April 2024: Moments of Change

Hello, my name is Gene Garcia from Sacramento, CA. I am a folklorista and a history major at the University of Oregon. I am graduating this upcoming spring (June 2024) and I plan to attend Michigan State for grad school.

Go niners! Go giants!

April 2024: Moments to Reconnect

As I am forging my academic journey with plans to continue, these have been the moments where I have remembered who and what I am. As I am about to embark on a journey to Michigan, I have reflected on my time away from California and the differences in these experiences. I know now the centrality of folklorico and a Chicano identity in my life. I am a folklorista and it is within this community that I have grown and where I feel connected.

United Farmworkers 3 mile march for #immigration reform in #Salinas by Steve Rhodes Available from Flickr March 24, 2013 License: CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

While this picture was taken in Salinas, an education of the UFW has been prominent in my life. This education extended from formal settings such as school assemblies and guest speakers as well as from informal networks such as family stories of family involvement, witnessing contemporary UFW activism, as well as my family serving as school volunteers to teach this history.

Screenshot of my home screen. This picture was taken on my 18th birthday in the Mission District of San Francisco. Personally, my Vans sweatshirt and my placement in the middle of these Nahuatl gods symbolize my connection to these roots and my contemporary presence as a continuation of this Chicano history