Quantcast
Channel: First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience
Browsing all 86 articles
Browse latest View live

Did You?

This poem is a reflection on first-generation college student Tiffany Ta's family heritage. The piece focuses on the author's grandmother, who Ta never really got to know.

View Article


Understanding School

As a first-generation college student in the Silicon Valley, author Tiffany Ta grew up in a high-achieving academic culture that she only really began to unpack and understand in college. Upon being...

View Article


Black Lives Matter: Why Black Feminism?

In this essay, the author explores the inclusive nature and focal range of the Black Lives Matter movement in an effort to demonstrate how the goals of the movement are grounded in Black feminism....

View Article

Espacios Alternativos, Alternate Spaces

In this essay, Pineda demonstrates that by employing Chicana spirituality and drawing from the courage it can generate, first-generation college students can deepen their political leadership and...

View Article

Twisted Little Braids: Rage and Resistance

Anger, resistance, and the first-generation, Chicana experience is alive. When its speaks, it spills out truth. Higher education? It's time to make space for us.

View Article


hereisthefamilymotherfatherdickandjane: An Analysis of Parenting and the Dick...

First-generation college student Rachel Roseman has found the American educational and cultural systems to privilege the white, upper to middle classes. As Toni Morrison demonstrates in The Bluest...

View Article

Only 45 Minutes Away

Being a part of an immigrant family, photographer Astorga has not had the chance to travel much even within her home state of California. Trips through class, clubs and events sponsored by Loyola...

View Article

Tourist to My Own Culture

After nine years of living in the U.S. and staying away from her cultural homeland of Mexico, photographer Astorga returned to some of the places she remembered visiting as a child in her native...

View Article


The City from Above

The city of Tijuana, Mexico has become a second home to many LMU students through programs like De Colores, which introduce students to issues of immigration, poverty, and education. The city varies...

View Article


Riqueza Mexicana: Mama's Kitchen

The land that artist Jasmine Reyna's parents left still runs through her veins, and the heartache that her parents endured while crossing the U.S./Mexican border serves as her motivation for success...

View Article

Faceless Sculpture

After embarking on her college career, Carla Ventura is forced to come to terms with an internal war. She reconciles her battles with depression, suicidal loss, and addiction, as she learns to...

View Article

Wanting Out

Melissa Sandoval struggled to find her identity and feel a sense of belonging growing up as a U.S. citizen and being raised by parents who migrated from Mexico. Her story consists of different events...

View Article

There is Beauty in Struggle

“There is Beauty in Struggle” tells the story of a young woman trying to navigate the world while having certain circumstances pull her back from reaching her dreams. These stories show the...

View Article


First To Everything

Sarah Poblano is a first generation sophomore Sociology major from Glendale, California. As the eldest sister of three, she struggles to find her place at Loyola Marymount University as well as keep...

View Article

Mind Full: A Journey to Find Inner Peace

This narrative explores the struggles to find balance and peace within an uneasy mind. During her time abroad, Emely Luna was able to grow in self-awareness and strength after dealing with feelings of...

View Article


Stuck in the Middle

After a trip to Mexico for her cousin’s wedding in February 2016, Loreto Lopez gets consumed by her thoughts and experiences of being a Mexican-American. Through her experiences in Guanajuato,...

View Article

Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child

A daughter’s love, and a mother’s absence—that is the theme the author, Shawn Jones, shares in her bittersweet story. This narrative reflects on the challenges, conflicts, and feelings that a child...

View Article


Voices to Truth America! Exploring Hapa-ish

In his narrative, author Jonathan Ishii delves into the experience of growing up as a hapa. This narrative reflects on some past building events and realizations, as well as his search for identity...

View Article

Running the System: From the 661 to the 310

The title, “Running the System: From the 661 to the 310” refers to former LMU Basketball Coach Paul Westhead’s run ‘n gun style of play, and the area codes of Palmdale and West Los Angeles. In her...

View Article

A Trip through Space and Time

Alvaro Gonzalez tells his personal narrative through an omniscient third person narrator. Gonzalez takes the audience on a journey through space and time to Mexico, the San Fernando Valley, and...

View Article
Browsing all 86 articles
Browse latest View live