#i. feel very strongly about names personally. because mine (last name. it's mexican) is very important to me! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

chabby4memes · 3 years

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My friends asked me a curious question.

One House, Five Operators and You- who do you choose- and where do you choose?

Now for me Personally, That's a real hard Question, Now, Undeniably at least one Medic Operator would have to be present, because my health is shit. That's between, Kal'tsit, Ptilopsis and Silence, so I'll allocate the Fifth spot for that choice.

Terms of Living Space? Kazdel, Sargon or Lungmen really, even Kazimierz doesn't seem too bad, I mean, they all have glaring flaws- but still, actually, nah, Siracusa, defo, Siracusa no question.

But Operators?

First, maybe we'll start off easy,

Lappland, Mainly because I think she's cool, also, Gallows humour and politeness? I'm in for it, as long as she don't mind music of large variation, she's cool with me- also, hope she don't mind hot sauce or Salty food.

Utage, Two School students that are able to manipulate their mental health results- sounds like a dream for the household medic- so anyway Utage's Chill, likes to party, Unlike me though. I'm chill but I'm a party-phantom, and I can sew, so my fashionability is probably not too down bad. Meh, I need someone who can get me out of my shell.

I know we already have a Lupo here but, Projekt Red, Two Emotionally constipated teenagers in one house let's go, three Teenagers in one house, one Child like Adult too. Me, I would love talk with her about random stuff, Exchange on Assassination info, and On my end, Of course my speciality is Language, Efficiency, and compacting. My dad may have been a cook, my mum may be unemployed, but I have learnt the family tradition of Smithing.

I was gonna put Vulcan here, but, I dunno if that's a good idea, so Vermeil, She's actually quite vengeful, like I can be, trust me, as my friends in real life, Namely Camellia and Mint, know, once someone got into a fight with a smaller friend of mine, I made a promise to beat the crud out of them shall they come by again. We've both lost people to disputes, I won't really talk about that here though, so I'm betting a coin that me and her are more similar than I'd like to really admit.

And Medic Slot at last, Some would say, Kal'tsit because of red, but, really, Imma go with Silence here, her sleeping habits are near identical to mine, and my main talent of getting people to bed, and with three troubled kid's + Utage and Lappland, Night would be hard.

And I know it's not sure whether any of these operators can cook, that's okay, because I sure as fuck can. I've basically been raising myself, I can pay for myself, and can cook, so I'm a Swiss army knife. Outside of Red's Lupo scaring tendencies, and Lappland, I feel the house won't be to Hard to manage, Can get my dad to build a house.

And my friend asked a few Separate questions that I'll answer here-

What race in Terra would you be? My friends all Said, Sarkaz, Sankta, Lupo or Lung, but I disagree rather strongly with Sankta, but I still feel I'd most likely be a Liberi or Sarkaz. They said I'd be a Mexican Wolf, or in one person's case when talking Liberi said, Vulture. A few honourable mentions in that group chat were; Rebbah(spot), Draco, Vulpo, Feline(Savannah Cat), perro(Saint Bernard), or in one person's case, Whatever the fuck is going on with sora.

Where would you wanna live most? On my own? Kazdel, Columbia, Sargon, Yen/Lungmen, Siracusa, Rhodes Island and Kjerag.

Which Operators do you trust the most? With my Life? Projekt Red or Ch'en, even Shirayuki or Vigna. Generally? Lappland, Scavenger, Saria, Silence. With a secret? Kal'tsit, Sussuro, Ceylon and Texas? Or just as a friend? Red, Texas, Gavial, Nearl?

Which place do you not wanna go in Terra? Laterano, RIM Biliton and Leithanien. Laterano is a specific thing, but, Guns really ain't for me- I really don't like law of, Just have Ur own Gun, non-style-style yanno? That and On the Topic of religion, due to my family, I have a fair bit of aversion, I'm open to talk about it, and I think it's really cool, but my background makes it hard to talk about.

Which Operators do you not trust? Easy, Silverash, W, Swire and Dobermann. Silverash and Dobermann are, a bit uh, Much for me, and W 'nd Swire are a bit. Uh. Hmm.

Do you think you would catch Oripathy? Nah, but, I do reckon that there are circumstances, like what happened to Gavial or Aciddrop, due to my overly aggressive and hostile nature when harassed, I can Imagine getting into a dumbass fight. Either that, or I'd catch it from an already infected folk. I don't see myself having much issues with getting close to them.

How do you feel about Oripathy? Trust me, I don't care if I die young, my catchphrase is Have fun Die young for godsake. It don't matter, I mean, cool magic in exchange for a shorter life? Sure.

Which Operators do your Ideals strike against the most? Do you think you could be friends with them? Maybe Gavial, but the rest like Ch'en, Sussuro, Amiya, maybe Nearl, not really, I don't really believe in humanity, and Family don't really mean Jack to me, if you're nice to me, I'll love you forever, but I'll still be a fair bit sceptical for a while. Maybe Ch'en would get it.

Which Operators do you see yourself befriending, Melantha, Popukar, Spot, Hoshiguma, Silence, Ptilopsis, Cuora, Red- I uh, Kinda have a record of Taking pints of Beer from the fridge when I'm sad. And my own childish, yet forcefully mature nature could get me scrapped emotionally, I like flowers, but I ain't a fan of Aromatherapy. To be honest- I've always been a depressed kid. But, Having friends makes life easier.

Which Operators would you put the effort into Befriending; Lappland, Saria, Deepcolor, Gavial, Vulcan, Hung, Matterhorn, Ch'en, Texas, Exusiai, Saga, Dusk. Trust me, Anyone who likes to cook gets an a-okay from me. Gavial and Saria are part of the five Medics I'd trust to examine me, with it Being Gavial, Saria, Silence, Ptilopsis and Ceylon. Lappland is actually Quite smart, love to play chess against her, may not be an author, but I'd love her approval on my Artistry or Writing. Dusk and Deepcolor are no-brainers.

What wouldn't you want your examiner to know? My rib damage, arthritis, and brain damage- all very sensitive. Or I'd want a really non-partial Operator like Ptilopsis or Silence doing the check. Also my fear of water is never to be known.

What kind of Operator would you be? Everyone said it before me, But A Specialist or Defender. I love to be a whackass on the battlefield, and my speciality for blinding people with Hot sauce, Salt, Sand and Lemon is noted throughout history. I always have Pepper on me, what else am I gonna drink? Yeah, I used to take Archery, and me being the dumbass I was, fucking used the target as a shield, and then I brought one in and we played with knives and stuff for shits and giggles. So yeah, give me a door and a knoife and I'm good.

Why would you work at Rhodes Island?Because I fucking can. Also to have work. I need to work, and currently, art, writing, linguistics and Combat are my talents. And I know how to bust illegal rings, because my mum nearly got her ass busted by me. Though, I am half blind. So have fun.

Your Med Exam? Shit. I can't do well in the health department, I suffer badly, so my mobility is shit. Only my Endurance and Tactical Acumen would be up there.

#arknights #Questionnaire

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ifeelsick-moved · 6 years

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Who is Jhonen Vasquez? And why he is important to me + The Importance of POC content creators

Jhonen Vasquez is an American Cartoonist / comic book writer among other things such as Music Video director. He is most known for his comics and a short lived Nickelodeon cartoon named Invader Zim.

Now that I have explained let’s have a little flashback:

When I was 12 years old I wanted to be an animator when I grew up. I have been drawing since small, 5 year old me could hold a crayon. However the idea of having a career tied to that hobby never crossed my mind, until I started watching a little cartoon called Invader Zim. Preteen me was obsessed with this show, and loved everything about it. The plot, art style, music ect. I remember, however being completely in love with the art style. So much so that that style was all I ever drew in for a long time, I thought it was interesting and Wierd but unique. So for a long time I wanted to be an animator until my mom told me how much math it took years later when I was a teen ( I hate math ) then I kind of tossed that dream and then was stuck in what I wanted to do in the future.

Fast forward to many years later, I’m about 20, the Invader Zim movie is announced and suddenly I’m 12 years old again. And then I think about animating again but then I start to have doubts. Every animator/cartoonist I could think of was white. Every name of the creators of every cartoon I watched growing up was a white name. Craig Bartlett, Stephen Hillenburg, Joe Murray, Butch Hartman to name a few. I’m not saying these guys aren’t great people, and I’m not saying I don’t like them. However, I think I should mention that I’m Latino. I had yet to see a name like Johnathan Ruiz, or Craig García or maybe a Stephen Martínez. Until I remembered Jhonen Vasquez.

Vasquez.

That last name kept echoing in my head as I suddenly remembered the creator of Invader Zim’s name while trying to find some other work he might have done. It was a familiar name, the last name Vasquez. It was a name that reminded me of my house and my family with all their Hispanic last names. It was name that made me feel familiarity and closeness with. I cried when I figured out Jhonen was ( is ) of Mexican descent. I’m not Mexican, I’m Guatemalan and Salvadoran however I have family members who are. And I cried because for the first time ever, here was someone who made a cult classic and they weren’t white. Jhonen is Mexican and the tears wouldn’t stop for me as that fact sank in. You might see this as a bit of an overreaction but if you do, you might not understand. For a long time while thinking that I wanted to pursue a career in animation, I thought I could not because I wasn’t white. White is what gets successful, white is what makes it in this world, white is what sells. Not brown or black. But then here is Jhonen, who made a cult classic ( despite its cancellation ) here he is, obviously successful. Here is Jhonen, and when I look at him, I see myself. I see someone with my skin color, with my features, who made something successful. And when I saw him with this new knowledge I thought “If he can make a cartoon. Then I can” and I began to feel confident that one day I’ll see my own name, my own Hispanic last name next to the title card of my very own cartoon. And I cling onto that hope to this day, with Jhonen as my drive, my inspiration, my aspiration. I’m working hard because of him, I’m marching towards my goal full of the energy to pursue it despite what may get in my way because of him, I’m planning all these things with such determination because of him. And I think it’s important to have a hero like that.

Which brings me to the fact that I strongly believe we need more POC content creators. There aren’t enough, and that’s very sad. We need POC content creators to not only provide us with representation with POC characters but to also inspire a little kid or teen or young adult to do something they love despite the color of their skin. I adore how Jhonen can unapologetically make all his characters people of color, and make characters based on what he saw growing up and not just what sells or what’s popular. We need more cartoonist like that and I believe firmly that the only way we are going to get it is with People of color content creators. They know their own more than any white person. They know how to properly give representation more than any white creator could possibly do. This is not limited to cartoons but all sorts of media. We need more of this. More of them. I don’t want POC children to grow up like me, surrounded by nothing but names that don’t feel like home. I don’t want POC adults to feel like they can’t make it because they are so used to seeing white people get successful.

We can be successful and I hope that if you’re in that place, I hope you find your living proof that you can do this, just as I found mine.

#Jhonen Vasquez #Invader Zim #johnny the homicidal maniac #POC #poc representation #poc media #representation #cartoons

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betterdaysareatoenailaway · 3 years

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Out on the Interstate: S’more Thoughts on Neil Young

I don’t have any fentanyl stories today, so I’m writing another Neil Young post. (Don’t worry. I’ll find a way to mention heroin. You’ll see.) I still have a ton of fent stories, don’t worry bout that. I just don’t feel like mining my memory for any right now. Instead, I wanna talk about my favourite Neil Young song ever. It’s called “Interstate.” This performance was recorded at Farm Aid 1985. Young’s backing band at the time were called the International Harvesters, which is a funny joke (International Harvester was a company that manufactured tractors and other agricultural equipment). Young was on a roll in the 80s with clever band names. Later on he would front Neil Young & the Restless. Anyway whoever is playing piano with Young was the perfect choice, plucking individual keys instead of slathering big chords all over the descending minor chord progression. Young’s guitar is tuned to drop D, a favourite tuning of his throughout his career, from “Cinammon Girl” to “World On A String” to “Be the Rain,” and you can hear the low D buzzing throughout, giving the song a raw off-the-cuff feel. Of course, Neil Young is known for his raw performances, especially on albums like Tonight’s the Night, but by the time the 80s rolled around he was making albums with a lot of processing and production like Landing on Water, along with silly genre exercises like Everybody’s Rockin’ and Old Ways.��

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Young would eventually be sued by his own record label, Geffen, for making “uncharacteristic music.” David Geffen would eventually apologize to him, but he wasn’t wrong that Young’s early 80s records were a bit of a disaster. This performance, however, shows that Young hadn’t lost a single step when it came to live performance. His vocal is clear and convincing, world weary but still kinda defiant, like all his best songs. And whether those are real or synth strings, they sound great, and really tug at one’s heartstrings. They have the spook, that high lonesome train whistle feel. To my ears, all the best Neil Young songs are haunting and plaintive. There is a loneliness at the heart of most of Young’s best work (ever hear “Albequerque”? Prolly the saddest song to ever mention the eating of ham?) Neil Young doesn’t write carefree party music. Hell, he once recorded an entire album about the death of his friend and former bandmate Danny Whitten - and to a lesser extent, former roadie Bruce Berry who was fired for pawning instruments to buy heroin...told ya I’d find a way to mention the drug ;). What I’m saying is, Young is no stranger to sad songs. As to which song is his saddest, there are many contenders, but as Young’s biographer himself admits, “Interstate is Neil Young’s loneliest song.” I agree.

Young’s longtime producer David Briggs, who knew damn well that “Interstate” was a rare gem, tried to get Young to record it for 1991′s Ragged Glory, but in typical fashion, “[Young] acceded, but perversely,” eschewing the full-band format and recording a solo acoustic version instead. That particular version would eventually see limited release on the vinyl version of Young’s 1996 album Broken Arrow, a forgettable affair that was hammered by critics and disavowed by most members of Crazy Horse. You can find the solo acoustic “Interstate” on YouTube but I’m not gonna post it, simply because it is so freakin’ disappointing.

I love the line “I can hear a soft voice calling...telling me to bring my guitar home.” In the tradition of the Rolling Stones’ “Moonlight Mile,” "Interstate” is one of the all-time great I’m-A-Lonely-Rock-Star-On-Tour song. A more modern version of this idea can be found in Kurt Vile’s unimaginatively titled “On Tour,” a song where Young’s influence can be identified, especially in the way Vile tunes his lower strings to let them buzz, a technique pioneered by Young in the abovementioned song and most prominently in “Bandit.”

Thank God for YouTube, so that you can hear "Interstate” in all its gorgeous majesty. You can hear Young play the same guitar solo he’s been playing his whole career in minor key masterpieces like “Hey Hey My My,” “Like A Hurricane,” “Goin’ Home,” “Be The Rain.” Every time Young returns to it, you can feel the long shadow of his past, echoes of former greatness, the shambolic glory of his band bashing away at the chords, always emphasizing emotional delivery over technical proficiency. It’s a really really beautiful song, a song I treasure, and I hope you like it.

I’m also posting a rare version of “Shots.”

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In “Shots,” Neil Young returns to a technique previously used on “Cortez the Killer,” where he switches from a third person omniscient voice describing trauma and violence to a first person voice describing personal emotion. In Zuma’s “Cortez the Killer,” Young spends two or three verses describing the endeavours of genocidal explorer Hernan Cortes, and also the Aztecs: people worked together/they lifted many stones/they carried them to the flatlands/they died along the way/but they built up with their bare hands what we still can’t do today/and I know she’s living there and loves me til this day. Now, that’s not Shelley, but it’s an effective and jarring switch. Young tries it again in “Shots,” and for me, the effect is even better. For whatever reason, maybe his sharp right turn when he became an outspoken Reagan supporter, or maybe because of the Iran-Contra Affair, Young’s lyrics took on a particular preoccupation with crime, border zones, and desert iconography in the 1980s, manifestations of which can be heard in “Crime in the City (Sixty to Zero Part I)” “Rockin’ In the Free World,” “On Broadway,” and “Eldorado,” all songs that ended up on Young’s last album of the 1980s, Freedom. But because of the remarkable internal consistency of Young’s discography, you can also hear such sentiments in one of his first 1980s releases: “Shots.” Children are lost in the sand, building roads with little hands Trying to join their father's castles together again Will they make it? Hey, who knows where or when old wounds will mend? Shots ringing all along the borders can be heard Striking out like a venom in the sky Cutting through the air faster than a bird in the night But I'll never use your love, you know I'm not that kind And so if you give your heart to me I promise to you Whatever we do...that I will always be true To jump from depictions of border violence to gooey Hallmark card sentiments shouldn’t work, yet it does. The words might look silly written down, but the sheer conviction they are sung with, and the sheer power of Young’s loon-like vibrato, is what sells them, at least to my ears and heart. I’m not the first to make the loon comparison, Young’s biographer Jimmy McDonough has done so too. Young’s father Scott was the first writer to compare his son’s unique voice to the sound of the loon cry, a very Canadian sound, associated with Muskoka nights in summer, nights often soundtracked by Young’s vast and varied discography.

Disappointingly, the album version of “Shots,” which appeared on 1981′s Re-ac-tor, is pretty fuckin annoying, with its overblown machine gun affects (done by Young on the Synclavier), and Ralph Molina’s incessant marching beat. The song is already called “Shots,” Neil. You didn’t have to add machine gun sound effects. This isn’t audio verite. I’m not gonna post the album version here but you can find it easily. The album iteration has its fans though. Canadian blue-collar rockers The Constantines would cover “Shots” on a vinyl-only release with The Unintended, in which the Cons covered Neil Young and The Unintended covered Gordon Lightfoot. The Cons picked some weird songs, “Shots” among them, and you can tell they are referencing the Re-ac-tor version, not the superior one posted here. I’m not sure why Young slathered so many effects over the album version of “Shots.” The 80s definitely saw him taking his heavier music in an unpalatable direction. The Eldorado EP, in particular, has one of his most savage recordings ever, a song called “Heavy Love” where Young blows his voice out completely by the end of the song in an attempt to sing louder than the savage pulsing thrust of the band (the abovementioned Young & the Restless). The drummer on Eldorado was Chad Cromwell, not Steve Jordan who’d played with Young on his legendary SNL appearance where he played “Rockin in the Free World,” the definitive performance of that song, where Young tore all six strings from his guitar at its denouement. Unfortunately, SNL guards its content as jealously as a rabid guard dog, so I can’t post it. Maybe one day I’ll find a gif. I’ll leave you with two strong cuts from Eldorado. The first is “Heavy Love,” which is obviously a sister song to “Rockin In The Free World,” with its similar sonic texture and E minor riff. Listening is worth it just to hear Young’s voice go to pieces a la “Territorial Pissings” at the end (3:58 if you don’t wanna wait).

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And this is the title track “Eldorado,” which ended up on Freedom. Young employs a fingerpicking style redolent of 80s megastars Dire Straits, and he sings of mission bells and senoritas and golden suns rising on runways and Mariachi bands while playing the A minor chord, a chord strongly associated with Mexican music and Mariachi styles. It’s a cool verite approach, one that works much better than the machine gun effects of “Shots,” especially when the gun violence Young has been hinting at the entire song finally explodes in a shower of distortion at 4:40. Have you ever heard something so loud compared to the backing track? I remember showing “Eldorado” to my friend/bandmate James, and I told him to prepare himself for how loud it is. Afterwards, James said, “even though I was ready for it, that scared the shit out of me.” It is so fucking loud. Check it out @ 4:40. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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One last point I’ll make...the Spanish-influenced guitar lick you can hear at 1:06 is really similar to the pre-chorus guitar riff Young plays on “War of Man” from Harvest Moon. I don’t consider stuff like that to be self plagiarism. I think it shows a consistency, but also it’s a way to reward fans for paying attention. Frank Zappa was known to do the same thing, re-introduce little musical nuances he’d recorded years or decades before. It’s cool. It’s what makes a discography live on long after the artist has burnt out or faded away. If you’re interested, here is a wonderful live early version of “Eldorado” titled “Road of Plenty” recorded with Crazy Horse in 1986: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By6_oLYfrYk

#betterdaysareatoenailaway #neil young #interstate #shots #ronald reagan #1980s #re-ac-tor #1981 #David Briggs #Scott Young #ralph molina #synclavier #steve jordan #SNL #bruceberry #danny whitten #heroin

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socimages · 7 years

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Experimental evidence that Trump’s election emboldened people with anti-immigrant attitudes.

By Jay Livingston, PhD; originally for Montclair SocioBlog.

Did Donald Trump’s campaign and election cry havoc and unleash the dogs of racism?

Last June, hauling out Sykes and Matza’s concept of “neutralization,” I argued that Trump’s constant denigration of “political correctness” allowed his supporters to neutralize norms against racism. If the denigration of political correctness means that the people who condemn racism are wrong or bad, then what they are condemning must be OK. The logic might not be impeccable, but it works. I argued that I wasn’t sure that Trump had caused an increase in racist attitudes, but he gave people a license to express those attitudes.

Above, Aziz Ansari made a similar point on Saturday Night Live the day after the inauguration. (Apologies if you have to wait through an ad.)

Ansari’s version is much better than mine, and it reached a slightly larger audience. But there’s another important difference. I was talking about the message Trump supporters took from Trump himself before the election. Ansari is talking about the message they got from the electorate. The election changed their perceptions of the norms about expressing anti-immigrant views.

It’s as though minds of half the country had been clouded by “pluralistic ignorance.” That’s the scenario where each person thinks X but assumes that everyone else thinks Y, so everyone keeps their true ideas to themselves. Then something happens that reveals those previously hidden preferences, and suddenly everyone feels liberated. From the Trump supporters’ perspective, Trump was Dorothy throwing a bucket of water to dissolve the Wicked Witch of Political Correctness, and now all the Munchkins were free to express their feelings about Mexicans and Muslims (and perhaps others).

The 20% increase in hate crimes after the election certainly suggests that racists felt liberated by the election. Unfortunately, because of the uncontrolled variables and the small sample size of just one candidate winning one election, this bit of evidence is hardly conclusive.

But we now have some experimental evidence on the topic. In the two weeks before the election, three economists surveyed Mechanical Turkers in eight very Red states. The MTurkers were asked, in addition to other on-topic questions, if they would authorize the economists to make a donation on their behalf to a strongly anti-immigrant group, FAIR. Mturkers were told, “The founder of FAIR is John Tanton, author of `The Immigration Invasion’ who wrote ‘I’ve come to the point of view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that.’”

For half the MTurkers, the donation question included this:

Note: just like any other answer to this survey, also your donation decision will be completely anonymous. No one, not even the researchers, will be able to match your decision to your name. [emphasis in original]

The other half were told:

Important: in order to ensure the quality of the data collected, a member of the research team might personally contact you to verify your answers to the next question and the following ones. [emphasis in original]

In addition, some of the people were told that Trump was certain to win their state. Others were given no information.

The results strongly support the idea that norms – or at least people’s perceptions of the norms – make a big difference. People who thought their choice would be public were much less likely to make the anti-immigrant donation – 34% vs. 54%. But that difference held true only for people who were not told how popular Trump was in their state. Among the people who were told basically, “Trump is a sure thing to win your state,” knowing that their donation would be public (i.e., known to the surveyors) made no difference in their willingness to donate.

If the researchers had stopped there, they would have been able to say

there seems to be a norm against giving money to anti-immigrant groups

the knowledge of that norm makes people less willing to make a donation to blatantly racist anti-immigrant group if even one stranger can know about that donation

if people think that many others in their state support an anti-immigrant candidate, they no longer feel that they need to keep their anti-immigrant views to themselves

Thanks the results of the election, though, they didn’t have to stop there. The gave the researchers a natural experiment to find out if the norms – or at least perceptions of the norms – had changed. Had Trump’s victory caused the scales of pluralistic ignorance to fall from the eyes of these Red-state Turkers?

The answer was yes. The election had the same effect as did the information about Trump support in the person’s state. It obliterated the difference between the public and private conditions.

To people who were reluctant to let their agreement with FAIR be known, Trump’s victory said, “It’s OK. You can come out of the closet. You’re among friends, and there are more of us than you thought.”

Jay Livingston is the chair of the Sociology Department at Montclair State University. You can follow him at Montclair SocioBlog or on Twitter.

#trump supporters #xenophobia #anti-immigrant #racist #mainstream

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theclaravoyant · 7 years

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Sounds Like a Song [Bobbi Ann] - part 2

AN ~ Sounds like a Song was a surprisingly popular fic, even I fell in love with it more than I thought I would! so have some more of Bobbi Ann and her beautiful family :D Bobbi meets her Uncles & Daisy has a chat with Grandpa Phil

Read below or on AO3

Sounds Like a Song - Ch. 2

Daisy feels almost as bouncy as her daughter as they all pack into the SUV for the ride back to base. Fortunately, she has Bobbi Ann sitting (or often, not-so-sitting) on her lap to keep her still. The others try not to make a show of not asking her about the missing years, and she appreciates the effort, even if it’s just a bad coat of paint. She likes that to some extent, they can pick up where they left off. She hasn’t had that kind of permanency in her life very much and she feels a lump in her throat when she lingers on the thought of it for too long.

Fortunately, she has plenty to keep her occupied.

Bobbi Ann tries to climb onto Elena’s lap, but when Daisy restrains her, settles for an attempt at booping her nose instead.

“Who are you?” she asks.

“My name is Elena,” Elena says, and smiles, and glances at Daisy. “I can be your Aunty too, if you want.”

“Aunty Lena,” Bobbi Ann repeats (sort of). She prods Elena’s arm. “Why are you brown? Are you from Mexico?”

Daisy grimaces, and mouths ‘sorry’, but Elena shrugs it off.

“I’m from Colombia,” she explains, “which is a bit like Mexico, but it’s different.”

“Do you speak Mexican there then?”

“No,” Elena says. “We speak Spanish, which the same language as Mexico, but Mexican isn’t a language.”

“Oh. Cool. Can you say something in Spanish now?” “Si.”

Bobbi Ann stares, perplexed, and Elena laughs.

“It means ‘yes’,” she explains. “You can also say ‘me IIamo Bobbi’. It means ‘my name is Bobbi.’” She points at herself. “Me IIamo Elena.”

Bobbi, mimicking her, points to her own chest. “Me yah-mo Bobbi.”

“Very good! Now you can also say – ‘her name is Bobbi’. Ella es IIamada Bobbi.”

Bobbi-Ann points at her namesake. “Ella es yah-ma-da Bobbi.” She points at Daisy, too. “Ella es IIamada Daisy?”

“Bueno!” Elena beams, and then her expression turns smug. “And we even have another word for Daisy, too. Margarita.”

“Are you serious?” Daisy’s eyebrows shoot upwards.

“I told you, you should learn Spanish,” Elena teases.

“What’s a Margarita?” Bobbi Ann wonders.

“It’s an adult drink, sweetie,” Jemma explains, as if she’s sharing a secret. “You wouldn’t like it I don’t think.” She pulls a face like she’s just eaten a lemon, and Bobbi Ann giggles and mimics her.

The impromptu amateur Spanish lessons continue until they reach the hangar, and Daisy can smell it and see it and it’s like she’s fallen back into a dream she once had. Her fingers linger on the handle as she stares out at the expanse of grey, dotted with cars and cargo and personnel, because to most of the people in this place it is a day like any other day. But not to all. There are a special few waiting for her, and all of a sudden the promise of seeing them again makes her heart ache.

In the end, Bobbi Ann pushes the door open and climbs off her mother’s lap, and Daisy has no choice but to follow her and insist that she not wander too far. Elena and Jemma and Bobbi and May get out too, but they linger around the car for a while, and wait for Daisy to greet her welcome wagon.

Fitz. Coulson. Mack.

She can hardly breathe, can hardly believe they’re there in front of her. Tears rush to choke her up and she falls into Coulson’s arms first, and when she closes her eyes it’s like she’s the person she was before for a moment. Tougher in some ways, softer in others. Safer. Home.

“It’s a pleasure to have you, Daisy,” Coulson says as they finally part. “However long you stay.”

She nods and moves on, to where Fitz is standing, watching her with an expression so full of love and longing it’s almost painful to look at. It says I can’t find the words to tell you how glad I am you’re here, and when he hugs her, she can finally breathe again. It’s a solid, grounded, welcoming hug that says all the things Fitz can’t seem to find the words for.

“Missed you,” he manages at last, with tears on his face.

“Missed you too,” she replies, and she must be crying too by the time she turns to Mack. By now, Bobbi Ann has apparently made quite a comfortable home in his gigantic arms. They’re so different in size it’s almost comical.

“Welcome back, Tremors,” Mack greets with a smile. “I know you’re not back back, but it’s good enough for me.”

“It’s good to see you,” she assures him, and offers a fist-bump, which he meets with his free hand. “Where’s Hunter?”

“He drew the short straw. Errand run for the kid.” Mack’s soft smile says that he thought Hunter had volunteered himself. The gratitude of her near-weeping greeting party tells Daisy a similar story.

“What a softie,” she croons. “I hope he gets pop tarts.”

“I hope he manages to stop himself buying out an entire store,” Mack remarks, rolling his eyes at his friend’s good-natured but at times bizarre antics. “Now, this little critter tells me she belongs to you?”

“Bobbi Ann. And, yeah. She’s Lincoln’s.”

“Oh.”

Bobbi’s tapping Mack’s arm now, so he lets her down to the ground and she runs to meet her other new family members under the guidance of her swarm of aunts. They leave Mack and Daisy behind for a moment, and he watches her face fall a little.

“Hey, good on you,” he says. “It’s tough, trying to go it alone. Unless –“

“Nope.” Daisy sighs. “Still alone. Just me and her.”

“She loves you a lot.”

Daisy smiles softly, as Bobbi Ann looks back through the crowd as if to check on her.

“Yeah, she does.”

“So,” Daisy says, smiling as she scans the familiar contents of Coulson’s office. “How’s Grandpa Phil?”

“Getting old,” he says with a laugh. His shirtsleeves are rolled up and his collar askew from where he’s been sitting on the floor playing with Bobbi-Ann. She’s just disappeared with Aunty Jemma to go play with Uncle Fitz in the lab, and finally Daisy gets a chance to speak with Coulson alone.

“You did good with this kid, Daisy. She’s a promising little one. Bobbi Ann. For Antoine, right? What a name. Though I’m sure she’ll live up to it.”

“Yeah, alright, Mamma Hen,” Daisy cajoles. “In fairness, you’re kinda the one who taught me how to parent best so…some of the credit has to go to you, actually.”

Coulson shakes his head.

“You’re her mother,” he says, as though he still can’t quite believe it. “You’re her whole world.”

And maybe it’s because he’s already so far gone, so far in love with the role he’s adopted as everyone’s resident dad, but Daisy feels a pull she hasn’t got in three years. She takes out her phone and turns to that old photo, where her flushed and sweaty three-years-younger self is holding a tiny infant.

Look at this, it’s mine, I made it.

“I’ll print you a copy, if you like,” she offers, and Coulson wordlessly takes the phone and finds a seat, staring in awe. In his eyes, Daisy suddenly sees every family he’s ever missed out on. Every child he never got to have. Every paternal instinct he’s bestowed upon her, extends to this child as if they are blood, even stronger than that.

“I’m proud of you, Daisy,” he says.

In all honesty, she has to go have a bit of a cry after that. So many feelings are piling up on her that she retreats to the plane, for want of a better place – for a place that’s hers – and lets some of the weight of them fall off her shoulders. When she’s ready, she heads to the lab and, just as she’d expected, it puts the smile back on her face.

Bobbi Ann is making her way between tables, her concentration intense, but torn between the controller in her hand and the model of Lola hovering in front of her. As she scampers up to Daisy, mini-Lola almost flies into a wall, but she weaves around her mother and scampers down the hall enthusiastically.

“Don’t get lost!” Daisy calls, twisting so that her gaze follows her daughter until she’s out of sight.

“She won’t, I gave her a watch,” Fitz explains. “Like Elena’s. Told her how it works and everything. Don’t worry, it’s one of the prototypes, before all the booby traps and what have you.”

He paused for a moment and leans back to check the bench-top.

“Yeah,” he repeats. “It’s a prototype. Definitely.”

Fitz blows air out of his cheeks and puts his hands on the small of his back. The image is only augmented by the screamingly eccentric three-layered glasses that sit atop his head, for seeing detail – or in this case, for furthering the amusement of a small child. Daisy laughs.

“You know, I had Hunter pegged for the crazy hermit uncle but nope, it’s you.” She doesn’t know why she’d ever expected anything different, to be honest.

“I’d be honoured to share the title,” Fitz says, taking off the glasses and running a hand through his hair. He sighs and takes a seat, as if Bobbi Ann’s knocked the wind out of him. “That child is remarkable.”

Daisy feels her chest physically inflate, and remembers what she’d called Coulson earlier. Mother hen. She’s more of a mother lion, most of the time, but then, people don’t often approach her with such ego-inflating praise.

“Speaking of remarkable,” she says, after a few seconds of silent gloating, “Jemma showed me a pretty remarkable rock earlier today.”

Fitz shrugs modestly. “It’s not that big.”

“I didn’t say big, I said, holy shit my best friends are engaged.” She bats his shoulder. “You popped the question?”

Fitz grins like he’s thinking of a memory as well as of her.

“Yeah. Although, Jemma hinted pretty strongly first. I think she thought I’d be better at it, I just needed a bit of a kick in the pants to actually get on with it.”

“And was she right?”

“Of course.” He grins even wider now, because in acknowledging Jemma’s correctness about him being better at something, he’s also calling himself the same. “Roses, chocolates, the whole kit and caboodle. Under the stars, of course.”

And then he snaps out of the memory, and all of his attention is on Daisy.

“Please come,” he says, his tone urgent all of a sudden. “We haven’t set a date yet, but we really want you there. Please come.”

She thinks of life and normalcy and super powers and living underground, and of setting foot on the Bus with a cardboard box full of everything she owned in the world, and she smiles.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she assures him.

A crashing sound outside the door alerts them to another presence – a presence soon identified by the voice that follows.

“Alright, I’m back!”

Daisy and Fitz share a glance. Hunter.

“Where is the mini-Johnson? Where is that little lightning bug?”

He sees Daisy through the glass of the lab doors, his head and – along with it – his attention turning like a distracted dog. He bursts into the lab, beaming, and a shopping bag swings from each arm as he embraces her tightly so tightly she yelps in surprise.

“I got pop tarts,” he says. “And popcorn. And a little birdie tells me you’re a Red Vines girl, but I got Twizzlers too, just in case.”

“Did you get any actual food?” Daisy wonders.

“Why? Do you care?”

Daisy laughs as Hunter checks the bags as if he can’t remember if indeed he did buy anything that Jemma wouldn’t pull a face at.

“Oh! There’s eggs in that one. And spinach. See?”

They’re barely visible under a heap of Little Debbie snack cakes and Daisy rolls her eyes, but feels her heart warm.

“I’ll take it,” she says, and takes the bag from him too, and the three of them head for the kitchen. Bobbi Ann appears, with Lola tucked under her arm, and runs up to Daisy enthusiastically. Daisy lifts her, kisses her on the nose and places her on the counter.

“We’ve summoned her,” Hunter whispers to Fitz dramatically as Bobbi investigates the bags, and finds the Little Debbie. “The Johnson family in their natural habitat.”

#daisy johnson #aosteam #aospositivitynet #daisy & coulson #fitzdaisy #brotp: a tonne of weird crap #all the brotps tbh #bobbi ann verse

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Interview: Powerful New Doc Shows Labor Activist Dolores Huerta Still Fighting the Good Fight

Many people know the story of how civil rights activist Cesar Chavez transformed the U.S. labor movement by founding the first farm workers’ union. But less people know abut his equally influential co-founder, Dolores Huerta, who tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Chavez, becoming one of the most powerful and defiant feminists of the 20th century. Like so many powerful female advocates, Dolores’s enormous accomplished have been largely overlooked. Even as she empowered a generation of immigrants to stand up for their rights, her own relentless work ethic was constantly criticized, including by people who judged her harshly as a woman who married three times and raised 11 children. But nothing dampened her passion or deterred her from her personal and lifelong mission. Even today, at the age of 87, Dolores Huerta remains as steadfast and as active as ever in her fight for the rights of others, especially the less privileged and those under attack in today’s climate.

Peter Bratt’s provocative new documentary, Dolores, reveals the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to the fight for justice. Interweaving fascinating archival footage with interviews from Dolores and her contemporaries, the film sets the record straight on one of the most effective and undervalued civil and labor rights leaders in modern U.S. history. It was a thrill for me to sit down with Dolores Huerta, a personal hero of mine, and director Peter Bratt to discuss this must-see film.

Danny Miller: What an honor it is to meet you, Dolores Huerta! You were in icon in my house when I was growing up and I still remember the “no grapes” mantra during the boycott. Peter, despite the fact that Dolores often gets overlooked in the history books, my first thought after seeing this film was, “What took so long?” Were you surprised that no one had made a film about her accomplishments and life’s work?

Peter Bratt: Yes — blown away, actually! Like you, I grew up keenly aware of Dolores and her work, but I’m continually astounded by how many people are not familiar with her activism. I even remember mentioning to her college professors who would say, “Dolores who?”

No! Dolores, every aspect of your work is so inspiring but I love that the film also delves into the effects of such work on your family. Knowing how committed you are to the work, did you have any reservations about letting Peter bring your personal life into the film?

Dolores Huerta: Oh, many reservations! (Laughs.) I wanted the movie to be just about the work, that was the big battle that Peter and I had throughout the process.

Peter Bratt: And I’ve got several bruises to prove it!

Dolores Huerta: But Peter kept telling me that you have to have a story, you have to do something that not only informs people but also entertains them and holds their interest. You have to tell a story that people can relate to.

It does make it all the more powerful, in my opinion. Just the honesty of having your kids in the film talking quite frankly about the challenges of having a mother who was such a well-known activist — that was really moving to hear.

And, you know, that’s a worry that ALL working parents have, especially single moms. “Who’s going to take care of my kids today while I have to go to work?”

Peter Bratt: My experience with activists is that they’re often very uncomfortable having the lens turned on them — they’re so used to being out there inspiring others. The turning point with this film happened when several of Dolores’s children came to her and said, “Okay, mom, you don’t want the story to be about you, but what you have to realize is that your story is going to inspire and empower other young women.” I think when they finally convinced her of that, that was when she really came on board!

Dolores Huerta: It’s true that I don’t like being the center of attention. I think of all the people we’ve lost in the movement. There are so many people you’ve never heard of: Nan Freeman, an 18-year-old Jewish girl from Boston who was killed on the picket lines in Florida during a strike of sugar cane workers. She was run down by a truck. Nagi Daifullah, an Arab woman, was our second martyr, killed by one of the deputy sheriffs you see in the film. We had Juan De La Cruz, an older Mexican gentleman in his 50s who had been one of our first charter members in the United Farm Workers, shot in the heart by a labor contractor, and then we had Rufino Contreras, who went into a field to talk to strikers and was met with a hail of 80 bullets — and those guns and bullets had been bought by the owner. So many people who were killed, or beaten up, or went to jail, and nobody knows their names, they get no recognition. So then I think, why should I be recognized?

Your personal story will inspire so many others, as your daughters have said. Thinking of that time that’s covered in the film when you were in your fifties and brutally attacked by the authorities during a protest and terribly injured, was it in your head from the beginning that you could be attacked or killed at any time?

Yeah, it was. During the strike, we were frequently assaulted. They tried to run us down with their cars, I had to jump out of the way on more than one occasion. We were often met with rifles pointed directly at us, and during our fight with the teamsters, a group came at us with two-by-fours and with iron dollies. You saw a lot of harassment. That’s why I feel so strongly about the whole issue of nonviolence. It’s that philosophy that makes you feel strong in those moments.

Peter Bratt: What’s so great now is to see all the young activists reaching out to Dolores, particularly in these times with the rise of the alt-right and violence erupting in so many places. It’s great to hear her talking to activists and making such a clear case as to why they really have to stay away from using violence. Otherwise, as she says in the film, we become like the oppressors.

These seem like such regressive times right now. Dolores, how would you assess the position of farm workers in this country today? Do you feel the gains you worked so hard for are still in place?

Dolores Huerta: Well, I think in terms of the California farm workers, we do have certain laws but the union is still struggling. They still can’t get contracts, in some cases, because the growers take them to court and are willing to spend thousands and thousands of dollars on fees for their anti-union attorneys rather than use that money to give workers better wages. So yes, the unions still have a very hard time but the law is there. The farm workers have toilets now by law, they have drinking water by law, they have rest periods by law, and they’re covered by minimum wages and safety standards whether they’re documented or not.

I know you’re involved with many young people who are part of the DACA program. I’m sure you were horrified by the recent decision of the Trump administration to rescind that program.

Yes, of course, but I’m very happy that Sid Schneiderman, the attorney general of New York, and others are taking the Trump administration to court. There is a feeling that because of Trump’s enunciations about Mexicans in particular, and the fact that over 70% of Dreamers are Mexican, that this is a class of people that is being attacked because of their racial identity. I think they have a legitimate civil rights case that they can file to try to prevent DACA from terminating. The only thing that worries me a lot is that I’m afraid the Republicans might be using this as a ploy. They are such expert strategists, and Trump saying he was turning it over to Congress, that might be part of a plan to get money for the wall or other programs that are designed to further divide our community. Of course we don’t know what’s going to happen but I feel that the majority of the American public supports these young people and that it would such a huge loss to the country to sacrifice all of that great mind power and purchasing power and all the great contributions these kids are making and will continue to make.

Were you as flabbergasted by the results of the election last year as many of us were? Did you kind of see it coming?

I was saddened, but I wasn’t devastated because I lived through the 60s when we were fighting Nixon and the Vietnam War. So many of the organizations that were just coming into their own during that time — the Green movement the LGBT movement , the immigrant rights movement, the environmental movement — those groups are now organized, they are institutionalized, so I think in many ways, we’re much better prepared than we were to fight and resist. And now we have cell phones and Facebook and Instagram and all these other tools that we never had before. My biggest concern is that all the people who are protesting also need to vote. They need to march to the ballot box because otherwise you can’t really change policy.

And also run for office!

Exactly. My grass-roots organizing that I do these days with the Dolores Huerta Foundation is not only about registering people to vote but also getting them to run. We have a lot of our farm workers and construction workers and maids in hotels who are now sitting on school boards, water boards, recreation boards, and city councils. This is so important.

Speaking of the campaign, I don’t know if you want to comment on what happened at the Nevada Caucus last year but I was so angry when I saw that video of Susan Sarandon browbeating you about your support for Hillary Clinton. I wanted to shout at the TV, “Do you know who you’re talking to?!” Have you spoken to her since?

No, I haven’t, but Rosario Dawson, who was also part of the Sanders group that day, along with a lot of other Bernie people who were disappointed in my support of Hillary, they have come to me and apologized. Look, we know that we’re ultimately on the same side. And I hope that we all come together and stay together because I believe that we have an big opportunity in the 2018 elections if we get ourselves organized. I keep saying, we are the ones who are going to build a wall — a wall of resistance. If we can get more progressive candidates elected, which is totally in our hands, then we can resist Trump and his divisive politics.

Peter Bratt: As you can see, she hasn’t changed at all! (Laughs.)

Were there points when you considered running for office yourself?

Dolores Huerta: No, I never have, I’d rather help people get elected. We’ve been working for progressive candidates for many years. We did a campaign in 1982 that had the largest number of women ever elected to the California legislature, and the largest number of women of color. And we did it all by grass-roots organizing and networking. When people ask me to run for office myself, I always turn them down and say, “I like to put ‘em in and take ‘em out!” (Laughs.)

What’s it like for you to watch this film? Are there moments that you find especially uncomfortable?

The first time I saw it, it was so emotional for me that I couldn’t really concentrate. I had to see the film two or three times to be able to take it all in. The content is very heavy. I get very emotional seeing Robert Kennedy and Cesar and seeing farm workers getting beaten up and killed. It was only after seeing the film a few times that I could hear Robert Kennedy’s amazing words — the very last words he spoke before he was killed which were “We have a responsibility to our fellow citizens.” And it’s true — we do have a great responsibility to our country, to our world, to our fellow citizens, we must get involved.

In all your work over the years, did you ever meet Donald Trump?

No, but I did see him last year. Thanks to Hillary, I had a front row seat at one of the debates and he and his family passed right in front of me. I remember thinking, oh my God, these are strange people. It was like seeing robots — they were not making eye contact with anybody. It was just so unusual, they didn’t seem human.

Have you thought of what you might say to him if you had the chance to have a conversation?

Not really, to be honest. In a way, I feel sorry for him. He was obviously raised in a family that was not very compassionate and was infused with these ideas of racism and looking down on poor people. Like Woody Guthrie wrote in that song, “I Ain’t Got No Home” about Trump’s father who he calls “Old Man Trump,” they wouldn’t rent to Jews or people of color. That’s pretty typical of people whose minds are poisoned with that kind of thinking.

That’s why I’m so hell-bent on getting the stories of our people of color out there, people who have made so many contributions to this country, who literally built our infrastructure. That education needs to begin very early. One of our staff had a young son who came home from school the other day and told his mom that a little girl in his first grade class said to him, “I’m better than you because I’m white.” I think that kind of awareness has to be a mandate not only in our educational system but in all of our organizations, public and private, to work to end this cancer of racism and misogyny and homophobia and bigotry against working people.

Which reminds me of that horrible law in Arizona that’s covered in the film that literally erased you from the curriculum there.

Peter Bratt: And that legislation still stands, if you can believe it. Dolores is still officially not allowed to be mentioned in the social studies curriculum in Arizona.

That’s insane. Your story should be told to all schoolchildren everywhere.

Dolores Huerta: Well, I know that in California I’m in the second grade textbooks!

Oh good, my son is in second grade here!

And there are a lot of teachers who bring that information to their students , especially Latino teachers and teachers of color. And part of our work is organizing parents to go to school districts and try to change things.

My son is a great Spanish-immersion school here in Los Angeles and last year they had a day when kids dressed up as one of their heroes from their culture and there were several Dolores Huertas!

Awww, that’s so sweet!

Of course, there were about 17 Frida Kahlos, but also several Dolores Huertas!

(Laughs.) Well, that’s great, too! We love Frida!

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Dolores is currently playing in New York and Los Angeles and will be opening in many other cities this fall. Click here for a list of theaters.

#Cesar Chavez #Documentary #Dolores #Dolores Huerta #Peter Bratt #United Farm Workers #Interviews #What's Hot

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