Extending My Hiatus
I've been meaning to get back into the groove of brainrotting and drawing fanart again (after months of acadsmaxxing), but shit happened and it's made it hard for me to make anything Hetalia-related atm.
cw // politics, mentions of death and harassment (including death threats)
In the Philippines, basketball is practically a national pastime. The annual collegiate competitions is especially popular here (the finals is the closest to the Super Bowl experience that you can get around here, but without the extravagant guest artist performances). So when my university got embroiled in a scandal that involved 2 members of its men's basketball team drowning, it blew up.
The investigation is still ongoing, but with every new update, it adds to the growing ire against the university administration. On the one hand, the feeling is mutual for a lot within the community (students, faculty, workers, alumni, parents even). Long story short, the current administration lineup has made a number of very questionable choices. They've been called out for it in every meeting, forum, etc. that's ever been arranged, and it all amounts to talking to walls in classic, patronizing boomer fashion. There's vindication in knowing that even outsiders are calling out admin's bullshit.
On the other hand, the issue got politicized in the ugliest way possible. As a naively simplistic summary, think of the Philippines like the US and its blue and red states, but you have a "Solid North," the (imperial Manila) "center," and a "Solid South." Of course the reality is far more complex, I'm just giving an easy starter to chew on.
One of the fallen players happened to be from a place situated within the "Solid South." I do not know the individual's politics, let alone that of his family's. Regardless, their grief and struggle was preyed on by scummy opportunists.
The university is situated in the "center," and so the war between the "center" and the "Solid South" has progressed to a new phase. The problem is that the students, regardless of their background, are facing public, vicious harassment. Student-athletes from other sports, scholars, and even high school students (MINORS!!) are getting death threats in their face.
I just graduated from the very university last Sunday.
God knows I'd throw stones at the administration (genuinely, FUCK them for all the shit they've caused to students, faculty, and especially workers). But I'm entering a world that wants fresh graduates like me dead on the spot for the sins of the admin.
