Whew!

YAY!!! I am really truly done this semester.  What a journey.....I am finally starting to feel like myself again.  It is amazing what sleepless nights, and coffee filled days will do to you!  I am looking forward to a week or so of R&R and then heading right back into the books, so I can make my senior project the best that it can be! :)  

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Wow....

Wow, today marks my last "official" day of classes for the Fall Semester.  I just came back from attending a community presentation for my Oral Histories class.  What a wonderful experience!  All semester long we work at learning how to become oral historians and today we get to FINALLY see our videos and present them to our interviewees.  To have them thank US for helping them, that was very humbling.  Their stories are so important and I am the one who is lucky to have had the opportunity to work with them.  It was sad to say goodbye to my classmates, it was a great mix of people, and I will miss working with them all.  

So, last day of classes...wow.....although I have one more assignment left, I am pretty much done with the fall semester.  That is an overwhelming thought! You work so hard at something for many months and then it's over.  It feels good and sad all at the same time.  

Things feel even more overwhelming because I know that I only have one more semester before I graduate.  It is very hard to put into words all of the emotions I feel.  I am happy, sad, excited, overwhelmed, grateful, and determined (just to name a few).  This continues to be one of the greatest journeys of my life and I can't wait to see how the rest of it turns out!

“It's weird...you know the end of something great is coming, but you want to hold on, just for one more second...just so it can hurt a little more.”

Endings are sometimes painful, and maybe because I know that the end to my college career is just around the corner, I find myself trying to hold onto this semester for as long as I can.  I feel like I learned so much about myself during the past few months, but I can't quite explain it.  All I know is that something wonderful is growing inside of me, I can feel it. Every minute of every day has been confusing, amazing, fun, and challenging all at the same time. I was fortunate enough to have really great classmates that I learned something new from at every class meeting, and a professor that has inspired me all semester long.  It's not often in college where you go away feeling like every class you took was just the right class for you; this time though, I feel it.  So, today when I had the "un-offical" end to my classes (We still have some community presentations next week), I felt pretty sad.  And as I sit here and write and really think about it all, I darn near want to cry.  When something is so perfect, when it's just the right combination of things, moments, and experiences, well...it's hard to let that go.  So even though it has been brutal at times I will hold onto this semester for as long as I can.  

So thankful......

Well Thanksgiving break has now "officially" (but not REALLY) begun for me!! :D  Yay!!!!

I still am swimming in papers, digital stories, research and work but I find that I am THANKFUL for all of it.  My semester has been jam packed full of eye opening experiences.  I've been a part of a fascinating class on oral history that has taught me so much about the importance of preserving oral histories (which was a subject that I was ALREADY greatly interested in), and about how a community can come together to make some amazing things happen.  In ten years (let's hope less) when the oral histories I helped to preserve are on display in a museum in Chinatown (Salinas, CA) I will be beaming with pride.  It seems that everyday I am having a revelation about the importance of this project.  I know it will be greatly successful due to the people that are passionately involved and invested in helping it come to life. (Click here for more information on the Salinas Chinatown Renewal Project.)

My other class (Latina Life Stories) has been an equally meaningful class for me this semester.   This is a class where I get to tell a story, but I don't just tell it, I get to make it come to life on screen as well.  My digital story is now done and I am extremely happy with how it turned out.  I worked very hard on it and I hope it shows.  This class is, in one word, empowering.  The ability to tell YOUR OWN story, in YOUR OWN words and have that preserved forever, that is.....well it's simply a great feeling.  How often do you get to express yourself in that way?  My classmates are amazing and they've all told really really REALLY wonderful and deeply personal stories and I am truly lucky to have shared this experience with them.  I have loved every story I have seen thus far.  So bravo 328!!! :D 

And lastly Pre-Capstone.....what can I say about pre-capstone??? It has been thee most challenging class of my college career!  But challenging in a good way.  It's taught me so much about myself as far as my abilities as a student, researcher, thinker......I am STILL learning and am sure I will be right up until the last day of the semester.  

All three of these classes have intersected at one point or another for me this semester.  They all touch on the topics of history, memory, voice, and the importance/empowerment all three posses.  What a powerful semester for me.  It's left me hungry for more; more knowledge, and more projects that inspire myself as well as others.  

So as I sit around my kitchen table this thanksgiving break and eat my turkey, stuffing, and whatever other yummy goodness comes with it, I will be giving thanks to first and foremost God for his many blessings, my family for being there for me for EVERYTHING, and to my professor, classmates, and everyone else who has taught me so much this semester, the lessons are invaluable.  

And just think, three more weeks to go! :D

An important link to history....

Check out this important website about Fort Ord. I was honored to write in a small piece for their blog.  You can read it here!  :D

Entering a whole new chapter.......

So today I turned 30, YUP the big 3-0! What can you say to that??? Sure it's just a number but that number really means a lot to me.  This is MY year;  I graduate this year (FINALLY),  and I will be on to a whole different chapter in my life, so 30....yeah, it carries a lot of meaning for me.  (I don't think it will be a year I soon forget!) 

I had many wonderful birthday messages all throughout the day from friends, family and coworkers, which made the day REALLY special.  So a great BIG thank you to you ALL!!

 Today was a chance to look back on my life and remember all the good and bad I've been through. ALL of it has made me who I am today and for that I am really grateful. 

So cheers to 30 and all the wonderful things it may bring!!!!!

 

Life is getting CRAZY!!!

OKAY so things are getting OUTTA CONTROL!  I feel like I can hardly breathe these days, there is SOOOO much going on and then the Holidays are just around the corner too!  AHHH! 

 But through the madness I've managed to keep SOME sense of normalcy.  Halloween was one of those "normal" things to do.  I helped Caitlin get ready for her "spooky" outfit this year by doing her makeup and her hair, she came out great! (If I say so myself).  We were off to celebrate by attending an event put on my our lovely community assistants and housing deparment.  She ate pizza, decorated cookies, watched a movie, left with a free glow necklace and topped the night off with some apple cider and of course trick or treating! PHEW!!!! Exhausting I know, but fun. 


Other than that it's been non-stop research, class, and work for me and I have to admit it's getting pretty overwhelming lately.  I think I even managed to dehydrate myself today.  NOT fun at all, but I'm okay now.  I was bummed out that it happened because I tried (after a long day of class) to have a little fun by attending the annual Day of the Dead celebration at the University Center.  Caitlin was with me but we had to leave because I just didn't think I could stick it out for the duration of the program.  I was really sad because I have not had a chance to attend the celebration any other year since being here but that's how things go sometimes.  

On a happier note I am almost done putting together a digital story for one of my classes and I am SUPER excited about it.  I think it's turning out way better than I ever thought it could, and I hope everyone likes it when they get to see it.  I have a few more things I need to do to it before it's completed but I am hoping to have it all done by next week.  You can see a sample of the stories from previous years here. 

OH, and check out our new homepage!  It's been revamped and I think it turned out great! Kudos to all those involved in making it happen. 

This weekend calls for more madness for me as far as schoolwork goes.  And Caitlin will have her last swimming lesson, YAY!! Then on to the next challenge.....BASKETBALL! So as you can see things are busy busy busy, but such is life, right?  

Here are some more pictures from our Halloween.  Good times! :D