Self Identity and What makes you YOU!

 Jewell and Durand, This Book is Anti-Racist

The feelings this reading evoked in me are some that I have realized I will experience a great deal of this semester. I felt inspired, thoughtful, and sort of nostalgic. Reflecting on all the different versions of myself as they evolved and changed into distinct individuals over time has made me appreciate the person I am now. There were things I was obsessed with (the color pink), to later hating it, and even much later realizing that it isn't all that bad as it seemed. I used to be 5, 10, 13, 15, 18, all different phases of my life in which I changed and came to view the old with a new perspective. Topics like these are very relevant now than when I was a child, and they are very often talked about in my lectures and in the media. I think everyone should be able to be who they want to be, be bold, be free, be themselves authentically :)

This is what makes me ME: 

This reading actually made me think of one of my favorite characters, Bon Clay,  from the anime One Piece!

One Piece is a very famous show that touches on topics of many types of political corruption, slavery, genocide, censorship, and the abuse of power by the government. These topics are affecting us and many other countries at the current time. In Indonesia, people have even started raising the straw hat pirates' fictional flag in protest of their government. 

Bon Clay is one of the most authentic characters in the show, they stand up for what they believe in and are themself to the fullest! They are represented as a queer non-binary/gender fluid character in the show who is initially one of the Villains, only to be one of the biggest heroes in one of the greatest arcs in the series. Many didn't like them for their showy persona and goofy character designs, but by the end, they became one of the biggest legends in the anime. 

    One of their most famous quotes is:

"One may stray from the path of a man, one may stray from the path of a woman, but there is no straying from the path of a human!"