#[so as a stereotype I have this cousin who is very active in the church is the very Greek etc etc and she also married a dude who was | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

writingandmore · 3 years

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Hi!!! May I get a HP, Star Wars, Voltron, and Disney matchup?

𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗦 + 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘

19, Libra, Neutral Good, enneagram is 4w5, muggleborn Ravenclaw (with Gryffindor tendencies), and my patronus spirit is Hummingbird. Biromantic Pansexual Genderfluid woman using pronouns of She/Her or He/Him. Cherubic-like face, with short height (5'1") plus sized Southeast Asian woman with Spanish descent that has chic messy/wavy brunette medium hair that reaches to my shoulder, oriental skin, slightly upturned eyes, small lashes, chocolate brown irises, cute flat nose, heart shaped face, full cheeks, cupid's bow lips, a small beauty mark on the forehead, and naturally straight teeth with tiny gap in front (just imagine that it's a mixture of Marinette from 𝗠𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗟𝗮𝗱𝘆𝗯𝘂𝗴, Musa from 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝘅 𝗖𝗹𝘂𝗯, and Alexandra Trese from 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲---cause' my friend told me that I kinda look like them). My sense of fashion is in between emo and boyish plus korean glam, I sometimes let my hair down or styled like Lara Croft reboot.

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬

Distant, quiet, and timid at first making people thought I'm a demure, modest, and self-effacing that looks "immaculate" or "one of a kind" (due to my protective mom, a reason why I've never been in a relationship) but the truth is, dunno how to initiate a conversation, but a total opposite if I open up---friendly, ambivert, witty, laughing loudly on a daily basis---like my happiness is too shallow, super talkative, eats a lot (yeah I can finish a huge slice of cake or a meal in one sitting), awkward, daydreamer (I got embarrassed from knocking at the door even I'm inside the classroom 😂), EXTREMELY CLUMSY (mostly gets bruises from hitting, bumping my head somewhere, walking into something on my way, and being careless to my belongings), secretly likes affection, easily overwhelmed, prone to melt over wholesomeness, flusters on compliments, lightly blushes on cheesy banters, eager to share what I know (especially about Catholic Church---my past teacher joked that I'll become a saint because of it 🤣), oftenly speaks full of sarcasm with a lowkey crackhead energy citing meme references, and talented girl who can be your no.1 supporter and unashamed to be true to myself but can be awkward to strangers. In terms of leadership, I only educate and guide than being a prefect (I might take the role seriously), will lift my group when there's lacking/incompleteness. About doing projects in school, I become too extra and prepared for efforts, but I'll forget the process in the end.

The extent, I'm expressive, warm-hearted, willig to help, kind, intelligent, supportive, nice, creative, enthusiastic, laid-back, determined, tough, competitive, and feisty outside, but a real softie that can be childish and dramatic that cries so easily (but will enlightened real quick by smallest things that makes me smile) filled with doubts, frustrations, and insecurities with fear of failure that pushes off the limits to to please everyone because they might get dissappointed from expectations---I simply can't stop proving myself too much because I'm a survivor of bullying. But I still managed to be stronger than ever after I stumbled, even it's a slow burn process. I can be blunt, intimidating, harsh, and a douchebag if I receive ends or I got interrupted while doing something. Immature, headstrong, perfectionist, demanding, hesitant, jumpy, forgetful, overthinker, quick-tempered, sensitive, and anxious (no joke, my nervousness makes me think worse scenario will arrive). Though can be procrastinator and arrogant, I raised as a religious 𝖺𝗇𝖽 diplomatic youth, willing to fight what I believe (including my dreams and what's important to me) and what is right. In addition, I have a habit of staying up late and doing sign of the cross to ease nervousness.

Rowdy and feeling-brokenhearted and bitter friend in the group who fangirl a lot, swears like sailor, will call out on people that we loathe, will make fun of your stupidity (in a good way) before helping, and bring gossips, but a hopeless romantic and cheeky (makes banter with sarcasms or pick up lines as an endearment, but gets annoyed if I received sappy or offensive one), Still generous and concerned person in a subtle and different way.

𝗛𝗢𝗕𝗕𝗜𝗘𝗦

My hobbies are singing, drawing, roleplaying, listening to music, chatting/browsing on social media, conceptualizing, writing, and reading some stuffs. I'll include making corniest jokes/puns, sleeping, and dancing when nobody's around or walking like a model if I feel so bold (even I'm terrible at both xD). I also used to learn Italian language a bit.

𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦

Loves kittens, milk tea, singing at the karaoke, cartoons, iced coffee, memes, cute things, watching YouTube videos (mostly pageants, ASMR, edit audios, and mukbangs), also enjoys playing games on my sister's PSP. Sucker for arts, choir, poetry, night sky, makeup, fun/deep/dumb conversations, Christianity, documentaries (about saints, real crime stories, and inspirational people), reading interesting stuffs, talking about social issues, and creative writing, chilling both indoors and outdoors. Beside that, my music taste are like late 90s-2000s songs (mostly rock, pop, and country) sometimes Catholic songs, kpop and ppop, chocoholic, and a sweetooth as well.

𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗟𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦

Things that I hate are stereotyping, HUGE creepy crawlies (spiders, toads, snakes, and cockroaches), firecracker sounds, thunder and lightning, being left out, loneliness, heart break, blackout, and judgemental people. If I found out that someone hates or backstabbing or being rude to me, I won't hesitate to throw offensive criticisms, leaving them with a "I don't give a f" attitude. One random fact about me is, I 𝗐𝗂𝗅𝗅 vent out EVERYTHING I despise in my entire existence---from bad soap operas to toxicity, worse scenarios in real life, and how terrible is my love life from unrequited feelings that I got, because it's a big deal for me, and I consider forcing me to do what I'm not into and manipulating me as my major pet peeves.

𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗚𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦

In terms of triggers...I only have two which are ta𝖨king about divorce/annullment/separation because I came from a generational broken family (it sucks that some people I knew assumed that the reason why I'm overly unaware that someone is interested in me in secret, is I have "high standards" looking for a partner, but the truth is I'm strict and I have a personal preferences...I know my worth and I don't want settle for less!) and religion/beliefs discrimination, cause' there are reasonings that doesn't makes sense because some, sounds too hypocritical, like as if you're a morally good person.

𝗥𝗢𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘 + 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘 𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗨𝗔𝗚𝗘𝗦

My love languages are quality time and gift giving, but I actually swoon over physical touch (especially cuddles and cute kisses) and words of affirmation when it comes to having a partner, though I get attracted so easily, matured but can be a goofy person who's nice, friendly, kind-hearted, loving, faithful, and excels in academics is my cup of tea. Whenever I have a real life crush (which is rare), I act the same but deep inside, my heart is about to explode and will eventually share to my trustful friends how I highly admire that person, however if they spilled the beans out, I'll obviously deny it and will cry if they like someone else, it will take some time for me to move on, now I don't care for them anymore.

Best Friends to Lovers is my ideal trope because I find it very cute since you already knew each other before dating (which happened to my 2nd cousin, she married her best friend!)---perfect balance for romance, laughters, comfort, and tears when it comes to sharing your vibes, being there through thick and thin, safe with embraces, and helping each other to grow.

𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗔𝗦

My best assets are smile, eyes, personality, singing voice, artistic skills, writings, intelligence, oratorical skills and I have potential in hosting...so I can consider myself as a singer, artist, orator, speaker, and a top student who's a former active campus ministry member with three roles (choir leader, psalm singer, and reader).

May sounds different but I'm passionate for helping people through my talents and sharing my story to inspire everyone. I may look selfish, but I have a different way on how I show that I actually care also I have a biased sentimental value

Currently a college freshman, learning how to cook. I have so many interests, to the point I don't know what I'm into because of my dreams to become a popular Filipino YouTuber, a novelist, and being part of a successful chorale competing internationally...I also consider joining pageants at school too once the pandemic ends, but maybe.

HP: Remus!

- Remus is also quiet and a bit reserved when he's not in a familiar situation, so your own first impression on him would be a good one, as you'd seem similar to his own personality. He's sweet and is able to start up a conversation if he notices the other person is having a hard time doing so, so hopefully he'd be able to bring out your more extroverted and friendly self after a while so he can be around the more open you. He wouldn't mind you being a bit awkward-he's very much the same way-honestly, the comradery that would come from that would be more positive than anything else. He loves sharing knowledge and learning about new things, so your eagerness to talk about what you know would work really well also! He does a lot better when he knows someone has his back too, so your extra supportive nature would endear him to you as well.

SW: Han!

- Your nicer and more helpful personality would balance out Han's more standoffish vibes when first meeting. You might get on his nerves a bit first, but you'd quickly grown on him and, in turn, make him a bit of a better person. Your ability to be blunt and a bit harsh would serve you well if you ever needed to stand your ground on an issue that two of you have, as he can be quite stubborn.

VLD: Lance!

- Lance can be a bit immature from time to time as well, especially when it comes to trying to be funny or cheering up those around him-he's also headstrong and typically firm in what he wants to do, so your own determined personality would attract him to you a lot as well. He often puts off things he needs to do if they make him anxious too, but if you both recognize that you share that problem, helping each other might be a good solution!

Disney: Flynn!

- Flynn is quite a sarcastic and teasing person, so your own humor would match well with his. He's also quite a hopeless romantic as well, even though he's certainly not one to admit that right off the bat. He enjoys singing, and as he gets closer to someone he feels more comfortable doing so in front of them, so a partner he's been with for a long time would get to see him be more and more open with it. That also applies to activities like dancing.

#hp matchup #remus lupin #sw matchp #han solo #vld matchup #lance mcclain #disney matchup #flynn rider

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minervacasterly · 5 years

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One of the greatest female figures of the Mexican Independence (which celebrated its 205th anniversary yesterday) is Leona Vicario. Born Maria de la Soledad Leona Camila Vicario Fernandez de San Fernadez de San Salvador, was raised by her uncle after her parents’ death in 1807 (three years before the independence). She was an only child and as such, her parents took great interest in her education. Her father was Gasper Martin Vicario, a Spanish merchant and her mother was Camila Fernandez, born in Toluca. Leona had access to the best tutors and always kept up to date with the latest ideas. This was the age of the Enlightenment, so not only did she learn domestic and other arts reserved to women such as dance, music and poetry, but also philosophy, science and politics. Her uncle however, didn’t share her ideals and if he knew about her movements, he probably would have never let her live alone. But thankfully he didn’t find out until later when she was arrested and questioned about her involvement with the movement known as “Los Guadalupes”. This was a secret society that Leona was part of and belonging to one of the well-to-do families in her area, she made sure that the insurgents received the latest news about the royal forces. She also supplied them with clothes, food, money and took in fugitives. Her influence was such that in 1812 she convinced some soldiers to switch sides and fight for the revolutionary cause. It’s not clear when or how much the Spaniards knew about her involvement but it is safe to assume that by this point when she convinced those soldiers to switch sides and led them to the camp of rebel Ignacio Lopez Rayon that she became a prime suspect. When she was on her way to the state of Michoacan, she was arrested and locked in the convent of Belen de las Mochas. This was an era where a female penitentiary wasn’t yet as established as it is now, and since women were supposed to be submissive and dependent on their men; the closest thing for a jail to many was a nunnery. Now, don’t think that because this was a nunnery she lived great in comparison to the other guys who were in real jails. These women were watched day and night and given that the church favored Spain, their treatment wasn’t all that good. After she was interrogated, she managed to defend herself really well, in a way where she didn’t deny or confirm anything of what they were accusing her of (even though they did have proof of it). She was sentenced to remain Belen de las Mochas and all her goods were confiscated by the Crown. Two months later in May of 1813, her rebel friends helped her escape to her intended destination where she married her cousin Andress Quintana Roo. A year later she assisted the Congress of Chilpancingo where Morelos (who many saw as Hidalgo’s successor since he was killed off in 1811) drafted the first constitution. It would be a constitution that Mexico would never see, but many of the things there were revolutionary for their day. Leona was praised by many of the insurgents, including her husband who was a fellow insurgent. When the fighting was still on, she gave birth to her first daughter, Genoveva under extreme circumstances. Picture yourself as Leona, a girl who’s had an opportunity not many women had –even women of her social status- and you are on the run with your husband and pregnant and you have no doctors, no anesthetics, potions or anything to help you during the labor! Not a pretty picture is it? If you’ve ever heard the phrase ‘sunk low’, for Leona it was. She probably felt scared. Morelos had died two years before, meeting the same end as Miguel Hidalgo. Many of their friends were being captured, tortured and killed. They had to run away because they were being threatened and people were throwing insults at them for supporting the independence. They knew they could be killed at any moment. They had risked everything for the cause, and yet Leona didn’t give up. After she gave birth in a cave, her old friend Ignacio came and acted as godfather to her little girl. Sadly, less than a year later, she and her husband were captured. Leona and Andres decided to plea guilty this time so they could have a mercy on them and be given “indulto” which was a form of mercy free pass so all the charges could be dropped. The authorities accepted and released them under close surveillance. When she learned about the Cadiz Constitution –which was the new Spanish Constitution- she wrote a poem both praising it and also saying to be weary of it. Many of the principles there were influenced by the new ideas that were taking Europe by storm and from which Leona and the first rebels had been highly influenced by. She wished that when Mexico became independent that it would have a constitution similar to it, but some of the conservative forces were not happy with this and some decided to back some of the last rebels, making Mexico instead a country that would resemble the old world. Mexico did become a free and independent nation, but some of the ideals that the men and women fought for got lost as the century went on and some of us still wonder when are we going to see our birthplace be that land they dreamed of? Leona did get her happy ending for what is worth. When Mexico became an independent nation, Congress restored all of her goods and gave her more property. Leona didn’t fade in the background, she continued to be very vocal and involved in politics along with her husband whom she defended when President Bustamente intended to send him to jail for criticizing his campaign. Although she hasn’t figured a lot in ‘most famous women in history’ or ‘herstory’ she should be remembered because although some historians have pointed out that she wasn’t all for women’s rights as other women were, she was still very vocal in defending women, especially in stripping the stereotype of women going to war fighting for their men, or women being only good when they were damsels in distress, or the worst one which Lucas Alaman wrote about: Women being active in politics and involved in the movement for independence because of their sons, husbands, and fathers since they had no real thought of their own. To this she told Alaman in a letter: "Confiese Sr. Alamán que no sólo el amor es el móvil de las acciones de las mujeres; que ellas son capaces de todos los entusiasmos y que los sentimientos de la gloria y la libertad no les son unos sentimientos extraños; antes bien vale obrar en ellos con más vigor, como que siempre los sacrificios de las mujeres, sea el cual fuere el objeto o causa por quien las hacen, son desinteresados, y parece que no buscan mas recompensa de ellos, que la de que sean aceptadas. Por lo que a mí toca, sé decir que mis acciones y opiniones han sido siempre muy libres, nadie ha influido absolutamente en ellas, y en este punto he obrado con total independencia y sin atender que las opiniones que han tenido las personas que he estimado. Me persuado de que así serán todas las mujeres, exceptuando a las muy estúpidas, y a las que por efecto de su educación hayan contraído un hábito servil. De ambas clases hay también muchísimos hombres." (Confess Mr. Alaman that love isn’t the only course of action that motivates women to do what they do, that they are capable of all the enthusiasms and feelings/desires of glory and liberty. That these feelings/desires aren’t strange to them. They act on these with more vigor. Because as always it seems that women’s sacrifices, whatever their objectives are, always go under-appreciated and they can never find any good reward except what is allowed to given to them. For what it concerns me, I can tell you that my actions and my opinions have always been my own and nobody has influenced me, and I have always acted as I pleased without having to think twice or ask anybody what they think about me. It is my persuasion that all women are like this, except the stupid ones and those who by their rearing have been made to be submissive. And you may also find many men who are of this disposition.) Leona died in 1842, after which she was declared Benemérita y Dulcísima Madre de la Patria (The Most Good and Sweetest Mother of our Land). Images: Leona Vicario as a young woman and at the end of her life. She was played by Irene Azuela in the mini-series "Gritos de Muerte y Libertad".

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sloane--chappell-blog · 6 years

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CHILDHOOD & FAMILY TASK 001 | LACKLUSTER NEWS INTERVIEW

Hello and welcome to Lackluster News. Thank you for agreeing to the interview, are you nervous at all? SC: “I do have to admit, I am a bit nervous. -chuckles- It’s been awhile since I have talked extensively about my family, so this should be interesting.”

If you don’t mind, we would love to ask you a series of questions in regards to growing up and family life. Could you tell us about when and where were you born? SC: “Of course. So, I was born in August of 1905 in Kansas City, Kansas. If you are not familiar, it’s basically smack dab in the middle of what is considered to be the United States. I lived in that area until the late 1920s.”

How did your family come to live in Lackluster? SC: “Earlier that year, as I was still coming into some of my powers, I experienced a vision that many of the other prophets that started Lackluster had seen. It was really only pieces of it and my family wasn’t really sure what to believe that the time. After a few months, I finally confessed my sight to my mother and that was about the time that recruiters started looking for people like myself. The choice was made a few days after. My mother, uncle, myself, and cousin… We just knew we needed to be here.”

And how would you best describe your family? Would you say it’s a healthy relationship? SC: “Um-- I would say that I had a very interesting relationship with them. My father, may he rest in peace, was not the most sound of mind. He spent a lot of his time boozing or doing whatever junkies normally do. He actually passed away about a year before we decided to come to Lackluster and I do have to say, that was probably for the best for all of us. My mother and him were never going to be able to successfully patch up the damage that he had done to her over the years. She was a rock through it all, sticking by me and make sure that I had an unaffected childhood. I can honestly say that the rest of my family has always been extremely protective over my safety. I loved my grandparents dearly, but my grandfather refused to let go of the home he had built for them and we didn’t want to argue. The only other family that really leaves is my Uncle and cousin, who both felt closer to me than that. My uncle always stepped in and act as the father figure in a lot of ways, especially with teaching me how to defend myself. But really, the closest person in my life has always been my cousin Anthony. -few tears fall down her face- May I have a tissue? Thank you. -minutes later- I just miss them all, that’s it. I wish they were all still here with me.”

What do you now about your family surname(s)? SC: “Yes, quite a bit. I have journals of information about our history and where the bloodlines fall. Chappell has connections to areas in Wales and Isle of Man, then there is my mother’s side of the family. The Rangel’s. They all have ties to Mexico and the Aztec. Then there was also a few of my family members that were part of the Quantrill raiders, French revolutionists. -laughs- It’s crazy.”

Did you have any nicknames while growing up? SC: “My grandfather called me Pequeño Guerrero or Pequeño Papoose. The translation is Little Warrior or Little Native Child. Other than that, not really. Sometimes I heard Lo used. -shrugs-”

Would you say your guardian/parent was more strict or lenient? SC: “Oh, strict. -laughs- Not that it was completely a bad thing. My mother just encouraged a schedule and my grandparents kept me active in the church. So, I suppose I just didn’t have a lot of wiggle room for error or trouble.”

What family member did you look up to the most? SC: “Mi madre, of course. She was just always so strong, unwavering, and just did what she set out to do. Wonderful inspiration while I was figuring myself out and never once did she not support me. Always trusted in me, believed me when I told her about my intuitions.”

Do you still own any childhood items or family heirlooms? SC: “Yup! I brought a few of them in today to show off. My grandfather was a hobbyist and when he wasn’t building something, he was usually making trinkets. I have a small collection of what was left after he passed away, but these are my favorites. Anthony and I constellations, along with this snake broach. The stone in the middle is a peridot for August, my birth month, and then a pearl dangingly for June, my mother’s birth month.”

What is your favorite childhood memory? SC: “Spending time out on my Uncle’s land, learning to hunt and wandering around the woods.”

What was a typical family dinner like? Did you have any favorite dishes? SC: “My family loved to cook and they all had their ‘specialty dishes’. Dinner was always the place where we gathered and caught up, very important to us all and was pretty traditional. Some of my favorites were fried river fish, roasted pork, and anytime my grandparents made sweets. Mexican hot chocolate and apple pastries constantly.”

Does your family have any special traditions? SC: “One that is pretty basic is that we each got a special holiday ornament or trinket for Christmas. Other than that, I can’t really think of any.”

Where there any childhood games you enjoyed playing? SC: “I really enjoyed playing those string finger games. The ones were you do the cat’s cradle or a bird. Other than that, reading.”

Could you describe your childhood home? What was your favorite thing about it? Least favorite? SC: “It was your stereotypical 1800s style home with burgundy red and light brown stones. Two stories and an amazing chimney. I would say that that was probably the best part of the house. My mother and I lived there with my grandparents on a nice piece of land next to a creek. My only complaint about the house was that indoor plumbing was not a thing.”

What did you want to be when you grew up? SC: “A scholar and librarian. -chuckles-”

Of all the things you learned from your elders, what do you feel has stuck with you the most? SC: “That you should always treat others with respect and you will receive that in return. How important it is to not judge someone or even expect others do your job for you. Be strong, understanding, and smart. Always be smart.”

Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to meet with us. I know that all of us here at Lackluster News appreciate it. On a final note, if you could go back and give any advice to your younger self, what would it be? SC: “You have been through the worst of your days and survived, good job.”

#lusteredit #lltimedtask #task001

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angelenoabroad · 6 years

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A letter to my high school self...

(My femininity, sexuality, and cultural identity has been a little more sensitive lately from outside triggers. The past two weeks I’ve battled internal conflicts of what it means to be a woman, an ally, and a person of color. This all relates to my experiences living abroad and processing any kind of resolution. I realized that a path to moving forward is acknowledging who I used to be, and the person that is evolving now.)

***

Dear 17 year old Stef,

You wrote your college Personal Essay based on your experience living with 16 other people under one roof--aside from your immediate family, you shared a home with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins from the motherland. It wasn’t until these last few hours I’ve realized why you likely didn’t get into the schools you wanted to based on said essay.

I, your 31 year old self, along with your mentors and teachers, would all probably agree that it was an engaging topic. Not everyone can relate to that kind of living situation and it was a unique experience with your family. However, your perspective didn’t showcase what you’ve learned from this experience and how it has influenced you for the better.

You were under the impression that you were entitled to some kind of privilege that you did not have. Not entirely. Not then, anyway. I’m not sure when you became aware of the term “Model Minority” but at some point in high school, you thought this applied to you, especially around the time of college admissions. In some cases, it did. You lived in an affluent neighborhood in a sizable house (granted, it was to accommodate the 17 people under it). Your parents’ dual income made you ineligible for certain financial aid. You attended “California Distinguished” schools. You were eligible for the GATE program in elementary school. You participated in extracurricular activities: Modern Jazz, Filipino folk dancing, Taekwondo, Field Hockey, and Video Production. You had a diverse group of friends. All of these facets definitely contributed to your successes.

However, in other ways this “Model Minority” stereotype didn’t exactly fit you either. You are of South East Asian / Pacific Islander descent. You were born in a developing neighborhood that wasn’t immune from local crime. Your grandparents, relatives, and neighbors looked after you and your brother while your parents worked full time jobs with overtime, picking up very early and very late hours. You were brought up in a Filipino-Hispanic Catholic Church. Let’s be honest, your SAT scores were shit. You didn’t do well in math, science, and US history. You didn’t read a lot (outside of required reading, which is weird because you love to write). You had test anxieties, trouble focusing, and being self-disciplined. You snuck out of the house. You were boy crazy. You shared your body with others who didn’t deserve it. You risked unwanted pregnancy. Your family’s cultural values did not match those of many of your classmates. You were highly depressed, and had suicidal thoughts. Who knows what other mental illnesses you would’ve been diagnosed with if you had looked into it, but that’s no ones fault.

Undoubtedly you have privileges and disadvantages. You’re a smart girl, you were aware of both. I’m proud of the opportunities you’ve seized and the ones you’ve created for yourself. If privilege was a contributing factor to our success, then I’m grateful. But Stef, it’s the minority that you belong to that you’ve suppressed and hidden. I’m glad you’ve adapted and risen to be who you are now. It got us a great job in New Zealand and avenues to explore other cities. You’ve hidden the person you are at heart as well as her voice. You’d be happy to know that person has come out more since high school.

I’m going to share something with you that you don’t realize: you’re trying to be white. I know. You think I’m wrong. Even 23-30 year old Stef thinks I’m wrong. I don’t blame you. You noticed others around you advancing in ways you thought would be accessible to you as well. Yeah, you kind of dicked around and let responsibilities slip through the cracks. Yet there’s also no denying that you weren’t treated as fairly because of things beyond your control. You’re also aware of others with even lesser opportunities than you, and I appreciate that.

I know that we can’t undo the past. Even if we could, I may not be writing this to you or be where I’m at now. It could be better, it could be worse. I wish I could go back and tell you: - Don’t be ashamed to check box “Filipino/a” on ethnic censuses (as opposed to “Asian, other than Pacific Islander”) - It’s great that you did activities, like going to the park and pool, with your younger cousins. Also, let them discover American things on their own terms. - You’ve made mistakes. It’s okay. Don’t let them deter you from your passions. - Try not to get caught up in comparing yourself to others. You progress at your own pace, and it doesn’t make you any less gifted or capable. In fact, you’ll come to find later that you’re quite weird, which you love about yourself and others love too! - Yeah, I know... Emo, New Wave, and indie rock seem cool. They are fun. So is country and heavy metal. Girl, R&B and Hip Hop are cool too. Don’t be shy to blast your Blaque, Luniz, and Aaliyah CDs (ProTip: 90s and early 2000′s R&B makes a HUGE comeback. It’s kind of obnoxious, really). And guess what, later you DJ the type of music you grew up on! Pretty neat, right? Also, your love for The Carpenters and the like never dies. You still slay at Karaoke, too (hint: Bjork). - Boys are scum. Some men you meet later are worse. They come inside you without permission. They make crude comments about how you look. They force themselves on you. They make assumptions about you and your sexuality. Some women aren’t too great either. I don’t know how to protect you from them. I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. Hang in there. You do meet some very good ones. You really challenge them, though. They’ll come through for you. More importantly, you’ll come through for yourself. - Cut your parents some slack. Know they’re cutting you some slack, too. You love them. It doesn’t feel like it, especially at 17, but they love the shit out of you. - Speaking of parents, there comes a point in your adulthood where you just start to figure things out. This is later coined as, “adulting.” Note: it’s nowhere near the same as your parents’ version. So don’t get caught in with their expectations on you as an adult either. I think they end up coming around anyway. It almost doesn’t matter what Mom and Dad did or didn’t tell you. Ironically, you’re not keen on learning but you’re pretty damn good at it when you want to. (Also, “keen” is a word you pick up in NZ). - Your family was relentless in spending time together, despite how crazy they drove you and vice versa. I know... Cherish it. - Friends will come and go. Some are gone forever, indefinitely, or come back. Value all of your friendships. And don’t be friends with just “westernized” ones. - Pay attention to politics. You don’t always have to participate, but be aware of what’s going on around you. You’ll see that it affects the people and communities you care about deeply. - It’s okay to value yourself. Care for yourself. Love yourself. (It’s not always easy, but you do).

I’m proud to say that you’ve consistently been a real individual. You have a uniqueness about you and please try to accept that. Looking back on your Personal Essay, I know how living with 16 members of your family influenced you. You develop a deep care for your personal identity and those similar to you. You appreciate trips back to the Philippines more, and find ways to connect a little more with the family who live there. You empathize / sympathize with various minority groups in their struggles for equality and visibility in the world. You love your family more and slowly find ways to re-connect with them. Ultimately, you’ve helped me stay true to us and appreciate our Southern Californian, Filipina-American roots. I hold onto the things we love dearly. It helps me translate our perspective into other countries and how we relate to the local citizens, immigrants, and (especially) indigenous groups. Stef, we’re totally doing okay. We may not have gotten into a top university, but we fucking kill it at the school of life.

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cnfhumss12a-blog · 5 years

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Binondo: Experiencing the Unexperienced Culture

By Paula Cualteros

The Chinese culture has been evident in a country like the Philippines. With Filipinos who widely embrace the Chinese traditions and lifestyles, there is an unending bond that somehow make the two worlds collide. This makes the Filipino and Chinese cultures function in unison. Binondo is a great example for this connection between these two worlds that allow anyone, whether local or international visitors, to see the harmonious relationship of these traditions. In other words, both cultures find balance in one another, just like how Yin Yang functions in connection with one another.

Fact: I was never really been exposed to the Chinese culture until I moved into the Philippines in the year 2012. Then and there, I became enthused with the Chinese culture and food that an Asian country such as the Philippines had abundantly.

It all started back when I was twelve years old where my curiosity grew for the culture. I had many Chinese-Filipino friends and I noticed something they had in common— they were all rich! Everywhere I went, I would see that Chinoys (Chinese Pinoy) were wealthy, all having businesses related to agriculture, furniture, or restaurants. For years, I was clueless about the local Chinese and their traditions, until I found out that I was half Chinese as well (Shocking, isn’t it?). With the exposure to the other half of my identity, I was able to understand the culture I once never knew about. Meeting my pure Chinese piao (cousins) and guama/guakong (grandparents) was difficult as a Westernized Filipino who grew around the values of both Filipinos and Americans; but this made me open a whole new door for adventure. This gave me the opportunity to participate in different events such as traditional Chinese weddings, birthdays, and other celebrations.

The Truth About Chinatown

Let’s face it, every country has a wide range of Chinese communities that resulted to one great location: Chinatown. These communities are where you can find men and women, both young and old, who devote themselves into their respective fields of business. The Philippines has its very own Chinatown, the infamous Binondo City in Manila. In fact, it is the oldest Chinatown in the entire world! However, there was one issue— I have never been to Binondo. As I rode the Divisoria jeepney in front of my school along Taft Avenue, my curiosity was as wide as when I had just been exposed to the Chinese culture. I was thirsty to learn and see what this historical place had to offer. I got off the jeep in front of Binondo church and whiffed the ‘fresh’ polluted air of the city.

For some reason, when I stepped into the boundaries of Binondo, it was like I re-experienced the traditions of my Chinese family; as if I was entering a whole world I have never been to. Red lanterns filled the sky view; the vibrant color of red was lighting up the sky every time I looked up. Signages with Chinese translations were everywhere from banks, restaurants, and public transportations. The city of Binondo was like a country within a country wherein it embraced the likeness of the Chinese culture.

Why visit Binondo?

Walking through the narrow streets of Ongpin and Salazar, I would see a lot of fruit stands selling locally grown fruits and agriculturally important products for healing and remedy such as burdock root. The city stretches from here where restaurants can be located. Restaurants with roasted duck hanging by the window silsl and steam coming out of the door entrances from the intense frying of noodles nearby. Binondo is a hard place to get lost in because for some reason, as I was walking in circles around the neighborhood, I never seemed to have gotten lost. It was as if I managed to return at a place I recognized. For a first timer, I thought that was pretty impressive!

As a timeless destination, I was enamoured with the unique beauty of Binondo. It was as if I was going back into time when I saw the worn out signages on the streets, the faded posters of Chinese whitening beauty products, and the simple restaurant designs of dimsum houses. The loud and busy streets of Binondo was chaotic, yet for some reason, it was all in harmony. It was as if there was a pattern of activities being done within the vicinity of the Binondo. Delivery trucks came to and fro the narrow streets, men carried out boxes of fruits and motor parts, tinderas yelled distantly in the background, and car horns echoed. In a place like this, there was no doubt that an individual will not experience something new. The aroma was appetizing, the environment was welcoming, and the people were nurturing. In many ways, Binondo is like a home away from home for both local Filipinos and Chinoys.

What’s interesting about Binondo?

There are so many things to look forward to when you’re in Binondo. The people, the food, and the experience. The restaurants in the area were very simple, not too old and not too modern, just the right touch of old and new for customers of the old and new generations. I myself was enthused with the food experience. I passed by different restaurants to try a dish or two and for some reason, the same food can taste so different based on the styles of each restaurant. I did not expect that there can be something so unique in the same cultural frame. There were restaurants lined up against a long road that specialized in different dishes such as dimsum, noodles, and chicken; it’s like an endless option for anyone to satisfy their food needs.

I even stopped at different stalls and stores where I talked to some of the sellers. Never would I expect that some of them would respond. As a person without a clue of the environment of Binondo, everything was unclear. With curiosity and interests in the lives of the locals, I decided to talk to a woman, a tender of one of the fruit stalls. I approached her with a smile and a greeting of gratitude in request of a interview for school only to be shunned with yelling of disinterest and complaint as she told me to leave in Fukien Chinese.

Lesson learned: Do not ask for an interview, converse and go with the flow!

It was so embarrassing, I did not expect to be told to leave for something as innocent as a school activity. Maybe she thought I would put her in a hot seat about her business. Despite that, I brushed it off my shoulder and continued my journey on Benavidez street.

Passing by more restaurants and roasted chickens or ducks by the window sills, I came across a man in a merchandising shop. This time, I greeted him with a smile as I asked for recommendations on what places to visit. (Not, an interview.) We conversed and I told him it was my first time there. He told me to sit at his booth and we talked. He was an average height Chinoy, probably around 5’7 ft in height, wore simple clothes such as khaki shorts and a t-shirt with a pair of slippers. A man in his mid-40’s with spiky hair and a very contagious smile; his name was Richard Sing from the Sing Merchandising Shop, and he was born and raised in Binondo. In other words, he knew everything about the place. He told me the original restaurants in the area and how it would help me understand the difference of commercialized Chinese food from the authentic.

The conversation went on for almost an hour to the point where it got serious and he told me his frustrations as an old generation Chinoy. Throughout the conversation, I gave him hints on how I’ll be writing about the experiences and people and he seemed to not mind about him being “interviewed” for it. My mind was in awe when I found out the truth about the Chinoys in the Philippines that were labeled based on society’s stereotypical views. “Just because Chinese kami, ‘di ibig sabihen taga Chiang Kai Shek kami.” Many Chinoys are assumed to have come from the same school, from the same city, with the same values. Other stereotypes circulated on physical appearance where every Chinoy man is fat, white, and nerdy while women are skinny, white, and needy. Talk about borderline racism.

Richard seemed to have had a lot of experience in both the environment of Binondo and the societal conflicts of Chinoys. My time with him made me understand the culture of the Chinese yet understand what it is like to be Chinoy. In many ways, I learned years worth of information in a span of an hour. I’m a Chinoy, I should know these things too.

Rest assured, the wonders of the place and the food aren’t just the things to experience, it’s the interaction with people as well.

What is different about the Chinese culture?

A lot had changed through the decades that have passed but the thing is, it is both a negative and positive outlook. Let’s tackle it this way, starting off with the concept of love. We all know about the arranged marriages that was and still is a tradition of China. But the difference is, many Chinese families are more open to the belief of “what one’s heart is set on, then follow it” (or in this case, their partner). According to Richard, in his generation, many families were still strict about marriages but the younger generations better known as the generation of the 1990’s and onwards have openly accepted independence in terms of marriages.

One tradition I never knew was as serious as marriage was the taking home of food. In Chinese events, there are always big servings of food from appetizers of egg soup, to main courses of peking duck and wrap, and to dessert of mango sago with milk. At the end of the event, there are always heaping amount of leftovers thus every Chinese family would request for a take out of the food. Here’s the difference though, the newer generation of Chinoys don’t take home the leftovers, only leaving the food to waste. This act is unacceptable for the older generation like Richard but is common in the young Chinoys of today. The way I understood it is that Chinoys nowadays think more about convenience rather than practicality. In other words, the new generation Chinese are more privileged than the older generation. Well, this can just be an opinion of his, or a starting point of a new stereotype for new generation Chinoys.

Is Binondo worth visiting?

I’ll keep this short and simple, the answer is yes! In a span four hours of my stay in Binondo, I was able to try authentic Chinese food, get yelled at by a Chinese woman, talked to Richard who knew everything about this place, and better yet, I was able to experience the unexperienced culture. It was the culture I was searching for, the culture I wanted to further understand. Talk about adventure, right? The city is filled with flavors and sights that give an overall joyous feeling. As I walked back and forth along the streets of Binondo, I felt like I was a child playing in a playground. Everything seemed to be interesting, as if I needed to try everything around me. Philippines’ Chinatown gives you best of both worlds, the heat of the Philippines with a taste of China; what a combination!

To get the most of your visit, it is best to have an open mind and to not be afraid of trying something new. Everything I did was something that got me out of my comfort zone and I think that’s what made going to Binondo a more memorable experience, allowing yourself to see the location in a broader perspective. The old city of Binondo is not only a destination but a journey within the narrow streets of Chinatown. Binondo may be a small city but it has enough activities to keep you occupied. I believe that everyone’s experience may be different but one thing is for sure, Philippines’ Chinatown unifies Chinoys both young and old, that will forever be a medium of passed down tradition for the future generations. Binondo is unique and historical and I can’t wait to visit it again.

Gallery: https://cnfhumss12a.tumblr.com/tagged/Paula

#english #Paula

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ghoulteaparties · 7 years

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I’ve had some horrible shit happen to me but this takes the cake..

Hope none of you mind if I just kinda vent.

So last saturday or the 15th of April (in case I read this in the future or whatever) I was at work and on my break and saw a friend make a post saying “RIP Nico”... I automatically clicked for my friend who’s name is Nico and found out basically that.. my friend died.. so my ten minutes is up and after some time I look back at my phone and someone told me he overdosed... yes he was addicted to heroine. But not the stereotypical addict. I just want that to be known.

So I come back to work and I’m fucking ready to cry... It didn’t really set in for me that this was real. It didn’t seem real. You know how people fake their deaths or it’s a hoax? I literally fucking thought that was happening.. I WISH it was a fucking hoax.. I told my coworker and she just wanted me to call someone and I didn’t even know who to call.. I never met his family and I didn’t have anyone’s phone numbers. So I just worked. I had so many questions and I actually told my boyfriend about it and he left work early. That boy literally cried for 2-3 days straight after that.

We both learned it was actually not an accidental overdose.. and that it was a suicide. He didn’t leave a note. He did a lot of art and I just want my hands on them.. just to prove he existed to me. Also the more I said it out loud the more fucked up I got about it. Like I would cry more and more.

We finally pieced everything together and why things kinda ended the way they did..... I feel so shitty about it because there were things that could have been done, things that could have been said.. but we were just.. in our own heads, doing our own things. It’s been a week and we still are fucked up and by “we” I mean my friend, my boyfriend, and I. I cried multiple times since I first said it out loud (which was two days after he died). We all went to his funeral which I can easily say that was the worst funeral in existence and I’m gonna tell you why.

His family live in Indiana currently and they flew out when they heard he died. They’re very religious I guess and the church we were at was the same as my cousin’s, same pastor or whatever they’re called (I’m sorry if I seem rude but i’m kind of angry and confused).. I hate that man. He talked more about god and less about the person who this whole arrangement is for. If you’re religious or just know why this is a thing can someone please tell me. I’d rather be informed than look like an ignorant atheist. I guess it could be more comforting for the family but like... tHEY WEREN’T ACTIVELY IN HIS LIFE IN THE PAST FEW YEARS (except his sister) His friends took care of him and he took care of his friends. I mean he also took care of himself. He’s a 24 year old man. Yep.. only 24.

His mother mostly talked about her life with god and jesus. I mean she talked about her son but it wasn’t.... it was a lot of negatives about him and how she and her family supported him through all these negatives.

His brother was trying to be funny and I mean kudos to him.. some people grieve differently and he was probably just making light out of a dark situation... because it is dark. It’s depressing, it’s excruciating, and it’s very confusing. However he talked about his body and how it was decaying and decomposing. I think those words and this wasn’t just me who said this.. kind of inappropriate.

His sister was who I felt bad for the most.. I think she was the only person there who was real about everything. She talked about how smart he was and how you could really tell how much he was trying to get away from the drug. She had a sort little speech but one thing she said and this was the only thing of importance said at the funeral.. was that if you need help you need to seek it or let help, help you... and just watch for signs. She was THE ONLY ONE who talked about him killing himself... It still makes me cry thinking about how much pain Nico must have been in.

Then there was his grandmother who was so absolutely wonderful to hear. She only said the positives and mentioned stories when he was a child and they adopted him. He was born in the Ukraine and she was telling everyone when he got off the plane.. just a whole bunch of funny stories that kind of hurt your heart.

I never mentioned but this wasn’t a normal calling hours. There would be no funeral. They cremated him the day before and only the family and a friend of 17 years got to see him. There is no grave, nothing. It’s almost like Nico didn’t exist to any of his friends. And this hurt me. It hurt me, it hurt my boyfriend, it hurt our friend/s. This is going to sound rude and horrible to me it’s kind of selfish. Nico was my friend.. and I get nothing. No friends spoke. No one was allowed. And it fucking hurt. I was upset. I actually felt like that didn’t help me at all. I feel as if I have to take Nico’s memory and make something out of it so the friend’s can have something to enjoy since his family and one fucking person has his ashes.

THEY AREN’T EVEN MAKING HIM INTO A TREE. HE IS LITERALLY JUST ASHES. I feel like he would have wanted at least SOMETHING. Like I said he did a lot of art and my friends and I are trying to get a hold of it and make prints. Just to have a piece of him.

I’ve seriously cried so much and I’m not a cry baby. I hardly cry but this has fucked me up so bad. This has been a really hard thing to grasp that I’ll never see him again or ever get to talk to him..

I’m sorry if this is so long but I really just needed to type this out I think. I’m really hurt, confused, and really angry..

if you read this entire thing I’m honestly surprised and congrats I guess.

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myphillyrealty · 7 years

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Your guide to Brewerytown, by genbrewerytown Instagrammer Marco Baker

Get to know the booming neighborhood from a local insider

The People’s Guide is Curbed Philly’s tour of neighborhoods, led by our most loyal readers, favorite bloggers, and other luminaries of our choosing. Have a piece to say? We’ll be happy to hand over the megaphone. This time around, we welcome Marco Baker, the photographer behind the Instagram account @genbrewerytown, to tell us everything he knows about Brewerytown.

How long have you lived in Brewerytown?

I just celebrated my one-year anniversary of purchasing a home here. Both of my parents are actually from the neighborhood and grew up around the corner from each other. And my grandmother still lives in the same house that my mother was raised in. She’s lived there for 50 years, so she’s the last long-timer on that block.

Tell us something we don’t know about Brewerytown:

Eleven breweries once operated here, creating an aroma where a newspaper of the day proclaimed, “the air here is like vaporized bread.”

Also, there was a TV show called “American Dreams” set in Philly that centered on a white family and the racial strife of the 1960s. The father had an electronics shop on Girard Avenue in Brewerytown and employed a black man.

Local customs of note:

Picking up after-church dinner at Butters or Deborah’s Kitchen.

Block parties with giant speakers, barbecue, and bouncies.

Parking half-way on the sidewalk on narrow streets like Myrtlewood, Newkirk, and Dover.

But more recently, gazing somewhat incredulously at newcomers wandering around north of Girard, while speculating on the area’s future.

Flickr/Payton Chung

Girard Avenue in Brewerytown.

How do you get around the neighborhood?

It’s definitely a walking neighborhood—that was a big reason I moved there. From my house, I can walk to the art museum in less than 10 minutes. I even walk to the new Whole Foods sometimes.

But Brewerytown has great transit: The 48, 7, 42, all go right downtown, and the 15 connects to the Broad Street subway line. The trolley also takes you over to Fishtown, which is cool that you can go from one cool neighborhood to another.

A post shared by @genbrewerytown on Mar 30, 2017 at 4:18pm PDT

Most common sight?

Right now, active construction sites and building permits on display juxtaposed against lingering blight. More traditionally, sidewalk planters made from old tires.

Stereotypical residents?

Skeptics who lived through the area being down for so many years, that it’s hard to break the psychology. Despite all the change, I think some just don’t believe it will take hold and be permanent, or don’t think it affects them in any positive way.

Good for kids?

I think if you’re up for the challenge of raising kids in the city, Brewerytown is good as any neighborhood. There’s Athletic Square, which is the rec center that has plenty of children programs and a pool. There’s a community partnership school that’s coming to Glenwood and Oxford, right by the Pyramid Electric Supply building. The Vaux High School is set to reopen in the fall, and the Discovery Center is going to open in spring 2018 at 33rd and Oxford.

And then there are plenty of kids from people who have just been there a long time. You’ll often find that people who are related live on the same block: cousins, aunts, uncles, who all grew up together. So it’s very much kind of neighborhood where you form lifetime bonds.

What is a beloved neighborhood joint?

I would definitely say the bar Era. It’s an Ethiopian city dive bar at 28th and Poplar—it’s “Cheers” of Brewerytown if we have one. They have a great Sunday deal: $3 Jameson and $2 beer.

A post shared by @genbrewerytown on Feb 7, 2017 at 2:36pm PST

Better for homeowners or renters?

Buyers, definitely. I think that it definitely has more value than, say Fishtown or East Passyunk. So I think you can still get in kind of early, so to speak, because there’s still fair amount of value to be had here.

Inflate the bubble or burst it: What’s not-so-swell about your “perfect” neighborhood?

The litter. The corner of 29th and Girard is problematic.

Any hidden gems?

For foodies, Lorenzo’s Famous Rice and Beans at 25th and Thompson. It’s been there forever, and Lorenzo’s always working in the kitchen and taking orders himself. And at 29th and Oxford there’s Diner and Deli, which is a great alternative to Philly Sunnyside Diner, which is usually packed any week day morning.

And then Young’s Candy Shop at 2809 Girard Avenue, which was old candy shop but is closed now. But tile work inside is completely intact, and there are chandeliers. It’s truly amazing and a local artists collective of hipsters hold weekend parties there.

Flickr/Roger DuPuis

“The trolley also takes you over to Fishtown, which is cool that you can go from one cool neighborhood to another.”

Final word on Brewerytown:

It’s transforming. And whether you believe it’s for better or worse, be prepared, because redevelopment shows no signs of slowing down. Only the opposite.

Because of its location, topography, history, a clearly defined commercial strip with an operational trolley line, and the amount invested here by developers big and small, I think it will shape up to be a more attractive area than Point Breeze, if only trailing Fishtown in terms of a buzzy cool factor.

Editor’s Note: This interview has been edited for clarity.

A local’s guide to Rittenhouse Square, the ‘pinnacle of city living’ [Curbed Philly]

Your guide to Philly’s Fishtown neighborhood, by Polygon EIC Chris Grant [Curbed Philly]

from http://philly.curbed.com/

The post Your guide to Brewerytown, by genbrewerytown Instagrammer Marco Baker appeared first on MyPhillyRealty.

http://myphillyrealty.com/2017/04/10/your-guide-to-brewerytown-by-genbrewerytown-instagrammer-marco-baker/

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runaway63 · 7 years

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STDs: Sexually Transmitted Demons I want to school you on STDs – no, not “sexually transmitted diseases”. I’m talking about spiritual STDs: Sexually Transmitted Demons! Did you know that demonic spirits can be transferred to you during sex and/or sexual activity? Did you ever notice how people change once they begin to have sex? You probably have taken note of it in a friend or relative in the past, but never equated it to sexual activity. Just think about it, your cousin Quan’teeka starts dating Bone Thug from the block and after a couple of weeks you say to her,“Girl, you’ve changed.” Or maybe even in your own life, you took on a new love and your friends and family kept telling you that you changed, even though you couldn’t see the changes! You probably relate to what I am saying, but probably have always equated such changes just to the new relationship itself and not the reality of STDs: Sexually Transmitted Demons. Every demon has a nature and specific corresponding characteristics. That is why groups of people who have no connection to each other but that are infested with the same type of demonic spirit, behave in very similar ways. We call them “stereotypes” but they are nothing less than “familiar spirits” that shape the character and personality of those that they influence. When two people have sex, those two people become one. The same way that the physical bodies of the man and woman lock together and become one interlocked unit, so do their soul and spirit bodies. Every human being consists of three distinct bodies — spirit, soul and flesh – that function in unity with one another, as one unit. Each of those bodies operate in a different realm and each impacts the interactions of your entire human experience. Sexual activity causes two people to connect and become one in all three realms, thus allowing for the transmission of demonic spirits from one person to the other – the same way that sexual activity allows for the transmission of venereal diseases, such as chlamydia, herpes and HIV, from one person to another. What I am trying to get you to understand is that those changes that take place in your life after you get into a sexual relationship with someone are not a coincidence! They are a direct result of sexually transmitted demons. Have you ever done or said something that you found very uncharacteristic for yourself and thought, “Where in the world did that come from?”This happens as a result of different demonic spirits that you pick up, usually through sex. The unfortunate thing about it is that most people are completely oblivious to the reality of spiritual STDs, and even once they do become aware of them; it is often too little, too late. You may think that you can pick up a sexually transmitted demon and just go to the spiritual free clinic (church), and get a dose of spiritual antibiotics (prayer) and go on about your business, unaffected by what you’ve done. But this is not so. Just as there are some sexually transmitted diseases that there are no cure for, there are some sexually transmitted demons that will stay with you indefinitely. Some venereal diseases cause permanent damage to the body such as impotence, erectile dysfunction, uterine pain, cervical and prostate cancer and worst of all – sterility (not being able to produce offspring)! Sexually transmitted demons can have the same impact on your destiny and purpose in the spirit realm!!! I really want you to think about this carefully. We often take sex so frivolously, regarding it as just a physical act. But I assure you that sex is much more spiritual than it is physical and even if you can use a condom to prevent the transmission of natural STDs, there is no condom to protect yourself from the transmission of spiritual STDs. Abstinence is the only way – preserving sex for the confines of Holy Matrimony.

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monologuesdialoguescommunit-blog · 7 years

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Jean-Fritz Guerrier, M.Div. ‘18

How have you experienced community in your community of origin?

To be honest with you, this is a fairly complicated question for me. My experience with community has been characterized by an undeniable level of in-between-ness due to the fact that I have lived in two different countries for more than 10 years. I was born in the Caribbean country of Haiti, and never left it before I obtained a Bachelor in Business Administration. After that, I moved to the US as an exchange student and Fulbright Scholar for a graduate degree in Business/Finance. After my studies, I moved back to Haiti, and worked in higher education administration and consulting for a couple of years before I returned to the US where I have been residing for a long time.

At the risk of sounding stereotypical, I see the Haitian culture as among other things promoting extended families and fostering what I call “strong outdoor” or family-like relationships between neighbors even though this cultural trait tends to weaken because of urbanization. Your neighbor is your family, says a Haitian proverb. In Haiti, your “small-great-grand” cousin tends to be seen as close family, and it is expected to see on a daily basis several neighbors standing in front of one of their peers’ house chit chatting for a significant amount of time about politics, sports, and so on. (P. S. I am not saying that there are no indoor activities at all in that type of relationship). However, in the US, families tend to be less extended, and relationships between neighbors are usually taken indoor (house, restaurant) with the exception of occasional circumstances such as the Super Bowl or Fourth of July. Very few people tend to chat with neighbors near their outside mailbox for a significant amount of time.

So, I have had a two-pronged experience with community in two countries where the relationship between individuals and community tends to be different. In the US, there is a more individualistic undertone in that type of relationship. Thus, I have been going back and forth between these two seemingly differentiated ways of “living community.” Moving to the US and having lived in South Florida for about 10 years did not change that. I simultaneously have to deal with the Haitian community through family and other settings, and the larger US community as someone who worked for the largest bank in this country or through school or friendships. Because I am in constant relationship with two cultures, there is a sort of “either/or and both” or a kind of shifting centers in the way I experience community. Interestingly, after I moved here it took a significant amount of time for the “unknown” (American culture) to become “known.” However, when it happened, I realized that the “well-known” (Haitian culture in the Caribbean) became a little bit less known over time. So, my new “self” appeared to be at the same time scary and exciting to know. Thus, every new experience with community is affected by this cultural duality. For example, I simultaneously find myself willing to be defined by my communal experience and resisting the idea of being defined by it.

How have you experienced community at YDS?

I came to YDS to get my third graduate degree. I guess this makes me a little bit cynical about school. However, I see YDS as one of the most vibrant educational communities to which I have ever belonged. It is worth mentioning that I studied at another seminary with had smaller class size and less diversity. Partly because of that, students enjoyed a special connection, and felt that they were in it for each other. However, my experience with community at YDS is undoubtedly enhanced by the school’s diversity. When I first arrived here about two years ago, I was pleased to see a decent number of second-career students like me. A number of factors such as the wide age range, the percentage of international students, the number of religious traditions and other things contribute to the diversity of YDS. Obviously, I am not saying that YDS does not have any cleavage along racial lines, political affiliations or social issues. To a large extent, YDS is a microcosm of the American society. However, no one should deny the richness of its diversity despite its shortcomings.

What makes the experience at YDS more impactful is the large number of student groups and the fact that it is very easy for a few students to create a student group. (P.S. I am currently the leader of a student group, and was one of the coordinators of International Student Orientation). Besides our unmatched level of scholarship which results in the publication of several dozens of books each year and the contribution of very effective administrators, student groups are the very substrate of the experience at Yale Divinity School. There are student groups aiming at addressing all types of issues related to politics, immigration, religion, environment, trauma, wellness, and so forth. It is truly amazing that at YDS a student can spot an issue, talk to a few other students about it, and create a student group to address it. So, student groups constitute an array of tremendous incubators of leadership at YDS. This is a space where leaders emerge, and begin to bring solutions to the problems of their community. So, when they leave the school, they have no choice but continuing to bring about change in their community. YDS has a great number of past, current and future “world changers.” And, student groups have a lot to do with that.

However, one of YDS’ biggest opportunities is a genuine and respectful engagement with evangelicals in the US and all Christians with a traditional and orthodox view of scriptures. There are at least two reasons why evangelicals should be engaged by a world-class Divinity School like YDS. First, they represent the majority of Christians in the United States. Second, a number of YDS graduates are called to lead conservative congregations. Everybody wins if there is a better understanding related to this country’s hot-button religious and social issues between so-called evangelicals and progressives. Any serious engagement should entail an inclusion of conservative scholarship in the current curriculum (including in NT and OT classes) without any derisive and condescending tendencies. I strongly believe that the political system, the social and economic welfare of citizens will improve as a result of a better dialogue between US evangelicals and progressives.

How do you hope to enact/engage community in life beyond YDS?

It’s important to note that I am already an ordained minister. So, after my graduation, I plan to be a bi-vocational pastor who is involved in higher education and nonprofit administration. I am also interested in the intersection between law, religion, finance and public policy. Partly because I was also trained at an evangelical seminary, I see myself at a crossroad between evangelicalism and progressivism. Through school curricula, creation of grants/scholarships, book writing and nonprofit work, I would love to contribute to a better understanding between conservative and liberal Christianity.

Furthermore, I am highly interested in evangelism/witnessing and missions. For this reason, I am very puzzled by the downward trend in church attendance in the US. I would like to do some research about it, understand why it is happening, and see if there are effective ways to address that issue. I believe some out-of-the-box thinking and actions may be necessary to reverse that situation. Having been born in a part of the world where churches are thriving will be a great help. Writing books and articles, having symposiums or lectures about it will be necessary. I am optimistic about the future. I am ready to bring YDS’ can-do spirit to the world around me. In fact, I will do more than that. I will bring a must-do spirit out there. You know why? It’s simple: we must bring change to this world. We must make it a better place for all people.

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movementsaremadeupofindividuals · 7 years

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Transcription of Lauren Chan’s Interview

Um yeah in many ways I feel like I, Am, when I spend time doing like cultural activities or doing things that are um you know more obviously part of my heritage it feels more like I'm exploring or like i'm you know having fun not necessarily that i'm like expressing who I am at my core. But I love discussing race and I think being multiracial has really helped me understand that sometimes a lot of the time we just find ourselves like in the middle of two identifiers or that there's just in general is a lot of grey area in life and I think being multiracial helps you get there a little more quickly than you otherwise would.

I guess I mean schooling is one of those ways in which people are categorized based on their race so I've always felt like, you know I was told that being hispanic was like a disadvantage in education pretty early on or I got that sense that like we needed to be helped out we needed to come into more private schools like menlo then I got to menlo and I realized that I actually had a huge advantage being half asian or at least looking part asian because people saw me immediately as part of the community and i'm sure that you know people see hispanic and black kids in sixth grade as part of the community too but it was just immediately like I had a place, I had a space that was already charted for me um and I think sometimes people do use that positive stereotype even in sixth grade if like oh you're asian you know "Honors math!" or like "lets see what grades you have I'm sure they are A's um that type of thing so I think that's one example of a conflicting narrative, two conflicting narratives, um that occur when you're multiracial or like we've been talking about recently like affirmative action one half of my racial identity is supposed to be disadvantaged by affirmative action, the asian side supposedly um and then one half of my identity is supposed to be unjustly or disproportionately aided by my race which is mexican so how do those two things come together, do they just cancel out or is there something more complicated in that you know, in that meeting place of the two different identities

I typically haven't really, you know I hadn't really thought about gender so much in my life, not nearly as much as race, I think that going to church has definitely influenced my um and being Christian has definitely influenced my understanding of gender just cuz there are a lot of gender roles in church in general like my old church didn't allow women to be on the elder board which is like you know the board of directors of this religious institution um so I've, I've kind of looked at things like that and was like "well why" um but I've always felt, also having two brothers I've always felt pretty feminine um and like there was a distinction between my brothers and I even though I like would play with them I have a lot of male cousins and siblings and uncles so it just felt like, it always felt like there was a distinction um and then one thing I noticed when I was a sophomore is that my parents would always ask me first if I could babysit my little brother Nathan whose seven years younger than me and nine years younger than my older brother Daniel so they would ask me to babysit him before they would ask Daniel um and one night I wanted to go to the GEM the Gender Equality Matters club movie night and Daniel also wanted to go cuz his friends were like the leaders but my parents were like "Lauren you can't go we were gonna have you babysit Nathan" [laughs] well why wouldn't you have Daniel babysit Nathan, like why did you assume that I would do it and then like all of a sudden it clicked [snaps] and I was like oh my gosh [laughs] like this is water this is what we've been swimming around in um but i think it was a realization for like my whole family and I like, we were all in the same water it's not like I blame my parents or daniel or anybody for that it's just there are little moments where you like kind of like zoom out and you're like oh and um I guess that's happened for me more in the past few years

So I grew up in the church I was like going to church when i was like in the womb and um I don't know I was I've never really gotten tired of going to church or with my faith I should say but there was some hard stuff that my church went through when I was in middle school and then freshman year um just like leadership issues and like controversies and stuff like that so I felt kind of I was tired of life of the institutional part of being in a church or the same church I guess and so I found a new church um which is spark and it's a really like we made a synagogue it's pretty small um but there I felt like I could lean into the more historical part of like studying and being a Christian and like do the types of things that I was doing in my English classes which I actually liked um and I guess in terms of how it's affected my identity it's more about like those values that I've tried to bring to Menlo I see justice as a really really central part of Christianity, bringing about justice and reconciling people who um whose relationships have been broken part of my, I feel like part of my senior project is looking into these relationships that have been broken between students of color and then the schools which should like be communities of safety and like, like where can it be patched where can it be mended um yeah and just like going to Greece and trying to you know, volunteering in refugee camps and stuff is more about, for me like those Christian values of rescue and love and like reaching out um and then also being, this goes back to kind of the multiracial thing and being ok with uncertainties that there's a lot of doubt involved in faith um that's really important to faith I think and that's been another part of my faith journey is realizing that it's ok to not know and it's ok to not have an opinion about something um and when someone asks a gotcha question like "oh well if there's a god why is there suffering" I don't have to like, I don't need to have a perfect answer to that um and i don't need to try to you know convert them on the spot it's something to wrestle with and just kind of you know keep in mind and like hold as I move through my Christianity but, yeah a long winded way of saying it's everywhere

I think religion is the most important factor or motivator in social justice and I think a big part of it is also um my parents, particularly my mom because when I was in sixth grade, or when I was in middle school or even elementary school Daniel my older brother had started in Menlo middle school and a lot of his peers like other boys of color were being asked to leave for behavioral reasons or leaving menlo middle school and my mom would ask you know why aren't they doing exit interviews, they should be doing exit interviews to find out what's wrong so that you can you know make changes and more boys of color won't need to leave um cause it's hurting you know both the student, the individual and then also the school because the school isn't becoming a better place for you know diverse backgrounds um but anyway that was just kind of planted in me very early so I noticed it when I got here and then by the time I got to high school went to this um, the student diversity leadership conference I was just blown away by how the school that I had come to love so much um even just in middle school could be like not a place of safety and welcome for all students and I think it was especially hard because being multiracial, you know every student's experience is different but I always felt like Menlo was a home for me and like I belonged here and like I, I did, in the renters versus owners dynamic I felt like I owned the school to some degree like yeah of course, like I'm here like this is my school um so the fact that some students didn't feel that way was pretty, because of their race kind of upset me so that had, that was my motivation for being part of diversity club um and then I've kind of been wrestling with recently the idea of this current social justice movement. Cuz after the election it's obviously been, I mean maybe just as contentious as it was before but there's a lot of like really righteous anger, they totally deserve to be angry about you know everything that's going on um, individuals as well as activist groups um about things that have been wrong with our country before but more and more I'm just I wonder if like justice is really all we want

I feel like the outcome that brings about the most justice is not always the outcome that brings about the most peace. And that's hard because it's not fair, um like it's not fair that the people who were part of like intense racism and segregation in South Africa only had to go onscreen um and say what they did wrong because that's what happened, like they just had to go you know they had to like sit in front of live television and say like I did these things um it was the Truth and Reconciliation Committee in South Africa and that's not fair and I think if I was someone who had lived under apartheid in South Africa I would be I would just be angry that they didn't have to serve jail time or have some kind of punishment for what they did but maybe that was the outcome that brought about the most peace so it's, it's hard for me to look at the United States today and think that the people who are fighting for the most justice are ever going to achieve it and if we should just like, I don't know, like not like obviously I want justice everyone wants some degree of justice but to kind of reframe what we're looking for as like more, bringing people back together and bringing the tone, bringing the volume down a little bit of the big nationwide argument we're having um rather than like resolving it entirely and like you know shutting one person up because they're wrong, well I mean I think some people are wrong everybody thinks someone is wrong. That's just something that I've been grappling with recently.

You don't want peace that just is like maintains the status quo, um, i guess what I'm saying it's not as much about justice as it is about punishment and I think that usually people think that punishment and justice go hand and hand um so maybe it's like, for example, maybe it's not about getting Trump impeached maybe it's about supporting his not his presidency but supporting like hoping the best wanting the best for his presidency and celebrating the little wins and fighting where you need to fight rather than like trying to upend the whole thing like, I think a lot of activism right now I mean it's not like I've been alive for other social justice movements um but it's very absolutist um in a lot of ways so I think the parts of myself that have had to deal with like those, the middle ground of being Chinese and Mexican and the middle ground of being a Christian in a liberal area immediately makes me think wow do we really need the you know zero to sixty or we can we just like find some place in the middle where we can hang out for a little while where we can get our bearings and learn from each other and then move forward cuz like you're so ready you don't want to just, make, make nice and then let everything happen the way it's always happened but at the same time, sometimes compromise is just the only way that we can inch forward.

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maloned · 7 years

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Celebrating my 2nd Birth! 20 years!

My life would have been very different if it wasn’t for a series of events I experienced 20 years ago. This is a quick telling of my 20-year relationship with Jesus of Nazareth.

An Unchurched Home I grew up in an unchurched, irreligious home. My Cuban-American family did not attend church regularly, say grace at the dinner table, talk about religion or say bedtime prayers. We did keep some religious customs, which many Hispanic families adhere to for cultural and traditional reasons. I was baptized as a child and receive first communion at our local Catholic church. Apart from that, we never really attended church. Occasionally, we would attend an Easter service, but in no way was that an annual tradition. The most Christianity that I was exposed to was ABC’s annual airing of the Ten Commandments and the NBC Jesus of Nazareth mini-series. My home had little Buddhas around the house, my mother practiced reading Tarot cards and used the Ouija board for more than fun and games. My family would sometimes visit family members’ Santeria ceremonies (Practiced by many Caribbean nations; a Roman Catholicism and Yoruba hybrid, an African religion which Voodoo shares in heritage).

I grew up apathetic to all of these things. I brushed them off as superstition and silliness. I loved science, science fiction and heavy metal. I saw Christians and religious people to be ignorant and weak minded, the kind of people who sucked all the joy out of life. I found the humanism taught in Star Trek more appealing and reasonable. My love of heavy metal made Satan, whom I thought of as a fiction figure, seem pretty cool.

I had a few relatives who were practicing Christians. My uncle Alberto, my Tía Niña and my cousin Isabel attended a large Hispanic church, La Catedral del Pueblo. I’m ashamed to say that I unfairly had an unflattering opinion of them. I had that stereotype opinion of them being religious fanatics and zealots. Plus, I didn’t like the fact that that church bought and closed down the local skating rink to use the building for their Sunday services.

I only had one close friend who came from a religious home, Argelio. Argelio sporadically spoke to me about his family’s faith, but he and I mostly enjoyed our time tinkering with computers. I did not have Argelio’s capacity for working with and fixing computers. I never have. But by looking over Argelio’s shoulder, I was able to learn graphic design and gain above-average computer skills. I’ve seldom told Argelio, but my life is richer because of what I’ve learned from him and the opportunities he has given me. I’m currently working with Argelio, the second job he’s gotten me, which expanded my skills and has blessed my family materially and even more immeasurably. But the greatest of these, was meeting for the first time someone who is Christian and whom I also thought was pretty cool.

I found out that my great grandmother, my Mima, attended Reverend Espinosa’s evangelical church and she use to take me when I was a very small child. My grandmother tells stories of me singing from stage in front of Reverend Espinosa’s large congregation. Reverend Espinosa was an influential evangelist in the Cuban community in Miami.

A Series of Events My mother was going through her own transformation late during my high school years. She started attending La Catedral del Pueblo regularly. My cousin Isabel married Angel, one of the associate pastors at church, and they built a closer relationship with my mom. I started seeing my mother, an avid reader, reading the Bible instead of her Reader’s Digest. I became mildly curious about what was going on with her, but I couldn’t stand the few times she took me to that church. The Spanish services were extremely long. I felt like they spent hours at a time standing and singing. I didn’t take it well when Angel invited me to church when he bumped into me at Publix, my after school part-time job.

I wasn’t the best student. I had difficulties reading and focusing in class. I’d rather spend time drawing, using my imagination or socializing with my classmates. I was a ‘C’ and ‘D’ student. I only did well in science and in computer classes, which I still love. I was a lazy kid and I hated chores. My grandmother warned me: You better get a college education if you don’t want to do physical labor. I just brushed that off. Then, in the middle of my junior year in high school, my mom confronted me about my failing grades. She told me that I had better turn things around, get into college or start thinking about getting a job after high school to pay rent. That confrontation hit me like a ton of bricks. I was confronted with a single thought: I’m going to be a bum.

The combination of the fear and the curiosity in my mom’s transformation led me to seek help wherever I could. I felt the need to seek God. I didn’t know how, so I looked for my old pocket Catechism, a Roman Catholic cliff notes on Church doctrine. In it was the Lord’s Prayer, the guide Jesus used to teach His disciples how to pray. So I began to recite that prayer every night, until I committed it to memory. I would then say a prayer in my own words after reciting it. I would ask God to bless my friends and family and to help me make something out of myself. I wasn’t much of a recreational reader, but I’ve always loved movies. So I started to watch that old Jesus of Nazareth mini-series and the Ten Commandments to learn a little more about this faith that my mother was now entrenched in. I wondered why my mother didn’t go to the Catholic Church, where she had me baptized. After watching the Ten Commandments and Jesus of Nazareth, I began to build a case against Catholicism. The use of iconography and images certainly went against all of Charlton Heston commandments. I also found a lot of the Catholic Church’s practices to seem more like those of the Pharisees, the villains in the Jesus of Nazareth mini-series. I didn’t see the Church holding the same principles that Jesus portrayed. Jesus loved people. He met them where they were. He wanted to lift the up, not tear them down. Years later, my mom told me that she knew that the Catholic Church was not going to be the place for me. She knew that I would end up in a Protestant church.

Curiously, my life started taking a few turns. I began to take my studies more seriously. I had an internal desire to do better. My work ethic, both at school and Publix, increased. I asked to be moved to the front of the class and began paying attention in class. I started taking interest in the subjects. My eyes were open to all the wonders I was missing out on. Mrs. Grill enthusiastically took me into the wonderful world of literature. Mrs. Morgado taught me logical and high level math. Mrs. Chin and Mr. Margolis cultivated my love of science. My grades started to turn around. My teachers and supervisors took notice and that year I was awarded turnaround student of the year and got a promotion to stock clerk at Publix.

I could easily argue that these changes were not due to anything religious. But I would eventually concluded that these things were not coincidental.

I wasn’t able to make up for all my previous academic years in time to graduate with the rest of my classmates, but after a few weeks in summer school and a semester in night school, I got my high school diploma. I had done it. I couldn’t believe it. I was even able to walk in a graduation ceremony. It was the last year that my high school would have a ceremony for those students who graduated in summer school.

A Future I was very proud of all the improvements I made, but I was far from where I needed to be. Now I had to go to college and I was so afraid, full of self-doubt. I barely graduated from high school; how was I going to be able to go through college? I registered at Miami-Dade Community College and I was terrified of the entrance exam. Many of my friends and high school classmates didn’t do well on the test. They would have to register and pay for a few semesters in non-accredited remedial reading and math classes. These classmates graduated from high school on time with respectable grades. If they couldn’t pass the exam, I certainly wouldn’t, I thought.

At this time, my bedtime prayer was the only religious activity that I was committed to. But that commitment led me to make some changes in my behavior and the way I thought. I found myself trusting God in more areas of my life, but kept a healthy level of skepticism. I asked God to help me do well in that exam. Circumstances, I believed, were in my favor. I had to take math classes during my senior year of high school and in that final summer school semester, since I was still making up for all my previous years of laziness. During this time, my classmates didn’t have to take any math. Only three years of math were required in high school. Many of my classmates elected out of math their senior year and decided to take other fun courses like woodshop, home economics or left school early for work study. But taking math my senior year greatly aided me in that entrance exam. I couldn’t believe it while I was taking the test. I knew this stuff. It was still fresh in my mind. So, by God’s sovereignty, I passed the test and I would not have to take any remedial classes.

Right after the test, I went straight to orientation to register for my first classes. The exam result was very encouraging, but there were still many doubts in my ability to navigate any higher-level learning. I registered for English, math, humanities, American history and civics. My nervousness quickly turned to excitement. I was blessed with great professors. These professors loved the subject matter and would lecture with a lot of enthusiasm. It was contagious. I continued sitting in the front of the classroom and became very proficient in note taking. I absorbed those lectures and they would encourage me to learn more. Reading and studying became easier. In college, there was no busy work and homework to turn in for a grade. You just needed to learn the material, pass two tests (a midterm and final), and write a term paper. I couldn’t believe it. I was loving school. I liked high school, but I enjoyed it because I got to spend my days with friends, go out for lunch and play sports in P.E. Now I loved school, but not for the hot girls in class, but for the expanding of my mind and the world around me. But something was still missing.

I was beginning to see a bright possibility of a future. I thought I knew what I needed, but in that search, God led me to what I was really lacking. I did not know what I wanted to major in. I finished my first college semester will all ‘B’s. Those were the best grades I had ever gotten. I was more than satisfied. I thought of majoring in computer science. I had a love for technology, but the thought of it didn’t draw me in. I was proficient with computers, but certainly not an expert. My grandmother invested in a computer when I was in high school. That computer is what facilitated my friendship with Argelio and helped me learn many of the skills I still use today. But there was another piece of technology my grandmother bought for our family that really captured my imagination: a home video camcorder.

The summer before my senior year of high school, my grandmother took my mother and me on a trip to Europe. We traveled through Spain, France and England. The coolest part was that she bought a video camera for the trip and she entrusted me to capture the trip on video. She must have been impressed with my VCR timer recording skills. I recorded all the beautiful sights, all the marvelous landscapes and the ingenious architecture in Madrid, Paris and London. I loved that camcorder.

FIU Production Class

When we returned home, I couldn’t get enough of that camera. I pushed my friends, Alex, Leo, Argelio, Dany, Magdiel, Ruben, Sohail and Chaka, to star in my homemade productions. Alex, Ruben and Chaka’s natural comedic skills made great subjects for these after school blockbusters. That love for the moving picture struck me when I learned that Miami-Dade College offered an associate degree in film and broadcast. Alex had taken some broadcast classes in high school, but it never occurred to me to do the same. Regrettably, it should have. Our high school, South Miami Senior Hight, was a magnet school for television production. I would love to have been in that class when Alex told the whole school that he wasn’t wearing pants under the anchor’s desk. So Alex and I both signed for the AA program in broadcast. I had chosen my career and in doing so, God led me to meet the person who would lead me to my eternity.

An Invitation The class was Introduction to Mass Communications with professor David Gravelle. I walked in the first day of class with one of my best friends, Alex Toribio, and I took my now tradition seat in the front of the class. Alex and I got the last two seats at the front row to the displeasure of another student. Her name was Damaris Fernandez. “You beat me to the front,” she exclaimed. Alex, the gentleman he is, took the initiative to offer her his seat next to me. She quickly joined our little circle of friends. She couldn’t resist Alex’s contiguous humor and our enthusiasm for film and television. The three of us formed a small study group. The group mostly comprised of Alex and Damaris always asking for a copy of my very detailed notes. We had a lot of laughs in that class. Alex was, as always, hilarious and he was very easy to bounce ideas off of. Damaris opened up her fun-loving side when she hung out with Alex and I before and after class.

The time with Damaris and that mass communication class would lead me into a relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, a love for a church and a means in which to serve it.

In that introduction course, I found out what I was good at, what I was meant to do. I could not believe it. I got my very first ‘A’ in that class. On the final day of class, Damaris, whom had become very comfortable with Alex and me, asked me if I could give her a ride home. On that ride home, Damaris began to tell me about her relationship with Jesus Christ. Between her and Argelio, I now knew two pretty cool people who were Christians. Somehow in the conversation, curiosity grew in my heart. I now wanted to know more about Jesus and Christianity.

Damaris invited me to a play her church was performing at. Coincidentally, it was at my mother’s church. She told me that there was a young adults group that met there on Friday nights.

A Love for Christ On a Friday night, in April 1997, I decided I was wanted to visit that young adult service at my mom’s church. I dragged my good friend Ranses Rodriguez with me. I didn’t want to go to a den of weirdos alone.

It was a nice service. It was an all-Spanish service, but the message penetrated my heart. The message was about the freedom that comes from obedience, obedience that comes from a grateful heart. I don’t know why, but I became very emotional that night. I felt like that message was directed right at me. I was confronted with the realization of everything God had done for me. I had a great family, my only problems were self-inflicted and He had delivered me from them. All He asked in return, for all His love and favor, was a relationship with Him.

At the end of that service, they asked who in that auditorium would want to make a decision to enter into a relationship with God and accept the gift of salvation, paid by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I began to weep, and I remember Ranses stunned, sideways-look at me. They asked if whoever wanted to do so to walk to the front of the congregation. The minister prayed with me and invited me into that relationship. I haven’t turned around since that day.

A Love for Church My heart was now open to Jesus. My prayers became more intimate. I wanted more, but to be honest, I really didn’t like my mom’s church, La Catedral del Pueblo. The church was very traditional, it was in Spanish and, to be honest, it was boring. That’s not the kind of place I would want to invite my friends.

A couple of week after that, I attended Damaris’ play at La Catedral del Pueblo. It was a very creative production, I never had seen or thought something like that would come out of a church. Damaris’ young adult pastor spoke. Pastor Gilbert Gomero’s words were plain, easily understood, heart piercing and in English. Now this is something I can wrap myself around. My short experience in communications and the arts taught me the importance of getting a message across.

After that service Damaris invited me to visit her church the following Friday. I loved her church, El Buen Samaritano. This church service starts with music, but not your typical traditional hymns or anthems. These songs had rhythm, they were a combination of many Latin music styles and the songs were bilingual, with both English and Spanish lyrics. Pastor Gilbert Gomero’s message was funny, inspirational, motivational, substantive and captivating. The youth and young adult services weren’t your traditional church services. They were a hybrid of concert, theater and many other forms of art, which made the Gospel -- the good news of Jesus Christ -- easy to absorb. Damaris’ church was not close, but this is the place I wanted to be.

TOP: Iris Mundo's Cell. BOTTOM: Jiggaz

At the service, two ladies, Iris Muñoz and Rosemarie Rivera, welcomed me and, along with Damaris, invited me to visit their small Bible study group the next Thursday. El Buen Samaritano, like La Catedral Del Pueblo, was and is a big church. It can be a little intimidating. But the church’s small groups, which they called “cells,” were small intimate groups that met in homes all around the community. Iris’ cell group welcomed me right away. It was easy to open up and speak with these people. I never felt like they had any ulterior motives, except to make me feel accepted and part of the group. The small group was a great place to grow in our walk with God, to build relationship, to build trust and accountability. I made some great friends there. Janet Cruz, Willie Peña, Orlando DelValle, Maria Benavides, Lydia, Denise & Damaris Castillo, Jose Rivera and Visenta “Pambe” Portillo. Jose, Rosemarie and Pambe would become some of my closest, lifelong friends. The cell cemented my desire to make El Buen Samaritano (EBS) my home.

If EBS was going to be my church, I needed to visit on a Sunday morning. From the get go, I knew there was something special about what I was about to walk into. I drove into the parking lot to be welcomed by friendly parking attendants, but what caught my eye was the line outside the church waiting to get in. This was the first time I saw the church in the daylight, I had only visited at night for the young adult service. I was stunned to see the large arena-sized building that was being constructed behind the existing church. Sunday mornings were all in Spanish, but the service transcended any language barrier. The Latin music inspired worship had the congregation motivated for a thrilling message by the lead pastor, Melquiades Urgelles. His messages were so accessible and moving. Pastor Urgelles’ sincere heart and authenticity was transparent. He was and is a man who lives humbly in service to God and his flock. You would never know that he is and was the pastor of what was the largest Hispanic church in South Florida at the time. From then on, EBS was my church and I only knew him as Pastor.

An EBS Baptism.

It was then time for me to go public with this commitment. Iris, now my cell group leader, approached Damaris and I about getting baptized. So in August of 1997, I took the plunge. I had been baptized as a small child, but this was my believer's baptism. Baptism is really just a public profession of an inward decision. It doesn’t have any supernatural power. But something happened to me after I existed those waters. I still had a lot of bad habits and behavior at the time, but I experienced a movement of conscious, a conviction of the Holy Spirit to start allowing God to transform me outwardly, to make a distinction between who I was before and who I was going to be.

Things changed from then on. I didn’t want to speak the same, desire the same things or do the same things. I wanted to share this new life with everyone and anyone I could. There was a time that I was bringing my grandmother’s van full of people invited to church and our cell group. Jesus’ great commission to make disciples of the whole world became very important to me.

A Love for Drama

My portrayal of Satan at Holy Night 1997

I had made a lot of new friends in our small Bible study group, but I was still relatively unknown to the majority of the congregation. Pastor Gilbert Gomero saw an opportunity to use that. The EBS youth produced an annual Halloween spectacular called Holy Night. Gilbert knew Damaris and I enjoyed film and theater and asked us to host the show together. Damaris was well known in the church, so he asked her to be the primary host and he asked me to play her antagonist, Satan himself, since I was a relatively unknown. Our conflict wrapped around funny, modern takes on well-known Bible stories using popular culture motifs to communicate the Gospel clearly to the youth and young adults in our community.

Soon after that, Damaris moved back to Puerto Rico, but by then I was no longer a visitor at EBS – I was a full fledge member. Then Gilbert moved to the EBS New York church plant and I was asked to take over the drama team with the EBS youth.

The EBS Leader Class

Around the same time, Iris asked me to become her cell group assistant leader. To do so, I attended a 6-week leadership course. The course taught public speaking, hospitality and shepherding. I went on to lead a small youth group of my own, the Jiggas, and direct the youth drama team for three years and direct three Holy Nights. I loved serving in drama and with the youth. I built the relationships that would shape the rest of my life during this time. Ruben Legra became one of my most influential mentors, Berman Cespedes and Danny Detres became my brothers in the faith. Best of all, that initial leaders course is where I first shared a class with a girl named Lucia Ponce, the woman who would go one to become one of my best friends, my partner in life, my wife.

A Love for His Word I was required in that leaders class to give a five-minute speech on the topic of my choice. I chose to speak about the validity and authority of the Bible. The Bible, God’s Word, was a topic of great curiosity early in my faith.

My mom bought me a leather-boud King James Bible with a Scofield Reference Bible Commentary a while before my conversion. It was a beautiful book with thick heavy pages with a gold trim. I still have that Bible and it still has that new leather smell. Soon after I got saved, I pulled that book out of the nightstand and began to read it. It wasn’t easy, as anyone who has ever tried to read the King James translation would tell you. But I knew, from that Jesus of Nazareth TV mini-series, that scripture had utmost importance in a devoted walk with Christ. That mini-series had formed much of my opinion about Jesus. But now I needed to know more, to go to the source.

Jesus would always say, “It is written.” He would always reference “The Word of God” when making any statements. So I knew it must be important to know what it said. When I first began to read, the first thing I read was the book of John. In the very first chapter, it said: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” I learned then that the Bible wasn’t only the way to know about God; it was the way to know God.

As a new believer, I had a very strong belief in the existence of God and the person of Jesus Christ, but I had a lot of doubts about organized religion and their use of holy texts to take advantage of laypeople. Even though I made a profession and commitment to God, and I believe that I found an authentic Church with many genuine believers who wanted to practice the kind of love Jesus taught about, I wanted to know what exactly this faith taught and believed. I didn’t want to learn it from a religious institution that had a confirmation bias; I wanted to learn from someone who would challenge my beliefs. If this faith has a strong foundation, it should be able to stand against criticism.

FIU Religious Studies: My Judaism Course

So when I graduated from Miami-Dade College and transferred to Florida International University, I continued television productions studies with a certificate in film studies. I was interested in enrolling in a minor. I considered computer science again, but I decided on religious studies with a concentration on Judeo-Christian studies. I took courses on philosophy, Judaism, the Hebrew Bible, New Testament studies, archeology and church history. I studies under professors and with classmates from all different faiths and backgrounds. The classrooms were great environments for healthy debate and discussion. My favorite professor was Erik Larson, a renowned Bible scholar, church historian and one of the translators of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The courses challenged my faith many times, but at the end it strengthened my beliefs and I grew a love for church history, biblical theology, scholarship and apologetics.

During our Archeology course, I was offered the opportunity to take a semester in Jerusalem. It would have been a semester of mornings excavating ancient ruins and lectures at night led by some of the world’s most famous religious scholars. I never asked my parents. It was very expensive and I didn’t want to burden them with the cost. At the time, I was designing websites on the side with Argelio and I would not have been able to afford it on my own. Years later, I mentioned it to my grandmother and she became very upset. She said that she would have made-it happen so I could have had that once in a lifetime experience. It goes to show that you never know unless you ask.

A Ministry and My Mentors There was a period after Gilbert moved to New York that EBS went without a lead youth pastor. Volunteer leaders like Ari Ponjuan and Cesar Perez led the youth until Pastor Wilmer Urgelles took the reins of the ministry. Wilmer would end up being a great friend, mentor and the most influential person in my faith.

One night, after exiting our cell group leader’s meeting, I saw Wilmer, the worship leader at the time, tinkering with a computer and video projector on the floor of the main sanctuary. I curiously asked what he was doing. Wilmer told us, Danny Detres and I, that the church was going to retire their old projector slide lyrics system and upgrade to a video projector and use PowerPoint for lyrics and message references. Wilmer asked me if I could troubleshoot something for him on PowerPoint. Wilmer looked up when I quickly solved the issue and asked, “David, aren’t you studying video? Would you like to take the lead on video, both running lyrics on Sunday morning and video as a whole?” I would serve in the production ministry, which handled all the audio-visual necessities of the church. At that moment, I saw a big piece of the puzzle fall into place. I knew what I needed to do. At the time, our church was on the forefront of creativity when it came to church services and using technology to facilitate the spread of the Gospel. I knew than that I wanted to be instrumental in that process and God had been specifically preparing me for that.

Willow Creek Art 2006 Conference

Wilmer and Jose, who was previously my cell supervisor but now the production ministry leader, became my two most influential mentors. Wilmer and Jose taught me the value of an authentic love for Jesus Christ, God’s love for people, intimate relationships with people and the value of exillence. I got the opportunity to grow beyond video and contribute in the programming of Sunday services and other ministries. Wilmer exposed me to the seeker sensitive movements started by pastor Bill Hybels and Willow Creek Community Church and to Andy Stanley and North Point Community Church. Wilmer, Jose and a group of us would travel to Willow Creek conferences in attempts to continue to transform our South Miami-Dade church’s heart for those who don’t have a relationship with God. Today, EBS is “Una Iglesia para Todos” – a church for everyone.

A Family

Ruben, Berman, Danny and Pambe.

My heart expanded because of what the extended family God gave me. While at EBS, Pastor Wilmer would cast a vision of a church where the environment and culture lent to the building of intimate relationships. Sometimes we never saw the forest through the trees. It seemed like it was a vision that we couldn’t attain, but all the while those relationships were being forged while we all worked tirelessly on the mission God had given us. Till this day, some of my lasting relationships were built at EBS. I couldn’t imagine a life without Berman, Ruben, Danny, Pambe, Jose, Wilson, Julio, Ricky, Eddie, Ari and many others.

God blessed me with even more than an extended family. In 1999, Wilmer visited a Willow Creek conference for the first time. When he returned, he brought Ari, Cesar, Karen and I together to begin working out a new vision and mission for the EBS youth. The new vision: “To become a group of believers with an authentic love for Jesus Christ.” The vision was cast to the entire youth leadership at a conference we hosted at the Dadeland Marriott. It was an existing time. But I received a different mission from anyone else that day. The vision was of a beautiful, curly haired girl. Her name was Lucia. I traveled to the conference with Danny and I’m sure he got tired of hearing me talk about her. She was at the conference with this really big guy. I needed to know if she was with that guy. So during lunch, I dragged Danny with me to sit at the same table as Lucia. I sat right in front of her. Danny had everyone at the table laughing. So everyone, including myself, were feeling very comfortable. I struck up a conversion with Lucia. It was pleasant. But I wanted to take it to another level. That’s when I threw caution into the wind and asked Lucia straight up, in front of that guy. I wanted to ask if they were dating, but I asked “Are you guys married?” Lucia replied with a loud resounding “NO!” I felt so embarrassed for that guy, but elated for myself.

Over the next few weeks, Berman and I would sit in the far right wing of the church’s auditorium on Sunday mornings. “Why are we sitting here?” Berman would grill me week after week. That was until he noticed. “You’re just sitting here to check out that girl!” Berman exclaimed when he realized that I was sitting in a prime spot to check her out when she would make her entrance into the sanctuary, way after the music had ended. Lucia and her family were notoriously late to church on Sundays.

I needed to find out more about this girl. After the service, I was sitting in the production booth, when I asked to Jose, “Who’s that girl? She’s beautiful.” Jose head spun around and said, “That’s Lucia, she serves in the kids ministry with Rose (Jose’ wife). I don’t remember how that conversation ended, but then I noticed Jose talking to Rosemarie, signaling and pointing at me and Lucia. Oh no, I thought. Then, moments later, while I was walking to my car in the parking lot, I see Rosemarie talking to Lucia, signaling and pointing at me. I told the wrong people, I thought.

It was the middle of Holy Night season, the annual Halloween show I directed. One night, at a planning meeting at Karen’s house, Jackie Vargas shows up with Lucia. I could tell already that this was part of the church-matchmaking proces. I was very happy to see her and to hang out with her, but I needed to take control of this situation. I was going to ask Lucia out.

Our wedding

I was looking for the right opportunity, and then it landed on my lap. Lucia showed up to audition for Holy Night. I noticed her when she was filling out the signup sheet. I can’t remember anything else from those auditions. I spent the entire night mustering up the courage to talk to her. At the end of the night, after all the auditions, when everyone was leaving, Lucia walked over to me to turn in her form. This was my opportunity, so I took it. “Hey, you want to hang out sometime, on a date.” I wanted to make sure to say it was a “date.” I didn’t want to end up anywhere near that “friend zone”. She said “Yes.” Wow! But I had to play it cool. So I responded, “Cool. I’ll give you a call then. I already have your contact info (motioning to the audition forms).” Lucia smiled and we began a great two-year courtship that ended with a wedding there, at EBS, the place where I fell in love with my God, His church and now my bride. Sixteen years and two wonderful daughters later, God is still blessing us. Full Circle

FIU Graduation

Our wedding was a culmination of my things. Graduation day at FIU was right around the time we walked down the aisle. It was a very exciting and scary time. I couldn’t help but reflect on everything that God had done for me. I met and married the person whom I would be spending the rest of my days with and I was about to walk down the graduation aisle. I never thought this day would come. There I was, a kid close to not graduating from high school, now about to graduation for a four-year university with A’s and B’s.

But what now? I was faced with the reality of supporting a new family. At the time, Argelio and I owned a web design company, but it was a small company that helped us while I was in college. I needed to find a job in my new career. Our professors would tell us that we would not be able to find a job in television in a big market like Miami. We needed to move to a small market, get experience and then try to get into the big markets. I really didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to move Lucia away from her family. I wanted to be close to my friends, my family and my church. I felt very uncertain. So I prayed.

Soon after that, the head of the FIU mass communications department, Mr. Delgado, emailed the class about an opening in the editing department at WFOR (Channel 4), the local CBS-owned station. I thought all the TV stations in town were northeast of downtown, but I would prefer that commute distance, rather than possibly moving out of state. But I was surprised to discover, on MapQuest, that CBS 4 was in Doral, minutes away from where we lived. I was filled with excitement about the possibility. Editing was my strong suit; it was my love. How great would it be to get a job editing at a TV station near home? I continued to pray.

WFOR Supervising Editor: Evy Woods

I sat in the CBS 4 lobby waiting to be interviewed when Evy walks out and said “David?” I looked up and responded, “Yes?” She said, “You’re David, Mirta’s grandson. I’m Evy, Julia’s daughter. I was at your wedding.” The supervising editor at CBS 4 was Evy Woods, the daughter of one of my grandmother’s best friends, who happened to be one of the few Christians who associated with my family. Evy took me on a tour of the station and offered me a job to be an editor for the morning and noon newscast. I couldn’t believe it. This could not be a coincidence. God answered my prayers.

While I was there, Evy introduced me to Bill Sendelback, the satellite and feed room coordinator. Bill was one of the only other Christians who worked at the station. I had many great co-workers at CBS 4, but Bill was one of my closest friends and mentors while working there. He kept my feet planted and fully grounded on the foundation that is Jesus Christ in an environment not conducive to staying above reproach.

A year after I started, I was promoted to coordinating editor for the morning and noon broadcast. A couple of year after that, I was nominated for an Emmy in editing. When I left WFOR eight years later, I was the video supervisor for their television programming. God blessed my time while I was at the station. We were able to buy our two first homes and we had our first daughter, Olivia, seven years after I started working there.

Conclusion I’ve always been a skeptic. I believe God intervenes in the lives of humanity, but I believe that these miracles are the exceptions, not the rule. They seldom happen. They would be natural if they happen regularly. But somehow, I believe that God has shown me favor, to the point where I can’t believe that it’s a coincidence. It all started with prayer. When my mom converted, I prayed and God saved. When I was failing school, I prayed and God motivated and saved me. When I needed a job, I prayed and God provided. When our business failed, I prayed and God had mercy on us. Every time I have prayed, He has answered. God gave me my education, my salvation, my career, my family, my health and a living. I thank God for these past 20 years and I can’t wait for the rest of eternity.

Today

Olivia's Baptism

In April of 2008, our time at EBS and with Wilmer ended. EBS becames a spanish only church. We still loved EBS, but it was time to find a new home. Pastor Wilmer himself brought us to our exisitng home, Fellowship Church. Wilmer said, FC is a church that shares our vision for reaching people. Since then many of our friends, whom never gave church a chance, came into a relationship with Jesus at FC. I remember when Robert, a long-time agnostic whom we'd prayed for many years, found FC on his own and was transformed into a Christ Follower. His conversion was catalist for other friends to find God. It will be 10 years, next year, since FC has been our home. Our daughters grew up here, our oldest has already been baptised. In the last 20 years, my biggest desire is everyone could discover what I have found in a realtionship with Jesus. FC challenged me to put that desire into action. I pray that this Easter, you would join us and many others celebrating what Jesus did for all of us. We'll be waiting for you.

(Editied by Joel Delgado)

#Christianity #Jesus #Easter #GoodFriday #Ressurection #blog

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