Alaska Native Manitou

Potato is itself a mispronunciation of either the Carib or Taino tribe's word batata. ?

I was only able to use a png image, in spite of "Accepted file types." (gif might work too.)

My favorite line:  "I have never been in love." 

What are "pirate parties?"  Looking it up, I only found a 21st century political movement.

In western books & movies chief are universally male.  In reality, women were usually chiefs.

Quote

People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true....No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.

--Rosa Parks

The Trojans would have been better off if they did look the gift horse in the mouth. ? (Does that work?)

When I'm here there's usually few members but many guests.

@hermi1e:  done.  Sorry, it's my 1st attempt at a poll.

Anyone reading this want to comment on the subject of gender identity?

I am genderless, how about you?  Is there a category I've missed?  I was inspired to ask by this good news: 

 https://www.yahoo.com/news/genderfluid-engineer-awarded-discrimination-compensation-141543792.html

How about "sexual minority?"

what about love by Heart doesn't age well.  Now it sounds like a straight woman harassing an aromantic man.

Contrary to what is shown in movies made by the majority culture, chiefs were usually women.  After all, the oldest person in a village is expected to be the wisest, & women live longer than men...though pioneers often refused to talk to a Native woman (unless they wanted sex).  At a modern dance in a Native community you may see girls asking boys to dance rather than the other way around; that reflects a tradition where women were aggressive & men were the gatekeepers.  Pioneers were sometimes shocked to see women fistfighting; the sight of men in makeup was so offensive that they made up the term "war paint" to explain it.  Long hair for men is so important that court rulings have said that a Native Person can't be forced to cut his hair even in prison.  Language warning for this video:

I have a 2-week suspension from AVEN for trying to stand up to racism on that site.

I always knew I didn't want everything the people around me wanted, but didn't know why.  Two decades ago I heard the word "Asexual" for the 1st time.  Looking it up on a library computer I found a few blogs & websites including AVEN.

I recently found a posting on AVEN about Arocalypse, so here I am.  Can anyone tell me how long Arocalypse has been around?

Manitou

If you have romantic energy but don't actually want to be romantic with anyone, directing that energy toward a fictional character seems like a safe outlet.

A man realizes he's better off alone:  Here's the lyrics.  (The last verse isn't in the recording below)

Most of my images are called jpg but I couldn't include them in my profile.  It says "Accepted file types gif, jpeg, jpe, jpg, png"  I was only able to use the ones called png or gif.  I don't know what the difference is.

In the physical world, not much.  Those who know me already get it; it usually doesn't come up otherwise.

Online I read romantic stories & participate in discussions where I may say that I identify with a character who's aro, ace or nonbinary when someone thinks it's unrealistic.  Also when someone is shipping unattached characters I might mention that not everyone needs a partner.

That's happened to me too.  I didn't know there was a name for it.  Come to think of it, my ordinary romantic friends have occasionally mentioned a similar experience.

At the end of the TV series Daria the minor characters of Andrea & Charles Ruttheimer III (AKA Upchuck) were thrown together apparently just because they were both single.  They weren't even in a scene together before that.

Although it was part of the plot I want to say this:  the love story in the movie Gattaca was appalling.  At the time of the "love" scene she thought he was a murderer!  She only did it because she was scared!  And why would people begin a relationship when one of them is starting a job that will keep them from seeing each other for literally years anyway?

On AVEN I got a warning for standing up to racists.  I hope this site will be different.

• Malcolm.  An Australian movie from 1986.  A young man who has no idea why the girl next door keeps wanting to spend time with him.  He's also repulsed by the girlfriend of a man renting a room from him dressing too sexy.  The story is fiction, but the character is based on a real person.
• The Accountant.  Ben Affleck does a good job portraying an autistic character.  He comes to notice that a woman is interested in him; he can't give her what she wants so he gives her an valuable painting instead.  (Violence warning.)
• Muriel's Wedding.  Toni Collette thinks her unhappy life will improve if she just marries the right man; in the end she realizes she's happier with her best friend.
• The Returner.  Japan 2002.  A teenager who is the last survivor of humanity travels to the present to stop an alien invasion before it happens, forcing an amoral bounty hunter to help her.  They learn trust & affection for each other, but aren't a couple.