I grew up in Venice, California in a very politically active household. As a high school student at Venice High School, I joined other high school and college students to sit in at the South African consulate, went to marches to make Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday a national holiday, and was part of the historic Justice for Janitors march in Century City, where I was attacked by police. In high school, I led a student walkout in support of striking teachers. I also volunteered for the Committee In Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, canvassing, attending demonstrations, getting arrested several times with other activists protesting the US backed wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua, and working in the office.
I enrolled at California State University, Northridge in1990, partly because of the wonderful reputation of the Chicano Studies department. In college, I continued as an activist with CISPES, and served as the chair for one year. In addition, I was active against the first war in Iraq in 1991, and worked as an intern with SEIU Local 399, the home of LA’s Justice for Janitors campaign.
In 1996, I earned an elementary teaching credential with state certification to teach bilingual education. After college, I moved to Santa Clarita, got married (in a ceremony performed by Assemblywoman Jackie Goldberg) and have remained a resident of Santa Clarita for 12 years. For the past eight years I have taught various elementary grades in the Los Angeles Unified School District in Sylmar, at Dyer Elementary School, where eighty six percent of the students receive free or discounted breakfast and lunch, and fifty nine percent are learning English as a second language. I have served as coordinator of the school’s science program. I am a member of the teachers’ union, UTLA, and am active at my school on union and education issues.
Most recently, I was very active in the Obama campaign. I spent many nights after work and entire weekends phone banking and attending meetings. I won an award for most phone bank calls. We volunteers had many great conversations about change, how to involve young people and previously uninvolved people, particularly people of color and white working class people in progressive issues, and how to make our communities, our State and our country better places with greater participatory decision-making and new, younger leadership. I want put these conversations to work.
If I am selected as a delegate, I will be available to attend the Democratic State Convention in April. I am looking forward to working with other delegates, especially those from the progressive caucuses.
