This Is My Revolution

THOUGHTS ON RESISTANCE, RESILIENCE, AND REIMAGINATION IN BOYLE HEIGHTS

Written by the 2014-2015 9th grade Ethnic Studies students at Roosevelt High School

This book was written by 2014-2015 9th grade classes of Ethnic Studies at Roosevelt High School and printed in March 2016.

The typefaces used are: (League Spartan, Adobe Caslon Pro, and League Gothic)

Cover by: Nico Avina

Designed by: Diana Molleda

Edited by: Kenny Ng and Marisa Urrutia Gedney

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Printed by Bookmobile

somos memorias, bailando con el viento que a su tiempo regresaran

- Nico Avina

CONTENTS

REIMAGINING OUR REALITIES

DEAR ROOSEVELT SCHOLARS,

When we first embarked on our journey toward critical consciousness and healing through our “Boyle Heights and Me” course, we could not have imagined the amount of growth and resilience we as teachers would be witness to, both within you and ourselves.

When we first planned this course and this project, our goal was to facilitate a space where we could unlearn everything we knew about ourselves, our community, and the world around us. This learning and unlearning would ideally create a space where we could re-imagine our current realities. We were driven by the idea that in the spaces between and around the reimagining, we could find transformative hope and creative problem-solving solutions to the lessthan-ideal conditions that we are constantly confronted with.

After identifying our assets and strengths as a community came the challenging work to identify, name, and analyze the root causes of that which creates harm and trauma in the spaces we live, work, and learn in. We had courageous conversations about racism, sexism, colorism, homophobia, poverty-to name a few of the various forms of oppression we experience every single day. In these conversations we challenged that which we thought to be the norm, or “just the way things are.”

In collectively creating this curriculum our goal was to provide you with a different historical context than the stories traditionally marginalized in history courses as well as the tools to analyze various issues that were relevant and important to you. This book project was meant to serve as a counter-narrative to the very hegemonic structures we critiqued and challenged in our classes. Our course and curriculum and this project were deliberately created to place you, our youth, our critical scholars, and our future at the forefront of the conversations that will undoubtedly shape our communities and our world.

The themes that guided our practice and projects throughout the course of the year were knowledge of self, mapping memories, resistance, resilience and reimagination. It was our intent that in relearning ourselves and our community, in inquiring and asking ourselves critical questions, in finding transformative

ways to resist and reimagine the status quo that we would continue to grow the resilient spirit that we each carry. We are convinced that witnessing your growth and transformation facilitated our ongoing healing and transformation as critical pedagogue maestras/os. Our experiences with you, our students, in this particular journey exceeded any expectations we could have ever imagined. You have left within our classroom walls and throughout our Ethnic Studies curriculum your essence of critical hope, healing, and resilience. For that, we are grateful.

WHY DO WE NEED ETHNIC STUDIES?

November 18th, 2014, was the beautiful, energy-filled day we collectively made history in Los Angeles schools. We filled up buses and headed towards LAUSD to demand Ethnic Studies be offered to all students in Los Angeles high schools. Inspired by the content of our classroom community and the critical values of Ethnic Studies, you brought the word “agency” to life, in joining the movement for Ethnic Studies. You crafted signs, protested, and marched. You chanted, “What do we want? Ethnic Studies! When do we want it? NOW!” The school board heard your voices. Through our organizing efforts, leadership and passionate call for Ethnic Studies, we won the right to a culturally relevant curriculum. That day, we witnessed one of the most moving and empowering moments as educators. It was the culmination of a struggle, the closing of hours of an action, as we heard you chant in a radiant, emotionally charged voice, “We won! We won! We won!” That day, you began a journey that many of us as People of Color didn’t get the chance to experience until our first Ethnic Studies course in college. Because of your demands and efforts, students in LAUSD will have access to empowering curriculum and a history that speaks to our story and experience.

Ethnic Studies is important because it interrupts eurocentric curriculum that has historically disempowered children of color, and served as a tool to marginalize students in schools within the traditional school system. Learning about institutional racism, systematic oppression, and historical inequities that have affected and continue to affect communities of color instills in students a sense of urgency to change those existing conditions and structures. Ethnic Studies has the potential to open up a space for youth to become agents of change, and acquire the skills and tools to transform and imagine a more democratic society. Ethnic Studies offers a rich curriculum that highlights achievements and cultures that are traditionally ignored in whitestream curricular texts. When students learn about their history, culture, and movements our people have led, it instills

a sense of pride and love for our communities. Learning from a multi-ethnic/ racial lens creates in students solidarity with communities of color.

We were intentional in making our Ethnic Studies course community responsive by specifically emphasizing the community history, culture, and experience. Paulo Freire (1970) reminds us that all learning must begin with the experiences of people and we believe that this is what has made our course relevant and engaging. The learning in our course is participatory and you drive what we all learn because you are at the center of the purpose of our course. Ethnic Studies continues to transform identities of youth where we continue to see young people begin to self-identify as scholars, poets, artists, and activists. This is powerful because young people are transforming into what they reimagine and reflecting the change-makers and revolutionaries they learn about in class. With transformation comes a positive ripple effect on the school culture, community, and your academic success. Ethnic Studies is the future to a more just Los Angeles and you are driving that change!

HOW DID THIS HUMANIZE US EDUCATORS?

Restorative justice (RJ), the buzz word you heard spoken in class perhaps did not have any real meaning to you as we began our Ethnic Studies course. Nonetheless, RJ was crucial in providing a humanizing experience for all of us. As unfamiliar as it was or is for students it was a vague term for us too, even as social justice educators. As we developed the curriculum of this course we decided it was not going to be a survey course that only highlighted the many accomplishments people of color had achieved in American history. Taking a critical Ethnic Studies approach meant we would challenge the dominant narrative—the hegemonic structures that exist in our society. We were treading unchartered waters at Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School.

Often times we were not sure of the path our class discussions would take and the harm and trauma that could or would surface. One way to address this concern was by interweaving RJ community building circles into the course. Together we cautiously sat in a circle where core guidelines driven by a sense of respect for all stakeholders eased us into a transformational experience many of us found to be new and uncomfortable. By the end we all developed a sense of pride knowing this indigenous practice had been common amongst our people. The paradigm shift that the circle provided went hand in hand with the shift

Ethnic Studies provided all of us. This form of building a communidad where adults can be open and vulnerable permitted you to be “real” with us. We cried, smiled, and laughed together. RJ allowed us to audaciously hope with you. Jeff Duncan-Andrade (2009) refers to audacious hope as the collective struggle where educators alongside students share in the victories and pains of life. In healing from our traumas together this solidarity we formed with you had a direct correlation to improving achievement. Ultimately, the work we created with you was driven from a place of love, love for Boyle Heights, the Roosevelt community, the families, and most importantly the love we have for each and every one of you.

Ethnic Studies Teachers at Roosevelt High School

Roxana Dueñas

Jorge Lopez

Eduardo Lopez

RESISTANCE

LUIS MARTINEZ

EAST SIDE STORIES

Gentrification is taking away the roots and driving out the bloodlines of Boyle Heights. Gentrification is a big problem in low-income communities. Especially Boyle Heights. It is taking over our normal and friendly neighborhood stores and friends. The problem with gentrification is that it renovates old and frail low-income houses with low-income families living in them and increases rent on the newly-remade homes, so they cannot afford them after. In which case, this kicks them out. This also goes for not just homes, but stores and shops we all depend on. If there is a neighborhood-friendly grocery store where we can all get our healthy fruits and vegetables and it gets gentrified, then we lose that food source and would have to start looking elsewhere for healthy foods. Losing a major healthy food source will cause a lot of families to travel or even move to look and shop elsewhere, which will also cause us to get in our cars to drive to farther locations for healthy foods. That causes another even bigger problem with toxic fumes and pollution. Gentrification is like a domino effect. Sooner or later, gentrification will make all the pieces fall and start new problems like pollution and poverty.

There is only one good thing about gentrification and that is that it can be stopped. There are many ways but there is one main and simple way to stop gentrification. It is called community stewardship. It’s when a community comes together to make a change and resist a certain issue or problem. Gentrification is a great reason to come together against something, especially when it is considered a threat. When people are getting forced out of their homes and onto the streets to a life of poverty, it calls for a big resistance of the community. Community stewardship starts with gathering the community and addressing

the issue. Talking about what is to come if we don’t do something is a great way to stir people’s emotions into being all about stopping gentrification. Then to discuss how they will resist this issue.

There are different ways of resisting an issue. Actually there are different types of resistance. There is transformational resistance, conformist resistance, self-defeating resistance, and reactionary behavior. The type of resistance people need to have to fight gentrification is transformational resistance. It means that when people have this resistance, they know what the issue is and what they need to do to stop it. It also means that people do something and want to do something to solve the problem. So everyone needs to be committed to stopping gentrification.

I think students should know about living this kind of life. When there is a life-threatening problem crashing into their world, they should know how to stop it. My opinion about gentrification is that it’s a terrible and depressing thing to happen to such a happy and thriving community filled with so much culture and happiness. Gentrification has to be stopped.

JOSE BARAJAS

I am from a place where if you’re black or Latino, you’re more likely to go to jail than college.

I am from a place where an average income in a household is 20,000 dollars or less.

I am from a place where five percent of the people have a four-year college degree. I am from a place where there are 3,889 families headed by single parents. The rate is twenty-one percent, which is high for the city of Los Angeles.

I am from a place where I might lose a female friend due to teenage pregnancy. I am from a place where the LAUSD has the second worst graduation rate in the country.

But I am also from a place where the people hustle harder than anybody else. I am from a place where people like the same things. I am from a place where people like chips better than a five-star meal. I am from Boyle Heights.

CHRISTOPHER TALAMANTES

BOILING BLOOD TO EDUCATION AND BOOKS

Dear Odalis,

I write this letter to inform you that you’re one of the most important people in my life. I feel proud to have a friend who is such a good person who I can always count on. Remember when we met in Ms. Dueñas’s class, when I made you laugh by the way I say whatever comes to mind? And because I’m weird and annoying. We started to hang out. We had that speech we had to do for Dean, and that day I walked you home and later opened up to you because you showed me you were trustworthy. I think you are a go-to problem-solver because you help me out when I am at my lowest or when I’m stressed or when I just want to leave or destroy things like The Hulk because I’m so mad. You know everything about me. I want to thank you because you showed me that trusting people is a different way to deal with things other than fighting. I promised you that I would stop fighting and I will keep to it because I am a man of my word. I also want to keep that promise to myself because it will bring no good for me, for my future kids, and the little family I will have one day. I also want to give thanks to you for allowing me to open up to you like those times we would walk home. I appreciate it.

You could probably relate to my story because we come from similar communities, but living in the middle of three of the most dangerous gangs in the neighborhood is difficult. I had to watch my back at all times because if I got caught “slippin’ ” I would have faced a consequence that could have jeopardized my life. A lot of my “homies” got caught slippin’ and eventually ended up shot on the streets. Some people survive but others may not be as lucky, like my

friend Duke, who received four deadly shots to the back.

I lost my best friend Duke, who was murdered by a group of gang members. I saw him as my guardian angel because he guided me to become resilient and believe in myself. His last words were, “Don’t be like me... get out of this lifestyle. It brings you no good.” Some people say that he saved my life because he would say I disappointed him when I fought. I feel like he helped me to survive, he taught me how to become a soldier in a way. Like Tupac said, “Wars come and go, but my soldiers stay eternal.” Time passes by and some people change even though they claim they keep it 100 percent but in reality, they’re full of it. That’s what I think about that quote. I was five and I was already chilling with crews. Growing up like that, I saw things other kids didn’t see. I also feel like I’m one of those people like my brother that have grown from a dark place and overcame their struggle.

My brother went through the same struggle as I did. After leaving the crew, he would tell me to trust nobody because he had a “friend” that he considered a brother, but one day, my brother got backstabbed by this “friend” and eventually got in a fistfight. Ever since that day, he has told me to “trust nobody.” My brother influenced me to change just like he did after he left the same crew I was in. After meeting his current girlfriend, he changed to being focused in school. Eventually his English teacher recommended him to this program called Upward Bound, and ever since he entered that program, he has done better things in his life. He is now working at Leader Industries detailing ambulances and goes to school at East Los Angeles College.

My brother, Upward Bound, and you, Odalis, have encouraged me to do better and stop ditching school, to do something with my life. Ever since then, I have been wanting to follow my brother’s footsteps. That’s one of the reasons I actually joined Upward Bound. I evolved from being the kid who was ditching class and not wanting to go to school anymore to the kid who participates, that’s always raising his hand and being engaged in school. Now I’m planning to go to a four-year university and I want to major in Mechanical Engineering. With Upward Bound’s help, I reimagine myself moving forward from the old me. I have realized my destiny in the matter of two years. I really like who I am becoming.

Sometimes I do want to fight because of what I went through, and also I feel my blood boiling and my adrenaline pumping. With the different workshops and opening up to you, I find ways to relax. You and Upward Bound make me try to avoid those situations and control my anger. I want to find ways to relax and deal with my anger issues, but I internalize that it’s just part of my genes because of the way I see my dad and brother get angry and deal with their issues by just being a closed book and not talking about it. I want to be different than my dad. He even said, “I want you to be a different person.” Sometimes I think I can’t because of the things we went through, like living in poverty, but we had to just survive.

Once in a while, I have a dream of me walking down the street, a series of all the things that happened to me. A rumble breaks out and I see all these old people, and I go in and start to fight. I’m afraid of repeating the past. I don’t want to be the old Chris. When my old homies text me, I ignore it. When I hear things and it feels personal, I have to resist because my first reaction is to fight. But I still believe that one day I will get over this, and one day I will finally live in peace. I just have to take it day-by-day. If something comes up and messes up the routine, I have to improvise and continue to transform. But everything doesn’t go as planned sometimes.

Sincerely,

Christopher Talamantes

JACOB OCHOA

THE PERSISTENT STRUGGLE OF REALIZING THE TRUTH

I’m not proud at all but gotta go hard on what I’m dealing

Can you decipher what it is, my condition?

A dead-end nine-to-five job is not my intent of becoming a living.

Think what you want but I’m helping my fam keep food in the kitchen. Went from a kid with a dream to one that keeps getting stuck in all these positions.

Losing my temper from all of this stuff that I’m not getting!

One problem solved then comes three others.

Due to street gangs I’m losing my brother.

The devil is shooting, I’m trying to take cover!

“Come home safe” is all I hear from my mother.

Only help I get is from my true lover.

But then again, education is the only way out.

But how?

When I step into school, I’m only feeling weighed down.

Lack of the knowledge that’s yet to be learned.

Isn’t it weird that Ethnic Studies has turned to my only concern? Why?

Maybe because it’s the only true topic that doesn’t cover up all America’s burns.

Man I swear the people in the uniform bang more than the Crips. They kill more than drugs do to kids.

(To Protect and Serve) But all we get is violence.

‘Cause I know we don’t feel safe when we hear the sirens.

I’m tired of it. Aren’t you tired of it too?

It’s becoming routine saying, “Sorry Momma I ain’t coming home to you.”

Because the man that’s provided with police training, his finger “slips” then hit his trigger

Not because the victim looked like an anonymous figure.

Or just another suspicious logical dealer.

I’m sorry I hope you can forgive us.

No!

All of these lies I will not believe!

I don’t know what the law enforcers are trying to conceive.

Try to act like we will just forget it, buy the story then let it be.

We’re fighting for peace!

Not for the ones that get carried around by the police!

Oh God, just help us please!

We’re falling apart.

Human civilization don’t seem so smart.

Talk about new beginnings but I don’t see a start.

Maybe my life just ain’t so hard...

Or maybe I’m thinking way over my head.

But I won’t ever give up that’s all will be said

Gotta find faith and all the reasons I am still blessed

Life is hard and I’m getting stuck on his test

Failed once, believed again, conscious no longer stressed

Until I snapped back to this war, no longer inside of my bubble

Realized problems can’t be ignored, we all fight in our struggles

Then found out more, life it consists of darkened tunnels.

Your job is to push your way out to a life that seems so simple and settle…

NESTOR CARRILLO

SAYING “NO” KEPT ME ON TRACK

Any obstacles that you are facing are possible to overcome! Someone I look up to is Cristiano Ronaldo because he is one of the best soccer players that have ever lived and overcame all the obstacles he faced, like poverty and negative people. He inspired many poor kids to be strong and follow their dreams, to “never give up.” He was very poor growing up and he had hoped that one day he would become someone in this world and he accomplished his goal. His background story is similar to mine because I am facing many obstacles like drugs and gang issues. I have never smoked or done any drugs but almost every day I am given an opportunity. Almost all my friends smoke weed and they always peer pressure me to smoke but I stay strong and say no. When I say no they harass me by telling me, “Come on stop being scared, just try it!” I get very frustrated and reply in a bad mood manner. “I already said no!” It is very easy for me to get off track from doing positive things in my life because of some friends I have that want me to smoke.

Also gang issues can throw me off track from doing good because I live in a neighborhood where gangs and violence are sometimes an everyday thing. For example, my brother was doing good in high school until he met some bad influences and he easily went off track and always gets stopped by the police for no reason, but it’s probably because of how he dresses and for the people he hangs out with. He always dresses with a white, extra large Pro Club shirt even though he is a large and baggy Levis that crease in the bottom by his shins.

One day, my friend from Hollenbeck Middle School met some kid who was a dropout of middle school and he is now a dropout too because the kid he met

influenced my friend to drop out and get into the gang he was from. Two days later, he was a gang member and I saw him one month later and he told me, “Aye, you down to go hit up some spots?” I got really nervous that he would do something to me if I said no but I told myself that it’s better to say no than to get a ticket or get locked up. I replied in a stuttering manner, “N-nahh man, next time.” Till this day, I haven’t seen him and hope to not see him because he might ask me again. If I would have said yes to my friend, I would probably have gotten peer pressured to get into the gang he is in now and would have probably messed up my life from being good in school to being a gang member.

When I grow up, I want to become a professional soccer player because that is a sport I love and want to get paid to play so I can support my family with money issues, and so I won’t have to worry about being in debt. I have been playing soccer ever since I was five years old and can’t imagine myself not playing anymore. I want to become an inspiration to many kids like Cristiano Ronaldo is because I want to make working-class children aware that anything is possible if they actually put effort into it and to overcome the negative obstacles they are facing. “He who works like a slave, eats like a king.” This quote also motivated me to overcome anything because I want to work very hard because I know one day all that hard work will pay off.

SANDY GOMEZ

WOMEN AND OPPRESSION

I wish I had the power to change how women are judged. Women are almost always being judged and criticized by other women and also by men. Women always are judged for things. Teenage girls are seen as loose if they do something with a boy, but when boys do it, they are seen as “players” and “cool.” Women are judged by their looks, if they are good mothers, or if they are mothers at all. Women are also judged in their sexuality while men aren’t really judged at all. Men have more rights than women. For example, for every dollar a man earns, women earn eighty-four cents. Women will get called names while men would get “props” if they do the exact same thing. How is it that men have rights to say dirty jokes but women can’t? Most guys think that being a girl or woman is easy and they judge us for making a “big deal” out of things.

Women are oppressed by men because they think women are not as strong as them, but in reality, women are stronger than men could ever imagine. We can lift weights; women just choose not to. I mean, women carry a baby in their uterus for nine months and once they have it, it’s like having twenty-four bones fractured at once! Yes women are oppressed when they get pregnant at a young age, but who are the ones to leave when they’re scared? Women constantly have to prove things that men normally wouldn’t have to prove, which makes them stronger. Men just say things like they are better at things that women supposedly aren’t good at and people believe it.

I think women getting judged will never change, but maybe the way women react to the critiques can help them. Women are institutionally oppressed because they aren’t as valued as much as men are. Women don’t have a variety of jobs

they could apply to because sometimes the people hiring don’t think women are able to get the job. Media targets women in many ways as well, making women insecure about themselves. I mean, the media is always posting things about how a woman is “supposed” to look. People, of course, are always criticizing a woman and finally even the woman starts to criticize herself over whether she “fits in” or she’s what society calls “pretty.” She harms herself to be the way people think they are supposed to look—light skin, skinny, light eyes, long pretty hair. But maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe instead of the women taking everything and reflecting on herself over whether she is pretty or smart, maybe they can all believe they are beautiful and stop having a care in what the rest of the world has to say about them. No, society will not stop judging women, but maybe women can stop judging themselves and believe in themselves. That they are beautiful no matter what they say and that it’s okay to be smart. That yes, maybe they are different, but different is good. Women weren’t born to be perfect but that doesn’t mean we should get unfair treatment out of that.

BRIAN SOLORIO

YUCK: FAKE CHEESE AND SMELLY HANDS

To whom it may concern at the district,

I feel like the district is not really paying attention to what’s going on in the schools. That makes me feel like school doesn’t even matter, but I do want to succeed and learn more. I wish the district would focus more on us as a school. I am more than just a number. There are some things that could be looked at, such as the school lunches. It’s nasty at times and I don’t think it’s real cheese. The bread that comes with the burgers feels hard and tastes old and stale, like cardboard. I wait to eat until I go home, but I am hungry all day and my stomach starts to hurt and I get dizzy. It’s sometimes even hard to focus in school. It’s normal now, but I know it makes me tired and it’s hard. I get distracted easily, plus I get lazy. I would like to eat good food because we spend a lot of time in school and so when we are hungry, we will want to eat food that’s good, not something that you may not know whether it’s healthy and that could give you a stomach ache. In the bathroom, there’s hardly soap in the dispenser. Imagine how it is walking around with dirty and gross-smelling hands, smelling like patas.

If this situation was improved already, I think more kids would want to learn. Graduation rates will go up, everything is going to be just right, how a school should be. If these were to be improved, I’d feel like if more students will be focused in classes. It benefits me because I’d be even more focused if the whole class is wanting to learn. If you were to want these results, you know what to do. I feel like the teachers care about me because they help me when I don’t understand something. They have high expectations, they are smart, and they teach us in a way we can visualize. I want to see students trying and caring. I want them to notice that the school cares for us.

MILADY LEAL

Should art be part of schools? I think it should because art is really important. It shows how you feel about your community. Another thing is that students want to learn new things and show how they feel. Students also want to show their art to their community so they can put it on the walls to make murals or street art to make it visible. Another thing is that students want new electives for school. The last thing is that people want to learn how to draw and do art and make it visible.

Two artists that are my favorite are Shepard Fairey and Frida Kahlo. Frida Kahlo is my favorite artist because she sends a message about women. The message that her art is sending is that women don’t need to use a lot of makeup and they can show their real self. Also that women are strong and they can do things themselves. Frida Kahlo shows her real beauty in her drawings when she does face portraits and she shows her real self. Some of my favorites are her self-portraits because I like how she shows her real self and isn’t scared to show it. I really like that she does that because she is showing that even though society is saying to wear lots of makeup, she wants to show that women could use their own beauty that they have. Also she sends a message that women are strong and they can do things themselves. Frida Kahlo shows her real beauty in her drawings when she does face portraits and she shows her real self.

I’m in a program that’s called “Las Fotos Project” which influences teenage girls to take pictures and show them in an exhibit that they show to the whole community. They also want to influence girls to have opportunities so they can get to the same level that men do. An example is that men are always the photog-

raphers, artists, and construction workers, and they want teenage girls to be the same and let men and women be equal and have the same jobs men have.

My second favorite artist is Shepard Fairey because he shows his political views and how they change the world. Another thing is I like is how his art makes you think what the picture means. One of my personal favorites is “War by Numbers” because it’s a little girl holding a grenade flower bomb, which in my perspective makes me think that little kids are smelling gases instead of flowers. The other thing is that he shows how he feels about the politics in his art and people are able to think about what it means.

I really love art and I think it’s really inspirational because art shows how people feel about their community. Another reason that artists inspire me is because they use art to show their feelings and how they feel about the government or where they live. They really use a lot of emotion and passion in their art. Some of my art is nature and sometimes it’s propaganda because sometimes I draw about how the world is cruel. In one of my drawings, I put a nice peaceful world and on the other half, I put a dirty place where it’s all nasty and the trees are dying. The meaning is that the world is dying slowly because people don’t take care of the world well anymore. Propaganda is my favorite kind of art because you can put your own political views and I really like the drawings because each picture has a meaning to it. Art makes me express my point because I can just show it and not talk about it so people can think about what it means. Sometimes when you explain your political view, they don’t know what you’re saying but when you show it like art or in a drawing, they think about what you mean.

My answer about putting art class in school is that it’s a good idea. I think it’s cool because students can show how they feel about their community and want to show it to the whole school. There should also be programs like art class in school and after school, like as an elective so they can learn more about art. I think it’s good because they can have freedom to show what they feel about their community.

JASON CARMONA

Dear Brandon,

How have you been? You are probably wondering why I am writing you this letter. It is because you are special. You don’t try to be like the other skaters in school or anywhere else. You are your own person. You inspire me when it comes to skateboarding. What I like about you when you skate is that when you learn a new skate trick, you don’t just land it once. You try it over and over again until you get it every time. I like that sometimes I think in my head and say that I am you, so that it can give me some confidence and hope to land my trick. You motivate me whenever I want to learn a new trick. You don’t tell me things that would make me want to stop doing a trick. You give me your best advice and you support me. I just think and say, “How would Brandon do it? What would he think of doing?”

Also, in school-related things, you inspire me. After all that time you spend doing what you love, you still have time for school. Even though you have to leave the park in the middle of your skate time to pick up your younger siblings from school, you still have time for everything. I also like that you are not failing any of your classes. That is really good for somebody that spends a lot of time skateboarding. You are also really honest. Like when you can do a trick that I am trying to learn, you would give me all your advice and tell me what I am doing wrong. It’s funny because we look a lot like each other. We are always thinking the same things. One time the both of us said, “Let’s go to 7-Eleven” at the same time and we laughed at the same time after we said that. People in school always call me Brandon and you Jason.

I am starting to think that we are twins that were separated at birth. Your birthday is October 3. My birthday is October 1. That’s weird. We both are pretty scared to go to the park sometimes because of all the gangsters that are always there, they do drugs and get in the way of our skating. You hate them because they don’t know what you go through every day and they just waste your time. You also don’t like that we have many skate parks but they are all so far from each other. You have to skate a few miles so that you can do what you do best.

FABIAN MARES

RESPECT FROM THE INK

I AM not who you think I am…

I AM not a violent troublemaker

I AM not a dope dealer or gang-banger...

I AM a graffiti artist not a vandal…

I AM not who you think I am...

I AM intelligent, creative, active, respectful and not a guy trying to “fit in” like the rest of the society, I am not in a clique.

I AM a kid interested in drawing.

I AM someone who’s encouraged by my mom...from taking me to the tracks... looking at new art trying to make me learn new ways ...to buying my supplies when I need them.

I AM someone who takes pride in my work

I AM in the near future a graffiti and a tattoo artist...

I AM not who you think I AM

I AM a kid stressed out because sometimes I don’t have ink when I need it.

I AM an artist who’s pressured by other people saying to tag my “name”...

I AM someone who improvises in my works and has creativity...

I AM someone who smells the paint after it’s been buffed out...

I AM a boy who hears the rattling sounds of the metal balls of the can.

I AM not who you think I AM.

I AM a human that sometimes gets stereotyped when I go to a “fancy” restaurant...

I AM someone who can smell the fresh paint when it comes out of the cap.

I used to be the kid trying to fit in doing things and that got me in trouble, but now I’m not... Now I am a graffiti artist trying to reach more fame than he already has...

I AM Fabian Mares

PAOLA MARQUEZ

MY FAMILY

Some people that I look up to are my parents and sisters. They have always been there for me. They know what’s best for my future. All they want for me is to be someone in life. I know I could trust them with anything because they are my family, the only people that would love me no matter what.

My parents have been through a lot—they got married at an early age. After that, they had three daughters. When they came to the US, it was difficult for them because they didn’t have a job and didn’t really know a lot of people here. They lived in an apartment, but there were a lot of people in their small apartment. It was really hard for my parents because they had to buy us our supplies we needed when we were little. My parents didn’t have a lot of money, and it was very complicated for them. When we were sick, they had to buy all of our medicine so we could get better. I’m very happy for the parents I have because they are always going to care about me and I know that if I have a problem, they are going to help me.

Even though my parents had problems, they didn’t give up and went on with life. Their job gives them stress as street vendors. When they get home from their job, they are very tired. They work from 10:00 AM, or earlier than that, till 4:15 AM but they still manage to give time to me and my sisters. They have never left me alone. Every time I see them I’m happy because I know that even though they had struggles, they are still here with my sisters and me. I’m fortunate that I have parents like them. They made it seem that everything is very good, and they made me feel good.

My sisters are hard workers, and I’m very proud of them. They have tried very hard to get where they are. They had to study a lot and give their time for their education. My sisters are very intelligent. Both of them got straight A’s throughout school. They were some of the best students in the whole school. I know when I have problems or something is going on with me, I can just ask my sisters for advice and they are going to give it to me. When they see me sad, they ask me, “What’s wrong?” and that demonstrates they love me. My sisters understand me very well. My sisters have faith in me, that I could be someone in life, that I could go to college or a university. All they want is for me to get a good a education and a good life so my future could be bright, so that I could get a lot of offers for jobs.

My older sister is a social worker. She wants to change the community by helping people. For me she is a role model, someone that I know I could trust because of her expertise in her career. She worked very hard for her degree. I’m proud that I have a person in my family that tries to help the community of Boyle Heights.

My middle sister is going to college to get her nursing degree. She wants to help families to get better, for them not to be sick. She wants to contribute to her community. Like my other sister, she is a role model for me. It took my sister a long time for her to go to college, but look at her now: she is in college trying to make a change in her life and for other people.

As you can see, I have a strong family. We are always together, and we have a special bond with each other. We always try to help each other in what we can. We try our best to open new doors in our lives so we could have good futures. I’m going to have a good future because of the parents I have. They are always going to support me in my decisions. Another reason why is because of my sisters—they are teaching me a lesson. The lesson is that I can overcome anything if I put my mind to it, that I could be someone in life. And that I have to help my community.

ARIANNA LOPEZ

THE STORY BEHIND MY SMILE

We’ve all been through so much

Trust me I know the struggles you have been through

I fake a smile every single day just to show I’m not hurting

Dad’s been on disability for a couple of months

We are getting about a grand every couple of months

It’s sad to see how bad we have been struggling

But yet there’s nothing I can really do

Besides sit back and “not worry about it”

Mom’s bringing in whatever she can

Getting paid about 400 dollars per month

Sister just moved out

She can’t even look me in the eyes or even say hi

We are on a rocky type of road right now

But will it all get better?

Both of us don’t do anything to fix the situation

But I’m not going to bow down to her wrongdoings

Momma and Pops arguing in the next room

It’s like living through a never-ending war

Last week Dad was out

Him hugging me

Me crying in his arms questioning myself if I can get through this alone

You all ask me how I do it, but I don’t have an answer

Did you really want to put me through this, Dad?

You say you want to protect me but all you’re really doing is tearing me down

Dad’s a wannabe G

Reppin a hood he doesn’t even belong to

It’s as if he hasn’t grown up yet

I tell him to grow up but he says he knows what he’s gotta do

I’m lost and confused

And my fuse is running out too

I really don’t know what to do

I’m just trying to make things right

Momma’s a smoker

Smoking those Camel Crush cigarettes

As I watch her lungs slowly die out

She walks to the liquor with fifty cents in her hand just to go buy a single I asked her to stop but she said I’m not her mother

They say it’s their stress reliever

But is it really

Or are they just running?

Praying to my Grandma up above to help me make these things right

Asking her to give me strength to get through this

Family is supposed to be tight but instead they’re not trying to make things right

Arguments over the stupidest reasons

But I can’t say anything cause I have no right

I love my parents to death but I don’t know what to do

I’m that fifteen-year-old girl that’s stuck in between loving and hating herself

I don’t know what to do

Parents both arguing

Sister doesn’t talk to me

Family making up stuff

Who can I run to?

What can I do besides fake a smile and act like it doesn’t affect me

So many questions running through my mind

But I still don’t know what to do

Trying to hold it all in but it’s not working

I love my parents to death but is it really worth me trying to better things

They don’t see how bad I’ve been hurting

And they will never see it

LUIS ROJAS

WHEN I’M ON THE FIELD

When I grow up, I want to be a soccer player because that’s my passion and my dream. You see many mainstream people saying that soccer is not as good as basketball and football. People look down on soccer because they’re pathetic and they’re making fun of a sport that they don’t even play or know about. It doesn’t matter what they tell me about soccer. Soccer has changed my life because it has made me more active instead of playing video games all day. If I played video games all day, I’d be a lazy kid. When I play soccer, I feel excited and happy because it calms me down. Most of the time I am thinking about problems happening at school. It helps me forget everything. On the field I feel that I have more confidence because there’s nothing to think about and I’m focused on the game. When I’m with my teammates, they make me feel more relaxed because I can count on them.

CELIN PERDOMO AND ALEX

LIVING TO SURVIVE

Every night is when bad stuff happens, I hear gunshots, sirens, signs of cops who are screaming, “Damn man, he got multiple shots” I’m always hearing gun flocks, Always hearing that sound in my block, I feel as if my block 8th Street will never stop, But man, people care more about one cop I think it’s time for us to make a change, By doing things in our range, Instead of killin’ each other and watchin’ each other suffer with pain, that cannot be restrained, and that cannot fade through the day, we should all just be as one and we will never be done, We’ve fought with the help of He who I believe in and trust my savior that’s how I won, With no knowledge, that even though we did go to college, we ain’t ever fallin’ from the edge, even till this time I remember my brother full of red, for a second there I thought he was dead, I saw him on the streets, it just got to me seein’ him still wearing his beats, for a second there just being able to hear his heartbeat, had me freakin’ out couldn’t even breathe I had to take a seat, luckily for me I saw my mother,

she saw what happened to my brother, she was so scared saying, “You’re gonna be alright,” I started to notice he was losing his sight, we carried him home where my grandma saw She said, “We are gonna have to take the bullet out with no anesthesia, just raw,” she got some alcohol for the cut, he was sayin’, “Wait, it feels like a burn,” And my grandma saying, “It’s gonna be alright” while sewing his cut, he said he wanted to run, my grandma was finally done with the cut for a while there was no sound, he said he felt relieved but also dizzy seeing a lot of colors going around, The reason why I chose to rap was because of my brother, when he would rap with his friends I would never find it a bother, I then started doing it myself going to the room and locking myself in, I remember the first time I closed the door so fast I accidentally got my skin, I found it a good way to get off the streets, not having to worry ‘bout the concrete feeling my feets, I never tried drugs thanks to rapping, And being away from the kidnapping, I like rapping it gets stuff off of my chest, finally putting all of the bad stuff to rest, Me and my friends always out on the nights, Playing soccer with only a couple of lights, it’s the only time I feel so safe, in this one certain place, I love my race, we always playing soccer in a group, I could already imagine from on top we probably look like soup, A lot of smiles when we are playing, In these type of times we are full of energy so we like racing, A lot of laughs when we are fooling around, we come from practice so we play soccer for only a round

JIMMY VARGAS

GENTRIFICATION

Boyle Heights has been a community for thousands of Latino and Hispanic people, mainly Mexican-American residents. Boyle Heights for the last few years has been dealing with gentrification and it has been a big deal for thousands of residents in the community. Residents have been facing changes throughout the years and are scared that their community might change with the newcomers coming to Boyle Heights. There have been many changes, especially the new Metro Gold Line. The Metro was one of the things that got people to come to Boyle Heights because it makes quite a few stops in the community.

Charter schools have also been one of the things that have also been getting Boyle Heights in movement. In the last few weeks of the 2014-2015 school year, Roosevelt High School has been faced with charter schools coming into the school but many students have been protesting outside the school so they end up not coming to the school. They won the battle but the charter school still wants to come back to the school. All this adds up to how gentrification is changing Boyle Heights culture and making people move out and new people come in because of this idea.

There are many solutions to stop gentrification. One of them is telling the neighborhood what is going on and how we can stop gentrifiers in the community. Also, protesting in places they want to come in, such as Mariachi Plaza, which is a very memorable place that means so much to the people of Boyle Heights. It has been there for years and people want to leave it there. Protesting is one of the main things to do to make the newcomers know that the place they are about to come to means a lot to them and that they don’t want to leave

from a place that they’ve been living for years. Also involving the media with this is a very good idea to get other people to know what is going on around the country.

In my opinion, gentrification is a good thing and a bad thing. How? Well some changes are good. It can bring new jobs into the community, and also bring better places. But on the other hand, it can also destroy a community that has been around for many years. For example, I’ve lived in Boyle Heights for a couple years now and I like the fact that there is still some Mexican culture in a community and I wouldn’t like it to go away just so some people could move in and destroy a very cultural place. In conclusion, all this adds up to how we should not be able to let the newcomers take over Boyle Heights and make a move on not letting them move to our community.

KATHY DIAZ

LIVES AT RISK

I remember one night I went walking home alone after softball practice ended. I was supposed to walk home with my best friend and her dad. I started to bleed from my nose because of the heat and my nose was sensitive, so I just decided I’d walk home alone ‘cause I needed to get home fast. After I was walking, I was close to the corner store when I saw a car stop and then a guy get out of the car. It all just looked too suspicious to me. It was like in the movies when someone is going to do a drive-by. In my head I was like, “Why would the driver still have the car on and the passenger get out the car so quickly and be running?” It took me a few seconds for it to all click in my head, and then I saw the guy with the gun and I knew something bad was happening. I turned around and ran to a random house with a driveway. It was empty, so I went all the way back till I hit the fence. I ducked down and covered myself with my duffle bag. I had so much running through my head like, “Would he see me? I should have run on the other side of the street.” I was scared thinking, “Maybe he will kill me or make me go with him if he realized I just saw what he did.” I heard the three gunshots and saw the car drive away right after. The guy with the gun ran towards the street where I was hiding. I was starting to panic but tried not to make any noise at the same time. My heart was pounding. I tried to calm down but it was too much in my head.

I heard the guy’s footsteps, then I saw him and he turned around to see if anyone was watching him or chasing him. When he turned, he saw me crouching down and gave me a weird look like he knew me. It looked like he was going to come towards me, then I put my hands up a little bit, whispering, “Please dont shoot me,” with tears coming down my face. When I saw him, he looked at me. He

looked so much like someone I’ve seen before. I think he recognized me and that’s why he didn’t do anything to me. After we made eye contact, he just left and kept running. It just left me in shock. I didn’t know what to think when I knew who it was. After I saw that the car and the guy left, I started running home looking to see if anyone was there. When I got home I was traumatized to think I could have died or gotten kidnapped. I never thought I would witness something that close with my own eyes alone in the night where there are hardly any lights.

The gang violence in Boyle Heights has always been a problem. Everyone in the community is affected by it. My family is affected a lot by gang violence. We have lived in Boyle Heights in the same house for almost twenty-three years. Eventually we get to know everyone and even the other gang members. A few uncles of mine have passed away because of the “gang life.” It really affected my family when they passed away because they had to say their last goodbyes at funerals. Also some gang members who leave their families for the “gang life” will either end up going to prison for selling drugs or stealing. My dad has always been in and out of my life because of the “gang life.”

I don’t think tthey understand how they hurt the family with the choices they are making by being in a gang. Community members can also be affected by just walking to the store or their house, or just to the park. They can witness a shooting like me, or worse, they can get killed or hurt for being somewhere at the wrong time. Gang violence puts everyone’s lives at risk and that’s a big problem in Boyle Heights. Boyle Heights would be much safer if there wasn’t any gang violence. I wouldn’t be so scared to go out with friends or to the park with family without worrying if something will happen again. More family members would live and more families wouldn’t be missing a part of their family. The community would be closer if everyone got along. My hope for Boyle Heights is that families won’t lose people because of gang violence.

After seeing how gangs can hurt everyone, it never came to my mind that I should join a gang. My parents always told me I should grow up to become better than them. My parents don’t want me to go down the same path as them and I don’t want to either. I see how they struggle to get money and give me the things I need. I don’t want to struggle like that. I want to get a good education then go to college and get a job after. Even if I did want to join a gang,

my parents wouldn’t let that happen to me. That’s like throwing my life away. I have friends who also want to be something in life. I surround myself with positive people and family who support me. I am proud of myself and how I didn’t end up going down a wrong path like my parents. I am still proud of my parents and love them but I want to be different from them. They made me the person I am today and I’m proud of how I am now.

DIANA GOMEZ

MAKES ME FEEL “BEAUTIFUL”

There is always a certain thing in my mind that never seems to go away

My physical appearance.

My moods are heavily predicted by my perception of my physical appearance

On days where I feel like I look good I feel as if I can do anything

Other days are not so good.

Those days where you feel “ugly,” “fat,” “out of place”

Or comments that are made: “Why are you wearing that?”

“Why are you wearing makeup?” “I like your hair the other way”

But then I also thrive on the good comments.

“I like your outfit today.” “You look nice today.”

I really feel like I don’t need other people’s approval but it makes me feel “beautiful”

Then again I feel I shouldn’t be dependent on others’ approval except my own. I constantly need reassurance from my friends that I look okay.

The constant internal debate over whether I look good or not I work on my appearance so much

Making sure my eyebrows are plucked,

Never having a hair out of place,

Not having them too thick or too thin,

Having them look like caterpillars is not an option.

Making sure my lipstick is the right shade

Trying to find one that goes well with my skin tone

The type of skin tone that is not light but not dark either,

The type of skin tone that when people look at me they think, “Oh she’s

Mexican”

But I don’t care about the color of my skin, I’m proud of it One day I try a bright red, The next day is a bright pink, I stop with the bright colors and start using more subtle tones or no lipstick at all.

Every day is a constant struggle picking out what to wear and trying it on, seeing if it looks “Good” I can’t wear clothes that are too tight or too loose. Trying to keep up with the latest trends, Using Pinterest to see what clothes match and make a good outfit. Because it seems like at the end of the day all we care about is looks

No one ever seems to fall in love with personality at first sight. I need myself to stop believing that beauty only comes from appearances I want my beauty to come from the corny jokes I tell I want my beauty to come from the way I treat people I want my beauty to come from just being myself.

JULIAN SANCHEZ

DON’T KILL OUR CULTURE

Boyle Heights. Their music—mariachi music. The murals—Sixth Street, Olympic Boulevard, Evergreen Cemetery. And its memorable buildings—Boyle Hotel, Sears Tower. These are some things I can’t imagine Boyle Heights without. No more of this, and more fancy hotels. What will happen to our culture? It’ll be erased. Taking our culture away won’t help; it’ll make our community violent, because these changes will push residents out of their homes where they have lived so long, and pushing and shoving only leads to anger. We all want to keep what we love, right? So I wonder how gentrification will help? By taking a piece of our culture away, something we love. I don’t want to see our culture destroyed again, like when the whites wanted to destroy the Indian culture, or when Columbus and his men destroyed the Native-Americans’ land and their possessions. Don’t reconstruct the past!

SAMANTHA VASQUEZ

RESIST

I resist when I fight back for what I believe in. If someone is doing something that is wrong, then sorry but I will tell you you’re wrong. Something I would love to do is go to a protest, to show my support for what I believe is right and prove that there has to be a change. But the thing is that I’m not quite old enough to actually go. Even though I’m not old enough to go, that doesn’t mean that it’s not important for our voices (the youth) to be heard, for society to know that the youth knows what is going on and they’re not okay with it. As young adults, we have many opportunities to do different things, and sometimes we do reckless things but not all of us are like that. We actually do care. It’s good for our voices to be heard since we are still growing up and learning our rights and knowing what’s right from wrong.

What Boyle Heights needs is to have more green spaces, cleaner streets, and for homeless to have the opportunity to live a good life that everyone deserves. The homeless are human beings, and they deserve to live under a roof, not a bench. Parks can be built so that we can have more outdoor places for the community. One thing I absolutely hate is when people make comments about Boyle Heights saying that it’s a bad place to live, that it’s just dirty, but that’s all not true since they don’t even live here or know what’s going on to be making dumb statements like that. But the way I see Boyle Heights is a place full of culture. The meaning behind the Mariachi Plaza, the murals on the schools, places that just represent the true history. In my opinion, this isn’t a bad place to live compared to other places.

The thing is that all the culture that is here may just be lost with gentrification

moving in. The ladies running the bakery down the street who have to shut down because of the rent, stores that have been here for years being turned into apartment complexes. I mean it’s just pretty messed up since all these people are moving in without even knowing the meaning behind the community. So then I want to fight for the homeless, for better places to take kids, for our voices to be heard, and for Boyle Heights to keep its culture.

ILIANA CRISTALES

THE WAY OUT IS NEVER THE EASIEST (A FICTIONAL STORY)

Unless you live in a world like hers, you’ll never understand the pain she goes through physically but most of all, emotionally. This is her story, not history.

She stands by the kitchen counter, cooking her husband’s favorite dish. Chicken pot pie, to the utmost perfection. And as pain shoots up her arm as she cuts down on a carrot, she makes up an excuse for every hurtful slice. He didn’t mean it. He was tired. I should have cooked something better. He’s stressed about the bills. The pile that sits on the living room table that, like a baby, only seems to grow and grow. Grabbing every single excuse she could until she was grasping at thin air. Reality at the moment wasn’t in her favor. It seemed it never was. She truly did love the man she married. But for the past five years, she watched the man she loved turn into a monster. Not the ones you read about in horror stories. The real kind, the kind that hurt others for their own gain.

Because this person wasn’t the one that saved her. He wasn’t the one that bought her flowers every week. Roses, daisies, tulips, and lillians because he knew she loved them. The one that took care of her when the hateful, hurtful comments went her way. The one that kissed her scars and helped them fade. Society changed him. Now he’s leaving his own scars on her skin. Taking out his frustrations, throwing her weaknesses in her face, dragging her down. He went from loving and caring to being the bullies from her past, diminishing the little confidence she had.

The bullies from middle school that grew into high school, the ones that, as she walked down the tiled hallway painted with lockers, would pull her hair. The

physical pain fades, but mean words that spilled from their mouths were long-lasting.

And now the nights she spends by herself, the house silent, the silence that haunts you, compare to the ones as a child. Alone. Her husband late yet again, but now instead of drowning in the cruel words said to her that day as a child, she now sits in silence waiting for her husband to return with another woman’s perfume on his shirt. His breath is alcohol itself. And maybe today he won’t hit her as bad as before. At least not enough to kill her.

All these thoughts were going through her mind and it wasn’t the first time, as she stood by the kitchen counter. These were the thoughts going through her mind when the knife hit the floor. She won’t need dinner tonight. The thoughts were numbing, and the urge for the scars to fade was driving. “Away” seemed like a good word. She needed to get away. But you can’t run if your leg is broken.

Heading for the bathroom, she stared at her reflection on the mirror. She was beautiful and as much as she stared she could not look past the wall of mean comments degrading her feminism. The glazed look in her eyes told the story of the battle within her.

And as the mirror opened, she thought of every hurtful comment, every punch and kick her husband threw at her, and reached for a bottle of pills. And before she could change her mind, the bottle opened with a snap. And she watched as pill after pill fell down the drain until the bottle was empty. Because no matter how intense the fight within her got, the way out is never the easiest.

LUIS MARTINEZ

TO PROTECT AND KILL

I watch the news every now and then. Either get depressed or mad, From watching the world just crash, Even the weather’s bad.

People are protesting for young dead people, Like Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Freddie Gray. It makes me so mad that none of them will ever see another day. Because some wannabe hero cop shot and ended their innocent peaceful lives to protect us,

We can’t walk down streets without an officer in pursuit to arrest us.

I was so mad when they put that story on the news, Reporter sympathizing like they truly know the pain. They won’t know the feeling of the mother that things will never be the same. But they treat it like nothing, like just another name to a list, Ferguson and I act the same because we’re mad. This just goes to show to never go against their will, Because after all…

The motto they live by is, “To Protect and Kill.”

BIANCA GODOY

TOO MANY GIRLS WHO

I am a girl who works for what she wants

For a spot on a team

For a real good test score

For that relief knowing my parents are proud

I will not accept that society creates this image only so many girls can fulfill

Believe me when I say I want to make a change

But how am I supposed to do so when too many teens are being brainwashed?

Turn on the TV the first thing you see is a model

With a bikini body

Showing nothing but bare skin eating a big juicy burger

Is it because men find that sexy?

Go outside and hear a boy say, “Ew she’s fat, nobody would date her.”

Instead of loving the ways she’s a sucker for Shakespeare

How she finds herself vibing to Coldplay

“High up above or down below”

She is strong

She is resilient

She is beautiful.

She is everything and anything a man would die for

But maybe that’s the difference between a man and a boy

A man should be able to appreciate a woman just the way she is

There’s so much more inside

Inside her mind, inside her heart

Somewhere someone out there is being hurt

It’s not that I hate your direction or you

You’ve internalized and learned to accept the ways of life

The ways in which people see as a certain destiny

The way you are supposed to be

You might think it’s too late to change

It’s never too late

I am a girl who deserves to be treated as an equal or should I say we

Too many girls are taught to look pretty in order for their lives to be on check

To fit the part and everything will be “just fine”

It’s not going to be “just fine” because we can’t be comfortable in our own skin

We are told to be beautiful, sexy, outgoing, and unique in all the same ways

Nonsense

Too many girls are being let down by society, by the world

Too many girls are harming themselves for the idea of it all I want to make a change in the cruelness of the minds out there

I am a girl who works for what she wants

Although it is hard to work when it feels like one in a billion

Don’t be the one who follows society and overlooks her personality for her image

Don’t be that hypocrite who offers advice to make a girl feel good about herself but jokes about it on the flipside

Don’t be obnoxious

Be respectful

Be courageous

Have ambition

But most of all be proud to be yourself

The pressure in this battlefield is getting heavy on my shoulders

We can work together to fight this Cold War

I cannot fight when too many girls are weakening

I will not accept it when you tell me “that’s just the way it is”

I will not accept the fact that teenage girls are kneeling over the toilet with a finger down their throat

I will not accept that I have to witness hearing, “Damn she’s fine!” because boys will be boys, on the daily

Too many girls are getting kicked out of class for “showing too much skin” and have to skip a day because apparently guys can’t resist a naked shoulder

Instead of blaming the girls for dressing certain ways,

On a hot day or a cold day,

Teach boys respect, the right ways to treat a lady

Teach them how to be mature

How to be a man

Learn to have control over your own self

I shouldn’t have to rely on my looks when there are greater dreams I aspire to

The next time you feel like you’re forced to say or think a certain way,

Think twice!

I am a girl who works for what she wants.

CATHERINE MERIDA

WHY SHOULD I HIDE INSIDE MY SHELL?

Why should I hide inside my shell?

If I know I’m beautiful just being myself

There’s no need to imitate those around me

If I am relentless, no one can stop me

Am I weird in our society?

Just by giving more attention to people’s personalities

Maybe it does make me different, but being different also make me unique

Knowing myself like this really makes me believe

Choosing who to be, the life I should live

Marriage to me is synonymous with team, and my team works together

We are supposed to help each other and with each other, grow even better.

ANDREA MORA

FINDING MY WAY BACK TO LIBERTY

Losing anything is tough, but it’s worse when you look at yourself in the mirror and don’t even know who is standing before you.

It’s just this human body with a lost soul trapped inside of it.

It’s this person that looks like you, but doesn’t act, talk, or dress like the real you.

You decide to follow all these norms set out in front of you from day one, or else you’d be considered an outcast.

They will call you ugly and weird

Then you will start believing them and hate yourself

We aren’t allowed to be us

You grow up being taught certain expectations

You grow up being taught that white is beautiful, black is ugly

You grow up being taught Asians are smart, Mexicans are stupid

You grow up being taught women are inferior to men, that they must stay home to clean and look pretty while the guys are the ones working as doctors, engineers, and activists

You grow up being taught girls are supposed to be girly, not play sports, be dumb, and look hot for the guys

You grow with this idea that if you’re Mexican that you will drop out by age sixteen and get your girl pregnant by fifteen, oops your life is over!

You grow up being taught men can’t cry or else they’re weak and gay

You grow up being taught that being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, is wrong and a sin

You grow up being taught Columbus was the hero but you weren’t taught how he was the Taínos’s nightmare

You grow up being taught police are the ones to trust but you don’t learn about

their brutal actions to people of color due to internalized, institutional, and interpersonal oppression

You grow up supposedly being taught “right from wrong” and “the truth,” when in reality you’re being taught the complete opposite.

Why aren’t we taught to accept one another no matter what race, class, religion, gender, interest, and sexual orientation?

Instead of fighting against this hateful world, we’re working alongside it.

Here is the tricky thing though. How are we supposed to be perfectly fine teenagers with no worries in the world when we’ve been oppressed, classified, and taught all the wrong things since day one?

With all these norms society has created for everyone, we have never actually gotten a chance to be the real us.

They tell us that we’ll never be alone, but we are.

We’re told that asking for help is for the weak, that you must toughen up and work this out on your own in order to be successful.

Don’t get it twisted, that is totally fine but sometimes you do need someone to talk to and let it all out.

You need someone to help you take that big step forward into finding your true self.

Till this day, I myself still have no idea who I really am.

All the things I’m learning, I’m applying it to my daily life.

All the problems my life has faced me with have helped shape up who I am today

Yes, I still bottle things up, and honestly sometimes it all just gets a little too much.

But then I have to remind myself that I have to prove people wrong, I have to show them I have a voice in this world, I have to prove to them that I will be successful.

And the way I’m able to push through is with sports. That’s my passion, being out there on the court and on the field(s).

But I also express myself here, on a piece of paper.

So please don’t give up just yet Explore yourself, and question your interests

We’re all still young

We still have time to step out of this huge box of oppression. Your goal should not only be to be successful, or to prove a point.

It should be to be happy, and to one day be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say...

This is me, I have finally found my way back to liberty.

ALICIA PENA

BEAUTIFUL FRIJOLITOS

“Frijolitos” is how my eighth grade English teacher referred to us, At first, not knowing it was only hurting us.

She would often say it as a joke

But you can see the menace in her look.

She knew what she was doing but didn’t try to stop

Instead she told herself we were inferior just ‘cause she was on top.

We’d end up selling oranges she’d say

But hey!

Just because we’re brown doesn’t mean we need to frown. What she didn’t know was we wear a crown everywhere we go.

Embrace your roots

Don’t let oppression get to you!

We might be muy “chiquitos” now

But we will be beautiful “frijolitos” forever.

RESILIENCE

CHRISTOPHER RICO

LIFE GOES ON TO BECOME THE BEST

Dear Boyle Heights,

I don’t know why people love you, but I personally don’t like you. The reasons why are because of the gang violence, the tagging, and some of the people in Boyle Heights who are no good or have no manners. We don’t have enough resources and jobs because of the poverty and fatherless kids growing up and joining gangs or using drugs.

When I was in third grade, I was walking home from school and I smelled something funny. I saw a group of guys smoking something. I was introduced to drugs at the age of twelve. My brother tried to offer me drugs but I said no. At the age of thirteen, I had been in drive-bys. I had seen a man get shot in the head just after saying, “Wassup.” I ran and I could still hear the gunfire. Guns and weapons are nothing new to me. I have felt bullets pass my body on the streets of Boyle Heights. I’ve been a witness to homicide and drive-bys, and a jumped victim of the streets of Boyle Heights.

My mother had a boyfriend I didn’t like. One day when I was living with my mom, her boyfriend and I got in a fight and I told my mom it was me or him. She didn’t say anything so I made my own choice to leave my mother and go live with my grandparents.

At the age of fifteen, I’ve witnessed the evilest things. I’ve seen things that you could not even imagine. I’ve lost many homies and family members. Boyle Heights is a game. If I play my cards right, then I think I’ll be able to see the

age of twenty-one. My brother always said he was never gonna make it to eighteen. He was a victim of Boyle Heights: broken home, single mom, kicking it with the homies and doing things he wasn’t supposed to do. A father wasn’t there. My brother dropped out of school in middle school. My brother was gonna turn eighteen this year.

Depression got him and on February 17, 2015, my aunt got a call from my mom. She said something happened to my brother so I rushed to my mother’s house and I saw my brother lifeless, hanging on a door. It was so tough to see my brother like that. My body couldn’t catch up to my emotions. My body caught up to me almost four days later from the shock.

I learned that day that no matter what happens in life, the world doesn’t stop for you. The last time I had seen my brother was two days before his suicide. I had gone to go visit him. When it was time to say bye, my brother told me, “Lates, pero I love you.” It was an awkward, weird moment because my brother would never say that. We grew up with no love or affection from a mother or father. My bro and I always had tough love. We never grew up feeling loved. And when he said that, I couldn’t say it back and now I regret that. But I also learned to love your loved ones as if they were gonna die tomorrow because you don’t know if it will be your last time seeing them. It was the first and last time my brother said that.

The day of the funeral, I didn’t cry because I told myself my brother’s pain was gone. I remember seeing him in a coffin and saying to myself, “It’s not ‘you’re gone’ and ‘I will always remember you.’ It’s a, ‘I’ll see you on the other side!’” I can still hear my brother’s voice and picture him anywhere I go.

For me, life is to go step-by-step and work my way up to the top and become something. I am gonna redirect my life and transform into being the best I can be in life to the best of my ability, and then give back to help people that go through what I went through in Boyle Heights.

In middle school, I had all F’s and I was trying to be someone I wasn’t. Second semester, I was a witness in a drive-by and I learned that if I tried to be someone I wasn’t, I was probably going to die. So during the summer I thought about what happened. I decided to change my life and get good grades and see if I

could become someone in life. I used to wear baggy clothes and I had really short hair. The side of my head was shaved and the top was a half of one. I had a mean face and I never told my family about what was going on. They only knew me as the Chris at home. I’ve changed, and I wear my right size pants and let my hair grow out a little more. I get a two on top and a one on the sides. I changed my attitude, I have good grades, and hope for the best in life, that I’ll be someone big in life.

KAREN PRECIADO

OPEN YOUR MIND TO YOUR STORY

My eyes were opened to reality once I entered high school. On the first day of school, I was excited to start this new experience. I knew that this was time to get serious. My schedule was not like most other freshmen. I had English, Environmental Studies, and Ethnic Studies, which is what everyone basically had. But as for my other two classes, I had Algebra 2 and I was taking the second part of a language, Spanish. That first day was pretty quiet in every class. Teachers tried to break the ice between us by asking us some personal questions to get comfortable in class. This went on for the rest of the week with the same thing: students were quiet, teachers asked questions, and little by little, the class started to become more talkative. As the weeks passed, I felt that teachers lost interest in students once they saw that we were comfortable in the class.

From being these really interesting teachers who wanted know about our lives while telling us about their lives as well, they became these robots who would go with the same dull schedule and wouldn’t really seem to care anymore about your life. They stopped asking us all these questions that sometimes we have never thought about, like, “What do you like about yourself?” Little questions that made you think about school. Little did these teachers know that these were the questions that motivated us students to go to class. Those beginning-of-class questions got our minds off of things and woke us up to being ready to engage in the actual schoolwork. Sadly, as the months passed, I started to see more and more empty chairs. Teachers noticed this as well. You would see someone in a class and during the next class, they wouldn’t show up. I am one of those students who will go to class no matter how boring or dull it is because I know I want to succeed. But many students need to be encouraged

to go to class because they don’t realize that they need to succeed as well or don’t believe they can.

I’ve seen teachers who have changed a student from failing to succeeding. For example Ms. Dueñas has changed many kids’ perspectives of school. She makes her classes interesting, and she really gets into the work with you. She will show you examples of how to do your work and what you can make your projects or posters look like. To see a teacher who makes the time to give their students a model on the work is amazing because it gets the students encouraged to do their work. In her class it feels like you don’t have to worry about not knowing what to do because she explains everything very well and she helps students who need the help instead of leaving them to do nothing. She is one of those teachers who likes to get to know her students and wants to know about you and doesn’t just see you as a student. Ms. Dueñas asks those beginning-of-class questions and she makes her students feel safe and comfortable sharing in front of others. When we share, we do circles and go around sharing what we have to say, and this helps you with getting over that shyness you sometimes get when you speak in front of people.

I think the main thing about her class that is most interesting is that she connects what we talk about to the real world, she lets you know what’s going on, and how you can make a difference. For example, she gave some students the opportunity to go on marches to stand up for women’s rights and also go to an art gallery where they show art as a form of resilience. All these opportunities open students’ minds to knowledge they didn’t know about. This is what makes me want to make a difference in our society. Ms. Dueñas is the reason for many students’ success and their growth. I hope to do this one day as well.

Society usually tends to bring people who are failing down. They don’t give you the opportunity in schools, so where are you supposed to get those opportunities? You’re supposed to get them from teachers who can support you and believe in you because everyone needs that one person to rely on for help. I just want you to know that no matter what you are going through, you can be successful because everyone has the opportunity. Just make sure to take advantage of those opportunities so in the end, you’ll have a story to tell.

ABRAHAM AGUILAR

MY STORY

This story is all about me and my resilience. It sounds like I’m boasting but I’m not. It’s more of me telling you what I have been through and how I went through it, how I came out better and more transformed. As a little kid, I was raised in the Christian church. I was taught that whatever I go through, whether it be death of a family member, or cancer, or a sister with an attitude, to keep praising and trusting and having faith in God. Among many other things, I was also taught that we humans are like gold. Gold has to be purified through the fire, and when it comes out of the fire, it comes out pure and perfect. In my story, you will see that in the middle of the fire I kept praising God and I kept my faith, and when I came out of the fire, I came out new and transformed and stronger.

This story happened in November of 2012. I was casually doing my homework when I heard gunshots. This is normal because I live in the “hood,” but as usual, I went and checked on my family, and one of my brothers was missing. I was looking for him and I couldn’t find him. Then a lady came running and told my mom, “¡Le pegaron a su hijo, le pegaron a su hijo!” which translates to, “They hit your son, they hit your son!” I ran to where I heard the shots and the police started to come and an ambulance came, and I didn’t know what to do, so I ran back home. My parents went to the hospital and I stayed home with some neighbors. I went to school the next day, but I was too worried about my brother so I asked my parents to pick me up. I got home, and they told me he had passed away. I was depressed for some time so I went to church and I praised God and I had faith that everything was going to be ok. But I was still depressed so I went to a therapist, and I got better because I was talking to other people and I made friends there. My point in this story is that sometimes you can’t handle

things on your own. You have to go to a counselor or talk to a trusted adult. It truly does help.

My second story happened in November 2013 and it’s still going on. Exactly a year after my brother was murdered, my other brother was diagnosed with leukemia. He went through chemotherapy and through a bone marrow transplant, and I was the donor. Everything went well and he was in remission. But then the cancer came back and it came back stronger. The doctors are giving him a ten percent chance of surviving, but I am trusting God that this is just another purification, and that this time I will come up again stronger, and more resilient.

When I was told of the news that my brother passed away, I fell. I fell literally and emotionally. My body just gave out on me. Emotionally, my pride, my self-esteem, and my mental strength gave out, but as I got back up physically and mentally, I realized I couldn’t do it on my own. So I got help. I talked to a therapist and I still couldn’t make it, so I talked to God and I was finally able to get up emotionally. The point being that when I got back up, I got back up stronger, wiser, better, and I got back up new.

Don’t be afraid to talk to someone. Sometimes you can’t handle it on your own and God sends help your way. In my case, it was a therapist, but it could’ve been a trusted adult like my pastor or a teacher.

ANASTACIO SARABIA

I AM A MIRROR

I grew up in San Jose, California and moved to Boyle Heights when I was a year old. I grew up with my mom and sisters. My dad died when I was three years old and after his death, I was the man in the house, which meant I had to take care of my sisters. I got older and got worse. I had bad grades, I started getting into trouble. I started listening to gangster rap when I was in first grade. I went to therapy and went to GRYD (Gang Reduction & Youth Development), and they helped me with my anger issues and to stop getting into trouble. Nothing worked, so my mom took me to this one program called PAL (Police Activity League), founded by the police department. That also did not work so I went to juvenile hall for two days but nothing worked. Once I got to middle school, my grades stayed the same. I also got my first ticket and did community service to deal with it.

In eighth grade, I got kind of better because I had to set a good example for my little sister and baby brother, but I also did not graduate from middle school because of my grades. In the summer, I worked to get out of trouble. Then I started high school and got better and picked up my grades and got involved in activities. I became an activist and started setting a better example for my little sister and baby brother. I also stopped getting in trouble and now I play basketball and football in my free time. I changed because I don’t want my sister and brother going through the same thing I went through. I am a mirror to my little sister and baby brother. They look up to me so I have to change for the best.

CARLOS MEJIA

HAVING FUN WITH BROTHERS

I never get to spend time with my brothers. I always come to school, and then go home and do homework. When I am finished with my homework I ask them if they want to play, and they reject me by saying no to me. I feel sad sometimes when they reject me. I sometimes wonder if their childhood was the way that mine was. I need to spend more time with them because a boring life is not a successful life, and a happy life will lead you to success. I chose to work on this issue because I grew up with brothers and I don’t really know them that well because we don’t get time to be together as brothers. I sometimes ask them, let’s spend some time playing Xbox, but the problem is they’re busy men, always doing their homework. I would like to work on these relationships with my brothers. I’m going to be hanging out with them even if they don’t like it because I need to have something you call brother fun. I wonder what it would be like to not have brothers. I imagine I’d get really bored.

I plan to spend more time with brothers by taking necessary steps. I will spend more time with them by enjoying nature. I want to spend time with them individually so that we can connect. Brothers that don’t get along at a young age will never get along when they get older. I think it is true about brothers who don’t get along with each other will never be friends. This is a quote I got from Mexico and it is true. My dad never got along with his three brothers and that’s why I am trying to get along with them to not have the same issue. I remember when I used to go with them fishing. We would always have a good time with my dad fishing at Santa Monica Beach. It was a great time when we were around ten years old. Now they’re eighteen and seventeen and I am fourteen, so the difference is that they no longer want to do what I want to do.

I always feel sad when they tell me they don’t want to play with me. I wonder sometimes if I’m the only kid that has no time with my brothers, but there’s also more people with the same problem.

DALIA CARMONA

THE BEAUTIFUL SKY THEY WILL NEVER SEE

Dear Demi,

Thank you. First of all, I want to thank you for all that you’ve done. You went through so much. You started to drink and do things to harm yourself to deal with your mental illnesses (bipolar disorder, bulimia, etc.). As a teenager, I’m pretty sure it was really tough to deal with these health problems, especially since you were in the spotlight 24/7. A normal teenager does things, good and bad, but the whole world doesn’t get to see their mistakes. Your teenage years involved having to deal with fame and your busy schedule and everyone criticizing you and watching your every move.

The thing I look up to the most is the fact that you looked for help. You realized that you needed help, but most importantly, you realized you had an issue that wasn’t normal. You went to rehabilitation and became resilient. You adapted to your situation and overcame your problems. You became a better person to yourself. You started to love yourself and appreciate yourself more and I think many of us should do the same. Your resilience helped you get through the worst.

You inspire me with your resiliency. The way you handled your problems and your issues made me realize how important it is to handle them in a positive way. When I was ten years old, my cousin and niece were murdered, which was a huge event that changed my life forever. Even though I hardly saw my cousin and niece, I had a special connection with my six-year-old niece. Back in 2010, I didn’t have a sister, only brothers, so she was my “sister.” We would say we were sisters and we would have “boyfriends” (my boyfriend was Joe Jonas!). The day

of their murder seems like it had happened twenty years ago, but in reality it only happened five years ago. I was just ten years old, my cousin was barely twenty-one, and her daughter was just six. My cousin and niece both stayed home that day because they felt like it. I remember my dad was in the shower when he got a phone call from my uncle with the terrible news. The first thing I did was cry. I cried because I realized that my “sister” was gone.

We all had thought the murder took place in my uncle’s shoe store because who gets murdered like that? But to our surprise, it was in their own home. After finding out, we decided to head out to get more information. I remember going outside and looking up and seeing a beautiful blue sky with a few clouds, and in that moment, it hit me that both of them won’t see that beautiful sky anymore.

After the hour-long drive, we got to “the crime scene” and my uncles and dad went to ask for information. Their street was full of cop cars and LAPD trucks, and the block was closed. The police told us to go to the police station because the rest of my family who lived in the same house as my cousin and niece were getting interrogated. When we got there, the police told us to wait until my family was done with interrogation. I remember waiting and waiting for a long time, past midnight. I remember going out and seeing my family from the other side of the parking lot. The last memory I have from that night was everyone running toward each other and hugging each other while crying. We all came together and even though we were there for a bad reason, I knew we were together. The next day was such a weird and bizarre day because it felt as if the night before was just a dream. For weeks and weeks, my family would get together to talk about it and to try and put the pieces together. We felt broken and eager for an answer, and for the murderer to be found.

For the next three years, I had to deal with my uncle being in jail because he was believed to be “the murderer.” According to the detectives, the case was “a puzzle put together piece-by-piece.”

In 2012, he was proven innocent and was set free.

To make things worse, my dad got arrested. My dad was a taxi driver back in the day and worked every day to bring food to our table. One day, he drove a lady who was being followed by police officers. When they got stopped by the

police, they arrested both the lady and my dad because the lady had drugs in her bag. Two days later, he had to go to court for his case. They declared him innocent and free.

When I first started to learn about resilience, I didn’t consider myself a person with it, but now I don’t think like that. The past five years have taught me that people go through things, some more than others, but you still have to keep on going no matter what because at the end, life goes on, whether you like it or not. The only thing you can do is move on, and if you can’t, look for help. Look for someone or something that will help you move on and get better. Look for something that will improve you positively. From listening to Demi, I realized there are so many positive things in this world that help you, like music. Music can help you with emotions and it can cheer you up. Music can inspire anyone. Demi, you inspire me to be a better person. Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Dalia

ELIZABETH ORDAZ

Dear dogs,

Thanks for making me happy and relaxed when I’m stressed. You comfort me when no one else can. You comfort me when I pet you and you’re on my lap, especially when I stop petting you and you lift my arm so I can continue petting you. Thank you for giving me time to think when I’m under pressure about school. You help me think about what I can do to help myself rather than help someone else out. You guys take the weight off my shoulders when the whole world is weighing me down. I go to you guys because I don’t want to cause anyone in my family to become stressed about me when they have their own problems.

I am a listener. I think everyone needs someone to just be there and listen to you while you rant. Having someone to listen to you helps you take the weight off your shoulders, getting that off your chest. I don’t really talk about my problems because I feel like I’ll make them worry about me and I don’t want that. Like this time when I told my mom how I felt about the drama at home and she stressed over me. Every day she asked me about how I felt but I just wanted someone to listen and support me, and that’s it. She has plenty on her mind already to worry about. I don’t want to be one of them. I don’t want to cause anyone harm of any kind. I need a listener, and you guys are my listeners.

I listen to my sister stress over college and senior year. I listen to my mom worry about her parents’ health and drama. I listen to my dad rush from one job to the other with no breaks. I listen to the chaos surrounding me. I feel like I need

someone to listen to me for a change. And you guys are that someone. Having two listeners are even better. So thank you, Jack and Charlie, for listening.

Your

owner, Elizabeth Ordaz

ETHAN LOPEZ

STEPDAD

Dear Jose Moreno,

You are the person I look up to. You are so resilient because you never gave up on my mom and me. You always believed in me, that I was a good kid, that I could do good things. Basically, you just had hope in me because you weren’t just whatever about me like “I’m done with that kid.” You always tried and helped me with anything. You have transformed my mom’s life and mine by helping us with anything we needed. You have helped us move into a new and good apartment. If my mom could not do things for me like take me to school, you would take me instead so she gets to work on time. I think without you and my mom talking to me about things, I would have been a kid who did whatever and didn’t care. You changed my life in a very positive way. You have even gotten me my first dog, Buddy. That was really awesome because I’ve always wanted a dog and you got me my first one.

Other men that came into my mom’s life treated me like I was nothing. They basically never tried to get to know me. All they mostly did was do what my mom asked them to do, like pick me up from school. One other thing you did was put me in sports which was great because I was an active kid. By putting me in sports like football, baseball, and basketball, you showed that you really care about me because I was never on a team before. The first park I played at was Eagle Rock Park and the team was the Rams, which was for football. You taught me how to do everything better in sports which got me to be one of the best or the best player on the team, like throwing better for baseball and running faster and better routes for football. Honestly, I do not know what I would have

done without you. You showed me how to respect people and have manners. You are just like your dad Chente, my grandpa. Both of you are good guys who put family first.

When I had surgery to take out my appendix, you didn’t go to work for a whole week to be there with me at the hospital. I also do not know what would have happened to my mom if you hadn’t come into her life. She is so happy with you. I also thank your parents, my grandparents, for taking care of me and putting me in their lives. They have taken me to my baseball practices when you could not, they provided me with clothes, and also even get me school supplies. You have helped me be a good kid in school and outside of school. You helped me in a positive way because whenever I did anything bad, you set me straight. You taught me to be a good kid in school by always trying my best. I don’t have to get everything right, I just try the best that I can. Also, you taught me to be a good kid outside of school by helping family and friends set up for parties, help them move furniture if they move houses, and respecting my family. You showed me how to respect my family by saying, “Thank you” for things they give me, or saying, “no thank you” if I do not want anything they’re giving me. The point is that you are resilient and transformative. You have taught me things I will not forget and I hope you keep teaching me things as I grow up to be an adult.

FABIAN MONTES

ODELL BECKHAM JR.

Odell Beckham Jr. has taught me how to believe when others doubt. Odell Beckham Jr. is a wide receiver for the New York Giants. He is an NFL superstar who made one of the most legendary catches in history during his rookie year in 2014. He is the son of Odell Beckham and Heather Van Norman. Odell Sr. was a running back for LSU, and his mother Heather was a track runner for LSU. He was the first round twelfth overall pick for the New York Giants. Being picked in the first round means a lot to a player, showing that they worked hard to get there.

From a young age I have always wanted to be in the NFL and play for the Dallas Cowboys. I also was working hard to get into Arizona State University to play football for them, but then people started destroying my confidence by telling me I wouldn’t make it. I began to slack off in football because I started to believe the people that were telling me these negative comments. Then I started following up on a player that I found very positive and inspiring named Odell Beckham Jr. When I watched his interviews, he would always be so positive and energetic while talking. For example, I enjoyed watching his interview with Michael Strahan. In it he says, “Some people play to prove others wrong; some people play to prove themselves right.” I began to watch his college highlights when he was at LSU. When I found out he was drafted, I was very inspired by him and the tears he shed as he was walking onto the stage and holding his jersey.

I started to take football seriously again. I began working hard and focusing on my goals. Even though people kept trying to put me down, I would keep working hard and ignoring all the antagonism. I still kept following Odell, I watched

interviews, followed him on Twitter to see a piece of his personal life. I began to emulate him as I began to learn more about him. I practiced catching with one hand, I learned the same dance celebrations he does, and I began to try to learn how he plays.

Football always seemed like an interesting sport. I always used to see my uncles arguing about who the best team and players are. For example, my uncles used to bicker about whether the Oakland Raiders or San Francisco 49ers were a better team, or who was a better player, Jerry Rice or Bo Jackson. I would laugh because the argument would never end. It felt like a paradox, but a paradox I was interested in. I enjoyed watching it as a young child, eating chips and cheering for the Dallas Cowboys. I remember watching them play in 2010 against the Detroit Lions, stealing the win thirty-five to nineteen. The win made me feel very excited and curious to see how it would be to play in the NFL. I never really thought I would play the sport because I grew up swimming and enjoyed wrestling. When I hit fourth grade, I realized I wanted to play football as a career. I got my cousin into playing football. I grew up with no father, so my cousin and I taught ourselves how to play football. Since I had no one to teach me, I read books and watched videos to help me learn the rules and fundamentals of football. It was difficult at times, like when I was working on my catching and I kept dropping the ball. I had to teach myself how to juke, catch, and all the fundamentals of playing football. When I was in middle school, I played football but I always practiced on being a quarterback. I always saw myself playing in the NFL as a quarterback.

When I entered high school, I first attended Schurr High School, playing football over there. I realized I wanted to become a wide receiver. I also was a linebacker for the team. We went on to being undefeated and broke the school record of ten wins and zero losses. I also did other sports to work on my physical abilities, such as wrestling to help me lose weight, get stronger, and get more aggressive. Then I transferred to Roosevelt High School to try to impress the coaches. I then began to do well and I earned a spot on Varsity Football as a freshman. I stuck to being only a wide receiver and not focusing on being on defense. In my next three years, I want to accomplish a lot of my goals, such as win CIF for my team, and be First Team All-City for wide receiver. I would also want to receive a scholarship for playing football at a university.

I believe that Odell Beckham Jr. and I have a similar story because we both resisted against people who tried to bring us down. We kept working hard and kept ignoring the antagonism by putting in the extra work and effort. Odell has worked hard to accomplish his goal, and he made his dream into a reality by making it into the NFL. Now it is my turn to keep working hard and accomplish my goal to make it into the NFL and walk on stage as I hear my name being called, with fans cheering as I shed the tears he once did. Odell Beckham Jr. has inspired me to turn my life around for the better.

JOB DURAN

Dear 20-year-old Job,

Yo wassup, I hope we made it by becoming a professional soccer player and the best soccer player in the world. If we didn’t make it, or didn’t make the team, we have to be resilient and not give up. Let’s say if they drop us out of the team, we have to rise up and be better than ever. Never give up, getting back up makes a champion. If we don’t make the team for Roosevelt, we can go and try out for different teams. I really don’t know where we could go. Maybe train with my dad. Then get on a team. Let’s not get scared when we are going to try out. Last time we chickened out and didn’t make it. Also I’m very grateful for our dad. He helped us become a good soccer player. He trained us every day and practiced with us, but I hope we can beat him, ‘cause I still can’t. He is still better than me. He used to make us run twenty laps, do you remember “El Oyo,” the park?

Then we used to be so tired I couldn’t even run twenty, only seven, that’s a long way to go. Then our dad told me, “Just because you see this soccer player has better gear or is acting cocky doesn’t mean he is better than you.” I’ll always remember that quote from my dad. We used to play with our dad. He showed us all the skills we know now. Remember when we tried out in high school, we put effort on my skills so that the Roosevelt team will accept me? Then we will climb and then reach our dream. Until then, we are still training and working hard and still think that our dream will be possible. Who knows, we might be better than Ronaldo or Messi. We only need to practice our skills, our tricks. Dude I’m still trying to do the “around the world” trick. Hit the ball, your leg goes around the ball, and poof they’re around the world. We could balance the

ball on our head.

I hope future me is better than I am now. Ronaldo and Messi have skills, why can’t we? We can do it, let’s not make fear greater than our dream. That’s what we don’t want to do. Let’s make our dad proud.Well Job, I hope this letter will help us or might give us some motivation and still think that is possible. Let’s make people remember us.

Sincerely,

Job Duran

JOSEFA ROJAS

MOM’S SACRIFICE FOR ME

Dear Mom,

When you were eighteen, you did the bravest thing I could imagine you would do. I admire you and look up to you because you’ve been through hard times and you always care about me. You would go through struggles as a parent but you still kept trying. For example, when you didn’t know how to speak English or understand it at age eighteen when you came to the US from Mexico so I could get set up. You wanted to understand it so you could help me with my homework and check it so I could get a good grade. You would go through all of that so I could get an education and have a better life than you.

You want the best for me so I could not struggle like you did when you were little. You didn’t get to finish school because of money problems. Your parents didn’t have enough money for so you could finish school and I’m lucky because I get to go to school for free. The education here is free. You want me to have a better future than you, you want me to be someone in life. You want me to go to college and have a job and to not depend on others and to be successful.

Even though I would make you mad or give you hard times and argue back, you are still there for me and love me. I know I’m supposed to help you out because you have a lot of chores. For example, you tell me to take care of my little brothers but sometimes I don’t because they start crying and they get me frustrated. You’ve been oppressed because you left your country of Mexico and came to the US so your kids could have a better life and get the education we need. You changed your life for us. You came to the US so we could go to college and have an education. I imagine myself in four years in college and I will make you proud.

MILAGROS GONZALEZ

I AM NOT WHO YOU THINK I AM

I am not who you think I am. Some people are good at being themselves. They don’t care that people judge them, and they don’t depend on other people’s opinions. Back in seventh grade, I couldn’t do that. I remember it was the beginning of the school year, no one know each other or they were barely getting to know each other. I was walking to my new math class and I remember this girl named Julia looked at me and gave me this intense eye contact but I ignored that look she gave me. She was talking to the girl next to her and they were looking at me, so I approached them and asked if there was a reason they looked at me in that critical way. Julia said, “No you just look slutty, that’s it.” I asked how, and she pointed to my shirt. I thought to myself that just by your appearance you can be judged.

That day passed and the next day I saw her in the same class, but this time I had someone to talk to. Her name was Veronica and she noticed that Julia was looking at me so she asked me what was going on, and I said she told me I look “slutty.” Veronica told me not to worry about it, that Julia says that to everyone who has what she does not. I didn’t understand and Veronica explained that Julia gets mad or jealous. I told Veronica, “She feels insecure so she wants to make someone else insecure.”

A lot of people don’t care what people think about them and that’s good. I wish I could be like that. When all that happened, I felt insecure about myself. I started doubting myself and my body. Veronica told me not worry about what Julia said because that’s what she wants, to make people doubt themselves. The whole day, I thought of what Veronica told me and it’s true. I started to tell

myself that I am beautiful while looking in the mirror and it worked, little by little. I felt beautiful sometimes but that wasn’t good enough because half of the time I felt beautiful and the other half I didn’t. What I try to do is smile more and be happy with who I am.

To some people, you might seem beautiful and to some you might not. Don’t let people bring you down because if you do, you will start feeling insecure and that isn’t a good feeling. Don’t let your beauty determine whether you “fit in” or not. What I mean by that is that nowadays, people will let you be with them only if you are beautiful or you have a nice body. Don’t let them use you in that way. In my opinion, the best way you can feel beautiful is to think it to feel it. I am resilient because I dress the way I want and don’t let them bring me down. I became confident about myself, and I am not the person I used to be.

SOPHIA ANDERSON

PUSH IT OUT OF THE WAY

I want my children to grow up in a safe and welcoming place. If I ever have children, I wouldn’t want them in a community where there are gangs, violence, etc. I grew up in Hawaiian Gardens. I’ve had some bad times. Once, or a couple of times when I was little, there were drive-bys at my house. There were always cops everywhere. The reason for the cops was because near my house there were a lot of cholos. This affected me because I was really small and I would get scared of the cops and the shootings. I didn’t want there to be anymore. I learned not to be out late. I am gonna be resilient when it comes to this stuff because now I know what not to do. I didn’t have any choice so I just had to stay inside. Now I live in Boyle Heights because I moved with my sister when my grandma died. She was the one who raised me. She was funny and very caring. When my grandma died, I felt depressed. I went to counseling but it didn’t help me because I don’t like talking to people.

My grandma was like my mom because my mom was really never there to take care of me like a mom. My grandma was there and I talked to her about things. My grandma was the one who took me to school, the doctor, the dentist, and stuff like that. To me, it seemed fine the way it was. Since I was born, I lived with my grandma because my mom wasn’t really capable of taking care of me. This is why our bond always seemed fine. I’m not mad at her, and I’m glad that she is getting help now. I know she is my mom and I’m fine with the situations that she had. I understand her.

I want to be a nicer person, to be nice to my teachers, and I want to be better in school so I can change my life and get over what happened to me so that in

the future my kids will have a better life and grow up in a good place. That’s if I ever have kids. Now I live with my sister but she is young, like twenty-one, and has two kids so it was hard for her to take me and my little sister in. But she she is very loving. Now I have what I need, I feel safer, I get the attention I need. Now I need time to stay on track. I need to pick up my little sister, and when she has her games, I take her. I only sort of do well in school because some classes are hard. I worry about my laziness getting in the way. I feel bad when I don’t do well in school.

I am strong because I went through all that gang violence stuff. I don’t give up because I don’t want what happened to me as a kid to happen to my kids in the future. Also I got back up from what happened to me to push it out of the way. I feel I have to do better. When my phone was taken away from me, I felt I did better. I think I should do that more often.

I think I’ll improve by trusting people. I visualize that in the future, that if I was a nicer person, that I will also become a stronger person. I want to be stronger by handling my problems better. Having a new mindset will make me a better person later on if I really work on it.

ODALIS TORRES

Dear United States,

I would love to tell you how oppressive and unfair you are. You say you want the best for everyone, yet you don’t let that happen. You discriminate against people of color and undocumented people. You give more rights to white people than any other race in this world. We are all the same, we are all human, we all want to work and have a better life, but you and the system that creates white privilege don’t make it seem that way. You say black people are the most dangerous people, and though that’s not true, you have made it seem that way. People of color do everything in their power to be someone in life but you take most of their privileges away. This really gets me mad because it should not be this way. We should all have the same rights. It’s like we are being discriminated against. This affects a lot of people. It affects us because many of our goals are not achieved not because we don’t want to have success, but because we can’t get it.

My family members are hard-working people, and they try real hard to to get past a day. They are very smart but because some of them are undocumented, they can’t better themselves in their jobs. My family members drive very calmly like any other person, they follow the laws more precisely, and they can’t get a license because they are undocumented. Now yeah, they can get a license but not one like everyone else. It’s a marked one, so they can know they are undocumented people. That’s not fair. Why can’t we all have the same ones? We are all human. Also they can’t vote, they don’t have rights. Not so long ago, one of my family members got injured and they went to the hospital but they didn’t

treat him just because he didn’t have medical insurance. That’s one of the privileges they don’t have.

Another thing is I would love to see the world. I like to travel and go places with my family but I cannot travel because they can’t leave or else they are not coming back. It really does suck having many privileges taken away from you. Not only do I feel this but my family feels the oppression. “No puedo viajar, no tengo servicio de salud, no puedo manejar libremente, no tengo documentos legales, no puedo trabajar libremente, nosotros somos discriminados por el color de la piel, por ser Latinos, por no haber nacido aquí, por hablar español.”

You see how oppressive you are? You are so unfair to people of color. You should not give anyone more privileges than others. I wish I had the power to change this unjust world to a much better place. I wish we would all get treated the same. I demand for you to change all the cruel crimes that you are letting pass as if it’s all right, and for you to give us all equal rights. I want all this oppression, this racism, this discrimination to all go away. All of this makes me see the world as such a different place. It’s so scary to be out. I never know when a police officer can just stop me or anyone or when it will be my last day here on Earth. I have so many fears. One huge fear I have is when we are driving and a cop is around us, my heart sinks into my stomach and I feel like I can’t breathe because I fear that they will stop us and take us away or take the car away or take my family to jail anything goes through my mind and it’s so scary. They say you should feel much safer when police officers are around. For me, I feel the total opposite of that. I can’t seem to feel safe around them. All of this that’s happening is saying to me that it doesn’t matter to you, that we don’t matter to you. We are just supplying money for you and that’s it. You don’t care what can happen to us. I know I’m not the only one feeling this. It doesn’t only happen to me, it happens to many people and it’s cruel. I wish we could all just be the same because yeah we may look different, we may act different, we may come from different places, but we are all human!

You know the way you treat white people is very different from the way you treat African-Americans. For example, look at what happened to Eric Garner. Officer Pantaleo removed his arms from Garner’s neck. He pushed Garner’s head into the ground while four officers moved to restrain Garner, who, according to the LA Times, repeated “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe” eleven times

while lying face down on the sidewalk. Just because cops thought he was selling loose cigarettes outside of a liquor store does not give them the right to treat him that way. The police officers killed a man for a couple of bucks, for money that someone paid for already. I believe this happened because he is African-American. The police officers, after having Eric in a headlock (which by the way is illegal) did not help him. They didn’t perform CPR. They let him die, they left him lying face down on the floor. The officers are not charged for any of this, they are protected by the “United States.” They commit these bad crimes and you let them go like nothing ever happened. Are you starting to see how abusive you are? Are you starting to see how “With liberty and justice for all” does not apply to all of us? It does not stop there, though we want it to. The unfairness keeps going.

I just want to help the people that you are not helping out. I want to walk up to them, give them a piece of paper and pencil and just tell them to write their story. To write how they imagine their life would be. To explain what’s preventing them from accomplishing those dreams they have. I want to help people understand their oppression through using writing as resilience, reimagination by creating a non-profit like Homeboy Industries, but not only helping gang members but helping anyone who needs help. The way I will manage do this is by graduating from high school and becoming an activist. I will take action.

Sincerely,

Odalis Torres

MISAEL DURAN

STRONGER THAN EVER

Resilience is the term given to a person’s ability to cope with stressful issues such as family conflicts, health issues, failing at school, drug and alcohol misuse, or the death of someone close. It means that whatever bad times you go through, you can always bounce back again and be yourself. Resilient people are able to rebuild their lives even after devastating tragedies.

Someone that I believe is resilient is my sister because at a young age, she had to deal with health issues and to this day, she still is. My sister is known as a compassionate person you go to if you are having a bad day and she does not let anything discourage her. She has been in and out of hospitals for a few years now because of surgeries. I’ve seen her cry and yell because of the pain she was going through. She didn’t get to enjoy her last year of high school because she had to be in bed recovering. She didn’t get to participate in her senior activities or spend time with her friends. Luckily, she did get to attend prom with her boyfriend even though she wasn’t fully recovered. She made sure that wasn’t going to be something she was going to miss out on even though she wasn’t going to be able to dance. Despite all the pain she goes through and missing out on her teenage years, not being able to go out and have a good time, she never complains. She never blames anyone for her health issues or never asks, “Why me?” She learns to accept what she’s going through because she says that there are people who have it worse. Going through this rough time helped her gain more self-awareness and understanding for others. When she feels like giving up, she finds it most helpful to talk to someone like her boyfriend or best friend. When they aren’t around, she listens to music really loud and sings. This gets her in a good mood. Having to live through this, she is resilient and knows

what to say and how to comfort others. She makes me want to be a better person. She has taught me a lot and will continue to be my inspiration in life.

My cousin Joseph is another person that I know who was also resilient. Unfortunately, he passed away a few months ago. His death left my family and me devastated. It’s been difficult for us to accept that he is gone. Since he was a little boy, Joseph was going through depression. There were days when all he wanted to do was be locked in his room and do nothing. He wouldn’t communicate with his friends or family. This continued until his teenage years. He felt lonely and lost. He felt like he wasn’t good enough for people. He then started doing drugs because it was the only way he felt good. But with the support of his family, he was able to manage his depression. His family helped him by saying the right words and actions and making him feel safe. They made him feel secure by showing him that he was wanted and loved. He was involved in school activities to keep himself busy. He would play sports, like basketball, football, and water polo. What I learned from him was to not give up and do the things I enjoy the most. He left a great impact on my life and he will always be a brother figure.

I have been through some tough times too. When I feel like giving up, I think about my sister Wendy, my cousin Joseph, and my family. We have had a lot of ups and downs as a family but it has made us closer in the long run. They are a reminder that it will get better. They taught me to stay positive, and to just be myself. My family tells me to be hard-working like my sister Wendy and my cousin Joseph. They tell me to do the best I can no matter what. When I’m having problems, I do the things I enjoy, I play with my dog Fetch, I swim, and skate by myself or with my friends. I spend time with friends and do things to keep me busy. I think about my family. My family doesn’t like seeing me down; they want me to be happy and strong. I have deep, long conversations with my dad. He makes me laugh so hard when I’m with him. I also listen to music. It’s my main distraction when I feel down. A new habit I’m learning is playing the guitar.

ARMANDO ROMO

WITHOUT YOU I WOULDN’T BE

Dear Older Brother Jr,

Resiliency plays a big role in you because you didn’t give up on baseball even if you would throw up when you’d work hard. By not giving up, that shows everyone that you have pride and that you are a survivor. You’re also resilient because you went to college to play baseball but you didn’t have grades so you had to work hard in order to play and you got them up somehow. When you were struggling in school, you had to cope with others to bring your grades up. All that hard work resulted in you getting scouted to Texas but something went wrong with your transcripts and you couldn’t play so you came back. You are still playing for other teams here, and on different days too, and that’s saying you never gave up on something. That’s what I like about you. You never give up and I can bug you for helping my team out with pitching. By teaching my team how to pitch better, you are giving them hope. Also by helping us, you are giving us a mentality to help out others, smaller or bigger. You are still going to school while getting paid for playing baseball. All of this motivates me to want to go to college, to play baseball just like you. Hearing what you went through makes me want to push myself harder in practices and games. Although I know it’s going to be hard, it makes me believe I can overcome the obstacles that will come.

Without you, I wouldn’t be playing baseball or wouldn’t know how to be a mentor to little kids or people my age. You set an example for me to be someone to help out little kids at Pecan Park and even at school. For you to do this when your dad died when you were little is inspiring because you only had mom for support. And Priscilla too, but she had her own things like softball, volleyball,

and basketball so she was active all year and that’s inspiring because you were both going through that. How you guys bounced back from all that is inspiring because you did all this without that much support and you had no help with school. All of this is the reason why you’re my idol and hero. You have taught me so many things from sports to school, to at home or on the streets.

What I want now is to show you that I can use what you taught me to get myself far. Last inning, I’m on the mound, the count is three-and-two. I step, I hear everyone chanting my name, I see everyone wearing the jersey with our family number, fifteen. I set up again and before I pitch, an image pops up in my head. I throw the curveball that you taught me. I close my eyes and I hear the ball go into the golden catcher’s glove and hear, “Strike three, you’re out!” And everyone picks me up and they are telling me, “We won championship because of you!” and I tell them I did it for my brother Jr.

With love, Your Little Big Brother Mando

BERNICE GONZALEZ

MOM, I REMEMBER

Dear Mom,

You have inspired me so much in life. You have been put through so much. I remember when we would go home from my grandma’s house and my dad would make you cry. I remember being in the backseat with my older brother. We would be looking out the windows or hearing music as the arguments were going on. He made you cry not because of sadness, but out of fury. At those moments, I didn’t know whether to stay quiet or say something. You would tell me and Chris to cover our eyes or go hide somewhere. You would shield us from your pain.

At that age, you don’t really know what’s going on. I mean you might have an idea, but not really. I was always scared. As the time passed and I got older, I realized that all that time you were protecting us. You always found a way to keep your children a first priority. You kept us happy at all times. I honestly wouldn’t have guessed you and my dad were having problems because you took us to theme parks and kept us distracted. We went to Disneyland, Legoland, and other fun places. At those times, I was the happiest girl ever because I thought we were a “picture perfect” family. I thought nothing was wrong because I saw you hug and give little kisses here and there. I saw you and my dad getting along like there were no fights.

You have transformed my life. You have made me see that you’re a strong woman by doing so much for me when you were going through those tough times. I hope to be as strong as you when I grow up. You have made me realize that

when life gives you obstacles, don’t give up, and strive to do better. Be a problem solver like you mom. You are honestly the most resilient person I know.

Love, Bernice

LEONARDO NAVA

BROTHERLY LOVE

A person I want to make really proud is my older brother. The reason I want to make him proud is because he helps me out in baseball. It’s important that he helps me because I want to get better at the game, and for me to do that, he has to help me. This shows that he cares about me because when he helps me, he gives me motivation and he wants me to go to better places in the future. He helps me in hitting by showing me how to read the pitches. He shows me batting stances I can use to try to find the stance I feel comfortable in. Another way he helps is in defense by hitting ground balls and telling me to stay down so the ball doesn’t get past me and I’m able to make the play. He and I have been playing this game from a young age and we both show passion for this game. When I was nine or ten, he was in high school and he played baseball. And I tried to be like him by playing the same position, which was third base.

I always tried to be perfect at the game until one day, I learned that in baseball nobody can be perfect by watching a baseball game. I saw a player make an error and that’s when I realized that in baseball, nobody is perfect. He also showed me resiliency by telling me to keep trying until you get the job done. For example, he started to show me when I messed up in a game that I would get mad and he could see that. So after the game, he told me, “Don’t get mad if you mess up. In your mind, just say ‘I’ll make the play next time.’”

There were times it could be hard to practice at the parks because the community I live in can be loud and messy. In the parks where my brother and I practice, there can be gangs and they can be messy. There’s trash on the floor and tagging on the wall, but when we practice, we just focus on practicing and getting

better at baseball. My brother also went through these experiences. I have it easier because I have him. This is why he can be a role model to me. He also told me what to expect when I went to high school baseball.

My brother and I are Dodgers fans, and when we go see them on TV or at Dodger Stadium, sometimes I ask him questions or he asks me questions about what happened in the play. This helps me out because when the situation we’re talking about comes to me, I will know what to do because my brother and I discussed it. This is why I really want to make him proud by going to a university and playing baseball on the team. This will make him happy because all the things he and I did worked out because I’d be accepted into a good university.

I want to go to LSU because they have a good baseball program and I really like that school. For me to get there, I have to work really hard in baseball by staying in shape and practicing the game in general. Not only in baseball but also in school. I need to have good grades in high school for me to get into a good university. Another university that has my interest is UCLA because, again, they also have a good baseball program, but the same as with LSU, I need to have good grades.

Also my whole family would be happy because nobody in my family has gone to a university and I’m trying to be the first. This is very important because I want to go to college and I want to attend a university. A community college isn’t bad but I want to go to a university preferably. This is my number one goal I have, but for me to get there, I have to start now. And maybe there’s a chance to play for the Dodgers. I’ve been to a lot of games but I have always wanted to play on that field. My brother has had a chance to play in the stadium and I got to see him, and it was awesome to see my older brother play at Dodger Stadium. I see him as a cool brother because he played at Dodger Stadium and that was one of his dreams. That is one of my dreams as well because I love the Dodgers and I want to play third base at the stadium. So thanks to him, I improved a lot and I think with the skills I have, I can go to better places in the future.

KAREN MACIAS

A “PERFECT” FAMILY

Dear Mom,

In a perfect world, we wouldn’t fight, you would have all the support you needed to raise me and Tiffany, you wouldn’t be so stressed all the time, you wouldn’t be paying bills and rent on your own, and everything would just go and be perfect. But there is no such thing as a “perfect” family. Even though we have our ups and downs, I’m so grateful for you. I’m so grateful that I have a mom that keeps a smile on her face through whatever comes her way, good or bad. Grateful for all the lessons you have taught me about right from wrong, how to respect myself and others, that I don’t need a boy to be happy, and how you still continue to teach me the ways of life. I’m truly grateful for everything. Even though I don’t show it that often, I am. I try my best to help out around the house. I would help you pay your bills and rent but it’s hard because I don’t have a job yet. I know that since you have two teens that are expensive, you have to pay for more things. But I’ll try my best to help you with anything you need help with. I know it was and still is hard to raise two girls, especially since you don’t like to ask for help. You never want to ask for help because you say that you don’t need it. Like for my quinceñera, yes you did get help but was it because you asked? No. You organized everything on your own, and I know it was hard. But you said it was worth the stress because I had fun and enjoyed it. I bet that there was a day that you thought you just wouldn’t be able to raise us. I know that it’s gonna be tough. Even if you were scared, you never showed it. You want to be the strong one, and I’ve never seen you cry. Would you ever think that you wouldn’t be able to raise Tiffany and me? Since you don’t like to ask for help, I bet people told you that if you ever needed help, they would be there for you

and us. You need to know that I’m trying my best to help around the house and help you with as many things as I can, like not getting you mad or annoyed, cooking when you don’t want to, and cleaning up after myself. But thank you for raising us the best way you can.

Love, Karen

MARIA CISNEROS

HEART OF THE FAMILY

Many people I know look up to famous celebrities or historical figures, but for me, the person who guided me through thick and thin has to be my grandmother. My grandmother’s name was Cecilia Garcia and she passed on December 5, 2010. I personally think my grandmother was very beautiful. Her hair reminded me of shimmery strands of silver, always tucked neatly into a bun. Her skin was in the shade of a warm brown, and her eyes an even warmer brown. Her smile was mesmerizing. Being able to see it brought me joy and happiness. Her personality was also amazing. She always knew what to say and when to say it. Instead of getting mad at something my sisters and I did, she would laugh with us. Whenever anyone dared to argue with her, she put them in their place. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself. If she had something to say, she made sure she said it.

I remember while we lived at our old house, we had a neighbor. She was around the same age as my grandmother, but she always seemed to be grumpy and annoyed most of the time. She always wore a scowl on her face, and complained about almost everything. Being kids, my sister and I played outside on the front yard, always running back and forth. A few times, we would knock over some of our neighbor’s plants. We, however, didn’t care much. One day, the neighbor got upset and complained to my grandmother. Little did she know, our grandmother would take our side. The neighbor told her that we were always messing with her things, and to do something about it. Well, my grandmother told her to leave us alone because we were just kids. My grandmother had no intention in scolding us! She always had our back, and to me, she was the coolest woman I knew.

My reason for looking up to my grandmother of all people was because despite her age, she never used it as an excuse to neglect my sisters and me. My mom went to work at eight in the morning, returning around six in the afternoon, and my dad was living elsewhere at the time, so my grandmother took charge of the house and took care of most of the housework. She fed my sisters and me every day and tucked us into bed every night. My grandmother was fragile despite her strong personality. She took a handful of medication daily that often caused more symptoms than the ones she was trying to cure. However, she would never let anyone talk down to her and even treated my sisters and me as if she were the one who brought us onto this earth. To this day, I wish she were still here, to be able to see her beautiful laughing face. She was the heart of the family, the one who kept the rest of us beating and alive. Whenever my mother couldn’t make it to one of my parent conferences, who took her place? My grandmother. Who was the one who fed my mom a hot meal after she came back from work exhausted? My grandmother. My grandmother did a lot of things for my family that sometimes we forgot to be thankful for. We got used to it and considered it as something normal. She didn’t have to do all the things she did; she chose to do them. For that I am most grateful.

As you know, my grandma always had a busy schedule but she always made time for God. I remember every Sunday, my grandmother would make us go to church. The thought of church didn’t really stand out to me but I went anyway. She would wear her lovely Sunday clothes. A dressy blouse and her open-toed shoes. She never wore perfume yet she smelled of sweet flowers. She made church a place of warmth and love. Now when I go, it doesn’t feel the same. It’s missing the most important piece, her. I don’t go to church, not because I dislike God, but because to me, I would prefer being in his house with my grandmother at my side.

My grandmother continued to have a busy schedule and lived everyday life as best as she could. But suddenly, something about her drastically changed. She fell ill and I saw the look on her face as she revealed her true colors. She was hurting inside. It absolutely scared me. It was then that I realized even heroes are capable of breaking down. The fact that she took care of my sisters and me even when she was fighting an inner battle just proves that she was a strong and independent woman. She put aside her own troubles to tend to ours. She had been living a resilient life for so long and we didn’t even know.

The last time I ever got to talk to her was on the phone. If I had known those would be our last shared words, I would have told her so much more than just asking how she was doing or the simple “Bye, grandma.” I was only ten at the time, so I know I mustn’t be too hard on myself, but I wish I had the chance to properly say my goodbyes. Her passing was a surprise to us all. Like a hurricane invading our precious little world. I know this fate is what awaits us all, but having it happen to the person I love, a person who was like a mother—no, much more than a mother—will definitely leave a mark on my heart. Only this time, when I look back to this mark, I won’t think of her body lying still in a coffin box, but of her beautiful face smiling at me, our laughs, our hugs, and our memories, because I know she would much rather want to be remembered that way. Even though she is no longer here, I know for a fact she is watching over me from up above. Then when it is my turn to depart from this earth, I know she will greet me with welcoming arms. For all the years she raised me, loved me, and nurtured me, I am eternally and sincerely grateful. Nothing I can do can possibly repay her kindness which was too great. No one I know can possibly surpass her. My grandmother might not have been some famous rapper with inspiring lyrics, or some historical figure with millions of followers, but she was herself. A strong and independant woman that pushed me to be greatest I can be! I will forever love this hero of a woman with the deepest parts of my heart and never once will I forget her.

“I love you, Grandma.”

ELYSIA FUENTES

Behind your shadow, I used to fall It was a tough battle, In which I felt so small. My feelings toward you you might think are dumb. Sad, upset, confused, angry, hurt, and numb. Yes you did call every once in a while, but an ocean of tears used to hide behind this smile. Tormented, trapped, and torn, my heart says I feel.

A few years after I was born my heart has started to heal. Time heals everything, I think that’s true, But I know something time did not do. Time has been flying for a long while.

I’m used to trying to show a real smile. One thing that hurt

and I don’t know why, We moved far away, and it made me cry. You broke up with my dad We moved to LA Away to a less quiet place. Somewhere more fast-paced. Here in LA it’s a bit louder This made me a little bit stouter.

When I thought about this, to myself I lied I’ve gotten over you, that I would not try. You were a mother, a mother of two, Me and my brother We hardly know you. Every night I thought of how my life could’ve been, tears ran down my face, and my world started to spin.

Those past years Were really hard. For the rest of my life I’ll be okay but scarred. It took me time to realize what you did to me. Tears in my eyes, and you’re clueless it seems. I tried to be brave, but it really hurt. You could’ve stayed, instead of making it worse. I want you to know this, it’s sad but it’s true.

You ruined me, you made me cry, and to laugh I tried

The area in which I live

Plays a huge role in my life

It’s where I grew up right Here in Boyle Heights. I used to be concerned

About the gunshots in the night

It’s become almost normal now

And I don’t know why.

I’ve been immune to pain

Ever since you said goodbye. If you were to live here

Which I know cannot be

You’ll see why there was Always that fear in me.

Now I am better

Now I’m doing fine

I could try to forget you

But you’ll always be on my mind. There is someone here now

Someone taking your place

But whenever I think of you

My heart starts to race. I need to move on

You were never here

Me living where I was, I was filled with fear. The fear is replaced now

By hope for better years. I want to get out

Of this low-income community

Perhaps I’ll get a little more opportunity. Or get out of all this disunity.

Maybe if I had a mother

To help through the tough times I wouldn’t be sitting here Coming up with these rhymes.

ANGELA RODRIGUEZ

EVERY

QUEEN

STRUGGLES:

MOTHERS ARE A LOT BUT THERE IS ONLY ONE THAT WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

I never thought life would be so difficult at times. My mother moved from Honduras to here when she was twenty-four years old. When she first came, it was so hard for her to get a home. She had to save money to rent a house, save money for the bus and food, save money for my brother and grandma. She was lost and didn’t know what to do. Until one day, she found a job in a restaurant. Her boss didn’t want to give her the job but my mother begged for it. Right there in that moment, her boss realized that maybe a tryout wouldn’t be bad. She saw that my mother kept doing well so she started showing her about life in Los Angeles. Slowly, she started showing her more about the city. She also taught her how to drive because having a car in this country is a necessity.

A couple of years after, my mother lost my grandmother because of breast cancer. She wouldn’t sleep a lot or even eat. She would cry every day and sometimes she would wake up in the middle of the night, go to the backyard, lie down in the grass and just cry and look up at the moon and stars. One night, my little sister who was just six years old told her some sweet stuff. My little sister told her, “Mommy, I know everything is going down the drain for you right now but my sister and I need you too. She is your mother and you’re our mother. I know that anyone would do anything for their mother but you gotta show her that you are brave and she will be happy for you. No one likes seeing princesses crying.” That instant, my mother realized that she had no choice other than to move on.

She has gone through some difficult times that it just really amazes me that she is still here, standing up for herself, feeling proud. Every morning, she wakes

up with a smile on her face, knowing and thanking God for giving her another day to live, and can face any struggle. But deep down in her heart, she feels dropped-dead because the only person who had her back and loved her is now gone. She dedicates everything to my siblings and me. She works hard every day, at home and at her job, making sure we live in a clean house with homemade food and working in a restaurant on weekends. Sometimes I don’t realize how selfish I am towards her. For instance, sometimes we go shopping and she likes a shirt or something, but she doesn’t buy it because I’m always telling her, “Oh I like this or that,” and at the end she doesn’t buy anything. All I know is that my mother is the only one I have and no one can take her place. She is my queen and I love her so much. And I look up to her so much.

CYNTHIA MORENO

TO MY GRANDPA AND MY DAD

To my grandpa and my dad, there’s nothing more in the world that I want more than to have you both by my side. You both never were able to see eye-to-eye but at the end of it all, you both were the most important men in my life. God decided it was time to take another angel so he took you, Tata. Dad he’s taking you piece-by-piece and I can’t lose you. I have to be successful and be able to prove to you that I made someone of myself. I know I haven’t been the best daughter but look at me. I’m the only one of your three little girls graduating and changing my future for my better. No disrespect to my sisters because I love all three of you, but please to the other two who have different parents, let them be true to you and show you the love that no one else will ever be able to provide. For God’s sake, open your eyes ‘cause I have mine wide open. I’ve unfortunately been exposed to what people like to call “the real world.” People age and die but I don’t want to live in a world where everyone goes before me.

Tata, it was your birthday a few months ago and I couldn’t even cry because deep inside my heart, it feels like I want to believe that you’re still alive. I love you both, no one will ever compare to the love, hope, and faith you both gave me as a little girl. I carry both of your pride and I always will. To my grandpa and my dad, you’ll always have my heart and dedication, everything I do is for both of you and that will never change. I love you guys.

R.I.P.

Pablo Trujillo ( The O.G.)

02/19/1950 - 06/19/2014

EFRAIN GONZALEZ

When I fail at something, I try it all over again. For example, when I miss a shot in basketball, I try and try again until I get it done, like one time in one of my basketball games at the Salesian Boys’ and Girls’ Club. The Boys’ and Girls’ Club smells pretty clean but the gym floor can be really dusty sometimes. There weren’t a lot of people in the bleachers but there were people. There was a time when I was not able to make a shot before our game. We started with our warm-ups and I was doing fine. We watched the other team warm up as well. So when the warm- ups were over, the coach called us and he had his white board, making plays for us. I looked over to see the other team and their jerseys had Salesian on them and then I realized we were playing against Salesian. I then had a flashback to how all this started.

It started when I was born here. Three months after I was born, we left to Mexico because my great-grandpa had passed away. After all this happened, we stayed for three or four years. When I turned five, I attended kindergarten at Second Street. The years passed and when I was nine, I found out about a big gym down the street from my house and it looked really big and clean. I wanted to try out a sport and I was introduced to basketball by my friend. I then signed up for a league. The gym was called the Hollenbeck Youth Center. The team that I joined was The Swoosh League. I played for that league and soon it had ended and I stopped with basketball.

Four years passed by and I wanted to play basketball again so when I was thirteen, I got a basketball court for my birthday and just started practicing because I knew I was going to try out for the Roosevelt basketball team. So when time

passed, I kept practicing and I got really good at my shot but not so good at my dribbling. In the summer, I heard there were tryouts so I went and saw a couple of my friends there. I said what’s up to all my friends and we started with all the drills, and when tryouts were over they told us right away we were all on the team.

So this is the story of how I got to where I am—how it all began. I then realized we were in a game and we were playing Salesian. When the game started, I was in, and in the beginning of the game, my shots were off and I wasn’t doing so well, so after a bit of time in, I was subbed out. When I was sitting on the bench I thought to myself that if I kept trying and shooting correctly, maybe I would do better in the game. So the coach decided to put me back in the game. Time went by in the game. I then got the ball and shot it and made it. A while after I had it again and kept shooting and was doing better at my shot. That game I eventually ended up with eighteen points but unfortunately we lost that game. Ever since that day, I’ve told myself to finish what I start and never give up on anything.

BRENDA IBANEZ

PERFECTION TAKES TIME

It takes time to realize who you are and will be. If you don’t know who you are, trust me you’ll find out very soon. A friend of mine never stopped thinking about her hopes and dreams. She always tried to figure out who she’d be until she found out that she doesn’t have to be like any other girl in the world. She felt as if it was time to mature and get ready to take the challenge and graduate from high school. So if she can do it, you can too. Never give up, and push yourself to the limit. Always remember where you came from, never forget the struggles you overcame. You will be the only obstacle to your goals, so just remember you have to keep yourself from getting in the way. Just remember you have yourself; be the rock for your hopes and dreams.

“Don’t stop believin’, hold on to that feelin’ “ - Journey

Follow your dreams and stay true to what you feel when you are dream about these certain things and just believe that you will succeed. No one can take that away from you. Only you can be an obstacle for yourself, and in order to stop that, you just have to believe.

Ignore criticism and be you. James Dean said, “Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” Dream big no matter what but you only have now to be you, to dream of the impossible and create something new with your dream. Also never take your life for granted because you can become a person who can change things and turn things around.

“The gratification comes in the doing, not in the results.” - James Dean.

You shouldn’t do a good thing just to be a god for others, you should do something because it’s the right thing, not for fame. The great things can impact uniting a community or just making us stronger.

“If a man can bridge the gap between life and death, if he can live on after he’s dead, then maybe he was a great man.” -James Dean

We care enough to care more about a change than worry about us having a consequence. We can achieve but we will live on forever through our change. You can impact more lives other than yours or your community. It’s not just about you or me but about all of us! Don’t forget you only have yourself to lift you up, and you can change things one step at a time.

Never stop finding that person inside who will change the world and your perspective in life. Also keep dreaming until your dreams come true. Make them happen. Don’t feel as if the world doesn’t need you because you know that just like the earth changes, you can change too. Just don’t do things you will regret, do things that will make a mark. Do them in a way that relates to yourself. By the way, never forget to find that true mastermind that will make your dreams happen, and if you need motivation, just listen to some music, look at inspirational quotes, and you might want to take an Ethnics Studies class to just open your eyes and find yourself. By taking this class, it will show you the truth behind things that were not true, such as Columbus being a hero, which is not true because he made the native people suffer so much, and that is the truth. Just remember, no one finds themselves quickly, perfection takes time when you are finding yourself, and when you have it you’ll know because you are staying true to yourself and you don’t have to be up to others’ standards; you just need to be careful and not let that get to your head because you are perfect already!

PERLA MENDOZA

I’M JUST HAPPY!

I am the happiest when I am around my mother. I am the happiest when I remember about the little kids I used to work with the whole day. I am the happiest when I shower my dog and she looks as white as a snowball. I am the happiest when I accomplish walking straight, looking like a mannequin, and walking in almost ten-inch heels. I am the happiest when I am the happiest. I am the happiest when I get my paychecks every Friday and pay the bills I have to pay. It makes me feel responsible. I am the happiest when it’s hot and then all of a sudden I feel cold air going through my body. I am the happiest when my parents are proud of me. I am the happiest when I’m just happy.

JENNIFER TINOCO

UNTITLED

It’s really amazing what people think of me! Confident, happy, and outgoing wow It feels really good! But people really don’t know what you feel on the inside and once I look sad or annoyed, they always say, “What’s wrong? You’re always smiling.” People always see me as the girl that is always hyper. I always have energy, but deep deep inside I feel lonely, left out. All I think about at home are things that get me really emotional because of all the bad things that have happened between my family. It’s scary because you never want the same bad situation to happen ever again. Who would ever want that? It’s crazy because it’s like an earthquake, you never know when it’s expected so it just happens randomly! And earthquakes and family problems are my fears! When people have problems with their families they sometimes give up on happiness! In reality, I think happiness is a gift. I love smiling and making people laugh. I never want to show people that I’m broken inside, but I still manage to keep a big smile on my face. I’m proud of myself. I thank my sister so much because she’s the one who made me realize the reality and I thought to myself, “I’m not going to mess up and I have to keep myself 100 percent,” so I did.

JAZMIN CAMPOS

Dear Mom,

You are very beautiful in every way. You’ve gone through so much for all of your children. Most of the time you’ve been a mom and dad for most of your kids. You’re very strong to be dealing with all that you’ve been through. I love how you work all day and then come out and pick up Angie and Esteban and still come home and clean and make food. You do almost everything by yourself. You have so much patience to deal with me and Matthew. Especially Matthew, he’s hardly even helping you and you still manage to love us. You’re the best mom anyone can ever have. If I were you, I would have been in a mental hospital by now. You always find a way to make us happy even when you’re at your worst. Your soul and personality are beautiful. It is not always about fashion and name brands. You think if I’m better then the world will be better.

I always try to make you happy because I know deep down you’re hurting, even though you don’t show it. I know you didn’t finish high school but that didn’t stop you from enjoying life. You may be older but you still know how to have fun in many ways. You always say nothing else matters but us and our education. But that’s not true, you matter too. You’ve made me see things in life that I would have never seen on my own. You’ve taken my dad’s place as a father and you’re doing a good job. If I ever meet my dad, I wouldn’t need him cause you’re all I need. Your husband may not help you with many things but always remember that if you ever need anything I will always be here for anything. You’ve shown me so much and I think I would would be empty without you. One thing I’ve learned from you is to never doubt yourself.

Sincerely,

Jazmin

REBEKAH HAYASHI

THE LOVELY MEDIA

Here’s to the media and the magazines

Thanks media for making me feel ugly and ashamed of myself

Looking at Teen Vogue wishing I was beautiful just like those girls in your magazine

Tall, skinny, blonde

Hating myself because I can’t be just like them.

Are you satisfied that you’ve oppressed many women including myself

You’ve made us feel like we have to look just like that girl in your magazine

By putting a celebrity on your cover, writing about beauty tips, and fitness advice

Do you know what you’re doing to us, media?

You’re making girls go through depression.

Three years ago when I was twelve

My friend went through depression because she felt like she couldn’t look like that girl you have on the front cover of the magazine

She stopped talking to everyone. She stopped coming outside.

She just cut everyone off because she didn’t want to be seen

She hates herself because of you and your magazines

This was hard for me because she was one of my best friends and made me feel like all this was my fault.

This hurt and made me feel bad because I wasn’t the reason why and she took all her frustrations out on me

She would scream at my friends and me for little things

We couldn’t really have much fun because our laughter annoyed her

But we knew it wasn’t really her fault

You’ve made a beautiful person feel like they weren’t beautiful enough due to

your stupid magazine

Even these magazines still kind of make me feel bad about my appearance

This one time I flipped through the magazine and wished that I was skinny just like the model

Hoping I can look like that someday. But I noticed something. I’m not a perfect woman

Well according to your camera lens

I don’t want to be ninety pounds or five-foot eleven with blonde hair and blue eyes to be considered beautiful!

Being beautiful doesn’t have to be appearance. Beauty can be your amazing personality or even the kind things you do I make my friends laugh all the time! I help people out, and make people’s days with my jokes

I may not be the best looking, but I believe my personality is gold I get along with most people and I like to make people happy because I consider other people’s feelings

I consider myself beautiful Little do you know, media

I’m still human!

VANESSA NEGRETE

At school they teach us things we won’t use in our lives

Instead of teaching me how to fight back and win

My momma thought everything was okay

But deep down I knew I was in pain

To the guy who thought it wouldn’t change how I view myself now

But whenever they talk about rape I feel like I can’t escape

I hope that big smile on your face changes the pace on other victims that you chase

Men seem to think they have more power over women

But little do they know we are more mentally strong than them

For this reason they may take on actions that can affect other people

In my proud community we are full of positive and negative things

Here we are proud to help each other and teach guys to be hard-working

They better start having the idea of what they want to be from when they are eight

At least my family did

That’s how it’s supposed to be

All these scandals about six year olds

We need to stop this disgrace!

How did it get to this point? Why? How?

Guys can be treated like they can’t do anything wrong and not look bad

When a woman is a victim they say they chose for that to happen!

Either way, they’re called bad names?!

Put yourself in our shoes and feel our pain

Go through it then let’s see what you think

I don’t want Boyle Heights to have this type of bad image

This is where I could say I pretty much grew up

All the pride and culture has to stay in history

It can’t be ruined by stupid guys who go down the wrong path

I feel like nowadays us women are standing up for what’s best more than guys

Yeah, a girl can have a dark past hiding where she doesn’t want to talk about it

It doesn’t mean she’s gonna let that get in her way

For me it’s easy to move that aside and want to make a change

I hope ya’ll think about your actions before they are made

It’s time that people be aware and start to make a change!

STEPHANY ROMO

GETTING A LIFE BACK

Someone I look up to is my dad because he showed me how to view reality. My dad is a proud, hard-working man who has high expectations for us in the future. He once told me that living is the most precious thing you can have because one little mistake and you can simply end it. When he told me this, I didn’t understand exactly why, but later on I found out his life was on the line. I stopped eating for days, days turned to weeks, and weeks became months. My dad started noticing that I was losing weight really fast so he sat down with me and we started talking. He noticed that his “disease” was really affecting me. He told we once again, “Living is the most precious thing you can have. One little mistake and you can simply end it.” I started eating again, doing my regular routine so I could get better. I came across a song where Drake says, “Everybody dies but not everyone lives,” and I realize that it is so true. To me, this line means that life is a valuable possession to have because if you don’t value it, it can be taken away in the blink of an eye.

I can relate to this because my mom had a chance to live but her twin sisters didn’t—they died at birth. When I would go to see my dad at chemos, I thought he was gonna die, but gladly he beat his “disease”—cancer. I would see people (moms, dads, parents) crying, and I recognized that their kids didn’t beat cancer. After every chemo we attended, I felt like my dad was getting his life back. When the doctor called him in to be examined, he came out negative. He has beat cancer.

After all the hard work, we were finally relieved and we have gotten close together. My relationship with my dad got better than before. We talk more. I

can come to him for support now. I feel like this experience has brought the family together. It’s better this happened or we would be all over the place doing our own thing. Now we are close and know what one another does or is doing. We started going out as a family more, going to the park every Sunday after mass, going to eat after every soccer game I had. One of my favorite things is when we all end up in the room together and we just start talking and remembering old times and laughing about it, and one another just chipping in.

From this experience I am able to help my community by talking to people with any type of problem and try to help them. My cousin was going through the same experience I went through with my dad and it was like seeing myself fight against cancer one more time. One thing about my cousin is that he doesn’t like to open up to people. When I would talk to him, he would try so hard not to cry and act brave but I told him that it’s okay to cry, that it ain’t easy seeing our parents die in front of us. Little by little, he started understanding and accepting it. But three weeks later, my uncle (his dad) passed away right on his bed. I never got the chance to say goodbye to him properly. Based on these two experiences I have more empathy. I might have not been through what they have been through but I still support them. I think everybody needs the support that I didn’t have it. At least I know other people have it and I can be a resource as well. It’s better to share your feelings rather than to keep them locked in.

THE HARD WORK OF A MOTHER

Something that my family members had found out about my mother is that she is resilient in life. She never gives up, a single mother supporting her family.

It all started with my mom having stress and a job. She had so much on her plate and then they fired her. My mother’s mom passed away so she had to send money for her funeral. That’s when she got so stressed that her head started to hurt and she didn’t let anyone know that her head was hurting, or how much pain she had, but that didn’t stop her from her job. She still went to work because she had to make up that money she sent. My mother is a hard-working single mother. She puts everyone else before herself. Whenever I need something, my mom bends over backwards to give me what I need. She recently had a stroke and even then she wanted to keep working so she could make sure she supports me. She is a strong, independent woman, she is my inspiration to keep going. She has given me so much that I want to be something successful so I can give back to her. I want to help her when I get older. I don’t think I ever heard the word “no” come out of her mouth when it comes to me. She always made sure I had everything I wanted and needed. My mother is my biggest inspiration. She is an undocumented single mother just trying to give me a better life.

LORENA HEURTA

TIME HEALS TEARS

The words that you said never left my heart because words cause pain and never fade away. To the lonely nights when I would just shed tears, the silence was deep like the bottom of the ocean. I look at the mirror and saw the reflection of a plain, sad girl but had to pretend I was happy. Rumors are strong like a bullet and spread by the ignorance that keeps spreading and spreading. I never really had anyone but sure I had music. I would close my eyes and leave everything and imagine myself in the happiest place on earth, Disneyland, so the words wouldn’t bring me pain inside. Life was tough, like carrying a rock on my back. So was coming to school, but I did it to make my parents proud so they wouldn’t be disappointed that their little girl wasn’t going to graduate. God blessed me by staying strong. The man above never left my side until the day I became resilient towards the words. They don’t get to me anymore because they say time heals everything.

ARELI GONZALEZ

YOU DON’T KNOW

For the people that bullied me in middle school And so on...

Shout out to the girl that punched Me, tell her she couldn’t phase me! Because of you I couldn’t be happy walking

Up on the stage

My heart was beating too fast, I wanted to burst into tears The things I’ve seen I don’t even know if I should say something

A little girl asking herself, “What is the meaning of life?”

Me knowing dropouts just hurts me

I saw people getting bullied on this campus I never did a single thing to stop it I sometimes wonder if I should change my style

But no this is just the way I am People feel so insecure, but girl, step up you’re not alone Yeah I have a serious face you ask, they Just made me like that

But me graduating is a huge step

By opening my mouth I just might hurt a Family member

Walking across that stage in June, my heart will Beat fast but it will be excitement And joy, I will feel proud of my self

You don’t know.

RUTH PEREZ

HOLD ON, BE STRONG

Oppression is the exercise of authority or power in an unjust manner. Physically. Mentally. Emotionally. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Ain’t that a lie. Words go deeper than sticks and stones. Words go deeper than needles and drugs. Words go deeper than busted lips and black eyes. Words go deeper than bruises and cuts. Words travel through my body to my mind and my heart. They tell me to comprehend but I’m just confused and conflicted. My mind and heart are flooded with mixed emotions and actions. My mentality is now pessimistic. My heart is now impassive. Sticks and stones may bruise your skin but words will bruise your heart.

“I know it seems hard sometimes but remember one thing: through every dark night, there’s a bright day after that so no matter how hard it get, stick your chest out, keep your head up, and handle it.” -2Pac

REIMAGINATION

NANCY RUELAS

TELL ME ABOUT MY REVOLUTION

Dear Future Self,

Please enlighten me by saying that the world has changed and I have helped. Tell me about all the protests I have been a part of, about all the marches I have marched in. Did I finally do it?! Oh the joy it would bring me to hear you say that at the march for International Women’s Day, I got the opportunity to go up and inspire people with my words because that has always been what I’ve desired. Did I finally do it? I would be filled with a huge sense of pride if you let me know that I have stood up for people. Tell me about all the people I have stood up for when they were too afraid to do it themselves.

Let me know why. Was it because of having undocumented family members who always kept their mouths shut that I decided to finally erupt, like a volcano that hadn’t for too many years? Tell me, did my words captivate their ears? Please, Nancy! I’m dying to hear that when asking people about me, I am known for staying true to the things I believe in. That I still have kept my feminist beliefs and fight for that equality whenever I see the opportunity. That I have kept fighting against the patriarchy and sexism. That I have tried to stop “machismo” from going on in my community and am open to anyone who seeks the help do this in their own homes. I hope when you hear the words independent, inspirational, moving, revolutionary, activist, poet, feminist, and especially brave, you think of Nancy Ruelas. Tell me about how I left for college and came back to my community. I can only hope that you will tell me that I have been a teacher to many students, specifically the weaker students. The ones who have lost all hope and confidence. Tell me that I have convinced them that that is nonsense.

For all I have ever wanted to do is help people face their fears. And not only that, even if it may take years, help them conquer their fears and be able to move forward and not have to put on a fake smile because now it will truly come from within.

Nancy, you know as well as anyone else that I want this because that was once me. I want to be a leader in a stampede of lost hope. I want to take them all to a place where critical thinking is allowed. There, they will not be silenced for they will be able to speak their minds. Tell me, Nancy. What have I done to help guide them? Tell me about all the women I have helped to regain their power. Because as women we are born with it, but let society rip it and take it away from us.

I remember being a little girl, I danced and jumped around not having a care in the world, with the biggest smile on my face. However, as I reached my teenage years, it seemed to slowly erase. People said you would see a sudden ray of light that would burst as bright as the sun when you looked at me. I see it every time mom pulls out my old photo albums. What happened to it? I’ll tell you what happened: it got lost in all the hateful comments I have heard, and let them consume and take over me. I hope you can tell me that you became resilient enough to bounce back and fight and stand up so that other people won’t go through what I did. Not only will I feel accomplished but I will feel relief. This will help many people’s sisters, daughters, and many more generations of women to come. Please, please, tell me all of this. I need to hear it. My aspiration in life has always been to be happy. That level of happiness I want to reach will never become reality if this list of things I want you to tell me is not complete. I am on my way to greater things and when I am done, I will say, “I am an activist. I am the cause of change. I am a fighter. I am a feminist. I am a leader. This is my revolution.” Tell me about it soon.

Sincerely,

The younger Nancy Ruelas

LIZBETH CORREA

THE DARKER PAST, THE BRIGHTER FUTURE

Dear Mom,

When I think of happiness, I think of you because you smile no matter what. You stay positive and you don’t let anyone bring you down, no matter what the problems is. You always see the brighter side. I want to thank you for giving me everything I’ve always asked for since I’m the only child. We have a really strong relationship, we stick together no matter what, and we fight a lot, but at the end of the day we always support each other. You listen to my problems and I listen to yours. We give each other advice and whenever one of us is sad, one tries to cheer the other up by either going out or just talking. We are really close, probably because it’s always just been us since the divorce that occurred eleven years ago when I was four.

You are a resilient person because as a kid, you grew up around alcoholics who would hit each other, and you, and your siblings. You also had to mature at an early age because you had to take care of my aunts since you were the oldest. You had me when you were only nineteen. You were really young but you became a great mom. You made me feel safe even when you didn’t feel safe yourself. You always tried to not fight in front of me and you never let him put a hand on me either. You protected me with your love. Sure, you made mistakes, but nobody’s perfect, I forgive you mom.

You help me reimagine a new life, a better one, with no more depression and no more violence in the family. I could never repay you for all you gave me. But I look forward to earning an education, and getting a career to help you have

an easier life. No matter what was going on, you made it possible for me to focus on my schoolwork. You always pushed me to do better in school and because of you, I grew up knowing how important school was. You made sure that was my priority. No matter what issues we had, you solved them on your own to let me focus on school. That’s why with my career I will buy you the house you’ve always wanted, and get you your dream car. I’ll take care of you like you took care of me. I’ll give you everything you want and need. It will always be us two, I love you.

Sincerely,

Lizbeth

ANTONIO ARAGON

LAW POWER

I wish I had the power to improve immigration laws because I have seen Mexican families in the US immigrate and have a good life, but they had to give it up or lose all of it. When I was little I had a family that came from Zacatecas, Mexico stay in our house for a few months. They stayed there because they came from Mexico and did not know where to stay. But in a few days they got a job. Then five months later, they had to rent a house. They worked so hard that they went to go buy a car.

One day they started to have problems with people. They came to our house to tell us they had lost their house and everything else. They had to stay with us again in our house for two or more months. I saw them sad that day and it made me feel bad because they were sad and making a life here. This makes me feel bad and worried because this could happen to other families. They could lose everything they work for and families could go away from the US and have to start all over again in Mexico.

When I went to Mexico I saw a lot of bad things. Kids my age were selling drugs and drinking beer. There’s not much security on campus. I saw a lot of kids jacking the money of the people and the teachers. Kids could take days or weeks or even months off school, so we used to get behind on our education.

The power that I would like to improve is immigration, so that Mexicans could have the opportunity of getting papers and have no trouble or problems with laws, and have freedom like everybody else to be able to have a good-paying job. So this is why I want to have the power to change or make laws, so people can

hear what’s going on with immigration to help out.

ABIGAIL ESTRADA

OPPRESSION IN SCHOOLS

Dear Schools All Around The World,

I believe you should stop over abusing your power on us students. The way you abuse your power is favoritism. Some teachers have favoritism with some students. Your favoritism does not help me. I think teachers have favoritism because some teachers are racist or some of them just have no patience at all. They treat some of their students way differently than others. I’ve seen this happen in classes before where teachers teach certain kids differently. The students that look like troublemakers or hardly come to class get respected differently. But as a teacher, every student should be respected the same.

It makes me mad because teachers shouldn’t act like that with us no matter who we are. They should act fairly. If they want respect then they need to respect us. They shouldn’t believe stereotypes of certain people. Your lack of equality in the class affects me a lot. It doesn’t only affect me, it affects everyone else. This may not seem like a big deal, or some people may think teachers might not do it, but it does happen.

It must feel good to be the teacher’s pet because you get treated really well. The students who aren’t being treated fairly have to do double the work. It affects me because it gets me mad at the fact that we are all equal so we should be treated equal. Your lack of concern does not help me either.

Students don’t have the power to change school rules because some people think we aren’t able to change things. All I come to school for is my grade. I’m not

worried about anything else but my grade. My grade is my future. It’s my future because if I graduate high school, I’m on to the next level and I won’t have to struggle as much.

I really want a transformation in schools to happen. We need to change schools and we need respect from teachers. I imagine the transformation to look like a big change in our lives. It’s going to start by everyone being treated the same. Just because we live in Boyle Heights doesn’t mean that we are less than others. Our wealth shouldn’t define the way we are treated. All schools should have the same things as any other school around the world. Just like kids in Beverly Hills, we should be receiving the same education, we should be eating the same food. Just because our skin color is darker or because we aren’t as wealthy as them doesn’t mean we should be treated differently than those that are lighter-skinned or live in richer places. If schools wouldn’t be so oppressive, we would have more students in schools than in prisons. So much money is being used to build prisons instead of schools. Everyone would get along if there was no such thing as racism. The world would be a better place.

ARTURO BEJARANO

THE OOZE THAT TRANSFORMS INTO ANYTHING

Dear Future Self,

We express ourselves through art. Art is more than just pictures, it’s like a key that opens the door to show all the wrong in this world. Like artist Michael D’Antuono’s painting “A Tale of Two Hoodies,” of an African-American child giving Skittles to a cop while the cop is wearing a KKK mask and pointing a gun at him. It’s a form of awareness. It’s a story hidden that can be told differently in the eyes of others.

How I see art is that it’s like a form, like an ooze that transforms into anything it wants in order to send a message. And then I think about it, and it makes me feel that I can do a lot, that I am somebody. Art is such a powerful thing. It can be used to fight against oppression, racism, and sexism—the pollution of our society. This pollution is very deadly. It causes change, it can cause friends to turn into enemies, peace to war, and it will cause us to kill our own kind. But I guess the world has to be like this, huh? It has always been like this. Humans are the root of chaos, destruction, and greed. We cause pain and suffering to others. Like in World War II, there was so much destruction and death. It destroyed a lot of lives. The Chinese and Japanese were forced to move, then so were Latinos, but since the US wasted millions of dollars, jobs were scarce. Shortly after, they blamed Latinos for taking all the jobs and a lot of them got deported without getting to say goodbye to their kids. They were just forced out.

There’s no such thing as a perfect place. Like art, there are mistakes, and a lot of areas of improvement. But really, what’s the point in living in a place where

they say everyone has liberty, freedom, and justice if they give little or nothing at all to us? Only to white people. In some of their minds, they think they’re the superior people. Just ‘cause of their skin color, which I don’t understand. I’m Latino and I have a brain, a heart, blood, and bones just like them. Many people don’t trust black people because they may have a misconception that they steal, and many people don’t like Mexicans because they think they are lazy and are here illegally, which is quite sad that people believe these things. I have been called lazy and worthless. I do not know why, but once those chilly words came out of his mouth, I felt empty, cold, and all this rage, wanting to burst. Words hurt, like scars and bruises. Racism is like a disease, it infects people and goes on to the next clouded by judgement. However, we’re not all the same. Each person is different.

There are many things we can’t describe or say, and that’s why art and music was created. To send messages for people to understand what’s wrong, to be aware that what humans are doing is wrong. Money, for example, is not important because money can’t buy life, it can’t bring someone back, and it’s not worth killing someone over it. We shed the blood of the innocent and create awful pain. Money is such a powerful thing. Humans cause so much pain and suffering to their own kind, and they don’t know it. They’re not aware of many things they do. That’s why art is one way to get them to see all the misery and pain that is spilled around the world.

I know humans are destroying themselves and may lead to our extinction, but it’s our race, our species, and we have to help them because humans are full of mistakes. There is not a perfect person, or place, and maybe not even a perfect world. We cannot fully change them, but we can support them, like how parents support their children until they’re old enough to live on their own. We can show them the mistakes and try to let them see the wrong they’ve done. After all, we’re all human. We’re all the same.

Sincerely,

You, aka Arturo

BRANDON GARCIA

FEELING FREE IN THE MIDDLE OF CAPTIVITY

Do you think skateparks are important? I started skateboarding two years ago and used it as a stress reliever. I remember seeing people skate and doing all these cool flip tricks. My neighbor gave me my first skateboard and taught me how to do tricks like the kickflip, shove-it, or 180. The first trick you usually need to learn is the ollie and then you move on to flip tricks. When I learned the ollie, I had to practice for two weeks, and after learning the basics, it was more fun combining other tricks. When I started skating, I felt better and free. I felt like I could accomplish anything.

My mom got fired from her job two years ago and now she can’t work because she is in a lawsuit. She is in a lawsuit because at her job, she got her hands wet with hot and cold water and her hands got messed up. I get stressed knowing that she is struggling to move me and my little brothers on in life. I get motivated to get good grades in school to get a good job and take care of my mom like she did for me, but sometimes I can’t do my homework because I feel distracted that my mom can’t pay the bills. So when I skate, I feel like those problems are gone, like they never existed. It makes me feel pumped when I skate because at home, I feel down. I feel confident when I’m with my friends because when I land tricks, I feel good and accomplished.

Skateparks are important for me because I feel safer than being on the streets. In the streets, my friends and I have to keep a lookout for cops. People kick us out when we skate on their property. Sometimes we just go into schools by jumping the fence and finding some stairs or ledges and we go there to skate. In the past, they would arrest you if you were skateboarding on other people’s

property. Now they don’t, but you’re still not allowed to do it.

In my community in Boyle Heights, we need more skateparks. We only have one skatepark in Hollenbeck Park. Sometimes the skatepark is too full so we find another place to skate. There are ledges and stairs everywhere around but those spots are properties. I usually go to a school that has stairs to skate there but we get in trouble for skating in schools. I know cops are doing their job because we do leave grinding marks on the ledges and handrails, but sometimes the park is too full and we can’t skate. Most people get stressed and go skate to feel relieved. I would like to see more skateparks in Boyle Heights in the future.

More skateparks won’t just help me, but everyone else too. People who also use skateboarding as a stress reliever can use more skateparks. A lot of people have worse problems at home than me and they need a place to feel free. Every skater wants more skateparks close by their house. If I don’t want to go to Hollenbeck Park, I have to take the Metro to go to another one. Sometimes my mom won’t let me go to other skateparks because they’re so far and she worries about me. I know that she worries about me but it’s the only way to get away from stress.

If there were more skateparks close by, it would be better for everyone. Parents won’t get worried about their kids being far away if they’re just across the street. Property owners won’t have to kick out skaters anymore. The schools and other properties won’t be marked with grinds. I think more parks would help a lot of people and the community.

BRANDON MORENO

THE 51,000 DOLLAR DIFFERENCE

Dear LAUSD and The Government,

Every day is my usual tiring routine. I wake up at 6:50 AM, get dressed, and walk to school relentlessly. I’m usually tired from working all night. Sometimes I’m late to advisory. It doesn’t help that I rarely get something to eat in the morning and get to school only to find that the food you’re feeding the students is flavorless. Almost everyone hates the food. Some say it tastes like plastic. It’s hard. LAUSD, if you want to feed us, at least get us some good food. Seriously, you want to feed us food you call healthy. You buy the cheapest food you can buy. The pancakes taste like plastic. The tacos don’t look well-cooked. The grilled cheese sandwiches have very little to no cheese. That gets me frustrated. Some of us have nothing else to eat but this “food” you call healthy for the day. The Black Panthers did a way better job of feeding the African-American children before they went to school back in the 1960s. If you are going to borrow the idea from the Black Panthers, at least give us something better to eat in the morning.

Then one of my teachers talks about a charter school coming to Roosevelt. What would happen if this charter school comes? It reminded me of an old friend’s sister. She used to go to a charter school. She was one of the brightest students in all classes except one, math. She tried so hard to do better in math, but all she needed was a little more time to understand it better. She didn’t pass. She was kicked out and was forced to go to Roosevelt. She was embarrassed to come to school. She tried one last time to do better and she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t take it anymore and she decided to drop out. Imagine if that charter takes over. How many students will have to leave Roo-

sevelt? Not only that, what will become of Roosevelt? Where will all these students go? The dropout rate will increase so much that we may hardly receive any money to pay the teachers, which will eventually lead to budget cuts, and teacher displacement will happen. Fortunately, it didn’t happen and we were lucky.

Is that charter school going to strike back or go to a new school to relocate and take over? Since they have a lot more funding than us, why can’t they make a school of their own? We have money to run the school but one of my teachers is going to be displaced because of budget cuts. Why don’t we have enough money to pay our teachers? The district isn’t paying us enough because of a program that said that will give us money to run the school. Where are you? You promised us a lot of money, but we lost about two-and-a-half to three million dollars. The charter schools have leftover money and we barely have enough to pay teachers. What will happen to the relationship we had with the teachers if you displace them? You will see more students drop out of high school. My teacher for Ethnic Studies has helped a lot. She understands what I go through at home. She knows why I come late to class in the morning.

If LAUSD does not have enough money to pay, then who has the money? That’s where you, the government, come in. You have been oppressing us for years with the money you waste mostly on prisons. Yearly, you spend about 60,000 dollars on one prisoner compared to 9,000 dollars spent on one student yearly. That’s a 51,000 dollar difference. What’s more important—the prisoners or the students? This very tight budget has caused all of this. We eat junk. We have to deal with charter schools and now throughout the district more than 500 teachers have been displaced. Are you kidding me? We are here losing money in our schools which has caused teacher displacement, and we are eating disgusting food when you spend more money on prisoners than on students. If things were the other way around, more money would equal less teacher displacement. The less teacher displacement, the more teachers, and more teachers means the class size will become smaller. Smaller classes equal more one-on-one time between the teacher and the student, so students would have a better understanding. The more they understand means that more students would graduate, and there would be an increase of graduation rates with less students dropping out. That means no more students ditching, which will cause less gang violence, and less gang violence equals less police brutality. After that, the streets

would be peaceful. Continue on with that and imagine how this would change our schools and our neighborhoods, to the community, and from the community to the city, from the city to the state, from the state to the country we call home. If that happens, our communities will be safer, they’ll be cleaner and you’ll see more children running around and playing at the parks because there may not be any more shootings.

Imagine how this will benefit the millions in our country. Imagine seeing true peace on our streets. Look how we are going to have a brighter future. So what’s next? What’s your next step? Where do you want to see your children live? What kind of future do you want for them?

Sincerely,

Brandon Moreno

P.S. Our future now lies in your hands! Please make a change that’ll benefit not only us but the future generation that’ll come.

CRISTIAN VELAZQUEZ

DREAMING YOUR SOCCER FUTURE

Dear Real Madrid Club Football,

May 19, 2015

Hopefully when I’m in a soccer club for a while when I’m like sixteen or seventeen years old and I’m good and getting better and better, hopefully I get interest from you and play for your team. Also I want to have fun and would want to stay in the club forever until I get old, no matter what happens. I want to play for your team so I can be my fans’ idol or one of their favorite soccer players because I want to be either the first or second best soccer player in the world. I also want to play for Real Madrid Club Football so I can be getting paid lots of Euros (money used in Europe) for playing well and maybe score also so I can send money to my mom and brothers so they can buy whatever they want. Also, so I can buy myself whatever I need or want.

If I were to get drafted to Real Madrid Club Football and if one day I had a chance to come back to Los Angeles and Boyle Heights, I would help my community get better parks or improve some parks people don’t like to make those parks popular. I would create a soccer program for kids and adults so some kids or people who don’t like soccer can get interested and start playing. I would provide free soccer cleats and free Real Madrid jerseys signed by me and free food. I’d probably make ads or commercials so more people can get interested. Also if I were to come back, I’d give my mom and family half of my check so they can buy what they need to pay their car and house bills. I also would like to play for Real Madrid so I can be the MVP of the team scoring every game,

giving assists and helping out my teammates when they are getting pressured by their opponents. I also want to play for Real Madrid so my family and my friends can be proud of me and so I can be proud of myself.

Cristian Velazquez

DESIRAE GARCIA

HELP A STUDENT OUT

Dear Teachers,

I know you have to do Common Core standards but can’t you teach us in a better way? Not the banking method (the name refers to the metaphor of students as empty containers which educators must deposit knowledge into). For notes, all we do is copy them down and you expect us to know them by heart. Honestly, I’m probably not even going to look back on those notes. Another example is vocabulary. We copy down the definition, synonym, and antonym. I still don’t know the meaning of most of my vocabulary words because we don’t break down the definition; we just copy it. We take tests where we are supposed to memorize the definition word for word. This reinforces a lack of critical thinking and knowledge ownership from students, which in turn reinforces oppression. But there is a better way, a way that will transform us, a way that will make us better people. Let us be creative, not like a robot.

A project that I felt was creative in the beginning of the year was one where we had to do the body, mind, and soul speech. I felt creative with this project because we were talking about ourselves. It was something we already knew about, and we got to learn more about ourselves. I hope that you love your job. If you are enthusiastic, students will be engaged.

Teach us the struggles in life so we can succeed and you will feel good knowing you actually helped a student. I’m not saying you don’t help students. You do help us think critically. When I say struggles in life, I mean tell us that life is hard, tell us about the heartbreaks, the leaving of the parents, how to pay bills,

how to buy a house, how to cook, and how hard it is to find a good-paying job.

A way you can be informed about our problems is by asking us in the morning or the beginning of class how we are feeling that day or every other day. Another thing you can do is do RJ once a month. RJ stands for restorative justice, which is a circle we get into as a class where we get asked questions and answer them them with honesty and respect. You can pass if you do not feel like answering the question.

I hope you take my advice because I think I know something about what the school is doing wrong and right. I have been in school for about ten years. Plus, you as a teacher influence the way a student thinks, and I know you are probably still trying to think for yourself, but spread some of your wisdom with us. Like how you survived this long without giving up, and how you went to college and didn’t drop out when finals came. Also, try to make your projects more creative so we can be more creative, with stuff we understand and love to do. Something that we are passionate about. Just help a student out.

Sincerely your student, Desirae Garcia

FABIAN PEREZ

WEIRD FOOD AND CRAZY HOURS

Dear LAUSD,

Every weekday morning, I have to wake up at 6:45 AM to my mom yelling, “Wake up or you are going to be late and your dad is not going to want to give you a ride!” Every single time I wake up, my mom has already tried to wake me up five times. I tell her to chill out and that I’m on my way. I have to drag my lifeless body out of bed. Then I look at my two dogs lying down on my soft blanket. I go to the restroom and brush my teeth. I go to my closet to grab my stuff, and go to the kitchen and eat some fluffy pancakes so I won’t have to eat the food they give us at school. When I get to school, I see a lot of kids walking to school like zombies. I get to class, where there are supposed to be twenty students there but there are only ten because the other ten are at home asleep.

I wanted to let you know that a lot of students are not satisfied with a lot of stuff you do with the schools. For example, we don’t like the hours we enter school. In other schools in the district, they enter later. We enter at 7:45 AM. Why do we have to enter earlier than other schools? Other schools go in later and they don’t have to worry about falling asleep in class. Some people are asleep, others are on their iPads or phones. Nobody is paying attention to the teacher. It is not fair because we have to wake up earlier. It has been clinically proven that students are more mentally active at a later time of the morning. I feel way more active when I walk into fourth period than when walking into advisory.

I would also like to let you know that a lot of students complain about the food. The meat looks reddish and brownish, so I throw it away. They say that we have

to eat healthier, but how are we going to do that when the salads are not even fresh? I once got a frozen sour milk and I threw it away.

If we entered at 9:30 AM and came out at 3:00 PM, we wouldn’t be so tired. We wouldn’t look like zombies looking for food. We would look like we were entering paradise. Our eyes would look wider. We would actually look alive. We would actually want to come to school. We would participate in more activities. The classes would have more than twenty students. It would feel more alive in there. People would actually want to answer questions. How would you feel in a class where you felt more alive, where it felt like home?

If you made it this far, thank you and goodbye.

Sincerely,

Fabian Perez

LUIS BENITEZ

HIGH POWER

One day, I will transform the world by becoming an electrical engineer and I will invent new sources of power that are clean and cheap. A lot of people don’t buy the new sources of energy that are clean, like solar panels, because they are too expensive. One of the reasons why I want to be an electrical engineer is because I’m curious about how electricity works. It’s dangerous, it’s fun, and I also would like to know what happens to electrical components such as a capacitor or integrated chips with too much power, and how they react. I would like to know how most of the electrical objects work and what they do with different charges and different electricity waves, like AC or DC. I would like to see millions of volts cutting through air particles by making the high power jump from one electrode to another. Another thing that I want to know is how battery components react with air or water-like lithium cells. What I do is I open them and get the lithium to then put them in air, and they turn black. If I put it in water, it explodes into flames and makes the hot water clear.

I would like to make a long-lasting battery that is not toxic. There are batteries like that but they last too little. I was inspired by websites and some people that I used to know when I lived in El Salvador. The people I knew did a lot of things with electricity, and once, I heard a guy talking about solar panels. I asked him what that was and he explained what was going on. After that, I got into solar energy, but I started with electricity when I found out that I could make a motor spin with a battery. I was able to make a light bulb turn on using a battery, so I wondered why it did that and looked it up. At first, I started buying solar lights and I took a little piece of the little solar panel and I hooked them up to other objects to power them up, but I noticed that even though it was a lot of power,

it still didn’t power a lot of things. I was disappointed about that, but I was still really happy about what I had done. I found out about amps and that when you multiply your amps by the voltage, you will get how much wattage there is. I use these little math problems to find out what kind of power supply I need to power halogen bulbs and not burn them out. I am working on a power inverter for my mini off-grid solar panel system, and what this allows me to do is to turn the 12-volt DC into 120-volt AC and be able to connect my TV or anything that uses power. For example, a printer or air conditioner is pretty useful when there is a power outage because I use the battery power to power useful objects in the house.

What I would like to do in the future with my hobby is to help people that will need my help, like homeless people who need power to cook food or do other stuff, and to invent new machines to help the world.

MATTHEW MOREIRA

FLAVOR OF MEMORY

When I was six years old, me and my grandma Lala always cooked together. She taught me how to cook meat, fish, and chicken. Every time my grandma was taking care of me when my parents were working, I heard her calling me to the kitchen, “Vénte mijo, necesito tu ayuda.” I would come to the kitchen and smell something delicious cooking. I’d ask her, “¿Que es eso Lala?” and she would have me help her cook.

My grandma Lala and I always bonded like that. We wouldn’t have long conversations because she knew little English and I knew little Spanish. Somehow, cooking was our way of talking. She always told me ways to make food taste better. For example, when we were cooking chicken, she would tell me that I needed to season the chicken an hour before so that the chicken could absorb the flavor, which it did. When I finished cooking that chicken and took the first bite, my mouth was filled with many flavors and it was delicious.

On one Christmas Eve, I went to her house to make tamales from Guatemala. While I was stirring the pot filled with masa, I noticed that she was reaching for a bottle. This was not an ordinary bottle. The bottle was painted black and had blue tape around it saying, “secret recipe.” I asked her, pointing to the bottle, “Lala, what is that?” She didn’t tell me what was in the bottle. She just told me that when I got older, I would soon know what the secret family recipe was! I was very confused, but I was only six years old so I didn’t understand.

I am fifteen years old now. In my house, cooking is not that important anymore. It is no longer fun making chicken with spinach. Now when I make food, it’s

because I am starving and I’m making it in a hurry. Now that my grandma has her own house, cooking is not that interesting to me without her. However, the connection is not gone. Every time I go visit her, we always cook. No matter what, she has something in the freezer and we would cook that for dinner. It’s fun cooking with my grandma because when I think she has taught me everything to know about cooking, she always still has something to teach me. No matter how long my grandma and I don’t see each other, we will still have a strong connection. And that connection is cooking.

My family realizes that I love cooking, so they encourage me to continue cooking. My parents always say I should go to culinary school. I do agree because I really do like cooking. But I have a dream.

When I grow up in the city of Boyle Heights, I am thinking about becoming a chef. That is my dream. For my junior year, I would want to start preparing to go to a culinary school. I picture that I would be cooking and learning with friends by my side. They will be helping me and I will be helping them. We will teach each other different recipes and teach each other how to make chicken noodle soup taste better, and maybe even teach each other food from different countries like France or China. Then when we are about to graduate, we all have a fantasy of all of us giving money to buy a restaurant where we all can work. We think about how we will make wonderful food. We all picture how our restaurant will look. It will have paintings from all over the world. The four of us will grow old but we will still be working with each other. When it is time to retire, that’s when we will go our separate ways. Two of us will go to old people homes. Another person and I will leave the state with a person we love and buy a house somewhere else. And we will live happily ever after. That is what I would want to do when I grow up.

SERGIO ARMENTA

CHANGING OUR COMMUNITIES

Dear Jerry Brown,

I would like to tell you that gang violence is a problem in some parts of Boyle Heights. Let me tell you one of my own experiences. It was one summer night around midnight, when I used to live in Wyvernwood. All of my family was asleep that night, including me. My family and I were used to leaving the front door open so that fresh air could come in during the night. That night, I was able to see a shooting right across from my house. A loud scream that night woke me up. Right when I looked up, I saw a man holding a gun and shooting towards something. There were about five to ten shots fired. After that, I was scared because I had never experienced something similar in my life. I felt limited doing things after that incident. A year later, my family and I moved out. We moved out because we felt like there was too much violence occurring there. We used to hear police sirens constantly.

I believe that a solution to gang violence is to reduce the amount of people joining gangs. There are programs that think the same way, like Homeboy Industries, which helps gang members recreate their lives. One of the main reasons why people join gangs is because of poverty. Wyvernwood was built to help low-income families, and there is a lot of gang activity there. Homeboy Industries gives these gang members jobs, whereas in other places they would be rejected because they had criminal records or because of the way they look.

The problem is that organizations like these are not being funded as much as they should be. Homeboy Industries is a non-profit organization. The only way

they receive money is by donations. Not too long ago, they had to let go of 200 ex-prisoners who had gotten work through the organization because they were low on funds. Now, it’s possible that these ex-prisoners can go back to their lives before they had entered Homeboy Industries. But instead of funding these organizations, we go and build prisons that cost billions of dollars. We spend around 40,000 dollars a year to have a prisoner in prison. I feel overwhelmed that we spend so much money on prisoners, but then we have to displace teachers from schools. If we were to fund more of these institutions, there would be no need to build more prisons. Gang violence would decrease because there would be less people in gangs. We could get more kids into college if we were to spend money wisely.

Sincerely,

Sergio Armenta

KASSANDRA LACA

WHY FOCUS ON THE NEGATIVE?

Dear Friend,

One thing I wish I had the power to do is to improve the way people view Boyle Heights. I would want to change the way people see Boyle Heights because it is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Usually when you bring up Boyle Heights, people either give you an unimpressed or disapproving look, or start complaining about it and it gets pretty old. The most common complaints you hear are about how Boyle Heights isn’t safe due to gang activity, or how it’s “ghetto” because the streets are dirty with trash and graffiti. One time I remember telling my friends from Hollywood that I lived in Boyle Heights and some of them just made a face while others went on about how it was “ghetto” or a bad area. I knew it wasn’t true, so I tried explaining that to them, but it was clear they didn’t want to listen because they changed the subject and turned away, so I let it go. Once people believe certain things, it can be hard to change their minds. Even though some complaints may be true, that doesn’t define the entire neighborhood, and all neighborhoods have their bad aspects. For example, you rarely or never hear negative things about Beverly Hills, but I’m sure negative things are going on there too. After some research on a few websites, I noticed that many said the same things about the Beverly Hills area. “From our analysis, we discovered that violent crime in Beverly Hills occurs at a rate higher than in most communities of all population sizes in America.” Seeing that being repeated a lot made me feel better but also worse because most people don’t know about it when they should.

Boyle Heights has many positive aspects, so why do people overlook them and

focus on the negative? We have many parks that offer sports, playgrounds, and a nice space to hang out with family or friends. About a month ago, on an early dismissal day, my friends and I walked to Evergreen and bought some pizza. We stayed there from about 2:00 PM until 9:00 PM playing softball, volleyball, and messing around on the playground. We had a lot of fun and it was just a really good day because nothing bad happened and we got to spend the day together. There are also many great authentic Mexican restaurants to eat at as well, like La Cabaña, King Taco, Lupes #2, El Jato, and many other places. The way that all the food is handmade is part of why the restaurants are so authentic. The waitresses and waiters are usually very nice and talkative so it also adds to the authenticity of the place. The Mercadito on 1st Street is a big part of Boyle Heights. It’s an indoor swapmeet that offers a lot and brings the community together by offering a place for people to meet and socialize while eating or shopping. It would be nice for Boyle Heights to be recognized for the good things and events like the farmers’ markets and small concerts that go on. If people focused on the good instead of the bad, I think it would really help improve Boyle Heights, and we would maybe even have more visitors.

If I did have the power to improve people’s viewpoints, I’d like to improve the points of view of the people who don’t live here and the people who do. I’d want to change the outsiders’ views because since they don’t like it here, they don’t see what we do. I’d change the viewpoints of the people living here as well because after hearing everyone talk down Boyle Heights, some may begin to internalize it and believe it themselves. For example, when teachers ask the students if they see themselves still living here or coming back to Boyle Heights in the future, almost all of them reply with no. To actually transform the way people view Boyle Heights, maybe we can work on more community events open to the public as well so that outsiders can also enjoy the experience. To make the events more publicly known, maybe flyers can be posted around so more people hear about it. If someone has a good time in our community, it can possibly change their mind about Boyle Heights. Boyle Heights is a home to many and holds a lot of history and memories, so we should try to stand up for it.

Sincerely,

Kassandra

BRITNEY RINCON

EDUCATION HAS NO LIMIT

A lot of Latino families don’t have parents who went to college, or sometimes didn’t even graduate high school. I feel like that’s the reason why many Latinos don’t go to college. We have no motivation from family members we look up to. There are also these stereotypes that Latina women don’t go to school, that we just cook and the men are plumbers and mechanics. Sure, those jobs are great and we need them, but we should have other privileges, not limited choices. A reason why Latinos have this type of life is because we have no one pushing us to go to school and continue into higher education. It’s like society has our whole life planned out. Society is telling me that I’m a Latina woman and I shouldn’t be doing homework, but starting to learn to cook from my mother. But I disagree with those restrictions. To me, education is so important. In the fall semester I had straight A’s. The only people we can look up to are our teachers, since they’re the only role models we have.

The way to solve the conflicts with Latinos not becoming educated is to teach students the importance of education. If Latinos are not motivated to get an education at home nor given a chance by others, what are the odds of them even taking a chance and trying to accomplish their goals? Motivation is key in a student’s education. Just by knowing our race, society gives up and discourages us when it comes to education. We must show the importance of education by having more college prep classes or programs that make students get involved. There should also be workshops that teach students the importance of education by performing a skit that helps them experience what life would be like without an education.

This generation must find their own motivation to succeed in life and be someone else’s motivation. Prove all people wrong who think the stereotypes about Latinos are true. Use all that negativity in your life as positive change in yourself and in life, meaning going onto college. Be the person you would want to look up to today. Making your family proud and proving to the world that Latinos are intelligent is the best thing you can accomplish in life.

CELIA GUERRERO

When I grow up, I want to show people that I became much more than what they expected. I want to show people that it’s not hard to have a good future when you live in a place like Boyle Heights, which people refer to as “ghetto.” I’ve heard some of my neighbors telling one another that Boyle Heights is not one of the best places to grow up. I disagree with them because it all depends on what you do. Not everyone who grows up here ends up on the same pathway. I also hear other neighbors talking about their children going off to college or getting a job. Working hard and not giving up will make me succeed. I have to make my own choices because no one is going to tell me what to do for the rest of my life. I have to do what I think feels right.

When I grow up, I want to be a marine biologist. A marine biologist is someone who studies the organisms in the ocean. I think it’s something that not a lot of people do and I would really enjoy working with animals and finding out new things about them. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life doing something I don’t like. I have heard some of my family members and neighbors talk about not liking their jobs because they get paid very little money. The only reason they do it is to bring food to the table and maintain their family. They regret not finishing school and having a job they enjoy doing. I want to be excited to go to work every day for the rest of my life. Being surrounded by people who love to do the same things I do will be exciting! I’m going to take every opportunity I’m given. I’ll do all the requirements to get into that position. Most importantly, I want to graduate college so that I can show people that you can achieve anything. Putting in effort will pay off later and there’s nothing better than having a diploma, working for something you love, and being able to afford

things you want or need. Making my family proud and doing what I love will be my main goals. It’s going to be challenging but I’ll try my best!

Since the beginning of ninth grade, I’ve been getting A’s and B’s only. I would like to keep it that way until I finish college. I’ll get good grades, do all my A-G requirements, and work a part-time job if I have to. I’m also planning on joining volleyball the next three years of high school to see if that helps me get into colleges. Graduating will also change dropout rates and encourage others to graduate too!

My mom is nice and encourages me every day and gives me advice when she sees that I want to achieve something. My two older brothers also give me advice on what to do to have a good future. One of my brothers graduated from Roosevelt two years ago and is now attending college. He plans on working over the summer too. My other brother is attending Roosevelt and is graduating next year. He’s doing great right now. He has had straight A’s since his freshman year. He comes home every day and does his homework right away. I see him working hard every day to keep those straight A’s. He always chooses education before watching TV or going to the park to play soccer.

I think it takes a lot of dedication for someone to succeed in what they want to do. It can be hard at times but that’s just something we need to go through in order to get what we want. I have amazing people to support me through the journey and I have to work hard myself and get through everything because I’m responsible for myself. Hopefully one day I’ll look back on this and say, “I did it.”

ANGELICA JOSE

DOING IT FOR THE GRADE VS. DOING IT FOR LEARNING

In each school there are different types of teachers. There are some that don’t care about students. But there are others that care about students. I think all teachers should care about students. Teachers also should teach us the right things we have to learn and make learning fun for everyone so everyone could get into school. Some teachers make us take notes and expect the students to memorize the notes by the end of the week. But there are some teachers that have fun activities for us to do during class.

When I go to class and there is a lesson or assignment I don’t want to do, I just do it. I do the work because it’s part of my grade. I try to not give up. But there are times when I just want to leave the class because of all the work we do. When my teacher gives me an assignment I don’t like doing, I get frustrated because sometimes we repeat the same lesson. There are some students that just won’t go because they think school doesn’t matter.

Things I liked about Ethnic Studies were that Mr. Lopez taught us things that we didn’t know. He taught us to be brave, to learn about ourselves. Everyone in this world is the same. We should stand up for what we want. We should never give up. Just keep going on. Ethnic Studies is the greatest class that I have.

The way that teachers care about the students is by helping us know what we need to do to get a better future. Teachers make sure that we are on the right track. They want us to graduate and go to college. Teachers also care about us outside of school. If we have any problem at home or with our family, we could talk to them to find a solution. Teachers help us get through problems. Teach-

ers that really care about students go beyond the classroom—they want us to have an easy life and not go through hard things. If I had a problem and I didn’t know what to do, I’d stay during break or lunch or after school to find a solution to my problem. I want the teachers to help me and tell me what I can do to solve the problem that I have.

The subject Ethnic Studies is about history and people right now. We have learned many things from important people in the past. We get many examples from the past of what we could do in the present. Teachers could make subjects relevant to our lives because everything that we learn goes through our lives. Teachers teach us what we could do today from what important people did in the past. Teachers can extend lessons to the world so we could have a better understanding of how life is. One day, things that we learned are gonna go through our lives. It is important to know because we would know how life is going to be.

Working in groups during class helps students support each other. They support each other by working together. They do everything together. They think together. I have learned many things about myself from group projects. I learned that we are all the same. I have learned that we also have rights for everything. I learned that everyone should be treated the same. Everyone goes through easy and hard things, but no matter what, we just keep going on.

BRIAN VILLA

I WANT TO LIVE

When I grow up, I want to live in a better Boyle Heights where Latinos are given better education. I want to live in a community where people aren’t afraid to walk at night. I want to live in a Boyle Heights where culture is alive. I want to live in a Boyle Heights where dropping out isn’t common anymore. I want to live in a community where crime rates are low. I want to live in a community where Latino college rates are high, and where better jobs are available for them. I want to live in a Boyle Heights where poverty is no more, where the community is united and fighting back against the oppression. I will change my community by fighting back. I will make a difference in my community by volunteering at events that help make a difference. I will learn more about oppression to help stop it. I will stop poverty contributing to this problem in our community. I will do everything in my power to change Boyle Heights into a better community.

LUIS TORRES

The future is supposed to be better but scientists say our future is doomed. Because of global warming, my grandchild might never know what a polar bear is. As a matter of fact, I might not have a grandchild because of global warming. People in the 1950s didn’t have this thought in their mind due to the lack of technology.

I’m just one person, and they made me feel like I can’t make a difference but if I put myself on the right path, I can be a good influence to many people. We do need to change cause we can’t keep going this way. We can’t stay the same. We are on a road to destruction and we are going too fast.

War isn’t going to solve anything because its only purpose is to cause death, and how are we going to get better if we are our own enemy? Gang members killing each other just to get some money or identity. If I walk in the wrong hood, that could be the end of me.

The government made money the answer because without it, America will leave you to die. They made not paying them to live in this country a crime. The music isn’t the same—people listen for the tune without knowing that they are influenced by the bad messages too. It makes me mad that celebrities are treated like gods and have more money than they could spend in their lifetime, while people are starving in Africa and in the ghetto selling drugs to provide for themselves and their seed. It’s been time to make a change since the beginning of time.

You shouldn’t care about what media calls “style” cause in reality they are just

trying to change you and take your money in the process. Their expectations cause us to doubt our beauty and believe we are not normal. They have made us think being different is wrong and that we should follow the group, but in reality, we are all different-that’s a beautiful thing right there. We’ve got to learn from the past and create nothing but good for the future cause living off that idea will make the change we need. If you have problems bottled up in your head, write them down on ink instead. Later on when you solve those problems, you will be proud to see how far you have come since the time you wrote down those problems.

LIZETH XOCHIPA

I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT BOYLE HEIGHTS

I cannot imagine Boyle Heights without our Mexican culture. Boyle Heights is mainly known for being too violent and “ghetto” to the people who don’t know our community. We are also known a lot for our Latino culture. People see things in different ways. For example, I see my community in a positive way. The way I see it is really traditional and we make celebrations for the holidays. I remember on Cinco de Mayo, my neighbors decorated their houses and they were bumping their music all loud like they’re Norteñas—Jenni Rivera, Vicente Fernandez, all the music similar to that. Also on Día de los Muertos, we did a project in our class for Ethnic Studies where we had to write about activists and how they grew up and decolonized and fought. We had to take a Pan de Muerto and some apples to put on the altar for our loved ones to remember them and all the good times we had with them. We also took our family to Mariachi Plaza to have fun. Everyone had fun at the carnival eating churros, Pan de Muerto, mole, and dancing to our common cumbias and getting face paintings and all these fun things. Overall, everyone had fun and I think we all enjoyed the time. We all got together and it was a wonderful thing to be a part of and that’s what makes it Boyle Heights—we connect with people from around the world with these traditions.

IVAN MENDOZA

I was just considering the trash and graffiti that happens in my community. I think someone should do something about it. When I come home from school, I see all sorts of things. And I was just thinking, why isn’t anybody doing anything about it? The mayor knows the community is messed up and why hasn’t he done anything about it? Why is he just sitting there and wasting his time? This is affecting our community. It takes me thirty minutes to walk home. But I see so many problems that affect my community, like when I am coming home and I need to think twice because on the way there might be gang members hanging out on the corner. And on the other side there are houses and people and you gotta choose the other side. I also walk under the bridge and it’s so dirty with trash all over the place. And this doesn’t happen everywhere, but mostly in Boyle Heights. Boyle Heights is my community and I don’t want to see it like it is today.

JAMES GOMEZ

I want my children to grow up in a place that is not like Boyle Heights. A place where there are no drugs and no gangs. That is what I want for my children. When I walk home, I feel fear knowing how cops are with Latinos and knowing there are gangs out there. I’ll be walking home with cops driving slowly, staring at me like I have something or committed a crime. Why do cops have to look at me like this? Maybe the police assume things about me because of the way I dress? Yeah, I’m gonna admit sometimes I dress banged-out. Once the police see young men dressed banged-out they assume that they’re from gangs. Sometimes I gotta pull up my shorts or sometimes I gotta pull my shirt up to my waist because I don’t want the cops to stop me. It’s annoying that I can’t dress the way I want because the cops will assume things of me or gangs will assume things of me. This is just the way I dress, it’s just how I like to wear my clothes so I could feel comfortable.

Another thing is that I walk home with fear due to gangs. There are gangs everywhere. I gotta walk through the streets alert, knowing what’s going on around me. You know when there are gangs once you see graffiti. That’s your clue saying, “Ay be awake, watch your back.” Yeah, I have friends that are in gangs but that doesn’t mean I’m in a gang. I ask them what it is like to be in a gang or why they joined a gang. The response I get back is, “Once you’re in a gang, you’re basically risking your life. You never know what’s gonna happen when you walk out that door.” He told me, “I joined a gang because my parents weren’t there when I needed them so I might as well be with people who are there for me and die with people who are there for me.” I didn’t join a gang because luckily my parents are here for me and there’s no point to be living with the risk of

death on your mind at any minute.

My dad gives me advice on life, doing the right things, and what not to do. I feel good and glad that my dad helps me. He’s saying it for a reason so I won’t make the mistakes or so I could be a better person. It’s special to me that my dad gives me advice because it shows that he cares. My mom supports me by encouraging me to do what I want. She just helps me with what I want to do in life. Drugs are a big no to me and my family. There’s no point in drugs, all they do is hurt my system and colleges aren’t going to want an athlete who does drugs. It’s important to be healthy because drugs will affect my body in sports and I don’t want my body to be damaged because I won’t perform the same in college.

I don’t want my children to live the same way I’m living now. I want them to feel safe and not feel fear when cops are looking at them. I want Boyle Heights to have no gangs, no drugs, and to change the way the police look at us Latinos or what they assume about us. I want my children to be around people who influence them in a good way and who are going to support them.

JOVANY DELGADO

Can you imagine Boyle Heights looking like Beverly Hills? Having new shiny shelters where empty parking lots used to be. Maybe this way there would be less homeless people on the streets. There are always people struggling for food, homes, and just to make money, while other people are spending tons of money on stuff they do not need. Many times when it’s raining, I always see them getting wet or trying to hide under bridges. So this makes me feel useless—just the fact that I’m not very wealthy myself in order to help out all these people struggling. It also gets me very angry that there are people spending money on stuff they do not need when they could be helping out the homeless. I would like to show these people the projects just so they could react differently and want to make a change cause these buildings are old and always dirty. Also there are always people looking in trash cans for bottles or selling them in a little cart just to make some money. I think that these environments are not right for someone to live there. There is always crime in these places. Just last year there was a person lying down dead in the middle of the street.

There should not be anybody higher or anybody lower—I think everybody is the same, but I think that this is a byproduct of capitalism. We should create more jobs so we can get these people jobs and maybe even improve the community and make it look more modern. We could make all this happen if we raise awareness. Some ways we can raise awareness are by maybe putting flyers on the poles or maybe by going door-to-door and letting people know about the poverty in Los Angeles. It’s time for Boyle Heights to be the best town around.

KENDRA MONGE

TO OUR SO-CALLED “SYSTEM”

Dear System:

You label all ethnicities by class, color, and wealth. That’s not the only problem. There’s a lot of police brutality and racism and what do you do? Absolutely nothing! In the pledge of allegiance, you state, “Indivisible with liberty and justice for all.” When you wrote that, were you thinking about all ethnicities or just the ones that benefited you? You claim that we should all be treated equally but why is it that people of color are always facing racism and police brutality? You should be admiring people of color because we have suffered so much and still reimagine this messed up world. We still choose to be resilient and we keep resisting to get equality and to make a change, to stop police brutality and racism! If we didn’t have racism, police brutality wouldn’t be happening at the moment.

In America’s early history when slavery was happening, you viewed people of color as property. They were treated like animals instead of human beings. You let slavery end but African-Americans were being segregated. You gave them freedom and you basically took it back from them. You call this being treated equally? You did not give them the right to vote until 1965. Now tell me, is this being treated equally? Not only were African-Americans affected but also the Native-Americans. Thanks to Columbus, the Taíno culture is dead. He killed and mistreated so many Native-Americans that he had to get African-Americans involved and what did you do? Nothing. If you think about it, it all takes us back to when everything started.

Let’s talk about police brutality now. You let police officers do whatever they

feel like doing. They can commit a crime and they won’t get charged, or their sentence will get reduced all because they work for you. An example would be what happened with Mike Brown. An eighteen-year-old boy was shot multiple times by a police officer named Darren Wilson. According to him, Mike Brown matched a description. Darren Wilson did not get charged with anything.

My cousin was once stopped by a police officer because he looked “suspicious.” According to the cop, he looked suspicious because he had a tattoo on his arm and because he looked like a gangster. The cop had no right to interrogate my cousin unless he had a probable cause and all my cousin was doing was going back home. A person can look like a gangster and have tattoos but still be a hard-working person who doesn’t like to get into any trouble, and that was my cousin. What we need to do is reimagine the law enforcement. Police officers shouldn’t be able to get away with a crime just because they work for the government. They should be charged like a normal person would. We have cops to make us feel safe—that’s the whole point of having them. If we didn’t have police brutality, there wouldn’t be riots and violence. People would respect the police officers instead of calling them “pigs” every time they see one. If we didn’t have racism, police officers wouldn’t mistreat and take advantage of people of color. If we all got paid the same amount of money and there was no such thing as being poor, police officers would see us differently. If we had better government rules, then police officers would be doing their job correctly and not walking around thinking they can do whatever they feel like just because they work for you.

So many people have resisted racism and police brutality. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks were some people that resisted racism. MLK resisted racism by making speeches and helping people reimagine the world. He helped us get the right to vote and end segregation. Rosa Parks helped end segregation by sitting in the back of the bus and not giving up her seat. Communities are coming together to help fight police brutality. There are a lot of people protesting. The Bloods and the Crips are coming together in Baltimore to stop police brutality. People were also resisting in Ferguson during the riots. People are resilient because they have hope that one day police brutality will end, that racism will finally stop, and that the government will finally change. They have to stay strong during all this and that’s why they are resilient. In my opinion, the government should really reconsider its laws and change them to make all ethnicities equal. Police brutality and racism happen all around the world and African-Americans

and brown people suffer the most from those things. It’s time to make a change and if we don’t have your help, this world and communities will just fall apart completely.

Sincerely,

Kendra M. Monge

DESTINY MEJIA

WHAT DO I WANT TO BE?

What do I want to be?

I want to be that person everyone loves. I want to be the girl that doesn’t have to worry about how she looks because she’s always beautiful.

I wish I was that girl that didn’t care how much or how little she weighs I wish I could be that girl that’s comfortable in her own skin

But I can’t! I can’t be that person or that girl.

Even though my mom tells me every morning how beautiful I look or how amazing I am, I hear the voices of society in my head saying, “You could be better” and “You ain’t good enough”

My mom wonders why I stay in my room

If I were to tell her, I would say, “It’s because of that man, he made me like this, he made me self-conscious,” and “It is because guys only want girls with a nice body and a cute face”

So this is what I wish I could be.

ZEILA DIAZ

WE NEED MORE ACCESS

One big problem in my community is that we don’t have that much access to healthy food. This is a problem in my community because many people, especially kids, are becoming obese or have diabetes and high blood pressure. This is also a big problem because if people are getting all of these diseases then they can die from it if they don’t have a diet. What they eat then makes it more likely for them to die. The reason people choose unhealthy food is because they have no option. Fast food is a lot cheaper than healthy food and you have access to it at any time and everywhere you go. But what most people don’t know is that fast food is very bad for their health because fast food doesn’t give you the proteins you need for your body. It only contains high calories that make you unhealthy. Most of the people in Boyle Heights are Latinos so they prefer unhealthy food because it is more affordable for them.

I wish my community was better. I wish healthy food wasn’t expensive. It makes me feel so sad to know that the government doesn’t care about what we eat. I think it is really unfair because we’re all equal and we deserve to have access to all the good things in our community. Money shouldn’t be an issue but unfortunately it is because the government only cares about the money and not about the problems in the community.

I want to make a change. I want to teach people how bad unhealthy food is so that they can know about it and so that they can make their own choices about what they want for themselves. And after that, I would like to get involved and protest against all fast food restaurants because if fast food restaurants didn’t exist, we wouldn’t have this issue. I would also like to do something so the

healthy food prices can decrease. I think these are some of the ways we can show resilience.

If we don’t try to do anything about this problem then it’s going to get bigger and bigger and more difficult to solve. I mean, if we don’t start doing something about it then I don’t even want to imagine what my kid’s life is going to be like. I don’t want to see my kids eating a bag of Cheetos every day and drinking a soda, and I don’t want them to ask me to buy them a hamburger instead of eating the food I’m going to cook at home. The reason I don’t want that is because I know it’s going to affect them. They’re not going to be able to concentrate at school because that’s what consuming too much sugar does to you. Fast food does not provide the necessary nutrients we need.

So what I’m going to do is stop eating junk food. And I will tell my mom the consequences of eating unhealthy because she doesn’t know that much about what junk food does to our bodies, that’s why she lets me eat it. I’m going to make my mom cook for us and I’m also going to ask her if she can teach me how to cook so that when she is at work, I can cook for her instead of her buying us fast food because she doesn’t have time to cook. I’ll make sure that my brother and sisters don’t get any diseases from eating junk food by teaching them to eat healthy. And in the future, I’m going to teach my kids to eat healthy. I’m going to teach them what I know about eating unhealthy because I think that this can be a solution to this problem, at least for my family. I would like people to see my family as an example so that they can also start making a change for a better life.

ITZEL MENESES

CITY OF ANGELS

The city of Angels is the place I live in So much beauty for an eye to mourn on I can’t believe this is the place I was brought for Murals around me tell me my history

Like the mural around I see everyday outside of class

The indigenous woman who is hungry for knowledge While people around me are trying to destroy me

The food reminds me of culture

The smell of tamales and homemade food from inside homes

When I’m walking down the street While these books are teaching me torture

By teaching me the European perspective and not my ancestor’s culture When will I liberate out of the system

Oppression will never be forgiven.

ABOUT 826LA

AFTER - SCHOOL TUTORING

From Monday to Thursday, students rush to 826LA after school 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 tutors, families, and peers.

IN-SCHOOL SUPPORT

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 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 a satellite writing center at Manual Arts High School in South Los Angeles.

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. On Saturday mornings, 826LA’s ongoing workshop for reading development, Barnacle’s Bookworms, meets on both sides of town.

FIELD TRIPS

Weekday mornings, public school teachers bring their students to 826LA for a morning of collaboration, creativity, and writing. Whether the topic is Storytelling & Bookmaking, Choose Your Own Adventure, or something entirely different, these three-hour field trips are always in high demand. Every student leaves with an individualized publication of the finished story under his or her arm, complete with illustrations and an author photo! One hundred percent of teachers report that their students take a new excitement for writing back to the classroom thanks to 826LA’s field trips.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS ADVISORY BOARD

Henry Chase

Matthew Cherniss

Grant DeVaul

Dave Eggers, Emeritus

Terena Thyne Eisner

Jodie Evans

Rebecca Goldman

DeAnna Gravillis

Susan Ko

Louis Lucido

Krystyn Madrigal

Sylvie Rabineau

Terri Hernandez Rosales

Brad Simpson

J.J. Abrams

Judd Apatow

Fiona Apple

Miguel Arteta

Mac Barnett

Steve Barr

Joshuah Bearman

Father Greg Boyle, SJ

Stefan G. Bucher

Mark Flanagan

Naomi Foner

Mitchell Frank

Ben Goldhirsh

Ellen Goldsmith-Vein

Nicole Holofcener

Spike Jonze

Miranda July

STAFF

Joel Arquillos

Executive Director

Carolyn Gan

Director of Development

Kristin Lorey Director of Programs

Marisa Urrutia Gedney Director of Education

Vickie Vertiz

Site Director, Mar Vista

Birte Klug

Mar Vista Programs and Operations Manager

Lauren Humphrey

Mar Vista Volunteer Manager

Sarah Lancaster

Store Manager

Diana Molleda

Design Manager

Mariesa Arrañaga Kubasek

Echo Park Volunteer Coordinator

Mike Dunbar

Mar Vista Programs Coordinator

Pedro Estrada

Echo Park Program Coordinator

Emmanuel Portillo

Echo Park Programs Coordinator

Annie Vought

Development Coordinator

Alejandra Castillo

Mar Vista Programs Assistant

Hector Hernandez

Mar Vista Programs Assistant

Kenny Ng

Echo Park Progam Assistant

Catherine Keener

Keith Knight

Al Madrigal

Tara Roth

Katie McGrath

R. Scott Mitchell

Lani Monos

B.J. Novak

Jane Patterson

Keri Putnam

Sonja Rasula

Luis J. Rodriguez

J. Ryan Stradal

Sarah Vowell

Sally Willcox

Julius Diaz Panoriñgan

Teaching and Writing Specialist

AmeriCorps VISTA Members

Erin Lashway Communications & Marketing Assistant

Michael Reyes

Volunteer Outreach & Systems Assistant

Joshua Rushing

Manual Arts In-School Assistant

T Sarmina

Manual Arts In-School Assistant