Affinity The Girl With A Special Smile Our Covergirl Aubrey talks about her birth defect!
Magazine
#WeAreSeeds The children of immigrants celebrate their parents!
Human Trafficking In Our Backyard The human trafficking crisis in America-learn how you could be at risk.
July//August/ 2015
Since 1985
July/August We Are Seeds Learn how the children of immigrants are honoring their parents.
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Style Spotlight This month we highlight Kate’s amazing style!
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Covergirl Aubrey shares a story about her special smile.
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Relationships Kayla never imagined that her prince charming would be asian.
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Human Trafficking Unknown to many-- human trafficking is becoming very prevalant in the United Stated.
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Thank you so much for reading the latest issue--this is probably my favorite issue so far, I address so many issues and such amazing stories. I hope you enjoy! -Evelyn
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#WEARESEEDS Twitter is known for spreading alot of negativity-- the list includes cyberbullying,lynch mobs and the killing off of celebrities. This isn’t a story about a negative Twitter occurance-- this is the story about how a Twitter user started a movement to honor immigrant parents.
I am the daughter of undocumented Mexican immigrant parents. That means that my parents have not been to their homelands in over 20 years and that I know more about what the home they grew up looks like than them. It means that I counted down the days to turning 21, because being 21 meant that I could finally petition for my parents. It means that I fear for my parents to go out alone, because an immigration officer could pick them up, and the next time I see them they may be behind bars. It means that my dad has more than 20 years of experience in his field, but he works out his garage because he is unable to get the proper permits and licensing. It means that although my parents have had a hard time in this country, they stay and they work hard to give me the best life possible. My parents came to this country and have endured countless struggles in order to give me a chance to succeed. I am the daughter of Mexican immigrant parents and I am a seed.
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One night as I was scrolling through Instagram, as I usually do before bed, when a particular post caught my eye. It was a picture of a girl holding a sign that said “Fuck weed! Legalize my Mom!” I had seen this picture many times before, but I had never seen anyone respond badly to it. Usually, I do not like to pick fights on social media, but this comment was so upsetting that tears burned my eyes. Was someone really saying that my parents didn’t deserve to be in this country because they didn’t come the “right” way? Were they really saying that immigrants only come to the U.S. to steal jobs and get government support? I was livid and I had to say something. After I posted my comment, I refreshed the page and saw that many of my friends had already fired back at the xenophobic comment. It became a full on war with words. We soon took to Twitter to further express our feelings. People quickly caught on and started posting their appreciation for their immigrant parents. In my head, I was thinking “Why isn’t there a day to appreciate immigrant parents? They are so important! This needs to be a thing!” My friends all agreed, so for the next few weeks we tried to work out all the details. After countless messages, we
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decided on May 30th and came up with the hashtag #WeAreSeeds. The hashtag comes from the idea that immigrant parents come to this country, not only to create a better life for themselves, but for their children. They come to this country to plant their seeds. They work long hours in terrible conditions all to help their seeds flourish. They make countless sacrifices and endure many struggles in hopes that their children will be successful. While at times children of immigrant parents find this a very heavy burden to carry, we do it anyway. Our parents have been through too much and failure is not an option.
At first, I was nervous that it would flop. We had been posting about it for weeks, and only a few people had responded. We continued with it anyway. On the morning of #WeAreSeeds, I woke up and immediately started posting. At this point, I was the only one talking about it, but within minutes people started retweeting me and also sharing their own stories. Within a
couple of hours our hashtag was trending nationwide! People from all over the country were sharing their stories and showing the immense appreciation they had for their parents.
People with parents from all over were talking about the struggle that their parents had endured while being in this country. We never anticipated that it was going to blow up the way that
it did. We thought maybe 100 people would participate, but we never expected to get 8,000 tweets from it. Throughout the entire day, there was a sense of love and support that we felt while looking through the hashtag. People were sharing stories that hit very close to home and others were sharing things that we could have never imagined going through. For the first time in our lives we felt like our families were not in this alone. We felt that there were thousands of soldiers ready to fight this battle with us. #WeAreSeeds became more than a hashtag. It became a community. This movement was created to shed light on our immigrant parents, and it did that and so much more. Therefore, we intend to continue with this movement. We have many plans for this movement that include a website, social media sites, and fundraisers, amongst many other things. All which will be used to bring awareness to our cause. We do not plan on stopping here. Our parents struggle has been too long and too hard to just let it die here. We are children of immigrant parents and we are seeds.
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Style Spotlight Photos Courtesy of Alonestarstateofsouthern.con
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The Girl With A Special Smile Most people in the United States have never heard of upper cleft-- I don’t blame them. Upper cleft is a birth defect that doesn’t effect many children in the United States. It’s a defect most common in third world countries. Aubrey was one of the few children born with it and she wears it well!
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y name is Aubrey, and I was born with a cleft lip and gum line which has left me with a bad scar on my upper lip and a crooked nose. My cleft is minor compared to many, and I was born to a middle class family in the United States which meant I had amazing care, doctors, and surgeons. It feels almost selfish sometimes to identify with others who have been born with clefts but face much bigger problems; I’ve never felt extremely hindered by my cleft, and most everyone is very kind about it. That being said, it is a physical defect and we live in a society which puts all our physical characteristics under microscopic scrutiny, and as I’m sure you’re all too painfully aware this microscope is focused mainly on women. So of course I have felt self conscious, mostly in the way my cleft has affected my nose and how it makes my face uneven in general. When I was asked if I wanted to share my story and be on the cover of Affinity I was so excited! Who would pass on such an awesome opportunity? But before taking my pictures, I started to feel really nervous. To give someone else the control, to expose my face and all of my imperfections completely? The thought caused me a lot of anxiety. It sounds so silly even now, but society tells women that so much of our worth is based solely on our beauty, looking different than our culture’s stereotypical beautiful woman is something that makes a lot of us feel bad about ourselves. So when I first saw my pictures, I honestly didn’t like a lot of them; there were many photos that showcased my cleft and my nose like I had never captured before. I felt uncomfortable staring at myself in the photos, but that’s because I first saw myself through what I think others expect me to look like, based on what is ingrained in us as women day after
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day. After studying the photos closer though, I saw myself and recognized what I feel is beautiful about me. These scars tell a story, and beyond that my lips hold so much more than my cleft. They are the channel with which I communicate and express in so many different ways. They are story tellers and music makers, they are activists and they are lovers. It’s not something that comes easy and it fluctuates day to day but for me, understanding and identifying the uniqueness my cleft has given me as well as not letting myself identify solely with these unique characteristic has helped me be body positive and confident. I appreciate my scars, appreciate what I see as beautiful, but I do not let it define me. In my eyes I am not “Aubrey the girl with the cleft lip” I am “ Aubrey the girl who loves hiking, photography, feminism...” Cleft lip is very low on the lists of things that make me, me. As with all good and bad physical features you must recognize the beauty and diversity in it, and then look past it. Because we are all so much more than our physical compositions. ooking further into these ideas of self love, there is a thought among some in the feminist community that self love and body love are superficial, that really it doesn’t matter what we look like, but who we are. Although I agree, it doesn’t matter what we look like, humans are visual creatures by nature. By instinct we all view and automatically classify things in different categories of our brains based on what we see in front of us. This has so many negative effects such as racism, sexual objectification, and overall misjudgments of others; and I think it is so important to be aware of this and constantly be pushing against this. But I also think there is a complex art in searching for beauty itself. When you look past classic (classic being defined by beauty standards upheld by a white, patriar-
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Ud exerae chal society) ideas of beauty, and you find your own truths and your own beauty, that is a breathtaking realization. At this point you have probably rolled your eyes my way more than a few times but hear me out! I’m not saying you’re beautiful, just the way you are (although I guess I am in a cheesy but oh so important woman empowerment way) but my focus is on how you deal with your imperfections, what you decide to create out of them. Finding strength, symbolism, and your story through your physical imperfections is so much more than superficial, it’s empowering. The second part of accepting yourself and your flaws I believe is to not focus all your positive energy on them. If you are identifying solely with your curves, or your scars, or what ever it may be you are missing out on so much more of yourself! To love yourself because of and in spite of your flaws, that I believe is true self love. Moving even past abilities, and
interests: who are you as a person? What are you life experiences, what is your passion? What brings you peace, what scares you? What do you really believe in? These are the really scary and uncomfortable parts of
self, these are the things we have substituted for monsters under our beds and in our closets as we have grown. Recently I’ve had some experiences that left me staring these creatures right in the face and it was terrifying, and
sometimes it still is. But as I have focused more on my inner self and grown to know who I am and what I believe, I have found my beauty again, or rather remembered it. As I’ve been on this recent “discovery” or whatever you want to call it, I’ve been consumed so much more by the beauty of nature, people, animals, emotions, life... I don’t have that much energy to worry about what I look like! It’s lovely, and as a women I think it’s a big part of living for yourself. I know I come across as total hippie-feminist-spirit girl (which actually, I love the way that sounds) but I guess all I’m trying to say is learn to love your flaws, love yourself beyond your flaws, and share that love with the world because something even more precious than beauty is happiness. And self actualized happiness is one of the most beautiful parts of us all.
Min ulla feum in henim iureetue tat, ver aute vercil iril cons. Kept in sent gave feel will oh it
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The Prince Charming I Didn’ t E xpect Who’d ever thought, that as a black girl, my prince charming would be Asian. Life definitely has it’s unexpected moments. I never thought I’d find love. I also never dated anyone outside my race either, but I was always open to the idea. I met my soulmate, Anthony a little more than a year ago. When I met Anthony we instantly hit it off. I was surprised to learn that he liked black girls because it’s rare that you find an Asian man
that is interested in a black female. With all the memes and other things being shared online, it’s hard for black girls to be viewed in a positive light when it comes to dating. Where a lot of people go wrong is when they start believing in stereotypes. That can really deter a person from getting to know another person’s character. Being in an interracial relationship taught me to really appreciate a person’s character than anything else. A lot of people will get caught up in the persons’
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ethnicity and have this idea of how they’re suppose to be. That’s how people develop fetishes and that’s not a good way to think when it comes to dating. You can’t generalize traits unto a whole ethnicity. Once you realize this person isn’t what you thought they’d be then you’re ready to jump ship.That’s why it’s very vital that people get to know one another and date them for who they are. Once I met Anthony, my life had changed for the better. Not only did it open me up to all kinds of cultures, but it helped me better myself as a person. I really saw the world in a different way.I noticed how my culture was a lot different from my boyfriend’s. I discovered how judgemental people could be. Anytime my boyfriend and I go out people will always stare. I’m use to it by now. People will make rude comments here andFooter message
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there about me being a sellout or telling my boyfriend that he shouldn’t date me based on stereotypes. It’s all just nonsense and at the end of the day our bond is what matters. I’m very proud of my relationship and how far we’ve come. As young adults, I’ll admit dating can be very difficult because our generation’s outlook on love has changed. With all the things going on in the world, I’m glad I can look to my significant other to have my back and not let the fact that we come from different backgrounds hold us back, but instead make us stronger.
Ud exerae Human trafficking. The word sends shivers down most people’s spines. It seems like something far off, something happening in foreign countries. People can push it out of their head this way, telling themselves that it doesn’t affect them. But it does. Because of the nature of trafficking, it’s difficult for officials to obtain accurate statistics. But here’s what the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) and the Office of Refugee Resettlement know: 5,042 unique cases of potential human trafficking were reported to their hotline in 2014.
By Faith Casandra Nearly 18% (3,495) of these calls
came from California, where the 3 largest epicenters of human trafficking are located (San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco.) (NHTRC) Human trafficked occurs in two types: Sex trafficking and labor trafficking. “Sex trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion. or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.” “Labor Trafficking: the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.” (ORR)
Human Trafficking
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Most victims of trafficking are females or children They are brought into it in 3 ways: Force: The use or threat of violence to the victim. Fraud: False promises of things such as employment, working conditions or wages. Coercion: Threats or a scheme to cause harm to any person so the person will do as the aggressor says, because the victim believes that failure to do so will result badly. Last year, there were reports of human trafficking in every single state in America. And then, there are the stories. Heartbreaking stories of innocent people forced into trafficked. Below are a few stories, but you can find more at http://www.polarisproject.org/what-we-do/client-services/survivor-stories A young girl named Sarah. She was from a bad home, where her mother and stepfather drank and ignored her. One day, when she was walking to the store alone, a 30-year-male began to talk to her. She unloaded on him, telling him the problems she was having at home, and he asked if he could take her to get her nails done. He figured that it would cheer her up. For the next two months, she hung out the with the older man, who spent a lot of money on her. Eventually, they begun a relationship and he asked her to move in with him. After a month, though, things turned bad. He couldn’t pay his rent, so he asked her for a favor. He asked her to go on dates (and have sex) with older men. Sarah was uncomfortable, but would do anything to avoid going back to her house. So she did it. Her boyfriend praised her for it, and for a while, all was well. Until, that is, Sarah was raped by a stranger. She called the police, was taken in for an exam, and things finally started to get better. She left her boyfriend, moved into a shelter and got a part-time job. She now has her own apartment, attends classes in the evening, and hopes to go to college next year. Keisha ran away from her foster home when she was 14. Then, she met a 26-year-old man named “Mastur D”, who offered to help her find her biological family, who were located in Florida. He said he would pay for them to get there, but she would have to support them by having commercial sex with his friends. She agreed to this, because she had no where else to go. Once they got to where her Florida, he insisted she hadn’t made enough money and assaulted her, and threatened her, saying that she would not see her famFooter ily unless she had sex withmessage men that he picked.
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She felt, once again, that she had no choice. She continued working a sex worker. Keisha was arrested for solicitation and served time in a juvenile detention center, then was returned to her former foster family. She ran away again, calling Mastur D to help her. She was arrested again. She told parts of her story to Polaris, and they immediately stepped in to provide her support. She now has an order of protection against Mastur D and is almost finished with her GED. Brittany met a man who claimed to have a restaurant and said that he was looking for waitresses to start working for him as soon as possible. She called the number on the card, asking for the address, but the man said that he would come pick her up. When he did, he took her to a hotel. There, he told her that she was going to be a prostitute, not a waitress. He forced her at gunpoint to drink multiple bottles of vodka and take pills that made her dizzy and disoriented. She looked for help, but was locked in without a phone. She was there for 3 days, beaten, drugged and forced to have with at least 60 men. When she finally managed to escape, she asked the first car she saw to call the police. Now, she has a strong support system and is even enrolled in school. Natalia’s parents sent her to live in the United States from their small village in Ghana because they could no longer afford the school fees in their home. She was told that she was living with a family friend, but the man she was living with began to abuse her, both physically and sexually, shortly after she arrived. For the next six years, she was forced to cook, clean and take care of the family. She often worked 18 hours a day and was never payed. She was never allowed to enroll in school or have any contact with the outside world. When she saw an opportunity to run away, she went and told the neighbor to call the police. She was taken to a hospital for medical care. Within a month, she was attending school and in transitional housing. Now, she volunteers at an animal rescue shelter, attends poetry workshops and pan son being a nurse. These are only a few stories, from the few girls that feel comfortable talking about what they went though. Human trafficking IS happening in the United States, and we can no longer turn a blind eye and pretend that it isn’t. There are ways to take action though, ways that people who have never been affected by it can help. Polaris is one of many organizations that is aimed at helping victims of human trafficking, there are others out there, if you look for them. If you or someone you know is being trafficked, you can call, email, or report a tip to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center. Wisl dipis d