Keeney said she is now very open about her depression. “I actually find that talking about it has been really helpful.” Though she also noted people need to understand “you can’t get over it in one day.” While in school, she’s also come up with ways to cope with bouts of depression. “If I feel myself get too stressed out, or too unmotivated, then I will just take a day and just breathe,” she said.
Like many people who grew up in the Central Valley, near Bakersfield, I have fond memories of our beloved Kern River. There is a bike path that runs parallel to the river, and on hot summer days, while walking or biking along the river, it was not uncommon to see whole families floating down the river on inner tubes. When I was in college, my friends and I would meet on the path several times a week to rollerblade.
Robert Cervantez, 19, says he's been dealing with feelings of depression since middle school. After Robert began resorting to self-harm as a coping mechanism, his family tried conventional therapy but it didn't seem to help. Ultimately, it was a particular brand of music and the community around it that provided a much needed cathartic outlet for Robert.
I have to say there is alot of gang violence in my neighborhood so you see the Sheriff’s Department coming down asking kids what they’re doing or asking them if they’re on probation and things like that. I think when youth see police officers arresting their friends, that hurts their trust with police. I think law enforcement needs to get involved more in the community, go out there more and see what it’s like.
The parents of Dreamers and existing DACA recipients, for example, will receive no help. Likewise for the parents whose children were not born in the United States. Despite having lived here for more than five years, paying taxes and generally being hard working people, they will watch from the sidelines -- alongside those who have been here for less than five years -- as many others begin their applications for employment authorization.
Knowing that there is a stigma of certain communities in Merced and knowing that there are pockets in the community that are poor or have a strained relationship to police, that says to me that the city doesn’t care as much about these parts of the community because they’re not putting resources into these parts of the community.
I think in California we have a separate dream: The California dream. We have the opportunity to be different than the rest of the nation. And I think we pivot that difference off the fact that we have these great universities, and great state schools and great community colleges. But they can’t be great in name only. It takes substance under that. I think for a long time now we’ve been hiding behind reputation as opposed to what really matters, which is public support.
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