Diversity - Blog Posts

A painting I did in Photoshop, but as an event poster!

Always forward Not even defeated, feel like a slave, trembling with courage, think brave and attack fiercely already badly wounded. Have the tenacity of the rusty nail, which is already old and mean and still clings, not the cowardly intrepidity of the turkey that lowers its plumage at the first sound. Proceeds like God who never cries or like Lucifer who never prays, or like the oak whose greatness needs water and does not implore it. Let it bite and scream avenger, your head already rolling in the dust.

Same disabled anon again: apology accepted. I recommend looking at disability blogs by disabled people as a good starting point. The community is really diverse, so there's a lot to learn! Best of luck :)

Oh thanks! I know it's so diverse, people with disabilities are very diverse, even more diverse than those without disabilities. There are all different types and levels of abilities as well as all different kinds of people, Black, Asian, white, Hispanic, and all other colors and ethnicity, plus I know it crosses over with LGBTQ+. I already looked at some stories from those with learning disabilities such as dyslexia and ADHD, and I will definitely look at blogs by disabled people.

Thank you again, anon, for teaching me so much about the disabled community!

I just realized I could potentially seem like a stalker because I go on people’s blogs and like out of habit when i’m bored. I am not a stalker I’m just a random person like you and i’m sorry if you find my liking most of your posts creepy. please know i’m not a creep and i just do it out of habit. i hope you don’t mind.

Funding Terminations

Research funders like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health have been cutting grants across the United States. Some amazing people have created trackers to collect and visualize the decimation of science funding and what kind of research is being cut. I think we can all guess what kind of research it is. It will look similar to what will happen or already is happening in other countries, in the Netherlands, for example.

NSF Grant Terminations 2025. https://airtable.com/appGKlSVeXniQZkFC/shrFxbl1YTqb3AyOO

NIH Grant Terminations in 2025. https://airtable.com/appjhyo9NTvJLocRy/shrNto1NNp9eJlgpA

Matthews, D. (2024). Far-right governments seek to cut billions of euros from research in Europe. Nature, 635(8037), 15–16. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-03506-y

Universities these days

Faculty members hold more power than many realize. Without their labour, research and expertise, universities cannot function.

Unfortunately, universities that no longer function are part of the goal, aren't they?

The US administration might hope that academics will remain siloed, too consumed with their own work — or too afraid — to resist. However, if faculty members unite across institutions, they can become a force that the federal government cannot ignore.

Hopefully, STEM will not abandon the humanities.

But words won’t be enough. Faculty senates must formally call on universities to refuse compliance. Such resolutions aren’t just symbolic — they create a record that can be cited in lawsuits, the media and advocacy.

If thinking about all of those who already lost, is not motivation enough, think about those who will see what you do now or in the distant future.

If faculty members are to take a stand, universities must back them up — protecting academic freedom, defending academics against retaliation and refusing to cave in to intimidation. [...] For some, organizing against this directive would not be just an act of resistance, it would be an act of professional and personal risk.

Hoping that universities, states and local communities will support their researchers and institutions.

Global institutions must also take a stand.

Don't forget that

[...] it’s not just in the United States. Rollbacks are also taking place in parts of Europe, for example.

And after all and most importantly:

This anti-DEI directive is not just an attack — it’s a test, a probe to see how much resistance universities will muster. Staying silent will not prevent more attacks. The only way to win is to act — together, decisively and now.

This is not a drill. It is a defining moment.

Calisi Rodríguez, R. (2025). ‘Silence is complicity’—Universities must fight the anti-DEI crackdown. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-00667-2

Good job. You panned a great game with some of the most diversity in gaming history, a poc cast and a nonbinary character played by a nonbinary actor, and the ability to be trans or nonbinary yourself and talk about it in the game. Congratulations. If we don't get another game with this level of representation for years you know what the fuck happened.

Beautiful POC women for your fantasy universe

@/rechelcamille // Amita Suman // Shu Qi // Malika El Maslouhi

Not an odd parallel at all

So here's the thing. Well, two things.

I'm one of those filthy tabletop game people. (So is my spouse; she has been since before we met, too.) After college, well, we needed to create a new group of people to get entirely too interested in the fall of oddly-shaped pieces of plastic and the lives of fictional elves. We are also, it must be said, on the old side. We remember the Before Times. And in the Before Times, and even a bit after that, game groups were invariably largely male. Indeed, it wasn't at all uncommon for a group of gamers to have *at absolute most* exactly one female member. (Take a look at some of the classic game-related comics-- take a look at the gender groupings in Knights of the Dinner Table or Order of the Stick. These are pretty typical; many groups had zero female members.)

But our post-college group kind of wavered, shifted, stabilized-- and suddenly, we had, and to this day, still have, a majority-female gaming table. There wasn't anything to it, honestly. It just... happened.

So here's the other thing.

The industry I work in isn't really known for progressive politics in many ways. It's one of those things, not restricted to any one company-- it's the entire industry. (It's not just politics, for that matter-- my industry can be incredibly reluctant to, say, upgrade technology. We don't like change much.)

But the specific company I work for? At one location, one particular division-- and not one you'd expect this of *at all*-- is currently majority trans.

That's even more surprising than the first one; I don't know what the current math is on the percentage of trans people in the population as a whole, but I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it's less than, oh, ten percent. So if random chance was involved, what are the odds that we'd have one job category at one location be 57% trans?

So how did that happen, anyway?

I'm pretty sure that it's the same reason in both cases.

In our gaming group, as we formed, other women in our community who were tabletop gamers saw that we had multiple women in our group, that we didn't treat them like romance objects or second-class players, that they were comfortable and happy hanging out with us. And the female members of our group, of course, were happy to tell other women about how fun it was. So more asked to join our group. And now our table is so big we can't even fit more people in, and still majority-female.

And, well, I'm not trans, and I'm not in that community, but I'm going to guess that since we started hiring other trans folks, and treating them with respect, word got out that that's what we did-- treat them with respect-- and so other people came to us over some other employer where, say, they might be taking a chance on how they'd be treated.

And I'm glad that it's worked out that way, for them, and for us.

And... I don't know. I think that it illustrates a truth that gets overlooked by some people. If someone says "[Group] isn't interested in [Hobby/Vocation/Activity]," maybe what they aren't seeing is that people don't necessarily feel safe or comfortable or welcome in some spaces, and that if it's clear that that the space is welcoming, then the demographics suddenly start to reflect the people who are really out there instead of the stereotypes.

Or something like that. I don't know. I'm not a sociologist.

But what I do know is that I have a really cool tabletop gaming group.

And I do know that we were able to hire enough people in a location and position that had been pretty painfully understaffed.

And both of these things are good.

And, just between me and all of you, I think that basically treating people with respect got us there.

                             Image Credit: Pottermore/Warner Brothers HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET of NOPE!  Dear JK Rowling,

Alia here.  There’s no denying you’re one of the most brilliant minds of our era. You’ve created worlds that we get lost in and complex characters that we love dearly. But with MAGIC IN NORTH AMERICA, something went wrong.  Maybe it’s that you’re not from North America? But surely you did your research into the complexities that are the native peoples of this continent...Maybe it’s that you didn’t grow up constantly bombarded by stereotypical images of native people on TV, in movies, as Halloween costumes, etc.? Maybe it’s because you didn’t go to school here and didn’t receive an incomplete history of native peoples that basically stops after “First Contact” & “Thanksgiving” and ignores modern native people? Perhaps...

There are real issues here. You’re dealing with real people, cultures, traditions and religions and with that comes a lot of responsibility. Native people are already heavily stereotyped around the world as “Magical Beings” and now...they’re in your magical canon! Not only do you refer to them as a monolithic group (there are hundreds of nations in the US alone), you *seem* to imply that native wand-less magic is powerful but not as refined as European magic (due to the power of a wand).

I encourage you, Ms. Rowling, to respond to native academics, fans, etc. who are asking you tough, but important questions. Debbie Reese, Dr. Adrienne Keene and many others have tweeted at you. Here, here, here & here are some EXCELLENT articles that delve into your work from a native perspective. This one is excellent as well. I ask you to check out Debbie Reese and Dr. Adrienne Keene’s websites in general. Just look around. They do great work.

Let’s get this discussion going and please let us know who you consulted for this project because we’re SUPER CURIOUS. (at least I am...) Representation Matters. It really does and yes, anyone CAN write a story, but I’d hope they LISTEN and learn as much as possible before releasing it to the world, especially when you’re dealing with living people, religions, and NATIVE KIDS. There’s a long history of misrepresentation, exploitation and stereotyping of native peoples. There’s also the fact native writers already have a difficult time getting published. They have a hard time telling their own stories. MAGIC IN NORTH AMERICA is problematic and we await your response... Sincerely, A Fan **SIPS TEA (out of the Goblet of Fire)**

Working on some new stuff! Lots of exciting things to come and here's the first - a little something about what it's like to be part of a community and share something with so many different people.

YELLOWJACKETS SPOILERS

…yk, I’m starting to see a pattern in Yellowjackets with how most of the people who were hunted/killed in the wilderness were POC. Even after the wilderness, their deaths, like Lottie’s and Travis’s were so fucking tragic compared to some of the fair skinned MC’s deaths. And I’m not saying that to excuse the fact and say their deaths weren’t horrible just bc they were light-skinned, cause they all definitely were. Im just saying the pattern is noticeable in who they are more likely to kill off and who’s stories get to matter. Some people in this show were most of the time used as kick off/spark, shock value or helped us see how bad a character actually is. Most of the time, these were POC. The characters who they helped bring to light just happened to be fair-skinned. For example, Coach Martinez, Kristen/Crystal, Lottie, and even Travis. They were used for exactly that. And, I’m not saying light-skinned characters are bad either, they aren’t. It’s just the way they executed it wasn’t great. The writers werent as color conscious as they needed to be. And in addition to diverse character deaths being a tragity more than less, the finale ep left a bad taste in my mouth honestly. Keeping and cutting Mari’s hair basically as a trophy? Stripping, dragging her body, and hanging her by her feet to a tree with no remorse, just to humiliate her one last time. And Ik the hunt was used a “distraction” but the way it was done was so violent and dehumanizing. Yes, morals are out of the question bc it’s the wilderness, but it’s still cruel nonetheless. Javi was practically used as a sacrificial lamb, not even a person fr, he was strung up like a freaking pig. And the way the fandom treats the ethinically diverse characters vs how they treat lighter-skinned characters is crazy to me. Cause the same way Travis was treated for being misogynistic should be the way people should treat Shauna for being a flat out dictator and shitty person.

-Atlas.

So I Was Watching “Murder Drones” And Something Hit Me.

Doll Is Russian, Right? Because What, The Fuck?

Why Do They Never Explain That? It’s Just-

Was She “Born” Russian? Did Her Parents Speak Russian? Did The Solver Teach Her? (CAN It Teach Her?!)

I Guess What I Mean To Say Is; Are Language’s Diverse On Copper-9? Because If So, That’s So Cool, And We Need To See More Of That Diversity!

Speaking Of;

Can Worker Drones Also Have Heterochromia? That’d Be Nice To See! Probably Won’t Though..

Do They Have Special Needs?

What Kinda Jobs Do They Have? (Besides The Stated)

We Need To Know More About Worker Drones Damnit!

Hey your HP fic sounds amazing what is your Ao3 account so I can subscribe? Thanks 😁

Hi! Thank you! I don’t have anything posted yet, but I’m hoping I can have something done and shared by New Year.

You can find me as “thesoftrainbows” (same as my tumblr). I would attach a link but I’m not sure how to do that.

Thank you for the support!

  “I still don’t think k!lling it with a pipe is right, that would make us worse than the dragon.”   “Worse than the dragon?! K!lling a murderous, evil, child-eäting dragon with a pipe makes you as bad as the dragon?! Does k!lling a d!ctator by stäbbing them make you as bad as the d!ctator?! No! I don’t know about you, but child-eäting-anything is in the same category as d!ctators, humän träffickers, and släve öwners, and that category is called "people and things I would k!ll without a doubt"!” Everyone stared at him in horror, but he could not care less. The anger boiled in his blood and warmed him up.

If anyone has name suggestions, I would love to hear them.

I have, literally, written for three days straight and I have a permanent headache

Would you read a book about three brothers with family issues during a dragon apocalypse with history-accurate dragons and creatures from mainly Scandinavian folklore that also has queer, ethnic, and disabled diversity?

Please follow me and help me write and publish my book.

Would you read a book about three brothers with family issues during a dragon apocalypse with history-accurate dragons and creatures from mainly Scandinavian folklore that also has queer, ethnic, and disabled diversity?

Please follow me and help me write and publish my book.

when are privileged people going to realise that bringing diversity to media and the market does not mean privileged people writing marginalised stories, but rather it means uplifting marginalised creators so we can all exist on an equal playing field

(this is not to say don't write a diverse range of characters — that's great when you do it with good research and respect — but i want to see equal platforms for marginalised creators, not just marginalised characters)