#iron rambles

[iron-sparrow]

AANHPI Heritage Month Asian American ‧ Native Hawaiian ‧ Pacific Islander

‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚.

May has been recognized as Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month since 1991, when it started as a single week of observance in the United States. Over time, the name has undergone changes to be more inclusive, while also shining a light on the very obvious flaws of lumping so many different cultural and ethnic groups under a single umbrella. What we all have in common, as AANHPI people, is how invisible we are to national discussions and debates and issues. Well, unless White people need to drum up the Model Minority myth for their talking points.

My 2024 and 2025 AANHPI Heritage Month posts were a lot of work but still fun to work on. 2025 was also very special, as I was able to share my thoughts after sitting through a presentation led by Li Wei Yang. Then, the year progressed as it did, and 2026 is spiraling by at ludicrous velocity. My online rambling and resource dumping grew more frequent and became centered around ICE activities, with the occasional dive into general politics.

I live in a place where our daily lives have been affected in so many ways by the elected senile infant-man. You understand.

A recently published study by the UCLA Asian American Studies Center showed that following Biden's exit, ICE was shown to largely target public places, homes and worksites. These sweeping operations result in large-scale apprehensions and double as grand displays of militarized violence aimed at intimidating local communities. Under the current administration, roughly 67 percent of arrestees were grabbed during these community arrests, and were mostly non-criminals, or at the very least individuals who were paroled or on probation. (Read the full PDF here.)

UCLA Asian American Studies Official: Instagram, Facebook | Linktree

Bridging Research with Community Since 1969

The L.A. TACO delivers daily reports about immigration issues SoCal residents face, as well as comprehensive documentation of known raids in Los Angeles and its SoCal neighbors. Immigration attorneys and health clinics are overwhelmed, and advocates continue risking their own safety to provide valuable aid to the marginalized. (Just this month, community watch group VCDefensa came under attack when known organizers and associates had their homes raided by ICE.)

More on the subject of AANHPI Month, I acknowledge this post comes when most of May is behind us. June is on the horizon, and in two weeks, rainbow capitalism will be upon us once more. That doesn't mean I stop being Chinese; my manager doesn't stop being Filipino; my friend doesn't stop being Vietnamese.

You get the idea.

I don't have it in me to grab a bunch more books or podcasts or websites or whatever-the-fuck-else right now.

In this moment, I'm too tired and pissed off to find any joy in my heart, so the 10-plus tabs I've bookmarked for this post can be closed. All the resources I've already shared previously (below) are still perfectly worthy of your attention, and if you really do want new resources, Google is free.

Reblog by @iron-sparrow · 12 images

💬 0  🔁 143  ❤️ 113 · AANHPI Heritage Month ‧₊˚❀༉‧₊˚. Asian American ‧ Native Hawaiian ‧ Pacific Islander · May has been recognized as Asian

As ever, I encourage you all to explore resources aimed at education and understanding. Learn how you can uplift and support AANHPI people. Learn how you can combat hate and fascism. Learn how you can push toward a more equitable future.

And when we speak, please just listen.

[ironaparrot]

Hello my friends!

It's been ages I know I know. 3 months with no updates. true torture i know. Well, here's your update! There are no updates, sorta. I've been a bit off everything lately in terms of story stuff, and overall creation. So, going forward I'm gonna try to fix that. Currently writing something for a story I'm not sure if I've show on here before. That's besides the point. Point is (hopefully) I'm back, and back on that creative grind!

[irontarg]

>Kit had to get therapy after he learned that Jon was gonna kill Dany

I actually despise D&D so much I--

[iron-sparrow]

What OC havers have to realize is that racism incl. orientalism isn't always gonna be some straight up hate speech or eye-pulling or whatever.

More often than not, it's appropriation and fetish-laden stereotypes and tropes, masked by the lie of "appreciation." Shit like that is so insidious and widespread, and people just consume it (or scroll past) without a second thought.

Being "not racist" isn't enough; we need to be ANTI-RACIST.

You're tired, I get that. But for a lot of us, this goes well beyond just playing pretend Barbie dress-up. For many, there is harm woven into these OCs and their costumes, in their bigotry-for-lulz.

We belong in these spaces, too, and I am not gonna shut up about that. Block out people like me all you want. Says more about you than us.

Be anti-racist. Or be part of the problem.

[iron-sparrow]

生日快樂 🪶 2 0 2 6

As the night departs, the sparrows arrive home. Each one carries the quiet words and feelings entrusted to them by the many souls they had met. When every sparrow is accounted for and the unbeating heart becomes whole again, Yein stirs awake ⸺ their chest now full with everything the little lights had learned.

Once again, I'm blessed by many of you, who've taken much time and thought to share with me your well wishes alongside gposes of your beloved OCs engaging with sparrows, these little lights. The weekend has passed, and I am another year older. Both days were abundant in food and sleep and love. Beyond global sociopolitical change that redistributes wealth to the masses, I can ask for little else.

I know we've all been having a rough time of it, chat. A trapdoor beneath us has suddenly swung open, leaving us in bottomless free fall. If one were to succumb to hopelessness in this long dark, who among us cannot sympathize and understand?

We need each other now more than ever, to build connections that we may nurture into communities. In community, there is shelter and hope, and the healing embrace from the love and acceptance of others.

I believe deeply in the importance of love, because without it, we'd be blind to our own worthiness and left vulnerable to injustice.

My therapist once said, "You taught yourself how to love, and you should be extremely proud of that." Maybe that's how it started, but I can say with certainty I only got better at it by observing my friends. All this to say: I find hope easier to seek because of the relationships I've formed with people in this fandom.

I know that without love, I would not have learned to befriend my lifelong anger. And my anger would not stay so faithfully by me if I held no hope for tomorrow's spring.

In the more literal sense, I do enjoy winter much more than spring, and I've never lived in a place with very discernible seasons ⸺ as far as humans are concerned. Yet I know when spring is coming because I can hear the bird calls outside grow more numerous, with many returning under the guidance of migratory instincts. All around us, the natural world reminds us to be hopeful.

So take a sparrow with you, as your own little light. They will perch on your shoulder, hide in your pocket, or nest inside your bag. You may forget they're there on most days, but when your feet are weary and your head feels heavy, they will sing and chirp to you ⸺ and give you the determination to keep going.

You're doing so great, and someone's world is better with you in it.

[ bsky ]

[iron-sparrow]

新年快樂 ⏾⋆.˚

I was not entirely sure I would gpose or even write something for Lunar New Year in 2026, but this holiday has always been special to me. I still strive to make my own joys with the friends who've allowed me to love them ⸺ while loving me in return. The last few years have not made LNY easy to celebrate, because so many local tragedies and heinous violations of our right to life have occurred around this time. Even so, I reminded myself today that no matter how tired I may feel, I am not too tired to feel love and to live.

As ever, I am resolved to invite my rage to walk beside me. And as before, I share with you Yu Qian's poem of hope and spring.

《除夜太原寒甚》 寄語天涯客，輕寒底用愁。 春風來不遠，只在屋東頭。

"An Extremely Cold Night in Taiyuan on New Year’s Eve" Please tell the friends living afar, the weather is chilly but no need to worry. The spring wind is arriving and quite close to us, touching the eastern end of our house.

. bsky

[iron-sparrow]

I walked away from my static of ~5 years tonight. Really not how I'd hoped things would go, but the vibes have shifted so much.

And I refuse to be made to feel less than.

I'm saddened. But with everything going on, I didn't have it in me anymore to argue with leadership. I'm told that a friend did try to call out the unnecessary meanness and passive-aggressive snipes; they still dug their heels in and denied any wrongdoing.

Ultimately, my lamentations really just boils down to this:

Friends should treat you with kindness, approach you in good faith, and offer grace when it is needed.

Friends do NOT have the right to be mean to you, or disparage you.

We all deserve at least this much.

[iron-sparrow]

The commodification of culture doesn't necessarily harm people residing in the origin country. But it skirts the exotic Orientalism line and does hurt those of us in the diaspora living shoulder to shoulder with the consumers.

If you adore Harajuku fashion and douyin makeup and whatever the fuck else, power to you. I would still challenge you to keep in your mind what stereotypes you are chasing -- who benefits from these stereotypes and who is harmed by their perpetuity.