Hey everyone! This weekend I spent some time talking to Zachary Mahabir, one of the most hard-working users on the site. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Vinyl: Hey Zach! How have you been?
Zachary: I've been really good! Just enjoying the summer, helping out my family at home, catching up on all my TV that I miss during the year because of radio, haha.
Vinyl: That's nice! How does it feel to finally be interviewed as part of the initiative you helped launch? Haha.
Zachary: It feels amazing! I'm so happy that this didn't fizzle out after the first two or three, WE'VE COME SO FAR, haha! Honestly, this Interview initiative is one of the best and most consistent I've seen on this website. It's real, it's fun, there's no stress, it's just a great opportunity to continue to breakdown the barriers that the internet puts up and helps us understand each other better as a community! I actually have to get myself ready to interview someone! Considering the great job you've been doing, these past months, I have a lot to live up to!
Vinyl: Me too! I'm really happy with everyone's support and enthusiasm. Thank you so much, it means a lot!Do you have any plans for this summer?
Zachary: Do I? I think I do, haha! I'm honestly just trying to take time off to re-charge. I remember the first week of summer, I couldn't make it past 11PM and would wake up at 10:30AM the next morning, I was so exhausted from the last semester!I think my biggest plans are to take a summer course, do some real estate, I got my license last summer and want to make some money, and just learn more about improve my crafts. Voice acting, news reporting and writing. And, of course, a little Genius.com! Vinyl: That sounds really fun! While we're on the subject of Genius, let's get business-y-ish. What brought you to the site?
Zachary: It's a bit of a complicated story, actually! I remember in about 2011, so this must've been in the RapGenius era, I went to the website to find lyrics for a song in an Adidas commercial that ended being a B.o.B song. I made an account and tried to annotate it a bit, I imagine that 15 year old me that really didn't listen to rap didn't put up anything special, haha! Fast forward to when I started college, using it more to learn about music for my work with WSJU. You can't be in radio in Queens and not know about hip-hop! So, one day in May 2015, I found my old log-in info and started looking around. Naturally, I love wrestling, so I looked up what WWE pages were there! I found a page called "WWE Nicknames" and thought that it didn't look too good, so I made over 200 annotations on it, made a random annotation with the Web Annotator that same weekend, Stephen Pringle looked through my ENTIRE page and saw all the annotations I made over about a 2 day span and thought they were great! The rest has been history this past 14 months.
Vinyl: That's awesome! What drew you to the Web Annotator?
Zachary: You know, it might, partly, have been the article that I annotated, it was a State of the Union Address by President Obama, but what really got me hooked was the realm of possibility behind it. It's...beautiful to think about the power that it has, and in so many different facets of our society. The different types of annotations I've seen made, for the most part, are AMAZING! From annotations on food menus, to tates on speeches, transcribed debates, news articles, op-ed pieces, thought pieces on the meta, it's been a wildly informative and eye-opening look into the power of educating each other. I think a short answer would be: I saw that I could be at the start of the future and grow as a professional while I was there.
Vinyl: Cool! What are your personal goals on the site?
Zachary: As far as personal goals, I used to have a lot, you know? I used to have a huge long list, even up until 2 or 3 weeks ago, of stuff like "Get 25K IQ", "Get 50K before 2017", "Get Mod", "Featured Articles", etc, etc, but after being around for this past year+, learning all about the high standards that some of the people on here put themselves to and the genuine commitment that some of the eds, mods and staff pursue their work with, I think my one and only goal is to grow. I would love other things, like mod would be awesome, but I want to be a better writer and a better educator. I want to be as knowledgeable and well worked as my hard work can take, pure and simple. I see how some of the people on this staff like Rob Markman and Ewok committed to a craft and a work ethic to get to where they wanted to be and I see that as motivation to elevate my writing here to a point where it will carry over to my news and broadcast career.
Vinyl: That's a great outlook to have. Where do you see both Genius and the GWA this time in a year?
Zachary: When I look at the GWA, I see it going somewhere beautiful. The new direction that's being taken is certainly different, with this whole slogan of "What's wrong with the web, every day.", kind of pursuing that critique of how news is being reported and taking bad journalism to task. It's bold stuff, it really is. I would say that I see NG partnering with a lot more websites, since the Washington Post has been so awesome. Getting with USA Today or Variety would be awesome, I'd love to annotate more TV stuff and expand the horizons of the GWA more! As for Genius, the sky's the limit. The site is already serving as a good luck charm! It's not coincidence that Dan Gilbert invested in the company and they just won an NBA Championship. DIRECTLY correlative. But, seriously, I'm super excited to see more artists come through the doors, more journalists, more promotion and for eds and mods like us to have even more prestige as the gatekeepers of quality on such an amazing website led by such a legitimately diverse staff. Vinyl: I definitely agree. Now let's get to some fun stuff! What is your favorite color?
Zachary: Ooooo, good question! Red. GOTTA love Red. Chicago Bulls? Red. Trinidad flag? Red. THE COLOR OF SOME YUMMY TUNA SUSHI? Kinda Red, but still Red. I do love Blue, my bedroom walls are actually blue, it's still my #2, but my number one will always be Red.
Vinyl: You have a stellar choice in colors haha. What would the perfect day be like for you?
Zachary: Ok, so, I wake up at, like, 9:00AM, super well-rested, sit in my bed for about half an hour and just feel all warm and nice in my sheetssssss. Then, I go to get breakfast, I'd love some Chocolate Chip Pancakes, some honey glazed sausage and some OJ. Food will be a HUGE factor of this day, haha! So, then I hop on my computer, watch a good show, maybe some Game Grumps or a comedy special, something to get my brain going and then I go into the city! Hop on the LIRR, and end up in Manhattan and just take it in, you know? Maybe go see a Broadway show, go to the Southside Seaport, go to a nice men's clothes store, buy some expensive j**elry (perfect = I have money), just treat myself! Then, I'll get a good lunch, maybe some nice sushi or salmon and then some nice steak for dinner. Then, to top it all off, probably go to a wrestling show. New York has some awesome wrestling culture, the perfect day would have a decent show on the menu for me!I'd say a perfect day might be an opportunity to just enjoy some alone time, so I'd want to have a solo date kind of thing, just very lavishly!
Vinyl: Great choices! If you could make a cross between any two animals, which two animals would you pick and why?
Zachary: I love animals so much, I HAVE TO CHOOSE?! I would choose a zebra, definitely...and...I think...a dog. I THINK! I like horses and equines, in general, so I would definitely love those qualities to be in there, but then I do want the cross to have paws and a cute tail, dogs have that! So, hopefully my cross between those animals won't come out too weird XD
Vinyl: I would love to see that! Keeping with the animal theme, if you could live in Zootopia, would you? If yes, what would you do, and which characters would you befriend?
Zachary: OF COURSE! I LOVE ZOOTOPIA! Best movie, easy, hands down would be in Zootopia. I'm not sure what I would be, def have to choose between being a tiger or a wolf, those are two cool animals types in that world. I would want to see what sports they have. I remember Judy and a rhino boxing, so I'd be super into seeing some huge mammals slapping on some gloves! I'd also go into Tundratown, see some more of the cold parts of Zootopia! I'd be best friends with Judy. Judy Hopps is one of the best things ever. THAT WHOLE MOVIE is fantastic.
Vinyl: Ooh that's cool! What would be your dream wrestling match? You can choose real or fictional characters.
Zachary: Hmmmm, that's a REALLY good question, considering the fictional characters. I'd say it'd be Edge vs.The Rock vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Kazuya from Tekken vs. Daniel Cormier vs. Guile from Street Fighter in the Elimination Chamber for a shot at a match with Brock Lesnar. Vinyl: Sounds interesting! Do you see yourself as more of an optimist or a pessimist?
Zachary: I'd say I'm a realist, but that's rude because it doesn't answer your question! I'd say I'm more of an optimist. I try to make the best of every situation and just have fun doing what I'm doing. I understand that the world is a very complicated and evil place sometimes and have to deal with that a lot, especially in the news I deal with, but I love seeing the brighter side of things. As long as I'm having fun and can stay positive, I'm all in. Optimism, definitely good.
Vinyl: That's sweet. Now, for the final and most important question. Drumroll please... What did you have for dinner the day before yesterday?
Zachary: I had Jerk Pork with Fried Rice and fried plantains. CAN'T BEAT ME ON THAT!
Vinyl: Sounds good! It was great talking to you!
Zachary: Thank you! And good luck on continuing this amazing initiative!
Vinyl: Thank YOU!