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interact-if · 3 years ago

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Taking the spotlight for Day 6... Lucirene!

Lucirene, author of An Angel’s Song

Latino Heritage Month Featured Author

In the forest of Bres an otherworldly sickness corrodes the soil and changes the creatures within. “A parting gift from the fallen angels” say the citizens of the Hyaku Region and the mark on your hand confirms it.

Though the scent travelling in the air is sweet and enticing everyone knows better than to get closer. But the mark, it pulses, it burns, the pain spreading as fast as the corruption of the forest does.

Your masters are calling, and it seems like this time you cannot escape them.

An Angel’s Song Demo | Author’s Ko-fi | Author’s Patreon | Read more [here]

Tags: dark fantasy, romance

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

Q1: So, tell us a little bit about the projects you’re working on!

I have so many, but the only one public is An Angel’s Song. It’s, more than anything, a story about grief, loneliness and overcoming it all while navigating a hostile environment and discovering long lost secrets about the Divine and about the MC’s country. That one is very cathartic for me to make because of the themes, I feel like I’m working through a lot of feelings I didn’t even realize I had by writing it.

The next one is also an IF and it focuses on comedy, adventure and character interaction. It’s supposed to be more lighthearted, more fun, but knowing me… I don’t know if it’ll stay that way. Basically, it goes: A Captain’s boat falls prey to the storms and the strange creatures living under the sea, and they and their crew end up washing ashore an icy, snowy country. I already have the main cast written down and they have so much synergy, it’s amazing.

And the last one I’ll talk about (a traditional novel) actually happens in the same setting as my second IF, but many, many years before, when their local deity/guardian was born. It’s more of a romance-fantasy than anything, a love story between a Goddess and a half-dragon, however it also showcases many of the situations the people had to navigate and face before their country could become the place you’ll see in my second IF.

Q2: What excites you most about using interactive fiction? What are some of the biggest challenges?

What I like most definitely is how much freedom we have as authors. Of course, one is constrained by one’s ability to code but I think, for the most part, we can do so many things, reach an entirely new level of immersion that would not be possible with a regular novel. It’s amazing how sometimes I’m reading something and get so into it, feel so connected to the MC I feel dread when they do, panic when they have to make a choice that will clearly impact a lot of people in their world. With IF you can really feel like you’re part of the story.

Another thing I like is being able to explore other paths with my writing. Like for example, what if the MC had done this instead of that? How would that have affected their relationships, their world state? Writing branches is a lot of work, especially because they could change so many things, but it feels oddly satisfying when you do decide to include them.

Challenges… Coding, mainly. I feel like a lot of new aspiring IF authors are a bit afraid of coding and I can understand that, especially since, had it not been for the help of the community, I would have taken way longer to actually start using Twine. Hopefully with time for resources come up and it becomes less daunting.

I don’t know if any other author feels the same way but, though I think branching is a blessing, it is also a curse. I can only write the same conversation so many times, I mean I know I’m writing it in different tones and sometimes with different results but it gets frustrating after a while because it feels like you’re stuck, like you’re not progressing at all.

Another one would definitely be finding a balance between reader interaction and just following your vision. Since it’s IF at times I feel like I have to meet a quota of branches or ways in which you can react, sometimes I also find it difficult to make the MC feel like a real person instead of a reader-insert. I’m working on that.

Q3: What has been something in your project you’ve had to do a weird amount of research for?

That’s a difficult one… I don’t know if I would consider it weird but I do tend to investigate a lot about fashion, especially when designing the main outfits of the characters. I spend hours trying to find out what colors were used back then, what they meant, who was allowed to use them. I have this little image with some palettes for kimonos depending on the season.

I also spend too much time coming up with names, especially for places. Like I look up names of places that already exist, what they mean, I try to investigate if the words that I want to use make sense, then I panic because I can’t find anything, but I think that’s usual for writers. I also spent more time than necessary researching for the name of a tree that you will see way later in the book, which no one will probably notice what the name of the tree means or what it symbolizes but it makes me happy.

Honestly, I feel like the amount of research I have had to do has not been particularly weird? If anything at times I think I should research more, even if some aspects of Japanese culture will not apply to Kyou.

Q4: Which of your characters is most like you? How?

The initial version of the MC from An Angel’s Song, which I miss dearly since they had more personality. They were autistic coded too, and I hope some traces of that still remain. Apart from that I feel like all of the characters from the main cast share something with me, even if their experiences are, of course, more dramatic than my own.

A lot of them have issues with a paternal figure or an absent mother, which also resonates with me. Some of Saori’s traits draw inspiration from ways in which I talked or acted before I became a little better at masking, before I became more self-aware. Hazuki being emotional and caring, K being a bit clingy but devoted, Masa having a temper yet loyal, Miwa being friendly but reluctant to open up beyond surface level information. I think those things describe me.

There’s also Rei but I don’t think I’m writing her book anytime soon. She’s someone that’s very family oriented, she’s a bit temperamental but she means well and she’s not afraid to speak her mind. Now that I think about it, maybe Rei is more the person I want to become.

Q5: Does your heritage influence your characters as you create them? (How? Why or why not?)

I’ve been living in Venezuela my whole life so I think so, even if most of the time I don’t even notice it. I believe that this happens especially in regards to relationships because people in Venezuela are very family oriented and also, from what I’ve experienced, they form strong bonds with their neighbors, which creates this strong sense of community —sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn’t, but my mom and her friends always make at least some friends in their neighborhoods and they gossip with some coffee about the happenings of the rest—. So when it comes to writing a character it is very important to me to make an emphasis on family relationships because those are a strong part of my culture, of my identity.

In An Angel’s Song you have the main cast having issues or conflicting emotions about one or multiple members of their family, which influence their behavior and their outlook on life, but for the most part they are (or will be) able to form similar relationships with people that are not related to them, or to work towards restoring that relationship, transforming it into something healthier.

In my other books family dynamics are also immensely important. For example, I’m going to mention Rei again because I love her. So, Rei has a sister named Rin, and they are both very close, even if they haven’t spent much time together. Their bond and trust in each other helps them overcome a lot of obstacles and they rely on each other when they need support or encouragement. Rei also has other people that she thinks of as siblings, and restoring that relationship with them is one of her main goals. There’s also this recurring guilt she feels at leaving her birth family and her home to explore, because to her, families are supposed to stay together.

Another aspect that I think influences my writing is religion, even if I wasn’t raised in a particularly religious household nor do I belong to any religion. Religion is a big deal in this country, we have so many events and holidays relating to religious figures. I remember when I was very young I loved going to one of the churches here because the Virgin of that town had a building filled with pretty clothes to dress her with.

So, in that vein, I try to think about the character’s relationship with religion, do they believe in the Gods? Do they trust them? Do they follow local deities or prefer the main pantheon? How does this religion shape the way people interact with each other and the world? In regards to characters that are Venezuelan or Venezuelan-coded… I do have a few that are Venezuelan, but I don’t think I’m going to be releasing their stories soon, so I’ll keep it quiet for now.

Q6: What is something you love to see in interactive fiction?

People being passionate about their work! This isn’t something exclusive to IF, but it is something that I love seeing. I also like seeing the different ways people innovate within the genre. I feel like sometimes, especially with newer writers, there is this idea that an IF has to subscribe to a specific format and that’s simply not true. If you don’t want to use a stat system you don’t have to, if you want to add combat then go ahead, if you would prefer to write an MC that’s already pretty pre-established (which is something that I personally want to try) then there’s nothing stopping you and I encourage you to give it a go. IF is very versatile and it’s wrong to try and fit authors into a box, especially if they want to bring something new into our little corner of the internet.

Q7: Any advice to give?

In general, I advise people to have fun writing, to not worry so much about how good it is, about if people will like it. Writing, at the end of the day, ends up being a pretty solitary activity and having those thoughts in your head too long will make you spiral. Be kind to yourself, be open to feedback when it comes (and learn to distinguish constructive feedback from destructive feedback) and enjoy the exploration of your world and characters.

You are not alone in all of this. If you can, join a group of writers you can talk with, exchange ideas, get feedback from or just exchange memes (the ultimate bonding experience). Don’t be afraid, you’re not alone.

#if: events #latino heritage month #latino authors #interactive fiction #cyoa #choose your own adventure #choose your story

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maribabyart · 4 years ago

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Do you have any Demon Martha headcanons? How do you think her reunion with Mrs. Mayberry (The teacher who paid for her assassination) in hell would go?

OK YES I HAVE HEADCANONS FOR THIS HERE WE GO --

MARTHA HEADCANONS <3

So, I’m gonna start with her before she died so I can fully get into why every part of her is the way she is as a demon.

Martha is light skinned Latina woman with family coming from Venezuela. Her mother has a much darker skin tone than her, but her father is far more light-skinned, where she gets her complexion from. While she was raised in America, her parents were immigrants. She was born at home, and she didn’t get a birth certificate until she was four, the year before she started schooling.

She has three older brothers. They were very rambunctious with Martha as a child, pulling pranks on her/with her, taking her hunting, etc.

She was raised out on a farm in the middle of a forested area in Kentucky. They raised cattle, sheep, chickens, and horses. Martha’s main job on the farm was to groom/ride horses and feed chickens.

She learned her sharp-shooter skills in a more intense version of something like 4H unique to her area. She was fantastic with a bow and arrow, and even better with her firearms.

Cannibalism was normalized in Martha’s life from a young age. She knew that it must be kept secret from the outside world, and that it wasn’t accepted. However, it wasn’t something she found to be horrid.

Her family -- and their close friends -- came from a long lineage of Satanic cultists that practiced cannibalism to purge any bit of, “soul” remaining in the corpses of their sacrifices. Due to this, Martha had evolved to be able to be immune to the ill side effects of cannibalism, along with the ability to not feel repulsed by the idea of eating human meat.

Her favorite part of the body growing up was the brain, and it still is to this day. She loves the frontal lobe slathered in spices and hot sauce.

She began her cultish killings at age fourteen, when she officially joined the cult of her family’s descent -- Compañerismo de la Fruta Prohibida (Fellowship of the Forbidden Fruit, a refrence to their following of Lucifer)

Martha didn’t love Raphael Peterson, or, “Ralphie”. She was married of to him at age sixteen, when she became a, “Woman” in the cult’s eyes. They were both meant to appear as an ideal couple so that people wouldn’t suspect them, as their parents before them have.

Ralph and Martha always saw each other as friends with benefits.

They moved to Dayton, Tennessee to start their family when they turned eighteen.

In Nashville, Martha started singing to music her husband played in Taverns. Think Dolly Parton style music. She sounded a lot like that.

Their first child was born when Martha was eighteen: Their daughter, Jolene Peterson. Two years later, they had their son, Beau Peterson.

Martha was always really involved with her kids’ school activities, and she was always volunteering to work events, and her kids were in every activity they could be.

She used her physical attractiveness to seduce and kill men.

While sex favorable, Martha is on the aspec -- greysexual (sexual pleasure is irrelevant to her, and she only engages in it to appease her partner generally. She only finds sexual attraction in people while in the act.) Because of this fact, Martha only has affairs for the sake of gaining trust to bring the men home so they can be killed and eaten.

When Martha was shot, the community villainized Mrs. Mayberry because the town darling, Martha Jane Nunez Robles-Peterson, would NEVER cheat, right? The situation was misread: Martha was just talking to Jarold Mayberry that night about t-ball-related things, right? He WAS the the little league captain for her 6-year-old-son’s league, wasn’t he?

Martha was gifted millions by the community, and people were insanely supportive of her. They wanted the sweet Martha they, “knew” to get better soon. They loved her so -- such a darling woman!

Her music became more well known, and soon, Martha was all over TV. Her big musical break came from when she auditioned for American Idol and made it. Her sob-story propelled her, and she eventually won.

Martha was a hero to everyone around her -- surviving a traumatic event that was uncalled for, while also being so damn chipper and kind.

Hell, did you guys see the background in one of those scenes?! Martha was canonly proclaimed a SAINT! People loved her that much.

She used the public trust to lure in more victims and never be suspected.

Martha was 28 when she died. Ralphie was 28 as well. Jolene was 10, and Beau was 8.

Ralphie managed to survive the explosion, albeit he was completely paralyzed, and the two children went to heaven. Ralphie repented during his last month alive, and confessed to his crimes. He was sent to heaven as well.

Martha and the children were declared to have died in a bear attack, as Compañerismo de la Fruta Prohibida covered up their true demise with ease.

People were heart broken -- Martha’s music was used in sad collages on Youtube, Tik Toks had Martha’s face in them for memorials.

No one ever realized her crimes.

Now! As a demon....

In hell, Martha picked up the alias Hero -- it’s what she was in life, right? I’ll be calling her Hero from now on.

Hero is both different and similar to how she was when she was alive. She’s still the got her kind-hearted, southern mama vibe going for her: She tends to be able to fit into any demonic crowd well, either by attractiveness or by sheer, overwhelming allure -- she’s a very magnetic personality.

As far as powers go, Hero’s are mostly related to firearms. She’s acquired these powers through deal making and soul dealing, as most demons do. Her charming aura very quickly lure people into thinking she’s naive or really just being honest with them.

Her nails can peel back to allow her to shoot from, “finger guns”. Each finger is a different gun, besides her middle and index fingers. They are both shotguns. Together, they make a double barrel shotgun.

When in full demonic form, Hero’s bandages become sentient. They peel away from her wound, revealing a minigun like weapon in the hole in her head. This can rapid fire while the bandages can grab onto things or hoist Hero up. She can make this last for five minutes -- ten at the longest -- before she gives out to sheer exhaustion and needs to eat demon meat to replenish herself.

Within her first week in hell, she was known to be powerful. Not quite an overlord, but powerful enough to hang around overlords.

She hit overlord status three months later, during the terf war seen in Hazbin Hotel’s pilot: She took several areas of land, and was seen to have several lesser demons flocking to be on her good side.

Hero used her land to build up a bar and grill that serves strictly demon meat and blood, where demons can play music and dance. It’s like a fucked up country dinner. It’s an insanely popular addition to Cannibal Colony, where she lives.

The place is called La Cocina de la Calle Kuru (The Kuru Street Kitchen)

Hero REALLY wants to get her hands on exterminator tools, but she’s not really a fan of black market deals -- it’s too “trashy” for her.

Hero knows Alastor pretty well, as he’s came in for meat and to watch the music. They’ve had pretty decent conversations while she was on break, seeing as they were both influential southern, cannibalistic serial killers. It’s a running gag between them where they jokingly talk about who was more iconic -- “I bet I took out more belles in a lifetime than you could in your entire afterlife!” “Well hon, at least I could eat the brains without gettin’ Kuru!”

She talks to Rosie a lot about business, and has met Niffty and Mimzy before. (Al hooked a bitch up with some friends lmao)

She REALLY likes Mimzy. She reminds her of Ralphie, and they became super fast friends.

Vox and Hero have a confusing sort of friendship, as neither really wants to be seen with the other -- In his case, because she’s much lower on the overlord spectrum than him, and in her case, because she’s no stranger to Alastor and Vox’s hatred for one another. However, she often finds herself consoling Vox on sleepless nights after closing up the bar, trying to convince him that Valentino is NOT worth his time. Beyond that and him occasionally paying her back in tech at random hours of the morning, they don’t talk often.

Hero LOVES dancing! Like, a lot.

She’s seen Charlie’s ad for the Happy Hotel. Her and Mimzy watched it, and they both thought it was the stupidest damn thing they’d ever seen. However, Hero said she was happy Charlie got up there, because she was just, “Cute as a button, that lil’ sweatpea was!”

Hero’s best friends are Mimzy and an unnamed demon who specializes in black market, extermination tool selling (the one seen in in Addict -- Cherri Bomb’s former lover).

These two people, and these two people alone, can call her “Martha”

Hero cooks whenever she’s stressed. She also adores sewing and binging soap operas and reality shows on Voxflix.

Hero’s Instagram would be, “HeroicMelodies” in reference to her music career and name.

Hero gets hit on A LOT, and she despises it. She doesn’t need to seduce people anymore to get away with murder, and she doesn’t want to. She dresses the way she does because she LIKES that clothing. People can fuck off.

The reason Hero is white and pink is to show how innocent she looks. Her pitch-black eyes show her dark soul.

Hero sings in Spanish to herself when cleaning up.

Sometimes, Hero and Rosie spend holidays going around with ground demon meat to throw to the hell crows and other critters. They find it peaceful.

Hero, shockingly, holds no hatred for I.M.P., and commonly jokes about how the I.M.P.’s, “Did her a favor” by sending her somewhere she can actually be her. She has no idea who called for the hit, though.

Hero finds Blitzo’s Instagram posts being poorly spelled to be, “Damn near precious”.

She thinks he’s a teenager, and probably would think it less adorable if she knew he was a grown man with a grown kid.

Hero doesn’t care about Mrs. Mayberry at all. Like, at all. She honestly assumes the woman is in heaven. She knew Mayberry wasn’t bad -- she probably wouldn’t care if she was in hell, though. Oh well. Sucks to suck, bitch.

Husk frequents La Cocina de la Calle Kuru to drink and engage in the gambling scene. Hero finds him trashy, but can’t say she hates him. She finds him funny as hell, and enjoys the business. Just not someone she’d personally hang out with.

#Helluva Boss #Hazbin Hotel #Martha #Demon! Martha #Hero #Alastor #Vox #Rosie #Husk #Niffty #Mimzy #Headcanons #Head canons #AU #Sort off?#Hell #Mrs. Mayberry #Ralphie #Murder Family

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anastasiabeaverhousen87 · 4 years ago

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Make Wise Choices: Part 7 Cuore Mio

The next couple of days were rough on you, filled with cold meds, soups, lots of chamomile tea and water and you felt like your teeth were about to swim out of your mouth, but according to Alex you needed to be hydrated and tea was good for colds.

A few days after Alex had to go back to the DEO, she was needed but Kara was able to stay with you as Supergirl wasn’t required to be there, not at the moment anyways. So that’s how you found yourself at Thursday afternoon Infront of the TV with Kara next to you in the couch watching some musical. Well, Kara was watching the musical, you were engrossed on your cellphone texting away with a very goofy smile on your face.

Kara: “Is that the hot doctor your texting…again?” –

Y/N: “well, if you really must know. Yes, I’m texting Cassie”

Kara: “Cassie huh? So now you’re on nickname bases I see”

y/n: “I heard Lena called her that and I liked it, also I think Cassandra is a beautiful name, but a mouthful. And calling her hot doctor sounded a bit rude, at least for the time being”- you give a naughty smile.

Kara laughs at that and mutes the tv “You really like her, don’t you?”

y/n: “I do, I mean I feel things when I speak with her and when I’m near her. And Oh my God she is sooo beautiful. You’re not mad, aren’t you?”

Kara: “Sweet girl I could never be mad about you liking someone. Besides she really is hot. But honestly it would be kind of hypocrite from me to not approve you liking her. She is also someone very dear to Lena so that makes her even more special. So no, I’m not mad, I’m actually happy for you, you never really showed any interested in anyone like you seem to be with her. Just be careful and don’t feel pressured into something you don’t really want”

y/n: “I know, I mean I’ve dated but there was no spark, nothing there. I did fool around a little but never really liked someone to go all the way. If you know what I mean?” – you blush pink at this.

Kara: “I figured as much. You’re a lot like Alex in that aspect, you concentrate too much in your grades and other things, work. But you never really sounded super doped on anyone you dated, when mom and Alex gave you the sex talk you were almost sick thinking about it, that was funny to watch” – You throw a pillow at your sister face “Hey!!!, don’t attack me little bean. And then when you asked about sex with women you sounded more interested but still, I can tell you weren’t ready. The question is, do you feel like you are ready now?”

y/n: “I feel like I am. Truly I’ve only known her for a little while, and I know is soon. But I really like getting to know her and to spend time with her. She is amazing and so caring. I can feel getting serious with her you know. Like I can trust her, and I can share that level of intimacy. It’s weird because is so soon, but I just know it feel right. Do you think is too soon?”

Kara: “If you feel like you can open up to her, if she makes you feel safe enough, why not? you are very good at judging people’s character and I trust your judgement. I’m not gonna lie though, Cassandra being Lena’s friend and all I’ve heard from her she does sounds like a great person and I know Lena also doesn’t trust easily. So yes, that a great bonus and makes me feel more comfortable of you dating her. But I do trust you baby, you’ll know when you feel ready and what to share with her. Also, I know you won’t be able to hide who I am from her that much longer if things do get serious. When you feel ready to tell her I will support you, okay? Oh and if she ever treats you wrong I will throw her into the sun”. - she winks at you.

y/n: “Thank you Kara, that means a lot to me” – you hug your sister and you kiss her cheek while your cellphone sounds with an incoming text, you look down at your phone- “She wants to come over…” you give a small smile

Kara: “well, tell her yes. Go change into something more appropriate at least nicer pajamas. and if she does happen to make you diner again, I wouldn’t be opposed to her amazing pasta. Man, I’m so jealous of you, she cooks like a pro and if I wasn’t dating Lena or you being my sister I would totally charm my way to her, her cooking skills are so amazing. Now don’t get jealous little bean, I’m good with her being my sister in law, she still needs to get point and be on my good side. Just tell her food is the way to my heart” – you sister laughs while walking to the kitchen. “Go get change and tell your girlfriend to come over”

y/n: “You and your stomach. Crazy alien food crazed woman. And sister-in law, seriously? Let me date her first, jeez!” – you mumble while walking into your room.

You hear someone at the door, and you know is the blonde doctor, and you don’t even try to rush to the living room well aware that your bubbly sister will open the door and let her come in.

Kara: “Hello Cassandra, come on in please, y/n will be here in a moment. Y/N!!! you hot date is here!”

Dr. Sharpe: “You’ve been waiting a while to do that don’t you?” – the doctor greets the other blonde and kisses her cheeks hello.

Kara: “You have nooo idea for how long. She used to say things like that or worse when I first began to date Lena, even at the very beginning of our friendship. I’ve been waiting patiently for the time for payback! Ha…” Kara rubs her hands like a Disney villain but she honestly looks quite like the adorable golden retriever she really is.

y/n: ““Really Kara? You couldn’t wait a little longer?”- you shake your head amused and then walk to where the blonde doctor is standing, and she quickly kisses your cheeks and gives you a warm hug.

Dr. Sharpe: “Ciao Bella ragazza”-

You blush at the words spoken by the blonde doctor

Y/n: “hello to you too gorgeous”

Kara: “Oh you guys are so cute, I can’t even…”- Your sister speaks and walks into the living room

The three women spend the afternoon talking and the doctor even offered to make diner, much to your sister delight and happy squeal. Lena was on her way over and you got to know more of the blue- eyed doctor and you could see why Lena loves and admires Cassandra so much. She is an amazing kind and dedicated woman. You learnt that not only did the good doctor was a certificated periodontist, she had received a Master’s Degree in Oral Biology and while in graduate school she also received the Balint Orban Award, which apparently is the highest level of certification in the field of periodontist. And that the reason Lena and the blonde woman couldn’t see each other so often was because Cassandra gives lectures all over the world on a wide range of topics including dental implants, gum grafting, cosmetic periodontal surgery, and bone regeneration. She is also the founder and program director of a dental study club whose purpose is to positively impact the quality of dental care by hosting the highest quality international speakers in the field of dentistry to speak to local dentists in different cities in the US. And in addition to that she also made multiple mission trips to countries in Latin America like Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela among others where she has been able to utilize her skills to help the neediest of people.

To say you were amazed by the woman was an understatement, she was funny, beautiful and crazy smart. But behind all those accomplishments you could see a sadness withing her. And you felt the need to change that, to make her smile and a pull to her that you couldn’t quite understand. But you were pulled out from your thoughts when Lena spoke.

Lena: “Sorry to cut my time short but I just got a text and I’m needed for a consult” – Lena discreetly elbowing Kara to see the text on her phone. Both her and Supergirl were needed at the DEO, so they needed to leave.

Kara: “Oh shoot, ok well let me drive you then”

And of course you couldn’t be cool about it and spoke before you could understand why they needed to leave “Kara you don’t even own a car and Lena has her own driver”- you look at your sister like she just said the stupidest thing ever. Until you recognize their looks and realized they both were needed for something important, DEO important. You curse yourself.

y/n: “Buuuut I mean I totally get it, you should go with her, you haven’t been able to spend time just the two of you because you’re been busy taking care of me. Soooo why don’t you guys leave. I´ll be okay on my own. “

Kara: “Yeah I don’t think so little one, you always forget to take your meds and…”

Lena: “If you don’t mind Cassie, can you stay for a little while with y/n ?” – Lena interrupts her girlfriend ramblings.

y/n: “Hey Lena, I thought you were on my side. I can totally take care of myself” – you pout at her

Dr. Sharpe: “I can stay, I don’t mind at all. I like spending time with you y/n”

y/n: “Yeah me too, I just find itoffensive my sister and Lena don’t think I could spend a few hours on my own. But sure stay we can watch a movie or something”

Kara: “Ha, yeah. Like last night you were so tired you fell asleep on the bathtub and knocked the shampoo inside the water and you made a huge mess with shampoo foam or you know when trying to make a chocolate shake with the blender and forgot to remove the metal spoon and you almost cut you hand when the blender broke to pieces, yeah totally you can handle yourself. Klutz!”

You gasp and look offended: “How dare you!!! Says the woman that burnt the brownies and set the microwave and toaster on fire !!! - you just childishly stuck your tongue out and pouted: “Well you make it sound like I’m the worse, thank you Kara”

Lena and the blonde doctor laugh at the antics and pouting face you make at your sister.

Lena: “I knew it was you the responsible for the toaster, Kara. That one was new”

Kara: “No, you are not the worse, but when you feel tire or sick you tend to make messes and I don’t want you alone, you haven’t completely got rid of your cold and you still under some strong meds. We just worry, you know we love you so much. And honey it was an accident I did got a new one though”

y/n: “Fine leave us now, bring back home some chocolate if you can pleaseeeee?”

Kara: “Totally my little klutz” -your sister engulfs you in a big hug and gives you a kiss to your head. “let’s go Lena and…” – looking back at you and the blonde doctor “behave yourselves and don’t do anything I wouldn’t” – You hug ger back just as strong and let go of her.

Lena: “Come on sweetheart and leave them be”- Just rolls her eyes and walks away with the blonde superhero next to her. The door closes.

You just exhale and keep looking at the door and then your turn around to face the blonde doctor. You are both now sitting at the couch and the blue-eyed woman is looking at you with a sweet and soft smile.

You scrunch up your nose adorably: “What?”

Dr. Sharpe: “Nothing, I just like the way you are with your sisters. You care very much and they as well. That’s nice, it reminds me of the way I used to be with my nonna and my brother” – the blonde woman face goes from fond to a little sad.

y/n: “are they in Italy?”

Her face is just so sad, and you can see a hint of tears in her eyes, and it makes your heart aches.

Dr. Sharpe: “No, they died” -you try to apologize but the blonde doctor sees that and stops you “Don’t, you didn’t know, you couldn’t. and it was a very long time ago. My nonna basically rise me and my brother. She died when I was 25 and my brother, he was my best friend. He …he uhm he was a Navy SEAL, he died in a terrorism-related mission three years ago.” – the blonde doctor just stares down at her hands trying to gain control over her emotions.

You just wanted to make her stop hurting so you did the only thing you knew you were an expert at. Hugging and cuddling people. So, you just hug her firm and strong you cling to her and try to convey through physical connection instead of words, that you are sorry, and you want to make the pain go away or at least lessen the burnt. You stay like that hugging each other and basking in the feel of each other arms.

Dr. Sharpe: “Okay, well you truly are an amazing hugger sweetheart, thank you”- the blonde woman kisses your cheek and near your mouth but not quite there. So, you take things into your own hands and sit up, throw a leg over the blonde doctor waist so you can straddle her. You put your arms around her neck and stare directly into those beautiful eyes, you really love those eyes. They are mesmerizing.

y/n: “God I really love your eyes, is like seeing the color of the sky when there’s a summer storm”.

the blonde doctor was completely still, mouth barely open and a little smirk on the corner of her mouth as she looks up to you amused loving eyes.

You took the opportunity to movie in and crush your lips against the blonde woman, who was more than happy to reciprocate. You initiated the kiss trying to control the kiss, hungrily kissing her lips, however the honey blonde had other plans, she bit down ever so slightly your bottom lip but soon you were surprised by strong arms shifting. The blonde grab ahold of your ass and stood up with you in her arms and holding you tight against her waist and twisted her body so you hold on just as tight and you felt yourself being lowered on the couch. The blonde had a hand behind you head, holding you were laid down flat on your back and she was hovering above you and broke the kiss but kept looking directly into your eyes.

You were just as turn on as the blonde doctor, she was looking down at you with such hunger in her eyes, and she was panting.

Dr. Sharpe: “Calm down little one” – the blonde woman lowered her face next to your ear and kissed the side of your neck – “if you keep pushing me, I won’t be able to stop”

y/n: “Well I don’t want you stop” – you tried to gain some sort of friction from the tight nestles between your legs.

Dr. Sharpe: “no?”- the blonde doctor keeps kissing your neck and jaw and you shiver in delight. You never felt this aroused by someone before. But the blonde just kissed you sweetly, you tried to hug her to bring her down on you, but the blonde kept it sweet and gentle, not really letting you get any traction in the kiss. Like an innocent sweet kiss.

You felt yourself being sat up by strong and gentle arms. She pulled you into her your legs intertwined, and she positioned you to lay on her your head being cradled in the crook of her neck and you felt another kiss this time to your temple. The blonde woman kept making soothing circles on your back with her free hand, rubbing your arm and face. You wrapped yourself even further into her.

You love cuddles and hugs, you did it all the time with your sisters and some friend, specially Lena. But this felt so different, probably the most intimate thing you ever done with anyone. You didn’t put up any fight, you felt so cozy and happy in her arms.

Dr. Sharpe: “shh cuore mio, I know you want this. But I want to take you on a proper date first I want to do this the right way, you deserve better and not rushing it in the heat of the moment” – she spoke so softly to you, that you just melted.

You kept basking in the tender touches and soft skin- “ I like it when you call me Italian pet names”

The blonde woman just smiled and kept the soothing touches. You nuzzled you face into her neck finding that smell that was just hers, Cassandra’s and her warmth. You felt completely at peace and you felt yourself falling asleep in the most comfortable embrace. The blonde doctor kept looking at you and touching softly your back and arms, until herself felt the pull of sleep and the both were completely asleep in each other’s arms.

Note: Well this happened, I hope you like it.

Until next time...

#baby danvers #baby!danvers #alex x baby danvers #baby danvers x lena #baby danvers x kara #alex danvers #kara x reader #lena luthor #supergirl #supercorp #lena x reader #lena luthor imagine #kara danvers imagine #alex danvers imagine #original character #fanfic

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that-one-bi-wizard · 4 years ago

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:0 People actually wanted to hear about my ocs?! I’m so happy cuz I’ve been wanting to talk about them for a while! Okay, okay SO-

I have 4! Not from any specific fandom they’re just kinda... their own thing with a story I kinda have in mind for them. So there’s Julie, Natos, Natasha, and Frank!

So first is Julie! She’s this cute lil goth girl who’s just the sweetest person you’ll ever meet. She’s a complete dork and very extroverted! She’s like... super short (like she’s a little over 4 feet tall) and kinda chubby too. Her mom is from Venezuela and her dad is white. She’s really into like fanfics and reading and video games and- yeah, she’s a lil fan girl. Generally a happy character, but if need be, she can be serious. She, Natasha, and Natos are best friends and she loves them so much!

Next is Natos! He’s... well, he’s kinda weird. He’s a human experiment who accidentally wandered out from where he was being kept and now he’s just sorta trying to hide. He’s of Puertorican decent, but he doesn’t know who his parents are or what his real name is. He just saw “—natos” scribbled somewhere he was being kept and was like “ah yes, this is my name now”. But honestly? He’s a cutie and honestly just baby (when you don’t trigger him). He’s naive and lacks common sense but crazy smart! He’s also super tol (7 ft to be exact)! Julie was one of the first people who actually got to know him and not freak out after seeing him.

Now, Natasha! She’s been Julie’s best friend from middle school. Super laid back but if she sees her friends doing something stupid, she goes into “mom friend mode”. She’s the level headed one of the group. But she’s pretty chill ngl. She’s also really smart and works hard in school! Science and math are her favorite subjects! One of the top students at her high school. A bit of a tough exterior but softens up when she gets to know people. Reliable as heck too. Call her up and she’ll be there in the span of five minutes (which Julie’s done quite a few times). She’s more of an introvert compared to Julie and keeps to herself most of the time.

Finally, Frank! Short for Francisco! He’s of Mexican decent, but he was adopted by whites so he was sorta raised that way in that culture. To say he’s not comfortable with his current living situation is an understatement. A very grumpy and stuck up sorta character with a soft center. Starts out as the popular bully type character but becomes friends with the trio eventually. Top of his class. Kinda like a mix of Amity from The Owl House and Bradley from MML tbh. He doesn’t get along well with the girls at first. I say with the girls because he like Natos. No, I mean he likes Natos. A lot...

Anyway! I hope y’all enjoyed my stupid rant about them! They’re still a bit of a work in progress, so some things may change. This is what I have so far tho.

#ocs #my ocs #jay says stuff #uhh #idk what else to tag

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disaster-fruit · 4 years ago

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do you have any random Brazil headcanons? I already learned a lot about him but everything you say about him is gold (heh) so I’m interested in anything you have to say about him! I want to UNDERSTAND him more 👀👀

Ok LETS SEE

He is a dumbass. Big dumbass. But he’s not DUMB. He’s actually very smart, but in an unusual, unconventional way. He doesn’t read thousands of books or is super great at math or anything, but he has a creative cleverness that can genuinely surprise people when he shows it. Basically, boy can look at any problem and see the weirdest (and maybe a little dangerous bc dumbass) solutions that no one else would even think, and tHEY WORK

Adores America as we know but its MEGA SALTY abt him insisting that the Wright bros invented the airplane when brazil KNOWS THE FACTS.

On that matter yes he can absolutely fly a plane

Listens to the weirdest songs unironically. His playlist is a mess, and half of it is meme songs that he listens 5 years later in the bus.

Barefoot or flip flops 99% of the time

Loves animals, but can’t teach his dog tricks if his life depends on it. Lucky Tomé is there to teach Zé to sit bc brazil is completely helpless on that area

He doesn’t actually care about the gold. He just likes to annoy Portugal.

He smells REALLY GOOD. Everyone asks what perfumes he uses and he’s just like ??? idk dude I just showered today ??? and ok maybe its bc he showers 2 or 3 times a day.

People look at him and just how generally HotTM he is (I mean we Are talking about the world’s most iconic ass after all) and assume he gets around but he really doesn’t hahsua of all the things he and port have in common, being a slut is not one of them.

Can play a lot of instruments and has a lovely singing voice that is surprisingly deep (like, considerably deeper than his speaking voice). Give the boy a guitar and tell him to play some bossa nova and watch everyone in the room instantly fall in love with him

Learned to play electric guitar in the 60s, and played it a lot during the dictatorship, in secret.

BUT ALSO KARAOKE. Loves karaoke. Absolutely has those old videoke things (I don’t know if that’s a thing anywhere else but Brazilians know what im talking about AQUELE LEAO VERDE ESTRANHO DE FESTA DE VELHO) . A lot of it has to do with the big Japanese influence here

Also he always sings vira vira on karaoke mocking port’s accent to make fun of him. When Port is drunk enough, he might sing Maria’s part.

Also yeah he really likes Japan in general ?? like a lowkey crush that is way too old for him lol

Has hours long conversations in portunhol with Uruguay over the phone.

On that note Uruguay is his best friend like as a person. America is who he THINKS is his best friend but is not. Venezuela and Colombia are also special friends.

Angola would be his best friend but she’s already his sister so it’s a different level. Also they totally roast each other 24/7 but go full “EXCUSE YOU ???” when someone else says to the other the things they can say specially if someone is port

Commercially he’s close to china but I don’t think they would be actual friends beyond business.

Him and Argentina go on a totally not romantic trip to Iguaçu Falls together every year. They both pretend they don’t really care about it and its tradition or whatever like its not special SURE

Also him and Argentina are SO CHAOTIC. These two be getting drunk and riding motorcycles naked in front of Uruguay’s house at 3 am and then not remembering shit the next day, but Uru has the video.

Has a…. complicated relationship with the state-tans, especially Pernambuco, São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. Is closer to Rio de Janeiro.

Still lives with his mom

Lol this got super long asdhusd but look! Theyre mostly fluff! That is unusual. Also feel free to ask anything specific you want to know about him, I love rambling about my boy!!! And I am gonna work on that imperial brazil ask I didn’t forget it I promise

#ask #aph brazil #hcs

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umusicians · 4 years ago

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UM Interview: Jimah, El Cézar & Quantum Flush

Many artists today are constantly evolving in their artistry, whether that be personally or musically, through their image and sound. This Atlanta trio is no different. The trio made up of Jimah, El Cézar, Quantum Flush are bringing a new sound into the music industry, creating music under a genre of music, called "Afroton". A blend of Afrobeats and Reggaeton, which the trio introduced to the world with the release of their debut EP, 'Rice & Stew'.

Amandah Opoku sat down with Jimah, El Cézar, Quantum Flush to talk about their new record ‘Rice & Stew’, embarking on a solo career and more!

Amandah Opoku: Jimah, El Cézar & Quantum Flush, thank you for doing this interview today! Before we kick off please tell our readers about yourself and one random fact people do not know about you? JIMAH: Hey, my name is Jimah, I’m a Cameroonian artist based in Atlanta and it’s my pleasure to do this interview. As far as one random fact goes, I used to go to boarding school in Cameroon when I was younger which was a crazy experience. EL CÉZAR: What’s up! To start off, I was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela. I love to make music, i love to game and i love to eat good food. Me and the guys are gonna have our own food show when God permits. One fact about me that is not so known, is my day hustle when i’m not wearing the cape; i bartend for a living. I go to weddings and serve up to 200 people and no cap i make a good ass margarita. FLUSH: I am a composer and producer of world music based in Atlanta. I’ve been creating my entire life and I’m a believer in God.

Pictured: JIMAH

Amandah Opoku: What inspired you each to create music and pursue it as a career? JIMAH: When I was like 13 in boarding school, I used to write out song lyrics for my friends in class who wanted to know the words to songs. From doing that over and over I figured I should start writing my own lyrics, and that led to me getting into instrumentals and trying to make my own songs. I used to also battle rap some of the kids in older grades and it used to be a little thing we’d do to pass the time between studies. The way the people reacted to me and what I did was a rush. The more I did it I realized I didn’t want to do anything else in life but chase that feeling that making music gives me. EL CÉZAR: What inspired me. My dad is a percussionist and had drums in the house at all times. I remember being 5 years old when i got my first drum set and driving my mom nuts playing the hell out of it. My grandfather was also a singer in a gaita group along with his brother, who played the cuarto, (basically a smaller guitar.) I remember growing up in Venezuela. Every time we had a family gathering, beer and live music was always involved. My grandfather singing his chords out with by grandma, my dad banging his drums, my uncles joining in with claps. It was overall great times. As i grew in the States, I began to fall in love with hip-hop and the culture. Around my junior year of high school, I quit drumline and started messing around with FL studio. The rest is just history, well growth and history. Music is all I know and love. FLUSH: I began this journey in sound my first trip to Africa and got inspired by what was around me. Good things always came out of the arts for me. It always felt good for me to share my sound with people. With music, more opportunities opened up for me and I felt it was the most natural path for me in life.

Amandah Opoku: What artists would you say inspire you both musically and personally? JIMAH: I listen to a wide variety of music, so I’d say Sade, Fela Kuti, Future, Wizkid, Bob Marley, and Kanye West to name a few. There are so many others in Africa like the late DJ Arafat, and the late Manu Dibango, Flavour, and so many others. EL CÉZAR: Definitely, Wiz Khalifa because of his lifestyle. It’s a carefree, luxurious lifestyle. He preaches good energy, hard work, and that you can become a self-made boss on your own. His old music was all I listened to. My second inspiration is Bad Bunny. He writes all his songs, his style is unmatched, and he’s always creating the wave. A big thing for me and the guys is creating the wave and not riding it. FLUSH: I’m really inspired by Bach, Beethoven And Debussy because of the passion and their ability to push music into a new era. They inspire me to play with chords and form when laying out my ideas. Dub Reggae inspires me too. I really love King Tubby and Lee Scratch Perry.

Amandah Opoku: Who are artists that you look up to that you would like to work with or collab with in the future? JIMAH: I feel like Skepta and I would make a smash for sure. Wiz and Burna would be crazy. Rema has been going crazy too. I feel like we’d make something that would really shatter the boundaries of the sound. EL CÉZAR: Right now, I'm really praying and manifesting a feature from Fuego. He’s an innovator, a genre bender just like us. Another artist I really look forward to collaborating with is Rema. The guy is just a vibe wizard. Lastly, Nessly. Nessly is fye. FLUSH: There are so many to name. But, I definitely want to make records with Oumou Sangare, Fatoumata Diawara, Gunna, Young Thug, Alfa Mist, and Yussef Dayes just to name few.

Amandah Opoku: If you could describe your music in three words. What words would you choose and why? JIMAH: I’d say my music is a “Futuristic Eclectic Medley” because we are really taking elements from cultures from all across the globe and implementing them into the music. From instruments to lingo, I just want everyone in the world to be able to relate to the music. EL CÉZAR: Three words: smooth, sensual, and at times enigmatic. I feel like I’m a pretty chill guy so this type of music is what resonates with me. Plus, I’m also a night owl. Listen to my music at night and you’ll feel what i’m talking about. With the guys though, I’m heavily influenced by the energy Flush is trying to emit with the beats. Flush is an unpredictable man, so i have to adapt a lot. I love it though. FLUSH: The words that best describe my sound would be diversity, eclecticism and originality. I’m creating music that transcends cultures and language. I pull inspiration from all aspects of my life and create with the intent to weld different cultures together. I’m born and raised ATL with parents from West Africa. So when I think about creating, certain sounds make sense with others.

Amandah Opoku: You recently released your project, ‘Rice & Stew’. What was the writing and recording process like? JIMAH: Yeah Rice & Stew was a lot of fun to make. Working with El Cezar and Flush was just a flawless process. Flush and Cezar are always coming with some crazy production and once they press play on the beat, it doesn’t take long for the ideas to start flowing. I typically do a mix of freestyling and writing, and we record ourselves. I went to school for engineering and Cezar is a beast with engineering too; so all the recording, mixing, and mastering was done in house, handled mostly by Cezar. EL CÉZAR: Rice & Stew man, the process was great! I’ll never forget those times. I think Jimah and I have a similar process. During Rice & Stew, it was always hard to figure out who would go first on the song unless Flush explicitly said who he felt like should start. We played rock paper scissors sometimes for who would go first, LOL. Once we figured that out, we just vibed on the beat. We spit melodies, and sometimes words will come out so we get an idea of what the song will be about. After that, we either knock out the song in one go and write it then and there, or we’ll vibe on like 3 or 4 more beats and pick the best one to finish. FLUSH: The writing process is actually something similar to a therapy session. Jimah and El Cézar are my friends so we talk about what’s happening in our personal lives. They pretty much narrate my feelings into song form. We have inside jokes the somehow worked it’s way into the music. Everything we do is from the heart I swear.

Amandah Opoku: You are 3 individuals contributing your own visions, sounds and ideas to what ultimately became, ‘Rice & Stew’. How did you integrate your own personal ideas/views into the project? JIMAH: The one thing we realized when we all came together was that we all had very similar life stories but just on different sides of the world. We also realized that our music and cultures were very similar and were almost like cousins. On every record we tend to tell the same story just from our points of view, whether that be in our native language or with lingo that only people from our cultures would understand, we’re like 3 sides to the same coin. EL CÉZAR: Being yourself is really easy when it comes to making music. You do what feels natural. I feel like because we’re from different parts of the world, we’re even more encouraged to hone into our cultures. In 17hrs, I talk about taking my girl to Maracaibo, comiendo cepillao’ por el lago. Maracaibo is known for many things, but a great attraction is the Lake walk, “La vereda del lago,” and we also eat special iceys with condensed milk called “cepillado.” Also, in Maracaibo we have a different dialect then pretty much the rest of Venezuela. We use the “vos” instead of “tu,” which completely changes the language. It feels forced when i try to speak with the “tu”, the “vos” just feels too natural to me. I definitely like to incorporate that in the songs, mainly because it’s what I write naturally, but I sometimes want to make it digestible for those who aren’t too familiar with the “vos” dialect. FLUSH: We respect each other’s vision and also learn along the way. El Cézar definitely taught me a lot about Maracaibo to the point where I feel like I was there. This is what Rice and Stew is about. Creating a hot meal by bringing our own seasoning and mixing it together.

Amandah Opoku: What inspired you to come together and release this project together? JIMAH: We felt like there was an absence of Afro-Reggaeton collaborations, so we decided to really spearhead that movement by labelling the new genre AFROTON. Once we figured out the formula for blending the cultures sonically, we knew that we had to give the people a collection of music from that genre. EL CÉZAR: Me and Jimah met during one of our studio internships and clicked the first day we met. We spoke about Afrobeats and how it’s similar to Reggaeton. We spoke about the similarities the genres shared, the emotion the genres give us and how we resonate with the sound. We cooked up beats at the internship that same day and pretty much planned our first session together. At the time, I wasn’t really behind the mic much. I was just making beats. Our first session, I played Jimah a beat and we recorded “Wahala,” our first track together. I loved the vibe and i felt inspired to write something in Spanish. This was my first Spanish verse ever. When we finished the track we literally went nuts and knew we found something special. We even shot a video to that song, but never dropped it. After weeks of cooking up with Jimah, he finally introduced me to Flush. That day, me and Flush cooked up a beat for a song called “Shayo.” Great song man, humble beginnings. After that, we knew we had to keep cooking up. This was something truly special. After months of cooking and just vibing, getting closer and growing together, we decided that maybe it was time for a project that would showcase this new sound that we’re bringing to the world. We knew that this would bring people together and that’s all we ever wanted. I see these guys as my brothers and this music really fortified that. Now, the ultimate goal is to have the most diverse dance floor anybody has ever danced on. FLUSH: We felt that the world was changing especially now that we have reached a new decade. The sound has to transform and reflect the new age we live in today. We are all experiencing something completely new some of these things being life threatening. It’s only right that the sound changes with the times.

Pictured: EL CÉZAR

Amandah Opoku: What inspired you to name the record ‘Rice & Stew’? JIMAH: Honestly it was a joke at first, but it eventually stuck. Rice & Stew is a staple household meal that most cultures eat in some form or fashion and we felt like people would be interested to hear what rice and stew would sound like sonically. EL CÉZAR: EVERYONE EATS RICE & STEW. Flush named the “La Zorra” beat “Rice Stew” and that’s what truly inspired it. That’s where the name came from. FLUSH: The name came from a crazy beat I made. After making the 4th record on the project, we noticed that rice and stew is a meal people all over the world can resonate with.

Amandah Opoku: If you had to choose one song from ‘Rice & Stew’ to introduce someone to your music, which song would you choose and why? JIMAH: I would probably show them La Zorra. That’s because that record really cuts across all cultural boundaries and has a lot of energy that is just undeniable. EL CÉZAR: I would choose Outta Line as the song to show the first timers. It’s the perfect blend of everything - vibes, emotion, story, theme, the BEAT. This song is my fav from the project. Me and Jimah go back and forth, passing the baton, and telling the story. This man Flush went crazy on the beat as usual. It’s just an overall digestible vibe. Anybody can vibe to that song. FLUSH: I would choose La Zorra. That song is the one that makes me speed down the highway when it comes on. I love the high energy in the drums mixed with the psycho synths and syncopation.

Amandah Opoku: In the future, do you think you’ll create a group name that your projects would be released under or do you think you’ll continue to release music credited as your individual selves? JIMAH: You know this is something we talk about very often and we just didn’t want to force a name that did not resonate with everyone. So, until we get the perfect name, we’ll keep crediting each other. EL CÉZAR: We’ve actually thought about the group name A LOT. If we get a name, we want it to be something that represents all of us. We’re really not tryna force it so as of right now, I think we’re going as individuals. To us, we’re still a group. We’re still the Afroton trio. FLUSH: I feel that we could have a name in the future, but as of now God hasn’t revealed that message to us yet. We are just trying to grown in our sound and through that it’ll manifest itself.

Amandah Opoku: What do you want people to take away from your music? And as an artist, what do you hope to achieve with your music career? JIMAH: The underlying message throughout my music is unity and cultural appreciation. We all have different things to learn from each other and appreciate so I really want to preach that. I want to be recognized as one of the greatest artists of all time for bringing cultures together and I want to really represent for my country Cameroon, and I want to change the lives of people back home with my music. EL CÉZAR: I want people to understand that we’re all brothers and sisters at the end of the day. We want people to treat each other like family and really to share the dance floor together, metaphorically and literally. As an artist, I want to be up there with the greats, just like any other artist. But not because we’re good at what we do, but because we are innovative and we brought something to the table that no one has ever thought to bring - something genuine built from love and passion. FLUSH: I want to inspire people to express themselves. People should be free in thinking and shouldn’t be afraid to take their time in finding themselves. I find out more and more about myself through the sound and share it with my listeners.

Amandah Opoku: What has been your favorite track released this year and why? JIMAH: I released a song at the beginning of this year called “Fake Energy” and that song really set the tone for me this year in terms of my mental state and how I approach people and this music. Whenever I listen to it, it really inspires me to stay on my game. EL CÉZAR: La Zorra had to be my second best because there’s an unmatched emotion that i get when i listen to that. The song is just crazy. From another artist though, it has to be Ginger by Wizkid. The production is impeccable and the mixing is on point. Burna boy did his thing, Wiz did his thing too. The outro of the song where the key signature changes was just perfect. FLUSH: My favorite track released is Right Mind because that is when we all came together for the first time. We created the song at a studio called Danny Vails and since then we’ve been rockin heavy. That was the first time I linked El Cézar.

Amandah Opoku: 2020 has been a very interesting year for all of us. How has the pandemic affected you as a musician? JIMAH: It’s just given me more time to create, and if not for the pandemic, I don’t think we would have been able to really lock in to make Rice & Stew. It was a blessing in disguise. EL CÉZAR: It was truly a blessing to just be able to sit at home and perfect my craft. Every day was productive for me. I was either studying music business, learning new methods to master songs, or making new beats and songs. It was great. It gave me time to really hone into this music. Being able to dedicate my energy into just music felt amazing to me. Rice & Stew would’ve probably came out in 2021, if not for the pandemic. We literally cooked up weekly and pushed out about 30 songs in the span of 3 months. FLUSH: It sucks because we have been performing in clubs and can’t enjoy it like that cause of the masks. We are also on a virtual tour which is cool, but it would have been better if we could get on the road and physically interact with our fans. I pray everything clears up so we can really go crazy.

Pictured: QUANTUM FLUSH

Amandah Opoku: With ‘Rice & Stew’ out now, what can fans and music listeners expect from you next year? JIMAH: Expect more futuristic culture blending, culture bending vibes from all 3 of us. EL CÉZAR: Rice & Stew was only the beginning. Expect more collaborative projects from the guys and I. In 2021, I am planning to release my first solo EP to showcase what I can do as an individual. Music from us as a trio is inevitable! Expect greatness in 2021. FLUSH: This project is just the spark to a flame that leads to the dynamite going boom. We have so much music to share and many experiences to give our listeners. We are performing shows and collaborating with people all over the world, It’s just a time to be global.

Amandah Opoku: Jimah, El Cézar & Quantum Flush, thank you for sitting down with me! Before we close this interview is there anything you want to say to your fans and our readers? JIMAH: I appreciate you for interviewing us and to everyone reading keep your head down and chase your goals, don’t worry about what those on the outside have to say, and go stream Rice & Stew out now on all platforms and more vibes on the way! EL CÉZAR: To all of the readers and supporters, thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for listening to Rice & Stew, and for accepting this sound. We don’t want it to be esoteric, but even if it’s that; I’m happy and thankful for those who resonate with the music. We love y’all and we want to keep growing with y’all. Stay safe and don’t forget to just be yourself. You’ll get further that way. Peace. FLUSH: I want to thank my fans for taking this journey with us into the new world. Thank you for reading and if you haven’t heard the project yet check it out and hop on the UFO. There is plenty of food to go around just take a bite of this Rice and Stew.

Stream ‘Rice & Stew’ here and connect with Jimah, El Cézar, Quantum Flush on the following websites: Jimah: @jimahlegar (Instagram), @Jimahlegar (Twitter) El Cezar: @elcezar_ (Instagram), @elcezar_ (Twitter) Quantum Flush: @quantumflush (Instagram), @quantumflush (Twitter)

#Interviews #Amandah Opoku #Jimah #El Cézar #Quantum Flush

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decolonizationxabolition · 4 years ago

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Leftist politics, prison abolitionist politics, and some distinctions we really need to talk about

Hey folks, and thanks for coming back to my blog if you’re reading this! So the topic for this blog post is basically going to be pointing out some important contrasts between leftist politics and prison abolitionist politics. I am especially going to be roasting the radical left so just be ready for that.

Anyways, the way I am going to unpack this is through criticizing the way that “revolutionary” leftists criticize the actions of one of my favorite politicians Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whom is a young Latina representing the Bronx in the House of Representatives. I will be referring to this article first specifically and point out some things, and then we will get right to it. I would also like to note, that I am going to be keeping my commentary specific to the context of the United States, so please keep that in mind.

So, in regards to criticizing the actions of politicians through the lens of prison abolitionist politics, it is important to point out that the people/communities within the United States that support prison abolition do not support any type of politician that embraces the prison industrial complex for any reason at all. In the article that I linked above, it talks about how AOC and Bernie Sanders “supported” a coup in Venezuela. Well, I’ll have you know that the incumbent president at the time (Maduro) essentially embraced the prison industrial complex and arrested people that were criticizing him. Which is a big no no for prison abolitionist politics/principles. Maduro is essentially being a neofascist in doing that, so is it really a coup if Maduro is behaving that way? To prison abolitionists, it really doesn’t matter if he is left or not, the fact that he did that is enough for us to remain neutral on what was happening in Venezuela in that moment in time. The prison system is still capitalistic, and on top of that dehumanizing as fuck. So no, we don’t care about him, literally at all. His actions are not revolutionary.

The thing that radical leftists need to realize (for folks that identify as radical left and are serious about police/prison abolition) is that prison abolitionist politics are not exactly the same as leftist politics, they do in fact intersect frequently within the spectrum of leftist politics (socialism, communism, anarchism, etc.) but they are not one and the same. The reason for this is because of the fact that prison abolitionists are mainly concerned with dismantling the prison system itself, that is the MAIN focus. And in order to do that, we must be open minded and not take hard stances on our political views, especially because prison abolition is a long term goal. This instagram post on @blackabolitionist’s profile explains how prison abolitionists are looking for “abolishing reforms” and views criminal justice reforms (ex. restoring the right to vote) as ways to move towards the abolition of prisons, which contradicts the stances that “change won’t come from the system” and that “all reforms are racist”.

I would also like to point out that taking hard stances on leftist views is not helpful because this white colonizer government studies your political ideologies and “went to the books to read about how policies would affect black and brown folks” with reforms that appear to benefit low-income black and brown folks in an immediate sense, but ultimately strengthen the prison industrial complex. So, you’re lack of participation (not voting on reforms because you’re “anti-system” lmao) and educating yourself on the specific policies and reforms (that do not necessarily lean right or left per se and are nuanced in nature) has strengthened the PIC because all the folks that are left to vote are racist white folks that have little to no idea about how these policies are going to actually affect people in the long run and on top of that the government suppresses the vote. Hence why so many racist reforms have passed and made the PIC powerful as fuck. Fortunately for those that desire to educate themselves, there is a book called The End of Policing by Alex Vitale that is not only a deeply researched book, but also extremely accessible to read if you’re not an avid academic reader (free pdf here), where he fully unpacks the reforms made to the prison system that have made the PIC so powerful, the impacts that they have had on people, and alternative policies that move away from the prison system all together.

I also would like to point out to people on the radical left that hold the views of restorative justice (which has been criticized and has it’s limits) as a practice of abolition, that their views actually differ from some of the community art spaces within the United States that are active in not only as abolition as a practice, but are also some of the activists on the political front working towards the agenda of prison abolition through community organizing and the use of a transformative justice approach and community accountability rather than a restorative justice approach (these are also some of the folks building formal discourse on what TJ is and how it can aid towards the agenda of abolition, especially for survivors of sexual abuse/assault) [resources on TJ v. RJ: (1/2)]. And as someone that has had the privilege of being apart of an amazing community that uses transformative justice and community accountability as a practice for abolition and has friends that are prison abolitionist activists, it is very apparent to me how TJ and community accountability is playing out in the realm of politics with AOC, what is really shocking to me is that she appears to be running in the same circles/networks (it is surprising but also not surprising since she used to be a bartender in the Bronx hmmm, it appears that she is working with prison abolitionist activists, especially the formerly incarcerated and it appears that our community circles are quite close even though we are West Coast).

Anyways, an example that is very apparent to me is when both leftists and conservatives questioned why AOC distanced herself from Bernie Sanders after Joe Rogan gave him an endorsement. But honestly, as someone that is relatively up to date with pop culture, lives in the United States, and knows who Joe Rogan is (and if you don’t, he is a comedian) and for those of you who do know who JR is, then you probably know that he runs a podcast where he has openly expressed his cop apologist views . So it appears that she distanced herself from him because of that, which honestly makes a lot of sense when you view it in those terms, it’s very apparent to me that she is likely apart of a prison abolitionist community that is holding her accountable, not the justice democrats.

Leftists, AOC is not a communist, anarchist, or a socialist. She is a PRISON ABOLITIONIST first and foremost, whose politics intersects with some of yours, but is primarily relying on strategy, community accountability, and direct feedback as a way to move closer towards the objective of prison abolition. And no, she is not going to be perfect, which is why we need shared analysis and realistic expectations. It is actually very encouraging that someone like AOC is in office right now (along with the rest of the squad), and it is extremely obvious to activists on the frontlines that she will not save us. What we need is more people like her to go into office in huge numbers, which requires community organizing. And guess what, the prison industrial complex is powerful as fuck here in the United States (it’s insane, people are genuinely afraid to come against this system and it’s very understandable), and the reason why that is has a lot to do with politics and the complex network between corporate interests and our bureaucracy. Some leftist folks have unrealistic expectations that are actually extremely unhelpful. Especially since some of these folks read at an academic level, have class privilege, and express their views without educating themselves first. And as someone who has been personally affected by the PIC at a very young age (and no I am not going to elaborate on it), it is very frustrating.

Okay, so to end this blogpost I am going to leave you all to ponder the revolutionary act of direct feedback, transformative justice practices, and how necessary it is in community spaces, abolition, and building decolonial futures.

And if any of you are interested in TJ practices a couple of books are: Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories From the Transformative Justice Movement and Decolonizing Non-Violent Communication.

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brandossss · 4 years ago

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( tommy martinez , 24 , cismale ) i just bumped into brando esparza the other day while walking down east kingsboro , where he lives . i hear they can be brave and impatient , but when i think of them i immediately think of ( venezuelan pride , curly hair , going to the gym literally everyday )

tw : communism , corruption , poverty , violence , death ( suicide )

full name : brando nicolas estefano esparza

nicknames : just brando , if he really fucks with you you can get away with teasingly calling him brandy , but not even lolol

gender : cismale

height : 6 ′ 2

age : 24

birthday : august 4 , 1996

zodiac : leo ( aries moon , capricorn ascendant )

right handed or left handed : ambidextrous , but basically right handed

eye color : light brown

hair color : dark brown

piercings & tattoos : no piercings , this tattoo of venezuela right here , but on his left wrist

languages spoken : spanish ( native tongue ) and english

sexuality : pansexual / panromantic

place of birth : maracay , venezuela

last 3 songs listened to : llueve sobre la ciudad by los bunkers , yo te esperare by cali y el dandee , soñe ( unplugged ) by zoé

so brando was born to yessenia olivares and bruno esparza in maracay , venezuela . originally , he wasn’t supposed to be named brando . a fun fact & random little headcanon is that his mother & father had the full intention of naming him brandon , after his grandfather ( or father’s father ) , who passed a week before he was born . being both parents’ first born , his father got super nervous during his mother’s labor & basically ? got really wasted because he was practically crapping his pants about his son being born . when he went to sign his birth certificate , he was so drunk , he literally forgot to write the ‘ n ’ in brandon . once they realized the mistake his father had made , they didn’t want to go through the annoyance of changing his name , so , they went with brando , and surprisingly ? it really stuck & everyone loved it more than brandon kdjvcndfkcmn

he was an average kid tbh . his family was middle class & even though his country had been struggling ( for the lack of a better word ) for years now , he didn’t fully feel the economic fall at first , of course . now fast forward a few years & shit is changing right before his eyes , and he’s really ? just a kid

pretty much communism coming to it’s finest point tbh . all these restaurants , stores , businesses , all these places brando used to go to when he was younger ? done with , or just government owned & a blink away from breaking completely . it’s actually really sad because he’s literally watching it all happen , watching his country go down the drain & there’s really nothing he can do to stop it

his father becomes an active protester , along with many other angry venezuelans , but this does more bad than good . eventually his father gets arrested at a protest when brando is 11 years old . that was over a decade ago & up to this very day , present time , brando has no idea where his father is , if he’s well , or if he’s even alive tbh ( talk about trauma ? ) . it’s like one day he’s coming home , giving his only son a hug , & the next day , he completely vanished from planet earth , as if he’s some high profile serial killer when really , he was just protesting the shit communist government they’re living in

it’s just brando & his mom from that point on . of course , things just get worse with time . i’m not gonna get into details but basic poverty & communism tbh . they’re hungry , they’re broke , the country is just getting worse & worse with each passing moment ( hyper inflation , food scarcity , severe corruption , government abuse , do i even need to go on ? ) . all these things anger brando to no extent & he finds himself releasing his anger with his fists . it’s getting into random fights for no reason & screaming at anyone who even looks at him weirdly , pretty much becoming an angry ass kid

TW : SUICIDE , READ WITH CAUTION !! things are bad but they really hit rock bottom when his mother , surprisingly , commits suicide . brando finds her foaming at the mouth , a clear overdose , but by the time they make it to the hospital , she’s pronounced dead . literally a 15 year old boy , alone , in venezuela .... honestly terrifying . brando literally doesn’t know where to go ? on top of the trauma he’s holding he’s worried about his living arrangements as well . luckily , a friend of his allows him to stay at his house a few nights but this is just temporary

he just really wants to leave his country but he feels completely stuck . he’s depressed & angry as fuck but he’s determined to get out somehow . brando eventually contacts a family friend on facebook ( aka claudia’s mom ? ) & tells them his situation . it seems to touch this woman’s heart so much , she , wait for it , brings him over to the states . he spends his 16th birthday in america , with claudia & her family . the year is 2012

very slowly , but things begin getting better for him . he’s enrolled into school & pretty much gets guided through everything thanks to claudia . they are not blood related , but their families were so close at one point that they’re pretty much ? cousins tbh ! literally not blood related but still family

with his dedication & ambition he pretty much catches on completely in less than 3 years ( learning english of course ) , he loses his accent completely after 4 . he goes through a whole adoption thing with claudia’s family until he thankfully gains american residency thanks to them , which of course , eventually leads him to citizenship . instead of picking fights with people for no reason , brando takes out his anger with physical activity , becoming very much involved in going to the gym , or even just exercising by himself . whether it’s leg day , boxing , whatever it is , he loves any type of physical work , since it keeps his mind distracted

this has pretty much lead him to have quite a #body tbh . like .... it’s hella obvious he works out kdndjndjvnfd

he also developed a hobby for piano , after taking piano classes in high school , beginning of freshman year . he’s been playing since he was 16 , eventually buying a crap keyboard when he was 17 . he does piano covers on youtube , but again , this is really just a hobby of his

DEATH TW !! after the passing of claudia’s parents , her & brando move to kingsboro when they’re both 19 ! they share an apartment with lemon

on top of that , he’s a bartender @ blue ! he’s also a personal trainer . literally lifting 24/7 for him .... bless

he enjoys drinking on weekends & letting loose every once in a while but i don’t think he’s crazy about weed tbh . he thinks the feeling is nice , but he hates how it makes you hungry . would never go out of his way to buy weed & basically only smokes it if he’s offered , preferring alcohol , but again , he mostly just exercises & eats right , not really having any addictions of any kind , just little hobbies every one in a while

brando honestly ? considers himself lucky , despite all the terrible things he’s been through . he feels lucky that he left before things got really , really bad , even though they were already pretty awful tbh . anyone who hears his story would think he’s anything but fortunate but the truth of the matter is that he’s one of the lucky ones . not every venezuelan has had the opportunity to leave & he just feels very fortunate that he was one of the few that did

he’s not the type to take anything for granted tbh , very much the type of person who appreciates everything he has , no matter how small . you could literally get him a present from the dollar store for christmas & he would still be super happy about it . for him , it’s the thought & time put into something that counts , not the price , or the brand

he very much struggled with his sexuality for years . not because he was in denial or ashamed or anything , but for the longest time , he kind of just didn’t know what he was ? sometimes he thought he was straight but undergoing a phase , other times he wondered if he was gay , then he considered himself bi for a really long time . the truth is that he didn’t fully understand his sexuality up until not too long ago , when he began hanging with an lgbtq+ crowd . eventually , he realizes society basically labels him as ‘ pansexual ’ , but he doesn’t even really like to label himself ? brando just falls in love with the person , with their soul , & he doesn’t care what they have underneath tbh

i haven’t fully figured him out yet because he’s a new character but i picture he can be such a stereotypical leo sometimes , but , his whole #capricorn ascendant really does take place for him , in the sense that he can be a very difficult person to read sometimes . like is he happy ? is he upset ? is that just his face ? is he planning something ? you will rarely ever know tbh

he’s a very humble person , probably because of his childhood . he hates show offs tbh , or very rich people with no consideration for anyone . literally .... miss him with that bullshit lmfao . he finds the entire snobby or ‘ i’m better than you ’ attitudes to be so unattractive tbh ? you could be the hottest person on the planet but if he hates your attitude you really just don’t matter to him lolol

over all he’s a lot calmer than he was before tbh . he still has his moments but he’s a pretty stable guy in the sense that he no longer wants to beat up everything or anyone he see’s . he still has a ton of issues to work on but basically just doesn’t wanna go to therapy & doesn’t really talk about his past at all , preferring to ‘ live in the present ’ even though talking about his issues & sharing his pretty shitty story would definitely help him clear out his head but 🥴 it honestly probably won’t happen & he’ll probs just keep burying shit LMFAOOOO

very very hard working guy , ambition like crazy , always gives his all in anything he feels strongly about , he’s very good at persuading people tbh , usually gets told he’d make a ‘ great lawyer ’ because he just has this way of convincing you like ? he would never become a lawyer but the truth is that he would make a great one , persuasion skills like a MF

this is all i can think of now but i did his birth chart ting 🖤

#kingsboro.intro #everyone is asleep n no one is gnna read this but kjsfjvn yee

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imadeletingmysocials · 5 years ago

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Thinking about leftist in-fighting again and how pointless of a charade it is, but ironically at the same time taking a moment to comment on the fascinating subject of Tankies! ALTERNATIVE TITLE: CENTER-ACTUAL-LEFTIST

Can we talk about how fascinating tankies are like? These are often people who were starving to death due to capitalism (which enforces their belief towards COMPLETE and total devotion to anything against capitalism) but then later I guess got some sort of job and is buying North Korea memorabilia, like at least 200 dollars in memorabilia after buying a gun (because if you’re a maoist/whatever without a gun, all I gotta say is: what the fuck?) For the most part I worry for them if they were die a warrior’s death or be imprisoned before they had the chance to do so. But for the most part: they aren’t hurting no one outside of sometimes being annoying online. For all we know all they do is spend their time doing that, they argue online the whole day but they’re very shy in person because they might be confronted with the idea that maybe LGBT people are treated badly in totalitarian states (we don’t know that for sure I guess, also what fucking reason would exist for such policy outside of pure biased malicious intent, if I were a dictator i’d let gay people be cool LMAO I hear cuba gives free transgender transitions, can’t speak for NK though).

Tankies might even have the same fanaticism like neo-nazis have through some really far-fetched absurd relation but unlike neo-nazis for the most part they aren’t harming anybody we care for, and they fight the same stuff we do in the end. Outside of their actions for the most part the whole tankie stuff just seems like a weird nerdy hobby. It doesn’t help that a lot of it is centered around historic iconism (a lot of which doesn’t feel that relevant nowadays, I get liking certain icons due to what they represent for the people but outside of an image of nostalgia and example they aren’t THAT relevant) which in the end bares resemblance to nerdy historic collectors who love to collect memorabilia, something that due to my personality type cannot take seriously. Like I can easily imagine the same happening with comic book people and how they use pictures of Stan Lee with quotes that would motivate you to be a hero!

I LIKE TO consider myself a CENTRIST, a leftist centrist, in other words, if you see you fuckers fighting too much and end up doing what the right-wing want I’m gonna think you’re right-wing, I hate anarchists who uncritically dislike Cuba and I hate tankies who uncritically dislike Rojava. You can go about socialism in multiple ways, state-wise, people-accepting, fuck you could even accept money and collaborate with America a little if you still keep your leftists principles, and if you are 100% against these socialist movements then you just seem like a right-winger at that point.

Here’s a thing ok: functionally, at the moment, all leftists kinda operate the same, leftists in America or capitalist countries in general, outside of title their actions are usually union-stuff, gun ownership yadda yadda. Especially if they have other leftists to do things with, personally I don’t get leftists who are like “quit doing nothing”! Like if you don’t have a organisation or group, at the most you’re like everyone else and you just bought a gun, have a lot of resources (theory) and are waiting and bidding your time, doing what you can, if you see something do something but as individuals we are mostly powerless outside of wishing to be the next Chris Dorner out of a cool suicide and going out in a cool way, so we just wait until we can build or hope to find a coalition.

I’m fine with tankies that by the end of the day aren’t hurting nobody, are mostly doing the same good activism most leftists do and just really like history memorabilia. Most anarcho-communist friends I know accept and understand certain socialist states as to why and how they operated, I cannot say the same about the many tankies who are the straight-up-Rojava-hating kind though!

So basically here’s the full answer to that question: Can tankies like legit be an issue? Of course, I think the biggest red flag is being against rojava honestly like at that point you're too far gone. You could even be ok with states that are secluded out of self-defense due to imperialism (and due to them being shrouded in mystery the fact are mostly that we don’t know for sure anything at all about them, however not letting many people just... Leave or allow transparency is kinda of foreboden, you need to understand that, and if you don’t see that as being fucked up suspicious activity AT ALL without a single ounce of nuance well you are literally brainwashed and just as bad as the Americans who use excuses as to why America operates in such a shady way, but hey! Fear of Spies! I just hope they allow their citizens to turn and eye on pirate stuff like Cuba since it’s a victimless crime, also Karl Marx and Mao said everyone should have guns so if your country doesn’t allow it’s workers to have guns well that’s a bit of a problem isn’t it, seems like a hierarchy against the people where not everyone can have the same amount of power to me) but the moment you're against a group of people for the people without being a state you've showcased yourself as just being a 100% state worshiper first and interested in the struggle of the people second, like treating the idea of a recognized state as the be-all goal.

At that point you’re just some weird religious-like nerd who thinks life should be a game of those Sim games were you can be a dictator (and even in Tropico you can be a nice person that allows immigrants and people leaving the state holy shit) and as far as things go you’re only useful for joining protests people universally like ironically against American’s anti-immigration and racism. North Korea being this weird rape victim of the world isn’t gonna change much in what you do outside of it, it’s pure religious follower ship built on faith and I guess we should respect your religion but if you actually cause more problems than not then that just makes you seem like you’re on another side, because as far as we know it’s funny that most of us don’t 100% know what’s going on at all in North Korea cuz we don’t live there, all we know is that they’re just playing defense.

If you’re the type to start some kind of topic with me and be like “rojava is a pettit bourgeois state” kind in mind, we aren’t in the cold war anymore, we don’t have a soviet superpower out there installing bases in our places for aid, the soviet union no longer exists and you need a super power backing up your kickstarted state for the sake of survival. You cannot aid yourself with THE OTHER super power, there are no sides to pick here, it’s not a yes or no question, Venezuela isn’t going out there to aid, North Korea, or Cuba isn’t either, ok cuba sends doctors but for the most part if you receive aid in wartime, it is not an option, you need to take it. As for anarchists being nothing but “petit bourgeois with no principles”: chances are you are on the internet, chances are you are nothing but a petit bourgeious as well considering we all live in a world corrupted by capital and everything we do, whenever it be for good intentions or not is within the framework of profit and capital, i could buy a commune to aid my comrades and live off the grid but I am still part of that state, i am nevertheless buying a house, everyone is a part of that state, America’s imperialism owns the fucking world. Don’t act like you better for that, it shows your lack of understanding and feeling better for it. You’re being petty because in a world with few choices, a group of people had to receive aid from America.

#rojava #north korea #tankies #leftism

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justsomeantifas · 6 years ago

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its 11:59 its still technically tonight so

this is gonna be my reference point to questions abt venezuela, at least regarding things pre- May 19 2019. Its a bit scattered and it may get edited down along the road, but yeah.

short version that draws some similar conclusions: https://www.salon.com/2019/05/17/the-plot-to-kill-venezuela_partner/

one difference in scales that’s important to keep in mind: the lifespan of people is 2-7 decades. the lifespan of colonialism lasts centuries. the lifespan of media memory is a couple years, tops.

Most western narratives of venezuela start meaningfully at chavez, which is a mistake. The focus point in history around which the country flowed was the Caracazo. You probably already know about this, but a massive uprising took place in the heart of Caracas, against decades of dictatorship both formal and informal, after severe instability in the global oil market. The people were hungry, the riots were fiery, and the bullets bled. knows the death toll even now, but its estimated well into the thousands. This happened pre-chavez, and started a cascade of events which brought him into limelight that you can read about here. not gonna go into more venezuelan history, but i talk a bit more here

chavez was democratically elected, multiple times.

in 2002, after his first democratic election, he was kidnapped by US-backed troops and replaced by someone who threw out the 1999 constitution, which was as legitimate as any other made in venezuela’s colonial and violently capitalist history, seeing as it was the first (aka only, so far) of 26 constitutions actually approved by popular referendum. He was reinstated largely due to massive protests in support of him. Maduro however doesn’t really have as much of the charisma and support of chavez, which is creating problems - as well as exacerbating problems created by the economic crises ramping up just around chavez’s death. In 2015, there were elections to the National Assembly, which ended up with the Opposition winning a majority of the seats (which does show that there’s some degree of fairness in the elections, at least verifiably up til that point, yet that isnt rly accounted for when western media describes it as ��undemocratic” - many of whom don’t apply the same scrutiny to their own country: such as this UN Human Rights councilor who also happens to be the crown prince of british-iraq, currently residing in the noted democracy of the Kingdom of Jordan, which has no vested interest or control over any particular export of Venezuela.).

This turnout showed most of all that maduro had alienated as many as 2 million of his supporters, who didnt end up voting (though many also voted against him - trying to act on their feeling that whatever they want, its “not this”). This decreasing support also accelerates whats known as “Everyday Sabotage” - people not trusting in the government, and look out for their own interests contra everyone else. This is a danger inherent to tying “Socialism” to a primarily state project.

However 1999 Constitution was never meant as an eternal document & it created mechanisms to call for new popular constitutional referendums to be held. That’s what the “Constituent Assembly” is about, which is what a lot of the western world is describing as him singlehandedly rewriting it (while also being “vague about its contents”), or “created by him”. Elections to the constituent assembly were boycotted by opposition, so that it would be government controlled & look like a sham in the eyes of the broader world. That being said, the assembly was called both as a reaction to losing election but also in response to intensifying crises - it was put forth (i don’t see any reason to believe in bad faith) as a way to come together and figure out how to address the needs that were driving people to protest - to address the desire for “not this”, but bc of the uncertainty, it was easily twistable by reactionaries by putting all emphasis on the former. Also timing corresponds with increasing fears of maduro straying from the path of chavez, the image of scrapping one of his strongest plays for smth unknown is risky - tho if there are other meaningful options given the situation im not sure. And the body’s got at least as much constitutional legitimacy as Guaido (Chapter III)

The 1999 constitution also enabled a recall election to be called against maduro in 2016, bc it was written with particular attention to holding public officials accountable - similar noble commitments helped to end the presidency of Rousseff & bring in Bolsonaro (who was also one of the people spurring on the investigations and whipping up a social base).

(speaking of guaido & bolsonaro)

on Guaido:

part of student group in 2007 protesting against non-renewal of coup-assisting network, who the CFR (one of the major think tanks of the cold war still playing a big role in foreign policy today) considered “most important network”

close friend of Leopoldo Lopez, the aforementioned coup plotter.

politician since 2010, won a couple small elections

Unknown to majority of general population until 2019, most venezuelans surveyed didnt know him

Plan Pais

plans to privatize state owned industry & allow investment from foreign oil companies

center-right neoliberal draped in platitudes of “stability”, “revitalization”, “security”, and “rescue” - a message seemingly deliberately targeted to become more and more resonant with increased sanctions.

/on Guaido

governing is about the expression of power. I wanna live in a world where that power isn’t expressed, but as long as the exploitation of the global working class continues unabated, id prefer some of that power be put towards helping the poor.

there is no such thing as a static state of affairs, there’s no “goldilocks zone” out in the political universe where we tweak things finely until we find whats best for everyone, only different rates of change in different dimensions. what we need to do is figure out how we can push that state of affairs in a direction so that everyday people have the power to take control of their lives. re

re: “constitutionality” - if the supreme court calls it constitutional then its constitutional. period. There’s no such thing as a supreme court as an “independent branch” of government, but there are different degrees of integration into the rest of it.

The Supreme Tribunal of Venezuela has 32 members, (a bit more than a dozen put in by the national assembly, while the PSUV held it), and the opposition holds abt 3 away from a supermajority. Each member of the court holds their spot for 12 years. If that’s “The Most Corrupt In The World” according to Transparency International, i wonder what world the 9-person lifetime-appointed US Supreme Court (2 of which appointed by trump, and save for pulling a Weekend At Ginsbergs, likely 3) is on. In fact, one of the tactics that the more radical circles of democrat voters are putting forward is to pack the Supreme Court. Because thats how shit actually gets done, or at the least how shit is prevented from being committed w the stamp of legality. FDR learned that lesson too, in trying to pass what is today known as “The New Deal”

My comparisons to trump are for specific end: these actions are exerted on levers of liberal democracy, and every single liberal democracy is susceptible to them in some ways.

whats a “dictator”? if hes unelected, the millions of people who participated in the elections dont seem to think so. if maduro is a dictator, then what is donald trump? the majority of ppl didnt vote for him yet hes still governing. macron’s popularity has at several points been less than 1/3, and the yellow vest protestors have been violently attacked - why is he not “a violent dictator with only the support of the military”? These terms are not neutral.

“their elections are highly flawed” So What? show me a country whose elections arent.

“opposition jailed” - ok but coup plotters don’t get off easy in any liberal democracy. If someone - say Bernie Sanders - said ��enough is enough” and succeeded in overthrowing the current government with the help of a foreign government…. you think they’d let him go free? what if ten years later he was getting his supporters all riled up to do it again? how long you think he’d be in jail for (assuming he can survive well into his 100’s)? You think more than 13 years? Think he’d get house arrest? Some US states lock you up for posessing weed up to 10. If you stay long enough around this blog, youll find plenty of other examples of much more cruel and unusual punishments. Look at Chelsea Manning, look at Oscar Riviera… look at the US protestors saying Guaido is illegitimate

what we have to keep in mind most of all, is to show that the contradictions being exploited are inherent to Liberalism. Contradictions are just expressed most freely at the margins - the interstices

poor economic decisions happen everywhere - 2008/2009 still affecting the entire world there’s violence thats “natural”, and violence thats “intolerable”. The dividing line is whether we have anything to gain by changing things.

sanctions: started under obama, originally targeted specific individuals, used as precedent for more generalized. They’re indirect - they have a “squeezing effect”, takes already-existing problems & just makes them markedly worse. also doesn’t necessarily correlate with emigration, bc it takes a lot of money to start a new life somewhere else, and sanctions disproportionately affect the poor.

war wouldnt likely look like (many) US boots on the ground - we’ve got plenty of other places to be. It’d look like guns being smuggled to counter-protestors. It’d look like sending resources to neighboring countries like Colombia or Brazil who would then use their troops. Colombias ruling party is right wing populists - much of current president’s campaign was run on fearmongering abt venezuelan socialism - they’re raring to go. It’d look like drones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caracas_drone_attack. Also means there likely won’t be a sudden trigger, its a gradually escalating stressful gradually-more-warlike situation.

If war does break out - where would the refugees go? In reality the majority would go to Colombia, but if anything significant breaks out there will be a stream of those looking to find shelter in the US, which has advertised itself as a beacon of hope - what would happen to them? some may get taken in as a gesture of showmanship, but nowhere close to the majority.

speaking of the US - imagine if trump and bolton manage to actually plot a winning coup. Do you think that that wont be his main bullwark against ppl like Bernie? you think the media and rest of the democratic party wont jump on that narrative and “begrudgingly” support a fascist because the alternative might mean supporting single payer and not-having-good-for-ratings-climate-apocalypse?

another term thrown around without regard is “once vibrant” - for whom?

most articles ive seen just take this as an axiom, and dont find any cognitive dissonance when also saying chavez reduced poverty hugely.

The answer to that rhetorical question: Citgo is venezuelan, before chavez none of the wealth went back to venezuela - thats what “vibrancy” means.

many similarities with BP (the-artist-formerly-known-as-the-anglo-iranian-oil-company)

in age of climate change & vocal ppl about phasing out oil, the more one’s livelihood is connected to oil, the more unstable ones country will be - either that, or the more instability ones country will cause.

“Oil exports fell by $2,200 per capita from 2012 to 2016, of which $1,500 was due to the decline in oil prices.”

The drop in price that affected the venezuelan economy so much in 2014 was largely by US shale fracking

in 1970’s Chile, copper was the main product of Chile - allende nationalized the mines, and in return wall street dropped the

(also worth noting that venezuela’s got non-insignificant untapped shale basins)

At least venezuela used the oil money to fund social programs instead of like, pad the pockets of Raytheon.

also oil price wars in africa highly correlated w oil (whose annual production doesn’t even combined total venezuelas)

a couple ppl have raised concerns abt my strong stance on equivocal dismissal - if there’s a difference, if there’s some way of reading your statement that says “X country that the State Dept wants to invade is an anomoly in the otherwise free world”, then that’s acting to push the discourse towards normalization & invasion. It’s not “whataboutism”, just basic consistency.

now more than ever, narratives are affected by people. They may not be ones we had a hand in forging, but the way that we propagate them actually does have measurable effects on the larger-scale political outcomes. Always look for the base assumptions, as well as the direction

sure denounce Chavez. sure denounce Maduro. denounce Kim, Xi, Castro, anyone. But if there’s no equally or proportionally loud denunciations of the horrors perpetrated by allies - the “assumed”, “natural” violence, then you’re acting to reinforce the narrative of exceptionalism.

Just make sure after you take a breath, you denounce Saudi Arabia & Yemen, Israel for Palestine, the conditions which brought Argentinian/Brazillian, Brazilian coup, the US for Puerto Rico, the conditions which have murdered dozens of journalists in Mexico per year…

what people want most of all is stability. “A debate over whether it is mismanagement and corruption by the Maduro government or the sanctions that are the author of the crisis is largely irrelevant. The point is that a combination of the reliance on oil revenues and the sanctions policy has crushed the policy space for any stability in the country.”

government’s errors and tensions

fixed exchange rate -> black market

took 5 years to address changing relation between dollar & BsF, all the room between those two curves left a huge room for intensifying crises, though since it also corresponds with the death of chavez, it sorta makes sense.

antidemocratic actions and remarks by maduro

scattered responses filled w half-solutions

diversification needed, but how do you diversify an economy filled with rampant poverty, malnutrition, illiteracy…

(nominally begrudging) support for mineral extraction 12.4% of territory opened to extraction - “Special Economic Zone” as a method of managing decay

this is also what much of the reality of “economic diversification” looks like

not enough socialism. (even fox agrees!) Venezuela shows the limits of Social Democracy in countries living outside of the Imperial Core - esp the dangers if you’re in the crosshairs already bc of oil

started out as populism, gradually grew as confronted more. shows shaping influence on political organs from actions of foreign actors - if you’ve survived a coup before, you’re gonna become paranoid about any more of them - especially when the coup plotters say “hey lets do more coups”

also shows the weakness of only having a small number of charasmatic faces representing the movement - if one dies and theres no clear and popular replacement, then you’ll lose ppl who were largely brought in by the charisma, weakening your political project, and creating cracks for reactionary forces to take advantage of - especially in times of transition.

bourgeoisie still control a majority of the economy. Capitalist businesses are internally unaccountable, and in this age of intensified global trade, one can punish countries for straying from the pack by moving business & focus away. If you’re looking for dictatorships, look at the thousands of private companies run as dictatorships daily

capital flight is a real effect, precisely because socialism is fundamentally and irreconcilably against the self-interest of the bourgeoisie. not necessarily against the interest of the humans-who-are-also-bourgeois, but of the impersonal self-sustaining force of capital.

Have you ever pulled something out of an electrical socket, and seen a quick spark? The reason that occurs is bc of what’s called an induction current, which is a fancy physics word for flowing electricity not liking to suddenly change its flow. If you accidentally touch that spark, you might feel it, but youll live to tell the tale. But if you only take the plug out halfway & touch it, that’s a different story. Capital flows similarly.

my country (lithuania) has been facing sky-high emigration since the collapse of the USSR (with an added boost after 08-09), we have also consistently had one of the highest suicide rates in the world (#7), a minimum wage of about 3 Euros an hour (after a recent increase), as well as one of the highest prison populations in Europe (discounting Russia & Belarus… which like….)

when are we gonna be invaded? when will the US media talk about our pain?

oh wait, they did. We cried all pretty for the TV cameras, then they got a bozo nobody really knew of to denounce the government, who they called dictatorial (though it was far from ideal, massive bureaucracies dont tend to mix well with single-person-decision-making). And to be fair, the fact that the government was unpopular wasnt entirely undeserved. But what was promised to us was the idea of “Freedom”, “Free Enterprise”; to “Get Rid of Corruption” and institute “Real” Democracy". They said we’d be integrated into the glorious capitalist west, and we understood that to mean that we’d be in the position of a Germany, or at least an Austria or smth. But they never meant to integrate us into the imperial Core, we have always been seen as part of the Periphery - the “assumed” violence that “naturally” happens.

Then we got to where we our today. Some of the stuffs more available, but expensive. Most of the bureaucracy’s still around, it just helps fewer people. We stand as an example of what to expect, in one of the best case scenarios, you would join our emigrees now making up a significant percentage of underpaid house-servants aka maids across the EU.

if we want the people of Venezuela to be healthy, safe, and fulfilled, then:

speak out and pointing to the effects of US sanctions is incredibly important. They’ve already killed 40,000 people in the last year, and 300,000 more are in extreme danger (and millions more in long-term risk).

what does it mean when you simultaneously sanction trade with a place but also demand they let you give them humanitarian aid?

if there is to be action taken by the international community, then the US has forfeited its right to speak. They threw it away once in 2002, and obama rhetorically picked it up and dusted it off so that trump could throw it in a bigger dumpster, thats also on fire. However we also still live in a world deeply shaped by US Hegemony, so the opinions of its close trade partners & closest-knit media buds should be seen as influenced as such. Doesn’t mean that theyre wrong on everything too, but they still feel the magnetic pull of the US economy and ecosystem (as well as their own potentially imperial interests) and the effect of that force cannot be discounted.

transitioning our economies away from oil & away from globalized neoliberalism which only values peripheral states by their exports - dissolves tensions of how to produce in unproductive terrain

socialize medicine in the US, so that drug companies run by dictatorships can’t control their lives & ours. healthcare is especially reliant on imports, sanctions affect especially strongly.

normalize the ideas of Socialism, without taking the easy way out of “oh no dont think of Venezuela, think of sweden or denmark”. None of them are Socialist, but to avoid the complexities of Venezuela is to imagine that US attempts at socialism wouldn’t involve significant capital flight. If we don’t consider that, if we don’t have solid actionable plans to deal with that, while also facing the inherent complexity of changing material conditions, then we’re gonna waste whatever shot we get.

redirect conversation normally centered around government towards support of the tens of thousands of small business co-operatives, where people live their daily lives in a democratic manner.

on The Communes:

“delegating responsibility throughout all members, and bringing important decisions to the whole to work through and find the best possible solution… They create “collective criteria” together; agreements stipulating whether individuals have power over certain decisions or whether it is up to the whole group. However, he assures that these “are not rigid, they can change at any moment.” The cooperative I lived with in Venezuela had regular organizational meetings where they informally came to agreement and were even able to come back to re-evaluate decisions that didn´t seem to be satisfactory for the whole group in this same way. Decisions and decision making, in this way, are viewed as a process not contained by meetings and discussions in board rooms, but are always being analyzed and made better by the process of putting them into action, and not only by thinking them out and writing them down.”

- the “Self Government of the Producers” - aka what it looks like for cooks to govern.

they have communal councils as well - neighborhood councils in the same vein that so many (rightfully) find inspiring in Kurdistan . They preexisted chavez, but they were able to proliferate and be given legal recognition through him. I understand that legal recognition can act to ‘name’ a body & pin it to smth that doesn’t match its requisite variety - how dynamic it is, but imo as its currently legislated it recognizes a good amount of the autonomy that they had already been excersizing. - liable to change government recognition of co-ops has drawbacks too, and correlates negatively with that coop’s success

"A good example of this intention is the de-emphasis that cooperatives in Venezuela put on advertising or “marketing” products, and instead push to find more people to become part of the cooperative, and choose the services or products they provide based on community decisions about what is needed. A cooperative I worked in […] was originally a family owned and operated theater group that traveled around the country performing theater pieces that highlighted social and environmental issues. When they joined the […] cooperative, the larger co-op did an analysis and decided they wanted a natural fruit juice concentrate producer and gave the group a loan to acquire capital and start producing. They have been doing this for only a couple of years now but have already paid back the loan to the larger cooperative and are bringing extra money in to support themselves, better their services, and supply extra funds to the larger cooperative for community projects such as the recently [2012] built community health center…

The cooperative services I experienced and learned about in Venezuela were health, dental, food, and a separate example of trash services. A dental cooperative […] provides quality dental services (I know because I used them) almost every day for affordable prices. You don´t have to be a member of the cooperative, and you don´t have to make an appointment. It takes only a couple of hours, and emergency situations are treated with urgency. The health center, built with funds provided by all the associated cooperatives[…], works the same way. Anyone can go there, the services are subsidized by the cooperative so they are affordable, the clinic and workspaces are clean and well taken care of, and the quality of the service is great. Worker-members of the cooperative receive health care at the facility without charge except for the massage and acupuncture services that they also provide at a really low price.

[…] food services are priced to provide more access to food for the community in which it exists. The original and persistent intention is to make the best situation for people on all ends of the process. The producers are part of the cooperative and are part of the group that decides the prices that growers get, as well as the prices that the food is sold for. This means that both farmers and workers at the market decide what to charge a person, which ultimately affects how much money the growers receive, as well as if the food is affordable for the people who need to eat who live in the city. In a normal capitalist market system these parties are separated and put up against each other, raising prices for consumers and lowering them for small producers, excluding those people from getting enough money to afford all the necessities that are typically only provided at a high price.

One communal council, a parallel governing organization of community members linked to investment funds from the national government, in the city of Merida, Venezuela organized themselves to get funds to buy a trash collection truck. The truck at the time was used for a specific waste removal project that removed waste from their community regularly but was not a traditional collection service. However, they did have plans to expand the project to start their own collection service, and this would be provided by the commal council, an anti-capitalist organization which does not require people to pay for the service. Although this is not a “co-operative” as some hardliner co-operative enthusiasts might point out, it is a horizontal anti-capitalist organization widening access of necessary services to the larger community run by community members; following cooperative values of equity, inclusion, and solidarity I believe this to be an example of cooperative economics and action. It appears to me that economic inclusion is much more likely to widen only when those who are being excluded are included in the process of organizing the services and are in control of the economy.“

until the communes, workers cooperatives, and the like are strong enough to rule themselves, having Maduro in power is the only option given to us which doesn’t trigger the control of reactionaries. People make their own history, but not in situations of their choosing - the exact outcome isn’t predetermined, but there’s only a limited number of poles - gravitational attractors - towards which that trajectory is heading at any particular time.

if maduro acts to squash the power of the communes, then thats a different situation. but until that point, we outside of the country must work to center any discussion on these bodies - they are the heart of the country and of whatever social revolution has occurred/is further possible. They are filled with lessons for us to learn from, and show how rich and dynamic the organized populace can be if they are allowed to control their communities. (ex of dealing with gang violence from @ 22:50)

This is all said with recognition that many chavistas have acted against communes, the bureaucratic machine acts to co-opt much of their energy, its linguistically obscured the concept of "ownership” with that of “control”, and that the state has changed its messages over time. But the heart of the communes is what’s a priority, and they have acted against the government overstepping its bounds & mis-identifying them. But whats important is that there’s a feedback process in the gvt to actually allow them to assert their autonomy. Liberals will do their utmost to close those channels.

If Guaido and the Popular Will take control of power, be assured that whatever gains made in organizing the everyday people of Venezuela will be at the top of the chopping block. How effective that suppression turns out to be is undetermined - it might turn out to strengthen the communes, but that outcome would be damage control, not something to try and bullseye.

Effective Propaganda knows that its more effective to control what’s left out than control what’s put in. Keep that in mind, and study trajectories and forces.

other links:

https://next.podbay.fm/podcast/1363342644/e/1551711604

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voc08vh9cJY

https://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/21/a-cowboy-in-caracas/

https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2017/08/03/the-tragedy-of-venezuela/

https://www.multpl.com/venezuela-gdp

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/04/fivethirtyeights-venezuela-problem

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-venezeulas-middle-class-is-taking-to-the-streets/

https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/bjkmq8/fiery-protest-leader-leopoldo-lopez-faces-13-year-sentence-in-venezuela

https://potent.media/minimum-sentencing-for-marijuana-possession

https://www.thoughtco.com/core-and-periphery-1435410

https://popularresistance.org/building-the-commune-radical-democracy-in-venezuela/

http://www.antiwar.com/regions/regions.php?c=Venezuela

#venezuela #reference #imperialism #chavez #maduro #socialism #capitalism #extraction #oil #war #emigrant #communes #cooperatives

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riverrunscold · 5 years ago

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I sadly don't know your OCs, so a short introduction of them would be great c: Plus I'm curious if they have any 🌟Secrets that no one else knows about :) (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 And a few more extra stars for extra facts 😉)

Okay, hell yeah! I've been waiting for this moment!

Let's start with the OCs I created the earliest, around the end of last year or so (I've obviously had some before that but either can't remember them or don't care to).

From the story Proof of Time Travel

Camilla (Cam) Rossi - A black trans girl whose dad is Italian and mom is from the UK (both parents are black). Her dad moved to the UK to be with her mom, several years after, she was born. At a young age, her mom passed away from cancer and caused her and her father a lot of upset. She came out to her dad late middle school, explaining her identity to him. He was very supportive and helped her transition. She is best friends with the main character, they had been best friends since middle school. They meet back up with each other during senior year after losing touch. She can fluently speak both Italian and English. She is the mom friend. She wears a lot of cool outfits and is always doing cool things with her hair. Her make-up is amazing. She won't pick fights but will speak up for herself and others if she needs to. (Sorry. That wasn't brief :/). Last thing, She is an adult during the time of the story, she is going to a university to become a psychiatrist.

Alex Merhi - A dentist-in-training, they are a regular person. They identify as non-binary. But Alex's mom is a huge dick, she is very haughty and mean to most people. She even refuses to refer to Alex as anything but she/her and 'my daughter'. Her dad was a good person though, he was nice and accepting if Alex's identity. He was a fun and nice parent, and Alex had a hard time thinking why he would marry their mom in the first place. Alex's world came crashing down when their father passed away from alcohol poisoning when they were 18. Alex isn't necessarily a very brave person, they try to stay with what's familiar more often than not. They go to Cambridge. They live in a dinky flat and secretly pine for some sort of adventure. Alex's family is largely from Venezuela so they've known how to speak Spanish their whole life. Mommy issues and daddy issues. I apparently love to make my characters suffer. Yikes. Wears casual clothing and has long hair usually kept up in a messy bun. They also have vitiligo, shown by the large patch of white skin interrupting the tan skin on the top of their forehead (near the hairline) . (I might give up on making these brief 乁( •_• )ㄏ).

From I'll Be Gone a Spell (working title) or Aevum

Felicity Andronic - A trans witch from a Pangea like content called Aevum. A majority of her family comes from East Aevum but she's from a nation called Illecebrae and currently resides there. Most of her family being magically inclined. She has a pen sized staff that magically grows to the length of a typical staff when the orb on top is gently rubbed. The orb on top is a pale fuchsia color (which is her favorite color). She has a baby raven as her familiar which is named Adaire. She can sometimes read/hear premonitions when touching the orb on her staff, she can also project these premonitions into a visual form in the glass of the orb. She has a single dad named Alexander, her mom having died during childbirth. She has a big birth mark at the edge of her jaw, on the left side of her face, it goes up to the tip of her nose, in terms of length. It is similar in appearance to a flame. She wears medieval type clothing, mostly dark colored dresses.

Chad Benzar - He lives in Illecebrae with Felicity and is her best friend (who begrudgingly does most of her school work for her. Felicity's kind of a dumbass with school, she's more street smart and magic smart). He's a vampire and he is gay, which no one in Illecebrae cares about. Though some might dislike having a vampire around regardless. He's probably one of the smartest kids in his school and is related to natives of Aevum (he physically looks like an Aboriginal person). He plays competitive croquette for their school and is very good at it. He's a bit scrawny. Wears very small, beat up glasses. He's also very adventurous as a person, which most people believe contradicts his more timid appearance. Felicity is actually the more timid of the two, despite people thinking it's the other way around. He has two mom's (Vivienne and Anne) who are very private in their village because of some people's hatred for vampires after The War. Because Chad's adventurous, he goes running around a lot, not liking to stay in one place too long. He usually gives his moms heart attacks when he's gone off (probably teleporting himself into a tree, or climbing it, and or practicing his telekinesis and Sight) for too long.

From a current work with no title

Al Byun - Al's parents are kids of pretty strict Korean parents so they try to be understanding of Al and how they feel and what they want. They both love them and accept them. They also educate themselves on LGBTQ+ issues and try to be as kind to not only their child, but to others in the community. They are also absolute dorks whom I love. They can be ignorant in some areas, but not in a mean-spirited way. They are also willing to learn. Their names are Duri (mom) and Eun (dad). Though whenever Al visits their grandparents, they still get pressure from them to conform to a more traditional 'lifestyle'. They also use their dead name and pronouns. Al pretends it doesn't bother them. It does. They don't want to talk about what bothers them, they keep things bottled up, so they turn to some unsavory (according to their parents) coping mechanisms. Al is 17, and since their parents don't really want Al to get a tattoo, they gave themselves one. It hurt like a bitch and doesn't look that amazing. The tattoo is of a snake on their wrist, right below their thumb. '420 blaze it as the kids say!' - Al Byun.

Danielle Tsosie - A Native American teen, 17 years old. She is also trans. She is best friends with Al. She has hair dyed a pale pink and purple. Pink and purple are her favorite colors. She is very in touch with her ancestry because of her mother's talks about it. She has a lot of anxiety and has not come out to her mom yet about her identity. She doesn't talk to her mom about much even though she sometimes doubts she'd be upset. Danielle does little makeup, usually just some eyeliner and lipstick when she does. Smokes weed with Al on occasion.

#sorry it's so long #i know you saud brief but i love them #my ocs #ocs #al byun #danielle tsosie #Felicity Andronic #chad benzar #camilla rossi #alex merhi #i love them #original characters #lgbtq+#all of them are queer #im not sorry about it #¯\ (ツ) /¯#mibiscuit

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isas-identity · 6 years ago

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Hola! I’m not Venezuelan, but it makes me so sad to see all these people on the internet (and unfortionately some real life protestors I’ve encountered) talking over you guys. They should listen to Venezuelans who are experiencing the turmoil or at least do research into the Venezuelan crises and learn more. Wishing you the best!

The problem is mostly misinformation going around, and also the powerful nations fighting a volleyball game with Venezuela’s politics for their own benefit while all we want is to be left alone and for Maduro to go away because he’s useless and corrupt.

…politics be a bitch like that, i guess.

I imagine like a couple who fights and one of them wants to break up and the other one doesn’t, and all their 50 friends are taking stances on their relationship, making bets and getting in the middle of it.

not pretty.

But thanks for your support! And remember: Apart from whatever you support or whatever perspective you see, Venezuelans are actual people. Like, actual human people. With feelings and dreams who have to think about their childrens future and grandparent’s wellbeing. These people are dying of hunger and have to go through black-outs and eat from the garbage while their goverment laughs at them for whining about it and threatens to take away the little money and food support they give to you if you go against them .

It’s egoist and hypocritical to support a corrupt goverment who treats their civilians like that just because they defend an ideology you like, specially when you do not have to live under their administration or suffer what Venezuelans do.

anyone who does this should be ashamed of themselves.

#isa's ramblings #isa's asks #venezuela

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v-e-l-v-e-t-g-o-l-d-m-i-n-e · 6 years ago

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Given the fact that you're an actual brazilian lol I gotta ask: Did anyone believe two years ago that someone like Bolsonaro could win? Because I'm not an expert in brazilian politics but I'm really shocked, like we have a right wing president but he is like... a normal right wing asshole? As in he doesn't defend torture and so on. I guess I'm scared bc I see our countries as quite similar, I think Brasil is a little more conservative and you guys have more issues with crime but still similar.

This is really, really big, but I wanted to give you the full picture of what happened in my country. I hope it doesn’t happen on yours or any other country from Latin America (or anywhere, no one deserves it).

Honestly… it depends who you ask. His fans/electors have been yelling that Bolsonaro would be president for the good part of two, three years, but big part of the population didn’t take him seriously because he honestly sounds like a caricature. It’s hard to believe a person can be like this, and therefore people did not take him serious.

Big mistake, that was.

To give you a little context: during most of our democratic history (that isn’t very long), Brazil was ruled by right wing parties. We have several political parties in here, but the biggest one from the right wing side was PSDB (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira). The biggest political party on the left wing side is PT (Partido dos Trabalhadores).

Brazil was a military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985. This was a horrible, bloody piece of our history, and we only started to have a democratic state after 1985. During the years that followed, in most of the elections the main dispute was between PT and PSDB, PT always losing until 2002, when Lula aka Luís Inácio Lula da Silva won for elections.

Lula ruled from 2002 to 2010; a presidential term on Brazil lasts for four years, but we have reelections and Lula won a second term in 2006.

His time as a president was marked for several things. There was several social projects for poor people, projects to fight famine, to give finantial help to people who received too low income, projects to help poor people get into universities. They were not perfect projects by any means but I can assure you that it made a HUGE difference for millions of people in this country.

Another thing that marked Lula’s time as a president was the corruption scandals.

You see, it’s not that Brazil didn’t have corruption before, because corruption is in this country’s bones. But it was during Lula’s time as a president that we came to know how big the proportions of this corruption was. This was called the ‘mensalão’; Lula claimed that he did not know about it (which I doubt very much), but people from all political parties were implicated, including from PT.

Lula was still very popular and loved by many people, but this was the first seeds of the so called anti-petismo, that would take much bigger proportions later.

After Lula, we had Dilma Rousseff, also from PT, supported by Lula; her first term was from 2010 and 2014.

Dilma had little experience for this charge, and her time as president showed it. Her term was very mediocre, and popular insatisfaction began to rise, especially because of the World Cup that happened here on 2014 - a LOT of money was spent on it, and often the planning was really bad.

More popular insatisfaction rising; the elites were never happy to have a left wing party on power, but now middle class people started to being deluded that they were elite and anti-petismo started to get bigger. Dilma still won reelections in 2014, but it was a close call with her oponent.

Now we have a very divided country. And during the World Cup there was plenty of jobs everywhere, but after it there was a huge wave of unemployment all over the nation, the economy was a shambles. Even MORE popular insatisfaction. Things getting ugly and uglier by minute.

I won’t give you all details because this is already getting ridiculous long and it is a very long story, but Dilma suffered an impeachment. She was not very competent, but that was bullshit and clearly a coup, because we have recorded audios of the right wing opposition plotting to get her out so they could put in power her vice, Michel Temer, a right wing politic.

So now that’s still our president, Michel Temer. Just two years on power, but boy, the man did so much of damage all around, and no one, not people sympathetic to the left nor people sympathetic to the right like the man.

More popular insatisfaction, all around now. No one is happy in this country; everyone wants a change.

Now, take Bolsonaro, this dumb piece of shit we just elected. The man have been a congressist for 27 years. In this time he aproved like, two projects. In several opportunities he voted against the rights of poor people. You may remember the video of him talking with Ellen Page or Stephen Fry and how horrible that was. No one would want a horrible AND incompetent man like that as a president, right?

Right?

Well. Brazil have a wide variation of people in our nation and most people have black relatives, but we’re still a very racist, misogynistic, homophobic country. This people started to enjoy Bolsonaro’s speeches because they identify with him. Their mentality was something like… we need to stop the corruption in this country, and Bolsonaro will do it! Never mind he says that gay people should be beaten. That his white son would never marry a black woman because he received good education. That police should straight up invade favelas and kill poor people. That he said to a woman that the only reason he wouldn’t rape her was because she was not worth raping. They don’t care if women and queer people, and black and poor people get hurt or killed in this process; our lives are a small price to pay for them.

Now I do believe that even if this planet is loaded with horrible awful people, there’s still more good than bad. There’s still more good people than not, and how could good people vote for this man?

The means they used to get these votes was mass manipulation. Very similar tactics that Trump used in this campaign; dozen, hundreds of fake news all around. While in US they used mainly Facebook for this means, in Brazil they used an app called WhatsApp, because not everyone has facebook on Brazil but everyone has a cellphone and uses this app for easy communication.

In these groups they exalted that Bolsonaro would end corruption, would be a ‘correct christian man’, would stop the ‘LGBT doutrination of children on schools’. He would save this country. Mito (mith) is how his fans call him, or Messias (his middle name), and they absoluted demonized the opposition.

Now Bolsonaro is extreme right wing; the centrists and the normal right wing assholes are another story. PSDB tried to launch a candidate with no sucess, and PT was planning to launch Lula again as a candidate… but Lula was arrested in april (another bullshit). If he was not, he might have won; at least all the surveys showed Lula was more popular than even Bolsonaro. Because of that, PT tried to launch Lula as candidate even from inside prison, and of course, it didn’t work out, so there was a huge delay in PT choosing a candidate.

Eventually, Fernando Haddad was chosen. He’s a professor, a good man; was mayor of São Paulo. Was a ministry in Lula’s term, helped to create several education projects. But he was also not very known - I didn’t even know him until like four months ago.

The fact that he was not very well known helped a lot the pro-Bolsonaro groups to demonize the man and his vice. Many fake news were made up about him, stuff like him trying to legalize paedophilia, that he he was going to give a ‘gay kit’ for kids in school and therefore incentive the erotization of children, that he was a rapist. That he was against traditional family, but Bolsonaro would save the Brazilian Family. All of this being spread in those WhatsApp groups with little to no fiscalization, being spread out by hateful people and by people who don’t have a good grasp in politics and believe everything they read.

There was also a great demonization of PT as a party - oh no, you can’t let PT back on power again, right? PT is corrupt! They stole us! Don’t you remember mensalão? They DESTROYED the country, they’re gonna do it AGAIN, they BROKE this country and tore it apart (anyone would thing we lived in some sort of paradise before), PT is gonna transform this country in a COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIP we’re gonna be the next Venezuela.

(I kid you not. I heard this last part from my father’s mouth last time I saw him. People really believed this)

Nevermind that PT was on power for 14 years and we didn’t become communists and if anything they appllied a more centrist line of ruling the leftist; we can’t let PT win. Bolsonaro will save this country.

Now another thing you need to understand is that Bolsonaro is DUMB. He’s dumb as fuck. In the first part of the elections he showed up to a few presidential debates and said horrible things like “Portugueses (our collonizers) never even set foot on Africa, Black people slavered themselves” that caused some popular outtrage. For that reason, in the second part of the elections he didn’t showed up in any debate, least he opened his mouth and people realize the kind of person they were trying to elect to represent them. Bolsonaro also suffered an attack in September (was stabbed in the belly), which helped to incentivate his popularity (after all, the man is a martyr now).

These were the main ingredients that elected Bolsonaro. Anti-petismo, misguided and ignorant people being led on in a flood of fake news, fascists that knew exactly who they were electing, a refusal to hear good arguments, since his supporters think that every piece of evidence we have of Bolsonaro being a piece of garbage was edited or taken out of context (it was not).

They also had a little help from their American friends; in this picture you can see Eduardo Bolsonaro (the son of the piece of shit, also a piece of shit himself) cozying up with Steve Bannon, the white supremacist from Trump’s presidential campaign, and give yesterday’s results, his tips sure seem to have worked here too.

Edit: this article can also help you to understand a little the reasons of why he won:

Bolsonaro business backers accused of illegal Whatsapp fake news campaign

#fuegosdeoctubree #reply #replies #i'm sorry for the typos but i wrote this very quickly

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thedaveandkimmershow · 3 years ago

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And so, yesterday, we ended vacation number 2, our Disney vacation, with Linzy's rideshare spiriting her away from our hotel.

We began vacation number three, our peace-out days, by returning to our room and lazing away a few hours.

Around three in the afternoon, we called in a rideshare to Blizzard Beach.

This time our driver was a former banker from Venezuela who moved here three years ago with their family. We asked if any other family members were able to move here and they told us their parents couldn't get visas.

They're definitely not in love with their former homeland's government.

And glad to be here in this country.

We arrived at Blizzard Beach just shy of 3:30 and the very first thing we did was indulge a round of miniature golf right outside the entrance to the water park. I managed to document (ish) all 18 holes in a YouTube playlist called Winter Summerland Miniature Golf with Kimmer. :-)

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We finish a little after 4:30 and, by the time we slip into a pair of those lovely, lovely floating chairs at Blizzard Beach, it’s about 5.

Now I don't know when this happened, but it was still full-on sunny 'n hot when we finished our round of miniature golf. So I'm pretty sure it was still sunny when we used the dressing rooms.

After that?

No idea. The sun was also lower in the sky. For sure at some point while we were floating effortlessly on the river we both realized the outdoor temperature was probably not enough to air-dry us once we got out. For sure I knew the day had turned overcast when I looked up into the trees somewhere after we went through the mountain to spot the owl we were told was perched up in those trees.

And yeah.

It was totally up there.

A real, live owl.

Rotated its head and everything.

Okay, a coupla songs I wanna draw your attention to because they fit so perfectly with the experience of floating a lazy river. They played occasionally on outdoor speakers during each of our four visits:

"Kokomo" by The Beach Boys and

"Don't Worry" by Bob Marley.

They defined the experience.

And now for a plot twist.

Shortly after seeing the owl, coming up on quarter to six, we hear the unmistakable rumblings of thunder.

Shortly after that, one of the lifeguards tells us they probably have us get out of the river soon.

And on the heels of that statement, a crack of lightning with almost simultaneous thunder.

At which point the guards basically say Get out of the river...

Now.

So we hustle to the nearest exit point and get out.

More lightning, as we head to the front of the park.

More thunder... but farther away.

And then.

And then as we're coming within sight of the dressing rooms... two bolts of lightning race to the ground somewhere in front of us outside the park. Two bolts, racing each other, separated by maybe a mile. At the same time, the crackle of thunder and a vibration we can all feel beneath our feet.

It’s unnerving.

Absolutely.

Unnerving.

There are a lot of scared kids right about now, too.

By the time we get to our locker and dressing rooms, everything in the park's shut down tight. Including the place you go to get towels. You know, to dry off?

Because here's the thing: we just got out of the river. Now we've gotta throw on our clothes and hustle out of the park. And for me, I'm wearing the only shirt I brought with me. The one Kimmer got me that surfers use.

So there you go. We get dressed. We're still wet. And when we exit the park and get on the bus... the air conditioning on the bus is going full throttle.

And now we're freezing.

Free...

Zing.

The bus driver's cool, though... he shuts it off for us.

Once the bus is on the road a few minutes later, we get to talking with a mother and her son who are sitting across from us.

New York's their hometown and they’re both concerned about hurricane Henry that's predicted to make landfall along the New York coast on Monday.

The day they both fly home.

We felt anxious for them.

I really hope they make it home safe.

Now, we had a plan before this fire drill happened. We were maybe going to have dinner at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Kimmer had a better idea, though. The Rainforest Cafe at Disney's Animal Kingdom park. Now, I only ever saw an entrance to the restaurant inside the park... but it turns out there's an entrance after the security check point, before the park entrance, off to the left.

Go figure.

Inside The Rainforest Cafe, indulging an appetizer plate and ciders, it's incredibly amusing to watch their indoor rainstorm complete with lightning and thunder outside. Amusing because it’s soooo much more catastrophic and straight up scary outside.

Speaking of outside, this is definitely not the Pacific Northwest. Because when it rains back home, it's cold and wet. Here, it's just hot and humid no matter what. So because it was hot all day... the concrete absorbed all that heat from the sun and continued to be hot both during the rain and after. Causing steam to rise off the pavement even after it stopped raining.

It's a very. Cool look.

So all around there's steam rising from the ground. And even though it's been pouring rain this last hour or so, and even though it's now full-blown nighttime... it's still quite warm out. With the occasional flash of lightning far, far away inside the clouds.

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Here’s a little more of the lightning show if you wanna see more...

Finally, our ride shows up and we're on our way home.

This ride, however, turns out to be a blunt reminder that there are people so in over their heads... it breaks your heart. Or maybe they're fighting a losing battle. Or maybe…

They're simply running out of steam.

And I'm not even talking about people suffering from anything. I'm talking about the people, friends, family, who are valiantly trying to help those who are suffering. Whether that suffering's self-inflicted, the result of abuse, or the product of collateral damage.

They can't.

Keep.

This up.

For their friends or for their family.

They can't sustain the good fight. No matter how hard they try.

And yet.

They hear someone in pain tell them "I wanna stop. But I can't get it out of my head." And they still wanna help.

They see someone get arrested. And they wanna help.

They fully experience the weight of someone they love losing their life to meth, to heroin, to molly, to any number of addictions.

And they wanna help.

It's a tough conversation to be part of. At the end of it, though, Kimmer offers a pair of resources that help family and friends keep their heads above water:

Never Alone Recovery...

and Alanon.

And then we're home. And our day ends.

Okay so this morning we're up at 7-ish 'cause we've gotta check out by noon. And we don't need that process to be a fire drill.

So we ease into the day out on the balcony for the last time. We make and have the last omelet of our trip (mushrooms, rosemary ham, parisian cheese, and sun dried tomatoes) and savor it before beginning the process of packing our bags once again, cleaning out the refrigerator of all that Trader Joe's food we put in there and packing it for home, running the dishwasher, stripping the beds, and taking the last few photographs and a video of this place because it's worthy of such remembering.

By ten minutes after noon we're out the door and to the elevator where we meet a gentleman who's also checking out. When the elevator arrives, we get to talking and, when the doors open again, we exit into the hallway only to realize this is only the fourth floor. As in we've only traveled one floor down and here we are again.

Waiting for the elevator.

It takes awhile. And when it does arrive... it's packed with other travelers checking out. So we let that one go.

At some point, I'm not sure how or when, Kimmer 'n I both notice a luggage cart that's literally parked right next to/behind us. So we load all of our bags onto it and continue the wait and the conversation with our fellow traveler from Georgia who was triple checking his room before joining his family downstairs..

By ‘n by, actually just when he's about to give up and take the stairs... the elevator arrives.

We get on, now with a luggage cart in tow, the door closes, we go down, the door opens, we exit the elevator...

And now we're on the third floor.

This is definitely not going well. It also doesn't say much for our attention to, you know, detail.

Eventually our fellow traveler does take the stairs after we bid each other safe travels (he and his family have a six hour drive home ahead of them). And for the next few minutes we consider how poorly our attempt to leave this hotel is going.

When the elevator finally does arrive (again) we get in and observe very carefully that it travels the full distance to the ground floor.

And yes, a process that should've taken us thirty seconds just took us about fifteen minutes.

We are not proud of that achievement.

Neither is it going on our resumes.

By 12:30 we're checked out and we check our luggage in with the hotel to store for us whilst we enjoy that lazy river at Blizzard Beach one more time. It's actually the last of our "plus" visits including the miniature golf we played yesterday. So we're feeling good about buying the Disney Park Hopper Plus package.

At the gate, though, the biometric doesn't recognize any of my fingers... so the attendants call for Emily who scans my pass which somehow causes the biometric to recognize me, and thus...

Save the day.

Oh sure, it wasn't dramatic as all that. But it is a heckuva thing to be told I'm not who I've been this whole time while they were letting me into the park.

Anyway, they've only been using the device again since a couple days ago, Friday, so...

Yay Emily!!! 😁

Once inside the park, we're already wearing our swim suits so a few minutes later, around one, we're in the river. Not so lucky this time around with the floating chairs, we float the river on tubes instead until an elderly couple ahead of us at some point give theirs up as they exit the water. And then later I score one of those cool clear plastic ones with the green handles for Kimmer 'cause they're her favorite.

Aside from the musical tubes, it's a peaceful, super relaxing way to end our vacation floating around the edge of the park staring alternately up through the trees to the twinkling sunlight above. Not a care in the world right then. Just the two of us. 🙂♥️♥️♥️

A little over an hour later, about 2:15, Kimmer calls it 'cause we still need a little time to air-dry ourselves before heading back to the dressing rooms.

We kill that time with a grape fruit hefeweizen that the bartender not only loves herself... but she got her parents to try it and now they're big fans, too.

Three o'clock comes and goes and, five minutes later, we're in another rideshare talking Covid with the driver who's had it now twice. Who's had both injections. Whose former employer wouldn't allow employees to wear masks. Who was among a bunch of employees who got Covid early on that first time. Whose immune system's having a hard time. Who's undergoing a ton of medical tests. Whose lungs still haven't returned to full capacity. Who's frustrated and anxious, and worried about their future.

Now we're back at the hotel for a quick turnaround. All we've gotta do is grab our luggage from the hotel's storage and hail a rideshare. All of which we manage to do quickly, unlike our earlier attempted elevator ride prior to checkout.

It's a little after 330 by now and we're picked up by Manuel, a Hispanic gentleman from Queens. We only spend about 20 minutes with him... but it's a packed 20 minutes starting with our marriage and then how he married his high school sweetheart. I think they met in the early 80s (or before) so they're going on 40 years married.

Rideshare is a small part of what Manuel does, he's an accountant by trade. It's something he realized was his calling or strength when he was 18 or 19, eventually doing the books for local businesses and making sure they were right with the city regarding paperwork. It was during one of his visits to the city, filing some paperwork on-person, that he met a supervisor at city hall who was from Cuba... which opened his eyes to his own possibilities. Eventually, he went to work for the city himself.

Education is important to Manuel. Even if I didn't know that, what I would know about the man, what I would recognize in him... is a confidence born of expertise and wisdom. Someone with a command of life. Someone refined.

We spend our last minutes talking about our kids, the education we all sought out for them, and the education they received. Right up to the moment we’re pulling up to the curb in front of Southwest Airlines.

We end our time here in the company of a true gentleman.

After that?

Well, it’s just the trip home which is pretty anticlimactic.

We waited a bunch. Walked a bunch. Took a picture or two in front of the hotel where we stayed that one time we were treated to a Disney Cruise...

...and then walked a bunch more.

And then waited a bunch more until, eventually, we were on a plane and then we were on another plane... and that plane landed at Sea-Tac around 2AM, the next morning. Monday morning. And we got home around 3. With both of us scheduled to work first thing the same morning.

Yeah.

Not totally ideal.

The way I’d like to end this tale, though, is in the sky above Phoenix, Arizone.

You see the first leg of our journey home was Orlando to Phoenix. And, as we approached Phoenix, I noticed the dramatic shapes of the clouds in the glow of a sun that had already set.

If you haven’t noticed it before, next time you’re somewhere not home, look up into the sky. It seems the sky isn’t the same wherever we go. It takes on different personalities. Florida was like that for sure. And, it turns out, Phoenix.

It was glorious. It was brilliant.

It was a perfect “The End”.

If you’d like to see a little more of what we saw in these final moments, click here.

And enjoy!

🙂

#vacation #family vacation #Orlando #Phoenix #Seattle #coming home #Blizzard Beach #rainforest cafe #oatmeal bear #ending our vacation

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