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Friday, July 31, 2009


A 17 year-old teen from Mexican decent, Natalie was born in Anaheim, CA. After her parents seperated when she was 10 years-old, Natalie dedicated her life to writing her feelings. The spectrum of her writing varies from the difficulties of living with a sister with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis (JRA), to the current day's weather.

Apart frm reading and writing, she likes to collage, dance, act, yoga, sing and have deep conversations with people. She currently lives in Costa Mesa, CA with her mom, sister, guinea pig and turtle.


You get what you put into it,
has become one of my favorite quotes, thanks to Sarah Rafael Garcia. She is one of the most plain-and-simple brilliant women I have ever meet in my 17 years of life.

I always seem to get so much out of her messages and they really stick to me. I know that I’m not necessarily obligated to come to the classes, but I’m hooked. I feel okay with saying that I use writing as a way to vent.

The term, “throwing up on paper” (another phrase I hear her say repeatedly) has entered my vocabulary of common words because that is exactly what I do almost every single day. I have realized that the best way to learn about writing strategies is to read. The research I look for is in me and in the words of wonderful authors. It’s like a treasure waiting to be discovered. I am getting to know teens that have to go through what I have to, labeled and re-labeled according to how we speak, write and dress.

Not only are we experimenting with the wonderful words that English and Spanish have to offer, but we are re-writing history.

We are making sure that our voices are heard loud, because as nature implies the storm must end some day. Then all that is left is sunshine.