Your Story, Your Community

Sneak peak of Paintings

Preparing Trace of Final Drawing

Sammy painting

Studio Time After School

Melissa mixing paint

Mariano mixing paint

Marco Painting

Mariana painting

Mahliya painting

Fer and Melissa painting

Francisco Colors Final Drawing

Fer Blocks In Image

Angelica painting

This last week the urgency to design, write and produce meaningful work was heightened. Several of you have faced the fact that time is limited in class to work on your final products by making changes to your work habits. While, some of you are working towards advocating for yourself to get the help you need to create your best work, I’m trying my best to balance instruction and project work time in class. Regardless of where you stand with your personal narrative in humanities or painting in biology, today I would like to focus on the importance of The Power Within (TPW) project as a community event.

In the southern part of San Diego County we rarely experience the opportunity to listen to each other’s stories.Therefore, we rarely have a chance to understand how diverse we are as a community, but more importantly how common our experiences living here are. With few opportunities to share what we love and value, we may feel less connected to one another. We may not think that we are part of a supportive community.

Up until last year there were no reading series in Chula Vista. Last year’s team opened the possibility for So Say We All to expand their organization’s mission south of the 94 freeway. More than ever, Max, Julia and myself want us to have a safe space outside the walls of our classroom for us to share our stories. Very often your voice is overshadowed by stereotypes and a misunderstanding of teens. One of our goals for TPW is for the people of this community to listen without judgment of what it means to your generation to “grow-up.”

So perhaps unlike prior projects you are the hosts of this five-night reading series as well as the performers. As hosts you want to make sure that all of the reader’s stories and paintings are honored and respected. And as a performer you want others to see your work for what it is, your own perspective of your experience. It is important to understand that not only are you creating individual personal products to share with the community, but you also working together to create an event that supports listening and understanding of one another. As your teacher I will work hard alongside of you for this experience to be meaningful for you and everyone involved.

So although you may be imagining that having the eyes of the community on you will be a scary experience, I am comforted that you will come out on top and triumph!