Mia Bautista 9/11/23
Old Soul
I was born in the summer of 2003, I’m the youngest of three siblings with my two older
brothers; Joseph and Joshua. My parents are both first generation college students, both of their parents were born In the Dominican Republic. My dad was born in the late 50’s, and my mother in the mid 60’s, now you may be wondering why I’m babbling on about my family history however it’s all relevant to how my brothers and I were brought up.
My parents, but my father especially, came from big families and ended up having to take on big responsibilities at a very young age. My father moved here when he was 13, and was working odd jobs from the moment he touched ground. My mom worked in her uncle’s bodega in middle school, along with babysitting her two younger siblings for free up until the time she married my father at 20 years old. The point being they were determined to have easier lives, and their way to do that was to work hard, and educate themselves. My father started off at BMCC, then he went to Hunter, and went on to Columbia to get his masters. In this time he gained a lot of academic knowledge, but also vast knowledge of the arts, specifically literature, TV, and Film.
Going back to my brothers and I, we were fortunate to inherit all of this knowledge from a very young age.

My parents had pre-recorded some of their favorite TV shows and films on VHS tapes, along with purchasing countless DVD’s for us to watch, and that we did.

Some of my earliest memories watching TV have commercials for items that weren’t even sold in stores anymore. My favorite tapes to watch were ‘Rugrats’, ‘Shirley Temple’ specials, and ‘The Little Rascals’ episodes. ‘The Little Rascals’ was a show created in the late 1920’s about a group of children who went on goofy, unsupervised adventures all the time. We had every episode you could think of, my brother Joshua became fixated on it.

My brothers and I watched this show so often that we began to speak like the characters in the show. We would use silly terms like “jeepers” when we were shocked, or scared about something. There was also the phrase “why I outta” that my brothers especially would use when they were about to start fighting with one another. Another memorable show I enjoyed watching on VHS and DVD was ‘Gilligan’s Island’, the show aired in 1964 and (for some strange reason) only lasted 3 seasons. This program was about a very different group of people taking a 3 hour tour on a boat that leaves them shipwrecked on a deserted island.

Even to this day I would argue this is one of my favorite shows, but if I were to mention that to anyone they would most certainly be confused. Older people were confused to see children our age using these outdated terms, but we never batted an eye.
Fast forward to my Junior year of high school, I was finally able to take the film class that my school offered. I was super excited about the prospect of meeting other people who shared my same interest in movies, especially the classics. However I got my wake up call about two weeks into the course when Mr. Bonet (My amazing film teacher whom I still adore) started a discussion about Steven Spielberg. Mr. Bonet asked us what movies of his we had seen before, a few hands immediately shot up apart from my own and I was instantly thrilled. The first person Mr. Bonet called on responded with ‘Shrek’, after that was said most of the other people raising their hands casually lowered them, as if everyone had been thinking of that same movie. Please don’t be mistaken, I think ‘Shrek’ is a great movie, but I didn’t understand how that could be the first Spielberg movie anyone would think of when asked. My brain was struggling to choose one from the many options that came to mind, like ‘Back to The Future’, ‘E.T’, or ‘Schindler’s List’.
I ultimately decided to name ‘Jurassic Park’ as the first to come to mind, and the first comment I heard was’ ‘what I didn’t know that he directed that movie’. This was shocking for me to hear

because this was something I had known for a while, but what I hadn’t considered was maybe not everyone cared as much as I did to know these sorts of things.
Having been exposed to all the VHS tapes, dvds, CD’s, and more I expected (not most) but at least a few people to share my enthusiasm. I was under the impression that everyone grew up watching their parents’ favorite shows, and I expected to be able to say “good grief” and get a big laugh. There was this lens over my eyes from the years of having my brothers to debate with about which movies or shows were the best, and sitting with my mom to watch ‘The Bad Seed’. I’m forever grateful for my parents’ influence on my personality and interests, however I would’ve appreciated a warning because now everyone calls me an “old soul”.