Controversed Showcase: 2020 November

Welcome to the end-of-the-month showcase of all the posts written for the Controversed writing workshop! Thank you to everyone who joined me in "Controversing" by creating your own posts in response to each week's theme, as well as everyone who made the workshop a more welcoming place by dropping by with your comments. A Brief…

[Controversed] Week 4: Managing Criticism

If you have been following the Controversed project since the start of the month, thank you (!!), and congratulations for making it to the final week! For those who are new to this, congratulations for joining just at the right time to welcome a very special first-time guest on this blog, Irina from I Drink…

[Controversed] Week 3: Critical Theories

Big warm welcome to those who made it to Week 3 - and those who are checking out the series for the first time (there might be something for you too, who knows!). If you're reading this for the first time, feel free to check out my more detailed introduction here. Critical Theories and Controversy…

[Controversed] Week 2: Critical Voices

What is your blogging voice, and how do you challenge or stay true to it?

Announcing Controversed: A November Workshop

Elections, daylight saving hours, Uzaki-chan figurines! A million controversies pervade us through the internet, but being kind and civil bloggers with a limited tolerance for unproductive arguments, most of us don't go around poking the bears. Still, I know there are lots of things that people want to talk about despite their reservations, and I…

[Highlights] Kino’s Journey Ep. 5 (Three Men Along the Rails)

Starting to notice that one of the main differences between Kino's Journey and Mushishi is that whereas Mushishi observes the nature of life (both human and mushi ones), Kino's tends to have something to say about it. The strong themes and at-times-heavy dialogues in Kino's makes it kind of like watching oddly familiar fables told…

[Highlights] Kino’s Journey Ep. 4 (Land of Adults)

Backstory time! This episode feels more poignant and aesthetically intense than the last few, in a way that I rather loved. Took me a while to figure out that Kino was singing a lyric version of Pachelbel's Canon in D at the start of the episode. I've never heard Canon in D with lyrics before,…

[Highlights] Kino’s Journey Ep. 3 (Land of Prophecies)

Back to our routine of episodic Kino. Just learned that Kino is a "she," so I won't be using "they/them" to describe her anymore. This episode features not one, but three seemingly unconnected countries, each with their own obsession with the concept of tradition. The Land of Prophecies The textured filter really gives the scenery…

Is it Time for a New Username?

This is a bit of a heavier post, but the topic is an important one that I hope to gain some insight on. There’s been some talk on Twitter calling for non-Japanese users to not use Japanese names online. The reasons cited include concerns regarding cultural appropriation and undermining the Japanese community’s online presence. Certainly,…

[Highlights] Kino’s Journey Ep. 2 (The Tale of Feeding off Others)

September's not even over and it feels like winter already (T_T). Perfect for this episode of Kino, I guess. Check out the Episode 1 highlights here if you missed it. Kino ready to survive winter, a pandemic, or a round of Among Us Big change in season and scenery from last episode. It makes me…