Emily Through the Ages

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Emily Duque

 

 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but to me they are worth way more.  My collage isn’t just a collage of picture but a collection of memories. It’s a montage of my greatest moments, of people, of places, and times long gone. They’re not just any memories they’re the kind of memories you want to jump back into. The memories that make you want to believe time travel exists even though it seems as farfetched as aliens. These photos give me comfort because even thought the times has changed and the people changed the memories never will. It’s like they’re set in stone. They aren’t going anywhere even if the people in them aren’t here. People don’t remember the days, hours, or minutes we remember the people and places.

 

At three corners of my collage there are flags. These are the countries were I come from and were my parents came from. These countries are the places I from. They are my roots, what keep me from stumbling away or getting lost. They hold me down and keep me together. They hold down the rest of the collage like they hold me and my family down. My dad is from Colombia, a land of lush green rainforests. He is from the coffee region way up high in the mountains. My mom is from the other side of the world. She is from England. They were raised on different sides of the world, but met in Chicago. Chicago, U.S.A. that’s where I’m from. These three places, these three cultures make me who I am.

In the middle of the collage it is filled with pictures of me and my friends and family. I used the space of the paper by filling it all up. It the collage wasn’t filled up with photos of happy time it would make the collage seem incomplete and unfinished. I chose colorful photos to use in the collage. By doing this it made the collage exude the feeling of happiness and fun, which is what I was going for. The fullness of the paper also helps exude this feeling of happiness. By filling in all the empty spaces it made shows how my life is filled with many people and places and is full and lush. Without the people and places in the photos the collage wouldn’t make sense it wouldn’t be whole. That is how I would be without these people in my life.

This collage shows my life through my eyes. It’s a time machine that takes you back to special times in my life where everything was a bit simpler and more childish and playful. A pin-up board of pictures and the memories being made inside them.

Podcast- Opportunities at an All Time Low

We are always confined in here like a giant black wall is blocking our view to the outside, and nothing can come in, not anything, not even something as simple and a opportunity.

I am heading to the Spokane Indian Reservation. Driving to the reservation you are surrounded by beautiful mountains and lush green forest. But not all is well on the reservation as you drive closer to the center of town. The hope seems to be depleting just as the beauty is. Lack of education narrows the spectrum of opportunities for peo

ple on the reservation. This causes many people to live in poverty here for the rest of their lives. Grandma Spirit has lived on the reservation her whole life and has many views on the opportunities she and the younger generations have. “The opportunities are very low on the reservation, we can never seem to get off this rez, we are always confined in here like a giant black wall is blocking our view to the outside, and nothing can come in, not anything, not even something as simple and a opportunity. As simple as that,” Grandma says. “Now a days there maybe more opportunities for children on the reservation, but you need a lot of courage to get outta here.” Enrollment rates are as low as 30% in some native American school, Unenrollment of white children is three times less. The reason for this is that the schooling system are so hostile kids don’t want to go to school and they drop out. Out of the student that stay in school until collage 53% of them drop out in the first year. Arnold, and native American boy who transferred to Redrean a school out of the reservation sure did have a lot of courage. “I think when you need to get off, you get off. I needed to get off, at least for a little while, a little bit of time in a day. I wanted to be able to get off and get away. I don’t want to let the past affect my future. I needed to find hope, I mean like there is no way I can get a opportunity of a lifetime like those kids in Rereden, I had to go and take a risk.” What Arnold is saying is true more than 30% of all Native Americans are unemployed. Of the Native Americans that have jobs 1/3 of them earn less than 10,000 a year. This makes it hard for most Native Americans to get jobs. Mary is a young woman how is still living in

her parents basement looking for a job. She left the reservation all of a sudden with a man she later married. “I wanted a chance to live, and get out, but I guess I did it in the wrong way, but I mean love is love and opportunity is low so I guess I had the chance so I had to grab at it.

”