https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog daily 1.0 2024-10-22 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2024/10/22/raindrops-on-a-pool monthly 0.5 2024-10-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/93daa2a3-3ad7-4daa-a137-ee171a99a118/IMG_0022.jpg Blog - Raindrops on a Pool https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2022/12/29/representation-tier-list monthly 0.5 2022-12-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/01a4ba85-6b5e-4aa6-8e68-54960f8b0751/unnamed.png Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out I needed a header image but I didn’t want to classify actual media according to this tier list because that’s not the point of this article so I just made an image with random things on different tiers https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/50ce39d2-87f8-4dfe-a5cf-844132ca2e01/sp-rikishi-a-20191124.jpg Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out Mongolian sumō wrestler Terunofuji Haruo in the ring at a stadium, preparing to wrestle a lower-division match during an injury-driven slump in his career long before his eventual promotion to yokozuna. He’s wearing gigantic medical knee wraps and wrist bands. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/39deb064-df71-417a-bcfe-3832427a56ab/Screenshot+2022-12-20+at+16.47.31.png Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out The cover of Clanbook: Assamite Revised, an older Vampire: the Masquerade sourcebook detailing a West Asian and North African clan of assassin vampires. On the cover is the clan’s name in a faux-Middle Eastern font, and an illustration of a brown-skinned woman in a headwrap, bikini top, and tights carrying several bladed weapons and standing over a corpse she has just stabbed to death. She looks cold. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/b12dca1d-50c5-44b0-ac41-2dc0082c2fdf/evangelion+applause.jpg Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out Neon Genesis Evangelion’s Ikari Shinji being confused at the unconvincing people clapping for him and congratulating him. Everyone else watching this episode is also confused. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/947743dd-bd31-4580-bce3-ff4a28801693/Firefly+exported.jpg Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out The main cast of much-cancelled science fiction television series Firefly, in costume on their ship. Not pictured: Asians. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/dec55c94-f75d-48c1-bffd-c93f09ffaa30/126491_1.jpg Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out The cover of the first edition of Robert A Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, featuring space marines in black ink hanging from stylized parachutes which look like orange sunbursts, against a tie-dye cloudy blue sky. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/68bd0479-4a6e-4113-abdd-502fb2ab45aa/Neil-Patrick-Harris-Starship-Troopers-1997-1-1280x720.png Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out Neil Patrick Harris as a psychic space Nazi in the film adaptation of Starship Troopers, which sure did try to satirize the above-lauded Starship Troopers, with questionable success. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/6d62faef-0e38-4f06-8e6a-017b76f2a1f0/SEP160166.jpg Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out The cover of The Promise’s collected edition, featuring Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko side by side. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/60e3939f-a4fe-4b83-ba30-23fa5ea4fef4/685627-photo7.jpg Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out Death of the Endless, from Neil Gaiman, Chris Bachalo, and Mark Buckingham’s Death: the High Cost of Living. Huge fan of her work. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/bce3b3d9-bafd-4bbb-a880-cbdeb0db936f/Thanatos_smile.png Blog - Representation Tier List - Make it stand out Thanatos, from Supergiant Games’ Hades. Huge fan of his work. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2020/6/3/interview-tony-chatman-on-bias-and-the-uprising monthly 0.5 2020-06-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1591241257401-DQE5T6FZUYNW14MA2BAX/Screen+Shot+2020-06-03+at+2316+hrs+%282%29.png Blog - Interview: Tony Chatman on Bias and the Uprising Tony Chatman smiles at the camera, wearing a tan sport jacket, a light-colored dress shirt, and a cool watch. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1591241857213-I08KTXORUU1WF3NUACKT/image-asset.gif Blog - Interview: Tony Chatman on Bias and the Uprising An animated .gif from Mad Max: Fury Road of Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky saying, “That’s bait.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1591286048756-8TXFGLF8VCITOVWPHQIC/squeaky+frog.jpg Blog - Interview: Tony Chatman on Bias and the Uprising A Chinese-style ink painting of a Namaqua rain frog making a cute squeaky noise. Mendez painted it in graduate school. If you’re skipping past the tear gas and chokeholds you can start reading below. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2020/4/28/the-most-important-point-i-can-make-about-orcs monthly 0.5 2020-04-29 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2020/1/2/how-to-change-your-conversations-about-cultural-appropriation monthly 0.5 2020-01-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1577991864024-ODAWJTNCAZGC8IPF7NSB/intro-1574695434.jpg Blog - How to Change Your Conversations About Cultural Appropriation Left: Helmet and shoulders of the titular bounty hunter from The Mandalorian. Right: Helmet and shoulders of the bounty hunter Boba Fett, alleged appropriator of Mandalorian culture, in the Star Wars films. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1577993830440-XDABF6TFMJ9V3PDAQ3OT/GettyImages-89761143-1024x651.jpg Blog - How to Change Your Conversations About Cultural Appropriation President Barack Obama gives the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Joe Medicine Crow, the last living Plains Indian war chief, wearing Crow Nation regalia including a feathered war bonnet. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1577993436236-YWTYNNXATMR740TA2QD3/mestre-bimba-o-criador-da-capoeira-angola.jpg Blog - How to Change Your Conversations About Cultural Appropriation Mestre Bimba, wearing white clothing and playing a berimbau. Bimba codified the Regional system of capoeira, introducing the style to Brazilian elites and paving the way for legalization. However, his claims to have reinvented capoeira didn’t go over so well with many of his contemporaries. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1577992642038-69V5GVR7UKDCUR0IPZX6/oh+no.jpeg Blog - How to Change Your Conversations About Cultural Appropriation White American teenager Keziah Daum, her date, and five other couples pose on some marble steps in a pre-prom picture. The boys are all flashing what I assume is a Utahn gang sign, and refuse to learn more about. The girls … okay, Daum herself is right in the middle in her red qìpào with her hands pressed together in a South or Southeast Asian-looking greeting, but she’s randomly sticking her hips so far out to her right that I wonder if Rob Liefeld posed this photo. I think her posture is meant to evoke Asian hyper-feminine stereotypes. The other five girls are following suit but a couple of them seem confused about how Keziah got her body even to do that, so they’re just standing there with their hands pressed together as if they’re praying. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/10/31/asian-representation-and-the-martial-arts monthly 0.5 2021-07-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1572576425032-TBEHRR2FQ0OTEAIOQNPZ/Jim-Carrey-pic-1.jpg Blog - Asian Representation and the Martial Arts Jim Carrey plays a karate instructor on In Living Color. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1572576635952-WAQA5UW919MB69ESJ5P7/TSR+2018+Oriental+Adventures.jpg Blog - Asian Representation and the Martial Arts The cover to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons supplement Oriental Adventures, by Gary Gygax. The cover depicts a samurai in black armor brandishing a large Japanese sword and riding a white-furred mythic ungulate. A ninja dodges out of the way and prepares to counterattack with a kusarigama. All three look uncomfortable, somehow. Like the ninja’s face isn’t even visible and yet they still look vaguely embarrassed to be on this cover, which … well, to be fair, so would I. In the background is an Asian building. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1572577157137-ZPSDAZT8ZEA8YKY4RW6C/white+lady+monk.png Blog - Asian Representation and the Martial Arts If I didn’t already know this was an illustration of the monk in Dungeons & Dragons, I would describe it to you as “a woman in a cool dress from ModCloth holds her phone out and takes a photo with flash.” Actual description in the text below. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1572577768574-IKGYRA67E870WMUHZYDF/Screen+Shot+2019-10-31+at+2308+hrs+%282%29.png Blog - Asian Representation and the Martial Arts The Manchu overlord (Ron Yuan) taunts the Shàolín and Wǔdāng fighters (Brian Le and Andy Le) in a reimagining of Shàolín yǔ Wǔdāng’s climactic battle, from Wu-Tang: An American Saga. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1572578060352-0EX9DH7192W6A69RRUI1/19971426_a3b9f9380f.jpg Blog - Asian Representation and the Martial Arts Mifune Toshirō as Kikuchiyo, wearing piecemeal armor, leaping triumphantly into the air with an arquebus in one hand. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1572578375768-NGZ5R15GZ5WXKE32A4UD/Remo-Williams-Adventure-Begins-Fred-Ward-Joel-Grey-1985.jpg Blog - Asian Representation and the Martial Arts Fred Ward as Remo Williams and Joel Grey (in yellowface) as Master Chiun in Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, the movie adaptation of The Destroyer which we all wish we didn’t know about. Note: An earlier version of this caption erroneously listed that Grey was in blackface, not yellowface. I corrected it, but by my articles’ standards, how far-fetched would it have been …? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1572578775674-SG5MIEPS086XGNC43S5E/Screen+Shot+2019-10-31+at+2325+hrs+%282%29.png Blog - Asian Representation and the Martial Arts The Container Store at the northeast corner of Lexington Avenue and 58th Street in New York, New York, seen from the intersection. The motion blurs in the foreground indicate that a rumble between Chinatown gangs is under way. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1572582148666-W2NQDEMX7MGYR7U3LZF1/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Asian Representation and the Martial Arts Jiāng Wén as Baze Malbus and Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe in Rogue One: a Star Wars Story. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/9/1/best-practices-for-religious-representation-part-i-check-for-traps monthly 0.5 2019-09-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1567316886385-G7AFGLI79OJ7F8EREA75/2007.166-d1-2016-10-04_o2.jpg Blog - Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps From the Detroit Institute of Arts: a Yorùbá wood and leather sculpture of Èṣù, the òrìṣà who governs (among other things) role-playing games. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1567318001780-P5AFMK0RXF65UNEK0W7O/image-asset.jpeg Blog - Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps Tour guide Sam Gim stands before towering, colorful statues of guardian gods in a Korean Buddhist temple. Dhṛtarāṣṭra/Jiguk’s on the left playing his lute, Virūḍhaka/Jeungjang brandishing his sword on the right. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1567318379415-HZORDRGNP4CYQJBHNZSB/chirrut-jedha-tall.jpg Blog - Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps The mystical staff fighter Chirrut Îmwe, surrounded by downed stormtroopers in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I am so glad this movie had a second Chinese guy who acted completely different standing right next to him all the time, or I wouldn’t have been able to get over the stereotype and enjoy Donnie Yen’s performance. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1567318642131-03ZJSE9EA3SDJNH93TZH/FS-5598_06.jpg Blog - Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps An old Japanese painting of Lady Murasaki sitting at a table thinking about how frustrating it is that talented dudes get away with creepy behavior as she composes The Tale of Genji at Ishiyamadera. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1567318820034-2OBWHKRQSLID53MOM1VO/image-asset.png Blog - Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps The friendly witch doctor sigh Mumbo Jumbo from the Banjo-Kazooie video games. I hate this guy. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1567319033756-Q07IVC1ESKF0KDSW0EOT/00119775.jpg Blog - Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps Mustafa Shakir as Bushmaster in Luke Cage, not dying from some bullets. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1567319177319-7NSH2BW27OF6Y8AZQND6/Screen+Shot+2019-09-01+at+0225+hrs.png Blog - Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps A 19th-century photo of a Japanese warrior monk. Maybe it’s a reenactor? https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1567319383743-B98E894QZDHS96OX7BAW/Screen+Shot+2019-09-01+at+0225+hrs+1.png Blog - Best Practices for Religious Representation, Part I: Check for Traps A Wayne Reynolds illustration of a zealot fighting for the Single-Minded League during the Japanese Warring States Period. He wears samurai armor and carries an arquebus. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/6/30/orcs-britons-and-the-martial-race-myth-part-ii-theyre-not-human monthly 0.5 2022-11-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1561945204118-2K042OV95LLPIRE1W0TT/capture-2.jpg Blog - Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part II: They're Not Human A Black, uh … orc? soldier? with a bloody knife and a baleful stare fights off German troops in a black-and-white New York Herald illustration of his acts of gallantry and/or savagery in World War I. Looking at this photo, I would not surmise that it comes from a complimentary article. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1561945510239-8BLE32BRWWJVXK4GKXFH/The+Crystal+Shard+cover.jpg Blog - Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part II: They're Not Human Is that the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden? I laughed when I first saw it. Then I thought about drow cosplayers in blackface and thought, please come back, Latino Drizzt, all is forgiven. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1561945952454-GHX95VFP61BBPWITLS7K/IMG_0453.jpeg Blog - Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part II: They're Not Human From left to right, that’s Zappy the mudskipper, Baby the whale, Jack the beaver, Arnold the ankylosaur, Rey the ray, Polpe the octopus, Isa the sea roach, Choppy the saw shark, Jenny the dog, Ben the polar bear, Dragon the rhamphorhynchus, Favor the chicken, Magnet the horseshoe crab, Martin the pine marten, and Jackson the chameleon, all of whom you now care about. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/4/30/less-of-a-question-more-of-a-comment monthly 0.5 2021-07-14 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556676011071-JEK6RI882VYYD9FX82UN/55621070_10157224206472431_6616480729616351232_n.jpg Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment Viewed from the audience, panelists Yeonsoo, Sharang, Banana, and Mendez speak to an audience at the PAX East convention on Saturday 2019-03-30 in Boston, Massachusetts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556676284127-690V9JBXYKXH5ZPVRI3W/DFUITAsUMAEH5Jp.png Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment In this scene from Marvel’s Daredevil, Matt Murdock (Charlie Cox) sits in a church confessional, preparing to ask Father Lantom (Peter McRobbie) whether it’s okay for him to make a role-playing game about priests. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556676553519-P5U2H5T1INEN9M7TW0NE/DASPieZWAAI3QE7.jpg Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment “Oh Yeah! What About Chappaquiddick?” by Art Buchwald. If you’re using a screen reader, there’s a text version at the Kansas City Star, here: https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/syndicated-columnists/article187662578.html https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556676692905-OQN90HUK4G2VO5WEUVC8/wendys-reaches-50-million-breach-settlement-banks-showcase_image-8-a-12032.jpg Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment This is a Wendy’s. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556676792188-F7JGI5DCWGMRLACM6PW1/what+the+christ+panther.png Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment It’s my “what the christ are you talking about!!!!!!!!” meme from the old Exalted forums. If you don’t immediately understand what all of those words mean, holla at me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/LulaVampiro) for a long explanation because I can’t fit three pages of single-spaced text into an image caption. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556677605635-Q0IG7MZQ46ZMRMTH449X/dave-bautista-blade-runner-2049-e1516119267398.jpg Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment Dave Bautista as Sapper Morton, the only Asian in Blade Runner 2049. Go ahead, ask me how long he’s in the movie. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556678110224-7JJSV99AOVI3J9Y05HEW/toshiro-mifune-yojimbo-nine.png Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment Mifune Toshirō, the only Asian man it is truly safe to be, as Tsubaki Sanjūrō in Yōjinbō. He’s sitting in a shack practicing his knife-throwing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556678219740-BU8I2PQYNF996SU5FTL4/ue0FxKh.gif Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment The Ember Island Players version of Zuko from Avatar: the Last Airbender, burning to death while shouting “HONOOORR!” You’ve come across this one before. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556678368477-FVR5SIG62PSD2U57FCKA/tumblr_nogwwqWDKH1qhjcclo1_1280.jpg Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment Rebecca Sugar’s black-and-white sketch of Pearl from Steven Universe. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1556678603129-GU30V3G67PGAZ6K40IGW/image-asset.gif Blog - Less of a Question, More of a Comment Catra says “Hey, Adora” in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Such mean. Very flirt. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/3/26/the-fortune-cookie-incident monthly 0.5 2019-03-27 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1553583052253-LWSBAL6416ODEHAXEDQJ/D0IDtA1W0AMYCwU.jpg Blog - The Fortune Cookie Incident Mendez’s hand with a fortune that reads, “Happiness is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.” Behind him on the table are some game materials, one of which is a rules cheat with green text and red borders like a Chinese menu. And chili pepper bullet points. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1553584431294-F8CSJD3SYEVCEUFT00PU/fp-slide-004-chinese-railroad-workers-1620x540.jpg Blog - The Fortune Cookie Incident A black-and-white photo of many Chinese railworkers posing on a rail line. From the Chinese Railroad Workers’ Memorial Project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1553584752375-VJ3ZEVWI1YY7ZMG9Q73H/image-asset.jpeg Blog - The Fortune Cookie Incident A public ceremony at the bleak Manzanar internment camp in Owens Valley, California. From the LA Times. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1553650740611-1WD4VKVELNMWS3NJD85B/ellen-wong-as-jennyfortune-cookie-in-season-2-of-glow-on-netflix.jpeg Blog - The Fortune Cookie Incident In Netflix’s GLOW, based on a real American professional wrestling promotion from the 1980s, Ellen Wong plays a Cambodian woman forced to wrestle as an Asian-themed heel named “Fortune Cookie.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1553583547299-00COCT7GIFLR1UQQW1UC/IMG_0416.jpeg Blog - The Fortune Cookie Incident Mendez holding his (probably stolen) copy of The Wu-Tang Manual by the RZA. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1553585110210-ZDAT4QQULFQSG2G3JLG2/screen-shot-2016-03-11-at-20335-pmpng.jpeg Blog - The Fortune Cookie Incident Zhāng Zìyí in men’s clothing posing badassfully with her sword in that restaurant fight scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/2/27/clio-yun-su-davis-and-rpg-convention-racism monthly 0.5 2021-10-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1551378101275-51Y1R3K5BX03RWLYQVTQ/2018-09-21+17.47.07+copy+2.jpg Blog - Interview: Yeonsoo Julian Kim and RPG Convention Racism Yeonsoo Julian Kim, wearing glasses and a red patterned shawl. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/2/14/may-i-play-a-character-from-another-race monthly 0.5 2019-12-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1550195071321-XURR0X6ZLVYD8SY7XFEK/4371061F00000578-0-image-a-5_1503343153977.jpg Blog - “May I play a character from another race?” From the sigh Daily Mail: A well-intentioned tweet from a guy who looks white in his profile pic selfie. It says, “Black or white, we all jus some egg fr” and has side-by-side pictures of a white and brown egg side-by-side in a skillet, and presumably those same eggs cracked into the skillet. The eggs are the same color now that they have been cracked, which is how you know racism is over. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/1/13/orcs-britons-and-the-martial-race-myth-part-i-a-species-built-for-racial-terror monthly 0.5 2021-05-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1547428594996-7BS60579R0Z6DMSED6QE/YellowTerror.jpg Blog - Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part I: A Species Built for Racial Terror An old cartoon drawn in black ink on yellow paper of a Chinese … man? goblin? with a long queue, a bolo knife in his teeth, and a smoking torch and revolver in his hands, standing astride a fallen white lady. The caption reads “The Yellow Terror in All His Glory.” From Wikimedia Commons. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1547428756568-PEPWRV8JIHS40KTN9UOV/warbonds.jpg Blog - Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part I: A Species Built for Racial Terror From the Portland Art Museum: An American propaganda poster showing a German soldier with a spiked helmet and bloody fingers and bayonet, climbing over a ruined landscape. The message? “Beat back the HUN with LIBERTY BONDS.” Frederick Strothmann, 1918, color lithograph on smooth cream wove paper, Gift of Mr. William Lewis Brewster, Jr., public domain, 20.59.15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1547458864158-JSE3221CFVA2OZKNB43X/makoare.jpg Blog - Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part I: A Species Built for Racial Terror Well, this is mildly awkward now. From Wikimedia Commons, a fan cosplaying as Lurtz the orc from The Fellowship of the Ring film adaptation poses with an autographed picture and a cheerful Lawrence Makoare, the Māori actor who played that character. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1547458131739-6YSQDME0FGEH1OU869JV/quark.jpg Blog - Orcs, Britons, and the Martial Race Myth, Part I: A Species Built for Racial Terror Okay, maybe you could get away with that. Armin Shimerman as Quark the Ferengi bartender in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with the meme text “FEMALES …” https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2018/11/28/interview-roundup monthly 0.5 2018-12-02 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2018/11/1/thousand-arrows-and-sensitivity-part-ii-dragon-kings-gambit monthly 0.5 2019-10-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1542864123971-QJ3KNXTNU9FIIDHMXJ52/AdmiralYi-BusanTower.jpg Blog - Thousand Arrows and Sensitivity, Part II: Dragon King's Gambit A statue of Admiral I Sunsin in a park atop Busan Tower looks out across the city by day. Photo by Jeff Harr, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2018/11/10/best-practices-for-historical-gaming monthly 0.5 2018-11-12 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2018/10/31/thousand-arrows-and-sensitivity-part-1 monthly 0.5 2018-11-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1541088749737-NLVS1TX4YFU5UES9DC1L/murasaki.png Blog - Thousand Arrows and Sensitivity, Part I: the Core Game On the right, Lady Murasaki composes the Tale of Genji at Stony Mountain Temple, kneeling at a writing desk in a red robe and looking out over the veranda past some trees. On the left, boatmen cross a river, with fields and plant life in the background. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2018/10/28/the-giant-robot-of-offense monthly 0.5 2019-07-26 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2018/10/5/what-to-expect monthly 0.5 2018-10-06 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/category/gaming monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/category/race monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/category/gender monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/category/martial+arts monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/category/hip+hop monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/category/social+justice monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/category/religion monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/crouching+tiger+hidden+dragon monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/honor monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/questions monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/uprising monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/interviews monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/clio+yun-su+davis monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/half-orcs monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/Black+lives+matter monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/bias monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/dreamation monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/what+not+to+do monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/stereotypes monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/cultural+appropriation monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/orcs monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/tier+list monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/martial+race monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/dungeons+%26+dragons monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/thousand+arrows monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/tolkien monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/conventions monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/personification monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/dehumanization monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/theory monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/historical+gaming monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/panels monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/world+war+i monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/scientific+racism monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/model+minority monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/representation monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/cultural+consulting monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/w%C7%94xi%C3%A1 monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/british+army monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/oriental+adventures monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/mongols monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/how+to+play+a+PoC monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/dragon+king%27s+gambit monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/mysticism monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/law+enforcement monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/fortune+cookie monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/comments monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/monk monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/food monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/podcasts monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/kung+fu monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/giant+robot monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/best+practices monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/reclamation monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/orientalism monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/yellow+peril monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/interview monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/imperialism monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/tag/it%27s+not+what+it+looks+like monthly 0.5 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/rpg daily 0.75 2024-11-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612368895696-OUQWRHP84ARUYBIDFT4S/980x.jpg Writing and Development Old men in cool outfits get ready to deliver a beatdown. That’s all Imma say in case anyone reading this is, somehow, unspoiled for the end of Avatar: the Last Airbender. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612317858328-1DI1NLUC5WBD63IVTJQV/Thousand%2BArrows%2Bcover.jpg Writing and Development - Thousand Arrows An armored samurai with a wide-brimmed hat and a matchlock musket stands in front of a burning tower. Art by Yoshi Yoshitani. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/d32792a7-46c3-49e1-9199-b1d3e40a64ca/SL13-Bloomer-taxi-dancer.jpg Writing and Development - sdaf A Filipino man with short side-parted hair in a Macintosh suit ballroom dancing with a white American woman with long blonde hair and a white dress, which is probably illegal. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/6962a326-35cd-452e-8c31-9f6cce10ec22/Screenshot+2024-01-16+at+09.05.39.png Writing and Development - Make it stand out A massive red-skinned demon with four horns and batlike wings wears an orange robe and sits cross-legged in meditation, one hand formed into a prayer seal, the other holding a pink flower. Before them, other horned figures sit and look toward them, incense burning nearby. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612337412629-PNFLUEV8UUARYDC7TQ9L/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-03%2Bat%2B0228%2Bhrs.jpg Writing and Development A fighting game character select screen shows DJ Windfire, Pit Viper, Ox Head, and Horse Face. Art by William Tempest. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612327254088-ENOYQ9VF6IOLAMQE6WB8/Screen%252BShot%252B2021-02-02%252Bat%252B2143%252Bhrs.jpg Writing and Development The supervillain Dragonclaw, an athletic Filipina woman with a green Chinese straight sword and some kind of intimidating action-oriented cocktail dress, prepares to cut some fools. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538419785966-5L57HFRIKXRZPFXWCGP6/MarketingArt_scion.jpg Writing and Development Omolara Muhammad, Annie X, and Little Máo face off with several Titanspawn. Art by Shen Fei. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538420589019-GR3ONAAF96N8QK2ATD6P/Screen+Shot+2018-10-01+at+1502+hrs.png Writing and Development Punk rock monsters get in your face. Art by Cecilia Reis. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612322076963-SHUMRT9J68RUUNS4D0TT/agon_helmet.jpg Writing and Development A stylized Greek hoplite’s helmet with geometric designs. Art by John Harper. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612341391377-NHVAZ5QXGZETTQE9X5BO/the-ultimate-micro-rpg-book-9781507212868_xlg.jpg Writing and Development The cover of the book, featuring images of a dog, a space shuttle, a Spartan warrior in space, a hobbit hill, an astronaut, a city, and a woman with blue hair singing into a microphone. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538423812156-KX3Q3HR4ZI23SAX9SJTK/Screen+Shot+2018-10-01+at+1556+hrs.png Writing and Development A black-cowled pugilist has decided that eyeglasses over cowl is the way to go. Art by Jason Morningstar https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612331932491-W8Y2J531AADC9Q2E7F61/8540f99b0bc94ea10c99983c7cafd33c_original.jpg Writing and Development In the background, a hopping vampire and a red dragon; in the foreground, a family working at a Chinese restaurant. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612338479607-OK55ACIKVR6U1SIQ3P3M/thirsty-sword-lesbians-rpg-artwork.jpg Writing and Development Some thirsty lesbians cross swords. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538757623004-56T371C5M1LEEJK5W7DV/7b40a610f46e161ba2bd1b61ee0fcc2a_original.jpg Writing and Development A ghost floats in a window. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538757888074-H1PAB6HBLGE0LTP4XZ7M/Screen+Shot+2018-10-05+at+1243+hrs.png Writing and Development A stylized cityscape emerging from the dark. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612322733686-QXOD6TS8I11N2TCR5C6K/kurama2.jpg Writing and Development A squad of young ninja with strange weapons vaults through the urban night. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612324858888-VORNYN0PUHQE47NRGAH2/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-02%2Bat%2B2257%2Bhrs.jpg Writing and Development Four Scherzando! players converse excitedly while sitting at a table covered with musical instruments and game materials. From a painting in the background, a European composer of old (probably named Johann) looks on. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538759670340-0CL7YSYKXDZSBME5WMUF/Bubblegumshoe.png Writing and Development Two teenage detectives are excited to have found a clue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/028504f9-ada6-4f49-bdd0-dbb2488a4678/katanastrenchcoats_cover_feature.jpg Writing and Development A were-elk, immortal swordsman, bat (presumably a vampire), ghost, and some kind of cyborg technomancer stand around a fancy car with the shadows of Darkest Vancouver behind them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612333686160-T64H9G0V5ZG2CB9AB8J1/chapter_characters.jpg Writing and Development A human in a stark technological landscape looks at little electric butterflies rising from the floor underneath them. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612323764605-ZX2AFUZCFN4VTYAFWXZU/how-cover-sample-01_orig.jpg Writing and Development A tearful swordswoman in ornate red-and-gold hànfú. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612332439811-TVCBH4I81UMXE08YGY1L/iu.jpeg Writing and Development I haven’t actually read any Judge Dredd comics but I’m pretty sure this man holding a pistol with a scary helmet and large shoulder pads is Judge Dredd https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538760126697-TY9M8GMV4RVAXJ0NO3JH/Screen+Shot+2018-10-05+at+1312+hrs+1.png Writing and Development A swordswoman with a long braid raises a crown in front of a star map. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612329988138-8BWW5WXJ343V0VR5TGKT/what%2Bthe%2Bchrist%2Bpanther.jpg Writing and Development A large, shirtless, musclebound man with a glowing forehead and a sun tattoo on his chest shouts “what the christ are you talking about!!!!!!!!!!!!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612328431792-G9D6I6V2TO2NKQYP3IOI/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-02%2Bat%2B2349%2Bhrs.jpg Writing and Development A ninja with a figure-ten spear and a sword slips out a window after killing an assassin. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612339762295-XEY90GMYROUB1WID6KAN/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-03%2Bat%2B0307%2Bhrs.jpg Writing and Development Two witches face away from each other. One, dressed like a Shintō shrine maiden, holds some prayer strips. The other, in a suit, holds bloody knives. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612321564713-X4AJ3JLVCKOVZWVJ0VY2/Screen%2BShot%2B2021-02-02%2Bat%2B2203%2Bhrs.jpg Writing and Development A Filipino elf in a dark blue outfit and a shadowy cobra spirit. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538419538200-B03FVJJLHVV7PJ5IJRDE/Screen+Shot+2018-10-01+at+1444+hrs+1.png Writing and Development A Fusōese swordsman and a Shenese soldier encounter trouble in the street. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/bio daily 0.75 2024-01-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/317f0b8c-1413-4de4-b30b-e6f85927e480/IMG_0088.jpg Who is mndz? Mendez sits at a table in a restaurant in a yellow dress shirt, gray tie, and gray suit. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/illiad daily 0.75 2018-10-05 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/the-soup-joke daily 0.75 2021-01-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1544762459889-JD7IVYI02DK3E9PK86RX/spicy-ramen.jpg The Soup Joke Mendez’s half-eaten spicy ramen. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/how-to-choose-a-martial-arts-school daily 0.75 2018-10-06 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/martial-arts daily 0.75 2021-02-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538770374366-RP7UJKF9SQVD9OH5XGXG/10_gif.GIF Background and Slow Sparring Capoeira players crouch before the berimbau and pandeiro in an illustration by Carybé. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/musashi daily 0.75 2018-10-06 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1538764782130-A5HBX3FB59G7UN57NU9S/Shrike+on+a+Withered+Branch.jpg Miyamoto Musashi's Poetry Shrike on a Withered Branch, ink painting by Niten (Miyamoto Musashi) https://jamesmendezhodes.com/sensitivity daily 0.75 2024-11-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1672696409401-3SVGKTLT1VSR3ZMZ6F15/The_Jackbox_Party_Pack_7.jpg Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Jackbox Games Jackbox Games creates multiplayer party games. I started working with them beginning with Jackbox Party Pack 7. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1672696401694-SZKPM606ZACHKW2JDMDL/onednd_background1.png Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Dungeons & Dragons So there’s this game where you pretend to be wizards and paladins fighting monsters and going on adventures. It’s like improv acting, but also there’s dice like in a board game? It’s hard to explain, but I worked on several projects including the 2024 Player's Handbook and Dungeon Master's Guide. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1672696470704-720P2HIZREW66GER1JVC/Kaito-Shizuki-Variant-Kamigawa-Neon-Dynasty-MtG-Art-844x1024-2906068834.jpg Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Magic: the Gathering Magic: the Gathering is a collectible card game set in a multiverse of different planes of existence, each with its own themes and conflicts. I’ve worked with Magic as a cultural consultant starting with Kamigawa, Neon Dynasty. Click on the video up above to hear me talk about the experience of contributing to Kamigawa! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1725074530272-0ZW83X33XK3UGBMP0LYH/Screenshot+2024-08-30+at+23.21.17+%282%29.png Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Eat the Reich Eat the Reich is a tabletop role-playing game written by Grant Howitt and illustrated by Will Kirkby, in which you play a squad of vampire commandos air-dropped into Europe in 1943 with a mission to drink all of Adolf Hitler's blood. This game was one of my most challenging, complex cultural consulting assignments ever and I'm so proud of what we wrote about religion, ethnicity, vampires, and thrashing fascists. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1732640703041-4YE5CYKD9DT9XH1SU7L7/b3f3397a651461be1458d1014a4a6c2c4ee71421-1920x1080.jpg Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Teamfight Tactics Teamfight Tactics is an auto battle video game by Riot Games, with characters and setting elements drawn from League of Legends. I helped to source a team of international consultants to work with Riot’s marketing department to create authentic & resonant content for Teamfight Tactics: Inkborn Fables, a set inspired by Asian artistic traditions. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1672696481008-3TGL3CONNFJ35DE3UXMF/Frosthaven-Kickstarter_1.jpg Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Frosthaven Frosthaven, by Cephalofair Games, is a legacy-style board game in which you play as a party of adventurers fighting to determine the future of an icy region full of conflict and mystery. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1672696448776-557X6ZD5WB19XA3J0NTS/TTLG-ART-scaled-564x1024.jpg Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Till the Last Gasp Till the Last Gasp is a two-player card game about dramatic, emotional duels, which you can play on its own, or to zoom in on a fight in another system! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1672696453052-MSIEUAWS04XX646F7NIH/fiasco_2021_expansions_grid_graphic-1024x1024.png Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Fiasco 2 Fiasco is a tabletop role-playing game about powerful ambition and poor impulse control. In addition to cultural consulting, I also wrote a playset called “Fist City” about the secret world of suburban American martial arts. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1672697014343-WZC91YG3K4VLIPSCHO16/agon_helmet.jpg Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Agon Agon is a tabletop role-playing game about ancient Greek epic heroes going from island to island having strange adventures. I worked together with John Stavropoulos to refine the game’s representation of marginalized identities and Greek culture. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1672697039670-6PTAQFHF0ZNSYV95L93R/jiangshi-blood-in-the-banquet-hall-rpg-artwork-2.jpg Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Jiāngshī: Blood in the Banquet Hall Jiāngshī: Blood in the Banquet Hall is a tabletop role-playing game about a family running a Chinese restaurant in North America, fighting against racists by day and hopping vampires by night. We won a Silver ENnie Award for Best Setting! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1725074929938-NVOSI28C8OFW4V2R6QI8/lichman-pdf-listing__79974.1686238242.1280.1280.png Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - If I Were a Lich, Man I was the cultural consultant on this trilogy of Jewish-themed RPGs by Lucian Kahn. We won the 2024 Silver ENnie Award for Best Family Game! Please never play this with your family! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1672697204328-OB6D0THM7UY76M49O0FZ/unnamed.jpg Cultural Consulting and Sensitivity Reading - Verizon Diversity Summit I was honored to participate in Verizon’s 2022 diversity summit as keynote speaker. As part of my presentation, I ran a role-playing game focused on awkward workplace situations, and how applying lessons from RPGs can help us address bad behavior in the workplace in a productive way. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/strpuncher-metaphysical-antagony daily 0.75 2018-12-03 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/extended-stay daily 0.75 2018-12-14 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/no-dark-elf-blackface daily 0.75 2020-01-03 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1578083379538-MMQ4HHQ2JK5I1S3MZ17Y/The%2BCrystal%2BShard%2Bcover.jpg No Dark Elf Blackface From the cover of https://jamesmendezhodes.com/workshops daily 0.75 2020-08-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1597628219870-KVUZ7S75L084WVZXGNJI/IMG_1078.jpg Workshops A nighttime view of crowded Takeshita Street in Harajuku, Tōkyō. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1597723527002-4JO7JEUZ1FMGMM0VO1TU/IMG_0499.jpeg Workshops mndz’s character sheet for John Harper and Sean Nittner’s Greek heroic tabletop role-playing game Agon, from a session Sean ran at Gen Con 2019. mndz was a cultural consultant on this game! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1597712612415-GFC8FW63CYNFUWKNEBT4/IMG_1373.jpg Workshops A statue of a goblin’s head outside the Mount Kurama train station north of Kyōto, Japan. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1598050611428-ZEDJOADZYTUYSKXY8AAW/Screen_Shot_2017_07_13_at_1.09.20_PM.0.jpeg Workshops Steve Buscemi on 30 Rock as private investigator Lenny Wosniak, failing to impersonate a teenager. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1598222000238-SZTX7ENLF9J063AEG2ZK/christopher+lee.jpg Workshops Sir Christopher Lee in yellowface as Doctor Fu Manchu in The Face of Fu Manchu (1965). https://jamesmendezhodes.com/new-page daily 0.75 2021-02-03 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/interviews daily 0.75 2024-09-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/1612591595751-4UH96LAAM40OFIDQT19E/W5Nn-JT5u6iJZ2F4stpdjPYMHzSwvowpK5AZydvb9vIeJxFPc.jpeg Interviews Mendez stands on a rooftop with a microphone. He’s wearing a flat cap and a three-stripe Adidas t-shirt. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/thousand-arrows daily 0.75 2024-01-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/e5e35c90-7023-4ad0-881b-311dc88b1f08/slack-imgs.PNG Thousand Arrows - Gunpowder and Betrayal Yoshi Yoshitani’s cover illustration for Thousand Arrows. An armored samurai wearing a wide-brimmed hat hefts her arquebus and smiles as a castle burns behind her. https://jamesmendezhodes.com/new-page-2 daily 0.75 2024-06-17 https://jamesmendezhodes.com/example daily 0.75 2024-09-18 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b14731396d455ca88613307/767ad091-64f8-4ada-ac1f-f14e0f8ce96d/IMG_1094.png example - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.