#notactuallyherenotreally

I don't feel confident enough about my English to articulate perfectly what I have in mind, but my hot take is that art forms that tend to be considered feminine and basically are mostly done by women often get called crafts which later often transforms into terms like "grandma hobbies" and get looked down upon, which feels very unfair and misogynystic to me since we don't really see that happen to "masculine" things like woodworking and so on. I do think that every medium can be separated into craft and art, with craft being something done by following the pattern/instructions made by someone else; meanwhile, if you freehand it, come up with your own idea, no matter the technique, it should be considered art. Fiber arts require a lot of skill and there are many super skilled women who create their own things and imo it all deserves a place in the museum and to be treated as a serious art form alongside with fine art and I will die on that hill. There's also a whole topic of how such creations are criminally underpriced all the time and also a stereotype that things like crochet or knitting are "cheap hobbies" that only contribute to the whole view of it.

Frame of reference: I grew up in New Hampshire (which has the population of manhattan), where there was a family owned corner store near me, and I’ve thus far lived in NYC for 16 years. I haven’t lived in another major city in the US SO, I can only speak to NY as far as the function of bodegas here.

They are, effectively, a small corner store yes. If you ask different NYers, they will have different criteria for what actually constitutes as a bodega. Historically, bodegas as we know them started popping up in NYC when Puerto Ricans started moving to the city in larger numbers beginning in the 1930s. They were established partly for the practicality of a convenience/grocery store where few existed, but also for their use as a community hubs.

Bodegas mostly started in neighborhoods that didn’t have big box grocery stores, largely working class neighborhoods that were food deserts because major grocery chains abandoned or never catered to them. And when NY was nearly bankrupt in the 1970s and facing extreme disinvestment, when the city largely abandoned these neighborhoods too and had austerity measures put in place had a massive impact on quality of life issues for residents, the bodega was a community beacon. For affordability, for safety, for people you knew and were connected to who also knew the neighborhood and their neighbors. And that’s the same today.

First, there’s the practicality of them in the absence of large grocery stores. Unlike where I grew up, and the car-centric way the majority of the US is designed, for most people living in NYC, driving a car is not a thing. It isn’t part of your daily reality. You’re not going to be able to drive to a grocery store, and you’re also not going to shop at a grocery store as if you have a car to then transport your food back home. It’s going to be more of a daily shopping need—it’s right on the corner, you’re gonna pick up a quarter gallon of milk or a single roll of toilet paper because they sell those there, it’s easier to carry back home. But that’s just the convenience aspect, true to convenience stores too. The bigger thing is the community function.

Bodegas serve the microcommunities of their neighborhoods, and the people who own and work in them know their neighborhood. They’re not an impersonal chain run by a corporation. They know what people in the neighborhood can afford and often fix their prices more accordingly than the standardized ones at a chain. They’re going to have different and specific foods and products for sale based on who owns them, who’s shopping at them, who lives there, that maybe you’re not going to be able to get at a box grocery store or convenience chain. They’re open 24/7. The guys at the bodega know everyone and everything happening on their corner because they’re there all the time. They know who is a regular, they know when something’s weird or off, and they usually look out for their neighbors. Before everyone had phones, bodegas had a phone if you needed one. They’re sometimes the only place open when you’re coming home at 2am—and yeah, that’s convenient if you want something to eat or drink, but it also feels safe. I always choose the street with the 24/7 bodega when coming home late at night because I know it’s a place that would be safe to duck into if anything was up. The people at the bodega know your order and start making it as soon as you walk in. Maybe they’ll accept packages for you if you’re not home because you live right above and can’t buzz in the mailman. Maybe they’ll give you some things for free if you come up short. There are people who are always just hanging out there—it’s a living room. When the internet wasn’t a constant presence, they might be your point of contact for finding an apartment or a job.

The place at NH was a family owned convenience store too. I would go there to get candy sometimes. Maybe the guy there knew me. But the structure of NY—a place where you’re not driving to get what you need or going from your house to your car and back again, where we all live on top of each other so it becomes more necessary to really get to know and observe the people and neighborhood around you through good and through bad, bodegas are an organically occurring community anchor where you can also get an iced tea and a bacon egg and cheese.

Have you had a chance to read The Best Land Under Heaven by Michael Wallis? Its another amazing look at the Donner Party

I'm so glad!!

Thank ya!

contact: how does your OC(s) feel about touch/physical contact? are they affectionate? if so, how do they display affection to others? Oh he touches people all the time and doesn’t care if people touch him. He’ll throw his arm over people’s shoulders, he’ll grab someone’s hand to get their attention, etc. He reads it as a neutral default way to engage with someone rather than affectionate tho. He’s very affectionate but in an Acts of Service kind of way. He shows affection by trying to make himself useful.

interior: describe your OC(s) bedroom/home/or a place they consider "theirs". what's in it? do certain items have a special significance to your OC? I affectionately call his house the Allergy Attack house cos it’s just…completely full of weird plants and fungi growing all over it. Growing up out of the floor. On all the walls. He takes home random plants from all over and sets them up in there. He sometimes builds little rainstorms inside to water them. He has workshops tucked away in corners where he tinkers with things. He leaves books and papers around all over the place. He has local wildlife friends he lets roam around inside. He brings all a manner of little trinkets home from his travels and he’s sentimental about all of them. He has a lot of pictures hanging on the wall, but not a single one is hung straight. It’s a rather overwhelming place. Like a forest growing up out of a library that an absent minded curio collector has also passed through.