Transgender Awareness Month: Transcending Ignorance

November 30, 2018 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

Redwood Voice’s Primary November Project, a video documenting the importance of Transgender Awareness Month in our local community of Del Norte.

We have reached the end of November. Families have come together to give thanks and nurture one another. They are unified – they are, quite simply, together.

And as they are together, they reconnect and recollect. They speak of the time that has passed since last seeing one another, they remember what came before this moment of celebration and connection.

There are many people who don’t have that luxury this time of the year. There are many people who must remember a much darker part of their lives – some, the loss of others, while the remaining remember how far they’ve come through adversity and hardship, remembering how hard they had to fight or hide to simply live to see these holidays.

Thanksgiving holds its fair share of connotations – for better, for worse, for all in between. It can be a spectacular time: a genuine, lovely gathering of family and friends. It can be, for perhaps a majority others, a grey time: those detached from their family, or even completely separated; those who spend the holidays alone; those who spend the holidays remembering those they once spent them with, but now live in times long since past. And of course, this isn’t even beginning to delve into the generational traumas of which the “American Thanksgiving” are rooted into and the atrocities that have taken place to build its cruel beginnings.

Regardless of how powerfully it encompasses this month, Thanksgiving is simply a mixed time. In a sense, perhaps the holiday it has evolved into is a time to ignore the traumas of the past – but ignorance does not lead to healing.

Ignoring a wound does not let that wound heal, but instead infect into something far worse. Even in writing this article, staying at a neutral, objective point, the mere act of talking about the negatives of this time of the year will surely outrage others or be deemed “controversial.” But it is simply true. Thanksgiving covers the attempts of many who wish to speak out. The Native American community wants the past to be visible without any strings attached, to spread awareness and knowledge of the wrongdoings of the settlers and the crimes committed against them. There is even a holiday the day after Thanksgiving known as “Native American Day” to amplify this awareness, and the entire month of November holds the monthly observance of “National Native American Month.”

Just as there are widely known observances, there are those buried under or unknown altogether. The one I present today is one that has been utterly erased to a point that few outside of those affected even consider its possibility of existence – an observance that, upon Googling, you won’t even find the name of:

Transgender Awareness Month.

November is a time when many members of the Transgender Community, as well as allies, reflect on pivotal historical moments that have fundamentally built the movement. But these moments come not from success without labor – they are times in which the community has overcome struggle, times in which we have climbed from the dirt placed on us to keep us down, buried, unseen, only to then blossom forth. One of the most notable instances of these happens to be Rita Hester’s murder on November 20th, 1998, due to her gender identity. This sparked outrage among the trans community, inspiring them to fight harder for a brighter future where we could live in a world that did not want to kill those who wanted to happily live as themselves. That’s why November 20th now marks Transgender Day of Remembrance. It is not a celebration, it is not an event of pride – it is a day marking loss. It is candlelit vigils as we read the names of those we have lost to violence, those we have lost to hatred against people being themselves.

*Rita Hester, a transgender African American woman killed for expressing her gender identity on November 20th, 1998. A candlelit vigil was held for her attracting nearly 250 people.*

We remember this pain. Many must live with it for the rest of their lives. Many suppress who they are to hide this pain – but ignoring the wound never heals it.

I’m sure many reading this may even be hearing about it for the first time. There are very few resources out there to for Transgender Awareness Month, and the closest our community has come has been the establishment of Transgender Awareness Week. It seems that our mourning and visibility must be cut short.

The purpose of Transgender Awareness Month is to educate those who know not of trans issues, of trans struggles, of where our movement originates – of where our movement is leading us. Its purpose is to step out and speak with those who want to learn, and we are more than willing. We know that there are allies who hope to provide as much assistance as they wish, but oftentimes they simply fall back. This month is here to invigorate them and others, to fight hatred with knowledge, to present who we are, what we’ve been through, and where we’re going now.

In Del Norte County, I cannot possibly overemphasize the importance of this.

I have met with a few fellow trans members of Del Norte to discuss its climate and why it is so absolutely crucial to have these conversations – why we need to be seen, why we need to be heard, why we need to be simply affirmed and understood as living beings. We are your neighbors, your fellow community. We want nothing more than to be accepted as we are, and those kind enough to do so inspire us to only further march with our message.

“Those moments of affirmation from your neighbors and friends here are too rare.”
– Jacob Patterson (she/her), local queer activist.

“The world is a better, brighter place for you daring to show who you really are.”
– Sam Bradshaw (he/they/she), True North Youth Organizer.

“We exist. We need to be accepted.”
– Wyatt (he/him), Local Youth.

So I present all of this before you – this video, my words, our collective work – on the final day of November, near the month’s end. Why? Because I’m sure this is the first you’re hearing of it. But personally, I don’t believe there should be “designated times” to accept, love, and support others. So take this message as you will. Love your neighbors, learn about them, accept them, even if you don’t fully understand their lifestyles, and if that is the case, ask – talk to them. We are more than willing to explain who we are, more than willing to be seen, because for too long we have been in hiding. Let us all be unified and, quite simply, together.

esent all of this before you – this video, my words, our collective work – on the final day of November, near the month’s end. Why? Because I’m sure this is the first you’re hearing of it. But personally, I don’t believe there should be “designated times” to accept, love, and support others. So take this message as you will. Love your neighbors, learn about them, accept them, even if you don’t fully understand their lifestyles, and if that is the case, ask – talk to them. We are more than willing to explain who we are, more than willing to be seen, because for too long we have been in hiding. Let us all be unified and, quite simply, together.

Let us look forward to a time when the only Remembrance we need is to remember how long ago the trans community was forced to combat violence, and how it has now been reborn into a time of cherishment and acceptance.

Blog, Youth Development

Opportunity Youth Forum–Aspen, Colorado

November 9, 2018 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

Being one of the many participants in the E3 Program in Del Norte County from the Del Norte Workforce Center, I dedicated my time to completing this program not just one time, but two times around, and both times I was able to turn them both into success stories for the E3 Program. I made a strong candidate for this opportunity to travel out to Aspen, Colorado for the Opportunity Youth Forum, due to the fact that I brought my own dedication to my workplace and proved that I do stand as an employee with the rest of my team members at Wild Rivers Community Foundation/Building Healthy Communities. I was able to get invited from my previous supervisor Imelda Ramirez who is the program manager for E3, and I was thrilled and honored to be invited to this Opportunity Youth Forum. I had one week to prepare for this travel, and I found myself with thoughts that it was very little time to prepare mentally and physically because I am a full-time student at College of the Redwoods. I managed to arrange my schooling/homework and all the other details with work to properly make myself available for the week of the forum.

Later that day in which I got invited, I found out who else I would be attending with. I thought to myself, there was no other group I would rather go with to this Opportunity Youth Forum, because we all hold a powerful movement within our community to be shown and tell our stories amongst many other leaders around the world. I found out that our group will be taking some leaders in our adjacent tribal lands, a youth organizer for True North Organizing, a Youth Coordinator, our Del Norte Workforce Center E3 Program Manager, and of course my boss Michelle Carrillo the Executive Director for Building Healthy Communities at Wild Rivers Community Foundation. Later on into the week of the forum, I found out that there were other community members attending the forum from our community as well, which brought me to think of what a powerful and changing opportunity our community has with making a voice for all of us back home. The whole invitation brought excitement and more passion to continue the work we do for our progressing community.

As Sunday approached and I was officially loading my bags into my car it began to hit me; I was about to travel on a plane over to some high elevated mountains in Colorado. It was a scary feeling and I was not able to sleep comfortably that Sunday night prior to catching my plane the following morning at 6:00am. Imelda Ramirez was traveling alongside with me and given the fact we are both related as cousins I can say it made the whole worrisomeness of the plane ride become easier to handle because we had each other for support and encouragement that we would make it through and touch ground in Aspen, Colorado safe and sound. We arrived at the airport two hours as recommended prior to boarding our plane, and we were able to meet up with one of our group participants from Weitchpec, CA, which is further south of Crescent City, in our adjacent tribal lands. We all greeted and wished each other a safe flight and walked through the security check, normal and with hopes of nothing turning into an unwanted disaster.

*Enjoying the activities and winter weather.*

Monday, around 1:00pm, we touched ground in Aspen, although we were very nervously flying above Aspen for over 30 minutes awaiting landing; there had been a slight complication with landing due to the visibility for the plane road track. We had seemed to arrive just when a small storm was beginning to make its way. I fainted in those 30 minutes that we were flying above Aspen. The elevation was incredibly high–over 8,000 ft.–and I got extremely dizzy, lightheaded, and nervous from the information the pilot was giving the entire group of people aboard the plane. With the thought of blessings that my mother had given me the following day, it was just enough to bring me back to my senses of “everything is going to be alright”. And it was.

Arriving on the grounds at the Aspen Institute in Colorado, it was all a great deal of luxurious treatment that I found myself being treated to. They impressed me with all the outstanding care they showed. From grabbing my luggage to offering me all the amenities that for one, I would think the millionaires there in Aspen would be the only ones to be treated this way. On the contrary, it was myself being honored with this hospitality. As we stepped into the main lobby building at the Aspen Institute we were guided to the lunch area where we were served buffet style with assorted freshly made meals by the institute chefs. We grabbed and ate some delicious lunch then headed to our hotel to unload and get ready for our dinner and new participant orientation.

The orientation involved all the participants to gather together and welcome this year’s 2018 Opportunity Youth Forum. We were all greeted as we entered and joined in again on the dinner buffet they had set up for everyone that night. It was all super exquisite food and fine dining that us folks do not get treated with back home in Crescent City. It was fancy, and I felt the high class treatment throughout the night. The first few 15 minutes were for mingling and networking with different partners and organizations. For myself, it all felt really intimidating because of the fact that I only represent myself as a youth involved in a program.

*Participants of the forum enjoy evening performances.*

As the night progressed we had the honor of hearing a speech from Yelena Nemoy, one of the Aspen Institute Community Solution partners, and welcomed some live featured performances by Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, featuring a selection from “Dry Each Other’s Tears in the Stillness of the Night,” and “On the Edge…Reaching to a Higher Ground.” The performances were incredible, accompanying our delicious dinner and fancy wine beverages being served. The idea I got from the performances was to gain a reflection of two people working together in order to show support for each other and create sympathy for the strength it takes to be involved within a larger spectrum of work that we all do as a community. It was heartwarming to see such a great art performance between two partners. The night progressed with chills from all corners in the building. The people gathered within the building were all there for the same purpose and dedication to continue the good work around the world for our Opportunity Youth, and for myself I felt a great deal of inspiration throughout my entire time in Aspen.

On Tuesday morning we had a busy start, trying to adjust to the time difference, and getting to the institute on time for the opening presentation. We came along with everyone else to the Doerr-Hosier Center where we all gathered for breakfast each morning. Poetry by Bianca Mikahn was our serenade to our lovely breakfast, followed by Melody Barnes, the Chair of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, and the new president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, Dan Porterfield. They opened up the morning with their speeches about guidance on the transformative power of collaboration to drive change, thoughts, and the importance of self-care in leadership. We were told to enjoy the sessions and that each and every one of them looked forward to collaborating ideas and sharing networking information amongst us all. My first session was at 10:00am, called “Adapting Entrepreneurship Curricula to Support the Needs of Opportunity Youth”. This was one of my favorite sessions, due to the fact that there were more interactions happening within a group, and we all had a chance to give out ideas, make something, and reflect on our own efforts as a group. These practices are very important, in my opinion, when you are trying to work with a team of multiple people, because the interactions have to bring out great solutions. Practicing these types of workshops teaches skills to become a better entrepreneur.

My second session was “What Counts When Reengaging Youth”. This session included talking about the different areas and data consumptions that are gathered within communities and how we can use this data collection to figure out which areas need to be worked on the most to reengage youth.

My third session for the day was “Making Youth Reconnection Work through Movement, Dance, Meditation, and Love”. This session was a very powerful gathering, and quite intimidating because of the fact that all the main leaders were in this room, including the CEO and President of the Aspen Institute and the rest of the leaders for the forum. They were all warm and welcoming. We started off with an icebreaker activity on partnering up with someone for a quick interview that we would later present to the whole group. Everyone seemed to be very important and CEOs of businesses within their community, and corporations as well. Their little biographies that we got were inspiring, and we later moved on to explaining the success some corporations like BestBuy have accomplished, putting over hundreds of thousands of dollars towards educating youth in the computer tech pathway and giving out applause to a great opportunity for our youth.

As our day ended that Tuesday, the weather got incredibly cold, but it also felt wonderful to be able to experience the Colorado wind and be surrounded by high mountains and Aspen trees in every direction in sight. It was a privileged experience that I will not forget. On Wednesday morning, we were brought to our same routine as Tuesday, although this day we were immersed into the first snow fall of the season in Colorado, which was breathtaking. The snowflakes were massive, perfectly frozen flakes falling from the sky. Our Del Norte group was able to get a table by the windows off to the left of the Doerr-Hosier Center, and we were able to take glances back and forth. Within 30 minutes, the surrounding areas outside were a perfect fluffy color white. It was a site to remember, especially with the ginormous property that the Aspen Institute has, everything was artistically designed to suit a millionaire’s taste in views.

*Participants of the forum engaged in Shawn Ginwright’s presentation.*

The morning opening session was given by Steve Patrick, of the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions. He made a speech about the importance of sharing the healing-centered engagement framework with the Opportunity Youth Forum network and lifting up community-based strategies for addressing traumas. A speaker later went onto the stage to talk about the importance of being inclusive to all people, whether that be that those people are incarcerated. This Professor of Education from San Francisco gave his speech and displayed some PowerPoint slides about “Shifting to a Healing Centered Engagement,” and explained that in order to heal, we need to understand what we need to heal and know the difference of not just suppressing the symptoms we have, and also supporting youth development workers with transformative change over professional development. His speech was touching and made me reflect on my own experiences I’ve seen in my years, and the fact we need to give more support to strengthen our social, emotional growth and well-being as well. This professor’s name is Shawn Ginwright, a much-respected man among all the forum participants.

As we went on to the rest of our sessions that day, I went off to my next one which was “Designing Community Dialogue to Support Undocumented Youth”. This was a powerful session for me because I was able to tell a real story to the rest of the group who participated in this session. The leaders were Ruth Barajas-Cardona from Bay Area Community Resources, and Thomas Showalter from National Youth Employment Coalition and they both facilitated a problem-solving session that will help us design our own community dialogues for helping to serve the young people in our community. We all had a very different way of trying to create a dialogue that will capture the youth. For example, some of the ideas that were brought to importance were the fact that we need to build relationships with a couple of potential allies and demographic research as well. These two ideas were a part of a big discussion between the group, and we got into detail about each different community we come from. We later went into detail about facilitating the pathway for the Opportunity Youth amongst this undocumented group. It’s very important to educate people about the importance of knowing your rights and what you may qualify for when you come from an undocumented background of people and share the word to the rest of the people.

I joined into the debrief session with the youth leadership group and it was very interesting to find out the difference that was happening with both youth side and non-youth side sessions. I attended the non-youth sessions and was able to find an equilibrium between both and gather my thoughts to justify that us young leaders are on the right direction to facilitating a movement for all our communities. Understanding the fact that we all have stories that give us more and more strength each time we share those stories. We are gaining the highlight of making an inspirational movement story for our youth within our communities to learn about and continue to grow together to form a powerful change that will impact the youth below us. That equilibrium that I felt was the right hook to cast me into the direction of future change. Becoming involved with the right sources within your community will give you the willpower to further your journey into a right path, because you will be able to feel the good work people put into helping our communities. Feelings are a key important element with doing community work, as in, one must be healed from their own traumas in order to heal the next ones coming up after them into their community. One must feel healthy, safe, and know that healing-centered engagement is culturally grounded onto us and we must view healing as a restoration of our own identity.

*One must feel healthy, safe, and know that healing-centered engagement is culturally grounded onto us and we must view healing as a restoration of our own identity.*

Article written and photos taken by Jessica Ortiz.

Blog, Community News, Mental Health, Youth Development

Sons and Brothers Media Team 2018

September 25, 2018 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

This summer, I had the opportunity to work on the media team for the week-long Sons and Brothers Leadership Camp at a mountain retreat in Portola, California, sponsored by the California Endowment. Young men came from inner cities all over the state to help them heal from their personal traumas and prepare them to confront the challenges they face at home in a better way. As the media team, our responsibility was to capture the events of the camp and tell the stories of the campers. We all worked on projects utilizing various forms of media to produce videos, memes on social media, a yearbook-style compilation that every participant could take home, and an audio diary. I was primarily involved in producing the audio diary. We did a series of interviews with one young man throughout the week and followed his development and growth during camp. After the camp was over, I continued to work on this project, writing a script and polishing the story as our team coordinated with KQED–an NPR affiliate in San Francisco. In August, the story aired on the California Report.
The story is posted here: https://www.kqed.org/news/11689332/california-camp-challenges-young-men-to-rethink-masculinity

When I first met the media team I was excited to get to know them over the next week. We all slept and worked in the same small cabin, and even thought it was a tight fit, the atmosphere was fun and exciting. Once we began our projects, however, my feelings changed. I quickly saw that I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. Honestly, I didn’t even realize how much I didn’t know. Some of the guys on the media team were far more experienced than I was, and at first I was intimidated–even discouraged. I thought, “What am I doing here? They don’t need me.” But then I decided to draw from their pool of knowledge and experiences. I starting asking questions and having them show me things. Once I did this, my experience became a lot more enjoyable. Not only was I participating in documenting the camp, but now I was also learning new skills.

As the week progressed I got to know some of the camp participants better, and I was stunned at their stories. These young men are amazing, and some of the hardships they have to face I can’t even comprehend. Many of them deal with gang influences, domestic violence, and even homelessness at a young age. I was grateful for the privilege of hearing and sharing their stories.

During the week I also got to participate in some of the events of the camp, like archery, which was a good release for me and helped me focus and relax as I worked on improving my aim. Another activity I was able to participate in was called the leap of faith. After being strapped to a safety harness that was connected to a rope pulley system, with my teammates as anchors, I climbed up a pole and stood on a small platform forty feet in the air. The entire way up my heart was pounding and my mind was racing with fear. But I knew that if I gave place for those fearful thoughts, then I would not make it. So, ignoring my fears, I continued upward, one step at a time. When I got to the platform, I let out a yell and I jumped, relying completely on my teammates. Sure enough, they caught me. The moment my feet left the platform, the height was no longer scary and intimidating, but beautiful and majestic. I learned a lot from this experience. It helped me overcome some of the other fears that I face in my life and trust that everything is going to work out as long as I keep putting one foot in front of the other and don’t let my fears paralyze me.

All of the young men came from very different backgrounds than myself, and it was a good opportunity for me to learn about other people’s culture. It opened my eyes, and it opened my mind. I could see that we really are all brothers regardless of what we look like or where we come from. I left camp with a stronger character and a deeper sense of my humanity, as well as a commitment to brotherhood.

Photo taken from http://find.acacamps.org/images/camp/image/main/phpopT7Sw.jpg

This post was written by Jayden Cornett.

Blog, Opinion

Embracing Optimism at SXSL

January 19, 2017 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

Editor’s note: In early October of 2016, the California Endowment reached out to Redwood Voice in search of a young media reporter to send to the Washington DC to attend South By South Lawn (SXSL), a festival of ideas, art, and action. Redwood Voice selected Tyler Harrison (age 20), to represent Del Norte and Tribal Lands, capture his experience at the festival, and produce a story on what he learned and hopes to bring back to his community. Del Norte’s local newspaper, “The Triplicate,” also released a publication on Tyler’s trip that can be viewed here: http://www.triplicate.com/news/4732922-151/mr-harrison-goes-to-washington?referrer=carousel7

I’ve always hated deadlines, and that didn’t change when I got a text asking me if I’d like to go on a trip to Washington DC to attend a fancy event called SXSL (South by South Lawn) an hour before the signup deadline. I was shocked. I didn’t know what to think or expect, or what qualified me to go on this trip, but I was intrigued none the less. My friends, family, and girlfriend were all equally happy to hear about this great opportunity I’d been given and strongly encouraged me to go. I, however, was not as excited. I’d been on planes flying across the country before, but never alone, never that far, and this was a trip for only one.

Ultimately, after racking my brain for that short hour, I had to make the decision. This was a great opportunity that I was presented with, and I didn’t want to let it go to waste. I knew that if I let my fears get the better of me, I’d regret it later. I signed the paper and sent in my RSVP. I received my travel details less than 24 hours before my first flight left. So, I began packing my bags and saying my goodbyes as quick as I was able to, hoping to get a good night’s rest before my big day.

Unfortunately, stress is killer and anxiety isn’t kind. That “good night’s rest” I had planned turned out to be about three hours of unrestful sleep. I was a nervous wreck leaving the house and heading to the airport. Thoughts of inadequacy plagued my thoughts during the entire trip to Washington DC. What qualified me to go to this event? Surely, a nobody from a small town in one of the smallest counties in California can’t possibly compare to owners of businesses, inventors, performers, United Nations representatives, and more. I felt as if I was simply going to stand on the sidelines for a majority of the event and head home when everything was said and done.

What I got, however, was so far from what I expected. After I met up with the two other people that would be accompanying me, a youth journalist named Jessica, and our “tour guide”, Alheli, we quickly got to know each other and enjoyed each other’s company. Even on the taxi ride to our hotel, many jokes were made, and lots of fun was had. I was with pleasant company, and it did a lot to ease my mind.

Because fate is cruel, and jetlag isn’t forgiving, I got about three hours of sleep that night as well, however it was excitement that kept me awake, not anxiety. I thought that at the very least, now I have a couple people I know and enjoy the company of. We got out of bed early, ate breakfast at a small café, and made our way towards the White House.

The line to get inside of the White House was unbelievably huge. Hundreds of people were lined up tight on one sidewalk, stretching down the block as far as I could see past the crowd. Though I’d gotten past most of my anxiety regarding the event, I still didn’t quite feel a sense of belonging. I asked again, what qualifications did I hold that warranted me going on this trip, as opposed to someone else? I said out loud to Alheli and Jessica, “Man, I don’t feel like I belong here.” They were quick to dismiss this, and through our conversation, a man near us in line turned to me. He was nicely dressed, wearing a fancy name tag sporting some professional title that I’m not fortunate enough to remember, and said to me, “That’s funny, you certainly look like you belong here.” Though it easily could’ve been anyone that he said that to, it was a kind gesture that I appreciated, and it certainly made me feel more at home in the moment. This kind of kindness would go on to set the stage for the rest of the event.

Everyone at SXSL was more polite than I could’ve expected. While I was getting coffee, sitting and listening to speeches, or standing in line for the exhibits, I was constantly meeting strangers and hearing about their lives, and they seemed equally interested to hear about mine. People seemed to genuinely care about who you were and what brought you to this event. I met with people who owned entire organizations, people who were refugees from war, people who have spoken at United Nations meetings, and much more. They all had this same disposition of being mutually polite and interested. Once I saw that others felt free to open up to me, and I got comfortable opening up to others, all anxiety that remained faded away.

One of my favorite parts of this venture was exploring the maze of booths and stands that were present at the festival. Each was set up precariously, trying to dodge the sunlight with tents or walls that were conveniently arranged for a cool spot of shade to sit in. The lines to these booths also reflected this, as you would find twenty or more people crammed into small areas trying to keep out of the heat. There were booths from such a great variety of groups who worked on all sorts of different things. There were people advertising their products to make areas more accessible for those with handicaps, such as easy access ramps and elevators. There were those advocating for teaching students to grow plants in schools with computer-aided fertilizing systems. There was a display from a company that makes “build your own” robots that were being used in education to teach robotics and programming. There was a large display put up by the U.S. National Parks Service promoting their “Find Your Park” campaign, complete with a spinning wheel that pointed to every park in the United States.

There were also several virtual reality displays, including but not limited to a walkthrough of Yellowstone Park, an art display using Google Tiltbrush, and a simulation of solitary confinement, as I’m a huge nerd, this was my first stop. During the “Walk through Yellowstone,” I was taken away by how beautiful the display was, and at one point I found myself reaching out to lean a hand on a wooden post that was present in front of me before I quickly remembered I was wearing a VR headset. I moved on to the virtual reality art display and was taken away by how beautiful it was. The images that surrounded me were encouraging, to say the least, with silhouettes of people holding hands in a circle beneath a giant globe, with the words “You are loved” exploding in a myriad of colored fireworks. There were multiple displays, highlighting social justice, LGBTQ equality, and environmentalism, to match the theme of the event, and though I didn’t get back in line to see any of the other exhibits, I enjoyed watching them through the other volunteers’ eyes on the TV screen. The final virtual reality experience I had that day was both the best and worst: a simulation of solitary confinement. For roughly twenty minutes, you would sit on a stool wearing big, heavy headphones that blocked outside sound and your VR headset, simulating the inside of a prison cell. While it was obvious the whole time that I was inside a simulation, it was claustrophobic, there was loud noise of other “inmates” yelling at guards and making noise. Narrators would occasionally speak about their own experiences in solitary confinement, and the environment of the cell would reflect what they say. In one section, the narrator was mentioning statistics of people who sit through this torture, and at one point, when the narrator mentioned the word “suicide,” the entire cell wall was suddenly covered with what looked like a knife-carved scratching of the word “suicide.” While it always obvious that I was in a simulation, and I could leave at any time I wanted, I decided I’d try to sit through it until it was over, and I found that at the end, I was shaking on my seat, and my heart was beating rapidly. I was glad to be free of the “digital chamber” that I had been locked in for that short time, but I was glad that I had gone through it in the end.

The highlight of the event was a live conversation between President Obama, Leonardo DiCaprio and environmental scientist Katharine Hayhoe, followed by the worldwide unveiling of Leonardo’s documentary titled “Before the Flood,” a movie focused on highlighting the damning effects of climate change and how our modern lifestyles cause it. These talks and the documentary were not all fire and brimstone, however. Even after hearing all this talk about how ocean levels could rise, species could go extinct and more, there was an unshakable atmosphere of optimism. There was a huge focus on what we as individuals can do, like changing our eating and transportation habits, for example, and I felt encouraged about the future.

Heading home was bittersweet. I was glad to get back to my friends and family, but I was sad that the event had to end. It was such an incredible experience to be surrounded by such a positive atmosphere of people who not only rejected, but challenged cynicism, who refused to give up hope for positive change, and who were happy to share this hope with whoever they spoke to.

I left SXSL a changed man. It was a huge eye-opener for me, and I think that it’s an experience that I will remember and reminisce about for the rest of my life. Through the fun of learning about new technologies being used in schools and farms, to the harrowing experiences of learning about climate change and social injustice, it was a life-changing event, and I sincerely hope that I’m able to effectively translate the meaningful experience that it was to people in my daily life going forward.

Education, Videos

Native American Inclusion in Del Norte County Schools

October 26, 2016 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

We visited elementary and middle school students at the Northern California Indian Development Council’s after-school program to learn how inclusive Del Norte County Schools are for our Native American students as well as how our schools might be hurting them and what they would like to see changed. Students shared stories of personal experiences they have had with classmates and teachers as well as offered solutions to how we can help build a better learning environment.

Community News, Videos

Del Norte Youth #GetLOUD for Local Candidate’s Forum

October 19, 2016 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

On Thursday, October 20th, candidates for the District 1 Del Norte County Board of Supervisor’s seat and the District 4 Del Norte County School Board seat will come together at Mary Peacock to answer questions on topics ranging from youth homelessness to bullying. One might be surprised to find that many of the passionate hosts of the forum are not yet of voting age.

The nonpartisan candidate’s forum was designed by youth, organized by youth, and will be run by youth with guidance from True North Organizing and partners with Building Healthy Communities, Redwood Voice, the Opportunity Youth Initiative, and College of the Redwoods.

“We as youth have a responsibility to not only represent the issues we care about, but also have the responsibility to represent ourselves in this new age,” says organizer Kevin Vue, age 18, “youth have problems too, we suffer and our peers suffer, we would like to see how [the candidates] are going to address our problems.” Organizer Alexxa Herrera, age 16, adds, “This forum also tells people that youth do care about what goes on in our community. Because we care enough to put this on, [the community] should care enough to listen and vote.”

The youth organizers selected the Del Norte County School Board and Del Norte County Board of Supervisors to create the opportunity to ask the candidates questions around decisions they will make that directly impact youth.

College of the Redwoods professor, Will Meriweather, will also be providing brief information on the many propositions that local voters will have on their ballots this year.

For the Del Norte County School Board candidates, Judie Cordts, Charlaine Mazzei, and Roger Daley, the youth selected questions regarding LGBTQ+ issues, bullying, supporting minority students transitioning to higher education, and updates to Del Norte County Schools. For the Board of Supervisors, Roger Gitlin and Kathryn Murray, the youth have selected questions around youth homelessness and shelters, mental health resources, businesses, and other major challenges for youth living in Del Norte County.

The entire community is encouraged to attend to learn more about their candidates and how they are responding to the issues important to our youth. The forum will be held Thursday, October 20th from 6:00pm-8:00pm at the Mary Peacock Gym. Voter registration, childcare, and translation will be available. For more information, contact youth organizer, Taylor Patch, at (206) 678-5847 or email taylor.patch22@gmail.com.

Community News, Health

Fusion: Crisis on Tribal Lands

September 12, 2016 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

CRESCENT CITY, CA—More than a year has passed since 13-year-old Dante Hat-Anew Wayne Romannose-Jones was shot and killed at point blank range near his home on the Yurok reservation in rural Northern California.

For his family members and tribal community, closure has not yet come.

Last January, when District Attorney Dale Trigg dismissed the case against Dante’s suspected killer (a 16-year-old Native boy from the same community) citing insufficient evidence, Dante’s mother, Martha Romannose-Jones, expressed her anguish on Facebook:

Since then, the family’s outcry for justice has grown louder. Family members publicly expressed outrage over what they believe was a mishandling of the case by law enforcement, and have organized marches and rallies under the banner “Justice for Dante.” The most recent march took place on May 14 to mark the anniversary of the tragedy and was attended by roughly 100 tribal community members, family and friends who took to the streets of nearby Crescent City.

“This is part of growing up Native. We were raised to be this way, to fight,” said Dante’s cousin Jessica Banuelos, who organized the march. “He can’t speak from the other side of the grave, so it’s up to us to fight for him and make sure he gets justice.”

Read the rest of the article here: http://fusion.net/story/312808/crisis-indian-reservations/

To read more about writer, Jacob Patterson and her Rise Up; Be Heard! Fellowship with Fusion, check out our article here: http://www.redwoodvoice.com/local-youth-journalist-selected-for-fusion-fellowship/

Community News, Health, Videos

Real-Life Superhero – 1st Place Winner in Directing Change

May 10, 2016 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

Sixteen-year-old Jed Hawkins is your average junior at Del Norte High School. He plays tennis, enjoys being with friends, loves music, and is a creative storyteller. Jed has dreams of becoming a famous actor, helping people struggling with mental disorders, and changing the world. However, Jed’s daily life is also made more complicated by Asperger’s Syndrome. Asperger’s is a developmental disorder that makes socializing and focusing in school difficult for him. He often finds himself feeling depressed, isolated, and misunderstood. Despite these challenges, Jed continues to reach out, trying to make a difference in the lives of others. So, when he heard about the Directing Change Statewide Film Contest, he was immediately up for the challenge.

The Directing Change Program and Film Contest is part of Each Mind Matters: California’s Mental Health Movement. The program offers youth opportunity to participate in the movement by creating 60-second films about suicide prevention and mental health that are used to support awareness, education and advocacy efforts on these topics. Program participants – whether they are making a film, acting as an adult adviser, or judging the films – are exposed to appropriate messaging about these topics, warning signs, how to appropriately respond to someone in distress, where to seek help, as well as how to stand up for others who are experiencing a mental health challenge.

Redwood Voice, a local youth media program funded through the Building Healthy Communities Initiative, provided equipment, training, and support for youth interested in submitting to the contest. Jed worked with Makenzy Williams and Jacob Patterson, leaders of Redwood Voice, as well as community partners including Meng Lo with Harrington House and Michelle Carrillo with Building Healthy Communities. The message Jed wants to share was clear: he doesn’t want anyone to feel alone, and wants the world to know that we need to support, love, and care for each other regardless of any mental health challenge that may be complicating our lives. Fifty percent of us will experience a mental health challenge in our lifetime, according to CDC: U.S. Adult Mental Illness Surveillance Report, and Jed wants to end the negative stigma existing around these mental health challenges that affect such a significant portion of our population.
Jed created a 60-second film called “Real-Life Superhero.” On April 14th, it was announced that “Real-Life Superhero” won 1st place in the state in the Youth and Young Adult, Mental Health Matters category. This was the first winning submission from Del Norte County since the beginning of the contest in 2014, and Redwood Voice took first place over submissions from UC Davis, Mount San Jacinto College, California Baptist University, Pasadena City College, and University of California Riverside. Jed, Makenzy, and Jacob will attend a red carpet award ceremony in Glendale, Calif. on May 20th. They also attended a local showing in Eureka, Calif. on May 7, and presented at the local Economic Summit in Crescent City on April 29. Jed won $500 and Redwood Voice received $1000 to support suicide prevention and mental health awareness projects.

Education, LGBTQ

Fusion: Need for LGBTQ Inclusive Sex Ed in Del Norte’s Schools

March 29, 2016 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

CRESCENT CITY, CA– Growing up queer in a remote Northern California town of just 7,500 people, I experienced firsthand how a rural school can fail to meet the needs of LGBTQ students. It’s a failure with dire consequences.

I experienced abuse in a relationship for the first time at age 13, in part because I lacked any knowledge of what it means to consent. And without healthy queer relationships to model, I presumed my partner’s manipulations were normal. Suffering abuse, dealing with intolerance in my community and lacking any institutional support to speak of, I developed some unhealthy coping mechanisms: I was self-medicating by age 14, and self-harming at 15. At the time, I hated myself and was feeling ashamed. In an attempt to leave Del Norte, I had my first experience in sex work at 16, with a man three times my age.

Sadly, this ripple effect is not altogether uncommon among LGBTQ youth, especially for those of us living in geographically and culturally isolated areas. When we don’t see ourselves reflected in the world around us, when we are systematically marginalized and when our very identities are painted as deviant, we can become that self-fulfilling prophecy.

California took a positive step toward addressing the problem with the passage of AB 329, otherwise known as the California Healthy Youth Act, late last year. The bill expanded on existing law to ensure that students will receive “comprehensive” sex education, including “affirmative” examples of same-sex relationships and education about gender identity.

But how will it actually play out in the classroom? If taken seriously and applied thoughtfully, the new law could make a huge difference in the lives of queer youth, especially those living in rural communities. So, I went to my local high school, Del Norte High, to ask queer students: What would you like to see covered in your new, “comprehensive” sex-ed classes?

Read the rest of the article here: http://fusion.net/story/284851/queer-lgbtq-sexed-ab329/

Community News

Local Youth Grant $11,000

March 1, 2016 Redwood Voice Leave a comment

On Friday evening, youth leaders granted $11,000 to 14 organizations in Del Norte and Tribal Lands in collaboration with Building Healthy Communities. Manuel Saavedra, age 20, says the grant-making process was an opportunity for them to experience having the decision-making power. “It usually feels unattainable,” Saavedra says, “You often hear people say ‘If only I could change this.’ This opportunity let us get behind the steering wheel and get to choose what work we want to see create those changes in our community.” While Saavedra says the responsibility was intimidating, it was also exciting, and he saw his team grow as leaders. “Sometimes, I would take a step back and just watch everyone. It made me really proud seeing everyone step up to that leadership role.”

The youth leaders forming the Youth Philanthropy team, Manuel Saavedra, Steven Williams, Tyler Harrison, Teng Lee, Alex Fallman, Ryan Wait, and Chris McDonald, started work in November of 2015, and dedicated countless hours of volunteer work to manage the grant-making process from start to finish. The group learned a lot from the process, and further developed as leaders.

Michelle Carrillo, Youth Program Manager with Building Healthy Communities, says she also saw the youth “develop a deep respect and appreciation for people’s time and a higher level of care for what people in the community are trying to do.” The group received 21 grant applications, and unfortunately, had to decide what projects to partially fund and what applications to turn down. “It was so hard to say no to any of them,” says Carrillo, “All of the applications were great, and many of them were actually submitted by youth who had never written grants before, and that was exciting.”

Richard Myers with the Golden Eagle Freestyle Wrestling Club, received a grant for his youth wrestling group located in Weitchpec that currently has 19 youth attending and “one and a half well-used mats.” Additionally, the Tribe recently declared a state of emergency in Weitchpec due to the alarming rates of suicide, occurring within weeks of each other. “There was a call-out for male mentors to help our youth,” he says. “And I wondered what youth are doing for themselves to release stress and excess energy. Wrestling changed my life, and I knew I could use it to help. There were a lot of youth who wanted to wrestle, but had no transportation to get to classes that were a two hour drive away.”

“The grant won’t just be for wrestling,” Myers adds “It will be used to bring in more physical activity opportunities to our underserved community. I am very grateful for what Building Healthy Communities is doing.”

Carrillo summarizes, “I have a sincere appreciation for how much time the youth leaders put into this. It just shows how much they care about this community. They are not the leaders of tomorrow, they are the leaders of today.”

Photo Credit: Nancy Raskauskas-Coons

Telling the untold stories of Del Norte and Tribal Lands through amplified youth voices.