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How much âscienceâ and technical terms need to be in a sci-fi book? Is just setting it in the future not good enough?
You donât need science and technology to be integral, central, detailed, or accurate to call your story sci-fi. However, sci-fi is sci-fi because the settings of those stories have been changed through different technology that is not currently available to us.
So you can call a future setting sci-fi without going into detail or accuracy about science and technology. Itâs common in sci-fi.
Actually, while you don't have to go into a ton of detail about the background science in SF, you do have to pay attention to accuracy. It doesn't have to be accuracy towards current science and technology, but it must be accurate to the science and technology of your setting. It's a part of building a believable and consistant world for your readers. You can't say X technology can do Y but not Z at one point and then turn around and say the same X technology can do Z and not Y a hundred pages later for absolutely no reason. It destroys your reader's trust in you as an author and in the world as a believable place. Losing your reader's trust is just one step away from losing your reader, period.
It's not really hard to maintain. You can have whatever tech you want, be it hyperdrives, world-busting mechs, pewpew space guns, intersteller radios, Warshaski sails, whatever, as long as it's consistant and accurate to itself. When you say something is true about your alternate technology, make a note of it. When you say it can't do something or has a limit, make a note of that too. Refer back to your notes as frequently as necessary to keep from stepping on your own tail. Your world has to follow its rules and maintain internal accuracy and consistancy.
Trust me, maintain that consistancy and internal accuracy and your world will be a lot more believable than if you don't.
Nothing annoys me more than characters who always reply with one or two words. I get it, your character isnât social but how am I supposed to interact with you if I get a simple one worded reply?
Nothing annoys me more than players who expect you to compromise characterization because they are not creative or interested enough to get to know my introverted character in ways other than small talk.Â
Funny, speaking as an introvert who's not very social, not much annoys me more than players who insist on characterizing people like me as next best thing to mutes and only using one or two word replies and calling it "characterization". Insisting on constantly using one or two word replies isn't characterization, it's laziness. Roleplaying is a two way street. You cannot expect people to want to get to know your character if you don't give anything for them to work from.
Read the confession. The confessor is complaining about characters who always reply with one or two words. Not every now and then, but always. You chase people off if all of your responses are variations on yes, no, and maybe or otherwise one or two word responses. It's like playing against a black hole. No matter what you toss in, you get nothing back. That's not fun and it has nothing to do with how creative or interested you are in the character.
Looking at the pictures above, itâs pretty easy to find the similarities. East Asian women with dyed purple/blue/red hair, usually in a streak. No matter how you look at this, this is an uncomfortably specific trend in media. Yeah, it looks cute, but after seeing this over and over again, it becomes a boring, racist trope. This originated from a variety of possibilities: the creators trying to âAmericanizeâ the East Asian character, make them more âexoticâ, or to show how unique this character is. Sheâs not a giggling schoolgirl or a delicate lotus flower, sheâs different! See, she has a streak of purple hair (god forbid she dyes it any other color), look how radical that is, look at our modern Dragon Lady!
And yes, Knives dyed her hair to look like Ramona, and yes, Somni-451âs hair is like that to mark her as a clone, but these characters do not exist in a vacuum. You can justify why a character has a specific appearance, but in the end, this character was created, and contributes to stereotypes no matter the intent.
So the moral of this story is that your Asian character with a strip of purple hair isnât original. It isnât unique. No matter how innocent this appears to be, it can be detrimental to East Asian girls, since the characters that look like them have the same exact traits. Itâs time to explore different ways of designing East Asian characters, instead of just slapping on some purple and calling it a day.
OK, as an East Asian lady, I agree with about 90% of this post: we need to shy away from the ânot like other East Asiansâ trope when it comes to description. Creators shouldnât use colored hair streaks/unnaturally-colored hair as shorthand for actual character development, especially when it comes to some of the above characters (e.g. Yukio), where it doesnât seem particularly likely that they would dye their hair in the first place.
But as a lady who also dyes her hair, I take a lot of issue with the âeven if thereâs a good reason for it, youâre contributing to stereotypesâ comment, since there are East Asian girls and women who do dye their hair and put in blue/purple/pink streaks. I agree that the trope shouldnât be used to make East Asian characters stand out from other East Asians, but at the same time erasing girls and women who do that as playing into stereotypes feels really dismissive here.
Frankly, I have no problem with Knives dyeing her hair, considering thereâs an explanation for it. The question for me personally is this: when making an East Asian heroine with hair streaks, does the creator have a reason for doing so aside from making her âstand outâ? One thatâs been well-thought out?
FWIW, from what I hear, Psylockeâs hair was also purple to begin with, but this might be one for any Marvel fans among the followers.
Hi, Marvel fan here and someone in the Glee family to address three of the characters given as examples: Tina Cohen-Chang, Blink, and Psylocke.
Regarding Tina, those blue streaks are part of her identity in Season One as a goth person, not her ethnicity. Glee does all sorts of awful stereotyping and other forms of nasty stereotype lauding, but this isn't actually part of them. The goth aspect of her identity randomly disappears - I personally believe the writers forgot she was goth - after Season One, at which time, so does the colored streaks in her hair. Because of this, I'm not sure this example should really count since the streaks aren't due to being East Asian or trying to be unique or original, but a legitimate aspect of how some people feel is an appropriate coloring for their hair in goth culture. Seriously, folks, go check out Pinterest or the "#gothic hair" tag on Tumblr if you don't believe me.
Regarding Psylocke, she's had purple hair since she was still in the body of Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, the (naturally blonde) white and English twin sister of Brian Braddock, aka Captain Britain. She dyed it when she took up modeling at some point before turning 16 when her telepathic powers went fully active. The purple hair became something of her trademark in the ensuing decades since her apperance as a model in Oct 1977's issue of Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain. She also was blinded by Spymaster while standing in for her brother as Captain Britian and given bionic eyes by Mojo. Even after she was altered or body swapped (depending on who you talk to sometimes) with Kwannon (possibly Chinese or Japanese, I don't remember if it was ever specified exactly), she kept her purple hair. It's her trademark and predates her becoming East Asian. (Though, if I remember right, Psylocke wasn't originally going to be that character's name and her powers don't quite align with comics!Psylocke even post Crimson Dawn.)
Regarding Blink, this is more tricky. Blink in comics naturally has lilac skin, dark pink hair, pointed ears, and pupil-less green eyes. As in, she was born with this coloration. As far as I know, she's also from the Bahamas and I have to admit I always thought her family was Black not any form of Asian, so when I first saw Days of Future Past, I honestly had no idea who the heck she was supposed to be. So, while, yes, she is supposed to have dark pink hair (not streaks), I'm not really sure why she was cast as an East Asian person to start with instead of a Black actress. I guess TPTB decided that five Black people was enough for an X-Men movie which is something else all together. Or maybe they decided it wouldn't be cost effective to do the makeup to make a Black woman lilac. Who knows.
Today at my school we had an assembly about internet predators and when I had said that most of my true friends are over the internet and they gave me a lecture about how âI donât know who Iâm talking toâ blah blah. So please, if you arenât a predator in any way, please reblog so i can prove a point.
Odd dog out here, but just pointing out that reblogging something doesn't in any way make it necessarily true. For example, I could reblog a post saying I'm a gourmand Tauruan from Alpha Zeti who's here because I find the taste of Earth's sun to be particularily delightful, but that doesn't mean I really am what I'm claiming. Also continuing the buzzkill here, but don't forget that claiming they're not something they are is kind of a really big thing that online predators do. I mean, come on. Lying is a big part of how they get their victims to trust and believe them.
Not trying to say everyone who reblogs this or is on Tumblr or other social media is a predator by any means, but if you believe 100% that everyone who reblogs this is 100% not a predator due to reblogging this, then you are dangerously naive for someone interacting on the Internet. It's cool for your best friends to be internet folks, but you always have to be aware of the possibility that at least some of the folks you're chatting with or reblogging aren't who or what they're claiming to be on here. There's a happy medium between being paranoid about EVERYONE online and blindly trusting everyone. One end makes you freak out at people saying their besties are online. The other is the 13 year old you hear about on the news because a pedophile convinced them they were also a young teen and loved them so they got on the bus and ended up with a creepy kiddie rapist. Please don't be either end of the spectrum. :(
What's the deal with all the apostrophes in plural nouns?
Seriously, I don't get it. I keep seeing it more and more. Even in professional correspondence from people who should know better. What's going on here?
 Quick rule of thumb: if you want something to be plural, lose the apostrophe. If you're talking about either something that belongs to the noun in question or a contraction of "[noun] is/has", then keep it.Â
 Examples!Â
Plural: "There were three trucks coming down the road."Â
Possessive: "The truck's wheels crunched over the gravel."Â
Contraction: "The truck's going fast!"
 There are two exceptions to this rule of thumb. The first one is abbreviations with interior periods such as "Ph.D." or "B.S.". These do need an apostrophe to be plural. Hence "Ph.D.'s" and "B.S.'s". But only with the interior periods!
The second exception is single, lowercase letters. For example, "p", "t", or "k". These need an apostrophe as well. Hence "p's", "t's", or "k's". However, if it is a capital letter, there is no apostrophe. Even for "S".
I'm making a Pocahontas indie and I was wondering if Julia Jones was acceptable for her non-cartoon face? If not, do you have any recommendations for one that is? I don't want to accidentally whitewash, it's just hard finding Native American fc's.
I believe she would be a great FC, but I donât know.Â
Matoaka (Pocahontas was a nickname that basically meant "naughty child") was Pamunkey Powhatan, which is a tribe of the Algonquian people. Using a face claim whose ethnicity is Black, Chickasaw, and Choctaw (Western Muskogean) to play her just because she "looks right" is, to me, as questionable as casting a Pakistani actor as a Hispanic/Latinx character just because they "look right". I'm not sure what the age range you're looking for and I don't know any actresses specifically of the Pamunkey Powhatan tribal affiliation, but here's a list of Algonquian people actresses that may work for you of various ages and looks:
Rachelle White Wind Arbez
Teneil Whiskeyjack (There aren't any images of her on this page I'm afraid, Google Image search has several nice ones though.)
Crystle Lightning
Jamie Loy
Constance Owl (I think she's underage just so you know.)
Roseanne Supernault
Stacey Thunder
Jennifer Bobiwash
Links are to IMDB or other reference pages for each actress. They were all found via Google if you don't want to click an unknown link.
All of these actresses are Ojibway, Cree, Metis, or Cherokee, which are all Algonquian peoples, though not of the Powhatan area. While the stories told about Matoaka - especially those by Disney - are, for the most part, at best, outright lies by a self-aggrandizing mercanary - John Smith - trying to win popularity by claiming she saved him when she was just a little girl (his own journals say otherwise), using a face claim from an entirely different people would be even more insulting.
Since when is being a major ditz and lacking actual intelligence the same thing? Some of the ditziest people I know are also some of the brightest. How you choose to behave or how socially clued in or, yes, even how ditzy you are doesn't have to have anything to do with how intelligent you are. Though, honestly, I have no clue what being into superhero club has to do with intelligence unless you're holding the stereotype of geek = smart too. Just like ditzy people aren't always lacking intelligence, geeks aren't always very bright.
Can we stop treating people as morons just because they act like airheads sometimes?
"I am not a strong woman. I am a woman of strength."
- Dr. Edith Eva Eger, psychologist, Hungarian Holocaust survivor, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, survivor of seven months at Auschwitz, and-at sixteen-the little ballerina made to dance for Mengele's amusement while her parents were murdered in the gas chambers.
Stop trying to give me "strong female characters". I want "female characters of strength". I want to see women who are strong not because they kick ass or go toe to toe with the big bads, but women who endure, women who survive, women who it doesn't matter what you throw at them or how hard you push them down because they get back up.Â
It's okay to be weak. It's okay to be small or not have the physical strength to do something or to endure without complaint. What's not okay is giving up.
Write about women of strength. Look for women of strength in your media. In your life. They're there, I promise. And if you're a woman, please remember, it doesn't matter how big, or strong, or tough, or badass you are. Be women of strength. You can do it. I believe in you.
Hey there! Thanks for posting that super helpful Native American FC list :) I know it's not okay to use someone who is not the same race as a character as a FC for that character. Does this also mean I shouldn't use a Native American FC from one tribal affiliation for a character in another tribal affiliation, or metis, or not specify the tribal affiliation? I'm worried of not getting the specifics of the FCs tribe right for my character, which would be bad too... I don't know what I should do!
Okay, so first off, full disclosure: I'm not personally affiliated with any Native American or First Nation tribe. My closest verifiable connection is my maternal great-grandfather who was taken from his parents to be raised "properly" by whites and had his cultural identity erased. There are others rumored to be Native American, but since I can't verify I won't claim. However, my roommate, who I consult on these sorts of questions, is half-Ojibway with the associated tribal affiliations.
Having said that, tribal affiliations are important. They define what culture a person is from, the language that is their heritage, and what other tribes are traditionally their enemies and allies. When you use the wrong tribe or disaffiliate someone from their tribe, you risk potentially deeply insulting them. Think of the tribes as nations. You wouldn't cast a Pakistani or Indian person to play a Mexican, would you? Then you shouldn't cast a Lakota to play a Hopi or an Iroquois or Choctaw as an Inuit.
And that said, casting a Native American or First Nations FC for a Native American or First Nations character, even if the wrong tribal affiliation, is infinitely better than using a white FC. Or a Hispanic person or a Pakistani, Indian, Turkish, or other "brown" ethnicity person. Or a Japanese person, which I've had the misfortune of seeing done in a movie. Getting the wrong tribal affiliation is more forgivable as a mistake than doing that.
Also, there are many black Native Americans that truly are Native Americans and should be considered as such due to their ancestors being adopted into their tribe. Escaped slaves found homes with the Native American tribes more often than some would think as adoption was very much a part of many tribal cultures throughout America. Even if current tribal leadership of some groups is still trying to disavow and push them out, black Native Americans do exist, they were born into the various tribes, and they should be recognized as such.
Another thing to remember is that Native American and First Nation People are constantly and consistently subject to blatant and extreme racism. Red-face is still used in films and tv and considered "acceptable" by society for costumes despite it being the equivalent of black-face which is condemned. In the USA, people who live on reservations still have to sue for the right to vote despite being "citizens". In Canada, their traditional lands are still being taken from them by force. Casting non-Native Americans or First Nations people to play roles which should be held by these people contributes to this. So you're being willing to properly cast is definitely something that to be commended. Thank you.
What is the tribal affiliation of the character you're trying to cast if I may ask? Maybe I can help you find some potential choices that could work. Don't forget, if you find an FC you really like, you can model your character to fit them too. There have been lots of roles out there that were written with specific people in mind after all. If your character's tribal affiliation isn't important to the plot or their backstory (though it probably should be an important part of backstory), then alter it to fit the FC you want to use. Who knows, looking into the tribal identity might even give you some ideas for the development of the character and their backstory!
I've been offline for a while, but I sure hope this helps you, anon.
#1) If your guide, masterlist, etc. takes up more than a screenlength on the dash, please put it behind a cut. If you're editing in rich text, you can click the button that looks like two solid rectangles with a dashed line between them and it'll put it in automatically. Yes, it means that when it's reblogged, it'll be a link back to your blog, so if you change your URL for seasonal or whatever purposes, the link will die because Tumblr isn't capable of forwarding to the new URL, but at least you won't make anyone unable to view their dash on mobile because trying to load your guide every time it's reblogged keeps crashing the app.
#2) Always check links before reblogging or adding it to your queue. There's little that's less helpful than reblogging a link to a guide that's either had the URL changed or directs you to a deleted blog.
Bonus tip: Periodically check the reblogged links you've made in the past to make sure they're still active. A lot of times people change their URLs (sometimes only for a short period for seasonal changes), take down guides for whatever reason, or just take down their account which means the guide is no longer viable. You can update the URL for simple URL changes by clicking the "HTML" button and just swapping out the old blog name for the new one in the address (after "a href=" in the quotation marks). If the guide is just gone for whatever reason, then take down the link to it. If people are looking for information on something and they just keep finding dead links, it'll be more frustrating than helpful.
Any chance you've got a rant on either A) writing a "guide" about a neurological disorder you don't even have and including your personal opinion on how people with that disorder behave (cause I saw as dyslexia "guide" that claimed we're all control freak perfectionists who can't take criticism and it REALLY pissed me off) or B) people who kink shame?
Kink shaming is making someone feel bad for their interests - usually sexual - just because the shamer doesn't like those interests. Happens a lot to people into things like BDSM, ageplay (not pedophilia but adults playing out an age difference like when one pretends to be a baby or toddler), furry (not bestiality but where the players are dressed up as/pretending to be animals or smut involving anthropomorphized animals), petplay, rape fantasy, incest, or other taboo or "out there" kinks. A lot of that stuff is far from up my alley, but as far as I'm concerned, as long as it's all between consenting adults it sure ain't my business. Kink shamers on the other hand think it's cool to try and make the people into the kinks feel like they're bad or wrong for being into it.
Below the cut, you'll find a vent on kink-shaming.
Now, just to be clear, a vent is more about an emotional response and not a logical one. There is no guarantee the language will be clean or all of the grammar and spelling will be spot on during it. This is also - and I cannot stress this enough - entirely MY OPINION which means do not try to come to me like I'm presenting this as Word of God or some other such nonsense. It's simply my opinion and you can take it or leave it.
There's really not a whole lot that hits my buttons in the RP world as much as kink-shaming does. And by kink-shaming, I explicitly mean making people feel like crap for enjoying something shared by fully consenting adults. I honestly do not give a flying fuck if you don't like whatever it is, kink-shaming is 1000%.never fucking okay.
There's a ton of stuff out there that I don't like and I would be entirely happy not seeing in the RP world. Seriously. But you know what? My personal preferences do not dictate the preferences of the world. Which means this: I have no fucking right to make anyone feel bad about themselves or what they like just because I don't like it.
It's called common fucking courtesy, people. You're allowed to say you don't like something. That's perfectly fine! But once you move from saying you don't like it to comparing people to despots, mass murderers, and other extremely negative things for liking it, you've gone straight to the head of Asshole Class.
There is nothing wrong with people choosing to RP out things like slavery, non-con, snuff, vore, what-the-fuck-ever. If it triggers you, you ask for a goddamn trigger warning tag and use Xkit or Tumblr Saviour or some other blacklisting extension to hide the posts. Otherwise, you grow the fuck up and stop squealing like a goddamn little brat who just saw a penis in a painting at the art museum!
Stop fucking making people feel like crap just because they enjoy heavier kinks. They're not forcing the kinks on you or trying to make you like them, so knock that shit the fuck off. And while you're at it, you can knock the passive aggressive kink-shaming by treating it as if they aren't really into it and are just doing it for shock-factor shit off too.
The Puckster Helps You Out With â American Magical Traditions Series #2: Curanderismo
Welcome to my resource series on American Magical Traditions. Below the cut, you'll find my attempt at helping you out with understanding Curanderismo - what it is, what it isn't, a brief history of the tradition, the major components of its practice, and a brief outline of some of the more prominent rituals of this tradition.
Disclaimer: I am not a practitioner of a great many of the traditions that will be found in this series. As such, there are likely to be elements which I am either not aware of or lack full understanding of due to my position as an outsider. I have done my best to research the tradition as fully as possible in the hopes of presenting it for use as an aspect of your character or setting from an RP or writing perspective. At the end of this guide, you'll find a list of links to the resources I used to create it.
In no way should this guide be considered definitive. It is merely a basic level guide to this tradition. If you wish to focus on it as part of your RP or story, I can only encourage you to do more in depth research to gain an even richer understanding.
As always, what you find in this guide is merely an attempt to be helpful. You are in no way obligated to use the information provided here.
Curanderismo
What Is It?
Curanderismo is a Latin American folk healing tradition with characteristics specific to the area where it is practiced. It blends religious belief, prayer, and faith with the use of herbal remedies, massage, and other traditional medical practices to heal. It's been in the Americas for hundreds of years and is also known as Mexican Traditional Medicine, medicina del campo, and traditional folk medicine.
Curanderismo practicioners are holistic healers. Their methods involve treating the whole body as opposed to symptomatic treatment methods used in more common forms of Western medicine. Curanderismo is often considered to be a Mestizo, or syncretic, system of healing. Depending on the curanderaâs religious, cultural and/or tribal background --if any, it may, or may not, also have Catholic, Sephardic, African and/or magico-religious influences.
The terms used to name a practitioner of this tradition are varied and include curandera, mujer de conocimiento (woman of knowledge), mujer de medicina (medicine woman), and occasionally shaman. The term used depends upon the practitioner's faith and the system in which they were raised. Each practitioner has a distinctive practice that is most often learned within the context of her family, community or tribe.
What Isn't It?
Voodoo. Though it shares some aspects of that tradition - particularly for practitioners with African and Catholic influences - it is not a religious belief system the way Voodoo is. The rituals, prayers, and herbal uses are all geared towards the healing of their subject, who is generally not the practitioner.
Satanism. Despite certain people's insistence that all traditional practices are inherently tied to the Christian Devil, this is, again, not one of them.
Chinese Holistic Medicine. Though having certain similarities, this tradition formed and evolved entirely separate from the path that led to Chinese Holistic Medicine. They are not connected and should not be used as interchangeable terms.
Human Sacrifice. Just because the Aztecs and Mayans were involved does not mean anyone is getting killed. That is not at all what this tradition is about.
A Brief History
Curanderismo, in Mexico at least, is based on Aztec, Mayan, and Spanish influences. The ancient native cultures believed that a delicate balance existed between health, nature, and religion. Illness occurred when one of these areas was out of balance, similar to the Greek and medieval belief in humors that had to be kept in balance to promote health and wellbeing.
The use of nature's resources was very important to the native cultures. In the fifteenth century, the Huaxtepec Garden was developed by the Aztec leader Montezuma I. A collection of several thousand medicinal plants, the Aztec priests used this garden to perform research on the medicinal properties of the plants. However when the Spanish conquistadors came to Mexico in the sixteenth century, they destroyed the garden and all of the priests' research because the Catholic Church considered these "sciences" to be blasphemous. Although the written knowledge was destroyed, the plant wisdom was remembered, passed down by the native peoples, and became an integral part of curanderismo.
The Spanish missionaries who were sent to the New World introduced the native peoples to the Catholic religion and European healing philosophies. Prayers to Catholic saints were soon integrated into healing rituals. Another doctrine that was passed on to the native peoples by the Europeans was their belief in witchcraft, sorcery, and other superstitions, and the philosophy that illness is often caused by supernatural forces. As the native and Spanish cultures intermingled over the centuries, a new culture was formed, as was the folk medicine of curanderismo..
Terms and Items
(Note: Many of the below terms are taken from the site of a curandera who is from an Aztec/Mayan influenced tradition of Curanderismo. Other traditions may use other terms to describe the same thing.)
Curar - Spanish, from the verb âto heal.â The word curandera/o (female/male healer) incorporates these qualities: âcura,â a priest; healing, and humor as the word is often used in response to a witticism, as in que cura!.
Ofrenda - A gift to a healer, teacher, elder or peer as a sign of respect and/or affection. May be monetary, art, food, feathers, medicines, etc. Traditionally a pouch of tobacco (or copal) is offered to curanderas/curanderas when requesting healing and by students or people to a teacher or elder as a sign of respect for sharing teachings.
Copal - resin from certain pine trees used in Mesoamerican ceremonies.
Ometeotl (Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs also known as Mexika) - The Creative Force of the Universe whom some may call God, Goddess or Creator. It consists of Ome = two, Teotl = divine force or energy, in acknowledgement that there is both feminine and masculine within the Source of all; the Energy that permeates everything. This sacred duality, which springs from the vast non-duality of Ometeotl is known as Ome Cihuatl (two woman) and Ome Tecuhtli (two man). Our Ancestors understood that everything is made up of energy and that from Ometeotl springs duality - on this plane of existence as Spirit/Matter, Order/Chaos, Day/Night, Sun/Moon, Life/Death, Hot/Cold, etc - as complementary forces. Used to seal our prayers and/or during a speech in acknowledgement that we are all related. You will often hear persons in a group also say, "Ometeotl" to acknowledge hearing and agreeing with someone's good words.
Four Winds or Four Guardians. - Quetzalcoatl (East), Xipe Totec (West), Tezkatl ipoca (North), Huitzilipochtli (South) The four cardinal points: East, West, North,
The Four Grandfathers (Cuatro Abuelos) - the Four Elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air
Chaneques Duendes - Elemental forces in nature that can be mischievous or deliberately frighten people who do not properly acknowledge them or who fail to follow spiritual laws.
Temazcal or Temazcalli - Mesoamerican sweat lodge
Popoxcomitl (Nahuatl) or Sahumador (Spanish) - Ceremonial incense burner used by curanderas/os and ceremonial leaders. Used to burn copal and other dried herbs for offering prayers and spiritual cleansings.
Mal de Ojo - the "Evil Eye" that may affect infants or women and caused by a person with a "strong eye" (energy, force) looking with admiration or jealousy at another person. Mal de Ojo in children is avoided by touching an infant when admiring or complimenting it. One may interpret a strong direct look as an attempt to send someone this illness. Headaches, crying, irritability, and restlessness are common symptoms, accompanied by stomach ailments.
Empacho - Intestinal obstruction and is characterized by abdominal pain, vomiting, constipation, anorexia, or gas and bloating.
Verguenza - Shame
Envidia - Acute jealousy or envy, directed toward another. It can resemble anxiety, upper respiratory issues (similar to colds), the feeling of having a ball in the pit of the stomach.
Nervios - "Sickness of the nerves" marked by anxiety, palpitations, symptoms of depression, or uncharacteristic behaviors. Commonly term used for other types of mental health issues, as a courtesy, so may be necessary to refer a client who suffers from nervios to mental health practitioner as needed.
Bilis - Strong suppressed anger, usually turned inward.
Muina - Anger expressed outwardly.
Trabajos Mal Puesto (Hex, Whammy, Curse) - Not common. Placed by someone who works with negative forces. Symptoms may include a host of somatic complaints such as anxiety, and gastro intestinal problems.
Mal Aire/Mal Viento - Literally, Bad Wind. Breathing in cold night air, moving rapidly from a warm to a cold ambient environment, or working up a sweat and not allowing for a proper cooling down period causes illness. The term is also used to identify an elemental force that can cause illness or bad luck which is transmitted through the air/wind, caused by a person's exposure to mal aire when visiting certain places such as cemeteries, houses of the recently deceased, ravines, rock out croppings, and gorges. They said that mal is naturally drawn to and gathers at these places, or that it is emitted by spirit beings that occupy these places. Upon contact, mal aire sticks to a person and over a short period of time it penetrates and pollute s the entire body. Symptoms are associated with mal aire/mal viento include combinations of coldness, diarrhea, headache, aching of the back of the neck (occipital area) vomiting, paleness, fatigue, and shaking
PlĂĄticas (Heart to Heart talks) - a unique cultural counseling style used by curanderas/os. May also be used to refer to presentations. Much like in psychology, the practitioner seeks first to resolve things by clearing the air, so to speak. In many cases, this can resolve the trouble.
Limpias (also known as Barridas) - Spiritual cleansings, done by "sweeping" the body with a bundle of herbs such as rosemary, rue and sage. Often this is accompanied by sprinkling consecrated floral waters on the client. Alternatively a sacred feather may be used to remove negative energies from the client's physical and energetic bodies. At times a fresh unbroken raw egg may be used and is rubbed over the body, then broken, and placed in a glass of water, allowing the practitioner to "read" the person's energy so the treatment can be individualized.
Susto and Espanto (literally, "fright;" more commonly known as soul loss) - Both a type of ritual as well as the condition for which they are supposed to treat. The ritual is supposed to allow the subject to regain the parts of their soul lost to the trauma. Susto may be acute includes a variety of complaints such as chronic insomnia coupled with nightmares, a feeling of disassociation or the inability to concentrate on tasks, glassy eyes, rapid pulse rate even when resting. Susto may be caused by car accidents, molestation, divorce, physical abuse, mental or emotional abuse, or death of a loved one. In the United States, known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Espanto is a deeper, more long-term form of this.
A Glimpse at Rituals
The rituals for this tradition vary from style to style. A healing ritual, for example, may include holding relevant photographs or the burial of clothing or other item that may be associated with the traumatic event that is creating stress or illness. It could involved fasting, abstaining from sexual relations for a specified period of time, singing, drumming, and/or drinking specially prepared herbal infusions. There may even be participation in a sweat lodge, prior to the ceremony, to purify the body and soul in preparation for the ceremony.
The important thing to remember is that the focus of any and all rituals, prayers, or ceremonies for the practitioner of this tradition is to help make the subject better. It is a healing art which is recognized by licensed doctors for it's ability to help promote well-being and wellness in those who utilize the services of a practitioner.
Links
The webpage of Grace Sesma, practicing Curandera
Yahoo! Health - Curanderismo
Curanderismo: Mexican American Folk Healing by Robert T. Trotter, Juan Antonio Chavira
As always, this is only a tiny sampling of what this tradition is about. If you wish to use this as an aspect of your character or part of your setting, I encourage you to do more research on the subject yourself. There are a number of books out there about this as well as people like Grace Sesma who are still practicing this tradition and may be willing to speak with you regarding questions you may have provided you are polite and respectful.
Last night, this sign went up at a McAdory High School football game.Â
I am absolutely disgusted that this sign was allowed to go up, and that it was not stopped by school administrators, and that after this, no one has mentioned it.
The school and the students have shown no remorse for the sign (as expected) and the students have claimed ignorance and/or that it was just a âjokeâ.
Sorry, but the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the death of thousands of Native Americans is not a fucking joke.
For the record, McAdory High School is in McCalla, Alabama, as part of the Jefferson County School District.
Here is their website, with a big âcontact usâ button at the top. Since itâs Sunday you probably wonât be able to reach them by phone but you can start emailing them.
Hey, I'm looking for people to be admins in my group so we can get started but I'm having difficulty getting anyone, do you have any tips on getting admins? Thanks!
Sorry this took so long to get to, anon. I was mostly offline yesterday.
For me, co-admins are the one group of people that I don't like pulling out of a hat. They should be your co-conspirators when it comes to plot twists, your fellow enforcers when it comes to the rules, your regent went you need to step away, and your backup when things get hairy. Your co-admins have to be people you trust, implicitly, to not only have your back but be on the same page as you when it comes to your RP and not bail and leave you in the lurch. Because of this, and full disclaimer, I've never gone out expressly looking for a co-admin for my RPs. I've always either had them while developing the RP, been fully prepared to be the only admin, or had players in game that I came to trust enough to tap as a co-admin when the time came that I needed help.
If you find yourself looking for a co-admin, perhaps you should stop and ask yourself a few questions first. First, why do you need a co-admin? Do you feel like you're incapable of handling everything that is required of a RP admin? What is it you're having trouble with? Graphics? You can ask an RPH for help with those if it's really troubling you. Coding? Again, this is something an RPH can probably give you a hand with. Bios? Does your game actually require them to work? And if so, shouldn't you be able to at least give a rough outline to let the potential players know who they are? You should have worked it up with the plot.
Or is that the problem? You need a co-admin because you're having trouble creating the plot and/or setting of the RP. In that case you should seriously ask yourself why you're making this RP. If you don't have a plot and/or setting in mind starting out, you don't really have an RP on your hands even if you have players for it. Please don't take this as an attack on you, but it's possible that you might just do better in an RP that's already established rather than setting out on your own. Running your own RP is hard and sometimes incredibly frustrating and discouraging. There's no shame if you're not up to it.
All of that said, if you're still determined to search for a co-admin, the first step is advertise. Talk to RPHs and ask if they'll do a shout-out for you to let people know you're looking for a co-admin. Turn one of your player advertisements into a co-admin advertisement. Put a note on your sidebar that you're looking. Basically, get the word out however you can.
Second, try looking close to home. If you already have players, you already have a group of people who are interested and invested in your RP. Why not see if any of them have what you're looking for in a co-admin? You might just be surprised.
I'm not sure if any of this will help you, anon, but I hope it does. Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.
In the roleplay community in general it seems that the terms âD/Sâ and âBDSMâ are rather stretched and varied in their definitions, with some taking a more traditional sense of the term and others seeming to incoperate elements of M/s or even going as far as to bring about non-consensual actions in the name of Dominants and Submissives.
Now while every roleplay is different and should strive to stand out as best they can, I thought it might be important to remember the true meaning of both D/S and BDSM and what the actual purpose of dominance and submission truly is. Many people who are not familiar with the lifestyle may actually be surprised by the truth.Â
These quotes can be found here.
"Believe it or not, the dynamics of a BDSM relationship are often driven by the submissive, not by the dominant. The submissive sets the limits; the submissive decides what places can and can not be explored; the submissive has the ability to call a halt to the scene. The dominant, in many ways, is simply a facilitator. Itâs the dominantâs job to create a setting where the people involved can explore the submissiveâs fantasies."Â
Some of you may be a little baffled by this notion simply because sadly in the roleplay community, Submissives can sometimes be seen as a lower class of people or otherwise not important. It is vital for people to understand that true D/S is not just about power and discipline but also about equality and trust. How a Submissive is able to find a safe place to relish in their fantasies and know that at the end of the day, they have the power for it to go as slow or fast as they want.Â
 âIn fact, many dominants are driven as much by their desire to please their partner as by anything else; the psychology of a healthy BDSM relationship is driven by the submissive as well as by the dominant, and a dominant can take pleasure from gratifying the needs of the submissive just as easily as the submissive can take pleasure from gratifying the needs of the dominant.â
Another surprising quote to some, but a very revealing one. Some are misinformed in believing Dominants are all about power, control, and feeling superior when this is not the case. The trust that a Dominant gets from a Submissive is something that they often crave, wanting them to feel safe and many of the best Dominants will seek their Submissiveâs pleasure and approval just as much as a Submissive seeks a Dominantâs praise and guidance.Â
So why are we posting this? Perhaps itâs simply to draw attention to the idea of D/S and BDSM and what it really stands for. We are by no means bashing anyone or accusing any group of being âincorrectâ but we have sadly seen some people misunderstand or become confused to what it truly means to fill one of these roles. Some seem to see Submissives as inherently weak or lacking as people and Dominants as the superior, preferred role. Add in elements of slavery, abuse, forced interactions in the name of D/S and the truth can often get woefully lost and misguided.Â
You should feel free to roleplay as you see fit and enjoy whatever it is that you want to embark in, but never forget to remember the true meaning behind something. Remember, information is power and it never hurts to know as much as you can about something before you decide to roleplay it.
I apologize for this long post, but I thought it was worth sharing and if you have any interest in joining a roleplay that follows these D/S beliefs then we would be more than honored to have you among us. But if not, we hope that at the very least we made things a little clearer.Â
