# data[].attributes.body
My freshman year of college was a challenge in itself. It is funny, I hear all of the time that you won’t be the same person as when you started college as when you end it. I always thought this was an exaggeration, how much can you grow. They weren’t kidding; the amount of personal growth I have experienced these two semesters of my Freshman year has been tremendous.

One of the major growths that I have undergone especially this semester was understanding how blessed I truly am and looking at life from new perspectives. There were a few experiences that I had outside of the classroom that led me to this realization. However, the reading we did in class opened my eyes to how blessed my life truly is. Tucson Salvage y Brian Smith was about the living conditions South Tusconians live under at the El Camino Motel. This motel is only 12 minutes away from the Honors Village. When I heard of this my mind was blown. How can life look so different for individuals that just live 12 minutes away from each other, and when I say different, I mean drastically different. My realizations didn’t stop there, a few weeks later we read “More Than an Address on the Map” by Lydia Otero. The stories that Lydia wrote about were heart-wrenching. Her grandfather and brother were killed due to the city not caring for the individuals who built it. This is an ongoing theme of Tucson showing a blind eye to the less fortunate. It seems that they believe that the only way to make Tucson better is to get rid of the ones who are “holding them back.”

This philosophy that I started to gradually pick up developed great anger inside of me because it goes against everything I stand for. For example, the TCC, anyone that has grown up in Tucson knows what the TCC is and has probably gone there before. However, I never knew how it got there. La Calle by Lydia Otero opened my eyes to the history of the TCC and the atrocities that occurred during that time. In the Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research, author Richard Robins defines urban renewal as “ a set of plans and activities to upgrade neighborhoods and suburbs that are in a state of distress or decay.” That is not what Tucson does; instead, they purchase property for dirt cheap value, kick the lower class out of their house, erase their homes, and plant a convention center or a highway and reason it by stating it’ll help the city grow.

I am very thankful for this class for opening my eyes to these sorts of problems. I was never unaware of these sorts of problems. My parents always instilled in me how lucky I am while I was growing up. However, I didn’t know how lucky I truly was until my Freshman year in college. I overthink a lot, and one of my challenges is that I tend to make problems for myself out of the air because my mind is always racing. This year, seeing and reading these things about my less fortunate make the problems that I make up in my head almost seem obsolete. It’s almost like I am luckily worrying about these problems because I have my necessities met: food, clean water, shelter, and love. While many people struggle to obtain these things daily.

This all ties back to my progress in writing because this course has shown me the power I have in writing. It has motivated me to create more works of writing in my future that bring awareness and help individuals in need. One of the core reasons why I want to become a doctor is to help others. I have never thought about using writing as a means to accomplish this. However, I am very grateful that this option has been displayed to me through people like Brian Smith and Lydia Otero using writing to bring awareness to these issues that are not only in Tucson but around the country. This is why I chose to focus on these issues in my pallet, as a means to bring awareness to others and hopefully bring change that helps the less fortunate instead of getting rid of them.

# data[].attributes.location_name
Cienega High School, East Mary Ann Cleveland Way, Vail, AZ, USA

# data[].attributes.body
I chose to share this papelito because it displays my goals and ties into the central theme of my testimonio. One of the core reasons why I want to become a doctor is because I wish to help individuals in need for the rest of my life. This ties into the theme of homelessness in Tucson because my heart goes out to the less fortunate and I want to use this project as an opportunity to help those in need. I believe this correlates to the course goal of reflection. I recognized my “values, goals, and/or circumstances” which helped me choose my topic for this project.

# data[].attributes.location_name
United States, Arizona, Tucson, East Mabel Street, NorthREC

# data[].attributes.body
The peer-review process was extremely helpful. I enjoyed the small group discussions. I think being able to hear one by one from my classmates and then my teacher helped me fix all of the errors in my writing and gather suggestions on what I should do differently. It was also very convenient that the workshop was on Zoom. Right after the Zoom meeting I hopped onto my essay and fixed and followed all of the suggestions that were given to me. It was fast, quick, and effective and led me to earn a satisfactory grade. Reading other peers' work also inspired me to use some of their writing techniques in my work.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.location_name
Undisputed Tucson Gym | Jiu Jitsu - Boxing - Kickboxing - MMA - Fitness, North Stone Avenue, Tucson, AZ, USA

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu: The Growing Sport in Tucson

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I joined a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu gym about 3 weeks ago and instantly fell in love with the sport. Now I want others to learn.

# data[].attributes.location_name
El Camino Motel, East Benson Highway, Tucson, AZ, USA

# data[].attributes.body
The mentor text process of unit 1  assignment 2 was very interesting and eye-opening. I don’t know why I have never done this before. Finding authors that are successful and award-winning, reading their work, then basing your writing techniques on them is genius. Not only did the mentor text inspire my writing process, but the subject matter was very interesting as well. It is absurd to think about the living conditions people live in Tucson. Especially since El Camino Motel is just a couple of minutes away from the University of Arizona. Reading the text made me realize how blessed I am while helping me with my writing.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.location_name
United States, Arizona, Tucson, East Mabel Street, NorthREC

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

# data[].attributes.location_name
Z Mansion, North Church Avenue, Tucson, AZ, USA

# data[].attributes.body
I chose to share this papelito because it displays my goals and ties into the central theme of my testimonio. I wrote this papelito the week after I volunteered at Z-Mansion. I was heartbroken to see the condition some of the homeless people were in. The worst part, they were all extremely nice and thankful for all of the help that Z-Mansion was offering. I feel like we have alienated homeless people to be “primal”, mean, and lazy. However, my experience was far from all of these assumptions most people make. This ties into the course goal of “Propose ways we can use our privilege to serve others and work towards justice”. I hope to use this project to serve others.

# data[].attributes.location_name
Undisputed Tucson Gym | Jiu Jitsu - Boxing - Kickboxing - MMA - Fitness, North Stone Avenue, Tucson, AZ, USA

# data[].attributes.body
I chose to share this papelito because it displays my goals and ties into the central theme of my testimonio. This papelito is explaining how I was able to find an escape from the challenges and craziness life brings. The way it ties into my testimonio is that less fortunate individuals don’t have healthy escapes. Most resort to drugs or gang activity. The great thing about jiu-jitsu is anyone can join and become “good” at it. Plus it is a healthy escape from life. How this papelito ties in with the course goals is that of “developing a sense of belonging especially in Latinx communities, towards building purpose in our writing lives”. Undisputed Gym is in downtown Tucson where a large population of the misfortuned are Latinx. I have found a sense of belonging through jiu-jitsu and I hope to help others in Tucson that are struggling to find that sense of community.