Youth to Adolescence - My Autobiography

Everyone’s life has a beginning. Mine starts in Lynwood, CA. I was born in St. Francis Medical Center, and grew up in a small town called Tulare, CA. Before Tulare I grew up in Paramount until I was 4 years old, my mother decided to move to Tulare so I could have a better life and education.

Despite growing up in Tulare, we visited family in Los Angeles frequently. As I grew older I realized the stereotypes that come from being originally from “ghetto” cities but it’s definitely not as bad as the movies picture it to be. Tulare is really different from the cities I visited my family in. Everyone here is really private and quiet, while Paramount, Compton, Montebello, etc. are the entire opposite. I remember visiting my tía (aunt) Michelle and finally going to sleep after a 3 hour long car drive to her house. I had lied down in a bed put in the wide hallway in my tía’s small house. Before I completely knocked out I could hear loud bailar (dance) music. I woke up in the middle of the night around 4:30 a.m, and my tía’s neighbors were still partying and blasting loud music. They had been partying throughout the day until 4 in the morning. In Tulare, someone probably would’ve called the cops for loud music & partying excessively, but in Compton it’s a regular occurrence. For me, it feels like I have 2 homes. Here in Tulare, and another in Compton (where my tía’s house is located).

The interaction of the populations of each city are different as well. People in Compton (Montebello, & Paramount also) are used to things people in Tulare aren’t. Our city to Compton citizens looks “sensitive” and “mellow,” & to a certain extent, they are correct. I remember barely arriving to my tía's house, it hadn't been 15 minutes when we heard a loud, "BOOM, BOOM, BOOM." My mother dropped to the floor instantly while my grandma, who's lived in Compton for many years, sat on the couch, calmly waiting for the chaos to subside. I did the same as my grandmother. I knew the sound of a shotgun when I heard it but I wasn't alarmed because I could hear that it was a good distance away from us, enough for us to be okay. Right after the shots, I remember hearing car tires screeching, letting me know that what we experienced, was in fact, a drive-by. It was funny to me though, how my grandma was completely undisturbed. Visiting them my entire life, I've learned to become undisturbed by such occurrences as well. If that had happened in Tulare though, I would be willing to bet money that people would react extremely different.

Growing up in 2 places has advantages though. Tulare’s education system is really good and the teachers seem to care more about their students on a more personal level. My cousin, Lauryn, has told me from her own personal experience, that teachers over there are more straightforward & don’t really care as much as the teachers here would. Compton has opened my eyes on the lives of people who struggle on the daily. My tia’s house is in Compton, & not only is it overpriced, her walls are falling apart, the ceiling is crumbling, and the termites are slowly yet surely eating her house away. They charge her $1,000 per month for this house that’s falling apart. But somehow, when we visit we still manage to have good times and make amazing memories even though their situation isn’t the best.

Tulare is a town where family is extremely important. My mother moved here with my siblings Daniel, Brianna, Nadia, and I 10 years ago. My younger sister, Gianna, wasn’t born until 2012. And unlike the rest of us, she was born in Tulare. If you don’t have any family in Tulare it’s extremely boring. There’s no one to hangout with, no one to talk about your struggles within families, no one to encourage you to go places. We used to have family in Tulare, my grandpa, Luciano. He was from Mexico but immigrated here as a teen. We used to go to his house and swim in his pool all day. He passed away when I was 6 and the only family we had was him. We visited our family in Los Angeles because of the lack of family we had in our own town.

Now that I’m 15, in high school (but not really in highschool since COVID-19 started I've been in independent study), in the middle of a pandemic, life’s been really hectic. You don’t really realize what you have until it’s been taken away from you. This quarantine has made me realize some of the most important things in life are family & the memories you have with them. Without them, I think life would probably be pretty boring.

Compton, CA