Manifest— Oh!

 Listen!

This is my life— My only life— And with my only life, I aspire to be kind and live in a fashion that demonstrates the virtue of a beautiful life for the world and all. My name is Ryan Andrew Sendejas— Today, I write this letter to you whether I know you or not, with all my love and more. Last night, I sat amongst the stars reflecting upon my experience here at Humboldt State University in the Environmental Studies program and senior capstone project. Two years ago I was living in Southern California, I accepted to leave the comfort of my childhood town, where I was rooted deeply in my community where I had invested time and energy. I was afraid— I did not want to travel and lose everything I had and built, I did not want to be alone. Yet, at the same time, I yearned to develop knowledge and skills that would allow me to become an effective leader in building a more resilient community— unfortunately I knew that I would not be able to achieve this  in Southern California, and felt that HSU would be a place where I could work on becoming an agent of change working on projects that allow me enrich the community.

For the past six years, I have been engaged in invoking knowledge of food sovereignty and how to live on the planet with a lighter footprint. Through my experience, I believe I have earned the persona of one that is an agent of change. What’s an agent of social change? To me, it means one who observes social, environmental, and/or economic (ESE) disparities in the world and feels inspired to act in manifesting equity in the lives of beings and community at large. Such change could occur in small acts, such as listening to those who are experiencing turbulent times or feeding someone in need. In a macro sense, such acts could be acting as a facilitator in community organizing or fostering knowledge in minds of your community by being a teacher/professor. Through our ENST capstone I had the privilege of applying what I’ve learned from our program to positively impact our community by working with the Campus Center for Appropriate Technology(CCAT) as the community garden coordinator. My role was to teach resilience through appropriate technology and food sovereignty with students and community members, while also managing projects that took place over the course of the semester.

Through this process, I taught students not only how to build things, but how to work— they learned what tools were required, how to use them, and why. Together we learned how to build earthen walls made out of superadobe; how to mix and apply of lime-based plasters and natural paints; developed woodworking skills to build a deer fence and garden beds; earthworks to contour rainwater on landscapes; and fundamentals of soil building and gardening. I also organized with the volunteers to work together in crews to complete elements of a larger project. I would work with a student to understood the concept or had experience and delegate them to work with other students. The culmination of this, and the aforementioned is developing skills through hands-on resilience knowledge to utilize in their own lives and communities.

On top of working with students, I also worked with CCAT and the HSU institution to improve the overall structure of the student organization. In the fall of 2016, when I first started working at CCAT the organization as a whole was experiencing a rough period. Much of the structural integrity of the grounds was corroding, various technologies we demonstrated were not functioning properly and the students working with the organization had a lack of cohesion and direction. It was highly discouraging and there were many moments where I was on the brink of a madness and wanted to snap on people who made my experience bitter. At the beginning of the semester, I was invited to give input on what goals CCAT was to achieve and how the employees were to work with one another. I feel that my inclusion within this process was a key element to the organization's success, this past semester we had an amazing crew of C-Kittens that meshed well, communicated effectively and were able complete more projects in this one semester than the past three semesters combined. The merits of working within this structure allowed me to be apart of a group that changed the CCAT as a whole and helped me refine my leadership skills.

Overall, I was happy with my capstone project! I can look back and say that I was instrumental in the foundation of two community gardens, one at each education institution I attended and inspired many students to become involved in their community, all culminating to the enrichment of themselves through living lighter on the planet and resisting capitalist structures. There were a few hardships with my experience, but in the grand scheme of things, it did not hinder me from achieving my goals of this class. I am grateful for this experience. I am grateful for all my friends in this program. I am thankful Sarah Ray. And I am thankful for CCAT for all they have given me.

 

“Run from what's comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I'll be mad.” ― Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi - مولوی

“Run from what's comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I'll be mad.” ― Jalaluddin Mevlana Rumi - مولوی