Manifesto: We Are All Masters of Our Own Destiny

I have been a college student for six years, four of which I spent at Columbia Community College in Tuolumne county, California. There, I was separate and oblivious to disproportionate effect of environmental degradation on people who didn’t look like me. Being from a rural area with little diversity and completely void of difficult conversation about race, culture, and injustices, I was blind to my privilege. The latter two years of college I have spent here at Humboldt State University as an Environmental Studies(ENST) student where I have been fortunate to be part of a cohort and program that critically analyzes environmental issues through a social lens; Considering power, privilege, economics, and culture when attempting to find solutions to the various monumental ecological crises we face as a species today.

Our professor posed a series of deep and challenging questions for us to consider when writing our manifesto, the summarization of our undergrad academic journey and the “cap” to our senior capstone course, but truly the beginning of a whole new journey, for all of us. This is my attempt, by reaching back through the years of life and school, pain and joy, to answer these questions and stake claim to my vision for the future. The term social change agent was first used in 1965 when the Canadian University Press, a cooperative of student newspapers, revised its statement of principles to reflect what it thought a student’s role in society should be during the civil-rights revolutions of the time. I believe their definition isn’t even worth sharing because it’s something that people were practicing before the term was defined, and every generation will adopt their own definition of this term through action.

            I do see myself as a social change agent, and I will explain what that means to me on a personal level. By simply being aware of and talking about the vast amount of environmental and social injustices occurring right now, as I sit in this coffee shop and sip my latte, I am creating social change. Now I know many people would disagree with this by claiming that change takes radical action, or that change takes social movements, and in some cases, they may be right. But if there is anything I’ve learned as an ENST student it is that change comes in many forms and can start in the smallest of ways. One conversation, one act of kindness, one idea, large or small, has the power to fundamentally alter the fabric of existence. To cause ripples in the entangled web of our lives on this planet. As some students have done before in their manifestos that I am blessed to have read, I will harken back to Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown and the concept of fractals, an idea that represents how like crystal growth or galaxy formation, our actions perpetuate each other and grow upon each other in ways we could never imagine.

            So, yes, I do believe I am a social change agent, but that doesn’t mean I will stop learning or growing and that doesn’t mean others can’t also cause deep and lasting change. We all have the power to create positive and noticeable social change, its weather or not we believe in that fact. For my capstone experience I decided to do a community-based service learning project and had the privilege to work with Greenway Partners, an engineering firm that doesn’t just design eco-friendly structures but also focuses on social responsibility and building community. Now, I am no engineer, but I am an advocate for social responsibility, so this company had a place for a student like me and I a desire to work with them. What drew me to this community partner was their work with a local tribe, the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe of Hoopa, CA. As an HSU student I have became immersed in the strong presence of the native tribes of the area and have taken numerous Native American Studies courses. I made a friend in my cohort, Matthew Marshall, a member of the Hoopa Tribe, and was welcomed in his beautiful mountain home where his ancestors have lived for over 10,000 years.

Hoopa Valley, CA.

 

            Through spending time in Hoopa and learning about their culture, I realized this was the right path for my capstone experience. Greenway is helping the Hoopa Tribe establish their own tribally owned and operated grocery store after a chain pulled out of the remote valley in 2016, an ambitious and historical achievement. Supporting indigenous peoples in their quest towards culture revitalization, and simply acknowledging their distinct cultures is one step towards creating environmental justice in this country. There are deep wounds left over from colonization that need to be healed, for the conqueror and the conquered. That is one problem in the world I hope to get involved with and hopefully make better. My capstone experience made me realize many things, the most important of which is that I am capable on manifesting what I want for the future. What I mean by that is only by having a positive attitude while speaking one’s desires and vision into existence is what leads people to attaining the things they truly desire. We are all masters of our own destiny.

            Another important thing I learned from my capstone supervisor at Greenway, Aristea Saulsbury, an amazing woman, is that asking great questions is what makes great leaders and therefore leads to the best possible answers and solutions. She had me read a book titled Leading with Questions: How Leaders Find the Right Solutions by Knowing What to Ask by Michael J. Marquardt. It couldn’t have been more perfect timing for me to grasp the importance of questions, as I am graduating and wondering what I will do next with my life and how will I use my ENST education to shape my future and the future of others. Its time I start asking myself and the world around me some tough questions.

 

Special thanks for Dr. Sarah Ray for her guidance, support, love, and great questions. Also, special thanks to Loren Collins for his infectiously positive attitude and undying zeal to defeat the capitalist system and help students find their true passion and purpose. And, thanks to all those who have helped me along the way. Friends, family, enemies, everyone who has influenced and encouraged me, you will all be a part of me forever.