some people don’t seem to understand just how real tashi is—how human she is. she could be the girl from your hometown who made it out, or the classmate you once pulled an all-nighter with for a group project. she isn’t just headlines, whispers, or the fragmented memories people project onto her.
yes, she loves tennis, but she isn’t just tennis. and art—he’s a gateway to that world, but love isn’t a passive thing. love takes work. tashi pours herself into him, into them, in a way that anyone who’s ever truly loved should recognize. and yet, somehow, that effort gets twisted into the idea that she’s just using him for the sport? that she’s only in it for what he can give her? i don’t know—maybe it’s easier for people to reduce her to something simple rather than accept that she’s complicated, that she’s layered, that she’s alive.
and really, if pat and art can be messy, selfish, driven, weak, strong—if they can be everything at once—why can’t tashi? think about it. that knee-jerk reaction to hate her, to strip her down to the worst possible version of herself, what does that say? would she still be this reviled if she had been written differently? or is it 2025 and you just can’t stand to see a woman of color give and be loved in mainstream media?