Expressions from
MiraCosta
Writing and artwork by continuing education students
Spring 2010
Cathleen Morton
Up a Tree
Older Adults
Expressions from
MiraCosta
Writing and artwork by continuing education students
Spring 2010
Preface
I am honored to have the opportunity to congratulate our outstanding continuing education
students whose work is published in the Spring 2010 Expressions from MiraCosta. The
students’ great talent for capturing everyday life in prose fiction, prose nonfiction, poetry
and art is admirable. The works published in Expressions are contributed by students in the
Adult High School Diploma (AHSDP), English as a Second Language (ESL), Older Adults, and
Special Education programs.
The publication is a culmination of many hours of work throughout fall and spring. My
deepest appreciation goes to all the students who submitted entries for consideration.
Expressions would not have been possible if it wasn’t for the great work of our jurors
under the leadership of Sandi Weisel, AHSDP faculty, who served as coordinator for the
publication. The jurors worked hard in reading each written submission and judging each
piece of art, giving all the works thorough consideration for inclusion in Expressions. The
jurors included faculty from all areas, and my thanks go to Ruth Gay, Noncredit ESL faculty;
France-Marie Haeger, Older Adults faculty; Richard Ma, Librarian; Susan Pynes, AHSDP
faculty; and Krista Warren, Special Education faculty. Our faculty and staff also are to be
applauded for encouraging and guiding students from all programs to express themselves
and submit their work. Many thanks also go to support staff member Manuel Acero for his
organizational and clerical support and graphic designers Gabe Waite and Kim Carlson at
the Public Information Office for their help with this fine publication.
The Expressions Committee has chosen to dedicate this publication to Lynda Lee,
Dean of Community Services and Small Business Development. Lynda’s leadership for many
years in continuing education formed and shaped these excellent programs into what they
are today. My deepest appreciation goes to Lynda for her guidance and mentoring of faculty,
staff and students not only in continuing education at MiraCosta College but statewide in the
field of education.
Alketa Wojcik
Associate Dean, Community Learning Center
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Dedication For two decades, as Dean of Community Education, Lynda Lee devoted
her career to MiraCosta College’s continuing education, or noncredit,
students, and along the way Expressions from MiraCosta was born.
“It was always something I wanted to do,” Lynda said of the annual
literary publication which showcases the art, poetry, and prose of
continuing education students.
In the mid-1990s, Lynda; Sylvia Ramirez, ESL faculty; and Joy Talbergs,
Other Noncredit coordinator, produced the first edition of Expressions
from their quarters at the Adult Learning Center on Horne Street
in Oceanside. They juried the students’ works, edited and proofed
the writing, and laid out the publication. In the ensuing years, the
Expressions selection and production processes were refined,
ultimately leading to today’s Expressions Committee comprised of a
jury of faculty representatives from each of the noncredit programs
Lynda Lee represented in the publication—the Adult High School, Noncredit ESL,
Older Adults, and Special Education—and a team of faculty and staff
to put the publication together. Lynda became less hands-on, but still reviewed the selections and proofed
the publication prior to printing each year.
“The publication provides verification and acknowledgment of the importance of students’
creative ‘expressions,’” said Lynda. “It makes their work more legitimate in their own eyes
because it is presented in this public format. It boosts their self-esteem in so many ways.
“It also serves as an inspiration to other students,” she added. “I’ve seen students who
submitted entries that were not chosen resubmit the next year and encourage their
classmates to do so also.”
In 2000, the continuing education programs were relocated to their current site, the
Community Learning Center (CLC) on Mission Avenue, and another Expressions milestone
was reached: the first Expressions celebration to which students could invite guests.
“It was a wonderful addition, giving the contributors an opportunity to celebrate their
accomplishments with family and friends,” Lynda said.
Under Lynda’s leadership at the CLC, the publication underwent other changes as well.
From 1999 to 2007, the Expressions Committees chose to use the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society’s honors
study topic, or an adaptation of the topic, as the theme for the publication. However, in 2008, the committee
chose not to have a “themed publication”; rather they chose to encourage the students to submit their
“best work.” Also in 2008, digital stories joined the categories of poetry, prose, and art. The scripts of the
selected stories are now printed in Expressions and the videos are shown at the celebratory event. What
Lynda envisioned years ago has continued to grow in scope.
Thank you, Lynda, for all you have done for our continuing
education students, instructors, and programs and the vision and
support you have provided for this impressive publication.
Expressions Committee
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Table
Contents
of
Up a Tree ......................................................................................................... Cathleen Morton, Front Cover
Preface .......................................................................................................................... Alketa Wojcik 2
Dedication .................................................................................................... Expressions Committee 3
Untitled........................................................................................................................... Marlynn Peak 5
I Never Knew His Name......................................................................................... Joanne D’Amato 6
Never Fade Away—Kurt Cobain ......................................................................... Emmanuel Perez 6, 7
My Favorite Christmas ...................................................................................................Rose Giesen 7
I Have Not Forgotten ................................................................................... Sebastine Marie Pablo 8
Alone ..............................................................................................................Lucio Barrera Zavaleta 8
Springtime Butterfly........................................................................................... Dolores L. McGuire 9
Returning to School ............................................................................................. Evangelina Garcia 10
Top Hat Cat ......................................................................................................................... Joey Amos 10
Frost Bone .......................................................................................................................... Joey Amos 11
My ORSH ................................................................................................................... Robert Marshall 11
Umbrellas—Detail of Renoir’s Painting.............................................................. Joanne D’Amato 12
My Early Life in Sudan........................................................................................................Robert Tut 13
A Sticky Situation ...................................................................................................... Andrey Sariban 14
Untitled.............................................................................................................................Jaron Garcia 15
Maria ..............................................................................................................................Uriel Martinez 16
Godmother’s Grand Piano..........................................................................Elizabeth Yahn Williams 17
Yard Sale Epiphany ....................................................................................................Frank S. Sutton 18
Say What? ..........................................................................................................................Dawn Lane 19
Jobs ..........................................................................................................................Leonor Quintanar 20
Untitled........................................................................................................................... Yoni Gonzalez 20, 21
Trying to Finish My Education ..................................................................................Pedro E. Patiño 21
My Friend Jack .................................................................................................................Bob Crouch 22
The Spa .................................................................................................................... Roberta Van Hise 23
Pebbles From Heaven ............................................................................................ Elizabeth Hamud 23
There Were Flies Everywhere ..................................................................... Martha Ligia Garavito 24
Magical Music..........................................................................................................Natali Arterburn 25
Harmony .......................................................................................................................... Roger F. Turk 25
She Never Said Goodbye..........................................................................................Frank S. Sutton 26
Visions of Peace...................................................................................................... Elizabeth Hamud 26, 27
What I Think You Think of Me ..................................................................................... Lewis Larsen 28
Black ................................................................................................................................... Jose Meza 28
Composition No. 1 ...................................................................................................Judy Richardson 29
A Frightening Experience ....................................................................................Eloina Bernardino 30
Los Angeles.................................................................................................................... Angel Gomez 31
Little Help...................................................................................................................... Angela Najera 31
Diary of an Army Nurse......................................................................................Martha K. Williams 32
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Why I Decided to Join the Military ........................................................................ Miguel Rodarte 33
To My Waning Self This Morning… ........................................................Elizabeth Yahn Williams 34
Lots of Lines .......................................................................................................... Margaret Wurster 35
And There’s Success ...........................................................................................Kunpirom Mueller 36
Angel ........................................................................................................................Tyshawn Thomas 37
Teachers .................................................................................................................... Eliel Carlos Cruz 37
I’m Bob................................................................................................................................Bob Fleeup 37
My Unforgettable Night ..............................................................................................Omar Mendez 38
Composition in Graphite.........................................................................................Judy Richardson 39
A Ride to Near Death..................................................................................................... Mayu Rivera 40
An Angel’s Last Footprint .................................................................................Kwunyunna English 41
Digital Story Scripts .............................................................................................................................. 42
Something a Child Shouldn’t Have to Experience ................................................... Ardian Selimi 42
Me, Myself, and English..................................................................................... Welieides La Porte 43
Shante Underwood: From Straight F’s to Straight A’s ......................................... Arethea Herron 44
Get Right or Get Left ......................................................................................................Chris Augafa 45
Life After Death ........................................................................................................... Summer Drew 46
A Scary Experience ..................................................................................................... Ofelia Salazar 47
The Boy The Girl .................................................................................................... Ignacio Natividad 48
I Don’t Have Dreams ..................................................................................................... Alex Pickard 49
One Chance..................................................................................................................Jennie Beltran 50
From Hero 2 Zero Jus Dat Fast ...................................................................................Moses Vaeao 51
Thank You ............................................................................................................................................... 52
On the Rocks ......................................................................................................Mary Ann Anderson 52
Christmas Tree........................................................................................................ Charlie Lacy, Back Cover
Marlynn Peak
Untitled
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 7
I Never Knew His
Name
Music and rhythm find their way into the secret
places of the soul. — Plato
I never knew his name
only those of his two dogs
Rhythm and Blues.
He sang as he walked
past my house
on late afternoons.
Tall and pale,
his willowy arm extended
as though he is the one
who obeys the lead
of his two small
black leashed friends.
The grace of their steps,
a dance well rehearsed.
His legs long as theirs short,
synchronized to match his tune.
In reply to my …
Hi there, Rhythm and Blues,
he asks of them,
Say hello to the nice lady.
We exchange smiles,
though I never knew his name.
Some late afternoons I note
a missed step in the day’s beat,
as others walk past my house.
Since his unexpected death
our street is not the same
Though now, I know his name.
Joanne D’Amato
Older Adults
Emmanuel Perez
Never Fade Away — Kurt Cobain
Adult High School
6 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
My Favorite
Christmas
Our son wasn’t particularly interested in grade school.
On one occasion his teacher commented, “He would do
much better if he didn’t talk so much.” From then on, we
kept in close touch with his teachers.
Then there was high school when he failed citizenship.
How could anyone fail citizenship? It seemed his interest
was in music. After school he would walk to the nearby
music store and practice on a certain tomato-red-colored
Fender Stratocaster guitar. We had an idea. Why don’t we
secretly purchase that guitar and the case as a surprise
Christmas gift with the understanding that he pay us half
of the cost? Though it wasn’t in our budget, we did just
that and told the salesman to tell him someone from out
of town purchased it. The next time he went to the store,
he was upset that “his” guitar was gone. We hid the
guitar under our bed.
On Christmas Eve, we wrapped an empty box and put
a note and a string on it. The note told him to follow the
string, which led to his present. When he discovered
the guitar, the look on his face was pure joy and one I’ll
never forget. Needless to say, his citizenship grade was
improved to an “A.” Mission accomplished!
Many years have passed. Following graduation, he
worked for a furniture store and then enlisted in the Army.
He was sent to Vietnam in the interim. Following his stint
in the Army, he moved to Northern California, married, and
he and his wife had two sons. He is now 61 years old. He
has had a responsible job for over twenty-nine years and
still has that tomato-red Fender Stratocaster guitar.
Rose Giesen
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 7
I Have Not
Forgotten
The beauty that lies underneath your stubborn skin
The way your presence enlightens me each day
The warmth of love you’ve given me and all you care for
Your dedication and wisdom that teach me the way
The smiles you’ve put on my face
The lessons that you’ve taught me, I’m sure to share
Alone
The lectures that make me laugh
The time we’ve shared has always been well spent
Your struggles to survive to live life
The life you’ve provided me with Please don’t go. The day is turning into night;
a big shadow covers the earth like a cape to
The joy we have strived to embrace a man, a man that turns into a sinister being
frightening us with evil things.
But, has always been accomplished
Please don’t go. I heard the dogs barking, the
I know it was hard, but I’m here and owl watching me with its big eyes that seem to
I have not forgotten see black holes trying to eat anything they see.
Please don’t go. I saw a silhouette running to
the trees like monsters, like humans, like scary
Sebastine Marie Pablo things, that dance and play around me.
Adult High School
Please don’t go. I started hearing noises like
laments, crying, and also a woman wailing like
a wolf, a coyote or an evil creature.
Please don’t go. Don’t leave me alone. I started
feeling the cold air hitting my body and face.
I know I’m alive but fear I’m dying. So please
don’t go.
Lucio Barrera Zavaleta
Adult High School
8 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Dolores L. McGuire
Springtime Butterfly
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 9
Returning
to
School
The reason I came back to school is to get my diploma. I want to attend
a four-year college and have a career as a journalist. When I was in
high school, I did not take advantage of graduating with my class. I was
working part-time, and instead of graduating, I dropped out and worked
a full-time job. I now have two kids and want to set a good example for
them, and I want something better for myself.
I have been motivated by my kids to apply and pursue this goal.
My daughter, Alyssa, is five years old and has attended her first
year of school. My son, Julian, is three and soon he will go to school
as well. I am afraid that one day they are going to ask me, “Mom,
did you finish school?” I want to respond with great satisfaction,
“Yes, I did.” I want to be their role model, and I want them to look
up to me. A few years have gone by and I realize that now is the
time to pursue my goal of getting my diploma. I am 25 years old
and don’t want to waste any more time. It is not easy to leave
my kids at home while I am in school, but I know it is for a
good reason.
It brings a smile to my face to know that my family is there for
me and supports me. My mother is thrilled to see me back in
school; she wishes me the best. I am happy to say that my kids
don’t throw fits when they see me leave for school; instead they
give me a kiss and wave goodbye.
In conclusion, it is absolutely amazing to find the time and have
the support from my loved ones and to do something I have
always wanted to do. I am more than happy to say, I feel great
returning to school.
Evangelina Garcia
Adult High School
Joey Amos
Top Hat Cat
Special Education
10 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
My
ORSH
If you search the Internet for “ORSH,” you will probably find a couple sites that list One Room
School Houses in Kansas. There were thousands, and my school was one of them. There is also
a gallery of pictures of many of them.
Lone Star School, #74, in Johnson County, was my school, and I started there in September,
1930, nearly eighty years ago. There were fifteen desks and twelve students. My teacher, Miss
Ruth Hambleton, taught all grades, one through eight.
The school house was a rectangular, white wood-frame building with three windows on each
side. There was only one door, which opened to an anteroom in front where we left our
overcoats and galoshes. My teacher started the same time I did. She was 19 years old and
had just completed two years of study at Normal School in Lawrence.
The school yard included a teeter-totter, one basketball backboard, a small merry-go-round and
a sandbox. Besides the fifteen desks and fifteen chairs, all mounted on steel posts, there was a
coal stove, an old piano and a large map set. The teacher’s desk was on a raised platform in front
of the room, along with the two blackboards. There were seats in front so that each grade could
move to the front to recite their lessons when called.
Ink for the inkwells and chalk for the blackboard was furnished. All
other supplies and books that I needed were provided by my parents.
Classes were held from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with two 15-minute
recesses and an hour for lunch. The school year began the day after
Labor Day in September and ended the day before Decoration Day
in May.
My ORSH in Kansas was built before 1870 and no longer
exists. I left in 1934 when we moved to Lawrence, and then
we moved to San Diego in 1940. It was no longer used as a
school after 1947, when they started busing kids to De Soto. After it was
ravaged by a flood in 1951, the building was sold and moved away. However,
if you want to see an ORSH, there are two in this area, one in Olivenhain and
one in downtown Encinitas, which was built in 1883.
I still have a fond memory of my ORSH, and I never felt handicapped because
I went to a one-room school house with one teacher for all eight grades.
It was there that I learned how to concentrate in a noisy environment and
study while listening to other students recite their lessons.
Robert Marshall
Older Adults
Joey Amos
Frost Bone
Special Education
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 11
Joanne D’Amato
Umbrellas
Detail of Renoir’s Painting
Older Adults
12 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
My Early Life
in
Sudan
I am a waif who was separated from my parents in Sudan in 1989. I left my life there along
with some other orphans who struggled just like me for so many years. Now I’m here in the
United States. I was brought here by the INS (U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service) as a
refugee; I have an Arrival-Departure Record for the right to live in the United States in order to
look for a job and go to school.
I remember from back in the days when I was panhandling for food from different families day
by day, month to month, and year to another year. I understand how it is to be poor in a country
where there is nobody to depend on and even the government itself has nothing to help me and
the other civilians. The United Nations sometimes took four to five months to deliver some food for
the refugees, so in order to survive while we were waiting for food to arrive, we would take a walk
in the jungle to find some fruits or whatever was edible to keep our lives going. However, if you
couldn’t make it back from your journey, you were dead, but, oh well, sorry about that because
you would not be alone.
We never knew what would happen the next day. For example, I remember the day my roommate
didn’t wake up from his bed. I guess it was eight o’clock in the morning. I called him by his name
to wake him up. He didn’t respond, so I left him alone, grabbed my stick, and stood up a little bit
thinking about which direction I should take. I wanted to find something to eat. I walked down the
valley, searching for some fruits or anything that would fill me up so I could live for tomorrow.
As the day went by, I came back from the bushes with some fruits in my hand. I found my
roommate still lying down on his bed. I attempted to wake him up by calling his name again. He
was not answering me, so I didn’t bother him. I lay down on my bed and went to sleep. The next
day, I woke up and sat down by my bed again. I smelled something like a dead rat. I looked over
toward my roommate’s bed. I saw him; he was fat and huge on his bed. I knew something was
wrong. I went to some other friends nearby to inform them about my roommate’s death. It seemed
like nobody cared. Everybody was looking indifferent because each one of us was anxious about
our lives. There was nothing but looking up to the sky for life and death.
That was my early life in the country of Sudan in Africa.
Robert Tut
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 13
A Sticky Situation
Although I have experienced many funny and idiotic situations in my life, there is the most
memorable one that still makes me laugh. I was almost 30 years old, and I never liked winter
and winter sports like skiing. Instead I craved traveling, walking, and rambling across Russia’s
unpopulated areas to enjoy nature in white silence. One of my friends had the same preferences,
so sometimes we used to spend our weekends together, taking the wide hunting skis and leaving
Moscow for one or two days by train.
One cold morning in March, we got off at one small stop and went through the snowy, unbroken
forest without any ski tracks. In a few hours we reached a small, beautiful glade and built a fire
to have an improvised lunch from something in our backpacks. We put snow into the pot to melt
it and boil water for tea. When I found a tin can of sweet condensed milk in my rucksack, I said
to my friend, “We have something sweet for our tea.”
”It’s pretty good,” he answered, “but it could be much better if we boiled it.” You can get boiled
sweet condensed milk that becomes brown, dense, and tastier by putting the can directly into
boiled water for two or three hours.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have enough time to do that,” he continued. I suggested we could
try, and instead of boiling it for a long time, we could increase the internal temperature.
“Let’s try,” he said. I put the can over the hot coals and said to my friend that our milk should be
ready when the water boils in the pot. We laid a lot of fir twigs between a dropped trunk and the
fire; we took our ski boots off, put them close to the heat to dry and warm, and sat down on the
trunk, looking forward to our lunch.
Suddenly, the can swelled, its soldered seam opened, and the hot brown pulp under pressure
transformed into a thin, sticky film and covered us like a blanket, from head to toe! The film
thickened with the frost, and we became completely sticky and sweet. We fruitlessly tried to
clean ourselves and our backpacks with the snow and tea, but our clothes became wet and more
disgusting. Meanwhile, our boots got burned so close to the fire and we found them with holes in
the soles. Unfortunately, we had to ski almost ten miles in this awful condition, then take the train,
then subway, and bus to get home. On the way to our houses, we joked and laughed at our stupid
idea and sticky results.
Andrey Sariban
English as a Second Language
14 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Jaron Garcia
Untitled
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 15
Uriel Martinez
Maria
Special Education
16 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Godmother’s
Grand Piano
In memory of my aunt and godmother, Maribel Clara Yahn
At the
age of six
she trembled
in the shadow
of the towering
black piano, where
the Ruler of the Keys
would thunder from on
high above its frame. An
Enforcer from atop its stand,
he’d roar forth his stern commands
to beat in martial tempo for the brass and
wooden weapons that composed its hammers.
At sixteen, that grand piano ceased to threaten.
It was then that it surrendered, opened borders,
bringing treaties— tied with cords of melodies,
in a harmony of solace, a serenade for comfort.
At mid-life Godmother rested
on its velvet cushion — where,
closely coupled to that mantle,
she swayed softly to their song
that whispered prayers of hope
filled calm to warm this cradle
feathered of serenity and peace.
Elizabeth Yahn Williams
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 17
Yard Sale Epiphany
“Please, people, no early birds. We are not selling anything until 8:00, but we appreciate your passion. It’s only
a quarter to 7:00, and we haven’t gotten all our good stuff out. They’ll be five families of wonderful treasures
and surprises, so come on back in about an hour. Okay? This is this year’s big one.
“Joan, get that big yellow box from the garage, the one we both are saving for our kids. All that camping
gear. Today is clean-it-out day and everything goes.”
“This is not you, Frank. You can’t get rid of anything! You’ll probably buy stuff that the kids bring.”
“Joan, you’re going to see the new me; I mean it. Everything goes. Out with the old, in with the…
never mind.”
“I don’t believe it. I’ve lived with you for thirty years, and you still have that old toilet seat you were going
to make into a ukulele, like Spike Jones’s guitarlet.”
“No. I’m a new person. You know that I’ve been going to Yard Sale Anonymous. I even have a sponsor now.
Last week, at the Yard Sale Anonymous meeting, I had this fantastic epiphany or sort of conversion. This old
lady was droning on and on about her doily collection, and I was sort of dozing, and in sort of a daydream I
saw this guy pushing a bicycle and pulling a loaded baby buggy (loaded with stuff, no kid) up the Leucadia
Boulevard hill (no sidewalk), just struggling to make it, huffing and puffing, and limping along on a bad leg.
He was almost in sight of the top of the hill when he heard these screaming sirens. Two sheriff’s cars with red
lights flashing, followed by a long fire truck, were weaving around that new traffic circle, down the hill, and
then, somehow this guy loses hold of the baby buggy, and it starts to go backwards down the hill rolling first
from one side of the street and then to the other. Coming up the hill from the west was this old truck with a big
bunch of old tires on the top with a loose tarp flopping in the wind. The cop in the first car sees the baby buggy,
tries to avoid it; the second cop tries to stop. But, he’s got this fire truck speeding on his tail. So he swerves,
clips the old truck, spins it, and all the tires come alive rolling helter-skelter schmelter to the sides, and down
the hill, into and through the RR crossing as a train whistle blows and the gates go down…. One tire bounces,
makes a perfect ring toss around the fire truck driver so he can’t see; the ladder on the fire truck starts to go
up (some button must have gotten pushed). On the street edge, some weird character in a funny hat is jumping
up and down, laughing and singing Skip to my Lou, my darlin’. Tires are leapfrogging the Amtrak…. The guy
pushing the bicycle wets his pants, drops his bike and limps off into the bushes…. Anyway, the lady talking
about her saving doilies sits down, there’s applause, and I come alive and am scared shitless…. Was that me
pushing that bike??? I look around me, get up and say,” My name is Frank, and I’m a yard sale junkie, but no
more; I’m going to have the final yard sale this weekend, get rid of everything and sin—no, save—no more….
You know, Joan, you should come with me to the next meeting. You’re not perfect either, you know?”
“Well, well, well. I’ll believe it when I see it. Come on. We‘ve got about forty minutes to get these treasures
set up…”
“No, no early birds; we’re not quite set up yet. Please come back in an hour. Cloudy, hope it doesn’t rain.”
Frank S. Sutton
Older Adults
18 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Say
What?
Here we are, almost in 2010
And I have to learn English all over again
I, nearly 80, have to look on my facebook and tweet my twitter
Blog my blog, charge my cell
Already this day is not going well
I could play a CD on my Mp3s
What do I do with a DVD?
Dot com, net, org, it is all the same with me
No way…way, hope you have a nice day
Look on myspace and you will see
I have no idea, it is Greek to me
My BFF, OMG, get ooma, it is nearly free
My BlackBerry, Blu-ray, Bluetooth, and such
I really don’t know very much
The Google, Yahoo, and Windows 7
Wasn’t the Amazon a river, a virus made you sick
Say what, where do I click?
A spider, a web…there needs to be no more said
I’m so confused, what do I do?
I’ll lie down and take a nap
That’s it, it is all in my dreams
I will wake up and know what it means
This is all I have to say, no way…way, have a nice day.
Dawn Lane
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 19
Jobs
Jobs
Pay bills
Housekeeper
Empty the trash
Drive
Leonor Quintanar
English as a Second Language
Yoni Gonzalez
Untitled
Adult High School
20 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Trying to Finish
My
Education
I came to the U.S.A. on October 17, 1979, from my homeland of
Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. When my mom and I came
across the border illegally, we ran less than one block. We got
into the Greyhound bus depot in the city of Calexico, California.
From there we took a bus to the City of San Diego, California.
When my mom and I arrived in San Diego, my dad was waiting
for us to take us to his apartment in the City of Oceanside.
My dad and my older brother started working at 4:00 a.m. as
load boys, loading food into lunch trucks. On the same day that
I arrived, my dad told my brother, “Take him with you so he can
see how we earned the money here.” My brother and I left for
work in the morning, and every weekday after that for about
five years, we waited for my dad to ask, “Would you like to go
to school?” But that never happened. I was almost 16 years old
when I decided to go to night school at Oceanside High School.
I never got to finish high school. When I started twelfth grade, my
brother got deported back to Mexico, so my mom said to me, “I
think we should go back to Mexico because I don’t want to leave
your brother alone.” So that’s why I didn’t finish high school.
Thanks to President Ronald Reagan, I became a legal resident
of the United States in 1988. Then eight years later I became a
U.S. citizen.
Now after raising a family, I think that it’s time for me to try
to finish what one day was my dream. I’m hoping someday
I will accomplish my new goal. My wish is to get my GED
(a general equivalency diploma). That’s why I enrolled at
MiraCosta College Community Learning Center — to prepare
myself. I want my kids to feel proud of me someday for
finishing my education.
Pedro E. Patiño
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 21
My Friend Jack
My friend Jack left his church a little after 2:00 a.m.— three hours before sunup. At last call he’d
ordered a double, very dry Bombay-Sapphire gin martini on the rocks. He drove to his old high
school, a few miles away, and with remarkable ease, clambered over the fence that defended the
football field. He now stood at the spot where, only four years earlier, he had become “The Man.”
He laid flat on the yellowed grass, smelled its grassiness, and gazed into the cloudless night. It
was here, on this one yard line, that he’d caught and tackled Tom Zeller of Compton High School
fame, one of the more respectable sprinters in the league, and saved the game for his team. He
could almost hear again the yelling, screaming, and exultant crowd. Jack thought, “How strange
to be here again, on my one spot of glory.”
His divorce, from his quite attractive wife, would be final that day. He had filed the action,
probably out of pride. Jack was the plaintiff, but his heart was painfully shattered. He should have
suspected something was going on with his wife, earlier. He had noticed how sparkling clean and
well skimmed the pool looked lately. He had even remarked how much he liked the new pool boy.
The simple truth was, she liked the pool boy more, and had the full bursting fondness to lay bare
her affections. He’d caught them in the pump shack, her bent over the very expensive, top-quality,
diatomaceous-earth pool filter.
Shocking in a way, because his almost former wife had a degree in library science, and he could
not envision a librarian and a pool boy with any future.
There had been other times when he should have been suspicious. For several months before
Pool Boy, Jack kept finding new Fuller brushes around the house. They kept coming. He wanted to
question her on this, like asking, “Have you been schtupping the Fuller Brush Man?” But he didn’t.
Then just after the brushes stopped coming, she told him the Fuller Brush Man had been fired for
giving away almost his entire sample case of brushes and she wouldn’t be seeing him anymore.
Jack checked his watch. An hour had passed. He was still lying on the one yard line, his one spot
of grandeur. He wondered if he had reached his height of fame too early in life. What in the future
could match the cheers of two or three thousand people showering him with affection? Maybe
that was all there was. As good as it gets. The high point of his life had happened at 17 years of age.
Jack was getting drowsy. He rolled over on his stomach, and fell asleep.
They found him a little after sunup—dead. His head had slipped into a slight recess in the turf,
and the sprinklers had come on. Jack drowned in two inches of water — where he had found
his glory.
Bob Crouch
Older Adults
22 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
The
For Jill
Spa
A mother-daughter day,
we join others
folded into cocoons
of radiant moon-white
terrycloth robes.
Memories of her
swathed in a blanket,
snuggled in my arms.
We wait our turn for
gifted hands that massage
and caress our bodies
while we sip water infused
with cucumber and mint.
Skin glowing, bodies relaxed,
we lunch, hungry
for healthy food
and quiet conversation,
a bond between
mother and daughter.
Over too soon, we part
and vow to have another
luxurious, pampering spa day,
sipping water infused
with cucumber and mint,
folded into our cocoons
Elizabeth Hamud
Pebbles From Heaven
of moon-white terrycloth robes; Older Adults
my daughter nestled in my heart.
Roberta Van Hise
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 23
There Were Flies Everywhere
Jessica suffered an unforgettable experience ten years ago. She was in the hospital about a month, and
during that time the only statement that her family heard was, “There were flies everywhere.” Nobody
understood what had happened and why she was so scared.
Jessica walked daily from the house to school, but she always had a great curiosity about one house that
she supposed was abandoned. One day Jessica saw a mysterious woman in the house. The woman looked
enigmatic and wore unusual clothing for the time, and her face was frightening. She seemed to have a
deformity in her jaw. That night Jessica could not sleep thinking about what kind of accident would have
distorted the jaw of the mysterious woman, and she felt sorry for her. What Jessica didn’t know was that the
woman about whom she was thinking was a witch. At the request of some persons, the woman would cast
all kinds of spells making use of animal organs and, in some cases, of human organs. The witch worked hard
making her potions. She enjoyed seeing the suffering of her victims because the organs had to be hot for a
better effect. The emotions of that activity caused her to forget to clean and pick up the pieces of bodies,
and for this reason, her house became the home of the flies.
Jessica finally became accustomed to seeing the mysterious woman, and one day she dared to knock at
her door to ask for a donation to the Red Cross. The witch saw an opportunity because she needed a live
liver for an important potion, so the woman invited Jessica to enter the house. Jessica agreed with some
suspicion, but the woman offered to give her a great donation. When Jessica entered the dining room, she
smelled something rotten. Immediately she observed many flies around, but when she looked towards the
floor, she wanted to die. She was very scared and fainted.
The witch was very happy. She said to herself, “Incredible. Never was this so easy.” Suddenly someone
knocked at the door. She thought, “Why now…? Why in this moment that I am working…? Why, evil
spirits?!!!” She went to the door, but when she opened it, she saw a man wearing a strange uniform, and
so she asked, “Who are you?”
He answered, “I am the exterminator. Many of your neighbors have complained about the amount of
flies in this area, so I have to fumigate all the houses on this street. You know that the flies are the source
of infection.”
The upset woman answered, “What…? But it is not true. I have not seen flies. My house is clean. You do
not need to fumigate here.”
The exterminator began to smell a strong odor, and he looked inside the house carefully. When he observed
a cloud of flies, he thought, “The problem is here, but I will need aid to enter.” So he said to the woman,
“Mrs., if you do not need my service, I will go to another house.” The woman thanked him and closed the
door quickly as she wanted to continue with her work.
As soon as the witch closed the door, the exterminator called 911, and he reported the suspicious woman.
The police arrived very fast and unexpectedly entered the house just at the moment in which the sorceress
was going to start the cut to extract Jessica’s liver. The woman was captured, and Jessica was sent by
ambulance to the hospital because she was still unconscious.
Even today, after so many years, Jessica panics when she sees flies.
Martha Ligia Garavito
English as a Second Language
24 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Magical
Music
My favorite kind of music is classical Russian
music by P. I. Tchaikovsky. This composer is well-
known in the world’s musical history. Tchaikovsky
created many great romantic songs. When I hear his
songs, my imagination draws huge fields covered
in snow, the old Russian villages, and pictures of
Russian people who lived so long ago. I begin to feel
something that is alive, something that warms my
soul. My heart starts to overflow with love for my
country and makes me feel homesick.
P. I. Tchaikovsky wrote music for several operas
and ballets. If you have an opportunity to watch
the ballets Nutcracker and Swan Lake, you won’t
forget them. You will remember these ballets and
music all your life. Music by Tchaikovsky runs
through your heart and thoughts so that you feel
how the characters on stage love and hate. You can
understand who is brave and who is cowardly, and
who is full of resolution or full of compassion. You
can feel when the characters are happy or sad.
Classical music by the composer Tchaikovsky affects
me very strongly. Sometimes my eyes are full of tears
of delight and admiration. This music is a magical
country where I’ve found something that will put
me in a particular mood. I never tire of listening to
classical music. It never annoys me. I never want to
plug my ears with cotton as I’d like to do listening to
some sort of modern music. I can be more cheerful,
quieter, or more impulsive to act. Tchaikovsky’s music
leads me to a soothing world of dreams. It surrounds
my body with something that is fluffy and gentle. Roger F. Turk
His classical music is wonderful, beautiful, and Harmony
amazing. I love Tchaikovsky’s music so much. Older Adults
а к в к й),
Thank you, Tchaikovsky (Ч й о с и my
favorite countryman.
Natali Arterburn
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 25
She Never Said
How many goodbyes in a lifetime of sunsets
Goodbye
Whose lingering glow feeds my child
With hellos I savor each day
How many bad byes stack under my bed?
Denying they ever had life
How many almost goodbyes that linger somewhere
Saved by a referee’s bell
How many small hands tugged at their moms, waved to their dads
As car doors slammed shut, never opened again
Those four thousand plus, still counting
Silent faces, on PBS News Hour screen
Someone’s son, daughter, brother, sister, lover
Hopeful trusting farewells
Not believing their opera was soap
Where the good guys would win
The bad would lie down
We listened to wise ones who never told lies
Headlines from big print trustees must surely be true
Forgetting what Barnum once said.
From (19)44 fox holes, goodbyes never voiced
“See ya later” I waved, Albert’s turn on patrol
My ears still echo that boom
Adolph’s waiting mine didn’t much care
Whose children were left in their room
Back home, that telegram feared, “Regret to inform you…”
No knock on the door, like today
Crisp uniforms salute, return our starred flag
Folded neatly for mother or wife
“For this country he gave, brave to the end
We’re here for you, anytime, whatever you need.”
Why can’t I find in my brain’s gnarled museum
One colored painting, that lady should know
When at ten, learned my mother was dead
News brought by my mostly gone father
Black Chevy coupe, parked by the beach that cool autumn morn
Summer cottages empty, no children’s laughs
Quiet Lake Michigan sand through my opened side window
Blurred while lids watered, wetting young cheeks.
No words, no questions, no answers
She never said goodbye
Yes, a lifetime of sunsets
I savor each eve
No goodbyes for today
Just hellos along my way
Frank S. Sutton
Older Adults
26 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Elizabeth Hamud
Visions of Peace
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 27
Black
Black is my favorite color.
The color of the night
What I Think
The sound of the stars
The silence when my day is over
A romantic ending of every day.
You Think of Black is the favorite color of my lover
Me
It dresses her with beauty
It makes her skin look like a rose.
A provocative combination I find
Between my favorite color and the love of my heart.
Black is our color
Black is the emptiness that she left in my heart
My window is small From the moment we were set apart.
Looking out the back door Black is my silence
Down the hall The absence of her voice
No matter where I go But we still love this color
I still know And remember the moments
I’m hanging by a thread We spent together at night.
Stranded in the middle of my head Black is our color
And if the sun was mine The color of our night.
I would always let it shine
And shut my eyes and dream all day
It’s a good thing I never get my way
I don’t break, but I don’t heal Jose Meza
I don’t hurt, but I don’t feel English as a Second Language
I don’t fall, but I don’t fly
I don’t fail, but I don’t try
I smile in my sleep
I wake up in the house
Across the street
To find the other side I tried
I asked my mind to move
A poor man has nothing to lose
And if I were the king
Everyone would sing
And listen to everything I say
It’s a good thing I never get my way
Lewis Larsen
Older Adults
28 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Judy Richardson
Composition No. 1
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 29
A Frightening Experience
The most frightening event that happened to me was in the year 1977. This happened in my
village, San Pedro Amuzgos, Oaxaca, Mexico. When I was 13 years old, I saw an argument
between Indian people and people of mixed races, Mestizos. The Indian people wanted part of the
Mestizos’ land because the Mestizos had so much land and the Indian people didn’t. The Indian
people needed more land to work on, and they fought with the Mestizos to get it. The Indian people
conquered a lot of the Mestizos’ land.
The Mestizo people were so furious they sent soldiers to beat up the Indian people. I remember
when I was at school that the teachers said to go outside. At this time, I didn’t know what was
going on. When I went outside, I saw lots of people and soldiers. The teachers told us to get in
front of the soldiers, while the adults were at the back. The soldiers just walked by us and started
beating up all the Indian adults.
The soldiers were beating up people really badly, especially a man named Felix Muñoz. He was
our village leader, and he had our flag in his hands. The soldiers wanted to destroy and burn the
flag, but he didn’t let them. Muñoz told the soldiers that they could beat him to death, but he was
not letting the flag go. So the soldiers continued to beat him until he was unconscious, and he
was still hugging the flag on the floor. I got really scared because I saw so much blood coming
out of his head.
While everyone looked at what was going on, I went running home to hide. I was very worried
about my father and grandpa. My dad was okay because he could defend himself, but my grandpa
couldn’t. My grandpa got beaten up badly too.
After the horrible events, the Indian people won the land and now they have lots of land to work
on. And our village got bigger. They formed a colony named Leyes de Reforma. I will never forget
this terrifying experience in my life.
Eloina Bernardino
English as a Second Language
30 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Little Help
When I went to Los Angeles six
months ago, I helped an older man
who fell down. My family and I went
to downtown Los Angeles to put my
husband’s daughter on the bus to
go back to Arizona. When we were
waiting for the bus, my daughter saw
an old man, 80 years old or more,
fall down. He was walking on the
sidewalk, but when he was in front of
the parking entrance, he fell down;
he could not get up.
I waited and looked around, but
nobody helped him, so my daughter
and I ran across the street and asked
if he was okay. He said he was okay,
but he could not get up. We tried to
get him up, but we couldn’t; he was
heavy. There were a lot of people
around there, but nobody helped us.
I told my daughter, “We are going
to try one more time. If we can’t, we
should ask for help.” So I held the old
man around his arms and finally we
did it. We took him to the bus station.
He was so happy for the help.
I felt good, especially for my daughter
because she helped too. I think if
everybody does little things for others,
this world can be better.
Angel Gomez
Los Angeles
English as a Second Language
Angela Najera
English as a Second Language
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 31
Diary of
an
Army Nurse
I never dreamed of the things that would happen to me while serving in the Army Nurse Corps
during World War II. After serving about fifteen months in the States, the need for a surgical nurse
brought orders for me to be shipped overseas. My assignment was to the 232nd station hospital in
Carmarthen, Wales. The trip overseas was on the English ship Aquatania. We were on board ten
days and observed blackouts at night. German submarines were lurking in the waters wanting to
sink any ship with troops and medical personnel.
We landed in Scotland and boarded a train that took us to a disbursement center in England
where we awaited orders for our next assignments. My orders came in to go alone to Wales while
others went in two’s and three’s. A sergeant helped with my luggage, so I saved him a seat on the
train. We arrived at Carmarthen depot and no one was there to meet us. A call was made and a
jeep came to pick us up. After a windy and bumpy ride, we arrived and reported to our separate
headquarters. The chief nurse was not expecting me but found me a place to sleep.
Our quarters were a camp of tents with a sheet of plywood around the outside to keep the wind
from coming into the tent. We had a cement floor and a potbellied stove in the middle of the tent.
There were two cots on either side of the room. An orange crate served as a bedside table. The
showers and latrine were located close to our tent. My roommate was on leave, so I found myself
alone again. Before the chief nurse left, she told me to go to the top of the hill and get the makings
for a fire. The sergeant brought coal and made a fire for me. He told me to bank it at bedtime or
the tent would be cold in the morning. I found my pajamas and settled down on the cot. I prayed
to God for strength and guidance and cried myself to sleep.
The next morning I awakened and the fire was out, so I quickly dressed and set out to find
the mess hall and O.R. (operating room). I met a great crew of hard-working enlisted men. On
Christmas Eve, a group of nurses sang carols to all the patients in the different wards. Silent Night
brought tears to our eyes. It was a tender moment, and every time I hear Silent Night, it brings
back wonderful memories I will never forget.
When my orders came to be dismissed from Army duty, I sailed home on the Queen Mary. What
an experience that was, and what a thrill to see the Statue of Liberty after being away eighteen
months. When you’ve been away from the U.S.A., you appreciate all its beauty and freedom, and
you love your country even more.
Martha K. Williams
Older Adults
32 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Why I Decided to Join the
Military
After attending Borrego Springs High School, my goal was to attend ITT-TECH,
but because of a lack of money and the poor economy in my town, I decided
to work instead of going to ITT-TECH. After searching for several jobs, I
applied to a small construction company in Borrego Springs. I worked for
two years in construction and then realized that I was not going to make
enough money to keep studying, so I decided to do something different;
therefore, I joined the military.
First of all, working in construction is a very hard and strenuous job,
especially working at temperatures reaching almost 110 degrees
Fahrenheit. Working in construction was good training and a great
experience, but I was making too little money for the hours that I worked.
The decision to join the military was not easy because I was going to be
away from my loved ones and I knew that it was going to be a different way
of life. Joining the military was more difficult and painful for me because I
had to drop almost forty pounds just to get into boot camp. It took me about
five months to accomplish this. I also had to pass several written tests and
a physical examination.
Joining the Marines was a good choice for me because in the Marine Corps
I am getting a lot of weapons training, physical training, martial arts training,
and heavy-equipment experience. The military has also sent me overseas
several times. In my Marine Corps career, I have been deployed to Iraq
twice, and I would love to go again. They are helping me go to college by
paying my tuition, and my books are free as long as I keep my grade point
average above a 2.5.
In conclusion, joining the military was the right choice for me because
I am now starting college. I have learned a lot of skills and have traveled
the world. I feel like I have done something of value with my life.
Miguel Rodarte
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 33
To My
Waning Self
This Morning…
What if Michelangelo’d scrapped his scaffold,
complaining of a sore back?
…Or put off David’s surgery from worrying over piercing a vein?
One Rouen noon Monet might have moaned:
“Roman Church: many views?”
What a shame if Rembrandt had given in to darkness!
Verily sad, if Van Gogh had sighed: “Another iris among many…”
Or failed to value the grains of his homely chair…
Or, if Jean-François Millet’d surveyed his hay from a sleepy loft…
Or, Fitzgerald had overlooked youth’s fascination with glitz
and Gatsby’d never been born…
Or, Melville’d sung so many drunken sea chanties
that Moby was just so much blubber…
What if Einstein’d surmised “It’s just a thought”
when phoning a relative?
Or, Pisa’d let its Tower topple?
Or, Benjamin Franklin’d “been burned” just “one too many” times?
Or, the Wright Brothers’d deferred flight from fear of being wrong?
Or, the Brontës’d only brooded on the moors
and Dickinson’d declined to write of hers — unseen?
Or, Henry’d heard he was just “another con.”
Or, McCourt concluded he was just another “Teacher”
Man…
And then, there’s Handel… …So, get one,
your work might be Messianic.
Elizabeth Yahn Williams
Older Adults
34 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Margaret Wurster
Lots of Lines
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 35
And There’s Success
In 1988, at age 31, I left Bangkok, Thailand, and started working as a seamstress in
Los Angeles. I did not speak a single word of English. Wherever I went I had to use
a Thai-English interpreter. I couldn’t even buy a single thing without the interpreter’s
help. My sister told me that this country offers free English-as-a-second-language
classes, and I decided to sign up. After only a week, I quit because I did not
understand a word of what came out of the mouths of my teachers and classmates.
As a result, I had to depend—like before — on an interpreter for very simple things.
This made me even more upset, and I remembered Buddha’s saying, Try your best,
and there’s success.
So this is how I got started again; I just had to try and work hard and there would
be success. Since then I have greatly improved my English. First, I signed up again
for ESL Level 1, and I was seriously going to the adult school on Sunset Boulevard
in Los Angeles. The classes were four times a week after a long day of work.
Sometimes, I couldn’t concentrate and felt overwhelmed. I wondered if I would
ever be able to speak English. I didn’t understand a thing in class, but I kept going.
After class, I sat down with my friends and they helped me to get started. I began to
watch movies with subtitles and started to understand a little bit. At that time, I had
hope and began to enjoy the English language, and it made me happy when I could
go to the store without an interpreter.
A few years later, I moved to Oceanside with my husband, Mike, and we had
two children. For some time, I took care of my children and did not go to school.
However, when my kids were in elementary school, I decided to become a U.S.
citizen and that meant that I had to work hard again. MiraCosta College gave me
the opportunity to learn about history and the Constitution and to improve my
English at the same time. It was not easy for me at all, but my teachers, children,
and friends all encouraged me and helped me prepare for the test and interview.
You cannot imagine how happy I was when I passed the citizenship interview and
became a citizen in 2004. What a success!
After that, I felt that my English was not good enough to find a job, so I signed up
for more ESL classes at MiraCosta College. Since then, I have worked very hard
and managed to get to ESL Level 7 and ABE (Adult Basic Education). My next goal
is to get into GED classes so I can get a high school degree in the future. I think it
is important to get a high school degree to find a decent job. Even though it is hard
work, I feel that Buddha’s words are true: Try your best, and there’s success.
Kunpirom Mueller
Adult High School
36 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Teachers
Teachers are a candle
when everything outside is dark.
They are a lighthouse
when students are lost.
They are the path
that leads to the end
of the labyrinth.
Teachers are the sunrise
after a rainy night.
They are the magic key
that opens all doors.
They are the keepers
of knowledge.
They are the hand
that guides students
during adversity.
Tyshawn Thomas
Angel
Special Education
Eliel Carlos Cruz
English as a Second Language
I’m
Bob
I am happy
I have a job
I get money for my work
I buy CDs and go out to lunch
I’m trying to be independent
Bob Fleeup
Special Education
Bob Fleeup
I’m Bob
Special Education
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 37
My
Unforgettable
Night
I will never forget what happened that night in my home in Oaxaca, Mexico.
It was November 28th, 1997, and I was six years old. My mom brought a
pair of parrots, the kind of birds that repeat what you say. My brothers and
I used to give them food and water every day. During those days my mom
had a clothing store, and she was really busy. My brothers and I were
going to school and we had a lot of homework, and with all that work, one
day we forgot to feed the parrots at night. One really cold night a week
later, I walked in the yard and I saw the parrots lying in the cage. I said to
my mom, “Is this the way that the parrots sleep?”
My mom was frustrated and said, “Mijo, they are not sleeping; they are
dead!” But then she discovered the parrots were still alive, but they were
dying. She started to feed the parrots and give them water.
After that she said, “Maybe they are cold.” So she put them on the stove
over the fire and turned them around.
I said, “Mom, you are going to burn them.”
She responded by saying, “You are right, Mijo. I will put them in the
microwave and they are going to be warm,” and she did it.
Unfortunately they died, and my mom began to cry. We were sad, too, but I
learned one very important lesson about responsibility that night: never get
a pet if you are NOT going to take care of it properly.
Omar Mendez
English as a Second Language
38 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Judy Richardson
Composition in Graphite
Older Adults
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 39
A Ride
to Near Death
My most terrifying experience happened in the ocean even though I love the ocean very much. It
was the end of the summer about four years ago. My friend Miwa called me, and she said, “Let’s
go to the yacht club. My boss is there, so we can see the boats. It’s far from here, so I need you to
come with me.” Miwa and another friend, Takae, and I decided to go to the yacht club. When we
got there, Miwa’s boss and his friends were already there, and they were eating and drinking. They
looked to be about 50 to 65. Miwa and Takae drank some beer, but I didn’t because I was the driver.
Then the boss’s friend offered to take us for a ride on a Jet Ski. I didn’t want to go because he
smelled of alcohol. I said, “No, thank you,” to him, and I told my friends, “We should not go!” But
he insisted, and Miwa’s boss brought some life jackets and waders for us to wear. I could see
Miwa didn’t want to make her boss feel bad. We put on the life jackets and waders. My life jacket
was too big for me. All of us rode on one Jet Ski! I said, “This is dangerous!”
But the boss said, “You guys are okay.”
As soon as the boss’s friend started the engine, he drove crazy! He was speeding very fast! The
waves were big, but he didn’t stop or reduce the speed. The Jet Ski was jumping harder. I bit my
tongue. We were screaming, and I said to him, “Stop it!!”
He didn’t stop, and he said, “Don’t be scared!” I couldn’t believe my ears…. I thought he was
super stupid. The next second, the Jet Ski jumped higher and threw us into the ocean. The ocean
was like a stone wall. My body hit the water very hard, and I saw the Jet Ski flying toward me! The
Jet Ski almost hit my head. This crazy man couldn’t hold the Jet Ski up. We floated in the ocean for
a while…. My life jacket was too big, so I tried to hold onto it tightly. The water was very cold. My
arms hurt because they were tired, and my neck hurt because of the shock of hitting the water. I
didn’t want to die, but I thought I was surely going to die. I really hated this super crazy man. We
were waiting for somebody to come rescue us.
About thirty to forty minutes later, Miwa’s boss and his friend came to rescue us. They tried to lift
me up, but they couldn’t. The water came into my waders, so I was too heavy to lift. When they
tried to lift me up, the boat hit me very hard many times. They held my wrists tightly. Finally, they
got me in the boat, but I thought my wrists were broken. When we got to the yacht club by the
boat, people were laughing at me because I was shaking. They didn’t know that the man’s driving
was very crazy.
We left there as soon as we changed our clothes. When we said goodbye to Miwa’s boss, he said
his friend drove the Jet Ski while we were changing our clothes. The boss said, “Are you guys
okay? I’m sorry about that.”
That super stupid man didn’t apologize to us! Now, my neck hurts, and my shoulder is sometimes
stiff since this accident. In the future, I will not do anything if I don’t feel it is safe, even if
somebody insists.
Mayu Rivera
English as a Second Language
40 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
An
Angel’sFootprint
Last
The scariest and bravest thing I ever experienced in my life was to make the right choice of
having my uterus removed. As a young child, I was told by my mother and doctor that I couldn’t
have children because of a bad uterus that produced many tumors. I was going back and forth
to the doctor for many years. It was very depressing to me.
At the age of 17, I found out I was going to have a baby but later miscarried because of my health.
I beat the odds, and at the age of 25 I became pregnant again, taking the chance of my daughter
Azaria being born early at seven months. After a fortunate pregnancy, I gave birth to a healthy
baby girl.
Fighting the years with health problems, I became very sick again. I found out I had two more
tumors the sizes of small plums on my ovaries. I had them removed. I had to regain my strength
and mind because I became very depressed. Later I found out that I was two months pregnant
with my second daughter, Nyaree, whom I call “Angel Foot.” I had a small tumor, but I still was
able to carry my daughter. After finding out that I had a tumor when I was pregnant with my
daughter Nyaree, her father blamed me, and he started to mentally abuse me by telling me I
wasn’t worthy enough to be with him if I didn’t give him a healthy child. I was in denial. I began
to not care about myself or my unborn child. I finally gave birth to Nyaree, and she was fine. I
was so happy.
Four months after that I became very sick with more tumors on my right side. Again I got them
taken out. I knew I had to someday make a choice of what I was going to do. My uterus kept
making tumors. Four years passed with bad health problems. I then was told that I had many
tumors in my uterus. There was a chance my uterus would rupture, and I would need it removed.
While making the choice of giving up my uterus, I talked with my girls, Azaria and Nyaree. My
youngest one told me that God planned for me to have two girls and that she was my last angel
foot. I thought of the day I had Nyaree. I remembered that when they gave me my daughter, I
looked her over. She had a shape of what looked like a footprint on the middle of her back. I had
flashbacks of all those times I called her that name, Angel Foot. I finally was brave enough to make
the right choice to have my uterus removed, knowing I would be giving God back all His angels I
thought I would carry in my wonderful uterus. So I gave God back all His angels I wouldn’t carry.
Every day I look at both of my daughters knowing I’m blessed to have and enjoy my two babies.
Both are very special. My last baby girl was given a birthmark in the shape of a footprint. I call
that birthmark my angel foot.
Kwunyunna English
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 41
Digital Story Scripts:
This section of Expressions from MiraCosta showcases scripts for digital stories—short videos in which
students tell personal stories about experiences, events, and relationships that have affected their lives.
In Digital Storytelling classes, students are challenged to create compelling works by carefully crafting
their words and artistically melding audio and visual components for their greatest impact.
Something a Shouldn’t Child
Have to Experience
Have you ever had to experience something that a child shouldn’t
have to? I did.
Ten years ago there was a war in Europe —Yugoslavia.
Everyone in Kosovo was evacuated from their homes and sent
to concentration camps. Many people were brutally killed.
Everyone else was sent to different camps not too long after. My
dad led the people at these hard times. He helped to organize a
group of people that made sure everyone was able to get at least
a half a loaf of bread for their whole entire family, and he made
sure that the rest of us also survived. At this time, I tried to help
my dad with anything that he needed because I knew that for
people to survive, they relied on him. Eventually, the President of
the United States, Bill Clinton, and NATO helped us by bringing food and helicopters and bombing
the Serbs as a warning. Others that survived went on to other countries with the remaining family
members they had.
My family came to America. We lived in San Diego and had to struggle adapting and surviving.
We all started here by trying to go to school. My parents went to English-Albanian classes in the
beginning. Me and my brother went to regular all-English public schools and somehow learned
how to speak English within the first year. As we learned and worked, we reached a more
comfortable stage where it was easier to communicate, and struggles to survive were no longer a
problem. Eventually, we adapted to everything around us.
Now, as I look back, I see all of what happened as an experience that made me mature, and it
helped me concentrate on real things that needed to be done, such as learning how to speak a
completely different language, making friends, and also helped me understand some values in
life that other people might not understand. Including me, there are four people in my family that
came out to America. Others, like cousins, uncles, and aunts, stayed in Europe.
Ardian Selimi
Adult High School
42 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Me, Myself, and English
I always focus on the comic proverb that I heard all my
life: In the United States, you can find money even on
trees. When I decided to come to the United States from
Brazil, I thought that everything would be fine. After all,
I’m smart. I study English. I have a bachelor’s degree,
and the United States is a culture of opportunities,
trouble-free, and money trees.
Ooh, here I come — ready to find my first tree of money.
I did not find any money tree but instead a bunch of
trouble. First of all, I came from a warm climate, and
I was dropped into what I call an icebox— St. Louis,
Missouri. And the other big trouble was that I thought
Welieides that I spoke English, but to tell you the truth, I couldn’t
understand any word that those people were saying. My answers were always “yes” or
“no,” even when they called me crazy. For that reason, I used to tell everyone to not give
the answer “no” as an answer when you are not sure that you understand. Just run off
as fast as you can.
I found a job in a Brazilian restaurant as a cook during the day and a busgirl at night.
Because I couldn’t run off from the customers, I had to use my broken English. If a
customer started a conversation with me, I used to cut them off saying, “I’m sorry. I don’t
speak English very well. The only words that I know are: How are you? Help me. I’m sorry.
Excuse me. And, Thank you very much. They used to laugh and say, “I love your good
sense of humor.”
After a long year of struggling in St. Louis, Missouri, I met a cute guy from California who
asked me to marry him. I said yes because he would take me away from the icebox. But
this is another story that I will be telling you later on. Anyway, I got married, and I came
to California. I started to take ESL classes at MiraCosta College. At first, they were so
difficult because I couldn’t understand very much, and no one else spoke Portuguese.
To make things worse, almost everybody was Latino, so to learn to speak English, I had
to learn Spanish first. I used to cry and say I would give up because I felt that I was
not a viable person. I was scared of everybody. But, with the support of the wonderful
MiraCosta teachers, I lost my embarrassment and I started to progress in my life.
Today, I still do not speak the best English, but at least I don’t run off from people. Next
year, I will graduate from high school for the second time, and I’m very proud of having
started from zero. This high school diploma is like a master’s degree to me.
Welieides La Porte
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 43
Shante Underwood:
From Straight to Straight F’s
Should you believe what the world has to say about you?
A’s
Shante Underwood was born March 3, 1994. For five years, she
was the baby of our family — until her new little sister came along.
This happened to be the same year she started kindergarten. The
day I brought the baby home, I began to notice a change in her. She
wanted more attention and started acting out in bad behavior. She
also did not like her little sister. I thought that this would change as
time went on and she would get used to her. But it didn’t.
I began to get calls from her school every day. Her behavior was
out of control, and her grades remained straight F’s the whole year.
By the end of the year, a two-part test of a hundred questions was
given to her teacher and me. The test results, according to the
school, would label my daughter as being close to mentally retarded.
The Marietta Unified School District labeled my daughter as an IEP
(Individualized Education Program) student, and she would have to
repeat kindergarten. Arethea and Shante
I wasn’t convinced that my daughter was close to being mentally retarded. I believed she was jealous
of the new baby sister that now had more of my attention. But her first semester was the same. She
brought home straight F’s. I spanked her and put her on a thirty-day restriction. I put up shapes, colors,
and numbers all over her walls in her bedroom. Every day I drilled her, told her how smart she was, and
that nobody was going to label her in this world. I had to have a principal demoted when Shante’s report
card did not reflect what I had taught her. By the end of the year, Shante had passed kindergarten.
When she got to her new school, they enrolled her in regular classes and didn’t follow up on the
paperwork I had brought. I continued to work with her at home and kept a close relationship with
her teacher. She was a straight-A, honor-roll student the whole year.
Shante is now in the eighth grade and she continues to get straight A’s and B’s. Her GPA ranges between
a 3.33 and a 3.50. She is a peer mediator at her junior high school and plays in the band. She volunteers
at our local library and church. She also loves to sing, draw, cook, and help others and wants to do
some acting and modeling one day. When she enters the ninth grade next year, she will be in the ABET
program to help prepare for college. (ABET is a federation of professional and technical societies
representing the fields of applied science, computing, engineering, and technology.) She is enrolling
in ROTC (Reserve Officers’ Training Corps) for three years and dance. When she graduates, she is
planning to attend college with a major in computer science.
Can you imagine where my daughter would be today if I accepted the school’s labeling? My supposedly
mentally retarded child is an outstanding college-bound student who loves her little sister.
Arethea Herron
Adult High School
44 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
Get Right or Get Left
Life wasn’t the most important thing in my life when I was growing up. Why? I don’t even have an answer
to that. My name is Chris Augafa, but some people call be Bris. I was fresh out the block, couple weeks out
the sack. January 15, 1991. Pop was a bus driver for the city. His name is Sam. Mom was a car dealer at
Cal Worthington Dodge. Her name is Pitovao. My sisters were before me though. Their names are Brittney
and Scarlet. We live in the “back gate” area—a small neighborhood with a history of wicked shit going on.
No telling what it was because I was still a young buck pushin’ the block.
I went to an elementary school just down the street around the corner—Libby Elementary, kindergarten
through sixth grade. I met some new friends around the neighborhood and became best buds with them.
School was just a game to me after that. I started hanging out with people twice my age. Only went to
school to hang out and get in trouble with the rival gang that was a couple blocks away from school.
I eventually moved on to middle school, and it all just kept getting deeper and thicker. I went to King Middle
School. I started off hella good, then broke like chalk, slowly but surely. I started ditching class because
the older homies were doing it. So I thought it was cool for me, you know, the regular following step into
the set recognitions. I started getting comfortable with the neighborhood even deeper, and it was too late
to turn back on my word, I told a close homie a while ago. About 20 minutes flew by that day, and my phone
is blowing off the hook. Rusty Seau, at the time he was only 16 the day he fell for his flag in the street. Ever
since then, Oceanside’s never been the same for a young Samoan boy trying to make the street light his
spotlight ’cause nobody gives a care in the world for him but his friends. All this happening. It all got worse
for the people I chose to hang out with—nothing big, just a lot of people talking shit, like “Hi, Hater.”
Kept it movin’, and on to the next school. The deal was to go to El Camino and be with the homeboys from the
neighborhood. But Pops was like, “Nah.” So he sent me to Vista with my sister, and it was on to crackin’. I
played football my freshman year there and balled out like any other dime-a-dozen Samoan that ever came
to Vista. Only played five games on freshman, then I got bumped up to the varsity squad. It was cool and
everything, but I broke my leg the second game into the league season. I was first-string fullback, and I ran
the ball through the gut with everyone beat but the free safety. The next thing I know I was on the stretcher
getting loaded to the ambulance. I spent two weeks in the hospital; I missed a buttload of schoolwork.
By the time I came back to school, I was over school, so I dropped out of
Vista High my sophomore year and went nowhere in life for a hot one. I eventually
signed up for other schools such as Alta Vista Continuation School and Palomar
High Independent Studies—the same shit, different toilet bowl. I ended up getting
kicked out for not showing up to school for weeks, so I was stuck like chuck on
my parents’ couch, just chillin’ like a villain, doing absolutely nothing for myself but
getting into trouble and starting doing drugs. I’m really no friend of doing drugs,
but I got lost for a little while, and I picked up doing cocaine for the first time in my
life. I really didn’t like it so I never did it again.
But then I found something that can ease my mind into a better place than where
I am today: Jah bless. Now that I got my life together, I rolled back into the school
that my sister tried to graduate from, but she never accomplished it: MiraCosta
Adult High School Diploma Program—where we hold down the tables so they Chris
won’t fly away. I go to graduate to move onto a better life, to strive for what I want,
and live, learn, and grind even harder to my goals and dreams that I lost touch with in the past. And revive
back like the blast from the past. Move on to Palomar College and handle the rest of my business in the
funny papers for the bright lights. Geahdat.
Chris Augafa
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 45
Life AfterDeath
No one can imagine the pain and agony that ripped up my heart behind the doors of a place some
call home. My biological father left when I was born. To this day, I still don’t know the man who
should have been there to teach me the important life lessons. Shortly after he abandoned me, my
stepfather came into my life. What should have been a picture-perfect family turned into my living
nightmare. My stepfather was a raging alcoholic with a violent temper. My parents would get into
drunken fights about who would get the last fix. It took many years before their habits affected me.
When I was just 15, I dropped out of high school. I had no idea who I
was or where I was going. I did not know the feelings I had inside at
the time were those of depression. I looked to other things to numb
those feelings and erase the memories of my life. It turned into a deep
starvation for the feel the drugs provided my body. I loved it when my
thoughts dwindled away and something that was everything turned
into nothing.
That nothing was definitely something when I took it too far. The
last thing I remember was lying down in bed. I blacked out for what
seemed like days. I felt my entire body pulsating while I lay in bed
paralyzed. My mind was in full spin while I thought about everything
Summer and son that was nothing. My body had an awkward cringing of explosion.
I wondered if anyone could smell the death of my being. It took me
a few hours before by body would respond after being in a state of coma. My mind put all my
surroundings on mute while I walked around like a zombie in slow motion. I couldn’t help but
wonder if this was the beginning or the end. Looking back now, I know it was only the beginning
of life’s long route for me. At that point, I had had enough, so I decided to leave home and start a
new chapter in my life.
About halfway through my 16 years of life, an unplanned pregnancy crashed down on me like a
thunderstorm. I knew this would change me and the way I had been living. It was a long process
of decision-making that resulted in me keeping my baby, and in me doing so changed me inside
and out.
Today I am a devoted, loving, caring mother to the one person that means everything to me. I
never knew what love and happiness was until the day my son told me he loved me. My son is
what keeps me going from day to day, and he’s the reason I have a place to call home. He’s my
drug of choice these days.
Summer Drew
Adult High School
46 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
A Scary Experience
As a child, I had a very scary experience. When I was five years
old, I was playing in front of the municipal building when I saw a
man walking outside. I couldn’t imagine what was going to happen.
The townspeople were at a meeting, which was usually on Monday
mornings, and my parents were there along with them. The man who
was walking outside was a killer. He was holding a gun because
he wanted to kill somebody. He climbed up the tree in front of the
municipal building so the people couldn’t see him.
One hour later, I heard a gunshot. The people were making a lot
of noises and also they were crying. I was so scared because I
couldn’t find my parents! It was much later I found out the man
had killed my uncle. We never found out why he killed him. It was
probably a random shooting. I was so sad because I could never
see my uncle again. The police couldn’t catch the man who killed my
uncle because he left too quickly. And the people were afraid of him
so they didn’t help the police catch him.
Sometimes I remember my uncle as if he were still alive. When we
lose someone we love, we try to remember them just as when they
were alive.
Ofelia Salazar
English as a Second Language
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 47
The
Boy
The Girl
Ignacio
What do you really think when you see a drag queen? I’m sure you’re laughing right now. They
look very funny, and it is very easy to criticize them. There are a lot of people who hate gays and
lesbians with a lot of animosity. And sometimes they want to kill them or have them killed just for
hatred. It is very easy to laugh, but what we know is that we don’t know anything about them.
Let me tell you something about me. I was seven years old when I noticed there was something
different about me from the other children. I didn’t like to play soccer, nor with dolls. The other
children used to make jokes about me, and I was always called feminine, a faggot, la niña, a
homosexual. I didn’t know why they hated me so much. I was just a little kid who wanted to play
and enjoy life, but at school my classmates treated me as if I had a contagious disease. Nobody
wanted to sit next to me. I was isolated all the time, and my insecurity and loneliness grew each
day more and more. I cried every single day, and I hated everybody even though I also hated
myself. If I was gay or homosexual, I didn’t ask to be like that. To be honest, I didn’t know what
homosexuality was. I never asked to be gay. I was born with feminine moves, and I never realized
it until I was 19.
Junior high school was the worst time of my life. My classmates pushed me, hit me, and every
single day for three years, they treated me as nothing — as a faggot, homosexual, and all
synonyms they could find to laugh at me. Also, my neighbors made fun of me and laughed at me.
I never had the support of my family, not even my brothers. I grew up in a small community in
Mexico where to be gay was unacceptable. My father always warned us if someone in the family
was gay, he was going to kill that son personally. Thinking about my father’s feelings toward
homosexuality made me feel too frightened and scared. For many years, I struggled to accept
myself or not. I was very scared. My hands and body began to sweat while I walked in front of
people. I always thought that my classmates and neighbors were right and I was the one who
needed to be changed.
I was 20 when I accepted myself. It wasn’t easy, and it is still not easy. Now that I am 30, I
thank God I’m still alive and I can visualize my dark past and look for a bright future.
Ignacio Natividad
Adult High School
48 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
I Don’t Have Dreams
Some people automatically assume that everyone has dreams — only because it’s so natural to
most the entire human race. For me, on the other hand, I’m different. I don’t have dreams. Why
don’t I have dreams? Hell if I know. I don’t know if what I have is a disease, defect, or even if it
has a name at all. All I know is that I don’t see things in my sleep. I don’t enjoy random, made-up
mental fantasies that all of you seem to enjoy so much almost every night.
In a way, it seems that I have been cheated out of
the privilege of having dreams. But I guess it’s also
a good thing that I don’t have to go through horrible
nightmares about monsters chasing me or a killer
about to tower over me and take my life away. I’ve
never had to wake up in a cold sweat wondering
if my dreams are real or not. Maybe I should be
grateful that I don’t have to experience such horrible
images racing in my mind. But not experiencing
nightmares also means I don’t experience good
dreams either. I guess you can call it a bittersweet
relationship when it comes to me and my dreaming,
or lack of dreaming, as it were.
When my friends or someone I know speaks of their dreams and how insane or how real their
dreams felt, in a way I feel left out or jealous. I wish so bad that I could experience dreams. You
may ask, so you never had a dream ever?! Well, I guess that I could say that I have. But I don’t
remember anything from the dream when I wake up — as if it never happened. But it’s on the
extreme rare occasion that I even wake up just suspecting that I had a dream the night before. I
try to search my memories and remember what I dreamt exactly, but every time, it’s just hopeless.
I haven’t really looked into it or even mentioned it to a doctor. Why waste money and time trying
to figure out what’s different about me when I love who I am just as I was made?
I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fly through space or feel like I’m getting smaller every second
while a rabid-infested monster chases me. But while all you have your dreams and fantasies, I
choose to make up for it by living out my dreams in reality. When it all comes down to it, I’ll make
my own dreams come true.
Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
— Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens
Alex Pickard
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 49
One Chance Sunshine, my Tía Susie, would almost always brighten a dark day.
My tía always went by a particular saying: Say what you mean, and
do what you say. That’s her philosophy. I never took her saying too
seriously until one day something changed that made me respect and understand why she stood by it so strongly. On March
17, 2006, I received a call from her and she mentioned that she was going to be at my granny’s house in L.A. visiting her kids
and grandbaby for the weekend. I happened to be visiting a few of my friends in Oceanside that weekend.
That morning we discussed things that were happening in my life and all of the miserable decisions I had made that made my life
even harder than it already was. Sunshine is the only one that understood why I made the choices I did in life and never judged
me for them. In many ways, I am similar to her. We are both strong-minded, rebellious, and have the street-gang mentality. She
would always tell me that no matter what decision I made in life, the outcome of the experience would make me the woman I
am today. Sunshine, always positive, cheerful, vivacious, and vibrant about life, gave me the inspiration to do the better things
in life. I was just so caught up in a long-term relationship and friends that family in some ways was third place. Sunshine would
always tell me to enjoy life, have fun, and never have any regrets.
There came a point in her life that depression got the best of Sunshine. She made a decision to see a doctor, and he prescribed
her several medications to help with her depression and the Mary Jane for the sleep deprivation. Sunshine became drug-
dependent; she began to mix the Mary Jane, alcohol, and a shitload of prescription drugs. You name it, she had it. In time, it
began mind-screwing her. The doctor thereafter officially classified Sunshine as insane. But in my eyes, Sunshine was just
being Sunshine, just with an extra flavor.
On the morning of March 18, 2006, my cell phone rang. It was my tía. I let the call roll over to voice mail. She left me a message
saying, “Jennie, answer your phone. You better make sure that you at least come by and see me. If not, you will regret it.”
I laughed, assuming that I was going to eventually go by and see her later that afternoon or evening when I returned to L.A. The day
lagged for me just because the night before a few friends and I went out and decided to get some “E” and go wild. After that
I needed to recuperate. Night came before I knew it, and I never made it to L.A. to see her, nor did I even call to let her know I wasn’t
coming. I felt she would be mad I didn’t make it when I said I would. But I decided to surprise her the next evening after work.
As I arrived at work on March 19, 2006, my desk phone rang. I answered it, and my father
was on the line. He asked, “Are you sitting down?” in a sad voice.
I replied, “Yes, Daddy. Why?”
He said, “Because I have some bad news.”
I said, “About what?”
He said, “Your Tía Susie.”
I replied, “Dad, are you playing?”
He said, “No. Your Tía Susie passed away last night.”
I was in shock. I couldn’t speak. My father asked me if I was okay. That’s when I began to scream
and cry. I then hung up the phone and hurried to my granny’s house. When I arrived, I saw her in
tears and noticed my tía’s room taped up.
Sunshine
Some days I wonder what would have happened if I would have gone to see her like I said I would.
But I have learned from my aunt’s death why her philosophy—say what you mean, and do what you say—was so important to
her. I now follow that philosophy in my life just because I never know if I will ever have another chance to say what I mean and
do what I say, for tomorrow is never promised.
Jennie Beltran
Adult High School
50 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010
From Hero Zero 2
My life started when it began. It was October 27, 1974, in San Francisco,
Jus Dat Fast
California. My life as a toddler was cool. When I hit this phase to where I
could go out, I made friends in my neighborhood. I started school and my
best friend was in the same class as me. I graduated from kindergarten
and moved onto first grade. My father, who became a minister, was waiting
on his calling. Then his calling finally came in 1982, and he was sent to
build a church out here in Oceanside.
After school was out in the summer of 1982, we made the move to
Oceanside. It was sad ’cause I had left some cool friends up there, and I Moses’s father
was trying to adapt to a new environment. That was not cool. My summer
ended and I started my second-grade year, and that wasn’t too shabby. But my third-grade year
to my seventh-grade year, it went smooth but somewhat rough. I was already seeking other
extracurricular activities. By my eighth-grade year, I got jumped into a gang, and I thought not
only was it the easiest but it was the best decision I ever made. Eventually my interests for school
went down the drain, and I enrolled myself in sidewalk high school.
My life as a gang member and a criminal started here on these streets of Notorious Valley. I
moved onto crimes and I went from hero to zero just dat fast. I ended up committing crimes
that had me on the run for three months, and I finally got caught. I ended up in California Youth
Authority, did a few years, and was released. I continued this lifestyle and was out only three
months. I graduated from youth authority and went to prison and did a few more years. I was
finally released and was shot four times by some busters who couldn’t finish what they started.
I ended up back in the monkey house and was looking at quite a few years. I did six and a half
years and was released in 2006.
I was out for about sixteen months, and then all hell broke loose in 2007. This is where my
depression mode started. In 2007 my house was raided and I was right back in the monkey
house. That year was the most difficult year for me because three weeks after going back in,
I received word that my father had passed away. My father was a big inspiration in my life. He
taught me well enough to know right from wrong, but I chose to let it go in one ear and out the
other. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend my father’s funeral due to the status of my parole
conditions. It was real hard for me to cope with that. As days turned into weeks and weeks turned
into months, I had a lot of time to gather my thoughts and get myself together. It took me a long
time to finally realize that I was not getting any younger and that my family needs me.
Eight months after my release, I decided that I needed to give this gang life up and take care
of my family. I come from a family of ten brothers and sisters — five boys and five girls. That
doesn’t include the kids that my parents raised, like, say, for instance, this guy. My family means
everything to me just as my dad meant everything to me. My father once said that they can take
away anything they want, but they can’t take away your diploma. So I shall go and get my diploma
and dedicate it to you, Dad.
Moses Vaeao
Adult High School
ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 51
Thank You
Thank you to the following students who, although their submissions were not selected for
publication, honored themselves and the process by submitting entries.
Alyssa Adams Irlanda Cruz Florence McFall Amanda-Marie
Kiki Adessa Maria Cruz Brandon McIntosh Ross
Kelly Altic Viviana Cruz Carlota Meza Dora Saenz
Jennifer Alvarez Rachell Durham Brandon Michel Carlos Salgado
Carlos Amador Anne-Marye Therese Montes Juan Salgado
Andrea Amaya Dytewski Azucena Morales Carlos Sanchez
Brandy Amaya Marilu Espindola Kim Morris Abby Schulze
Ana Angeles Zuleyma Rosa Mota Michael Shearn
Evangelista
Rosemarie Augafa Natalia Munoz Keila Silva
Carmen Flores
Michael Baldridge Kathy Nakamura Victor Silva
Isaac Flores
Steven Beadles Hooshang Nayak Louise Slanker
Diane Gamalinda
Bella Beauregard Parady Nguon Carmen Somm
Idalia Garcia
Bobby Brashears Keesha Nolen Austin Staack
Tim Gerber
Enrique Bravo Joy Norbeck Loa Stone
Arnold Gibbs
Ryan Browne Francisco Olivera Ha Thai
Charlie Guzman
Jovelle Cabida Nancy Ortega Sean Thibeaux
Kendall Haslam
Alejandro Cabrera Jerzy Osnikski Jason Tidd
Michael Hawk
Miguel Cabrera JoAnna Palumbo- Patricia Vance
Lori Heien Paul
Graciela Cachu Mireya Vargas
Julia Hernandez Todd Plischke
Yujing Cao Jose Vasquez
Kathie Hoxsie Shelissia Price
Paulina Rembao Carlos Verdias
Carballo Patchawan Angelica Ramirez Jane Wilkens
Kasemuudhi
Gerardo Carreon Marlem Rincon Sarah Williams
Dorene Kay
Juana Carrizales Jonathan Rivera Cameron Wright
Clara Krause
Jorge Casarrubias Nicole Rodenas Jyme Ybarra
Sonhui Kuhn
Ismael Castillo Loretta Rodriguez Cynthia Zamora
Marysol Landeros
Michael Catalano Sofia Rodriguez
Cheryl Leidel
Victoria Chatman Maria Romero
Huifang Li
Lucy Chea Angela Root
Fred Lopez
Lee Chereskin
Lisa Lopez
Alex Cohen
Rosa Lopez
Michael Collins
Zeferina Lopez
Amelia Conejo
Adriana Lowe
Jose Conejo
Stefanie Macias
J.D. Crone
Bob Martel
Anthony
Crossman Jr. Ines Martinez
Jane Crummie Janice Masamoto
Mary Ann Anderson
On the Rocks
52 ExprEssions from miraCosta • spring 2010 Older Adults
Charlie Lacy
Christmas Tree
Special Education