#i wish he spoke more spanglish

[ffolty]

him

[qaxqxd]

Kinktober 2

♡: Miguel O'Hara x f!reader

Genre: Smut / little bit of angst

Warning: Mention of suggestive content, masturbation, sex toys, dom!Miguel, spanglish, soft sex, size kink

Word count: 1.2k

A/n: I love Oscar Issac characters 🤭

Summary: Your boyfriend was out being Spider-Man and at the Spider-HQ. While you sat home needing pleasure.

Miguel O'Hara

Your boyfriend, the one you've been dating for 3 years and been living with, is Spider-Man. Who would've known.

You, of course he told you. You were the sun to his days, and the stars to his night.

You sort of understood why he was busy now. The days he disappeared and came back.

Now he's busy, sometimes he'd be too busy to spend time with you. All because "the faith of the multiverse lies in his hand"

He would say it all the time. Sometimes you would wish the multiverse would just pause.

You just finished your period, so you started ovulating. It was midnight.

Needing to feel friction between your legs. But your boyfriend wasn't there. So you had to resort to other options.

Toys.

You got toys for yourself, well your friends did for a "prank" during Christmas. Not just one but a whole box. 

Miguel didn't know about this.

You just had them stored in your personal drawer.

Now it just sat in the apartment you and Miguel shared.

So why not use it for a bit? It's not like Miguel would know. If he found out it would hurt his pride and ego.

But he wasn't going to find out, fuck he barely comes homes for that matter.

So you grab the pink toy out of your drawer. It came with a remote control. Sliding down your underwear.

You prep yourself with your two unsatisfied fingers, and insert the pink toy.

You let out a small moan. It wasn't as big as your boyfriend, but it will make do. 

You turned on the remote and turned it on the lowest setting working your way up. Small pants would leave you but that was it.

That when you heard the door. You scramble the sheets over you. You didn't have enough time to turn it off, as the remote fell on the floor.

It must have upped the speed, because you felt a speedier vibration in your cunt. Cause you to choke up a few moans.

The hunk of man walked into your shared bedroom.

"Miguel?" You rasp, you were surprised he came home, he would have texted you ahead or something.

He still had his hologram suit on.

"(Y/n)? You're still awake?" He asked, closing the door behind him. "I– was busy." You replied with a huff.

You glimpse at the toy's remote on the floor. You didn't want to make eye contact with it, since Miguel would find it.

But it seems to be too late.

Because he picked it up, examining it. "And what is this?" He glared at you. "Wait don't—" You let out a moan as he turned up the speed.

When realized what it was, he lifted up the blankets. He let out a low chuckle.

"Busy, you say?" He smirks, dipping into bed. Your face flustered a rose color. "You haven't come yet, have you?" He spoke in a flirtatious tone.

You shook your head. "I... want to. You haven't been home for a while." You looked away feeling a little disappointed. 

Miguel's face softened. As he pulled the toy from your soaked cunt. You could tell he was sort of pissed from the toy touching you.

You laid on your back as he lifted your leg up.

"I've been neglecting you haven't I, mi vida?" He kissed up to your thigh. You nodded. "I'll make up for it, okay? I'll make you feel good." He mutters against your skin.

He made his lips to your lower lips, he placed the toy up to your clit. He started to use his tongue to pleasure you, eating you out and pushing his tongue in and out.

It ripped a few moans from you, edging you to your first orgasm. He let you ride it out for a bit. You held onto his brown locks, riding his nose.

Before sticking his large two fingers into you, pumping them. You jolted slightly to the feeling. More moans and whimpering started to slip out of you.

Before you knew it, he inserted a third finger. Which got you to climax on his finger. Your slick on his fingers he pulled out seeing the clear liquid.

He let out a low chuckle as Miguel's suit hologram faded. Showing nothing but his fat cock. It was rock hard. It was on top of your stomach.

You could feel your core dripping with aroused. You wanted to feel him so bad. "Tell me when it's too much, m'kay?" He kissed your neck.

As he slid in the head of his cock into you, letting out a choked moan. It was only the head and you felt as if he was stretching you out.

"Such a pretty small cunt, 'ust for me." He started sliding his cock in more. Your back arched, feeling him stretch you out even more.

You could see the stomach bulge he gave you. You mewl and whine, on his cock.

"You're squeezing me, Mami." He grinned at the size difference between you two. He was such a big man as for you, you were such a small lady.

Miguel gripped the fat of your thigh. He bullied his cock all the way to your cervix, kissing it deeply. You let out hoarse moans. 

He started thrusting at a satisfying pace. Every thrust was another moan out of you. You could feel your third orgasm build up.

Miguel deepens his thrust everytime, almost always hitting your g-spot. You gripped his arm tightly.

Digging moon crescent on his arm. One final thrust and you spill on his cock. His still hard cock soaks with your come. You squeeze him tight underneath, hearing a grunt from Miguel.

"3rd one, already? Impressive, Mami" he praised you, by whispering sweet little nothings into your ear. He started kissing and nibbling on your neck.

You whimper as you feel your legs trembling. "Can you do one 'ore? 'ust for me?" He mutters against your neck.

"Mmphm" You agreed. He smiled, tucking a loose strang of hair behind your ear. He kissed your temple, starting to move around inside your stomach.

He started moving again, a quicker place than earlier, but still pleasurable. You felt like you were seeing stars, your eyes rolled back.

You were squeezing him so desperately, wanting him to stay inside you. He pulled out to come on your stomach.

A thick salty smell dripped from his cock, all over your stomach, little grunts you could hear by him.

Miguel got off of you, grabbing a damp towel to clean you, he threw the towel on the floor and held you close to him.

You were lying on his chest. 

Half asleep.

He was going to stay here with you, until you didn't need him anymore.

"Why did you come home? You usually never do that." You hum.

"I had spidey-sense you were in need of help." He puffed.

Not knowing Lyla was really the reason why he showed up. She told him you were in need.

[alexstorm]

https://alexstorm.tumblr.com/post/190919042622/about-the-language-barrier-i-remember-someone

I just saw this plus another ask on somanylolas that I had seen a while ago that Louise has said they speak in French. And it was early 2020. Just last year at Rock en Seine we saw that Alex couldn’t even put literally four words together quickly and and it took him a little bit to finally form that (“maintenant notre nouvelle chanson”). I’ve also read her interviews and don’t remember her saying anything about the language they speak in and have never seen the comment mentioned in the ask linked above. I wanna know if she really has said that and are there screenshots?! I’m pretty sure they don’t speak in French and I wouldn’t be surprised cause this is not the first time she’s lied

I can't remember her having said that either. I assumed that anon was referring to another anon or something.

I do remember that she was bragging about having "invented" a new language for her songs which was quite funny for us at the time because she was just speaking Frenglish which is a pretty common mix in any language (i.e. Spanglish, Swenglish, etc.). And if you watch her Désert Live video you even get a visual with how clueless she is about English. lmao

I always had anons coming in claiming they spoke French with each other but there's no actual proof of that apart from a tweet that was very sus. Like you mentioned he clearly isn't fluent. The Hives spoke more fluently at Rock En Seine than Alex ever did. Alex spoke German more fluently than he ever did French. It's just wishful thinking from Louise Lovers or something the same way they wanna tell us her English has improved. Her IG captions would disagree there.

[kidcooper02]

MY SUPER AWESOME THOUGHTS ON BLUE BEETLE 06

Finally finished it! I enjoyed every minute of it man, it took me about a week? Anyway, god I love Jaime so much, he was a fantastic main character.

I loved seeing his struggles as they were so on the nose of what someone in his position WOULD think. The fear of it all overshadowing any moment of "huh that was cool." God and just...those first issues were heart wrenching. He was gone for a whole year....his family's reactions OUUGHH and the flashback of how he lost said year. JAIME ON THE FLOOR REMEMBERING HOW AFRAID HE WAS TO DIE ALONE ☹☹☹ I loved the themes the run dealt with, the themes of death and what does duty mean to you. It was a super interesting read and one of my favorite things to see superheroes handle

Anyway...CHARACTERS, Again, Jaime fufilled his main character role so well, I don't think anyone overshadowed him. And he was too fucking relatable my god....like I can't even believe how much I could see myself in him. I really liked the fact that they never forgot to highlight Jaime's normality and the mundane things we wants and thinks of. Being characterized as kind of a nerd AND becoming a geek too because of Ted's notes....its so nice to see nerd Mexican rep 🙏🙏 I also found it charming that hes so small lol now that's fucking accurate. And the way he spoke was just, timeless. So on par with younger gen dialogue I thought he was so funny.

And moving on to the struggle to find his own identity in being a legacy hero without ever meeting the predecessors....that whole last issue was painful but in a good way. I really enjoyed it.

BRENDA AND PACO, I absolutely adored them, Paco only knowing Spanglish hes just like me fr AND BRENDA I really wish they showed her off more with her aikido but I also loved that she was the brains for a bit. And I loved that the friend group was well rounded! You could see how all three of them cared and loved each other it never felt like someone was shoved aside. And I loved that they were so ride or die and that Jaime immediately was like "omg guys there's a voice in my head" and they went "no fucking way what's it saying?"

JAIME'S FAMILY ☹☹☹☹ also so accurate I adored them... I liked that with all their love, they also weren't afraid to let Jaime know when he was fucking up without it being a whole big mess. Again, very accurate to keep the family unit so close but not afraid to call out shit within the circle. And his and Milagro's relationship...oml my brother and I fr

PEACEMAKER Loved that Jaime kept trying to make him his mentor and he WAS even if he denied it. I really liked the role he played here, I think it was a good thing to expose Jaime to the lows of cape life out the gate. The kinds of thoughts Khaji da would put in his head, the brutality of the Reach, and the choices he needed to make, I'm glad Peacemaker came out the gate to let him know the hard parts so Jaime was able to triumph through the bad.

HECTOR, NADIA, AND TRACI, I actually really Hector and Nadia! It was cool again to round out the cast with only Latinos and letting them be the guys in the chair ah I loved it. Hector was so goofy and I loved Nadia's "eccentricity." I wish Traci got to do more here or at least get to have more dialogue outside of her relationship with Jaime. I loved that she was the confident one in the relationship and that you can tell she's having fun with what she does. I'd like to read more of her own stories because in this run I felt she kindaaa bordered "manic pixie dream girl" but she also wasn't there enough for a final answer. My favorite moment with her was at Jaime's family reunion and she had all the babies that was cute.

And real quick, loved the rep of the Posse, they were allies but also did some shady shit and Jaime had to be like "hmm I'm friends with some strange people" just like my family fr 🙏🙏 (FORLEGALREASONSTHATSAJOKE)

ALSO THAT WHOLE ISSUE WITH THE TITANS WAS HILARIOUS I LOVED IT SO MUCH

Favorite moments in the whole run; every time Brenda called a girl hot, "YOU CAN'T CALL ME PENDEJO, YOU'RE VANILLA", Paco beating dentist Jaime, all the conversations Jaime had with his parents, Jaime kicking ass without Scarab and saying "Blue Beetles don't need powers!", Traci watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Anubis and Devil Dog lmao, "are any of you old enough to drink", and of course, "one behind this? Rich white guy, just saying."

The ART!!!!!! I ADORE HOW FUN BLUE BEETLE IS TO LOOK AT AHHH I LOVED HIS DESIGN AND HOW THEY DREW HIS EXPRESSIONS AND THE COLORS AND ALL THE DIFFERENT PEOPLE SURROUNDING HIM! THEY LOOK LIKE US, JAIME LITERALLY LOOKS LIKE MY BROTHER IN HIGH SCHOOL AND I LITERALLY HAVE A PIC WHERE I LOOK EXACTLY LIKE MILAGRO. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN TO ABSORB

I loved this run so much, definitely would and will be rereading it, 9/10

One last thing

I fucking loved that Jaime made this face all the damn time cuz I also make this face all the time so true bestie

[jjungkookislife]

Hello hello! I ve been EXHAUSTED for the last couple of weeks (work lol), but now that I have had more free time, I can fangirl to my heart´s content. I hope you are in better conditions! Hehe.

YEEES, This idea sounds lovely, I can imagine all the nice things that Jimin and OC can do in this kind of scenario and I go 🥰

I enjoy that you have noticed that I noticed the OC workaround (See? writing is hard this is why I only read) 🧐

And sure! OC being a sucker for him will be very interesting. How will she act/react? And under what circumstances? Maybe here the little notes situation can fit!

Now that you mention how Jimin knows how he feels to be left out, will be there any flashbacks of his time away? Of how he managed and probably how he imagined his reunion with OC would be like? However it was back in the day, he is now so loved 💕 I also wanna see how he slowly turns into a family member that even outsiders would be like: Ah yeah, Jimin Park, son of OC´s mom 😩

Awww, they really were each other´s shadow when they were little 🤧 I understand better your pov with your background involved, thats why he loves her so much 😭 And of course he laughs! Who doesnt want a childhood sweetheart as their lover 🥰 Will we be able to read one of those scenarios when men poorly shot their "best" shot? That would be hilarious.

Im so sorry to be asking everytime if we will get to see this and see that, you may already have a timeline or some scenarios occuring (as these two you mentioned) but I cant help it! I do it not as a request, I do it cause Im curious. Rather than asking to have them written or not, I would like to know your opinion of them, would that be factible, will there be any differences? Is just so fun to daydream.

Once again thank you thank you thank you for your work and response! I recently logged in again in here and saw the notification on the phone, but I literally need to sit with my laptop, read the last we spoke and remember where I left off to actually respond accordingly. Im so happy to have found your blog! I truly enjoy your interactions and I wish you the best for the rest of the week at work or wherever you may be at now 😊 Take care and rest a looot.

P.D. I LOVE GO GO HEART JIMIN VERSION, I go feral seeing him there, is one of my fav looks on him 😭 In response I wanna share this edit of him serenating with mariachi, a troka (Spanglish for truck), classic flowers (Tae holding them) and chocolates, and with a plane writing a message on the sky (Spanish for "Whats up mommy?") These kind of BTS memes in local situations are quite popular here in Mexico beucase they are beyond ridiculous but so much fun. I have more from what that came from hehe.

Hello! Sorry it took so long to respond, I've been working and then I get so tired on my days off! How are you?

I haven't written anything so far for hhh!jimin, but I definitely daydream way too much lol but I definitely wanna include oc writing little notes for jimin but it's harder since he works from home and ana doesn't seem like the type to keep a secret from jimin lol

Ooh, if I wrote about Jimin's past it would definitely be angsty. He'd try not to think about being shipped off to his aunt and uncle and they definitely treated him like a son, unlike his parents so he has a really good relationship with them but sometimes he wonders if he did anything to make his parents not want him around :( it doesn't bother him as an adult much since he's been known to cut people out without a second thought instead of trying to make the relationship work.

Yes, definitely! That's one of the drabbles I have planned. oc and Jimin go visit Jungkook's bar to catch up with him and Namjoon but also to meet the rest of oc's friends. I'm not sure how the plot will go but I hope to write it soon :)

I might write the Easter drabble first since I just got the cutest idea lol I'll have to write it down before I forget so i can plot around it later.

Thank you for sending in an ask <3 it made my day and I couldn't wait to respond :) I hope you have a good day/night? :)

I've seen those memes lol I'm Mexican and speak Spanish/spanglish? I'm originally from Texas lmao my husband wanted to get me a serenata but I'm too awkward but maybe I can get him to buy me a ramo buchon hmmm lol

Thank you again for sending an ask <3 I appreciate it so much!

[somethinwickedthiswayrides]

Hey beautiful, I’m a new follower but I love your stuff! Hopefully requests are still open, I was wondering if we could get some drunk headcannons for the men in camp, specifically Charles Arthur and Javier ❣️

OH-HO-HO! They most certainly are lovely! :D I only did the three you specifically asked for, but I may do more down the line! This was fun! sorry if they’re a bit short.

Charles

I honestly think Charles would be rather hard to get more then tipsy.

He'd have a high tolerance to alcohol.

Plus he may or may not have some trust issues with the people in camp.

Not that they would hurt/kill him.

More like they would prank the hell out of him.

This distrust would mostly come from Sean and Karen.

He's seen it happen to Bill, Arthur, and Susan.

He even once heard rumors about someone poorly shaving and cutting the hair of a drunk Dutch.

By the look on Dutch's face when these rumors arise he assumes they'd be true.

But if he was able to find someone to get good and properly drunk with?

This normally calm and stoic man would turn giggly.

He'd have a constant grin plastered on his face that he couldn't wipe off.

Would be laughing and cracking jokes.

If he was drunk with his S/O he'd be rather touchy too.

Not to the point of full on constant cuddles. (yet)

But always touching, their arms, legs, back, shoulders, ect.

Just wherever he has access to a bit of skin.

Arthur

Well, we've all seen what he's like drunk.

*cough*A Quiet Time anyone?*cough*

Basically just turns into a giant friggin goofball.

Also turns into quite the rambler.

The alcohol pretty much holds his inhibition hostage at gunpoint.

Judging by the amount of liquor he and Lenny are drinking, both of them can hold it pretty well.

If he's drunk with his S/O he's very loving, constantly praising them and telling them how much he doesn't deserve them.

Constant kisses too, everywhere, lips, face, neck, chest, shoulders, stomach, legs, ect.

Anywhere he can kiss, he will.

Javier

Becomes a rather chatty drunk, talks, sings, flirts, you name it.

Will talk about Mexico, wishes, dreams, ect.

Will also not realize he's talking in spanglish for parts of it, so if you only spoke one of the languages, good luck trying to figure out what he's saying.

Also becomes a horndog, he will be trying his damnedest to take someone to bed with him.

Has a decent tolerance, not as high as Arthur or Charles, but it's higher than normal.

If he's drunk with his S/O the horndog levels just skyrocket.

His chatter turns into pure dirty talk about what he wants to do to them, or what he wants them to do to him.

He will be leaving hickeys anywhere and everywhere he can reach.

Extremely touchy, especially loves grabbing their butt.

[ambivalentangst]

Hi!! Could you do “forced to beg” with langst? Dark!shiro would be cool but that’s entirely optional. Thank u!!

Of course! In terms of incorporating dark!shiro I just basically had Haggar taking control of Kuron sooner to take care of what she saw as a threat to her plans, that threat being Lance. Enjoy!

Want to help me reach bingo? Check out this post for more info

tw: verbal abuse, threats of torture, descriptions of violence, burn wounds

Lance wondered as Shiro’s hand locked around the back of his neck, how mad Allura would be at him if he just bit the bullet and started antagonizing him. There hadn’t been much time, but once they were out of the thick of the mission and a planet full of people was in less danger of actually being annihilated, she’d pulled him aside and tearfully given him a smack upside the head.

“Don’t you ever do anything like that again,” she’d hissed. Lance made something weakly resembling a promise and only got out alive because Lotor had shown up to ask for her help on the ships.

Shiro—not Shiro—tightened his grip. 

The irony of the situation, the way the hold vaguely resembled that of a mother cat toting a kitten, was not lost on Lance. He hummed and wished he didn’t have a prosthetic arm ready to blister the flesh off his body and cauterize it all in the same instant. If not, he might’ve at least been allowed the simple stress reliever of tapping his foot. “So, is this, like, an existential crisis or something, or—”

Lance felt the metal growing warm and bit his tongue.

“Shut up for once in your life, Lance, and listen for a second. I’ll only say this once.” Lance swallowed thickly but wasn’t feeling confident enough to push his limits. The thing that wore Shiro’s face growled in his ear. “Nobody else on the castle knows that we’re here, nobody is coming to save you. That just leaves you and I. The leader of the group, and his useless right hand.”

Lance ignored how the dig at his position on the team stung and rolled his eyes. “Wow, really feeling the love,” he sneered before he could stop himself. He felt a single fingertip heat, and yelped for the moment it scalded his skin before Shiro pulled it away. Lance knew that it was a mere warning of the arm’s full capabilities.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?” Lance didn’t allow himself to make some smartass comment about the pointlessness of rhetorical questions. The burn smarted irritatingly. He sounded less calm and malicious when he spoke again. Lance tried not to sweat at the threat annoyance provided as it crept into his tone. Annoyance, anger, was volatile. Lance didn’t want anybody holding him hostage feeling too capricious. He did his best to be a more docile prisoner.

“For someone as stupid as you can be, you’re perceptive as hell about the strangest things. It’s too bad for you that you picked up on me, or rather, who I’m not.” Lance pretty much already knew it, but the admission still sent shivers down his spine. “So that just begs the question of what to do with a pest like you.” Lance swallowed and felt too much pride when he choked back a whimper. The thing masquerading as Lance’s hero seemed sadistically pleased with himself as he continued. “I could just kill you and be done with it. What do you think, another accident with the airlock?” Lance’s heart skipped a beat. How did he even know about that? “Training on a higher level than you should be? That’d be messier, of course, but it’ll get the job done all the same. It depends on how much farther you stretch my patience.” Lance desperately fought back the tears trying to rise in his eyes.

He’d always been chatty, it was how he dealt with anything the world threw his way. Kids teasing him for his accent? He cussed them out in the most colorful array of Spanglish ever brought into existence. Got a bad score on a test? Lance recited the prayers his religious grandmother had instilled him until garish red marks on paper were nothing but a blurry memory. At the moment, he just did his best not to sob.

“Or, I could trap you in a pod and ship you off to the Galra, telling the team all about your betrayal. The druids can squeeze just about anything you know out of you, given time. What do you think?” Lance bit his lip. He wasn’t sure if it was just another question he wasn’t supposed to answer in his monologue and wasn’t willing to risk the kind of wounds the thing holding him could create if he broke his silence.

Shiro chuckled, and out of the corner of Lance’s eye, he caught an unnatural, violet glow to the same grey eyes that had once looked to Lance with affection. “It’s alright, I’m asking. You can speak.”

Lance’s voice was shakier than he would have liked when it came warbling from his throat. “I don’t know. You’ve provided me with so many great options; I can’t possibly choose just one.”

He gritted his teeth to keep from making a sound when two fingers this time left burns on the tan surface of Lance’s neck, both worse than the first. “How about this?” Shiro began softly, dangerously. “You tell me which you prefer. You suffer alone under the witches’ hands, or Allura doesn’t have a shoulder to cry on when they find your body. Hunk won’t have you there to crack a joke and make him feel better. Pidge—”

Lance couldn’t stand it and his horror spilled from his lips in a clumsy shout. “No! No, I’ll go, just don’t make them go through that, or any pain. I’m the only one you have a problem with.” Lance would curse himself every day he spent strapped to a table, for not telling someone, anyone that he thought something was wrong with Shiro—not Shiro—before it had come to this.

He could all but feel Shiro’s menacing grin mangling his kind face. “Oh, I don’t think you mean that, Lance.”

Panic seized him mercilessly, squeezing his heart in its vice. “Of course I do! They’re my team, I would never—”

Lance’s short scream abruptly pierced through his indignation.

“You didn’t let me finish.” Shiro waited for Lance’s pained pants to get softer before continuing. “If you want them spared, you’ll beg. You’re always so concerned about the wellbeing of everyone, you’re not good at listening to your leader.” Lance couldn’t stop the soft sound of fear from spilling past his lips. It was humiliating, this thing was already stealing Lance’s life, was only delaying the inevitable, why wasn’t it enough? Another blaze of heat from the arm and Lance howled. “I’m waiting.”

Lance choked on his own tongue, the pain blurring his vision and slowly crushing his fight. “Please,” he whispered, the word strangled. “Please, spare them. I’ll do anything you want, just don’t hurt them.”

Shiro’s chuckle was dark and velvety in the space filled with Lance’s sinking stomach and the tears trekking soundlessly down the curve of his cheeks. “Have fun with the druids, Lance.” Lance was almost grateful for the way Shiro’s hand finally clamped down altogether on his neck in order to slam his head into the ground. It was the only rest he would be getting for a long time.

[theparaminds]

Independency in the music industry is possibly the greatest challenge an artist can take on, to keep themselves on track and work with what’s available to create something special is an entire talent on its own. For 17 year old Victor, this is just a daily occurrence.

Making music out of his bedroom with whatever is available to him, Victor has created a landscape of soft and soothing tracks which he hopes will empower those who share the same roots as he does, as well as the social hardships he’s overcome. 

Paramind has had the unique opportunity to speak with Victor, not only on himself, but also about his story, fans and one of a kind sound. 

Paramind: First question as always, how's your day going?

Victor: My day is going well. I woke up at 6am to shower and I went back to bed and finished a few episodes of Law and Order. My room was cold so I had the heat on blast and ended up falling asleep again until 1pm. I might go to Dave and Busters later with my best friend, Julian.

PM: To begin at the starting of your musical journey, where would you say the decision to take music seriously came from, and more so, what influences in your childhood affect this moment?

V: My decision to take music seriously was a product of stress and boredom. I just woke up one day and said, “hey, fuck it, if I can make trap beats for my friends I can make beats for myself”. It's funny because the first song that I ever put out was so bad, yet people messaged me everywhere encouraging me to "make more please" and "this shit slaps". The song was probably a minute and a half in length and it was called "Run". I released the song last summer in a Facebook video, which was just a Sailor Moon gif of Usagi running, hence the song title, "Run". While the song was definitely one of my worst, I can't deny that I had fun making it. That pushed me to start making more. As far as childhood influences go, I owe a lot of this to my family which is made up of musicians left and right. My mom was lead pop singer in a Mexican band called "Ecstasis", they made a lot of synth-pop. My dad and his entire family are made up of mariachi music and gigs. My uncle is a worship leader at my local church. A lot of this is just experience that I grew up with and learned from.

PM: Would you say you were normal growing up? If so, do you wish you had strayed outside the box more, and if not, what did being an outsider teach you?

I was not normal at all. My close friends will know this and I always bring it up, but I grew up in a very religious household. My parents met at church and at some point they led the worship team there. I wasn't allowed to listen to any music with labels "explicit" or "dirty" on it. I remember using Limewire on my dad's computer and I remember he'd get worked up when he saw me downloading "explicit" music. My mom wouldn't let me watch certain TV shows. She hated Dexter's Laboratory because he'd say "stupid" a lot and in retrospect, she didn't want me picking up foul language which I understand now. Although I do wish my parents would've let me explore as a kid, I am grateful that I wasn't "normal". I was never the cool kid growing up so I didn't feel the need to try and fit in with anyone. I'd just do me and to this day that's how it's always been.

PM: You display very proudly that your roots are Mexican-American, acknowledging its importance into your sound, with a growing number of artists such as Cuco and Omar Apollo doing the same. Leading to the question of what is the importance of representing your heritage in your music and allowing it to influence your sound, especially in the world we're living in currently?

V: Being a Mexican-American boy has always been hard for me. My first language is Spanish, so up until the third grade, I was in ESL classes. Fortunately for me, I'm a fast learner so I picked up English quickly. My accent was not the best though, so all the white kids (I was living in the suburbs) would make fun of me when I mispronounced something. For a long time I would feel ashamed of being Mexican and I would feel embarrassed whenever my parents spoke Spanish in front of my friends in fear of getting made fun of. Looking back now it was so stupid but I feel that a lot of people like me went through it. We eventually lost our suburban home and moved out to Little Village, Chicago. The majority of Little Village is Hispanic, so I went to school with a bunch of brown kids and I think that is when I felt more comfortable with myself. After stumbling upon Cuco on the internet one day, I remember feeling cool. I thought to myself, "People can sing in Spanglish like this? Over synth-pop beats?" People like Omar Banos make me feel proud to be Mexican and I think that brown kids deserve opportunities in every industry and place.  This encourages me to speak about my heritage. It's who I am. I wanna represent those Little Village kids. I wanna represent my family. My parents are immigrants and although they split and I'm living with my mom now, I still worry about them both and pray that they don't get taken or some shit. I'd be so bummed. No one should live in fear of their parents being taken away. The evil of this world gets stronger but music is my family's anchor and that's what I will always hold on to.

PM: You also work with no management team or label backing, what surprise positives have you found in that route?

V: I had something like a "personal manager" for a few months, my friend Sydnie Giles. We're both juniors in high school right now, and she's planning on a music business career. She'd help me by writing out emails and offering advice. She wasn't hired or anything (we're both broke high school students) but her passion for music drove her to help me out and encourage my growth as a solo artist. Besides that, I've had no real management or label reach out to me or "pick me up". I remember being on the phone with Omar Apollo a week or two ago and we had a small discussion about management. That discussion was a wake up call for me, and I decided to stop working with Sydnie for now (we are still close friends and it ended on good terms). I've found in having no management or label are that I have full creative control and I don't have to follow any schedule. In other words, I am able to work on my own time and I get to keep any profit that I make. I'm also able to put together my own team and that means that when I win, my friends win as well. It feels good to be doing this at 17.

PM: Now before we can talk about your music, It's always good to know where it comes from, so what have been your biggest musical influences and how have they changed you?

V: It's difficult to point out influences when you're constantly influenced by everything around you. I listen to Blonde at least three times a day, but it doesn't make me want to get up and work on a new song. Sometimes my friend will tell me about her boy problems and that will strike up a song. Sometimes I'll be scrolling through my camera roll and admire my girlfriend for like fifteen minutes. That will make me get up and write a song. I don't really have big musical influences, but I do enjoy listening to Omar Apollo, Frank Ocean, Michael Seyer, and HOMESHAKE. These are all people I look up to as artists and I have many more. I find that my friendships shape me more than anything else.

PM: Who do you hope to inspire with your music and what do you want your legacy to be 200 years from now?

V: I hope to inspire the kids with broken computers and broken families. I've been through a lot of shit but it hasn't stopped me from creating and doing the things that I love most. You don't need a studio to make bangers. It's okay if your family is financially unstable. It's okay if your dad isn't around. It's okay if you're not poppin' at school. Do what you gotta do and pour your heart into it. My legacy in 200 years? Shit, I don't know. I don't know if I'll make it that big for people to remember me 200 years from now. I know what I want 200 years from now to look like, though. I just wanna see more brown kids making cool shit. This alternative pop scene is whitewashed and I hope more brown kids show out. Use whatever resources you have. Steve Lacy started with just an iPhone. I started with a Gateway desktop computer someone at church passed down to me. You can get it done if you work hard.

PM: Onto your music, you have cultivated an aesthetic of a striped back sound and lyricism, does this come at all from the way you make music and the resources available to you?

V: I'm always telling people, "I just make the shit I'd listen to" but that's the biggest lie I've ever told. I actually don't like listening to my voice in songs, it's weird. Would I rather teleport or fly? I don't know, I think teleportation would be cooler. I'm always late to things so this would help a lot. Unless I accidentally teleport to school in nothing but my Calvin Kleins. That'd be so stupid.

PM: Do you think there's been a shift to a diy approach to music such as yours? And if so, why?

V: This shift is stupid. People have turned a real life struggle into a musical genre. "Bedroom pop" is what they call it. Really, it's just a bunch of kids with cracked softwares making what they can. Borrowed microphones, cheap VST's, all that shit. None of this is intentional, I just find comfort in my bedroom and I don't have money for studio time. Would I still go to a studio if I had the money? Probably not. In my room, I can eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch while working on a track. You can't do that in a professional studio. I like the fact that I can make an entire album from my bedroom.

PM: Do you think if given the chance, you would become more studio based and label managed?

V: I like being independent. I don't think I'm ready for contracts and paperwork. I'm only 17. I'm actually looking for a job right now, I might check out Panera. I heard they were hiring and they have cool discounts for employees. Again, if I could work in a studio, I probably wouldn't. It depends. I like working by myself. It's just me and my thoughts, it feels cute and intimate. I do need a manager though with a lot of money. If you qualify, please hit me up. I don't have money but I can make you trap remixes of your favorite songs.

PM: Do you believe you'll have to innovate your sound to continue to stay as popular, or is that growth not always necessary?

V: Honestly I'm just going to keep making whatever sounds good to me. Chris Brown has been making the same shit for years now and he's still popping. 57-track album, nothing groundbreaking in there but some of his singles went gold/platinum. I don't wanna be pretentious and try reinventing a genre or some shit like that. If it hits me, I'll just do it naturally. I don't go into working on music with these things in mind. It's usually a very natural process for me. I trust myself.

PM: But finally, what is the core element to Victor that will have to stay even through change, what can't ever be lost if you are to still be yourself through the musical journey you're embarking on?

V: Good taste. I have good taste and I feel that I don't get enough credit for that! You have artists that make music solely for the people. They make shit that the masses wanna hear. You have artists that are genuine and do their thing. I'm a good balance of both. I know what the people want, but I don't always give it to them. I enjoy experimenting with different genres and trying new things out. At the end of the day, I have good taste and if I want to try something new, I'll make it work so that everybody can enjoy at least one part of my work.

PM: Do you have anyone/anything you'd like to shout out to promote? Do you have any projects coming soon? the floor is all yours!

V: I grew up without any older siblings or cousins to look up to, so shout out to Omar Apollo and Holladay. Whether the feeling is mutual or not, Omar has inspired me from the No Pulp days and I used to idolize him (low-key). Since we became friends, I've been constantly amazed by his work and impact on the community. He is that older sibling to me and I appreciate him. Holladay, for being passionate about the brown community and always talking about this idea of "passing it down". He's done a lot for me by putting me on although we are miles away and I will forever be grateful for his efforts. Shout out Blake Saint David for giving me a chance and giving me my first show ever. Shout out my best friend Andrea Reyes for doing my cover art and always supporting me when she doesn't have to. Shout out Omar Banos (Cuco) for retweeting my song and giving me a small platform. Lastly, shout out to my amazing partner and best friend in the world, Brenda Millan. My girlfriend is a huge part of who I am and she is always pushing me to do my best. I love that we can support each other's work and root each other on. I love my friends, fans and I love the internet.

Check out Victor: 

Victor’s EP

Instagram and Twitter

Follow Paramind on Instagram and twitter

Victor’s friends:

Andrea Reyes 

Omar Apollo

Holladay 

Blake Saint David 

[briberrioswriter2020]

The Struggle of the Transnationalist

Following the industrial revolution and with the consistently more accessible international transportation, globalization has been rapidly increasing in the last century. Though globalization also happens through access to information via better forms of communication, globalization also occurs through the physical vessel of the transnationalist. Though globalization also includes the transmission of products and information, the transnationalist allows one to observe cultural globalization, which includes ideas, values and language. In the texts Drown and The Jade Peony as well as the film A Better Life, one can observe the figure of the transnationalist and the negative and positive aspects that come with them. Through the lens of the transnationalist, one can see the effects of cultural mixing.  

The transnationalist is created through cultural mixing itself, and has an identity that is neither stable nor specific; they may be attached to no place or to many places. As the transnationalist struggles with their identity, they may find themself becoming a mixture of the multiple cultures that have had an  influence on their life; when the transnationalist knowingly mixes their two or more cultures, this is called hybridization. The transnationalist is often also either a multilingualist or a speaker of a mixed language. Drown, which is written in the perspective of a transnationalist, is an example of the multilingualism or the mixed language of the transnationalist; Junot Diaz frequently interjects the English text with slang words and profanity in Spanish. In “Postborder Cities, Postborder World” Dear and Lucero discuss the phenomena of “code-switching,” explaining, “Perhaps the most important case of hybridity is the case of the rise of 'Spanglish', a mongrel language somewhere between English and Spanish...a 'code-switching' in which words and phrases from one language are dropped into sentences of another language.” (Dear and Lucero 135) Spanglish is not the only example of a hybrid language; in The Jade Peony, many of the characters speak 'Chingrish', a mongrel language somewhere between Chinese and English. Often, the reader is unsure as to whether the characters are speaking Chinese or English, and Wayson Choy drops Chinese words into the text in between English words. The youngest brother of the story, Sekky, explains that he “never possessed enough details in either language to understand how our family, how the countless cousins, in-laws, aunts and uncles, came to be related.” (Choy 150) Instead of being multilingual, Sekky is monolingual in an unofficial mixed language, and needs to learn parts of two languages to be understood. Language, however, is only one part of being a transnationalist, and each of the characters in the texts and the film bring forth their own definition of transnationalist.

In Drown, Yunior is a transnationalist in more than just his ability to speak multiple languages. He is a physical vessel of globalization, and through him, ideas and values are transmitted transnationally. For example, Yunior is also a transnationalist because he is transmitting his taste for Dominican food from Dominican Republic to the United States. Without the influence of Hispanic culture like that of Yunior and his family, the United States would not know of pastales. Yunior also transmits his family values to the United States, despite the fact that they may not be exclusively Dominican. For example, he seems to inherit his promiscuity from his father. Yunior is promiscuous because it is expected that Dominican boys are to be promiscuous; his uncle even tells him, “Back in Santo Domingo, he'd be getting laid by now.” (Diaz 30)  Futhering this spread of cultural values, Diaz dedicates an entire chapter to Yunior explaing “How to Date a Whitegirl, Browngirl or Halfie.” Finally, Yunior brings his idea of beauty to the United States. In the second chapter, he explains that his mom looked nice because “The United States had finally put some meat on her.” (Diaz 23) Despite the fact that Yunior's family values may not be good values, he spreads them to the United States, and they affect other people.

Almost all characters in The Jade Peony have a transnational identity. Grandmother, for example, brings several different Chinese dialects to the Canada, and with that, brings the idea that she can “eloquently praise someone in one dialect, and ruthlessly insult them in another.” (Choy 8) Dialects of this complexity are an entirely new idea in Canada, where for the most part, the only dialect spoken in Canadian English. Grandmother also brings a wealth of stories, which are passed on through her grandchildren. Stories are an important value to the Chinese, as Jung expresses when he explains, “I believed in ghosts, like everyone else in Chinatown.” (Choy 79) Also, much to the confusion of her grandchildren, she brings the ideas of familial relations and power statuses that do not exist in English. These ideas are only translatable through the transnationalists, and their complexity is explained by Liang and Sekky. Finally, the characters in The Jade Peony provide Chinese ideals of beauty to Canada. Liang mentions that she sucks in her cheeks to lengthen her face look like an actress that Stepmother mentioned. Grandmother tells the children about foot-binding, and how she was deemed to ugly to have her feet bound; her ugliness was related to her coarse hair and cheekbones, which shows that these features are of value to the Chinese. By bringing their ideas of language and dialect, their stories, and their value of beauty to Canada, the characters of The Jade Peony are undeniably transnationalist.

A Better Life gives a close look at a transnationalist father, and his possibly transnationalist son. In the film, Carlos is born in Mexico, but his son Luis is not, and Luis seems to identify strongly with American culture, possibly implying that he is assimilated. Nonetheless, Carlos is brings his Mexican values to the United States, and is certainly a figure in cultural globalization. Most notably, Carlos values hard work, as is seen through his laborious job as a landscaper. Secondly, and in conjunction, he values family. All of his hard work is an attempt to give his son a better life, and later in the film, he even risks his life to get back to his son. He also is shown to have a close relationship with his sister. While “family” is certainly not a value unique to Mexico, the importance of family can be seen throughout the Chicano community in the film. All of Luis's friends seem to be very close to their families, and the gang culture in the area expresses the importance of family even more; not so much biological family, but cultural family.  

Cultural mixing creates tensions for the transnationalists in several ways, first because sometimes cultures inherently wish to remain separate. The cultures refuse to assimilate, and instead create ethnic enclaves which are exclusive to one cultural group. In The Jade Peony, the three children live in Vancouver's Chinatown, and are exposed to several different dialects of Chinese, implying that one could not get by here if they spoke only English. The children also all attend Chinese school, which means that their peers are most likely all Chinese or Chinese-Canadian children as well. While having these exclusive ethnic enclaves may slow cultural mixing, they also promote immigration because Chinese immigrants already have a community where they can be accepted. Also, while it did not seem like any white people lived in Chinatown, they certainly still came to Chinatown; in The Jade Peony, Jung invites his friend from English school to see his turtle. In A BetterLife, one can also observe ethnic enclaves attempting to keep exclusive. The area where Carlos and Luis lived was ridden with gangs, specifically a Chicano gang which appears to have serious power in the neighborhood; at one point in the film, Luis does not want to go to an area because it is the territory of another gang. There are also images of the neighborhood with show the overabundance of Mexican laborers who has to be driven out of the community to white neighborhoods to find work as landscapers. In A Better Life, the boundary between neighborhoods works differently from Chinatown in The Jade Peony. Rather than creating a community to maintain their culture, the Chicano community is more likely kept out of the white neighborhoods; this type of discrimination will be discussed later in this paper.

Cultures often want to remain separate not because they do not want to spread their values and ideas, but because they fear having their culture taken away from them. As Mamdani is quoted in “When Does a Settler Become a Native?” cultures have this fear because “Settlers are made by conquest, not just immigration.” In the case of the characters in the texts and the film, this quote is backwards; while the characters were the settlers and immigrants, they still have to fear conquest because as the minority group, they are at risk for oppression. At the same time, Mamdani's quote could be interpreted to hold true for the characters; Chinatown is a sort of conquest of part of Vancouver, and Yunior expresses his masculinity through his sexual conquest, where he dates girls of every race and therefore spreads his Dominican influence across many cultures in the United States. In A Better Life, it is clear that the gang has the power in the neighborhood, and their influence is probably what keeps the community primarily Chicano. On the other hand, this “us versus them” complex can be an oppressive force that discriminates against the minority.

An unfortunate side-effect of cultural mixing is racism and racial profiling, which is seen most clearly in A Better Life and Drown. Racial profiling is “the use of race or ethnicity as grounds for suspecting someone of having committed an offense.” When Luis gets into a fight in school, he is taken to police station and asked to remove his shirt so that they can take pictures of his gang tattoos. Though he repeatedly tells the police officer that he is not affiliated with any gang, he is asked to remove his shirt anyway, and exclaims something about “Why you gotta make every Chicano kid out here...” before being silenced. Luis is certain that the white police officer is targeting him because of his race, a claim which is probably very true. Later, when Luis tells his friend that he has been suspended, his friend explains, “All they know how to do is lock us out or lock us up,” “they” referring to the white majority and “us” referring to the Chicano community. In Drown, Yunior attempts to get into a house to deliver a pool table. However, he and his partner are reported to their boss as looking “suspicious” by the customer, who claims he was scared to open the door. It is implied in the story that Yunior only looks suspicious to the white customer because he is Dominican. While Yunior and Luis are both fairly assimilated to American culture at this point in their lives, they are marked as criminal because of their skin color.  

Discrimination against the minority also includes a below par education, which is seen in all three books. In The Jade Peony, the family of the three children does not think the children will receive a sufficient education in English school, and forces them to go to Chinese school as well. While the education in English school may not have been bad, the Chinese family wished for the children to learn Chinese culture and language as well, something which would be lacking in a normal Canadian school. A better example of minority status leading to a poor education is found in A Better Life, as Carlos repeatedly insists that he needs to “get [Luis] out of that school.” The school that Luis attends is infiltrated with gang violence, and also corrupted by those in positions of power, who discriminate against all Chicano students because it is primarily Chicanos who are involved in the gang. Luis does not seem to be doing well in school, and frequently skips, and though Carlos is upset by this and insists Luis goes to school, he is also understanding because he knows Luis is trapped in a poor education system.  

Finally, this discrimination leads to poverty, a cycle which is increasingly difficult to break in today's world. Often, immigrants come to the United States or Canada with no money, hoping to fulfill the American Dream, which tells them that if they work hard, they will be successful. Unfortunately, the rise of capitalism that occurred in the last century has made the American Dream less attainable, and instead has caused an income disparity that keeps the lower-class poor. In The Jade Peony, the family does not seem very poor because there is very little discussion of money in the story. However, in “Second Brother,” Jung explains that his nice coat is actually the tattered hand-me-down of a family friend, a coat in such bad condition that not even the man who gave it to him's son wanted it. In “Third Brother,” Sekky refers to the parents of himself and his classmates as “poverty-raised.” Because he is in a class entirely made up of the children of immigrants, there is a notable correlation between poverty and transnationalists. In Drown, the connection between “immigrant” and “poor” is even stronger. The story begins by explaining that Yunior and his brother Rafa are sent away every summer because their mother works too much to take care of them; the place they are sent is impoverish, lacking television or electricity. After this introduction that shows Yunior comes from a poor family, the story goes on to show Yunior remain poor for the rest of his life. At times, he resorts to selling drugs for money, and when he is working a job delivering pool tables, he notes that he will never have enough money to buy a pool table of his own. Because he is Dominican, jobs like delivering pool tables are the only jobs he can get, and his family has not provided him with skills to work elsewhere. In fact, the fact that he sells drugs is probably influenced by his family. Finally, Carlos and Luis deal with poverty as a result of being immigrants as well. Their poverty is shown in the first scene, when it is revealed that they only have one bed, and Carlos sleeps on the couch. Carlos is undocumented, so he can only work under-the-table jobs such as landscaping, and will never make enough money to rise out of poverty. He attempts to break the cycle of poverty by purchasing a truck and becoming his own boss, but is unsuccessful, once again, because he is undocumented. Because of the discrimination against immigrants, transnationalists are often forced into these situations of poverty that they cannot break.  

Finally, there is the discrimination against ones own culture that comes with transnationalism. In an attempt to make one's own culture look better to others, people often discriminate against those within their culture, as a way of denying deviants membership. This sets up another “us versus them” dynamic, where people divide into groups, set rules of exclusivity to the group, and attack anyone who is not part of the group. In Drown,, there is an example of this happening, when Yunior and Rafa physically attack Ysrael for his deformity. Even though he was just a young Dominican boy like them, Rafa did not want to associate Ysrael with himself; Ysrael was something different, a deviant that must be punished. In The Jade Peony, Grandmother and Stepmother are often very rude to the children, claiming that they are not Chinese enough and forcing them to attend Chinese school. This is part of the dynamic as well; the children deviate from Chinese culture, so they deserve the harsh insults of Grandmother and Stepmother.  

Another negative affect of cultural mixing that can be seen in all three stories is illegal immigration, which is only a negative affect because of the laws in place that are against it. If people were allows to immigrate freely, the struggles that the characters face from illegal immigration would be nonexistent. “Postborder Cities, Postborder World” discusses illegal immigration, explaining, “No one knows how many illegal immigrants are coming to the United States to stay permanently. Official estimates put the figure around 350,000 people per year, but anywhere between 400,000 and 500,000 seems more probable.” (Dear and Lucero136) Illegal immigration comes in multiple forms, whether through convenience marriages, such as those in Drown and The Jade Peony, or through literally running across a border, such as in A Better Life.

When Stepmother is introduced in the first pages of The Jade Peony, she is not portrayed as a member of the family. Rather, she is referred to as a concubine that later became a wife to the father of the family, despite the fact that she is the mother of two of the children. Grandmother tells everyone to call her “Stepmother” because she is not the first wife, which is especially degrading because even her own children refer to her as such. Stepmother was raised in poverty, and is “a dozen years younger” than her husband, but because she is not allowed to simply immigrate to Canada, she is forced to marry. Though Stepmother seems fairly satisfied with her life in Canada, being forced to marry to immigrate is still a negative affect of cultural mixing. In Drown, there is a similar situation; Yunior's father marries a woman in the United States, despite already being married in Dominican Republic, so that he can acquire a green card. This situation was horrible for both the woman and Yunior's mother, as the father ended up leaving the woman anyway. Convenience marriages for the sake of immigration can have a negative affect on both the immigrant and their convenient new spouse.

Immigration is a central theme of A Better Life. At the time of the film, Carlos has already crossed the border illegally from Mexico to the United States once. Because of this, Carlos cannot work a real job, and cannot make much money. When Luis is in the police station, he cannot allow the police office to call his father, for his father's safety. While he is in the United States, he has to be very careful not to be caught by immigration officials, otherwise he will get deported. The film concludes with Carlos, having been deported back to Mexico, attempting to cross the border again with a 'coyote'. In crossing the border again, Carlos is risking his freedom and his life, and the message of the film is that  immigration laws tear families apart.  

Often, the transnationalist has a difficult family life as a result of cultural mixing. When a child has a different cultural identity than their parents, they behave differently, and this can cause tension between families. In The Jade Peony, the children are frequently insulted by Grandmother, called lazy and stupid. In Canada, this type of behavior seems almost emotionally abusive, but it seems to be acceptable in China. In Drown, this tension between the differing values of parent and child is most poignant, as Yunior faces abuse from his father for not doing things the way his father wants; Yunior specifically says, “It was like my God-given duty to piss him off, to do everything the way he hated.” (Diaz 26) Of course, Yunior is not getting beaten by his father on purpose, and it seems that his father cannot stand the fact that Yunior gets sick from car rides is because he is a boy and getting sick shows his weakness. One wonders whether his father would have beat him so much if he were a girl. Futhermore, Yunior is pressured into having sex at a young age; he explains that his brother is twelve when he starts having sex with girls in Dominican Republic, and Yunior's uncle tells him that even though he is young, he should be getting laid already. These pressures probably had a significant affect on Yunior's psyche, and turned him into the promiscuous person that he is. The situation is switched in A Better Life on the other hand, where Luis has issues with his father for not understanding the culture of southern California. Having grown up surrounded by gang violence, Luis is tough and when his father attempts to pay a man for a stolen phone, Luis stops him. Later, Luis thinks that his father is weak for letting the man who stole the truck get away, and is so angry at Carlos that he runs away to his friend's house. Cultural mixing can create family tension in both directions, either from the parent imposing the old culture on the child, or from the child imposing the new culture on the parent.

Finally, the transnationalist also suffers because they do not feel as if they fit in anywhere. In A Better Life, Luis struggles with the decision to join a gang. Initially, he does not agree with Carlos's Mexican values of family, hard work, and education, and he does not want to assimilate into American culture because the people around him discriminate against him so much. In his need to belong, he almost turns to a gang, because he is facing the common struggle of isolation of the transnationalist. Sekky feels this need to belong as well, when he asks Stepmother “Am I Chinese or Canadian?” Stepmother immediately responds that he is Chinese, but his father tells him that he is Canadian as well. Of course, this does very little to help Sekky understand his identity. Overall, the struggle of the transnationalist is a very real one, but the transnationalist is an important part of globalization.  

Though it seems that there are only negatives that come out of being a transnationalist, the transnationalist identity does have some positive affects. The transnationalist is the bridge between two cultures. Because they are often multilingual, the transnationalist can understand and communicate ideas between two or more cultures. They are an incredibly important figure in the grand scheme of globalization because it is they who are the physical vessel for spreading ideas. In an interview, Junot Diaz talks about how his character of Yunior is supposed to be “two places at once” because of how casually Diaz switches the setting from the Dominican Republic to New Jersey. In a way, all transnationalists are two places at once, because they are simultaneously two cultures.

There is little we can do to ease the transition for the transnationalist without a complete assimilation of all cultures. Of course, a complete assimilation of cultures, a true 'melting pot', is not beneficial to globalization. If all cultures completely assimilated, there would be no diversity, which would be bad because a diversity of cultures means a diverse way of thinking, which leads to further development of humanity. Globalization is a good thing, as long as globalization keeps diversity in mind. What we can do is stop discriminating against the transnationalist for being a transnationalist. Ongoing battles of racism and immigration are continuously fighting to make the life of the transnationalist easier. If we continue the fight against oppression, some of the negative affects that the transnationalist faces can disappear.  

[trippingonroads-blog1]

Mexico City is Green AF

We intentionally left this day fairly open on our itinerary because we have to be up at 5 tomorrow morning to go to Teotihuacan. Plan without planning, right? All we really wanted to do was go to a couple of restaurants/cafes in La Condesa that were on our list and walk around Parque de Chapultepec.

Molino El Pujol is the tamale shop spin off of El Pujol, one of the top restaurants in the world that was fully booked for this entire week when we tried to make a reservation almost a month ago. When I told my friend Nick we couldn’t get reservations for El Pujol or Contramar (the other top restaurant rec we got), he suggested Molino, saying they made the best tamales he’d ever had. Turns out, he wasn’t kidding. Molino was remarkable, and it was a good thing a few people there spoke English because the menu is so unique we would have never been able to figure it out without Google.

We ordered a concha de maiz (like a light cornbread with a brown sugar coating), frijol de olla, and one of each of the tamales on the menu: white bean, pineapple, and huitlacoche. What is huitlacoche, you ask? It’s a fungus that grows on corn and a delicacy in Mexico. In the tamales, it looks like a bunch of black balloons nestled in the cornmeal. I couldn’t even tell you what it tastes like — it’s got a similar texture to regular corn but it’s a bit sweeter and almost buttery. The entire meal was delicious, the coffee was sweet and cinnamon-y, and it only cost about $15 after tip.

From there, we wandered into Hipodromo, another thriving neighborhood, and were struck by how lush and peaceful it was, as if the street was everybody’s backyard. Lindsay and I play a game called “Zap Zap” back in Boston which is basically comprised of one person pretending to touch low-hanging or downed power lines while the other one stops them. We’ve played quite a bit in Mexico City, where hanging power lines are as common as cracks in the street, but in Hipodromo it was more like “Plant Plant” with the greenery dangling from balconies and trunks.

In the neighborhood, we discovered Tout Chocolat, a little cafe and chocolate shop where we Spanglished our way to a box of seven chocolates, from Mezcal and Dominican Republic cacao to cafe and milk chocolate.

Next and final stop was Cafe Toscano, which Lindsay heard had unbelievable hot chocolate. Again, no exaggeration. Lindsay got her hot chocolate, I got a cappuccino frio, and we took it into Parque de Cuauhtemoc, a miniature brick-lined forest where the trees and shadows inflate a quiet paradise in the middle of this enormous metropolis. Right at the heart of the block, there’s a dog park where pooches run wild, jumping in puddles, sniffing each other, peeing on things, sniffing the things their new friends just peed on, and, you know, being dogs. Lindsay and I stood on the outside of the fence, giving voice to the various pups that caught our eye, and wishing we could do it in Spanish for a more faithful reproduction.

Nobody seemed to judge us for being dog-less watchers like they would at an American dog park but after a spell, we decided to explore the park a bit further and wound up at a vast concrete amphitheater where kids rode bikes, adults practiced stage sword fighting, and more dogs chased after balls. We sat sipping our coffees, watching the frenetic, unyielding joy of dogs chasing things and admiring how damn fast some of them moved. There’s truly nothing so pure as a dog in pursuit of a ball it can’t quite catch.

The rest of the day was spent walking to and through Chapultepec, which was a bit crazier today than it was on Thursday evening. We checked out the Museo de Arte Moderno (free on Sundays) and saw Frida Kahlo’s famous “Las Dos Fridas”. It was a supremely colorful day.

On our way back to the pad to beat an incoming thunderstorm, we took a detour to have a quesadilla from a vendor down the street. Unbelievable. It shouldn’t be possible to make food that good from a cart.

[sallytations]

The Language We Don’t Speak

Sandra’s surgery was successful in that the doctor removed the tumors.  Now we wait for the results of the biopsy.  Depending on the aggressiveness of the cancer, she will undergo chemotherapy and we will hope that the cancer will not recur. She is home with us now, steadfastly refusing to relax.  She buzzes around doing the laundry, sweeping the floors and cooking. The only thing she is not doing is taking the dogs out for walks.

While Sandra was in the hospital awaiting surgery and afterwards, Simone served as interpreter. Yes, the hospital had a machine that could translate, but it could not read Sandra’s expressions and tell when she didn’t understand.  It could not ask the doctor to repeat or explain again what he just said. Simone could do that, as well as offer love and support.  For that matter, Brielle could do it, too.  

At some point when Sandra was in recovery, the doctor came in and said that he wished his kids could speak Spanish.  Remarking that his kids grew up in Georgia, he said that there was no opportunity for them to learn it.  I said nothing about that, but remembered that Brielle once told me that the greatest gift I ever gave her was a second language, Spanish. She uses it every day at work.  For that matter, when she studied in Italy and then in France, Spanish served as a basis for her ability to hear and understand and speak those languages, too.

It is not all to my credit.  Obviously, Sandra speaking Spanish to them every day helped a lot, as did language immersion school in California and Colorado.  When we hired Sandra, I insisted that she speak to the girls only in Spanish and only in correct, complete sentences.  That was because in our neighborhood, sometimes Spanish speaking nannies spoke a version of Spanglish…..so the kids learned neither language well. In fact, at our dinner table, we had a rule that you could not mix Spanish and English in the same sentence.  If you did so, you would be hooted at and reminded that Spanglish was not allowed.

Now those days are gone and it is usually just the three of us at the dinner table.  We speak one of the two languages mentioned, but not the language of death.  I hope it stays this way for a while more.

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[danasukontarak]

Dana’s Travel Diary: Desconectado En Cuba

I never thought I would visit Cuba. Not only was it absent from my mental wish list of countries to visit because of media portrayals and social common understandings in the U.S., I’d been so put off by the convoluted and ever-changing rules for traveling there. Is it okay? Is it banned? Do you need a tour guide? Jay-Z and Beyonce went. But am I Jay-Z or Beyonce? Will I be on a watch list once I return to the states? The most common question, the one my mom immediately asked when I told her of my intentions to visit Cuba: Is it safe? I still don’t have all the answers, but I will say that Cuba has been one of my favorite destinations of all time. I have experienced nothing quite like it - having visited Mexico, Puerto Rico, Canada, Thailand, Indonesia, and various U.S. cities from Los Angeles to Albuquerque to Miami.

I traveled to Cuba with three friends this month to celebrate my friend Kiara’s 28th birthday. The ability to travel to Cuba seemed like a window slowly being slammed by the Trump administration. Kiara’s affinity for Afro-Caribbean culture and immersive, awe-inspiring girls’ trips led us to the heart of Havana. We began planning four months earlier in May, and had no way to predict the messy bitch that was Hurricane Irma. Two days before departure, we had an awkward moment where we weren't sure if we'd have electricity or hot water and almost abandoned the whole plan. We went out on a shaky limb and are incredibly glad we did.

I know basic Spanish, and can speak slowly and in the most basic present tense pretty well, but I was worried about communicating with people speaking Cuban Spanish, which seemed faster and somehow more flavorful. Everyone I spoke with was helpful and not at all impatient with my broken, basic Spanish.

We expected not to have cellular service in Cuba, and because my friend Krystal and I arrived a day after Kiara and Traci, it was impossible to communicate about pertinent things (like Krystal's delayed flight, or the fact that our flights arrived in two different, non-walkable terminals of Havana’s international airport). Our hosts and neighbors were some of the most amazing people. They treated us as family from the very beginning, and looking back, we would have struggled immensely without their help. Our hosts sent a driver to pick us up from the airport, and because it wasn’t as busy or populated as in other big cities since Cuban residents can’t travel easily and tourism has restrictions, Krystal was able to find me instantly upon pullup.

Cuba has two currencies, the regular peso (CUP) and the convertible peso (CUC), which replaced the American dollar some years ago and is used by tourists. We noticed that in many places, prices are posted only in CUC, which we came to realize was the case for a few reasons. Cubans, on average, make the equivalent of 30 CUC monthly. They receive rations of things like rice, beans and eggs, which accounts for about half their monthly food. Their healthcare, education and other things are free or very cheap, and they live very humbly for the most part. 30 CUC is nothing by American standards, but Cubans hardly live by American standards. For context, one beer costs 2 CUC. For tourist context, someone sold us a beach towel for 20 CUC, before we realized that was way too high. Most Cuban natives don’t patronize the restaurants, cafes, and food and merchandise stands at the beach. The vendors rely heavily on tourist money. It goes a long way for them. When in Cuba, I was consistently torn between being frugal and taking advantage of a haggle-friendly setup, and showering convertible pesos upon the residents of a country that is economically suffering largely at the hands of the country I hail from. The historical context of U.S.-Cuba relations are what made me a little uneasy about the trip in general, but also what made me so humbled and thankful for everyone’s kindness and hospitality. I understand Cuba’s need for tourism, which translates into the amazing customer service they provide, but beyond any historical context, their warmth felt so genuine. It’s legitimately insane how we are told both outright and subliminally that it is wrong to support the people of Cuba. You don’t even think about the potential absurdity of it all until you meet some of these people, and see how they live and seem to treat everyone as family. The U.S. has imposed embargos on Cuba until they make strides towards “better human rights,” but effectively violate human rights in the process. The politics of it all makes my head and heart hurt. The government doesn’t care that human rights are disrespected, it cares that it’s disrespect is not U.S.-controlled. That’s just my opinion, based on my particular vantage point. I’m sure there’s much more I don’t see, as is the case with everything.

In Cuba, there’s no such thing as personal Wifi. For 21 to 22 hours of the day, we were descontectado from el mundo. Cuba has Wifi in parks, and you’ll see hoards of silently scrolling people sitting on park benches. You have to connect through a Wifi card, which costs 2 or 3 CUC for one hour. Limited Wifi time as a group definitely kept us all in sync and wide awake to the organic experience.

Aside from our neighborhood in Playa Miramar, the two main places we visited were Santa Maria and Viñales. The beach at Santa Maria was about 40 minutes away. Our driver was Misael, the absolute sweetest guy who was patient and helpful and waited by the car while we tanned and frolicked. The water was warm, calm, and a beautiful shade of blue. At the beach, we instantly got the attention of two to three different groups of young guys which became a big party of Spanglish,Tupac songs and Polaroids. Two guys became our unofficial tour guides, helping us get cheap taxis and cheap fried chicken and bought Kiara a very moist 10 CUC cappuccino birthday cake. Another guy, who’d just turned 17, added me on Facebook and told me he loved me en español. Cuban men are very forward and friendly (and often described as dramatic in romance) - you can read a funny and interesting blog about it here:  https://hownottotravellikeabasicbitch.com/2017/08/06/8-things-you-need-to-know-before-dating-a-cuban-papi-and-ruining-your-life/.

When we asked where the trash can was, the guys laughed. They told us to just drop it on the ground. We found this weird, but then they explained that everyone litters, and the Cuban government pays people to clean it up. The guys also questioned our casual use of curse words, and mocked us with a surfer dude accent, saying “Damn.”

Viñales was the best part of the trip. It was about two hours away from our casa, and we passed through a more countryside area than we’d seen in Havana. The first place we visited was Cueva del Indio, where we drank fresh sugarcane juice cocktails before taking a motorboat through a huge cave with water flowing through. From there, we drove to an intersection where an old papi was waiting under the trees for us with four horses. He kissed us, helped us up, and we rode off without a single word of warning. It was the best experience of the trip. We rode up a hill to a tobacco farm where we sampled amazing Cuban rum and cigars, and bought coffee beans. The tour guide, Hermes, rolled a cigar for us and also gave us free baby bananas. On the way back, we rode our horses through a small body of water, which is a lot scarier looking back than it was actually going through it. We had a late lunch at a small restaurant nearby with Misael. When we told the waitress it was Kiara’s birthday, she instantly poured up a massive shot for her. The food was delicious. We had an array of lobster, red snapper, and ropas viejas, a traditional Cuban dish of shredded beef.

Cuba was a beautiful place, but the trip was made ten thousand times better by the people we met. Until 1997, Cuban contact with tourists was outlawed. I’ve read that even today, Cubans seen in contact with tourists are asked for their identification, which may explain why we were stopped by the policia twice while driving. Traveling to Cuba was much less difficult than I think we are made to believe, and I recommend it for anyone who truly wants the experience of a different and unique culture where a certain type of lifestyle and set of values has been preserved in the face of adversity. Foreign relations are complex, but on a very simple level, a human is a human no matter the particular piece of Earth they inhabit. The connections we made in Cuba are what made this trip truly unforgettable.