A Place Worth Being

Sometimes our Let's Talk conversation class gets creative, and for this assignment we worked on our writing skills. The prompt was borrowed from 826 Digital, which provides teachers with writing prompts and resources. The prompt was submitted by award-winning author Jason Reynolds, and the learning objective is as follows: Students will learn an interesting way to use descriptive language, and, for fiction writers, a way to build characters.

Prompt: Students will write a personal narrative where they describe themselves as a place. Not a specific place, but all the things a “place” consists of. What’s the weather? What’s the terrain? Is this a city or a suburb? A farm? A different planet? Are there lots of people there? What’s it smell like? Is it loud? Is there traffic? Street vendors and hustlers? You get the point. Turn the body and mind into an environment through your writing.

After a bit of discussion on descriptive language using our five senses, students got to work and were given homework to finish the assignment. Nohemi Velazquez submitted her powerful and creative work and was willing to share it. Thank you, Nohemi!

The Whole Place

I see each man and woman as a whole, entire world, with a sole soul.
A magnificent world, perfectly designed by its good Creator.
As you and me.

We perhaps visit one day the green grass around a beautiful lake. It grants us an amazing view, so we may feel that comfort and peace…

Next, it starts to rain… from a fresh breeze to a “cats and dogs” storm that puts you in an easy-drowning camp. Then, we need to rapidly move on, keep going.

Probably, we find a dry place on the way, where we can get some needed rest, and fall asleep there for a while… so we suddenly wake up and realize that all around us is completely desolated, totally empty as a desert… naturally, we have the impulse to go far away from there, from the “nothing” place… but, before begin the running, if we have reached sufficient maturity and a healing of the soul, it happens that we open widely our eyes and find a particular calm and beauty in that place. “It’s a very good place to visit”, we wonder…and continue the trip.

Going forward, we lift our sight and surprisingly, we’re witnessing the most gracious field, full of flowers and trees, the precious dawn over there, offering us the most marvelous colors we have ever seen…

Until then, we may look backwards and it appears we were walking through all this on our own. But it is not true.

Because everyone, each of us, we are a community. Our souls embrace our loved persons, but our not so loved ones too. All people that meant something along our lives.

And, realize or not, our loving Father was taking us all the way into his hands. If we’d wish so, we can be happy and peaceful in each of those places and into our inner world… we just have to figure out how enormously loved we are...

Reflections on COVID-19 by Clara Auyon

Today's post comes from Clara Auyon who has been in the ALS program for a couple of years now. With the guidance of literacy staff, she decided to participate in the California COVID Diaries project from the California State Library and California Library Literacy Services, and these are her reflections on the impact that COVID-19 has had on her life. 

How has your life changed?

My life changed because I had to reorganize my day to day trying to fulfill my personal and professional activities without leaving home. Being in contact with my family, friends, neighbors, virtually, no longer hugging, kissing, meeting or sharing important dates with them in person. We had to implement all the hygiene protocols inside and outside the house, with food and not food as indicated by health authorities. Being at home all day we had to create new activities to fill our free time.

How have you changed?

It made me even more sensitive to the reality experienced by the most vulnerable people, valuing and enjoying what I have, my husband, my kids, my friends, my work, recognizing and investing every minute in what is really worthy, thanking God for being alive, for giving me faith and hope in these difficult times, for having a roof, food. Continuing working to be a better person, more committed to help others.

Important highlights: any silver linings?

We spend more time with my children, family thru WhatsApp, Zoom, etc. I am very happy to share more time with my husband. Before I only saw him Monday to Friday from 10 pm to 8 am. We have time to sharing activities that we like, cooking, watching movies, talking about politics, technology, etc.

Time to reflect on what we must change to improve ourselves, what is really worthy. It happens to us that with the fast-paced life that we lead by work, our children, the housework, we don’t have time to appreciate things and sometimes waste time on things that are not worth it, due to the pandemic and having to stay at home and stop doing many things, we had free time and realize everything that was happening due the pandemic, many infected people, deceased, without work, without home, some without having anything to eat, you appreciate more what you have, thank God for what you have and value it more and seeing all this awakens in you the desire to helps, empathy and solidarity towards those people who lack all these things and are the most vulnerable.

By staying home and having a lot of free time I decide to reorganize my activities and keep myself busy to minimize the stress generated by the pandemic. Starting with my hobbies, like taking care of my plants, making flowers arrangements, cooking new recipes and some of my goals that I had not achieve because I did not have the time, learning English, Mandarin, refreshing my Cantonese language and updating the directories of my classmates of Junior High, High School, University to stay in touch through WhatsApp and Zoom to support us, help others and encourage us to deal with this pandemic.

With the pandemic, I confirm again that in times of crisis, people and private associations always emerge to help most in need, hundreds of moving stories, which fill you with hope and faith. People who regardless of social and political differences, come together to help and defend injustices.

Difficulties: what was been challenging?

Adapt your personal and professional life to the new normal, with the pandemic everything change, your life will not be the same even if the pandemic is controlled, after all we have lived, we have all changed in some way. We will have changed in many aspects from our way daily activities, the way of working, living with our family, friends, etc. even our way of seeing and valuing things.

One of the aspects that characterize us human beings is affective relationships, being in contact with other people and not having them we feel that something is missing. For me it is frustrating because I love to be in contact with my children, my family, my friends, getting together to them, hugging them, but with the pandemic this is no longer possible, to compensate this limitation now I do it by phone, WhatsApp, video, Zoom, see us without living the car.

Control stress and anxiety and help other to do so. Due the pandemic, many people were left without a job, with the uncertainty of how will survive by not having an income, the fear of getting infected, domestic violence when they are locked up at home, not being able to hug their children, parents, grandparents, friends, etc., being responsible for supporting their children in their studies, the despair of seeing that the epidemic has not been controlled because every day there are more infections and more deaths, also the increase in violence, robberies, not knowing when this will ended, has increased the level of stress and anxiety and in some cases have ended in suicide.

What do you hope for 2021?

COVID-19 & Public Health

Have a vaccine for Covid19 and the country or countries that have created it, shared it with the world and it is provided free for the population.

The leaders of the world and their health departments do no wait for another pandemic to prioritize improving their health system and be better prepared for the future for any contingency that arises. What they experienced with Covid19 and what we have left to live, serves as experience to not make the same mistakes that cost many lives.

Doctors, nurses, health personnel have the tools to do their job.

Create and promote free programs to educate the population about the importance of having a healthy diet to avoid serious diseases such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, etc., incorporate this topic at all levels of education.

Invest more financial resources in disease research and in supporting health experts for their research.

The World Health Organization manages to integrate all the countries of the world so that in times of crisis they mutually support each other for the benefit of all and the countries don’t put politics before health.

Civic & Political

Citizens with the experiences lived with Covid19 reflect on what is really important in life, creating awareness that we live in a community where we have to support each other, the importance of family, friends and solidarity towards the most vulnerable people.

Implement strategies to gradually improve the economy so that lost Jobs are recovered, in addition to creating more jobs.

With the uncertainty of when the Covid19 would be controlled, create educational programs so that students are prepared to take classes online and can count on the technological resources required or create another structure so that children who don’t have a computer can take their classes, such as exclusive television channels for classes.

Government works to reduce the % of people living in poverty, especially Latinos and African Americans.

Create improvements in laws to prevent violence from police and reduce racial discrimination.

Citizens are aware that by voting in elections for our representatives, we are choosing the people who will fight for our well-being and our families, so it is important that we analyze thoroughly who we vote for.