Everyone needs a best friend. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a letter to my best friend Diana, who is literally one of the greatest human beings to ever walk the Earth. But there are so many more people I want to give recognition to and have them be known to the world, because they're simply just as great and as important.
When I started high school, my friend Brandi encouraged me to join technical theater because everyone was nice and it was a good time. So I joined, and I didn't really talk to anyone because they were all simply better than me. They could sing, act, dance, they were intelligent, good looking, it was intimidating at first. The first person I ever talked to was Alejandra Gonzalez who one day just said "hi, Jose Luis, how are you?" which threw me off guard. Ale, the girl everyone knew, was acknowledging me! As the years went by, we got to know each other a lot better and I found out that she liked all the same books I liked and we even get into heated arguments about it, (Gale killed Prim, sorry not sorry,) watched the same shows, loved the same music (aka Speak Now, the golden album.) Ale was my date to homecoming senior year and we were all texting and Skyping and going over to her apartment. Ale's a remarkable girl: crazy intelligent, beautiful, amazing dancer, hard-working. Defining qualities which got her accepted to UT Austin which is incredibly amazing and there's so much more coming her way and I am so excited to be a part of that! She is a remarkable girl and know that people come and go, but I'll stay for the long run. Don't ever let a boy keep you from being the best version of yourself, always be the girl who is worth so much more than that.
During my sophomore year, there was this show "Rumors" and after every Saturday show, the people in the show go to Village Inn afterwards to celebrate, and it was the first time I got a chance to go. But I didn't have a ride. So I asked this girl, Denise Ortiz, and she said yes so her parents picked us up and we went to Village Inn and it turns out that we went to the wrong one, so I called my mom and she picked us up and that was the first time anyone new from Eastwood had met my mom. After that, we started talking more, going on lunch dates once she got her Jeep "Judy", go on crazy adventures on weekends, went to every football game, and she has quite a handful of VERY interesting stories that I can't share in this article. She was my prom date to my senior prom, she slayed in her dress, by the way. She went to Baylor for a semester (sic' em Bears) and now she's in College Station with her boyfriend Ryan and they live in a cute apartment with a dog. The beautiful girl who dated a lot of fucked up boys, finally got a good one. She's living her dream and isn't that what we all want for our best friend?
Raven Mendez. When I first met her, she gave me an impression that she was a bitch that is not to be dealt with. We had Audio Video Production together sophomore year and we were in the same team and she was always our director because she had videos on YouTube (ravencaptures, check that out) and that's when I really began to admire her. She spends endless amounts of time organizing, getting ready, working, helping others, getting everything done in an orderly fashion, all the while remaining cool. You never really see her snap unless you really fucked up and that's something I really love about her. She's honest with you, she cares passionately about how you're feeling, she loves her friends more than anything and wants everyone to reach their full potential. This past year of hanging out with her at UTEP was the best because there was something for us to do. Either going to a Rojero party or going to the park and crying or watching movie premieres. Raven works ridiculous hours and still makes time to see her friends. Raven is the mom of the theater group and we all love her so much.
Lastly, the summer before senior year this guy Antoine Kinsey kept showing up everywhere we would go which was off-putting because everyone knew him and I was always like "who dat?" But then, you know, I talked to him and it turns out that he's actually pretty great. We get lit about all the same things: movies, shows (Anika is the worst!), we argue about music because he loves his hood music and I love top 40. He works at Target with my sister, so we always see each other and we hang out everyday and rant about people and always willing to do hood-rat stuff. He's the Finn to my Poe Dameron. I got so crushed when he reminded me that he's going off to join armed forces in the fall because I finally got me a best guy friend and he's gonna be gone. But just like Diana and Ale and Denise, Antoine's going to be doing what he loves to do and you just have to let go. The black man who I thought was a thug (I swear, I'm not racist) ended up being a funny guy who can quote Star Wars and can get lit about superhero movies with me. You're my number one and best man for whenever I get married. So you stay alive!
There's a lot of people I want to acknowledge but there's so many of them like Nicole who is literally one of the greatest writers of our time. Matt, who is bound to become a household name in the near future for his impeccable acting. Kenna, who is always working long hours, is a student full-time, has an incredible social life, and has a 4.0 GPA (you go Kenna!) There's so many people in my theater group of friends who deserve endless recognition for their passions and their kindheartedness and for being spectacularly well-rounded people. Each of them inspire me to better, to aim higher, that no matter what life throws your way it can always get better. Ale, Denise, Raven & Antoine, you're all the greatest people I've had the honor of meeting and befriending and thank you for tolerating me and accepting me all of these years. Thank you for listening to Hamilton on an endless loop with me, thank you for all the adventures and for all the memories too precious to write down for the whole to world to read. Things have been changing a lot lately but you all stayed true to yourselves and I admire you endlessly. There is magic in the theater and you guys are the magic.
