First-person: “Dreaming Sin Fronteras” showcases search for identity



DreamingSinFronteras-Stage-Slider

Certain themes struck a chord for me in “Dreaming Sin Fronteras” (Dreaming Without Borders), a performance last week at the University of Southern California’s Bovard Auditorium. These stories conjured the struggles and complexity of being an undocumented immigrant growing up in the United States, and the search for identity in an adopted country that rejects us because of our status. Some of the individual stories resonated more than others, but I made a rooted connection with the idea of having to assimilate, being uncertain about whether I could attend college and the transformation from powerlessness to empowerment when I went from being a member of a disenfranchised group to becoming an activist on behalf of immigrants.

The character named Gabe, played by local actor Jose Julian, reminded me of my privilege benefiting from policies like AB-540, a law that has helped me pay in-state tuition; Deferred Action for Early Childhood Arrival (DACA), which grants me temporary legal status; and the California DREAM Act, a law that is helping me pay for college. Because he is from a different generation, Gabe did not grow up with all these benefits and a college education to him seems like an impossible dream. But these limitations do not define Gabe. [Read more…]

First person: College isn’t for us?



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Skylar and Randall playing in her backyard | 1998

This Reporter Corps story published Oct. 13, 2013 recently aired on KCRW as a radio piece produced by Kerstin Kilm and Skylar Endsley Myers. Fast forward to 8:10 to hear Myers talk with her childhood friend Randall about why the two pals ended up taking different paths. 

I opened the door to see my best friend from childhood, Randall, chewing on a pen top, facing me in his baggy jeans. We hadn’t seen each other for nearly a decade. As kids our lives seemed like mirror images and we were inseparable skateboarding, biking and playing basketball on our block of South Central Los Angeles. But something changed in middle school. In eighth grade, while I was worrying about which private high school would give me a scholarship, he was getting arrested for the first time.

How was it that my ace homie growing up–the one who I would run the streets with for hours–ended up on the fast track to prison while I sped toward opportunities? [Read more…]

South LA tribute to Gabriel García Márquez



El coronel necesitó setenta y cinco años — los setenta y cinco años de su vida, minuto a minuto –para llegar a ese instante. Se sintió puro, explicito, invencible, en el momento de responder.

“Mierda.”

Gabriel Garcia Marquez at | Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara

Gabriel Garcia Marquez in 2009 | Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara

I laughed out loud to myself as I finished reading “El coronel no tiene quien le escriba.”

“Shit.”

This is the answer that took the colonel seventy-five years of his life to provide in response to his wife as she pestered him about what they were going to eat.

“No One Writes to the Colonel” is the second novel I read by Gabriel García Márquez. It is one of my favorite books written by him, with one of the best endings that I have ever read. It is sad that Latin America has lost one of its most prized writers. But to me, he lives on in his stories and in the love of people who want change.

I discovered Márquez — also called El Gabo, a diminutive of affection among his friends and fans — in my first English class in community college two years ago when I read the “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World.” In this short story Márquez transforms the life of an isolated village when its residents become enamored of a dead man who washes up on their shore. Gabo gives life to a drowned man with his magical realism in stunning, straightforward prose. Instantly, I added him to my list of must-read authors, venturing to learn still more about El Gabo and his art. [Read more…]

Aun vive el Gabo: Tribute poem to Gabriel García Márquez



Editor’s Note: Gabriel García Márquez died April 17 leaving behind dozens of writings and a legacy that touches young writers around the world. Miguel Molina of Reporter Corps South L.A. is one of them. To pay homage to “El Gabo,” Molina penned the poem below (in Spanish and English) and a first-person piece titled, “He wrote for us all: A South LA tribute to Gabriel Garcia Marquez.”

One of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's famed novels, "Love in the Time of Cholera" | Ross Angus

One of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s famed novels, “Love in the Time of Cholera” | Ross Angus

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First person: Does my Watts neighborhood want me to get pregnant?



A college student asks why she gets so little support compared with young women who have children

Shanice Joseph and her mother

Shanice Joseph and her mother

If I were to get pregnant, I would know just where to go for help: the local offices of Women, Infants, and Children, the federally funded food and nutrition program; Planned Parenthood; and the Family Resource Center. All three are places where I stood in line for hours with my siblings as a child growing up in Watts. But finding local resources to pursue higher education is harder. As one of the few community college students living in Watts, I can’t find a place to print out an essay or get college-related advice.

When I ran into a friend who grew up in the same low-income housing development as I did, she said there was an easier way than to struggle through college. “You should get pregnant,” she told me. “Girl, the government will take care of you, trust me.”

I didn’t think much of her idea. But she was right about one thing: In my community, there are many resources for young parents, and barely any for college students. Just on my own block, I recently counted a total of five programs for mothers my age or younger.

Click to hear Shanice Joseph give an “audio intro” to her neighborhood, produced with Kerstin Zilm.

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First person: Why I should get in-state tuition as an undocumented student



Obama offered me protection from deportation and the chance to get a job — But what about my education?

My Graduation

Miguel pictured with family at his high school graduation in June 2012

I am told I crossed the border to the United States when I was 2 years old, sitting in the back of a car. But my earliest memories are of South Los Angeles — of my parents staying up until midnight and then waking up every weekday and on Saturdays at 3:00 a.m. to check on the tamales and boil water mixed with maizena, blocks of chocolate and cinnamon, for champurrado, a traditional Mexican corn-based drink. My dad would load his yellow vendor tricycle with a huge olla , or pot, of tamales, utensils, and the freshly made champurrado. My mom would fill a grocery cart with the prepared foods, which she would push as she walked my sister and me to elementary school.

That changed the fall of my senior year in high school. My parents told me they were moving because they feared for their lives. They had reported to the police that a gang member was extorting money from them. When the gang member found out, he threatened to kill them. My parents wanted me to move with them, but I chose to stay to finish high school because I believed there were more opportunities for me in California as an undocumented student. The day before I sat for the SAT, I said goodbye to my younger siblings and my parents.  My father started to cry when I hugged him; I think that was the first time I saw him cry — and it made me cry. I then entered my house alone and lay on my bed until I fell asleep. [Read more…]

Reporter Corps on KPCC: Touring South LA’s Manchester Square



"Touring Manchester Square" | Skylar Endsley Myers

“Touring Manchester Square” | Skylar Endsley Myers

Public radio station KPCC teamed with Intersections this week to present “Touring South LA’s Manchester Square,” an audio slideshow by Skylar Endsley Myers about the neighborhood where she grew up. Myers created the project as part of Reporter Corps South LA, our program that trains young adults to cover their South LA communities using multimedia journalism. KPCC will broadcast and publish online more Reporter Corps “neighborhood tours” over the coming months.

Check out the piece on KPCC’s Take Two page. And thanks, Curbed L.A., for the shout-out.

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First person: Thanksgiving without turkey?



A turkey drumstick for Thanksgiving. | Flickr/ D. Sharon Pruitt

A turkey drumstick for Thanksgiving. | Flickr/ D. Sharon Pruitt

As our family ate tacos and cupcakes on the occasion of my grandmother’s 65th birthday last week, my four-year-old brother Bryce—the youngest of the seven of us, four of whom were present—asked her, “Nana, what are we doing for Thanksgiving?”

He had a huge smile on his face while he waited for an answer, but my grandmother, with whom I live in Watts, and my mother and I all looked down in shame. No one wanted to be the one to tell him that we didn’t have anything planned for Thanksgiving. Or that we weren’t certain whether we would be able to come up with something.

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day of appreciation and celebration. If nothing else, it’s the one day out of the year when my entire family gets together at my grandmother’s house.  Normally, I work nights at LAX and go to school during the day at Long Beach City College, where I study sociology. Thanksgiving is a day off. My six siblings come over from my mom’s place in Lomita. Other relatives from far and wide make a point of getting back, despite how busy they are. [Read more…]

My neighborhood: Central Alameda



Participants in Reporter Corps, a USC Annenberg program to train young adults from South LA to report on their own communities, created audiovisual introductions to their neighborhoods this summer. Miguel Molina’s  project focuses on areas for community gathering, drugs, and graffiti.

Miguel Molina, 19, Big Picture Film and Theater Arts Charter School, East Los Angeles College student, speaks Spanish

My family emigrated from Guerrero, Mexico when I was 2 years old. I lived in South Los Angeles for most of my life. My grandparents taught my father to make tamales and they sold them for 16 years in South Los Angeles. Growing up, my mom didn’t like for me to go outside and play because she thought the neighborhood was too dangerous. Although I did witness a shooting once, I never saw South Los Angeles through my mom’s eyes. For me, my neighborhood wasn’t bad. For me it was filled with families and people that liked to go outside and play in the park and enjoy themselves. I want to explore afterschool programs in South L.A., because I didn’t see many growing up, nor did it seem to be an issue people were aware of. I am passionate about writing, helping my community, and immigration reform. Through Reporter Corps I hope to be able to inspire my community involved in trying to pass immigration reform this year. I also want to engage my community in education and youth issues. I believe that writing can empower my community and bring positive changes.

My Neighborhood: Martin Luther King & Western



Participants in Reporter Corps, a USC Annenberg program to train young adults from South LA to report on their own communities, created audiovisual introductions to their neighborhoods this summer. Mario Narciso speaks with his neighbors about parks, safety, and community. 

IMG_3105-333x250Mario Narciso 18, Foshay High School graduate, University of California at Riverside incoming freshman, speaks Spanish and Zapotec  

I am from a large, proud family from Oaxaca, Mexico. In their town most speak an indigenous language, Zapotec, as well as some Spanish. In 1989 my parents left Mexico in search of work and moved to South L.A., where I was born. As a participant in Reporter Corps I am interested in focusing on two issues: special education and perceptions of Latino and black youth. I was in special ed for three years and if my father had not helped me leave, I may have been stuck in it. I would also like to also show the positive and the untold stories of the “wild jungles” of L.A. Attending Reporter Corps will allow me to gain more experience in journalism and to help me understand about my major when I attend UC Riverside.