It’s The Arts! of July, let’s hop to it! – Actually, before we do, did you know that you could pre-order Black Witch: Life from the Black Pagan Perspective, vol. 1? It comes out on Sept. 9 through Lulu publishing. Check out the Black Witch Shoppe for information!

AngelBopByeYa/VirtuouslyVindicated
I’ve actually never featured a tumblr before so this is a first. Tumblr, for those who don’t know, are an alternative to the blog for it is easier to post multi-media in addition to text instead of the other way around. I have found Angel’s tumblr to be a very nice read to keep up on because a lot of tumblrs out there seemed to be nothing more than carousel pukes of pictures and things that are supposed to outline an edgy life that doesn’t actually exist. Angel’s tumblr, VirtuouslyVindicated is a refreshing and very genuine read that is very nice to keep up with.

The tumblr has a lot of Janelle Monae content so if you’re a big fan of the android herself, this is a definite go but instead of being a total fan site, there’s a healthy mixture of genuine insight and likes. It’s a very honest tumblr, I really love the Christian postings because it’s super rare to find that kind of traditional living in a modern mind nowadays, especially with younger people in a way that doesn’t sound like robotic talking. I was raised in a very traditional Christian manner and really appreciate it (hence why I harp the derp ones) so it’s nice to see it here. A post Angel made that I liked is the discussion between a science student who is Christian and an atheist professor:

Professor: You are a Christian, aren’t you, son?
Student: Yes, sir.
Professor: So, you believe in God?
Student: Absolutely, sir.
Professor: Is God good?
Student: Sure.
Professor: My brother died of cancer, even though he prayed to God to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But God didn’t. How is God good, then? Hmm?
(Student was silent)
Professor: You can’t answer, can you? Let’s start again, young fella. Is God good?
Student: Yes.
Professor: Is Satan good?
Student: No.
Professor: Where does Satan come from?
Student: From.. God.
Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?
Student: Yes.
Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it? And God did make everything. Correct?
Student: Yes.
Professor: So who created evil?
(Student didn’t answer)
Professor: Is there sickness? Immortality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?
Student: Yes, sir.
Professor: So, who created them?
(Student had no answer)
Professor: Science says you have 5 senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son.. have you ever seen God?
Student: No, sir.
Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your God.
Student: No, sir.
Professor: Have you ever felt your God, tasted your God, smelt your God? Have you ever had any sensory perception of God, for that matter?
Student: No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.
Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?
Student: Yes.
Professor: According to empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, Science says your God doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?
Student: Nothing. I only have my Faith.
Professor: Yes, Faith. And that is the problem Science has.
Student: Professor, is there such a thing as Heat?
Professor: Yes.
Student: And is there such a thing as Cold?
Professor: Yes.
Student: No, sir, there isn’t.
(The Lecture Theatre became very quiet with this turn of events)
Student: Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of Heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.
(There was a pin-drop silence in the Lecture Theatre)
Student: What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?
Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?
Student: You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, Flashing Light… But if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and it’s called Darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, You would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?
Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man?
Student: Sir, my point is, your Philosophical Premise is flawed.
Professor: Flawed? Can you explain how?
Student: Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality. You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?
Professor: If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary Process, yes of course, I do.
Student: Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, sir?
(The professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going)
Student: Since no one has ever observed the Process of Evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a Scientist but a Preacher?
(The class was in uproar)
Student: Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?
(The class broke out into laughter)
Student: Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? .. No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable and Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures?
(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable)
Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on Faith, son.
Student: That is it, sir.. exactly! The link between man and God is Faith. That is all that keeps things alive and moving!

The student’s name was Albert Einstein. Brilliant.

— I have nothing against science…except when it challenges my faith. God IS. That’s all. [♥]

This pretty much sums up my perspective on faith and science too, ha ha (Although, I thought Einstein was Jewish or at least had Jewish relation. I’ll research that later.)

Virtuously Vindicated also has a lot of Obama pictures, especially documenting Mrs. Obama and her influence on Black little girls everywhere. It’s a good face of Black culture, politics, belief and music all wrapped up into one place. It’s a wonderful tumblr and a good reminder that not every American kid is going to wind up face down in the barrel of stupidity and false identities.

VirtuouslyVindicated
AngelBopByeYa Twitter

Black Pagan
I think this is the second blog I have ever heard about being Black Pagan. It is still new and among the recent crop of Black Pagan blogs I have seen (I’ll compile a list later but look on African American Wiccan Society). The blog is from an older Black Pagan’s point of view and talks about the Pagan holidays (something I noticeably don’t do since I don’t really celebrate them greatly) and what it is to practice her diverse interpretation of Paganism. The blog is still fairly new, as in there’s less than three months of content, but it seems pretty promising. It updates on Mondays, check it out

Black Pagan

Weeaboo Stories
Summer time means convention time and one of the most frequented are anime conventions. I’ve been to a few myself, it really is a lot of fun. There are so many people all gathering for anime, mangas and East Asian street culture (Lolita, the fashion I’m part of, is a type of J-Street Fashion) and it really has picked up over the years. WeeabooStories is a tumblr about the worst of those kinds, Weeaboos.

A Weeaboo is a pretty much an Otaku that haplessly fetishizes Asian culture, with a particular preference for Japan. Their knowledge for Japanese is very limited (as in, they seriously don’t know jack about Japan except for whatever American and Anime Culture has taught them) and they can be mad obnoxious. They don’t live in reality but through cartoons characters and drag everyone through it.

Weeaboo Stories is a tumblr where you submit your run-ins with these people so if you get upset about what gets posted, hate the player not the game (for those not savvy with Black lingo: get pissy at the submitters and contributors, not the person who runs Weeaboo Stories). Besides, the site is very quality, it’s not all about bashing the socially and racially inept of a fandom but there will be good stories, pictures and times to be had on that site. And to top it all off (for me), the site’s Black Owned (Ran?), the person behind the tumblr, going by Weeaboo Goddess, is Black (and a lolita). Happy days for me and leaves me thinking… Why the f**king hell didn’t she run for a Black Weblog Award? This girl got my vote faster than Obama, mate.

Oh and some weeaboos don’t like the fact that she’s Black and running a quality site and will post hate at her about it, pulling out all of the stops. Like, “Birth of a Nation” mixed with a dose of White Privilege shaken up in a bowl of Racist-R-U-Srs? and a dash of “Whites Only” on the side. Some of the terrible things those shut-ins have said to her really sound like stuff you’d hear on the street in 20 – I mean the 1940s, 1950s. So if you feel like shutting down the Third Reich kids for whatever reason or another, knock yourself out.

Like I said, Weeaboostories is super cool. That’s actually where I found the video Carlito

And because I found it insanely awesome, here’s another video of the vocaloids that has done Carlito alongside a pair of humans doing a wonderful imitation of it! And here’s the original without the humans.

Oh, and another vid I found on Weeaboo Stories that can show that it actually is quite fun to be at a ‘con.

Weeaboo Stories (NB: Viewed best on Chrome)

That’s all The Arts! for this month! Next week is Ask Black Witch! If you haven’t submitted a question yet, do it nao! Use the Ask Black Witch submission form on the right-hand side, go to About Me/Contact Me page, do whatever you can, just submit, submit!