The day was like any other, I woke up got ready for work with so much things to do in my mind. I was stressing a lot because in my mind I don’t see how serious the corona virus is. It’s basically just a cold on steroids. But let’s leave the jokes alone for now, thank god I had a morning shift and the customers were somewhat tolerable that day. But first thing on my list was the partner interview and after I could finally relax so as soon as I got the chance, I made a video call with sherzod to get things rollin.

When the video chat was on, I was tired so I answered the questions as good as I can but I had to interview him as well so I asked. “I know even though we go to the same college we grew up in different areas so where are you from?” He than answered “I was born in the city Samarkand, Uzbekistan. My city has a rich history thanks to Tamerlane, who was a famous conqueror and founder of Timurid empire.” I’m going to be honest I did not know who Tamerlane was but when he said he was a famous conqueror and founder all I knew was Tamerlane was a very important person to Sherzods area so I respected it. So, then it intrigued me he knew a lot about where he came from so than I asked “what do you do on your off time? Do you like to study?” He than replied “I like to self study a lot. I learned how to create websites on my own. I am currently learning to use ProTools, which is a professional software for editing and creating music.”

Now I thought to my self (maybe he wants to have a career in computers and be a producer). So, then I asked him “So do you want to be a producer? Or just make programs with computers?” He responded “My goal for life is to become a diplomat and work for United Nations. I want to arrange diplomatic relations between the Russian Federation and the United States” I than responded “such a different career instead of computers, so why the interest in government?” Sherzod than said “During my childhood, I used to watch news a lot. At the age of 10, I already knew about Cold War between Russian and U.S. but why be such aggressive? I understand that they have conflicting interests but also, they do have similar interests. I want to fix the world on the international level.” After hearing his explanation, I asked a follow up question “why you think you can make a change in the situation between Soviet Union and America?” His response is as follows “Because I was born in the former Soviet country. I went to Russian school for 7 years. So, I understand their mentality and logic. Also, I finished high school and I am currently in college in the U.S. So, I know American mentality.” Then I took an understanding into what he was saying. It’s the same way how I feel about being a cop. Why have a person who is not from the ghetto try to “Protect” me without knowing where I come from. I would rather have cops that grew up in the area facing the same problems I am to understand even if I need protecting.

I had to change direction of the conversation so I thank asked “So while I know your career you might not have a sub-culture related to what you want to do, so I wonder what sub-culture you associate with?” Sherzod replied happily “I belong to anime subculture since people who watch anime truly value the life because they see how characters in anime suffer, how they keep going, how they fight for what they deserve, how they turn their dreams into reality. As a viewer, I totally feel all the emotions that anime characters felt. In this subculture you value human emotions, life and friendship. I think even if I meet a stranger and if he watches anime, we will quickly become friends because we don’t just have a common interest, we have common emotions, feelings from anime. I believe that anime subculture connects people of all ethnicities.” Once I heard he likes anime I soon understood what feelings he was portraying because I could relate. I love anime like death note, my hero, Black clover, I could go on but if someone says they also watch anime I could just go into discussion but I had to keep on with the project.

So, I thought about his sub-culture and from hearing it I could pretty sum up what his personal artifact was but I can’t just guess it so I obviously asked him. “Obviously you like anime so what is your personal artifact and I probably know what it is” and we both laughed and he responded “My personal artifact is Japanese anime because it motivated to move forward. The characters from anime live in my heart. I truly believe that without anime, I would not succeeded because it was really hard for me to get good grades in college, and English isn’t my first language.” I’m going to be completely honest when I say when I was growing up in middle school, I loved watching Naruto because he was an outcast that kept on thriving for his goal. And I loved watching it because it made me feel like I can complete my goal, now I know I wasn’t the only person who related to this thought.

It was pretty late and I got all my questions in and I told Sherzod “thanks for complying with me and answering questions. It really helped me understand you and I hope we can talk bout anime sometime for fun.” He than said “anytime get rest I know you work hard juggling school and work.” He than hanged up and I gathered all my information and tried my best to incorporate it into this essay. After the video call I can picture myself in his subculture of anime because I also take a liking into that types of artwork, not as dedicated as Sherzod but I do know some Information on the culture. Not to mention its hard having a language barrier and still trying your hardest to achieve your goal, I give Sherzod a lot of props for doing what he has to do. If I had to close this essay, I would use a quote from Naruto me and Sherzod can agree with as Naruto says “I work hard and I never give up! That is my gift; that is my ninja way!”