¡Bienvenidos!
I will be sharing the five steps I am taking to reach my goal of earning an M.D. These five steps will continue to change as I get further along my path. This site will include the personal experiences that have been formative towards how I carry myself and perceive the world.
Not going to lie, I began this project for self-motivation. So if it seems like it is very me, me, me it's because that is how I need it to be for this project to serve its purpose. However, I think that once I reach a more stable point in my life, then I will gradually begin branching out and making more grand connections to this world we live in. Even though this project began as an assignment from a college course, it goes beyond the boundaries of said course. You are joining me as I digest and analyze my own experiences with the hopes of centering my mental health since I don't do it often enough. I want an online audience because I hope some of my experiences can help people not feel alone and so I can hold myself accountable-- see this as an archive of sorts. And just a reminder that my lived experiences will always serve as the source of the messages I wish to pass on to you.
Now onto who I am. I attended the 5th Annual First-Generation Conference at Mt. Holyoke College where I decided to go to the session on non-traditional first-generation students. It was a combination of acknowledging the diversity of first-generation students, as well as a focus on the stories that make our first-gen experiences beautiful. Here is a poem I crafted from a template they provided.
Inspired by Where I'm From by Georga Ella Lyon
I am from el altar de mi mamá
from cervezas vacias
I am from the small house behind the big house,
the sun only shining through our windows in the afternoon
I am from el huevo que me bendice cuando voy lejos de casa
The hospital across my home with non-stop sirens I've gotten used to
I am from posadas and desveladas
from Jovita and Rufina
I'm from resilience and grit
and from hard work
I'm from Santiago Tlacotepec and el campo
and con tal que tenga salúd
I'm from family comes first.
I'm from the U.S./East LA and México
mole and champurrado
From my parents only having beans and rice for dinner,
not going to school because your only pairs of shoes ripped, and
treasuring the limited amount of family pictures in our altar.
So what does it mean to be a Latina daughter of immigrants?
Above is an image of the East Los Angeles Annual Christmas Parade. Umbrellas are out and our staple classic low-riders and motorcycles are enjoying a stroll on Whittier Blvd. I grew up driving and walking down this street. Whittier Blvd. cuts through East LA and Boyle Heights. Both are neighborhoods I consider home.
East LA is a majority Latinx neighborhood- specifically Mexican and Mexican-American. I attended public school my entire life and to give you an idea, my middle school in 2009-2010 was 99.4% "Hispanic or Latino" and my high school was 96.3%. Now I am one semester away from graduating Williams College in Williamstown, MA. wherein 2016, 38% of the student population were students of color and 11% are Hispanic/Latino.
I am the daughter of Mexican immigrants. I'm also considered to be from a low-income household. I'm a first-generation college student. I use she/her/hers pronouns, I am a cisgender woman, and I identify as Latina.
I hope you enjoy reading this archive.