Tag: interesting

theafrocentrics:

wonkistan:

Reader Chris passes along an article about differences in American Sign Language usage between white and African-American signers. Researchers investigating what they call Black ASL found significant variations in signs, signing space, and facial cues. They explain:

Black ASL is not just a slang form of signing. Instead, think of the two signing systems as comparable to American and British English: similar but with differences that follow regular patterns and a lot of variation in individual usage.

They hypothesize that these differences began in segregated learning environments, and continue to evolve in Black social spaces. The whole article is worth a read.

Thanks, Chris, and remember — you can submit Wonk-worthy links through our ask or via email!

ETA, 9/24/12: Many of you have brought up the use of the word “mainstream” in this infographic. Better choices definitely exist, since this word rings of othering. We appreciate your nuanced and attentive readership!

Black folks got they own vernacular in asl also. You learn something new everyday.

crankyredhead:

There’s a lot of talk about the fact that Hawkeye is canonically deaf in the comics (and uses hearing aids), but there’s rarely any mention of how this happened.

I think it’s important to remember Hawkeye didn’t just lose his hearing. He sacrificed it. It happens in the panels from the comic above, final issue of Hawkeye’s first solo limited, published in 1983 (written and penciled by Mark Gruenwald). In this comic, Hawkeye and Mockingbird (who he would marry at the end of the issue) are subjected to a sound that makes them go into a violent, uncontrollable rage. Hawkeye knows there’s a very good chance if he listens to this sound, he will beat Mockingbird to death.

This is a man who watched his father beat his mother. Who lost both his parents when his father forced his mother to drive with him when he was drunk. So when he’s faced with the possibility of becoming like his father, whether it’s of his own choice or not, and turning that kind of violence on a woman he loves, what does he do? He makes the decision to risk his own well being, to sacrifice one of his senses without knowing what the long term consequences will be, to prevent hurting her.

This is part of what makes Hawkeye’s deafness so important. It’s representation, yes, and we always need more of that in media. But it’s also a symbol of who he is, of who he’s willing to be. Yes, Hawkeye is the guy without any “real” powers, the guy who stands with the Avengers because he practiced until he got really, really good with arrows. But he’s also the guy who will put others first, who will do whatever needs to be done no matter the personal cost. Hawkeye’s deafness is a symbol of what makes him a hero, even without the powers.

Because that’s who Hawkeye is—the guy who shows that it doesn’t take a serum or a robot suit to be a hero. And his deafness is a reminder of that.

septembriseur:

One thing I was thinking about today was Alexander Pierce. I feel like one thing that’s been under-discussed in Cap 2 meta (at least, from what I’ve seen on my dash— maybe it’s been talked about elsewhere!) is the privilege of Alexander Pierce, a privilege that is very deliberately communicated onscreen.

Pierce, as a character, is visually distinctive: he’s not just an older white man, but a very specific genre of older white man. His three-piece suits and tortoiseshell glasses suggest a fondness for the styles, at least, of some happier past: the gentlemen’s era (to me located sort of vaguely pre-Philby) when men like him knew how to be graceful with power, because it was something that came naturally to them, something they would never have to demand. His charm, his generally pleasant demeanor are of a piece with this— after all, as he himself tells Steve, he’s the diplomat: the one who keeps his hands clean while Nick Fury does what needs to be done.

Read More

plot-insight:

Tony does spin out of control and fights his best friend because he’s a drunken mess… except he’s dying. He already gave Pepper his company and is now entrusting the Iron Man suits to the one person he can trust: Rhodey. Tony brawling with Rhodes isn’t just a dispute between friends. Tony was testing Rhodes to see if he was willing and able to use the suit to fight his best friend if need be. In one go, Tony was training, teaching, and evaluating Rhodes’ suitability. Brilliant. War Machine was planned by Tony, who thought he was going to die.

All of which lends new meaning into Tony’s line to Rhodey earlier in the movie: “You gotta trust me. Contrary to popular belief, I know exactly what I’m doing.”

The Body of Bucky Barnes: A Massage Therapist’s Analysis

stele3:

(CAVEAT: I have not been a massage therapist for very long. This is literally just me spitballin’—at the same time, this was a really good exercise for me! I like using the assessment part of my brain.)

It’s been tossed around in fandom that Bucky’s muscles have to be pretty f-ed up from having a cybernetic, metal arm grafted onto one side of his body. From the perspective of a massage therapist, that’s 100% accurate—but the issues don’t stop there. At the very least he’s got functional scoliosis and massive compensatory muscle strain, enough adhesions to make Jesus weep, and tons of somato-emotional holding points.

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Do you ship Johnlock in the ACD canon? Do you think that ACD intended to write them as in love? Because as my thought process goes, there’s a pretty good chance that he, as a product of his time, was homophobic, maybe not to the point where he wouldn’t befriend a gay man (Wilde) but to the point where he might not intentionally write gay characters. Just a thought.

hiddenlacuna:

wsswatson:

I absolutely ship them in the ACD canon. I think there’s a lot of suggestion that Holmes and Watson were (very implicitly, of course) queer and in love in the canon, for instance:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was way ahead of his time in many ways and loved flying in the face of convention. He has my faith.

Yep! And I cannot recommend the last link given enough, to nekosmuse’s Decoding the ACD subtext site, where they go through each of the canon stories and draw out all the nuggets of nuance. Very good read, although it’s best to read the original story either just before or just after for maximum goodness.

mortalstardust:

freezepeachinspector:

laborreguitina:

pissnerd:

badbilliejean:

blackourstory:

Happy Black History YEAR!

Greatness.

loving how my old history teacher talked about them like a terrorist group

boost me up

Wow okay so for those skimming, there’s a memo up there from THE DIRECTOR OF THE FBI that sets a mission to LIE about the good things the Black Panthers were doing, spread rumors of them being terrorists, and terrorize the communities supporting them.

If you think the Black Panthers were terrorists and you’ve never heard of the community-building, it’s because there was a literal government conspiracy to make you and people 45 years ago think that way.

i’m reblogging again (bolding mine), because people need to fucking know this. especially white americans. 

To show how far the terrorist lie spread – I’m white, on the other side of the world, and until I first saw this post, that lie was about the only thing I ‘knew’ about the Black Panthers.