two Glee recs

[rm]

On Centrifugal Living
I can't really describe for you how hard I found this story to read. I didn't, at first, realize this was going to be that sort of story, which is part of the art of it. But it, more than most things in the fandom, gets how the queer thing and the bullying thing underlies everything whether you want to be that poster-child kid or not. This hit me in a pretty terrible personal place that I didn't realize I could (still) be hit in in quite that way.

A Long Road Ahead
While Glee has acknowledged in passing that Blaine's not actually just some white dude, and I've long wanted someone to do some fic that addresses the degree to which I feel like Blaine is performing white/WASP identity at Dalton (the hair, the hair!), I never anticipated someone would grab at that idea like this. But they did! It's actually about Blaine's mom, and it's amazing. This story is, like the one above, also difficult.

Comments

[gottriplets.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs. They were great!

[crown-of-weeds.livejournal.com]

On Centrifugal Living is amazing. One of my favorite fanfictions ever. I can't wait to investigate the second one.

[aisurucheza.livejournal.com]

The first one... I read that one wayy back when it first was put up on FF.net and it had going through the motions.

I tried a hundred times to write up a review for it and I absolutely could not find the proper words to express what I wanted to say. It was just pure absolute perfection all around.

And Santana's reactions through out the story, honestly hit me pretty hard too. Everything about that one, hit me hard. I think I've only found a handful of stories after that that made me feels a similar way and that I'll always remember.

A Long Road Ahead however I never read, but I will definitely give it a shot, if you're reccing it.

[sqwook.livejournal.com]

On Centrifugal Living - how fantastic. Thank you for sharing this rec.

[deconglee.livejournal.com]

Uh, probably longer comment than post...

I forget which, but there is a fic that addresses Blaine's non-whiteness quite hilariously -- where Kurt actually asks (by sms?) him if he's Asian. Which is bizarre and honest all at the same time.

My wife hates Blaine's hair. With a passion that is only explained by the fact that hair is her *job*.

But it's certainly something that almost every Klaine fic I've read recently (and I'm on hols at the moment, so there are quite a few) has addressed in some way. More recently, it seems to be with Kurt deciding that -- now that they're together -- he's going to fix Blaine's helmet hair.

"A Long Road Ahead" is actually quite lovely, and sad. As an immigrant (even without the ethnicity issues), I felt a lot of it quite keenly. I'm always so disappointed when I feel like I've lost a cultural marker and have in some way assimilated more. It's unavoidable, but still feels like loss. I can only imagine the feelings I'd have if I had a child and that child was growing up like here, and not like there.

[sillygleekt.livejournal.com]

On Centrifugal Living was one of the very first fics recommended to me that really introduced me to fanfic (I've been living under a rock, clearly) and ultimately got me addicted to Klaine fic like it's crack. Need. More.

I had not read A Long Road Ahead before. And wow. I'm hapa (though Japanese) so it brought allllllllll kinds of stuff to the surface for me with regards to Blaine and Anna in particular. But also really gave me pause with regards to my parents' relationship and where there have been similarities and really striking differences. My father is the one who's Japanese, so it's different than the "stereotypical" scenario. And my mother is also an immigrant—from a tiny eastern European country who are trying desperately to cling to a national and cultural identity post-Soviets. So anyway... I'm making this entirely about myself which was not my intention but I suppose it was somewhat inevitable given the perspective from which I read the story.

At the end of the day, it's fascinating to me that the show made a flippant joke about it (Rachel Berry saying "vaguely eurasian babies" in BIOTA) and I have little confidence that we'll ever hear about it again. The only thing that gives me any pause is the fact that Lea Salonga has openly spoken about loving Glee and I think even went so far as commenting that it would be fun to play Blaine's mother. If not for that, I would fully expect them to just make Blaine as WASPy in background as he's portrayed. Which is in no way divergent from the way it really is for so many hapa kids growing up in middle America (I didn't even grow up in middle America and would describe my upbringing as culturally quite WASPy) especially if they can "pass for" white the way Blaine/Darren Criss can.

There is SO MUCH POTENTIAL for them to really do something with Blaine. He's gay, he's hapa, he's in Ohio and not a large urban center, and goes to high school (at least for the moment) at a prep school that while it doesn't tolerate discrimination also from what we know of it also doesn't attempt to cultivate individuality and in fact quashes it to varying degrees, in its goal of keeping everyone equal.

If Blaine transfers to McKinley (as I hope he does)? Holy hell, look at all the levels of adjustments he'd have to make and self-reflection he'd have to do if they actually dug that deeply into him! He really could be a phenomenal character.

I could go on about this for hours but this already like 50 times longer than the original post so I'm just gong to stop now. Suffice it to say... thanks for the rec. LOL!

[mlleglass.livejournal.com]

I don't even watch Glee but I do have that overbearing father + immigrant mother thing happening and really enjoyed that second story.

[mybriefeternity.livejournal.com]

On Centrifugal Living was what made me start writing fanfiction. Gorgeous.