No Cameras

Good morning (?)

As I'm writing this at the break of midnight, I just wanted to apologize for being MIA. It's been a really difficult week and I don't think I have ever been this refreshed after a break (although, it wouldn't have hurt to have it a little bit longer, haha). So.. how did I spend the past five days?

Starting with Wednesday, I had finished up my bio class in the morning, went home, packed and left to Fresno at 11 AM. My brothers and I drove up north to spend time with our cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles because our parents weren't in town; they were flying out to the Dominican Republic to celebrate my other aunt's birthday! It was an adults getaway so I was forbidden to go, but... no

(Practically) Lil' Sis and Chey

worries, there will be a day. Once we arrived to Fresno, we hung out around my grandparents' house for a while and the drove over to my aunt and uncle's house to have an early Thanksgiving dinner. There was a ton of food for my crazy big family! Too bad I didn't have the camera with me (my mom took it with her to DR) and my phone was out of storage (typical) so I HAVE NO EVIDENCE! We served ham, turkey, tri-tip, Hmong sausage, mashed potatoes, gravy, ambrosia salad, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pumpkin spice whipped cream, regular whipped cream, and water. Now if reading that doesn't already make you full, I don't know what will. We gave our appreciation speeches, prayed and enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving meal. Afterwards, we just caught up with one another, spoke politics, got lectured about school, laughed at each others' jokes and watched boxing matches together.

Thursday was kind of a blur, actually. I remember making mashed potatoes and then going Black Friday shopping with my cousin Asa and my Aunt M. Black Friday was a 4/10 this year. I think Cyber Monday is more promising, frankly!

Friday was more shopping, but at places like Hobby Lobby, Home Goods, Ulta, Michaels, Kirkland's and more. My Aunt M got a ton of Christmas decorations for her home! Asa and I ended up sleeping over at my aunt's house and resting for the remainder of the night.

Saturday was a stay-at-home, enjoy the rain kind of day. We woke up to the sun shining, but as soon as Asa and I got back from the grocery store, rain was pouring down and we decided to help my aunt clean her house and put her Christmas tree up. We spent all day in the house, but it was so nice to just sit and talk about life and its worries. My other cousin, Carrie, ordered Domino's and we watched Cinderella that night..... until a power outage happened and we lit two candles and shined five flashlights. Surprisingly, the kids weren't very scared (and I won't admit it, but I was!)

Now finally, I am home, ready to hit the hay. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving/Fall Break!

See you next post,

Chey

Currently listening to Catching On by Elephante feat. Nevve

Sincerely, a POC

From a young age, I had to grow up quickly. Starting as early as the fresh age of five, I was a small kindergartner, one of the most petite in my grade. I pushed around this girl in the racecar around the blacktop and when it went over a bump, the car toppled over, she got a scrape. Instantly, the feeling of guilt consumed my body because I knew what I had done, but after saying sorry and expecting the usual, "it's okay", I got a hateful glare and a, "Ching chong ching".

In second grade, my mom, myself and my cousins spent a day at the Pismo Outdoor Mall and I had gotten my first "big girl" buy: a brand new, bright white sweater from PacSun. It was awesome. Clearly, I had to wear it to school the next day and that I did. During lunch, I was sitting down with my friend at the tetherball courts. A fifth grade boy approaches me and my friend and starts playing with the tetherball, but carefully glancing at the both of us. Minutes later, he stomps into the muddy grass and his shoes are slathered in dirt. Seconds later, the feet that wear those shoes were impounded into my back, spoiling my brand new sweater. Pain ringing down my back, I sit there, stunned. My friend runs to tell the noon-aid. While she's gone, the same boy shouts racist remarks at me, unhooks the tetherball from the chain and swings it at me. I'm seven.

Then, I'm nine. In fourth grade. I'm in a combination class: fourth and fifth. Cool, right? Not cool. I meet a fifth grade girl, she's super intelligent; no doubt she'd go on to achieve great things later on in life. During an innocent game of jailbreak (basically dodgeball, but with a volleyball net), she persuades her team to target me. They fail to strike me with the ball. I catch it. They laugh and say, "Wow, she thinks she's tough." I wasn't and I felt like the inside of me was going to collapse, but I, at the age of nine, knew I had to stand up for myself or nobody would. They yelled at me in that same "ching chong" gibberish I had heard at the age of five. I threw the ball in anger, injured the girl, got into trouble. She did not face any consequences despite my cries, telling the teacher what she had said to me.

Today, I'm nineteen. Yesterday, Donald Trump was elected as the 45th President of the United States of America. Today, schools across the state have protested half of the nation's decision. Tomorrow, the marginalized communities will fear what the future has in store. I am part of the marginalized community.

When I was five, I learned that people will judge you for your physical differences. At age seven, I learned that as hard as you try to fit in with the majority, you won't be able to. When I was nine, I learned that violence gets you nowhere and sometimes, your voice won't be heard. What's done is done and from this point forward, I encourage my generation, future generations, and my communities to fight hard for what they believe in with class, dignity and poise. I encourage you to educate yourself, your children, your friends. Tears might stream down my cheeks as I type these words and terror might run through my body, but the fire has been ignited and I'm sure many others have been as well.

See you next post,

Chey

Currently listening to Good News by Ocean Park Standoff

I Never Knew

PC: Maya H.

This past weekend was WILD.

My friend, Maya, was going to be coming home for the weekend and we're both loving photography lately (her more than me) and she's been trying to hunt for a good spot to build up her photo bank so she can edit them and upload them to her photography Instagram profile. Well, she had asked me if I'd be in town on Thursday and she had mentioned to me that she wanted to hit up a spot in Gaviota! Apparently there's a hot spring in Gaviota which is majorly crazy because in my whole 19 years of living in the 805 valley, I have never heard of this place.

Celebrating the Sunday Sunrise

Maya slept over at my house on Saturday night and we were supposed to be studying for tests and quizzes, but we got hooked on this travel vlogger named Andrew Kearns and then we talked a lot and by the time we knew it, we should have already been asleep. Knocking out at around 11 PM, I ended up waking at 4:30 in the morning and got on my phone, replied to text messages, did the whole shabang and Maya woke up at 4:35. We got ready as quickly as we could... Figured we should eat something, so I made the famous Bob D's (Sam's Dad) toast with pesto and egg for Maya and I to enjoy before we left. I couldn't find my keys so I took the spare... Forgot my camera of all things, called my brother to get the door because I didn't have the house key, ran upstairs and ended up leaving my house 15 minutes later than we had planned: 5:30 AM.

Adventures w/ Maya

So, we were north-bound and took the exit towards the trailhead and "hiked" for a little over half a mile. We stopped for a lot of pictures, haha. Then, we climbed up a major hill (sidenote: I'm SO sore. I don't know how I'll be able to climb the stairs at school at this point) and got some really gorgeous photo ops there. At about 7:00, we decided it was actually time to find the hot springs.

We walked back down, took a weird, small, hidden turn and hiked up for about a quarter mile and saw the little pool. Let me just say, it did not smell pretty... at all. It probably smelled like egg for the whole two hours that we stayed there. But, there was gorgeous scenery and we had amazing photos to shoot! I was actually really impressed with how everything turned out. This weekend had to have been one of the best weekends of the school year, by far.

See you next post,

Chey

Currently listening to Queen Elizabeth by Cheat Codes

Interweaving

EOPS Club

As most of you already know, there is always something going around on campus or something related to SBCC! Just this past week, there has been the Good Neighbor Festival, a movie showing of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Día de los Muertos celebration, Putting Inequity to Rest speakers, and Transfer Day! I swear, the activities never stop.

After talking about all of these events, you know it, I went to at least one! Attending as a photographer for the event, I joined the EOPS Club for their fun-filled afternoon of celebrating Día de los Muertos. Many people might think of Día de los Muertos as a "Mexican Halloween", but please do not get Halloween and this day mixed up! It's actually an incredibly sentimental time of the year celebrated by families of Mexican descent. Originating from Mexico, the holiday is celebrated from October 31st (which is why it is confused with Halloween so often) until November 2nd. The significance behind this holiday is to dedicate a portion of the year to remember your loved ones who have passed away as well as your ancestors. So in a nutshell, Día de los Muertos is not Halloween! 

On Tuesday, November 1st, I took the bus an hour earlier than I usually do to be able to attend the Día de los Muertos celebration being held by the EOPS Club outside of the Luria Library. When I arrived at around 11:00 AM, they were just about finished setting up tents and tables. I put my stuff down behind the EOPS Club's table and starting shooting! It was one of the most fun shoots I have ever worked on because one, it was a lively and cooperative crowd and two, there were tons of colors everywhere! After they set up, blessings were given by members of the Chumash Community. Outside, there were activities all around where so many students stopped by to check out what was going on. At the event, the SBCC Cosmetology Academy was kind enough to offer free face paintings of various calaveritas (sugar or candy skulls) designs. People were also eligible to join in on arts and crafts! On the topic of art, Eduardo Serrato from Guanajuato Uriangato, México was able to create BEAUTIFUL street art using colored shavings. You can check out the finished piece here. But overall, I got some amazing shots, met really cool individuals and just had a really enjoyable time. Keep your eyes and ears open for the next event! I'm sure it won't be long until you hear about a really exciting one.

See you next post,

Chey

Currently listening to Mess is Mine by Vance Joy