Q&A:
-What’s your long-term motivation or vision? What drives you?
I’ve always dreamed of becoming a published author, to give voice to the stories, noises, and fragments that have been whirling around in my head since elementary school. Every day I work on poems and stories in the hopes of one day publishing some of my creative work.
-What place or memory do you value the most from your childhood?
Nothing in my memory quite compares to the thrill of the hours my elementary school friends and I spent playing unsupervised, unruly soccer games in the park after school. We didn’t have a level field of grass to use, so we played makeshift matches in the baseball diamonds, using the dugouts as goals and kicking up big clouds of dust. Each of us would role-play our favorite pro footballers. I was a midfielder and would pretend that I was Steven Gerrard.
-What keeps you whole?
Family, solidarity, art. I cherish the bonds I was born into (my Mexican American and Nebraskan extended families) and the relationships I had the privilege of building throughout my childhood and in college. I like to walk a lot, and you’ll rarely catch me without a pair of headphones!
-How does the word “community” play out in your life?
For me, community can be a practice, not just a fixed place or identity. It’s hugely important to find a network of loved ones with whom you can share support in the form of resources, sympathy, art, language, or whatever! One of my long-term goals is to create community by offering cost-free tutoring and college counseling services for first-generation and immigrant youth.
-If you could travel anywhere in the world for a whole month, where would you go?
Mexico. My family is originally from Jalisco and the Valle de Mexico, but I’ve never had the chance to visit. Soon!
Quick Takes:
A skill you’d like to learn:
Drawing/graphic design
Waffles or pancakes:
Pancakes
Favorite book:
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Favorite cuisine:
Ethiopian
Three characteristics you value in others:
Toughness, vulnerability, reliability