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emerald-studies · 4 years

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Diverse Perspectives | Discussion 3

I sent some questions to @jasperwhitcock for her perspective as a POC woman and daughter of an immigrant.

[ It is required to participate and watch/read these discussions, in order to follow me. Participate or get tf out. We aren’t performative in my lil’ area on Tumblr.

This discussion isn’t representative of an entire population or meant to be super professional. It’s to share different perspectives and also is an opportunity for me to practice what I preach: intersectionality. If you’d like to participate in this series please send me a pm or an ask and I’ll get back to you ASAP. We can do a written, audio, or video interview.]

As a mixed person, do you feel isolated from your community?

J: If you mean community as in the community I currently live in, I’m fortunate enough to live in a very diverse place. Surrounding the city of Houston, there’s a lot of prejudice integrated into a lot of the suburban neighborhoods, but in terms of the city itself, I think the POC communities really uplift and support each other. I’m a concert photographer when there’s not a pandemic, and I’ve always appreciated the way latinos and black artists are respected in the indie community. Houston’s a very rap/hip hop/R&B city, so black artists are especially celebrated. There’s also great latinx bands that I know, latinx venue owners/employees, and latinx brands connected to the indie community. We’re very well represented in this area.

If you mean community as in the latinx community, I wouldn’t say isolated, but depending on the day, I might say that I can feel distanced at times. This isn’t particularly due to the latinx community itself, so much as it may be a distance that I create in my head. As a mixed person, I think there are times where you can feel confused on where you belong. I’ve brought up the quote before from the Selena movie, where Selena’s father Abraham is speaking on the potential difficulty of Selena being accepted in Mexico because of the fact she is Mexican American: “We have to be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans, both at the same time! It's exhausting!” It can be difficult at times to navigate your sense of belonging when you are in between two cultures because you want to recognize that you may have privileges someone of full Mexican descent may not have, but at the same time, your life is still very much defined by being Mexican and having Mexican blood while living in America too. You’re definitely not absolved from having latin experiences. Latina stand up comedian Anjelah Johnson made a joke in her stand up about there being a Latinx hierarchy. She said that Spanish speaking latinos are better than the rest of us who are not fluent in Spanish (such as herself), and it was funny because sometimes you do feel that that can be true. My tías will always ask me why I’m not fluent in Spanish, and my mom will be like “yeah, why don’t you?” and I’m always like… because y’all didn’t teach me! My parents speak Spanish to each other at home. My father is not only fluent in Spanish, but his Spanish is oftentimes superior to a lot of Spanish speakers according to my mom and my tíos. He used to teach English in Mexico, so there is no reason that my sister and I shouldn’t have been perfectly bilingual. The reason they didn’t teach us as children is because they didn’t want us to be speaking Spanglish. (Spoiler: it happened anyways). Around white people, I definitely feel that I am not a white person. I feel very much latina in a group of white people. But then around latin people, I sometimes feel white enough to feel a sense of shyness. I definitely feel more at home with latinx people, but overall in both groups, I definitely feel that I am mixed.

It doesn’t happen often, because I think although the majority of latinx people have pride in their background, the hyperawareness of our identities right now is relatively new, but there have been instances of latinx gatekeeping the latin identity. Growing up, I didn’t think about what I was labelled as or think about how my family structure is different to other families. I didn’t consider how in some areas, it is an abnormality to have an immigrant parent or a parent with an accent. I definitely noticed that my family was different, but I didn’t understand why until much later. My mom, her sisters and brothers, and my primos… They don’t live their lives with the awareness of being defined as Mexican immigrants. Of course, they again have pride in where they came from. They live as Mexicans and engage in Mexican culture, but overall, the way the youth today has really grasped onto the labelling of our identity is kind of a new thing. There are some young latinx people who do try to quantify and measure whether or not your experience is valid. I know it comes from a place of protectiveness of their own experience, but it’s ridiculous to gate keep because something that really characterizes latin culture is our warmth, our sense of family, our willingness to embrace other people as part of that. If you’re of latin american descent, you have a place in the latinx community.

Since your parents don’t have college degrees, do you believe college is important and/or necessary?

J: I think it depends! I think a lot of immigrant parents really push for their children to get a college education because they see that as opportunity, particularly when they did not earn college degrees themselves. I think college can be important depending on what you want to accomplish, but I also think it’s not completely necessary. For my career path as a photographer/videographer, I chose not to do college. I do think I would have enjoyed college because I like learning, but because it was something unnecessary for my job, I couldn’t justify the time invested or putting my parents into a difficult financial situation. Especially because my college education would have overlapped with my sister, and I saw how difficult it was to juggle handling my sister’s student loans. For my sister’s career path (she is studying to be a nutritionist/therapist to help teenagers with eating disorders), college was necessary.

Your Mom has been stuck in the US, unable to return to Mexico for awhile, has your Mom’s experience with immigration changed your views in some way?

J: As context, my father lived in Mexico for a decade and married my mom in Mexicali. They hadn’t planned to move to the United States, but when they came to the US to marry here so that she could have citizenship and be able to visit his family, there were complications that made it to where she couldn’t leave the country. Luckily, the time she was unexpectedly stuck in the United States didn’t last super long! Long enough to become comfortable enough to decide to settle down in California, but we have been able to travel to Mexico often. I think it really highlights how unnecessarily complicated a lot of the processes regarding immigration are. The people in the country who are very malicious about undocumented immigrants love to jump to saying, “well, why can’t they just become an American citizen?” when the reality is that every process in place has a lot of complications. Not everyone has access to the resources to be able to make these transitions happen smoothly. Also, the time it takes to acquire your visa is not an overnight thing. People severely underestimate the difficulty involved.

What do you think about the “hard-working immigrant” stereotype?

J: I hate the idea that immigrants work hard because they’re low-skilled, but I do love that there is a lot of pride in how motivated immigrants are. It’s always been a ridiculous claim that immigrants are taking American jobs. Immigrants work the jobs that the majority of Americans have no interest in doing, especially the people that make this complaint. For a country that prides itself on working to make your dreams come true, Americans neglect to recognize that immigrants have a drive that most Americans don’t have.

Which parent do you feel more connected to? Your Mother who’s an immigrant or your Father who was born in America?

J: I really do feel that I am a coalescence of both my parents, so I think I feel equally connected to each of them. I feel a very strong emotional connection and concern for my dad because his mental health suffers a lot. His mother had bipolar depression at a time where mental health was even more stigmatized, and she endured a lot of ridiculous, merciless treatments that are no longer utilized today. When he was nine years old, his mom committed suicide, and this was an event that really defined his life forever. I think that kind of heaviness passes down through your family. When my dad is not doing well, I feel really imbalanced and emotionally impacted even if I’m not home to witness it. It’s kind of like that idea of an invisible string tethering you to someone, and it’s a weight that I carry always. However, overall, he’s a very positive person. When he is going through his kind of manic highs, he’s a lot more of what I recognize of who my dad is. He’s creative, a musician, and deeply caring for other people. His mother’s death has empowered him to really try to make a difference and “paint a picture of a better tomorrow.” I’m a lot like my dad in personality, but in disposition, I’m so much like my mom. She’s tough and outspoken at home, but in public, it takes awhile for her to open up. My mom’s very selfless, kind, and very much shy and quiet. She definitely exemplifies a lot of the sacrifice that you see many immigrants make. I do like both sides of my family, but I definitely feel more at home with the Mexican side. My dad’s side is loud, vivacious, and very much funny, but I feel extremely shy around them. My sister and I have always felt a tiny bit left out. I think they’d be hurt to know we feel this way, but I definitely don’t think they do anything to intentionally enforce this division. But I think it developed because there is a bit of a cultural disconnect between my aunts and my mom. It’s also very interesting to me that when they first met my mom, my mom didn’t speak any English. It’s fascinating to consider how it might change your perception of someone to go from not being able to communicate with them to watching them learn your language. My mom enjoys the time that we do spend with my dad’s family, but she’s kind of the odd one out in that her humor isn’t the same and her experiences are so different. I think that my dad’s sister and brother’s families were able to connect in a stronger way, so sometimes my mom, my sister, and I feel just a little isolated. In those moments, I feel the most aware of my Mexican background. With my mom’s side of the family, it’s a lot more comfortable. My dad’s able to develop his humor in a way that translates well into Spanish, so he fits in very easily.

You’ve lived in a “Blue/more liberal” state and a “Red/more conservative” state, which state has affected you more?

J: Definitely the red state. Seeing how intensely and ridiculously conservative some southern people are has really radicalized me in a way. I feel overwhelmingly liberal because there’s a defensiveness that develops when you’re in a space like this where you have this intense disbelief that people hold the ideas that they do. Especially because in Texas, black and latinx culture is a major contributor to southern culture. There’s a lot to be said about how black culture shapes the south, but because I’m latina, I’m focusing on latinx culture with this question. White conservatives want our food, they want our work, but they don’t want us. I don’t understand how anyone can be all #TacoTuesday one day, and then the next, be anti-immigrant. If you really want Mexicans out of your country, then maybe you should start living your life without any Mexican influence. Stop eating Mexican food. Clean your own pool and mow your own lawn. It’s ignorant to speak down on immigrants when their life would be so altered to be rid of immigrants. They rely on immigrants. Their lives are shaped by immigrants and built by immigrants.

(I had to chime in here: )

Are you proud of your parents?

J: Absolutely. As a young teenager, I had a lot of problems with my parents. I think I still have issues I’m working through as a result, but now that I’m older, I really do feel a deep sense of admiration and respect for them. Growing up really makes you view your parents differently and understand them as people rather than just as parents. I held onto a lot of anger and resentment, but I’ve come to truly see how they really did do their best. They’ve worked very hard, and I think not having everything that kids around me did really helped me grow into a more grateful person.

Have you faced discrimination for your race?

J: Of course, but in all honesty, it really rolls off my back. I think hate that is personally directed at me doesn’t bother me, but the discrimination that does affect me is anything directed or related to my mom. I remember my parents had a customer who made a really ugly complaint to my father about my mom’s english. My mom essentially handles most of the written communication with their business, and she still speaks and types in broken english often. The majority of my parents’ clients are latinx, so it’s typically not an issue, but it’s unbelievably offensive and ridiculous the assumptions people will make about your intelligence based on your english. The customer had no idea that the woman she’d been communicating with was my father’s wife rather than just an employee. It’s really sad how someone can see someone as unworthy of respect until they’re tied to a white man, and then they’re suddenly apologetic. This is another extremely mild example, but I’ll get a few laughs when I mispronounce something or don’t know how to say certain words. People always find it funny as though it’s embarrassing –– and it definitely can be –– but people forget I learned english from a woman who speaks two languages.

As the child of an immigrant, how has the anti immigrant talking point affected your mental health?

J: I think the toll the anti-immigrant bias in the United States has on immigrant children is a relevant conversation to have, but I think I’m very lucky in that I feel very tough in the face of that ignorance (which is not to say anyone whose mental health suffers as a result is not tough!) If anything, I feel pity for the people who are so hateful that they see other human beings in such a derogatory and entitled way. Similar to what I said before, my outrage really comes from a place of defensiveness for others. The talking point doesn’t hurt me, but it hurts me that people can speak about my family and my community the way they do. It hurts me that there are other immigrant children who have to work as hard as their parents to make their sacrifices worth it, and people are so insensitive as to not respect that. I’m pretty strong, but it does break my heart when my people are disrespected. If someone were to say something to me, that’s fine, but if i saw someone mistreating a little mexican lady in the store… I may be 5’3 but that don’t mean I won’t come for your ass. Okay, in all honesty, I’m really not a violent person. I’m more of a rise above kind of person because the hate someone has in their heart is not worth our time, but some people do need a chancla thrown at them to learn some respect.

In your opinion, in what ways does the Latinx community need more support?

J: I think because the latinx community is so much so composed of hard workers, people really need to support latin businesses more. That’s a direct way to impact latin lives. There’s an abundance of latin small business owners in every category. So many white kids love going to Cozumel for Spring Break and love wearing sombreros on Cinco De Mayo, but then the rest of the year, they have no care or respect for the authentic culture. For every dollar a white man makes, hispanic women still make statistically less than white women, asian women, black women, and native women. We gotta back up these businesses. Choose local taco shops or restaurants over chains. Choose online shops and Mexican boutiques over fast fashion. And this applies to everybody. We can always support black business or asian businesses over large competitors. It really does make an impact. I also think a lot of latinx children need access to better mental health resources. I’m lucky in that because my father struggles with mental health issues, mental health in my family wasn’t exactly a taboo, but in a lot of latin families, mental health is something that is hard for older parents to validate. Latin children need those resources. A simple google search of “latin mental health resources,” bring up a bunch of organizations that you can support. I think every POC community needs to be boosted right now because although we’ve been under attack, conversations about minority communities are being had by white people right now. We have their attention, and we do need their support to enact change because they have the power as the oppressor. We need to be going to bat protecting black people right now because of the insane damage the community has been enduring at the hands of police, and we need to be protecting immigrant children from what’s happening to them at the border. I know the election is extremely controversial right now, but I would urge anyone who has the ability to vote to really consider the importance of doing so. People love to be cynical about how our votes don’t matter, and I understand that cynicism, but a lot of immigrants don’t have the luxury of voting when the results of the election will directly impact their lives. I hate that there is no option of a president that will perfectly support POC communities, but there are options whose party is far more aligned with supporting and protecting POC communities than Trump is. Trump spews hate and fuels racism and prejudice. He calls Mexicans rapists and black protestors thugs. He encourages the blaming of the coronavirus on the asians in our country. He does not need any help winning the election. We need to get this hateful man out, and I strongly encourage anyone who can vote to do so.

Let’s have a discussion! Did you learn anything new from this conversation?

Let me know here.

To close out each post, I’d like to write a lil’ paragraph about the person I talk with:

I’m so lucky to have you as a friend darling. You always bring a smile to my face when we chat. You’re funny and so smart. I admire you deeply for being able to share your perspective in a clear way. Thank you for putting up with my 2 am messages lol 🖤🖤🖤🖤Your continued support makes me feel safe and very, very, loved. I hope I encourage the same feeling with you.

You’re the best babe,

-Faithxx

#intersectionality #immigration #diverse perspectives #poc #twilight #discussions with faith

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kuramirocket · 3 years

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Devin Booker is one of only two active NBA players with Mexican roots. His connection to the Latino community is resonating with many across the Valley.

Arturo Ochoa the official Spanish broadcaster of the Phoenix Suns has been doing the team’s Spanish play-by-play since the 2004-2005 season. He said that, although Latinos historically root for soccer teams, as the year’s gone by and with Booker on the roster, the fever for the Suns among Latinos has grown.

“The truth is that the Hispanic community identifies a lot with those aspects,” Ochoa said, referring to Booker being only one of two active NBA players with Mexican roots. “It has a certain draw of fans to the stadium.”

“We’re proud of him and knowing that he’s also of the same heritage, Mexicano, you add some extra cheering,” said Elena Beltran.

The cheering can be heard throughout the Valley in English and Spanish.

“It's Los Suns for a reason, right? Los Suns,” said Richard Valdes from Phoenix.

Valdes says he’s a diehard Suns fan, so finding out about Devin Booker’s Mexican roots made him hopeful.

“I knew that he was going to take us far.”

Other Latinos dream of bringing Booker home for dinner to introduce him to their most favorite Mexican dishes.

“I would definitely, my mom’s rice, her sopa, cheese, and the tortillas, that's all you need,” said Elena Beltran.

There’s so much to learn about the Mexican culture, but Devin Booker says it’s never too late.

“My Mexican culture has taught me a lot about myself. It’s something that’s not too late to learn because, at the end of the day, this is what makes up me,” said Booker.

His maternal grandfather was born in Mexico but migrated to Michigan.

“Some of my favorite times as a child was my mom whipping up, you know, original Mexican dishes that she learned from her father or when we got the chance to visit my grandpa on the weekend.”

But Booker says it was here in Phoenix where he first experienced the Mexican culture.

“Growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, you don't get as much of it, besides the time that I spent with my grandpa and my mother, what she's passed down to us. But living around it and the culture and getting to see it day to day is a lot better. Being able to touch those types of communities in this area makes all this that much better,” said Booker.

The Latino community says they will stand behind him.

“The Suns just in general, the whole Valley is behind the Suns,” said Beltran.

Along with learning more about his mother’s bloodline, Booker has also embraced other Mexican American aspects like the Chicano lowrider style.

On Game 1 of the playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, Booker arrived at the arena in a 1971 Chevy Caprice with gold rims. He later published a video on his Instagram for his 4.2 million followers to see.

For die-hard fan Emmanuel Maldonado the connection is heartwarming.

“It’s beautiful and it’s great for Booker for accepting, not only embracing it but publicly sharing it,” Maldonado said. “That’s even better for the culture and for us growing up wanting to be like them.”

Seeing at least that small glimpse of his Mexican heritage on such a big stage is a victory of its own for Maldonado.

“It just shows us that no matter where you come from, we can all be united by something, in this case, it’s our bloodline and the sport,” Maldonado said.

Although news of Booker’s Latino heritage began to be known for the last several years, the Suns’ advancement in the finals, is helping amplify that fact.

Other sources: (x)

#mexican #sports #latino #hispanic #devin booker #phoenix suns #los suns #🇲🇽

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thechekhov · 4 years

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Hey Chekhov, it has been a few years since I logged into tumblr and checked on your blog, but I thought of a question for you the other day. I cannot remember what it was. However I have a handful of other ones that came up since I've been thinking of you. A lot of them are direct and I hope they don't come off as abrasive. Most are based on the assumption that you are still in Japan. Question 1: Is the fact that LGBT is criminalized in Russia part of the reason you stay in Japan? (1/?)

Hey there, welcome back to tumblr!

I’m going to put this under a cut so that it hopefully does not take up too much space on people’s dashboards, because it will get LONG!

I’m gonna preface this whole thing with first clarifying -

I have not lived in Russia for the past… 17 years. It’s been a while. Although I’ve been back to visit family for prolonged periods for numerous occasions, it’s not quite the same as a permanent residence there. So take what I say about russia with a grain of salt.

Before I moved to Japan, I was living in the states. I was in the states for about 12 years. I imagine that will color some of my answers in a specific way.

Question 1: Am I staying in Japan because Russian law criminalizes LGBTQ?

No. I’m staying in Japan because I currently have a job in Japan and also because American healthcare sucks. I have national healthcare in Japan and I rather enjoy not going bankrupt if I have to go to the hospital.

Now, granted, I’ve been propositioned by my grandparents and other family SEVERAL times (read: every time we talk on skype) to return to Russia and resume living there. The reason I refuse THAT is, by and large, because of the attitudes and laws towards LGBT in Russia. (: My spouse and I have even considered going to visit there, but we keep putting it off because we would have to take some significant safety risks, and it’s just dodgy.

Question 2: Was I ever outwardly LGBTQ+ in Russia?

No, not ever. Not beyond presenting androgynously in public (which I also tone down on when I’m over there).

I am not out to ANYONE in my family except for my mother, and although I make my opinions on matters of LGBTQ+ stuff quite clear when I’m with family, I am personally not mentally up for the amount of arguing that would ensue were I to come out to them.

Beyond that, my social circle of peers in Russia is nonexistent at this point. Any friends I used to have in my youth I’m no longer in touch with. When I go back, I interact with family and no one else.

Question 3: How am I navigating Japan’s strict immigration laws?

I’m not sure which laws you’re referring to specifically. I came in on a working visa, have renewed it multiple times throughout my contracts, and have now changed it over to a spouse visa. Aside from copious amounts of paperwork, I’ve not had any trouble.

Question 4: Has my androgyny caused me trouble at the workplace because I work with children?

So far, no. At least not to my knowledge. I know that at least SOME people read me as androgynous because when I was new at the office, I had an older man straight up go up to me and say (in English) “You - man or woman?”

Younger kids also can’t read me well and argue about my gender in front of me. Their teachers are usually very quick to ‘correct’ them, though. Teachers treat their inability to gender me on the first try as something embarrassing and seem to be mostly fine with my androgyny, perhaps finding it somewhat ‘unfortunate’ that I look the way I do. They’ve never been unkind about it, though, and my job has never been affected by it on a professional level.

Question 5: Do I have a background in art + education?

I actually have a background in Linguistics - specifically the acquisition of languages (second languages… foreign languages…) I’ve never taken art classes except for a Generals course in community college. It’s just something I do as a hobby.

BUT (segway time!)

Question 6: Does art provide a significant income for me?

Yes.

Which is actually shocking for everyone involved, especially me, because I never foresaw my art as being profitable, which is why I never went to school for it.

Now that my Patreon is thriving, I’m making QUITE the headway into repaying my student loans. Granted, I never thought it would be possible, but the fancomic I’m doing of the White Diamond AU gave my artwork so much more visibility that I’m now able to say I DO make a profit on my art and could probably continue to do so.

No one is more surprised than me! I do think that having a background in art can give you more TOOLS to start with. You can definitely make a living on art but it takes a while to get the momentum of it started, so having a backup steady job like teaching (as you mentioned) helps you stay afloat while you figure out the creative niches you have to fill.

For your last question regarding racism:

Racism in Japan is different than racism in the US (duh). Most of it is actually directed at Korean and Chinese and southeast-asian immigrants living in the country. In some ways, there’s also racism towards black people and latino people and etc - but it looks different than racism in the US, or racism in Europe.

I’m hesitant to say that white people experience ‘racism’ in Japan as such. There’s definitely xenophobia that’s running rampant in Japan as a whole, and there’s issues of fetishism on a HUGE scale - stereotypes GALORE! Some people literally try to get with a white person ONLY for the sake of having mixed-race babies because they are “cuter”. It’s uh. Super weird.

But frankly, that’s all really minor compared to what you get in the states. It will change, of course, depending on your race, but if you’re white, rest assured that you are likely to get special treatment in Japan instead of discrimination. (Though of course that comes with the bonus of having to field really weird questions based on myths perpetuated by being an isolated island country.)

If anyone else living in Japan wants to chime in, feel free, but that’s all I’ve got.

If you read this far...

#chekhov answers #Anonymous #russia #japan #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbtqa

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normal-thoughts-official · 4 years

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what are some things you think magnus would do to feel close to his culture/roots? one thing my mother (who is also south east asian) does is speak her local dialect with her siblings, but i imagine the language will have evolved over the years, and he wouldn’t find speakers who speak it in the same way as him (if that makes sense?)

it makes a lot of sense! and i definitely agree. i think about that all the time, how the language magnus (and warlocks in general) was raised in doesn't exist anymore. and in a way he almost envies warlocks who speak now-dead languages (like not really but there's that thought sometimes) because at least they get to keep them as they were? but with magnus he has to see his language slowly become something else, something that isn't his and that he doesn't follow because he's not at the heart of it while it changes, and it's like it slips through his fingers and is stolen away, you know? like obviously language is constantly changing and there's nothing wrong with that, but esp with magnus having little contact with speakers of his mother tongue, he's not even aware of the changes until he says something and ppl look at him weird or straight up don't understand him

and current indonesian has many words that were borrowed from english, dutch, and portuguese (source: im studying it - not because of magnus, i just heard it on a video and thought it was so beautiful and im a slut for languages - and it's easy to tell) because of colonization, so that in particular is probably what hurts the most. seeing his language slowly be morphed by the language of the ppl who claimed his land, killed and oppressed his people, tried to destroy his culture... it really fucking hurts. especially dutch, as it was his stepfather's language

so yeah he doesn't get to use his language to feel close to his culture anymore and let me tell you that really fucking breaks my heart because your language is who you are, it's how you think, it literally shapes your brain physically. even if you're fluent in other languages, it's a part of you. i can't imagine living in a world where brazilian portuguese as i know it no longer exists except for me. even the idea of like, moving to p*rtugal and speaking their portuguese instead hurts me and makes me really uneasy. so like this is such a huge loss and makes him feel even more like he's being stolen away, you know?

okay this is getting too depressing and isn't really what you asked im sorry ifnfifn

as for what i think he does to feel closer to his culture!

food. yes i've said it a thousand times before and ur probably sick to death of hearing it but what can i say, it's true. especially living in the US like disgusting sometimes i hear about the "food" my US american friends eat and im just like damn yall live like this? and not just that but US americans (and most europeans) really don't.... understand and value food in the way that other cultures do. like i think it might be the individualism inherently entrenched into most of their cultures but to me food is love and food is family, its meanings are so deep and they... don't really understand that. so keeping close to his food is important. and with magic he can even get his ingredients exactly as they used to grow there, tasting exactly the same, so he does get to keep his food

flowers. I'll forever be a slut for magnus and jasmines and the hc that they remind him of his mom? i mean jasmines are even indonesia's official national flower and it matters a lot for indonesian cultures as a whole (same source). so the smell of jasmines, growing jasmines, jasmine tea... it makes him feel like he can keep a part of her with him

tea. i know this technically falls into food but i think tea is special for him in a way that i can't really explain (possibly because i don't really like tea. or coffee for that matter which brazilians and latinos as a whole are all sluts for) because it has its own ritual, you know? the way it's made and drank, the way it's served, everything about it is very important culturally. i think it's no coincidence that magnus was drinking tea when he was being plagued by memories of his stepfather. like usually he goes for alcohol when he needs support, so why tea? i think tea provides him a comfort alcohol can't because it makes him feel close to his roots

religion/spirituality. ok admittedly i can't say a lot about this because i never identified with my family's religion and i'm far from being an expert in Hinduism or Islam, which are the two most likely religions for him to have been raised in, so jdndidnd. but since sh lore doesn't exist in Islam and magnus practices magic, Magnus couldn't be a Muslim, so i think this would be specific for the case of him being Hindu, or having an indigenous javanese religion, according to my muslim friends

but like. religious practices are definitely important community builders and carry super important cultural meanings. so i think this is another way. i know that i have quite a few hindu friends and followers, so if any of y'all want to add into this with more detail, i'd be delighted, and you're definitely all invited to weight in.

another important detail is that if magnus is hindu that adds even more layers to his relationship with flowers, as they are extremely important, especially for indonesian/balinese hindu people

music! again magic helps because with memory magic he can literally bring the sounds of the music he was raised listening to back to life, but like, traditional music styles always live on. so i think singing songs from his childhood definitely helps as well. actually, well, i think art in general falls here

obviously, visiting, since java and its culture are far from dead. it's changed, yes, and i think in that sense it's bittersweet, but there's a lot about it that still feels like home to him, not to mention indonesia still has quite a few traditional communities (although, from what i've seen, most of those are in bali, not java, and with magnus having been raised specifically in jakarta that makes it even more complicated, but also.... previously colonized cities are a weird thing. i live in the biggest city in the whole of south america and there are still plenty of traditional indigenous communities right inside the city. but i can't speak for jakarta) so he could also visit those places. and just like being in a place where everyone (or ok, almost everyone) is javanese? where so many of the small cultural things in everyday life are still present? you know? like the air feels different, it's in the way people move, gesticulate, speak (regardless of language), interact, eat. it feels like home in a way nowhere else can't and it makes him relax and feel so much more like himself, just by being there

and okay that's what i have. take this with a grain of salt as i'm latin american, not south east asian, so most of what i've said here is based on research i've done before for other asks + things i've heard from my SE Asian friends + more generic experiences with being a third worlder/previously colonized. thank you so much for that, i really loved this ask!

all the thanks to @pastaingallday for being an absolute babe with endless patience and helping me out with my muslim magnus questions. this post would probably be a mess without her <3 thank you so much baby, i love you

#magnus bane #magnus bane meta #shadowhunters #sh meta #sh #meta #ask #anonymous

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sextonsharpwinhalstead · 5 years

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Okay, so I’m a slut for medical dramas but I also get frustrated when there’s a lack of diversity or when queer/PoC/disabled etc characters exist solely to suffer at the hands of writers. Could you rank the current medical dramas from best to worst in terms of diversity?

HO’S UNITE!

I completely understand. Not only in the lack of diversity but also a lack of the KIND of diversity. I have a weird theory about television and often movie casts. Of course this ranking is only of the shows I watch. Worst to Best.

The Resident

The Good:

The show begins with the audience following Devon Pravesh, a Gujarati and South Asian man. He’s on of the most realistic characters considering most medical shows seem to gloss over the fact that most people in medical school as well as working practitioners look an awful lot like Devon and less like Conrad. They have the shoot-for-excellence-at-all-times Nigerian immigrant surgeon and all around bad-ass Mina Okafor, and of course The Raptor, AJ Austin who was adopted by a Chinese man and a Black American woman. The newest edition of Dr. Barrett Cain adds another bit of chocolate goodness to look at too.

The Bad:

Aside from Mina’s poorly cast mother Lynne Whitfield and the introduction of Devon’s parents the show hasn’t figured out how to weave in the different ethnicity's and backgrounds of their characters of color. No one speaks in their mother-tongue, celebrates any holidays or traditions tied to their respective cultures and religions and of course the most obvious. EVERYONE here is straight and able-bodied. And there are only TWO female leads, with most of the other recurring female characters being sent away or killed off.

The Good Doctor

The Good:

Although not the first medical drama to introduce a character with Autism it is the first to have one as the lead and his autism is a focus of the show. In the beginning there was the English born Dr. Jared Kalu, we know he comes from money and is assumed to be Asian, the actor is actually Nigerian and white, after he left the show Dr. Park was introduced. The Good Doctor has had the most Asian representation on a medical show I believe EVER in the history of prime-time television. Allegra Aoki, Dr. Aurdrey Lim, and Dr. Jackson Han round the out the Asian representation on the show. Carly Lever, Dr. Claire Browne, and Dr. Marcus Andrews are represented as black or mixed-race Black Americans. Dr. Neil Melendez is the only Latino or Hispanic character he really doesn’t lean into it. Dr. Glassman and his wife are both Jewish.

The Bad:

The Good Doctor is doing something different having an autistic character as the lead, and although Freddie Highmore is a talented actor, he isn’t autistic. Also it would’ve been even better if Shaun could’ve been Shauna. A chance was missed here by taking a look at the often under diagnosed sect of girls and women who are autistic. The show has a lot of women on it both recurring and regular but ALL of them, just like the men,are straight. And a missed opportunity too considering the actress who plays Carly has been married to a woman since 2013. Also, Carly and Claire can pass the paper bag test, NO ONE is bilingual, and if they are they don’t show it or any of the other aspects of their cultural differences it’s very “American.

Chicago Med

The Good:

Out of all the One Chicago Shows, Med has the most racially diverse cast as well as diverse recurring characters. They have four black women on the cast. April Sexton whose real surname is Suassuna is Afro-Brazilian, who speaks both Spanish and Portuguese, attends family functions based on her heritage and has even shared a few anecdotes and beliefs from her culture which also include her brother Dr. Noah Sexton. Ditto for the recurring character Dr. Isidore Latham. He has Asperger’s, is Jewish, and observes all aspects of Judaism including wearing a kippah, and sharing some Jewish based jokes. Dr. Ethan Choi is believed to be Korean and Iranian born Dominic Rains has been added to the cast as Dr. Crockett Marcel rounding out the leads of Asian descent.

The Bad:

Ethan’s ethnicity and race has only been brought up when it was being demeaned. Other than that the show leans heavily on his military background to give him depth but gives zero basis for any customs or cultural traits he probably had growing up. Nary a mention is given about Crockett’s race only his southern New Orleans heritage leaving us as an audience wondering if he’s Creole? Spicy White? No idea. Also April is Brazilian but almost exclusively speaks Spanish when not speaking English to her brother which is by far the strangest considering I have never met anyone who chooses English if they are raised in a multicultural household, and definitely not in conversation with their family members. But never Portuguese. All of these shows fail at representing Black American cultural, which leaves Maggie and Sharon with very little to share. And of course the most obvious. There are no LGBT characters on the show. None are leads and it doesn’t appear as though they are adding any or thinking about opening any new doors within the characters.

New Amsterdam

The Good

New Amsterdam does a lot of things right. My dear Vijay Kapoor who’s Indian identity is very wrapped in who he is, from his accent, to his prayers, mannerisms, and discussions of his past he isn’t just a token he’s a full character. Although the show has yet to address it Dr. Helen Sharpe who is obviously black is played by Freema Agyeman who is not so obviously half Iranian on her mothers side. But she is English and her disposition, her language and slang are represented in that regard. Lauren Bloom is a neurodivergent character with ADHD and a struggling addict. Dr. Floyd Reynolds is Black American who has Sunday dinners at his mothers. And Dr. Iggy Frome is a gay married man with 50 bajillion Pakistani children and aiming for one more. Recurring characters, Dr. Valentina Castro, Dora, and Casey are all Latino and Evie Floyd is mixed race, white and Black American. Not to mention this show has plethora of diverse peripheral characters, little people, hijabs, turbans, kippahs,everywhere, you name it you’ve probably seen it. The show has to be diverse because it’s in New York and it’s supposed to be an international hospital. The place is MASSIVE.

The Bad:

All that diversity, all the difference, cultural richness, ripe stories running amok and the entire show is centered on a cis-het white man. Not mention Casey and Dora don’t even have last names. Maybe that’s why the actress isn’t on the show anymore and is now on Emergence, New Amsterdam’s rival at that time slot.

Grey’s Anatomy

The Good

Where do you start with the longest running medical drama on television.

They’ve had it all and still do. They constantly have LGBT characters, who are shown to get hot and heavy the same as their het-counterparts. Where other shows have two men bird-kissing like they don’t even want to touch, Levi and Nico are rolling around in ambulances and hooking up in on-call rooms. Ditto for the women, I stan Callie x Arizona especially their golden years. Nothing will ever touch the way Arizona used to say “Calliope” when they first started dated, it still makes me smile thinking about it. They’ve had addicts, alcoholics, neurodivigent characters, every race you could think of, Muslim, Christian,Jewish,and atheists. All kinds of socio-economic backgrounds. If you can think it they’ve had it and there really isn’t much reason or room to list all the characters both recurring and regular who have checked damn near every box.

The Bad:

It’s time for more brown Asians. And a regular neurodivergent character although there is more than enough room to diagnose a few of the characters if they wanted to. I’d be happy with a deaf doctor too. Also Carina DeLuca is currently the only Bi-character and she’s been kind of only used as a bed warmer which is...well, yikes.

#ask sextonsharpwinhalstead #The Good Doctor #new amsterdam #chicago med #grey's anatomy #the resident #the resident on fox

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archivistsrock · 5 years

Text

I finally got to see Papi Chulo this weekend! I never thought the day would come! lol. I swear, it's been like a million years since it first was at TIFF.

Here’s the trailer for the movie:

youtube

General impressions: I really liked it! It was playing at a theater that was over an hour away from me, so I didn't want to ask any of my friends to go (they aren't Matt fans. I mean, that makes it sound like they don't like him, which isn't true...they're just not FANS). So I dragged my mom with me LOL. She's a trooper. Anyway, because I dragged my mom there, I was a little preoccupied the whole time wondering/worrying if she was bored. I really need to just go to Matt movies alone so I'm not focused on the enjoyment of the person I'm with. I worry too much.

But anyway, it was good! It was sweet and sad and funny. It was a little slow-paced, I would say. But not necessarily in a bad way. There are a few things that are revealed during the movie that makes things more impactful. I knew about them beforehand, bc I'm a slut for spoilers ha, but probs would have been more impactful if I hadn't known.

Matt is really good in it. I adore his character (Sean). He's just a really nice guy. Well-intentioned. Obvs has some flaws, but who doesn't? It's nice to have a movie where almost every scene features Matt. <3 Alejandro Pitino was also great in it. And Janet from The Good Place is also in it! lol.

To be honest, I don't really see it as a "buddy movie," which they seem to kind of be marketing it as. Mainly because the friendship is really one-sided. Ernesto maybe "gets along" with Sean, but I think it's a big stretch to say they're friends. The movie is much more about dealing with loss and loneliness than about friendship, and of the importance of real human interaction. By nature of Ernesto being an immigrant, the movies touches on some issues related to that, as well...but I don't see them as nearly the main focus.

I had kind of stopped reading reviews about the movie bc, tbh, I was just super annoyed that I couldn't see it. After viewing it, I went and read the more critical review on The Wrap [x]. And honestly? She's not wrong. I think some of her critiques are a wee bit harsh, but overall I can't really argue against most of her points. That said, I definitely don't think the movie is OFFENSIVE. But I do get the criticisms and why some people may not enjoy it. But I really did.

Okay, now I'm going to get really detailed and spoilery by request, so stop reading if you haven't seen it and don't like being spoiled! I warned you!

Okay, here's a run-down of the movie -- as detailed as I can get, considering I saw it 4 days ago and tbh my memory kind of sucks. It starts out with the clip we've all seen of Matt doing the weather forecast and having a breakdown on air.

Go to 6:35 to see that clip below:

youtube

He tries to claim it was "gastro" related, but obvs no one buys that. They force him to go home and take a leave of absence to figure things out and get better (istg they later refer to this as "gardening leave" and is that a thing in some places??? Like, you get leave to work on your garden?? OKAY I just looked it up and LOL it's just a term for someone still getting paid after they're suspended or on leave or terminated. It seems to be a British term. Must have come from the director, who's Irish. Or have other US-folks heard this term?). Anyway, back to the movie.

So he's at home. Nice house. Good view of LA. Lots of coyotes howling at night. He's arranged to have a couple people come by to pick up this rare tree that's on his deck, that belonged to his ex-boyfriend, Carlos. He keeps calling Carlos and leaving voice messages. "Hey, just letting you know I'm getting rid of your tree." Etc. So they drag the tree away and we notice that when Carlos painted the deck, he didn't bother moving the tree, so there's a big unpainted circle in the middle of the deck. "Typical Carlos..." So Sean drives to the small hardware store to get supplies to fix this.

Outside the hardware store, there are a bunch of Latino immigrants/laborers hoping to get hired by people to do...home improvement/handy man stuff. Sean sees Ernesto and seems preoccupied/interested in him. Ernesto, as you know, is an older more burly Latino guy. Sean goes into the hardware store are talks to an employee about paint for his deck. "I just need a small amount to cover a little spot on the deck." "Aren't you going to paint the whole deck so it blends in?" "Haha, I see what you're trying to do there. No, just the tiny-ass sample can please."

So he gets home and starts painting in the circle, and it's painfully obvious he'll need to redo the whole deck, since all the rest of the paint has faded. So he drives back to the hardware store and is like, "Yeah, so I know I ignored your advice before. Sorry, I'm dumb." He buys more paint and a bigger brush. So he drives home with all his stuff, again passing the laborers and looking at Ernesto.

Once home, he checks his email and there's messages from his friends about how he's doing -- presumably since his break-up with Carlos. He's been avoiding his friends, and they're telling him he needs real human interaction and should talk to someone. He has kind of a light bulb moment and drives back to the hardware store and pulls up alongside the Latino laborers. He's like, "Hey, I need someone who can paint." A bunch of them are kind of in his face about it, wanting to be hired. Ernesto is just hanging back, quiet. Sean points to Ernesto and asks if he can paint. He's like "Yes. $20/hour." "Great!" (although Ernesto speaks little English and Sean speaks little Spanish, so it wasn't that easy). So Ernesto gets back in the car and they drive to Sean's house.

He kind of reminds me of me during this part, because he hired Ernesto to work for him, but when they're getting out of the car and Ernesto gets the bag of paint, Sean is like, "No, no! Let me get that!" They go back and forth a bit, but Ernesto ends up carrying it. Anyway, I always feel weird having people do things for me, even if I'm paying them. So he shows Ernesto the deck and we get the other scene we've seen before. The "more than one day" scene. "Mas que un dia."

youtube

Sean is all like, "Do you want water? Food? Are you okay?" etc. Ernesto is kind of amused but also just like...leave me alone and let me work. This is weird. I don't understand anything you're saying.

Sean goes and gets lunch and brings it back and yells out to Ernesto, "Lunch!" Ernesto is like...okay. Time to eat, I guess. And sits down on the deck and takes something wrapped in tinfoil out of his bag. Sean is like, "No! Inside! I brought lunch for us!" And it's like this whole big spread. Some type of Asian cuisine. I can't remember which, but Ernesto picks up an eggroll and is like, "Taquito!" lol. You can tell Ernesto is a little uncomfortable with everything, but he's also just like...rolling with it. Okay, you're paying me. I guess we're eating lunch.

Then Sean convinces him to leave with him and they go to a park and Sean wants to go out in a rowboat. Sean wants to row, but Ernesto is like, "Yeah, I'm not going in there with you unless I row." So he ends up rowing. Please note, that all this "conversation" is not as smooth as I'm writing it! Ernesto really doesn't get much of anything Sean says. Anyway, Sean treats the rowboat ride like he's in therapy. He just starts spilling his feelings and issues out to Ernesto. Ernesto just nods like, "Yeah, okay." At one point, I think he does say something like, "I don't understand anything you're saying." Sean is like, "I feel so much better just saying this stuff out loud!" He falls asleep in the boat, and Ernesto calls his wife and is like, "GUESS WHERE I AM?? IN A FUCKING ROWBOAT WITH THIS GUY." His wife is like, "Ha! He's gay and he totally digs you." Ernesto is like,"Yeah, he's gay. But he doesn't like me. I'm old. I'm fat. Why would he like me?" His wife is all cute and is like, "I'm a woman. I know these things. He's into you." Then Sean wakes up so Ernesto hangs up the phone.

They get back to the pier and the rowboat operator guy says, "I like this whole "Driving Miss Daisy" situation you guys have going on!" Sean gets pissed and is like, "What do you mean?? We're friends. Why would you say it's like "Driving Miss Daisy"??" The operator guys gets all uncomfortable and is like..."Umm...because he's rowing you around....?" So Sean is pissed that the guy assumes he paid Ernesto to row him around. But also like...it's true. As much as Sean is annoyed that the man is making that assumption, they really aren't friends. The only reason they're there together is because Sean is paying Ernesto. So he then drops Ernesto back off at the hardware store at the end of the day and is like. "Tomorrow? Here at the hardware store?" "Okay." Then he pays him the money he owes him and they part ways.

I don't recall exactly the timeline here, but at various points throughout the movie, Sean is scrolling through Grindr, or whatever hook-up app it is he's using. He's also shown lying in bed at night and is tortured by the sound of coyotes howling.

He picks up Ernesto the next morning and is like, "We're hiking. Not painting." So he takes him to Runyon Canyon to hike. On the hike, Sean keeps talking talking talking and Ernesto is still like, "Okay, I have no idea what you're saying." At a scenic viewpoint, they're looking out at the city. Sean casually asks where Ernesto lives, and this kind of freaks Ernesto out. Like "Why do you want to know??" Sean's like, "Oh, I'm just curious!" Anyway, he points and says the general area (I can't remember which town/neighborhood it was). While they're standing there, one of Sean's friends sees them and comes over. He volunteers to take a pic of the two of them, and when he does, he says, "Cute couple!" Sean starts to correct him but then doesn't. Ernesto doesn't say anything, obviously. The friend then invites Sean to a party he's having the next evening. Sean does learn a little about Ernesto throughout the few days together. He learns he's married and has kids. He sees a pic of them. Honestly, that's about it.

Ernesto calls his wife from here and again is like, "Guess where the fuck I am now?? HIKING. Yeah, it's pretty." But he actually feels guilty for getting paid to go on hikes. His wife is like, "Whatever. He's paying you. Cool beans." Sean then takes Ernesto to a health market and wants him to try a shot of some gross health drink. He takes a sip and is like, "No. This is disgusting." Sean's like, "Yeah, you're right. It's horrid. But it's healthy and I'm drinking it bc it cost a shit ton." Oh, while Sean was buying the drink, one of the store employees went up to Carlos and handed him a bunch of boxes because he thought he worked there. He got him mixed up with another Latino guy working there. Awkward. White people are dumb.

Sean drives Ernesto back the hardware store and is like, "Okay, tomorrow. Meet you here. Also, we're going to a party later that night."

I don't remember the next day very well. I assume maybe Ernesto did some work? Not sure. Anyway, they then go to Sean's friend's party together. It a big party of all gay men. Ernesto gets kissed on the mouth (not in a sexual way) by one of Sean's friends. He obvs feels a little uncomfortable. Mostly bc he doesn't know any of them and I assume can't communicate with them. He doesn't seem to have a big issue with gay guys. Whenever Sean's friends see Ernesto, they're all like, "Oh, I get it." We later see Sean's phone contacts and a pic of his ex Carlos, and he is also an older, burlier Latino man. So clearly, Ernesto reminds Sean of Carlos. Now we understand his...obsession? Fixation? Attachment?

Ernesto calls his wife from the party is is kind of freaking out about it. "A MAN KISSED ME ON THE MOUTH." But his wife is like, "Dude, have fun." So he seems to have a decent time. Then they leave the party in a Lyft and there's a pretty great scene where Madonna's "Borderline" comes on the radio and Ernesto is like, "Hey, I know this song!" So they drunkenly sing it together in the back of the Lyft. The Lyft stops at the hardware store, and they're both sitting in the back of the car looking at each other. Sean looks a little confused as to why Ernesto is sitting there looking at him. He then leans in to kiss Ernesto, but Ernesto is like. "No! I'm waiting for my money." The Sean's like, "OMG yeah. Sorry." And he pays him and Ernesto gets out. Then the Lyft takes Sean home.

We then see Ernesto make his way home. He has to take a couple buses. He finally get home and we see his house and his wife. It's a pretty nice house. Normal, I mean. Not Sean-level nice. His wife is awesome. Ernesto is like, "Honey, you were right. I am irresistible." "I told you I knew!" Then they go to the bedroom to presumably have sex.

The next day, Sean drives to the hardware store but none of the Latino guys are out there. He's confused and asks someone driving by where all the men are, and the guy's like, "It's Labor Day, you fucking idiot." So Sean drives home. He gets drunk and ends up inviting a guy over from Grindr. He quickly gets in the shower (shower scene!), and ends up falling in the shower while holding a glass and cuts himself a bit. Then the doorbell rings so he gets out. He answers the door clothed, but wet. The hot guy is like, "You're wet." "I just showered." Sean invites the guy in and asks if he wants a drink. "Not at this hour." (early) "No, no...just like...water?" Sean turns to pour a glass of water and hot guy strips naked in the kitchen. Sean turns and sees him and is like, "HOLY SHIT!" and drops his glass. He goes down to pick up the glass, and pops back up all bloody. His head is cut, his hands are cut up. The naked guy is just like.."Are you okay?? Are you drunk?" And is kind of legit concerned for him. Sean is like, "No! I'm fine!" Naked guy is like, "Um, I got naked because I assumed we were going to...?" Sean is like, "Listen, can we just talk?" Naked guy puts his clothes on and is like, "You need to get your shit figured out. Only you can make yourself happy." Then he leaves.

At some point...today? Tomorrow? Yesterday? I don't know, but at some point he goes back to the news station to be like, "Hey! I'm ready to go back to work!" His boss shows him the video of his breakdown that's on youtube. AWKWARD. And they're like, "It's been 4 days. Leave." So he does.

He calls his ex Carlos to say...something. But instead of getting his voicemail, he gets a message saying that the number has been disconnected. He freaks out and calls someone and asks the lady on the phone why the number was disconnected. "Why wouldn't we disconnect it? Carlos has been dead for 6 months." :O So now we learn that Carlos isn't an ex...he actually died 6 months prior. So this is why Sean is having such a hard time. There's then these flashback scenes from previous moments in the movie. We see Sean in the rowboat talking, but he's alone. We see him hiking and talking to no one. At first I was like, "Did Sean make Ernesto up??" But no, that's not it. I think this was just supposed to represent that Sean was using Ernesto as a stand-in for Carlos. He felt so much better those two days talking to "Carlos," but Carlos wasn't really there. He was still alone. Ernesto isn't his lover, isn't his friend. Just a guy he hired. [I think? Anyone else have other interpretations of this?]

The next day he goes to pick up Ernesto and he's not there. He tries asking the other men where Ernesto is, and they're basically making fun of Sean. "Hey, I'll go on a boat with you!" Word has got out that Sean is having Ernesto do all this weird shit. I think Ernesto's wife was talking. Sean seems to frantically need Ernesto. He drives to the town where Ernesto said he lived (population of like 60,000) and just starts asking people if they know Ernesto. Some kid steals his phone and whacks him over the head with his skateboard. Sean goes into a bar and gets wasted. He then sees a guy go into the bar that he recognized as Ernesto's brother-in-law from a pic Ernesto showed him. So he follows him to a house, and there's a Quinceanera going on. I guess Ernesto's daughter?? But I didn't remember him having daughter that age, so I could be wrong. idk. Anyway, Sean drunkenly crashes the party. They dump him in one of the kids' bedrooms where he passes out. He wakes up later and slinks out.

Time has passed during the next scene, and Sean is back at work, but makes an announcement that this is his last weather report. He's leaving. We don't know where or for what. But we had learned earlier while he was talking away with Ernesto that he doesn't even like being a weatherman and he actually hates the weather in California. So it seems he's moving on. He seems much healthier. He write Ernesto a letter apologizing for crashing the party, saying how ashamed he is and that he was going through a tough time.

Sean's at home and the doorbell rings. He goes to the door and it's Ernesto's son (like 8 years old??). Ernesto comes out of the truck with painting supplies. The kid acts as an interpreter. They go up to the deck and Ernesto starts working. Sean is like, "You don't need to do this! Why are you finishing the deck?" Ernesto is like, "Because you sent me $200 with the letter." Sean is like, "No, not to finish the deck! For room and board!" He sent him the money as an apology for crashing the party and for them letting him sleep it off in their house and for some food they left out for him. Anyway, they start sanding the deck together (Sean is a terrible sander). Ernesto is like, "You're not paying me!" They laugh. Movies fades to black.

#papi chulo #ask #you asked for as detailed as I could get!#so here you go!

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retvenkos · 5 years

Text

“so what if we’re wild, we only live once.”

requested

BUCKLE IN FAM, BECAUSE THE NEWSIES IN HIGH SCHOOL FOR A MODERN AU WOULD OBVIOUSLY INCLUDE…

(also, keep in mind that this is based off of my experience in the american school system, any classes are ones that are offered at my own school.)

Bill

so he’s obviously head of the journalism staff

and he definitely is a part of yearbook too

and what is he interested in most??

chemistry

no one really understands why, but they don’t question it as long as he helps them with homework

and bill is 10/10 that guy who always has his homework done and let’s you borrow it

his worst class is by far history

he’s in choir and plays the piano for like, every song

he actually has a really nice set of pipes (he’s a tenor, too)

he’s terrible with dates

Darcy

so darcy is on yearbook because he can take the most stunning photos

and he is also a part of journalism, and his niche is critiquing

plays?? restaurants?? sports??

and yes, he goes to sporting events

and yes, romeo gives him a wink everytime he sees him at the baseball games

it’s a ship to end all ships

he isn’t quite sure what he wants to do in the future

i forgot to mention - these are headcanons for when each one is a senior in high school, i’m not working out ages in relation to each other. find someone more motivated for that

but he does know he wants to go to a really nice college

he’s definitely on chess club, and he’s a member of key club too

Katherine

journalism, guys. and she’s not into heavy creative writing, more like articles and interviews and such

president of debate

and her style game is strong - she, bill, and darcy are the three best dressed. facts.

she makes such pretty notes

and she slays in argument writing

english is obviously her favorite class, but a close second is her research class

and she actually sucks at cooking - she took culinary arts as a sophomore and set off the fire alarm twice

she has a free period in her schedule where she goes to the library and slaves over math

it doesn’t come easy to her

definitely has an old-school planner that is always full

Sarah

okay, i don’t know much about sarah - full disclosure, but i’ll try

so first of all, this girl is really put together

she has her schedule mapped out two months in advance, she remembers everyone’s birthday, and she already knows the vacation days during the year

she has library aide for one of her periods and knows every adult in the building by first name

she also happens to be an aide when kath has her free period and she is either the embodiment of the heart eye emoji or trying to help katherine with math

she loves psychology and already has plans to study it

she is in key club with darcy and also just volunteers a whole lot

her favorite is visiting and helping out animal shelters

she goes there so much that they finally just give her a job there

she doodles a lot on the side of her notes - it keeps her from falling asleep in science

the master of the messy top knot

Davey

okay, this boy does not know when to stop

he is taking all of the advanced classes he possibly can, and he’s stressing over them way too much

jack makes him like, 10 cups of stress relief tea daily

there’s also a running bet that the whole school is in on about whether he or kath will be valedictorian

specs says that davey will do it if he doesn’t have a heart attack before final exams

race says he’ll be so busy he’ll forget to even show up to graduation

also, while we’re at it, we need to talk about this boy’s notes. they are the hardest thing to decipher in this world, but if you can read his chicken scratch then you have a goldmine of helpful ways to study

he loves mnemonics with a burning passion and uses them at every chance he can get

his favorite class is chinese or math

and he’s definitely a part of future business leaders of america, mesa, and book club

Les

yes, this is for when les is a senior

he’s obviously not in the same year as the rest of the gang, but les as an 18 year old is gold

okay, first of all… heartthrob who genuinely doesn’t know it

he’s not actually officially part of any club, but he’s always staying after school afterward to like, float into the different club meetings

but he’s definitely an sbo - probably vice president or activities

he’s a part of band and definitely plays the saxophone

you know that means he starts off every class period by playing careless whisper

the teachers all really love him

he actually gets pretty good grades

and he is way overly competitive in review games, especially ones in history

he will wreck you

always goes off campus at lunch and walks into his next period a couple minutes late with a shake

Jack

did someone say art?????

jack does literally every form of it, and he does them all so well

davey seethes at this, but loves it when jack helps in in ceramics

he’s also really supportive of younger artists who are still perfecting their art, so he’s obviously the head of the art club

and he’s the paint master for drama club and all of their productions

he frequently falls asleep in english class

he’s also the president of latinos in action - chosen unanimously even though he wasn’t going for the position

y’all can fite me on latino! jack kelly

also, his signature style is a blue sweatshirt, and all of his clothes have paint on them

he’s also that kid who never has a pencil on him, and never returns the ones he is given just because he always forgets

Crutchie

so i don’t know where the headcanon about crutchie being on the swim team originated, but it is dear to my heart and lives on in this post

he is the nice™ jock

also, he wants to go into the medical field for sure

he had medical terminology as last class of the day and it makes his day 10 times more bright

he uses highlighters so much (but only the yellow ones)

also, crutchie is lowkey a style icon???

all of his teachers love him

he’s that kid that always raises his hand in a group discussion, and it’s one of two things: a lame pun that gets more groans than laughs, or a really insightful bit of knowledge

there is no in-between

definitely volunteers with sarah at the animal shelters and is a part of french club, even though he’s only ever gone to like, two meetings

Albert

albert wrestles, no one can convince me otherwise

but he’s also on dance co.

we love a well rounded boy - especially when he’ll pull up if you question his life choices

he is soooo salty, and he has no filter. Even in front of teachers.

anyone in his history class can attest to this - especially when they are going through america’s messy past

literally does not care about the majority of his classes

but he maintains a good gpa so he can be on the wrestling team

also, he failed his driving test twice, and when he got his license it didn’t make a difference since no one would trust him with a car anymore

but he’s actually really good in his business and marketing class

he frequently helps in the little store that the business class runs during lunch and stuff because he’s really good with money and change

Race

a part of dance company

and he hates the early morning practices with a passion but will just chug energy drinks to get through it

this boy doesn’t sleep… unless it’s in english

the most surprising thing about him is that he’s really good at math??

and he doesn’t even try - he’ll be talking all class period and then finish the homework in class in like, 10 minutes flat

it’s the same thing with physics

but it’s not like you can ask him for help, because he doesn’t really listen to the professor or follow their methods and steps

like i said earlier, race just doesn’t care

or so you think, but his shirt is always matching the color of his shoes and headphones, but then his hair is literal mess and he wears like, he only owns like, two different pairs of joggers

he’s honestly such a mystery

Buttons

okay, so buttons kills it at fashion, which is why he aces his fashion design class

he’s head costumer for all of the drama departments musicals and plays

he’s also really into art history, and he gets inspiration from art all the time

he’s definitely a part of key club and is a part of national honors society although he’s only ever gone to a couple meetings for both

he gets pretty decent grades in everything but physics, but he definitely tries to study for all of his classes

he goes stag to every school dance and deliberately tries to get his ships together for a song

coffee??? he only ever drinks it black

it’s how he stops romeo from taking his

he’s also a dork who color codes his notes because they help him study better

but he has no idea how to take notes for math class, so he kinda just does example problems and then is confused on how it ever did it in the first place

Elmer

so this is one musically talented boy

he plays the guitar, trumpet, and drums

it’s also an inside joke with him and jojo that they both play the castanets

but he’s definitely a part of any band the school offers - as well as pit for the musical

he’s a really chill, laid-back student that gets their work done and just hangs out

he is very nice and definitely a teacher aid for one of the english teachers

and he’s also a part of the poetry club

it’s to improve his songwriting as well as give him a place to destress

He’s definitely the guy who will always lend you his notes if you missed a day, but he’s also not that great at taking notes because his mind is always on something else

he’s also an attendance office aide for one of his periods

Henry

he took ballroom as a joke with mike, and he really ended up liking it

but he’s not a part of dance co. because their style is totally different from ballroom

He also has a lot of energy, so he’s that kid that’s always bouncing his leg up and down and making the desk behind him shake

but no one ever asks for him to stop because he has the biggest smile that you just can’t shut down??

he knows this, though, and he definitely uses it on teachers to get extensions on his work, and he does, like 80% of the time

his worst class is probably english because he can’t just sit down and read for long periods of time

but during the shakespeare unit he kills it because he’s always first to volunteer to read or do a part

his handwriting is very messy and he uses so many abbreviations not even davey knows what they’re saying

always races to be first in the lunch line

always one of the first people to be in class

Hot Shot

he has auto shop as his first class of the day and absolutely loves it

but he’s also that kid that hangs out with his friends in the middle of the hallway, bottlenecking the whole thing during passing time

thinks he’s the cool™ kid

wears leather jackets exclusively

he hates any core class

but secretly really likes his humanities class

he’s taking italian with spot and the poor teacher just can’t handle these two together

he’s also secretly good at basketball

the coach found out somehow and asks him every year to be on the team

but hot shot would rather die than be on a school team

Ike

has a youtube channel where he mostly posts prank videos especially those that involve the school

he ran for sbo and was elected as treasury, even though mike is the one who went to all of the meetings for like, two months straight

he is the epitome of a class clown, but it’s always in good fun

he always is wearing a black t-shirt under his sbo sweater

and since he’s an sbo he has to go to all the sports game to support and stuff and he cheers the absolute loudest

he does gymnastics with mike after school every day and at every sbo meeting he brings up how it needs to be a part of the sports at school

he never takes notes but can retain everything

his worst class is anything science related

but he’s secretly really good a history

A proud member of spanish club

Mike

mike is definitely the more artsy twin

he takes drawing and ceramics but can’t paint for the life of him

he’s a part of the art club with jack and is basically second in command there

he does gymnastics with ike after school and is on dance co.

he struggles with math and science but gets by okay

has a free period for first where he could be sleeping in or studying but instead he goes to auto shop to talk to hot shot

he definitely has a crush. hot shot won’t admit it, but he loves mike being there.

he usually wears bright colors with his dance co. jacket

doesn’t really like coffee, but he always has a coke on him - it’s his one weakness

is also a part of spanish club

Kenny

okay, so i know, like, nothing about kenny, so i’m just going with my gut based off of his photo

film is his passion and he wants to be a director one day

is 10/10 that kid in your photography class that spends 90% of the time making stop-motion videos

he’s very nice and is always lending jack pencils even though he knows he’ll never get them back

also, there’s a running gag that he and darcy are the same person, ike runs conspiracy theory videos on his youtube channel

his two favorite classes are film (duh) and theatre

he’s a part of the ensemble of every musical the school puts on

he’s even directed a show a couple of times for the spotlight showcase

he is like that background kind of kid that is a part of the big groups and is totally included but just doesn’t have a huge role in the big stuff

he hates having to write essays because he says it’s sucking the creativity out of writing

also likes psychology

JoJo

co-captain of the soccer team

also a madrigal with bill and specs (he’s a baritone)

always tries out for the school musicals, and he usually gets a main part

he takes quite a few advanced classes and it is not rare to find him passed out on one of the other newsies’ couch

he manages to keep a good gpa with his schedule

his favorite class besides madrigals is probably latinos in action, which he has the same period as jack

while he doesn’t play any instruments himself you can always find him hanging out in the band room at lunch

he is absolutely terrible in math but is taking college math now so he can get it done with and never have to do again for as long as he lives

his aspirations are pretty much all over the place at the moment, but he smiles through the uncertainty

“i feel like it’s fine”

Romeo

on the baseball team

a shameless flirt, especially with darcy

did someone say president of the asian american club??

he’s also a part of drama club because he has a passion for theatre

he can’t when it comes to math, though

so instead of getting frustrated he just writes notes in the calculators for people to find

he’ll also fall asleep in that class

he’s definitely a partner in crime with ike and frequently is a guest on his youtube channel

studying??? who’s she???

really good at debate, though. katherine keeps telling him he should join the club but he says his skills are beyond that of a club

Finch

on the track team and one of the fastest runners

it’s a good outlet for all of his energy

he takes notes in all of his classes since he learned all the strategies from avid, but he never looks back at them

surprisingly gets really good test scores, though

you know he takes wildlife biology and he memorizes like, every type of bird call

he can even mimic some of them - it’s how he wakes romeo up in math.

he also goes out every day for lunch, and his next period is english which he has with like, all of the boys, so he’s always throwing fries across the room for henry or mush to catch in their mouths

he beats his own school records every year so he’s like, constantly the athlete of the month

definitely goes to all of the different sports games and cheers very loud

carries a huge water bottle that he fills up during french class to get out of presentations

Kid Blink

first of all, this kid does not do any kind of sport because his depth perception rivals that of mine

which means it s u c k s

however, he kills it at math and physics is his one true love

If you need a study partner for either, he’s your guy. just know that he explains nothing and goes pretty fast. keep up and you can do math with him.

he lowkey hates history because it’s about a whole bunch of dead people who were problematic

he’s a part of mesa

he takes american sign language and it’s one of his favorite classes

he and smalls are constantly having conversations from across the room

a lot of the time it’s about the teacher, and one time they were caught by their chemistry teacher who knew asl

they got detention for like, a week because of it

Mush

here comes the heartthrob!!!!

very handsome, and his strong suit is engineering. which always shocks people.

which means he’s definitely a part of mesa and the engineering and technology club

he’s definitely the person to go to if you need help in physics. he explains things really well

the only bad part about it is that he also goes off on tangents when he’s explaining and you can get confused if you listen too long

he’s actually kind of a style icon, his hair is probably the best out of everyone

he always has headphones in, but one earbud is out so he can hear the teacher and whatnot

he cannot act for the life of him

but he has a good-natured laugh that makes up for the cringe

he also cannot dance

Smalls

okay, so smalls is a part of the asian american club, key club, and poetry club

even though he cannot write to save his life, they let him come because he’s uber supportive

there’s also a joke that he and spot are a part of the short™ club

lowkey, smalls started this joke because he finds it hilarious when spot gets upset

he actually takes interior design and it’s his favorite class

he’s really good with color

he also takes woodworking and makes the guys stuff for it

davey has a bookshelf and jack has a desk

takes asl with kid blink and loves it

is the kid who always has to stand up to take notes because seating charts always put him in the back, despite his height

Sniper

okay, so sniper is a cheerleader but don’t let that fool you - she’s also on the wrestling team and will take you down

albert is like her older brother and helps her with her business class

she regrets having taken it, but she needed another cte credit and thought it would be safer than welding

she has a criminal law class that she loves with all of her heart

she writes in all capitals

she’s also that kid that writes all of her essays handwritten to spite her english teacher which, on the first day of school, complain about her writing in all caps

she’s good with history and has it with albert and it’s her personal goal to get him to laugh at her comments in that class

studying??? sounds studious. and not a part of her aesthetic.

has an attendance office aide period where she mostly does the homework for her next class period

is that kid that always almost swears in class debates

Specs

first, our boy is president for madrigals (he’s a low bass)

then he’s a proud part of the book club

his thing is psychology, and he goes in hard, he and sarah sit next to each other and talk in hushed whispers about all the cool stuff they learn

he takes very neat notes

but only has to look at them two or three times before he’s ready to take a test

is always an ensemble member in the school musicals

he is also a library aide and constantly smells like old books

very organized

his locker always has everything you could possibly need - a jacket, hat, bag of trail mix, water, etc.

the mom friend™

Spot

first of all, he’s that kid who always sits in the same seat. if you’re sitting in his seat, you’re dead. don’t @ him.

he hates science with a burning passion and is so glad he finished all of his credits for it in junior year

is actually a bit of a history buff

but he never participates in class, just writes really good essays and aces every test

and speaking of writing

he’s actually really into creative writing

who did you think started the writing club???

but he’s no less tough

he always wears a leather jacket, a red shirt, cuffs the bottom of his jeans, and has his pen tucked behind his ear

he doesn’t really take notes, and he only writes in pen

Tommy Boy

captain of dance company

is having none of race’s idiocy at practices either

but he’s actually really funny and nice, all the teachers love him

can’t write a summary in english for the life of him but will write a 10 page essay on why dance company is a part of the performing arts and deserves just as much recognition as theatre, choir, and band

only ever eats out of the vending machines for lunch

is a part of french club

really likes culinary arts because his one weakness is sugar

can’t do any form of art other than dance

but he doesn’t need to - he’s that good

notes??? what are those???

AND FLUFF ENSUES.

#newsies #newsies musical #modern au #high school au #katherine pulitzer #katherine plumber #davey jacobs #les jacobs #jack kelly #crutchie morris #albert dasilva #racetrack higgins #buttons davenport #elmer kasprzak #newsboysheadcanons

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humansofoz · 6 years

Text

October 2nd, 2018

"Take your blessings, put them in your pocket, let them jingle like loose change, let them remind you that they exist." -Sally Familia

Sally Familia. 20. SUNY Oswego Senior.

HoOz- What was your greatest struggle at 16?

Sally- Age 16? So Age 16 that was junior year of high school, correct? Oh man. My greatest struggle was trying to figure out if I wanted to go to an art school or just a regular school. Because since the beginning of time I knew I wanted to study writing, and that’s what I’m studying here- I’m a creative writing major, but I didn’t know if I wanted to go to a liberal arts school where I would have a broader knowledge of different things or go to a conservatory and just do writing. So I feel like I was really struggling to figure out where exactly I wanted to be in the future, like in terms of my craft, and writing, and the arts...I lost my train of thought. But yeah I was just really struggling to figure out how exactly I wanted to reach my goal of being a writer.

HoOz- So, what different factors did you consider when it came to making the decision?

Sally- I mean I was considering if the school was good first of all. Like if I was actually going to be learning about the things that I wanted to. I was considering distance because I wanted to go as far away as possible but also not too far that like, I couldn’t afford it. I was thinking about diversity. That was way too important for me. But the way that I was thinking about it back then was very closed minded because I didn’t wanna be around people of color. Yes. It’s bad. Because, like I grew up in Washington Heights. I moved over here when I was six years old. Like I emigrated here when I was six and then I moved into Washington Heights, so I was always around people of color. So I was like ugh. It had a lot to do with some kind of self-hatred definitely. Because I was like ugh people of color, they’re just so annoying, they’re so loud, they don’t know how to shut up, they’re just so out there. At the time when I was growing up, my mom is very conservative, so I was taught to not be like that. So then I was like okay, I’m just gonna go and live a “caucasian life.” I wanted to be white- ugh disgusting. So I wanted to be as far as possible from people of color. So when I say I was thinking about diversity, I wasn’t thinking of it like oh this is what I want, I was thinking like this is what I need to be away from. So it was... Yeah. It was deep.

HoOz- That is very interesting because usually, it’s the other way around, right?

Sally- Yeah and now when I got here, I’m just like what did I do? Like I had to be around people that were just like me. Because culture shock for me was really bad when I got here. I came here before for EOP and it was bad. Like I had multiple panic attacks. I was just like I can’t breathe around so many people who are not like me. I wasn’t able to communicate because I learned English as my second language, so of course, I always spoke Spanish and English. So I was like who am I gonna talk to? Nobody understands what I’m saying! Haha. So it was just hard.

HoOz- So how do you feel you’ve transitioned from that? Like what helped you change your mindset and get more comfortable?

Sally- This is gonna be really long! I got here and I was very closed minded. Clearly, as I said, I didn’t want to be around people of color even though I am one. So, I feel that when I first..this is gonna sound so corny and cliche..but when I first learned about LSU, I was like okay, these might be people that I can actually communicate with. Because they know my language, they know about my background. I could relate to these people. So, freshman year I didn’t do much. I was just hanging out with the same people in EOP and I just kept to myself. But sophomore year I decided to do something. Because I was getting bored, I wasn’t learning anything new, it was just my classes and going home. I wasn’t meeting new people. I felt really closed off and really isolated. So, I went to an LSU program, and the president at the time- wait no she was actually the PR at the time. She came up to me and she was speaking to me and I was just like so blown away by how friendly she was that I was like okay, I’m gonna be more involved. And then with time I started being more involved with LSU, then I became the Vice President, then became the President. But my mentality has changed so much like in the classroom and outside of it like with my extracurriculars. I learned more about my history and that’s something that- at least for the Latino community, you don’t learn about the Latino community. Like in high school, they talk about either if you’re white or you’re black, they don’t talk about the Hispanic community. So, I never knew anything about it. Because I emigrated here when I was six, so I never really got to learn about the history of my personal culture because I was raised in America. So when I got here I started learning more about the Latino community, I took classes that were focused on Latino literature, about Latino poetry. I found out things about myself and my culture through what I loved, which is writing and literature. If somebody was like “no you have to learn this” then I wouldn’t have learned it, but I was learning about what I love and about myself, together through LSU and through my literature.

HoOz- I love that! Okay, something that I also wanted to ask you about from hearing your story. You came here when you were six, how was that transition for you?

Sally- Um, it was difficult. It’s gonna sound funny- well it’s not that funny, but it’s gonna sound funny. Because I’m white passing. If you see me you’re gonna be like “ah she’s white.” Because this is not my natural hair color, I’m blonde. So my hair is blonde, I have green eyes and I’m super, super white. So you can only tell when I speak because I have like a small accent now, but it was difficult because people didn’t know I didn’t know how to speak the language. So people would come up to me and try to speak to me and I’m just like, I don’t know. I would be in my classes and I honestly didn’t think people in America knew Spanish *laughs.* So I honestly didn’t speak to anyone for like months in my classes. I’m like nobody knows Spanish, who am I gonna speak to? I’m just gonna have to be in the corner by myself and not knowing the language, not speaking to anyone. And it’s hard when you’re so young. You wanna hang out with your friends and when you’re at recess you wanna play. But like, It sucks because I isolated myself. Like I did it to myself because although I didn’t know the language, I feel like I should’ve put myself out there to see if anyone else does. But I isolated myself because I was scared to find the people that I needed, you know? And I feel like that’s why when I came to college I actually put myself out there. Because I’m like just because I don’t see it doesn’t mean they’re not around. Like sometimes you have to put yourself out there because it’s not gonna come to you. So, the language was obviously the hardest part. I couldn’t speak the language, I didn’t know the culture, but I was really young so it wasn’t as difficult as it would’ve been if I came here when I was in high school. It took me about three years to fully learn it, and it would’ve been faster if they put me in ESL. They put me in ESL when I was in fourth grade, and I came when I was in first grade. Yeah, and I feel like that’s why I love literature so much and writing. Because I had to study the language so much, I just like fell in love with it. Now I just write, and I love it.

HoOz- Alright let’s switch gears a little bit. What would you say is your biggest flaw?

Sally- My biggest flaw? At the moment... ah man. I think my biggest flaw is getting out of my business professional kind of like- it’s not a facade because this is how I act, but like I feel like I always have to be in this position where I’m carrying myself a certain way because I’m a student leader on campus. So I’m very, very strict like I don’t like acting like a person my age should be acting. You see how people be out and they be dancing and twerking, and I don’t like doing that because I’m like “nah I’m the president of LSU, you can’t see me doing this.” So I feel like my biggest flaw right now is getting out of that mentality. Like I could still be a student. People know I’m a student like I’m not a faculty, they know I’m a student. So I need to stop thinking about how people are perceiving me outside of it. I always want to be like this professional person where I’m just like being a leader, but sometimes I just have to be a student *laughs.* So I think that’s my biggest flaw right now.

HoOz- And what would you say is your biggest strength?

Sally- My biggest strength? I think my biggest strength right now is just being able to be a leader on campus. I was speaking to one of my high school teachers and she was like “I would’ve never thought you would have been the person you are right now.” Because when I was in high school, a leader? Never. I was always a follower, I hated assuming responsibility, I hated telling people what to do, I was very passive. And just the fact that I was put into this position- I was put into this position by mistake first of all. Something happened with the president at the time and I had to assume responsibility because I was the vice president. So, I feel like the fact that I was able to get in that position so fast, and like I had to ignore my fears of being a leader. My biggest strength is just being able to get over my fear. I hated the thought of being bossy, I hated telling people what to do especially since we’re all students. Like I can’t be telling you what to do, you’re my age. Or sometimes even older than me. So it’s like I feel like since I’m in this position I’m now able to carry myself in a way that I’m respected but I’m also seen as a student on campus.

HoOz- So where do you see yourself in five to ten years?

Sally- Five to ten years. I’m putting it out into the universe, I see myself as a writer. I see myself as an author. I see myself having at least one book published. I’m not gonna go crazy and whatever, but I feel like in five to ten years I’ll have a book out. That’s where I see myself.

HoOz- What kind of book would you want to publish?

Sally- Poetry. Yeah, so I definitely see myself with at least one poetry anthology out. Oh my God, the thought of it!

HoOz- One last question, if you could tell your future self one thing, what would it be?

Sally- Stop being scared that you’re going to lose friends because of your character. Because I have a very strong personality. Very strong. And I have this thing that I lose four friends average in a year. Literally, it’s true, like I lost four friends this year. It's crazy. So I feel like I tone myself down so I don’t scare people off. Because I’m very blunt, I’m very honest, I’m really loud, I’m very dramatic and I’m very big. Sometimes, when I lose a friend, I’m like maybe I should tone it down, maybe I should like stop being so loud and being so like, dramatic because clearly people don’t like that and I’m losing friends. I feel like I have to keep reminding myself that if I’m losing friends it’s because they can’t handle me and they’re not supposed to be in my life. So I shouldn’t be thinking about the people I’m losing. I should be thinking about the people that I could gain that actually love how I act and actually love who I am as a person. That’s what I would tell my future self.

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orbemnews · 3 years

Link

That Spotty Wi-Fi? There’s $100 Billion to Fix It. WASHINGTON — Kimberly Vasquez, a high school senior in Baltimore, faced a tough problem when the pandemic began. She had no fast internet service in her home, but all her classes were online. Marigold Lewi, a sophomore at the same school, was regularly booted off Zoom classes because of her slow home connection. Ms. Lewi spent a lot of time explaining Zoom absences to teachers. Ms. Vasquez sat outside local libraries to use their internet access and at times used her phone. The two of them helped push a successful public campaign for better and free service to low-income families in the city. “It was very chaotic,” Ms. Vasquez said. “We had to do this because no one else was going to change things.” A year after the pandemic turned the nation’s digital divide into an education emergency, President Biden, inheriting the problem, is making affordable broadband a top priority, comparing it to the effort to spread electricity across the country. His $2 trillion infrastructure plan, announced on Wednesday, includes $100 billion to extend fast internet access to every home. The money is meant to improve the economy by enabling all Americans to work, get medical care and take classes from wherever they live. Although the government has spent billions on the digital divide in the past, the efforts have failed to close it partly because people in different areas have different problems. Affordability is the main culprit in urban and suburban areas. In many rural areas, internet service isn’t available at all because of the high costs of installation. “We’ll make sure every single American has access to high-quality, affordable, high speed internet,” Mr. Biden said in a speech on Wednesday. “And when I say affordable, I mean it. Americans pay too much for internet. We will drive down the price for families who have service now. We will make it easier for families who don’t have affordable service to be able to get it now.” Longtime advocates of universal broadband say the plan, which requires congressional approval, may finally come close to fixing the digital divide, a stubborn problem first identified and named by regulators during the Clinton administration. The plight of unconnected students during the pandemic added urgency. “This is a vision document that says every American needs access and should have access to affordable broadband,” said Blair Levin, who directed the 2010 National Broadband Plan at the Federal Communications Commission. “And I haven’t heard that before from a White House to date.” Some advocates for expanded broadband access cautioned that Mr. Biden’s plan might not entirely solve the divide between the digital haves and have-nots. The plan promises to give priority to municipal and nonprofit broadband providers but would still rely on private companies to install cables and erect cell towers to far reaches of the country. One concern is that the companies won’t consider the effort worth their time, even with all the money earmarked for those projects. During the electrification boom of the 1920s, private providers were reluctant to install poles and string lines hundreds of miles into sparsely populated areas. There are also many questions about how the administration plans to address affordability. It is one thing to extend service to homes; it is another to make it inexpensive enough for people once it gets there. The White House was scant on details on Wednesday, though it stressed that subsidies alone were not a long-term solution. In addition, the money would arrive more than a year after the pandemic closed schools and as many were starting to reopen their doors. As a result, many students without good internet connections have already fallen a full year behind. About 25 percent of students don’t have adequate broadband at home, with Native American, Black and Latino children hardest hit, said Becky Pringle, the president the National Education Association, the teachers’ union. Mr. Biden’s plan would be tested in places like Chinle, a school district in the Navajo Nation in northeast Arizona. As with electrification, the most remote homes — particularly on Native land — got service last. Today, many homes in that isolated corner of the state have no access to broadband or speeds that are so slow even one device on a Zoom conference takes up most of the bandwidth. Cellular phone service is nonexistent or spotty in many parts. School is slowly beginning to return to the classroom. But until last week, 31 buses were sent out daily with packets of printouts for homework and flash drives with videos of lessons for math, science, history and English. The graduation rate is expected to be near 60 percent this year, down from 77 percent last year, said Quincy Natay, the superintendent of the Chinle Unified School District. “It has been a tough and challenging year,” Mr. Natay said. “A lot of learning loss has occurred for this group.” Congress has approved more than $10 billion in the past few months to help make broadband more affordable and to put more laptops and other devices in students’ hands. Of those funds, the F.C.C. is working to figure out how to distribute $7.2 billion for broadband service, devices, and potentially routers and other equipment for households with school-age children. In February, the F.C.C. announced $50 to $75 broadband subsidies for low-income families from $3.2 billion granted by Congress in December for emergency digital divide funding. Both programs involve one-time emergency funding to address broadband access problems exacerbated by the pandemic. The administration’s $100 billion plan aims to connect even the most isolated residents: the 35 percent of rural homes without access. In those areas, the White House said, it would focus on “future-proof” technology, which analysts take to mean fiber and other high-bandwidth technology. The administration highlighted its support for networks run and owned by municipalities, nonprofits and rural electrical cooperatives. Several states have banned municipal broadband networks, and the F.C.C. failed in its attempts to overturn those bans in court during the Obama administration. The Biden infrastructure plan faces a tough path in Congress. Republicans have pushed back on the cost. They even argue about definitions of broadband. Republicans balk at some proposals to require faster broadband standards — such as 25 megabits for downloads and as much as 25 megabits for uploads, which they say is a bar too high for providers in rural areas. Those speeds would allow multiple family members to be on videoconferencing, for example. “I believe that this would make it harder to serve those communities that don’t have broadband today,” Michael O’Rielly, a former F.C.C. commissioner, told the House commerce committee last month. Educators lobbied Congress throughout the pandemic to extend broadband in the country. When little relief was in sight, some took matters into their own hands. Last April and through the summer, administrators at the Brockton School District in Massachusetts bought more than 4,000 hot spots with their own funding and a federal loan. They were able to reduce the percentage of students without high-speed internet or a device to about 5 to 10 percent, from about 30 percent. Superintendent Mike Thomas said the district was starting to go back to classrooms and would most likely be fully in person by the fall. But he plans to retain many aspects of distance learning, he said, particularly after-school tutoring. In Baltimore, where an estimated 40 percent of households lack high-speed internet, students and community activists fought to raise awareness of their circumstances. Ms. Vasquez and Ms. Lewi held protests against Comcast, the dominant provider, for better speeds and lower costs for its much-publicized low-income program. Their group, Students Organizing a Multicultural and Open Society, also lobbied the Maryland legislature and the city to put a priority on affordable broadband for low-income households. “We didn’t have options, and we deserved better,” Ms. Vasquez said. Adam Bouhmad and some community activists began to install antenna “mesh” networks tapping into the hot spots of closed Baltimore schools to connect surrounding homes. Through a jury-rigged system of antennas and routers, Mr. Bouhmad’s group, Waves, got cheap or free internet service to 120 low-income families. Mr. Biden’s promise to support alternative broadband providers could include projects like the one led by Mr. Bouhmad, who said the past year had shown how scant broadband options had left residents in Baltimore in the lurch. “Investment upfront to build out infrastructure and support internet providers is fantastic,” Mr. Bouhmad said. He added that residents in places like Baltimore would continue to need federal subsidies and that the administration should focus on the costs of broadband as a major hurdle. “Availability doesn’t equal accessibility in terms of price and user experience,” he said. Source link Orbem News #Billion #Fix #Spotty #WiFi

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things-i-love-blog1 · 7 years

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Narcos One Shot (PeñaxOC)

After I’ve watched Narcos (I know I am late, haha) I was in desperate need of some Javi fanfiction. As it was pretty hard to finde some, I just decided to write one myself.

So here it is! I translated my one shot as I am living in Germany - the choice of words might sound strange from time to time, I am sorry! Please tell me what you think about it, I had so much fun writing it!

Thank you to @imaginethekingsman because your stories motivated me - I enjoy them so much! Lots of love!

Narcos One Shot - Javier Peña x OC

Lucita

She could hear the Columbian music before she had even opened the door of the small bar. It made her smile unconsciously and she realized how much she had missed it. Although she has never spent more than a few weeks during her school breaks here, it has always felt like home. Maybe it was because her mother was born in Bogota and always had a strong connection to her birthplace – even after she met her father and moved to the States. Thanks to her mother she even grew up learning Spanish besides English. Another reason Columbia felt like home. Hearing Spanish at every corner just reminded her of happy moments. Maybe that was why she started to work for an Airline which was flying between Columbia and the States.

The heat was present all the time in Bogota. Even now, as the night has already settled, she could still feel it on her skin. When she finally opened the door to the club the air seemed to become even hotter – thick, full of cigarette smoke and the smell of alcohol. She scanned the room with her eyes searching for colleagues. She found them eventually, far back at the table in the corner. They arrived in a machine from Washington to Bogota yesterday and were going back in a few days. It took Lucia a few minutes to get to the other end of the bar, pressing her body through the mass of people. So much loud music. So much laughter. So many dancing people.

“Lucia!”, one of her coworkers – Coleen - gave her a shot of tequila as soon as she arrived at the corner of the bar. She smiled, taking the glass. The alcohol ran down her throat leaving a warm, fuzzy feeling. Coleen had started working for the airline at the same time as Lucia did. She was a little bit younger than herself, but they had been friends ever since. Lucia recognized that Coleen was saying something to her, but she couldn’t understand anything. The music was too loud – latino rhythms that were slowly beginning to take over her body. She stepped closer.

“Look who I found!” Lucia glanced over to the man her friend was pointing at. He was standing next to her, leaning on the wall. He was tall, his dark blue shirt was unbuttoned on the top. Probably because of the heat. She didn’t recognize him until she looked closer at his face. “Mr. Murphy!”, Lucia said and smiled, “What a surprise, didn’t expect to meet you here.” She could see that he was searching for her face in his memory until he seemed to remember. “I almost didn’t recognize you without your uniform, Ma’am.” He smiled cheeky. She had met him a few weeks ago on a flight from Miami to Colombia and as she had helped him and his wife with some Spanish documents on the airport, she could remember them both pretty well. “How is your wife doing? Connie, if I remember correctly?” He answered. She could see his lips moving at least. But she didn’t understand what he was saying. She could blame it on the loud music. She could blame it on the noise the crowd made. But that would be a lie. The truth was, that somebody called her name. She immediately recognized the voice, although it was a long time since she had heard it. For a few seconds she was even sure that her mind was playing tricks on her. But it wasn’t.

“Lucita?” His voice was deeper than she remembered. Her first impulse was to turn around as fast as she could, but she kept herself from doing that. Lucia took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a few seconds. Just as had to prepare for what her eyes would see in a few seconds. Or whom. “Hola Javi.” He didn’t change at all, at least that was what she thought at first glance. Maybe a little slimmer than a few years ago. And more muscular. At the second glace she wasn’t sure about that anymore. He seemed tried, shadows under his eyes. Surprised it was really her he was seeing. There was a hint of disbelief in his dark eyes, as if she was a fata morgana in the Columbian heat. Then – finally – a smirk appeared on his face before he pulled her into his arms without hesitation. The way he mumbled her name again, gave her goose bumps. Lucia couldn’t help but admit that she actually enjoyed feeling his arms around her. Maybe she had even missed that, she thought taking a deep breath of the mixture of cigarette smoke, pines and aftershave that surrounded Javier.

“Murphy, that’s Lucia. Lucia, that’s Murphy”, Javier said, still having a smirk on his lips. Lucia shook hands with Mr. Murphy recognizing the big grin on his face and the looks he gave his friend. “Steve, nice to meet you again Lucia. I had no idea you actually know my colleague.” “It’s a small world, I guess!”, Lucia answered smiling and decided to ignore the fact that Javier’s arm was still wrapped around her shoulder. It surprised her that Steve was a DEA-Agent as well. She probably should’ve guessed when Connie told her that her husband was starting his job in the American embassy. “What are you doing in Colombia?” Javier asked, after ordering three more drinks. Lucia laughed while shaking her head slightly. Partly because the situation seemed so unreal, partly because Javier didn’t change at all. Always coming straight to the point, always curious. Sometimes it made her feel like being in an interrogation. “Thanks for asking, Javi. I have been doing great the last two years, what about you?” Lucia answered grinning and ignoring his question before she finished her Tequila shot. Steve started to laugh patting Javier on the back. “I think you both will be fine without me. I will be over at the bar, if you need anything.”

Lucia followed the American with her eyes until he disappeared in the crowd. When she turned back to Javier, he was lighting a cigarette. Inhaled a puff. Blew the smoke back into the air. Inhaled another puff. His eyes on Lucia the whole time. His eyebrows pulled together, making a wrinkle between them visible. It almost seemed as if he wanted to read her mind, searching for the answer to his question. She managed to withstand his glance for a few seconds before she looked away. “Stop it, Java”, she could literally hear him smirking. “Stop what?” he blew some more smoke in the air not even trying to hide the grin on his face. “Looking at me like that.” He laughed, deep. Holding the cigarette in one hand, he used the other one to finish his drink. Whiskey, Lucia guessed. She sighed when she felt him looking at her again. She had almost forgotten how hard it was to owe him an answer. He would be persistent until he got it, she knew that. Just the DEA-Agent he was. “I have been working for American Airlines for quite a while now. We came here yesterday and going back in a few days.” He seemed to be pleased with that answer, although the wrinkle between his eyebrows was still present. “You never enjoyed flying”, he said after inhaling a puff. Smiling Lucia shrug her shoulders. “You know –“ , she said taking the cigarette out of his hand, inhaling a deep breath before handing it back to him, “ after college I felt like I had to get as far away as possible. An airplane seemed suitable. American Airlines was hiring at that time. They had just started flying to Columbia and searched for somebody who could speak Spanish. And now I am here.” Javier smiled looking at the stain of red lipstick on his lipstick. “Haven’t I always told you that Spanish will be your downfall one day?” Lucia smiled as well. “This is not my first downfall caused by my Spanish”, she said cheekily looking at him. Javier laughed. This is how he remembered her: bold, having the gift of the gab.

For a moment, neither of them was saying a word. Javier was looking at her again. The last time he had seen her was in Texas when she visited her grandparents who were living next to his father’s farm. She looked different somehow. There were ten years between them, but that had never been an obstacle to their friendship. And sometimes more than that. He watched her brushing her hair behind her ear, looking to the dancefloor and finally holding out her hand to him. He laughed croakily, shaking his head. He definitely preferred standing next to the dancefloor over being on it. As soon as he saw the grin on her face, he knew that he would lose this fight. Without hesitation, Lucia took his hand and he let it happen. When she turned to him on the dancefloor, he was smiling at her. Mischievously. It took her breath away, just for a second. He smiled even more, recognizing it. Javier pulled her closer and they started to dance to the rhythm of the music. “I forgot what a good dancer you are.” His breath touched her naked shoulder. She closed her eyes. “Look at you, still being the gentleman you were back then”, Lucia laughed throwing her head back a little bit when he made her turn around herself. He had also forgotten how infectious her laugh was. “You still haven’t answered my question”, Lucia looked at him. She was smaller than Javier which meant that she had to look up to see his face. He looked down to her, raising his eyebrows. “How you are doing”, she clarified. He made her turn around herself again just to pull her even closer to himself after it. His breath touched her ear when he answered, making her heart beating a little bit too fast. “I am dancing with you, Lucita. How could I not be feeling wonderful?” She laughed, shaking her head again. „We both know that this is only half the truth.” Again, she couldn’t help but recognize the shadows under his eyes. There were a few more wrinkles on his forehead, around his eyes. She knew what his work as a DEA agent included. He never told her what he was doing here in Colombia, but she could tell. And if she was honest to herself, she knew that he must have been seeing horrible things. The pictures on TV were terrible enough.

Javier was looking down at Lucia again, catching her watching him closely. He raised his eyebrows which made a half-smile appear on her face. When he drew her even closer to him, she could smell the pines and the aftershave again. “I am fine”, he murmured gently, his face so close to hers that his lips touched Lucia’s temple. Again, she held her breath. Closed her eyes. Knowing that this was the only answer she would get she decided to stop worrying. Tried to enjoy the moment. The music. The feeling of his hand on her waist. And she did. She could literally grab the tension between them. See it. It made her skin prickling, her breath shaking. And she knew that he could tell. To be honest, he probably knew as well as she did how this evening was going to end. Some things never change, she thought, no matter how far away you are from home.

She was watching him while he was trying to open the door to his apartment with one hand. Holding her hand in his other one just as he would be afraid that she could change her mind. With one foot he pushed the door open, finally pulling her in his hallway. Just seconds after he had closed the door again, he pushed her against the wall. His hands next to her head, fixating her with his dark eyes. She could swear that he had to see her heartbeat through her chest. Goosebumps all over her body. Lucia placed her hands in his neck, running her fingers through his hair, over his neck to his shirt. Unbuttoning it slowly. She enjoyed how his eyes watched her while she continued to open his shirt. A half-smile on her face when she finally touched the bare skin under his shirt with her hands. Moving her fingers from his shoulders to his chest, following the line of hair down to his pants. The second she tried to open them Javier grabbed her hands, pinning them on the wall above her head. Her lips slightly opened she breathed heavily. Smiling again when she recognizes his eyes slowly wandering over her body.

“You look wonderful in this dress”, he whispered. Slowly pushing the strap of her dress over her shoulder and then – suddenly – turning her so she faced the wall. She bit her lip and closed her eyes when she felt his lips on her naked shoulder. “I remember you look even better without it”, his voice so close to her ear that his lips barely touched it. Inch by inch he opened the zipper of the red dress. Finally, it fell to the ground silently. Gently Javier was turning her back towards him. Her eyes were still closed, her mouth opened, breathing fast. „¡Mírame!“, Lucia recognized that his deep voice was shaking. She opened her eyes, looking at him. He seemed so familiar, yet so different. She ran her fingers through his hair, drew an invisible line from his forehead over his temple to his upper lip, his moustache, his chin. Their eyes met and for a second neither of them moved. Then, he slowly lifted his arms, took her face into his hands. Touched her lips with his thumb. Leaning against her body. Skin on skin. He could feel her heavy breathing when he bent down. Stopped, not even an inch away from her face. Feeling the warmth of her skin. She was the one pulling him close almost impatiently until their lips finally met.

It was still dark when she woke up, but the sun had already started to rise. It took Lucia a few seconds to remember where she was. Carefully she turned over in bed. Javier was liying next to her on his back, his face turned towards Lucia. For a few seconds she was only lying there, watching him, almost not daring to breath. He seemed peaceful, almost relaxed. She suppressed the need to touch his lips, which were slightly opened. With a soundless sigh she got up and got dressed, her eyes falling on the gun which was lying on the bedside table. Sometimes she almost forgot. Forgot what he was doing, what he was seeing every day. She knew that he was good in what he was doing. But she also knew that there was a limit to the pain which one could take and experience. At least that was what her grandpa always told her. She sighed again. Lucia had almost reached the door to the living room, when she turned around again. Thought about going back to bed, then smiling regretfully. She knew how Javier was like. It’s not that she was regretting what happened last night and he wouldn’t either. But she also hadn’t planned on it, didn’t want to make it awkward the next morning. Lucia looked at Javier again, closely as if she had to memorize every detail of his face. She could feel that - if she left now - she wouldn’t see him again anytime soon. Maybe another two years, maybe even longer. She just knew it. Thinking that, she turned around and closed the door behind her.

#javier peña #javi #agent peña #peña #narcos #fanfiction #fanfic #oneshot #story #Javier Peña story #javier Peña x oc #narcos x oc #narcos fanfiction #narcos fanfic #narcos story #Javier Peña fanfic #Javier Peña fanfiction

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coquuin · 5 years

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really LONG CHARACTER SURVEY. RULES. repost , don’t reblog ! good luck !

TAGGED. i stole it from Kiki!! TAGGING. whoever wants to do it!!

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Ezekiel Axel Ruiz Rosario

NICKNAME: Zeke

AGE: (Verse dependent) anywhere from 19 to 25! most often tho, i usually make him 25.

BIRTHDAY: November 15 (self given bc he doesnt know his real birthday)

ETHNIC GROUP: Puerto Rican / Latino

NATIONALITY: British-American

LANGUAGE(S): English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, Latin, Romanian, some Russian, and some Chinese! he likes to study languages a lot....

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Demi-Pansexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Demi-Panromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Hes multiship boiiii

CLASS: Upper class, though he really doesnt have very expensive tastes or anything. Seems like he’d be lower class, but. yknow, he is a celebrity so.

HOMETOWN / AREA: London, England

CURRENT HOME: A very small and shitty apartment. Yeah, he could get a much better home bc he does have the money, but... hes weird and likes a more slightly cramped space. dont question Ezekiel, he has weird preferences.

PROFESSION: Guitarist of the rock band Rogue! also used to work at a music shop when he was like 17, but that was back in London.

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Very curly and messy black hair! He hardly bothers to take care of it. its prolly greasy bc hes a fucking gremlin pls make him take a shower. stinky boye

EYES: BIG OL FUCKIN EYES. they’re brown! a little sunken, and has massive bags under them--rather than the bags being from lack of sleep, though, theyre actually a result of too much sleep! Ezekiel can and WILL fall asleep wherever and whenever he wants. you cant stop him. his eyes are pretty big actually, and very expressive!

NOSE: the bitch looks like its been broken like ten times. he got a weird ass nose. its a little big, but not terribly so!

FACE: scrawny as FUCK. motherfucker’s head shape looks like a fuckin crescent moon. you know that one tiktok meme with the girl who has the weird ass moon lookin head? bitch looks like that a little bit. croissant lookin ass head.

LIPS: very thin! pls get him some chapstick

COMPLEXION: bitch looks like he hasnt gone out in the sun in over 20 years! which, actually, isnt entirely wrong bc he pretty much hasn’t. pale as fuck! his skin looks gray, like a fucking corpse. he looks like a zombie, but i swear to god hes a plain ass human i think

BLEMISHES: a lot! mostly on his body tho, especially on his back.

SCARS: A L O T!!! his back is literally covered in a shit ton of scars in the shape of upside down crosses, and he has a lot on the rest of his body as well, and several on his left wrist. yeah he, uh... he aint okay

TATTOOS: None! hes way too terrified to get one and hates the idea of one being stuck on his body for like the rest of his life rip

HEIGHT: 6′ 3″ / 190.05cm

WEIGHT: about like... 98lbs?? which is. fUCKING TERRIBLE FOR HOW TALL HE IS!!! LIKE HOLY SHIT EZEKIEL ARE YOU GOOD??? HOW ARE YOU ALIVE?!?!?! EZEKIEL?!?!?!?! FUCKING EAT SOMETHING PL EASE

BUILD: SCRAWNY AS SHIT. HE IS SO SKINNY HOLY SHIT. OH MY GOD GET THIS BOY A FUCKING BURGER OR SOMETHING BEFORE HE DIES JESUS CHRIST!!!!

ALLERGIES: Dandelions! He’ll just sneeze a lot around them

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: The bangs are kiiiinda kept to the side sorta just so its not falling in his eyes, but other than that, he doesnt really bother to like, style it or anything. its just curly and messy. although! when he was a child all the way to his teens, he did have a stupid ass bowlcut! but that wasnt his own choice, so he cant really be blamed for it :(

USUAL FACE LOOK: motherfucker has the WORST case of resting bitch face you will ever fucking see. even when hes happy he still looks angery sometimes!!! but thats literally just his fucking face!!!!

USUAL CLOTHING: a looot of slightly baggy clothing. lots of hoodies! especially wears a lot of black and red, mostly black. also wears mostly boots or sneakers, usually the ladder. he just doesnt really give two shits about fashion, as he’s more concerned with just sorta.. hiding his body. hes very insecure! save him

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR(S): "the devil”, getting close to anyone, performing in front of people, people in general, cats, knives & other sharp objects, the sight of his own blood

ASPIRATION(S): "to escape the Devil’s wrath,” as he phrases it. of course, the whole ‘THE DEVIL IS OUT TO KILL EVERYONE I LOVE AND THEN HE’LL KILL ME NEXT’ thing is obviously just in Ezekiel’s head, but it feels very real to him! he basically just wants to be free of the “demons” in his head. aside from that, he also really really reeaaally wants to own an orphanage someday! basically take in orphan kids and help give them a much better life than he had. but as for right now, he fully realizes he’s not ready for that at all, so he’s currently more focused on his music career and getting better mentally, though the ladder is a slow process.

POSITIVE TRAITS: Patient, simple, humble

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Rude, temperamental, paranoid

ZODIAC: Scorpio!

TEMPERAMENT: uhhhh fuck idk i just took a quiz for this and ezekiel got like a tie between phlegmatic and melancholic--but if i had to guess, i’d say melancholic!

SOUL TYPE(S): Spiritualist!

ANIMALS: i always associate Ezekiel with dogs bc. he literally just acts like a fuckin angery dog. and an angery snake or something. bUT MOSTLY DOGS. he will literally bark at people, because he’s a fucking weirdo who doesnt know how to behave like a normal fucking human being

VICE HABIT(S): uhhh drugs and alcohol are a big thing he does!! and generally pushing everyone away so he doesnt get close to anyone! and also acting like a gotdam ANIMAL. SOMEONE PLS MAKE EZEKIEL STOP FUCKING BARKING AND HISSING AT PEOPLE!!!

FAITH: Christian! his religion is very important to him too!

GHOSTS?: Yes!

AFTERLIFE?: Yes!

REINCARNATION?: He isn’t really sure about reincarnation, but wants to believe it exists.

ALIENS?: Yes.

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: fuck if he knows. ezekiel could not give less of a shit about politics and hardly knows anything about it bc he really doesnt keep up with anything.

SOCIO POLITICAL POSITION: he doesnt give a fuck

EDUCATION LEVEL: None. he never even went to school, fun fact!

FAMILY.

FATHER: Dead!

MOTHER: Dead!

SIBLINGS: None!

EXTENDED FAMILY: None!

NAME MEANING(S): Ezekiel means “God will strengthen”! I have no idea what Rosario means sadly bc i cant find anything good on it on google :(

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: None that he knows of.

FAVORITES.

BOOK: He couldn’t possibly pick a single favorite book--he loves a lot! but he loves mostly romance genres! which is so fucking ironic considering he’s fucking terrified of getting into relationships. and even more ironically? he doesnt read any horror genres bc it scares him too much!

MOVIE: he doesn’t know.

5 SONGS: While My Guitar Gently Weeps - the Beatles; Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd; Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin; Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen; Don’t Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult.

DEITY: God, Jesus

HOLIDAY: Christmas! everyone expects Ezekiel to be like the grinch or something and hate Christmas, but nope! He surprisingly loves it!

MONTH: March

SEASON: Fall

PLACE: His bed

WEATHER: Preferably a little cold, but not too much, bc he just cant stand being hot--and completely dark outside!

SOUND: Gentle guitar strums.

SCENT(S): Ivory

TASTE(S): Anything thats like. Meat. hes very picky tho

FEEL(S): Skin. As in, like, being affectionate with someone else! He’s just very touch starved rip

ANIMAL(S): Yknow, oddly enough, despite acting like a fuckin wild animal a lot, he doesnt like animals much. but definitely dogs are his favorite!

NUMBER: 20

COLORS: Red and black--though he likes blue as well, especially dark blue.

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Music--especially with guitar! And painting, writing, literature.

BAD AT: Anything to do with math or science and stuff like that; anything that requires physical work. hes p much bad at like.. most things tbh.

TURN ONS: Just like.. be soft and gentle with him... also probably has a lowkey praise kink--if you could call it much of a kink i guess? hes pretty vanilla tbh. hes just soft.....

TURN OFFS: If you go rough on him at all he WILL cry. Also anything that, like, restricts him like ropes or some shit will literally make him panic so fucking bad. basically hes just vanilla as fuck, just be gentle with him pls

HOBBIES: Writing / playing music, writing in general, painting, watching random ass movies on TV until he falls asleep, sleeping, avoiding his problems like the fuckin wind

TROPES: man fuck if i know

AESTHETIC TAGS: literally all of Aurelio Voltaire’s songs; shit you’d see in Halloween (which is funny bc Ezekiel fucking hates Halloween); vampires; satanic symbolism. which is all ironic, bc Ezekiel doesnt actually like spooky shit! but it all sure does give big Ezekiel vibes anyway

GPOY QUOTES: huh

FC INFO.

MAIN FC(S): Jack the ripper from, well, Oyasumi Jack the Ripper!

ALT FC(S): None!

OLDER FC(S): None!

YOUNGER FC(S): None rip

VOICE CLAIM(S): Murdoc Niccals from Gorillaz

GENDERBENT FC(S): iiiiii dont really do genderbends pretty much so none

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1: IF YOU COULD WRITE YOUR CHARACTER YOUR WAY IN THEIR OWN MOVIE, WHAT WOULD IT BE CALLED, WHAT STYLE WOULD IT BE FILMED IN, AND WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?:

Honestly probably something like the movie Sybil??? like basically just delving deep into his whole psychology and mindset and whatnot and why he acts the way he acts. those are always like my FAVORITE type of movies, and Ezekiel would honestly be fucking perfect for something like that bc literally every single aspect of his entire personality has been molded in some way shape or form by some event in his life, especially to do with the cult he was raised in, and it hONESTLY IS SO INTERESTING TO JUST LIKE.. STUDY WHAT EZEKIELS BRAIN IS LIKE BASICALLY. AT LEAST FOR ME ANYWAY BC I AM HIS MUN AND ALL BUT.

Q2: WHAT WOULD THEIR SOUNDTRACK / SCORE SOUND LIKE?:

for some reason i always kinda associate him with like edgy violin and piano music?? i mean hey rock stars can be classy too fuck u

Q3: WHY DID YOU START WRITING THIS CHARACTER?:

WELL ORIGINALLY WHEN I FIRST CREATED HIM HE WAS JUST BASED OFF MURDOC NICCALS BC, YALL ALREADY KNOW DAMN WELL IM OBSESSED WITH THAT PICKLE MAN, BUT. Now, however, he’s WAAAAAAAAY different and i just love writing him so much bc like. basically like what i said in the movie question!! he is SO fucking interesting to delve into psychology wise. like, yeah he has an edgy ass tragic backstory, but whats neat about that is you can absolutely see how said edgy backstory ties into his mindset and individual habits and how the memories of it still affects his everyday life despite the fact that he’s escaped it a long time ago now. even in the small things he does, chances are is that every single thing that he does is either something he does to soothe and comfort himself for his own safety, or something that has just been fucking drilled into his mind by the cult members and whatnot, if any of that makes sense? LIKE YALL DONT UNDERSTAND I HAVE LITERALLY WATCHED LIKE HOURS LONG DOCUMENTARIES ON ORPHANAGES AND SATANIC CULTS AND PSYCHOLOGY AND HOW TRAUMA LIKE WHAT EZEKIEL EXPERIENCED CAN FUCK SOMEONE UP, JUST FOR THE SAKE OF WRITING HIM CORRECTLY AND REALISTICALLY. LIKE HE STARTED OFF AS SOME MURDOC NICCALS REJECT WHEN I MADE HIM IN LIKE?? 2015 MAYBE??? BUT NOW, MY MAIN INTEREST IN HIM IS LIKE, HOW FASCINATING HIS FUCKING MIND IS IN A WAY. idk im a big psychology nerd but.

Q4: WHAT FIRST ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS CHARACTER?:

Murdoc

Q5: DESCRIBE THE BIGGEST THING YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR MUSE:

him pushing everyone away! like its one thing to have a self-defense mechanism like where you just generally act kinda mean to drive people off, but Ezekiel can really take it to a whole new level and he really can be like.. a hUGE ASSHOLE BC OF IT. its mostly when he realizes that he may be starting to become close with anyone that it really gets to a bad point and he becomes all the more self-destructive. THIS IS GONNA BE VERY UNSANITARY SO WARNING BUT hes literally told someone in an rp once like “YOURE GOING TO FORCE ME TO EAT YOUR SHIT OR DRINK YOUR FUCKING URINE JUST LIKE THOSE FUCKING PEOPLE IN THE ORPHANAGE DID, ARENT YOU???? IS THAT WHAT YOU FUCKING WANT FROM ME?? TO USE ME, HURT ME, CUT ME, WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT??? WE ARE NEVER GOING TO BE FUCKING FRIENDS YOU GODDAMN IDIOT!!! WHAT THE HELL MADE YOU THINK WE HAD ANYTHING IN COMMON??” AND ITS JUST KINDA.. YIKES SCOOB! but basically hes willing to say just about anything to push people away so he can avoid getting close to anyone

Q6: WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN COMMON WITH YOUR MUSE?:

WE BOTH FEAR AND AVOID ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS LIKE THE FUCKIN WIND. also when i was younger i definitely had a tendency to try and make people hate me just to push people away like Ezekiel does but im not like that anymore thankfully!!

Q7: HOW DOES YOUR MUSE FEEL ABOUT YOU?:

oh hed probably try to fucking kill me lol

Q8: WHAT CHARACTERS DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE INTERESTING INTERACTIONS WITH?

HONESTLY LIKE.. P MUCH EVERY INTERACTION EZEKIEL HAS IS SO GOOD. Ezekiel is one of those characters where its very hard to have a boring rp bc he just does so much shit, so like no matter who i rp him with, its bound to be amazing. ALTHOUGH I DO NEED TO MAKE HIM INTERACT WITH MORE PEOPLE TBH!!! the only problem i have when writing him sometimes is actually making him talk to new people, bc of his extreme shut-in attitude and whatnot, so he literally just never starts conversations with anyone he barely knows.

Q9: WHAT GIVES YOU INSPIRATION TO WRITE YOUR MUSE?:

listening to any music that reminds me of him! but otherwise, it usually just comes pretty naturally to me tbh. just some days ill be in the mood for him all day--same with a lot of my characters actually.

Q10: HOW LONG DID THIS TAKE YOU TO COMPLETE?:

A LONG ASS TIME

#shut up erica; ooc #ezekiel facts

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michelleinaba-english-blog · 7 years

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A Community Impact group sends Columbia students overnight to staff two Upper West Side homeless shelters weekly. The shelters need one volunteer every night to stay open.

MICHELLE INABA MOCARSKI

Columbia Daily SpectatorMarch 2, 2012, 7:51am

http://spc.columbiaspectator.com/2012/03/02/staffed-students-homeless-shelters-stay-open

When Henry Zhang, CC ’12, arrived at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue Next Step Men’s Shelter on Wednesday night, volunteers had finished preparing dinner, and music was being played on the upper floors of the synagogue. The guests were about to arrive, and Zhang was there to stay the night as a volunteer.

“The first time I was here I was kind of nervous and shy,” Zhang said. But “they did their thing and it was very pleasant and easy going,” he said.

Zhang is a student volunteer with the Community Impact group Project for the Homeless, which provides volunteers for two Manhattan homeless shelters, both of them near Lincoln Center: the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue shelter, a men’s shelter, and the New York Society for Ethical Culture, a women’s shelter.

“It’s not dangerous, and it’s not scary,” Dane Cook, CC ’12 and PFH’s chief executive coordinator, said.

New York state law requires homeless shelters to have a non-homeless supervisor on the premises during all hours when the shelter is open. The Project for the Homeless group helps shelters stay open each night by recruiting Columbia and Barnard students to be those supervisors.

“They have to have someone there. If a volunteer doesn’t show up or if they don’t have a volunteer, they have to close the shelter for the night,” Cook said.

HIGH-IMPACT VOLUNTEERING “It’s a different kind of volunteering because, as Dane says, it’s high-impact,” Zhang said. “Just by being here, you’re helping the shelter to stay open.”

Sometime last semester, Zhang realized that he was going to graduate without having done much volunteer work while at Columbia. He found Project for the Homeless through Community Impact’s website.

“I really didn’t know what to expect because I haven’t actually volunteered at a homeless shelter before, and in my mind I expected something like a huge room, with lots of beds next to each other,” Zhang said. “But this area is really small and very nice, too,” he added.

Students usually arrive between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., when the synagogue volunteers are about to leave. All they have to do is be there—the shelter provides them with a private bedroom and bathroom, and they can spend the night studying, doing homework, or even sleeping. Lights go out at 11 p.m., and everyone wakes up at about 5:30 a.m.

“This type of shelter model is that the people who stay there are invested in the shelter, so they all have chores that they do, which means our volunteers do very little,” Cook said. “Our volunteers are the living, breathing person who’s there just to be there.”

Student volunteers can talk to the homeless men and women as much or as little as they want.

“Whatever you are comfortable with doing,” Cook said. “But I really enjoy talking to them because it kind of gives me a dose of reality you don’t get at Columbia.”

‘SOME KIND OF HOPE’ Stephen Wise Free Synagogue’s shelter hosts about 10 people at a time, most of whom are returning guests and all of whom must be pre-screened for tuberculosis and drugs.

The two shelters served by PFH are both considered transitional shelters by the city, because they serve people who are in the process of getting public housing. The shelters provide them with showers, as well as dinners prepared by synagogue volunteers.

Cook said that based on his experience, the shelter’s guests average between 20 and 35 years old, and come from all walks of life.

“Generally, the population is black and Latino, but not always, not necessarily,” Cook said.

According to Cook, there are several reasons that people take refuge in shelters like these two.

“They are not the people that you normally think when you think of homelessness in New York,” he said. “These are people who are working on not being homeless. They are real people. They have jobs. They have lives. They have fallen under harder circumstances,” he said.

That’s what happened to Ginyar Ejiofor, 28, who was at the synagogue shelter on Wednesday night. Ejiofor moved to New York from Florida in search of new job opportunities, but he was also drawn by the city’s culture and the possibility of finding love.

“Pretty much employment opportunities, just life in general,” Ejiofor said when asked why he had moved to New York. “Employment opportunities, love—because of my own sexual orientation—culture here, just events in so many different areas.”

Ejiofor worked in retail and in journalism, but things started to change when he lost his job and was diagnosed with depression.

“Depression led to substance use, lack of motivation, and I guess, at the end, total isolation,” he said.

Ejiofor is still looking for a job, and he keeps himself busy by writing and blogging about fashion and life. He’s now in his second week at the shelter, and he said he appreciates the volunteers’ work.

“I know I’m not at the best situation, but it makes it a lot easier and manageable. And it’s really uplifting,” he said. “There’s a clean environment that I can come to, and it’s safe, and it’s warm ... So it’s a kind of recharge.”

Although Ejiofor’s situation is harsh, he hasn’t lost hope.

“In terms of motivation, I am more than I can see,” he said. “My existence is my validation. Can I do this? Can I kinda survive from this? And the answer is yes, because I’m still here. So, there is some kind of hope.”

‘NOTHING IN STORE’ The search for a better life is also what holds Alex, 29, in New York City. Alex, who was staying at the synagogue shelter Wednesday night, suffers from schizoaffective disorder, a psychiatric condition which combines schizophrenia and mood problems.

Alex, who did not want to give his last name, said he thinks that being in his hometown, Lancaster, Pa., worsens his condition.

“While I was there, I was in psychosis the whole time,” Alex said. “When I came here, the psychosis cleared up.”

Before being diagnosed, Alex worked for over a year as an English teacher in Korea. Upon returning to the United States, he got diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and took a job as a waiter in a golf club in Pennsylvania. He believes he moved to New York because of the mental issues this caused him.

“I came here with no plans, nothing in store,” he said.

Alex currently works 20 hours a week for the city’s meals-on-wheels program, delivering meals to clients. He has been living at the homeless shelter for four months, but he does not plan to move back to his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.

“No, I’m not going back there,” he said.

‘A GREAT REALITY CHECK’ Both Cook and Zhang described volunteering with PFH as a very positive experience.

“Someone needed to be there for that shelter to be open that night for those guys to sleep in beds, under a roof, for the night,” Cook said. “And somebody has to do it.”

Cook also said he has learned from his experiences. Once, he said, a guest told him his life story, making a particular point to tell him to stay in school.

“When a homeless person is telling you very earnestly, ‘Stay in school and work hard in school,’ it’s such a great reality check,” Cook said.

The next morning, that guest offered to buy him a cup of coffee from a street cart.

Cook said he found himself in a moral dilemma: “Do I accept this person’s gift, who’s definitely in a tighter circumstance than myself? Do I accept him buying me coffee? Or do I say ‘Oh, no,’ because obviously I can pay for my coffee?” Ultimately, Cook decided it was appropriate to accept the coffee.

“The reason I think he wanted to buy me a cup of coffee ... was that he was really grateful for what the shelter provided for him, and he was really thankful for the volunteers that came down,” Cook said. “He liked meeting the Columbia kids who came down to volunteer.”

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thetravelprinter · 7 years

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Swims, dives, horses, climbs, bites and uncomfortable bikes

After a few days of hustle and bustle in Havana, we made our way to the highly recommended town of Viñales to discover a bit of life in the Cuban countryside. Initially we tried to take a Viazul bus but it was fully booked days in advance (there is only 1 per day) so we opted for a street negotiated ‘colectivo’ (shared, carpooling type, unofficial taxi) where we met two guys from Cataluña. Turns out our first attempt at Cuban bargaining didn’t go too well as their seats cost distinctively less than ours (we did get much better at this as time went on though!).

It is no surprise that Viñales comes highly recommended; a quaint little country town with an array of colourfully painted casas surrounded by green hills and mountains where cycling, horse trekking and swimming in waterfalls in the jungle are the top attractions. It did, however, feel like a town that had suddenly realized that it could cash in big time from tourist dollars. Every single house, literally every one, had the ‘casa particular’ sign out front saying rooms available and there was a constant stream of people offering excursions and activities to the throngs of tourists that had clearly also been told that Viñales was the place to be!

We opted for staying in Villa Pitín y Juana, but it seems like their Lonely Planet mention has gone to their heads slightly as it is more like a hostel or mini hotel now. We booked our horse trekking with our two new Spanish friends in their casa (as we knew they’d only settle for the lowest price!) but this did not go down well with our host. Even though we booked to have breakfast and dinner in our casa, we were definitely made to feel more than a little pressured to arrange all our activities there too.

Cabbbaalllllllllooooo (caballo = horse in Spanish) is a word everyone who has been to Viñales will recognise as we found out this is obviously the Cuban horse whisperers call for making any horse in their country move in the desired direction. I can’t think of the English equivalent but I’m pretty sure its not hoooooooorrrrssse, although this is indeed a term of endearment used between my Irish friends and I in greetings and for direction changes on a night out! The horse trekking through a muddy forest path to some beautiful view points was a great day, and made even more fun for Immy and our Spanish amigos since my horse (Caramelo) was clearly built only to hold a child of no more than 10 and also because he was the campest horse I’ve ever encountered; twinkle toe side stepping any little puddle or body of water with elegance and trotting (or should I say strutting) in a manner that most Divas or Dragqueens would happily show off in a Pride parade! Both Immy and the Spanish lads, had equally original, imaginatively named horses in ‘Mojito’, ‘Chocolate’ and ‘Coco Loco’ although theirs were decidedly more ‘horse like’ in their actions in comparison to Princess Caramelo!

After a day trip to the stunning beach of Cayo Jutias (bring your mosquito repellent though), we left Viñales and made our way back South in another sweaty colectivo packed with turistas to ‘Playa Larga’. Most people had decided to bypass this quiet, fishing village by the coast, which was a big win for us as there were notably less white sunburnt faces around. Our casa particular this time was a much more positive experience with our lovely host, Libby, in Casa Gran Cañon. She made us feel part of the family and provided us with a monstrously huge Cuban breakfast every morning (breakfasts in Cuba are enormous, as you can see in the photo). We spent a day scuba diving but it was a little disappointing as it felt a little like a ‘get in, get out, give me money’ exercise.

Before heading back to Havana to catch our flight to Mexico we spent a few days in both Cienfuegos and Trinidad. Our casa particular in Cienfuegos was a beautiful, colonial house run by two extremely charming and accommodating Doctors who had opened up the top floor of their house to tourists to supplement their income. Throughout our trip, we met Cubans in a similar position - taxi drivers and waiters who worked for the Government as teachers and civil servants for 20+ years but who had packed it in to work in tourism… and you can see why, with the average monthly wage of 30CUC (around €25) being equivalent to what they can earn by letting out a room for one night.

Both Cienfuegos and Trinidad consisted of lots of walks and hikes (in sweltering heat)… up hills and Church towers to look out points and along coastal roads, and some really great music. Music is simply everywhere in Cuba and its almost always exceedingly good. During dinner bands, after dinner salsa and even including a mini rave in a cave in Trinidad, which we thought would be a total tourist trap but in fact there was a great mix of locals, other latinos and pasty Europeans all dancing and jiving together. We had heard the Teatro deserved a visit so we eagerly bought tickets for the only show that was on while we were there. A Flamenco group performance in Cuba has got to be entertaining, right? Well it was, but mostly because it was a kids show with 13-14 being the average age of the ‘performers’ and the entire audience made up of proud parents except for the eejit tourists at the back (of which we were thankfully not the only ones).

On our way to Trinidad we stopped off at El Nicho, a beautiful set of waterfalls and rock pools in the Cuban forest, this time sharing the taxi cost with two Italian guys we picked up at the bus stop! Unlike many other Spanish speaking countries I have visited, in Cuba things run on time. We thought our Italian friends were going to live up to their stereotype when 20 minutes after the meeting time in the morning, there was still no show from them but bleary-eyed and sleep deprived, they made it just in time. Turns out they had only got to bed at 6am after using that Italian charm to end up on some beach, miles out of town, with some lucky young ladies the night before… I guess some stereotypes (positive ones in this case) ring true!

Trinidad itself is a pretty place with cobblestone streets, beautiful church plazas and open squares but don’t expect to be away from the crowd here as it is definitely on most tourist itineraries. It seemed like each of our casa particular experiences was becoming more family oriented than the last and in this one, Casa Jorge, we had breakfast at their kitchen table while Amanda, Imogen’s newest and biggest fan, insisted Immy make her a plait in her hair in the same way her own was done. Amanda’s cuteness went further into overdrive when Immy asked her how old she was and she proudly replied “dos” while holding up her hand to show 5 fingers, in case we were visual learners.

Trinidad’s music also didn’t disappoint, or so we thought, when we stumbled upon a big open air Spanish hip hop DJ set packed with people in the main square. As we pushed our way through the crowd for a better dancing position we were both happily gloating how cool this was because there were literally no other tourists there; until, as we neared the front, we realized we were a good 15-20 years older than everyone else and this was clearly a big quinceñera (15th birthday party) or something similar. Sheepishly, we danced our way out of there as quick we as got in, with many staring teenage eyes on us wondering ‘what are these two creepy old tourists doing here’.

Our faux-pas’s did not end there though… we also made the wonderful decision to rent bikes (at 11am when the sun is approaching its hottest and all the good bikes have already been rented) and go on a 36km cycle to La Boca. The breeze helped with the heat as we pedalled away and we did manage to stumble upon a stunning little private beach on the way to the main strip where we spent most of the day but nothing could help with what felt like a giant steel rod poking through the saddle for all 36 of those kilometres in the 35 degree heat. An experience? Yes. Could I walk or sit down for the following 24 hours? No. No, I could not.

We had heard mixed reports about Cuba but we genuinely loved the place. Not because of the usual traveller checklists like the beaches and the food but because of its uniqueness. Even things like wifi work in their own Cuban way; there is wifi and internet access but only in public places with a prepaid card (or in the lobby of 5 star hotels). Its almost like Cuba is saying “right, you can have wifi but we’ve seen what people get up to on the internet and the problems it has caused so yes, you can have wifi, but you’ll use it in public where everyone can see”. It is just so different to anywhere else I have been in so many ways but it is a special place like no other. If you manage to learn a bit of Spanish before you go, the experience will certainly be greatly enriched as most Cubans speak little or no English but they are the nicest, warmest, friendliest of people who are just dying to chat to you and wax lyrical about their own country, customs and culture. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend going but maybe avoid renting rickety old bikes at midday.

#cuba #viñales #cienfuegos #trinidad

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