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get-shiggy-with-it · 3 years

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Ch. 1

Shigaraki Birthday Week! MINORS DNI DO NOT PUT THIS ON TIKTOK

Pairing: Tomura Shigaraki x fem!reader

Word Count: 3k

Warnings: reader is marked fem cause Tomura is a little sexist and hates you cause you’re a woman, no pronouns, incel!shiggy, collage au/no quirks, tomura is an asshole, gratuitous swearing, like so much, shiggy has a dirty mouth, mentions of shigs being anxious, let me know if I’ve missed something

Ch. 1 | Ch. 2 | Ch. 3 | Ch. 4 | Ch. 5 | Ch. 6

Summary: Tomura gets stuck taking an English class to graduate and is partnered with you, a bitchy try hard (his words not mine) for his final project. But over the course of the semester he finds that while he hates everyone, he might hate you just a little...less.

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The door at the back of the room creaked open and jarred Tomura from his half-sleep state. He didn’t look at who’d bothered to slip into this fucking class late, and instead tried to let the prof’s inane droning on Timothy Whoever The Fuck’s 18th weirdo letter book lull him into day dreaming.

He only made it about a quarter of the way back into his boredom induced coma until he was dragged unwillingly into wakefulness once more.

“Sorry, could you plug this in for me?”

Tomura jumped again when you leaned over to whisper to him, computer charger in one hand, gesturing to the outlet on the wall by his head. You’d left the typical courtesy seat empty between the two of you and he stared blankly at the way you leaned your weight on the vacant chair.

He recognized you.

The classic, dumbass teacher's pet who was always front and center of the room, iced drink at the ready looking like you belonged on the set of some god awful college b movie.

Well, almost always. You certainly had that loud ass drink, but you’d tucked yourself at the end of his row towards the back of the room and was clearly a bit embarrassed for bursting in almost 15 minutes late.

Tomura swallowed hard as your shirt gaped in the front. It took an immense amount of control to not gaze outright into the swell of your chest.

“You good?” you asked softly, head cocked like you were straight out of a fucking manga panel—tits on display with that stupid innocent, puzzled expression.

“Uh yeah, sorry,” Tomura mumbled.

You offered him this gross, clearly fake smile—because why the hell would you be grinning like that if it wasn’t just because you wanted something from him—as he threaded the cord behind his chair and plugged it in.

“Thanks,” you replied and turned back towards the professor, typing away cause you actually take notes in this class.

Of fucking course you did.

Probably trying to impress everyone with how you typed practically every word the prof said. Tomura decidedly did not take notes, and didn’t really pay that much attention in general. Usually he just played some trashy phone game under the desk or dozed with his head against the cement wall.

It had gotten to that portion of the semester when it was warmer outside but the buildings still had the heat cranked all the way up, especially here in the basement where the classroom was. That environment along with his usual hoodie/joggers combo created grade A napping conditions that Tomura took full advantage of.

As a rule, he actually cared about school and he did relatively well. But this was just some dumbass liberal arts requirement course that had nothing to do with his actual major, so he was perfectly fine with coasting. Why his comp sci degree required him to take a fucking Restoration era English class, he had no clue. Apparently neither did his advisor other than that the ‘administration recommended it’ so their students would have a ‘well rounded learning experience.’

It was almost certainly just a cash grab to make him take more credits than was necessary to graduate, but whatever. He was here now. And so were you. Your presence was overwhelmingly clear, typing away and smelling like one of those insanely specific laundry detergent label scents—fucking rolling meadows and grandmother’s clean linen or something like that.

He’d never sat this close to you before, but that didn’t stop you from annoying the shit out of him for the previous whole half semester and going since it was just now passing midterms. Long enough for him to have pegged you as a textbook try-hard, pick-me bitch. You contributed to discussion at every opportunity, turned in shit early, and debated other classmates regularly enough to disrupt his in-course sleep schedule.

The way you dressed pissed him off too, with a particular style that was enough to stand out but not so over the top that it would cause disinterest from any potential mates.

And now you were filling his corner of the room with the overpowering smell of freshly washed hair and demanding he do things for you.

Fucking disgusting.

“Tomura Shigaraki.”

He jumped a third time, attention directed from his lap to the front of the room where the prof stood, listing out names from the board. He heard your name next followed by Kai Chisaki. The list was projected on the board as well, grouping everyone into twos or threes with “Final Project Partners” listed in bold Helvetica font at the top.

Only fucking English profs used Helvetica.

He vaguely remembered mentions of a final presentation—one of like three grades in this class cause the prof was almost certainly a sadist.

No, not almost—definitely. Otherwise he wouldn’t have stuck him with you and that weirdo Kai pre-med student who insisted on acting so elitist you’d think he already had his fucking M.D.

One time he asked Tomura to move seats at the start of the semester because he looked “dirty” and Kai liked to sit in the back—which, fair enough, it wasn’t like Tomura showered as frequently as he probably should but what the fuck??

With you rushing in late, chest out and panting every now and again from your apparent sprint across campus, Tomura was certain he’d be subjected to a whole 6 weeks of watching you try to mount that fucking Kai dude instead of actually working.

This was going to be a nightmare.

From the end of the table, he saw you shifting and turned to find that stupid fucking smile flashed his way once again.

If you had a tail, he’d bet it would be wagging.

“Hey, well that’s convenient,” you chuckled and plopped down directly next to him, sliding your noisy ass drink across the table with you and brushing against his thigh when you shifted your bag to the side.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

It most certainly was not.

But Tomura would never say that because—as his roommate put it so kindly—he was kinda a pussy.

People made him nervous, they always had. That’s why he liked computers so much. Code made sense, there were clear rules and when something didn’t work out, he could fix it eventually, but you couldn’t see people’s codes. You had to fucking guess at shit and it made his anxiety skyrocket which the sides of his neck and finger tips suffered for.

So he cowered like the fucking dog you probably thought he was instead and kept his eyes on the floor, letting you set up in silence.

“Who was our third?” you asked, glancing around the room. “Sorry, I was busy making a shared drive and I came in late so I missed that last bit.”

Why the hell did you feel the need to apologize all the goddamn time? Seriously, who would believe you were actually sorry for being irritating as hell.

And god if he thought you were irritating.

“Kai,” he grumbled simply as the man in question sauntered over to the table and fucking Clorox wiped down the seat before sitting.

Tomura watched your smile falter just a bit and grinned inwardly at the slip in your fake little persona. But you didn’t say anything more, just moved your chair back so the three of you were in a semi-circle and pulled up a few pdfs on your laptop.

“Cool, so I was looking over the directions on the syllabus last week and I set up a little work delegation thing so we can distribute everything pretty evenly,” you jumped right in, tone matter of fact in the down-to-business manner he was used to hearing from you during class discussions.

It was better than you so clearly forcing yourself to be overly polite, and he honestly couldn’t really care less if you wanted to take charge of this thing. You seemed kinda bossy, but he begrudgingly admitted that your suck up behavior did mean you sort of knew what you were talking about. He was just here to pass and you might actually make that a lot easier.

It was okay as long as he was taking advantage of you, he told himself. And you would be too stupid to notice, so he could play your game and play pretend nice all the way to an A.

That walking condescension on the other hand—

“I’m not doing that,” Kai huffed through his ever-present mask.

Tomura wasn’t actually sure he’d ever seen the bastards face without it.

“What?” you laughed awkwardly. “Yes you are, you don’t really have much of a choice.”

You stared at your classmate who simply stared right back with his own, equally confused expression.

“Why do you look so surprised?” you asked after a moment of silence.

You weren’t smiling anymore and your voice had dropped down about a fucking octave. At least you sounded more like a person and not some wannabe uwu gamer bitch.

“People don’t talk to me like that,” Kai looked at you down his nose, legs spread wide and elbow resting on his knees.

Tomura could feel the pretentiousness wafting from him in waves, and waited with bated breath for you to get kicked off your pedestal. Just a bit though, he did need you around to do most of his work for this thing.

But in a shocking turn of events, you just laughed dryly twice and turned back to your laptop screen, mumbling as you did.

“Really? Well they should.”

Tomura would have laughed too, but he didn’t feel like inflating your ego. Kai on the other hand looked a bit like you’d just spit on shoes and furrowed those stupid, plucked thin eyebrows at the back of your head.

“So Tomura, you code right?” you asked, turning away from Kai completely to address him. “I just remember you saying you were in comp sci when we did introductions.”

He was taken aback by the knowledge that he existed as a person in your head outside of this room for a moment and simply nodded—suddenly feeling far too hot in his black on black sweats and hoodie.

God just talking to you made his skin burn.

“Great, cause we’re allowed to chose the medium we present in and I was thinking of taking it in a more creative direction cause I’ve had this prof before and he eats that shit up,” you begin to ramble again, scrolling through a bulleted list, shifting the screen for him to see.

“Right,” he murmured, still surprised you’d thought this far and not...actively hating what you’d brainstormed.

Well, it was a bit juvenile and you clearly didn’t know what you were talking about but the concept wasn’t horrendous. He could work with that and it shouldn’t be too hard. It kinda seemed like you’d overestimated a bit with how challenging it would actually be and saddled yourself with most of the heavy lifting. That or you were just a control freak which was a little more believable.

He wished you would stop looking at him over the edge of the screen. He could feel himself starting to sweat. Rivulets falling down the nape of his neck and racing across his bare chest under the sweatshirt. Tomura sorta regretted not wearing a shirt underneath but he knew that he wouldn’t have taken off the insulating layer even if that had been an option.

It would just mean you had more drying, pale as fuck skin to look at and judge him for because he knew that’s what you were doing. Fucking vapid and shallow like everyone else.

“It’s really rough so far, but I have it the gist outlined,” you indicated to another tab and then turned back to Kai who had been sitting silently glaring daggers into your back. “So, Kai, since you’re in STEM I figured you’d be okay with doing more of the preliminary research—”

“I don’t think so,” Kai interrupted, shaking his head and pushing off his knees to lean back in the cheap, plastic seat. “Look, it’ll be easier for all of us if you two just make it look pretty and I can handle the oral presentation.”

You gaped and looked to Tomura with this pathetic fucking incredulous stare, like you thought he’d back you up.

Which actually, now that he thought about it was probably a good idea—he did need you to remain somewhat cordial with him—but he certainly didn’t care enough to defend you in any way. Kai was a dick, sure, but he wasn’t gonna let you rope him into being your white knight or whatever.

He settled for a similarly disgruntled downward twitch of his lips. The movement pulled at the cracking skin which stung as it tore open even more. Tomura felt the familiar crawling feeling on his neck and shifted in his seat to resist the urge to scratch.

He couldn’t pinpoint why exactly you staring at him was so uncomfortable. He didn’t like you, he didn’t care about you and by extension didn’t give two shits what you thought of him, but anything he might have said shriveled on his tongue when you spoke or looked in his eyes too long.

Tomura had never made a habit of talking to females and they certainly had never wanted anything to do with him either.

Maybe he was fucking allergic or something.

Whatever the case, you seemed to take his half frown as a sign of solidarity and leaned back in your own seat.

“Okay, look,” you retorted. “If you’re seriously not gonna at least try to cooperate, then there is actually an option to do the project by yourself and I suggest you take it.”

The look on your face was distinctly impolite. There was a sharpness to the set of your jaw that Tomura had never seen before, but it looked practiced enough that he could bet it was simply the snake that resided in every woman just waiting to come out.

“Look sweetheart—” that masked jerk began, also for some fucking reason looking to Tomura for support.

For someone who was very much used to blending into the background scenery, this was the most eye contact Tomura had ever made in a day.

Except on the rare occasions his roommate had friends over and he had to make the dreaded trek from his room to reach the fridge.

“Oh yeah I’m not doing that,” you closed your laptop sharply and rolled your eyes. “I get it, but I’m really just trying to graduate. I don’t think this is going to work out and you,” Tomura froze as you shifted your gaze to him once again, “seem okay, so Tomura and I can just work this out by ourselves and you can find a different group.”

Kai scoffed behind the black layer of fabric covering his mouth and slung his backpack over his shoulder. “Whatever.”

Tomura watched him saunter straight out the door as the room was filled with the shuffling of notebooks and zipping of backpacks.

“God,” you huffed and turned back to him.

His raw skin burned under the new wave of heat and accompanying moisture that slicked his skin when you scooted closer to him. That clean laundry and shampoo smell was suffocating from this proximity.

Did you fucking bathe in the stuff?

He was becoming increasingly aware of his less than pleasant aroma and the fact that you not scrunching your nose up in disgust just out of some stupid, ingrained need to appease him.

“Well, that was...weird,” you chuckled in a way that was probably meant to break the tension.

Unfortunately Tomura felt more like he was about to break out in hives if you came any closer so it really just ended up making the atmosphere ten times more awkward. At least for him. You, somehow, remained resolutely unaware.

“Mhm,” he hummed in response and picked silently at the skin of his fingers.

“Anyway, I have a meeting in a few but we can trade numbers and pick a time to meet up sometime tomorrow maybe?” you suggested, quickly saving the steadily degrading vibes of the conversation and pulled out your phone.

He really hated the full body pulsation that rushed through him at the thought of getting a girls number. It made him fucking sick at himself for falling into your stupid trap to get him interested. Was your plan to just use him to get a good grade or whatever and then block his texts?

It wasn’t like Tomura didn’t know about his status as the class ‘freak.’ That one guy everyone whispers about and makes sure not to sit next to. And he knows you know, so why the hell else would you act so nice?

He wanted to say something scathing in return. That he could do the whole thing by himself too—which he definitely couldn’t but that was irrelevant—and that he didn’t need you bossing him around either.

“Sure thing,” he said instead and took your offered phone all too eagerly, typing in his number and watching as you shot off a text back so he’d have yours.

His phone buzzed against his thigh and he jumped a fourth time, but you seemed not to notice as you packed your bag and grabbed your basic ass drink. The ice clattered against the tumbler, dropping cool condensation against the searing skin of his hand.

Tomura shivered as you waved over your shoulder and slipped out the door with another rush of students.

He sat silently in the empty room for a moment, trying to process the last hour. He pinched himself idly, wondering if it had all been just a weird dream, but the results were inconclusive. A minute or two passed before he pulled out his phone to scroll through the list of reddit and discord notifs to find your text.

Unknown Number:

— pEopLe DoN’t TaLK tO mE liKE ThAt

— not very plus ultra of him...smh

— anyway, library at 6 tomorrow ?

Tomura caved, digging his nails into the side of his neck and hissed at the pain, confirming the day's horrible reality.

#tomura shigaraki x reader #shigaraki tomura x reader #shigaraki x reader #tomura x reader #bnha fanfiction #tomura shigaraki imagines #fem!reader #incel!shigaraki #college au #bee.writes

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jsms01 · 2 years

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5Pcs Kawaii Cute Backpacks Combo Set with Bear Pendant & Pins - Back To School Supplies Plaid Check Cottagecore Bag Kit (Khaki)

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howtograduatecollege · 2 years

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The Intro Post

I'm Lia, and I graduate from one of the best research universities in the world in...7 days and 17 hours thereabouts. I'm about to receive my B.A. in Linguistics and Spanish, and I've got the senioritis nostalgia before I'm even officially done.

In my time in college, I've been through a lot, and it taught me a lot of things If 1 single person benefits from reading what I had to learn the hard way, I'll be happy.

To make a long story short-ish, here's the basics of my college journey. In 5 years I went to school, transferred to university, and graduated, and in that time I dealt with :

3 years of unexplained chronic illness later revealed to be non-functioning internal organ

Having it surgically removed 6 days before my 20th birthday

Being diagnosed with bipolar, anxiety, ADHD, and OCD (not all at once). The ADHD diagnosis only came in my senior year, in the middle of the pandemic!

Working minimum wage jobs including food service, retail, tutoring, and camp counseling

Developing adult-onset asthma, probably from long covid but I couldn't get tested at the time

Transferring to a 4-year university--in 2020

Another surgery

Volunteering

Being banned from donating blood because I was too anemic--twice

Fcking Zoom Classes and not getting to meet classmates

The pandemic as a whole. 2020 as a year in general honestly. The combo of being online with the 2020 US election and Supernatural sending Castiel to superhell happening at the same time

The passing of my childhood dog

Illnesses and accidents in my family

Both of my roommates getting covid but me somehow not?? Fully vaccinated ofc but y'all we were sharing a milkshake the day she was diagnosed...

And from those things I've learned a thing or two! This blog will feature posts on: means of funding college, community college vs 4-year university, how to make edible food with 1 appliance, how the heck to get involved in research, networking with professors and peers, how to get a therapist or other kind of doctor, how to get a therapist or doctor to write you a note to take to the college's accessibility department and why You Should Do This, studying and class tips, what you should have ready by the door when the fire alarm goes off on new year's at 1 am, the value of being the person with the portable stapler, how to apply to and present at an academic conference, tips for navigating the world while disabled, and good fidget toys to use in classes.

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gracethestudent16 · 6 years

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Studyblr Introduction Post

Hey, guys! My name is Grace!

I’m currently a homeschooled student working through the summer to get ahead in school and graduate early so that I can finally go to college and start studying things I’m actually interested in.

With my current plan, I should be able to graduate a semester early. I plan to use that spring semester of free time to study for and take CLEP exams. The more courses I can knock out of the way, the better.

Now, down to the quick facts!

- My current goals are to stay on top of my assignments while finding a way to study for and take the ACT (that’s *kind* of important...).

- My main tool is my iPad Pro that I got for Christmas last year (it was both my birthday and Christmas present... and basically my only Christmas present, but that was my suggestion, I’m grateful for it). I use it for school, for writing, and for playing piano; I’m a keyboard player at my church, and this thing helps a LOT. I have the Logitech Slim Combo case and the Apple Pencil (for note-taking). I use it all day, every day.

- I am a piano teacher and a math tutor.

- I’ve been playing piano and taking lessons for about 8 years, give or take a few.

- My favorite subject is English!

- My least favorite subject is Math (whenever it gets difficult, at least... ironic because I’m a math tutor, right?).

- I’m hoping to become an English major and eventually work my way up to get a PhD in English. I know it’s going to take a few years, but I love writing, and I would prefer to be a college professor over being a journalist (the reporting world is not exactly my cup of tea, but kudos to those who like it!).

- I’m a Ravenclaw and a Thunderbird, and my Patronus is a Calico Cat!

- I’m a huge bookworm! Some of my favorites are The Book Thief, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Outsiders, and Paper Towns. I’m always up for reccomendations!

- Some of my favorite musical artists include Jamie Grace, Morgan Harper Nichols, NF, and tobyMac.

- My favorite Disney movie is “Beauty and the Beast”, particularly the live-action one starring Emma Watson (for the historical accuracy and how well they filled up plot-holes).

Thanks for reading, if you’ve gotten this far! I love the studying community on Tumblr, hopefully I’ll get some more motivation and studying tips here! :)

Love,

Grace

#studyblr #study #studycommunity #school #introducion #studyblrintroduction #new

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oreithya · 7 years

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I thought I might give you guys an update because another 28 days with another crew has passed and as seems to always be the case everything reshaped itself in those 4 weeks. The cycle continues I suppose, except that this was the last time for this sea phase because I’m headed home in a week then back to the college a few days later.

To put everything into context, at coffee break a couple of days into the shift I mentioned that things had been really tough for me the last couple of months with my dad dying. And one of the boys, who I had barely noticed beyond his big smile every time he took my food order, started crying and told me he was sorry for what I had had to go through. And in that moment things kind of shifted like the course for the rest of the trip had been set. It turns out that although he was on ship, his father who was the normal bosun was at home, because his brother had entered into hospice. He’d been fighting with cancer for 6 years, and although he’d managed to graduate university, start a career and get married in that time, he was losing. As perhaps could be expected of two vulnerable people trying to make sense of similar things, the boy and I got close.

And we bonded very quickly and very tightly. I’m not sure how to explain how huge it was for me to have someone I could talk to 100% openly about everything I’d been struggling with over the past few months but meeting him was easily the best thing that could have happened to me. It started with end of the night conversations and lots of tears and hugs. Which soon turned into kisses and sex and spending almost every night curled up in a twin-sized bed together. And then turned into him buying me an incredible (early) birthday present, and having tea ready-steeped for me at every coffee break, and making me smoothies before bed because he felt I needed to be spoiled just a little bit more.

Remember how I mentioned almost two years back about how I needed to stop doing the boys with expiry dates thing because I grew to depend on them way to quickly and couldn’t handle the pain of losing them? Yeah. I’m never good at doing these things I say I need to. We both knew that trip-end would essentially mark the end of what we were sharing. We would stay in contact, but our lives were clearly headed in divergent directions and it would be better not to fight it. The only reassurance was that the last day was both a day we would be tied up in Victoria, and my birthday, so we would be able to end things with a bang.

Life, naturally, had other plans. On Saturday he got the dreaded "you need to call me” message from his father. His brother's oxygen levels had dropped, and the boy needed to get home ASAP. I thought he should get off ship immediately in Port Hardy, but plans were set for him to get a flight Monday morning instead. It took everything I had to get him back together that evening, but I managed it, only for him (and me too as a result) to toss and turn most of the night with nightmares.

And then, as things naturally do, it got worse. The next morning he got the phone call that his brother was dead. The sounds he made while he was on the phone were just heartbreaking. I was there, I tried to help, but I couldn’t really do anything. Plans changed quickly, they decided he would be taken off ship before we made it to Victoria, he still had to pack everything and although he spent some time with me he also had to say goodbye to everyone else. And then he was gone. Gone gone gone. And when I opened the letter he had written a few days previously, it said that he loved me.

I just... I don’t know guys. I knew what I was getting into. Both on the brother-dying-of-cancer front and the month-long-fling front. But the combo of the two at once may have been more than I can handle right now. Or maybe I’m just too vulnerable to handle much of anything right now. I miss him an unbelievable amount and am dying to call him just to hear is voice, but also kind of like the idea of never talking to him again and doing my best to forget about him entirely.

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jazzworldquest-blog · 7 years

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USA: THE GARIFUNA JAZZ ENSEMBLE FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16th 7:30pm METRO BAPTIST CHURCH

The Garifuna people and culture were created by one of the most dramatic ethnic mixings in history: two ships with enslaved Africans were shipwrecked off the coast of what is now St. Vincent and the Grenadines toward the end of the 18th Century, and with the help of the indigenous Carib-Indian population, overpowered the Spanish crew and escaped. Later, due to their continued resistance and rebellions against the British, their mixed progeny would then be exiled to the islands off the coast of Honduras. Instead of being isolated and dying off, their culture and oral language prospered and expanded into the Central American countries of Honduras, Belize, Guatemala, and Nicaragua, where they still live.

However, because of terrible socio/political forces and war across the region, many Garifuna became exiles once again, settling in the United States: Los Angeles, Chicago, and the New York tri-state area, particularly in the Bronx. It is here that they remain determined to celebrate their culture and remain true to their heritage. Indeed, it is through their strong oral culture, transmitted through music and dance, that UNESCO proclaimed that this culture is a “masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage to humanity.” Vocalist, Lucy Blanco, founder of The Garifuna Jazz Ensemble, is a Garifuna who is continuing that journey. Born in the Bronx of immigrant Garifuna parents, she grew up in their traditions. However, while pursuing her dreams in the fashion industry in Los Angeles, Lucy Blanco discovered herself as the singer she always wanted to be through jazz. During a break from the fashion scene to raise her family, she started to explore that passion in earnest, honing her performance skills at every opportunity. While in L.A., Lucy found a nurturing environment that served as a launching pad for her burgeoning career as a jazz vocalist. The World Stage in Leimert Park literally opened a world that introduced her to the late Billy Higgins, mentor Dahl Scott-McDuff, music director Michael Andrews, as well as working with The Radiant Voices, directed by bassist Kevin O’ Neil. She looks back on those early years as the foundation for her approach and love of jazz. In 2008 researching her family history, Ms. Blanco discovered the Garifuna music ofAndy Palacio, Paul Nabor and Aurelio Martinez, and was inspired to develop the concept of fusing Garifuna with jazz. Home again in New York, she continued to be blessed with teachers and mentors who encouraged her, like the great Barry Harris, and she learned her lessons well. Ms. Blanco started to collaborate with some of the best musicians in the tri-state area, many with Garifuna heritage, like Ricardo Guity, resulting in a demo recording of Wayne Shorter’s ‘Speak No Evil’, up to that time, the ideal blend of traditional Garifuna sounds with familiar jazz standards. Later in the spring of 2011, the sound shifted some more as James Lovell, a Garifuna musician from Belize, and Blanco collaborated, and The Afri-Garifuna Jazz Ensemblewas born. This ensemble band was comprised of seasoned traditional and jazz musicians. It incorporated much more the distinctive sounds of the traditional Garifuna rhythms Punta, Paranda and Hungu, Hungu, Garifuna song language with Garifuna Drums, maracas, Conch, Turtle shells, piano and bass. The Afri-Garifuna Jazz Ensemble recorded their debut album in June 2016 called “Taguiera,” (Homeland), with its core members, Gary “Wicked” Fritz, percussion, Hilliard Greene, bass, Julian Meyers, saxophone, Mario E. Sprouse, piano, comprising the present renamed group,The Garifuna Jazz Ensemble: Mario E. Sprouse, pianist, musical director, composer, and arranger, has been involved in the music, theater and film worlds for nearly 50 years. He was the legendary Renaissance man, African-American photographer, filmmaker, composer Gordon Parks’ musical assistant for over 20 years, cataloguing the artist’s massive archival collection, supervising the music for three of Parks’ films, producing his first original classical music CD, performing at Parks’ funeral in 2006, as well as working on the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary about Parks with filmmaker St. Claire Bourne. Mr. Sprouse has also provided the musical arrangements for several other films, including an award winning Best Documentary Short, and winning awards for his Off-Broadway theatrical projects. Several jazz greats, including Carmen McRae, Freddie Hubbard, Buster Williams, among others, have recorded his musical arrangements, as well asGregory Hines and Phylicia Rashaad performing his original songs live. Mr. Sprousealso is the musical director for the Caribbean band, Circular Time. Hilliard Greene, bassist, composer, and teacher has played and been associated with a wide range of numerous musical artist greats and genres: from 20 plus years with Little Jimmy Scott, being Minton’s house bassist to Concert Master for Cecil Taylor. “Hill” has been performing all over the world in all types of musical venues, as well as teaching both children and adults for over 25 years in classical, jazz, rock, blues, R&B and Tango. He is a faculty member of the Bass Collective. Mr. Greene, an original member of both The Afri-Garifuna Jazz Ensemble and The Garifuna Jazz Ensemble, has recently formed The In & Out Band, a trio using jazz standards as a vehicle for free improvisation. He is the co-leader of the classical crossover group, the ZigZag Quartet, and co-produced its self-titled CD. Hilliard Greene has produced three CD’s with his own ensemble, The Jazz Expressions, a solo bass CD entitled, “Alone.” Gary “Wicked” Fritz, percussionist, son of performing artists was raised and exposed at a very early age to musical environments and schooling that solidly nurtured him, and taught him to be a multi-instrumentalist in a wide variety of styles. Since 1974, while studying at Lincoln University, “Wicked” decided to pursue music as a profession, and has toured internationally with Big Bands, small combos and with dance companies, appearing on TV, Cable video and film soundtracks ever since. Along with leading his own band, 7th Heaven, Gary “Wicked” Fritz has performed withGeorge Benson, Rev. James Cleveland, Roberta Flack, The Black Rock Coalition Orchestra, Vernon Reid, and The Winans, among many others. He also has a long list of recording credits on albums and soundtracks, among them the Oscar nominated feature film, “The Visitor,” and The Horace Silver Songbook album, “Funky Pieces of Silver.” Julian Meyers, saxophonist, composer, whose musical talents were nurtured early by public school music educators in Queens, continued to pursue his musical education while maintaining a professional career for over 26 years, playing all over the world with Dizzy Gillespie and Cecil Payne, among others. As a dedicated music educator himself now for over 15 years, Julian Meyers exposes his students, in the same Queens neighborhood where he grew up, and now teaches, to his first love, jazz. Through his classes, and exposure to live performance, he hopes to make jazz relevant in their lives. Toward this goal, he has created programs like “Vision and Mission” and “Family Jazz Renaissance” as vehicles to emphasize jazz’s importance and to counterbalance its present lack of promotion in the Pop culture. Mr. Meyers was on the 2016 release of the Afri-Garifuna Jazz Ensemble’s CD, “Taguiera.” He released his own album, “Emergence” and is currently working on another release. Luisa Bastidas, violinist, Colombian born, has quickly become very active on the New York City scene as a member of the first all-female Mariachi band, Mariachi Flor de Toloache, with whom she has just won a Latin Grammy. Ms. Bastidas’ unique sound/voicing on the violin is in demand with Emilio Estefan, as well as Latin superstar Thalia, who has used her as well, as a background vocal. She is the resident violinist of the Kinetic Jungliest Movement, playing with dancer Amy Secada and Redbull World Champion BBoy Neguin. She has collaborated with underground legends, SUPAMAN and Remind. Luisa Bastidas leads her own band,StringsNskins, which takes the listener on a musical journey throughout Latin America and Caribbean. www.luisabastidas.com, www.stringsnskinsmusic.com. Andy Ordonez, Garifuna Drums, backup vocals, is a young upcoming solo artist. A native of the Bronx, New York, born to parents of Garifuna descent, Andy is a proudGarifuna - American and represents his Garifuna Culture with pride. His musical career began at the age of 9 back home in the village of Santa Fe, Honduras with his friends and family playing drums all over the village. At the age of 13, Andy Ordonez joined his father’s group, "Bodoma Cultural Band.” In 2015 he released his first album titled, "Mi Tradicion," that is now available on ITunes, Spotify, Google Play, and Amazon. He also has traveled around the world with Honduranguitarist, percussionist, singer, and politician, Aurelio Martinez, (who like the late great guitarist and government official, Andy Palacio from Belize), is seen as an ambassador for the Garifuna people and culture. Mariano Martinez, dancer, choreographer, entrepreneur, discovered his love for dance very early, and he has not stopped moving since. He is well versed in most modern dance styles, particularly of the Garifuna culture. When majoring in Psychology at Medgar Evers College, he found out his true calling choreographing for various college productions as well as his interests in entrepreneurship. After graduating, Mariano founded his own company, J. Dove Productions, Inc. As CEO and Artistic Director, he not only choreographs special age birthday parties, but interrelates the future goals of the participants, and what they have learned, to the artistic event. In essence Mariano Martinez promotes the connection between creativity in dance to creative thinking in life, to a belief in oneself. Mariano is dedicated to continuing his work with the Central American community and encouraging and empowering youth in particular. Maryam Abdul-Qawiyy, dancer, choreographer, dramatist, is an international writer, performance artist and Renaissance woman. She is multifaceted across many fields and attributes this to her passion for creative expression. As a performance artist, Maryambeen a featured vocalist in annual Belizean patriotic showcases. As a choreographer she recently performed in the international dance festival, Dance X Belize 2017. As a dramatist, Ms. Abdul-Qawiyy has written and directed five original stage plays, which debuted at the Women in Art showcase, and the International Pittsburgh Black Arts Festival. She is a global ambassador and writer for Rhythm of Change (ROC Belize), a non-profit dedicated to activities that create individual, social and environmental change; as a yoga instructor she taught at the Belize Central Prison and Youth Hostel. Currently, Maryam Abdul-Qawiyy lives in Brooklyn, New York where she is a teaching artist in Musical Theater and Yoga. Abby London-Crawford proudly presents The Garifuna Jazz Ensemble in association with the Sanctuary Arts Initiative of Metro Baptist Church. Ms. London-Crawford, an officer of the Hell’s Kitchen Cultural Center, Inc. helped produced its annual “Rhythm in the Kitchen” Music Festival in the same neighborhood for over 10 years. Now, as an independent producer, she has produced concerts at Metro Baptist: in October, 2016with TK Blue and Zaccai Curtis; Dick Griffin and Michael Wimberly; Elektra Kurtis and Ensemble Elektra with Reggie Nicholson, Curtis Stewart, and Kenny Davis. In June, 2017 she co-produced with composer/trombonist Steve Swell’s “Music for Six Musicians: Hommage to Oliver Messaien” recorded live at Metro for Silkheart Recordswith Steve Swell, Jason Kao Hwang, Tomas Ulrich, Jim Pugliese, Rob Brown, and Robert Boston. The CD was released in October 2017. Ms. London-Crawford has an upcoming concert March 3rd at Metro with Edith Lettner’sFreemotion CD release with Gerhard Franz Buchegger, Gerhard Graml, Stephan Brodsky coupled with her Delight band with Donald Smith, Gerhard Graml, Leopoldo F. Fleming, and Warren Smith. Abby London-Crawford helped produce two documentaries on musicians: “Femmes de Jazz,”directed by Gilles Corre, filmed in NYC for European Television, which premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival September, 2001; and “Night Bird Song, The Incandescent Life of Thomas Chapin,”directed by Stephanie J. Castillo in 2016. The DVD of that film will be released March 20, 2018.

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