#this is not meant to be a dutch stan post

[whumble-beeee]

hiiiiiii bee

im so fucling curious what the backstory is behind deeby and lana omg. meant to send a more coherent ask but post work braincel decrease is hitting me hard. also the dutch petname thing scared tge fuck out of me the first time.

ps this is also thw first time ive anon named myself

love - 🌿🚫 anon

God, mood about the post-work braincells. Also, I mean this with so much love, but it means so much to me that I managed to scare the shit out of you with that lol. He gets. Just so much worse. Let's just say everyone in my discord servers I introduce him to universally hate him with a passion. Get ready.

ALSO technically parts of Declan and Lana's backstory are giant spoilers, including what will be one of the bigger plot twists, so I can't tell you just yet. HOWEVER, what I can do is reiterate and highlight things I've already said in-story, plus what's gonna be revealed soon when I actually upload her character profile lol. All that under the cut.

So the first time you really first start hearing about Lana is in Chapter 7, where we also meet Vaughn for the first time. In that, we learn that 1. Declan and Lana are ex boyfriend and girlfriend. As in they actually used to date. 2. Lana is Declan's boss now in some capacity (and was the one to order Stan's kidnapping), and 3, Declan fkn hates Lana. So much more than he hates Vaughn.

In Chapter 8, we learn that 4. Vaughn and Lana are currently dating. That's not really too relevant, but it's really funny to me because their relationship is... something. I'm sure you can imagine. It's very mutually manipulative and they both know it, its awesome.

Anyway, then in Ch. 9, through Stan and Deeby's yelling match, you learn that Declan and Lana's relationship is complicated and he refuses to talk about it, but 5. he's kinda obligated to do whatever Lana says or face unspecified consequences.

Skip to Chapters 11 and 12, the ones with Marcus at the convenience store getting harassed, where we first meet Lana in person. We learn a lot about her, mainly that she 6. acts pretty bubbly and ditzy but is actually pretty smart, 7. is completely fine with SA, 8. is manipulative as hell, 9. feels safe enough to fuck with Declan's plans because despite how much we know Deeby to exert his will over others, he wont do shit to stop her. and 10. The big one: she was the one to give Declan his burn scars (with acid btw. everyone in the story has a weapon of choice, bc superhero lol. Lana is injectable poisons, gasses, acids, etc.). This is mostly just something you could assume, but when she gave him that burn scar, that was the turning point when Lana started manipulating Deeby.

Chapter 15, it's mostly just more of the same, Lana telling Deeby to keep Stan for longer, and Deeby can't argue back, he hates Lana but he has to do what she says, whatever.

So, to put it all together for you: Lana has Deeby under her thumb for some reason. She acts fake, she's manipulative, she's relatively smart, and she dated Declan which means she would get to know some of the more intimate details about him that she could blackmail him with. Also something happened between them where she literally burned him with acid, and now she is his boss (she's the CEO of Supramed Corp. actually, which would be revealed whenever I get around to posting her character profile lol) and makes him do bounty hunting jobs as well as basically whatever she wants. That's what we know so far.

You'll learn more about Lana as a person as well as the nature of their relationship as time goes on, and a lot of Declan's behavior has been partially shaped because of her. There's a lot more to her that hasn't been uncovered yet, although the context clues are all there in the story. I just pointed out the specific ones that relate to Deccy.

Also, one last thing to leave you with. I focus a lot on eye color in this story, it's always very important, it tells you a lot. Lana has bright blue, sky blue type eyes. Can you maybe think of another time I've described a character with eyes like that?

(also if you have any questions feel free to ask in another ask or the comments lol, idk if any of this is even comprehensible)

[teaveetamer]

The real question is why your buddy even saw those tags, since he claims he wants "nothing to do with me" and Stan has him blocked and his blog is hidden from public searches so there's no way you would have stumbled upon it accidentally. So either Raxis is stalking me despite insisting that I'm just a whiny victim with nothing worthwhile to say, or Raxis is stalking Stan, a guy who has him fucking blocked?

You literally took someone misspeaking and you're trying to blow it up into this huge drama like we're out to fuckin' get you or some shit like be fuckin' real.

Again I didn't know he was ESL, I'd appreciate you not insinuating that I'm intentionally picking on him for that.

Y'all damn well know he's Dutch because you've shit talked him in your server for it.

He also literally says it on his Carrd, linked in his bio.

He's also got like five posts on his blog from around the time mentioning that he's Dutch.

Like honestly there's more than one point where you could have noticed and said "hm, maybe this is just an unfortunate misspeak because English isn't their first language" but Raxis decided to take the screenshot anyway and holler about how people are threating to kill y'all so he could keep going with this shit.

And you know what? If it was an honest mistake and y’all just didn’t know Stan spoke English as a second language? Maybe Raxis should take the post down to deescalate now that the misunderstanding has been cleared up! Unless he wants this circus to continue?

Anyway, your mods felt pressured? Sure, wanna see what I said to "pressure" them so badly? Okay, here it is!

First off, they weren't even gonna do anything about him! They demanded I force BWIIDT and Nilsh to take down literally every single word they had ever said about CaptainFlash ever, which is why I said this:

Which. Wow I can't believe I actually had to negotiate terms before someone even considered treating me with basic human decency, but okay. And I meant what I said, but wrt BWIIDT the mods never provided any links and ONE example of a post I couldn’t fucking find because the name was cropped out, and y’all mix people up ALL THE TIME so I had no idea where it even came from. Nilsh DID actually remove some of his posts at their request.

And here's what I said after Raxis made ANOTHER post block evading BWIIDT to harass her:

And here's what I said after the mods assured me that Raxis's behavior rose to a level constituting a ban, and that he had left:

And here's what I said after they rolled back his ban mere hours later and told me to go fuck myself for daring to be upset about being stalked and harassed and wanting something done about it:

And here's what I said after one of your mods flounced after giving me the finger:

And the second time a mod bounced:

And before you accuse me of taking that out of context; I have absolutely nothing to hide about what went on between myself and the mods. I excluded the messages I was replying to out of respect for the people involved, even though one of them basically told me that I deserve harassment and I can go fuck myself because I didn't stop a woman of color from talking about a white man writing shit that seemed a hell of a lot like racist microaggressions from where we're sitting.

It’s not just Raxis, DOZENS of people in that server have literally been breaking the rules of the fucking server for two years and I literally just asked that they enforce their damn rules.

Of course it's my fucking business when people in your goddamn server are making comments about killing me and coming onto my posts to try and trigger me with "jokes" about genocide.

And don't even claim CuteMimiga is gone from your server so it doesn't matter. They remained in the server for MONTHS following this, which means the mods didn't do anything about this comment.

But wow, the community full of people who will say THIS in response to mods trying to enforce the rules of their server don't consider Raxis's actions toxic? I'm fucking shocked.

The misunderstanding has been cleared up. If you condone this kind of behavior then you can, kindly, leave me the fuck alone now.

Pardon the screenshot but this is some dangerous shit.

English is Stan’s second language and he meant “if the server wants to curb toxicity (what they claim to want) they won’t let him back in (because that would be good for them)”

I talked about this with him two days ago and I’m pretty sure he’s already updated the tag DAYS AGO to clarify as soon as I pointed it out to him.

But way to capitalize on an ESL person’s mistake to push this ridiculous “us vs. them” narrative 🙄 Just leave us alone already dude.

[angeldormante]

i talk 100% shit about dutch all the time and that’s because his rat-sniffin mango munching ass deserves it, but he does show a lot of care too and it makes my heart sad bc he has plenty of small but really genuine moments

off the top:

after the bar fight in valentine at the start of the game, when dutch rolls up with trelawney, arthur is like just limping and wheezing and fucking dying while everyone just talks around him normally LMAO poor guy

but if you watch dutch he actually does go quiet for a few seconds and checks arthur over with kind of an intense attention

he even bends down closer after arthur tries waving him off. he seems satisfied enough not to say anything but it’s a sweetly subtle moment even before he tells arthur to go clean himself up

i’m telling you lads we got fuckin ROBBED not getting to see more of the immediate aftermath of arthur’s kidnapping. i wanted to see hosea and john and susan rip dutch three separate new assholes. 

what we saw instead was dutch’s unconvincing “of cOUrse i was coming” like fuck you dutch you're not even trying to lie. all that said though, arthur does write about it in his journal, and he mentions that there were many, many guilt-ridden apologies from dutch while arthur was bedridden. that makes me believe that dutch was truly and seriously regretful, bc dutch is not the type to apologize; usually he deflects responsibility by trotting out some variation of the “nobody’s perfect” speech. 

i actually believe that dutch sincerely thought arthur just fucked off after the meeting, that micah probably fed him some bullshit juice that he just chugged down as per usual. his shock and promises that arthur was safe when he first returned to camp, imo, seemed way more 100% genuine than the first time i heard that man open his mouth in colter, saying he’d gladly take the place of everyone who died, and was like “this is some fake ass slime”. he seemed genuinely shaken and upset at arthur’s injuries; that was a candid, unpracticed reaction from someone who took great lengths to script everything he said. 

ultimately he never owned up to the truth that he wasn’t looking for arthur, but the regret was there, i guess.

right this is supposed to be a semi-positive dutch post sorry

i do love him as a complex as hell character, and as one of the people who ultimately did heavily shape arthur’s morals, even if he was shitty at following them himself. 

but what a bastard man.

anyway moving on

the whole fishing scene?? hello??? i don’t think i need to expand on anything here, it was just easily the most wholesome moment in the entire damn game and i loved it. two dads taking their son fishing and jazzing him with embarrassing childhood stories and singing like idiots. what a good mission r* used exclusively to rip our hearts out through our faces. 

i also think it was a fantastically subtle look at a more genuine dutch, separated from all of the cult leader persona bullshit. it’s a lot easier to see how much arthur looked up to a man like that, if that’s who he grew up with instead of who he was by 1899.

but why the fuck didn’t you bring john you cowards

on guarma he was so happy to see arthur ): this man thought he just lost hosea and his sons all in one fell swoop and he was stuck with like, bill now lmao

i don’t know if it’s a well-known thing but if you fail to keep up with the chain gang, the guards start whacking arthur and eventually will literally beat him to death. dutch actually jumps in here and starts fighting them and yelling at them to stop but listen this is fucking devastating

it’s non-canon bc you can’t get this scene without arthur just fucking DYING but it makes me sad anyway

dutch is such an entire ass for all of ch 6 and i don’t have a lot good to say about him here lmflkf

seriously every time i see him mocking a deathly sick arthur about needing to rest i wish for hosea’s spirit to descend from heaven and jedi slap his stupid soul patch right off his chin

the moment where he pulls arthur from the river is bittersweet, because it shows that he does still care, but there’s something... off putting about it too. the way he reassures arthur that he’s okay feels a lot like a lie and it’s sad to me, because i get the feeling that he’s trying to convince himself way more than arthur

the one ch 6 moment i do think is really worth talking about, though, is right before the infamous “INSIST??” scene. when dutch pulls arthur aside while he’s coughing and wheezing, where no one can hear them, and he stops and stutters his sentence and goes “and you ain’t... you ain’t doin’ too well”. he rolls right into his usual bullshit assurances after that, but for that split second his tone goes gentle and understanding and, at least to my ears, reluctant. dutch hates admitting that arthur seriously isn’t well, and tries to brush it off as soon as possible. it’s up in the air whether this is actually genuine love on dutch’s part, putting him in denial of his son’s illness, or if it’s just another card he’s trying desperately to keep upright in his house of them. but it’s a few seconds of honest vulnerability from dutch in a chapter where he’s otherwise an absolute madman who seems totally lost in his displays of control.

the final scene where he walks away from both arthur and micah hurts me in ways that defy the fiction barrier so i don’t want to talk about it

but i’ve seen gifs that claim he’s got tears in his eyes and honestly i believe it

in the end i think dutch walked away because that’s historically what he does in response to all of his failures: he walks away. only this time there was no pretending he was a good man; he fucked up and he knew it, and this time there was no lie easily in reach that he could use to soothe everyone who was wounded by it. there was nothing he could give to arthur to make it okay. dutch built himself up on the lie of being a good man for so long, that when it came time for him to be genuine, he had nothing to give. so he didn’t.

what a shitman but god damn is he an amazing character

in retrospect this post absolutely went all over the place, lmao i am sorry. tl;dr dutch was an awful manipulative asshole, but people are gray areas and there were moments of goodness in that man subtle enough to be genuine too. i hesitate to use the term “love”, to avoid the debate where an obviously conditional love should even be categorized as love at all, but i truly do believe that dutch was someone capable of a lot of genuine care that he ultimately squandered.

now give me the rumored rd1 remaster so i can watch him fall off a cliff in hd, rockstar.

[justkarliekloss]

I was scrolling through my old posts on my main blog because sometimes I like seeing the things I used to obsess about, and I found this old tag people used to do years ago here on tumblr, so I thought... why if I bring it back and share a bit more about me for those who may be new? Also, yes, I’m bored and I don’t want to to anything productive 😂

GET TO KNOW ME TAG

Name: Verónica.

Nicknames: I don’t know if it is considered a nickname, but everyone calls me Vero because Verónica is too long 😅

Age: 30. And still on tumblr, yes. Who cares? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Birthday: 10th of June.

Gender: Female


Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

Height: 170/172 cm, I’m not sure.

Siblings?: I have a little sister (she’s 22)

Favourite color: Blue.

Time and date at current moment: 21:10, February 1st 2021

Average hours of sleep: Around 8, though it depends on the day. I used to be able to sleep 12 and now it is impossible.

Lucky Number: I don’t have one, only numbers that I like.

Last thing I googled: Emojipedia. It is the website I use to copu emojis when I’m on my laptop.

First word coming to your mind: Dinner. I can hear my mom making it 😁

One place that makes me happy: My house? I don’t know 😅

How many blankets I sleep under: Currently under one. And during the whole year, even summer.

Favourite Fictional Character: On the tag I’m copying this from, back in 2014/15, I said Dean Winchester, and it still stands to this day. Margaery Tyrell from GoT and Finan from The Last Kingdom are two others that come to my mind right now.

Favourite Book: I like reading a lot, but I think I don’t have a favourite book.

Favourite Animation: I’m currently watching the new Digimon remake, Attack on Titan and Carmen Sandiego, so any of those.

Favourite TV show: Supernatural will forever be my favourite show despite everything that has happened. Game of Thrones, Vikings, The Last Kingdom and DC Legends of Tomorrow have been my favourites these past years too.

Favourite Famous People: aka, my crushes 😂 Currently very obsessed with Chelsea’s football player Ben Chilwell. Like VERY obsessed. My friend and I talk daily about him, we are totally in love 😂 Tom Holland, Chris Evans, Richard Madden, Niall Horan, Sebastian Stan, Natalie Dormer, Vittoria Ceretti, and of course, Karlie Kloss.

Favourite Bands/Artists: I just listen to Dua Lipa, Marting Garrix, Niall Horan and Harry Styles, or a Dutch radio that mainly plays EDM.

Favourite Beverage: Water. I’m that basic, yes. But when you are lucky enough to drink water from natural fountains, why choose something else?

Favourite Food: My grandmother’s paella.

Last movie I’ve seen in cinemas: Downton Abbey the movie. Totally loved it, and the show also is one of my favourites.

Dream Job: I always wanted to be a teacher, and that’s what I studied for. And even though I’m currently working with kids, I’m studying to work for the adiministration, office work.

Current amount of followers: 16.403. Hi and thank you to all of you 😊

What you post about: Just Karlie Kloss 😉 with some exceptions.

Do you have any other Blogs: My main one is @canirove, and I also have a side blog where I post about fashion called @difashiondiaries

What made you decide to get tumblr: I was bored and there weren’t active blogs about Karlie.

Why did you choose your url: It sounded nice and it kind up meant what the blog was about. Though it wasn’t just with the meaning of posting only about Karlie, it was also like... simply Karlie Kloss.

If any of you are in the mood to do this too, tag me so I can read it! I still enjoy them for some reason 😂 And sorry if it was too boring and you are over these things 😅

[globalsource-blog]

Rotterdam -> Berlin, Part 2

Welcome back to Global Source! Apologies for the long wait between this post and the last; this blog is supposed to be a well-oiled machine but sadly life gets in the way sometimes. I have spent the last week recovering from a pretty gnarly collision where I was bashed off my bike and into the air by a taxi (Manchester city centre is far from Dutch in terms of the respect afforded to cyclists). I’ve been on painkillers and wearing a sling for a dislocated shoulder, but am RECOVERING and OTHERWISE UNHURT. Having taken a few days off my studies / pretty much everything else that requires movement or concentration, I’ve ended up spending a lot of time on more creative pursuits - look out for an upcoming post where I’ll share some of the bits I’ve made.

Anyway, enough excuses, let’s get back to it. When we left off, myself, Stan and Arthur had just settled down for the night in some beautiful Dutch woodlands. Feeling pretty fresh after a surprisingly comfortable night’s sleep (cycling 100km will work miracles for your sleep cycle), I woke around 6:30am, shivering a little in my thin summer sleeping bag (ever the optimist, I went for ease of transport over warmth). After not long, my better-equipped companions had also yawned their own greetings to the rising sun, and we were soon stood around stamping our feet and peeling a handful of satsumas each. 

A quick morning stretch and a vague attempt at a jog through a very misty field led to us being ready to start the day’s ride with a quick ten or so kilometers down the road to the historic town of Amersfoort. We spent about half an hour cruising around, admiring the medieval buildings, canals and cobbled streets (nicer to look at than to ride over), while hoping to stumble across a shop (or indeed anything) that might be open on a Sunday. Eventually a friendly local barman pointed Stan in the right direction, and not only did we acquire the components necessary for a round of sandwiches, but also made the acquaintance of a colourful local character who insisted that he was in fact the king of England. In deference to his noble heritage, we made him a gift of a can of Grolsch, and he sent us on our way with blessings.

A few miles down the road we came across a really special sight, something which I’m sure none of us will ever forget. Having chosen to head North-East through a national park, we came to a junction with a strange signpost; one of the arrows, decorated with a small plastic gnome, pointed down a thin, winding path straight into the trees. Following this path for about five minutes brought is to what I can only describe as a gnome forest. On all sides, posed in miniature castles and on the branches of trees, were hundreds, if not thousands, of miniature gnomes of all descriptions.

What a magical (if slightly disturbing) scene. If only Stan had learnt the ways of pig-taming from this fella, his trackies might still be in one piece. 

Moving swiftly on....

After escaping the enchanted forest, we stopped for lunch next to a beautiful clearing full of what looked like heather. Cheese sandwiches with the last of the sriracha sauce which Stan had brought with him in a special keyring (fantastic idea, if anyone is reading who plans to get me a Christmas present) and a round of Frisbee added up to an hour well spent under some glorious sunshine. As Dutch tourists and locals cycled past, we exchanged greetings, smiles and waves, with many approving nods at our piles of tents, bags and other gear. 

We spent the afternoon navigating a series of gravelly trails, firstly uphill for what felt like a long time having had nothing but flat since Hook of Holland, then soon after into a very long downhill stretch, taking us flying down into Apeldoorn like three runaway locomotives. On the edges of town we came across a lovely park with a bridge in the style of a Japanese garden and a strangely beautiful green lake.  

Obviously, this called for nothing less than a Solero (greatest ice-lolly of all time, I will fight any man who disagrees) while listening to this song (greatest ice-lolly-eating soundtrack of all time; same rules apply as above):

Once we’d spent a very pleasant hour or so in the park, and once Stan had finished trading insults with some local scallywags (”swear to God, mate, if that kid comes any closer he’s going in the lake”), we carried on our merry way into Apeldoorn. Once there, Stan bought more ice creams, since the gorgeous weather more or less dictated this as mandatory, as well as getting us some free sporks and some outstanding own-brand Snickers bars (among other more nourishing bits) from Albert Hein, a very fine chain of supermarkets to be found in most Dutch towns. With dinner bagged up, we headed out of town along a pretty tree-lined avenue, on one of Holland’s many excellent bike paths. Having now more or less found our rhythm, we were steaming along at around 25km/hour, feeling fit and fast as the countryside flew past in greens and flashes of yellow rapeseed on either side. 

However, it was not to last. As we came to a narrowing in the bike path, disaster struck: with Arthur safely in front, myself and young Sands soon became aware that the friendly proximity within which we’d been laughing and joking for several miles was no longer workable; we were going too fast down too narrow a path to be laughing any more. We straightened up for a few seconds, but then somehow we managed to hook our handlebars together, and in less than a millionth of a nanosecond, so quickly that even a hundred video referees couldn’t have decided whose fault it was, we came crashing to a very abrupt halt. 

Besides a few scrapes and scratches up my left side and a couple of bruised egos, the only thing damaged was Stan’s front wheel, which as you can see was turned into a giant mechanical Pringle (this is his favourite Pringles flavour hence the joyful expression). Obviously, this meant we’d need a new wheel, and being around 6pm already it was unlikely we’d get back to Apeldoorn in time to find a bike shop still open. As luck would have it, a friendly Dutchman who was giving his son a driving lesson had seen our crash, and came rushing over to help, even driving Stan back to town and helping him negotiate with the manager of an already-closed shop. Playing the charity-bike-ride card seemed to work; about half an hour of roadside frisbee later, Arthur and I were rejoined by a very happy Stan holding a shiny new wheel. We cycled down the road a little way and decided to pitch up for the night in the corner of a lush green field, where we’d seen a huge white stork flapping about the long grass.   

Free sporks being put to great use 

This long grass stabbed us in the back. Gorgeous and green in the evening, cold and covered in dew (but still green in all fairness) in the morning. This kind of thing is all about learning curves. 

With very soggy feet, we set out quickly the next day after a couple of brioche rolls each, hoping to shed the water in our shoes and socks by blazing a trail along some long, open roads with huge green fields on either side. We stopped and had instant noodles for lunch in a playpark, just across the road from a petrol station with the alarming name “Firezone”.

As we ate lunch the sun managed to break through the morning clouds, and pretty soon we started to regain feeling in our feet. Setting off again, we were all feeling pretty strong as we followed signs to the German border town of Nordhorn, rapidly ticking off the final kilometers we’d be cycling on Dutch soil (towards Berlin at least). As if to lead us to the Brandenburg Gate, as we came within touching distance of the border an honest-to-God eagle flew right over our heads and straight on to the East. Admittedly, it was a very straight road, so in terms of giving directions the spirit of Germany could have chosen a trickier spot to manifest itself, but the excitement it inspired as we crossed the border was worth any number of wrong turnings down the line. Once in Germany, we bought food for dinner and breakfast (we’d been in the country for at most five minutes when we found a Lidl) and pitched the tents in time to enjoy the sunshine of our first evening in Westphalia. As the sun set, the waxing moon became brighter and brighter in the sky, bathing the grove of trees around us in a silvery light that was more than enough to see by.

The next morning I woke early again. The night had been a cold one; when I went into the adjacent field to stretch my legs, the furrows were frozen solid. A cold mist hung over Germany’s western edge; we had another 500km to cycle, and all our bodies were just beginning to feel the strain. However, without a shadow of a doubt, all three of us knew we’d make it one way or another. As Stan had told us earlier in the day in a moment of doubt, “Lidl’s that way mate”. 

Find out how we got there in the next post.

P.S. Our JustGiving page is still live. If you’re reading this and have enjoyed the blog, but still haven’t made a donation to Doctors Without Borders, it’s not too late!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/standelakersey

[adgradlife]

Alumni Spotlight: Brandon Lutz, TexasMedia Alumnus

Name: Brandon Lutz

Major at UT: Advertising

Sequence: TexasMedia

Graduation date: May 2015

Current Livelihood: International Marketing Strategist - EMEA, Indeed.com, Austin, TX

What is your position at the company you work for and what does your role entail?

I currently work at Indeed as an International Marketing Strategist, managing our B2B marketing strategy for Western Europe, specifically Germany, France and Benelux (Belgium/Netherlands/Luxembourg).  I am responsible for developing multi-channel marketing campaigns targeting businesses to post their jobs on Indeed.com, which includes campaign planning, execution and analysis.

What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Learning about different cultures! When I graduated college, I had a personal mission to find a position that allowed me to utilize my language skills and had me interact with various groups of people all over the globe.  At Indeed, there is not a day where I don’t utilize one of my languages at a professional level, and every day I am interacting with team members who are based all over the globe. It’s great!    

How did The University of Texas at Austin impact your life and career? Did the Stan Richards School or any other organizations at UT help you with what you’re doing now?

I think UT opened up so many opportunities for me that I don’t think I would have had at a different university.  Being in organizations like Camp Texas and my fraternity really helped me understand what it is like to work with people of different backgrounds and thought processes, and also helped me understand how to be organized and really be passionate about my work.  The Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations, being such a nationally renowned program, really helped prepare and shape my knowledge of the advertising world, and I credit both the Stan Richards School and my student organizations for giving me the experience and opportunity that got my foot in the door with Indeed.  

What advice would you give to a current student in the Stan Richards School?

If you don’t know your professors personally yet, you need to change that!  The lecturers and professors at the Stan Richards School are some of the brightest minds in advertising research and industry, and are incredibly well connected and willing to help you!  Not only will they prove valuable to your future, but they are amazing individuals with incredible stories, and they can become steadfast mentors and friends to you.  Don’t know what to talk to them about?  No worries, just get to know them!  

Which professors were the most memorable to you and why?

I think Lisa Dobias and Tracy Arrington are two incredibly memorable people that I was fortunate enough to have as lecturers at UT.  Lisa (who really is one of the nicest humans ever) and her class really helped me feel passionate about media and was ultimately the reason why I pursued TexasMedia.  If it wasn’t for her, I would not have ever met Tracy, who is one of the brightest and most well-connected Media Directors in Texas.  If it wasn’t for Tracy, I would not have really developed the communication and confidence needed to be successful in the media world.  Both are still incredibly important to me and I check in with them often!

Why did you choose advertising?

My family is full of people involved in the marketing world.  From my grandparents owning a men’s clothing store in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to my mother being a Creative Director for an agency in NYC, to my sisters, one who works in Hospitality public relations and another in Tech Marketing, advertising and public relations are all around me and always have been.  When I got to UT, I actually initially wanted to be in medicine, but fortunately, I found a major that allowed me to be both creative and data-driven, something that medicine could not provide for me!

What’s your favorite part about living in Austin?

There’s so much food! I have probably 30 restaurants I’m trying to tackle before 2018, and this list keeps growing. I just tried Salty Sow: 5/5 stars.  

What are your long-term career goals?

I think one long-term goal for me is to eventually be a CMO or CEO of an international tech firm.  I love working with different teams and providing direction to groups.  I also love public speaking and I think being able to articulate a mission and goal for a company is something I am wanting to strive for.  Additionally, long-term I really hope to transfer to work abroad in Europe.  As I can speak German, Spanish and a little Dutch, I’m flexible. Seriously though: Europe, whenever you want to invite me over, I’ll be here.

 What is your favorite thing to do outside of work?

I am very passionate about CrossFit and have been doing it for almost three years.  I get up regularly at 5:00 most mornings during the week because I’m crazy committed.  I also have a 4-year-old lab/pointer mix named Atticus, who I spend vast amounts of time with.  

What publications/sites/newsletters do you subscribe to and find are most helpful in your occupation?

I regularly read TechCrunch and Adweek just to see what companies are doing good work and what the industry is doing so I can stay on top of new trends, especially in digital.  I also find Reddit to be an incredibly valuable resource of crowdsourced information.  

What is the hardest part about your job?

I think the hardest part of my job is really keeping my work siloed by country.  Working in international markets means that every market is going to have different cultural nuances and behaviors that mean you have to adjust your marketing strategy and thinking. For example, marketing campaigns in the summer months in the US targeting B2B audiences can still be effective depending on your goals and audience.  In France however, most people are on vacation for pretty much all of late July-August, which means we really won’t be maximizing impact at the right time of the year if we ran major campaigns.  

What is the most interesting project you have worked on so far in your career?

I’ve recently been working on and just helped launch our first Direct Response radio ads in Germany, which was a crazy fun experience!  Working with our agency of record to plan radio in a completely foreign market was very interesting, especially just to understand how the market does its media-planning process.  I also was able to sit in on the radio-ad recordings, which meant I was able to use my German to help provide feedback and direction on the scripts.  Very cool stuff!

[96thdayofrage]

Why Miles Morales As Spider Man Is Important

Miles Morales will be a lead character in new animated movie and this is good news.

After the recent news from Sony confirming that Miles Morales will lead in new Marvel’s animation series, it’s important for people to understand why it’s so important for everybody.

Marvel Comics is not afraid to take risks, making changes to its fictional universe to better reflect the real world its readers inhabit. They made a bold one with the introduction of their new Spider-Man. Under his web-embellished mask is a teenager from Brooklyn, NY named Miles Morales, the creation of best-selling writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli, informing Urban magazine.

Like the original Spider-Man aka Peter Parker, Miles too was bitten by a radioactive spider, given extraordinary powers similar to his predecessor. Where they differ most is their ethnicity. Miles Morales is the son of a Black father and Puerto Rican mother. LAFA Music Group, LLC executive director Tye Ramos, a fan of Spider-Man since childhood, applauds Marvel for introducing Morales.

Ramos, born to a Mexican father and German/Dutch mother, tells Urban superheroes are meant to reflect our times. “There are millions of mixed children out there,” says the Southern Entertainment Award-winner and VH1 Save the Music Foundation Song of the Year recipient. “You make him one of the main superheroes? Yeah, that’s a bold and wise decision. “I would think he’s more relatable because today’s families are ethnically diverse,” Ramos adds.

“Most children love to pick their favorite character because they can relate to them in some way. Now the new Spiderman is mixed.” Glyph Award-winning writer Alverne Ball doesn’t mix words when giving Urban his opinion on the character.

The author of hit comics OneNation, Virgin Wolf, and crime novel Only the Holy Remain says, “Socially, Miles represents for any young man and woman a change in the status quo of this country. His arrival makes him unique because he’s not only wearing the costume and persona of his Caucasian counterpart, Peter Parker, but his life and the trials he endures are a mirror of Parker’s world.” Morales became his own version of Spider-Man, Ball says, which reflects “the life of a hero of ethnicity living in a country very much aware of race and its place in the overall history of it.”

Jet Boy creator Corey “RocBottom” Davis of RocBottom Studios feels we are in desperate need of diversity in comics. “Not just taking an existing character and making that character black or female,” the comic writer and artist says to Urban, “but something original. In this case, Marvel knocked it out of the park by introducing Miles! Not only is he of color, he’s biracial. He’s a new character with his own backstory. He’s come into his own as a hero and a fan favorite.”

The Spider-Man character has been a fan favorite for more than 50 years. Created by comic legends Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, his first appearance was in Amazing Fantasy #15 in 1962. Morales debuted in 2011’s Ultimate Fallout #4. Originally existing in Marvel’s Ultimate line of comics, which popularly depicted their characters in an alternate universe, Morales stepped in following the death of Peter Parker. His introduction was covered by major media including USA Today, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. The widespread reporting of his bi-racial ethnicity was met with some incredibly negative racial backlash. “Those that took issue with [Morales] taking on the role of an iconic white character needed to have a seat,” says Davis.

“Peter Parker was not the victim of ‘black washing’, so the only problem these people could possibly have is the fact that the person in the Spidey suit is a person of color. I think it’s ridiculous and downright ignorant for anyone to show any type of disgust against a character that gives the industry that shot in the arm it desperately needed for original diverse superheroes.” Ramos says, “When it comes to religion, politics, race, and now superheroes, when things change the fanatics are going to be the loudest haters. You’re going to have the ones who don’t like change or don’t want you to ruin history. But I think it was a courageous move.”

Publisher, writer and consultant Russell Nohelty tells Urban characters like Spider-Man and Captain America were icons of the time they were created. “Times change. Icons change. And new icons need to represent new times. I think most people like those ideas, but they don’t speak loudly enough. And unfortunately they also don’t speak with their wallets. Before moving into the regular Marvel universe in 2016 where the character has since thrived in their Spider-Man title (#1 published Feb. 3, 2016), Morales starred in a series titled Ultimate Comics Spider-Man. The series did not sell well. With a run of only 28 issues, it lasted from September 2011 to November 2013.

“People forget that Marvel and DC are media companies out to make a profit,” Nohelty says. “Even if they want social change, and again I think they do, it doesn’t matter if nobody buys it. And right now the people saying bravo online aren’t the ones buying the books. The ones buying the books are the ones that don’t want the change.”

Given Marvel’s track record they’re not afraid to change or endure the repercussions of it. Despite being unwelcomed in certain reading circles, falling short in sales initially, the character of Miles Morales as SpiderMan found its audience and success in a shared role with Peter Parker; Miles classically defends New York while Parker slings web against global threats. And in their acceptance the character’s greater importance was discovered.

“Creatively, I don’t know if Mile’s creation and existence has done much for creators of color, as writers of color are usually regulated to only working on characters of color,” says Ball. “So when a writer like Bendis, who has proven chops, is writing Miles then there’s really no reason to try and bring in another writer of color to do what one writer is already doing. So the playing field gets smaller and indie writers, especially those of color, continue to create and innovate outside of the larger corporate-owned entities.”

In the end, big screen for Miles Morales is great step for us all. Would be great to have full live action movie, starring great black actors that we have. Having just one Black Panther and Luke Cage is not enough.