#(THIS IS *NOT ALL OF THEM* THIS IS MAINLY *Great Grandma R*s {Grandmas mother's} {*MATRILINEAL*} J e w i s h line and those above her) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

therosaliciasilva · 4 years

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Is that CAMILA MENDES on campus? Oh no, that’s ROSALICIA SILVA. From LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA the 19 year old has come to study HISTORY and a minor in ARCHAEOLOGY. Rumor has it she is STRONG-MINDED and GREGARIOUS, but STUBBORN and OVERCRITICAL, which is why she is known as THE TRAVELLER. She resides in YORKS and can’t wait to graduate.

{ trigger warnings: car accident, familial death }

P E R S O N A L I T Y

Rosa has always been very headstrong. She knows what she wants and when she has her mind set on a goal, there really is no deterring her away from that. These same attributes are also something that can make her incredibly stubborn from time to time. In the past this same attitude of getting what she wants did make her very spoilt for a time because her parents would feed in to her wants since she was the only girl of the family. She really did have her dad wrapped around her finger and still does. However, Rosa has learnt the value of hardworking and is honestly one of the most driven people you’ll meet. The girl no longer wishes to be that spoilt brat and although takes advantage of her dad’s wealth, she still works hard to prove she is more than that. Rosa is also very charismatic and loves to be in social settings. She likes parties as it gives her a sense of freedom. Rosalicia is very critical of herself and looks back on everything she has done to see what she could have done better. In one way, it helps her to grow as a person but in another, holds her back in worrying over everything she’s ever done. She is definitely the type of person to think of a conversation that happened years ago in the middle of the night and not be able to sleep for the rest of the night. Although Rosa is very good at arguing in the moment, afterwards she will instantly regret it and hates being in a feud with people. She’ll more often be the first person to apologise and hates the ‘going to bed angry’ thing. She would rather talk it out rather than stay mad.

P A S T

Rosalicia is the youngest in her family and the only daughter to her parents with four older brothers. Having so many older brothers and being the only daughter, it was fair to say that Rosa was very protected. Her brothers always looked out for her and if anyone even thought about hurting her, they’d instantly be there. Although her brothers are calmer now since working in the business sector with their father, in their younger years they were very tough guys that could be quite aggressive if it called for it. They’d often be seen rough housing around the house until their father decided to take them to different sports to try and get rid of that energy. Two went to do boxing and two did martial arts (in particular judo and karate). Meanwhile, Rosalicia was like a dream compared to deal with her brothers. She was a sweetheart and just loved to talk to people. That wasn’t to say she couldn’t be hot-headed like her brothers but she was much better at dealing with that trait - mainly because she would get what she wanted from her parents if she asked. She wasn’t used to being told no.

She always was a smart kid. She got good grades in school but she always put that more down to having a good memory for tests. Where she truly shone was history. She loved learning about the past which formed a great relationship with her grandparents. Her grandparents lived just outside of Rio so during Carnival season, her and her brothers (sometimes her parents) would make the trip to her grandparents and enjoy the festivities. What Rosalicia will always remember of those trips was speaking with her grandparents about the past and their stories and even the history of Brazil in general. From the Native Americans that had resided there to slavery to rebellion as well as politics and sports. It is the time spent watching the Rio Carnival that got Rosalicia in to dance. She prefers the latin dances but doesn’t mind other forms of dance. Her grandma died when she was 7 and her grandad died when she was 12. Despite this, her parents still made a point of going to Rio every year at Carnival season in memory of them.

Going in to her high school years, Rosa got very tired of being so protected by her family. She began to rebel a little more. She still worked hard in school but she wanted to go to parties and socialise but her parents would say no. Instead she would sneak out. Her dad didn’t mind so much (as much as he wanted to protect her) but her mum would go crazy. Although it all came from a place of love, it caused friction between them. It was one night at a house party that her mum called the police on the house party and dragged her daughter out of the house before the police came. She’d been kissing a boy at the time and was pretty drunk which didn’t help her mum’s anger. Her mum was driving her back when Rosa really kicked off and ended up shouting until her mum pulled over and Rosa got out and walked because her mum couldn’t physically get her back in the car without hurting her. Rosa shouted that she hated her and kept walking. Instead, her mum called her brothers to find her and get her home no matter how much the drunk girl fights. Her eldest brother found her and forced her in to the car to go home. When she woke up, her arms had bruises and her body was sore from her mum and her brother pulling her to get her home. However when she woke up, she discovered that her mum hadn’t made it home that night. Instead what had happened was after driving away from Rosa, one of the drunk drivers that had been trying to escape the party when the cops came crashed in to her mum’s car at a high speed. Her mother died on the way to the hospital. This is the exact reason why Rosa hates the ‘going to bed angry’ thing as her last words to her mother were “I hate you”. Rosa very much blames herself for her mum’s death as much as the rest of her family told her it wasn’t her fault. One of her trademark things now is a pearl necklace that belonged to her mum. She wears it as a reminder to appreciate the things you have because one day, they might not be there anymore.

P R E S E N T

This death is really what drove her harder in to her study field. She wants to become an archaeologist and study artifacts from ancient worlds. She wants to travel the world and experience cultures. That is when she decided to come to Monarch to study history with a archaeology minor. Rosa has been at Monarch for about six months so far and although she does like to indulge in a party lifestyle from time to time, she can just as quickly get sucked in to her studies. The girl is also on the dance team. She had thought about getting a job but doing a major and a minor as well as a club does take up a lot of her time. Her dad does still pay for her accommodation and she’ll make the commute back to LA every few weeks to go and visit her family. One thing that Rosa has been more vocal about is social injustice. You are definitely likely to find her at feminist rallies and black lives matter movements whenever they’re nearby. She loves the feeling of solidarity amongst humans and a fight for change. Studying history and hearing all the stories of slavery from her grandparents, you can bet there’s a fire in her belly to see some change.

Since she has been here for six months, I have a list of possible connections here.

#monarchintro #tw: car accident #tw: familial death

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stephspencer10 · 5 years

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The Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness

Pt 31-C: My Mama Esther LeBaron Spencer, the Mexico-LeBarons, and Mental Illness

“HE DID THE WRONG THING FOR THE RIGHT REASON.”

Stephany Spencer-LeBaron

Repeating what was said in previous blogs, both my mother and Grandmother Maud LeBaron believed the cause of mental illness in their immediate family was mainly due to the townspeople who ostracized and persecuted them incessantly.

But people need to take a good look at what part they, themselves, play in what happens to them and the lives of their children. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Let’s continue where we left off in blog “Pt 31-B.”

M- All the previous situations discussed in blogs “Pt 31-A & B,” and more, contributed to mental illness in the Mexico-LeBaron family—especially given that there was a history of mental illness in both my grandmother and grandfather LeBaron’s family lines.

N- Let’s not leave out that Grandpa Dayer LeBaron, himself, was not well-balanced mentally. Besides being guided by dreams, voices he heard in his head, and other such, he had personality disorders. On top of that, he, himself, was born and raised in a Mormon polygamous pioneer family—So no doubt he suffered and experienced many of the same things his own children later endured.

What’s more, despite how handsome he was, Grandpa Dayer was already an outcast when Grandma Maud married him. But she, too, had a few personality disorders, albeit to a lesser degree. And HER own father became mentally deranged in her later years. More on this in future blogs.

O- Now let us factor in the Mexico-LeBarons’ many fanatical and shaming fundamentalist Mormon/Fundy beliefs. And the ignorance we all share as human beings. ALL of this and more colluded, collided, and escalated to incubate the insanity and other personality disorders running in the Mexico-LeBarons’ genes—a collusion that eventually kicked in big-time with especially my grandparents’ sensitive and highly-gifted Ben, Wesley, Lucinda, and Ervil.

P- We’ve gotten this far and haven’t mentioned they didn’t believe in Psychology nor Psychological Counseling. And there was no Dr. Phil anywhere to be seen!

Q- What’s worse, besides being laws unto themselves, and largely ostracized to by others, this beautiful, bright, talented family was nonetheless not well-educated nor well read—though they thought they were.

R- And, on top of all else, they were pretty much isolated. They lived far away from family and relatives and without many friends. Plus, they lived during the Great Depression, in a foreign, strange land, in a small-town—a Mexican-Mormon colony that faught tooth-and-toenail these gorgeous, highly gifted, Mexico-LeBaron renegades and creatives living on the fringe of society and reality.

S- The Maud and Dayer LeBaron family simply had almost nowhere to turn for help in the face of all their extenuating problems and situations! And to exacerbate everything else, Grandpa Dayer lacked tact.The last thing he would do was compromise ANY of his values in order to come to an agreement so as to get along with others who differed with him. He didn’t believe in compromising when it came to telling the truth and doing what was right. It was not beneath him to tell people they were stupid and going to hell if they didn’t agree with him and follow his beliefs.

T- I almost left out a crucial factor: Not only were the Mexico-LeBarons ostracized by most of their own town’s people, AND the mainstream Mormon church, but by all the Mormon fundamentalist groups too—the “Fundies”!

U- Now add to this that in the time the Mexico-LeBarons lived—the olden days—Mental Illness carried TERRIBLE stigmas! People held extreme and fearful beliefs such as “The devil or evil spirits are in the mentally ill person!” Many believed Satan resided in the insane so avoided the family.

A person could be ostracized from the community because he or she was mentally deranged. Often the mentally challenged person’s whole family would be ostracized right along with the crazy member. They would be jeered at, sticks and stones thrown to break their bones—the list goes on. Sadly, the Mexico-LeBarons endured all this and more.

V- When you consider the many things my overly-challenged Mexico-LeBaron family had to bear up under, it’s a wonder they survived at all and remained strong and determined in so many ways. (Nietzsche said: “Whatever doesn’t kill you will make you stronger” Really?!)

One way they survived was to try to prove themselves by out-doing others whenever they were able to. (Often that was not such a challenge for the Mexico-LeBarons!) Another tactic they employed was to try to rise above the gossip and persecution. Still another was to escape into a dreamworld. Mother said she purposely created stories in her mind about the way she wanted her life to be because this helped her survive the terrible ostracism and shame brought upon her and her family.

W- I’m not saying the Mexico-LeBarons didn’t have their faults and foibles that caused them to be cast out by most people. I’m saying this was a most unusual and strong family, considering all they endured and survived. And, despite everything, they were leaders, no less: They acquired followers and they lead them—by hook or crook!

(CONTINUED JANUARY 28, 2019 IN “PT 31-D: MY MAMA ESTHER LEBARON SPENCER, THE MEXICO-LEBARONS, AND MENTAL ILLNESS)