Tag: Member stories

Francisco has always hustled and made sacrifices to keep his family safe and financially stable. Before COVID-19 hit the Bay Area, Francisco and his wife were eager to save and make their big vacation plans a reality. Since Francisco was often working during weekends and holidays, his four young children were especially excited to get away and visit extended family in Oregon. At the time, it was difficult to imagine how quickly their plans and lives could change due to the coronavirus.

“We thought it was something that can be controlled. We didn’t think it would come here since it was something that felt so far away. But sometimes life brings us surprises. Good ones or bad ones – we never know and we can’t always be prepared for what’s going to happen.”

When the shelter-in-place order was instituted in March of this year, their world as they knew it turned upside down. Francisco’s wife was laid off from work and schools closed down, forcing their children to stay home and inside. That’s when their family began to struggle. Francisco and his wife did their best to educate themselves and their children about the pandemic with the limited information they had at the time. As a local chef, Francisco is considered an essential worker, so he was the only one who left the house to work and buy groceries.

A few days after his birthday in April, Francisco broke out in a fever.

He was sweating, shivering, and shaking all over – to the point where he was no longer able to walk, taste food, or even talk. He searched his symptoms on Google and determined that somewhere and somehow he had become infected with COVID-19. His wife also started experiencing mild symptoms a couple of days later. To avoid spreading the virus to their children, the couple locked themselves in their room, fearing for their family’s future.

“My fever was the highest during the first four days. It was really hard. My wife and I cried because we couldn’t be close to the children. I was already thinking the worst. How are my kids going to manage? What’s going to happen to my family? It was the worst four days of my life.”

Fortunately, Francisco gradually started to feel better and regained his mobility after weeks of bedrest. Although the darkest days have passed, Francisco continues to worry about his family’s livelihood amidst the coronavirus and economic crises.

COVID-19 has made it abundantly clear that financial stability is fragile – especially for immigrant families in America.

Francisco is no stranger to hard work and perseverance. As the sixth of nine children, Francisco started working at the age of 12 to support his family in the fields in Yucatan, Mexico. Pulled by the promise of prosperity and pushed by a desire to help his younger siblings continue their education, Francisco decided to drop out of school and migrate to the United States when he was 18 years old. 

After his original plan to go to Oregon fell through, Francisco settled in San Francisco to pay back the coyote who helped him cross the border. He took on multiple odd jobs at once and worked his way up from a dishwasher to a chef. Now, in his free time, Francisco enjoys enticing his family with different types of dishes, taking his wife out on dates, and spending quality one-on-one time with each of his four children. 

Francisco feels both fortunate for and proud of the life he’s built for his family over the past 23 years. He’s always tried to do the right thing and live life with dignity and respect. Like millions of other immigrants, Francisco pays taxes on the income he earns. Yet when his family needed it most, the federal government excluded them from critical financial relief from the CARES Act due to their immigration status.

“We are all human and need to be treated the same. It is upsetting because we also pay taxes. Although we are not from here, we still pay taxes, but never qualify for anything. We deserved that help too. But that’s not how things are and what’s left for us to do but accept it? We are strangers. We are invisible. That is how we see it – we are invisible.”

In times of struggle, Francisco found strength in family and community.

When the federal government turned its back on them, Francisco leaned on his community and loved ones for support. His two oldest daughters took care of their younger siblings while he and his wife were ill. His younger brother dipped into his savings to help them pay rent. His employer continued to offer health insurance, meals, and other resources. After Francisco and his wife tested positive, even the City of San Francisco followed up to ask how they were doing and offer food assistance. 

Francisco first heard about the MAF Immigrant Families Fund from his son’s school. He and his wife each applied and received the $500 grant for immigrants left out of federal coronavirus relief. They used MAF’s grants to pay utility bills and make late credit card payments. Although Francisco couldn’t benefit from many emergency relief programs because of his status, he’s grateful for all the support he did receive.

“There are many things you can’t do and can’t apply for when undocumented – especially during the pandemic. To get the stimulus check, you have to have papers. To get a loan, you need a social security number. I can’t travel to see my family or even get on an airplane. We are locked down. But I don’t want anything from the government except respect and equal treatment.”

The financial devastation of COVID-19 simply can’t be overstated. While the impact of the global pandemic is far-reaching, the Latinx community has been hit disproportionately hard. Since he has experienced the coronavirus himself, Francisco is now a resource for his community and advises others on how to take care of their health during this unpredictable time.

Francisco also understands that economic recovery won’t happen overnight and that it’ll take a long time before his family can feel the relative stability of pre-COVID days. But he’s determined to continue pushing forward and taking care of his family through this crisis. After all, everything he does is to ensure that his children won’t have to struggle in the same way he has in the past.

“I was stressed a lot. I was worried. But when I don’t know what to do, I always think of my children. I want to be healthy for them. I want to see them grow up and see what they can achieve in life. That is the reason I stand here today. I keep going to do what is best for them.”

Taryn Williams’ magnetic personality and infectious laugh easily overcome the monotony of the typical video conference call that’s become all too familiar for many of us. A full-time student at the California State University Long Beach and mother of five-year-old twins Isaiah and McKayla, Taryn is no stranger to the challenges of a heavy load under trying circumstances. As she eats her lunch during our video conversation, she excitedly talks about her Executive internship at Target this summer. She leans back to show me her packed color-coded calendar filled with thesis assignments, GRE practice tests, and application deadlines. “It’s absolute madness,” she comments with a wide smile. 

Like many college students, Taryn has experienced the significant disruption that COVID-19 has brought upon the day-to-day social interactions on bustling college campuses. Loss of a passionate exchange of ideas, loss of a study space, and, as a mother of two young children, Taryn has also lost access to childcare and free meals. For Taryn, college was not only her place of academic and personal growth, but it was also her social safety net. “Financial security for me was strongly tied to being in school. When COVID happened, I didn’t get my stimulus check, my husband’s work hours were cut, I lost my government assistance.” As a recipient of MAF’s CA College Student Support Grant, Taryn was able to buy food and basic needs for her family. Losing critical income and food support for her family created new sets of challenges nonetheless. But for Taryn, this was another chapter in a long story of perseverance and hope. 

Inspiration and Hope Emerge in Unlikely Moments

“My children are my driving force for everything I do. I went back to school when they were fifteen months, and that was pretty crazy.”

At 31 years old, Taryn decided she wanted to have a picture of herself in college graduation regalia with her children. And she picked a particularly unexpected time in her life to do that.

“When I went back to school, I didn’t have childcare, I had just totaled my car, we had been forced out of our housing due to gentrification. So, I had no place to live, didn’t have a bank account, didn’t have a job, didn’t have a car, had these two newborns. I really wanted to tell myself that this wasn’t the time to go back to school. But I just kept going.”

More than ten years earlier, Taryn had started college but ultimately had to take a permanent break. Taryn describes the agony of attending school for years and trying to stay focused while dealing with one curveball after another. Raised in the foster care system, Taryn had attended over a dozen elementary schools growing up. She moved so often she worried she didn’t know how to properly read and write. When she was 19, her dad lost his job and left town. She was left homeless. She experienced substance abuse and depression. “Unable to provide basic food, shelter, and clothing, school was just no longer a priority for me.” Nearly ten years after taking a leave from college, Taryn enrolled in Long Beach City College to pursue her associate’s degree. Her goal in coming back to school: show her kids what an alternative future could hold. Timing – where she was in her life and who she had with her – was everything for this new beginning.

The Power of Being Seen and Heard: Finding a Voice in Community and Acceptance

It took that one “A” in her chemistry class to completely change Taryn’s academic trajectory. She was then recommended to the Honors Program. Taryn didn’t feel like that was where she was at all, she recalled with an incredulous laugh. 

“Joining that honors program and having people there totally accept me for who I am – and really meeting me where I was in that part of my academic journey – was really reinforcing.” 

Stepping out of her comfort zone lit a fire in her to keep going. People’s encouragement fueled her motivation and her belief in herself. And then it happened: she got her first 4.0 GPA. “Getting that 4.0 made me realize that I shouldn’t judge myself based on my prior experiences.” She now knew she had to go even further.  

In 2018, Taryn transferred to Cal State University Long Beach with the President’s Scholarship, the most prestigious merit-based scholarships awarded by the university.

“Those scholarships are for 18-year-olds, fresh-out-of-high school valedictorians, who have over a 4.0 GPA. I’m in my 30’s, I have kids at home, I didn’t have a cumulative 4.0 GPA. What did they want with me, I thought?”

But Taryn found her voice on campus. The support she received when she arrived was so overwhelming, she finally felt comfortable sharing a part of her life she had always been quieter about: she had previously been incarcerated. Taryn had been incarcerated right before her twins were born. She never wanted to bring that up before, because she felt she’d be deemed untrustworthy. She didn’t think people would really believe she was a “changed woman.” 

She found healing in opening up. “It was freeing, humbling, and because I’m naturally so loud and free-spirited, I just tapped into that. It gave me so much self-esteem.” She was hearing from students with her background that her openness was helping them heal as well. Taryn found strength in her communities of support, and uses this strength to fuel her motivation to keep going.

Changing the Narrative as a Scholar and Advocate: Looking Beyond COVID-19

Right before COVID hit, Taryn had just given a TEDx talk on bias and judgement, particularly around previously incarcerated people and the negative stereotypes people hold about them. “I come to the stage with a blazer on, and people look at me with a certain type of respect. Then, after a while, I take off my blazer, showing a bunch of tattoos, and people then become more aware of my piercings. Then they look at me differently. They judge me and I can feel it.”

Taryn is on a quest to change the narrative around previously incarcerated and foster youth’s chances at higher education attainment levels.

She wants to apply to PhD programs and become a faculty member at a university one day so she can advocate for and support her communities. Taryn plans to graduate this December with a double bachelor’s in management and operations supply chain management. 

Yes, she deeply worries about COVID’s implications and how she’ll manage her kids’ school schedules this fall now that they’re starting kindergarten.

“Being a parent in college during a pandemic might be one of the harder things I’ve gone through.”

As she finishes her thesis, completes her internship, applies to PhD programs, and actively juggles the needs of her family, Taryn is putting one foot in front of the other, and continuing her journey ahead. She proudly shows me a canvas of her associate’s degree graduation photo with her kids – full regalia and all. She can’t wait to collect more pictures.  

“My biggest hope is that people will understand that you really, truly can do whatever you want. You have to seek out your community. You have to be willing to speak up for what your needs are, and then say when your needs are not being met. Most importantly, you have to be willing to ask for more –you have to know that you’re worth asking for more. And, anything is possible.” 

“Any last words?”” I ask, still soaking in the depth of Taryn’s casual summary of life lessons. “Yes, wear a mask!” she exclaims with laughter. 

Art is entrenched in Xiucoatl Mejia’s being. His creative talents can be seen in the beautiful depictions and designs that he has produced as a tattooist and a muralist. Xiucoatl, a twenty-year old native of Pomona, California, is still defining his identity as an artist, but he has articulated this powerful vision—to use his creative energy to (a) uplift the stories of his own indigenous community and (b) engage and connect members from different backgrounds. 

What does this vision look like in practice? One of Xiucoatl’s most cherished projects is a mural he proposed and designed as a high school student in Claremont, California. The ‘Legacy of Creation’ mural features sixteen thought leaders and activists from around the world. His vision was to create a mural that engaged the school community in both substance and process.

“The paint on the mural came from a lot of different hands — teachers, students, and school faculty. This is something that should be emphasized with any sort of community art.”

Like many artists, Xiucoatl has been forced to modify the tools that he once relied on to achieve this vision in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has fundamentally changed the way communities engage with each other. These changing social dynamics have left us with the difficult and unfortunate task of labeling work as ‘essential’ or ‘non-essential’—a distinction that has resulted in the loss of work for so many hard working artists and creatives. But in spite of these circumstances, artists like Xiucoatl continue to navigate this difficult moment in creative ways.

Xiucoatl’s creative endeavors are inspired by his family, culture, and community.

Xiucoatl’s family is originally from Mexico, and his parents were born and raised in East Los Angeles. His father, also a tattooist and muralist, was always involved in an art project in his house or in the community, and this upbringing inspired the artistic pursuits of himself and his two sisters. Xiucoatl distinctly remembers accompanying his father to paint murals around their neighborhood in Pomona. His father worked at Good Time Charlie’s, an iconic tattoo parlor founded in the 1970’s in East Los Angeles focused on bringing the fine line style of tattooing to the professional world of tattooing. The fine line style has rich cultural roots. It’s a style born from the resourcefulness of incarcerated Chicanx community members who relied on the tools available to them —like needles and pens—to create tattoos that honored their narratives.

Xiucoatl’s work as a tattooist is inspired by the fine line chicanx style as well as his identity as a member of the Tonatierra indigenous community based in Phoenix. His parents always made great efforts to engage with the traditional rituals, ceremonies, and traditions of their community, and Xiucoatl was deeply inspired by their commitment to engaging with their heritage and the beauty of the traditions themselves.

“My father sun danced. Growing up, I remember attending sun dance and tipi ceremonies, and this really shaped my connection to and understanding of my community. My parents always actively inserted themselves in their community, and this is something I try to do as well.”

Xiucoatl’s family emphasized the importance of knowing the history behind a given art form and instilled in him a curiosity about the cultures and communities around him. He has incorporated his parents’ teachings in his approach as a tattoo artist. He acknowledges that tattooing is an ancient art form, and indigenous communities across the world have engaged in some version of this art form. As a result, he invested his time in studying the practices of these communities, including traditions from Japan and Polynesia. Xiucoatl notes the important symbolic value of tattoos, especially for indigenous communities like his who have experienced horrific atrocities at the hands of colonial powers:

“I’m coming from a people who have experienced one of the most brutal genocides in history. I want to give our communities designs that they can use to identify with their other camaradas and give them something that ties them to the land below us. Tattoos are something that make us feel sacred and connect us to the sentiments that our ancestors felt—many of the sentiments that we still feel today.”

The pandemic has forced Xiucoatl to develop new skills to support himself and his family.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way communities engage with each other, and Xiucoatl’s artistic pursuits were not immune to these changes. Xiucoatl was working at a tattoo parlor just as COVID-19 cases were rapidly increasing in the United States. Under California’s stay at home order issued earlier this year, tattoo parlors throughout the state were ordered to close. Artists and creatives from a wide range of industries suddenly found themselves unemployed, and the expenses and bills continued to pile up. Though the federal government expanded unemployment assistance to self-employed workers under the CARES Act, which allowed a number of artists and gig workers to receive benefits, the assistance is simply not sufficient to manage the losses that the pandemic has produced.

In an effort to pay his rent, bills, and other essential expenses, Xiucoatl turned to creating and selling drawings. He was able to purchase supplies for his drawings with the support of MAF’s LA Young Creatives Grant. The LA Creatives grant is an effort to provide immediate cash assistance to the nation’s most vulnerable communities, including artists and creatives. Thanks to the generous support of the Snap Foundation, MAF quickly mobilized to offer $500 grants to 2,500 creatives in the Los Angeles area as part of the scholarship initiative.

In addition to selling his drawings, Xiucoatl has invested his time in learning a number of new skills to support his family. He recently picked up plumbing, tile work, and throwing concrete to help his family complete renovations to their family home. When asked about the insights he has collected from navigating these unprecedented times, he says:

“Our people, our communities have always found ways to thrive and to hustle. They were thriving and hustling much before the pandemic. Now, there are hundreds of people struggling together. Many folks are starting to understand the struggle of communities around the world whose only choice was to live with these fears and to survive like this.”

In terms of his own profession, he’s hopeful that the pandemic will actually bring about positive changes. He believes that tattoo parlors will become more diligent about complying with safety and hygiene standards. He also remains hopeful about his own future and the future of creatives and artists across the nation. Though this has been a painful time for many communities, he believes that there will be a lot of beautiful work that reflects the inequities and resilience highlighted by the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.

“It will be interesting to reflect back on this time. There will be a renaissance of artists producing great pieces and a lot of great artwork.”

Xiucoatl’s story illustrates the incontestable reality that art—in all of its forms—is essential to enabling people to connect with each other through empathy, shared space, or shared experience. Legislative designations aside, art is essential.

To see more of Xiucoatl’s drawings, please visit his instagram account @xiucoatlmejia. All work for sale is posted to his instagram. If you’d like to inquire about prices or commissions, please send a direct message or email to bluedeer52@gmail.com.