Okay I Have A Bit Of A Soapbox To Stand On And It's PJO-verse And Rick Riordan Related. This Is Gonna

Okay I have a bit of a soapbox to stand on and it's PJO-verse and Rick Riordan related. This is gonna be a long rant, so scroll past if you're not a fan of these, lol.

Okay so I'm going to start off by saying that I am a white, bisexual, cisgender young woman who has been diagnosed with both ADHD and Autism. So I am coming from somewhat of a place of privilege here. I am also going to acknowledge that there ARE aspects of Rick Riordan's books that are problematic, such as Piper being described as having feathers in her hair(blech, so racist), food being used to describe physical character traits(Hazel's skin and hair, anyone?), and Nico's forced outing(this is NOT okay, it will never be okay), just to name a few.

HOWEVER. Rick Riordan has far, far more representation in his books than many, many series' have, including popular Young Adult series'. The Selection series, The Hunger Games, even(unfortunately) Twilight. Kids grow up reading these books. I grew up reading these books(yes I read the first Twilight book when I was twelve. I regret it). In The Selection, one of the things I've noted was a severe lack of minority characters. In The Hunger Games, the only two Tributes of Color are Thresh and Rue, and they're from a farming district that's where the southern US states were, IE the Confederacy. What does that say about Suzanne Collins? People praise Collins for her groundbreaking books that have drastic social commentary.

I see so many people knocking on Riordan's books for problematic things. I even saw an argument that Nico saving Hazel from the underworld can be a "white savior." I have a hard time with this. Having studied history, I know that Italian Americans weren't considered white until AFTER WWII. If you're wondering what in the world this has to do with Nico being a "white savior," let me remind you that taking into account when the oath to not have children was made by Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus, Nico was 10 years old in 1945(and yet he's 15 in TOA?? He should be 14). Nico, Bianca, and their mother would have faced racism in the US because they were Italian(they grew up in DC if I remember correctly), ESPECIALLY during WWII when Italians, Japanese, and Germans were all seen as "the enemy" by Americans. While Nico would be considered white now, I don't even know if he considers himself white due to the complicated, ever-changing idea of race in American history. On top of that, I see it as a sibling helping a sibling. Nico is the son of Hades, Hazel is the daughter of Pluto. They are, by all accounts, half-siblings.

People being pissed at Piper's eyes irks me a little bit. While I absolutely HATE when people lighten up Piper, Leo, and Hazel's skin and hair in drawings(stop whitewashing!!), Piper is a demigod. More specifically, she's the daughter of Aphrodite. Do people really not expect demigod children to not take on traits from their parents? As for Hazel's eyes, there are black people with green and golden-brown eyes. I do acknowledge that the villifying of her mother through the use of voodoo is problematic, but her having brown hair and gold eyes doesn't bother me because I've seen black people with brown hair and green eyes. The actress who plays Claire on The Good Doctor, for one.

Those are just the characters people tend to focus on. We're forgetting Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase, which both have very diverse casts of characters. Carter Kane falls for and eventually dates a Middle-eastern girl, Zia Rashid. Sadie falls for Will, a black boy. These are the first interracial couples I had seen in children's literature. The first queer character I had come across was Nico di Angelo. I was in middle school when House of Hades came out. More specifically, I was in 8th grade, the target audience for Riordan's books.

The cast of diverse characters in Magnus Chase is also pretty good, with a pansexual main character and a muslim supporting. TJ is black, the son of a slave if I remember correctly. When Alex is introduced, it's revealed that s/he is gender-fluid. Although this is tied to his/her lineage as a child of Loki, it does acknowledge the fact that so many white people don't want to-Norse Mythology is fluid af when it comes to gender relations and identity. Magnus also goes over in his narration how bitter he is that kids have been kicked out for being LGBTQ+.

Look, Rick Riordan is far from perfect. He's WAY better than JK Rowling, but there are aspects of his books that are still problematic. He has shown so much growth since The Lightning Thief, though. Let's not forget that Hammer of Thor was awarded the Stonewall Award, which is given to books for exceptional depiction and inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters. Riordan is still writing and still growing as a person. He has stood behind his fanbase and shown support for minority communities. His books were the FIRST books I ever read with ADHD characters that were not only realistic, but not the butt of jokes. Yes, there have been problems. His books are far from perfect. However, take a look at mainstream books that have come out at the same time as his and check for diversity in those. Books that are celebrated for their plots and intricacies.

Rick Riordan did far more than the bare minimum. He didn't do everything he could, either. And look, if you are a POC fan and you'd like to educate me more if I missed anything, please dm me! I will be more than happy to sit and learn from you. As I said in the beginning, I come from somewhat of a place of privilege. I will never quite understand the problems that many minorities face. I am willing to learn, though.

Sorry this was so long. If you made it to the end, yay! Thanks for reading.

what is a writer, if not a miserable little pile of ideas and half written google docs

I found this on iFunny and hunted it down on Youtube so I could share it. Video by Doodaio, comedy routine by Brian Regan

here’s a post sponsored by my momma, who is a clinical psychologist: our brains don’t know these characters are fictional. i mean, they do. kind of. we know on the outside, but our temporal lobe just registers that we recognize their face and that we feel deeply for them. our brains release dopamine and adrenaline because of it. there’s no different kind of dopamine or adrenaline for fictional people vs. real ones. scientifically it’s the same. of course you feel deeply for them. of course you do. there’s no reason why you wouldn’t. you know intimate details about them that have brought you closer emotionally in the same way you’ve learned intimate details about your friends. you empathize with them the same way you would with a person you can touch. people want to give self shippers a hard time for blending fiction with reality or whatever, but that’s kinda how humans’ brains work. it’s not “i love this real person” AND “i love this fictional person”, it’s just “i love this person” and that’s it.

Do you ever think about how when Ron’s wand broke 2nd year, just using spell-o-tape wasn’t enough to fix it. It kept backfiring in ways that were really bad, like making himself eat slugs, or kinda just. being defective in general.

Hagrid’s wand was snapped his 3rd year. But he still uses it, disguised as an umbrella. And it works.

Like we know Ollivander didn’t fix it, since he was surprised to hear Hagrid had the pieces. Not to mention since Hagrid was expelled, it would be extremely illegal to fix it. Hogwarts works as a groundskeeper, and lives in a one room wooden hut that he made himself. He’s not going to have the money to ribe someone to fix it, and then there’s also the fact that because of his heritage, even if he could bribe someone to fix it, they probably wouldn’t. And sure, Dumbledore probably knows that Hagrid fixed his wand, there’s a certain level of deniability there. He wouldn’t have actually gotten involved with the wand mending process. Especially when Hagrid was just accused of killing a student.

So that means Hagrid would have put his wand back together himself.

The 3rd year transfiguration examination was to turn a teapot into a tortoise. Only inanimate objects into animals. Part of the reason animagi are so rare is because they’re human to animal transformations. The first time we meet Hagrid, he gives Dudley a tail, and correctly animates the boat he and Harry are on. Silently.

Harry and co. didn’t even attempt to learn silent casting until 6th year. Anything Hagrid learned after 3rd year would have been self taught.

Hagrid is one powerful wizard and holy shit combined with his resistance to magic with his giant heritage forget McGonagall holy shit Hagrid is terrifying

Rude

Heroes that attack before 11 AM have no manners.