Hasta La Gadget!

This article originally appeared on Outsports

We’re two swimmers and best friends, both in college, who happen to be gay. We came out to each other via text, and our bond and friendship has only grown. We don’t know where each of us would be without the other. We wanted to share our stories.

Axel Reed, will graduate this spring from Chapman University in Orange County, Calif., where he was a swimmer. He previously swam at Villanova. Josh Velasquez attends the University of Arizona. He went there hoping to swim, but an injury cut short his career.

Before we tell you the story of how two gay swimmers helped each other come out, we want to share some background about each of us.

Axel Reed

Growing up in Trabuco Canyon, in Orange County, Calif., going to church on Sunday and having chapel twice a week at my elementary and middle school definitely was a challenge.

I always knew there was something different about me from my friends. A difference that was hard to comprehend because I grew up being taught that men were essentially programmed to marry women and that is how the world works. But that wasn’t how I was programmed. I was always good at hiding my emotions and pushing my feelings deep inside, so I had no problem hiding that I was gay until high school.

High school was four years of confusion, depression, anxiety and all other emotions you feel when you’re hiding who you are every day. On top of everything else I was a competitive swimmer, a sport known for being “more gay” because my uniform was a tiny piece of fabric just large enough to cover “my stuff” and I went to a private, Catholic high school.

Swimming was my outlet, my distraction and my excuse. I dated a few girls, but never anything too serious. I would consistently use training as an excuse to not date. At the same time swim practice meant lying to my coach and teammates — the people I called my family. I was afraid of telling my teammates that I was gay because I feared they would look at me differently or my guy friends would distance themselves.

My freshman year of college at Villanova, I told myself, “it’s four years, just fake it” because now that I was a Division I swimmer I really thought I couldn’t be out. That was not the case. As much as I tried to hide my boyfriend during freshman year from my teammates, it was inevitable they were going to find out.

I started by telling my small group of close swim friends and then let the word spread to the rest of the team. Everyone was supportive and later on in the year two of my other teammates ended up coming out as well. It was a pretty amazing experience. When I transferred to Chapman for my second year of college, I came out to my teammates there more quickly than at Villanova, and was greeted with the same response: nothing but love.

Don’t get me wrong — having supportive teammates meant the world to me, but it didn’t help with my confidence or being comfortable with myself.

I was faced with a lot of stress and anxiety that first year of college and found myself often driving aimlessly through Pennsylvania or sneaking into the pool area to sit in the bleachers and just think. I struggled a lot with the thought of people knowing and having the confidence to walk around campus and the pool deck having people know the real me.

I realized the hard part wasn’t telling people. The hard part was the lonely, dark place I put myself in when faced with the reality that people knew I was gay. That emotionally draining pit was what I wanted to help Josh avoid because I knew he was going through the same thing.

Josh Velasquez

Growing up in Corona in Southern California, I was an only child, with a single mom as my only parent. My father tried to be a part of my life when I was younger but it never built at the time into father-son relationship.

My family was extremely large and we spent most holidays together. Throughout my life, I saw all of my aunts and uncles happy together, and my cousins in happy relationships. But they were all guy-girl relationships. It was the norm in my family. All I wanted was to be part of that norm.

I knew I was attracted to men at a young age but I fought those emotions and pushed them far down. Along with my entire family being “normal,” my family is very involved with the Christian church. I’ve had such hard time coming to terms with my sexuality because I was scared that my family would hate me because homosexuality is a sin.

Athletically, I swam my entire life. I swam club and varsity my entire high school career. At my school, swimming was considered a “gay” sport because of our little Speedos. I refused to be part of that stereotype. I would date girls so no one could see that I was hiding my true feelings.

My freshman year I became extremely close to the seniors and juniors on my swim team. I was this little freshman who got to hang out with people I looked up to and wanted to be like. They all had girlfriends and in my eyes I wanted that too. I wanted to fit in with my friends.

Luckily, I was able to play a good cover. I didn’t have that hard of a time getting with girls in high school. I felt so cool to be a part of the older group. The younger guys who were my age hated that the older guys wanted to hang out with me and not them. It was amazing but the whole time I would think to myself, “Do everything in your power to be straight. Don’t disappoint them, Josh.”

Even though I wanted to just be “normal,” that was not the main reason I couldn’t wrap my head around with being gay. When I was in elementary school, a neighbor decided to take advantage of me. I was a very vulnerable boy because I did not have a father figure in my life at the time.

My mom was working her ass off to make sure I had a privileged life. This neighbor saw that as a way use my body for his pleasure and take advantage of an innocent child. He made himself the male figure in my life whether I liked it or not. This went on for about two years and I did nothing to stop it. I was scared. Scared of being hurt by him. Scared he would hurt my family. Scared for someone I loved and wanted to protect.

Being sexually abused as a kid was what made it impossible for me to accept myself. I thought “Why? Why did this happen to me? If this wouldn’t have happened would I be normal and like girls?” I hated myself up until November 2016. I still struggle accepting myself to this day but every day I get closer and closer to finding happiness within.

My mom would ask me all the time, randomly, “Josh do you like guys? Josh are you bi? Josh are you gay?” I would always get defensive and deny it. Until one day in the summer of 2015, I finally decided it was safe for me to tell her. It was scary to finally say those words. I told her she couldn’t tell anyone. She kept her promise.

Fast forward to family weekend, my sophomore year at the University of Arizona in 2015, when I finally felt comfortable with my family knowing. I told my sister and brother in law one night. I was beyond scared that I would disappoint them because everyone thought I was this “lady killer.” Once I told my sister she cried and said, “It makes me sad to think you couldn’t tell us this.”

My brother in law told me, “I think I love you more now because you let me in to get to know the real you.” It was a huge eye opener. The day my family was leaving, I decided I needed to tell my dad. I was so scared that I wouldn’t be the son he wanted and I he wouldn’t love me the same. I was completely wrong. He told me, “this isn’t going to be an easy life, but I’ll be there the whole time with you while you go through it. I love you, son!” That moment I felt completely normal. My immediate family finally knew the real Josh.

Axel and Josh’s life as best friends

We both swam for club teams in Orange County, Calif. We ran into each other at meets but never really became friends until one day in 2014 when Axel messaged Josh on Instagram. We would chat all the time and the summer before we both left for college we became extremely close. It was really hard to say goodbye to each other after becoming so close.

Swimmers have a special connection, and that was the reason we clicked. There was something else though, another reason why our friendship was different. We found out that reason our first semester at college. One night Josh received a text from Axel. Josh opened the text and all it said was, “I’m gay, Josh. Are you?” Josh waited about 10 minutes to reply because he didn’t know if he was ready, but with confidence he replied, “Yeah, I am, Axel.”

That day was when we became each other’s rock. Little did we know that we would really need each other multiple times after that, especially Josh. Since Axel came out a year before Josh, he was able to help guide Josh through the tough times.

Axel had a boyfriend while at Villanova so he got to see how it was to have a “normal” life with a guy. During this time Josh would sneak around when drunk with one guy at school but both were deep in the closet. It took a toll on Josh and he was jealous that Axel could have a normal life.

Josh tried to push Axel away, but Axel never let that happen. He would always make sure his friend was OK, because of what Axel went through after coming out. While Axel’s dad had a hard time accepting him, Josh would tell Axel to give it time and he would come around. It was ironic that Josh was giving Axel this advice when he couldn’t come to terms and tell his own parents.

Axel was the one person Josh could cry to and vent because at the time Axel was the only one who knew about Josh. Axel would always say, “it’s time to tell your mom.” Josh would reply, “No I’m not ready. I can’t do this.” And like a best friend, Axel stayed by Josh’s side the entire time. Josh didn’t come out to his mom right away but with Axel’s guidance, he finally did in the summer of 2015.

Josh didn’t realize how special Axel was until the day Josh broke down emotionally. Josh got put in a situation at school where a guy he didn’t know almost attacked him. It brought back memories from his childhood abuser. Josh did not want to wake up the next day. He was disgusted with himself. Ashamed of himself and embarrassed, he told his family about everything that happened because he was scared he’d do something stupid.

In his sophomore year of college, Josh fell into a deep depression. Josh’s depression came from his past. Josh never dealt with his problems. He would always push them down and hide them from other. Finally one day they all came out and he didn’t know how to deal with them. He thought he was alone, even though Axel would tell him that was not the case.

Axel would be the one to call, Facetime, text and always make sure Josh was OK. He would remind him that what he was going through was just a speed bump and that everything would work out. That was hard for Josh to see because he still wasn’t out at his school. If it wasn’t for Axel, Josh might not be here today.

However, don’t think this is one-sided. Josh helped, and still helps Axel, whether he knows it or not. One characteristic of Josh is that he radiates confidence, despite whatever he is going through. Axel struggled a lot after coming out, always worried about what other people were saying about him and judging him.

Although Axel was out, he did not have confidence. Josh would go out with his group of friends who knew about him and be 100% Josh, confident in himself and his sexuality. Seeing Josh be so comfortable with himself pushed Axel every day to step outside of his comfort zone because he wanted that confidence. He wanted to be go out with friends and be himself, hold hands with a guy, and not care about other people’s opinions. Josh will never let Axel think badly about himself.

Today we have never been happier with ourselves. We’re finally letting people into our lives and letting them get to know the real Josh and Axel, not the disguise they use to wear.

We wanted to share our story jointly so that other swimmers or people struggling to come out don’t feel alone. Realize that others are experiencing the same thing as you and they made it through it. Love yourself and don’t push away the people close to you because this is the time you want them as close as possible.

Axel Reed, 21, will be graduating from Chapman University early with a B.S in Business Administration and an emphasis in Real Estate. You can find him on Instagram(@axel_reed). You can also email him at theaxelreed@gmail.com.

Josh Velasquez, 21, is a junior pursuing a degree in neuroscience and cognitive behavior at the University of Arizona. You can find him on Instagram (@whoisjoshv) and Facebook. You can also email him at joshuatv@sbcglobal.net.

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On Wednesday, People magazine announced its pick for “World’s Most Beautiful Woman” of 2017 and ― drumroll please ― it’s Julia Roberts, who’s now earned the title a record five times. 

That’s right, Roberts has been named “Most Beautiful” more times than anyone else, surpassing Jennifer Aniston and Michelle Pfeiffer. She first appeared on the issue in 1991 at the age of 23, fresh from her role in “Pretty Woman.” 

“I am very flattered,” the Oscar-winning actress said of the recent accolade, later adding, “I think I’m currently peaking.”

Now, yes, Roberts is beautiful, but if we’re being honest, so is everyone else in Hollywood. We can’t help but think of a slew of other stars who could have earned the title for the first time, let alone a fifth. (Taraji P. Henson, anyone?) 

People’s Editorial Director Jess Cagle explained the magazine’s choice in his editor’s letter: 

When it came time to choose a cover for the 2017 World’s Most Beautiful issue, it seemed that the time was right for Julia Roberts. At 49, Julia has never looked better. Her beauty also lies in her self-assurance and smarts and good humor. It lies in her ability to evolve while retaining the best parts of herself. It lies in her talent for creating characters and telling stories that take us to new places. And it lies in her family-first ethos: Despite all the delights, distractions and temptations of an impossibly privileged existence, nothing ignites her famous smile more than game nights with her kids.

It will be interesting to see who else People decided to include in the issue. As we know, the list tends to favor conventionally beautiful, straight, white women ― so we’re hoping this year there’s some diversity in the mix. Since 1990, there have only been four women of color to receive the title ― Halle Berry, Jennifer Lopez, Beyoncé and Lupita Nyong’o.

We do know, however, that Henson, Viola Davis and Alicia Keys are also featured in the current issue, which is a step in the right direction.

People’s “Most Beautiful” issue hits newsstands Friday.

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When the Simpson family first appeared on television ― all the way back on April 19, 1987 ― their yellow bodies with odd hair surely seemed novel. Now 30 years later, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie are positively quotidian.

After graduating from a recurring sketch on “The Tracey Ullman Show” to a full-fledged series “The Simpsons,” this family became a guiding compass for countless other television programs, perhaps at the cost of forgetting how revolutionary it felt in its early years.

A true testament to the show’s greatness, however, is how much this on-screen family inspired pop culture outside of the television space.

The Simpsons have become more than television characters, but masterpieces of American culture that artists have wanted to parody, break down and build up into something new. Below are a few of the more amazing and strange jokes and art projects from recent years that wouldn’t exist without this beautifully peculiar family.

The karaoke room that offers the two-word theme song.

Starting with the least strange and arty of this list, there’s a karaoke bar in Portland, Oregon (because of course), that offers “The Simpsons” theme song as an option.

A former writer for the show, Bill Oakley, happened across the option and shared a picture of the karaoke screen on Twitter. The photo immediately went viral.

Oakley told the full story to HuffPost over an email: 

I was at karaoke with my family and my kids. We go to a place in Portland called Voicebox where you get private rooms. I was looking through the section called “TV Theme Songs” which is stuff like the “Addams Family,” “Brady Bunch,” etc. and saw that they had “The Simpsons.”

I couldn’t believe it.

I ordered it up and it played and I was amazed.

I did not actually sing it, sadly, because our time was up and we were vacating the room but I did manage to snap that photo. I tweeted it about one minute later.

The music genre, “Simpsonwave,” that actually got popular.

This artistic offshoot takes a bit more contextual explaining.

On Facebook, there’s a whole community of people who create jokes about “The Simpsons” in a style called “shitposting.” You don’t really need to know what that is, but basically the jokes are often darker and weirder than what would actually ever appear on “The Simpsons.”

In any case, one of these community members, Lucien Hughes, decided to start combining video clips from “The Simpsons” with an electronic music genre called “vaporwave” ― creating what would eventually be deemed “Simpsonwave.” Hughes wasn’t the first to make such a combination, but he arguably popularized the nascent “form.” 

Hughes’ “Simpsonwave” videos have earned millions of views on YouTube in just about a year.

Here’s Hughes talking to Pitchfork about what appealed to him about making these videos: 

Vaporwave and its associated sub-genres go hand-in-hand with “The Simpsons” because of the combined hit of nostalgia. “The Simpsons” is pretty unique in that it’s something that almost everyone born between the late ’80s and early ’00s grew up watching. Vaporwave is very much about creating an atmosphere of nostalgia, so I feel “The Simpsons” just perfectly fits the whole aesthetic.

Below is arguably the first Simpsonwave video. 

The obsessive collection of bootleg shirts.

As with any popular cultural icon, “The Simpsons” has begotten countless knockoff merchandise. That by itself isn’t all too impressive.

More cool is just how popular a curation of the Bart bootlegs alone has gotten.

The Instagram account, bootlegbart, has gained tens of thousands of followers pretty much simply from posting obscure off-brand Bart T-shirts. 

In 2014, the man behind the account spoke to Vice about the decision to take on this documentation project:  

I was seven in 1990, and like most kids around the world, I loved “The Simpsons.” In addition to Bart shirts, I had bootleg Roger Rabbit [clothes] that my mom used to bring back from the market. I always found them funny, with the colors all mixed up. I remember going to Western International Market and seeing the Bart Marley shirts.

In 2003 I got myself a couple of Bootleg Bart shirts for a laugh. Whenever friends or family went on holiday and asked if I wanted anything, I would always say “a Bootleg Bart shirt.” I was introduced to social sites and thought it would be cool to start up my own little page sharing my shirts and other bootleg “Simpsons” images that I had found. I wanted to make a place online where people could go and reminisce, have a laugh, and remember a time when “The Simpsons” was brand new.

The successful artist who associated himself with the show.

More than 1 million people follow the art work of “TheSimpsonsArt” on Facebook, a page that has the tagline, “Simpsons pictures that I gone and done.” 

On the surface, the art posted on this page barely has anything to do with “The Simpsons” except for reaching a community of fans that can appreciate what the Fox cartoon’s current pop culture significance. The show may no longer be considered cutting-edge, but it is ubiquitous and towering. The pieces on this Facebook page usually have a similarly towering, but inherently uncool pop culture inspiration (such as Shrek or Thomas the Tank Engine) but offer bizarro, updated versions of these mammoth icons.

That said, sometimes there’s no pop culture cornerstone and the artist just presents that bizarro take on a mundane aspect of life ― still signing the work “Simpsons artist.”

Here is a quote from the artist talking to the publication Crack in the Road about first experiencing the show in their youth. 

I was 5 when the Simpsons went on the telly and I just used to watch it because I wasn’t supposed to go outside. Once I watched the videos I would draw them on my paper and make them talk. 

The fan-created alternate opening that twists all that’s familiar.

Wrapping this list up is an homage to the opening sequence with David Lynch-vibes.

The artist Yoann Hervo planned to participate in an animation project to commemorate the show’s 25th anniversary, where various animators would write and create a mini story of their own as though it were in “The Simpsons” universe. Ultimately, Hervo decided it was too hard to top the original’s writing without seeming derivative, and instead went in a much different direction to create this amazing alternate opener.

In an email to HuffPost, Hervo explained the thinking behind his short:

Many animation directors have already practiced this exercise [of creating a new opener]. It’s similar to adopt a Jazz standard in a way…

The idea was to keep the structure of the opening and its dynamic pace ― all the rest of it (tone, action, graphics, etc.) is more malleable and leaves room to interpretation.

I’ve tried to deconstruct everything ― to reach to something more chaotic: changing order of shots and their speed; getting a random art direction for every sequence and an experimental theme. With this conception I lost the essence of “The Simpsons” opening ― in addition to losing the usual audience of the series.

That said, I’ve withdrawn the most pleasant part of the opening, the climax of every Simpsons fans: the couch gag. I thought it was a bit excessive to end on a final gag while the whole opening was a joke. It’s funnier though ― ending on nothing ― an empty couch. It was more about telling a joke with no punchline: the audience is waiting ― nothing happens ― and everyone is frustrated … a bit like in the real life in a way.

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Who needs a crystal ball? Recent research suggests we can predict the future just by looking at our telomeres, the protective end caps on our DNA, which are indicators of longevity. The shorter our telomeres, the more vulnerable our chromosomes and the higher our risk of fatal cancer or cardiovascular disease—and of dying younger in general.

Telomeres usually shorten during cell division, which happens throughout our lives—and this process can be accelerated by everyday factors like stress and poor eating and sleeping habits. Fortunately, we can take steps to protect and maintain telomeres. It’s as easy as living healthfully and managing your emotional well-being, according to Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, who won a Nobel Prize for discovering how telomeres protect chromosomes, and her collaborator Elissa Epel, PhD, a health psychologist. In their book, The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, Longer, they promise that “we can change the way we age, at the most elemental, cellular level.”

Best of all, you could be reaping the benefits by your next birthday. Research shows that making lifestyle changes can have an impact on telomere maintenance in as little as three weeks to four months. Start with this daily schedule, based on Blackburn and Epel’s advice, and you—and your DNA—may feel years younger.

6:30 a.m. – Get your heart pumping for at least 30 minutes.
Exercise is amazing for your cells: It can help ward off inflammation and deterioration—plus, mounting studies suggest it benefits telomeres. Moderate cardio and high-intensity interval training are best, according to research, but the main thing is to get moving. Blackburn suggests dancing around the kitchen as you prep breakfast. “It’s so important to do some sort of physical activity, especially when you feel stressed because that’s when it appears to have the greatest effect on telomeres.”

8 a.m. – Kiss your partner goodbye.
You’ll strengthen your relationship and lower your stress levels. Extra points if you do it in front of the kids: One study found that children who see their parents being affectionate may have longer telomeres.

10:30 a.m. – Did your workout make you hungry? Eat!
But think fuel, not reward, and choose fruit or a hard-boiled egg instead of a muffin. People at a healthy weight tend to have longer telomeres, but pounds don’t seem to matter as much as insulin resistance and belly fat. A person with a waistline that’s wider than her hips has a 40 percent higher risk for telomere shortening over the next five years. It’s more important to eat nutritious foods than to obsess about calories.

11 a.m. – Reframe your stress
If your to-do list seems ten miles long, don’t get frazzled—get fired up. One of Blackburn and Epel’s studies showed that people who saw a stressful task as more of a challenge than a threat had longer telomeres. Give yourself a quick pep talk: “I’ve got this.”

1 p.m. – Lunch on vegetables.
Colorful plant foods like kale, broccoli, yellow onions, tomatoes, and carrots are high in antioxidants that are associated with lower levels of inflammation, an enemy of your telomeres, so make sure they play a starring role in your midday meal.

3 p.m. – Perk up without pop.
The telomeres of people who drank 20 ounces of soda daily showed the equivalent of 4.6 extra years of biological aging, found a team led by Cindy Leung, a nutritional epidemiologist (and a collaborator of Blackburn and Epel’s). Try a mini-meditation break like Blackburn does to make sure she stays focused. “Our research has found that mind wandering is also related to shorter telomeres,” she says.

6:30 p.m. – Go pescatarian for dinner.
Choose salmon, tuna, or another oily fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids. A study that looked at the blood cells of more than 600 middle-aged people found that the higher their omega-3 consumption, the less their telomeres declined over the next five years.

9:45 p.m. – Power down your mind.
Try journaling or doing easy yoga. Epel loves qigong, a Chinese wellness practice that consists of flowing poses; she considers it a moving meditation. Calming activities such as these can make you less likely to stress once you’re stretched out in bed.

10:30 p.m. – Lights out.
And that includes the glowing blue light of your devices, which can disrupt sleep. Studies show an association between rejuvenating slumber and longer telomeres. Research suggests that at least seven hours is the sweet spot for your telomeres—as well as the rest of you.

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