#Auburn Illinois

[uniqueartisanconnoisseur]

Let Fall Linger!

I am writing this blog on Halloween eve. My favorite Halloween costume I ever wore was when I dressed up like Phyllis Diller one year. All I needed was to have Fang along for the ride. For those too young to know, she was a wonderful comedienne. Last night I sat on my youngest daughter’s porch and helped hand out candy. Living in the country this is a joy I don’t often get to do. I saw my…

[ncwsa]

Voting Now Open for 2024 Annual Award Nominees

Conducted by the Awards committee, a total of 116 nominations across all categories were submitted by peers. The top nominees are selected for the annual honors with a vote by the public in tandem with a board of directors vote. Congratulations to all the nominees for our annual awards! Check out the nominations below for NCWSA Outstanding Leader of the Year, NCWSA Athlete of the Year, and NCWSA…

[undergroundmysteries]

Amber Motsch / Pierce, Unreported Missing Person From Chicago, IL Since 2002

Amber Motsch Pierce is an unreported missing person who was last seen in Chicago, Illinois in December of 2002 when she was 21 years old. Please click the headline to read the full article on her disappearance.

September 7, 2024 — Underground MysteriesAmber Motsch went missing in Chicago, Illinois on or around December 17, 2002 when she was 21 years old. She is considered an unreported missing person at the time I am writing this, as she does not have a police report on her disappearance, nor is she in the NamUs database. I added her case to my database for unreported underrepresented missing people. …

[lobaznyuk]

super 16 is being livestreamed on youtube this year!

jan 5th

session 1: denver, illinois, san jose state, washington session 2: kentucky, michigan, michigan state, oklahoma

jan 6th

session 3: byu, minnesota, oregon state, southern utah session 4: alabama, auburn, california, ucla

[saulweissberg]

availability / @cassiewestwood setting / la galleria; tuesday, july 16th, around seven pm.

was he having a stroke? truly, was there something wrong with him now that he was over the age of fifty? being ambushed by terry a few weeks ago had been startling, knowing that they had moved to blue harbor and lived within ten miles of him for the first time in twenty-five years, and he had many run-ins with thalia since their divorce two years ago, but he figured the universe had meted out enough punishment for his transgressions. having his second wife—the only ex-wife left in new york—walk into la galleria that night made him feel like his sanity had finally snapped. either he was having some sort of breakdown, or cassandra had a midwestern doppelgänger, albeit with darker hair. like when terry first arrived, the idea of that doppelgänger had been ludicrous, but was it any more ludicrous than his second wife appearing in blue harbor randomly? at least terry had the excuse of micah, and blue harbor was thalia’s hometown. there was absolutely no reason why cassie would be in town. none that saul could think of, at least. g-d, he hoped she wasn't moving to illinois, too.

getting up from his table, he crossed the restaurant in an effort to catch up before she could sit down elsewhere. “ginger!” saul called out the nickname he used to call her—if it was truly cassie, she’d respond to it—and his voice was tinged with affection, but there was clear confusion in his eyes. approaching her and the hostess leading her to a different section of the restaurant, he smiled politely at the young worker before turning his attention back to his ex-wife. “though i see you’re not so ginger anymore.” his hand reached out to brush a strand of hair off her shoulder, the locks no longer the deep auburn she had when they first met. “what’re you doing here?” he asked, struck by how often he was saying that exact phrase this year. who else was going to show up in blue harbor, he wondered. was his third grade teacher waiting in the wings to surprise him, or maybe his freshman year boyfriend? “i mean, not that i’m not happy to see you… but where’s vaughn? and your kids?”

[brookston]

Holidays 11.22

Holidays

Alice's Restaurant Massacre Day

Arbor Day (British Virgin Islands)

Bank Workers’ Day (Armenia)

Black Entrepreneurs Day

Conspiracy Theory Day

Day of Justice (Azerbaijan)

Day of Music (Spain)

Day of Remembrance for President John F. Kennedy

Day of the Albanian Alphabet (Albania)

Day of the Andalusian Gypsy (Spain)

Family Day (Palau)s

Go For A Ride Day

Good Married Couple Day (a.k.a. Good Husband & Wife Day or Good Spouses Day; Japan)

Good Twin Tail Day (Japan)

Hockey Day

Humane Society Day

International Chick Tract Day

International Ewing’s Sarcoma Awareness Day

International Musician’s Day

Isfahan National Day (Iran)

JFK Assassination Day

Justice Workers’ Day (Azerbaijan)

Kanakdasa Jayanti (Karnataka, India)

Love Your Freckles Day

Love Your Own Country Day

Music Day (Spain)

Musician’s Day (Mexico)

National Agriculture & Related Industries Day (Australia)

National Amelia Day

National Aron Day

National Dental Dam Day

National Dental Nurses Day (UK)

National Housing Strategy Day (Canada)

National Jukebox Day

National Larimar Day (Dominican Republic)

National Nathan Day

National Poetry Day (Philippines)

National Senior Dog Day

National Stop the Violence Day

National Yeti Day

Phonograph Day

Pajama Day (Ireland)

Prosecutors’ Day (Kyrgyzstan)

Psychologist Day (Russia)

Repentence Day (Sachsen, Germany)

Skywriting Day

Slumber Party Day

Start Your Own Country Day

Substitute Educators Day

Teacher’s Day (Costa Rica)

Turnip Day (French Republic)

22q Awareness Day

White Album Day

World Day of the Schnauzer

World Vasectomy Day

Xanthippe Asteroid Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Cranberry Relish Day

Danish Pastry Day (Wienerbrödets Dag; Sweden)

International Stilton Day

Kimchi Day (South Korea; California)

National Cashew Day

Independence & Related Days

Anniversary of Portuguese Aggression (Republic of Guinea)

Duvalia (Declared; 2015) [unrecognized]

Lebanon (from France, 1943)

Regelis (Declared; 1999) [unrecognized]

4th Friday in November

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flapjack Friday [4th Friday of Each Month]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Flirtatious Friday [4th Friday of Each Month]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

National Day of Thanksgiving (Turks & Caicos Islands) [4th Friday]

Stars in Our Schools Day (UK) [4th Friday]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning November 22 (3rd Full Week of November)

Deck the Halls Weekend (Seneca Lake region, New York) [thru 11.24]

National Farm-City Week (thru 11.28) [Week Ending On Thanksgiving]

Festivals Beginning November 22, 2024

America's Hometown Thanksgiving (Plymouth, Massachusetts) [thru 11.24]

Beaujolais & Beyond (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

Beef Tongue Cook-Off (Eunice, Louisiana) [thru 11.23]

Bruges Christmas Market (Bruges, Belgium) [thru 1.5.2025]

Cayman Brac (Cayman Islands) [thru 11.24]

Denver Christmas Show (Denver, Colorado) [thru 11.24]

Downtown Baraboo Wine Walk (Baraboo, Wisconsin)

Downtown Raleigh Tree Lighting Celebration (Raleigh, North Carolina)

FOBAB [Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer] (Chicago, Illinois) [thru 11.23]

Mountain Mandarin Festival (Auburn, California) [thru 11.24]

National Biodynamic Conference (Phoenixville, Pennsylvania) [thru 11.24]

Night of the Proms (Antwerp, Belgium) [thru 11.24]

Plant City Pig Jam (Plant City, Florida) [thru 11.23]

Salute to Ranching Holiday Dinner-Dance & Auction (Workman's Creek, Arizona)

Silver Bells in the City (Lansing, Michigan)

Tallinn Christmas Market (Tallinn, Estonia) [thru 12.27]

Whiskies of the World (Chicago, Illinois)

Feast Days

Amphilochius of Iconium (Christian; Saint)

André Gide (Writerism)

Blackbeard Memorial Day (Pastafarian)

Cecilia (Christian; Saint) [Music]

Christian Rohlfs (Artology)

Clone Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Colbert (Positivist; Saint)

Descending Day of Lord Buddha (Lhabab Duechen) [Bhutan]

Dispute-Settling Assizes (Shamanism)

Feast of Artemis (Moon Goddess; Ancient Greece; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

George (Eastern Orthodox; Georgia)

George Eliot (Writerism)

Herbert (Christian; Saint)

Ignaz Günther (Artology)

Jon Cleary (Writerism)

Light Snow (Chinese Farmer’s Calendar)

Marjane Satrapi (Artology; Writerism)

Miguel Covarrubias (Artology)

Olga Kisseleva (Artology)

Philemon and Appia (Christian; Martyrs)

Pragmatius of Autun (Christian; Saint)

Sagittarius zodiac sign begins

Samonios (Seed-Fall; Celtic Book of Days)

Theodorus the Studite (Christian; Saint)

Vernon the Grizzly Bear (Muppetism)

Ydalir (festival to Ullr, god of archery & skiing; Ancient Norse)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

The Addams Family (Film; 1991)

The Air Hostess (Phantasies Cartoon; 1937)

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (Animated Film; 1991)

Back to the Future Part II (Film; 1989)

The Beatles [The White Album] (Album; 1968)

Beauty and the Beast (Animated Disney Film; 1991)

Bettie Page Reveals All (Documentary Film; 2013)

Blue Hawaii (Film; 1961) [Elvis Presley #8]

Boléro, by Maurice Ravel (Orchestral Work; 1928)

Captain Kidd (Film; 1945)

Casino (Film; 1995)

The Check’s in the Mail (Money Rock Cartoon; Schoolhouse Rock; 1996)

Clambake (Film; 1967)

Coco (Animated Film; 2017)

Convict Concerto (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1954)

Darkest Hour (Film; 2017)

Die Another Day (US Film; 2002) [James Bond #20]

For the Boys (Film; 1991)

Frida (Film; 2002)

Frozen (Animated Disney Film; 2013)

Frozen 2 (Animated Disney Film; 2019)

Goofy’s Glider (Disney Cartoon; 1940)

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Film; 2013)

Hypnotize, by System of a Down (Album; 2005)

Jack and the Beanstalk (Betty Boop Cartoon; 1931)

Jelly Roll Blues, recorded by Bunny Berigan (Song; 1938)

La Forza del Destino, by Giuseppe Verdi (Opera; 1862)

A Lyell Geste of Robyn Hood, by Winked de Word (History Book; 1495)

King Solomon’s Mines (Film; 1985)

Man of La Mancha (Broadway Musical; 1965)

Olaf’s Frozen Adventure (Disney Cartoon; 2017)

Once Upon a Studio (Disney Short Film; 2023)

Pink S.W.A.T. (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1978)

Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times (Documentary Film; 2002)

Prefabricated Pink (Pink Panther Cartoon; 1967)

The Producers (Film; 1967)

Shanghai Woody (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1971)

Shine (Film; 1996)

Star Trek: First Contact (Film; 1996)

Swann’s Wy, by Marcel Proust (Novel; 1913)

Throne of Blood (Film; 1961)

Toy Story (Animated Pixar Film; 1995) Vitalogy, by Pearl Jam (Album; 1994)

Wish (Animated Disney Film; 2023)

With the Beatles, by The Beatles (Album; 1963)

Yogi Bear and the Magical Flight of the Spruce Goose(Hanna-Barbera Animated TV Special; 1987)

Today’s Name Days

Cäcilia, Salvator (Austria)

Cecilija, Cilika, Dobrila, Filemon (Croatia)

Cecílie (Czech Republic)

Cecilia (Denmark)

Cecilia, Säsil, Silja, Silje, Sille (Estonia)

Cecilia, Seela, Selja, Silja (Finland)

Cécile (France)

Cäcilia, Rufus, Salvator, Silja (Germany)

Cecilia, Filemon, Filimon, Philimon, Valerios (Greece)

Cecília (Hungary)

Cecilia (Italy)

Aldis, Aldonis, Alfons, Alfonss, Alfs (Latvia)

Cecilija, Cilė, Dargintė, Steikintas (Lithuania)

Cecilie, Silje, Sissel (Norway)

Cecylia, Marek, Maur, Wszemiła (Poland)

Arhip. Filimon, Onism (România)

Cecília (Slovakia)

Cecilio, Filemón (Spain)

Cecilia, Sissela (Sweden)

Cecelia, Philemon, Yaropolk (Ukraine)

Abbey, Abbie, Abby, Abigail, Cecelia, Cecil, Cecilia, Cecily, Cecyl, Celia, Gail Gale, Galen, Gay, Gayle, Philemon, Philo, Shayla, Sheila (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 327 of 2024; 39 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 47 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Hagal (Hailstone) [Day 27 of 28]

Chinese: Month 10 (Yi-Hai), Day 22 (Geng-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 21 Heshvan 5785

Islamic: 20 Jumada I 1446

J Cal: 27 Wood; Sixthday [27 of 30]

Julian: 9 November 2024

Moon: 50%: 3rd Quarter

Positivist: 19 Frederic (12th Month) [Pombal / D’Aranda]

Runic Half Month: Is (Stasis) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Autumn or Fall (Day 61 of 90)

Week: 3rd Full Week of November

Zodiac: Sagittarius (Day 1 of 30)

Calendar Changes

Is (Stasis) [Half-Month 23 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 12.10)

Sagittarius (The Archer) begins [Zodiac Sign 9; thru 12.21]

[kuiperoid]

Optical Illusion: Perceptions of Race and Sexuality with Right-Wing Internet Personality Nick Fuentes, Part 1

[originally posted here]

Introduction

Nick Fuentes has been a voice for online far right youth since 2017. In that time, he has been on the receiving end of many criticisms from both right and left-wing voices, not purely for his claimed ideologies, but his very identity. On one side, he is attacked as a racist, homophobic, reactionary white supremacist, while the other derides him as an anti-white, anti-family gay Mexican. Despite the initial assumption that these are contradictory claims, some of these may not be as much in opposition as one might think. While not all of these claims can be entirely verified, what is clear is that Fuentes’s consistent focus on the importance of optics plays the greatest role, as how he is perceived by others may be more important than whatever the truth is. 

Who is Nick Fuentes?

Nick Fuentes on during an episode of America First

Nicholas Joseph Fuentes was born August 18, 1998 to William “Bill” Fuentes and Lauren Chicco-Fuentes in a suburb outside of Chicago, Illinois, along with his twin sister, Melissa. He says that he was baptized Catholic, but that his parents were not overly religious. His father worked for a technological manufacturing company, providing his wife and two children with a comfortable upbringing. An indication of the ideologies he grew up with can be illustrated in Bill Fuentes’s take on restaurants, insisting that they never go to Applebee’s or Red Lobster, saying in one episode of his show because they were associated with black people, though in another stream, the reason was was because they were associated with poor people. Whichever was the case, these were two groups Fuentes was raised to not associate himself with. His high school classmates described him as a fairly normal guy who played the euphonium in marching band and was part of the school’s award-winning speech and Model UN teams, eventually serving as president of the student council. He began broadcasting conservative politics through high school radio, though his views were still typically within what were considered normal views among elected Republicans of the early 2010s.

Fuentes, center, with his fellow high school Model UN team members in 2013

Things began to change during Fuentes’s freshman year at Boston University. He has cited a variety of factors leading to this transition, namely the election of Donald Trump as president. He bought his first personal Bible and reconnected with his Catholic faith, taking a particularly traditionalist and literalist interpretation. During February 2017, he started broadcasting his show, America First with Nicholas J. Fuentes, on the Right Side Broadcasting Network. On this show, he criticized immigration, multiculturalism, and the influence of “globalists.” His increasingly extreme views were allowed to continue to be broadcasted until that August when he attended the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. On campus, he received pushback from the students and decided to leave Boston University. Initially, he planned to transfer to Auburn University in Alabama, but ultimately decided to leave college in favor of returning home to be a full-time streamer out of his parents�� basement. 

Fuentes seen advocating for Donald Trump in 2017

Fuentes continued streaming his show, now with much less to lose. His platform would change over the years as he would be banned from YouTube, Twitch, and DLive, eventually setting up his own site, Cozy.tv, for himself as his political allies. In his view, the mainstream Republican party was too lenient. He intended to push the overton window further right until his ideals became reflective of what electable politicians could say. Across his platforms, Fuentes would espouse bigoted views against immigrants, non-white people generally, Jews, Protestants, feminists, women generally, the LGBT community, and anyone who did not fit into his narrow white Catholic nationalist view of who should represent the United States, his monologues peppered with slurs for the groups in question. He often pushed conspiracy theories, such as Holocaust denial and claiming that the media and politics were run by Jewish overlords for whom he blamed for the rampant “degeneracy” of modern society. He would often refer to himself in grandiose terms, calling himself a genius and comparing himself to Jesus and various historical dictators. Over the next few years, Fuentes would build his following, which he would refer to as the “groypers” after a Pepe the Frog meme. America First would evolve from simply the name of his show to a full-blown organization.

The “groyper” meme for which Fuentes’s followers are named

In 2019, Fuentes would lead his followers in what came to be known as the “Groyper Wars,” where he instructed his followers to disrupt events thrown by Turning Point USA. To those unfamiliar, Turning Point USA is an organization dedicated to organizing conservative college students and resisting progressive sentiment on college campuses. Fuentes took umbrage with them for their support of Israel and acceptance of non-white and LGBT conservatives. Guests at the Turning Point events included Donald Trump Jr, Ben Shapiro, and others deemed not far enough right for the groypers where they would take over Q&A sections and heckle the speakers. One incident that stands out in the memory of many is an event in which Turning Point president and founder Charlie Kirk was speaking with his guest, a gay black veteran, and the many groypers attacked the appeal to identity politics, one asking “how does anal sex help us win the culture war?” Another incident that caught the ire of mainstream conservatives everywhere is when Fuentes and several of his followers accosted Ben Shapiro, a conservative commentator whom Fuentes often clashed with on account of his being Jewish and staunchly pro-Israel, while he was with his family in public. This incident was disavowed by Meghan McCain, Nikki Haley, and many other mainstream conservatives in the media. 

Fuentes and fellow groypers as they confronted Ben Shapiro with his wife and children

With the Groyper Wars came Fuentes’s concern with optics. He told his followers in his posts leading up the events that they should be sure to be dressed in a suit and tie to look presentable. When he would later be one of the focus points of the episode of documentarian Louis Theroux’s series Forbidden America that focused on far-right online personalities, he mentioned that something he found off-putting about many of the attendees at the Unite the Right rally at Charlottesville was how “un-optical” many of them presented, making Roman salutes and whatnot. This may surprise some given his documented use of fascist talking points and slurs on his own show. However, he often presented with a veneer of irony that allowed a shadow of a doubt of his full authenticity about anything he said. 

The highpoint of America First would come when Fuentes held the first AFPAC (America First Political Action Conference). Fuentes and his associates were banned from CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) due to his clashes with various members. He decided to throw his own event to rival CPAC. The first was held in Washington DC while the later AFPACs were held in Florida. The first was held in February of 2020. Speakers included then-Identity Evropa leader Patrick Casey, Daily Caller editor Scott Greer, political commentator and often-declared groyper mother - despite being Filipino-American -  Michelle Malkin, and Fuentes himself. The 2021 AFPAC was briefly thought to be in limbo due to both COVID restrictions and January 6th antics, but it went on with Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar appearing as the surprise keynote speaker, despite curiously also appearing at rival event CPAC later that day. A big surprise came in 2022 when right wing political activist and provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, with whom Fuentes had been in contact for the past few years to help coach his public appearance and served as a speaker at that year’s AFPAC, got him in contact with Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who gave a speech opening the event. Greene was heavily criticized for appearing at a “white supremacist event,” leading her to disavow Fuentes, saying she was not aware of who he was or the nature of the event when she agreed to speak there. This disavowal was the start of a feud between Greene and Fuentes that has carried on ever since. The keynote speaker for that year was former Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, known for being tough on immigrants. Arizona Republican governor candidate Kari Lake had intended to speak, but ultimately withdrew on account of Fuentes’ support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The 2023 AFPAC had a decided change in tone with Internet personality Nicolas “Sneako” Kenn De Balinthazy serving as the guest speaker, reflecting the near total change in the nature of the associations America First currently hold.

Fuentes with Marjorie Taylor Greene before her speech at AFPAC III in 2022

More dramatic shifts began in 2021. Fuentes and select followers attended many leadup rallies prior to the storming of the US Capitol on January 6 and were even present outside, though neither Fuentes nor any of his direct associates breached the entrance. His involvement in the event led Patrick Casey to disassociate from him and for his channel to be excised from DLive, the primary factor leading him to found Cozy.tv. The beginning of the year did not go as horribly as one may have thought. AFPAC II was still held in February as planned.  He claims his assets were seized and he was put on the no-fly list, which would be the main discussion of his 2022 America First-produced documentary, The Most Canceled Man in America. Not being able to travel by plane, Fuentes was prompted to travel by car, which led him to go on the White Boy Summer road trip of 2021 where he held meet-ups and speaking engagements. 

Fuentes and close associates at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021

However, as the year went on, questions arose. While several groypers did participate in the storming of the capital and faced legal action, Fuentes himself appeared to be let off completely free for being a supposed leader of a far-right political movement. This led to speculations that Fuentes was acting as a federal informant. Some past associates claimed his assets were not seized as long as he claimed and, specifically, former associate Jaden McNeil would later say his being banned from flying was not because of January 6th antics or being unvaccinated, but because he had previously harassed a flight attendant. One by one, various prominent members of America First would disassociate from him. Many felt that he flip-flopped on various issues. For being the leader of a movement so heavily defined by its opposition to Jewish people and Israel, it was odd for him to support proud Jewish Zionist Laura Loomer’s congressional bid in Florida. Another area was the support he held for former President Donald Trump, the basis of the identity for much of the US far-right movement, when he briefly worked for rapper Kanye West’s short-lived presidential bid, a black man who, for all of his talk about disliking the Jews, something Fuentes was now back on after Laura Loomer’s run for congress fell through, supported reparations and open borders and who dated, married, and reproduced interracially. Shortly after that came to an end for reasons that are not known for certain, it was revealed that an associate of Fuentes’s, far-right activist and Stop the Steal founder Ali Alexander (née Ali Akhbar) had solicited sex and lewd photos and videos from teenage boys, often using his connection to Fuentes as leverage. Fuentes has attempted to publicly distance himself from Alexander, but various past associates kept it alive in the discussion, in addition to claims that he was aware of Alexander’s proclivities and attempted to silence his victims. Since then, Fuentes has mainly associated with Internet personalities over more politically active types, such as Calvin Lee “LeafyIsHere” Vail Marquez, Brandt “BasedBrandt” Wiggins, the aforementioned Sneako, and, most recently, Hannah Pearl “JustPearlyThings” Davis, the last being a rare female member of the Fuentes crew. 

The Utter Latinidad of Fuentes’s Perceptions of Race and Class

Fuentes’s 23andMe results, which he broadcasted on an episode of America First in 2021

When US residents first learn about Nick Fuentes, especially in the context of him being referred to as a “white supremacist” or something similar, questions often arise about his ethnic identity, given his decidedly non-Anglo sounding surname. His ethnic makeup is fairly common knowledge: his father is half-Mexican-American and half-Irish-American while his mother is Italian-American, the part of his heritage that he typically describes himself as most closely identifying with. Fuentes did take a 23andMe test in 2021 where he published the results, disappointed to find himself at “only” seventy-nine-point-one percent European, with indigenous American and North African following as the next highest ethnic groups found in his DNA, though his fans assured him that 23andMe gave inaccurate results to “troll Nazis.” It is important to note that these ethnic DNA tests are famously unreliable of true measures and only recognize what the testee has inherited genes from, regardless of who one is related to, meaning anyone can have more or less of any given heritage from a technical standpoint and it certainly has no method of measuring the cultures one actually grew up the most affiliated with. 

The approach to Fuentes’s heritage itself differs by culture. In the US, someone who has up to a quarter of heritage from anywhere is typically still considered a member of that community, a policy going back to slavery, but has been maintained to this day. Say, if Fuentes had decided to apply for a Mexican-American scholarship when he was applying to college, he would have been considered eligible for most, with the exception of “child-of-immigrants” ones. Multiple studies have shown that job applicants in the US with names perceived as “ethnic” are often passed over for job considerations, and, even at a quarter Mexican, it is possible that this could have impacted Fuentes or his older relatives in the past on account of his surname. In Latin America, someone born in the US, even to Latin American-born parents, is typically seen as a “gringo,” let alone someone with only one set of great-grandparents born in Latin America, so Fuentes would certainly not be seen as Latino or Mexican in Mexico; he would simply be seen as someone from the United States. Obviously, having a Spanish last name is not seen as inherently “ethnic” in Latin America; Fuentes is certainly a Spanish last name over, say, an indigenous one. There is also the idea of whiteness, which his right wing detractors who find him to not be white enough or his left wing detractors trying to appeal to possible hypocrisy often make a point about. To Latinos, especially ones from Latin America, the idea that someone with Latin American heritage could not possibly be seen as white is often confusing. There are plenty of people with entirely European heritage throughout Latin America, including Mexico, where Fuentes’s paternal grandfather’s parentage derives from. In an interview with Brittany Venti (legal surname Dier), a fellow traditionalist Internet personality herself of both black and white heritage, Fuentes said that his Mexican family was “half Spanish.” It is noteworthy that most Latin American countries do not have “one quarter and it counts” approaches to race; in fact, many who would not be considered white in the US are essentially seen as white in these countries. Never mind Fuentes’s green eyes and pale skin; there are those with black hair, brown eyes, and in fact brown skin who are essentially seen as white for having simply not been raised indigenous. While colorism and other approaches to feature certainly do play a role in Latin America, in many ways, upbringing is more important than one’s specific identity, why even a child of purely indigenous Oaxacan parents born and raised in the US and engulfed in US culture is seen as more of a “gringo” in Latin America than a Mexican-born blonde and blue-eyed child of Ukrainian immigrants, a population many from the US are surprised to discover is not insignificant when they visit Mexico. 

Fuentes being interviewed by Brittany Venti as she role plays as Dr. “MILFy,” an  homage to Dr. Melfi from The Sopranos of which proudly Italian-American Fuentes claims to be a fan

It is worth noting that part of the embrace of white populations in Latin America despite them not originating there is not pure multiculturalism; in fact, some would say it is because those are the populations that the founding of many Latin American countries was determined to aspire towards. As a result, the fact that populations that are not entirely white are more likely to identify as that than indigenous or anything else speaks more of aspirational whiteness than anything else. The US census recognizes that Latinos come from different races and will often have a follow-up question for those who list themselves as Latino, asking which race they most closely identify with; the majority, even those with some amount of indigenous heritage, will list themselves as white more commonly than anything else. Curiously, many in the US who are just as Latino as Nick Fuentes but of different political leanings or simply have different goals have been known to pull out the “I’m not white, I’m Latino” when the topic of race arises. In a twist of fate, Fuentes’s identity as white and referring to the need for the country that he lives in to be majority white and run by white people makes him closer to historical Latinidad than traditional WASP whiteness of the US.

Fuentes is not the only modern example of someone with Latino heritage in the US to embrace white supremacist ideology, even some more decidedly non-white than him. One of the most recent examples is Mauricio Martinez Garcia, a thirty-three-year-old who committed a mass shooting against a mall in Allen, Texas on May 6, 2023. When the news of the shooting dropped, there was much confusion with regards to his identity. His name gave away his status as a Latino, which made his online presence, revealed shortly afterwards, disconcerting to some. He was found to be following many white supremacist and Neo-Nazi pages, in addition to incel and anti-semitic pages. Images of tattoos of swastikas and SS lightning bolts clashed against his melanated skin. This became more clear in reading his posts in which he discussed his conflicted identity as a Latino who he felt was called to help save the white race. Critics of Fuentes were quick to point out that many of his videos were found to be in Garcia’s history. Garcia did address Fuentes in a somewhat disparaging way when he discussed his conflict over reproducing. He specifically felt doing so would not be beneficial, as he would only want to do so with a white woman, but did not want “a bunch of little Nick Fuenteses running around.” Even as a sometimes follower of Fuentes’s work, Garcia viewed him as a worthless mutt.

A meme posted by Allen Mall shooter Mauricio Martinez Garcia

The accusations of anti-whiteness stand in stark contrast to some of Fuentes’s more renowned statements about keeping the US a white country and fighting off the great replacement. Examples that his conservative critics often use include his various rants complaining about white people at the airport, complaining about their obesity and lack of style. After his former associates Ethan Ralph and Jaden McNeil began to criticize him, he often referred to them, white men from working class backgrounds in the South and Midwest respectively, as “trailer trash,” which would stir up these accusations yet again. He lamented in one episode about how right-wing political figures lacked the class of their opponents, referencing the recent divorces of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert. He would stand in opposition to more mainstream conservatives during the summer of 2023 when Virginia-based singer Oliver Anthony’s song “Rich Men North of Richmond” went viral to be praised as the voice of working class white Americans, as he would mock Anthony for his ragged appearance and the defeated, whining nature of the song. Across these comments, however, there is a factor being overlooked: classism. In none of these comments did Fuentes ever criticize these people on the basis of their whiteness the way he often does with members of other groups. If anything, his complaints were that these particular white people seemed to stem not from their whiteness, even as he commented on them being white or “a type of white person we need to see less of,” but the fact that they presented the way they did in spite of their whiteness. If anything, there was an expectation that, being white, they should be capable of achieving more and presenting more elegantly, while members of other groups were simply expected to not achieve as much or present as well to begin with. Classism is an issue that political figures in the US, especially those on the right, avoid discussing to circumvent accusations of communist sympathies and because class supposedly does not exist in the US the way that it does in other countries. There is a definite confusing manner in which politicians in the US, particularly right-wing politicians, balance the attempt to appeal to working class people with the inherent aporophobia required to participate in these political institutions. 

In that sense, Fuentes’s Latinidad is again emphasized in his perception of class. Class and classism definitely still exist in the US, but are ignored. Meanwhile, class is the basis for much of society in many Latin American countries to this day and its existence is not ignored the way it is in the United States. As a result, class is treated as something aspirational to associate with. While wealth is something seen as a good thing to achieve in the US, individuals typically want to be seen as having started at the bottom and earned it, rather than having been born into it. In this sense, it is also typical in the US for people to want to be seen as “down with the people '' and as disconnected from wealth as possible. This differs from the approach taken by many in Latin America, where, regardless of where one started in terms of class, it is important to not be associated with the lower class. People in the US generally want to appear that they started from a lower point, whereas people in Latin America often want to be seen as having started higher, with the assumption being that that is where they remained. Consider critiques of gender neutral language. At the end of the day, the prejudice against gender neutral language in any culture is typically based in homophobia and transphobia, but members of different cultures try to paint it as an appeal to class. In the US, doing so is called “elitist” and a sign of being overeducated, whereas critics in Latin America write off gender neutral language as appearing “lower class” and “uneducated.” Both of these emphasize what is seen as important in the respective cultures. For being “America First,” the America in question being the United States of America, Fuentes has clearly retained some cultural influence from his Latin American heritage. It is important to note that his father, the one he received his Mexican heritage from, was the one who instilled in him the importance of not going to restaurants like Applebees and Olive Garden. Several of Fuentes’s conservative critics have mocked him for proudly talking about how he does not work out and has never done any sort of physical labor, but to him, this is a sign of class rather than unrelatability. It is this that makes him a leader, in his mind.

A caricature of Fuentes often shared by his conservative critics, mocking his “brownness” and perceived effeminacy

The contradictions in perceptions of race exist among the groypers themselves. The movement claims to be explicitly pro-white American, yet peering among the usernames in any America First chat, it is not uncommon to see examples such as “Based Guatemalan” and “Indian Groyper.” In the discussions they have among themselves, some will occasionally admit to being “half black” or some other race seens as inferior in these circles. One commenter notably made reference to being “castizo, like Nick,” but insisted he intended to marry a white woman and “breed out” his “inferior” non-white genes. This aspirational concept of “marrying up” is common among Fuentes’s followers, even as his own statements on the subject remain indecisive. Fuentes has formally said that racially mixed individuals should just “go with their phenotype” when choosing a spouse. He has specifically stated that, for his future wife and mother of his son, he would like for her to not only be white, and preferably Italian-American at that, but have blue or green eyes to assure that they do not have brown-eyed children. The racial makeup of the groypers is often something brought up by right-wing critics as a sign that the movement is not as it seems, that white men are too smart and that America First ultimately attracts young men and boys of color because they are the only ones who could fall for Fuentes’s antics. It is true that the proportion of nonwhite groypers cannot be ignored, but it is clear that what draws most of them in is an aspirational mindset common among immigrant populations, one that these boys have taken to the extent of believing that they need to align themselves with the image white supremacy to ultimately achieve whiteness.

At the end of the day, perception is the greatest factor once again. It is easier for critics to emphasize Fuentes’s non-whiteness than to acknowledge the reality that, on a day to day basis, he is more commonly perceived as a white man. It is not uncommon to see his critics refer to him with racialized terms such as “the Mexican child,” “Spicolas,” and “chupacabra,” or spelling his surname with a Z at the end rather than an S to make it read as more ethnic. Derisive artwork made of Fuentes also typically makes him appear more “ethnic,” in addition to mocking the perceived homosexuality and effeminacy they have projected onto him, which will be discussed later. Unsurprisingly, these critics, mostly white American men without much connection to immigrant communities, are unfamiliar with the nuances of the perceptions of race and class outside of the US. They would be correct in recognizing that his Mexicanness plays a role in his perceptions of those he criticizes, but not aware of how his criticisms are more based in classism than any sort of anti-white racism.

Comments by critics of Fuentes using racially charged language

Part 2, Part 3

[lockpickings]

❛ you got guts, i’ll give you that. ❜ 

o, little lamb ; why do you cry ? cornered and petrified , tears glazing over emerald eyes. texan sun pours over her bloodied & bruised flesh, providing sickening warmth in such frigid times. little illinois girl, why do you run from the inevitable? why do you run from slaughter? a lesson learned: the burning stench of rot clings to cloth all too easily. the more heat that passes, the more foul the odor. increasingly evident, the lingering scent of gore was. perhaps it was from her open wounds, or the bodies littered across the property. most likely the latter.

little lamb, shave your wool and show your skin. give identification; used for the side of milk cartons. that’s your reality now. will they remember your sage green eyes , or auburn locks ? sloppy police sketches will never capture your true essence. the big bad wolf poses a threat; one she’s never encountered before. a choppy slicked back mullet, eyes sharp as daggers, looks that could kill, literally, blood splatters across ragged grey top. someone her mama would tell her to watch out for. should’ve heeded that warning, cause now she’s gonna be turnt into a main course for him to devour.

connie thought she was strong—maybe to the morning dew & the flowers which hung around her porch, she was. growing up soft … it doesn’t prepare you for situations like this. in texas , she was nothing but another college student—to some, maybe a midwestern belle. on this farm, she was nothing but meat. meat doesn’t bite back. struggle was evident on paleness , bruises and marks left sporadically. sore joints ached for a break—one that wasn’t available. despite running & hiding for what felt like eons, slaughter was still right on her trail.

not only were her limbs sore, but so was her throat; hoarse after crying for hours. pleas for help, begs for mercy, close friends name still on her tongue. they can’t help you now. they’re all gone. did they leave me ? are they dead ? the redhead struggled to push back such terrible thoughts—but they would only be replaced by even more morbid ones. placid memories slipped out of her grasp, even if it was the only thing she wanted. to close her eyes and go back to those days of peace; eating her mama’s breakfast in the morning, plowing crops with her dad, resting her head on a cows stomach and counting the little amount of stars in the dawn.

‘ you got guts , i’ll give you that ! ’

that voice. that damned voice; the terrifyingly perfect growl on each vowel, and the thick southern drawl. horror snapped her back to reality. he was inching closer—work boots kicking up dust as he jogged. connie had been watching him for quite some time; just waiting for him to leave the area. he never did. almost like a vulture circling already dead prey—marking its claim on the piece of meat. the twigs of the shrubbery she hid in poked and prodded poked at open wounds, only adding to the already unbearable pain. so unbearable, that connie couldn’t help but cover her mouth with her palm to keep quiet.

guts: bravery. she wasn’t brave. brave people wouldn’t leave others behind—brave people wouldn’t hide from the problem. brave people would confront it head on. maybe, she was brave for simply attempting to survive. a feeble, desperate measure—one that was guaranteed to fail.

the accelerated beat of her heart pounded in her ears—if it could leap out of her chest, it would’ve long ago. alongside thick ichor, tears stained her rosy cheeks; mixing with blood and creating a runny texture. it was almost stereotypical, this scene. seen so many times in a horror film—who would’ve thought that someone could truly experience it ? restrained by ropes in a basement, only to be chased by some—abomination with a chainsaw & mask of flesh—shortly after. ( cornered, in the sense that coyotes were slowly closing in. coyote, to be specific. one hunter and one hunted.)

a yearn to be back in that horrid basement—weapons available & dark areas to take shelter. more time to hopefully find her friends … she never would’ve even considered going back after clawing her way out so desperately. anything was better than sharp blade digging into supple flesh. anything was better than him. ( so seemingly normal at first glance, that’s what made it so horrid. )

[westdallasgang]

Waco Jailbreak continuation: What happened after Clyde's jailbreak, and Bonnie's missed message from Clyde.

On the day Bonnie read of Clyde's successful jailbreak in the paper, Clyde secretly slipped into West Dallas that same evening (with the 2 other escapees in tow) and rounded up 2 men who were willing to collect Bonnie in Waco. The hired men returned 2 days later empty-handed. It was said by Bonnie's cousin Mary that they did arrive at the house but she and Bonnie pretended to not be home, fearing the men were cops. Clyde didn't tell Bonnie beforehand that he was sending them there to pick her up so, he had to flee the state without her. Once arriving in Illinois, he sent out a telegram for her to join him when things cooled off. Except, things never did cool off. On March 18, Clyde, William, and Emery, were arrested in Ohio. Within a few days they were back in Texas.

Story goes that William Turner and Emory Abernathy were passengers in a stolen car being driven by Clyde. Their car, taken from Missouri, had a set of stolen Indiana license plates on it. After a night of burglary in Middletown, Ohio, Clyde thinks he's heading west towards Indiana. Without realizing he has taken a wrong turn, he steers the car down the steep winding road. At the bottom of the hill the road flattens out and makes a right turn. It was too late when the "Waco Three" realized they have just returned to the scene of their last burglary committed 4 hours ago and they are looking at 2 Middletown Police officers standing outside the B&O Railroad Depot. The officers recognize the license plate and the chase is on.

One officer said Clyde went across to Poasttown Road and then up Wilbraham Road which is a blind street. Seeing he was hemmed in, the bandit ran the car over the lawn between 2 houses where he jumped out and ran to the Middletown Hydraulic Canal, throwing his smuggled Waco gun in the water. The officers caught up with him as he ran down the canal where he surrendered. Officers eventually captured William Turner in an alley near Auburn Street and Crescent Boulevard after firing several shots. Emery was captured an hour later in the east end near the Big Four railroad crossing where he was trying to bum a ride out of town.

When McClennan Waco County authorities arrived to take custody of the Waco Three, they asked Middletown PD for the smuggled gun. They wanted it for evidence to investigate where it came from and how the prisoners got it. They were informed that the gun was unrecoverable, lying at the bottom of the swift-moving and very murky waters of the Middletown Hydraulic Canal. Clyde admitted this to Middletown authorities and later to the Waco Times-Herald. He was quoted as saying this was the gun used in the Waco breakout. Over the decades, rumors of this gun as well as alleged photos of it have risen, but research indicates this gun is still at the bottom of the canal. Several unsuccessful attempts were made to recover the famous gun Bonnie smuggled to Clyde. The gun has been down there for nearly 94 years, but metallurgic experts informed that owing to canal conditions and the silty bottom, the odds are good that it rests in a layer where there is no oxygen. These conditions will slow rusting significantly. Pictured above is the Middletown Canal where the gun is believed to still be.

[lboogie1906]

Tenitra Michelle Williams (July 23, 1979) is a singer, songwriter, and actress. She rose to fame in the 2000s as a member of the R&B girl group Destiny’s Child, one of the best-selling female groups of all time. She earned several accolades including a Grammy Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

She released her debut solo album Heart to Yours which topped the US gospel album chart and became the best-selling gospel release of the year. Billboard named her the fifth best-charting gospel artist of the year and she received a MOBO Award for “Best Gospel Act”. She released her second solo album Do You Know. After Destiny’s Child’s disbandment, she released her first pop album, Unexpected, which spawned the singles “We Break the Dawn” and the US Dance #1 “The Greatest”. Her fourth studio album, Journey to Freedom received positive reviews and became her highest-charting album in the US; it includes the singles “If We Had Your Eyes”, and “Say Yes” which topped the US Hot Gospel Songs chart for seven weeks and won the Stellar Award for Music Video of the Year.

She has found success as a television, Broadway, and West End theatre actress, gaining a nomination for “Best Lead Female – Equity” at the 18th Annual NAACP Theatre Awards. Making her acting debut on Broadway in Aida, she has since starred in the sitcom series Half & Half and the musical productions The Color Purple, Chicago, What My Husband Doesn’t Know, and Fela! She was a featured judge on Top Pop Group, a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in the United Kingdom, and starred in Fix My Choir. She has appeared in both the American and British versions of The Masked Singer. She appeared on Never Mind the Buzzcocks. She began a 28-city tour starring in What My Husband Doesn’t Know.

She graduated from Rockford Auburn High School. She pursued a degree in criminal justice at Illinois State University. She left to pursue a music career, as a backing vocalist for other artists such as Monica. She met Destiny’s Child band members, Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland. A choreographer acquaintance of her who knew the group connected her. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[marvelmyriad]

starter for @shootsxruns

If there was an ideal place to vanish in the United States of America, it was within the Midwest region.  It had been a decision that he had made while on the ferry with Ana.  They had been given ample time to decide with how long their time at sea was.  Two weeks on a boat made both James and Ana grateful when they were finally approaching the docks of Chicago.  He had considered Illinois as an option of where to settle their home, but there still seemed to be a little too much notoriety there.  Chicago was a major city that seemed to be on the further upswing when it came to media attention and they needed to avoid that.

In the end, the final jaunt of their trip was a car ride to the middle of Indiana.  While James had no way of knowing just then, Shelbyville was where he’d been born, and raised for six years.  He hadn’t stayed long, but his young formative years had been there.  Long enough for him to develop the discipline and durability that came with living on a farm.

They arrived just outside of a town called Hawkins and stayed in a hotel for about a week before James had been able to get a house.  He had enough cash to make these steps fairly easy, even if it took just a little bribery to make it so that no questions were asked.  Besides that, the homeowner seemed to be pretty eager to leave the town.  That wasn’t James�� problem though, nor his business.  He and Ana had a home, and as they pulled into the driveway, he looked over to his daughter with a small smile. The shudders were auburn while the roof was an earthy light brown, the rest of the house white. The front and side door were a deep blue-green. There was an attached two car garage and even a space for a garden in the front.

He spoke English now, as was for the best.  “So…” he put the car in park and turned it off, “what do you think?”

[uniqueartisanconnoisseur]

Trinity Travels on Route 66!

A group of 11 of us from Auburn Trinity Lutheran Church headed out for a day of exploring the Mother Road. We started with a prayer by our pastor, Martin Kauffman. We were honored to also have our former Pastor, Richard Harre and his wife Pauline along as well. During the day along Route 66 we learned a lot, and saw several sites. The Mother Road I had always heard that Route 66 in Illinois…

[ncwsa]

Voting Now Open for 2023 Annual Award Nominees

Congratulations to all the nominees for our annual awards! Check out the nominations below for NCWSA Outstanding Leader of the Year, NCWSA Athlete of the Year, and NCWSA Team of the year! Winners will be invited to the annual USA Water Ski & Wake Sports banquet and awards reception that will be held in Florida in January of 2024. Conducted by the Awards committee, nominees are submitted by…

[firsttraintovictoriaville]

(using hypnotism) you will release the miss usa hair colors...

...I'm...I'm going to release the Miss USA hair colors....i shall also release the Universities' hair colors I just finished headcanoning under a read more as a bonus

I've also given Miss USAs more dyed hair because it is canon in the fact of Miss Alabama, it is more socially acceptable in the USA for a woman to dye her hair for fun than a man, it more socially acceptable for a man to have gray hair than a woman, and because I am an American woman who dyes her hair so that bleeds into it too

Miss USA-

Blonde- Ohio, Rhode Island, Kansas, Minnesota, Kentucky, California, Hawaii, South Carolina, New York, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Nebraska, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Utah, Wyoming, DC (18/51)

Brunette- Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Jersey, Michigan, Idaho, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, Texas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, West Virginia, Alaska (15/51)

Black-haired: Montana, Illinois, Vermont, Massachusetts, Washington, Maryland, New Mexico, Virginia (8/51)

Redhead: Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania (6/51)

Have dyed their hair a "natural" color:

Tennessee (dyed auburn from blonde) [she wanted to lived her best Jolene life], Alabama (dyed blonde from brown)

Have dyed their hair an "unnatural" color: Florida (flamingo pink ombre on blonde hair), Nevada (light brown dyed whole head bluegreen that's more blue)

Universities-

Blonde- University of Alabama, University of Tennessee (2/8)

Brunette-University of South Carolina (1/8)

Black-haired: Texas Christian University, University of Michigan (2/8)

Red-haired: Auburn University, The Ohio State University (2/8)

Dyed their hair a "natural" color: University of Georgia (has the front/bangs/face framing strands whatever the style is called of her dark brown dyed pink)

[goalhofer]

2024 Cleveland Guardians Roster

Pitchers

#24 Triston McKenzie (Palm Beach County, Florida)

#28 Tanner Bibee (Mission Viejo, California)

#29 Tim Herrin (Terre Haute, Indiana)

#31 Sam Hentges (Arden Hills, Minnesota)

#32 Gavin Williams (Fayetteville, North Carolina)

#33 Hunter Gaddis (Canton, Georgia)

#36 Cade Smith (Abbotsford, British Columbia)**

#39 Edward Lively (Gulf Breeze, Florida)*

#41 Logan Allen (Deltona, Florida)

#44 Xzavion Curry (Atlanta, Georgia)

#46 Tyler Beede (Auburn, Massachusetts)*

#48 Emmanuel Clase (Río San Juan, Dominican Republic)

#49 Eli Morgan (Rancho Palos Verdes, California)

#52 Nick Sandlin (Columbia County, Georgia)

#57 Shane Bieber (Laguna Hills, California)

#58 Scott Barlow (Santa Clarita, California)*

#59 Carlos Carrasco (Barquisimeto, Venezuela)*

#99 James Karinchak (Montgomery, New York)

Catchers

#6 David Fry (Grapevine, Texas)

#23 Noah-Gibson Naylor (Mississauga, Ontario)

#27 Austin Hedges (San Juan Capistrano, California)*

Infielders

#0 Andrés Giménez (Barquisimeto, Venezuela)

#4 Brayan Rocchio (Santiago De León De Caracas, Venezuela)

#11 José Ramírez (Baní, Dominican Republic)

#13 Gabriel Arias (La Victoria, Venezuela)

#22 Joshua-Douglas Naylor (Mississauga, Ontario)

#79 Ángel Martínez; Jr. (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)**

Outfielders

#2 Tyler Freeman (Rancho Cucamonga, California)

#10 Ramón Laureano; Jr. (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)

#17 Will Brennan (Overland Park, Kansas)

#38 Steven Kwan (Fremont, California)

#90 Estevan Florial (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)*

Coaches

Manager Stephen Vogt (Visalia, California)

Bench coach Craig Albernaz (Somerset, Massachusetts)

Hitting coach Chris Valaika (Santa Clarita, California)

Assistant hitting coach Juan Puente (Galesburg, Illinois)

Assistant hitting coach Josh Tubbs (Nashville, Tennessee)

Assistant hitting coach Joe Torres (Kissimmee, Florida)

Pitching coach Carl Willis (Yanceyville, North Carolina)

Bullpen coach Brad Goldberg (Beachwood, Ohio)

Bullpen catcher Armando Camacaro (Santiago De León De Caracas)

Bullpen catcher Ricky Pacione (Newburgh, New York)

Outfield coach J.T. Maguire (Harford County, Maryland)

1B/catching coach Santos Alomar; Jr. (Ciudad Salinas, Puerto Rico)

3B/infield coach Rouglas Odor (Maracaibo, Venezuela)

Field coordinator Kai Correa (Hawaii County, Hawaii)

Assistant coach Jason Esposito (Bethany, Connecticut)

Assistant coach Agustin Rivero (New York, New York)

[mister-e-filman]

DC Earth-32505

#1 Remembrance

She never asked to be an actress, all she really wanted was to follow in her father's footsteps... whatever they might've been. Her father... a great parent, no doubt, she remembered, right? The day her dad died? There had been so much bloodshed on that day in 2003, so much... death. It had now been eight years since that day and three years since surviving the fire, all thanks to her dog.

Penny (since neither of her parents could decide between Penelope or Peninah, they just decided to go with the nickname as her legal first name) Janice Winnie Forrester lay in her bed, a slender, soon-to-be 16-year-old teenage girl with fair skin, short auburn hair, and brown eyes. Her eyes darted over to her wardrobe, which contained not only all of her stage clothing but also her everyday clothing; a red T-shirt over a brown long-sleeved shirt, denim grey shorts, grey and white striped tights, alongside brown socks with a red line and brown boots, which she mostly wore when she was acting in the Bolt TV show. Her casual outfits were as such as a dark blue long-sleeved T-shirt, brown pants, and black shoes. After quitting the TV show and moving on to a new life with her pets, she wore a light green T-shirt, denim blue shorts, and gray shoes. Penny could see her childhood clothing peeking out from beneath the wardrobe, a yellow T-shirt with pink lining and purple flowers, blue shorts, and pink shoes, one of Penny's outfits was a spy outfit which Consisted of a black helmet with night vision goggles, a black T-shirt with red lining over a black long-sleeved shirt, black pants, a holster, and gray shoes, she also had a long-sleeved version of her iconic getup with a gray scarf over her red long-sleeved-shirt and white pants for cold weather, and green shoes, as well as a red tank top. She had refused to let her mom get rid of them as they had been the last thing she had worn when her dad had last seen her on that day. There was also a stain on the shirt that had never been removed, since the stain was of her dad's blood when she stayed with him after he had died.

She then remembered that day as all of the painful memories of the past came flooding back to her until it felt like it was only yesterday;

She was only seven about to turn eight in July of 2003, she was in the Holiday Inn located in Metropolis Illinois just minding her own business when suddenly there was what sounded like a sonic boom from outside shook the hotel room. She rushed outside just in time to witness Krypto the Superdog getting pummeled to the ground right in front of her by Steppenwolf. "Ugh, I'm getting too old for this!" Krypto grunted.

Then Red X/Brick Pettirosso came up from behind him and knocked him down as Steppenwolf shouted, " Traitor!" to which Red X simply said, "I'm as much a traitor as you are, Steppenwolf!"

Red X was then joined by his division of the Titans and their pet counterparts (Kid Flash/Wallace Rudolph "Wally" West with Lightning Rodney the roadrunner, Aqualad/Garth with Tusky the walrus, Wonder Girl/Donna Hinckley Stacy Troy with Leepa the kanga-mouse, and finally Speedy/Roy William Harper Jr. with Quill the porcupine.

to make sure that he stayed down but were unsuccessful as he easily got back up, his armor glistening in the sunlight.

Penny felt smaller than usual when Steppenwolf fully stood up, he stood at a massive 10 feet, while carrying his electro-axe.

Then Nightwing/Richard John "Dick" Grayson

arrived with his division of the Titans (Starfire/Kory Anders a.k.a. Princess Koriand'r, Beast Boy/Garfield Mark "Gar" Logan, Raven/Rachel Roth, and finally Terra/Princess Tara Markov of Markovia) to destroy the Axe in which they succeeded (with some help from Krypto the Superdog who used his ice breath on it) with the Axe shattering into thousands of pieces.

"Omegan, deal with these pathetic creatures!" Steppenwolf commanded Darkseid's loyal lead parademon. "Very well," Omegan told him while chewing on some seared steak.

But before they could do anything, they were pummeled by Doomsday/Davis Bloome and Armagedon/Melanie Whitney.

Dr. William Forrester came out of a small but effective hiding spot thanks to Bolt I/Larry Bolatinsky and walked calmly up to the Apokaliptians and prepared a bfg to use on them. Just then Steppenwolf's eyes glowed an angry shade of blue as he roared before charging at Penny's dad, knocking a very large car out of his way which landed right in front of Penny, obscuring her vision of what was going on as well as trapping her. After she finally was able to escape from where the battered car was, Penny looked around the destroyed part of the Metropolis neighborhood. She saw Cyborg/Victor "Vic" Stone hopping away back to the Titans and Justice League, due to missing his right leg that Steppenwolf had ripped off.

Batman/Bruce Thomas Wayne helped him over to where he could get fixed. His girlfriend Steel/Natasha Jasmine Irons approached him and kissed him. "It's so great to see you alive and in one piece, my Starlight," he told her.

Penny looked over at a café where she saw Larry leaving it, looking super guilty. So she made her way over to it and then she saw him, her father who was on a table, blood staining his clothes, face and hands. Tears started to fill her eyes as she made her way over to him. She saw a shadow of something or someONE leaving the place but she thought nothing of it. She shook her father to see if he was still alive, however when he didn't move, she cried harder as it confirmed that he was truly dead.

Back in the present of 2011, Penny was still thinking about that day when her phone rang. She reached over her dad's final birthday gift (Bolt, a White Swiss Shepherd dog) to grab her cell and see who was calling her so early in the morning. It was Bailey Whitney, her boyfriend! The ringing stopped before she could answer, so she received a text instead, in which it read; on my way from the war looking forward to seeing you again love you should be there by nightfall. Penny smiled, Bailey had always been the only one who didn't try to console her over the loss of her dad at every point in her life. She did eventually develop a crush on him which evolved into a severe romance over the years. She shut her eyes, her heart fluttering and excited for him to be with her boyfriend on her birthday. Before she knew it, she was asleep.