Have you seen the movie Moonlight (2016)? Most of the settings in that movie were very much the actual streets I lived on up until my late teens. I was also young and gay and often rode the metro-rail in the mid 2010’s to escape the pressures of home. My memories are misty but identifiable: Palm trees everywhere. Soft baby pink and yellow single story homes with low rooftops. Humidity that could drown you. A relentless soft breeze that pulled you toward the shorelines. It was absolute hell on earth for me for most of my life. I hated Miami more than anything growing up.
Miami is indeed a city of speed, hustle culture, and parties: Three things I have some issues with. Safe to say, I run on island time. I was originally born on an island not too far from where I was raised. Nearly ninety miles from the coast of Florida, Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean, was the place where the universe decided I should spawn. Two years later my father won us three free tickets to America through the Diversity Visa Lottery. It wasn’t long before my parents, who were at the time making maracas and hand drums for a living, and my unaware toddler-self were shipped overseas to start a new life in a new country in a new millennium.
We settled as quickly as life would allow; my parents made some new friends and got new jobs because you need to when you’re someplace new. I was busy getting my first grasp on the English language from watching Spongebob. I entered preschool a couple years later, with a pretty solid vocabulary in both English and Spanish and a love for crafting with my hands.
Growing up, I was quite the weird kid. My strong fascination with art never ceased. I spent most of my time reading and drawing and crafting. This led to setting up my first portfolio to apply to an Arts high school magnet program, DASH (Design and Architecture Senior High). It was a lot of work for a middle-school-er, but after basically an entire year of practicing and preparing myself with heavy guidance from my art teacher at the time, I aced my application and my audition. That July, I met my future wife & soulmate for the first time at the preparatory summer program for accepted applicants. We quickly became friends. Going to DASH was a wild experience. I completed my four years of art study alongside my regular school courses plus three years of my choice of specialized art program. I chose entertainment design, aka, film.
Quick side note: Did I mention the guy (Tarell Alvin McCraney) who wrote the semi-autobiographical play (In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue) that Moonlight (2016) is based on actually went to our rival school that was in the same district?
My time at this school taught me a lot, as a human being, a teenager, and as an artist. Honestly, it was probably the weirdest high school experience I could’ve asked for. If you thought art colleges have some weird kids, you’re not gonna believe what’s in an art high school. Going to this very weird school may have saved my life. I don’t think I would have made it at a regular high school where my experiences would have been completely different and may have contained quite a bit of bullying. I was an easily bullied kid.
I did eventually move out of godforsaken Miami, Florida and into the Midwest, attending KCAI, Kansas City’s prized art institute, where I did 3 years of study for a major that I no longer have any interest in pursuing as a career. Turns out animation school was a waste of money. Going to school was worth a few things though, so it wasn’t a total waste of time. I made friends that I’ll probably never let go of. Moved to a city I grew to love. Found out lots about myself that I definitely would not have figured out alone, like, my nuerodiverse brain. I didn’t figure out I was autistic until much later, late into college, after the start of the pandemic. I left KCAI in 2021, only a year before my graduation. Being a full time student and working two part time jobs after a global pandemic while being undiagnosed autistic was my final breaking point.
I was still in school when the COVID-19 Pandemic stormed the world. It caught me extremely off guard. Obviously, no one was ready for such a worldwide phenomenon to happen. I think that while living in our late capitalist, non-stop, modern society we tend to forget that our experiences are incredibly alike but also so unique. If you’re experiencing something, there’s a fair chance that your neighbor is experiencing something similar, but with different variables. Our stories from the pandemic are all different, but it was an event we all experienced together as the human species. We can all learn something new and different.
It’s a lot easier today to separate ourselves from reality and other people. You could go on living, suffering, enjoying, consuming, loving, hating, all without remembering that all of these things are part of the human experience. Maybe even bigger. You could argue it’s part of the animal experience.
Because we are part of the human experience, we are always existing as a part of history, whether or not we decide to document and share our lives and our opinions. I truly believe that every living being is interesting. We are all so different and so alike.
I was just at the start of my 20’s when the college I was attending shut down for what was originally one week turned into finishing the rest of the semester completely online. That’s when I, and probably many others as well, realized what was actually important and what didn’t really matter. The last few years of my life have taught me lots about my own existence within our species. The need to document my own life and the things I learn has now become a high priority. For the past few months I’ve been documenting thoughts, ideas, song lyrics, movies I want to watch, movies I review, everything under the sun that catches my attention. If it makes me think or have an opinion, I write it down.
I’ve amassed a great deal of information that I believe would be worth sharing.
Before I throw myself all in and just share my findings, I wanted to provide some context for who you are getting this information from.
Here are some quick details about myself to paint you a whole picture…
Because I am Cuban, I am of multi-generational mixed race. Most Cubans are multi-generational mixed people.
Si, hablo español.
I was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome in 2024 after years of struggling with medical problems and lack of insurance.
I’ve kept every single fortune cookie fortune since the age of 12. I am currently 25.
I have a tiny 8-9 year old bully named Betty “Kitty” Boop. She is my muse. I am currently writing a novel loosely based on her tragic backstory. She was very likely used as a breeding dog before we became a family.
My favorite breed of dog is Shih-Tzu (This does not interfere with my love for Betty). I am a true fan of “crusty white dogs”, but I much prefer when people properly take care of their small, snow-colored companions.
Little fluffy white-coated pups are my kryptonite. I own several items with some kind of rendition of a small white fluffy dog.
I am very often compared to an old man. I am currently 25.
I am a year and a half on hormones!
I am an artist (I don’t have a choice).
I aspire to be a polymath.
My only desires in life are to learn as much as I can and make something that matters.
I adore good coffee like it runs in my blood. (In a way it does, I guess!)
My favorite movies are Amélie & Everything Everywhere All at Once.
My apartment building had an actual dumpster fire the first week of 2024. Like a bad omen. It was a bad year.
I listen to everything. Yes. Every kind of music, I will be open to listening to. Music brings me so much joy. Here’s what I’m listening to while I write this. Insingizi is a vocal harmony gospel group from Zimbabwe! Awesome to listen to while writing. I will be recommending more music at the end of my blog posts occasionally!
Here’s another one! Bamn! That’s a good one. Listen to it with both earphones on while laying down. Inebriated if possible. 1970’s American Funk Rock band, Funkadelic. Enjoy.
Here’s two truths and a lie:
1. I have crazy media binging capabilities, like watching multiple seasons of shows in under a week, sometimes days. That’s why I need to write media reviews.
2. I go to the park once a week every Tuesday to feed a specific squirrel that I made friends with 2 years ago that I named Shorty on account of her short tail.
3. I have a single pet garden snail named Hubba Bubba who refuses to eat most greens and only likes the center of carrots.
I am currently writing this between episodes of Lost and shifts at my full time job.
Why am I telling you any of this?
My individual experiences greatly impact what I write about. I want you to understand that I come from a place of direct experience or absurd amounts of research.
There’s something really poetic about knowing the journey that something took to get to where it belongs. My journey to writing, creating, and reflecting regularly has been a long and tedious process but a rewarding one. If you find what I have to say or make interesting, I hope that I can be an enjoyable addition to the Internet goons you might already follow.
What I’ll be doing…
I’ll be making and posting about things that catch my interest. I’m a big fan of media and movies, so I’ve got quite a few reviews lined up. I’ll be doing some analysis on autistic-coded characters in media as well. I’ve got lots of thoughts on what movies have to say about life and what we can do to improve ourselves as people and enrich our existence. You will be seeing creative projects from me in all kinds of formats, as well as the occasionally obligatory anti-capitalist rant.
A mighty task…
Illustration by Dannie Duran (2025)
I’m going to have to use my last good pen.
P.S.
You thought I wasn’t going to tell you which one was the lie?
It was number 2. I don’t go to the park once a week. I do know a squirrel we named Shorty, but she actually comes to visit me on my balcony. She has an extra short tail that was definitely lost somehow and she’s definitely an older female squirrel. We’ve known each other for about a year now.
Dannie Duran 