adventure risk challenge a leadership and literacy program 2010 University of California Berkeley and Merced | Sagehen Creek Field Station Instructors: Writings of Team Xing Xing Melissa Hoffman Cintya Lopez Peter Wright Cynthia Santana Shelley Gorin Edgar Medina Dylan Farnsworth Esperanza Toscano Colin Carpenter Gabriel Marquez www.arcprogram.org Gustavo Cabrera Hao Xian Xu Heidi Jimenez Ozie Lopez Sonia Blanco cintya lopez I Have Been Reborn I am the thundering river Can handle me, They mean the world to me That rages along these granite mountains I can’t even handle myself I treasure them. I am just waiting for the time I lose control Sometimes when my mom I treasure them like diamond rocks When the waterfall comes Asks me to help her That lay beneath the sea I’m heading to When I become a part of I become a whirlpool Looking back at my imperfections The big sapphire sea an unrecognizable thing. I realized it was time for a change When I become Like the bible says The person I My mom and my dad are “There’s a time to die Expect to be The reason for my birth And a time to be born” They are my creators I started out as a creek My sea in life I have been through a renaissance Swiftly gliding through the peaks That’s why they deserve better In a short time of 40 days Gentle to the rocks beneath my body. They need a daughter From a raging river to I was the kind of creek They can depend on The sapphire sea of a new beginning Nature did not know about I have passed the luminous waterfall No problems, I have been reborn No arguments and, I have been reborn into a new person No anger A new daughter I was naïve to my world but A new sister In a snap of a finger, A new friend and My world changed A new individual. I changed. I came to appreciate what I have I am filled with problems, I have changed They make my heart stone, The love and support of everyone My father’s alcoholic problems I have been reborn into a new person Make my fury rise A new part of the sea Seeing my mom fight with him I have changed Shatters my heart into rocks. I can’t control myself I have fallen This rage makes me Down the crystalline waterfalls Silent, secretive, and immune Achieved what I want the most To be the person I want everybody to see Little by little, day by day, I am gliding into unknown doors of the sea Hour by hour, minute by minute, Following unknown labyrinths I keep getting filled to my rim The labyrinths that lead me to my Waiting for the time I spill Destiny Ruin what I cherish the most, Dreams will be accomplished My parents my friends my family They need a daughter who is grateful Accomplished to finish high school Ruin the special relationship we have For what they do High school that will lead me Arguments with my loved ones are difficult My sister is a small river To a better future There are incidents Who glides next to me A future with When I tell my mom When she needed help I would never Love, promise, health and going to college I would be better off alone than with here Be there for her This will lead me to the person I want to be Times when I talk back She has been growing up without I have been reborn into a new person When my parents need help The sister she needs Times when I raise my hand to them. This is why I have changed Now I am part of the sea I know people say I once dreamed of there are no if ands or buts in life, Imperfections can mean many things Doors and new paths are open to me But if I had a chance to take it all back It means that’s everyone has flaws Now the last thing I would in a heartbeat and And everyone have made mistakes To do is follow where I want to go Never think twice. Living in the moment is the best thing I have changed into a better person You can ever do I am no longer a raging river There are times when I now cherish what I love the most, I am part of the sapphire sea Not even the mountains I slither through My family and friends, I once dreamed 2 ARC Summer 2010 rules, it makes you follow the life you want, What I Was and What I Have Become and it makes your life a happier and cleaner place to live in. I’m still climbing to the top Beads of rain clashed against my face. As I in school I have never been suspended or I’m still learning the route which I’m going turned to my right I could see the smooth have had a referral, yes there were the times to take later on. Now I understand why glass surface of Gilmore Lake. I was ir- I would be told to be quiet or to move to my mom taught me order and neatness. It resistibly captured in that moment. I wasn’t another seat. For the most part I’m a good makes life easier. thinking about the mountain we were sup- teen. Here at A.R.C I finally understood posed to climb, but the beauty of the scene. why we need to work. At first I wouldn’t Were almost to the top of the talus, the I wasn’t physically or mentally ready to understand why I had a lot top to my understanding pursue the challenge that stood before me. of essays and projects, but of finishing what I start My group started to proceed slowly uphill now that time is ending. I without giving up. When and I became more nervous with each step realized that in the process I start something I usually I made. I wasn’t in the greatest moods but I of learning there comes don’t finish it. It’s because had to deal with it sooner or later. We were hard work. I will take ad- either it’s to hard or just a couple of feet up and I was already tired. vantage of school because plain boring to continue. “How am I supposed to do this?” I asked it will lead me in the right At first I can be excited myself trying to convince my mind into tell- direction that I’m head- and amused, but by the ing me that I could do it but failing for the ing to. I also learned that time I’m halfway through most part. I continued upward not thinking if you pursue what you I don’t bother finishing. In of what the future might bring to me but want the most you will be my fifteen years of living of the mistakes I have made. With every able to do anything else. I’ve accomplished about couple of feet the hike became harder, like At this point of the hike two things that made my my past, but as we reached the top, it made I have accomplished the parents proud. One was me realize that I could accomplish anything first three hundred feet of graduating from middle I set my mind to. My journey hiking up Tal- height without noticing it. I’m pleased for school and the other was passing both of lac became a metaphor for my life. I started what I am about to do with this mountain my Cahsee exams. That was it, nothing thinking about not putting my best effort and my life. more have I accomplished. Pathetic, yes I into school or not helping around the house do agree, and that’s why I came to A.R.C to or not finishing what I started, and I began Working as a team, hiking Mount Tal- make a change and try to finish what I start. to understand that these things are essential lac, supported me even more because you I also came to A.R.C to become more inde- for my future. always have someone to help you when you pendent, responsible, improve my English try to give up. Not only did they support skills, and mature. This has prepared me for If I were to just go a couple of feet up the me but I supported them too by not giving what the future might bring to me after this Mountain I would have been satisfied but I up and helping them carry the backpacks. program. At this point of the hike I could pushed hard and kept on going. Unlike how “Cintya do your room!” this are the exact see the top talus cover each corner, but they I was back at school I pushed myself to go words my mom repeats through out the won’t stop me until I reach the top of the further than I have before. If I would have day. Not once, not twice but at least ten mountain. done this hike in the past I would have just times. I never really got the idea of order or turned around, not neatness but I reached the top of Mount Tallac and the even halfway. For after being view was impeccable.