from the other side of the spectrum.

    I am writing this with very raw emotions and maybe this isn't a good idea but so be it. Anyone who knows me can describe me as the outspoken girl who always has something to say about racial injustice and sexism. I get ridiculed sometimes by people my age who think I'm too intense and I know that. If I'm too intense it's because I'm passionate. To quote Leslie Knope here: "If I seem too passionate it's because I care."
    I have experienced my fair share of racism by now I'm used to it but yes, it does still hurt hearing racial slurs. People think that the little jokes they make are minor and will blow over but I promise you that on the other end of the spectrum, those jokes stay with you for the rest of your life. I remember attending summer camp when I was nine and having one of the counselors laugh at me because I was having a hard time asking her a question because I barely spoke English. I remember my freshman year of high school when someone from the church I used to attend wrote me a fake referral for "being an illegal immigrant". I also remember standing in a Starbucks parking lot with my old friends after a church service and having the same person ridicule me in front of everyone while asking what my social security number was and having everyone present laugh at me. I remember sitting in math class last year and having another boy ask me in front of everyone if I was a good swimmer and when I said yes, he proceeded to ask me how I swam here. This same boy would ask me almost everyday how I crossed the border and how it was living in the Amazon. Today I had a boy tell me that if I was an illegal immigrant then "I needed to go back to my own fucking country" in the back of the class while everyone laughed.
    I'm telling you this because of the recent events that have happened. I was awake in the middle of the night crying when I learned about what happened to Mike Brown. I'm tired of seeing innocent lives being taken simply for the color of their skin or for the religion that they follow. Just this week, three Muslim students were killed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina by a middle aged white man and no one seems to care. Imagine if the roles were reversed and how the media would react. In the past two days, this was not the main headline and no one wants to admit that this was a hate crime. I have seen too many killings and violence being enforced on the side of those being oppressed and I'm scared.
    I'm scared because people of my race are also among those who are targeted. The Huffington Post has stated that the murder rate for Hispanics/Latinos is twice the murder rates for whites. I am proud of my heritage and where I come from. Maybe it's because I'm such an advocate against racism that I don't understand why it happens in the first place. I'm genuinely scared every time I go out and see someone with a confederate flag hanging from their truck because the odds are that the person whose flag that belongs to doesn't agree with me being here. My family came here from Brazil because my parents grew up in the poorest part of my city and they knew that the same would follow for me if we stayed there. Next time you make a racial remark remember that the statement you're making becomes an everyday part of that person. If you hear these remarks, remember not to be a bystander. Those are the worst kinds of people.

-Laís

Local Natives: a photoblog

   I couldn't have picked a better band to kick off concert season with. Local Natives totally topped my expectations and because of that, last night was by far, the best concert I've ever attended. These guys are so passionate and fun to be around and my heart is happy ya'll.

Noah Gundersen.

    Whenever I go to shows and meet the musicians, genuine conversations rarely occur because I'm surprisingly shy and intimidated. On Saturday I saw one of my favorite musicians, Noah Gundersen for the first time in Tampa and it went down as one of the top ten best nights of my life.

    It didn't hit me that I was actually seeing Noah live until him and his sister, Abby, opened the show with Poor Man's Son. Lately I've been extremely emotional and when Noah started playing Jesus, Jesus, I lost it. The words of that song are the most powerful I've ever heard and they are so relatable to this season of my life. I'm currently sitting here trying to figure out how to put everthing I'm feeling into words but every thought I have is all jammed in my head and I can't seem to make my words flow. It amazes me how Noah effortlessly writes songs about his life experiences and is able to just pour it out for the whole world to hear his heartbreaks and hardships like it's no big deal.
   Saturday night got me thinking. I don't know why or what or how but I feel like something is different and it has been bothering me for the past two days because I don't know what's going on. After the show I went up to Noah and asked if I could talk to him after he was finished taking pictures with everyone. He came up to me and asked me what's up and I told him that one day I can only hope to be as passionate as he is about something and actually make something out of it. I told him that all I wanted to do right then was to sit in an empty parking lot and just cry my eyes out because I was so emotional (and at this point I started to tear up). I know how much musicians hear that they mean a lot to people but he just seemed understanding and genuinely thankful for what I said to him. It felt so surreal to actually meet and hear someone who I've admired for so long. I don't know what has changed or why I feel like something is different but I'll figure it out. Eventually. Thanks for completely wrecking me with your music, Noah.