Tag Archives: Jabari

r8: Jabari & Emily’s Blogs

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Two blogs that I am particularly struck with are Jabari’s, Who’s in the Fridge? and Emily’s Bigger Fish to Fry.

In Jabari’s blog, I especially like his most recent post.  The prose is eloquent,  succinct, and (I don’t know if this was a conscious decision or because the subject of this post is something Jabari is personally attached to) poignant. He says:

My name isn’t Jabari. It’s Parker. And Ahbleza. And Lorenza. And Sonny. And Andrae. And Hashim. These are some of my closest friends, and in many ways, we are all one in the same.

I don’t mean that in a loving “we’re all united” way, I mean that I’ve been called all of their names and they mine on more than one occasion. Why? Because we look alike. Yep. My friend who is three shades lighter than me and has braids that reach his shoulders looks just like me. My brother who weighs 100 pounds fewer than me and who couldn’t grow a beard to save his life, is my identical twin! I’ve had so many non-black friends, teachers, and colleagues call me the other black guy’s name that I’ve lost count. Instead of getting angry, I most feign utter disgust and as whoever has made the mistake if all black people look alike. The guilt and shame on their faces makes up for any hurt feelings. But in all seriousness, do we all look alike? If not, then someone needs to inform about 90% of all comic book artists.

The opening statement of the post is complex.  It is not until one reads the whole post that one sees that the opening statement is at one true and at once false. The statement is wistful, but also truthful.  Jabari is linked to his friends through friendship but not through superficial surface qualities that other people (choose to) see.

Emily’s blog takes a different, yet still personal, tone from Jabari’s.  I particularly liked Emily’s post, Magical Lies.  The writing is fluent, conversational in tone, but still professional, and interesting to read.  Here is a good extract:

Well it seems as though I should not be so judgmental of the Ancient Greek civilizations. To this day, people tell lies or tales or whatever you want to call them all the time. All it takes is a talented, charismatic speaker or a handful of easily manipulated people to turn a couple of lies into a truth. For example, have you ever collected those Tootsie-Roll lollipop wrappers that have a star and a Native American shooting at it? Well I did–as did a ton of kids in my city. We were all told if we collected a bag of them, we could exchange them for free tootsie pops. I don’t remember if any of us actually ever did this, but we would always try to save a bag full and then lose them all. Either way, cashed prize or not, there was no prize! Tootsie never made the competition as 1/3 of their lollipops have that design. Apparently it was something created by local stores to promote sales of tootsie pops. I am quite distressed to discover this….

But these lies, these misconceptions, whatever you want to call them, they’re everywhere. We tell them for all sorts of reasons. To make up for the fact that we don’t actually know the answer. To sell a product. To just look out for your family and friends. No matter the reason, it’s no lie that we do it. It spreads like rapid fire, almost to the point where the truth can get lost. Makes you wonder what you’ve been told is a lie doesn’t it?

 In this post, you can make out the bold, personal tone.  Also in this post, Emily’s poses questions to her readers, which is a good literary strategy to draw in readers and break down the wall between the computer screen and the author’s thoughts.

r8: notable posts

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For my first notable blog post, I am going to second the notion that Chinny’s blog is quite funny. Her use of different voices in #socollegelol is definitely an interesting approach to take, but I think it opens the doors for a lot of social criticism, which is conveniently her purpose. The blog post I admire though is B-sian, in which she talks about Brown kids being the under-recognized portion of the overachieving Asians. Indians are Asians too!

Here’s a blurb:

Speaking of class, that’s what I really wanted to talk about. I am offended when we are discluded from the group of Asians because it is just an unfair distinction. We work just as hard, achieve just as much, and are disliked just as sincerely for it! We will be your doctors and engineers one day. We will do your taxes. Yeah, sure, some of us will also be driving your taxis and working the night shift at the local Seven Eleven but hey, who better to get that slushie from?!

It was actually difficult to choose which section of this to highlight, but I finally decided. The snark and blatant use of stereotypes are just too good. The inclusion of the crazy asian mother video was also great, because I haven’t see it since high school. Turning brown asians in B-sians, which just encompasses a whole slew of jokes, is both memorable and funny. And India is indubitably in Asia.

The second notable post also concerns social criticism, but in a rather focused manner. Jabari’s blog focuses on stereotypes, inequality, and other such social injustices in his blog, “Who’s in the Fridge?” His writings include a lot of excellent points and observations about women in video games and comic books in particular. This is both something I’ve noticed and something I’ve read about and studied. I thought the post called “Pants are Overrated” was great.

Again, a blurb:

As a gamer and a nerd, it took all of my will power to remain in my chair instead of rolling around on the floor. If you have played a video game, looked at any video game art, or read a comic in the last few decades, you’ve probably seen this scenario play out. If the game or the comic is coerced, trying to appeal to its hormonal male fanbase, progressive enough to include a female character, she is automatically turned into a sex object. But this isn’t a new phenomenon; objectification is an ancient pastime. What makes the sexualizing of female characters more horrendous is the weak justifications the creators concoct to explain the need for every heroine to wear a thong or a push-up bra.

Jabari includes an entertaining clip that satirizes women’s clothing in video games and such. He talks about the visible problem at hand, but he goes further to talk about the really annoying thing that creators do: they lamely justify why women are so scantily clad. The real reason is sexual objectification, but they cite speed and agility. I particularly like the point he makes that The Flash and Spiderman are incredibly fast but wear full body suits. Really excellent.