The two stories I heard were “Remembering Ms. Colombia, An Icon Who Sparkled at NYC’s Riis Beach” and “Daniel Moore and Kiyan Williams.” I wanted to see if there were any stories about people within the LGBTQIA+ community, and these were some of the ones that came up.
For the “Remembering Ms. Colombia, An Icon Who Sparkled at NYC’s Riis Beach” story, the story starts with a soft, mellow acoustic guitar in the background as a female narrator gives a brief overview of the history of Osvaldo Gomez, famously known as Ms. Colombia. The narrator also introduces Victoria Cruz and Carlos Villacres as Ms. Colombia’s closest friends. Once the narrator finishes, the music fades out, and Victoria Cruz and Carlos Villacres start their conversation honoring Ms. Colombia. They talk about how she presented herself and how she made friends with some kids who initially threw rocks at her and called her a freak.
Then, the story takes a more serious tone and discusses their last memories of Ms. Colombia. The tone shifts from lighthearted to somber as they talk about Ms. Colombia wanting to go to the water on her last day. Unfortunately, she was found in the water, and Cruz suspected she was caught in a riptide. But, as the story reaches its closing moments, Cruz talks about how she remembers Ms. Colombia. She said that “she gave people the license to be themselves” as the music builds back up and closes out the story. This whole story was very touching and very well constructed. The opening overview that introduces the two people talking and the icon they’re talking about sets the tone perfectly. The most notable thing was that the story was not dependent on the music to shift the tone of the sad last day of Ms. Colombia. It allows the listeners to hear the pain in Cruz’s voice and how much Ms. Colombia’s death impacted her.
Then, regarding the story of “Daniel Moore and Kiyan Williams,” the two go straight into the conversation with no overview. The story starts with Kiyan Williams describing his mother’s worried reaction because his wrist was limp while listening to Mary J. Blige. Ironically, this wasn’t the actual moment where he started to reveal his “queerness” because he had a broken hand. However, later in Williams’ high school days, he did tell his mother he stole her MAC eyeliner and revealed he was wearing makeup. Then, he discusses how he experienced being avoided at his cousin’s wedding. It turned into a “bonding moment for [him] and [his] immediate family.”
I enjoyed this part of the story because it was where the story turned around, from worry for the reactions Williams would face to uplifting, where he and his “immediate family” all bonded over their differences, Williams being queer, and some of his family being “single parents.” The story closes with Daniel Moore saying how much of an inspiration Williams is living authentically as himself. For most of the story, there is no music as Williams and Moore just talk amongst each other, and Moore’s praise of Williams in the last lines works very well. As Moore’s praise closes out the story, the music was touching, especially since the music was almost a jazz, RnB blend, which fits the opening story discussing an RnB legend like Mary J. Blige. It was a very fitting way to end the story.
Overall, both stories were incredible to listen to, and how they were composed helped sell them very well.