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Our Daddy is our real-life Hercules.

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I remember the first time a white girl I was talking to drunkenly told me, with a wink, “I’ve never been with a black guy before.”

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2. You make strangers guess your ethnicity for your entertainment

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In Japan, I am the exotic one.

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At the same time, there were some who despised carnival as a manifestation of poor, black, and idle people. Initially only tolerated by the elites, it ended up being partly regulated by the government, partly constantly reinvented by the people, and partly appropriated by different economic forces to become the largest celebration of the Brazilian identity, not to mention the greatest showbiz spectacle on earth.

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I am the quiet one in the crowd with an approving nod and a warm chuckle, the one who just smiles at whatever you say. Looking spineless and overly agreeable, I give affirmative responses to most questions and suggestions while appearing to be afloat in my own world. To an outsider, it is one that seems to be without many words.