Belle Machado
A Conversation With
“Probably my grandma. She’s dead now, but I’ve been told I’m a lot like her, and I’d really like to talk to her [about] my life. What her life was like. Probably just get to know her. Because I didn’t get to know her. She died when I was a baby, so it’s like I never knew her. I’d want to learn a lot about her, especially because she and my mom were really close and I’d really want to get to know about that."
Favorite Color
“Pink. If I’m being honest. I just always liked the color pink. It’s so pretty and it’s like fun and girly and to be really honest, when I was a kid, i really wanted to be like Elle Woods.”
Favorite Quality
“I think my ability to like read people really well. I feel like I can read people really well— their feelings, their tone in a certain situation. I can understand people— or at least I try to. And I think that’s kind of my best quality. "
My Story
“One time my sister and I — this was back when our labrador was still alive, and we still had out chihuahua— he’s still around, he’s a grumpy little thing— and we’re walking them and there’s this ice plant— a succulent plant that just spreads everywhere and it has these purple and yellow flowers. It’s like grass but like ten times thicker and you don’t want to walk through it because it’s really uncomfortable because it’s ten times thicker. Much like in the lagoon here, we have these snowy egrets— which are like these big white crane looking birds. And we’re walking the dogs, right? And we see this snowy egret standing in the ice plant and there’s like a squirrel hanging on something in its beak! And to my sister I’m like, “Look! They’re fighting over an acorn!” And she’s like, “Oh that’s so great!” Being the goofballs that we are, we start giving them voices, like ‘Let go, let go of my neck!’ and ’Nope, um, this is mine. I got here first.’ and ‘Let go, let go!’ because the guy’s like thrashing around. It’s crazy: his tail’s like flying all over the place, trying to get it. And we’re laughing— we’re about to take off— but suddenly, the snowy egret jerks its head back, and the whole squirrel pops into its mouth except the tail, which is like going out at an angle, and suddenly the egret takes off and flies away. Apparently they eat squirrels. So, we weren’t watching a fight over an acorn, we were watching a squirrel fighting for its life in the horrible, ugly circle of life.”