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Creative Writing

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

2015

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Must Be An American Citizen, Guadalupe Astorga Oct 2015

Must Be An American Citizen, Guadalupe Astorga

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Living in a limbo state is something many individuals have experienced throughout America’s history, and it is something author Guadalupe Astorga has lived through firsthand. Though she has worked to make Los Angeles her home since moving from Mexico as a young girl, Astorga struggles with the legal definition of “American,” which causes her to feel as though she is living a border existence with “little to no control over [her] future.” Through an exploration of collected memories, Astorga fights against the fear, impatience, and doubt over her “American” identity, but as she waits for an interview that will decide …

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The Guide To Leadership: How The System’S Daughter Learned Strength, Maya Combs Oct 2015

The Guide To Leadership: How The System’S Daughter Learned Strength, Maya Combs

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Maya Combs has found herself both implicitly and explicitly governed by the rules, regulations and expectations of what it means to be successful as an African-American woman and scholar. She uses the different forms of adversity she has experienced, along with the presence of the strong matriarchs who surround her, to articulate the importance of leadership and progress despite socioeconomic disadvantage and the inevitability of death.

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La Gente No Nace, Se Hace, Angelica Diaz Oct 2015

La Gente No Nace, Se Hace, Angelica Diaz

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

In her narrative, author Angelica Diaz writes about her development as a daughter, sister, and aunt. Through the use of flashbacks to her childhood she relates the experiences that have brought her to where she is now—a student at Loyola Marymount University working to find her own place in the world and reflecting on her past experiences. By considering the life of her mother—her best friend—Diaz is able to realize her strength and her drive, and that her own place in her world is here and now, at the crossroad between the past and future, right where her faith has …

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Pieces Of Me, Cynthia Garcia Oct 2015

Pieces Of Me, Cynthia Garcia

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

By describing the relationship with the most important people in her life, Cynthia Garcia connects the ways in which each individual has contributed to shaping her into the young woman she is today. As a first-generation college student, she struggles with pleasing her parents, accepting the unsuspecting financial sacrifices of her younger siblings, and the exploration of herself through a romantic relationship.

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Too Much Of Everything And Not Enough, Guadalupe Mejia Oct 2015

Too Much Of Everything And Not Enough, Guadalupe Mejia

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

For author Guadalupe Mejia, the notion of identity as a multifaceted marker of one’s personhood created a sense of confusion and displacement within her. She struggled with a feeling of not belonging. Chronicling some of her experiences leading up to her college years, Mejia attempts to negotiate the ways in which her lived experiences, heritage and customs, and language and accent play a role in the person she strives to be and is expected to be. In the end, she comes to terms with her multicultural reality as a first-generation college student and first-generation U.S.-born American, but it isn’t easy.

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Te Doy Gracias, Citlaly Orozco Oct 2015

Te Doy Gracias, Citlaly Orozco

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Citlaly Orozco came into college as a quiet and shy person, obedient to all authority including her parents. This narrative reflects on the challenges, conflicts, and contradictions that Orozco has experienced with her mom, who she considers a close friend. Orozco shows how fear and guilt have shaped her college experience and interactions with her family; however, by being the strong, independent, and loving woman her mom taught her to be, Orozco comes to understand that she can be true to herself without feeling guilt. This realization helps Orozco to work through the challenges and moments of weakness to arrive …

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Tenemos Que Trabajar, No Hay Otra, Rene Silva Oct 2015

Tenemos Que Trabajar, No Hay Otra, Rene Silva

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Growing up, Rene Silva spent most of his time after school with his father. Despite this early connection, however, today father and son share few words. In the following narrative, Rene Silva delves into the nonexistent relationship he has with his father through the lenses of Latino culture and masculinity.

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Epiphanies, La'tonya R. Rease-Miles Mar 2015

Epiphanies, La'tonya R. Rease-Miles

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

“When did you realize that you were a first-generation college student?” Through a collection of narratives in response to this question, Dr. Rease Miles shows how personal moments of first-gen awareness can lead students to affirm their individual strengths and values.

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Reconnecting With Nature, Christopher H. Reyes Feb 2015

Reconnecting With Nature, Christopher H. Reyes

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This set of poems addresses the first-gen author's view of modernization from the past to the present, focusing on the need for individuals to reconnect with Nature.

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On The Wrong Side, Alvaro Gonzalez Feb 2015

On The Wrong Side, Alvaro Gonzalez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This piece represents two different aspects of life--one that is more superficial and one that is much more meaningful. Though the author had these two associations in mind at the time of composition, the poem can be interpreted in many ways depending on the reader's experiences and perspective. To some, the poem simply describes a man at the park; to others, the man may represent a father figure or a significant other.

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Bailamos Juntos: Salsa En Los E.E.U.U. Y El Mundo, Betty Tran Feb 2015

Bailamos Juntos: Salsa En Los E.E.U.U. Y El Mundo, Betty Tran

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This composition traces the history of Cuban-American cultural identity formation through the lens of music and dance. As the author explains, Cuban immigrants cultivated a rich music and dance culture in New York City by creating a series of Latin and Afro-Cuban music genres and dances that brought diverse groups of people together. As a Vietnamese-American woman, Tran sees several connections between her family’s Vietnamese heritage and the cultural histories of Cubans who came to the United States as refugees seeking asylum from political oppression. As a first-generation college student, Tran believes it is important to share this composition as …

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My Veil, Citlaly Orozco Feb 2015

My Veil, Citlaly Orozco

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Many first-generation students go into college hoping to make their parents proud. Throughout their years at the university, however, students often become more connected to their college environments and concerned with finding their own voices. Family may continue to be an important foundation, but as students begin to learn, explore, and accept who they can be, they may grow distant from their families. In this personal philosophy, the author discusses how the process of discovery that takes place during the college years can sometimes challenge traditional family views, but, in the end, Orozco believes that strong family bonds will lead …

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An Education, Priscilla T. Torres Feb 2015

An Education, Priscilla T. Torres

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

The first-generation college experience is one that is often a subtle realization. This piece examines the influence of the author's grandmother on her path to college and her understanding of what it means to be a first-generation college student. The author comes to the realization that a first-generation college education is not merely the student's own; it is that of her entire family and dates back generations.

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A Tres Pasos De La Muerte, Samuel Temblador Feb 2015

A Tres Pasos De La Muerte, Samuel Temblador

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

"A Tres Pasos de la Muerte" tells the story of a son of Mexican immigrants and his search for his roots. Here, Temblador attempts to communicate a bicultural experience through the frame of border literature (Literatura Fronteriza) born out of the intersection between Mexican and American culture.

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Applications For Dummies, Carla M. Sanchez Feb 2015

Applications For Dummies, Carla M. Sanchez

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This poem discusses the overwhelming pressure that is put on students to justify their right to be admitted into universities or to receive scholarships based on their extracurricular activities. Many working-class, first-generation college students are unable to participate in organizations and programs that offer students a more well-rounded college experience. This can lead first-gen students, like the author, to feel isolated, inadequate, or illegitimate. "Applications for Dummies" expresses Sanchez's incessant fear that she will never be able to compete with other students who were given the opportunity to build more worldly resumes, despite her strong academic commitment and intellectual potential.

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It's Not Just A Leave, Genesis L. Montalvo Feb 2015

It's Not Just A Leave, Genesis L. Montalvo

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

In this piece, the author sets out to explore the first-generation college identity through a gothic lens. In the early stages of this project, Montalvo had considered doing research on narratives from other first-gen college students as a way to trace the uncanny and the abject in their experiences. However, as she began reflecting on her own personal history, she realized that in a matter of only two years she had already experienced moments of distance, uncanniness, and confusion, which are recorded here. In presenting these installments in non-chronological order, Montalvo intends to insert a gothic element of disorder, which …

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The Upside Of A Bottle, Mary Ludwig Feb 2015

The Upside Of A Bottle, Mary Ludwig

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

Small town girl in the city: In this narrative, Mary Ludwig discusses growing up in rural northern California, her struggles with her mother's alcoholism, and her incredible success as a first-generation student. She challenges her family's notions that she will have a "breakdown" and overcomes every obstacle that presents itself.

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Flashlight, Min-Jung Kim Feb 2015

Flashlight, Min-Jung Kim

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This poem illustrates the struggle of an undergraduate first-generation college student who knew little about the first-gen identity or the experiences she would encounter until she became a First To Go Scholar at Loyola Marymount University. The poet represents the First To Go Program as a flashlight that has helped her to navigate a once dark and unfamiliar environment.

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Summer Days In The Library, Morika Fields Feb 2015

Summer Days In The Library, Morika Fields

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This essay explores how the author became the reader and writer that she is today. Memories and stories make up the bulk of Fields' piece, along with some retrospective insights on her educational journey.

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Keagan, Morika Fields Feb 2015

Keagan, Morika Fields

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

"Keagan" recounts a first-gen poet's experience babysitting a 12 month old who cried incessantly for his mother. Reflecting upon the evening in the weeks that followed, the author comes to realize that this 12 month old experienced emotions a 30 year old man could relate to: loneliness, abandonment, and heartache. The poem is meant to explore these elements of life that begin in infancy and remain with us into mature adulthood.

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Revelation, Tanya Diaz Feb 2015

Revelation, Tanya Diaz

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

There can sometimes be a gap between first-gen students and parents who have not experienced the stress of higher education. Children may believe this stress to be a necessary sacrifice for their future wellness; however, they often cannot feel their parents' sacrifices, just as their parents cannot feel their child's mental strain. Diaz creates this poem in an effort to examine her relationship with her mother from an outsider's point of view, in the end realizing that although her parents cannot always understand her experiences, they care and will support her decisions.

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What Am I?, Carlie Cuddihy Feb 2015

What Am I?, Carlie Cuddihy

First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience

This autobiographical work revolves around the author's personal identity and how she sorts through various stories of her family's heritage. Cuddihy is able to relate her family stories to her own life and connect them to resonant themes of American identity. The development of the author's family over the years has granted her the opportunity to attend a four-year university today.

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