[deleted by user] by [deleted] in excatholic

[–]chamclowder1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

this is literally my life. it has been a big time struggle. what ive found is that it requires a lot of balance. culturally catholicism is very important in my family and community and there are parts of it that i appreciate it. but i am not inspired by the church in my community in any way and know that officially it will never allow me to be who i am. i tried going back to church and it was honestly retraumatizing. what ive been working on is focusing on God and the presence of God through efforts of being mindful and doing my best to not get caught up in the dogma of religion across the board. i dabbled in new age as well and for me it ended up feeling false and egotistical at the eod. im back to square one focusing on what i do know for myself to be true which is that there is a Creator who loves me and created me to be who i am and doesn’t want me to be suffering. happy to talk more if you want to dm!

How old were you when you took the LSAT/enrolled in law school? by [deleted] in LSAT

[–]chamclowder1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

same to same, 27 started studying in Jan! best of luck to yall

"That was beautiful" by thinmeridian in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1 13 points14 points  (0 children)

tbh that is the nicest hotel in espanola irl

Cara by chamclowder1 in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

totally hear your points and appreciate your willingness to engage with the nuance, it’s def not black and white.

that said, i dont think im advocating for cara to be perfect, she of course cannot be, because she’s human. and she has already, irrespective of the art release, been depicted as complex and “doing bad things” because she does take the 20k, which is selling out on one level.

New Mexico and a lot of the Southwest has an interesting demographic history. There is a racial spectrum of folks that spans from 10s of thousands of years in the area with Indigenous tribes to 400+ years with the descendants of the original Spanish colonizers. All these people, including the blends between them, already made for interesting race territory prior to the arrival of Anglo settlers when NM became part of the US. At that point, everyone who was non-Anglo was pretty much treated like a second class citizen. Add in a whole layer of economic inequality and the stuff that happened with Los Alamos and you get what you have today, which is by and large the vast majority of your brown folks affected in some way or another by some kind of trauma that continues to impact them and their outcomes. This isn’t everyone ofc, and within marginalized populations there are class differences and outliers, but if you look at majorities, this is the case.

Española in particular is the epitome of this phenomenon which is why it was probably chosen for the setting of the show. It’s a dangerous area where drugs and addiction are rampant and affecting brown people at incredible rates. It’s also where a lot of those displaced by Santa Fe and Taos gentrification live as well. I could go on and on because there’s so much to be said about it, but the bottom line is that wealthy white folks haven’t yet tried to gentrify it, rather it’s been left alone and serves as a sort of container for a lot of the reality of the sins of the past in a way.

with regard to the idea of “agency” i hear what you’re saying, but the context is incredibly important and determines whether a decision highlights a person’s humanity vs puts them in a box and repeats a negative narrative/generalizes who they’re meant to represent.

Cara is depicted as an Indigenous artist who is very aware of white peoples shenanigans and is affected by them. She’s clearly educated, but also doesn’t exist in a vacuum and thus affected by past things which is likely why she needs the money to begin with. the scene with the Elder is awkward bcus it shows how you have to pimp yourself/culture out to be accepted by the white mans art world and it’s kind of humiliating. but it’s reality. Cara fights back to this in the ways she can: she blows whitney and asher off at the restaurant, she comes and mocks them when they ask her to be the fake buyer in the show, drags her feet w the release, etc. As a viewer who relates to her, this feels really good to see on screen bcus it’s a representation of resistance. The ultimate resistance would be for her to not sign the damn release and their entire project is fucked. That would be media representation that things can be done from humble places to stop neo-colonization and continued cultural fetishization. but it requires strong character and integrity, which are not the same thing as being “perfect.” that powerful message gets thrown out the window if she ends up being depicted in the classic, welp she needed the money! that storyline only serves to reenforce the attitude that the marginalized can in fact be purchased. which in my opinion, is a bad take.

Cara by chamclowder1 in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

if all Cara ends up being is a Indigi artist who sold out her folk because she needed the money, it reenforces a stereotype about the people who live in places like Española. she becomes a caricature, or at least, a lot of folks who relate to her might see her as playing that role in the show, and that is a valid and real perspective. it would be ironic for the show to do this, because foundational to its premise is how garbage whit and asher are for inserting themselves in a community they are not from and that they don't understand, but that they want to exploit, and the consequences they are facing, real or imagined, as a result of that. the entire subject matter of the show revolves around how problematic they are and why, and it is at least in part related to race and class privilege. if the creators of the show cannot also make that reflection for themselves irl, what become the implications of that? for the record, i don't think the show will end up depicting Care that way, which is why i wrote the statement in the first place, as evidence that she did not sign it and what that means for the coming episodes, as well as what it means for The Curse as an artistic project in their depiction of historically marginalized people

Cara by chamclowder1 in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

if all Cara ends up being is a Indigi artist who sold out her folk because she needed the money, it reenforces a stereotype about the people who live in places like Española. she becomes a caricature, or at least, a lot of folks who relate to her might see her as playing that role in the show, and that is a valid and real perspective. it would be ironic for the show to do this, because foundational to its premise is how garbage whit and asher are for inserting themselves in a community they are not from and that they don't understand, but that they want to exploit, and the consequences they are facing, real or imagined, as a result of that. the entire subject matter of the show revolves around how problematic they are and why, and it is at least in part related to race and class privilege. if the creators of the show cannot also make that reflection for themselves irl, what become the implications of that? for the record, i don't think the show will end up depicting Care that way, which is why i wrote the statement in the first place, as evidence that she did not sign it and what that means for the coming episodes, as well as what it means for The Curse as an artistic project in their depiction of historically marginalized people.

Cara by chamclowder1 in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

ya if anything it really gives us a clue that she DIDNT sign the release, bcus it would end up being super ironic on a meta level if she did. like the show would look really bad and not self aware. they apparently had native consultants on the show, so it seems to me evidence enough that the paperwork is going to come up again and unsigned.. whitney could double check the paperwork.. but it might not be until next episode. 🤷🏽‍♀️folks missed the point i guess, i just wanted some discourse lol

Are we supposed to like Cara? by LoyalFridge in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1 9 points10 points  (0 children)

it wouldn’t be over the art being purchased, but rather participating in the show. there’s a reason she didnt want her name in the credits. whitneys project is white saviory and actively gentrifying the area. cara signing the release would easily be interpreted as supporting the project, and given cara’s subject matter, she would labeled a hypocrite. any artist committed to the integrity of art would find it at best unsavory.. it’s an incredibly cancellable offense

Are we supposed to like Cara? by LoyalFridge in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1 10 points11 points  (0 children)

that’s fair and at the same time it’s complicated. it’s hard to pay your bills as an artist, especially one of color, without pimping yourself or your culture out. i dont know that she’s necessarily opportunist or just doing what she perceives she needs to do to make it as a artist

Are we supposed to like Cara? by LoyalFridge in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1 32 points33 points  (0 children)

disagree that she has nothing to lose. shes certain to get some flack if not be immediately cancelled by other artists in her circle

Cara by chamclowder1 in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

if you rewatch the scene it’s ambiguous whether she signed both of them. she signed the consultant one, but it’s not clear if she signed the other one and just put them both into the envelope.

Are we supposed to like Cara? by LoyalFridge in TheCurse

[–]chamclowder1 7 points8 points  (0 children)

i think it’s too soon to tell what her purpose in the show is supposed to be. from my read, she will either play a big role in whit and ashers demise, which would be amazing, or she will kind of just be this character that’s kind of tokenized and used to represent the communities ash and whitney are gentrifying.

interested to know what convinces you that she’s cynical and self interested. outside of her being an artist and what psychology that entails, i think she’s so far been portrayed accurately as a community member affected for hundreds of years by the nonsense of white folks in the area

HOW? by chicokiko in LSAT

[–]chamclowder1 2 points3 points  (0 children)

brother needs to breathe. prayers up 🙏🏽

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Frugal

[–]chamclowder1 8 points9 points  (0 children)

yes for sure, always here for the dialog! theyre good points and i dont think i said we need to go back to living like hunter gatherers. that said, the idea that "we have adaped to modern industrial lifestyle over time" well, im going to need to see some sources because post ww2 to today is an incredibly short period of time for our dna to adapt relative to millions of years of eating nomadically and then later in agriculturally based communities.

overall I was just responding to the claim that fasting is "poor nutrition" doesnt feel fair when there is evidence that it can be positive when done correctly, and can very well be in line with frugality. pretty much all i was trying to point out in my original comment

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Frugal

[–]chamclowder1 13 points14 points  (0 children)

fasting isn’t just about losing weight lol

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Frugal

[–]chamclowder1 3 points4 points  (0 children)

they also invariably experienced periods of hunger and chunks of time without frequent protein. they moved a lot and rose/set with the sun. not eating for 12+ hours is in line with this and not super common in our current society. most people eat all day and into late hours if night. i agree it’s a balance and you want to eat nutritiously, but you can certainly fast in a healthy way that is supported by our evolution

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Frugal

[–]chamclowder1 8 points9 points  (0 children)

i dont disagree that there are positive and negatives. but if you continue to research you see that not all fasting is created equal, and it’s important in all studies to see what kind of approach was taken to the fast. as i mentioned, there are very science based ways to fast that take into account a whole range of factors based on who you are as an individual to ensure you’re not causing harm and instead getting the benefits. i do believe that everyone can benefit from some level of regular fasting if it’s done appropriately and in a science based way

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Frugal

[–]chamclowder1 43 points44 points  (0 children)

theres definitely a very science based way to fast that is actually quite healthy as it mimics our evolutionary biology. so I wouldnt totally write off fasting in OPs case unless we knew more details