It is character day here in TalisLand. I promised I would get back to fiction and part of that promise is about moving forward with the Justice Engine novel. In this novel there are several characters. Each week I will present a new character. This week is about Marisol.
Marisol Henderson is a 52-year-old woman from a middle-class suburb in Central Florida. Marisol is of mixed heritage, with a Puerto Rican father and a Caucasian mother. She grew up in a bilingual household, fluent in both English and Spanish, though her father wished she had more of an American identity than she does–He didn’t want her to be mistaken for Cuban, which happens more often than it should.
Marisol is a high school Spanish teacher, a career choice inspired by her lack of motivation to do anything else. She often uses old Telenovelas as teaching aids to help her class be ‘immersed’ in the language.
Physically, Marisol has olive skin, curly brown hair, and green eyes, a blend of her parents’ features. She’s taller than both of them at 5’9. She has a warm, inviting smile that puts people at ease. She has never dressed her age, always skewing towards an older, more formal look, but at 52 that look is starting to catch up to her actual age.
Marisol pretends to enjoy gardening in her spare time, cultivating a mix of tropical plants and traditional vegetables. She also participates in her local community center, leading initiatives to support bilingual education and cultural exchange programs. All of this creates a sense that she is a community-based person. The reality is that she does all of this because she realizes that it is expected of her.
Marisol is married to David, an architect, and they have two adult children. Her marriage and her kids, who skew more towards an American identity make her parents happy. The relationship, like the job, doesn’t truly fulfill her. She isn’t sure what will, so she waits and does what is expected until she uncovers what it is she wants for herself.