Category: Non-Fiction

Thrive

by Guilliean Pacheco in Non-Fiction on February 15, 2022

This is the part where i'm supposed to say that I'm thriving / living my best life / hustling / stacks on stacks on stacks / I did the right thing at the right time Photo by - on Unsplash Photo by Galina N on Unsplash but i would be lying Sometimes life doesn't go your way, and you have to pivot into something new. Even if it means not moving forward in something comfortable and familiar. Photo by Braulio Gómez on Unsplash fibbing and fishing Transition is a powerful word. For me, it's something that I'm relying on to…

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Rumor

by Guilliean Pacheco in Non-Fiction on February 14, 2022

What biological imperative makes us want to consume rumors? That's what I want to know. Secrets, lies, videotape. We feel superior to those who perpetrate illicit situations that have nothing to do with us. Depending on the person, it may trigger their downfall. It may bounce off like a red rubber ball in a locker room. If you know, you know. I never liked rumors. What I understood from a young age is that I didn't like to be on the receiving end and even as a child, I knew that if I spoke on it, then it would come…

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Blunt

by Guilliean Pacheco in Non-Fiction on February 12, 2022

I'm so far behind this month! Eek! Blunt is a word that I know well. And somehow I'm shit at executing it at will. It simply spills out of me like a spell, to exact a spiritual wound on the one who dared to cross me. I find myself holding back a lot of the time. I'm a people pleaser to the point of taking abuse and seething silently in mental distress until it's too late. I explode and somehow I'm always the one left looking like the fool even if it's justified. It's the cross that I bear every…

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Pop

by Guilliean Pacheco in Non-Fiction on February 11, 2022

Chopping up a creative nonfiction essay, visually. Hope you like it! this is a story about how pop music gave me life Photo by Kym MacKinnon on Unsplash get ur kicks on route 66 For as long as I can remember, music has been the driving force in the development of my identity as I know it. When reflecting on why music had such a death grip on me over the years is because I realized that I literally had no identity of my own. I never really came into understanding who I was and where I was meant to…

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Jillian’s on Fremont Street

by Guilliean Pacheco in Non-Fiction on December 7, 2021

I raced as fast as I could down the highway, trying to find my way in safely. I had never graced Neonopolis with my presence, but I had to trust my gut. Unfortunately, I made one of many mistakes that night: I parked in the parking garage. But I was too excited about the upcoming live show to worry. We were present for the Las Vegas date for The Academy Is… ’s fall tour, Sleeping with Giants, with my niece Cassandra. We had arrived so early that I hoped we wouldn’t end up sleeping with giants. On the corner of…

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Butterfly at the California Academy of Sciences

Butterfly (For John Blue)

by Guilliean Pacheco in Non-Fiction on August 13, 2021

I've been in a funk lately. Really, extremely asocial. Hating that I am alive and hating the world. I know, is the sky blue or what? I'm always mad at the world for one thing or another. Today is my Friday. My first real Friday in FOREVER. I got paid today. And an early out. I will cry when I see my paycheck next pay period, but I'll take it. I just want to curl up and die. After stopping to get some food for dinner, I pull up at the stoplight that gets me back to my house where…

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my picture of fantasyland at the disneyland resort

Slanted Suitcase: Disneyland for Introverts

by Guilliean Pacheco in Non-Fiction, Wanderlust on July 8, 2020

The Disneyland resort in Anaheim is a magical place. You can try to convince me otherwise but trust me, you won't! As soon as you walk through the gates you’re transported and enter a world of whimsy and joy and you can leave yourself behind for a day. For all the problematic issues that people have levied against the Walt Disney Company, there is one thing they have never faltered on. And that's delivering magic to everyone young and old. Caption: Here you leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy I’ve proudly stated that I’m an…

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11 things i learned from pokemon, featuring Charmander, Pikachu, and Bulbasaur

11 Things I Learned from Pokémon

by Guilliean Pacheco in Non-Fiction, Television on April 25, 2020

Pokémon came out when I was in high school. I wasn't the target audience. But I was drawn to the characters, the monsters that fit in my pocket, and the adventures and hijinks they got into together every day. A cynical person will say that cartoons are meant for kids. But a great cartoon brings joy to anyone who watches it and teaches you something new about yourself. With the surge of popularity - and my devoted attention to the mobile game Pokémon Go - I began to look deeper at the stories the show was trying to tell. I've…

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That’s Not My Name: Ethnicity and the Writer’s Life

by Guilliean Pacheco in Non-Fiction on March 5, 2020

I am an introvert. I find small talk exhausting, and being around the general public makes me feel like I am on The Truman Show. It feels like I'm only being spoken to because it's part of their job as an actor in the story of my life. The worst feeling in the world for someone like me is walking into a room of people you have never met before with your name plastered on a sticker. Your primary directive is to glad-handle everybody and their grandmother for the sake of networking. A typical script: (deep breath) “Hi, hello, my…

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