Future History of Los Angeles by 826LA

Future History of Los Angeles

This book was written by the students of 826LA’s Summer Writers’ Workshop 2021. The views expressed in this book are the authors’ and do not necessarily reflect those of 826LA. We support student publishing and are thrilled you picked up this book. Las opiniones expresadas en este libro son las de los autores y no reflejan necesariamente las de 826LA. Apoyamos la publicación de jóvenes autores y estamos felices que haya recogido este libro. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Editor: Cecilia G., Anna T. and Mar L., and Dr. Marissa Lopez Cover and Book Design: Puicón-Pérez for 826LA Cover artwork features part of a photograph of a painted portrait of Augustin Machado created by C. C. Pierce (1861-1946); and a portion of a map of that part of the Rancho La Ballona, created by Alfred Solano (b. 1857). Both are courtesy of the Huntington Digital Library.

Echo Park 1714 W. Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, Ca 90026

Mar Vista 12515 Venice Blvd. Los Angeles, Ca 90066

Future History of Los Angeles

Part of a photograph of a painted portrait of Augustin Machado. Created by Pierce, C. C. (Charles C.), 1861-1946. Courtesy of the Huntington Digital Library.

Table of Contents Foreward ……………… 9 Introduction ……………… 13 Diseños of Vintage Mar Vista and Echo Park ……………… 17

Day 1: Documenting History I M A G I N I N G N E W + F U T U R E A R C H IV E S

Kay’s Rubik’s Cube, Kay S. ……………… 25 Artifact for Lumi, Lumi P. ……………… 26 Melody’s Art Archive, Melody G. ……………… 27 Star Wars Collage, Rami G. ……………… 28 Turkish Tea, Yaretzi H. ……………… 29 O R A L H I S T O RY

Interview with Mamta Singhal, Kay S. ……………… 31 Day 2: I Am, Los Angeles T H E F IV E S E N S E S , L O S A N G E L E S P O E M

In My Los Angeles, I See Houses, Trees, Vehicles, Angel M. …………… 35 As I Type This, Kay S. ……………… 36 I Feel Everything Around Me in the City, Lumi P. ……………… 37 I Smell the Cooking from My Neighbors, Melody G. ……………… 38 Promise of Los Angeles, Rami G. ……………… 39 You Can’t Compare to Anything Else, Yaretzi H. ……………… 40

I AM POEM

The Juice of the Sour Lime, Kay S. ……………… 43 I am from Los Angeles, Lumi P. ……………… 44 From Partying to Sleeping In, Melody G. ……………… 45 Proud To Be Me!, Rami G. ……………… 46 Tu Eres Perfecta, Yaretzi H. ……………… 47 F R E E … WAY, S T Y L E , W R I T E P O E M

The Air That Touched You Was Hot, Yaretzi H. ……………… 49 Day 3: Imagining Historical Places MAPPING YOUR LOS ANGELES

Venice Beach Diseño with 210 Freeway, Galleria, and more, Group 1: Angel M., Sadie K. and Yaretzi H. ……………… 53 To Get into Echo Park and Back to 826: Diseño of Los Angeles, Group 2: Kay S. and Tito O. ……………… 54 Diseño of Los Angeles Landmarks with Compass, Group 3: Aanya K., Macy B. and Rami G. ……………… 55 Diseño of Five Key Locations in Los Angeles, Group 4: Lumi P. and Melody G. ……………… 56 DAY 4: Writing the Future W R IT I N G Y O U R S E L F I NTO F UT U R E H ISTO R I E S

The Surferboard, Kay S. ……………… 61 A Statue of Melody, Melody G. ……………… 62 Decided for Change, Rami G. ……………… 63 Yaretzi’s Mini Scene Making Studio, Yaretzi H. ……………… 64

Day 5: Editing S E L F - P O RT R A IT S

Angel M. ……………… 69 Kay S. ……………… 70 Lumi P. ……………… 71 Yaretzi H. ……………… 72 Special Thanks

Foreword

This year’s Summer Writers Workshop was a collaboration between

Picturing Mexican America (PMA) and 826LA. PMA is a cluster of digital humanities projects designed and run by Professor Marissa López of UCLA. We are committed to illuminating the long, Mexican history of Los Angeles that’s been systematically erased through centuries of white, cultural supremacy. At PMA’s core is a mobile app, built in collaboration with the Los Angeles Public Library, that will display images of 19th century, Mexican Los Angeles to users based on their location. The app is currently in development, but you can get a feel for our content by following us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter and by visiting us online at www.picturingmexicanamerica.com. Our goal is to change the story we tell ourselves about Los Angeles and to empower storytellers who, for generations, have been left out of the story, or relegated to its margins as supporting characters, bit players, or poster children for neoliberal multiculturalism. With social media as our primary platforms, we meet audiences at a crucial point of engagement, challenging the idea that universities are the only places knowledge is produced or circulated. We are motivated by the belief that the “knowledge” upon which a more just and equitable future will be built must be collaboratively gained. Collaboration is a driving energy for us, and it inevitably led us to 826LA. 826LA engages in a similar kind of collaborative, empowering praxis as we do. In our public writing – on social media, for KCET’s Lost LA blog, even through our bicycle tour collaboration with the Los Angeles Explorers Club – we focus not only on understudied histories, but on the practice of reflecting on those histories. This allows for students and audiences to get a sense of the purpose and stakes of both historical and imaginative work. So we don’t just say, “Here is this thing that happened that nobody knows about;” we also explore the ramifications in larger racial histories. The workshops we designed together with 826LA tapped into a similar idea: exploring historical methods through creative exercises, students learned how history is made and the importance of multiple voices. By encouraging their creative expression, we also reinforced their individual importance as thinkers, scholars, and writers. 9

Our Summer Writers Workshop participants were insightful, historical narrators. When we asked them, for example, to imagine themselves at a famous horse race that took place in 1852 in what is now downtown Los Angeles (a real Cinderella story in which José Sepulveda’s Black Swan achieved an upset victory against Pío Pico’s Sarco), their emphasis on unexpected situations and ideas expanded the horizons of the possible. One group was very attentive to possible fashion styles – a drastic deviation from what chroniclers typically pay attention to in this case. Another group wrote their account from the perspective of the children at the race. These minor details are hugely significant: the students’ emphasis on different perspectives creates opportunity for further speculative histories and future worlds. Taking creative control in narrating the past empowered these young writers to plot themselves into the future. We saw this first when we had them compare old and new maps of Los Angeles and then asked them to draw spaces that were important to them. Our goal was to help them forge a deeper connection to Los Angeles both by asserting their right simply to BE in the spaces they inhabit and by emphasizing their capacity to visualize their own places, to SEE and not just be seen. The maps they drew and the landmarks they highlighted offer a window onto their rich inner lives: one artist rendered their house the same size as the Glendale Galleria, for instance, while others wanted to memorialize certain toy stores and restaurants for future generations. Taking their vision seriously was crucial in helping workshop attendees appreciate the distance between what they think is important and the kinds of things, the types of people, and the genres of history they encounter through “official” channels. Considering the radically different ways these young writers imagine space and narrate time reinforces that stories are powerful, that different perspectives produce different stories and that historical “truth” lies in the shadow of those differences. “Real” or purely objective history might be elusive and out of reach, but a more just and equitable future is not. We won’t get there, however, until everyone feels seen and like an active teller of the story. Training and empowering the storytellers of the future is at the core of 826LA’s mission, and we were honored to help advance it this summer. 10

We were particularly inspired watching actor and writer Xavi Moreno guide participants as they developed their own poems. Xavi built on our overarching themes of remixing archives and narrating new selves into old spaces, and working with him allowed participants creatively to come into their own. At UCLA we don’t often have the chance to work with K-12 writers; we were galvanized by their endless curiosity and creativity, delighted by their genuine excitement. This speaks to the fantastic, invaluable work 826LA does in the community. We are privileged to have been a part of it and to have worked alongside their amazing staff and volunteers to help tomorrow’s writers imagine the future history of Los Angeles.

Efren López Marissa López Robert Mendoza Gabriela Valenzuela

Introduction B Y MY R I A M G U R B A

This July, 826LA assembled a group of students eager to fill a

time capsule: this chapbook! Participants spent a week translating their individual and collective here-ness into history through the Summer Writers Workshop, an instructional program that paired students from Echo Park and Mar Vista with LA creatives. This season’s program offered “the future histories of LA” as its unifying theme and over a five-day span, participants attended workshops that communicated this revolutionary message: everyone makes history. This message encouraged participants to understand themselves as history makers and instructors communicated this message using different pedagogies, inspiring a collection of literary and geographic artifacts that also serve as a regional history. 13

Marissa Lopez, Xavi Moreno, Gabriela Valenzuela, Efren Lopez, and 826LA staff shaped the contents of this chapbook. Marissa Lopez led “Documenting History,” a workshop that asked, “How do we know what we think we know about the past?” Moreno led “I am, Los Angeles,” a spoken word poetry workshop with an emphasis on corporeal storytelling. Valenzuela led “Imagining Historical Spaces,” a workshop on historical authority and cartography. Efren Lopez led “Writing the Future,” a workshop on ways that artists have depicted the LA of the future. By week’s end, students must’ve been exhausted from so much time travel. They leapt between past and present in service of LA’s future. Like all prose, historical writing faces forward. While the intended audience of historical writing might inhabit the edge of the present, the historian always addresses people inhabiting moments waiting to happen. As you to turn these pages, you will find yourself confronted by the past in the future. This time capsule, which places LA at the center of the world, contains poems, maps, lists, collage, and various musings. Let’s look at some of them. In an “Interview with Mamta Sinhgal,” Kay S. transcribes a series of questions and answers about quotidian LA life. From Kay’s interview, we learn that the coronavirus pandemic has altered the reality of Singhal, an Angeleno born in India in 1984. For Singhal, “a regular day” encompasses “[waking] up, [doing] everything in the morning, and [going] outside sometimes.” Singhal’s answers remind us that while many of us tend to think of dystopia as a horror yet to come, dystopia also unfolds in the past and present. Compulsively locating dystopia on the horizon is one way to ignore or deny its presence. Poetry by Yaretzi H. and Melody G. give us sensory descriptions of LA, telling us what life here feels like. In Yaretzi and Melody’s poems, there is beauty and pleasure. We feel the softness of a mattress. There is the touch of a thin pillow, the memory of grapes. Carne asada cooks on the grill. Video games make cheesy sounds, competing with English and Spanish to fill the air. LA heat is contrasted with the Las Vegas heat. There is happiness in air conditioning.

Workshop participants also become cartographers with Aanya K, Macy B, and Rami G drafting a map of LA with landmarks and a compass. The map is delightfully Rami-centric, with their house at the center and Hollywood, freeways, Dodgers Stadium, and Universal Studios existing in the house’s orbit. Instead of water indicative of the shoreline, birds hover, seagulls suggesting sea. In the spirit of Disneyland’s “Tomorrowland,” Kay S. muses about an invention titled the “surferboard.” The invention reminds me a bit of the jet packs that many children, myself included, dreamt of during the mid and later half of the twentieth century. The best part of the surferboard is that Bill Gates can’t seem to stay on it. He rides it, falls off and into the water, and “never [touches] it again.” According to Kay’s imagining, the boards are raced annually at Echo Park and speculating about future traditions moves us toward those traditions, including those that dunk billionaires. A comprehensive picture of the summer workshops can be seen in closing self-portraits like Yaretzi’s. With pencil, Yaretzi illustrates herself flashing two fingers in a peace sign. Her page explains who she is, an Angeleno and Pisces with ties to Mexico. She would someday like to live in Istanbul or Paris but is amenable to remaining here, in LA. As a funny memory, Yaretzi shares that when she went to a water park, her tía attempted to climb a flotation device and failed, flipping into the water. This chapbook preserves memories of steak, slapstick, and the Staples Center. The writing assembled here is unflinchingly regional and sentimental, and that gives me hope. It is good to have feelings for and about the place you call home. Those emotions can serve as a call to action. Emotion can also take history and turn it into a poem. LA has, does, and will contain multitudes.

D IS E Ñ O S O F V I NTA G E

Mar Vista and Echo Park

Rancho La Ballona used to stretch West roughly - in today’s landmarks

- from the 405 to the Pacific Ocean, bordered on the North by Pico Blvd and on the South by Ballona Creek. It was big, including places we now know as Mar Vista, Westside Village, Palms, Culver City, Venice, the Ballona Wetlands, and present day Marina del Rey, Playa Vista, and Playa Del Rey. Spain granted the land in 1819 to Felipe Talamantes, his son Tomas, Augustin Machado, and his brother Ygnacio for cattle grazing. The Mexican government reconfirmed their ownership in 1839, as did the US in 1854. Rancho La Ballona was divided and sold in 1857 when Benjamin D. Wilson (fur trapper and LA politician) acquired a quarter of it on a foreclosure of a loan he made to Tomas Talamantes in 1854. During the US Civil War, troops secured Port Ballona against a possible seizure by pro-Confederates, and by 1862, 6,000 Union troops were stationed in Port Ballona. Their post was named Camp Latham, after Milton Latham, California’s 6th governor. Wilson eventually sold his portion of the rancho to George A. Sanford and John D. Young, who, after the US Civil War in 1868 divided the land and sold it in 23, separate parcels. 17

Rancho La Ballona 18

Rancho Los Feliz 19

Rancho Los Feliz is one of the oldest Spanish land concessions in

California and home to California’s second-largest city park! The land, bordered on the east by the LA river and including all of what we know now as Griffith Park and Los Feliz, was given by Spanish governor Pedro Fages all the way back in 1795 to José Vicente Feliz. Feliz was a military leader at the Pueblo of Los Angeles, then was appointed Comisionado of the Los Angeles Pueblo, a role in which he served as mayor AND judge. Feliz was given the land in recognition of his public service and, of course, named it after himself. In 1843, the grant was confirmed, this time under Mexican Governor Micheltorena, to Feliz’s daughter-in-law, Maria Ygnacia Verdugo de Feliz. Rancho Los Feliz was bought and sold a few times, the majority of it landing eventually in the hands of Colonel Griffith Jenkins Griffith, who proceeded to donate most of it to the city of Los Angeles. And that’s why we now call this neighborhood Los Feliz and this park Griffith Park. 20

1 22

Documenting History

Imagining New + Future Archives

Kay’s Rubik’s Cube Kay S. My project was a Rubik’s cube with custom pictures that represent me. It was supposed to be a Rubik’s cube with images instead of the colored stickers (images that represent my interests and what I am).

Artifact for Lumi Lumi P. This picture shows art supplies and an original art piece by Lumi. The art work is a sculpture of a stylized cat, and it has beads on it for decoration. The project was made in an art class with the assignment of making a found object sculpture. The piece was made in 2021. The art supplies shown are watercolors, paint brushes, and colored pencils. The sculpture represents Lumi because she loves making art.

Melody’s Art Archive Melody G. These are Melody’s things that she used to draw with. The drawing is a drawing of Naruto, her favorite character and her favorite anime that she used to watch. The sketchbook is where she used to draw all her favorite anime characters and those are all the art supplies she used to draw with.

Star Wars Collage Rami G.

Turkish Tea Yaretzi H. I love drinking tea and I drink tea almost everyday because personally I really like drinking it. The reason I chose turkish tea and I drew it in the cups that turkish people drink it in is because I love watching Turkish series and someday I want to go to Istanbul, Turkey. Also I really like the cups they drink it in- they’re so tiny and I think they’re super cute

Oral History

Interview with Mamta Singhal Kay S. What’s your name?

“Mamta Singhal” When and where were you born?

“India, February 27 1984” How long have you lived in LA?

“2 Years” What do you do for fun?

“Go for a walk and watch Netflix” What was a regular day for you like before coronavirus?

“Pick up my son from school, do things in the house, and sometimes eat out” What’s a regular day like for you now?

“Wake up, do everything in the morning, work, go outside sometimes. What do you think is the most important thing that happened in the past year?

“To discover the power of technology and being capable of facing difficult situations like the pandemic” How do you want to be remembered?

“I want to be remembered as a loving and caring mother, and a successful person in life”

2 32

i Am, Los Angeles

The Five Senses, Los Angeles Poem

In my Los Angeles, I See Houses, Trees, Vehicles Angel M. In my Los Angeles, I see houses, trees, vehicles In my Los Angeles, I hear bird noise In my Los Angeles, I smell food cooking In my Los Angeles, I taste air, water, flower In my Los Angeles, I feel exhausted, hot, cold

As I Type This Kay H. In my Los Angeles, I see my computer screen shining as I type In my Los Angeles, I hear my parents talking to each other In my Los Angeles, I smell the breezing air out of the window on my left In my Los Angeles, I taste the lack of taste water has In my Los Angeles, I feel the rubbery keys of my computer as I type this

I Feel Everything Around Me in the City Lumi P. In my Los Angeles, I see flowers and trees In my Los Angeles, I hear cars and people going by In my Los Angeles, I smell the fresh air In my Los Angeles, I taste all the delicious foods from many different places In my Los Angeles, I feel everything around me in the city

I Smell the Cooking from my Neighbors Melody G. In My Los Angeles, I see my mom cleaning every day In My Los Angeles, I hear the cars driving by In My Los Angeles, I smell the cooking from my neighbors In My Los Angeles, I taste the delicious food from my mom In My Los Angeles. I feel the cold water from the pool

Promise of Los Angeles Rami G. In my Los Angeles, I hear the wondrous sounds of wildlife, and also how friendly and comforting people’s voices can be. In my Los Angeles, I smell the yummy, mouth-watering smell of food made with love and care. In my Los Angeles, I taste the saltiness and clearness of the calm, ocean breeze at the beach. In my Los Angeles, I feel grateful to live in Los Angeles when I look back at some of the amazing memories I’ve had here. In my Los Angeles, I see incredible, monumental, jaw-dropping views of beautiful mountains, beaches, and more, but above all, the most incredible, monumental, jaw-dropping sight is the promise of freedom in Los Angeles.

You Can’t Compare to Anything Else Yaretzi H. In my Los Angeles, I hear cars passing by in the street In Los Angeles, I feel the soft mattress of my bed and the soft but kind of thin pillow against my back In my Los Angeles, I see my window which allows me to see all the beauty within LA In my Los Angeles, I taste grapes even though I’m not quite eating them at the moment In my Los Angeles, I smell the amazing fresh air that you can’t compare to anything else

I Am Poem

The Juice of the Sour Lime Kay S. I am from puzzles I can solve I am from the toast with noodles I am from riding my bike from the first time And I am from licking the juice of the sour lime I am from NEFFEX music and Imagine Dragons I am from the sectors of Panchkula I am from the horrible memory of my mom having an epilepsy attack I am from the heaviness from my backpack on my back I am from my parents’ expectations that I become a “doctor” I am from spraying water at people in March And lighting fireworks in November I am Kay

I am from Los Angeles Lumi P. I am from Barbies and American Girl dolls I am from sweet fruits and chocolate chip cookies I am from hanging out with my family I am from Billie Eilish I am from chickens in front yards and big scary dogs I am from going to the beach on weekends I am from working hard and trying my best I am from Los Angeles and my grandparents from the Philippines I am Lumi

From Partying to Sleeping In Melody G. I am from Barbie’s house to a home-made egg carton house I am from ice cream to my mom’s yummy food I am from Carne Asada to playing videos games with cousins I am from music from my neighbors to my dad’s music I am from the smell of the wet grass to the kids playing in the pool I am from partying to sleeping in I am from my dad’s “study hard” I am from speaking Spanish to English I am Melody and I’m proud of being me

Proud To Be Me! Rami G. I am from messing around with my Legos and my iPad when I was little I am never saying no to eating ice cream and sushi I am from riding my bike, the breeze calmly blowing my hair I am from listening to Paul McCartney with my dad in bed before sleeping when little I am living in a neighborhood where I can freely take a walk without the vigorous rattle of car engines disturbing me I am proud to be a big brother “I like you, but you’re crazy!” I come from the Gross family, the Snoyman, the Bivas family, and the Sochen family I am Rami Gross. And I am proud to be me!

Tu Eres Perfecta Yaretzi H. I am the owner of a little doll named Tessy and those little girl makeup kits that I never wanted to ruin, so I was always very careful on taking the eyeshadows out evenly. I am tamarindo and chamoy which irritates my stomach if I eat too much but I still eat it anyways cause the taste is amazing. I am that little baby girl who was super curious and always moving around so that one day I fell and got cut by a glass piece in the face which left a scar on my cheek that I still have but I like because it’s unique to me. I am “singing in the shower” by Becky G and “porque tu eres perfecta, sin el 90-60-90 después del mundo yo darte la vuelta te tenia alado y no me habia dado cuenta que tu eres perfecta” by Camilo every second of the day. I am the relaxing, free spirited,and welcoming Venice Beach, as well as the playful, always filled with laughter Palms Recreation Center Park. I am the niece of my tia who flipped over on the donut floatie when we went to Raging Waters in the middle of our ride in lazy rivers. I am the “Ayy Yari” cause sometimes I laugh too much and I just can’t stop. I am American and from Oaxaca, Mexico. I am Yaretzi.

Free… Way, Style, Write Poem

The Air That Touched You Was Hot Yaretzi H. I feel the cold door knob touching my warm hand. The door opens up, not making much of a noise. Halfway through opening up the door I feel relaxed and relieved knowing that that air here in LA that touches me is fresh and cool, which makes me remember this past weekend when I went to Las Vegas and it was super hot. Even the air that touched you was hot. Whenever you went into a building it felt amazing because of the ac. Though even if it was hot it looked beautiful in the night when all the lights twinkled and shimmered.

3 50

Imagining Historical Spaces

Mapping Your Los Angeles

1. Venice Beach Diseño with 210 Freeway, Galleria, and more — Group 1: Angel M., Sadie K. and Yaretzi H. 2. To Get into Echo Park and Back to 826: Diseño of Los Angeles — Group 2: Kay S. and Tito O. 3. Diseño of Los Angeles Landmarks with Compass — Group 3: Aanya K., Macy B. and Rami G. 4. Diseño of Five Key Locations in Los Angeles — Group 4: Lumi P. and Melody G.

4 58

Writing the Future

Writing Yourself into Future Histories

The Surferboard Kay S. I made an invention called “The Surferboard”. It is an advanced piece of technology with a high end and with the most advanced “air hovering” system ever made! We have to copyright claim about 100 people for stealing our “air hovering” system every single day. In the Museum of Advanced Technology, they gave me an award plus a whole room for my invention. Bill Gates even rode it, but he fell in the water and never touched it again. Every 2 years on the day “The Surferboard” was invented, they do a race at Echo Park.

A Statue of Melody Melody G. I would be known as a kind person and someone that helps out people in need and I would want to be honored for helping out people and I would like a statue of me saying I helped out a lot of people. The story of why I deserve it- Well mostly I would spend my time helping out a person in need and I tried to do some food banks to help out people who didn’t have food and I helped a lot of people.

Decided for Change Rami G. Rami G. is best remembered for his work on protecting and preserving forested parts of Los Angeles from wildfires by using fireproof nanotechnology to revitalize the trees after fires in the mid-2030 decade. He originally was a journalist, but he saw that wildfires were getting worse every year and decided for change. Currently, he is an activist for environmental issues, and has recently written an autobiography on his life. At the entrance of the Angeles National Forest, there is a rotating holographic statue of him.

Yaretzi’s Mini Scene Making Studio Yaretzi H. The landmark named after me: In honor of what I did, a 3-floor studio where you got to make your own scenes was created and named after me. In the studio, the first floor was the entrance floor where you were greeted and shown around so that you knew what to do. The second and third floor were both the rooms where the fun started. In the second floor, there are different rooms with a theme that was labeled on the top of each of them such as comedy, horror, or action. In each room, there are huge iPads on the walls and little mini couches for one person that have iPads in front of them. On any iPad of the rooms you choose, you can select a scene that you get to do on the third floor. On the second floor, there are two very unique rooms. In one of the rooms, you get to make up your own scene that you get to perform with anyone you want as long as they are in the studio. The second room is unique because it’s a TV show room and movie-themed room where you get to cosplay characters from your choice of movie or TV show. At the very end of the room, there is a waiting section where you get called up with other people to do little scenes (could also be called mini movies). On the third floor, you go into little rooms where you can film with other people. The cool thing about this studio that was built after my name is that you get to meet new people and hopefully make friends with the people you meet.

What I’m known for: In the future, I am honored for being a very well-known young actress all around the world who was in a very successful series that lots of people enjoyed. I try to help other young people that want to be actors find castings so they can also have fun doing what they like. Story of how I got a landmark named after me: In the future, I became a well known young actress around the world. One day, I decided to start helping people that also wanted to be actors find castings so they could also do what they liked. People would DM me and I would help them. The people I helped had really appreciated what I had done for them because they became successful and were really happy with their job. One of the people I had helped built a studio named after me as a way to show appreciation for what I had done and then designed it so that other people could have fun making their own little movies too. (By the way, I totally visited this place in the future and I loved it).

5 66

Editing

Self-Portraits

Angel M. 69

Kay S. 70

Lumi P. 71

Yaretzi H. 72

Acknowledgements Thank you to Workshop interns Anna T. and Mar L. for their efforts in planning and executing Summer Writers Workshop. Thank you to 826LA Design Manager Aldo Puicon for designing this chapbook and to Myriam Gurba for the introduction.

Special Thanks To Our Workshop Leaders Marissa López is Professor of English and Chicana/o Studies at UCLA,

researching Chicanx literature from the 19th century to the present with an emphasis on 19th century Mexican California. She has written two books: Chicano Nations (NYU 2011) is about nationalism and Chicanx literature from the early-1800s to post-9/11; Racial Immanence (NYU 2019) explores uses of the body and affect in Chicanx cultural production. She recently completed a year-long residency at the Los Angeles Public Library as a Scholars & Society fellow with the ACLS where she worked to collaboratively develop a mobile app, “Picturing Mexican America,” that uses geodata to display images of Mexican California relevant to a user’s location. Robert Mendoza is a PhD candidate in the department of English at

UCLA. Born and raised in Boyle Heights, Robert received his B.A and M.A in English at Cal State University Los Angeles. Currently, Robert is studying 20th century Mexican American and African American literature, focusing on the representation of poverty and labor in 1960s and 1970s US movement literatures. As a Teaching Fellow at UCLA, Robert teaches contemporary literature and Marxist literary criticism, helping students see the political possibilities that US literature offers readers today. Additional facts: Robert enjoys making minimal electronic music. Xavi Moreno is a native Angelino, born, raised, and staged “east of

the river” in the historic barrio of Boyle Heights. Recognized as a Young Leader of Color by Theatre Communications Group, Xavi also oversees Marketing, Branding, and Social Media for Company of Angels, Independent Shakespeare Co., Latino Theater Company at The Los Angeles Theatre Center. Grounded in his roots and community, Xavi

teaches spoken word, theater, and creative writing through Los Poets del Norte, the Unusual Suspects and Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas’ “i.am. college track” college prep after-school program in Boyle Heights. Gabriela Valenzuela is a PhD candidate in English at UCLA. Her

research examines Central American literary and cultural production in the US during the long nineteenth century. Gabriela enjoys spending too much time at home with her two netherland dwarf bunnies. Born and raised in the San Gabriel Valley, Efren Lopez is an Assistant Professor of English at San Diego State University, Imperial Valley. He researches the way multi-ethnic literature of the 19th century constantly strategized and imagined pathways to liberation. In a previous life, Efren worked for several years as a CNC Machinist and Certified Quality Inspector in Aerospace Manufacturing. Before arriving at UCLA, Efren earned a B.A. in English and an M.A. in 19c American Literature from CSULA. In his spare time, he enjoys Dodgers baseball, hiking, and film.

Thank You Funders

This project was made possible in part by grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the American Council of Learned Societies.

About 826LA Tutoring From Monday to Thursday, students attend 826LA for free individual tutoring in all subjects. Once homework is completed, students read books from 826LA’s library and write stories based on a monthly theme. Students submit their writing for inclusion in chapbooks, which 826LA publishes throughout the year. To celebrate students’ hard work, 826LA unveils these chapbooks at book release parties, where students read their work to thunderous applause from their volunteers, families, and peers.

In-Schools Because not all students can come to us, 826LA brings specially trained volunteer tutors into under-resourced public schools. There, volunteers provide one-on-one or small group assistance with writing projects. 826LA works with teachers to craft all projects, which are designed to engage students while targeting curricular issues. In addition to visiting twenty schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District each year, 826LA has additional sites within Manual Arts High School (South Los Angeles) and Roosevelt High School (Boyle Heights), called The 826LA Writers’ Rooms.

Workshops 826LA’s workshops bring students together with artists, writers, and professionals for creative collaboration. Whether the subject is journalism or preparing for the zombie apocalypse, our workshops foster creativity while strengthening writing skills. This includes two long running workshops, our reading development workshop Barnacle’s Bookworms, and our Journalism workshop.

Field Trips During the week, 826LA invites public school teachers and their students to our writing labs to participate in a morning of collaboration, creativity, and writing. Whether Storytelling & Bookmaking, Choose Your Own Adventure, Memoir, or Personal Statements, field trips at 826LA support teacher curriculum and student learning by offering a safe space for students to be their most imaginative and to work on their writing skills. In a few short hours, students brainstorm, write, edit their work, and leave with something tangible—a bound book or a revised essay—as well as a renewed confidence in their ability to tell their stories.

Staff Joel Arquillos Executive Director Beatriz Garæcia Director of Programs & Operations, Mar Vista Shawn Silver Director of Advancement & Events Lauren Humphrey Institutional Giving Manager

Pedro Estrada Programs & Operations Coordinator, Tutoring & Workshops in Echo Park

Angelica ButiuCoronado Program Coordinator, Writers’ Room Roosevelt High School

Ashley Love-Smith Senior Manager of the Volunteer Program

Cecilia Gamiño Program Coordinator, Tutoring & Workshops in Mar Vista

Carinne Mangold Store Manager Puicón-Pérez Design Manager

Cathy Mayer Program Coordinator, Field Trips in Echo Park

Cheryl Klein Senior Communications Manager

LaTesha Knighten In-Schools Program Manager

Maricruz Pool-Chan Program Coordinator, Tutoring

Mike Dunbar Senior Programs & Operations Coordinator, Field Trips in Mar Vista

Jennie Najarro Senior Volunteer Coordinator, Mar Vista

Wendy Alvarado In-Schools Volunteer Retention and Management Coordinator

Board of Directors

Stefan G. Bucher Mark Flanagan Ben Goldhirsh Rebecca Goldman Ellen Goldsmith-Vein DeAnna Gravillis Spike Jonze Miranda July Catherine Keener Keith Knight Al Madrigal Krystyn Madrigal Tara Roth Katie McGrath R. Scott Mitchell Lani Monos B.J. Novak Miwa Okumura Jane Patterson Keri Putnam Sylvie Rabineau Sonja Rasula Luis J. Rodriguez Terri Hernandez Rosales Brad Simpson

J. Ryan Stradal Natalie Tran Sarah Vowell Sally Willcox

Susan Ko, President Sarah Rosenwald Varet, Vice President Frankie Quintero, Secretary Ben Au Adriana Centeno Matthew Cherniss Chad DePue Dave Eggers, Emeritus Terena Thyne Eisner Scott A. Ginsburg Eileen Shields Belinda Tan Holly A. Thomas Advisory Board

J.J. Abrams Judd Apatow Miguel Arteta Mac Barnett Steve Barr Joshuah Bearman Amy Brooks Father Greg Boyle, SJ

Youth Advisory Board

Echo Park Gabriela M. Natalie S. Jose R. Genessi L. Vincent H. Gabriela R. Josue R. Dayanara M.L. Ana M.L. Yamilka M.L. Samantha J. Mar Vista Nadia V. Nasim Z. Michael R. Mirna R. Vanessa A. 80

Nadia Sarkissian Development Coordinator Marina Aguayo Marketing & Communications Coordinator AmeriCorps VISTA Grace Kim Volunteer Coordinator Americorps VISTA

Katherine G. Montserrat L.