Anansi Needs to Have a Seat

This opinion might get me into hot water, but I don’t really care.

I am obsessed with Neil Gaiman, so obviously I am over the moon about the fact that there is another season of the book adaptation of “American Gods”.

Neil Gaiman and everyone involved in this series make it very clear that they are not going to white-wash a single episode.

There are two important gods in this series: Anansi and Belquis, Anansi being male and Belquis female. Both are powerful characters in this day and age, where racial tensions in America and beyond are simmering like a pressure cooker. Anansi was written off of the show because some of the powers that be did not want the viewers to think he is just another stereotypical angry black man. His story is important, but now that he has made his appearance, he needs to take a seat.

This season and all seasons beyond need to be about Bilquis, because for once there needs to be an angry black woman portrayed in the entertainment industry. It has always been about the angry black man, and I cannot be alone when I say that I am sick of it. I want more women of color taking the mic so they can force mainstream media to look at the damage they are doing to the female POC population. Even if I don’t like said woman of color, I want her represented. I want her involved. I want a light to be directly shone on how men of color mistreat their fellow women of color. I want a light to be directly shone on how white men mistreat women of color. I am done with the outpouring of whitesplaining that goes on after every racially motivated incident occurs.

Women of color deserve so much better than this.

Update

I am going to be working on a series that I am going to be publishing hopefully at the end of the month. It is going to be the biggest story I have ever covered so far in all the years I have been blogging, and I want it to be as perfect as I can make it.

I will be sharing some of the Youtube videos I have made in the meantime. I have projects that I have worked on that I want to promote more. I will be posting them Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the month of February.

Creating the Next Buzzword

This is a side of humanity (and of predominantly first-world countries) that really grinds my gears. It is a phenomenon as old as time, making up slang words. Words that throughout the ages everyone who has been born in or has tried to climb the ladder to join high society have been taught to avoid. Anyone within the folds of the elite or the royal are never to use them, for that would make them sound “common” or a part of the aristocracy.

Now you can’t shake a stick without knocking over five losers who are desperate for their fifteen-second hashtag of fame trying to make up the next “fetch”. The older I get, the more crotchety I am towards the those youth who won’t stay off my damn lawn and whine when I tell them “I KEEP IT NOW!” every time one of their toys or what-have-you’s lands on the front of my property or the roof of my house.

Actually, I don’t have to worry about yelling at kids playing in the street in front of my lawn because they are all either riding bikes or on their smart phone as they’re walking. Wow. That’s depressing.

For the sake of brevity what I am saying is this: I am officially too old to care about using your buzzwords, dagnabbit. You have no idea how annoyed I get when I catch myself saying “like” too much. The people in my real life thinks it’s funny when I get that annoyed at it, but for me as writer it is torture. It’s like a bad pop song that gets stuck in your head for months.

I’ll stay on top of them for the sake of my daughter and nephew, but you can’t make me use them. I might pepper them into future fiction I write, but they will not be a part of my conversation. As a writer, my vocabulary cannot be focused solely on slang or Ebonics. It would completely stunt my growth as a writer. I would stunt anyone’s growth as a writer, honestly.