In the Ethnic Studies course called Boyle Heights and Me, 9th grade students at Roosevelt High School spend a year challenging what is often accepted as the norm. By creating this curriculum, the goal was to provide students with a different historical context than the stories traditionally marginalized in history courses. This course and curriculum created by three teachers working for equity and excellence in education, Roxana Dueñas, Jorge Lopez, and Eduardo Lopez, are groundbreaking for LAUSD and high school classrooms everywhere.

By identifying community assets and analyzing root causes of oppression, students reimagine their realities through writing about themselves and life in Boyle Heights. In the spring of 2015 826LA volunteers worked with students in their classrooms over the course of five weeks as they wrote personal narratives and letters to their future selves or important people in their lives, resulting in the book This is My Revolution: Thoughts on Resistance, Resilience, and Reimagination in Boyle Heights.

This collection of honest and inspirational stories depicts the power of transformation and healing that comes from knowledge of self. Every author expresses urgency and agency for change to reimagine the future, and on Tuesday June 7, their stories came to life at a release party held at the community space, Espacio 1839.

Owner Nico Avina illustrated the cover art for the book and wrote the foreword. He explained that when he read parts of the book in preparation to write the foreword, he was reminded that we are all carrying our ancestors and radiate the energy of their lives. His line, somos memorias, bailando con el viento que a su tiempo regresaran (“we are memories, dancing with the wind who in time return”) speaks to the vibrancy and legacy the students are bringing to their lives and the community. He ended his speech with this touching note, “that’s the only thing I can say to introduce those who we’ve been waiting for.”

Roosevelt High School student Nancy Ruelas read from her letter to her future self that inspired the title of the book. “Dear Future Self, Please enlighten me by saying that the world has changed and I have helped… Did I finally do it?! Oh the joy it would bring me to hear you say that at the march for International Women’s Day, I got the opportunity to go up and inspire people with my words because that has always been what I’ve desired….I am on my way to greater things and when I am done, I will say, ‘I am an activist. I am the cause of change. I am a fighter. I am a feminist. I am a leader. This is my revolution.’”

You can purchase This is My Revolution: Thoughts on Resistance, Resilience, and Reimagination in Boyle Heights by visiting the Time Travel Mart website!

Interested in getting involved with 826LA’s In-Schools program to help students publish books like these? Find out how here.