Cutler-Orosi is comprised of two adjacent small towns in California’s Central Valley. Nestled among orange groves and green hills, the scene is pastoral, idyllic. Drive a little deeper along the winding dirt roads and poverty descends like a dark cloud. Many families are crowded into tiny shacks and gang violence is a fact of life.
In this collection of powerful stories, the students at El Monte Middle School come together, individually and as a community, to write their lives and have their voices heard. Their beautiful voices are the treasure that lies in wait, as yet undiscovered. Engaging in participatory action research to not only name their circumstances but to attempt to change them, they declare that they exist and they do have power to change their lives and realize their ambitions.