Ring Ghetto Gastro's Bop Line

Seizing the Dey

May 04, 2020

Dey Armbrister is a shadowed vision in blue. His legs are elongated by empowerment as they stretch and fly through the air, entangling themselves along the pole. The elusive pole dancer and activist, shot by photographer Kiri Wawatai in an exclusive editorial, exudes an effortless confidence and sturdiness that makes us wonder—beyond the gravity-defying pole routines, who is Dey? What's his story?

Having been an only child to a single mother, Dey faced his own share of adversity as he grew, digressed, and grew again in the bustling city of New York. Instilled at a young age with the lesson that life wouldn’t just be handed to him, he would have to work hard for everything he achieved. Taking this lesson bestowed by his mother to heart, self-motivation and an engagement with fierceness brings out the phoenix within each and every time Dey takes to the pole.

Interview by Logan Brown
Photos by Kiri Wawatai

His interest in dance started in the mid-90’s as an elementary student. Dey was taken by the art of West African dance, and with this initial knack for expressing himself through movement, the young creative soon found himself sufficiently trained in styles such as hip hop, street jazz, and dance hall. A little over 3 years ago is when the pole was beckoned to the master. “Admittedly, I've always secretly wanted to be a stripper and that's exactly what I've always correlated pole dancing with," he tells us. "I felt strippers—specifically the women who did it—held so much power in dictating how they expressed themselves sexually, and the power behind using their sexuality/sensuality to hustle and grind.”

In the summer of 2017, Dey was working at a non-profit organization in the Bronx that wanted to work with a local pole studio, Poletic Justice. After visiting the studio, his passion was solidified. Looking for more opportunities, thanks to that self-motivated hustler mentality, he was nudged by best friend Todd (also a drag queen, Robyn Banks) to sign up for Aerial EDGJ’s Pole Play NYC, despite no experience under his belt other than his dance teachings.

He unsurprisingly bodied the energy needed to impress, with no formal lessons. Dey recalls, “Although I looked crazy, the crowd and the rest of the performers were so supportive. I never felt that kind of vibe before with all of the years I've danced! All of the inspiration prompted me to buy a pole for my home...and at this time, I was 27 still living with my mom!” An essential piece of his self-confidence came through finding acceptance with himself as a black, gay and HIV positive man in today’s world.

Working the pole and letting go of harbored insecurities provided the foundation he felt needed in order to find the version of himself that would encourage others to look within and find their innermost authentic self as well. Being HIV positive, Dey admits to having experienced much despair due to the misconceptions and stigmas of the disease. “There was a point where I believed HIV would end my life's plans, but it honestly gave me a second lease on life,” he reflects. “Through the many doctors and people I've been blessed to cross paths with, I wanted to let others who look like me know there is a chance for us to live after the diagnosis. Once I've gotten over that initial fear on top of opening myself up to the many possibilities brought my way, life started to blossom for me.”

Never imagining that the two polarizing forces would mix one day, Dey manifested it so that his art linked with his activism. With the help of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Dey collaborated with the Gay and Lesbian Center and HIV Stops With Me to create a pole dance rendition of Broadway’s RENT, titled “Out Tonight." The amount of effort put into such a production is typical of Dey, if you hadn't realized that yet, and it has yet to see an end anywhere near. The superstar can be found monthly answering questions on HIV Stops with Me.

Despite quarantining by himself in his apartment, Dey confesses that 2020 has been ripe with blessings thus far—it has produced an organic shoot being unveiled today on office, a 30th birthday, and becoming the curator of his own show, Black Phoenix Nest (a hip-hop inspired pole revue held at The Tank).

Aware that blessings are in disguise but always abundant, Dey ties up our email interview with words of advice to all artist: “Allow yourself to make mistakes. Allow yourself to not know ANYTHING. Within those moments, you will be able to learn, will be able to improve, and will be able to make the steps necessary to grow and become the best you can be. With this in mind, I had to learn to own who I am as an artist, and not let anyone else dictate what my art should look like for me. What held me back over the years were other people's perceptions of what I should do as a male dancer. Once I found the place that allowed me to express my femininity and sexuality, my voice and art became stronger and could not be denied. I encourage any artists—whether dancer, singer, actor, or otherwise—to be unapologetic in their expression. Where some may not gravitate towards your truth, others surely will. It's only when you begin to accept your own truth will people begin to really see you.”

Culture

Inside Patia's Fantasy World

May 01, 2020

At first, Patia Borja started her Instagram meme page to reclaim black vernacular being reposted by white-owned meme accounts. "I knew I clearly had to do this myself," she tells us over the phone. "I honestly made the account for my friends and black people like me."

It worked. Having been at just 3k followers on her Instagram meme page at this time last year, that number has skyrocketed to nearly 100k (@patiasfantasyworld). Not only that, but through her memes Patia has become a sort of trailblazer for posting the types of hyper niche memes that have made her so popular.

You've probably seen her text posts floating around your Instagram timeline, but if not, this is the format they'll typically follow.

Intro by Ivan Guzman
Interview by Lydia Arauz
Photos by Leander Capuozzo
Photo Assistant: Sausha de la Ossa

Her memes tend to be in the format of Facebook text posts—you know, the ones with the colorful backgrounds and Facebook-specific emojis that your annoying Aunt Karen will use to vent about her day. They're often dubbed with layers and layers of filters so that the text is almost illegible. If you're a meme-experienced person, you get that this adds to the humor of it all.

But most importantly, Patia's memes are short vignettes of daily life, both found objects (Patia and co. are constantly searching Facebook for content) and curated observations about the dumb things people do and say on the internet and IRL. Often times, they're very specific and rooted in a collective experience we all have but rarely put forth the brain power to articulate. They also reference black culture in a way that is nuanced, detailed, and funny as fuck. Focusing on the experiences of black triumphs and tribulations, she highlights black culture through humor in a way that no other meme page can. Instead of waiting for someone to offer her a seat at the table, Patia said, "Fuck it," and made her own table.

Patia chats on the phone with office to talk about trolls, memes as a language, and juicy tips to being a bad bitch.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm from Jacksonville, Florida. I moved to New York when I was 17 in 2010. I originally moved to go to SVA for graphic design—I dropped out after a year. Somehow through hell and high water the thing that has made me successful is a meme account.

How long have you been in New York?

I’ve been here for 10 years! I’m a granny!

How have you been making the time pass during quarantine?

Listen, I was built for this. I grew up being an only child, I had no interest in driving, and I was just always home alone because my mom worked a lot. I read a lot and I just don’t get bored—wait, let me correct that because I know my friends are going to be like, "What the fuck bitch you say you’re bored all the time." I get more bored around people than I do myself. I literally think I’m so interesting, and I just don’t like to be bothered with people. Lately, I’ve just been doing what I always do; I’ve been watching my TV, reading books, and I’ve been playing animal crossing which has been the main thing. I feel like my quarantine has been the same as my regular life. I’ve been writing. I’ve been working on merchandise for followers. I’m trying to get my blue check.

You know I got to ask. What led you to create @patiasfantasyworld? Did you ever expect it to blow up the way it did?

Back in 2015, me and my friend created this Instagram page called ‘bundle update’—bundle was a code word for cocaine. And it was pictures of people, who are pretty big now, doing cocaine. It was very explicit. We didn’t have that many followers; we had 500 before it got shut down for drug usage, but it was fun. It was a very fearless time. And this was also around the era when people first started creating finstas. I had a regular Instagram and then made a finsta in 2017. I had just been posting memes in the same format actually. @Patiasfantasyworld started off as a finsta because this was my fantasy world. And then someone had told me to make it public which I did, and it started off really small. I had my friend's log in to use my account as a burner, you know, in case they wanted to stalk someone or whatever. A lot of people I knew online helped me post. It was a really slow trajectory. In 2018, I didn't have any fucking followers, granted I was private but still! Even this time last year I only had 3K. Everyone in the scene had liked it—specifically a lot of people who worked in magazines. I got a lot of, "Oh yeah we should work together." If I had a hundred dollars for everytime I heard that last year when I had no followers, I would be so rich; people were just talking and talking. I knew I clearly had to do this myself. I was posting 700 memes a week. People would be like, "You post a lot," and I would be like, "I don't give a fuck!" I just didn't care! I made a meme account because I got really sick of seeing African American vernacular on people's pages who I thought shouldn't be reposting that type of content. Or you know white meme accounts that were using 'nigga' and other shit that rubbed me the wrong way. So I said, 'I need to do this'. And people always ask me, "Can I repost even though it has the 'N' word?" And I'm like, "If you get your ass beat that is not my problem." I honestly made the account for my friends and black people like me.

I’m successful because I won’t shut the fuck up.

Would you describe yourself as funny IRL? Were you the class clown growing up?

No, I think I’m good at reactions. I’m the person who rolls my eyes a lot. I’m a reaction picture; I wasn’t a class clown. I’ve spent a lot of years on Twitter cyber bullying people who said ignorant shit though.

Girl no way!

No like forreal! I used to call out people before “woke” was a thing. I used to get into arguments with people about the usage of the ‘N’ word, specifically with a lot of white girls who are on magazine covers and stuff like that. I’m successful because I won’t shut the fuck up. And I am not willing to compromise that. I’ve called out NY dudes who were rapists and shit, and had their friends who were girls try to come for me. They’d say things like, “He’s not violent," and that was the craziest logic I’ve ever heard.

You represent a new breed of meme curators, in a way. The humor just feels so specific and pertains to a certain crowd, it seems. If you had to say, what is the one “thing” that draws people to your collections of memes?

I think it's the honesty of it all. I only have one thing that's off limits on my meme account, and it's literally anything that's related to the Kardashians. I think it's wack, I think it's bland, and I think it's toxic to society because it's the craziest amount of cultural appropriation that's cosigned by so many people. Besides that anything goes. I don't care about posting a 'certain type' of meme, or getting in trouble by it. So many accounts care about being politically correct—I don't. I think my account is relatable, and I try to keep it so there's something for everybody. There's something for single people, there's something for the girl who lurks way too much, there's something you can send your ex, and there's something you can send your current boyfriend. I think it's also crazy how especially the text posts, which are only like 10 words, can make you crack the fuck up. The power of the meme, or actually the power of the 10 words that you're reading and 1,000 other people relating to it. I think that's interesting. It's so broad but so many different types of people can relate to getting played. And it's so sad because I thought I was the only one being played! That's crazy, and us laughing about it is even sadder!

If you were to identify as a Disney Channel character, who would it be and why?

Penny Proud! I think she’s a Cancer, I don't actually know if she is. If we weren’t limiting this to Disney, though, I would definitely say I'm a mixed combination of Spongebob, Bobby Hill from King of the Hill, and Bart Simpson. I think it's because sometimes when I talk to guys they're just like who is this girl. I didn't really blossom into my looks until recently kind of, so in some weird body dysmorphic way I always see myself in middle school watching all these weird TV shows that weren't girly at all. And I think when people see me at face value they're like, "Wow, she's hot," and then I talk—the smartest thing doesn't always come out. My mind is constantly replaying Spongebob catching jellyfish. It's the commercial break happening in my brain once the ADD wears off. And I would say Penny Proud for Disney because she’s very sensitive and she cares for people. She also has the crazy friends like I do, and she doesn't let the Gross sisters bother her.

Are memes a new a language?

I feel like personally it's helped me be more direct. It's weird because I've met people, and they'll come up to me refrencing a meme I've posted. Initially I get weirded out, like, why don't you use real words? And why are we repeating the meme in real life? It weirds me out, but I get it. I guess it is a new language. I think memes kind of taught me to not even worry about sending a paragraph to a guy—I'll see a meme and think, those 10 words, that's what I'ma send this nigga. And that's enough because men can't read.

If you weren’t a burgeoning content queen, what would your dream job be?

I would love to be an astronaut. I love space, and I grew up going to planetariums. My childhood was really fucked up, but it made me who I am. Whenever I had to spend time with my dad, we would always argue. My whole idea was like okay, if I'm going to spend the weekend with him let's go to the museum or the planetarium back home because you can't really talk in those places—you have to be quiet. I was into all the alien stuff, even the theatrical stuff like Men in Black. I would love to explore outer space because there is so much unknown. And the one thing about me is that I love discovering the unknown. Even right now there is so much unknown, but we have to accept it. But back to space, I really love it. I'd want to be an astronaut—I used to go to NASA when I was little so many times. It was like a two hour drive from me. I was so interested in science because my mom was a chemist, and I grew up around it. Obviously being an astronaut I'd have to go into space, but I wouldn't mind doing a lot of research in boring ass Florida and cooking eggs for my man. That would be a cute life I'd want.

What’s the first thing you’re doing when it’s safe to finally go out?

I’ll wait for everyone to go out first and see what happens! Honestly I'm probably going to spend a bunch of money on oysters because it's my favorite food, and I'm craving it. I'm sober right now, but I keep making the joke that maybe I shouldn't be sober because you never really know what's going to happen in the future. Also the main thing I've been doing during quarantine is getting snatched. I've been doing a three week cleanse, but I just had some unhealthy solid food—so I basically fucked up my cleanse. I've been working out and I just ordered resistance bands. Honestly I've been focusing on getting snatched because I know a lot of people are letting themselves go, and I can see it. And I don't know how to tell some of my friends that quarantine doesn't have to mean misery. But the main thing I'm going to do once it's safe is pop out and be seen.

Quarantine does not have to mean misery.

I see you’re out here doing big things with Helen with the Gold Teeth. How did your relationship come about, and what have you ladies been cooking up?

I love her. Last year I was broke, and she had a post that she needed someone to run errands for her—and I wasn't doing anything. I ran a day's worth of errands, and she was telling me about her business—and I was like I know how to do all of this. I'm really good at personal assisting and logistics, and it started from that. This is the first time I've had a boss who represented the things I truly love like hip-hop and at the same time is very giving and professional. Working with Helen is so crazy because we share a lot of mutual friends, but she was away when I was going out more. So we didn't truly connect until working together. We're actually working on a fundraiser now. One is for a Christian center and the other is for a restaurant handing out meals to help out with COVID needs. She's been doing so much to give back, and she always checks in with me. Sometimes I feel starstruck because in what world am I working for someone who thinks Gucci Mane is the coolest rapper, and her work is a representation of all the things she's actually embraced.

Being on Instagram, a lot of things go down in the DM. What’s the wildest DM you've ever received?

Besides troll shit, I would say the top three would be an NBA player asking me where to cop weed in New York. Everytime I would respond to something they would unsend it, so then I started unsending my shit too! And it clicked to me like, "Oh shit, you can't do this." Another thing would be when I first started the page someone told me that they just got out of prison. Their girlfriend showed them my meme account before they got locked up, and when they got out, they DM'ed me right away to say that I was the first account they checked to catch up on all the posts. I thought that was crazy because I've gotten DM's like that multiple times, and I'm just like, "What y'all got locked up for?" What am I enabling on this page? My dream Tik Tok would be a bunch of fine ass niggas in prison with my meme account on someone's phone.

Another crazy one would be when I posted a screencap of an article about COVID. Before things got severe and no one was taking it seriosuly at that point. So many people trolled my ass and there were so many racist ass comments. Everyone was like, "No one's going to die unless you're 30," and that was the worst thing the media could've told people because everyone was so reckless. I remember responding to someone by saying, "Are you a scientist? Are you a doctor?" And you know you can't challenge white people on the internet like that. This guy kept going back and forth and then other people jumped in. Sometimes I don't even have to jump in because other people will jump in before I've even see the comment. I think I ended up posting a photo of him and the rude comment he made—and then he DM'ed saying I was pussy for posting his photo! The trolls forget that they're on the internet too! They feel untouchable. You are literally trolling me on a public account with your photo on it and your last name! I remember this one white girl came for me. She tried it! She was like sixteen, and all it took was a little Facebook moment. I had to ask her, does the principal at this school know that you're harrassing black women like this on the internet? I knew she was shook too by how quick she deleted her comment. I'm lucky that I have the backbone for this type of shit, but unfortunately that isn't the case for a lot of people on the internet. A lot of people aren't built for trolls. But I do have to play it safe, I don't tell people to kill themselves. I'm not savage, this account will get deleted—you can't say certain things on the internet, the FBI will show up. No matter how lighthearted it seems.

What are your top three tips to being a bad bitch?

You have to be a Barb, that's one. Sometimes I'll have a sad day and listen to a Nicki verse or feature and just scream, "Period!" The second thing is you can’t overthink, and you have to believe in the decisions you make AKA believe in yourself. I sound crazy, but it's true! And the third one would be to take care of yourself. Mental health is crazy out here, and it's even crazier because of Instagram. It's especially crazy if you live in a Metropolitan city, and you're constanly seeing people who have more than you. None of that shit matters. I remember being so stressed because I couldn't afford things, and that's why I wasn't noticeable—I would just wear sweatpants. The most generic clothing. I thought that that mattered, but it doesn't. Personality always wins.

The year is 2065. Your grandchildren are sitting on your lap and one of them asks you, “Grandma, what was the year 2020 like?” What do you reply?

Girl that was the year I got curved during quarantine. I probably won the gold medal for getting curved.

Culture

Streets of Mexico

April 30, 2020

Right now, beautiful and calming art can allow a much needed escape into another world. Cue photographer Jill Schweber, whose ongoing photo documentary series explores her parents' home country of Mexico through the lens of the locals.

"In 2018 I went to Mexico for several months to experience and discover it on my own," she tells us over email. "Most of the series is from that time."

Schweber managed to leave the country with more than your stereotypical tequila shot glass. Visiting vibrant cities like Oaxaca and eating "unique mole styles that you cannot find in the rest of Mexico," she navigated the country with an intention that fuels all of her documentary work: "to offer glimpses into worlds most people don't have access to, shedding light on the human ability to create beauty and potentiate social connection in the variety of circumstances that global systems of power manifest."

Text by Lydia Arauz
Photos by Jill Schweber

The result is a meaningful and timeless series that feels intimate. Trying to find ways to stay productive during these cold scary times, Schweber hopes that these photos can bring a bit of warmth to someone, somewhere. Using her Contax T2 camera and her breathtaking eye for detail, Schweber focuses the lens into Mexico's immense culture and vibrant scenary—magically transporting you into the country in a matter of seconds.

Check it out below.