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Pose is an FX original series that is set in New York during the late 1980’s where the LGBT community is still finding it’s light in the dark. Ronald Reagan is still President and the HIV epidemic is at large. In dark times like this, a stigmatized community needs to find a haven where they can be themselves without persecution or discrimination. In this time period, the term “Ball” resonates through the LGBT community that is defined as a place where the unaccepted are accepted; where the “odd” can be as odd as they want; where they can “Slay”, “Work, and “Pose”. It is a hidden world undiscovered by the streets of New York.

The series’ main character goes by the name Blanca (Mj Rodriguez), who leaves the House of Abundance to start her own house where she can be her own mother and recover people of all backgrounds off the streets to give them shelter and also have them compete at the ball. The ball is a night where all the houses compete in posing competition where the only way to win is to get a 10 all across the board. Blanca is a fearless transgender woman who fights for herself, her community, and her family. She has ambition, courage, compassion, and fierceness. The actions she takes to better her community resonate through her loved ones as she tries to make the streets a better place for her kind. A great example is when she tries to go to a gay bar to celebrate her recent win from the ball, but isn’t served because she’s not a “man”. After that incident she protest by going to the bar every night until she gets a drink from the bar.

In this series, you’ll find that every character has a story that is being told. All of the people that Blanca brings into her House have completely different backgrounds because she doesn’t shy away from anyone that needs a place to stay. Damon Richard (Ryan Jamal Swain) is a 17 year old homosexual who was kicked out of his home because of religious persecution. Lil Papi (Angel Bismark Curiel) was a hustler in the streets selling drugs even after he moved into Blanca’s home. Angel (Indya Moore) is a fellow transgender who came from the same house as Blanca but is keen on selling her body on the streets and Pray Tell (Billy Porter) struggles dealing with HIV+ along with his boyfriend who’s hospitalized for pneumonia. Everyone in Blanca’s “House of Evangelista” has a story that is expressed throughout the series and it up to Blanca, in her own mind, to give them a better life and to better themselves. She’s is a very selfless queen who gives kids like Damon a chance to be a dancer, or giving old queens like Elektra (Dominique Jackson), who discarded Blanca for leaving the House of Abundance, a place to stay after her white boyfriend kicked her out for becoming a “full” woman.

Every character has a heartfelt story that can resonate through viewers of LGBT while wowing them with the colorful, vibrant culture of the Ball. It’s a place where everyone is accepted, which wasn’t present in the 1980’s; instead there was turmoil, discrimination, and the AIDS epidemic that the rest of New York tried disregarding. This show will have you crying tears of sorrow and joy at the same time because in every cloud of darkness there’s a beam of light that shines in every episode. For those who are caught up with the series, I’d start watching season 2 if I were you.

For most of the LGBT Community, religion is an enemy that follows them everywhere. From religious protesters to extremist, LGBT people are always discriminated by people of religion and are caused to believe that they’ll be “condemned” to hell. Everywhere around the world, gay people are dying and being persecuted because they can’t love who they want to love. Although change is happening in our country politically; socially, extremist are still attacking, condemning, discriminating, and killing people of LGBT. This is why gay people can’t fall behind religion because they’re afraid and don’t see a place for them in “God’s House”. But I and other individuals that still hold their faith, practice it often and don’t feel stigmatized by God because if He created me in His image, then there’s nothing for me to be afraid of.

On Easter Sunday, I was able to get the day off from work and I decided to go to church (River of Praise) with my family. Regrettably, it’s been a while since the last time I went to church. I’ve always had my faith contained in my heart but never went out to practice my religion because I felt I was working too much or had to focus on school. But when I did go, I always enjoyed hearing my Pastor preach because it was genuine and never neglectful of other things that might be considered “sinful”. After the church band finished performing, Pastor Richard came on stage to start speaking the Word; mentioning the resurrection of Christ and him dying for our sins but also spreading love for all man and not just the good ones.

But there was one thing that he said that resonated with me the most. He says that rules aren’t going to get you to heaven, it’s your relationship with God. What he means by that is you can read the bible daily, not eat meat on Fridays, or lose your virginity when engaged, but none of that will matter because that is not what gets you to heaven. It is accepting God from within yourself, therefore loving yourself and God as well. I loved hearing that because not all queer people see it that way. For most queers, they think that it’s too late for them and that they’re going to Hell anyway.

Hearing Pastor Richard say that made me believe that it’s okay to be bisexual and love God because He created me in His image both inside and out. So even if I don’t practice Christianity all the time, at least I still know that my faith in God is still intact as long as I know it. If there is any person of LGBT that is trying to come back to Church but afraid otherwise, just be sure to love yourself before you can love someone else.

http://riverofpraisechurch.org/

Autism is a disorder that impairs one’s ability to communicate and socially interact with other individuals. More than 200,000 people are diagnosed every year and it changes the way parents view their kids in more ways than one. As an autistic myself, I have struggled with this disorder (along with ADD) for most of my life, but have grown out of it to where people can’t tell at first glance. I’ve gone from being extremely antisocial and non-talkative to being more socially active and not afraid to speak to other people. On a Saturday night, I was working at Pappasitos and I would make a mother’s day worth while and here’s how I would do it.

On a semi-busy night, I was appointed with a party of 10 people to take care of. I did my usual greet, pitched this month’s drink and got their drink orders. It all went downhill from there when I accidentally dropped a glass of water on one of the guest. I was wildly apologetic and got paper towels to wipe off the table and the floors but that wouldn’t help because something awfully worse would happen to another guest out of the whole 10-top party.

This happened out of the corner of my eye so I didn’t get a good glimpse at what happened but apparently, a tree roach fell from a ceiling and landing on a mother’s head and the went crawling through the restaurant and that, I felt, was the end of my chance of getting a good tip from this table. I already put in the order in place so the food was already coming out. I told my manager their situation and he decided to comp their whole meal, which was already a $180 tab, so I was already feeling upset and agitated from these occurrences.

After their food came out I continued to be attentive to what the guest wanted, but while I was taking care of them, this one individual with a full Houston Astros outfit was very introverted and to himself. I was very intrigued by this and had a gut feeling that he was autistic. I continued evaluating him until I had the courage to approach his mom and ask if he was autistic and she said “yes he’s autistic” and then I replied “awesome; me too”. Then we conversed a little, mentioning how I couldn’t speak until I was five years old and the mother said he couldn’t speak until around that age either. Feeling satisfied, I left it there and continued working.

When they were ready for their checks I separated the tabs by four checks and handed them the guest. While I was checking to see if they were ready, everyone was ready except for the mother, who said she needed a minute. From what I could see, she was getting emotional, but I didn’t really bother to understand why so I proceeded to do my job. I processed the other guests’ payments and started pre-bussing the table, then I saw the mother was talking to Michael (my manager) and he processed the payment himself because he wanted to surprise me with the tip she gave me. After they thanked me for the service and left, Michael pulled me aside and showed a $0.1 tab (after he voided everything) with $60 tip behind that.

I was flabbergasted at why the tip was so high when my performance was so low and he said that she had no idea that I was mentally challenged, which Michael didn’t know at the time, and seeing that reminded her of her son. I was very happy to not only get a great tip, but also make her day by expressing my autism towards her. That’s the thing about autism; it’s not a disease and it doesn’t make people stupid or retarded. If anything it opens the imagination of an individual’s mind to any possibilities. Autistic people are the most imaginative, creative, and inspiring people you’ll find. If I had the chance to cure my autism, I wouldn’t because it’s a special part of me. It’s not a disease, it’s not a virus, it’s a tool for your imagination to prosper and lead you to great things

Congratulations; you are finally 21. You’re able to buy drinks, gamble, go to bars, clubs, and all of the others freedoms that this country provides. And if you’re a celebrator, like me, you’d want to celebrate it in a place where all the freedoms of being 21 are expressed in extravagant proportions. What better place to go to than The Sin City, Las Vegas. If you are planning a trip to Vegas, then here are the Top 7 things to do when you’re 21.

Number 1: Buy drinks

You’re 21 in Vegas so naturally you’re going to want to buy, beer, vodka, liquor, whiskey, rum, and tequila because you have the freedom to do so. If you’re with a group a friends in a hotel room, then the first thing to do is buy drinks and get drunk off the first night with shots, mixing drinks, and even playing drinking games. And the best part is that you won’t remember anything in the morning except vomiting before you went to bed. Or is that the worst part? In any case you’ll be having an awesome night.

Number 2: Going Out To Eat

Las Vegas has hundreds of restaurants on the strip that you can visit for a quick bite. You can probably find five restaurants in one hotel and never have to leave. What’s amazing about Vegas is that it’s a service/entertainment industry so any place you go to is going to have restaurants. You can find anything from Cajun, Southern BBQ, Vietnamese, Japanese, Seafood, Mexican, Italian, and the list just goes on and on. It seems almost as though every restaurant has a trait that makes them stand out from the others, whether that’s entertainment, good food, the best drinks, or just excellent service from the staff. This just goes to show that in Las Vegas, nothing is dull.

Number 3: Go Gambling

Now gambling is not for everybody, but if you have a lucky hand in rolling dice or flipping cards, i suggest you go gambling so you can earn hundreds of dollars. Every hotel in the strip has casinos (minus the Trump Hotel) so you can go to a neighboring hotel and try your hand at some slot machines or Black Jack or get creative and just gamble on the street; as long as you win some money while you do it. But if you’re a guy that deposits some $30 on a slot machine and only leave with $6.50 (me), I’d stay away from gambling.

Number 4: Bar Hopping

Just like there are restaurants on every block, there are also bars on every block. If you and your friends want to go to a bar but can’t decide on which one, just go from bar to bar and try all of their best drinks and get drunk while doing it. Now this is a required activity both for heavy-weight drinkers and if you have money to waist and if you have both those attributes then you’re in for a good night. If you go bar hopping, I suggest trying the Perfect Margarita from Margaritaville.

Number 5: Go Sightseeing

Las Vegas is such a beautiful city and there are so many things to see and activities to do like seeing the Statue of Liberty and The Eiffel Tower. There’s also zip lines, roller coasters, museums, aquariums, circus shows, a romantic boat that you can ride with your significant other and a Ferris Wheel. There are a lot of things to do in Vegas that can intrigue you in one way or another.

Number 6: Buying Marijuana

Nevada is one of many states that have legalized the consumption of marijuana so if you’re 21, then you can get a vast amount of different types of marijuana from pre-rolls, edibles, and even pens. Although they do have limits on where you can consume it, if you’re staying in you’re smoking suite or staying in an area with little to no people, then feel free to get as high as the replica Eiffel Tower.

Number 7: Go Clubbing

You’re in Vegas so of course you’re going to want to go clubbing on your 21st birthday. Whether it’s to dance your feelings away or just get drunk with tequila and vodka, there are clubs on every block in the Strip for you to choose. It’s a sea of lights, DJ’s, eye candy, drugs, alcohol, and wonderful music that you can sink your teeth into and just enjoy a night with your best friends.

In Vegas, nothing is dull and everything is lively. Las Vegas is an amazing place to go to for coming of age individuals that want to have a glamorous 21st birthday and be able to try everything on the table. It’s a place that opens your eyes to a world of wonder and opportunity to explore your freedoms. If you are contemplating on a 21st birthday vacation to go to, Las Vegas should be your unanimous decision because it has everything you can ask for, and then some.

Four to five days out of the week I’m always drinking coffee, whether I’m doing homework, spending time with my boyfriend or just unwinding in a study-friendly environment. Coffee is a very demanding beverage because it’s the most reliable get-me-up for the day when someone has to go to work or stay awake for their next class. I know personally, I’m going to need my chai latte with vanilla syrup and whip cream when I need to go to class or finish a very important essay. But besides using coffee to wake up, there are other activities you can do while in a coffee lounge. Here are the three best things to do at a coffee lounge!

Number 1: Studying

Live in a house, with a big family, but have no privacy to study? Then come on down to your nearest coffee lounge; Where you can make your own customized coffee, latte, frappe, americano, or tea. If that doesn’t convince you, studies show that the busy, yet welcoming environment of a coffee shop enhances concentration and creativity of other individuals. If you’ve ever heard of the saying, “Yawning is contagious”, the same goes for concentration. If you’re in a coffee lounge where everyone is on their headphones and studying, most likely, you’ll be too.

Number 2: Going on a Date

“Hey there beautiful, would you like to grab a coffee sometime?” Ok so maybe it doesn’t go like that; the point is, coffee places are great for first dates. It’s simple and less expensive than going out to dinner and wearing your best outfit. In a coffee place, all attires are accepted so you can wear your pj’s on a date (wouldn’t suggest it) and not be judged. Not only that, there’s more intimacy and you get to know the person more when it’s just you, your date, some chai lattes and chocalate chip cookies.

Number 3: Social Networking

If you have a group project to do with your classmates (me), have an important meeting, or just have a friendly gathering, then a coffee lounge would be the best spot. Getting work done is less of a hassle when you have your coworkers helping you in a network-friendly environment where you and your peers can brainstorm ideas, meet new people, or have a group study session. And if you have to talk via online, free wifi will solve all of that.

For this generation of young adults, coffee lounges are the new library. It’s a place where you can unwind in a free wi-fi, study-friendly zone where you can either have a friendly gathering, go on a date, or study for long hours without interruption. The smell of coffee beans will give you the urge to study with a latte to your right and then all of the sudden, you’ve finished your homework in an hour because you were so focused. So go to a nearby Starbucks, get a chai latte with vanilla syrup and whip cream, and get to studying.

For this generation of young adults, coffee lounges are the new library. It’s a place where you can unwind in a free wi-fi, study-friendly zone where you can either have a friendly gathering, go on a date, or study for long hours without interruption. The smell of coffee beans will give you the urge to study with a latte to your right and then all of the sudden, you’ve finished your homework in an hour because you were so focused. So go to a nearby Starbucks, get a chai latte with vanilla syrup and whip cream, and get to studying.

My boyfriend and I just celebrated Valentine’s day together and ate at a Pappasito’s Tex-Mex restaurant. Before this, we debated on celebrating Valentine’s day or not because we both know that this holiday is extremely manufactured and is the main cause of why people are broke at the end of the month because people want to impress their significant other. But we decided to do it anyway cause we thought it would be fun. I was able to get a day off from work by paying one of my coworkers $40 to take my shift so I can see my boyfriend, which is a factor in itself on how much money this holiday consumes. Alejandro (My boyfriend) was so sweet and got me a balloon, a stuffed puppy, and a heart full of starburst candy, which was $15. Then we went to Pappasito’s and spent around $58 on dinner, and finally, we drove to midtown and went biking, which was around $6.

With the money that we spent on the whole holiday and the gas that was consumed, we spent about $137 on Valentine’s Day. What makes this even more maddening is that if we decided to spend time with each other on our anniversary (5 days after Valentine’s Day) we would’ve spent at least half of what we consumed on Valentine’s day just for dinner. This goes to show that holidays like Valentine’s Day have imbued the majority of peoples’ minds that Valentine’s Day is such an important holiday when, in all reality, it’s a hoax to consume your hard earned money.

Valentine’s Day isn’t the most important day of the year. Yet, society still succumbs to buying superfluous things like chocolate hearts, flowers, and balloons to satisfy their significant other. Along with that, single individuals spend the day in despair because there’s love in the air and they’re not getting any of it. Now if propaganda wasn’t the main issue on why this holiday is so manufactured, then people would be focusing on the main theme of Valentine’s Day; Love.

Love confuses people to be drawn to Valentine’s Day because they think buying someone gifts will help them find love. However, it brings a strong message and brings the world together. Now that love has a more vibrant and diverse meaning to society, it has a bigger influence on individuals, such as hope, purpose, and conviction. Love is no longer selective or specific to one thing and disregarding another. Love is just “Love”.

“IT’S A GREAT DAY TO BE AN AMERICAN”. Sure; if you’re okay with living in a country that has everything from racism, homophobic prejudice, hate crimes, mass incarceration, and a President that has no earthly clue on how to run a country. In the past couple of years, Since Donald Trump has been President, hate, extremism, and nationalism (the negative kind) have been spreading rapidly and putting a divide in our country. This has caused me to have second thoughts on being a proud American; so much that I wish I wasn’t joking about moving to Canada when Trump became President.

Politically and Socially, it has been dissatisfying to be an American. For me, it started with the “I can’t Breathe Movement”; When a group of police officers harassed a black man, threw him on the ground, and put him in a chokehold while the black man was screaming “I can’t breathe”. And it doesn’t stop there folks. In 2016, a white supremacist shoots and kills 9 African Americans in a Charleston Church. In 2017, a clinically dysfunctional white man runs over a group of black counter-protesters, Which Trumps addresses the situation by saying “You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides,”. In 2016, a man kills 49 people in a gay club in Orlando, making this hate-crime one of the worst acts of violence in history. Even the topic of immigrants has racist motives behind it. The list of hate-crimes goes on and on and it’s making people of color fear for their lives because it seems that every white man is out to get them.

This is why I don’t have any sense of morality for my country because of how divided it is; and has been for a very long time. Our history of repression on minorities speaks more loudly than any other part of American history because unironically, minorities have always had a hard time in American history. It seems even after having our first Black President, America still can’t be united as one people. Instead, we have to face the irony of being called the United States of America, but not really “united” at all. As much as we like to call it that, our government operates as divided parties and they are in a war all by themselves. And Trump is too busy shutting down the government and leaving over 800,000 people unemployed and having to scrap for food just he can get money for a wall that no one wants.

As much as I want to have a love for the country that I was born in, there’s so much more improvement needed for this country to be “my” country (for one, a better president). During this delicate time of year, this is the perfect opportunity for reconciliation because the 2020 election is just around the corner. There are a vast amount of promising candidates like Joe Biden, Beto O’Rourke, and Kamala Harris that could bring plausible change to our country. My only plea for this country is for the hope that we start making an actual change instead of focusing on hate and deciphering on who is our enemy.

My motives for writing this was in response to Jussie Smollet’s attack in Chicago for just being gay and Black. This is the type of hate crime that makes America stand out the most and causes me to be terrified of what the future has for black people and the LGBT Community alike. I hope for the best on Jussie Smollet’s recovery and that this attack is just a bump on the street on the fight for gay rights and acceptance of being who we are.

Highly acclaimed Netflix series, Bojack Horseman, is about an anthropomorphic celebrity that goes through a very depressing life as an actor who tries to cope with life by participating in drugs, alcohol, sexual intercourse and binge-watching his own sitcom show, Horsin’ Around. This is by far one of the most unique characters that I have ever enjoyed watching through the current 5 seasons of Bojack Horseman. This show excellently portrays what it’s like to have everything you want, yet not feel complete inside, which is extremely relating to audiences that go through depression, anxiety, and addiction. I didn’t think I would like this show at first because I am not a depressed person in general, so I thought that I wouldn’t relate to it as much but it’s not just Bojack that stands out. The supporting characters play a huge role in this series and also show great relatability to the viewers.

There are four supporting characters(Mr. Peanutbutter, Todd Chavez, Diane Nguyen, and Princess Carolyn) that all have great moments of character development and each represents a different personality that various individuals can relate too. For me, it was Mr. Peanutbutter, a very generous, jittery, clueless, inattentive, and a loveable dog. Throughout the series, his most noticeable struggle is holding a marriage with Diane Nguyen, who loves him very much but gets very annoyed by him most of the time because when he plans something, it’s mostly for his benefit, which comes across as selfish to Diane, despite Mr. Peanutbutter having the best intentions. A good example is when Mr. Peanutbutter takes Diane out for dinner for her Birthday and she has a great time, but then Mr. Peanutbutter goes over the top and throws a House-Party for her when she didn’t want one because she doesn’t like parties. I was in the same situation when I took my boyfriend to my best friend’s birthday house party to celebrate his 21st birthday and while I was having a great time, Alejandro wasn’t having as much fun because he didn’t know anybody and was just to himself while I was either hanging with my best friends or catching up with old friends from high school that I haven’t seen in years.

What really makes this show so popular is its realism and effortless representation of how far long-term depression goes for one person after dealing with it for so long. Bojack goes through many adventures to find himself or make him feel like he’s worth something but nothing has helped him. He has done so much from excluding his friends, consecutively running away from Los Angeles, to going on a binge-drinking spree, to even settling in a beat up house in Michigan, Bojack has done everything on the list to find happiness but the Journey still goes on and you can’t help but feel for Bojack despite all of the things he has done to himself and his loved ones. But what really makes Bojack the way he is is because of his troubling past and how his parents mistreated and shamed him for being alive. When he was a kid, his idol was Secretariat, a famous racing horse that Bojack would later play as in the movie adaptation of “Secretariat”. In one of the episodes, there was a flashback scene where young Bojack was watching Secretariat in an interview while smoking a cigarette. Because Bojack wanted to be cool like him, he took a cigarette from his mom’s purse and tried smoking it. When his mom caught him, she made him smoke the whole cigarette after she caught him, despite Bojack not liking it.

This year The Netflix series has won the Best Animated Series Award from the Critics Choice Television Awards and it most certainly deserves it because of how much the show itself has grown throughout its 5 seasons. No wonder the show has been approved for another season. I believe this show will be a way for teens and young adults to see how depression works in the mind and for the people with depression to feel like they are not the only one dealing with depression. As someone that has friends and family that currently have depression, I’ve witnessed the toll it takes on individuals and it’s not pretty, but seeing it be adapted in a dark comedy show like this makes me think that it will enlighten all people that are dealing with depression that you have worth in this world and you might not know it yet, but everybody you know loves you.

Ever since the 1970s, Marijuana has been a mainstream gateway drug for the majority of the population. It has many names from dope to weed to Mary Jane and has made a name for itself for the past 40 years it’s been around. It has become a theme among hippies for peace on earth during the Vietnam War and even has its own national weed day on April 20 every year. However, Marijuana is still considered a Grade 1 illegal drug that incarcerated 8.2 million people from 2001 to 2010.

Despite the strong evidence that Marijuana has more medical purposes, approved by the FDA for medical purposes, and is legal recreationally in California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and North Dakota. Yet people are still being incarcerated in all other states, along with black people being 3.73 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana. Many of my friends smoke weed and I worry for them because of how tough police is on marijuana, arresting and unjustifiably sentencing them to years in prison for having less than a gram of marijuana in possession. Not only that, people that are living in poverty are having to sell drugs because the government is too ignorant to give basic, beneficial needs other than food stamps to keep them stable.

There has been a lot of groups on YouTube who are able to survey people to smoke weed and ask them if they think that marijuana should be legal. What’s not surprising is the majority of the people in America are in full support for legalizing marijuana. In fact, 62% of the Americans are in favor of legalizing marijuana, which was twice as much as the percentage back in early 2000 (31%) and universities have predicted that Marijuana will be legal all over the country in 2021.

I truly believe that legalizing marijuana will be very beneficial for the U.S. because the states that have legalized marijuana are doing great economically because of the price of recreational and medical marijuana has improved their revenue. And when marijuana is legal, all of the innocent men and women who were incarcerated for possession and there will be fewer people in jail and maybe America won’t be infamous for having the highest rate of incarceration in the world.

There’s a lot of important things in this world that an individual needs to continue through life. But nothing is more important in this world than Parents. Parents are the backbone to every kids’ source of influence during every part of their life from baby to toddler to teen to adulthood. They are something that we shouldn’t take for granted and instead embrace with all of our hearts. I know that I wouldn’t be where I am now without the comfort and love from my Mom (Jacqueline Wade) and the constructive criticism, tough love from my Dad (Kevin Wade). As much as we hate to admit it… we need our parents.

I know a lot of people that have had troubling families and not so good parents either, but parents can be the most encouraging and helpful beings on this earth if you have trust. To every parent, trust is the most important thing to have in order to keep their kids safe. I love my parents to death even though they can give me a hassle sometimes, but I know deep down that their heart is always in the right place. My mom and dad always express how much they love me all the time and it’s because they want to convey that no one else will love me more than them. Sometimes, I am reminded how blessed I am to have such an awesome family, but I also realize that not everybody has the same luxury of love and affection that I get from my parents.

I have friends that have crazy moms and dads that take their hard earned money or kick them out for loving the same gender or just simply neglected them. I wish I could relate to what they go through but I can’t; I can only listen, feel sorry for them, and I feel shallow because of that. When kids have a traumatizing experience, it takes a toll on their ongoing lives and causes them to make the wrong choices when really all they need is love.

So if you are currently having arguments with your parents and feel like you’re going to hate them for the rest of your life, just take into account what parents go through on a daily basis with their children and all the sacrifices they give for the sake of their children. I know I will always love my parents because as my mom always says, “I will never stop loving you… unless you shoot me”.