http://wordpress.org/?v=4.1.1 http://humansofnewyork.tumblr.com/

“I was seventeen. Only child, not a lot of friends. But I had a plan. I was going to become an actress, get a role on All My Children, meet my husband on set– and when that was all over, I’d host a talk show. Kelly Ripa did it; I could do it too. Back then it seemed like every woman on television had gotten their start as beauty queen. So my senior year I decided to enter my school’s Homecoming Queen competition. It was organized like a Ms. America pageant. But this was a rough high school, only one other girl signed up, so I had a good shot. My whole family got behind me. My mom was a seamstress. We noticed that in most pageants we watched, the winner wore a white dress. So she sewed me a white dress that I picked out of Seventeen Magazine. First came the interview portion, and that’s when the trouble started. The judges asked me about the Anita Hill testimony; I wasn’t ready for that. I was ready for world peace. They were supposed to ask me about my goals, so I could say world peace. But that didn’t happen. The talent portion was later that night at the homecoming dance. The whole school was there. I chose a Sheena Easton song; poor choice. Not the right crowd for that. The other girl chose ‘I Feel Good’ by Stephanie Mills, and she had the whole crowd singing along. That’s when I knew it was over. But then, a miracle. The guidance counselor quieted everyone down, and announced the winner: it was me. Me! It was my Kelly Kapowski moment. Everyone was cheering, the other girl congratulated me. But it only lasted five seconds, because the guidance counselor said: ‘Wait a second, I’m sorry. Joanna is the runner-up.’ It was the worst moment of my life. In fact, the only thing that got me through COVID was knowing that it could not possibly, possibly be worse than that moment. And here’s a twist for you. Remember that guidance counselor? Several years later I ended up acting alongside his son in a play at Queens College. In one scene I pulled a gun on him, and the director was like: ‘We need more anger. Think about something that makes you angry.’ I was like: ‘Well, that’s easy. His father ruined my senior year. And quite possibly, my entire life.”

https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753752476340060160

#humansofnewyork #hony #ny #ньюйорк #nyc #newyork #english #люди #истории ]]> Wed, 19 Jun 2024 21:59:37 +0000 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753752476340060160 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753752476340060160

“People see it as a fake sport. Whenever you tell someone you play Ultimate, it’s like: oh, is that where you throw a frisbee in a basket? Or is that the one where you throw it to a dog? Whenever I’m talking to someone about it, I just hope they’ll ask me enough questions so that I can talk about UNC Ultimate. That was probably the most special experience I’m ever going to have in my whole life. I was on the team for five years, then I came back and coached. My freshman year we were really, really bad. But at the moment UNC Chapel Hill is triple back-to-back-to-back national champions. And I got to be part of that trajectory. But even though the team kept getting better and better, I kinda stayed at the same level. I never became the elite player that I wanted to be. I have a lot of ‘stick-to-it-ive-ness.’ I’m capable of working really, really hard. And part of me always believed that would be enough, which is the part that burned me out. Because after working so hard, for so long, I reached a plateau. It was physical stuff. I’m just not quick enough. When I play defense I can’t keep up with the fastest offensive handlers. They’re going to score, and that’s a problem. I ended up getting cut from the elite women’s club team I was on. I switched over to mixed, but ended up tearing my ACL a couple years ago. It’s been my life for ten years, but now I’m at a place where I don’t know if I’m ever going to play again. I just don’t know if my body can handle it. I don’t want to have another, like massive orthopedic surgery. And frisbee takes up so much bandwidth; there’s so many other things I want to explore. The list is infinitely long. I’m asking myself: could I be happy playing on a mid-level team where the commitment wouldn’t be quite as high? Or will I only feel satisfied if I’m exceptional? That’s an unhealthy connection I have in my head, I think. That love is something you need to earn. And being exceptional will make me worthy of having connections with people. It would be great to become a version of myself where I no longer feel that way. And maybe we’ll get there someday. We’re working on it. In the meantime, at least I got to talk about UNC Ultimate.”

https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753748757777186816

#humansofnewyork #hony #ny #ньюйорк #nyc #newyork #english #люди #истории ]]> Wed, 19 Jun 2024 21:00:31 +0000 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753748757777186816 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753748757777186816

“To me she’s the most prettiest girl in the whole wide world.”

https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753748076397789184

#humansofnewyork #hony #ny #ньюйорк #nyc #newyork #english #люди #истории ]]> Wed, 19 Jun 2024 20:49:41 +0000 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753748076397789184 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753748076397789184

“It’s a love/hate relationship. Hate is too strong a word. But she just can’t accept that I’m not a kid anymore. I’m a lot more mature than most fourteen-year-olds; I already have a job and everything. But she’ll shut me down just to get at me. And there’s nothing I can do because she’s my Mom. She’s always on top of me: be careful with this, be careful with that. Won’t let me go to my friend’s houses if they’re a little further than our neighborhood. And we’re both stubborn, so if I try to argue it goes back and forth. She doesn’t want to see her kid be right. She gives me no choice but to be loud and extreme just to get my point across. But look, I get it. She’s got this Google folder on her phone with like 1400 photos of me when I was younger. It goes all the way back to my first day of school. The other day I went into the kitchen to get a drink, and I caught her scrolling through the pictures, and she’s crying. I was like damn. So look– I get it. I’m still mad, but I get it.”

https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753747058299682816

#humansofnewyork #hony #ny #ньюйорк #nyc #newyork #english #люди #истории ]]> Wed, 19 Jun 2024 20:33:30 +0000 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753747058299682816 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753747058299682816

“Walked around the corner, there she was. And zing went the string of my heart. Zing! I said: ‘I gotta catch up with that girl,’ and I never did let her slip. There was a big song on the radio back then, about gettin’ married. Everybody was singing it, something about: ‘When we get married, we gonna have a celebration.’ You keep hearing it every day, and you wanna try it too. Never thought it would last this long. It’s been a good ride though. Everybody has a little bump here and there. We had our arguments, and I ain’t never did win one. Ain’t no man ever gonna win when it comes down to arguing with your wife. You could be married for a hundred years, she’s gonna have the last word. So no need to get your mouth all rolled up. Don’t stand there arguing and cursing. Just listen, laugh, and let it go. Kiss her on the cheek and say: ‘you the winner.’ After that, everything will be beautiful.”

https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753745318841073664

#humansofnewyork #hony #ny #ньюйорк #nyc #newyork #english #люди #истории ]]> Wed, 19 Jun 2024 20:05:51 +0000 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753745318841073664 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753745318841073664

“Occasionally I’ll have a beer after work and break out the sketchbook. But I had wanted to be this great painter. I wanted to do these grand things: big, huge oil paintings. But those days of painting all the time were such a roller coaster. There were these periods of extreme depression, followed by manic states of trying to put myself out there. I couldn’t do it anymore. I mainly felt sorry for my dad. I know it was rough for him. My mom hadn’t wanted me to go to art school. She wanted me to do something more practical, but my dad said: ‘No. This is what he wants to do, and I want to support his dream.’ And then I abandoned it. That was the first time I had to deal with real failure. A lot of times when you’re an artist, it’s your job, it’s your lifestyle, it’s your entire fucking identity. It wasn’t like I failed to do a thing. It was like: I failed to be something, you know? It was a failure to live up to what I thought was my destiny. But then on the other side of that, there was this figuring out that there was nothing wrong with me the entire time. I didn’t need to be something else to have meaningful friendships, or a good relationship. I didn’t need to be something else to be loved and cared about. After work tonight I’m going to meet up with a person who’s in love with me, and I can’t wait. And that person met me long after I gave up on being a full-time artist. They met me when I wasn’t even a chef yet. I was a piss-poor, part-time line cook. But even then, they decided I was worth it. So you know, there’s something there. There’s something there that’s enough.”

https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753744314585186304

#humansofnewyork #hony #ny #ньюйорк #nyc #newyork #english #люди #истории ]]> Wed, 19 Jun 2024 19:49:53 +0000 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753744314585186304 https://www.humansofnewyork.com/post/753744314585186304