Roma, Roma De Mi Vida, Roma, Roma De Mi Amoooor

our favorite golden retriever boy's bday is soon AND powwow season is just around the corner so here's some indigenous headcanons I've got for alfred f. jones!

he is actively attempting to learn every single native language within his region, but fluently speaks osage, dine bizaad, hopi, mvskoke, and algonquian massachusett and ojibwa

he is the embodiment of sunshine. he can make everyone laugh, and that includes babies. that being said, he has been the reason for at least 100+ babies' first laughs and has proudly thrown parties for each of their families as per the navajo tradition

him (and matt) fully volunteer to drum and sing at powwows, especially at small town ones. they will roadtrip across canada and the us during the summer and absolutely bring the party to the 49. they also do it to overindulge in piccadilly and indian tacos

he is not a religious person but he does acquiesce in spiritual traditions he has picked up from native elders. the major one he uses is smudging. alike the kid from 'sixth sense', he sees dead people-- or ghosts to be exact lol. and he hates them! which is why he will often smudge and pray early in the morning, once a week, to cleanse any spirits from his house

smokes are always in his possession. while he does smoke on occasion, he mostly carries them with him for exchanges. for example, if he encounters a cool mineral on the roadside, instead of just taking it, he will leave tobacco behind as a show of appreciation

he feeds the rez dogs exponentially (even when everyone at every rez keeps telling him not to fuckin do that, you shitass)

put him on your rob list because he owns so many beaded jewelry and turquoise, it may just pay off your student loans and then some

his mutton sandwiches and navajo burgers will make you fall in love with him, no joke

miku huichol miku huichol!! 🪶💙

russia, america, and tchaikovsky are greatly intertwined. get this-- piano concerto no. 1 (the same composition that would later be played at the tchaikovsky piano competition in 1958 by van cliburn) would first debut in BOSTON.

I imagine they were both in attendance for the debut and it greatly impacted them. not only because it's tchaikovsky, but because they were secretly courting.

this could explain why they reacted so passionately to van cliburn at the moscow observatory.

rusame fiends... I have just found out that tchaikovsky performed at the inauguration of carnegie hall in 1891

do y'all ever think of what alfred and ivan's reactions were to van cliburn's piano concerto in russia in 1958? I like to think that it was very similar to that harrowing scene in "portrait of a lady on fire" where one is watching them fall apart listening to the music. just like marianne and heloise, the music became a solace to what they left behind

goodnight everyone (:

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been watching a lot of westerns w my pops so I made an oc… her name is velia jose

my opinion on a native alfred f. jones

To continue the conversation from the last message I received, I do want to address why I choose to depict America as native. To preempt, my perspective should not be taken as speaking for other natives, as we all have our own respective opinions.

It should go without saying but the United States as a governed superpower is a country that has purposefully failed and harmed black and indigenous people both on the mainland and abroad. The history of this country is cruel, brutal, and inhumane, and it should seldom be forgotten.

When it comes to America, the character, I do not see him as being involved in the crimes done unto these communities. I do believe it's because I truly love this character and I cannot imagine him doing these things to his own people-- but I can see why that would be a very infantile opinion to have on my part. Hetalia is inherently a political concept; personifications that represent governed states, therefore making their identities directly align with their national policies.

This is my personal headcanon but I always saw America, like Canada, and other Hetalia characters, as a manifestation of the land their state stands on, rather than being the direct personification of the imperial/colonial entity. This was one of the reasons I began depicting Alfred Jones as native and drew him that way (while keeping the more recognizable elements of his design)-- the main reason why I made him native is because as a native, I cannot see the imperialist nation being indigenous but I can absolutely see the land itself being indigenous: because it is.

However, after hearing other natives speak on this, I recognize that this is very much a cope of mine... In Hetalia, the personifications are very much shown to be involved in pivotal parts of history and it is implied that they get along with their overseers (most of whom were a bunch of racist old fcks). If a native personification existed, they wouldn't be okay with this.

I treat his identity similarly to my own because he has become my favorite character and I am not above inserting my identity troubles into my fictional faves. I am a reconnecting native (Nahuatl, Wixarika) who often feels so without identity that drawing a native AJ heals me. But that does not change that AJ, as a personification of the United States, represents everything that has traumatized native folks.

I do want to let other natives know where I stand in this conversation because I do not want my choices to be perceived as a vanity project to place indigenous faces wherever I please-- it comes from a true love for indigenous identity, my identity, and a great love for Alfred Jones.

From now on, I do think I may just make my own indigenous ocs in the future. it's the best way to ensure I never mix ndn identity with oppressive governmental states.

sorry for not posting and just lurking like a fckin weirdo. I am once again in a dry spell and I've been all over the place now that I don't have school. building my professional portfolio is.... rough bcuz I've been drawing nothing but fanart for the past 10 years lmaoo.

to keep it cute, I have a bad habit of using fanart as a form of artistic validation. as you can see, it's not a reliable form of artistic exposure. nor do I think anything will be unless I get my act together and do something original for once- but that's where my head has been. there's one piece of alfred f. jones I intend to put my focus into, so there is something to look forward to, but I do want to develop original ideas more now

I feel I should specify when I talk about the vast majority of Israelis supporting this genocide it's not to call for violence of them or even to demonise them. It's to call attention to Israel having a genocidal education system which dehumanises Palestinians from the moment Israelis start school. Ilan Pappé did a study in 1994 of the Israeli education system and raised the alarm that it would raise a generation who are even worse than those who first colonised Palestine in 1948. We're seeing the truth of that now.

I raise this point because we're seeing this attempt by politicians and the media to claim that it's just Netanyahu who is to blame for this genocide and not a systematic problem that requires boycotting, divestments and sanctions to push them to correct. This lie is being pushed because they do not want to change the status quo which allows for Israel to steal Palestinian land and homes and keep Palestinians under military occupation.