Nothing Good Happens After 2 A.M.
I wish I heard this solid piece of advice prior to my post 2 A.M. endeavors. Granted, it probably wouldn't have made a difference, I'm sure I would have continued my strained attempts to enjoy my fleeting teenage years, but at least I would have realized that if nothing good has happened by 2 A.M., then nothing good will happen, unless I make the night, in the words of Barney Stinson, "legendary".
My grit, persistence and obsession with novels like On The Road inspire my adventures to new parts on the East Coast the way Kerouac traveled around the country. With each trip, my childlike perceptions changed and I became more critical of the people around me the way Holden Caulfield was.
Granted, my paranoia of something bad happening made me seem like the narrator of "Tell-Tale Heart", but it goes to show how my love for literature also influences my understanding of the world.
My most memorable venture was to Atlantic City with my friend. The coordinator of the event, a much too big of a woman, failed to book our hotel room. To spare ourselves the embarrassment, we told none of the other performers. Instead, we slept under a table in the ballroom of the Trump Plaza --of all places to be comfortable, sleeping under a table with someone laying next to you would not be one of them.
We expected the night to get progressively better, but by 1 A.M. we were feeling like Edward Norton, a helpless insomniac. Enraged, I sought to ruin the venue. We stole the Kit-Kats, Doritos and M&M's that were set up for the venue, ate them and disposed of the wrappers on the floor as a sign of our anger.
Our satisfaction was only momentary, a janitor came in to organize the space for the following morning. While he cleaned up our evidence of rebellion towards the event coordinator, the man produced a drum-roll effect by farting, and he'll never know that I was under that table listening to every tooting sound he made.
Tired of sleeping with someone next to me and intoxicated by the lethal smell of farts, we left the ballroom. We decided that we weren't going to let the circumstances ruin the rest of our night. Riding the escalators, exploring the casinos, showering in the bathroom sink, watching the sunrise and running around the empty ballroom lead me to the realization that you have to take ownership of whatever happens to you.
These “legendary” moments make great memories, but if they revolve around farts, junk food, and struggling to find comfort, how legendary can they really be? But no matter how dismayed I feel in my endeavors, I've grown to embrace them. The more difficult the situation is, the more I grow and learn about the kind of people I like to be around, the kinds of habits I want to define my character and what stories I want as memories.
My goal is to be successful. I can imagine that going to college calls for many nights that include staying up past 2 A.M. and I know that I need to assume the responsibility as an undergraduate student and triumph over the small obstacles rather than becoming angry and stealing Kit-Kats.
These experiences have made me apprehend that; in order to be happy, you have to take ownership of every situation in order for them to be, in the words of Barney Stinson, "legendary".
Train Symposium
The Commonly Misunderstood New York City Teen Hustle
“Oh na LA, yo, you went to LA, oh na u poppin. My school don’t let me do that shit.”
“Me either, foh, I was always in trouble”
His friend, who’s been silent this whole time goes, “Boy I can cook more than you, shut the fuck up” in a high-pitched joking voice.
Black Lives Matter | Paris Protests
I’d like to share with my online community that protesting is exhausting and yesterday I found myself out of balance. Crying. Screaming. Cursing. Fuming. Yelling at the police. Sitting peacefully in the front line: legs crossed, hands out. I told myself both protests not to be a front liner and that’s where i naturally gravitated towards, feeling the need for the police to see us and humanize us. I don’t know what drove me to do such an act but it’s as if I gave no value to my life. Any order and the police could have charged and trampled me. I stayed the entire time and although my peers are well intentioned they left early. That’s emblematic of privilege. You choose when you can show up to places to demand justice. POC can’t choose when bc if they decide not to thats one more generation of the cycle. One more generation of: oppression, redlined districts, underfunded schools, unjust prison systems and sentences. The list goes on. This trauma is inherited. It is also shared in the community as we see each other get arrested and beaten at protests. When we see who populates a college classroom and who populates the prison system. When we see the conditions we live in. Not matter class background or the privileges black people face, the unrelenting truth of the American social system shows up at your door unboxed. showing up to the protests in Paris has given me a broader perspective. The police will smile to your face. They will say pleasant comments like “we are here to make sure everyone is safe.” They don’t immediately resort to the violent tactics as seen in the media by the American police, but their silence is even more violent because it occults the truth. Cut the sugar coating, behind that smile is the verisimilitude of a patriarchal structure they are upholding. I’m exhausted and on top of that Columbia University expects us to preform under the same caliber, as if there isn’t a pandemic & global civil unrest. I can’t do my thesis research. I cant do my hw. On top of that I am spreading myself thin by informing ppl asking me questions in my DMs. I am barely eating. I am tired. This is not our job.
What do they see when they see us?
Film Maker’s Note:
Often our identity is imposed onto us. We are socialized to be perceived in a lens that may not be the way we choose to be seen or treated. Some of us may be wayward in finding our footing in the soil that we walk across, but it is important to define yourself for who you want to be and not what others impose onto you.
I went into this project with a non-biased lens that was open to producing art for art’s sake. Often I am seeking to tell a racialized narrative, but for this shoot I wanted us to exist outside of our race. This proved to be only a wish. Upon shooting in SoHo, an employee of a coffee shop off of Grand Street was bothered by our presence; four individuals of color. However, she didn’t see us as individuals, she saw us as a collective of what could be harmful, so much so that she threatened to call the police on us (refer to the opening of the film).
Karon contacted me to produce a "Behind the Scenes" film of the shoot. I contemplated incorporating this element, because again, I did not want to make the project exclusively about radicalized dynamics. After some thought I decided, this encounter is part of the BTS, just as our location scouting, outfit curation and image production. For this reason, I decided the narrative should be documented, all the while being juxtaposed with the actual work that was being curated with Hamadi, Chris, and myself - Shirley.
A tattoo artist by the name go Kgopotso from South Africa said to me, “Black people are the closest thing to God.” A South African spiritual leader by the name of Sibo said, “It is because of the likeness [to] we can create.” Despite the micro-agressions and the animosity that was directed towards us, we kept our peace and proceeded to create.
Written, filmed and edited by: Shirley Reynozo
Photographer: Hamadi
Stylist: Chris
Model: Karon
#BlackOutTuesday Morning Thoughts
This is a civil war between the police state and unarmed citizens. People of all intersectional identities have joined together to meet the face of oppression face to face in the streets. People are saying to them “these are the structural impediments you have placed upon us for 400 years, stop killing us, stop exploiting us, stop conditioning us to unsuitable living situations.” Instead of protecting its citizens and upholding the values of equality, liberty and justice, the police will rather beat, shoot, run over, pepper pray tase, arrest, and murder people to uphold a racist patriarchy. This is the image of America. Do not be fooled by cops taking a knee, that is a distraction from the reality that the system was not created to uphold any of our rights or values. There are cops looting so that the media can blame that on the protestors.
The beauty of 2020 is that everyone can document the revolution even if it won’t be televised. They tried to send a signal to the world that they can censor our freedom of speech when they arrested the CNN reporter, Omar Jimenez, and his crew. They are trying to send a message to New York that the police has any right to do what they must do to impose curfews and Martial Law. Including inflicting violence on its citizens. But we will not be deterred nor will we be fooled. We all have a platform, speak up! The truth of the matter is that the system will use its puppets to uphold itself. Call it what it is! Love is not winning, violence has taken over.
Please heal yourself and heal your community. Hold a harsh mirror to yourself like we do to America. It is the only way I’m which we will fix the illnesses of our communities and the larger structure, it is how we will get progress and liberation.
Much love to black people, we will be the beacons of light. Keep creating please š½
A playlist to uplift your spirits: Find Your Peace [Fuk 12]
Riveting and invigorating visuals by Daniela Brito (@datpiffexclusive)
Pictures by Fela Raymond @felaraymond
Video by Kaykay Sublime @kaykaysublime
RESOURCES
- Donating to Protest Bail Funds
#blacklivesmatter #blm š½