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Bruh April 26, 2021
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Why you canā€™t cry ā€œprotect our bordersā€ and then fly to Mexico for vacation

C’mon bruh. Let the headline sit with you for a moment. All the MAGA “protect our borders” people get really quiet when the vacation months spring around and they head down to Mexico. If you’re going to be xenophobic and selfish, at least be consistent, no?

The issue of immigration is severe right now, and it doesn’t seem like it will ever calm down. Due to climate refugees and unstable regimes across the world, immigration becomes an act of survival.

But for MAGA folks who cry that Democrats don’t protect our borders, and that “illegal aliens” are invading the country, what do you say when you invade theirs? The cognitive dissonance is truly astounding. Or better yet, pathetic.

Troubles on the border of Mexico

Migrants are trapped at the border of Mexico due to an immigration crisis in Central and North America.

While it is an exceptionally complicated issue that is sure to never see bipartisan agreement, everyone should agree that the way border patrol is handling migrants is grossly inhumane.

Especially during the pandemic, immigration officers did not ensure safety for migrants in detention, and cases of infection skyrocketed.

One does not have to think hard about what it must take for a family to flee their homeland in search of a better life, to a place that is filled with racism, xenophobia, and a lack of safety for immigrants. Even more, to accept the treacherous journey along the way.

Suffice it to say, immigrants are not immigrants by some reckless declaration. They are because they need to be. It is about survival, the most basic human and animal instinctual understanding.

Mexicans love their home, their land

Cinco De Mayo is almost here. The joyous Mexican holiday will be celebrated by people in Mexico, the U.S. and all over the world.

This is thus an indication of the positives of immigration. Understanding more about other cultures is a treat, and we should always treat it as such.

Many Mexicans have no interest in America, or hearing about it. I can imagine those who were comfortable last year chuckling when Trump talked down on their country, as the U.S. was in one of the biggest crises in the world.

Seeing respectful tourists is one thing. Their naivete can be annoying, their exuberance exhausting. But the interest comes from an honest place. Those who speak down on Mexico and cry for Biden to “protect our borders” deserve no such benefit of the doubt.

“Protect our borders.” Then stay on your side.

You can’t cry that immigrants are illegally entering the country and then swarm theirs. If you don’t see this as a brazen act of privilege and immorality, you have blinders on.

Mexico deserves to be treated like any other nation: as one with both beautiful aspects and troubling ones.

We need to be more empathetic to the people fleeing their homes and livelihoods to America. What if it were us? Would we not do everything in our power to keep our loved ones safe?

So if you are going to Mexico for vacation, I ask one thing: advocate for Central Americans and Mexicans at the U.S./Mexico border. It is the bare minimum, yet still a noble act to shifting the narrative around the border situation in America and Mexico.

alice walker April 20, 2021
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5 authors that capture the beauty, hardship, and love of Black women

The beauty of literature is in its ability to make readers, based on their own past and current experiences, empathize with characters. The gravity in chapters, paragraphs, and words comes from an authors’ ability to get inside their characters’ heads and speak to the people that will relate to that character. For Black women, many characters and authors like them did not exist.

Except recently, it seems, more and more narratives surrounding Black women have risen to the surface. Narratives that do not just focus on trauma. And evil. And hardship. But ones that encapsulate a full human experience.

Black women authors do not naturally have to focus on Black women. But often they do, just as I would likely base a story around an introverted white man. It’s what we know; it’s the body we live inside.

But there aren’t stories out there begging to be told of another white man overcoming an obstacle. We’ve seen that play before. What we haven’t seen enough of is the essence of Black femininity. And with that said, here is a list of five incredibly talented Black women authors making waves in literature.

Yaa Gyasi

Yaa Gyasi is far and away my favorite author right now, and I have only read one of her books. That is how absolutely phenomenal Homegoing is.

Homegoing traces the origins of two half-sisters born in modern-day Ghana and their descendants as the trans atlantic slave trade ravages families in Africa, as well as in America.

A fictional account based in historical accuracy, Homegoing is so beautifully written that it feels poetic. And by knowing each characters’ relatives (by reading the previous chapters), the audience is treated to intimate relationships that are starkly similar to those in real life.

Gyasi’s second novel, Transcendent Kingdom, has also been welcomed with rave reviews. I am seeking to tap in expeditiously.

Toni Morrison

Toni Morrison was one of the greatest American novelists of all time. One of a few distinguished authors that explored what it means to be both Black and female, Morrison wrote with purpose and emotion.

Her novel, Beloved, is a fan favorite, and it covers a family of former slaves dealing with a malevolent spirit still haunting them. The story was based on a real-life incident regarding Margaret Garner.

Morrison inspired an entire generation of authors, Black women in particular. Just listen to what Gyasi said about her.

“Toni Morrison blew away everything I thought I knew about literature.”

Yaa Gyasi for The Guardian

Morrison won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993. In 2019, when she sadly passed, she left behind a legacy of acceptance, wonder, and magic for aspiring authors and book-lovers everywhere.

Saidiya Hartman

I first came upon Hartman’s name through my historical theory class. Exploring gender history and intersectionality, Hartman and her text Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals was a perfect starting point.

Intersectionality, coined by Black feminist KimberlƩ Williams Crenshaw in 1989, frames how social categorizations such as race, class, and gender interconnect in systems of advantage or disadvantage.

An excerpt of Hartman’s Wayward Lives analyzes a Black girl traveling from Virginia to NYC, and the hardships she faces along the way. While women were given much less freedom than men in general, Black women were particularly discriminated against, be it in the South or North.

What’s even more fascinating, is that the text is birthed from primary sources of Black girls writing in the early 20th century.

Hartman crafts a story from the first-hand accounts, with an explanation of why, yet still provides a narrative for these Black girls so that readers and historians alike can gain a deeper understanding of intersectionality and what it was like to be a Black girl in America years ago.

Alice Walker

Alice Walker is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, and also activist. Her novel, The Color Purple, released in 1982, won her the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction along with other awards.

An epistolary work (written in letters), The Color Purple is a harrowing text that explores being Black in the South in the early 1900s. Spanning 40 years, the novel covers unfathomable abuse and trauma, yet still, hope is a theme heavily explored.

While it is important that all texts concerning Black women not revolve around trauma, authors also understand the necessity in sharing accounts of Black women suffering abuse that were, and are, widespread across the U.S. and world.

Walker opened up crucial conversations surrounding femininity. And then, she coined the term ‘womanist’ to describe “a Black feminist or feminist of color.”

Maya Angelou

Angelou’s name is as famous as any. A poet, memoirist, and activist, Maya Angelou’s words always jump off the page.

Her early work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is an example of her words of hope and courage dealing with racism and hardship. Angelou published several autobiographies, as well as poems that explore her early life.

Angelou worked with Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Malcolm X, and also stood as a respectful beacon of hope for Black creators everywhere.

Authors that capture Black women in their purest essences are of paramount importance

These five brilliant authors are all Black women, and thus stand as models for young girls of color to emulate. But even more than this, their words speak to people everywhere who do not even seek to be authors.

To know Black femininity is to know Black essence. It is to know Black beauty and strength, and it is also to know trauma that Black women deal with.

Gyasi, Morrison, Hartman, Walker, and Angelou are just five supremely talented authors. Thanks to them, many more will follow.

Take their passion, use their guidance, and feel freedom in your prose. You have all the tools to be the next inspiring author.

black archives April 14, 2021
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Archivist Renata Cherlise opens up a world of Black imagination

If a picture tells a thousand words, then does the absence of a picture deprive us of this same amount? Especially in Black history, telling complete stories through photos is of the utmost importance, and Black archivist and Founder of Black Archives Renata Cherlise makes sure to bring under-told stories to the forefront through visceral images.

Black Archives is uncovering and curating rarely-seen photographs from Getty Images’ vast archive. Cherlise will sift through the more than 11 million photos to document centuries’ worth of photos of Black history.

Not only is Black history rarely told, it is even more rarely seen. And often when Black stories of the past are given shine, disturing agendas are at play.

Thus, Black Archives and Getty Images’ collaboration will give audiences a view into a world, for many, of the unknown.

With stories large and small, globally or regionally relevant, Black Archives works to paint experiences in their totality. And to remind the youth especially, that Black beauty has always been captured. Stories just needed to be reclaimed and retold.

black archivist
A group of top African American athletes from different sporting disciplines gather to give support and hear the boxer Muhammad Ali give his reasons for rejecting the draft during the Vietnam War, at a meeting of the Negro Industrial and Economic Union, held in Cleveland, June 4, 1967. (Photo by Robert Abbott Sengstacke/Getty Images)

We had the honor of asking Cherlise a few questions about the project and Black Archives’ mission as a whole.

In conversation with Black archivist Renata Cherlise

Kulture Hub: What do you look for in selecting and archiving a select amount of images, and in this case with Getty Images, a collection of more than 11 million photographs? To word it differently, can you put your finger on any consistent thing an image holds when it strikes you?

Renata Cherlise: I feel a great responsibility to bring the under-told stories of Black life to the forefront. Our existence is multi-faceted, and I’m drawn to and focused on curating imagery that brings those stories to the surface, in often quiet and subtle ways.

View of ballet dancers from the Dance Theatre of Harlem, in costume and rehearsing on stage, New York, 1983. (Photo by Anthony Barboza/Getty Images)

KH: What do you want the legacy of Black Archives to be as it endures through decades and generations?Ā 

RC: I want the legacy of Black Archives to be that we widened the aperture on Black stories; that we created more space for Black artists to be seen and felt; and that we helped pass those narratives along to younger generations.

KH: Popular media clearly often exacerbates stereotypes of various demographics (like Black people), and thus also pushes narratives onto them that serve to sequester them from what is really common in many people’s daily lives. How does Black Archives work to push against this, and show everyday Black life in ways that many people can’t even yet imagine?

RC: Media focuses on our trauma. And our trauma is not our lone narrative.

We work to push against the negligent depictions of Black life by showing us in our totality. We focus on the alternative to tell a complete story.

Renata Cherlise for Kulture Hub

Black Archives is a platform for celebrating Black life

Black archivists are essential because they highlight experiences that have been purposefully left out of mainstream discussions.

Breaking barriers, fighting against powers determined to hold them down, and still living freely in worlds that try their hardest to make this impossible, Black beauty is robust. But Renata Cherlise and those like her are of paramount importance to documenting Black life in its entirety.

Make sure to stay tapped in to Cherlise’s work and the growing partnership between Black Archives and Getty Images.

Bruh April 5, 2021
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Digitization in a globalized world: The perks of digital information

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, we have been shaped by continuous progress and development. In the last few decades, in particular, technological innovations have fundamentally changed our everyday lives and digitization has made it easier and better in many ways.

We are now moving naturally through a digital world without thinking about how we got along in front of the internet, computer or smartphone.

And while digitization has already revolutionized every area of our lives, the automation of machines thanks to artificial intelligence is now emerging. Everything is changing for the better due to digitization.

digitization
Digitization is improving efficiency around the world (via pexels)

Work environments are improved by digitization

At the very beginning, digitization was of great importance, especially for companies. It promised efficiency and thus many competitive advantages globally.

Work processes were completely restructured and employees were retrained in e-mail traffic and the use of digital storage. This not only created new jobs for IT experts, but also completely new mobility for office workers. Remote working has also been possible with that.

Entertainment at disposal

Digitization has also brought about many positive changes in the world of entertainment.

Thanks to the online streaming of audio and music, you can put together your own entertainment nowadays and are no longer dependent on TV or radio programs. And gaming fans can also look forward to it.

In the last decade, more and more realistic games have come onto the market, such as online casino games. They come with enticing bonuses like 50 free spins and visual graphics. In the future, we will see even more enhanced experience in the entertainment field with innovations.

E-learning

Online courses or online classes are the modern terms, but we have been using the internet to find out new things daily.

Whatever you need, you can find it on Wikipedia. There is also an abundance of new educational opportunities. In addition to long-distance universities that offer online degrees, there are numerous platforms that provide free, as well as paid, online courses.

If you want to learn a new language, simply download a foreign language app on your smartphone, which offers new lessons every day.

Energy-saving living

Digitization is getting momentum, but not at the cost of harmful effects to the environment.

On the other hand, it has proved helpful in saving energy. You can save a lot of electricity with smart socket strips that switch off automatically when a device is not in use.

And intelligent heating systems ensure that heating is not carried out when the window is open. There are also lighting systems with sensors that switch off automatically when no movement is registered. Such a system is particularly useful for outdoor lighting.

via GIPHY

Health tracking

Digitization has not only given us more access to education, but also to more exercise. With smart gadgets, we can track our fitness activities and health activities.

For instance, Apple Watches let us keep a record of our heart rate, blood pressure, speed, and menstrual cycle. Plus, with online video streaming platforms like YouTube, you can access free videos to learn physical training workouts and significant tips.

via GIPHY

Information and tutorials to get fit are available online easily.

Easy navigation to digitization

Whereas in the past you had to struggle with complicated street maps, practical navigation apps on mobile phones guide us to our destination without getting lost.

For people with limited mobility, there are even certain apps that show where stairs or other barriers are. The modern digital maps show the exact distance and what mode of transportation would take how much time.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, as we expect to see even more changes due to digitization in the future. There could be some downside of the innovations but their advantages outweigh everything.

charles mcmillian April 1, 2021
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George Floyd isnā€™t on trial but humanity is: 3 takeaways from the courtroom

George Floyd may not be on trial, but it sure would sound like he is with the national media coverage. No, rather it is Derek Chauvin on trial for the murder of George Floyd. A fair trial was a luxury that Floyd did not receive.

It is hard not to be jaded by trials in the past where a Black person is the victim. Rodney King. Trayvon Martin. Breonna Taylor. It is heart-wrenching enough to hear the details of Floyd’s death.

But that grief is exacerbated by the fact that even if the prosecution makes its case firmly that the victim was murdered, the culprit may still get away scot-free. That white supremacy will win out yet again.

George Floyd is not on trial, humanity is. And so with remembering Derek Chauvin, legally and morally deserves to pay for his sins, let’s take a look into three takeaways from the case so far.

Witness Charles McMillian breaks down in tears over George Floyd’s murder

Charles McMillian was not just a bystander witnessing Floyd’s death. He spoke to George Floyd as the cops arrested him. And he also spoke to him as Floyd cried out for his mother.

That feeling of helplessness is not unique to McMillian, but his situation with Floyd is. The testimony of McMillian and grief he clearly suffers adds more despair to an already anguishing circumstance.

But for the jury, and us watching at home, the sadness in his voice reminds us we have so much work to do. Not only to hold Derek Chauvin accountable during this trial for George Floyd’s death. But to dismantle white supremacy everywhere.

Cashier witness Christopher Martin recalls moment George Floyd gave him a fake bill

Christopher Martin, like Charles McMillian, has to deal with a lifetime of trauma for Derek Chauvin’s callous actions.

The teenager explained to the jury that he figured the bill Floyd gave him was fake. He told his manager, and offered to have the $20 docked from his pay. His manager refused, instead telling him to go confront Floyd, whereupon Martin witnessed Floyd’s murder.

Not only did he have to witness a cruel murder at the hands of a police officer, but Martin also now lives with the thought that if he just turned Floyd away with the acknowledgment that the bill was fake, he might still be alive today.

I pray that this young man can find peace and prosperity still.

Donald Williams stays calm and in his body

Donald Williams was another witness who took the stand for the trial of George Floyd’s death.

Derek Chauvin’s attorney asked Williams questions about how he was acting towards the cops on the scene. Clearly pointing to the argument that his anger was getting the better of him and only escalating things, the lawyer says, “It’s fair to say that you grew angrier and angrier.”

Williams, calm, cool, and collected, if even just on the outside, responded:

“No. I grew professional and professional. I stayed in my body. You can’t paint me out to be angry.”

Donald Williams

Making a Black man out to seem angry and irrational is in the racism playbook. Williams, with poise I am not sure I will ever have, responded accordingly.

Derek Chauvin’s trial will continue and the great majority of us freedom fighters will continue to demand justice for George Floyd. Rest in power Floyd.

Let us not be deterred. Justice is a constant battle, and leaders are everywhere.

Athletes March 30, 2021
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Zybek Sports is the model for sports equipment testing

Zybek Sports is a leader in the sports equipment testing field. By providing a consistent and reliable testing system for athletes of all levels, athletes everywhere can measure where they are currently, and where they need to get to in order to fulfill their aspirations.

Working with the NFL Combine, as well as other sports leagues such as the MLB, amateur leagues, and college leagues across the United States, Zybek Sports tailors itself to athletes of all ambitions.

Kulture Hub had the opportunity to speak with the CEO and Founder of Zybek Sports, MikeĀ Weinstein.

Zybek Sports
Mike Weinstein getting set up in Shreveport, LA. (via Zybek Sports)

“We’re just trying to give hope and a direction for athletes who really want to continue onto that next level.”

MikeĀ Weinstein

The inception of Zybek Sports

Zybek Sports was founded in Boulder, Colorado in 2008. The initial focus was to make a reliable system to help the athlete testing industry. Weinstein and co. were making hardware and devising ways to test athletes and help coaches make athlete assessments.

“But since that point, I’ve really seen the need for athletes and coaches to have really valid and reproducible data. So that everybody can have consistent and comparable [data]. And just know where they stack up athletically and where they need to get to down the road.”

MikeĀ Weinstein
sports equipment testing at Zybek Sports
Weinstein explaining the athletic testing to a group of adolescents in Shreveport, LA. (Zybek Sports)

As dedicated sports fans know, minor differences can separate athletes from one another. And thus, also how scouts see them performing at the next level.

Whether that is for adolescents looking to get into prep schools, high schoolers looking to get into college, or college athletes looking at the pros, the numbers clearly matter to scouts.

Therefore, it is essential that there is a standard testing system that gets it right 100 percent of the time. Enter Zybek Sports.

Sports are subjective, but Zybek Sports aims for fairness in objectivity

“What we’ve been doing at Zybek Sports is testing athleticism, no matter where you live, no matter what your economic background is, gender, race, any of that,” said Weinstein.

In Little Rock, Arkansas this month, Zybek tested 150 athletes. Each and every one of them, according to Weinstein, has dreams and aspirations of playing college sports. And thus they all want to know how they stack up against their competition.

He noted that the exact same test they use in Little Rock is used in Southern California.

“Thereby everybody can see that opportunity because we’re showing the athlete where they are right now. And where they need to be by next year.”

Mike Weinstein
sports equipment testing
Zybek Sports’ sports equipment testing. (Zybek Sports)

Weinstein explains how without having standards, there isn’t any way for athletes to compare and assess themselves as to what they need to improve upon athletically to be competitive at the next level.

“This isn’t everything by any stretch of the imagination but it is something objective that athletes can see. It really does provide something that’s easy to understand and motivates people.”

Mike Weinstein

Sports equipment testing at the NFL Combine

“It was 11 years ago now that the NFL combine’s scouting services asked us to come out to be the backup timer for one of their systems. And it worked really great.”

Mike Weinstein

And Zybek Sports was back ever since. For the last 10 years, they’ve been providing the timing system used for the NFL’s scouting combine.

Zybek Sports also does things like, as Weinstein explains, “…if you’ve ever watched the NFL Network, that running clock on the screen of your TV is actually coming from my computer. So we can really show the market and the public exactly what these athletes are running.”

One of the biggest things is that the athletes tested at the local level know they are taking the exact same test as the athletes that are soon to go pro.

The impact of sports equipment testing

Athletes take the SAT (Standardized Athletic Testing) with Zybek Sports. Since everyone is taking the same test, Weinstein likens it to standardized academic testing.

“It’s the exact same thing as taking the academic SAT. You can’t walk in and say ‘yeah I’m going to go into local arts so I’m going to skip the math section. Yale will understand.’ No, you take it. It’s a measure of your academic capabilities, as such the same thing with the 40-yard dash.”

Weinstein noticed a hole in the marketplace of sports equipment testing. And he sought out to create something that could be consistent and eternally accurate.

“What interests me is really solving problems and finding a way to deliver results to the market. I saw a really big opportunity in the market to solve a problem that can really level-set the industry and help everybody get to that next level or at least have everybody treated fairly and equally.”

Mike Weinstein
colombia March 30, 2021
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Who are the photographers capturing a new Colombia?

Colombia is in a different state today than it was during the turbulent (and later glamorized) years in the 90s. Though while drug cartels may not have the same reach and influence, they still dominate much of what goes on in the country. For the rest of the world, most of what we see comes from Colombian photographers, risking their lives in pursuit of honesty and transparency.

In 2000, Baruch Jairo Vega, a Miami Beach fashion photographer, brokered the surrender of 114 Colombian cocaine traffickers to U.S. authorities. Seemingly a noble action, it turned out that Vega was playing both sides for fools.

Four years later, he was sentenced to four months in federal prison for failing to report money he made on the deals. Has a photographer ever so (almost) expertly played both sides before?

The Colombia that Vega would venture into isn’t the same as the one today. But photographers are still risking a lot whenever they enter the South American land. Here are a few Colombian photographers documenting the new status of the gateway to South America.

Jesus Abad Colorado

Colorado was awarded Latin Americaā€™s most important journalism prize, the Gabo award for journalistic excellence [Jesus Abad Colorado]

Jesus Abad Colorado is a Colombian photojournalist focused on human rights and armed conflict. In 2019, he was awarded Latin America’s top journalism prize, the Gabo award for journalistic excellence, for years documenting violence in Colombia.

“I understand journalism as memory, not the record of a single day. I see it as building the larger narrative of a country.”

Jesus Abad Colorado

For his country, and even his hometown of Medellin, that meant years and years of war. Even after the infamous Pablo Escobar’s demise, Colombian cartels raged.

Still, for Colorado, now he is reacting to a slightly changed world in Colombia. And the question for him will be, where does his work take him next?

Girl looks through a bullet hole in the window of her apartment in Medellin in 2002 [Jesus Abad Colorado]

Joana Toro

A woman part of the indigenous etnia Nasa is knitting in middle of a Minga (It is a pre-Colombian tradition of community work or voluntary collective work for purposes of social or reciprocal benefit.) (via @joanaphoto)

Joana Toro is a documentary photographer and art educator. She has created over half a dozen series of her photographs, one of them titled, “Colombia on My Mind.“

This series holds a collection of stunning photographs, with the brief description reading, “I was born in a country with an on-going civil war, just like my mother and grandmother. Colombia on My Mind is a personal journey that reflects how Colombians live and raise their families, and conduct their lives with this endless situation of corruption, impunity, pace processes and war in the background.

The interpretations of these images depend on the subjectivity of the viewer. For me as a Colombian, life in my country is a state of waiting, living every day in the middle of invisible boundaries that divide our country. The wonder of peace.”

Joana Toro

For this Colombian photographer, beauty is seen everywhere. But often it is through the margins, through the depths of depravity that corruption conjures up.

Toro also shoots much of her photography in New York City.

Stephen Ferry

This Colombian photographer is American, but finds much of his work bringing himself to Colombia. Self-described as a non-fiction photographer, Ferry seeks to cover what he sees in its purest essences.

His book, Violentology: A Manual of the Colombian Conflict, chronicles ten years of documentation and investigation into the armed conflicts in Colombia. It received the first Tim Hetherington Grant, awarded by World Press Photo and Human Rights Watch for long-term documentation of human rights issues.

Thus, while it is true that the armed conflicts in Colombia over the past decade are not as globally famous as the Narcos 90s and aughts were, they are clearly still ravaging the country. Dedicated photojournalists like Ferry deserve our solemn respect, admiration, and support.

Colombian photographers are essential to capturing the state of the nation

Corruption, armed conflict, destabilization in the gateway to South America. Hell, for those of us wise enough to admit it, America is the same damn way right now.

Colombian photographers are capturing a new nation in many respects. The 20s in Colombia will be largely remembered by the way these dedicated photographers capture it. Let us not forget that.

Bruh March 17, 2021
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Are we ready for X rated NFTs? A look into the thirst trap

NFTs have taken over the digital world, and crypto porn is prospering for sex work. So the question is: are X rated NFTs the new wave, and can OnlyFans be the place for them to prosper?

As a wise man recently told me, technology is dictating the culture, as opposed to what has conventionally been the other way around.

OnlyFans emerged as a way for individuals to make money directly for their work (often concerning sex). For porn creators, it is all about operating with freedom. But censorship has been an issue in the past on other platforms.

Nothing is stigmatized more than sex work. And so entering the digital art space, the stigma is going to follow. But creators crafting X rated NFTs can work to destigmatize it.

And OnlyFans can find itself as a beacon of hope for creators making crypto porn.

NFT sex work

NFTs are all about owning something hot that no one else has. That is why people sit waiting in lobbies for hours upon hours for these non-fungible tokens like on NBA Top Shot.

So what better way is there for sex workers to make money than by trading an NFT?

@cryptonatrix on Instagram made a little over $1,772 selling an NFT titled “Making Vlad My Bitch.” This NFT is based on Robinhood CEO Vladamir Tenev and the platform’s recent actions with stonks.

The savagery truly knows no bounds. While there are benefits in the crypto community, @cryptonatrix published an article online explaining the hypocrisy of the crypto community concerning crypto porn and NFT sex work.

Contrary to its libertarian roots which might suggest a group that embraces freedom, Iā€™ve found the crypto community is not exactly the most welcoming for sex workers, let alone women in general.Ā 

@cryptonatrix

Crypto porn and X rated NFTs

OnlyFans has revolutionized the porn industry and put the power in the workers hands. NFTs have been revolutionary themselves too. So why can’t X rated NFTs be perfect for the platform?

x rated nft sex work
@cryptonatrix

Cryptocurrency works as a way for X rated NFTs to be sold because there is no censorship. On certain platforms like Rarible, which is where @cryptonatrix sold her NFT, sex workers have a perfect marketplace to sell their likeness.

The savage crypto porn trader has also created art around other notable billionaires, like Elon Musk.

So why is OnlyFans the place for NFTs?

It all comes down to censorship. To be free of the weights of what you can and can’t post, share, and trade is a liberating feeling. And especially for people like @cryptonatrix, releasing these shackles enables you to create what you want, and fight against the powers that be.

They certainly enjoy creating X rated NFTs concerning billionaires.

And while there are options like Rarible to trade and sell crypto porn artwork, OnlyFans has already situated itself as the platform for sex work.

This means that sex workers can learn more about the cryptocurrency space and how to trade X rated NFTs.

@cryptonatrix

@cryptonatrix has shed an important light on censorship in sex work and what can be done to make sure sex workers get their bread for crypto porn.

Selling an NFT on OnlyFans may become the optimal way for sex workers to earn their livelihood. And NFTs may eventually become the driving force for destigmatizing sex work entirely.

aapi hate March 17, 2021
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These Asian creatives weigh in on the spike in AAPI hate

Asian creatives set the tone for culture.

AAPI stands for Asian American and Pacific Islander. Hate is self-explanatory. We know it when we see it. The spike in AAPI hate and anti-Asian violence over the past year has been extremely harrowing and sickening, and now Tuesday is just the latest example.

A 21-year-old white male shot up several different massage parlors in Atlanta, killing 6 AAPI women, one white woman, and one white man. Police are not rushing to classify this as a hate crime against AAPI. We are not so cavalierly patient.

Anti-Asian violence in the U.S. increased by 150 percent in 2020. This also came as overall hate crimes fell (ostensibly because so many people were in quarantine). Tuesday’s violent AAPI hate-fueled killings are just the latest problem in what is clearly an epidemic.

What can we do in dire times such as these? We can put pressure on our representatives to take severe action. We can check up on our AAPI friends. And we can listen to creatives of Asian descent everywhere to see how they are doing.

Eddie Huang speaks on AAPI hate

Eddie Huang, star of the recently-released Boogie, has been on a creative tear recently. Also a star of Fresh Off the Boat, Huang has been dedicated to exploring Asian Americans deep and nuanced personalities.

So it came as no surprise that the shootings on Tuesday affected him deeply.

Enough is enough. We have been speaking out for an entire year about the hate towards Asian Americans ever since Trump started calling it the ‘China Virus’ and the ‘Kung Flu.’ This was a coordinated attack on multiple Asian businesses with 6 Asian victims. Stand with us, speak up with us, and if there is any humanity in you, recognize that our pain is yours as well. No one should be targeted and murdered because you donā€™t like the color of their skin, PERIOD.

Eddie Huang via his Instagram

Many AAPI spoke out on social media that they are still tired of fighting and crying for the anti-Asian violence to stop. Huang’s impassioned Instagram pleas resonate with many people of Asian or Pacific Island descent. And as he also says, the pain and indignation should be shared by everyone.

Jenny Yang encapsulates how many of us are feeling about the rise in anti-Asian violence

Jenny Yang is a comedian, writer, and actor. She is the co-founder and co-producer of Dis/orient/ed Comedy, a nationally touring comedy showcase of Asian-American women.

Yang is vocal about AAPI hate and its reverberating effects. She is clear about how jokes and stereotypes can lead to violence against Asian Americans, specifically women. Tuesday struck a final chord.

Yang also made a concerted effort to explain to her 50K plus followers on Twitter that decriminalizing sex work is necessary in stopping AAPI hate and anti-Asian violence. One cannot be for liberation if they are not for liberation for all.

Kat Chow looks at the victims whose lives were cut short

Kat Chow is an American podcaster and author. After the news broke on Tuesday, her attention turned to the lives lost, who too often are cast aside while the evil killer is given a spotlight.

Members of the media must be extremely cautious when covering this story. Preconceptions and stereotypes must be thrown out the window. And the fragile nature of sex work must be understood when covering this issue.

Too often, AAPI people are left out of conversations about hate, about marginalization, about disenfranchisement. But under white supremacist foundations, everyone not white is pitted against each other. Let us not forget that when we are calling for unity.

AAPI hate must stop. But it takes all of us

Many more creatives spoke out against anti-Asian violence, but we wanted to highlight three who opened up extremely important conversations.

Hateful rhetoric has ramifications. Racist jokes also have ramifications. Remember this anytime you say “it’s just a joke.”

We stand with our AAPI brothers and sisters who need our support right now. They need our kindness, compassion, and also determination to root out racism, root and stem.

Anyone looking to help is encouraged to donate to Asian Americans Advancing Justice, the Asian American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the Center for Asian American Media.

dennis rodman March 12, 2021
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Kim Jong Un photos that inspire mystery of North Korea

Every time we see photos of Kim Jong Un, we are left puzzled with our face in our hands. Who is this curious supreme leader of North Korea, and what lies behind his pudgy exterior that all photos of him display?

Let’s be real about it: Kim Jong Un was Trump before Trump entered politics. That certainly served as the inspiration behind the brief love affair of the two. Tiny hands, authoritarian motives, a tyrannical disposition defines both men.

When curling back the layers of Kim Jong Un and North Korea, largely through the photos released to the world, one gathers a sense of what the country is really like under Kim. Or more aptly, what he wants the world to believe the country is like.

Nonetheless, these photos of Kim Jong Un are a brilliant uncovering of one of the world’s most talked-about men. Here are some moments when photographers captured him in all his enigmatic glory.

Kim Jong Un with his father

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Kim Jong Un at a military parade with his father in 2010 (Kyodo News/AP)

The supreme leader of North Korea rose to power in 2011 after his father Kim Jong Il passed. The great successor was only in his late-20’s at the time, and his childlike features are apparent on his cherry-cheeked face.

Still, this moment of father and son together shows a time right before the change of power. For those of us who have seen Succession, we know how difficult it can be for a narcissistic patriarch to cede power and control.

There are iconic photos, and then there is Kim Jong Un with Dennis Rodman

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Kim Jong Un hosts Dennis Rodman and other former NBA players during an exhibition game with North Korea. This was Rodman’s fourth visit to North Korea. (via KCNA/Reuters)

Kim Jong Un and Dennis Rodman’s relationship has been well-documented, and this photo of the two in 2014 shows this to great effect.

Look at that North Korean smile. And people wonder how he has the charisma to lead a nation.

Dennis Rodman called this meeting and exhibition game “basketball diplomacy.”

Kim Jong Un inspects a submarine

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Kim inspects a submarine in this undated photo released by North Korea’s state-run news agency in June 2014. (KCNA/Reuters)

Most photos in North Korea (at least of Kim Jong Un) are released by North Korea’s state-run news station.

Ultimately, the photos are meant to promote the supreme leader and nation in its best light. Propaganda at its purset.

Still, Kim being on the ground (figuratively) with his men sets a good example (even if just for a photo op) that he is in touch with his people.

There are not many North Korean photos more puzzling than this

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North Korean officers pose with the supreme leader with their pistols (KCNA)

North Korean photos don’t get much stranger than this. Ok, maybe they do, but you’ll have to keep reading to see.

In this demonstratively (and unnecessarily) forceful photo of Kim Jong Un and his officers, the officers pose with honorary pistols that Kim himself gave to them.

The photos of Kim Jong Un were taken in abundance to commemorate the 67th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.

Kim Jong Un appears on a horse

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Kim Jong Un on a horse on Mount Paektu in a photo released from the Korean Central News AgencyĀ 

Ok… we got stranger immediately. This press run Kim did in 2019 was undoubtedly humorous. Still, it was a view for many into what the topography of North Korea even looks like.

The sublime mountains and beautiful horse really make for a delightful North Korean photoshoot.

How much does the average person know about North Korea?

There are many countries on Earth that are left out of international conversation. North Korea is not usually one of them.

Whatever one says about the country, its sway on international politics can not be denied. Its authoritarian government, race for nuclear weapons, and quirky supreme leader make it a deeply curious nation.

These photos of Kim Jong Un and North Korea shed some light on the enigmatic country. And they also present more questions than they do answers.

For now, all we can do is gather the information that we have, hope Kim stays sane, and soak in the curiosity that North Korea and these photos present.