#insertspanishhere

[insertspanishhere]

Intro Post

Buenas. Soy Sharon. Biracial Black Colombian living in the USA! I’m the main curator of this blog. I speak fluent Colombian Spanish and United States English, and am a dual citizen. I've lived my entire life traveling among different parts of Latin America and some parts of Spain. I'm a trained cultural musician, and a professional translator.

Even though my main is @sharonz-arty-corner03, I made this blog because I am interested in researching and exposing the tropes and stereotypes surrounding Hispanic people. I am aware that Hispanic is not a race, and this blog is mostly curated towards the USA (or British) experiences of those living in the countries spanning from Mexico to Argentina, including the Spanish Caribbean. To a lesser extent, I will be including formerly-Spanish Africa, the Philippines, and Latin American diaspora in other countries.

Even so, I warn you I am not the end of your research into experiences.

This blog was inspired by Creating Black Characters, but is not affiliated with her in any way.

I will only invest in politics to research and learn. You’re already gonna get my opinion so don’t make me repeat myself, especially if I say I am not directly affected by a certain issue.

About Askbox

Hispanic, with a capital H since it's a proper name, is a USA term coined to explain anyone from a Spanish-speaking New World country. Spanish is a person from Spain.

When asking questions on this blog, please ask using Hispanic, Latin America, Latino/a/e (only say Latinx if you personally identify as that).

I do not like anons, so if you still want to ask a question that you want to see answered anonymously, DM me and make an emoji pattern I can use for future reference in the post I make about your question.

Unless you preface saying you're Latin American (or diaspora) yourself, I will not hesitate to correct your own Spanish or that of your character.

You may, of course, submit resources or lesson ideas of your own!

FANDOMS I WILL NOT INTERACT WITH:

Hazbin Hotel

Knights of Guinevere

Hamilton

Sonic the Hedgehog (after considerable explanation)

Elena of Avalor (I’ll have a conversation about her eventually)

Shark Tale

Modern Family (or any Americanized version of Jennifer Lopez actually)

Spirit: Riding Free

Genshin Impact

Note: this means I will not analyze these fandoms if I am asked to. If I decide of my own free will that they need a conversation I will engage.

Planned Essays (will eventually be replaced by a list) Se Habla Español: The history of Spanish and the dialectal differences between countries, and why Spain gets uncomfortable when we bring that up.

The Cristobal Colón Problem: Why we celebrate things wildly differently on so called Columbus Day.

Daycare the Culture Away: Specific to the United States and England, but can also be applied to Indigenous languages and Black dialects…how Latino parents in the United States are conned out of their culture by telling them that their children learning English is just an addition instead of a replacement

The Art of Restaurant Spanish: Analyzing why fanfic writers treat their Spanish bilingual characters as stupid when they switch languages.

Argentina: A study of how Argentinians have and HAVE NOT earned th title of Latin America's most obvious racists.

Negra Es Mi Piel (My Skin Is Black): A study into the set of problems faced by Black Latinos.

Where in Mexico Is That?: A masterclass in why not every single Spanish speaker you run into will be from Mexico.

"Invited to the Carne Asada" Syndrome: So you have a character invited to a family gathering who is not of that Latino country. How do you write the faux pas and the inside jokes?

La Vieja Patria (The Old Country): How to write actual Latino-Spanish relations...from someone who survived the Madrid Airport (lighthearted)

No Seas Indio (Don't Be Indian): Anti-Indigenous sentiment in Latin America, the economy, and the story of how this very real white Colombian insult was used on me.

Tomemonos Un Tinto, Seamos Amigos (Let's Have a Black Coffee, Let's Be Friends): Friendship-making among Latinos

¡Ay, Que Rabia! (I'm So Mad!) Strong emotions like anger, sensuality, joy, and sadness in Hispanic people--and in the English-speakers watching

Authentic Versus Autóctono: How do you know your characters are eating "real" Latin American food?

Bilingual Privilege: A study in culture, language, and the antithesis of the daycare problem: what if your fluency does things to set you apart?

The Obligatory Quinceañera Episode: Why do gringos like to make this the only major Latino tradition? Let's find out.

A Thousand Cousins: Family dynamics in Hispanic households.

[insertspanishhere]

Let’s talk about the phrase uncultured white from my recent post thread about Clair Obscur:

Cultures are everywhere, in any shape, size and color of skin. Wherever there are humans culture will surge. Cultures, and therefore skin tones interact with each other.

Since Europe is where most white people come from, as in the history of Europe, these cultures interacted with each other, thinking of themselves as “ white BUT.” They did not think of themselves as a collective, just because they have the same skin tone, or even because they could understand each other‘s dialect of what would eventually become the same language.

In ancient times white people took each other a slave slaves. In ancient and medieval times brown people took white people as slave slaves, and this was a valid transaction.

The modern territories that we now called by country names, like Sweden, Russia, France, Spain, England, Greece, Italy— basically you name it and it’s a country in Europe— we’re completely distinct within themselves.

Now, in the 21st century, there is a concerning trend towards accepting whatever cultural totems are put before you. As the world becomes global without the need for the Great Silk Road, and wind ships, we are getting used to seeing people who do not look like us online visiting us in our streets or living with us in our cities.

But white people choose to remain without a culture will look at their skin tone, will look at the heritage listed on their birth certificate or their ancestry.com, and call it a day. They see no nuance in who they once were, and who their ancestors wanted to be. Media consumers are constantly choosing entertainment that says “oh Charlie is white” and stops there. Entertainment like this also says “José’s Latino,” “Marie is Black,” “Yuan is Asian,” and leave it at that.

A people that is afraid at looking back into their ancestry because they fear what they will find CHOOSES to erase their own culture. They are uncultured. They take what they have in front of them for granted because it is safer than the hardship that got them there.

And it so sadly happens to be that the people pushing the narrative of not looking back to learn from the past…are white.

This post goes out to all my white friends that DO know and WANT to know their ancestries. Let’s trade.

[insertspanishhere]

So, couple of things to note:

This OC does have connections to another OC by the name of Yuseffa Ortiz Serrano and is kinda defined by said connections. However, Yuseffa is also Afro-Latina (specifically being Mexican since that’s where she and her parents were born.)

The world is a high fantasy with fashion based on the 1900s, though most things like continents, geography, and religion are 1 to 1 -- despite some names being changed.

Summarizing the magic system very briefly, spells can be powered by Energy crystals: some countries call them Mana crystals, some use Ki, but the overall point is that these crystals exist. ‘Aether Crystals’ are the name most commonly used because of imperialism, same way Universal Time Zone is ‘coincidentally’ the time of England. (Also fun fact, Mana has Polynesian origins)

Regardless of what term is used for the crystals, they are life energy. While they can be harvested from the air and the environment, they can also come from any dead wildlife.

Isabel De Los Ángeles.

Note: I would change the design if I could to make the purple locs she has go down the front of her shirt. (Heroforge is just very limited and the reason I'm trying to learn blender.

She’s a rich old woman – very old, 70-80. When she was in her prime of 30, her legend became wildly known as someone who could take down beasts thought to be impossible; all you need is a bit of elbow grease and an expertise in herding. Isabel learned to be quite proficient in that, having been inspired by legends of yore – helps that she still had people who were willing to show her the ropes. Though eventually, she figured that there was more to life than just wandering the wilds; she decided to settle down on a place near the coast, tending to animals previously thought untameable and tapped into a surprisingly deep market.

Far deeper than anyone had anticipated, as the creatures she was able to herd ended up producing more mana crystals than otherwise possible. People from all around the world were suddenly willing to make business with her, and well, who was she to disappoint? She went through with these contacts, carefully picking between them to ensure her stockpile of livestock didn’t suddenly go extinct, often consulting with the locals to gauge the population at hand. Eventually, she found herself in a partnership with a company willing to sell these mana crystals across the world; specifically the father of Yuseffa Ortiz Serrano, thus forming a lifelong partnership. (Not romantic! Isabel and Yuseffa’s father are not married.) Still, there was the occasional time where Isabel needed a new creature, and… she was still up for some adventure from time to time.

Yuseffa also used a nickname when her ranching business managed to get off the ground; the Violet Vaquero. This is why Yuseffa has a lot of purple in her design, as Isabel was a large influence on Yuseffa when growing up. In fact, Isabel was Yuseffa’s mentor as Yuseffa’s father and Isabel were business partners. Close enough where Yuseffa often stayed on Isabel’s ranch to help manage the animals and understand the value of labor, or make do when Yuseffa's father was busy. That being said, Isabel was still a bit playful with Yuseffa, often showing her the appeal of less-legal means; she’s meant to be a cool grandmother / grand-aunt who’d let you get away with probably too much, in all honesty. Still fun to be with though!

Isabel also respects Yuseffa too! In fact, the gun by her waist was designed by Yuseffa; it was one of Yuseffa’s early models, but it’s an old-reliable weapon; it can process any Life-Crystal before turning the energy into a superpowered projectile, like a railgun. (In contrast, Yuseffa’s later models tend to be gimmicky, often depending on the element used; whereas the older ones simply used pure energy.) Isabel finds the little kid (to her, anyways) endearing, especially when she invents stuff that simply seems so out of this world. 

In-canon, she’s a legend that Yuseffa occasionally raves about and you (meaning the player since this is intended to become a game) can hear about through other characters that mention her legend. When you finally meet Isabel, she’s tending to one of her personal animals for fun, having some paperwork on the side. Talking to her shows that she’s very fun and chaotic, offering games of dice and cards. Additionally, she’d give some tasks to find animals around the world, as well as a bestiary for any you haven’t found. Though with some being more obscure, she gives you the means to access them via bait. There’s some other stuff, but I feel I’ve gone on for long enough lol. Hope it’s interesting!

YOOOO legend in my ask box hell yeah.

First of all: BLESS. AFRO-MEXICAN. EVERYONE SHUT UP WE GOT AN AFRO-MEXICAN OC.

Your magic system: I like it, Picasso. I based my Black-Colombian tabaxi bard on Caribbean ancestor consultation so you’re fine there. And I see that England.

A Black Mexican Vaquera Violeta with her own legend oh my God if I could empty my bank account for you I so would. I give you some advice on the hair: I have not seen much Afro-specific Mexican culture, but they do have some stitch braids with fresh flowers you might want to use for formal wear?

This IS in fact extremely interesting. I am mentally throwing in a Colombian llanero in admiration.

[insertspanishhere]

OC review is once again UP!

This time I want them to be

Fandom exclusive

MAY be submitted on behalf of others

MAY include human versions of animals (please stay away from Sonic, otherwise fine.)

BONUS CHALLENGE: make them up on the spot for submission

I’ll leave it to TEN asks but will only answer THREE today.

[insertspanishhere]

The mutt thing is a definite struggle, trying to figure out how to relate to the world in a rooted way. I've been thinking about this a lot, especially since I read Braiding Sweetgrass, and her way of putting it that white Americans have one foot still on the boat. I'm a quarter Mexican, a quarter Appalachian, and less than a quarter of various other flavors of white. I think part of the way forward may involve somehow restructuring the idea that mixedness means being less of both things, so that as Americans multiply our mixedness, each heritage is whittled away to none. I have less experience and automatic knowledge of any of my ancestors' cultures bc I have fewer sources of each one, but each of my ancestors is still my whole ancestor.

As someone born in New York I am familiar with the effort put in by the Ellis Island Commission to forcefully Americanize those that didn’t speak English. There are countless 1800s short stories from the perspective of new immigrants trying to assimilate linguistically alone, and to protect their children, they shut down any look back at the cultures that they had to shed when they stepped off said boat.

I grew up staunchly in my Colombian culture because my parents chose to stay Colombian, however, they did this in semi private, only discussing their stories with other Latinos and only discussing their INTIMATE experiences with other Colombians, so I’ve experienced the attempt to hide culture as well.

Each ancestor should be your own ancestor. My frustration with the uncultured white person is not that they live as an uninformed hodgepodge of ethnicities that resulted in Pantone of the Year 2025. Lots of people outside the states also live with “I’m a hodgepodge, now what?” Lots of people outside the states, in countries with non white heritages, go around shrugging off even the smallest possibility of looking back.

My frustration is that uncultured white people are ALLERGIC to being shown their ancestors or the ancestors of others in ANY way, shape, or form.

[insertspanishhere]

“Yeah I study the classics” this is what I mean

Do you want me to do anymore genre instrumental displays for Colombia?

[insertspanishhere]

Old Year’s Resolution

We are not going to end the year with the assumption that all white people are evil, and we are not going to automatically think that a white person’s desire to learn is a clear sign of white supremacy.

I’m going to sniff out and assume your intentions because this is an educational blog. If you feel called out, respond with grace REGARDLESS of your race or ethnicity.

This blog is not here for your comfort but it’s also not here to be your whip of self hatred. The racial complexities of being Latino alone are enough to start an internet war, which is why I want those who want to use this blog as self hate fodder to go find a better mirror.

White people having a roughly six hundred year long history of enslaving others due to their entitlement their skin gives them happened, it was real, it was recent, and many white and non white people are still walking around with the leftovers from that age in their minds.

Instead of never talking about it, I choose to point it out with the assumption that we’re all hurting here.

[insertspanishhere]

I've been checking a lot of this blog's info! You've built a good thing here.

Okay it appears Tumblr swallowed this ask because I was stupid and failed to hit the answer button. I'm so sorry that happened, and I'm sorry for delaying the response.

Thanks for sticking around! I hope you enjoy what I've said and will continue to say. If you ever have any fandom discussion you want to enter, since you already commented on my answers to realmofstupid, I'd be honored to hear any ideas you have.