By Juliana Taboada

With school starting so soon, I feel that as students it’s very easy for us to forget the importance of prioritizing our well being. I know for me, personally, I tend to forget that I am a human being who needs as much attention as my school work does. In fact, I probably need more. It seems like when it comes to educational institutions, self care practices are never in the picture. In fact, many of us may not even know what self care means.

If this is your first time learning about what self care is, it is the practice of taking care of yourself and your well being. In other words, its about doing what makes you feel good both mentally and physically.

Self care is a revolutionary act. Being able to step back and take time for yourself is one the strongest things anyone can do. The idea that taking care of ourselves is selfish is ignorant and negative. Don’t allow this view to change your need to take care of yourself.

I believe, the more attention I give to my body, the more successful I am in everything. Keep in mind, self care isn’t a one time act. Self care is a constant activity that helps balance the mind, soul and body. So, here are my favorite tips for helping you start off the school year or everyday life on a brighter note:

Self Care Tip #1

Self Care Tip #2

Self Care Tip #3

Self Care Tip #4

Self Care Tip #5

Self Care Tip #6

Self Care Tip #7

Self Care Tip #8

Self Care Tip #9

Self Care Tip #10

Self Care Tip #11

Self Care Tip #12

Self Care Tip #13

Self Care Tip #14

About the Author:

Juliana Taboada is a local Xicana poet and community activist. She originally grew up in Thousand Palms but moved to Mecca in 2013. She loves both her communities. She enjoys watching Netflix for hours and bursting out into Broadway and musical songs at any given moment. She is also awkward but very social and also loves pretzels.

SAN FRANCISCO — New America Media invites you to explore the scope of our youth media work via YouthWire.org, a new one-stop portal to NAM’s statewide network of youth and community media outlets: Richmond Pulse, We’Ced (Merced), Voicewaves (Long Beach), South Kern Sol, Coachella Unincorporated, and NAM’s flagship youth media outlets, Silicon Valley DeBug, The Know (Fresno) and The Beat Within.

YouthWire is a collaborative and grassroots network of youth-produced community media outlets scattered across the state, dedicated to amplifying the voices of Californians living in “media deserts” – regions where everyday residents have few if any local media to tell their stories. These “home grown” media outlets are spaces where young media creators and community members can receive training and have access to the tools for digital storytelling, a place where residents can have their voices heard, bring community issues and perspectives to light, advocate for change, and see their faces reflected back to them in the media.

YouthWire.org functions as a news aggregator and is designed to be responsive across browsers and platforms, including mobile. The site acts as a bridge between the highly trafficked New America Media news website and NAM’s youth-produced community media hubs. On YouthWire, readers can sort stories by geography and category, browse brief summaries of those stories, and then proceed to the local website to delve deeper by reading the rest of the story or viewing multimedia.

By Johnny Flores, Jr.,
Coachella Unincorporated

Long Beach, Calif. – Last Saturday, March 10, my fellow Coachella Unincorporated reporters and I joined New America Media groups Long Beach VoiceWaves and the South Kern Sol for a journalism workshop.

Upon arriving at the Long Beach YMCA, we were greeted by various members of VoiceWaves and South Kern Sol. The day began with an icebreaker during which we were able to familiarize ourselves with the other journalists. Afterward, we learned how to sharpen our journalistic writing and improve our research skills.

After an afternoon photography workshop, we hit the streets of the diverse Long Beach neighborhood. We took pictures of interesting people and sights in the neighborhood park and local shops. We enjoyed an authentic meal at Crystal’s Cambodian and Thai restaurant. We ended the day with a visit to the beach before heading back to the Coachella Valley.

Here are what some attendees had to say about the event:

“The event was great. We were able to see how different it is a couple hours west of home. Unfortunately, I was able to see the level of poverty that surrounds the community, but I was pleased to see how accommodating the city of Long Beach has been to the homeless, with places like the YMCA offering free showers on certain weekends. It was nice meeting members of VoiceWaves and South Kern Sol. We were able to get really close throughout the day. I spent the day not only getting to meet new people, but also getting closer with Coachella Unincorporated peers. I hope this wasn’t a one-time event, because I could definitely get some sun again.” — Ivan Delgado, Coachella Unincorporated

“The event was interesting. I learned different styles of journalism, as well as a different structure of writing such as the inverted pyramid. One thing that I really like was the photography class. I learned the different angles of photography and most of all how to take pictures. In the future more events should be held, that are similar to this. There will always be new members in these journalism groups and some do not know the basics to this type of work.” — Gibran Moncayo, South Kern Sol

“This event was really fun. I got to interact with the other journalism groups. I also had a chance to improve on my journalism skills as well. My favorite part was the photography session. I now know how to take proper pictures. In the future more events like this should be held. Maybe next time all the journalism groups from California can meet together and we can go for a longer day.”– Clara Bruno, South Kern Sol

“You could never learn too much. Every day we learn something new. There were a lot of new things I learned that day, one of the main things was the writing tips we got. For example, to have all punctuation inside of quote marks. We should most definitely have more events in the future. But one thing I would do differently is to encourage everyone to try to talk to someone that they do not know. I feel like it is important for us to get to know one another and feel comfortable with each other, after all we are all a team and who know maybe one day we might need from each other and that comfort might not be there. “–Wendy Lopez, VoiceWaves

“It was a wonderful experience to get together with fellow groups of students who share the same interests and passions. I enjoyed the opportunity to gain insight into different and diverse communities and would gladly do it again.”– Aurora Saldivar, Coachella Unincorporated