The Lost Archive of Films and Thrills

Welcome back to my lovely diary of the one and only Makayla. In this blog I am going to talk about thrills once again I have had and what has happened within the first couple days of being at San Francisco! So far, I have only 2 days of films under my belt and a lot of confusing thoughts on what Queer horror is and how it is interpreted. This brings me to fangs after dark, consisting of three parts, Stink, Mamántula, and The Deep Queer Massacre, was some of the weirdest things I have ever seen in cinema. I will not have enough room to give all my thoughts on these films, but I would love to touch on Mamántula, the man who is also a tarantula (gay tarantula, that is). This short was about 48 minutes and remained interesting during the entire film, nothing dull came from it. This film was full of interesting and surprising aspects, the best way to think of this film is a man who can turn into a tarantula who also preys on gay men who want to have an enjoyable time, too good of a time with this creature. That is all I will leave it with, you will have to see it to believe it and even after seeing it you still might not believe it. Another film I watched was Teaches of Peaches

Other than the thrills that I experienced with the films I watched, I also got to explore more of the city and what it has to offer to a little girl from Wisconsin. One adventure I had was to Chinatown and the general area around it. I loved Chinatown, everything about it was fun to explore and it was refreshing to see a lot more diversity there not only with the Asian population, but also just all kind of people of color who come to Chinatown, some for food or some for goods. It was a fun day trip there and I managed to get a giant bow for my hair that I love. Before Chinatown there was Pier 39, another amazing place, super windy of course because we were right on the pier, but incredibly beautiful and fun to walk around, a lot of good picture potential! My favorite part of the pier was the fun games as well as the infamous tour of the Alcatraz, which was a big hit with everyone including myself. The tour of Alcatraz was via audio tour, which I heavily enjoyed because I did not feel rushed, and I had time to take in everything that they had to offer and read. My favorite part about the tour was the outside of the prison, since Alcatraz is also under the control of a national park, the entire place is surrounded by floral and greenery, it is very beautiful to take in and is amazing for photos as well! Not only is the outside beautiful, but there was also history to learn about from this prison. Alcatraz was not only known for its notorious criminals and escape attempts to it’s scary demeaner, but there is also the fact that this land was occupied by Native Americans before it was a prison, it is on Native land. Unfortunately, there was no mention of the Native occupation on this land, but there are still remnants of their occupation and the independence that they had when they were on the land. Resistance was seen there and leaves a lasting mark on the history of Alcatraz as both a prison system to keep people in, and the Native occupation to keep their people on the island respect their rightful land.

Other than Alcatraz being on the list of places to go in San Francisco, I have also enjoyed the simple things when I have been here. I love waking up in the morning and going to Philz coffee with a group of people and enjoying the morning before we are all off to our own films. Not only has being around amazing people made this trip enjoyable, but the city itself has really made me think and reflect on my Queerness as a person of color, and in a big city like this, no one cares. That sounds bad but they don’t care in a good way, you can make the most out of your trip and crack all the gay jokes you want, you can celebrate Juneteenth with your fellow black brothers and sisters. There is a lot you can do in this city, like a lot, but bearing the feeling of being oppressed for who you are is not an activity that needs to be on your list. I have figured out that it’s okay to be so openly queer, at the end of the day I always remind myself that I am hotter than the homophobes, not everyone can be the favorable! Makayla signing out!