people of color.

This Eurocentrism result is colorism, which is where Black and brown people with lighter skin are seen as more attractive. This manifests in YA by having the love interest of color be either mixed raced or very light-skinned, sometimes to the point of getting mistaken for being white.

The problem with this should be self-evident: proximity to whiteness has no bearing on attractiveness and arguing otherwise is just racist.

  This in turn results in featurism, wherein certain features such as straight hair, fair skin, and light-colored eyes are considered more appealing than those of Black and brown people.

The message readers of color get when they don’t find people like them in these stories is that 1) they don’t matter, and 2) they can’t have their happily ever after if they’re too dark or don’t have “good” hair.

The solution to this issue is simple: have more Black and brown people of every shade in your stories and call out writers when they engage in any of the above isms.

I wish race and appearances weren’t the only issues, but there’s more.

You Must be This Tall to Ride

Height discrimination is also rampant in these stories. Short people are often played for laughs and deemed unattractive—if they’re there at all. The issue here is that young readers are often themselves short, so having stories that exclude them, or worse make fun of them for something they can’t control, is bad form.  

The solution is to not have a character’s height matter to the story. Why must every story be about the stereotypical tall, dark, and handsome guy?

Short guys are hot too.

Similarly, stop with the stories that make fun of girls for being taller than guys, when girls mature faster than boys. Tall girls rock!

As I previously mentioned, another body type that often gets mocked is bigger people.

No Fats (Sizeism and Fatphobia)

Photo by Vanessa Vasquez on Scopio

In book after book, the fat best friend is relegated to the sidelines while their thin, attractive friend goes after their equally thin and attractive love interest. Moreover, fat characters wanting to pursue anyone smaller in weight than them is seen as comedic, again this is if they’re included at all. This is problematic for several reasons.

First, many teens and young adults struggle with weight issues, so to trivialize and reduce the problem to their not eating right and getting enough exercise is complete bs.

 Growing up stories were one of the only safe places I had. But I was quick to notice that people like me, Black and fat, were either absent or made fun of.

The truth is no one likes to be picked on, so stop with the fat jokes, fat-shaming, and fat phobia.

Conclusion

As cliché as it is to say, it’s true: beauty is in the eye of the beholder. No one should feel excluded or less than because they aren’t a ten or even a five. Everyone is worthy of love regardless of their looks, height, or weight, and it is incumbent upon us to make sure everyone knows this.   

Call to Action

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please share it on social media. Let me your thoughts in the comments below. And be sure to subscribe to me newsletter (link in right sidebar). Also, my book Palingenesis available now.

Review: Darius the Great Deserves Better by Adib Khorram

Set a year after “Darius the Great Is Not Okay,” “Darius the Great Deserves Better,” by Adibe Khorram, finds Darius Kellner on his school’s soccer team with new friends, an internship at his dream tea shop, and a beautiful boyfriend.

But all is not well: Darius’s parents are struggling to make ends meet following their trip to Iran, his sister is the target of racist bullies at school, his father is going through a depressive episode, and his boyfriend is pressuring him to have sex.

Also, he’s become best friends with Chip Cusumano and is attracted to him.

I loved the first book and wanted to love this one, but it just wasn’t as good. The plot was a hot mess and I felt Khorram tried to cover too much at once, resulting in book that lacked focus.

The magic in book one was missing in this one as Darius all but forget about Sohrab, only contacting him when he needed someone to vent to.

As for Darius’s grandmothers, Oma and Grandma, they were so underdeveloped it was hard to distinguish one from the other, which was also the case for most of Darius’s friends from the soccer team.

Moreover, the relationships between Darius and Landon and Darius and Chip lacked any chemistry, and by the end I didn’t care who he ended up with.

And speaking of endings, this one sucked. Things were building up to a climax and then the story ended without resolving most of the plot lines.

So many of the conflicts in this book could have been easily solved had Darius and the other characters just talked to each other.

I also thought the bi rep was awful as Landon, who’s bi, was depicted as only caring about sex.

However, I did like the mental health rep in this book. I also connected with Darius’s struggles with his weight and body image issues and liked that Khorram didn’t magically make him a ripped Adonis.

Overall, I didn’t like this book and only recommend you rent it from the library.

I give “Darius the Great Deserves Better” 2.8 out of 5 stars.

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram



My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Darius the Great Is Not Okay,” by Adib Khorram, is a YA coming of age novel about Iranian American teen Darius Kellner. But unlike his namesake, Darius is far from great. He’s bullied at school, his father is always disappointed in him, and he deals with chronic depression, feelings of isolation, alienation, and suicidal ideation.

Most of the novel deals with Darius’s struggles to fit in and his budding friendship with Sohrab, a local boy he meets while his family is visiting his mother’s parents in Iran, following the news her father is dying from a brain tumor.

At first, I found Darius’s speech pattern and mannerism loquacious and pretentious, but it grew on me, as did his geeky, poetic personality. I really connected with Darius’s struggles, as I dealt with chronic depression, suicidal ideation and being bullied too. And as a fellow biracial guy (Black and white), I know what it’s like trying to find where you fit in.

Darius reminded me a lot of Charlie from “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” which I also loved. He was both sensitive and geeky while being realistic, funny, and relatable.

Sohrab was the perfect counterbalance to Darius’s shyness and introspectiveness, and I loved how he was able to bring Darius out of his shell and show him that he is worthy of love and would be missed if he weren’t around anymore.

Though it’s not explicitly stated in the text, my interpretation is that Darius and Sohrab are gay and in love with each other. But you could also interpret their relationship as purely platonic. Either way, it was a joy to see such a great example of positive masculinity.

If I had one criticism, it’s that the ending was a bit too Disney for me; one argument/conversation couldn’t magically fix everything between Darius and his father, given that Darius has harbored years’ worth of resentment against his father and believes his parents purposely conceived his sister Laleh to replace him.

But aside from this minor issue, I loved the book and give it five out of five stars. I highly recommend you read it.






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Review: Last Gamer Standing

Last Gamer Standing by Katie Zhao

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Last Gamer Standing,” by Katie Zhao is a middle grade RPG Lit novel about Reyna Cheng, a 12-year-old Chinese American girl who plays Dayhold, a virtual reality battle royale game set in a world inspired by various Asian cultures and folklore.

Reyna’s mother is sick with breast cancer, so she works her butt off to get a scholarship to Dayhold’s summer camp, so she can win their junior tournament and the $10,000 grand prize to help with her mother’s medical bills.

However, due to the misogynistic and racist harassment she’s received in the past, Reyna elects to play under an alternate account, TheRuiNar, using a male avatar. Things go well for her until another player reveals they know TheRuiNar is Reyna and threatens to dox her if she doesn’t drop out of the tournament.

Overall, I loved this book; it was funny, action-packed, and a quick read. Reyna was adorkable and I felt for her, having to hide who she was for fear of reprisals from white gamer guys. I also liked her friends, especially Nell who was TheRuiNar’s biggest fan and hype man.

I don’t usually read middle grade novels, but I loved this book form start to finish. Though, I did think the identity of Reyna’s black mailer was too obvious a choice. I also felt things got repeated a lot.

That said, I give “Last Gamer Standing” 5 out of 5 stars.




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Review: Your First 1000 Copies by Tim Grahl

Your First 1000 Copies: The Step-by-Step Guide to Marketing Your Book by Tim Grahl

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

“Your First 1000 Copies,” by Tim Grahl is a nonfiction book that claims to teach you a step-by-step guide to building a system for marking your books.

However, most of the information is out of date, superficial, and geared towards nonfiction writers.

Grahl often repeats the same information multiple times in lieu of giving in depth details, and the book reads more like an extended blogpost.

Overall, this book didn’t keep its promise of teaching me how to market my work, as most of the information wasn’t relevant to me, or things I already knew from free resources online.

If you’re looking for a book on marketing your novels, then this isn’t the one for you.

I give “Your First 1000 Copies” a 1.0 out of 5.




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Review: The Perks of Being a Wallflower



My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Often compared to “The Catcher in the Rye,” “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, is a coming-of-age novel told in a series of letters sent from the protagonist Charlie to you.

Set in the early ‘90s in the Midwest, it follows Charlies through his first year of high school and his struggles with anxiety, PTSD, other mental health issues, and his quest to “participate” in life.


Charlie’s heart is a big as the universe, but he’s often naïve to the point of being cloying, the exact opposite of Holden Caulfield. As for his best friends, seniors Sam and Patrick, while they did get Charlie to come out of his shell, they also had the habit of using him as their emotional support and ignoring his boundaries.

This goes especially for Patrick who, following the breakup with his boyfriend, kisses Charlie multiple times without his consent. Then he leaves Charlie, a minor, alone at cruising spots while he hooks up with random guys.

The other issue I had with this book was the lack of characters of color. Sure, we’re told a few times there are Black students at Charlie’s high school, but he never interacts with any of them, nor are they ever mentioned except in a few offhand remarks toward the end of the book.

I loved this book when I first read in the early 2000s, but now that I’m older I picked up on a lot of toxic and problematic elements I listed above.

Ultimately, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is a product of its time, and while still enjoyable to read, it’s left a bitter aftertaste upon rereading it. I give it a 4 (3.8) out of ten.



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Review: The Catcher in the Rye



My rating: 1 of 5 stars

“The Catcher in the Rye,” by J. D. Salinger, is a coming-of-age novel about Holden Caulfield, who runs around New York City for several days following his flunking out yet another private school.

A perennial entry on the banned book list, Catcher remains in pop culture largely due to English teachers continuing to assign it, despite Holden and his world being so far removed from teens today.

I never read it in junior high, high school or college. So out of curiosity, I listen to the audiobook on YouTube when I was 25.

I loathed Holden and just wanted to slap him. My visceral hate of him, I realized was due to being too much like him, always complaining and generally being a jerk to everyone.

I vowed to change myself after that first reading, and while still a work in progress, I’ve gotten over my Holden ness.

I’m now pushing 40 and decided to read the book.

While I still think he is the epitome of white male privilege and all his problems stem from his pushing everyone away and not wanting to accept his brother’s death and his growing up, with the distance of age I didn’t completely hate him.

Granted, he’s still the whiny brat I remember, who constantly throws fits or leaves when he’s not the center of attention. But with the distance and experience of age, I see him fir who he is, a scared little boy playing at being an adult until things get too real for him.

Also, he’s suffering a psychotic break and is screaming for help from everyone. However, this doesn’t excuse his bad behavior such as narcissism, superficiality, hypocrisy, negativity, and habitual lying.

Holden and the other characters are as one-dimensional as they come, and so much of the story is made up of Holden’s inane ramblings about things he thinks are profound but are mundane and boring.

Holden says he hates people who repeat themselves yet does so himself, often only adding his favorite words (crumby, damn , goddamn). For someone who claims to be smart, his vocabulary is stunted.

While I get the importance of this book, I just didn’t like it and don’t see why it’s a “classic,” especially when the topic has been covered better on countless other books.

I give The Catcher in the Rye 1.0 out of 5.0 stars.

If you’ve never read this book, you aren’t missing much.








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Review: The Boy Who Chased After His Shadow

The Boy Who Chased After His Shadow by Jeff Jacobson

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


“The Boy Who Chased After His Shadow” ( Broom Closet Stories #3), by Jeff Jacobson, is an LGBTQ YA fantasy novel about Charlie Creevey, a gay 16-year-old witch.

Charlie along, his Aunt Beverly, and the witch community of Seattle, Washington, must stop Grace and her rogue group of witches from killing young witches to increase their power.

I wanted to love this book but it just didn’t do it for me.

First, there were the pacing issues. It took o we 80 pages for the plot to get going, largely because Jacobson spent so much time retreading the events of the previous books.

And when events would happen, you were treated to pages after pages of exposition with that ground the plot to a stop.

Second, I never feared for Charlie or any of the other main characters. The stakes were never high enough. While Grace and company were there, they were mostly a minor inconvenience.

So, when we’re told the Seattle witch community is terrified of Grace, this rings hollow.

Moreover, the final confrontation between Charlie’s group and Grace group was the definition of anticlimactic, and then the story just stops a few chapters later leaving a ton of loose threads.

Most of the characters came off as one-dimensional and had zero development. The only reason I didn’t give this one stars is because Charlies and Diego’s scenes together were so adorable. But that alone couldn’t save this book.

Overall, it read more like a first draft and desperately needed more work before being released.

2.0 out of 5 stars





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To Nano or Not to Nano: The Pros and Cons of Writing a Book in One Month

Photo by  Nallely Rodriguez  on  Scopio

Introduction

Welcome.

NaNoWriMo will begin in a few weeks, so I wanted to cover the pros and cons of it.

A Brief History of NaNoWriMo

To the uninitiated, NANoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing month, and the goal of NaNo WriMo is to write at least 50,000 words of a new work by the end of November. Every year millions of writers participate in this event and many new books are produced as a result.

NaNoWriMo began in 1999 in the San Francisco Bay area, when Chris Baty and 21 of his friends got together and decided to attempt writing a book in a month. The next year 140 people joined in, and things grew from there.

This year, I’ll be attempting a modified version of it, in which my goal is to add 35-40,000 words to the Zero Draft of Pandemonium, the sequel to Palingenesis.

But the question remains, while it’s possible to write a book in 30 days, should you? I’ll explore the pros and the cons, then let you decide for yourself.

Pros

First, it gets you writing. When you’re forced to hit a specific word count each day, you have to write. It’s that simple, but often it’s starting that writers struggle with. You sit in front the keyboard, ready to write, but nothing comes. Or you intend to write but get sucked down the rabbit hole of social media. And while this still may happen, having a concrete deadline makes it more likely you’ll get some writing done.

Second, it gives you an opportunity to connect with others and learn about their WIPS and writing process and network with potential readers and editors. One of the greatest things about NaNoWriMo is the community of readers and writers that has sprung up around it.

Some life-long friendships have been forged due to people interacting during this month, and it also introduces you to new ways of thinking about stories and how to streamline your process. Even if you don’t win, the connections you make alone are enough to attempt it at least once in your life.

Third, because your goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, it stops you from procrastinating and editing as you write. One of the worst things new writers can do is edit as go because it slows you down and makes you second and third guess yourself.

The beauty of NaNoWriMo is you don’t have time to make things perfect before moving on, just get things down and edit it once it’s done. There’s a quote by Tara Moss that perfectly encapsulates this:

 Don’t write it right, just write it, and then make it right later.

The key to completing any novel, especially one in 30 days, is not stopping.

Fourth, you’ll have a finished draft you can work with in the coming months. Even if said draft is crap, something is better than nothing. Once you have the bones of the stories down, you can go back and fill in plot holes, add depth to characters, and in general improve the story.

Fifth, it helps you build a writing routine and teaches you how to find time to write. Ask any writer what the biggest roadblock to their writing is, and they’ll tell you it’s finding time to write.

Most writers have day jobs, and those of them with kids have even less time, so doing something like NaNoWriMo requires them to find the little spaces in life where they can write. Waiting to pick up your kids? Write. In line at the bank or grocery store? Write. Waiting in the dentist’s or doctor’s office? Write. You’ll be surprised how much those snippets add up over time.

Sixth, it teaches you to write inspired or not. Many newbie writers, myself included, believe the stars must be aligned before they can write. I’ve since learned you must write regularly, especially on the days you don’t feel like it. Otherwise, your novel will languish for years like mine did until I got my ass in gear and completed several drafts until it was publishable.

Last, even if you don’t win, you get a lot of practice writing and will be better prepared for next year. Most first novels aren’t publishable, and it takes something like five novels before a writer gets good enough to write something publishable, so you’re in good company.

Cons

First, it can lead to burnout from trying to win. As I mentioned above, most writers have other obligations to deal with and the stress of all that on top of drafting a book in 30 days could be too much to bear.

We all like to think we’re superhuman, but we can’t do everything at once, so if you’re already stretched thin, pass on NaNoWriMo.

Second, as I discovered when I attempted NaNoWriMo, it can lead you to writing anything to hit your word quota, which means bloated manuscripts that need tons of editing or rewrites. The truth is anyone can write 50,000 words of crap, but a story is as long as it needs be. So, if it’s reached its conclusion in under 50,000 words, don’t pad it. Also, don’t write random things because you’ll wind up deleting them later.

Third, it gives the false impression that first drafts are publishable and that writing a novel is easy, when it takes even seasoned writers multiple drafts to get it right. No one’s first draft is perfect, that’s why it’s called a first draft. Tis is especially true if this is your first attempt a writing a novel.

Moreover, you’ll have more work to do once edits starts. So, get rid of any idea you have of being a published author by the end of the year. Sure, you could self-edit your manuscript a few times and stick it up on Amazon. But don’t be surprised when you get low sales and bad reviews. 

Fourth, writing communities are flooded every year with newbies who will either vanish once the month’s over or who think they don’t need to learn anything. Now, I’m not against everyone trying to write, but I am against people who waste the valuable time and resources of writers’ groups and then have the nerve to get offended when people dare critique their work.

Before going to a writers’ group or participating in writing workshops or webinars, ask yourself if you’re going to learn or have your ego stroked.

Fifth, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Like I said, writing is hard and often lonely. Moreover, most writers make a few thousand dollars or less a year from their work. Do you want to write because it’s what you’re called to do, or do only want to write so you can say you wrote a book and be praised for it? The truth is you could spend that month learning to draw, knit, or spend it with friends and loved ones.

And if you still want to write a book, then go ahead. But don’t set an impossible deadline like a month.

Conclusion

 As I alluded to above, rushing a book results in more subpar self-published books flooding the market, adding to the negative views people have of self-published authors and their books. While you don’t need to do as I did and spend twelve years on your book, you shouldn’t go to the other extreme either.

Books are portals to magical realms, and you debase them and yourselves by not taking the care needed to make them the best you can. Ultimately, the decision is yours but think it through. Yes, some great books have emerged from past NANoWriMO’s, but equally awful books have, too. If you’re serious about writing you can start any time, but would you want your first efforts to haunt you for the rest of your career?   

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Thanks for reading and let me know what you think in the comments below. If you liked this post, please share it with your friends.

Also check out Palingenesis, my debut YA dark fantasy/sci-fi novel about a bullied Black boy who learns he’s evil’s chosen and must fight the devil to protect the boy and world he loves.

Writing While Black

Introduction

Welcome back.

Most of us have heard of famous Black writers such as James Baldwin, W. E. B. Du Bois, Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison and Langston Hughes. However, few outside the Black community realize the barriers imposed on them because of their race.

White literary reviewers criticized Hurston’s work for including “stereotypical” Black characters. Moreover, some Black intellectuals of the era criticized her for using the dialect of rural Black people and including characters who were “inappropriate” and “backwards”.

Likewise, James Baldwin found the racism of white people and the homophobia of the Black community and larger society so stifling to his work that he moved to France.

And W. E. B Du Bois is simultaneously revered and reviled for his writings on race in America, particularly for his promotion of and popularizing of the talented tenth, the concept that only the top ten percent of Black people should be allowed access to higher learning and leadership positions in the Black community.

Hughes, Angelou, and Morrison also had to contend with criticism of their work through the lens of whiteness, while simultaneous being critiqued by Black intellectuals for “holding them back” by focusing on topics like slavery and racism, and for discussing the problems of the Black community publicly.  

But Black writers and content creators have always had to walk the edge of keeping it real while making a living, which often means we must choose between wanting to be authentic and wanting to make money.

If you’ve followed book twitter at all in recent years, then you know how publishing devalues Black writers and their work. Hashtag PublishingPaidMe was started by black speculative fiction writer L.L. McKinney (full disclosure: I follower her on twitter) to highlight how the publishing industry has a history of paying Black writers lower advances than their white peers.

There have also been ongoing discussions among Black writers about how agents, editors, and publishing companies have wanted us to whitewash our stories, so they appeal to a larger (read: whiter) audience. This doesn’t make sense as the majority of writers and books published are by and feature white people, as evidence by this 2019 study by lee &Low  and this 2020 study by The New York Times. So, there’s a hunger for book by and about Black people

In response, Dhonielle Clayton ( whom I also follow on twitter) and others started the We NeedDiverseBooks hashtag and the organization of the same name.

But even with efforts like this, Black writers have a hard time not only being published but taken seriously due to the unfair expectations placed on them and the preconceptions about them and their work they must deal with, which I’ll discuss next.

Preconceptions

The greatest preconception Black writers must contend with is they aren’t as good as white writers because they aren’t as educated or skilled, and only got a seat at the table for diversity points.

Nnedi Okorafor, the Nigerian-American speculative fiction writer who also holds a PhD in English, was the subject of a backlash when she was nominated for the 2016 Hugo Award. Members of a voting bloc called the Sad Puppies, made up of mostly white males, tried to game the nominations so their favorite white male authors got all the slots.

Their campaign was ultimately unsuccessful, but this points to a larger problem: namely that Black writers and their stories are devalued. Often, we must be ten times better just to be seen on par with mediocre white writers and our work is often held to different standards.

For example if a white writer makes a mistake about depicting trans or immigrant characters, they’re given infinity chance to “grow and learn from their mistakes.” However, when Black writers make such mistakes, they are the subjects of internet harassment mobs who seek to get them fired, or threaten their lives for not using the right pronouns or getting a minor detail wrong.

  And if a book by a Black writer succeeds, it’s often because it’s written to the white gaze. We are often forced to mine our trauma as fodder for these white readers, thus that’s all that gets published and all we can write.

But Black people are more than racism, slavery, gang violence, and being poor. Our stories rang from the tragic to the heroic and everything in between. Yet, we aren’t allowed to explore this wide spectrum of experiences because only white narratives are deemed universal, and publishers can’t risk offending their base.

Yet when we point out how fucked up this is, how it’s a part of institutional racism and upholds systems of white supremacy, we pigeonholed as the angry Black man/woman and get the label: difficult to work with.

Black writers don’t have to contend with just the above. As I’ll lay out next, we also have to deal with unrealistic and unfair expectations.

Expectations

As black writers, we are expected to represent the experience of all Black people. The problem with this is that’s impossible. So when we don’t do this, we get criticized for not being Black enough, or being too Black and playing into stereotypes.

The truth is there’s no one way to be Black, so of course Black writers won’t write the same types of stories or focus on the same subjects. And this is a good thing. We need stories diverse in both subject matter and narratives.

Another expectation we must deal with is the belief there can only be one famous Black writer at a time. When we query books, agents often tell us indirectly they can’t take on another book by a Black author because they’re already publishing one this cycle. Yet they have a billion books by white writers. This results in a bottle neck of books by Black, so that one Black writer is pushed forward then ignored.

Moreover, when there’s more than one writer of color trending at a time, the media will often try to pit them against each other, as though people can’t read both a book by a Black writer and one by an Asian Pacific Islander.

The truth is Black writers are expected to outperform their white peers before agents or agents will even consider them. Inclusion and diversity are just buzz words the publishing industry uses to seem woke, but time and again they’ve proven that they only care about Black folks when it’s politically and monetarily convenient.

 I and other Black writers saw this first-hand last summer when, during the height of the protests following George Floyd’s murder, agents put BLM in their bio and opened their DM’s solely to Black Writers. Flashforward a year and many of those same agents ghosted us, and they did the same thing re: Asian and  Pacific Islander writers following the Atlanta spa shootings back in March.    

Publishing talks a good game about being progressive, yet they continually pick books by white people over own vice works.

Conclusion

The truth is Black writers have always had to contend with barriers imposed on them by both the Black community and the larger society as a whole. Diversity in publishing and the media will continue being an issue as long as we continue playing their game. We must stop. sitting at the table if it means compromising our values and dehumanizing us.   

Hell, flip the table and make your own game. We need to write whatever we want and screw being marketable, which is just code for being palatable to the white masses.

Write your truth and fuck the haters.

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