My Superhero Origin Story

This whole RLSH thing was more of a recent development than a life long desire to be honest. I grew up on superhero movies and anime, but the thought of wanting to be a superhero never really crossed my mind in any serious capacity. But seeing Skyline made me realize that superheroes do exist, and they are actually making a difference in their communities, especially for those who have fallen on hard times.

I know what it's like to be on the brink of homelessness, and I can't fathom how much more painful being homeless is. It reminds me of one day that I was coming home from work last winter, taking the bus home after 3rd shift. I was listening to Vylet Pony's Monarch of Monsters, which is already an emotionally taxing album, and then I saw some people sleeping on the benches in the transit center. Their only shelter were those silver emergency blankets, and it was well below freezing. It shook me to the core that they were forced to sleep in the freezing cold, and that everyone was just walking past them. Including me.

I felt powerless, that I should be doing something but I can't. The line "How am I different?" rang in my head over and over again, reminding me that it could have been me sleeping on that bench, dying or already dead from hypothermia. I tried to sleep on it, but when I woke up, I couldn't stop crying. I cried so much that I had to call off from work, and felt like shit for the rest of the night.

Fast forward to recently, I find out about Skyline and the RLSH community, and a fire is lit inside of me. It was the answer the suffering and the apathy that I witnessed that night. It's one thing to be able to help people, but to inspire others to do the same as well? That can affect way more change than one person doing acts of kindness could ever do alone.

So I mulled it over with some friends, and came up with ONI GRRRL, this working class punk rock superhero persona of mine, inspired by my local music scene and my Japanese heritage. I hope to inspire my community to do more good in the world, and for me I hope I can build a team of superheroes and volunteers to make Peoria and central Illinois even better.