UC Irvine

What follows are portraits of life in Stockton, CA. The pieces that make up my thesis are excerpted and told from the perspective of a Mexican-American boy coming of age in the central valley. The pieces have been chosen and are reflective of both the project’s stylistic range and breadth of concerns. The project explores themes of violence, silence, toxic masculinity, interpersonal relationships, communication, and family bonds. They are essentially told in chronological order and follow the protagonist from age 14 to his leaving of Stockton to go to college at 20.