The main challenge I faced doing this project was getting the photos from my grandmother. First of all she doesn't know how to use any sort of internet just phone calls. And secondly, there are so few old photos of her, this has to do with her poverty and her life circumstances. It just wasn't something that was available. She even told me that she just doesn't like portraits of herself so there weren’t going to be many. I actually learned a lot from this project. There are a lot of things that I have never been able to ask and talk to my grandmother about. I didn’t know that she learned to read so late in life or that she maintained contact with her biological mother even after she grew up and moved to the United States. I also learned that her goals and aspirations look very different from mine. Her goal in life was to provide a safe home for her children and give them the opportunity to have a proper education. In doing so and being successful in this, this stability and the importance of an education was passed down to me through my mother. And it is because of her and my mother that I now have the privilege to dream about having a career that inspires me. My both my grandmothers have always been a point of inspiration for me but this project really solidified for me how big of a role model my grandmother is for me. My EP was very open to talking to me about her life, she was very reflective and very honest about her life, her children, and her grandchildren. Much of this honesty I decided to leave out of the final product. But I am grateful that she feel comfortable with me to talk about all of the things that are very personal. At one point she talked about her greatest challenges in her life, her son passed away very young and more recently her daughter passed away from cancer. I have heard of these event and lived through the latter but it is very impactful to hear it from her point of view. I It wasn’t till I was finalizing the project that I really realized the impact that this project had on me. Something about seeing the quotes I picked for my final presentation really highlighted the strength and sacrifice my grandmother made for us all. And even during the presentation these thoughts came to mind and made me a little emotional! I hope to have the opportunity to ask my grandma even more questions!
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LESLYE SANTIAGOWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2019
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