Mai

(None of these are supposed to be offensive or what not; I’m genuinely curious)

• Do you really have a flag in every classroom?

• What does graduating high school mean? Do you get any actual qualifications or is it like ‘well done here’s a certificate’?

• Why are your houses so big?!

• What are the walls in houses made of, like brick…or dry wall…?

• Is it common to visit other states or do you generally stay where you are?

• What do your principles actually do? Do they really speak to every kid who’s been sent out of class (the classic “I got sent to the principle’s office” in movies)? Are they not too busy with, you know, running the school?

• Why is it when schools have a school uniform, the trousers are always beige??

• What’s a semester?

• How many lessons do you have a day in school?

• Why’s your healthcare so expensive? Surely it doesn’t cost that much for treatment? Like how does a childbirth with no complications cost thousands of dollars?

• What’s even the point in one dollar notes?

• What’s a dime?

• What’s a quarter?

• Do you have badgers?

1. Yes flags in every public school classroom (those are the schools run by the local government and which are free to residents of the area. I know you guys have a different meaning for that term). The entire class starts the day by texting the Plesge of Allegiance to the flag. I always found it creepy. There have been lawsuits and political fights for ages about making students say it and/or making them stand silently during it.

2. You get a diploma. It used to be a sign of having a generally education - behold a literate person with some math skills! These days, much of our job market requires a Bachelor’s degree (4 years of college) so it is losing its real world value in many ways. Qualifications or accreditation are possible at some schools, but not all.

3. Lots of reasons. Differences in personal space expectations, poor construction, the plausibility of suburbs, systemic problems in urban environments, and competitive social signaling are ones I buy in to.

4. Interior walls are usually drywall. Exterior material will vary regionally to some extent, but brick is usually only in “historic” areas. Note that you will probavbly laugh at what we think is old enough to qualify for this.

5. Depends on where you live. I am in the Northeast, where the states are smaller. Leaving the state here is common. I have left my state to go grocery shopping!! Where states are bigger, it starts becoming something you do on vacations or trips and is just a matter of how far you want/can afford to travel. Some people don’t travel much, but in my social circles it would be very odd to have never left your state by adulthood.

6. So schools are run independently by each county or town, so there is a lot of variation but yeah, they kind of do. The school systems I know intimately would have a principal and 3-4 vice-prinicpals for a high school of 2000-2500 students. Dunno how that compares to staffing levels in your area. They do lots of other stuff, but discipline is a sizeable part of the day.

7. *Shrug* my guess is that it reads as less formal than black or navy to us, so it is easier to get people to agree to it and easier/cheaper for the families to buy them.

8. Most school systems have a 9-10 month year with a big summer break. The year is broken into two semesters.

9. Oh… Lots of variation again. I have seen two systems, one with 6-7 ~50 minute classes and one with 3-4 ~90 minute classes. The second one was called block scheduling where I lived and was the newer system.

10. Oh god. Now I want a drink.

11. Nostalgia?

12/13. 100 cents in a dollar (look, we COULD do metric!!!!) A quarter is 25 cents - one quarter of a dollar. A dime is 10 cents.

14. Not around here that I am aware of. I think they are out west/midwest? We use them as sports team mascots, so we know what they are at least. My area has Fisher cats - it’s like a weasel big enough to eat house cats. Also, I am entranced by your robins - completely different thing from our robins and yours are SO CUTE. I was following one around the bushes last fall while my Brit hosts laughed at me. :)

15. I have a combo of satellite and streaming services. I have not noticed this and I have traveled through several parts of Europe and seen the TV quality there? So not sure what is up with that.

P.S. Here's a robin and badger :) they are quite cute

(None of these are supposed to be offensive or what not; I’m genuinely curious)

• Do you really have a flag in every classroom?

• What does graduating high school mean? Do you get any actual qualifications or is it like ‘well done here’s a certificate’?

• Why are your houses so big?!

• What are the walls in houses made of, like brick…or dry wall…?

• Is it common to visit other states or do you generally stay where you are?

• What do your principles actually do? Do they really speak to every kid who’s been sent out of class (the classic “I got sent to the principle’s office” in movies)? Are they not too busy with, you know, running the school?

• Why is it when schools have a school uniform, the trousers are always beige??

• What’s a semester?

• How many lessons do you have a day in school?

• Why’s your healthcare so expensive? Surely it doesn’t cost that much for treatment? Like how does a childbirth with no complications cost thousands of dollars?

• What’s even the point in one dollar notes?

• What’s a dime?

• What’s a quarter?

• Do you have badgers?

• When you graduate high school it means you have completed 13 years of school (including kindergarten). Having your high school diploma makes getting a job easier.

• TBH, not really sure why our houses are so big.

• The walls are made from drywall, at least in my house.

• I live in Nevada, just an hour or two away from Lake Lahontan in California, so my family visits Cali often. We also have family in Oregon. How often people travel to other states really just depends on the family.

• At my school, my principal makes sure everything runs smoothly (budget and behind the scenes sort of things). We also have a vice principal who handles the discipline.

• I guess beige is a neutral color, that or they want to kill our creativity. My high school does not have uniforms.

• A semester is half a school year.

• At my school, we have 7 classes and advisory/ home room.

• I don’t understand why our healthcare is so expensive. I think our taxes are lower, so if we had free healthcare our taxes would be a lot higher.

• We have one dollar coins, but very few people use those. My guess is people just don’t want to change.

• A dime is 10 cents, 1/10 of a dollar.

• A quarter is 25 cents, ¼ of a dollar.

• We do have badgers, not where I live, though.

• The TV shows that I watch all have good quality. Maybe depending on the year or the show. 🤷🏻‍♀️

In a Heartbeat - Animated Short Film (2017)

A closeted boy runs the risk of being outed by his own heart after it pops out of his chest to chase down the boy of his dreams.

© Beth David and Esteban Bravo 2017

It’s here! After a year and a half of hard work, we are both so excited to finally share our film with you. Thank you all for your support and encouragement - this film means the world to us, and your kindness and enthusiasm has made this journey all the more meaningful. It is our great pleasure to share with you this labor of love, and we hope with all our hearts that you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.

<3