miake

[alexadimistories]

Okay, just for curiosity and sociology purposes, I need to ask this to the Tumblr community XP

(please reblog)

I'm just really curious, because I have a theory that it's mostly gringos and latinamericans in here, but idk, I might be wrong, so answer plis :D

I'm just really curious (and I'm studying a humanities degree, in foreign languages, so, I wanna see, academically and sociologically ig)

[3rpflx]

Seriously tho the fact that Life is strange 2 is the least favorite and underrated game of the saga piss me off. [SPOILERS AHEAD]

Can we talk about how this is the best Life is strange when we're talking about choices and story? Your choices in the game can change into multiple endings, your choices not only affects Sean but Daniel too, and the fact that you cannot rewind makes it more difficult to make the "right" decision. Every little detail can change the whole personality of Daniel, I know the first life is strange have that too but it ends with the same two endings "Chloe or Arcadia bay" in this one, you have a lot of endings that make you replay it over and over to see what ending you're gonna get. Not forget to mention that you can always rewind and change your choice if you want to (except when you're gonna save Kate).

The story is also something I really wanna talk, we accompany Sean to feel how is live in a xenophobic country (not everyone ofc), having to experience bad treatments just because of his race, the old guy in the gas station telling him that guys like Sean are the reason why the made the wall between México and USA, those two randoms humiliating him by talking and singing in spanish. But the worst part is when they get to wall and the border patrol shoot Daniel and arrest Sean just because.

Anyways, I don't wanna talk too much but Life is strange 2 deserves all the love, I know a lot of y'all expected to see Max and Chloe again (me too lol) but the story and the characters are really good too, my favorite is the first game but this second one has a special place in my heart and I hate seeing how underrated it is. I hope to see more Life is strange 2 content and appreciating this amazing story. 💗

[udo0stories]

Posted: 2/19/24 | February 19th, 2024 Mexico City, the world's fifth largest city, is a vast metropolis where culture and history collide to create a vibrant tapestry of vibrant colors, mouthwatering cuisines, and bustling neighborhoods. This place is amazing to me. Despite my limited visits, I always enjoy discovering new places to eat and explore in the city. Every time, I have a fantastic time. I even gave tours of the city because I love it so much, and every single person I showed around was amazed. This place is hated by none. It should come as no surprise that there is a ton to see and do in this huge, historically significant city—from touring world-class museums to dining at tiny taco stands to exploring quirky neighborhoods. It is possible to spend a week here and still not see everything. Here are my top picks for activities in Mexico City so you can enjoy yourself and fully immerse yourself in the local way of life while visiting this energetic metropolis!   1. Take a Walking Tour Walking tours are an excellent way to learn a destination’s history and avoid missing any must-see stops. I always start my trips off with at least one walking tour, as it’s the best way to get the lay of the land and connect with a local guide that can answer all your questions. Estación Mexico Free Tours and the Monkey Experience both have a free historic downtown tour that can show you what the city has to offer. The former also offers four other free tours of different neighborhoods too. Even though the tours are technically free, always remember to tip your guide at the end! For more walking tour recommendations (including paid options), check out this post. 2. Visit the Museo Nacional de Antropología Found within Chapultepec Park, this world-class anthropology museum is the largest museum in Mexico (it’s also the most visited, receiving over two million guests per year). Since 1964, it has housed the largest global collection of sculptures, jewels, and artifacts from ancient Mexican civilizations. The different time periods are grouped into comprehensive (and massive) exhibition halls with bilingual information signs, so be sure to give yourself ample time to explore it all. There’s a beautiful courtyard in the center where you can sit and people-watch for a bit. 3. Tour Frida Kahlo’s House Frida Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera, are two of the biggest names in Mexican art. Frida was particularly famous for her portraits and self-portraits. A tour of their old home (“Casa Azul”) is a worthwhile experience to see where and how she lived, as well as some of her original artwork. It’s a really interesting house with a beautiful garden and lots of information about her life. The residence also hosts a variety of artistic workshops monthly, so check out the schedule if you’re interested. This guided tour of Coyoacán (the surrounding neighborhood) includes a ticket to the museum, which you’ll visit at your own pace after learning about the area in which the two artists lived and worked. 4. Attend a Lucha Libre Mexican “free wrestling” is a favorite national pastime. Extremely entertaining and affordable, lucha libre takes the sport to a whole new level. Grab a beer or a shot of tequila, and whatever you do, do not look away during a match, as anything can—and will—happen. (Do not bring your camera, though, as you will be forced to check it at the door.) Arena México and Arena Coliseo are the main places to see a match. General seating tickets can be as little as 56 MXN (do not buy from scalpers, because the police are always around and you’ll get in trouble). Look for a taquilla (ticket booth) sign to be sure that you are paying the right price. Guided experiences, like this lucha libre experience, are also available. During the match, you’ll enjoy a mezcal tasting and munch on chips and guacamole, and at the end, you’ll leave with your very own lucha libre mask. Arena México: Dr. Lavista 189, +52 55 5588 0266, cmll.com/arenas/arena-mexico. Shows on Fridays at 8:30 , Sundays at 5pm, and Tuesdays at 7:30

Arena Coliseo: República de Perú 77, +52 55 5588 0266, cmll.com/arenas/arena-coliseo. Shows on Saturday nights at 7:30. 5. Day Trip to Teotihuacán If you do only one trip out of town, make it this one. Teotihuacán was an ancient Mesoamerican city located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of present-day Mexico City. At its height (150–450 CE), it was one of the largest and most influential hubs in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population estimated to be over 100,000. It is known for its impressive urban layout and pyramids, including the Avenue of the Dead, the Pyramid of the Sun, the Pyramid of the Moon, and the Temple of the Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl). I’ve been a few times and can’t recommend it enough (especially if you’re a history buff). We took our tour groups here, and everyone always had an amazing time. You can either do the day trip yourself (there are plenty of buses) or go on a guided tour that also stops at the Guadalupe Basilica, an important pilgrimage site. Either way, don’t forget to bring sunscreen, as the sun is punishing and there’s little to no shade. 6. Peruse the Mercados Mexico City boasts a kaleidoscope of bustling markets, each with its own unique charm. Among the most famous is the Mercado de la Merced, a sprawling market hailed as the largest in town. Located east of the Zócalo, it’s mainly focused on food, with vibrant displays of fruits, vegetables, meats, and spices. Another iconic market is Mercado Roma, a contemporary gastronomic hub that showcases the city’s culinary diversity through gourmet treats and artisanal products. For something a little different, Mercado Jamaica is a beautiful flower market, full of vibrant colors and fragrances. And for unique souvenirs, head to La Ciudadela, an artisan market that boasts an extensive collection of traditional textiles and handicrafts. Finally, Mercado de Sonora stands out for its mystical ambiance, renowned for catering to spiritual and esoteric needs, offering everything from traditional herbs and potions to ritualistic artifacts. There’s truly a market for everything in Mexico City! 7. Take a Food Tour Traditional Mexican cuisine is so culturally rich and distinct (and delicious) that UNESCO has included it on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list. While you can certainly go on a self-led taco tour, you won’t learn nearly as much as you would by taking a food tour, which is an excellent way to get a crash course on local cuisine. My friend Anais runs Devoured Tours, offering in-depth tours into the food scene of CMDX with five different four-hour options to choose from. On each tour, you’ll meet a local “tastemaker,” an expert in their craft who shares the process behind Mexican gastronomic traditions like making mouthwatering tacos or crafting exquisite mezcal cocktails. Tours start at 1,625 MXN. If you just want to eat all the tacos (who doesn’t), join Sabores Mexico Food Tours on its Tacos & Mezcal Night Food Tour. You’ll enjoy tacos at a mix of traditional and contemporary taquerias and end your night sampling at the first mezcal bar in Mexico City. 8. Sample Mezcal I love mezcal. It’s a traditional Mexican distilled spirit, crafted from agave, that’s renowned for its smoky flavor and complexity. I’ve learned a ton about it over the course of my visits to Mexico, but I’m always looking to try new flavors and dive deeper into the distilling process. If you want to try mezcal and learn more about it, some unique places to sample it include La Mezcaloteca (a bar/library where you can do a tasting of five mezcals) and La Clandestina in Condesa (with 25 mezcals from all over the country) At the Museum of Tequila and Mezcal near Plaza Garibaldi, knowledgeable guides will lead you through the intricate process of production, from harvest to distillation. You’ll also get to sample types of mezcal alongside different tequilas, so you can appreciate the differences between Mexico’s main two spirits. A ticket that includes tastings costs 340 MXN.

9. Float Along the Xochimilco Canals While the Xochimilco Canals are infamous for their party boats, complete with bottomless drinks, a kayak tour is a fun and different way to explore the enchanting waterways of this UNESCO World Heritage Site. On this tour, led by a knowledgeable local guide, you’ll paddle through the vibrant floating gardens, known as chinampas, witness the lively atmosphere of traditional trajineras (colorful boats), and appreciate the scenic beauty of the surroundings. All the while, you’ll get insights into the history and significance of Xochimilco and its canals. This was another really popular part of our tours and something most travelers don’t experience. 10. Admire the View from Torre Latinoamericana Torre Latinoamericana is an iconic skyscraper in the heart of Mexico City. Completed in 1956, it was once the tallest building in Latin America. Designed by architect Augusto H. Álvarez, the tower rises 183 meters (600 feet) and consists of 44 floors. (It has resisted numerous earthquakes, thanks to its innovative design featuring a stabilizing core.) The tower offers panoramic views from its observation deck, giving a good perspective on just how massive the city is. It costs 200 MXN to visit the observation floor (get advance tickets here), but if you go to the bar on the floor just below, you’ll get the same view for the price of a drink. 11. Wander the Zócalo The Zócalo is the heart of Mexico City’s historic center. This massive square contains the ruins of Templo Mayor (the ancient Aztec temple complex), the Palacio Nacional (the president’s official residence), and La Catedral Metropolitana (constructed by the Spanish upon conquest of the area). Originally the main ceremonial center in the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlán (located where Mexico City now stands), the Templo Mayor was destroyed to make room for the cathedral in 1521. In fact, the very stones that made up the temple were used to create the cathedral. You can now view ancient artifacts uncovered from the site, rediscovered in the 1970s, at the Museo del Templo Mayor (95 MXN to enter the museum and archaeological site). When you’re done, head over to admire the stunning Spanish colonial architecture of La Catedral Metropolitana. This 16th-century building dominates the northern half of the Zócalo and is free to enter. Inside, it’s incredibly ornate, with a floor that’s noticeably tilted thanks to the perpetual sinking of the city (due to its construction on a lake and swamp). 12. Relax in Chapultepec Park Chapultepec means “Hill of the Grasshopper” in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs. Spanning 686 hectares (1,700 acres), this park in the heart of Mexico City is the second largest urban park in Latin America (the biggest is in Santiago, Chile). It’s one of the world’s most visited too, not only by visitors but also by locals, who love to set up shop grilling and picnicking on Sundays. You can also rent a rowboat or paddleboat and go out on Chapultepec Lake. Whenever I want to just relax and soak up the sun, this is where I go. In addition to the countless paths to stroll, Chapultepec is home to a zoo and several important museums, including the Museum of Anthropology (mentioned earlier) and Chapultepec Castle (see below). The park is divided into three sections. Section 1 houses most of the museums and is open Tuesday–Sunday, 5 a.m.–6 p.m. Sections 2 and 3 are open 24/7, though like many city parks, it’s likely not the best idea to walk through them alone after dark. 13. Visit Castillo de Chapultepec The only castle in North America to house monarchs, Chapultepec Castle was built in 1725 as a large manor house for the viceroy (the Spanish colonial administrator). Abandoned during the Mexican War of Independence in 1810, it later became the residence of Emperor Maximilian I and Empress Carlota in 1864, during the Second Mexican Empire (1864–67). Today, you can visit the castle and meander through the magnificently decorated period rooms, manicured gardens, and terraces offering impressive panoramas.

The castle is also home to the Museo Nacional de Historia (see below), which tells the story of Mexico from the time of Tenochtitlán to the Mexican Revolution. 14. Check out the art and history museums There are many museums and galleries in Mexico City. Worthwhile ones include the following: Palacio de Bellas Artes (Fine Art Museum): This impressive Art Nouveau building with an Art Deco interior is a massive cultural center that hosts performing arts events. Its various galleries include murals by Diego Rivera and rotating temporary exhibitions. It is also home to the Museum of Architecture. Museo Nacional de Historia (National History Museum): This museum, located in Chapultepec Castle, tells the history of Mexico through 12 permanent exhibition halls. Museo de Arte Moderno (Museum of Modern Art): Located within Chapultepec Park, this museum focuses on modern Mexican art. Its most famous piece is Frida Kahlo’s The Two Fridas. MUAC (University Museum of Contemporary Art of UNAM): This art museum on the university’s grounds also focuses on contemporary Mexican art, with video and sound installations, paintings, drawings, and more. Museo Nacional de Arte (National Art Museum): Mexican art from the mid-16th century to the mid-20th century is divided into three main time periods (colonial, post-independence, and post-revolution). Museo de Arte Popular (Folk Art Museum): This museum’s collection of Mexican folk art and handicrafts features traditional textiles, pottery, glass, piñatas, and alebrijes (brightly colored sculptures of fantastical creatures). Memory and Tolerance Museum: This newer museum tells the history of genocides and crimes against humanity, with a section promoting tolerance and inclusion of all groups of people. Tamayo Museum: Born out of the private collection of artist Rufino Tamayo, this museum concentrates on 20th-century international art (especially of the avant-garde variety).   15. Tour a Megalibrary The Biblioteca Vasconcelos, located in the Buenavista neighborhood, is a temple to books, often referred to as a “megalibrary.” The largest library in the entire country, it opened in 2006, covers an incredible 38,000 square meters (409,000 square feet), and houses over 600,000 books. But the real draw for the visitor is not in the collection (which, though large, isn’t particularly noteworthy) but in the building itself. The architecture is stunning, featuring transparent walls, six intentionally mismatched floors, and sculptures by prominent artists. It also has a focus on sustainability, with rainwater collection barrels on the roof, windows designed to light almost the entire interior naturally (yet without harming the books), and a green roof covered in plants that keep the building cool. Don’t miss popping around the back to stroll through the quiet and spacious garden filled with trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Admission is free. 16. Marvel at the Soumaya Museum Housing 66,000 pieces of Central American and European art, the Soumaya Museum displays works not only by Mexican artists such as Diego Rivera and Rufino Tamayo but also by famous masters such as Botticelli, Dalí, and Rodin. The museum was donated and constructed by one of the world’s richest men, Carlos Slim Helú (a Mexican business magnate). The Soumaya is a stunning piece of art on its own, as it is covered in 16,000 hexagonal aluminum tiles that sparkle in the sunlight. It’s considered the most beautiful modern building in Mexico City. Admission is free. 17. Escape to the UNAM Botanical Garden If you’re seeking a temporary escape from the hustle and bustle of Mexico City, look no further than the Botanical Garden at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Rooted in Aztec traditions that valued gardens for both medicinal and ornamental purposes, this sanctuary also emphasizes conservation and environmental education. It’s situated around lava formations from the Xitle volcano eruption, and the paths meander through naturally formed grottoes and past waterfalls and ponds teeming with koi and turtles.

The plants you can admire here include the world’s most diverse cactus collection, with 800 different varieties; there’s also an orchidarium and a medicinal garden. This is also a habitat for wildlife; keep an eye out for woodpeckers, owls, hummingbirds, rattlesnakes, lizards, and the Pedregal tarantula, a species exclusive to this small area of Mexico City. 18. Stroll Around Roma and Condesa Roma and Condesa, two adjacent neighborhoods in the heart of Mexico City, are worth spending some time exploring (they’re also some of the best neighborhoods to stay in). They bleed into each other a bit, as both have leafy, tree-lined avenues, trendy boutiques, and an eclectic array of cafés, restaurants, bars, and mezcalerías. Roma is renowned for its bohemian atmosphere, European-inspired architecture, and colorful street art. Condesa is a bit more laid-back, high-class, and refined, featuring Art Deco buildings and lots of sidewalk cafés. Parque México and Parque España are iconic green spaces that divide the two neighborhoods and are perfect places to sit and people-watch for a bit. 19. Visit a Pueblo Mágico The pueblos mágicos (magical towns) are towns and villages that the Mexican government has recognized for their cultural, historical, and natural significance. To be so designated, a place must meet specific criteria, including having historical and cultural richness and unique architecture, traditions, and folklore. These towns often feature well-preserved colonial architecture, lively cultural traditions, and a welcoming atmosphere. While they are scattered all across the country, there’s one located just over an hour from Mexico City: Tepotzotlán. Known for its beautiful colonial architecture, cobblestone streets, vibrant murals, and hikes to sacred sites in the surrounding mountains, it makes for a fun day trip, or if you have the time, even an overnight. There are buses that go to Tepotzotlán from Taxqueña (Mexico City’s southern bus station) every 30 minutes. A ticket is 184 MXN. 20. Offbeat Things to Do in Mexico City There are lots of unconventional things to see and do that a lot of visitors don’t experience. Here are a few suggestions of some of my favorites: Palacio de Correos de México: This beautiful post office is a fascinating mix of architectural styles, including Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Gothic Revival, and others. There’s a free museum on the ground floor featuring various elements of the post office’s history, including a huge mural made entirely of stamps! Ballet Folklórico de México: This renowned folk-dance ensemble showcases traditional Mexican dance and music. Their permanent home is the Palacio de Bellas Artes, where tickets start at 1,200 MXN. Museo del Objeto del Objeto (Museum of the Object of the Object): This quirky museum is dedicated to everyday objects, showcasing the evolution of design and consumer culture in Mexico. Free admission. Museo del Chocolate: Learn about the importance and cultivation of cacao throughout Mexico’s history. There’s also an attached café, where you can sample chocolates in plenty of different forms. Museum admission is 80 MXN.

[huevitoestrellado]

I started watching Better Call Saul (currently in the third season) and it's quite good! Now I get why some people like it more than Breaking Bad (slow cooked narratives are my favorite), but if there's one thing that always makes me chuckle, it's how everyone (well, except for the policemen; no surprise there) do everything in their power to accommodate Chuck.

Because in my experience as someone with a disability and several chronic illnesses, that doesn't happen. Not even from close family members and friends who love you but can't seem to wrap their heads around the fact that it's an illness or disability completely out of your control; or if it does happen, sooner than later people will stop accommodating you because you're not getting better.

So it's very funny to me how no one (except for an extremely patient doctor, who takes the time and effort to not question Chuck's self diagnosis right in front of him which is also uh, not a thing) questions him about his illness and instead bend over to accommodate him.

Though I don't know, maybe it's different when you're a mentally ill white rich guy head of a lawyer's firm? Even so, it's incredible how no one questions him and instead do everything to fulfill his needs.

So yeah, so far that's just very funny to me.

The other thing that also makes me laugh about the series is the Spanish. Though as a Mexican and someone who has Spanish as native languague, my bar for Spanish spoken in any media from the United States is basically non-existant, thus, it doesn't surprise me at all that it's terrible, but that doesn't mean I won't laugh and cringe at it. So far Nacho's actor has the best Spanish, and I'm afraid I'm not looking forward to Esposito's.

One would think that if you're going to have latine characters in your show (and you already did a show with characters like that where the Spanish also sucked!) the least you could do is hire a good translator (I have no idea if they had a translator with experience of the Spanish spoken in México and by Mexican-Americans, but so far it doesn't seem like it), because some of the lines seem to be literal translations of English lines.

Other than those things, I'm looking forward to watching the rest of the series.

[estela-vazquez]

august 15, 2019 (10 am)

hi everyone, it’s about that time for some background knowledge on who i am. i have been MIA for quite some time, which now looking back, makes sense because i have had to learn to adapt to a new lifestyle. things will start to sound crazy soon enough so this is my somewhat formal introduction, if i can even call it that…

my name is estela vázquez. i am a mexican immigrant from the most vibrant and close-knit town called pajacuarán in michoacán, méxico. i moved to the states when i was about 5 years old with my parents, my mother’s youngest brother: tio cris, and my abuelita to lincoln heights in east los ángeles, california.

picture of a part of my family’s land in mexico:

i was going to just say cali, but apparently there’s this whole debate on tiktok about how “real” californians call our state, so i’ll just stick with california before another “real” californian on the internet argues with me… because i would hate to give a history lesson 😐

but when i moved to the states i just remember how disappointed i was that the states was nothing like méxico. back in méxico i was able to just leave the house when i wanted and grab a snack at the plaza. every house was connected to each other in some way. there were no worries. there was no stress. it felt like a permanent vacation. at least that’s how i feel now, now that i’m 18 and haven’t lived in mexico for about 13 years. i can’t really be honest if i was just 5 and barely have any recollection of my experience living there.

the states and méxico are completely different, i know that. but something about our traditions seem a bit off, now that i have reflected so much on my past.

i grew up catholic, but also very spiritual. some people may argue that you can’t combine spirituality and religion but i’d laugh and say, yes, yes you can. i attended a catholic private school back home. it wasn’t anything special and i didn’t have any other option because it was the only school in our town, because of how small it was. but a lot of what i believe is because of school and my own family’s practices. it wasn’t until i was much older and living here in east LA that i differentiated the spiritual practices and religious practices of my family.

after some reflection for the past few months of my initial post, i realize now what that woman was talking about. i’ve connected it to my family’s religious and spiritual practices. and as odd as it sounds, my family comes a long line of mexican witches. brujas are the right term but it sounds so aggressive in english.

i have just turned 18 now. papi was the one to tell me the truth about who and what my family is. apparently, mami and abuelita owned a spiritual medicinal shop back home. people would come from the city for their limpias. i didn’t know this because i was always told not to get involved with witchcraft. it’s funny now because… well, its obvious now.

the day of my 18th birthday, everyone sat down with me at the dining table to tell me an in-depth explanation of the truth. even tio cris, mami’s youngest brother came for the discussion. it was weird. i don’t really remember taking it that serious because it sounds like a complete joke but mami led me to a room in the back of the house. it was a locked door. i have known about it but i just knew to never touch or open it. she unlocked it and inside were all kinds of colored candles, herbs, plants, incense, a huge statue of santa muerte and the virgin mary, books and crystals. even then, it still didn’t feel real.

it wasn’t until two weeks ago that i have felt it become real. ever since knowing my family is just one long line of witches, i just have been put through many tests to follow my family’s lineage. 

to preface, mami and abuelita are the only ones who practice. papi married into this family and had no knowledge of the practice prior to marrying my mother, and tio cris… he no longer practices for personal reasons.

i didn’t want to come on here to make my experience sound all dramatic, but this is who i am. i’m learning everything mami and abuela know so that in the future when i have children of my own, they will practice as well (that’s if i ever have kids, i don’t like the idea of passing on generational trauma or machismo ideals, but that's just me LOL). i don’t know what being a witch is and in all honesty, i don’t know if it’s a good thing that i am one. growing up in the states and surrounded by other hispanics, i have always heard the saying to never involve myself in witchcraft because it was tied to the devil. mami explained that that brujería and catholicism go hand in hand, so i am just going to have to trust her. brujería at the end of the day, is something my ancestors held highly pre-colonization.

as i’m learning, i guess i’m just going to have to see what that woman meant by dancing with the devil. but until then, i will do my studies and try not to question mami too much. there is white magic and black magic, i don’t know which will be my internal nature to obtain yet.

more photos of pajacuarán:

[blackssuunn-mandoandyodito]

Tabaco y Brea

Part 6

Pairing: Javier Peña x F!reader

Warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, angst, nightmares, dissappointment, I think that's it.

Summary: Everything becomes strained and awkward after what happened in Cali, putting a strain on your friendship with Javi. But you have to fix it, before it's too late.

A/N: I’m  sorry for taking so long but here it is for anyone who’s interested. I hope you enjoy it!

You can find all previous parts in my masterlist

The air of Colombia in the morning feels great after a night of fun with Javi. There are parts of your body that haven't been sore in a while, not since you went to México two years ago at least. The picture from that trip on the bedside table in your room makes waking up easier.

 Your feet make noise as you walk without shoes to the kitchen, finding the sight of Javier shirtless very pleasing. His plaid pants are hanging low on his hips as he hums a tune that sounds a lot like Aerosmith.

His ring glints as he moves his left hand to mix the eggs at the stove, sunlight illuminating him in a way that should be considered as a form of art. His watch looks blurry to you, but you don’t pay too much attention to it.

Sleepy, you wrap your arms around his waist and squeeze.

'Why did you get up?" You ask, groggy and warm from the bed. He chuckles.

"Someone has to keep us fed around here”

His voice is rough from sleep too, so he probably hasn't been awake too long either. His hips start swaying to the imaginary music that must be playing inside his head, moving you along with him. His skin is so warm against yours it makes you relax against him, giving him little kisses on his back.

You turn your head to look at the living room. The newspaper that’s on the table has a bloody picture with a big headline that you can’t read. It makes you frown. Maybe you will have to get a pair of glasses soon.

Everything feels warm, safe. Javier presses back against you, sighing deeply. You smile.

Your eyes look to the side and see a shadow moving. Not even a second after, you draw in a startled breath and a ray of sunlight glints off a knife. You pull Javi against you to get him out of the way, but not being fast enough, the blade slices through his chest. You feel the force of the stab through his body, pushing you back when a cry of pain leaves his lips and his body hits the floor when you can't take his weight.

Kneeling, you frantically move your hand to grab at the gun under the table, but it isn’t there. When you turn to see who may have taken it, there’s no one but the two of you in the room.

Or rather, there’s only you in the room. Javier is too still, his chest isn’t raising and falling from breathing. His brown eyes are lifeless as they look up to the ceiling.

You kneel down in front of him, gripping his shoulders and palming his chest, getting your hands soaked with blood. You can’t stop the sob that tears out of you. 

“Javier!” you scream. “Javier, wake up!”

Red hands glint when you look down. His eyes don't shine anymore.

“You promised” you wail, left alone in the room, with a lifeless body in front of you. 

Your body bolts up in your bed, gasping for the hundredth time in the past two weeks and covered in a cold sweat. The rise and fall of your chest feel too quick to be real, even after so many past experiences. The room is filled with moonlight seeping through the white curtains that cover your window. For some reason, it makes your heart ache more.

Pain is universal. Some people feel it down their stomach, with a knot that pulls and contracts at every thought that brings something you don't want to remember or think about. Some others feel it in their chest, something swelling and constricting every breath they take, aching right at the center. Some feel it in their throats, pain and anger clogging their pipe, teary eyes, and swollen face is commonly found those times too. 

The kind of pain you're feeling right now seems to include all of them.

Once again, the bed is empty, and the vague memories of the dream you just had start to mix with every other you've had in 15 days. They are always variations of the same thing, always leave you hopeless and scared. The tears stream down your face once again, increasing the fear that has been clogging your system since everything that happened in Cali. 

The most horrible part of everything is that you're not sure what's worse, dreaming of Javi dying in different ways every night or the knowledge that every single one is possible and you can't do anything about it. 

A ella no la tocamos mexicanito, one narco had said. A ella no la tocamos, pero a vos sí. (We don't mess with her, little Mexican, we don't mess with her but we mess with you)

 They had been saying rude comments about you all night instead of answering your questions, but Javi finally snapped when the one nicknamed Jarrogrande told you to give him "cacho mami, que uste' se ve que es bien conchuda" (a chance, you look like you're shameless) and smashed his head against the table. Both of them realized that what was happening was for real, and started talking. Ironic how every single narco seemed to brag about loyalty but ended up talking when their skin was in the line.

The words of Mosca, the other one, rang in your ears for the rest of the night and stuck in your head to the point of giving you nightmares all these days. You had no clue what he had meant, neither did Javi or Steve. Even after hours of interrogation, spilling about the recruitment of young boys they had been doing in the Comuna 3, not one word of explanation had left their mouths about it. 

It made you uneasy, so much that the idea of sleeping was almost scary by this point, even though you always ended up falling asleep no matter how much coffee you drank and how much you tried to stay awake reading. 

No human should go through this and yet here you are, crying repeatedly over the visual of Javier getting stabbed this time, less perturbed than with the last dream where he flew through the air after being hit by a car several times. And not once, not even the first time, could you have done anything about it. And if you can't do anything about it in your own dreams, what would happen in real life?

The worst one yet had been one where you both were sleeping together and someone broke into your apartment, shooting him right next to you. And you couldn't do anything, just lay there and watch how life slipped away from his brown eyes as his body went limp.

You turn around to the bedside clock. It reads 5:03 A.M.

Tired from a night full of restless sleep, you move your legs over the bed and stand up, rubbing your eyes and wiping the tears from your face. Barefoot, you make your way to the shower and strip your clothes off. A short and a tank top are the only things you can handle at night, the humidity seems to skyrocket as soon as the sun goes down. It should get more fresh, for fuck's sake.

Pulling the curtain to the side, you open the shower and step inside, letting the water wash away the sweat and discomfort that the 15th night in a row tormented with nightmares left you. 

-

"Is everything okay?"

Steve's voice makes you jump as you attempt to read reports in your desk, uselessly. The lack of sleep is finally starting to take its toll, all day you've been nodding off. 

The fact that Javier is avoiding you like the plague doesn't help at all.

"Yeah," you answer, "just tired."

He frowns at you from his brand new desk across yours. Stacks of paper fill it completely, manila folders in every space available. The smoke of his and Javi's cigarettes go directly at your zone, and seeing how he smokes just as much as Javi makes you wonder how he managed to control himself when he was working at your table.

"You don't look just tired"

Rolling your eyes, you turn to Javi's desk, where he's completely buried in studying a map of Cali spread above his mess. The barrio zone in Carrera 8 is underlined with a red marker as he traces the path you followed the narcos after the club. You clear your throat, hoping to get his attention. 

He grunts without turning to look at you. The blue shirt he's wearing today makes his skin glow in a way that makes your hands itch to touch. You swallow the lump in your throat.

"Do you need help?" you ask, sounding much more composed than you feel. Surprisingly, he nods and gestures for you to come close, signaling somewhere in the map.

"Can you remember where we followed them to?"

Distracted, you roam the paper with your eyes and point at where you think they went.

"I know it's right where Carrera 8 crosses the Alfonso López Bridge, but I can't tell you exactly where that is in the map"

His face lights up slightly at the mention of the bridge, bringing his hand up to draw a circle at an intersection you had failed to see. He bows his head at you subtly.

"Thanks"

"No problem"

The interaction feels so awkward and forced that your instinct is activating the urge to either say something or run away. You're more inclined to do the later but end up doing neither as you return to your desk. You can feel Steve's piercing look right on your skull. 

Even the air feels too heavy to breathe. It had never been like that, not even in your first days at the office or worst fights. Javi always tried to fix it by buying you food or cracking a joke to ease the tension, never really addressing what started the fight.

 Maybe that's the problem, you're not used to communicating verbally and this isn't something you just shrug off.

And if it wasn't enough, you're sure Javi has also realized your poor state caused by lack of sleep. Every time you try to make coffee, he drinks it all and doesn't leave any to you, he stays with Steve at the office until they make sure you'll leave, and when he thinks you're not looking, he gives you side glances with a concerned expression you had only seen the first time after your first raid in Bogotá. He knows something's wrong, he's just not sure what.

"Bera," Steve's voice pulls you out of your thoughts, "aren't you hungry?"

You're surprised to feel a void in your stomach at his mention, realizing that yes, you are hungry.

You nod, cocking your head to one side as you look at him. 

Just then Javi straightens and grabs his jacket without saying anything, not even turning to look at neither of you. A lump in your throat makes itself present once again when logic tells you where he must be going at this specific hour.

"Where are you going?" Steve dares to ask. Javi keeps walking.

"Out"

You confirm your thoughts when he puts his hand inside his pocket as if checking for something to be inside.

Your eyes burn as he walks away and climbs up the stairs. Something grips your chest tight, makes your stomach clench, and your temperature rise. 

You shouldn't feel like that, it's not like Javi is doing something wrong. You're not together, he's not cheating on you.

You just wish your heart agreed.

Murphy's voice breaks you out of your pain.

"Here," he gestures for you to get closer as he takes out a big recipient from under his desk and opens it, a wonderful smell of food that floods your senses and eases the ache in your heart a little. Then he pulls out another one and serves some food inside.

You stand up and pull your chair towards him, sitting in front of his desk and moving the folders just enough to leave space to eat. He hands you a spoon and the second recipient, but it feels close to being offered a hug, a sense that you're not alone, that he understands. 

“Connie is trying to learn traditional dishes,” he offers as an explanation, smiling sheepishly. You take a bite and moan, marveling at the taste of Bogotá meatloaf.

“Well she’s doing great”

You eat in comfortable silence for a few seconds, afraid of mentioning what you both know about Javier’s absence. 

You realize Steve is itching to tell you something, so you try to show as much openness as possible. He seems to catch on it, so he swallows and clears his throat. 

“Why do they call you Bera?” he, after so many days of wanting to and not doing it, finally asks. But doesn’t dare to look at you while he does.  

“It’s a long story,” you answer, smiling at the soft tone he uses. 

“I think we’ve got time” 

You take a deep breath and sit back in your chair, with your legs crossed and the plastic container resting on top.

“On my first week,” you start, “we had one of the most important raids there has been in the past two years”

“The one where you found one of Escobar’s hideouts?” he interrupts, looking at you expectantly. You nod, chuckling when he takes a mouthful of food and urges you to continue.

“I met Carrillo, and he wanted to boss me around as if I were one of his soldiers. Javier wasn’t too happy about it but didn’t say anything. We are in his country, after all”

“He can be an asshole, uh?” Steve mutters. You’re not sure who he's talking about, but either way, it’s true, just in different levels and senses.

“When he realized I wasn’t going to let him, he called me berraca. I slapped him because I thought he meant it offensively, but it turned out to be a compliment." Steve arches one eyebrow at that. "He then clarified he had called me berraca with b and not with v while he rubbed his cheek,” you say, smiling at the memory. His skin had been so red you feared it would stay like that for a while. If you had hit him a little to the left, his lip would have probably split open.

“What’s the difference?” he asks, confused. 

“Verraca with v means stallion pig. Berraca with b can mean many many things, but one of them is brave.”

Steve nods, pursing his lips, with narrow eyes as if he was studying something. "Well, he's right."

You smile, pleased that he agrees with it.

"It just morphed to Bera as a way of making fun of gringos," you finish. "You can't pronounce the hard r, so you say beraca instead of berraca. Javi started calling me Bera as a joke and it stuck."

Something inside Steve's mind goes quiet with the new knowledge. He can barely talk in Spanish, maybe he understands it a little better. But he's sure he would use that word to describe you too. It fits.

But now that he thinks of it, Javier and Carrillo say it in different tones, something he hadn't been conscious about before.

Carrillo says it like a challenge. As if he's waiting for you to react, to attack. Something bugs Steve in the way the colonel spits it out of his mouth, almost afraid of something everyone else is unaware of but prepared to take on it.

Javier, instead, says it like a prayer. His eyes sparkle and the corners of his lips rise slightly, amused but with something soft on his face. And it's not like he's not always like that around you because he is, he's less frowny and, dare Steve say, less of an asshole when you're close. He almost becomes nice. But when he calls you that, there is also admiration brightening his skin, shining in his eyes, beyond anything else he most likely feels when he looks at you.

He would have loved a warning before getting inside this mess though.

One of the things that has stuck with him since he arrived was the time both you and Javier left to meet one of your informants and when you came back, Javier was nursing a bruise on his face and others on his knuckles, fuming. You looked at him with such annoyance but wonder simultaneously that it gave Steve whiplash.

When one of the other agents in the office got close to Murphy and explained that that specific informant was always too sassy, especially with you, he understood why Javier came back like that. 

“He’s very protective in general,” the way the other agent had muttered it let him know Javier didn’t like any talk about it, “but there is always something worse than Hell coming for anyone who messes with her.”

It sounded like a cheesy movie, and Steve knew you hated it when either of them tried to protect you, but he could see it was the truth. 

He doesn’t understand how you haven’t gotten together though, it just seems too irrational not to. If Javier doesn’t care about the rule of no relationships with informants, why would he care about the rule that also prohibits them between co-workers?

The phone rings suddenly when he starts to get deeper in thought, making both of you jump. Steve picks it up, frowning.

You start to worry when his face goes white and his back straightens, motioning you to give him something to write on.

He answers affirmatively a couple of times while he writes something on top of the sheet of paper you gave him, hurriedly. When he hangs up, the stare he gives you worries you even more.

"Javier just found a hideout." You freeze at his words. "He called from a public phone and said he needed backup because someone most likely identified him.”

Your blood starts pumping so loud in your ears they feel like they’re going to explode. Your chest feels tight, making breathing harder, and blurring your sight.

Something inside your head whispers that this is going to end just like your nightmares, that you're going to lose him and never get to tell him everything you want. Javier is going to die, and you're too far to do anything about it.

Panic starts to cover your whole body when Steve's hand touches your arm and pulls, forcing you to look at him.

"We gotta be quick! Move!"

His tone orders your body to do as he says, picking up your gun and tucking it behind your pants. Steve does the same while screaming to the rest in the office, ordering around, and putting everything in motion. You can't understand what they're saying, but soon someone is shoving a bulletproof vest for you to put on, and you quickly do it. Instinctively, you pull one from somebody's hands and hold it tight, thinking of Javier. 

All of you run outside to the cars and Steve starts driving like a maniac towards the address that Javier told him. He hands you the built-in radio between your seats and you start shouting orders to anyone who might be hearing on the line. 

 The way the car moves makes your body shake.

Or maybe it's the fear, you're not really sure.

You close your eyes and try to evocate Javier's voice reading to you, a few weeks back. 

 Era en verdad una aldea feliz, donde nadie era mayor de treinta años y donde nadie había muerto. (It was a truly happy village, where no one was over thirty years of age and where no one had died)

Please stay safe Javier, you thought. Please don't do anything stupid until I get there.

Adrenaline starts pumping through your veins like a freight train, shutting down anything else you might be feeling.

In some weird, twisted joke of life, many moments you spent with Javier start to pass in front of your eyes. Back in 1980, when you had gone to the cinema to break away from the depressive aura of the office. The first time you ate in Salomé. When he, for the first and last time, went to your apartment and you had watched Rocky while making fun of Stallone's voice. At Christmas, when he gifted you a tape for your Walkman. The way his eyes had glinted when you had given him a special edition vinyl of Led Zeppelin IV.

It hurts, to think about all that and know you may never live any of it again after this.

When Steve hits the brakes with no warning, you immediately wrench the door open and kneel behind it, pointing in front of you through the window in case someone shoots.

There are four military Jeeps behind you, with soldiers quickly jumping down from them and forming lines around the zone. Their colonel signals them to move forward.

Something gives you a bad feeling, everything is too quiet, too still. There are not even people walking around in their normal day, the streets are completely deserted.

You can hear your heavy breathing, sweat dripping down your back as you look for any signs of movement.

A gun gets reloaded somewhere to your left, and it takes you a second to turn around and point at where the sound came from when someone else shoots them first.

This gives the narcos the distraction they needed. Guns start to fire in time someone yells at your team to get cover, bullets ricocheting from the cars, and breaking the windows to pieces.

From the corner of your eye, you see Javi's back as he hides in one of the alleys, soaked in sweat. He's breathing so hard you can even hear it over the blood that's pumping on your ears. He seems unharmed though, there are no spots of blood on his clothes.

In a stupid decision to try and keep him that way, you scream his name, making him turn to look at you.

His eyes almost bulge out of his skull as he sees how carelessly you are acting by giving away your position, but without a second thought, he starts to run towards you, his gun gripped tight on his hand and moving with such urgency it makes you anxious. 

Once he gets next to you and kneels beside you, you lose all words. He's safe, he's next to you, healthy y uninjured. Around you, there's shouting, followed by gunfires. None of it matters for a second.

Your brain reminds you of the bulletproof vest you brought for him when you look down and see he lost his jacket at some point, so you turn to grab it and give it to him. He seems incredulous, you don't really understand why.

"Just put it on," your voice leaves no space for arguing. He nods, strapping it quickly while you cover any shot that may get you. 

Both of you stand up, pointing in front of your bodies as you walk towards the sudden line of cars that are on the other side of the street.

Even if they wanted, there's no way they're getting out of this. You have them at least five to one, with far more weapons and advantage.

Again, something doesn't seem right. It's too stupid, a mistake that is too careless and idiotic for them to make it without any other intentions.

You stop breathing when, by chance, you get a glimpse of Escobar's hair in the backseat of a blue Sedan.

He feels your stare, turns to look at you, and grins. Your whole body freezes, with your fingers stiff on your gun.

 All air leaves your lungs and the blood from your face drains.

The way he smiles, with a familiarity you don't know where it comes from, makes a shiver run down your spine.

Javi feels it, turning to look at you briefly and ask what's wrong when suddenly, Escobar gives an order you can't hear to one of his men and he starts to walk directly towards you in the middle of the chaos.

Javier reacts immediately. He pushes you behind him, recharging his gun and firing at the same time as the other man.

Everything happens in slow motion.

Both of them fire twice before anything else happens. Javi gets two shots right in the middle of the other's chest, but the man gets two on his chest too.

Blood starts to spread over the man's shirt, red and bubbling quickly. No one pays attention to him as they keep shooting and shouting, the blue Sedan leaving without anyone but you noticing what just happened. Escobar shouts something for you to hear, but you're too distracted to pay attention. 

Panic rises in your throat when the impact knocks Javier back, making him give a short yell when he instinctively moves his hand to grab at his chest. You move fast to cushion his fall, stopping him from hitting the floor too hard.

Tears flood your eyes as you frenéticamente move your hands to assess the damage when Javi's hands grab yours and stop you.

"I'm okay," he mutters, but there's pain in his voice. He tries to smile at you but fails, wincing. The way his grip tightens around your fingers bring your brain back a little to reality, and you realize there's no blood on his body.

The vest.

A relieved sob leaves your mouth when you realize the worst he can have is a few cracked ribs. You thank past you for thinking of bringing that heavy horrible thing with you.

Around you, everything starts to die down when the few narcos that aren't injured or dead climb in their cars and run away. There are just three injured soldiers from your side, and it's nothing fatal.

Steve comes out of nowhere and kneels down next to you, speaking words that come silent to your eyes.

You and Javier look at each other, with fear and relief and anger all mixed together in your eyes. The love he sees in your eyes shatters him, makes the pain in his chest feel sharper. 

Neither of you says anything as Steve helps him stand up so you can take him to get checked up, but he never looks away from you. Your friend is amazed at how quickly Javi can change from completely aggressive to absolute tenderness in just a few seconds. 

But when it's about you, he knows both feelings come from the same place.

You don't say a word on the trip to the hospital, but all the way both of you are gripping the other's hand as if your lives depend on it.

 Maybe they do.

Your body feels like you just went into shock. None of anything that happened feels real, anything but Javier's touch seems fake. He's shaking against you, and that's not common at all. His leg is jumping from the adrenaline in a way that would be funny if it wasn't because he almost died a few minutes ago.

He plants a kiss on your head, gripping your fingers tighter. 

The sun is in your eyes when the car starts heading down another street. You start to crash, leaning your head on his shoulder as a deep male voice sings from the radio.

He wishes he could rest with you too, but something is bothering Javier.

He heard what Escobar shouted at you.

-/-

Tabaco y Brea taglist: @larakassing

@storiesofthefandomloversreblogs

@fioccodineveautunnale

@thisisthe-way

@synystersilenceinblacknwhite

@marydjarin

@ithinkimhardcore

@nellyneko

[juancarlosphotog]

Mexico City/ DF - Mexico * * I was living in Mexico City in 2009 when the H1N1 virus (also known as the Swine flu) broke out, it was an interesting experience to say the least. While roaming the city, which had a population of 20 million people, and seeing it almost deserted was like being in an episode of the twilight zone. Just like today most persons wore a mask in order to prevent getting infected with the H1N1 virus, this was my first time covering this type of crisis, now there is a new pandemic which is causing more deaths, at the same time seeing some of the some of the major cities around the world deserted. * Vivía en la Ciudad de México en 2009 cuando se ocurrió el brote del virus H1N1 (también conocido como gripe #Porcina), fue una experiencia interesante, por así decirlo. Vagando por la ciudad la cual tenía en ese tiempo, una población de 20 millones de personas y verla casi desolada era como estar en un episodio de la Dimensíon Desconocida, al igual que hoy en día la mayoría de las personas usaban una mascarilla para evitar infectarse con el virus de la gripe, esta fue la primera vez que cubrí este tipo de crisis, ahora hay una nueva pandemia, la cual ha causado más muertes que le virus H1N1, actualmente es interesante ver algunas de las principales ciudades del mundo desoladas. #EverydayElSalvador #SwineFlu #pandemic #photojournalism #CiudadDeMexico #EverydayLatinAmerica #NorthAmerica #MexicoCIty #H1N1#JuanCarlos #2020copyright * * For image licensing send inquiries to licensing@juancarlosphotos.com or my archive by clicking on the Lin in my BIO * * * © Juan Carlos - All Rights Reserved / Todos los Derechos Reservados Represented by Hans Lucas @studiohanslucas/@hl_latinamerica (France) and @beelduine De Beeldunie (Netherlands) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-NjQ9GlKhI/?igshid=17qap5nzi00k

[jkatnayc]

Yet another Lion King Rant

Yes another, if I don't I will drown in my own bile.

Is easy to get distracted by the fact that is already happening, but a The Lion King "live action" remake I one is the stupidest ideas I've ever heard.

And I know it's not Live action, it's CGI, you don't have to correct me on that one, but I said Live action because that's that concept they were chasing.

It doesn't even sound like a real movie, it sounds like something out of a South Park episode or something, like when Cartman in a robot costume pitched a bunch of dumb movies with Adam Sandler, he could aswell said, the Lion King, but with real lions, and I would've laughed.

I mean, at least with the princess movies and such there's a real person with the costume, I think I kind of get the appeal, I still think stupid, but I get it, it's like when people got to the Disney parks to see people disguised as the characters.

But they went and did it, a Lion King "live action" remake, it is here and it looks as stupid as I thought it would. Maybe even more. they put zillions of dollars on this godamned thing, and somehow it's still looks like the Babe movies but with better lip sync.

This movie feels more like an animation demo reel than a real movie.

A funny thing is that here in México (I don't know if elsewhere) Danone made some packages with the characters in the movie in them, and they used the designs of the original movie because of course they did, otherwise they're just bags with lions on them, you would need to get super close to the bag or bottle to be able to see the logo in order to get why there is a lion in your yogurt.

And that's the thing, the remake has no personality, at least visually. This movie is offering nothing, narratively is the same, you know the story, you know the characters you know the songs, its all the same. And visually (witch I think is the most important aspect given that, that’s where the “realism” part comes in) it isn’t anything new either, because you have seen lions before. Everyone has seen an african wildlife documentary, even by accident, at least once on they’re live. this movie by concept alone is at it’s best mediocre.

The 1994 character designs are easily recognisable and relatable, you just see them And you know what theyre all about. The 2019 counterparts on the other hand..., have you seen thos posters? Those posters look more like a prank. A lion static, and expressionless looking at the camera, with a celebritye name over it’s head, it’s not even doing a goddamned thing, not even posing, is he funny, is he stoic I don’t know, the only clue I have to undestand this guy is the name. Disney wants me to transfer all my previous knowledge and experiences with this character to this empty vessel of a design, and suddenly it works, these posters are amazing!, oh that’s Mufasa of course!, it totally looks like Mufasa, because Mufasa was a lion, and this is a lion and it says Mufasa right there! 

Quoting Life of Pi; “When you look into his eyes, you are seeing your own emotions reflected back at you.” 

  With these posters Disney apparently wants to test it’s limits and see how dumb we are, and unfortunately, it apears that’s a lot. Disney just took the word “rehash” to a whole new level.

Those posters kind of feel like disney parodying themselfs and it’s live action remake trend, even down to the all celebrity cast part.

I dont even get why people would want to pay movie theater tickets to see this thing, it sound like a really tedious experience for me, it’s the same movie, there are no surprises, the only “interesting” thing would be to see what little things they do diferently, I would’t pay money to do that.

But this thing will make millions just on those people eager to “scratch the old nostalgia itch” alone, and of course on them taking their poor kids to see it. And that's really sad. This dumb remakes won't stop soon apparently...

[leastshittyexpats]

Running in CDMX

Running is my favorite sport for a lot of reasons, but I think the main one is because you can do it anywhere, anytime, and the only equipment you need is a decent pair of running shoes.  (Although I had to get rid of 99% of my wardrobe in the last 24 hours of packing for this adventure, I refused to cut my second pair of running shoes.  They don’t sell Brooks in Mexico!)  

So once we moved into our long-term rental I laced up my shoes and went out to explore.  I was curious to see what running in Mexico City was really like, since I’d read some less-than-positive things before we arrived.  Here’s what I’ve learned.

(Parque México, just a mile away!)

Air Pollution: There is a lot of traffic in Mexico City.  A lot.  But I have found that if you plan your route well, you can run on quiet, tree-lined streets and in beautiful parks 90% of the time, which seriously cuts down your intake of car exhaust.  You’ll have to cross a main road or two with pretty much any route, but these provide great opportunities to catch your breath.  Which brings me to issue number 2...

Elevation: A few runner friends warned me that Mexico City is at a very high elevation.  I figured, whatever, I’ve been there before and I didn’t notice any difference.  But I must not have had time to run when I was here as a tourist.  

I’ve never even really paid attention to elevation, but apparently that’s because the places I’ve lived and run in made it unnecessary.  For comparison, Chicago is 181 meters above sea level.  NYC = 10 meters on average.  Other places I’ve lived and run: Washington, DC = basically sea level; Valencia, Spain = 15 meters.  

Mexico City?  TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY METERS.  Turns out, elevation is no joke for runners.  The first time I ran here I was appalled at my pace.  I was running an average pace of 13:30 per mile...slightly slower than my usual average of 9:00!  Even in splits, if I’m lucky the closest I get to my usual range is an under-11-minute mile!  And I constantly have to stop and catch my breath because the air is so thin.  Luckily there are lots of pretty things to look at.

(Centennial monument to the Armenian Genocide: ”If you want to live a happy life, attach yourself to a goal, not a person or a thing.” ~ Albert Einstein)

At first I was absolutely exhausted the day after even a short (3–4 miles) run.  But I already feel like it’s getting easier, and my pace is picking up little by little.  So I see this part, the beginning of our trip, as a nice little challenge to remind me I can always get stronger.  And I’m very much looking forward to getting back to sea level because I’m going to feel like a rock star!

Running culture: I am not and probably never will be a very social runner.  But I do enjoy the feeling of solidarity I experience whenever I find there’s been at least one if not many a runner before me who has carved out a path in the dirt alongside a paved road, wet sand on the beach, or freshly fallen snow. Every time I run here — no matter what time of day, what day of the week — I see other runners out there and we share a smile or nod.  I’ve seen runners of all ages and sizes, too.  My favorite experience of fitness culture so far in CDMX, though, is the first time I stumbled upon Ciclovía.

(Ciclovía right outside our apartment!)

Ciclovía is a public health/urban planning initiative that started 40 years ago as a protest against car-centric development in Bogotá, Colombia, and has since been adopted by municipal governments across Latin America.  Main streets are closed to automobile traffic for several hours on given days, often Sunday mornings, and some cities have weekday or weekend evening Ciclovías as well.  I knew these existed in Mexico City, but I wasn’t sure where.  So imagine my delight when, our first Sunday morning in Mexico City, I went out for a run and found Ciclovía at our doorstep!  

As you may gather from the title (and the above photo), Ciclovía is geared towards encouraging bicycling, but there are plenty of runners and rollerbladers out there too.  It’s such a fun way to enjoy a lovely Sunday morning with your neighbors.  That morning I followed the crowd and discovered a new route.  I was rewarded with a new (to me) park that is ringed by a rubber running path — one of my absolute favorite things!

(Rubber track!!!)

So despite the challenges, I love running in CDMX as much as anywhere else.  I even manage to get Tim to join me once or twice a week to show him some of my favorite things I’ve discovered.  I’ll keep sharing them with you as well.

~ A

[panda-paco]

FC 2018: A Californian adventure

(English version below)

ESPAÑOL

Gran manera de empezar el año, toda una aventura en mi primera vez visitando el estado de California, en Estados Unidos.

Esta experiencia fue posible gracias a los amigos, por lo que se le agradece al furry fandom, y a internet, por permitirnos encontrar grandes amistades en cualquier parte del mundo, que si no fuera por ello, sería casi un milagro encontrarnos con personas con las que podamos dar un click perfecto en cuanto a aficiones similares. El furry nos ha permitido ser grandes amigos de personas que incluso pueden ser muy opuestas en todo, en raza, profesión, cultura, y hasta en equipo de futbol favorito; pero sin embargo ese gusto por los animales y sus historias nos conectan.

El pretexto inicial del viaje fue la convención Further Confusion, en San José, CA. Pero desde una semana antes llegué a California para estar con amigos y conocer nuevos lugares. Mi compañía del viaje fue Koidel Coyote, gran compañero, furry local, y quien se ha vuelto de mis mejores amigos. Aún cuando no estuvimos todo el viaje juntos, vaya que en la planeación de ambas aventuras estuvimos involucrados los dos, desde cómo llegar a Tijuana, cruzar la frontera a pie, y llegar hasta el centro de San Diego (todo de forma legal, claro! jaja), y hasta el regreso desde San José.

La razón principal de ir a San Diego fue visitar el zoológico, pues como un gran aficionado de los pandas, y Koidel que me secunda en eso, no podíamos perdernos esa oportunidad. Además que tengo el challenge personal de visitar a todos los pandas de zoológicos en el continente Americano (ya solo me faltan dos).

En San Diego tuvimos a un increíble host, Kazan. Quien se ofreció a llevarnos a lugares muy interesantes por conocer en su ciudad, y nos hospedó por una noche, le quiero agradecer infinitamente, pues todo el tiempo que pasamos en su compañía fue increíble para nosotros. No hubieramis visto ni la mitad de lo que conocimos sin ti.

Tomé un tren que me llevó a San Luis Obispo, y de ahí tomé un autobús que me llevó a San José. En el trayecto del tren pude ver Los Angeles por mi ventana, sigo sin conocer esa ciudad, y me encantaría poder algún día visitarla, pues además tengo a muchos amigos en dicha ciudad, quienes ya me han ofrecido muchas veces que deberíamos ir a Disneyland.

La primer mitad del fin de semana la pasé con Croc, al igual que con sus dos compañeros de casa Jimmy y Bacon, todos son grandes seres, los amo! Y tuve justo lo que necesitaba: tranquilidad. Unos días de relajación, sin planes mas que sentarse a ver películas, pasar charlando con amigos, ver videos juntos. Hace mucho que no ocurría algo así, desde meses antes que vivía en un rush intenso, viajando de un lado para otro, trabajando a mil por hora... no me había dado al menos unos días de descanso para no hacer nada, y qué mejor que con amigos que pocas veces veo como ellos. En verdad fue de mis mejores momentos del viaje.

Pero es dificil decidir qué fue lo mejor del viaje, porque la otra mitad del fin de semana la pasé con Panda, mi gran amigo monocromático con quien desde hace mucho tenía tantas ganas de pasar tiempo con él, pero las pocas veces que lo veía en convenciones siempre estaba ocupado. Y en verdad fueron momentos increíbles a su lado. Me llevó a conocer San Francisco, y allá vimos a Mirawis y Pepe Mapache, otros dos grandes amigos que mi desición de viaje valiera oro. Panda también me llevó a Santa Clara y a visitar varios paisajes hermosos entre bosques y playas californianas, a pesar de que fue un día el cual estuvo lloviendo todo el tiempo, me encantó tanto los lugares que conocí como la excelente compañía.

Pepe y Mira me hospedaron en su casa rodante, otra grande experiencia, agradezco mucho su amabilidad en todo, todos mis amigos allá me hicieron sentir tan especial. Es por seguro que si todos ellos vienen a visitarme a México recibirán un trato igual de excelente. Me encanta mostrarles mis ciudades a mis amigos que vienen de fuera.

Por propia cuenta fui a la Mansion Winchester, en San José, tras haber visto tantos videos en internet sobre ese lugar, y aunque la entrada no fue barata, y no dejaban tomar fotos en el interior, fue un gran recorrido que siempre vivirá en mi mente.

Y después empezó la convención!! Volví a encontrarme con Koidel, y ahora también a TK Coyote y Wusky, que fueron mis compañeros de cuarto. La convención estuvo más tranquila de lo que estaba acostumbrado, y me di cuenta que se trataba más de hacer planes con amigos, pues hubo un momento que quería ir con el flujo del evento, y terminé aburriendome, quedandome sin planes, pero una vez que empecé a planear momentos en la convención con amigos, me la volví a pasar bien. Sería imposible mencionar a todos los chicos que vi en la convención, creo que aquí se volvería infinito mi journal, pero momentos que recuerde fueron con Yaps, Red Wulf, Tonya Song, los mismos chicos con los que estuve en el viaje antes del evento (Croc, Panda, Pepe, Mira...), Marci, Pro Husky, Clipey, KevCorgi, Tucker, Flip, Zarafa.... muchos!! Una disculpa si no menciono a todos.

Después de la convención pasé un día más con Koidel y Flip Bunny, el conejo me invitó a su casa y nos llevó a experimentar algo completamente nuevo para mi: un sauna banya, además de llevarnos a pasear cerca de San Francisco junto con varios de sus amigos, todos muy cool y amables.

Este viaje más que conocer nuevos lugares y tener experiencias nuevas, que claro, todo eso se apreció mucho; consistió en pasar un tiempo todavía más especial y de mayor calidad con esos amigos que los veo en ratos muy cortos durante convenciones y que mi mayor tiempo de convivencia había sido tras la pantalla. Y también para darme cuenta, todavía más, lo importante que se ha vuelto el furry fandom para mí, y lo mucho que ha influenciado en mi vida.

Si quieres ver las fotos del viaje y de la convención:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nocmo8unv8geea0/AAA9pHevWaEN7eNVAwDqxieqa?dl=0

Ahora el siguiente plan es dentro de unas pocas semanas, un viaje a Dallas, TX para TFF. Este próximo viaje solo será para la convención, no se hará nada más. Si vas a Texas para la convención, ahí nos vemos!!

-----------

ENGLISH

Oh gosh, the problem when I realize that I wrote so much, is that now I'm kind of lazy to translate all what I said in Spanish but now in English, eeeh but I really want this on the two languages!! Most of my friends speak English and I really want to share all this experience with all of you, too!

Great way to start the year, a big adventure in my first time visiting California, in the United States. Yeah, I hadn't been there before.

This experience was possible because friends. I'm very grateful with the furry fandom and the internet, for allowing us to find great friendships in any part of the world; if it were not for it, it would be almost a miracle to meet people with similar hobbies or whom we can match that perfect click. The furry has allowed us to have great friends with people who are even very opposed to us in everything: race, profession, culture, and even in favorite beer; but nevertheless that like for animals and their stories are what connect us.

The initial excuse for the trip was Further Confusion (the furry con from San jose). But I travel to California a week before to be with friends and meet new places. My tour company was Koidel Coyote, great companion, local furry, and who has become one of my best friends. Even though we were not together all the trip, we were involved in the planning of both adventures, from how to get to Tijuana's airport, crossing the border by walk, and get to downtown San Diego (all legally, of course! haha), and until our back home from San José, two weeks later.

The main reason to go to San Diego was to visit the zoo, because I'm a great fan of pandas (you're not surprised, right?). Also, I have the personal challenge of visiting all the pandas of zoos in America (continent) (only two more are missing).

In San Diego we had an incredible host, Kazan. Who offered to take us to very interesting places to meet in his town, and we stayed with him for one night, I want to thank him infinitely, because all the time we spent in his company was incredible for us. We wouldn't have seen half of what we went without you, and you're such a sweet guy.

I took a train to San Luis Obispo, and from there I took a bus to San Jose. On the train journey I could see Los Angeles through my window, I still don't know that city, and I would love to be able to visit it one day, because I also have many friends there, who have already offered me many times that we should go to Disneyland.

The first half of the weekend was spent with Croc, as the same his two mates Jimmy and Bacon, they are all great guys, I love them! And I had just what I needed: tranquility. A few days of relaxation, with no plans but to sit and watch movies, spend time chatting with friends, watch videos together. A long time ago something like this hadn't happened, since months before I lived in an intense rush, traveling from one place to another, working very fast ... I had not given myself at least a few days of rest to do nothing, and it was excelent doing that with friends that I rarely see. It was really my best moments of the trip. Oh also we had a great dinner with Chance and Furahi, another two adorable guys!!

The other half of the weekend was spent with Panda, my great monochromatic friend with whom I had wanted so long ago to spend time with him, but the few times I saw him during conventions he was always busy. And in truth they were incredible moments at his side. He took me to see San Francisco, and there we saw Mirawis and Pepe Mapache, two other great friends who made my travel decision to be worthy gold. Panda also took me to Santa Clara another day and also we visited several beautiful landscapes, forests and Californian beaches, although it was a day that was raining all the time, I enjoyed all the places I met and the excellent company.

Pepe and Mira hosted me in their mobile home, another great experience, I appreciate their kindness in everything, all my friends there made me feel so special. It is for sure that if all of them come to visit me in Mexico they will receive an equally excellent treatment. I love showing my cities to my friends who come from outside.

On my own I visited the Winchester Mansion, in San Jose, after having seen so many videos on the internet about that place. And although the entrance was not cheap, and they don't allow to take pictures inside, it was a great!!

The convention started !! I met again with Koidel, and met TK Coyote and Wusky, who were my roommates. Lovely guys! The convention was quieter than I was used to, and I realized that it was more about making plans with friends, because there was a moment that I wanted to go with the flow of the event, and I ended up getting bored, running out of plans, but once I started planning moments at the convention with friends, I had fun again.

It would be impossible to mention all the guys I saw at the convention, I think this journal would become infinite here, but moments I remembered were with Yaps, Red Wulf, Tonya Song, the same guys I was with on the trip before the event ( Croc, Panda, Pepe, Mira ...), Marci, Pro Husky, Clipey, KevCorgi, Tucker, Flip, Zarafa .... many !! An apology if I didn't mention everyone.

After the convention I spent another day with Koidel and Flip Bunny, that cute rabbit invited us to his house and took us to experience something completely new for me: a banya sauna, besides taking us for a walk near San Francisco along with several of his friends, all very cool and kind.

This trip more than knowing new places and having new experiences, of course, all that was appreciated; it consisted in spending an even more special and high quality time with those friends who saw them in very short moments during conventions and that my biggest time with them had been behind the screen. And also to realize, even more, how important the furry fandom has become for me, and how much it has influenced my life.

If you want to see the pictures from the trip and the convention:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nocmo8unv8geea0/AAA9pHevWaEN7eNVAwDqxieqa?dl=0

Now the next plan is within a few weeks, a trip to Dallas, TX for TFF. This next trip will only be for the convention, nothing else will be done. If you go to Texas for the furry con, I'll see you there !!

[ogrepixel]

GDC18 Full Experience

Hey! For those who don’t know, my name is Steve Duran and since 2014 I created an indie game development studio from México called Ogre Pixel where we create fantasy stories in form of indie video games.

So far we create pixel art styled mobile games and since the middle of last year I work full time in this business.

GDC18 was my first GDC ever.

Prior GDC

Every year since 2015 I have always wanted to go to GDC, but for reasons like my day job, the lack of USA VISA and even money I wasn’t able to do it.

In 2017 my wife and I made the effort to get the USA VISA thinking in going on vacation to the USA and also thinking in attending this kind of events like GDC.

This was the first time I would be attending GDC! So I started reading a lot of tips and videos about the conference, because of that I made a lot of business cards, bought candies, registered for parties, prepared a demo for our game Pixel Stars and a couple of weeks before we thought about a cool game concept and rushed on that becoming this into Jumper Jon demo.

I read about the importance of having a goal for GDC, for me, the goal was to enjoy the experience (as a first timer), learn about how everything works and show 2 game demos to press and people: Pixel Stars and Jumper Jon.

Last 4 weeks before GDC we had a lot of work rushing on game demos, because of that I didn’t get enough sleep. I was afraid the effort wouldn’t be worth it because maybe game demos wouldn’t be ready and/or people wouldn’t like them after all.

The stress prior GDC was huge!

On my way

When the day came, Jumper Jon demo was not ready (nothing happened after defeating the boss), stickers did not arrive in time but at least Pixel Stars demo was working pretty well (tested it on iPad that day in the morning).

This was the first time I would be going outside the country on my own, that wasn’t easy either, however, I kept myself thinking about it as an adventure.

I traveled from my city Aguascalientes to Guadalajara on a 3 hours trip on bus, after that I took a flight to San Jose California on a 4 hours trip on air, after that I waited like 1 hour for a bus to take me to San Francisco Airport, took the 1 hour trip to SFO Airport on that bus and finally took a 30 minutes trip on BART to a station near Moscone Center (Powell station).

A good thing about going 4 hours on air was that I was able to finish Jumper Jon demo =D! I added the intro and outro images to demo and with that, it was some kind of finished.

Just arriving near the Moscone Center I bought a 5-bucks hotdog and went to the Hotel when I stayed with a very good friend.

GDC Week

Monday in the morning I went to Moscone West to pick my badge. The feeling when going inside the building and watching all that people with GDC badges was really great.

As other game devs, always talking about this with other people feels pretty good, now, being in the same place with thousands of people who are also fascinated by the game development is really a very comforting experience.

I won’t describe what I experienced at every moment the whole week, but I will give a quick summary and will highlight the best moments on GDC:

Overall my GDC week was spent between few meetings, parties, events, networking and a couple of expo hours.

Meetings

As one of my goals for this GDC was to show Pixel Stars and Jumper Jon to people and press, I scheduled a couple of meetings to show it to good friends, a couple of streamers and press.

This was very important for us because was the result of a lot of work weeks before GDC… The good thing was that Pixel Stars and Jumper Jon had a great reception from the people who played them.

Even if these games are very different from each other, both of them were liked by people =).

Here are a couple of videos from Touch Arcade where I’m showing our games:

http://toucharcade.com/2018/03/23/gdc-2018-jumper-jon-and-pixel-stars/

Parties

Parties on GDC are something very cool because that’s the perfect place for networking, meeting cool and interesting people and also meeting good old friends.

I went to a couple of Unity parties, one of them was the keynote where we knew about the new stuff coming for the engine. There we could meet one of the guys who created Unity: Joachim Ante and that was really great.

A cool party I attended which was really great was The Other Party, that one was great because I was able to pick a free table and show Jumper Jon demo for playtesting.

That was very fun because a lot of people went to our table and went through the demo from the beginning to end (demo lasts like 3 minutes).

I received a lot of feedback, good comments and the most rewarding was that people asked us about when it would be available because they wanted to buy it at that same moment =D.

I was also able to show Jumper Jon demo on another party called BYO INIDE (Bring your own indie) there I was able to pick a table too, set up the demo and people went there to check it.

Pretty much was the same result, a lot of people enjoyed it.

Showing Jumper Jon on the parties was one of the best moments from GDC because I felt all the effort was totally worth it, we spent a lot of time programming, making art and designing the level… Knowing that people really liked it was very comforting.

Events

The best events for me on GDC were the Independent Games Festival Awards and the Game Developers Choice Awards.

I will describe the feeling of being there and watching the Awards with just one word: Inspiring.

Watching all that talented people receiving awards, giving their speech and sharing on stage situations that many of us game devs live is something really inspiring.

Networking

Networking most of the time was made during the parties… Even if on the Moscone center and Yerba buena garden there is a lot of people around, resting or working on their computers, networking is not very good there (at least for me).

I sat down there a couple of times but I made it because I wanted to finish something or send a mail or just to charge my cell phone.

There I tried to speak with people and it worked most of the times but, for other people, they sometimes just didn’t want to talk, maybe because they were tired or something (I didn’t talk to people I found was busy).

So for networking, I would suggest parties.

Expo

Something I really missed on this GDC was the expo.

I was at the expo and could give an overall check but unfortunately I couldn’t enjoy it in detail. I was just walking through it when the GDC ended and I had to go out =(

Taking the following pic was really sad because that was the end of GDC.

Conclusions

Some friends told me that if game development is my passion I had to attend GDC… Now I can confirm that because as this is the largest professional game industry event in the world this is the meeting point for game designers, programmers, artists, producers and artists from the global game development community.

And that is absolutely awesome.

Here I made a small list of tips for everyone who is planning to attend GDC in the future:

Define a goal for your GDC attendance and work for that goal prior GDC (make a demo, a good presentation, schedule meetings)

Bring at least 200 business cards

Join the Fellowship of the GDC Parties facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheFellowshipOfParties/)

Bring a fully charged power bank all the time

If you want to show a game on parties (for free) register to the right parties and attend earlier

If you like swags and stuff go to the expo on Wednesday and take your time to check it

Take a good sit at the Awards and enjoy the show

Share business cards with everyone and take a pen with you and write down on business cards who is who so you can remember the people you met.

Business cards I received:

Last but not least I want to recommend the GDC attendees to take a time and enjoy San Francisco, this place is amazing too:

Well, that’s all, I tried to summarize my GDC experience as a first timer, I definitely want to attend next year and hope this read is helpful for the people who are planning to go and get the best experience.

Thanks for reading, hope you like it, feel free to stay in touch with us through our social media and discord server

Twitter: @ogrepixel Facebook: facebook.com/ogrepixel Instagram: instagram.com/ogrepixel

Discord: discord.me/ogrepixel

Steve =)

[easyfoodnetwork]

‘This Is What’s Keeping Our Pantry Full’ | ‘De Esto Mantenemos la Despensa’

The nonprofit No Us Without You feeds more than 1,300 undocumented families in Los Angeles that have been impacted by COVID-19. Here are some of their stories.

It’s said that prep cooks, dishwashers, and bussers are the backbone of the restaurant industry, but when the pandemic arrived, forcing restaurants to shutter, it was these workers who were hardest hit. About 10 percent of restaurant employees in the United States are undocumented immigrants (many studies estimate that number to be much higher); although they pay taxes, with few exceptions, undocumented workers are unable to receive government aid like unemployment benefits. When COVID-19 put them out of work, many were forced to use up savings, and in the worst cases, choose between paying rent or buying food.

As mutual aid efforts sprung up in response nationwide, Los Angeles-based grassroots organization No Us Without You started feeding the families of undocumented restaurant workers. The founders and weekly volunteers, who are all industry veterans, see their efforts as a way to give back to the essential workers that made their own careers possible. (Read more about No Us Without You here.)

Below are some of the stories of these workers, in their own words.

Gaspar, prep cook originally from Oaxaca, Mexico

In Mexico, I didn't cook. I had my parents. They gave me everything. We were not rich, but we always had enough food. In the '80s, you would hear people saying that in the United States, you make good money. People started leaving, and one of them was me. I was quite young, about 17 years old. The first job I had was in a car wash in Encino, and then I started working in a restaurant washing dishes, and eventually learned to cook. I worked for a Chinese company called Chinese Gourmet Express for like 14 years. I was a sous chef. All jobs are tiring, but there are jobs that kill you little by little; cooking is one of them. I'm already 50 years old. That's why I only work as a prep cook now. We are responsible for everything the cooks need. I was working at an American bar and restaurant when the pandemic started. First they cut our hours, and then they closed. To this day, I don't have a formal job. I went out to look for work standing on street corners. I found steady work two or three days a week cleaning a garden and taking care of cars. We've used the little savings we had to pay rent. Anything that we earn goes to rent. My wife's nephew told me he gets food from this organization and we signed up. It's honestly helped a lot because you can't get much with $100 at the market anymore. Everything is expensive. This help is like getting $100 in cash. I have two kids who graduated from college at UC Berkeley. They are working in San Francisco as nurses at a hospital. We are lucky. What we have not been able to accomplish, they have accomplished. We are not accepting help from them, because they have student debt. They have to get out of debt first so they can help us. Yesterday I went to work at a [new] restaurant for the first time. They called me back. I hope they keep me. The government is saying that we [immigrants] are a burden, what a lie! They ignore our productivity. Hispanic people in general are the most cautious, they are the hardest workers. That is the reality in this country, everything is the opposite. For example, in my case, I'm thankful to [No Us Without You] for this great help, but outside of that, I don't get help from anywhere else. We fend for ourselves. We [immigrants] are the backbone of all businesses, not just restaurants. Because if you look at it, Hispanics are in construction, Hispanics are in gardening, Hispanics are in hotels, in the restaurants, fixing the streets, in everything. We are the support nationwide. Hispanics are the pillar of the nation, but it's difficult for that to be recognized. Many people are returning to Mexico. We are thinking of going back too. We have a place to go back to. We built a humble house on the land my parents left me. And I'm planning on starting a business in my small town in Oaxaca. With my age, and the experience that I have living in this country, I realize that this is not living. There comes a time where one can get sick, and what does one have here? The government is not going to help you.

En México, yo no cocinaba. Tenía mis papas. Ellos me daban todo. No éramos ricos pero siempre teníamos suficiente comida. En los 80 se escuchaba que la gente decía que ahí en Estados Unidos se gana bien. Entonces la gente se fue saliendo y uno de ellos fui yo. Estaba bastante joven. Tenía unos 17 años. El primer trabajo que tuve fue un car wash en Encino y después empecé a trabajar en un restaurante. Empecé lavando trastes. Y aprendí a cocinar. Trabajé en una compañía china que se llama Chinese Gourmet Express por como 14 años. Yo era sous chef. Yo digo que todos los trabajos cansan pero hay trabajos que te van matando poco a poco. Ya tengo 50. Por eso yo nada más trabajo en preparación. Nosotros somos responsables de todo lo que ocupan los cocineros. Estaba trabajando en un restaurante y bar americano cuando empezó la pandemia primero. Primero quitaron las horas y después cerraron. Hasta la fecha no he conseguido trabajo formalmente. Salía a buscar trabajo en las esquinas. Con suerte conseguí trabajo dos o tres días a la semana limpiando un jardín y cuidando carros. Para la renta hemos estado agarrando el poquito de ahorro que teníamos. Lo que ganamos se va a la renta. Un sobrino de mi señora me dijo que recibe comida de esta organización. Entonces nos inscribimos. La verdad nos ha servido bastante porque ahorita en el mercado ya no se compra nada con $100. Todo está caro. Es como si me hubieran dado unos $100 en dinero en efectivo. Yo tengo dos hijos graduados en el colegio en Berkeley. Ellos están trabajando allá en San Francisco. Son enfermeros en un hospital. Somos afortunados. Lo que no hemos podido hacer nosotros, lo hicieron ellos. No les estamos aceptando ayuda porque ellos también tienen deuda de la escuela. Tienen que salir de eso para que nos puedan ayudar. Ayer fui a trabajar con un señor, ya me llamó para que empiece en un restaurante. Ojalá que me diga que me quede. El gobierno está diciendo que somos una carga. ¡Qué mentira! Ignoran que somos productivos. La gente hispana en general son los más precavidos, son los más trabajadores. Esa es la realidad en este país, todo es lo contrario. Por ejemplo, en mi caso, estoy agradecido a [No Us Without You] por esta ayuda, pero de ahí yo no agarro una ayuda de ningún otro lado. Nos la buscamos como sea. Nosotros somos la columna vertebral de todos los negocios, no nada más en restaurantes. Porque si lo vemos, el hispano está en la construcción, el hispano está en la jardinería, el hispano está en las hotelerías, en los restaurantes, arreglando las calles, en todo. Somos el soporte a nivel nacional. Los hispanos somos el pilar de la nación, nada más que es muy difícil que se reconozca. Mucha gente está regresando a México. Nosotros ya estamos pensando en irnos. Nosotros tenemos donde llegar. Hemos hecho una casita humildemente en la tierra de los viejos. Yo voy a hacer mi propio negocio. Con la edad que tengo, la experiencia que tengo viviendo en este país, esto no es vida. Llega el momento en que uno se puede enfermar y ¿qué tiene uno? El gobierno no va a respaldar.

José, busser originally from Oaxaca, Mexico

I'm a computer technician. I used to work for the state government in Mexico. As my daughters were growing up, I wanted to give them a better education, and due to the limits of my education, I couldn't get better jobs. The economic situation leads us to migrate. I started working in a restaurant when I arrived 13 years ago. I started as a dishwasher in Bel Air and then as a busser at a luxury restaurant in Santa Monica. I currently work as a busser at an American seafood restaurant in West Hollywood. I also work at a Mexican restaurant in Century City. The truth is, living in Los Angeles with only one job isn't enough. I worked almost full time at both of them, but when the pandemic hit, everything closed. We definitely weren't expecting this. As migrants, we have no income from the government, nothing. I was out of work for four months. A friend told me about an organization that's helping immigrants. So I registered by phone. This has been very helpful to my family and my friends. The food they give us is of good quality, it's not just anything. I use the apple and celery to make green juices. I cut the squash and make it with eggs. The tortillas they give us are delicious. The yogurt I use to make smoothies. We use everything. In July, the restaurants reopened and I started working again, but with fewer hours. I work 25 hours in one restaurant and 25 hours in the other. Before, I worked about 35 hours at each. Working al fresco means being out in the sun. Where I work in West Hollywood we set up in the restaurant parking lot. One person sets the tables and chairs in the morning and we have to put them away at night. I'm 48 years old. It's hard work, but there's no other choice. We depend on businesses staying open. We have to be careful not to spread the infection. Exposing oneself [to COVID-19] is delicate for your health, and it also means not working for at least 15 days. Right now there's talk that things will close again. We'll be out of work again, out of resources. I spent the money I had saved up in those first four months of the pandemic. This pandemic came to depress us, to make us dip into our savings. I have a colleague who wasn't called back. They only called back about 70 percent of the staff. It makes you ask, "Why him and not me?" I always try to better myself and my situation, but work consumes me. In 2010, I took a graphic design course. I bought my computer. I have my accessories. Since I was an IT technician for 30 years, I know computers from top to bottom. I also have my camera and my lenses. I was working with a friend years ago taking wedding photos. I have the equipment in case I go back to Mexico; I can start a photography business there.

Yo soy técnico en computación informática, estuve trabajando en el gobierno estatal en México. Mis hijas venían creciendo; quería darles una mejor educación y mi educación escolar pues me limitaba a obtener mejores puestos. La situación económica nos hace migrar. Yo empecé a trabajar en un restaurante desde que llegué hace 13 años. Me metí a trabajar en un restaurante en Bel Air como dishwasher. Después trabajé en un restaurante de lujo en Santa Mónica de busboy y ya empiezo. Yo trabajo de busboy en un restaurante americano de mariscos en West Hollywood y también trabajo en uno mexicano en Century City. La verdad, vivir en Los Ángeles con solo un trabajo no es suficiente. Yo trabajaba casi full time en los dos y viene esto de la pandemia y todo cerrado. No nos esperábamos esto definitivamente. Como nosotros somos migrantes, no tenemos ingresos por parte del gobierno, nada. Estuve cuatro meses sin trabajo. Un amigo me dijo de una organización que está ayudando a inmigrantes. Entonces me registré por teléfono. Esto ha sido de bastante ayuda para nosotros y para mis amigos. Los alimentos que nos dan son de buena calidad, no son cualquier cosa. La manzana y apio los uso para hacer jugos verdes. El squash la corto y la hago con huevo. La tortilla que nos dan es exquisita. El yogurt para hacer smoothie. Todo se ocupa. En julio se abrieron los restaurantes otra vez y empezamos con pocas horas. Trabajo 25 horas en uno y 25 horas en el otro. Antes trabajaba unas 35 horas en cada lugar. Trabajar al fresco es estar en el sol y por ejemplo en el trabajo donde estoy en West Hollywood estamos trabajando en el parking del restaurante. Una persona pone las mesas y sillas en la mañana y nosotros en la noche las tenemos que meter, todas las noches. Cuesta el trabajo pero tenemos que trabajar. Dependemos de la apertura. Nos tenemos que cuidar para no extender el contagio. Exponerse es delicado para la salud y también significa perder el trabajo por al menos 15 días. Ahorita se está hablando de que probablemente se vuelva a cerrar. Otra vez nos quedamos sin trabajo, nos quedamos sin recursos. Yo mi dinero que tenía ahorrado pues se me fue en esos primeros cuatro meses de la pandemia. Esto nos vino a deprimir, a echar mano en los ahorros. Tengo un compañero que no lo llamaron para trabajar. Llamaron como a un 70 por ciento a trabajar. Dice uno, "¿Por qué a mí no y a él sí Yo trato de superar pero el trabajo me consume. En el 2010 estudié un curso de diseño gráfico. Me compré mi computadora. Tengo mis accesorios, como soy técnico informático de hace 30 años. Entonces conozco la computadora de arriba para abajo. Yo tengo mi cámara fotográfica, mis lentes. Estuve trabajando con una amiga hace años haciendo fotos de bodas. Tengo mi equipo por si regreso a México; puedo trabajar en eso.

Esperanza, lonchera cook originally from Michoacan, Mexico

I came here because in Mexico there isn't much work, and there's a lot of poverty. If it's difficult here, the situation there is worse. I've been working as a cook at a lonchera [food truck] for 16 years. Before that, I worked as a prep cook at another lonchera. My mom taught me to cook. I cook meat for tacos, chicharrones, chicken, tortas, hamburgers. We also make Mexican dishes like chilaquiles, birria, ribs in green salsa with rice and beans. Mexican food sells very well. We drive around where the car dealerships are. Our clients are car salesmen, car washers, secretaries. We also go to two factories. I like my job, but I've been having a lot of knee problems from being on my feet 10 hours a day. This pandemic affected me a lot. I didn't work a single day for three months. I'm back at work now, but instead of working five days a week, I only work two. Sales have fallen because there aren't as many people at the car dealerships. Many car salesmen, car washers, and secretaries were let go. One day I drove by here and saw that there was food being distributed. We submitted an application. We don't miss a week because this is what's keeping our pantry full. It was a big relief because we're not even making enough money to pay the rent. Many people treat you with a lot of racism here, but they should realize that it's because of Latinos that California functions. Because who picks the fruit, the vegetables, all this that they're giving us in this box? Eggs, meat, milk: Who makes it? We Latinos. Many people don't see that. It's a lot of work. They don't see the effort people are making. I have a 22-year-old son who I brought from Mexico five years ago. But my older girl stayed; she had already made her life there. It's been 22 years since I've seen her. When I'm not at work, I dedicate myself to my home. I also sell homemade food to my friends. I make pozole or chiles rellenos or pupusas to earn a little extra money. My job is important to me because I can support my family and I like to see customers leave satisfied and liking the Mexican flavor.

Me vine porque en México no hay mucho trabajo, hay mucha pobreza. Si aquí es difícil, allá está peor. Tengo 16 años trabajando como cocinera en una lonchera. Antes de eso también estaba en una lonchera pero como ayudante picando verdura. Mi mamá me enseñó a cocinar. Yo cocino carne para tacos, chicharrones, pollo, tortas, hamburguesas, todo eso. También hacemos platillos mexicanos como chilaquiles, birria, costillitas en salsa verde con su arroz y su frijol. La comida mexicana es muy bien vendida. Andamos por toda el área de donde están los dealers de carros. Nuestros clientes son vendedores de carro, lavadores de carro, hay secretarias. Vamos también a dos fábricas. Me gusta mi trabajo pero ya he tenido muchos problemas con mis rodillas por estar parada 10 horas al día. La pandemia me afectó mucho. Duré como tres meses sin trabajar ni un día. Ya estoy trabajando otra vez pero en lugar de trabajar los cinco días, solo trabajo dos. Se bajaron las ventas porque en los dealers ya no hay tanta gente. Descansaron muchos vendedores, muchas secretarias, muchos lavadores. Una vez pasamos por aquí y miramos que había distribución de comida. Metimos la aplicación y de ahí no faltamos porque de eso mantenemos la despensa. Nos ha aliviado mucho porque no estamos sacando ni para la renta. Mucha gente te trata con mucho racismo aquí, pero que se pongan a pensar, por nosotros los latinos, es que es California. Porque ¿quién pisca la fruta, la verdura, todo esto que nos están dando? Los huevos, la carne, la leche: ¿Quién lo hace? Nosotros los latinos. Mucha gente no lo ve. Es mucho trabajo. Y no ven el esfuerzo de la gente. Tengo un muchachito de 22 años. Ese me lo traje aquí como hace cinco años. Pero la muchacha ya mayor se quedó; ella ya hizo su vida. Tengo 22 años que no la veo. Cuando no estoy en mi trabajo me dedico a mi hogar. También vendo comida casera a mis amistades. Hago pozole o chiles rellenos o pupusas para ganar un dinerito extra. Para mí es importante mi trabajo porque puedo mantener a mi familia y me gusta ver a los clientes que se vayan satisfechos y que les guste el sazón mexicano.

Maxima, prep cook originally from Chihuahua, Mexico

I learned to cook from life. When I lived in Mexico, I worked in a hotel with a restaurant. I would make the beds and from there I would run down to the restaurant. I would tell the chefs, "Hey, I'll help you clean the beans, I'll help you choose the rice." I watched from afar how the food was being prepared and wrote everything down. Then, I would run home and I would prepare what I learned. Later, the chef saw that he couldn't get rid of me and asked me to be his assistant. He started showing me how to cook, and I said "I found my place." I love cooking. It's my life. I came here because I'm a single mom and my daughter wanted to go to college. How would I pay for it? I had to find a way. I was in New York for 12 years, where I worked at two Burger Kings and a Wendy's as a cook. I came to Los Angeles because my daughter wanted to come here. She had already finished college. I started working at a Burger King here too. Then I worked at [a West Hollywood restaurant] as a prep cook for four years. I would prepare everything they sold at night. All the cook has to do is take out the trays we prepare to finish cooking and then the dish goes to the table. Things are already measured. People don't see the back of house staff who are marginalized. The people in the back do the most work. And we're the ones who receive the least. From there I went to [a restaurant in Downtown LA] where I stayed for another four years until the pandemic started. They let us go because there was no work. I'm now 54 years old. I don't even know how I did it. I lost my car. This one I'm driving is my brother's. I don't spend anything on food. Because everything they [No Us Without You] give us is useful. It helps us a lot. I'll be honest with you: I owe a month's rent because I can't handle everything. There was a time during the pandemic when I went to Dodger Stadium with my daughter to collect cans and we would sell them. That's how we paid the electric bill. Right now, I'm working at a restaurant three days a week making ceviche. I've learned another job! I know that one day I'll tell this story. I'm going to say, "I survived." What I thank God for the most is that I haven't become infected. The most important thing is that your family is united. The downtown restaurant called me to see if they can hire me again. My hobby is food prep, the smell of the vegetables. What I like most is learning new things every day: That's the beauty of a restaurant that always changes menus. I love it there because the chef told me, "You take care of the spices." The basil, thyme, rosemary, all that passed through these little hands. When I finish all my work and I say, "And now what am I going to do for myself?," I take my grandson and I go hiking up a mountain. When he no longer wants to walk, I have to carry him on my back until we get to the top. I try to go out where there aren't many people. I try to find a way to be myself. My dream is to set up a stall and sell ceviches. I would love that; it's my most precious dream. But it's just a dream.

Yo aprendí a cocinar de la vida. Cuando vivía en México, trabajé en un hotel con un restaurante. Yo arreglaba las camas y de ahí bajaba corriendo al restaurante. Les decía a los chefs, "Oye te ayudo a limpiar frijoles, yo te ayudo a escoger el arroz". Veía de lejos como preparaban la comida y apuntaba todo. Me iba corriendo para mi casa y yo preparaba lo que aprendía. Ya después vio el chef que no me podía sacar de la cocina y me preguntó si quería ser su ayudante. Él empezó a enseñarme la cocina y dije "De aquí soy". Me encanta la cocina. Esa es mi vida. Yo me vine aquí porque soy mamá soltera y mi hija quería sacar su universidad y ¿de dónde yo sacaba? Tenía que buscarle. Estuve en Nueva York 12 años. Trabajaba como cocinera en dos Burger Kings y un Wendy's. Me vine para Los Ángeles porque mi hija quería venirse. Ya había terminado la universidad. Empecé a trabajar en un Burger King aquí también. Después trabajé en un restaurante de West Hollywood como preparadora por cuatro años. Preparaba todo lo que vendían en la noche. El cocinero nada más saca de los trays que le ponemos nosotros para terminar de cocinar y va para la mesa. Ya están medidas las cosas. La gente no ve que los trabajadores de atrás son marginados. Las personas que están atrás son las que más hacen el trabajo. Y somos los que menos recibimos. Despues me fui a [un restaurante en el centro de Los Ángeles] donde estuve otros cuatro años hasta que empezó la pandemia. Nos despidieron a todos porque no había trabajo. Yo tengo ahorita 54 años. Ni yo sé cómo lo hice. Perdí el carro. Este carro es de mi hermano. No gasto nada en comida. Porque todo lo que ellos [No Us Without You] me dan me sirve. Nos ayuda mucho. Ahorita no te voy a mentir: debo un mes de renta porque no puedo con todo. Hubo una temporada durante la pandemia que me iba al estadio de los Dodgers con mi hija a recoger botes y los vendíamos. Con eso pagamos la luz. Ahorita voy a un restaurante, ahí me dan tres días de trabajo como cevichera. ¡Ya aprendí otro trabajo más! Yo sé que un día voy a contar esto. Voy a decir, "Sobreviví". Y lo que le doy más gracias a Dios es que no me he contagiado de nada. Lo principal es que tu familia esté unida. Ahorita me llamaron del restaurante en el centro para ver si me vuelven a contratar. Mi hobby es la preparación, el olor a las verduras. Lo que más me gusta es cada día aprender cosas. Eso es lo bonito de un restaurante que siempre cambia los menús. Me encantaba ese restaurante porque el chef me decía a mí, "Tú te encargas de los olores". La albahaca, el tomillo, el rosemary, todo eso pasaba por estas manitas. Cuando ya termino toda mi labor y digo, "¿Y ahora que voy a hacer para mí?", me llevo a mi nieto y me voy al cerro a caminar. Donde él ya no quiere caminar tengo que cargarlo en la espalda hasta que llegamos arriba. Trato la manera de salir donde no hay mucha gente. Trato la manera de ser yo. Mi sueño es poner un local y vender ceviches. Me encantaría; es mi sueño adorado. Pero eso es un sueño nada más.

Samanta Helou Hernandez is a multimedia journalist and photographer based in LA covering culture, identity, and social issues. Copy edited by Emily Safrin

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3mqonWo https://ift.tt/34xDx65

The nonprofit No Us Without You feeds more than 1,300 undocumented families in Los Angeles that have been impacted by COVID-19. Here are some of their stories.

It’s said that prep cooks, dishwashers, and bussers are the backbone of the restaurant industry, but when the pandemic arrived, forcing restaurants to shutter, it was these workers who were hardest hit. About 10 percent of restaurant employees in the United States are undocumented immigrants (many studies estimate that number to be much higher); although they pay taxes, with few exceptions, undocumented workers are unable to receive government aid like unemployment benefits. When COVID-19 put them out of work, many were forced to use up savings, and in the worst cases, choose between paying rent or buying food.

As mutual aid efforts sprung up in response nationwide, Los Angeles-based grassroots organization No Us Without You started feeding the families of undocumented restaurant workers. The founders and weekly volunteers, who are all industry veterans, see their efforts as a way to give back to the essential workers that made their own careers possible. (Read more about No Us Without You here.)

Below are some of the stories of these workers, in their own words.

Gaspar, prep cook originally from Oaxaca, Mexico

In Mexico, I didn't cook. I had my parents. They gave me everything. We were not rich, but we always had enough food. In the '80s, you would hear people saying that in the United States, you make good money. People started leaving, and one of them was me. I was quite young, about 17 years old. The first job I had was in a car wash in Encino, and then I started working in a restaurant washing dishes, and eventually learned to cook. I worked for a Chinese company called Chinese Gourmet Express for like 14 years. I was a sous chef. All jobs are tiring, but there are jobs that kill you little by little; cooking is one of them. I'm already 50 years old. That's why I only work as a prep cook now. We are responsible for everything the cooks need. I was working at an American bar and restaurant when the pandemic started. First they cut our hours, and then they closed. To this day, I don't have a formal job. I went out to look for work standing on street corners. I found steady work two or three days a week cleaning a garden and taking care of cars. We've used the little savings we had to pay rent. Anything that we earn goes to rent. My wife's nephew told me he gets food from this organization and we signed up. It's honestly helped a lot because you can't get much with $100 at the market anymore. Everything is expensive. This help is like getting $100 in cash. I have two kids who graduated from college at UC Berkeley. They are working in San Francisco as nurses at a hospital. We are lucky. What we have not been able to accomplish, they have accomplished. We are not accepting help from them, because they have student debt. They have to get out of debt first so they can help us. Yesterday I went to work at a [new] restaurant for the first time. They called me back. I hope they keep me. The government is saying that we [immigrants] are a burden, what a lie! They ignore our productivity. Hispanic people in general are the most cautious, they are the hardest workers. That is the reality in this country, everything is the opposite. For example, in my case, I'm thankful to [No Us Without You] for this great help, but outside of that, I don't get help from anywhere else. We fend for ourselves. We [immigrants] are the backbone of all businesses, not just restaurants. Because if you look at it, Hispanics are in construction, Hispanics are in gardening, Hispanics are in hotels, in the restaurants, fixing the streets, in everything. We are the support nationwide. Hispanics are the pillar of the nation, but it's difficult for that to be recognized. Many people are returning to Mexico. We are thinking of going back too. We have a place to go back to. We built a humble house on the land my parents left me. And I'm planning on starting a business in my small town in Oaxaca. With my age, and the experience that I have living in this country, I realize that this is not living. There comes a time where one can get sick, and what does one have here? The government is not going to help you.

En México, yo no cocinaba. Tenía mis papas. Ellos me daban todo. No éramos ricos pero siempre teníamos suficiente comida. En los 80 se escuchaba que la gente decía que ahí en Estados Unidos se gana bien. Entonces la gente se fue saliendo y uno de ellos fui yo. Estaba bastante joven. Tenía unos 17 años. El primer trabajo que tuve fue un car wash en Encino y después empecé a trabajar en un restaurante. Empecé lavando trastes. Y aprendí a cocinar. Trabajé en una compañía china que se llama Chinese Gourmet Express por como 14 años. Yo era sous chef. Yo digo que todos los trabajos cansan pero hay trabajos que te van matando poco a poco. Ya tengo 50. Por eso yo nada más trabajo en preparación. Nosotros somos responsables de todo lo que ocupan los cocineros. Estaba trabajando en un restaurante y bar americano cuando empezó la pandemia primero. Primero quitaron las horas y después cerraron. Hasta la fecha no he conseguido trabajo formalmente. Salía a buscar trabajo en las esquinas. Con suerte conseguí trabajo dos o tres días a la semana limpiando un jardín y cuidando carros. Para la renta hemos estado agarrando el poquito de ahorro que teníamos. Lo que ganamos se va a la renta. Un sobrino de mi señora me dijo que recibe comida de esta organización. Entonces nos inscribimos. La verdad nos ha servido bastante porque ahorita en el mercado ya no se compra nada con $100. Todo está caro. Es como si me hubieran dado unos $100 en dinero en efectivo. Yo tengo dos hijos graduados en el colegio en Berkeley. Ellos están trabajando allá en San Francisco. Son enfermeros en un hospital. Somos afortunados. Lo que no hemos podido hacer nosotros, lo hicieron ellos. No les estamos aceptando ayuda porque ellos también tienen deuda de la escuela. Tienen que salir de eso para que nos puedan ayudar. Ayer fui a trabajar con un señor, ya me llamó para que empiece en un restaurante. Ojalá que me diga que me quede. El gobierno está diciendo que somos una carga. ¡Qué mentira! Ignoran que somos productivos. La gente hispana en general son los más precavidos, son los más trabajadores. Esa es la realidad en este país, todo es lo contrario. Por ejemplo, en mi caso, estoy agradecido a [No Us Without You] por esta ayuda, pero de ahí yo no agarro una ayuda de ningún otro lado. Nos la buscamos como sea. Nosotros somos la columna vertebral de todos los negocios, no nada más en restaurantes. Porque si lo vemos, el hispano está en la construcción, el hispano está en la jardinería, el hispano está en las hotelerías, en los restaurantes, arreglando las calles, en todo. Somos el soporte a nivel nacional. Los hispanos somos el pilar de la nación, nada más que es muy difícil que se reconozca. Mucha gente está regresando a México. Nosotros ya estamos pensando en irnos. Nosotros tenemos donde llegar. Hemos hecho una casita humildemente en la tierra de los viejos. Yo voy a hacer mi propio negocio. Con la edad que tengo, la experiencia que tengo viviendo en este país, esto no es vida. Llega el momento en que uno se puede enfermar y ¿qué tiene uno? El gobierno no va a respaldar.

José, busser originally from Oaxaca, Mexico

I'm a computer technician. I used to work for the state government in Mexico. As my daughters were growing up, I wanted to give them a better education, and due to the limits of my education, I couldn't get better jobs. The economic situation leads us to migrate. I started working in a restaurant when I arrived 13 years ago. I started as a dishwasher in Bel Air and then as a busser at a luxury restaurant in Santa Monica. I currently work as a busser at an American seafood restaurant in West Hollywood. I also work at a Mexican restaurant in Century City. The truth is, living in Los Angeles with only one job isn't enough. I worked almost full time at both of them, but when the pandemic hit, everything closed. We definitely weren't expecting this. As migrants, we have no income from the government, nothing. I was out of work for four months. A friend told me about an organization that's helping immigrants. So I registered by phone. This has been very helpful to my family and my friends. The food they give us is of good quality, it's not just anything. I use the apple and celery to make green juices. I cut the squash and make it with eggs. The tortillas they give us are delicious. The yogurt I use to make smoothies. We use everything. In July, the restaurants reopened and I started working again, but with fewer hours. I work 25 hours in one restaurant and 25 hours in the other. Before, I worked about 35 hours at each. Working al fresco means being out in the sun. Where I work in West Hollywood we set up in the restaurant parking lot. One person sets the tables and chairs in the morning and we have to put them away at night. I'm 48 years old. It's hard work, but there's no other choice. We depend on businesses staying open. We have to be careful not to spread the infection. Exposing oneself [to COVID-19] is delicate for your health, and it also means not working for at least 15 days. Right now there's talk that things will close again. We'll be out of work again, out of resources. I spent the money I had saved up in those first four months of the pandemic. This pandemic came to depress us, to make us dip into our savings. I have a colleague who wasn't called back. They only called back about 70 percent of the staff. It makes you ask, "Why him and not me?" I always try to better myself and my situation, but work consumes me. In 2010, I took a graphic design course. I bought my computer. I have my accessories. Since I was an IT technician for 30 years, I know computers from top to bottom. I also have my camera and my lenses. I was working with a friend years ago taking wedding photos. I have the equipment in case I go back to Mexico; I can start a photography business there.

Yo soy técnico en computación informática, estuve trabajando en el gobierno estatal en México. Mis hijas venían creciendo; quería darles una mejor educación y mi educación escolar pues me limitaba a obtener mejores puestos. La situación económica nos hace migrar. Yo empecé a trabajar en un restaurante desde que llegué hace 13 años. Me metí a trabajar en un restaurante en Bel Air como dishwasher. Después trabajé en un restaurante de lujo en Santa Mónica de busboy y ya empiezo. Yo trabajo de busboy en un restaurante americano de mariscos en West Hollywood y también trabajo en uno mexicano en Century City. La verdad, vivir en Los Ángeles con solo un trabajo no es suficiente. Yo trabajaba casi full time en los dos y viene esto de la pandemia y todo cerrado. No nos esperábamos esto definitivamente. Como nosotros somos migrantes, no tenemos ingresos por parte del gobierno, nada. Estuve cuatro meses sin trabajo. Un amigo me dijo de una organización que está ayudando a inmigrantes. Entonces me registré por teléfono. Esto ha sido de bastante ayuda para nosotros y para mis amigos. Los alimentos que nos dan son de buena calidad, no son cualquier cosa. La manzana y apio los uso para hacer jugos verdes. El squash la corto y la hago con huevo. La tortilla que nos dan es exquisita. El yogurt para hacer smoothie. Todo se ocupa. En julio se abrieron los restaurantes otra vez y empezamos con pocas horas. Trabajo 25 horas en uno y 25 horas en el otro. Antes trabajaba unas 35 horas en cada lugar. Trabajar al fresco es estar en el sol y por ejemplo en el trabajo donde estoy en West Hollywood estamos trabajando en el parking del restaurante. Una persona pone las mesas y sillas en la mañana y nosotros en la noche las tenemos que meter, todas las noches. Cuesta el trabajo pero tenemos que trabajar. Dependemos de la apertura. Nos tenemos que cuidar para no extender el contagio. Exponerse es delicado para la salud y también significa perder el trabajo por al menos 15 días. Ahorita se está hablando de que probablemente se vuelva a cerrar. Otra vez nos quedamos sin trabajo, nos quedamos sin recursos. Yo mi dinero que tenía ahorrado pues se me fue en esos primeros cuatro meses de la pandemia. Esto nos vino a deprimir, a echar mano en los ahorros. Tengo un compañero que no lo llamaron para trabajar. Llamaron como a un 70 por ciento a trabajar. Dice uno, "¿Por qué a mí no y a él sí Yo trato de superar pero el trabajo me consume. En el 2010 estudié un curso de diseño gráfico. Me compré mi computadora. Tengo mis accesorios, como soy técnico informático de hace 30 años. Entonces conozco la computadora de arriba para abajo. Yo tengo mi cámara fotográfica, mis lentes. Estuve trabajando con una amiga hace años haciendo fotos de bodas. Tengo mi equipo por si regreso a México; puedo trabajar en eso.

Esperanza, lonchera cook originally from Michoacan, Mexico

I came here because in Mexico there isn't much work, and there's a lot of poverty. If it's difficult here, the situation there is worse. I've been working as a cook at a lonchera [food truck] for 16 years. Before that, I worked as a prep cook at another lonchera. My mom taught me to cook. I cook meat for tacos, chicharrones, chicken, tortas, hamburgers. We also make Mexican dishes like chilaquiles, birria, ribs in green salsa with rice and beans. Mexican food sells very well. We drive around where the car dealerships are. Our clients are car salesmen, car washers, secretaries. We also go to two factories. I like my job, but I've been having a lot of knee problems from being on my feet 10 hours a day. This pandemic affected me a lot. I didn't work a single day for three months. I'm back at work now, but instead of working five days a week, I only work two. Sales have fallen because there aren't as many people at the car dealerships. Many car salesmen, car washers, and secretaries were let go. One day I drove by here and saw that there was food being distributed. We submitted an application. We don't miss a week because this is what's keeping our pantry full. It was a big relief because we're not even making enough money to pay the rent. Many people treat you with a lot of racism here, but they should realize that it's because of Latinos that California functions. Because who picks the fruit, the vegetables, all this that they're giving us in this box? Eggs, meat, milk: Who makes it? We Latinos. Many people don't see that. It's a lot of work. They don't see the effort people are making. I have a 22-year-old son who I brought from Mexico five years ago. But my older girl stayed; she had already made her life there. It's been 22 years since I've seen her. When I'm not at work, I dedicate myself to my home. I also sell homemade food to my friends. I make pozole or chiles rellenos or pupusas to earn a little extra money. My job is important to me because I can support my family and I like to see customers leave satisfied and liking the Mexican flavor.

Me vine porque en México no hay mucho trabajo, hay mucha pobreza. Si aquí es difícil, allá está peor. Tengo 16 años trabajando como cocinera en una lonchera. Antes de eso también estaba en una lonchera pero como ayudante picando verdura. Mi mamá me enseñó a cocinar. Yo cocino carne para tacos, chicharrones, pollo, tortas, hamburguesas, todo eso. También hacemos platillos mexicanos como chilaquiles, birria, costillitas en salsa verde con su arroz y su frijol. La comida mexicana es muy bien vendida. Andamos por toda el área de donde están los dealers de carros. Nuestros clientes son vendedores de carro, lavadores de carro, hay secretarias. Vamos también a dos fábricas. Me gusta mi trabajo pero ya he tenido muchos problemas con mis rodillas por estar parada 10 horas al día. La pandemia me afectó mucho. Duré como tres meses sin trabajar ni un día. Ya estoy trabajando otra vez pero en lugar de trabajar los cinco días, solo trabajo dos. Se bajaron las ventas porque en los dealers ya no hay tanta gente. Descansaron muchos vendedores, muchas secretarias, muchos lavadores. Una vez pasamos por aquí y miramos que había distribución de comida. Metimos la aplicación y de ahí no faltamos porque de eso mantenemos la despensa. Nos ha aliviado mucho porque no estamos sacando ni para la renta. Mucha gente te trata con mucho racismo aquí, pero que se pongan a pensar, por nosotros los latinos, es que es California. Porque ¿quién pisca la fruta, la verdura, todo esto que nos están dando? Los huevos, la carne, la leche: ¿Quién lo hace? Nosotros los latinos. Mucha gente no lo ve. Es mucho trabajo. Y no ven el esfuerzo de la gente. Tengo un muchachito de 22 años. Ese me lo traje aquí como hace cinco años. Pero la muchacha ya mayor se quedó; ella ya hizo su vida. Tengo 22 años que no la veo. Cuando no estoy en mi trabajo me dedico a mi hogar. También vendo comida casera a mis amistades. Hago pozole o chiles rellenos o pupusas para ganar un dinerito extra. Para mí es importante mi trabajo porque puedo mantener a mi familia y me gusta ver a los clientes que se vayan satisfechos y que les guste el sazón mexicano.

Maxima, prep cook originally from Chihuahua, Mexico

I learned to cook from life. When I lived in Mexico, I worked in a hotel with a restaurant. I would make the beds and from there I would run down to the restaurant. I would tell the chefs, "Hey, I'll help you clean the beans, I'll help you choose the rice." I watched from afar how the food was being prepared and wrote everything down. Then, I would run home and I would prepare what I learned. Later, the chef saw that he couldn't get rid of me and asked me to be his assistant. He started showing me how to cook, and I said "I found my place." I love cooking. It's my life. I came here because I'm a single mom and my daughter wanted to go to college. How would I pay for it? I had to find a way. I was in New York for 12 years, where I worked at two Burger Kings and a Wendy's as a cook. I came to Los Angeles because my daughter wanted to come here. She had already finished college. I started working at a Burger King here too. Then I worked at [a West Hollywood restaurant] as a prep cook for four years. I would prepare everything they sold at night. All the cook has to do is take out the trays we prepare to finish cooking and then the dish goes to the table. Things are already measured. People don't see the back of house staff who are marginalized. The people in the back do the most work. And we're the ones who receive the least. From there I went to [a restaurant in Downtown LA] where I stayed for another four years until the pandemic started. They let us go because there was no work. I'm now 54 years old. I don't even know how I did it. I lost my car. This one I'm driving is my brother's. I don't spend anything on food. Because everything they [No Us Without You] give us is useful. It helps us a lot. I'll be honest with you: I owe a month's rent because I can't handle everything. There was a time during the pandemic when I went to Dodger Stadium with my daughter to collect cans and we would sell them. That's how we paid the electric bill. Right now, I'm working at a restaurant three days a week making ceviche. I've learned another job! I know that one day I'll tell this story. I'm going to say, "I survived." What I thank God for the most is that I haven't become infected. The most important thing is that your family is united. The downtown restaurant called me to see if they can hire me again. My hobby is food prep, the smell of the vegetables. What I like most is learning new things every day: That's the beauty of a restaurant that always changes menus. I love it there because the chef told me, "You take care of the spices." The basil, thyme, rosemary, all that passed through these little hands. When I finish all my work and I say, "And now what am I going to do for myself?," I take my grandson and I go hiking up a mountain. When he no longer wants to walk, I have to carry him on my back until we get to the top. I try to go out where there aren't many people. I try to find a way to be myself. My dream is to set up a stall and sell ceviches. I would love that; it's my most precious dream. But it's just a dream.

Yo aprendí a cocinar de la vida. Cuando vivía en México, trabajé en un hotel con un restaurante. Yo arreglaba las camas y de ahí bajaba corriendo al restaurante. Les decía a los chefs, "Oye te ayudo a limpiar frijoles, yo te ayudo a escoger el arroz". Veía de lejos como preparaban la comida y apuntaba todo. Me iba corriendo para mi casa y yo preparaba lo que aprendía. Ya después vio el chef que no me podía sacar de la cocina y me preguntó si quería ser su ayudante. Él empezó a enseñarme la cocina y dije "De aquí soy". Me encanta la cocina. Esa es mi vida. Yo me vine aquí porque soy mamá soltera y mi hija quería sacar su universidad y ¿de dónde yo sacaba? Tenía que buscarle. Estuve en Nueva York 12 años. Trabajaba como cocinera en dos Burger Kings y un Wendy's. Me vine para Los Ángeles porque mi hija quería venirse. Ya había terminado la universidad. Empecé a trabajar en un Burger King aquí también. Después trabajé en un restaurante de West Hollywood como preparadora por cuatro años. Preparaba todo lo que vendían en la noche. El cocinero nada más saca de los trays que le ponemos nosotros para terminar de cocinar y va para la mesa. Ya están medidas las cosas. La gente no ve que los trabajadores de atrás son marginados. Las personas que están atrás son las que más hacen el trabajo. Y somos los que menos recibimos. Despues me fui a [un restaurante en el centro de Los Ángeles] donde estuve otros cuatro años hasta que empezó la pandemia. Nos despidieron a todos porque no había trabajo. Yo tengo ahorita 54 años. Ni yo sé cómo lo hice. Perdí el carro. Este carro es de mi hermano. No gasto nada en comida. Porque todo lo que ellos [No Us Without You] me dan me sirve. Nos ayuda mucho. Ahorita no te voy a mentir: debo un mes de renta porque no puedo con todo. Hubo una temporada durante la pandemia que me iba al estadio de los Dodgers con mi hija a recoger botes y los vendíamos. Con eso pagamos la luz. Ahorita voy a un restaurante, ahí me dan tres días de trabajo como cevichera. ¡Ya aprendí otro trabajo más! Yo sé que un día voy a contar esto. Voy a decir, "Sobreviví". Y lo que le doy más gracias a Dios es que no me he contagiado de nada. Lo principal es que tu familia esté unida. Ahorita me llamaron del restaurante en el centro para ver si me vuelven a contratar. Mi hobby es la preparación, el olor a las verduras. Lo que más me gusta es cada día aprender cosas. Eso es lo bonito de un restaurante que siempre cambia los menús. Me encantaba ese restaurante porque el chef me decía a mí, "Tú te encargas de los olores". La albahaca, el tomillo, el rosemary, todo eso pasaba por estas manitas. Cuando ya termino toda mi labor y digo, "¿Y ahora que voy a hacer para mí?", me llevo a mi nieto y me voy al cerro a caminar. Donde él ya no quiere caminar tengo que cargarlo en la espalda hasta que llegamos arriba. Trato la manera de salir donde no hay mucha gente. Trato la manera de ser yo. Mi sueño es poner un local y vender ceviches. Me encantaría; es mi sueño adorado. Pero eso es un sueño nada más.

Samanta Helou Hernandez is a multimedia journalist and photographer based in LA covering culture, identity, and social issues. Copy edited by Emily Safrin

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/3mqonWo via Blogger https://ift.tt/35EIxF0

[studyingintbusiness]

First, get to know me!!

Name: You can call me Jai

Age: 18 y/o

From: México

Languages: Spanish | English

Degree: International Business at UNAM, México (I'm a freshman right now)

Like: Animals, kids, food, sleeping, planning, anime, thai series and the sea

Dislike: Meat, chaos, not being able to sleep at least 6 hours, mean people

My purpose with this blog: I want to first, record my experiences and my journey through this new level on my education, second, being helpful to those that are interested in this degree and want to know how it's like being an International Business student and finally, try to inspire me and other people that are studying some Business related degrees or majors.

I'm sorry if I have some spelling mistakes or something, English is not my first language and I'm still learning.

[travisapel]

Interview with artist, Allegra Hangen

Last year my family and I saw the Frida Kahlo: Letters and Photographs exhibition at El Museo Latino in Omaha, Nebraska. That is when I met Allegra Hangen, the museum’s Education and Exhibitions Coordinator. We sat down at a craft table and she demonstrated for us how to make a miniature weaving with scrap yarn on cardboard. During our brief conversation at the table I learned that she is also an artist. Soon I looked into her work.

Allegra Hangen is a multidisciplinary artist whose work is highly influenced by her background in photography. Through the use of found footage and images from the archive, she addresses concepts around memory, family and their representations in mediated images, linking them to other issues including visual culture’s role in politics, the power of visibility, and language. Her video installations tend to include found and mass-produced materials that refer to repetition, fragmentation, the home, and the screen. 

Allegra received her BFA in Photography from the Art Institute of Boston (now Lesley University Art and Design) in 2014 and her MFA in Visual Art from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) in Mexico City in 2019. She was selected as a recipient of the Stephen D. Paine Scholarship in 2014. Her work has been shown in various places in the United States, Mexico, Argentina, and Canada. In 2018, she had two solo shows in Mexico City: Weightless, exhibited at Salón Silicón and Visibilities: Iconicity and Intimacy on the Screen at Pandeo. She is currently a 2020 fellow at the Union for Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE. 

Allegra agreed to join me in discussing her work in a meaningful way. Here is our conversation:

Travis Apel

This situation that we are in with COVID-19 is difficult to make sense of when and where things will get back to the way we remember them. How has this pandemic changed or affected you? 

Allegra Hangen

It’s affected me in so many ways, as I think it has for almost everyone in the world. It’s flipped around previous priorities in different areas of my life, it’s given me some really amazing alone time, it’s allowed me to completely convert my living room into my studio and to consider where—or into what—I want to pour my attention. (Unfortunately social media has proven to be a huge time and energy suck but I’m working on that, as I imagine many others are at this point, too). Of course it isn’t always so idyllic as I’m making it sound, but I have definitely been enjoying much of it.

I don’t think we’ll really get back to things the way we remember them and honestly I hope we don’t. I think all of this has made very visible the toxic and unsustainable structures which have been widely accepted as “normal” but that desperately need to be uprooted. Lately I’ve been thinking critically about how I can react to this on a personal level, how I can remove myself and my ways of thinking and being in the world from these oppressive structures, whether that be from under them or from perpetuating them. I think this can be a huge opportunity for us to really critically look at ourselves and our complacency toward so many things happening in and to this world, and to search for innovative ways to construct something new.

TA

Yeah, I totally get your point about this being a critical time to reflect on how precarious this whole situation has been for way too long. This is a sobering moment when we think that it may eventually come to an end and the power brokers will try and pull us back. It’s happening now. But on a positive note, you got a show coming up.

In about a week you and co-curator will present a virtual exhibition in A Memory Held in You, sponsored by Amplify Arts Generator Grant. How will that event look for viewers who will be keeping a safe distance?

AH

Yeah it will probably be a tough process coming out of this but the most important thing is to just take care of ourselves and our communities right now, I think.

And yeah! Alex Jacobsen and I are opening (launching?) our exhibit A Memory Held in You both online as well as in the physical Generator Space. We’ll be utilizing FB, IG, and Amplify Art’s new virtual gallery space on their website to post and share things over the six weeks that the exhibit will be up.

The initial idea was to perform in the physical space with two dancers and an installation around which the audience could walk. But in light of the pandemic, we’ve had to really rethink “space” and how we share it. This is one of the reasons why we decided on utilizing various virtual sites to upload different aspects of the show: so the viewer has the ability to hop from platform to platform, constructing their own virtual, but still somehow spatial, experience of the installation. We’ll be uploading content every week on these platforms throughout the course of the show, and the first week of May we’ll kick off the exhibition with a livestream performance on FB/IG.

That being said, we’re still going to install in the gallery, but as a kind of “window display” that uses the whole space. People are encouraged to walk by the gallery on one of their daily walks (or bike or drive) to look through the window and get a glimpse of the videos and sounds that are playing in the locked space—held in the space. 

TA

That’s interesting how you and your group will provide new content every week and using many virtual platforms. It sounds like the exhibition will be “living,” which spans over a period of weeks, rather than the single moment in time like a reception that we’re used to attending. 

AH

I love thinking of it as living! Thanks for that word. It will definitely be more immediate than a physical gallery exhibit at least, anyone can access it from their bed, probably on the same device they’re using to read this. I think moving forward many more things will be virtual, especially arts-related, and I’m so excited to see how platforms will be utilized, or new ones established, to accommodate for “real experiences” online.

TA

Yeah, it will be new seeing how things move forward.

At what age did you become interested in collecting archival footage for creating your content?

AH

It was when I learned about the technique of found footage in my experimental film class in undergrad. I was already attracted to archival images and my family’s VHS tapes, but learning about its history made me understand that it was a viable way to make art (whatever that means…) and not just another hoarding pattern of mine, ha! Maybe it all still comes from a hoarding tendency, but at least I can justify it better now under the concept of found footage. It actually really started with one specific tape that contains material from converted 16mm and 8mm films that one of my family members filmed roughly between the 1930s and late 1950s in Iowa and Nebraska. Someone compiled all of the film footage onto the VHS tape to show it at a family reunion many years ago, but when I found it again during college I was really impacted by it both personally and for formal and conceptual reasons. I still react very strongly to these images and continue to work with the tape.

TA

Our condition of completing repetitive duties in the workforce often for years can bury past experiences into dormancy. What is it about your practice that can bring an audience to recall memories that were once forgotten? Why does that matter?

AH

I don’t know about making anyone recall a forgotten memory, I can’t even do that for myself! But I tend to look at the political and cultural patterns that show up in this found footage: in the way it’s shot, what the person actually decided to film, and the various objects and behavioral patterns that appear in the scenes. This inherently makes the images seem familiar to a wide range of people in this country. Friends, professors, or other people who have watched these videos but who aren’t from the U.S. have mentioned a familiarity with these images too, although this is a very different sensation of familiarity because it’s a mediated one that comes from (and references back to) American cinema from Hollywood. There’s something really interesting, as well, in that kind of mediated memory, or a distanced familiarity with media messages…

I’m not sure if any of this matters in the grand scheme of things but it’s something that I’m still very much interested in and continue to go back to in my work, in terms of looking critically at my identity as an American from a Midwestern family, in terms of trying to understand my country’s propaganda, and looking at how national patterns become integrated in our own intimate ways of being. (I’m thinking more specifically here about things that came up in work that I made while in my MFA program at UNAM in Mexico).

TA

Invitation to Ceremony was compelling to me. I am curious about the collaborative nature of the work. Did the performers create their choreography around Alex Jacobsen’s Baptism, or independent of it? Can you explain the process how these layers came together? 

AH

Everything happened (and is still happening) really fluidly and naturally with this collaboration. Invitation to Ceremony isn’t necessarily a standalone video, I was always thinking of it as a documentation of/for a potential performance (which, if we were able to commune in a space, A Memory Held In You would have been that performance). The dancers, Gayle and Isabella, created all their own choreography but in a very intuitive and maybe even minimal or deconstructed way (I wonder if they would describe it that way…). They had a few repeating choreographed gestures based on some concepts we had talked about but they also played around with other techniques, responding to each other through movement. They improvised for a couple hours to a few different tracks of Alex’s and I just kept recording.

While editing the video, I was thinking about overlapping memories, the many memories held in a body or in a space, and recalling a memory through a bodily, physical gesture.

TA

Your PIP editing of Invitation to Ceremony presents a balance between the simultaneity of double footage and context for place. What did you enjoy most about putting this project together?

AH

Yeah, I saw this as a pretty literal tool to talk about that idea of overlapping or simultaneous memories. I also saw it as a way to combine all the different elements that would be present in an installation: movement, sound, and found footage/video. Because as an installation they would all be experienced at the same time in a physical space, I wanted to collapse that space in the video as well.

I enjoyed really just being able to play around with this project and to create again after a year of many transitions, long-distance moves, job changes, etc. This project really jumpstarted a bunch of new ideas around different ways to make and show work, and it kind of kicked me back into the routine of making again.

TA

Let’s switch gears a little and talk about your photography. Your black and white series titled, Vista is an interesting exploration with capturing a nude figure in a forest carrying a mirror. At first I was deceived by the mirror thinking the images were collaged. What was the intent of those photographs?

AH

I feel pretty distant from this particular project now, but I still see it as having marked the coming to light of lots of theoretical concepts and visual tendencies that I’m still working with now. What I was mainly concerned with at the time was questioning our trust in the photographic image and distorting human figures. 

Deception was definitely a sensation I wanted to provoke with these. They’re manipulated images but the photos are not; I’m always drawn back to this fine line that exists between the falsity and the truth of photography (thinking of images used for propaganda, for example).

These are large format photos (4x5), so the details are pretty sharp when printed and the black borders of the film sheet (and the silver-gelatin print itself) try to reinforce the idea that this is a “straight” photograph on film, printed in the darkroom and without any post-production manipulation. This “photographic proof” confirms the truth of the photograph as an object, but the subject matter (the image) remains distorted. A lot of my work tends to play with the tension in the perception of images in a similar way.

TA

I am really impressed by your Mirror + Light Studies. These works like your videos carry a consistent theme of play between opacity and transparency, and overlapping layers in space. I love how you set up an environment with variance with light sources, reflection and refraction on glass edges. The overlapping of projected light through fabrics and onto wood grain creates beautifully graphic images. Some of the photos play tricks on me with disorienting perspectives. Will you tell me about the evolution of these photographic studies?

AH

I took the majority of these photos in college when I started really getting into experimenting with projections and materials instead of just printed photographs. These materials are still main elements in my installations: mirrors, glass, wood, light, video projections, fog. At that point I was really inspired by the work of Sara VanDerBeek (and forever will be), and I remember one image of hers that utilized a yoga mat, a few other 3D elements, and light to create an abstract composition. At the time it really made me consider the formal elements of found objects and I started experimenting with building and shooting within my own “environments,” thinking a lot about fragmentation, abstraction, and flattening especially through the use of mirrors. These photographs were sort of by-products of other video projects I was developing, but just as it happens so many times, I ended up liking these studies more than the final videos of these environments.

TA

Back to your videos for a moment. The experimental work, Paperdrip could be a suspense flick in five minutes. Do you see yourself making more collaborative works like this one in the near future?

AH

Haha! Thank you. This video is mainly about the sound; it was the first project where I really worked with recording and editing sound (it really needs to be mixed though, yikes). As a video it’s a pretty banal split-screen video of a paper towel and black ink but the sound really overwhelms and makes it feel suspenseful. I remember showing it at a pop up show in my school right after I made it and someone had to take the headphones off because it was too intense, but watching the images alone seemed somehow playful (at best, but more like boring and slow). Before making this piece, I was pretty naive to the power of sound.

I tend to err on the side of eery with a lot of my videos and I gravitate toward deep and intense sounds, so something like this will definitely come out again in the near future—and I think a few of the more recent things I’ve been making already do exhibit this suspenseful or dark vibe, I don’t know. I kind of have to check in with myself and ask “Ok, is this just off-putting now?,” but at the same time I’m learning to embrace that and even lean into it.

TA

I agree, sound can be so powerful. It can be as soothing as a lullaby, or harsh as a weapon. Anyway, I’ll be looking forward to your application of sound in new works. 

Because your experimental videos focuses on memory I think that your use of archival footage playing on a loop and/or in reverse is an effective way to address memory retention. More than an art form, your videos have a relevant function. It simulates the rumination and rehearsals that occupy our minds at times. Given the profound disruption that we are still dealing with, have you imagined works that are specific to this moment and if so, will you elaborate?

AH

I’m definitely thinking about works specific to this moment. Alex and I are talking about that for a few of the videos that we’ll release during A Memory Held in You over the next few weeks. We’ve been talking about our devices and sort of rhetorically questioning whether they can be better at holding our memories (and tastes and interests and…) than we are. I’m also thinking about all the new possibilities (and limitations) that technology and social media are really offering us in this time—in so many aspects—but especially creatively. The computer has been my main tool and medium since I started working principally with video, but now I’m thinking about my phone and social media both as potential mediums for creation as well as tools for editing, sharing, and collaborating in a completely new way.

I think interacting in a solely mediated way (through our phones, computers, or whatever other device) is going to really change our perception of memory in the long run, in a similar way that our perception of time has already quickly begun to change (disintegrate?) while in quarantine. I’m not sure exactly how this will play out but there’s something beautiful about it being such a collective and virtual experience.

* * *

For more information about A Memory Held In You, visit 

https://www.amplifyarts.org/virtual-generator-space-1

A Memory Held In You: Opening Virtual Performance on Friday, May 8; 8-9pm

Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/amplifyarts1/ Instagram Live: https://www.instagram.com/amplify_arts/

To see more work of Allegra Hangen, check her out at

allegrahangen.com

vimeo.com/allegrahangen

Instagram @allegrahangen

Facebook facebook.com/allegra.hangen

[wallpaperpainter]

You Should Experience Dc Superhero Girls At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | Dc Superhero Girls

You Should Experience Dc Superhero Girls At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | Dc Superhero Girls – dc superhero girls | Pleasant to my blog site, in this particular occasion We’ll demonstrate regarding keyword. And today, this is the very first photograph:

DC Super Hero Girls llegan a México | La Covacha – dc superhero girls | dc superhero girls

Why don’t you consider image previously mentioned? is actually which remarkable???. if you think so, I’l t show you several image again down below:

So, if you want to secure the incredible pics related to (You Should Experience Dc Superhero Girls At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | Dc Superhero Girls), simply click save button to save the shots for your pc. They are ready for save, if you love and want to own it, just click save logo on the page, and it’ll be directly down loaded in your home computer.} Finally if you’d like to find unique and the latest image related with (You Should Experience Dc Superhero Girls At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | Dc Superhero Girls), please follow us on google plus or save this page, we attempt our best to give you daily update with fresh and new shots. We do hope you like staying right here. For most updates and latest news about (You Should Experience Dc Superhero Girls At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | Dc Superhero Girls) pictures, please kindly follow us on twitter, path, Instagram and google plus, or you mark this page on bookmark area, We try to offer you up-date regularly with all new and fresh shots, enjoy your exploring, and find the perfect for you.

Thanks for visiting our website, articleabove (You Should Experience Dc Superhero Girls At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | Dc Superhero Girls) published .  Today we are excited to declare we have discovered an awfullyinteresting contentto be discussed, that is (You Should Experience Dc Superhero Girls At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | Dc Superhero Girls) Lots of people searching for info about(You Should Experience Dc Superhero Girls At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | Dc Superhero Girls) and certainly one of these is you, is not it?

DC Super Hero Girls (Serie de TV) – Tráiler – Dosis Media – dc superhero girls | dc superhero girls

Pin de Valeryn Aracely en mayte | Arte dc comics, Arte de .. | dc superhero girls

Serie – DC SUPER HERO GIRLS – dc superhero girls | dc superhero girls

DC Super Hero Girls: Se desata el caos – ECC Cómics – dc superhero girls | dc superhero girls

DC Superhero Girls – IMC Licensing – dc superhero girls | dc superhero girls

Temporada 12 | Latino America | DC Super Hero Girls – dc superhero girls | dc superhero girls

DC Super Hero Girls – dc superhero girls | dc superhero girls

dc superhero girls 12 – Google Search | Diseño de personajes .. | dc superhero girls

Temporada 12 | Español | DC Super Hero Girls – dc superhero girls | dc superhero girls

Temporada 12 | Español | DC Super Hero Girls – dc superhero girls | dc superhero girls

DC Super Hero Girls presenta nuevo diseño para su serie de .. | dc superhero girls

The post You Should Experience Dc Superhero Girls At Least Once In Your Lifetime And Here’s Why | Dc Superhero Girls appeared first on Painter Legend.

Painter Legend https://www.painterlegend.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/dc-super-hero-girls-llegan-a-mexico-la-covacha-dc-superhero-girls.jpg

[rose-weaxley]

About the earthquake

I was on Cholula, Puebla, in my room on the phone with a friend. I was saying: "Yeah, I'm on my way. Give me like 5 secs and I'll see you guys". I live across the campus so it wasn't so much like an exaggeration. I put the keys on my backpack since I have no pockets on my white pants, still on the phone, when the house starts shaking. Up and down. I start panicking and almost shouting: "Ana, the house'a shaking" and she starts screaming my name and instructing me to exit right away. But I can't do that, I can't leave the house without the keys because the door is always locked. So I start screaming how I just lost my keys since I couldn't remember where I had put them. They obviously were all the time in my backpack pocket. Thank God I remember, and when I said to my friend I was already down the stairs I panicked because the line was off. I had no reception. The call was shut down; idk how to say it in English, sorry. The thing is, the experience was surreal. Last week's earthquake was nothing compared to yesterday's. I couldn't call my family. My mom and brother live in Mexico City, and I was scared as fuck for them. The electricity and signal went out, it was out for like three hours, as well as water and internet services. My friends and I had to turn off and on our phones to have at least ten seconds of reception. You know, so we could confirm our safety and that of our family in CDMX. It was a total mess. And still is. But I'm proud of my country. I've never been prouder and I hope nothing like this ever happen to you people. I'm now here in Mexico City and tomorrow I'm gonna go see what I can do to help. It might not be much, but whatever help I can give... and you guys, reblogging, donating, spreading the word, phone numbers, it's gonna be worth it. So please, please, pray and do something for México. No matter how small. It's all welcomed.