The Friendly Black Hottie.

I log back into this app and see the conversations around the white woman, Renee Good, who was just recently killed. And I can’t help but notice the stark difference in circulation of news and boosting of stories between both of them across this app…

Shit has BEEN happening to Black people across administrations and is currently happening to Black people under this administration, and is met by crickets. Yet when it starts touching white people, I see real anger start being felt from the gen pop followed by amplification and co-opting of Black terms and memorialization… I stg it takes everything in me to give af about yall.

**Edited: linking a gfm for Keith

***update: the gfm is unavailable. Will post an updated link as soon as I have one (removing the link until then for less confusion)

*** updated gfm link verified by Keith Porter Jr’s grandfather

Domanick Stewart, August 7, 2024.

Evan Bryant, August 30, 2024.

Javion Magee, September 11, 2024.

Jacobe Lindsey, September 17, 2024.

Denoris Richardson, September 28, 2024.

Percy Mixon, October 11, 2024.

Mario Kaiser, April 29, 2025.

Earl Smith, June 18th, 2025.

Happy Black History Month from WWC!

In honor of BHM, we've compiled a list of some of our top favorite reads (thus far) that are either by Black diaspora authors and/or the main character is Black. Feel free to add your own to this list!

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Colette’s picks

For my recommendations, I've focused on escapism and/or black woman romances only, because we all can use a bit of joy. These are adult reads by Black authors.

The King’s Seer (series) by L.S. Bethel | Genre: Feudal, Fantasy, Romance, Alt World, BWAM (Hero is Korean-Coded) | Link (My new favorite series)

Voices and Visions by Lashell Collins (Touched Series) | Genre: Mystery, Psychic Detective, Romance, BWWM | TW: Escape from off-screen domestic violence, murder | Link (Love this series so far!)

Taken to Voraxia (Xiveri Mates Series) by Elizabeth Stephens | Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, Fantasy (BWAlien &Alien) Coded race | TW: Kidnapped bride | Link

Taken to Nobu (Xiveri Mates Series) by Elizabeth Stephens | Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, Fantasy (BW&Alien) | TW: Kidnapped bride | Link

Unfrozen by Regine Abel | Genre: Paranormal Romance, Sci-Fi BW&Alien/Monster | TW: Torture, experiments (briefly at beginning) Link

I Married a Naga (Prime Mating Agency, #2) by Regine Abel | Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, Marriage of Convenience BW&Alien/Monster | Link

Rescued by Her Relic by Paulina Woods | Genre: Sci-Fi Romance, BW&Alien/Cyborg, Apocalypse | Link 

The Alpha Promise by Hayat Ali | Genre: Paranormal Romance, Vampires, BWAM | Link

Deena's Deception by G.S. Carr | Genre: Western, Historical Romance, Mail-order Bride, BWWM | Link

Chosen by Tiffany Patterson | Genre: Paranormal Romance, Shapeshifters, BWIM (Indigenous hero) | Link

Honorable mentions at the top of my to-read list

Death at a Seance by Carolyn Marie Wilkins | Link

Conjure Women by Afia Atakora | Link

The Gatekeeper by K. Alex Walker | Link

Melanie’s picks

A mix of fictional narratives, memoir, and politics/culture. All adult reads. 

The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa | Genre: Sci-Fi, Romance | Link

*Kindred by Octavia Butler | Genre: Sci Fi | Link  (*Triple recommended by multiple mods!)

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby  | Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense | Link

Devil in a Blue Dress by Walter Mosely  | Genre: Mystery | Link

Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor | Genre: Mixed/Meta | Link

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates | Genre: Bio & Memoir | Link

Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon  | Genre: Memoir | Link

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall | Genre: Politics, Society & Current Affairs | Link

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander | Genre: Politics, Society & Current Affairs | Link

SK’s picks

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin | Genre: Fantasy, Romance | Link

They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us by Hanif Abdurraqib | Genre: Nonfiction, Essay Collection | Link

Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaoabi Tricia Nwaubani | Genre: Young Adult Realistic Fiction | CW: violence and sexual assault | Link

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo | Genre: Young Adult Realistic Fiction | Link

Copper Sun by Sharon Draper | Young Adult Historical Fiction | CW sexual assault and slavery| Link

After Tupac and D Foster by Jacqueline Woodson | Young Adult Realistic Fiction | book deals with racism, incarceration, and the foster system | Link

Jaya’s picks

The Poisons We Drink by Bethany Baptiste | Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult (violence against activists) | Link

Each of Us A Desert by Mark Oshiro| Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy | Link

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas| Genre: Young Adult, Realistic (racial profiling, Black Lives Matter) | Link

Nic Blake and the Remarkables: The Manifestor Prophecy by Angie Thomas| Genre: Fantasy | Link

Krik? Krak! by Edwidge Danticat| Genre: Short Stories (violence in Haiti) | Link

Monster by Walter Dean Myers | Genre: Young Adult (racial profiling) | Link

Meir’s picks

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler | Genre: Sci Fi (tw for apocalyptic climate conditions)| Link

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler | Genre: Sci Fi (tw for apocalyptic climate conditions)| Link

This is a two-part series taking place in a sometimes uncomfortably realistic near-future climate apocalypse. Lauren Olamina is a young woman with a hyperempathy disorder who is determined not only to survive, but to make sure her loved ones, her greater community, and humanity as a whole survive as well. To do this, she will have to found a settlement and a religion.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin | Genre: Fantasy | Link

I’m still in the middle of reading this one, but it’s already a compelling and suspenseful story of dynastic succession and powerful but unpredictable magical beings. Don’t spoil it for me!

Jess’ picks

Raybearer duology by Jordan Ifueko | Genre: Fantasy, YA | Link

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson | Genre: Gothic/Horror, Fantasy | Link

James by Percival Everett | Genre: Historical, Literary | Link

Daughter of the Merciful Deep by Leslye Penelope | Genre: Fantasy, YA | Link

The Kingston Cycle by C.L. Polk | Genre: Historical, Fantasy | Link

The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk | Genre: Historical, Fantasy | Link

Buy local when you can!

We recommend buying your books at your local bookshop (esp. BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ friendly spots) when you can, smaller online bookstores or checking them out at your local library (the Libby app is great for ebooks and audiobooks) or of course at the author's first preference. Also: if a store doesn't have a book, sometimes they can order it for you.

As for online book trackers, The StoryGraph is Black-woman founded!

Happy reading!

I’m sure we can all pinpoint the time when Kagome really started developing feelings was her seeing Inuyasha’s human night for the first time and when he was laying in her lap and saying how good she smelled, being honest with his true feelings for once. What was it about that moment that caused Kagome to start to see Inu in a new light? Was she attracted to his vulnerability? When she saw that combined with his always protecting her was that enough to stir her heart? What’s your take on what it was about Inuyasha that made made Kagome fall in love?

So I think it’s obvious by now why Inuyasha fell for Kagome, but what exactly was it about Inuyasha that made Kagome fall for him? How did she go from dislike to tolerance to seeing him as a friend she could teach and learn to open up to the world into a viable romantic interest? She says it herself early on, Inuyasha was the exact opposite of her type, so what exactly was it about him that attracted her to him that he couldn’t already give her at the friend level?

I'm guessing you asked @born-for-eachother this very same question a while ago? And her answer was as insightful as ever, so I'm not sure what else can I say to expand on her already brilliant take, but I'll give it my best try.

This is Kagome's reply when her friends asked what her type is. Mind you, she's only fifteen. Kagome might think that she knows what she wants, but she most definitely doesn't know yet what she needs. And that's an important distinction.

Also, please notice that Kagome's lying to herself, because there's only one person in the series that fit her criteria perfectly: Hojo. Even still, she had no romantic interest in him whatsoever despite the statement above.

And the scene's whole point wasn't to stabilish the kind of guy Kagome would fall for, but to show us that, when asked about what her type was, Inuyasha crosses her mind, even if it was in a "negative" light.

If it was the case, it would have made way more sense for her to simply describe a type and define Hojo as the yardstick against which all potential boyfriends would be measured, but instead she made the entire thing about Inuyasha, subconsciously drawing a correlation between him and romantic interest.

And of course, Inuyasha actually does have at least half of the qualities Kagome was listing. She just didn't have the opportunity to realize that at the time, since their first impression of each other was disastrous and Inuyasha was keeping his guard up. She didn't know the real him yet.

That's why she couldn’t stand his rash and abrasive attitude at the beginning of their journey. Kagome thought he was being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk and, for his part, Inuyasha was constantly proving her misconceptions right.

It takes a little time for her to figure him out, which is to be expected because, at first, he made his life's mission to push Kagome away and she have never met someone like him before, but eventually, she manages to see right through him.

His selfishness was a facade. He had to think of himself first because he learned that if he didn't, no one else would. However, he did care for others, no matter how good he was at pretending otherwise. And he might complain about it the whole time, but he always does the right thing in the end.

Especially when it comes to Kagome. There were many occasions in which he resigned himself with letting her go, be it because he feared for her own safety, be it because he knew it wasn't fair of him to ask her to stay even though the thing he wanted the most was to have her by his side. When push comes to shove, he prioritizes Kagome's well being over his own feelings every time. This is the opposite of selfish.

(source)

Unsplash -  photography, illustration, and art

Pixabay - same as unsplash

Pexels - stock photos and videos

Stockvault.net - stock photos

freepngimg - icons, pictures and clipart

Veceezy - vectors and clipart

Getdrawings - simplistic images and drawing tutorials

Gumroad - photoshop brushes (and more)

Canva - needs login but has lots of templates

Library of Congress - historical posters and photos

NASA - you guessed it

Creative Commons - all kinds of stuff, homie

Even Adobe has some free images

There are so many ways to make moodboards, bookcovers, and icons without infringing copyright! As artists, authors, and other creatives, we need to be especially careful not to use someone else’s work and pass it off as our own. 

i also recommend using etsy for patterns/backgrounds. most creators sell their wallpaper/pattern/texture packs for under $10, and some even sell HUGE sale bundles for the same amount if not less. i STRONGLY recommend it and it’s made a huge difference with coding character profiles on toyhou.se and using for art as well.

for anyone wanting more diverse and inclusive stock photos, free to use, nappy.co is there and i LOVE it.

google images isn’t always reliable as a reverse image search, but i’ve pulled off massive miracles with tineye.

also behance has some free images and various other resources for images!

“i couldn’t help it, i was having a bad episode” is a justification, not an apology.

“i’m so fucking sorry, i fucked up, i don’t deserve to live, i should stop talking to anyone ever, i should die” is a second breakdown and a guilt trip. it is not an apology.

when you apologize, the focus should be on the person you hurt. “i’m sorry. i did something that was hurtful to you. even if i was having a rough time, you didn’t deserve to hear that,” is a better apology. if it was a small thing, you can leave it at that.

if you caused significant distress to the other person, this is a good time to talk about how you can minimize damage in the future. and again, even if it is tempting to say you should self-isolate and/or die, that is not a helpful suggestion. it will result in the person you’re talking to trying to talk you out of doing that, which makes your guilt the focus of the conversation instead of their hurt.