#[ NOVEMBER / 22 / BLACK & LATINX / SHE & HE. ]

[quensmith]

ᶻ 𝘇 𐰁 ! 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝒬𝒰𝐸𝒩𝒯𝐼𝒩 𝒮𝑀𝐼𝒯𝐻 of dead by daylight & anoes 2010  ... written as an original character with final boy influences and last man standing vibes. tracking #quensmith , do not follow if you write billy h*rgrove or fr*ddy krueger / write with them or interact with dako/jonbyers. quentin is 19 but do not be weird about the speedo thing. this blog will contain triggering themes such as horror, blood, gore, nightmare demons, pills, needles, trauma, a loss of self and rage.

an  study  on      the sleepy final boy, adrenaline junkie, it's kill or be killed, beanies & crosses, micronaps, living to tell the tale, hatred and rage.

            ❝        𝙳𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙼  𝚆𝙰𝙻𝙺𝙴𝚁﹐  𝚆𝙰𝙺𝙴  𝚄𝙿    ―    don't  ​​​​​​​fall  asleep!  (  ᵃᶠᶠᶤˡᶤᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰˢˑ )      ...      @holybloom , @unholyguise .

[holysanctum-a]

⠀⠀⎯⎯⠀𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐘𝐒𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐌      :      a   study   in   various   muses,   by   november.⠀⠀†⠀⠀independent,   highly   selective   and   mutuals   only.   friend's   take   priority.   do   not   interact   if   you're   a   minor,   write   or   write   with   b*lly   h*rgrove   and   or   support   jonbyers/dako   in   anyway   shape   or   form.

𓊈   affiliated   with   𓊉   :      ...      cigrots , shadowedvales , aquareqia

muselist      ,      sideblog      ,      nsfw   blog.

anti duffers, anti smeyer, anti stephen king, anti james cameron, anti behavior & anti supermassive games.

[lustuos]

#    𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑢𝑛𝑠𝘩𝑖𝑛𝑒 ?   *    caroline    forbes.    (    anti  julie  plec,  not  apart  of  the  tvd  universe.   )     independent  &  mutually  exclusive,  written  as  an  original  character  and  set  within  the  many  horror  universes  that  exist.  mainly  within  prom  night  2008.

affiliated  with    ...    @devuors

[fbiada]

november's ada wong of capcom's resident evil franchise, written as an original character and taken lovingly from the grasps of misogyny. independent and private, mutually exclusive. i do not follow for follow. ada is of age, so am i, things might happen here and there but not always. general horror and body gore warnings, it's resident evil of course. do not follow or interact if you're friends with jonbyers/dako.

affiliated heavily with @merccarlos .

carlos & ada are endgame on this blog, amata is my exclusive carlos and we have a whole canon that we've made for them. this is not to say ada cannot be shipped with anyone else, but i will not follow other carlos' or ship with them and the main ship on this blog is and always will be carda.

[bracesface]

*              (    #    𝙱𝚁𝙰𝙲𝙴𝚂𝙵𝙰𝙲𝙴    ,    the  urge  2  destroy.    )    :    ᴱˢᵀᴬᴮᴸᴵˢᴴᴱᴰ  ²⁰²³ˑ

independent,  private  and  friend's  only  𝐒𝐔𝐒𝐀𝐍  𝐋𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐄  of  behavior's  deαd  bч  dαчlıght,  written  as  an  original  character  with  lore  made  by  me.  heavily  plot  based,  requires  dynamics  prior  to  interacting. susie is not a minor, she was a 19-yo senior. do  not  follow  unless  we  know  each  other  or  i  follow  first.

an  introspective  soon      ...

            ❝        𝖶𝖧𝖸  𝖣𝖨𝖣  𝖨  𝖳𝖧𝖨𝖭𝖪  𝖳𝖧𝖨𝖲  𝖶𝖠𝖲  𝖠  𝖦𝖮𝖮𝖣  𝖨𝖣𝖤𝖠  ?    ―    it's  not.  (  ᵃᶠᶠᶤˡᶤᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰˢˑ)      liesface.

[comascore]

*              (    #    ᶜᴼᴹᴬˢᶜᴼᴿᴱ    ,    the day i died, i didn't tell my body..    )    :    ᴱˢᵀᴬᴮᴸᴵˢᴴᴱᴰ  ²⁰²³ˑ

independent,  private  and  friend's  only  𝙼𝙰𝚇  𝙼𝙰𝚈𝙵𝙸𝙴𝙻𝙳  of  netflix's  𝑠ƃ𝑢ᴉɥʇ  ɹǝƃ𝑢ɐɹʇ𝑠,  written  as  an  original  character  with  lore  made  by  me.  heavily  plot  based,  requires  dynamics  prior  to  interacting.  do  not  follow  unless  we  know  each  other  or  i  follow  first. b*lly h*groves dni.

an  introspective  coming  soon      ...

            ❝        DEAR  DIARY  ,  I  AM  LOSING  MYSELF.    ―    where  did  i  go?  (  ᵃᶠᶠᶤˡᶤᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰˢˑ )      ...      @subconcern , @hereliescarol , @couldfight , @batrules , @hereliesnancy , @goldengirlchrissy .

[herelieschrissy]

*              (    #    𝙷𝙴𝚁𝙴𝙻𝙸𝙴𝚂𝙲𝙷𝚁𝙸𝚂𝚂𝚈    ,    the  beautiful  &  the  damned.    )    :    ᴱˢᵀᴬᴮᴸᴵˢᴴᴱᴰ  ²⁰²²˒  ᴿᴱᵛᴬᴹᴾᴱᴰ  ²⁰²³ˑ

independent,  private  and  friend's  only  𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐘  𝐂𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐇𝐀𝐌  of  netflix's  𝑠ƃ𝑢ᴉɥʇ  ɹǝƃ𝑢ɐɹʇ𝑠,  written  as  an  original  character  with  lore  made  by  me.  heavily  plot  based,  requires  dynamics  prior  to  interacting.  do  not  follow  unless  we  know  each  other  or  i  follow  first.

an  introspective  on      the queen of hawkins reborn      ,      pieces missing      ,      bitch in sheep's clothing      ,    angel eyes      ,    gone too soon      ,    life in death      ,    return of something inhuman      ,    coming back wrong      ,    break the cutie      ,    visions of terror      ,    darling in the attic      ,    mother knows worst      ,    "good" girl gone bad      ,    little miss not so perfect      ,    affection starved      ,    with a boyfriend like that...      ,    the girl in the fridge      ,     dies for the plot and comes back kicking      ,    hell hath no fury like a woman murdered      ,    not herself and never was    ,    death for the sake of plot    ,    psionic princess    ,    hellfire bathed.

            ❝        LAST  YEAR  I  ABSTAINED﹐  THIS  YEAR  I  DEVOUR.    ―    feel  my  rage.  (  ᵃᶠᶠᶤˡᶤᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰˢˑ)      herelieseddie , hereliesnancy , hereliestommy , hereliescarol , hereliesjon , hereliessteve.

[cuffbelt]

*              (    #    𝙲𝚄𝙵𝙵𝙱𝙴𝙻𝚃    ,    you  were  dead  yet  here  you  are.    )    :    ᴱˢᵀᴬᴮᴸᴵˢᴴᴱᴰ  ²⁰²²˒  ᴿᴱᵛᴬᴹᴾᴱᴰ  ²⁰²³ˑ

independent,  private  and  friend's  only  𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄  𝐌𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍  of  netflix's  𝑠ƃ𝑢ᴉɥʇ  ɹǝƃ𝑢ɐɹʇ𝑠,  written  as  an  original  character  with  lore  made  by  me.  heavily  plot  based,  requires  dynamics  prior  to  interacting.  do  not  follow  unless  we  know  each  other  or  i  follow  first.

an  introspective  coming  soon      ...

            ❝        MASTER  OF  HELLFIRE﹐  KING  OF  THE  DEAD    ―    who  are  your  victims?  (  ᵃᶠᶠᶤˡᶤᵃᵗᶤᵒᶰˢˑ )      ...      @fleuramor , @hallowburnt , @cigrots , @guiltcamera , @cupstars , @cheercursed , @cheernerds , @6evilrot , @batrules , @hereliesnancy.

[bunnyboo2k]

☆⠀  ｡ ˚⠀⠀♡⠀⠀𝙱𝚄𝙽𝙽𝚈𝙱𝙾𝙾𝟸𝙺⠀⠀:⠀⠀a private writing blog for 𝐒𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐀 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝖻𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗓 𝗎𝗇𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗌𝖾, headcanon and plot based.  minors & personals dni.

sasha is an adult. she will not be whitewashed or toned down. i am black and will be writing sasha through my experience as a black person. if that is not to your liking do not follow. i don't follow for follow and will only follow friend's or people i want to write with.

⠀⠀⠀⠀〻⠀֤⠀⠀꒰ 𝗥𝗢𝗖𝗞 𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗟𝗭 ꒱  🎸  yazmin, cloe, jade.⠀ ��｡ ˚ ˖࣪

[nancysholbrook]

a writing blog for 𝑁𝐴𝑁𝐶𝑌 𝐻𝑂𝐿𝐵𝑅𝑂𝑂𝐾 of 𝐴 𝑁𝐼𝐺𝐻𝑇𝑀𝐴𝑅𝐸 𝑂𝑁 𝐸𝐿𝑀𝑆𝑇𝑅𝐸𝐸𝑇 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟶. written somewhat as an original character and based on personal meta with influence from mixed canon.

heavily affiliated with ....

sideblog . pinboard

[displacedprincess]

Elena Flores/Ximena Delejos Big-Ass Character Sheet

sometimes I'm so carefree/ with a joy that's hard to hide / and sometimes it seems that /all I have to do is worry / and then you're bound to see my other side / i'm just a soul whose intentions are good / oh lord, please don't let me be misunderstood

mira bien / todo va mal y todo está al revés / y tal vez no haya una segunda vez / para mirar las rosas rojas del edén

original sin / genetic fate / revolutions, spinning plates / it's important to stay informed / the commentary to comment on / oh, and no one ever really knows you, and life is brief / so I've heard, but what's that gotta do with this black hole in me?

i could feel myself falling from an aeroplane / i hear static when I close my eyes / i imagine one day things settling / and i think about what that might be like

NAME

Full Name: Elena Débora Nayaraq Viridana Maite Paqui Castillo Flores Origin: Most of Elena’s name is Spanish in origin, with Maite being a name Spanish has borrowed from Basque origin, Paqui being a name from the Nahuatl verb ‘to be happy’, and Nayaraq being a Quechua name meaning “one who has many desires.” Quechua is the most common language of the indigenous Avaloran population, and the Avaloran people have a strong connection with the Nahuatl speakers of Mexico and Central America (not to mention the small but considerable diaspora population inside of Avalor). Meaning: 

Elena - light

Débora - Spanish form of Deborah, biblical, bee

Nayaraq - Quechua origin, one who has many desires

Viridana - from the Latin word "viridis", meaning "green"

Maite - Basque origin, love

Paqui - Nahuatl origin, to be happy

Nickname/Alias: In Swynlake, she goes by Ximena Delejos. Title: Her Majesty Crown Princess of Avalor Pet Name: Gabe and other close friends call her Elenita. Signature: Elena’s print is neat and a little tight but not difficult to read. Her cursive is painfully fancy, even she rolls her eyes.

STATS

Gender: Cisfemale Gender Presentation: Elena presents in a stereotypical feminine way most of the time. She’s comfortable in dresses, with makeup, all the stereotypical “girly” things.  Orientation: Non-heterosexual, but exactly what is still up in the air. Real Age: 22 Age Appearance: Elena does look a little mature for her age and is often assumed to be around 25. Birthday: November 16, 1994 Birthplace: Avalor City, Avalor  Astrological Sign: Scorpio Zodiac Sign: Dog Primal Zodiac Sign: Octopus Celtic Tree Zodiac: Reed Hogwarts House: Huffledor Divergent Faction: Divergent - Amity + Dauntless  Moral Alignment: Chaotic good MBTI Personality Type: ESTP Temperament: Sanguine Enneagram: Type 4, The Romantic Vice: Envy Virtue: Kindness

FAMILY

Immediate Family: Elena was raised by her parents until their murders when she was 15. Her father was King Raul (fc: Ricky Martin) and her mother was Queen Luisa (fc: Gaby Moreno).  When they were killed, her grandparents took over the role. She has a little sister Isabel, and they are close with their older cousin Chancellor Esteban, aged 30, (fc: Oscar Isaac), whose mother was Queen Luisa’s older sister who gave up her claim to the throne to marry a common man of Cuban descent. Part of Esteban is jealous, and wishes his mother didn’t give up her right to the throne so he would be the king instead of just the Chancellor, but Esteban cares for his younger cousins and supports Elena’s claim to the throne since it is what it is; he’s more content with it knowing that Elena trusts him and values his advice, even if she doesn’t always follow it. He acts as Elena’s main point of information regarding goings on in Avalor. Distant Family: Many cousins and second cousins, like a lot. Parenting: Elena’s parents were strict to an extent, like as royals there were certain expectations, but they tried to make sure their daughters had a childhood. Upbringing: Elena was taught that being royal didn’t make her better than anybody else. She was taught that the responsibility of the monarchy was to rule with compassion and to look out for their people. Elena’s expanded this to care about everybody.

PERSON

Species: Human, Magick

Ethnicity: Latinx, Avaloran wih Guatemalan and Puerto Rican roots

Blood Type: O-

Preferred Hand: Left-handed

Eye Color: Brown

Hair Color:  Brown-black

Hairstyle:  Elena typically wears her long, thick, curly hair like

this. 

 Lightly groomed with messy pieces tied back for convenience. Sometimes in an

updo

Skin Tone: Light brown

Makeup: Elena does her eyebrows up real nice every day, but other than that prefers light makeup for most days. 

Build: Slim and toned, proportional 

Height:  5′4

Cup Size: C

Shoe Size: 7 1/2 US

HEALTH

General Health: Elena is typically slow to fall ill, but she’s a baby when she’s sick. She haaaaates being ill. Energy: Too! Damn! Much! Memory: She remembers just about everything and really, really wishes she didn’t. Senses: Elena requires corrective lenses, usually she just wears contacts. Allergies: Elena is allergic to wasps and carries an epipen on her person. Medication: She’s currently not on medication, but she was on effexor for a while after her parents’ were killed. Phobias: Wasps, claustrophobia, the dark Addictions: None Mental Disorders: was diagnosed with depression after she failed to cope after her parents’ deaths, but she was taken off of her medication a year and a half after starting it and it seems she’s herself again

Occupation: Crown Princess of Avalor / Unemployed and seeking Work Ethic: Elena takes everything she works for seriously, be it leading her country or mixing drinks. Rank: Crown Princess / ?? Income: Right now, none Wealth Status: Aristocracy, royalty. 

Education: The highest level of education Elena has so far is university. Instead of going to university at Oxford or Ivy League like most of Avalor’s aristocracy, Elena chose to attend uni at one of Avalor’s public universities, University of Avalor - Avalor City. She was primarily castle-schooled for her primary and secondary education and she completed it and went onto university when she was 16.  School: UAAC or U doble-A C said aloud, is the largest university in Avalor. It has degree programs taught in Spanish, Portuguese, and English, and attracts students from all over the Americas and Europe. Students from the US come here because it is cheaper than a US school. Grades: Elena was a mostly A students with Bs in subjects she struggled with. Special Information: Elena graduated summa cum laude from UAAC. UAAC also has a small Greek life community, one of the few universities outside of the US participating in Greek Life. Elena joined the [fictional] Lamba Mu Theta social sorority. She was also active in numerous clubs, a choral music and show choir student org, and participated in student senate.   Social Stereotype: At first glance people thought the princess would be a spoiled brat, but the turned out to be the biggest nerd and cupcake. Degrees: Elena double majored from the get-go, took summer classes, and studied some more to get another degree so she holds three bachelors’ degrees; one is a B.A. in International Studies with a concentration in Global Governance, Human Rights, and Law, another is a B.S. in Bioengineering with a concentration in immunoengineering, and the third is a B.A. in Linguistics with a concentration in sociolinguistics . 

[epchapman89]

A City Of Love And Hate: Latin Culture Rising In The Phoenix Coffee Scene

This was going to be a very different article.

On Tuesday, August 22, 2017, current United States President Donald Trump held a rally in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, drawing thousands of counter-protesters and worldwide media coverage. The rally came uncomfortably close to a statement saying Trump was “seriously considering” pardoning “Sheriff” Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County’s notorious former sheriff recently voted out after 30 years of holding office. In July of 2017, Arpaio was convicted of criminal contempt for refusing to follow a federal judge’s orders to stop racial profiling. A week later, Trump formally pardoned the controversial former sheriff.

The political environment in Phoenix is a paradox. This is a city with a thriving arts, culture, food, and beverage scene, a vast hub in the middle of the Sonoran Desert with a major focus on community and supporting local, creating an active environment of creative entrepreneurship and small business culture. But anti-immigrant ideals and bigotry remain an undercurrent here. It feels like these dark sentiments have been on a steady boil since November of 2016, emboldened by the election of a President who advocates building a wall across the Arizona-Mexico border.

A city that has become a flashpoint for anti-immigrant sentiment is also home to a truly thriving immigrant small business community. The city’s coffee scene is a window into that world: the good and the bad, the challenges and opportunities, and ultimately, a hope for wider acceptance and tolerance. That’s Phoenix—and Phoenix coffee.

Ash Ponders

As the national specialty coffee industry experiences a widespread awakening towards equality and human rights within it—a direct result of the wider social and political climate here in 2017 America—little can be done to try and ignore how closely intertwined culture, politics, and coffee actually are. This concept is nothing new to marginalized coffee professionals, and this summer we saw it all in Phoenix. The usually quiet nature of political expression seemingly burst as news broke of Arpaio’s pardoning just three days after protests filled our downtown outside of Trump’s rally. It was a direct hit to the Latinx community, including many of those in the city’s coffee scene.

“I was actually pretty shocked by how upset I was,” Ash Ponders tells me. Ponders is a fixture in the Arizona coffee community, recognizable as a highly-knowledgeable enthusiast and regular at the city’s good coffee bars. He’s Panamanian-American, and his photojournalistic work has been featured in Phoenix New Times, La Prensa in Panama, Village Voice, and Standart Magazine. “I’m generally cynical, still hoping for the best but expecting the worst, but this ticked me off.”

Joe Arpaio is infamous for terrorizing Arizona’s Latinx community. Self-dubbed the “toughest sheriff in America”, his policies on immigration resulted in the unconstitutional and illegal profiling of minorities in Arizona. The inhuman conditions of his jails—most notably Tent City, an open-air prison in which inmates were forced to live outside in triple-digit temperatures—are a sad smear on the conscience of all Arizonans, and have kept Sheriff Joe under a constant veil of controversy statewide.

Jorge Torres

Jorge Torres—the owner and head stylist at Palabra, a collective hair salon, art gallery, and home of popular 49th Parallel account Futuro Coffee—attended the Trump protests in August, and calls the Arpaio pardon “a stab in the gut.” Palabra (Spanish for word) began as a downtown Phoenix salon and gallery concept in December of 2012, before moving to a new location and expanding to serve coffee in January of 2016. Torres celebrates minority and immigrant artists and creatives in his space, and his own Mexican-American heritage is apparent in the all-Spanish coffee menu that features beverages like jamaica (a Hibiscus tea), cajeta (a latte with homemade Mexican caramel), and a mocha made with Rancho Gordo chocolate.

“The menu is a reflection of my childhood,” says Torres, “and I can see it in the faces of other Latinos that come in, they know and recognize these flavors, too.”

Latin culture is woven into the fabric of Phoenix, and Torres and Ponders are leaders here in the Phoenix coffee scene, but the true impact of latinidad on Phoenix’s coffee community is still emerging. “On the one hand, it’s not very present,” says Ponders, “but you know it’s there.” The city has had its share of talented Latinx baristas and trainers over the years, but on the ownership and cultural leadership level, Latin culture is just beginning to fuse with the wider third wave coffee movement. There is a hope beginning to burn for change, especially in the wake of recent events, and new leaders are rising up here in Phoenix to make those crucial next steps.

One of those future leaders is Lisette Barbera, a barista at Cartel Coffee Lab’s Sky Harbor Airport location. (Good airport coffee: we have that in Phoenix.) Barbera vehemently champions increased communication about the Phoenix Latinx community and the wider specialty coffee scene.

Lisette Barbera

“The Latinx community 100% influences our coffee community,” Barbera tells me, adding, “and we don’t speak about it enough!” Barbera sees this wider recognition in Phoenix as echoing back to coffee’s origin story. “We often forget the seasons of manual labor that families build their lives around,” Barbera reminds me. “There are so many brown and Black hands these beans have passed through. I am so proud as a hardworking individual, I get to serve these with my brown hands.”

She’s right, of course—coffee’s journey from origin to coffee bar takes on a special kind of synergy in a place like Phoenix, and in the hands of Latinx coffee professionals like Barbera, Ponders, and Torres. The realities of being a brown coffee professional in America’s current climate means living with the fear of erasure—the inescapable fear that one’s contribution to American society, in addition to just being will be dismissed. Even as the coffee industry repeats its refrain of uplifting coffee producers in Central and South American countries, those stanzas often fail to acknowledge Latinx coffee people on the retail end.

Those fears and anxieties are exacerbated by shameful political moments like the Arpaio pardon. “This whole week has been just one big flashing image of seeing yourself being disrespected and then having to continue in everyday life as normal,” Barbera tells me. It’s an experience many know all too well. “Clocking in and out of work, trying to entertain your friends and experience normalcy, but then you wake up with all these images in your head.”

I spoke with another Latinx Phoenix-area barista for this article, Lydon LaJoie of Kream Coffee. He reflected deeply on the events of that wild week in August, having also been in attendance at the counter-protest.

Lydon LaJoie

“The protest started off strong,” LaJoie tells me, “and I went in humbly. I come from a mixed-race background but thought it was important I represent myself with that privilege.” Like many in the Phoenix community, Arpaio’s pardon brought back painful memories for LaJoie. “My heart dropped. Every time I heard ‘beaner’ or ’wetback’ growing up; every time someone asked, So what are you?; every time I held someone after their family had been torn apart; it all played in my head.”

“[Arpaio] is a symbol of fear, hate, oppression, and racism, there is no way around that,” LaJoie says. “I spent a majority of my life whitewashing myself because of him.”

Latinx coffee pros like Lydon LaJoie draw a lot of inspiration from examples like Jorge Torres, who LaJoie calls his “low-key hero” and “such an important part of this coffee community”—but there aren’t another dozen Latinx specialty coffee bar owners for me to profile. I wish there were; you hear a lot in the Phoenix coffee scene about “community first,” but it feels like our most marginalized communities aren’t being given the space or being embraced and championed by the city’s coffee scene.

The lack of what Ponders calls, “trade-based heritage” is something that plagues many Phoenix cultural communities. “I think that’s hurting us,” he says. “If I care about being Latinx, I’ll go to Puente, the human rights organization. As a journalist, I’m a member of the National Hispanic Journalists. But to not see something like that in coffee is strange.”

Ponders with Pope the Poodle (center) and the author, Michelle Johnson.

But looking at it through a lens of optimism, Phoenix coffee is in a unique position to change this. What’s always been great about the city is its ability to be shaped and molded, as it is still generally under development. The vast amount of space in between everything allows room for growth, and the potential for the scene is still in the early stages of being fully tapped. And though their numbers may be small, the city’s Latinx coffee leaders are up to the challenge of advancing the city’s coffee space, a place for brown people of all backgrounds to thrive.

Torres plans to use the platform he’s created as a creative and thought leader in Phoenix to educate people and activate them, with events happening in his Futuro cafe space. “I want to do talks and educate those who aren’t personally affected because they have no idea.” For Torres, coffee becomes irrelevant in the midst of political turmoil, but he does acknowledge that it can be through coffee that we reach people to increased awareness and encourage empathetic thought on these issues.

Barbera also wants to take action, but directly within coffee in Phoenix. Being a transplant from San Diego, I am still fairly new to the coffee community, but have noticed it lacking,” she says. “A lot of the coffee events I feel frankly left out of unless you are organizing yourself.” Barbera is working now with the team at Cartel to put on events to help build community and signal coffee’s wider role as an organizing platform. “Lately, I have taken it upon myself to do little events with Cartel’s help,” she tells me. “There I can be a physical representation of a brown, outspoken Mexican woman in a leadership role. That is so important to me, especially at a time when Mexican woman are still being portrayed a certain way by the media.”

Barbera goes on: “Phoenix has such potential for women of color to be in leadership roles. But I also understand I am going to have to do a lot of the footwork on my own here.”

That’s where the rest of the Phoenix coffee community comes in. Together with our Latinx colleagues, we can create the space needed to talk about these issues and connect with each other. Here in the Valley of the Sun, and in local coffee communities everywhere, we’ve reached a point where we can’t ignore bigotry and hatred and its expression in our society, both lawful and—in the case of Sheriff Joe’s modern-day torture camps—baldly unconstitutional.

Torres at Futuro

The Phoenix coffee community is a part of a wider community that is at an epicenter of southwestern Latin and Mexican-American culture. Through coffee, it is possible for Phoenix to lead the charge to shut out the hate and bigotry Latinx Americans face every day. In a city going through such a complicated identity moment right now—synonymous with both diversity and bigotry, a city of love and hate—I can think of no sweeter rebuttal than for Phoenix’s coffee scene to emerge as one of the country’s best, with Latinx coffee pros leading the way.

Michelle Johnson (@thechocbarista) is the publisher of The Chocolate Barista, and the marketing director at Barista Hustle. Read more Michelle Johnson on Sprudge.

Photos by Shaunté Glover (@shaunte) for Sprudge Media Network.

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