Personal Narrative: Growing Up In California

Growing up in Hawaii, the idea of community was always such a fundamental part of who I was. I have never looked at it from the perspective of how it benefited me rather how it benefitted everyone around me. Everything I have done from joining local clubs that enriched the Hawaiian culture to volunteering with the west Hawaii special olympics program have helped me become the person I am today. My family has had a huge role in making sure that I am involved with the community. They passed down their practices in paddling, environmental conservation of Kealakekua Bay and encouraging the people who need it the most.

One night, during the cold winter, I walked along the side walk to reach the local store down the block. As I walked out, before I can realize it, I was dropping down onto the concrete while bullets swiftly passed me. I then began to run back home, but I wanted to keep running. Away from Chicago, away from the west side. Growing up in Chicago, it was easy to assume that there was nothing different beyond the blocks of my streets. Everybody lived the same way and talked the same way; not many people was different. I made my own decision, at the age of 10 to not be another statics of my community. When my mother moved my family and I to San Antonio, I devoted my time to school and bettering my opportunity to go to a Tier one institution which

Growing up in Detroit Michigan I learned early in life that it is important to strive to do your best. As a child I wondered how life would be once I grew up. Moreover, I dreamed about the destinations that I wanted to travel to, the career that I want to pursue after graduating from college. I knew that the life that my parents lived was not for me.

I grew up in inner city Baltimore Maryland. Neither of my parents were or are followers of Christ. They divorced when I was very young. I spent most of my life moving from place to place with my mother and two brothers. I gave up on high school when I failed my freshmen year. I didn’t have a care in the world about anything except my own desires and needs. My mother started to get in trouble with the state of Maryland because I was not old enough to be out of school. She cut me deal by saying if I went to school until I was old enough to drop out, she would sign my drop out papers.

The community I grew up in central Texas celebrated my heritage, honored differences in culture, and fostered personal growth and self-discovery. My parents, with the strong work ethic they developed on their family’s farms in Ghana, encouraged my brother and me to work hard and find ways to use our skills to be of service to others, which wasn’t hard to do growing up in Austin with its many avenues to become involved and take care of the community, whether it was helping to direct families through the Trail of Lights at Zilker Park during the winter or raise money for educational programs for underprivileged kids in the area through working the concession stands at the University of Texas at Austin. It was this collaborative mindset that Austin

Growing up, I never believed I had an identity. When I delve back to my earliest of memories, both English and Spanish made an appearance in my dialogue. Because my life had always remained constrained in a blend of American and Mexican culture, it was difficult to distinguish exactly which group I resonated most with. Here in the Rio Grande Valley, it is an internal war that is fought constantly. Whoever could predominantly show their Mexican heritage would be held at a great regard for not neglecting their roots. At the same time however, there was an ongoing battle of who could illustrate the American dream at its acme. In other words, whoever could boast their upper middle-class status and materialistic possessions was also greatly revered.

I have lived in East Oakland my whole life. To the majority of people, the mention of East Oakland evokes thoughts of violence, shootings, and gangs. I was one of the people who believed in these stereotypes, and for a particularly long time. I was one of the people who saw Oakland as a wasteland, a place with nothing to offer me, and a place I had nothing to offer to.

Throughout my childhood growing up in Miami Fl, was an amazing experience, it’s unique variety of cultures spread through one city is absolutely mind blowing. Although there was one thing one my mind at all times. One thing I never experienced was living out west and getting away from the Miami life. Its kind of hard to believe someone would prefer living out west, in the middle of nowhere than along a beach shoreline. As a matter of fact, living out west had become one of my priorities when I was making my college decision. For some odd reason I have at all times wanted to be near a desert or spacious land unlike Miami and that’s why this picture really has an essential meaning to myself.

What is it like growing up in Texas? I have people always state that their home state is the best place to grow up, but I can honestly say where I grew up was the best. We had some much to do and so much to see. Texas has some amazing history in almost every city. I was born March 20, 1991, on the first day of spring. It was a sixty-nine degrees day. I weighed in at seven pounds two and a half ounces. Texas usually has fantastic weather, so growing up there was a dream. When I say fantastic weather I mean we had every season in one day. Sometimes it got crazy but I would not have it any other way.

The Dust Bowl was a very pro-founding topic in American history. It was a period of severe dust storms that occurred in the American Great Plains during the years 1930-1936. Donald Worster wrote a scholarly book, Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s, that reflects on the drastic effects of the event. Worster also offers his reasoning as to why the Dust Bowl happened. He claims, “The dust bowl was the darkest moment in the 20th century life of the southern plains... it was also an event of national, even planetary significance.” This claim is important because the Dust Bowl was truly significant to the development of this era, it was not just a natural disaster, it also affected the natural environment and economy of the United States.

My original name is shaylin uhlig i was 15 before I moved to Beacon hills, California. I am now called Talia Burley. I am 16 years old. Just like me and for the same dark secret my friends changed their names to Scott McCall (17 years old), Stiles Stilinski (17 years old), Erica tumblr (16 years old), and Jackson Kanima (17 years old). We are now forced to live at Beacon hills, California.

Coming to Cal was great for me because it was the first time I had found a real LGBTQ

Although I was born in Nevada, I left the states at three months old to China where my maternal grandparents lived. That was because my parents, as immigrants with a minimal educational background, were financially unstable and had to work, so they were not able to raise me. However, the summer before I turned 6 years old, my father brought me back to the U.S. to Los Angeles, California. By then, my parents were already divorced. I moved to Northern California where my aunt raised me in Cupertino for a majority of my elementary and middle school years. When high school came along, I moved back to L.A and my father, as a single parent, care of my brother and I up till now. I encountered difficulty adjusting to a new environment when I started

Growing up in Cypress has been a phenomenal experience to say the least. I was raised in a supportive middle class family. With a strong backbone behind me. I grew up to become independent and mature. Along with many friends that helped me get through rough times to make me the person I am today.

Alameda County California. I grew up in Oakland, California and went to Franklin Elementary School. When I was in the 5th grade I moved to Hayward California and went to Eldridge Elementary School. As a transfer student, I felt different from everyone else and my learning abilities were different. I learned quicker than others and was more intellectual than they were and because of these things I never really had friends. I passed all my classes with A’s or B’s.