Yosimar and the Dreamers

What a fabulous virtual evening with undocu-poet Yosimar Reyes on April 2!  How delightful to spend time with Yosimar and to welcome back Sequoia High School Dreamers who we haven’t seen since the Peace Meal with Dreamers in November.

Yosimar’s been working on a new one-man show that was supposed to premiere in June. Though the show is postponed, he treated us to an excerpt of what he’s working on --  recollections of his early life that are at the same time hilarious and heartbreaking.
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Then Yosimar got us all involved.  His exercise was fantastic! He prompted all of us to use childhood memories to get started writing. A great time for memories is ages 8-10, when we were independent but still young. We each jotted down the year we remembered, where we lived at the time, the big headline of the year, our best friend, and what we were scared of. Then everyone just wrote for 5 minutes.

A few people shared what they thought of, including about collecting old photos and writing stories for each, experiencing racism at school, living in Mexico and having the same best friend then and now, and of being really happy but worrying about drowning in a bottle.

Next, we asked how is everyone doing? Alberto shared how he unintentionally became a spokesperson for students at Sequoia when he wrote a 2 page letter to his teacher summarizing the challenges he and others are facing with virtual school life:  conflicting times for different class sessions, having trouble keeping on task for meetings, having trouble getting things done, and keeping track of everything.

And guess what?  His message is getting through.  He was asked if his letter could be shared with other teachers and the principal.   Hopefully they’ll listen and be responsive. 
We’re all learning that this is a time to speak up.
We heard from a few others, from Tulare County to East Palo Alto, who are having a range of experiences.
Some other challenges we heard friends are facing are...

• Getting help with food, when Sequoia meals closed. 
• Living/staying alone.  
• Losing work and what that means going forward. 
• DACA fees (go ahead and renew, biometrics can be used from past)

To reach Yosimar, Join his FB and Instagram.

Help support Yosimar! 
Yosirey Paypal: Yosirey@gmail.comVenmo:  Look up Yosirey and then you need to verify his phone number: 3778

--submitted by Mary Jane Marcus and Barbara Weinstein