People say “Money can’t buy happiness” but if money is the key for my mom not to worry and cry and fight with my dad, that would make me happy. It will make my siblings happy because my mom wouldn’t have to work so hard and my dad wouldn’t have to work so hard and could actually make time for me and my siblings. Whoever said money can’t buy happiness must’ve never gone through my struggles.
At just 15 years old, I hopped on a plane without my mom. How do I even write about being miles apart from the person who supported me my entire life, or begin to fathom her not even attending my high school graduation? I can’t.
It is with a heavy heart that I share with you this news: our dearest friend and colleague, April Hoogasian, passed away on October 29, 2024.
Fresno is a city where financial struggle is as common as the pavement we walk on. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 20.6% of Fresno County residents live in poverty, more than 1.5 times the rate for California and the United States. I was one of them.
I know the world looks bleak. I share your grief and rage – not only that Donald Trump will once again take office, but that so many of our fellow citizens chose him and the values he stands for. But this is not our country’s darkest hour.
Our needs weren’t a box with treats for the taking. They were our necessities for survival.
It’s essential to be a good neighbor to people who are struggling economically. People living in a motorhome are often ignored and vilified. It’s so important to see them as humans, and to see them as your neighbor. They are somebody’s child and they have a family, just like all of us.
Glendora is no longer the self-imagined Shangri-la, protected from the discomfort and unattractiveness of wealth disparity, that many of its settled-in residents have always conceived of it as.
