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The Struggle

Written by Alessandro G. for the Oral Histories project at Mission High School, March 2017

I interviewed my dad, Jose Gonzalez. He  was born in El Salvador in 1977, and he now lives in San Francisco.  My dad is a hardworking person, he is short tempered, he’s always in the move, he’s funny, and sometimes he can be heartless.

El Salvador is a country in Central America with 7 million inhabitants and 3 million Salvadorians in the U.S. and the rest of the world. El Salvador is a small country; it's a country that unfortunately has experienced war, earthquakes, and right now they’re experiencing war with gangs. With all that that they’re going through right now, people are still working, still dedicated to making life better for their kids. “We haven’t been left standing,” Jose said. “The workers, which is us, are people who work hard no matter what job we have.” That’s why the country is still standing. There are many Salvadorians in the U.S, and Jose thinks they contribute to the country and make it more powerful. As he said, “ It’s the government’s fault that the economy is doing so poorly in El Salvador.” Despite this, Salvadorians still persevere.

 Jose lived his childhood in a town where there was a lot of war. He lived in the middle of bullets. He lived in the middle of poverty. His mother entered the FMLN, a guerilla army, which has progressive beliefs. His dad was a military sergeant in the armed forces, which were conservative. He was raised with his grandparents since his mom was in combat in the mountains. The only one that would sometimes visit him was his father. His mother would see him only once a month, but not always. His mother would sometimes come disguised. He remembers one time she was disguised as a monk so they wouldn’t see her because she was a target and the military wanted to kill her. So he was raised without a father or a mother; He was raised with his grandparents. His grandma had a little business making candy. He would have to get up really early to help her sell candy. “Now I see that childhood was better when I was a kid than it is for kids today. Back then, we didn’t really have any electronics, so we dedicated ourselves to playing soccer. We played with marbles and yo-yos. That’s why I enjoyed my childhood,” Jose said.

Soccer has always been a big part of Jose’s life. When he was eleven years old, he got into a soccer academy called Audaz Jr. When they were in that academy, they had to practice two times a day. They’re trainer loved working with the kids and was also a scout. He taught them things like how to kick the ball, where to run, and different strategies. Jose had a lot of the qualities to become a soccer player, and when he was fifteen years old, he debuted in the third division. He was also selected for the U-15 national team for El Salvador, and he went to a Central American tournament in Guatemala. He was able to score a free kick against Costa Rica. This is when soccer started to have a huge impact in his life. Then at sixteen years old, he debuted in the second division. He scored a lot of goals, and the team close to his home bought him, and that’s where he played for three years. “Those three years are the years that I will never forget. I was the highest scorer and I was an idol in that region,” Jose said. They paid him well. In fact, they wanted him to play in first division. But because of the lack of support, he didn’t go and he felt better there. At the moment, soccer is still a part of Jose’s life.

“When I was young I had friends that were from my town and we played soccer together. We went and partied together. We were also classmates. We were friends that enjoyed our childhood. But they were also friends that introduced me to bad habits.” When he was fifteen, they told him to start drinking his first beer. In that moment, he was at the best part of his soccer career, but they told him “One beer isn’t that bad,” and he believed them. He started drinking one, then two, then three. But in the end you have to choose your friends. “I really enjoyed my childhood, and I also enjoyed my friends,” Jose said

 Jose graduated from high school. He studied Fisico Matematicas. He really enjoyed Math. He started going to college, but because of the poverty that he lived in he couldn’t finish college. Going to college in El Salvador means wasting a lot of money. But when he did study before college, he won academic awards for being a good student. Sadly, he couldn’t finish college.

When asked about a memorable memory Jose said,” Just my childhood because we grew up without technology and we spent more time outdoors playing things like soccer and other Salvadorian games. I feel honored to have spent my childhood in El Salvador because I know I enjoyed it more than I would have in the U.S.”

Jose came to the U.S. because when he was seventeen years old when his girlfriend (who is now his wife) became pregnant. He had problems with his father-in-law and he came to the U.S. because he wanted to kill him. Plus, his mother had already gone to the U.S. and she told him to come. His girlfriend was the only daughter in her family, and she was sixteen and her family was really mad. His mother was scared that something would happen to him so she sent a coyote to bring him to the U.S.

Jose’s  journey to the U.S was overall very dangerous. He arrived in San Francisco after a month of travelling. He had to go through a lot of difficult things. “I remember I was in a trailer with about 80 people. We were hungry, thirsty, and sometimes we couldn’t breathe”, Jose recalled.

When asked what he misses most about El salvador he replied by saying, “I miss everything. You can’t compare the country you were born into another country. Even though my country is a violent and poor country, it is also a fascinating land. My family, my culture, my friends, the streets, I miss all of that. The beaches, the stadiums, soccer, these are all things that I miss. Even though I have many years in the U.S., I wish I could go back.”

Jose compared life in El salvador to life in the U.S by saying, “The life in El Salvador is a much calmer life. You’re not stressed about many things, you don’t live a fast life like you do in the United States. Since this country is a capitalist country, it’s a place where it’s all about working 24 hours a day. This is a robotic lifestyle. Sometimes you go to your house just to sleep. You’re stressed all the time. You have many bills to pay. You can’t miss a day of work. Sometimes you have to go to work sick or tired. In my country, even though we live a life of poverty, we don’t have to live with that stress. You live with happiness. You can have everything here, but you live with stress.”

Overall Jose is grateful for life.“I’m thirty-nine years old, I’ve left all of my youth to work in this country, but this is the sacrifice we have to make when we have kids. My daughter is going to be twenty-one. She’s at UC Santa Cruz, starting her third year in Economics. My son is fifteen years old and is still in high school. My goal is for them to graduate from college because I couldn’t graduate, I want them to do it. Even though this country takes up all of your strength, when you see your kids almost graduating, it makes you want to work even harder. That’s my motivation, that my kids will graduate. I ask God to give me the strength so I can keep on working. I’m a Latino who came to this country to work and to keep my family moving forward. I’m a hardworking person who doesn’t do any bad to any person. I’m a man of God. I thank this country for giving me the opportunity to work and for giving my kids a great education.”

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“Thank goodness everyone is not the same for it will be a boring world.”

Written by Aila A. for the Oral Histories project at Mission High School, March 2017

My mother, who lived in the Philippines explains her journey throughout life. She now lives in the United States, as a successful software engineer. Her travels took her to Japan, where she worked for an engineering company. She was interviewed her about all of these subjects, as well as her memories.

Josephine has very good memories of the Philippines. She always loved the warm water and weather of the Philippines. When growing up she would swim in the river before school would start. It rained a lot there, instead of snow days they would have storm days. She said, “Everywhere would be flooded so we wouldn’t have school.” She and her friends would listen to the radio to see if school would be cancelled.

Josephine says people in the Philippines are very friendly, it’s all about close family. She reflected, “We love each other. It’s not just your immediate family, it’s everyone!” She said that at a regular birthday party, more than 500 people would be there. It would be like the whole town was there celebrating with you. She said that besides the immediate family, there would be aunts, uncles, cousins, second degree, third degree cousins, almost the entire town.

When Josephine was in her 20’s she made a big decision and went to Japan for the first time. She went back and forth between Japan and the Philippines for several years. She explained that at the time, Japan was where all the tech innovations were. Her first job was for a Japanese tech company as a computer engineer. She said, “It was challenging, because in the particular department I worked for, I was the first female engineer that they hired.” In fact, in meetings people would turn to her and say, “Are you really an engineer?”

One of her biggest problems was the language barrier. She needed to learn enough to communicate with the customers. She felt she was successful and can still speak Japanese today.

Travelling from the Philippines to Japan, she caught a travel bug and that sparked a sense of adventure. It was something that impacted her whole life

Her next move was to come to America. She said, “I guess growing up in the Philippines, you hear about America as a land of opportunities so I thought why not, let’s see what’s in store for me.” When she came here, it was for work. She came to help with a bug for Y2K and she ended up staying. Another reason she stayed in America was to continue travelling. For her travelling was a humbling experience, it gave her a chance to explore the world, and it opened up her eyes. She explained that she would look for the best restaurants but would also go where the locals went. She liked to be spontaneous and to be open to what’s out there.

When asked about her wishes for her daughter she said, “I want her to live the life she wants however she wants it to be. I mean I understand and respect that everyone is not the same. Thank goodness everyone is not the same for it would be a boring world, I want her live her life, and whatever makes her happy, to go for it.

Even though she is enjoying a successful and happy life there is still one thing she misses about the Philippines-the mangoes. “We have the best mangoes in the world.”

Before I conducted the interview I had a decent amount of knowledge, so some things didn’t really surprise me. But I didn’t know certain, which really surprised me. I learned that, when traveling you can learn so much, travelling can humble you and opens up your eyes. My mother grew up in Laite and Manila, she moved back in forth from between the two. I didn’t know, and the stories she told me were very interesting and mind blowing. After this interview I feel closer to my mom, she shared personal stories and I can conclude that she is a proud and powerful woman. I feel proud of my family, especially my mom, Josephine Penaga.

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Life As An Immigrant

Written by Aaron V., Mission High School, March 2017

I decided to interview my mother for this interview. Not only did I see her life story as an interesting topic, her English is very good compared to some of my other relatives that I wanted to interview. My mother is from El Salvador and she now lives in the United States.The interview took place in my room.. Where she answered some questions to give me a better understanding of her life. The interview went on and she was comfortable as it went along. I think the interview went well because I was comfortable with the questions and so was she. As the interview continued, I understood her more and the results were very good.

Yanira sat down and decided to answer some questions involving what it was like adjusting to a new home. Yanira, a mother of 9, is a very hardworking mother who has experienced a lot when it comes to immigration. As an immigrant, her life overall was definitely more challenging than others as she was settling into a new country with a new language, a new school system and many other things that she went through to transition here. She sat down and described her life as a child in El Salvador. It began briefly where she recalls living with her Grandparents on a small house that her grandparents owned including a large piece of land where they raised some animals.

She grew up with her cousins but no other siblings as well as some children who lived in the area with her. Yanira was never wealthy in her childhood but considering the poverty in her neighborhood she was somewhat wealthy to have her own house and land. She described her life as a comfortable place, no luxuries just enough to be satisfied with. Schooling in El Salvador was very good to her. Her school wasn’t very good but she was a smart student who worked hard and made lots of friends. However at the time there was a Civil War happening which made life somewhat dangerous.

It came a day when Yanira’s mother told her she would have to move to the United States and she dreaded leaving. Not only did Yanira not want to leave her friends but she did not want to leave her house because her memories were all there. As much as Yanira wanted to stay she accepted it and realized that her mother only wanted what was best for her and her future. Yanira’s mother left to the US first and in a couple years, Yanira had saved enough money to move to the States. Once all her things were in order, she moved and sadly left behind her past as well as her Grandpa who could not go with her.

The transition from El Salvador to the United States was somewhat difficult for Yanira. Once she settled in here, her mother remarried and had a new husband whom Yanira now saw as her father. He was a very kind man who helped her in everything including her English learning. She attended a very good school known as Newcomer High School, where immigrants and other students were accepted and taught the basics on how to live and adjust in this country. It was a very good school that benefitted Yanira greatly and she excelled very well among the other students. She was always ahead of the class and she was so good that she was given permission to attend a regular high school which was eventually Mission High School.

Life, as she described it, was very strange to her considering the tall buildings, the people, the language and even the food was all a new experience for her. She never admitted it was easy but she adjusted well compared to her other schoolmates who she noticed were often homesick. From school to her home, her new Grandpa would always find a way to teach her something new. Her English over the years improved because of her Grandfather who taught her in every way possible to speak the English language.

From life then to life now Yanira has seen how much her life improved from a dangerous and poor place to a more comfortable home here where she transitioned quite well. She sees life harder however for new immigrants. She imagines little girls like her who seek a better life but are stuck due to the harsh treatment of immigrants now. Life as an immigrant or even as a newcomer isn’t as easy as it once was. In conclusion, she is thankful to have lived her life the way she is living it with 9 kids and a husband. She gave up most of her childhood for her future as well as her kids and that is what makes her a great mother for an interview like this.

This interview has made an important impact on how I now see myself and my family. Not only did my mother’s story inform me about her life, I got to see my mom explain her life to me. I was very interested in learning more about my mother’s past and now I know more than I knew before. This assignment was a little difficult at times but overall I enjoyed learning about my mother’s culture and ethnicity background. Throughout all the struggles that my mother faced, she taught me in this interview to never give up along with many other valuable life lessons. I now feel better and more understanding of my race. Based on this interview, I’d say I learned more about what it is like being a child in El Salvador. I’m grateful to have interviewed my mother for this assignment.

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Tina shares moments about her community and what she loves most about it.

Students visited 826 Valencia's Tenderloin Center to write an engaging podcast about their community

(826 Valencia's Message in a Bottle)

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The Impossible

Written by Keven P. for the Immigration Essays project at Mission High School in March 2017. 

This journey starts in the sadness of mourning. At home there are just salient thoughts where the only voice is my worry about what will happen with my siblings and me. When I leave my house I am thinking of my grandparents and my speculation about the journey. No feelings, no emotions. Only a mind without thoughts. It’s very important to never lose hope, since it makes us not give up and achieve our goals. If we stop and let our fears take control of us, it can be a really bad decision. The most important thing is keep in mind our dreams and never let them go.

Everything starts with a big motivation. I see El Salvador very far away and in front of me there is a new land--Guatemala is my next step. When I arrived most of the things were the same, but I didn’t feel at home. With my siblings we slept the first night together, and we were excited for what should be our second day. New people from all parts of Central America went with us on the journey. We took a bus from a bus station at Guatemala city, and from there we traveled a little more than eight hours until we arrived to a part close to the border. When we entered a little house we got a big surprise; there were too many people. I think we were like sixty or more people. I felt shy, very shy, and the only people I knew was my brother and sister, no one else. Finally I fell asleep because I was so tired from the journey. When I woke up I didn’t remember where I was, everything was so confusing, but after a while I realized what was happening.

After five days we finally took the next step. Now I was seeing Guatemala so far away, but what I didn’t see in front of me was the first big challenge. A deep darkness was in front of us. That darkness blockaded the new land, which was Belize. After too many falls and wounds, finally we had seen the light in front of us. It was a very nice feeling. We had to cross a river to get to Belize. Belize felt very sad; I felt it in this way, and there was my first experience with the English language. I felt weary because I didn’t understand anything about that language. But we just took ten hours to pass it. Now my second big challenge was coming. We had to cross a jungle to enter  Mexico (the third step). It was terrible; we walked like two hours without eating and everyone was very tired. Thanks to God we got out of there and we crossed a road. In the other side there was a van waiting for us.

In this part the only important thing to me was that we don’t give up since already my siblings and I got it. We took the last bus to get to Monterrey, Mexico. There we arrived to the famous “Hieleras” (a place where every immigrant arrives to prepare for the most important step or challegent, which is crossing the border Mexico-United States). I felt so proud of myself and of my siblings because we achieved something impossible since some people can’t do it or died while they try it. We arrived there at the morning and we left in the evening. Everything was happening in my mind I felt a big adrenalina rolling inside my body because we were ready to cross the famous border. In a point I felt how all my hope was leaving me ‘cause ICE was above us while we tried to cross. I thought “All this effort for nothing!?” But then something magical happened -- the ICE agents left. We got to the other side, thanks to God.

At this point life smiled on us. We started to walk when ICE came back for us, took us and drove us to the jail, where they processed our personal information. Finally it all ended, but what my brother and I didn’t know was . . . we couldn’t stay anymore with our sister, because she was older of eighteen  years of age (and the laws here don’t apply to “adults”). I felt like my life was tearing apart; all my life spent with them, they were my confidants, my best friends, my siblings, they were my everything. But the most painful part was that this journey made us inseparable and created a great confidence between us. After a while I got courage and I prayed to God for strength, and  just from that I contained my tears. With my brother we arrived to a “house-home” in Virginia, made for young immigrants.

Something changed in me in that moment. During a week of staying with them, I traveled with my brother to San Francisco. The arriving was special ‘cause the was my first time I saw again my parents after a good while. Everything was incredible; finally the piece I missed I’d found. After ten years or more I came back to my parents’ arms. Little by little my concern grew larger since now a new piece was missing me -- my sister’s. During my first school day, everything was horrible. I didn’t like the school, my classmates, I hated the language, the teachers; I really didn’t feel safe, I didn’t feel at home, and it was deepening my concern about what would happen with my sister’s case. The first month at school was very hard because I didn’t understand anything. The time was passing and we didn’t get an answer to my sister. By three months we lived in the darkness.

When the time arrived, my sister’s case was approved and she was sent to us. Finally again my family was complete and more together than ever. From this point I knew everything would change; I improved in school, I set up my grades, and I focused to learn the language. I had some classmates that told me, “You just have a little time here. You’re studious now, but just wait to get confidence here . . . you will be in gangs and this kind of thing.” Now I laugh at them ‘cause I show them the opposite, and it makes me happy because inside of me, I see my grandpa’s image standing up with a big smile, proud of me.

The wonders of life are the changes; sometime it takes wrong ways but it’s just to learn and to not do it again, but most of the time the changes are positive. Personally I thought my journey would be the worst, but we don’t know what is waiting for us behind that door, and most of the time we are scared about that. But what really we don’t know is the big opportunity that is there, and just the fear we have and all what we think is “I can’t.” Now, my journey is the best that could have happened to me ‘cause it change my life, it helped me to improve myself, and being blessed by God to give me all what I need. The big secrets of life are the changes that it gives us and the most important is “NEVER GIVE UP,” and to trust in ourselves since we never know when this opportunity will come back.

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My Personal Journey

Written by Mailyn R. for the Immigration Essays project at Mission High School in March 2017. 

My first day at school . . . well, all I can say was that I was so nervous and had mixed feelings because everything that was at my school in Guatemala wouldn’t be here anymore. Everything was over my head. The pressure and worrying about learning a new language was making me crazy. I was feeling too old to learn a new language. I was also thinking about how changes were going to happen. I was guided to my class by a teacher. I took a seat next to a girl that looked nice so I could have the opportunity to talk with someone on my first day at school. After the whole process the class started, my teacher spoke, I stared at her and thought what did you say? First of all it was English, and second there was no way that I could understand her because it was just the beginning of the first day of my entire life. It was so horrible. I didn't get any word she said. It was just like “shuiajkj” and “wejqwd.”

I wondered God, how will I learn this? Running away was the best I could do, but everyone was going to look at me as a weird person, so I thought that it was better to stay there. At the end of the day, my father came to pick me up. I can still remember asking him “Is there any school where the teachers only teach the Spanish language?” (It sounded funny, but yeah. It was just a joke.) Well, I accepted that I was going to get used to it, and not to give up on the first try. After one month, I was working really hard on my classes, and getting good grades made me feel that it was not as hard as the first day at school. I was feeling proud of myself and so did my family.

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All the Way to the United States

Written by Phuong N. for the Immigration Essays project at Mission High School in March 2017. 

From beginning to the end, I am so proud of myself of studying hard in America and making my life more colorful. My family has sacrificed for me and my siblings to get good education and better lives here. Moreover, they have suffered much in the U.S. because of language and cultural barriers. I promised myself that I have to study harder to get into medical school and travel with my whole family to every continent in the world.

I lived in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, before coming to the United States. My family has been in America for almost two years. Coming to the U.S. with a lot of hopes and wishes encourages me to do my best and achieve my American dream in this country.

Crossing the Pacific Ocean to the United States in July of 2015 was the longest trip I ever had, a trip with all my hopes and dreams of the future. Fifteen hours is not too long, but it is enough to feel homesick and worry about my new life in the United States. My life turns a new page and I will make it more colorful and enjoyable with all my efforts. The life in America is totally different. People live their own lives. I am living in my aunt’s home with lots of relatives. I expected to have fun in America right away. When I was adjusting to the homelife, I was disappointed because it was less fun than I thought because of my relatives in America. Also, I feel that my relatives are also my neighbors. It seems like we are strangers in the home. Luckily, I have my uncle to help me feel more comfortable at home. He drives me around the city at night and gives me a chance to explore San Francisco.

America is a fantastic dream for all people around the world including me. I want to stay in America to fulfill my dream and achieve my hopes in the future. One of the big ways I can do this is get through my education and my degree. For example, I would like to pursue pharmacy. My dream is also to travel around the world to learn new languages and cultures. So I have to make future plans to achieve it as soon as possible as I can. I know America can provide this for me. However, it is not all the dreams I want. Even though America is supposed to be land of opportunities and equality, it is not like that in my house. Actually, my relationship with my mother’s side is kind of overwhelming. They have lived in the U.S. for almost twenty years, but their idea of lives and the way they treat people is not equally. My relatives treat others based on who lived longer in America, who makes more money...Sometimes I do not want to talk much because of my tiredness, but they think it is because I want to hide something from them. They expect me to respect elders in my home, however, they never respect me or my family or even our opinions. They want me to do something for them but have they treated us kindly or listened to our words even once? No, they haven’t.

Sometimes,I have difficult times in the U.S., especially in school because school in my country is definitely different than in the U.S. In Vietnam, most of my time is to stay in class and wait for the teacher to come, but in the U.S. I sort of have time to get from one class to another class. Also, the most difficult thing not only for me but also for all immigrants is the language barrier. Imagine how hard it is for people to communicate or ask for help or how parents sacrifice for us to get education in the United States. To me, the first day in Mission High School was quite nervous because I didn’t have friends who could help me find the class or someone from my country. But now I feel more open and comfortable to support students who are from my country. Although it is hard to adjust to America, it is still possible. I am great example of that.

As an immigrant, my father feels homesick when he comes to the U.S. He does not speak English and has no relatives here. Every time I sit with him, he always talks about his mother. He endures to live here because of my siblings and me. I know that is really tough for my father; it was the first time I have seen my father’s sadness. If you look at his face, you can see a lot of wrinkles. He becomes older but he keeps working to provide us good education in America. Sometimes he drinks alcohol to let him relax and as you know alcohol is not good for my father’s sickness. He promises us to give up alcohol, and he did. But at a certain point, I let him drink because I wanted him to forget the sorrow. What is American Dream? To him, it is some luxury that he cannot even reach it but he believes my siblings and I can touch and control it by our view. He also trusts that we can definitely be successful in our futures.

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My Immigration Story

Written by Ricardo E. for the Immigration Essays project at Mission High School in March 2017. 

Running and getting pulled and pulled each time. We were in a rush to get home. My grandma kept pulling me so we could get there faster. I was seven years old and I had two brothers who were with us too. They were older so they were able to run faster. Getting to the house, Lupe and Roberto had new clothes and it wasn’t December. We were excited because we didn’t really get new clothes, especially that time of year. My aunt Lupe started saying to take off the clothes and to put the new ones on and we did. It was the month of October and my birthday was coming.

My aunt got a backpack for us and made us put some stuff to take on the journey. After getting everything we needed, we started heading to a hill outside of my town, La Libertad, El Salvador. My oldest brother Gustavo, who was fourteen, knew what was going on and where we were going. I didn't know what was happening. I was confused just like my other twelve year old brother Jorge. We were the youngest and didn't understand anything, so we just took everything as a game. When we got to the place where the van would pick us up, Jorge and I started playing around, but we noticed that my grandma and aunt were worried and nervous. Still we ignored them, even when we were in the van. We just looked at them and I looked at my older brother who never showed emotions. He was always serious, but I’m sure he was afraid and mostly worried about us. Then the van left and our eighteen day journey started.

After walking through the desert, forest, and rivers, we arrived in Los Angeles with my brothers. It was really weird. We never had seen so many lights in one place, but the first thing that we did was make a stop to get food. The guys driving us ordered food and that’s when we tried our first taco. After eating we got to a house where I felt asleep. Waking up I saw a man who was looking at me. My sight was foggy. I couldn’t see well but when I opened my eyes right and focused my sight on him, I recognize him; he was my father. All I did was run to him and say, “dad!” He crouched to hug me and just laughed. After hugging me he stood up and he thanked the guys for everything that they had done for us and for taking care of us. All I did was look at him, and then we walked out and got to the truck that my uncle was driving and we left. When we got to the car I fell asleep and slept the whole way.

When I woke up they were just parking. We were at my auntie’s house in San Francisco. I didn't know anything, and I just felt lost being in a place that I’ve never been to. The city was too loud and it was really dark that day. I didn't know who was my mom and who was my auntie. I just ran and said “mom!” She hugged me and started laughing and told me, “I’m not your mom,” and pointed and told me that she was my mother. They had their hair colored yellow and they were similar so I wasn’t really sure. My aunt headed to my mom told her what happened. Then she looked at me at laughed. The city was really different. There were so many cars in the city and there was light everywhere. I had to get use to it. After being with my family, my parents decided to head home. We all said goodbye and left. When we got to my parent’s house, there was only one big bed. It was only one room and a bathroom. There were five of us and we all slept in the same bed.

After a while, I started school at Mission Education Center in second grade. It was weird being in a school where they had floors and the students were mostly Hispanic. On the first day I had people showing me which was going to be my class. It was all the way in the top with a teacher named Ms. Rosalinda. She was a nice teacher and everyone in the classroom was friendly. Most of us were only speaking Spanish, but in the process we were learning the basics of English. What I found most difficult was getting to know the school, but after a while everything was easy.

Now for my future I’m planning to go to college or a university and be the first one of my family to go. I want to have a better future and help the people that I care about.

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In this podcast, Suki is describing a memory of her earliest memory taking a walk with her Mom, and her longing for the same comfort.

Students visited 826 Valencia's Tenderloin Center to revise a classroom assignment into an engaging podcast that shares a piece of their world.

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It starts in 1792, on an empty plot of land near New Orleans, bordered by a stretch of marshes and guarded by swarms of mosquitoes.

Zola Rosenfeld, an excerpt from “Je Suis Une Maison”, 826 Quarterly, Volume 20

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I was on this land when I felt that wanting turned into craving. I was on this land when I needed to stop for a moment, turn my shoulders, and look back, thinking that my country was somewhere behind me. The wistful longing I have for my country became part of my character. After having to live in a foreign country for a couple of years, I realized that my country is never behind me. It lives here within me.

Nour Bouhassoun, an excerpt from “Plant”, It’s Not A Secret

It’s Not A Secret is a publication from one of our In-Schools Projects.

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The kiss, if you can even call it one, was like a rainstorm that completely extinguished every single flame, not even leaving a tiny little ember that survived.

Maria Rivera, an excerpt from “Well, There Was No Tongue Dancing”, Reaching For This Name

Reaching For This Name is the chapbook from this summer’s Young Authors’ Workshop.

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