Creative Portland

Kaitlin: [00:00:00] Hey there, do you think of yourself as a creative person? If you found yourself here and you're curious, you are. This is Creative Portland, the podcast made for you by the all volunteer team who organized the Creative Mornings Speaker Series in Portland, Oregon. I'm your host, kaitlin, and I'm really glad you're here.

Each episode, we are going to share a talk from one of the most generous, inspiring, and inspiring and creative people in this city. You'll hear from people doing things you probably already think of as creative, people who paint, write books, illustrate comics, style photo shoots, make music, even sing opera.

There are others who run companies.[00:01:00]

I'm confident you'll take away something different from every person on this show. Each of these talks was originally recorded in front of a live audience. So sometimes they mention things that are on a screen, but those are pretty minor.

This talk is an interview with Terry Blass in conversation with longtime Creative Mornings Portland volunteer Joan Stewart in August 2023. Terry is the illustrator and writer behind several original graphic novels, the viral webcomics You Say Latino and You Say Latinx, and the writer for the Mexican Marvel Comics superhero series, Repteal.

You can find even more of Terry's work linked in the show notes and at terryblas.Com.

Interviewer: So I thought I'd start [00:02:00] out with asking a little bit about how you came to Portland, like a little bit like first where you came from because it's such a wonderful story and you know, um, and how you got here to this city, um, working on the projects.

Terry Blas: Sure. I, I was raised mostly in Boise, Idaho. , Mormon, um, between there and several different cities or towns in Mexico.

My mom is from Mexico. My dad is from Idaho, and I went to high school there, graduated, moved to New York City because, I was obligated, forced to be a Mormon missionary. So I was there during 9 11, um, in the Bronx, Spanish speaking mission. I grew up speaking Spanish, so I didn't have to learn it, thank goodness, .

And after that moved to Los Angeles, I thought I was going to go to school there. But after living there for a few years, I was like, this is not for me. And then I had a friend who was living here already that I went to high school with. She was working in comics. And she was like, why don't you just move to Portland?

I live here. It's closer to [00:03:00] home. Home. Idaho. There's no sales tax. Like, you know. Um, and it's very conducive to sitting inside and Drawing and writing all day because it rains like six months out of the year here So just come here and go to art school. She flew down I drove up with her and the week that I moved here in 2006 It felt like it was meant to be, because I got into art school, I found an apartment, and I found a job, like all in one week.

So then I went to art school, I went to the PNCA, Pacific Northwest College of Art. Um, I got a degree in illustration, which is, I guess, somewhat, I still draw plenty, but the bulk of my work now is writing. So I guess that's kind of funny, but, , that's sort of how I started my life here in Portland. I got to know, I mean, because, like I said, It's conducive to drawing and writing all day.

There are so many comic book artists and writers in Portland. Three of the largest independent comic book companies are located here. So there's just a lot of artists who are involved in that. So I felt like it was good for meeting people, networking. And pretty [00:04:00] quickly after college, I joined Helioscope studio, which is.

, it's not a business. A lot of people think it's a business, but it's the largest collection of independent comic book artists and writers, I think, in the country. Um, and then we just like all share office space there to, to work. Uh, and that's sort of how my, my comics journey, I guess, started.

Interviewer: That's so great.

That you got a job and found a place to live, like, all in one go. Wonderful. I did have this question based on our theme, which is pride. , so you do a lot of, uh, a lot of your work is tied to, like, really specific identities. , and so my question was, do you remember your very first Pride event.

What was it like if you care to share? And at the time, were you ready to express the fullness of whatever Pride meant?

Terry Blas: I do remember my first Pride event. I was living in Los Angeles, so it was like the Los Angeles West Hollywood Pride event. [00:05:00] Yeah.

Um,

I took a lot of photos. Um, I have photos of like, Anna Nicole Smith, like, um, Paris Hilton, like, you know, so it was just a very bizarre, very weird experience.

But I went with a lot of friends. I was excited to, I thought when I moved to California, I was very excited to be somewhere, you know, I was fresh off of my Mormon mission. I flew back to Idaho. I bought a car. I drove to Los Angeles and I never went to church again. I was like, I'm done. Um, I gave you two years of my life.

I'm done. Um, so. I thought I would be very happy to be somewhere where it was like, it's okay to be who I am. It's okay to be accepted here. I'm in Los Angeles. There's a lot of Mexicans here. There's a lot of queer people here. I won't get into this story, but I felt somewhat uncomfortable living in Los Angeles because I wasn't like 6'1 160, abs, blonde hair, blue eyes, like, you know what I mean?

Um, within the gay community, , in Hollywood, but I [00:06:00] did make some good friends. I, Went to this pride event. It was a lot of fun. It was very crowded a lot of people, but it did feel good to be somewhere where Where there it was like a celebration where it didn't matter sort of who you were in that in that moment that you could just go There and express what you wanted, you know, like I said take a bunch of pictures be with friends So it was a fun event, but also very interesting and very bizarre.

Interviewer: Much more fun than mine. Mount Rushmore.

Terry Blas: Oh, alright. I want to hear that story. Well,

Interviewer: just briefly, the reason why it's at Mount Rushmore is because that's federal property. People can't mess with you if you're on federal property. So I know that, , your mission in New York, while you were a Mormon, is sort of fundamental to you sort of accepting some multiple identities.

Would you mind sharing that story?

Terry Blas: Sure. , I think, well, when you grow up in a military family, Mormon, biracial, bicultural Mexican in [00:07:00] Boise, Idaho in the 90s, you tend to say, I think what, at least what I did was I segmented myself out quite a bit. So I'd always say it was the easiest thing to just say like, Oh, I'm half and half because people would not understand you're Mexican, but you look white.

Why? My dad's white. You know, so it's this whole story. Also, if you've ever seen a telenovela, you know, there are white Mexicans. It's like, um, so I'd always felt like I was. Like I said, segmenting myself out. But when I was a missionary, it was a very strange experience. Something that, you know, I didn't want to do.

My parents Mulan style were like, you will bring dishonor to this family. And my older brother didn't go on one, so I was obligated to. But I was living in the Bronx. Uh, I thought I knew Spanish, uh, because I grew up speaking Mexican Spanish, but Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban dialects are somewhat different than that.

, so it was interesting learning those, but also, , living in the Bronx, I would encounter a lot of, well, I encountered this group of kids, , Junior was, I guess the, like, leader of their friend group, um, this [00:08:00] young Dominican kid. And he heard me speaking Spanish, but I'm also wearing, like, a white shirt and tie, and many people thought we were immigration.

Like, la migra, but I have to be like, no, it's cool. We're just talking about Mormon Jesus. And, um, and so he asked me how, he was like, how are you speaking Spanish? And I told him like, Oh, I'm, I'm Mexican. He was like, Well, you don't look like any Mexican I've ever seen. I was like, again, do you watch telenovelas at all?

But, um, he, he asked, he asked me a very strange question where he said, Well, what's your street name? I was like, what are you talking about? And he, , he said, Well, you, you don't look, you know, Latino. You don't look like us. So because you are white, you need to have a street name around the Bronx so people don't mess with you.

He didn't say mess. Um, I was like, you're 11.

Um,

I said, I'm sorry. I don't have one. Um, and he, he was like, it's okay. It's [00:09:00] cool. He said, I got you. I'll think of, I'll think of one for you. I was like, all right. And there was a place across from where we lived. It was. Not Kentucky. It was Kennedy's fried chicken.

And it was one of those places that had like, pizza and burgers and Chinese food in front, like, everything. And a few days later, he came up to me and he, he was very excited. And he was like, I have your, I have your street name. And I was like, okay, well, what is it? And, and he said, you're Ghetto Swirl. And I was like, okay, what does that mean?

And he said, you're like the ice cream in Kennedy's. He's like, you're not the brown one, and you're not the white one, you're the one in the middle. And his girlfriend, Shelley, um, she was like, that's my favorite one, that's the, you get the best of both worlds, that's two for the price of one. And it hit me in this, it was so funny that I felt like I was, obligated to have this spiritual experience.

But these two kids, I felt, helped me sort out a big part of my identity, which instead of always saying, like, I'm half and [00:10:00] half and segmenting myself out that way, I'd never heard anybody say, I'm both. And that sounded way more powerful to me. Like, Shelley was like, the best flavor, two for the price of one.

And that really hit me in an interesting and I feel like I'm not a spiritual or religious person by any means, that I felt like Hit me in a very meaningful way. And so ever since then, I've always just said like, I'm both. And I feel like being able to claim those parts of my identity without saying, I'm only so much of this, I'm only so much of that.

It's. It's much more powerful. And I think, um, especially in terms of representation and pride, like we're talking about, like, if you're, if you're proud, like, then what is it that you're proud of? For me, it's my identity. I was always taught by my parents to be proud of being Mexican, to be proud of, you know, where I came from, to be even be proud of from being from a military family.

I was born on a military base. Fort Ord, California doesn't exist anymore.

Interviewer: Same! What?! No! I had no idea! I was [00:11:00] also born in Fort Ord! I've only ever met like two

Terry Blas: people in my whole life who are, so I have a really, really, I have a really bizarre story if you want to hear that about Fort Ord. So I have the, um, what's it called, the TSA pre check, right?

But in order to get TSA pre check, because, Flying all over to do comic conventions and I was like, oh, I don't want to deal with the security line So I just paid for an interview to go do this and the woman who was doing my paperwork when I went to the H& R Block or wherever the interview was she was like you were born.

It's like you're okay. You were born in 19 I'm gonna age myself. You're born in 1980. I was like, yeah, like, okay, you were born in Fort Ord I was like, yeah, well, what is this? Like why and she said that's weird I was also born there and then she said she's like I'm not supposed to ask you this. She's like, are you mixed race?

And I was like, yeah, why? And she's like, I'm Filipino and Mexican, and she, okay, so I'm gonna blow your mind...

Interviewer: I'm not Mexican, I'm sorry.

Terry Blas: So I'm gonna blow your mind. I'm gonna blow your mind. I don't know if you know this then, but she told me that in [00:12:00] the eighties a lot of interracial military couples were stationed in Fort Ord.

And I, and I was, so I asked my dad this and he was like, what? I don't, I was like, did you not look around and like ? And I think just by default, like they had moved from, I don't know where my parents moved so many times during their marriage, but. I think maybe just by default being in Southern California, they were like, okay, well, cool.

I mean, not Southern, that's kind of Northern, but they were like, yeah, I guess there's Latinos here and whatever. But I had never known that until several years ago. And so I thought it was so interesting that just by like default of, of who I was going to be because of my parents that had some sort of, some sort of like thing to do with where I was, where we were born.

That's crazy.

Interviewer: It's wild. I promise we're not just going to talk about this.

Terry Blas: Yeah.

We'll move on. We can move on.

Interviewer: But it's like, this is new information. Stop everything. Uh, no. So, going back to, uh, your mission, uh, [00:13:00] time in New York and stuff. Were you already illustrating?

Terry Blas: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I, I drew a lot in my childhood.

I think a lot of kids, most kids draw. I just like didn't stop doing it. And I also felt like, something I tell a lot of young kids who are in, within, I guess Mormonism, sometimes I'll speak at events like that, who feel like they have no control over their environment or who they want to be because of their environment or their, the pressures put on them by their family, I guess.

I tell them to just find something that you feel like you're really passionate about or that you're really good at. And if things are difficult, focus on that during those times, because if you do that, for some reason in my mind, I thought as a kid, like, if I do this and I become good at it, then I can make it into a job and that job can help me live some sort of happy adult life where I'm supporting myself doing something that I love and it doesn't have to be it.

Something artistic, like you can be an expert at, I don't know, like bugs, like, you know what I mean? And then they're making some project about bugs and they hire you [00:14:00] because you're the expert. So, I, I feel like I was always drawing, I was always read anything but the Bible or the Book of Mormon. You're not allowed to talk to your family.

I mean, unless You're a missionary now. And then they let you like zoom, I guess, which fine. But, um, I cried for like two days when I was going to go because I knew that was, that meant I was going to miss seasons five and six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. That's not a joke. I was like very upset. Willow had just come out of the closet.

I was very excited, but yeah, um, that was literally the first thing I did when I got to California. I went to some DVD store, bought seasons five and six watches so I could watch season seven. Um, But because you're not allowed to do a lot of that stuff, most missionaries on their like day off are like, Let's go play basketball.

I'm like, we're in New York City. Can we, can we please go to like a museum or something? They didn't care. They just want to play basketball because I guess that's what you do in Sandy, Utah for fun, making up characters, writing. I was in some musicals in high school. So I've always liked to do artistic things, but on my, [00:15:00] when you're a Mormon missionary, you are not allowed to watch television, watch movies.

So I just always had a sketchbook because I would just draw on that on my days off and try to fill that up with. Whatever I, you know, whatever I could, whatever was fun to draw. And so I was sort of, I guess, maintaining my, it's, it's difficult when you, I think, are an artist, you like to draw, you're told, Oh, you should draw every day, you should draw, you know, for my life.

But then you're like, Oh, I can't, I got to teach somebody about Joseph Smith and how he was born in the 1800s and created a religion because they don't want to plow the fields anymore. Um, so. Yeah, I always drew while I was on my mission and then after my mission, when I moved to California, I thought I was going to go to art school there and even applied to a couple and then felt like it was way too extensive.

So that's partly why I moved here.

Interviewer: And was there a time, , because you started drawing from a young age, maybe not thinking about like, yes, I'm going to fully express my multiple identities. You know, I said eight year old, [00:16:00] um, uh, was there a moment where your, , technical skill and passion for art, like met up and like intersected with like, actually, I'm going to, I'm going to tell stories about who I am, even if they're not specifically about me, but like, like what was, when was that?

Terry Blas: I feel like that was. That was actually when I was in art school here, I felt like I got a lot out of it because I felt like I put a lot into it. I went back to, I went to the University of Idaho for a year right after high school, before my mission, but you know, what was that? 1, 2, 7, 8 years later was when I started back up at college here.

So I was a little bit older than most of the other people in my class, and I don't think that if you're young, you can't. You know, be dedicated and and whatnot, but I felt like I did have a different, I guess not advantage, but it was because I was in a military family. I felt like, oh, okay, this first year is like boot camp and they're waiting out everybody right now who's not serious about it.

And next year, [00:17:00] I guess we'll see who is. And there were many students who were like, well, but I'm an illustration major. Why should I have to do a sculpting class? And I was like, if you can sculpt something in 3d, you're going to be able to draw it in 2d. It's like, fine, just you're, you're playing with clay.

Can you just like calm down? Um, and so when I was in art school, though, I felt like as. Somebody who is studying illustration, I had to think about like, well, what is it that I have that is that I can offer that's going to be different or unique than a lot of the other students here when we would get a prompt of of an assignment to draw, I would try to think, okay, well, what's the first thing that I'm going to think of?

Is that what everyone else is going to think of? Well, then I don't want to do that. So I would try to think of something else. And I began to think about, especially with some of the assignments we were given, think about who I am, what I wanted to illustrate. Okay. I don't even remember what the prompt was, but the illustration I ended up painting was an illustration of my, my mom in the eighties, wearing this like traditional Mexican clothing, but these like huge [00:18:00] plastic walmart glasses, um, because that was what I remembered.

And so I felt like it was, it was saying something about her identity. And I still feel like that's one of the better pieces that I did in art school. So I think during that time, you know, yeah. It's not that you have to have some sort of specific thing to say about your cultural identity, but you could make artwork that says something about your spiritual identity or your, you know, sexual identity.

Like, whatever you want to do. I just didn't want to do what I think felt, not necessarily was the easiest thing, but, so, so for instance, like, one of the, one of the first assignments we had was like, worship. And so I was like, ugh, everybody's going to draw church stuff and I am Done. Like, I want to do that.

So I drew an illustration of Abigail from The Crucible. Like, this pilgrim covered in blood. Because I was like, well, she really worshipped that guy and look what it did to her. And so I was more interested in that and doing something slightly different. And that didn't have anything to do with necessarily my cultural identity.

But I do think it said something about the [00:19:00] things I like, the things I gravitate towards. You know, my first book was It was like, it's about kids at like a weight loss summer camp, but then there's a murder that they witnessed. So like, I like to incorporate, you know, this like, kind of, I don't know, sweet facade that has something else underneath it.

But yeah.

Interviewer: It's a very fun book. Deadweight.

Terry Blas: Deadweight murder camp.

Interviewer: I was like, I want you to tell the story of how like you came to, from doing, because you, uh, before you did Deadweight, you were mostly doing like commission stuff, or...

Terry Blas: sort of. Yeah, I was doing a decent amount of commissions. But my comic book work.

My work in the comic book industry started mostly with doing covers for comics. I did some interior comic work, , but when you draw comics, you have to be able to draw everything, like anything that's on the page of the script. And I just don't want to draw bikes and cars and buildings and stuff like that.

If somebody was like, do you want to draw Spider Man swinging through matter? I'd be like, no, get me out of here. Um, and I love drawing people. I love drawing portraits. I love drawing animals. And I had to think like, well, [00:20:00] if I want to be involved in the comic book industry and still make comics, what else is there I can do?

I can still do covers and that's fine, but, I thought, well, you know, I've always enjoyed making up characters. I've always enjoyed creating stories. So why don't I try writing? I knew that I, I wanted to take it seriously, but I was like, I can't afford to go back to school to study writing. So how do I do this?

And I was drawing covers, drawing comics while I was doing that, I was, you know, listening to podcasts, watching movies I'd seen a million times just to sort of entertain myself while I was doing this and I thought I could use my time better than I'm using it. And as I drew comics. I, instead, I made, I made YouTube my second college degree, and I looked up every tutorial I could on comics writing, on writing scripts, on story structure, that led me to like other books about it that I then went found and read, um, and so I just studied that as much as I could, wrote notes about it, and thought, okay, well, I can, I can try, I can try this.

[00:21:00] Maybe I, maybe I can do it. Usually when people are starting out in comics. It's a very common, , piece of advice that a lot of students don't seem to want to take is to make short stories, like 10 pages max. Um, a lot of the students that I mentor through PNCA are like, okay, so I have this 325 page saga.

It's about these 10 races of elves and the 15 languages that they speak. And I'm like, cool. What's the story? Like, um, and then there, you know, get flustered when I'm like, cool, but I need 10 pages. Right. And the whole reason for doing that, I think when I started writing my first book, um, and it was accepted at Oni press, the local company, they were like, cool, 160 pages.

And I was like, I don't know how to, I don't know how to write that. I don't know how to, I couldn't visualize it in my head. And I thought, well, if I break it into chapters. I can tell a 10 page story. So I tried to look at it from like a bird's eye point of view and say, okay, well, if I break it into say 16 chapters, not every chapter has to be 10 pages that, you know, [00:22:00] there's a little leeway.

You can do one chapter that's 12 and then the next one is two pages less. And, that's how I started to construct larger books. And I felt like it really helped. And I, I use that sort of system for every graphic novel script that I write. But yeah, I just started out doing covers. I knew that there was.

There's a the cartoon adventure time. They were making a lot of comic books based off of that IP and Making a lot of covers like variant covers for them. So I thought well, that's my best bet at getting comics work, right? I didn't even ask I just drew a cover and a friend of mine at Helioscope had been doing covers for them and I asked her like do you would you mind sending this to your editor?

And she was like, yeah sure So she did, and I was very conscious of like, I need space for the title, I need space for the barcode over here, I need, you know, and then the editor emailed me and was like, yeah, cool, let's use it for issue four. I was like, alright, but when you, when you do, it was very much like art school, because if you do a cover for a comic book company, they're like, okay, can you draw us three options, send us some sketches, whatever, then they'll narrow that down to like one.

Then you'll have to do the pencils and you'll, they'll [00:23:00] need notes on that. You'll have to do the inks. They need notes on that. And editors are juggling so many different projects that I felt like, well, I just did a bunch of this work for this editor. Like it's done. She doesn't have to seek somebody out.

She doesn't have to do notes on it. So then I ended up meeting that editor at um, a convention that never met her in person. And I was like, Oh, Hey, I really liked the books you guys put out. I just read this other title and it's one of my favorites. She's like, cool. Do you want to do a cover? So, you know, just meeting people and continuing to do work that way, I feel like.

was helpful in terms of making connections and working in the comic book industry. And that editor is currently my editor on another book that I'm doing right now. So, you know, I've fostered a relationship with her throughout the years and I think that, um, she's one of the best editors I've worked with.

Interviewer: So you have done, you know, writing for your own stuff and, and now, well, in the past, uh, also reptile stuff for Marvel, like that's kind of a big deal. And Nova as well. , what's, what's it like doing the, doing something for. Big publisher versus, you know, your own personal stuff. [00:24:00]

Terry Blas: I like both experiences.

They're very different, but, something like Marvel, they, they reached out to my agent and were like, there's this character that's been around in comics for a while. They're this Mexican American teenager that can turn into dinosaurs. I was like, that's, when I heard that, I was like, I've never heard of this character before.

This would be the character that as a child, I would have wanted to know more about. I mean, I was that kid that was like, um, Archaeopteryx was the first bird found in a limestone fossil, you know. So I was like, well maybe they, I don't know, maybe they knew and they thought I'd be good for this. but I thought if he's, if he's Mexican American, if he's a kid, like he should be one of the most popular Marvel characters for kids.

Right? Like they should know who he is. And so, I, I read like 40 issues of all the comics that he'd appeared in in like two days. I'm very much like, if I can get a pitch in before someone else, it doesn't have to be perfect. But if it's good enough, then these editors are going to say, like, cool, that's that [00:25:00] works and they're not going to look for anybody else.

So I like to operate by, like, speed. So I read all those comics as quick as I could. I thought about logically, like, where's, where should this character go? Like his, his parents were archaeologists who disappeared on a dig? And I'm like, does he not want to know where they are? Like, so, so that was my pitch.

I was like, well, he's neat. He wants, there's going to be a villain who's going to show up and say, you're going to give me your power and you're going to do it willingly because I know where your parents are. And I thought that would be an interesting journey for him to take. And I, it is strange writing characters who are already established or say like with Rick and Morty or, , Steven universe, like those characters have specific voices people hear when they watch the cartoons.

So you have to think about the way they speak. You know, certain, um, verbal cues they have, verbal tics they have, you know, you don't try to just like throw those in to make it sound like it, but you try to make it feel like something that they would actually say or do. So yeah, that's, that's sort [00:26:00] of how that book came about.

I'm pretty sure I got my pitch in first because they chose me. but that was the same thing with, with Steven Universe. When I wrote those comics, um, they approached me about it and I was flying to California the next day. And I was like, but I really want to do this. I, I know this story. I know I can write this story.

And so I was, I like put on the three episodes that pertain to what they wanted me to write. And I was like putting a shirt in my suitcase and then like taking notes and like putting a shirt, taking notes. And that night I wrote up a pitch for it real quick, sent it off. And then when I landed in California, the next day I had an email that was like, that works.

Let's do it. So, listen, when you grow up military in Mormon, you thrive on like communication and meetings and there's plenty of things that I think I acquired from my upbringing that the way I reconcile a lot of my mission is by saying like you have to take the good from it and reject the rest. Like I learned New York City inside and out.

I now know Cuban, Dominican, and Puerto Rican dialects of Spanish. I felt like, [00:27:00] as a missionary, you have to learn how to create a relationship of trust with somebody very quickly to manipulate them into your religion. Um, but, but I felt like if I could use that in a sincere way, in terms of networking with somebody, you know, if you, if you get people to like you, if you think about, well, what is it that we have in common that will make us feel a connection?

Like, I don't think that's I don't think it's manipulative. It's, I tell kids all the time, , networking is mostly, in my opinion, you know, getting to know people and making friends. Like, we all want to work with our friends. When you're a kid, you play with your friends, you make up stories with your friends.

And if you, especially in an industry where there's a good amount of money going back and forth, people want to know that who they're working with is somebody they can trust to do the job. So you, sometimes you have friends and you're like, oh, no, like, I know they won't get something in on time. But then you know somebody else who really will.

And I think that's helpful in terms of networking and getting to know people is. You know, you [00:28:00] can always recommend some, but I've, I've had jobs that people have, , recommended me for because they knew I would do it quickly or do it the way that they needed it to be done. So, and I was recommended for them by other people.

So I don't know if that answers your question.

Interviewer: No, totally. Uh, and it's, and it's nice to hear. That you do have something valuable from the Mormon experience and like this man, sort of mandatory, like mission, mission time. And I know there's a documentary participated in about gay, lesbian, trans, uh, Mormons, current Mormons and ex Mormons.

It's not out yet.

Terry Blas: They just finished editing that They want me to draw some stuff for it. Okay.

All right. Yeah, there's a lot of them.

Interviewer: So you seem to like quickly move on from that, that time. And there was There's certainly folks who have struggled to do that because maybe that's really important to them.

Maybe they just don't know [00:29:00] how...

Terry Blas: yeah, I don't fault anyone for I met plenty of people making the documentary and speaking at some of those queer and LDS related events who Are definitely still religious definitely still members of the church I don't tell anyone how to live their life because I expect them To treat me that way.

But, um, I understand there's a lot of societal pressure to maintain. You know, some sort of relationship with your spirituality, your religion and your family. I met a kid in in Utah who was like, how do you not fight with your family every day? I was like, I don't I don't talk to my family every day. I don't live near them.

And I don't think that moving solves your problems. But I told him, like, right now you're very young and your entire world is Sandy, Utah. So everybody, you know, is LDS. So if you tell, you know, like if you want to remove your name and records from an organization like the LDS church, I was always raised being told, well, you [00:30:00] have to go talk to your bishop and then your bishop has to say, okay, cool.

Let me refer you to your state president. And then they have to, you know, there's like a lawyer who will do all of it for you. You don't have to talk to anybody. But the reason I feel behind that, yeah. is because then your bishop can then tell your family like, oh, well, did you know that so and so is thinking about?

So then there's this pressure to maintain that. Like I said, I'm not a spiritual religious person, but speaking at those events, I don't feel like, or I feel like that doesn't mean I can't get something out of somebody that's there and that they can't get something, you know, meaningful or whatever out of, out of me.

But, , it was important for me to do because I'm going to bring it real down for a minute. But, um, no, I don't think a lot of people know that the, I think this is still the case, but, um, the highest suicide rate in the country is amongst Mormon teenagers in Salt Lake City who identify as LGBTQ and nobody's talking about how an organization that runs like 90 percent of what happens in that state might have something to do with it.

In fact, the state of Utah released a statement saying that attributing the high death rate to [00:31:00] rising elevations is wrong. And I'm like, so exclusively queer teenagers in Salt Lake City can't breathe because it's like rising up to heaven. I don't know what that means. , so that's just ridiculous to me.

And I feel like, as somebody who's , I don't consider myself a member of the Mormon community. I acknowledge I was raised that way, but um, I think it helps to, for maybe young people to see someone living an adult queer life, since that's not something that I really saw growing up for myself. I didn't have something to model that on, and I think it's really difficult to do.

To visualize that. Like I, you know, I have a good imagination, , but it's difficult, I think, to picture yourself living a way that you want when, um, you don't see that modeled for yourself. That's why I'm also a big, proponent of like, representation in all the book. Every book I write has. It's pretty much my original graphic work, unless it's like Steven Universe or something that's already whatever, but, um, that typically features queer [00:32:00] leads and leads who are Latina because the fastest growing demographic in the United States is the college educated Latina, but whereas all the like stories for them, you know, still Latinas are stereotyped as, um, on television and movies as like the frumpy maid or the funny maid or like, , Sofia Vergara kind of like sex pot thing, right?

And I was like, well, where are the stories to show Latinas that they're like? Interesting or brave or flawed or like we can't just rely on ugly Betty like we need like it's been a while. We need like something else. , so I want all my work to feature that because I feel like that's something that's needed and maybe I'm not the best person to do that, but somebody has to do it so.

May as well be me

Interviewer: final little story that I want you to tell Then we'll get to audience questions. , I don't know if everybody saw some of Carrie's art up here, but there was like an Aztec Superman. He does Aztec Wonder Woman and Batman on the big three. That's, that's, that's me. That's like, that's what, how I grew up. And when I saw those, I [00:33:00] was like, I want to know more about them.

Um, and can you tell the story of how those that came about?

Terry Blas: Sure. I grew up in a house with like Aztec statuary. My parents liked having statues of like Aztec warriors or whatever. And they wonder why I want like a million action figures. , but I'd always had that kind of imagery in my house. And I had this t shirt that was black with the, the eagle from the Mexican flag on it, but instead of brown, whatever, it was gold, like a gold decal or whatever.

And I was walking down the street, around the time the Wonder Woman movie came out, and some, some guy was like, Hey, I like your Wonder Woman t shirt. And

I was like,

Because she has like a golden eagle, right? Like, and I'm like, this is, this is not her like, chest armor. This is the Mexican flag. I don't know.

But because of that in my head, I was like, well, why not then? Like, okay. So I just mixed the two together and I was like, yeah, then I'm going to draw an Aztec [00:34:00] warrior, Wonder Woman. And I wanted to be able to, like, I wanted it to be like a second read. Like if you saw it from far away, you'd be like, Oh, Wonder Woman.

But then you get closer and you're like, Oh, there's differences here. Same with the Superman one, but it was like my most. Purchased piece of artwork like print online and so because of that people like, what are you gonna draw Superman? I was like, all right fine. So I did and then people are going to draw Batman.

That's like, okay Yeah, are you gonna buy it Those are two very different things and then people like where you gonna draw and I'm like no Those were the three That I did but I thought it was a really funny sort of blending of like, you know, comic books, superheroes, things that I like, in addition to like my culture, like a blending of those of those things.

So

Interviewer: yeah, for sure. I think these like these kind of big characters, I mean, the corporations are trying to be so universal. Well, if it's universal, it can also be specific, like, really specific to it.

Terry Blas: I think people think that if they, especially in storytelling, if they make [00:35:00] it, if I write this and it appeals to everyone, then more people are going to want it.

But the exact opposite is true. Like, the more specific you make something, the more, like, How many people, like, how many people watched that movie forever ago, like, My Big Fat Greek Wedding? And they're like, oh, that's my family. But they're like, not even Greek, right? It's like, you just relate to the story of this family because they are similar to yours in specific ways, but it's a specific story to the person who wrote it.

And so I think That oftentimes that's the case. The more specific you are about your own experience and your writing, , the more people actually relate to it.

Kaitlin: This podcast is produced by the all volunteer crew who bring you Creative Mornings events in Portland, Oregon. You can reach us at morningsportland at gmail. com And watch the videos of all the talks that are featured on this podcast, plus others at CreativeMornings. com [00:36:00] forward slash PDX. Thank you to the Regional Arts and Culture Council, whose 2024 grant funding helped us launch this podcast.

Thank you also to our sustaining partner Wacom, who make each of these original events possible. And to Kova Coffee, who caffeinate everyone who attends. Thank you to Johnny and Simon of Weird Wonderful for their audio production and podcast wizardry. And to Laura Nickelhoff for managing production. And just a huge hug to each person who's been part of the Creative Mornings Portland volunteer team over the years.

Thank you to Antha. Rogan, Shemisa, Charlie, Chelsea, Christopher, Crystal, Elizabeth, Hannah, Yvonne, Joan, Julia, Kavir, Laura M, Laura N, Leah, Lucy, Sarah, [00:37:00] Sumit, Tyler, and Vinny.