#BobaFett was NEVER Space Punisher. He was the best of a Space Apple Dumpling Gang who lucked out shipping an ice cube who STILL managed to dump him in the Sarlacc on a space backwater. The Empire HATED Space Rasputin's disintegration-prone flunky contractor "scum." WATCH AGAIN The Empire just overran Hoth but remember how many AT-ATs, AT-STs & Star Destroyers got taken out doing it, which probably made GREAT reporting to Palpatine who wants Vader to update him. Yeah, it's NOT great but the Empire was short handed in the zone. Enter the bounty hunters.

Going to do some shoutouts to some of the Black speculative poets on Twitter you can follow! #SFFPoetry has expanded greatly over the decades thanks to the verse they've shared. If you have others I should also be taking a look at, please let me know and I'll be happy to add them Of course, I'll start with @nytebird45, an @sfpoetry Grand Master who also holds a lifetime achievement award from @HorrorWriters cith.org/linda/

So for the weekend recap, some recent posts over at my blog:

thaoworra.wordpress.com/2022/02/02/bla… The Ravens FAC scholarship is still open until February 28th for children of Hmong and Lao veterans of the Secret War

thaoworra.wordpress.com/2022/02/02/%ef…

I sometimes wonder about what it means for Lao and Hmong American writers to aspire to prominent US writing programs given the relationship of the CIA to the Secret War in Laos that pushed us into diaspora.

openculture.com/2018/12/cia-he… An earlier article on the subject, but I find it noticeable that we don't really see to many of us trying to find a way to evaluate and critique the issue this creates for us, and the prose and poetry many were herded towards. vice.com/en/article/4x3…

I've an appreciation to Asian American creator Larry Hama whose G.I. Joe character Stalker was one of the first strong, multi-dimensional Black characters I'd read in the comics in my early years in the 1980s. But it's also a reason the 2021 Snake Eyes movie disappointed me. Hama explored friendship,leadership, and accountability, and forgiveness especially in a combat zone which was a lot more than he technically needed to do with a comic-book tie-in to a 1980s toyline.

LOL prepping for @gregoryawilson presentation to his students tomorrow on writing as an #SFFPoet from the SEA Diaspora & his poor students are going to run into so many tangents on my twitter this week. SORRY, KIDS. But for sure, start here at least: @gregoryawilson The @SahtuPress study guide is really an initial consolidated start for students doing full research projects on my work. I find it a bit #TLDR but it is useful: sahtu.press/articles/2022-…

51 years ago today, S. Vietnam invaded Laos to try & stop N. Vietnam on the Ho Chi Minh Trail near Savannakhet. Operation Lam Son 719 was an ABSOLUTE DISASTER. Most Lao Americans would be be surprised to know how Laos made the cover of Life Magazine in 1971. The 1980 boardgame Body Count In Laos is one of the first Vietnam War games set in Laos but it's out of print. 2015's One Shot Away by High Flying Dice is the easiest to find that fills this niche, but it's definitely for grognards

One thing I lament approaching 10 years with @sfpoetry: I still find young poets afraid to center their work as #SFFPoetry especially when so many BIPOC poets, myself included modeled an amazing trajectory embracing it rather than relying on most "mainstream" poetry approvals In the 2000s, when I initially presented my 1st book manuscripts and poems to literary and AAPI publishers, at best I was given a polite hard pass, but some REALLY RUDE AF rejections, too. Even from a MN-based @NewRiversPress SEAA anthology. WOW. But it WAS a lesson.

I'm probably the only one who hopes Tasu Leech and Kanjiklub get a second-shot at badassery in the Mandalorian/Book of Boba Fett timeline. 🙄 At the very least, bring in Dengar who's now scurrying about the Star Wars underworld under the ridiculous alias "Rothgar Deng" following a LOT of bad cybernetic modifications.

Fennec Shand got LUCKY apparently.

Debating if I should go into a conversation on how important the Book of Boba Fett and the Mandalorian are through the lens of Lao and Southeast Asians in diaspora, especially re: The restoration of the Jedi, Mandalore, and even the Tatooine Underworld. Spoiler alert: There's a reason why, for a long time SEAsian governments weren't that enthused about a story of farm boys, smugglers, and ex-royalty going into the jungle and blowing up a major infrastructure project with the indigenous population forming a secret proxy army.

#SignalBoost requested: THE DISTINGUISHED RAVEN FAC MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP deadline is February 28th ($500-$1,000+) These scholarships are for qualifying descendants of a Lao or Lao-Hmong individual who served in defense of the Kingdom of Laos (1960-1975) ravens.org/scholarship-fo… Support for Lao & Hmong youth in college is vital because 50 years since the end of the war, fewer than 14% successfully graduate college. Many will be 1st in their families to attend college, considered by many to be a key step to escape multigenerational poverty in US.