On October 30th, I went to Bowers Park in Santa Clara to chat with Corinna. I took photos as we caught up, talked politics and watched a gorgeous sunset. Fun fact: She is one of the first people I met in the Bay Area when I moved here from Philadelphia. I changed the formatting of the questions a bit for this blog post, hopefully it works well!
Who are you?
Corinna: “That is the hardest question to answer, right? I’m so cheesy. Just read a Scorpio synopsis and then you’ll get everything you need to to know. I am a nutrition major. Born and raised in San Jose (California). I probably will never live anywhere else in my life. I’d rather be happy and poor living where I want than rich and unhappy. I love the Bay Area. My dad is a first generation immigrant. He is from an island in the Azores. My grandparents brought him here when he was a baby. On my mom’s side, we identify as Chicano, so Mexican American. They all transplanted to San Jose. My immediate family is really cool. I’m very lucky I have them.”
Why do you think this election is important?
Corinna: “They’re all fairly important. And there’s always going to be some sort of divide or some controversy or some issues that need to be addressed. I’m only 28 so I can’t really say too much about past elections; I feel like the last four years in particular have been very tumultuous and very scary. I’m a white passing Chicana but I would say even just being who I am, I fear for my future based off of the political climate. I think it’s very important this election, regardless of who you vote for and what your ideals are, that you exercise your right to vote. We all may not agree on what other people think. I think it’s very important that you cast your vote because people fought for that. It’s definitely an important time to get your voice heard; especially as a person of color, a minority, as a female, whoever you are, I think you need to make that happen.”
Why do you think your vote matters?
Corinna: “If you want to see change happen, you have to ‘be the change’ like all those cheesy cliches that people say. If you want to change something that’s at the top, you have to start at the bottom, like in local elections in your community. A piece that not many people understand is that your voice does matter. You can change the people who hold those positions to see the change in your communities first and then branch forward. People are speaking up and now’s the time; they have to do what they think is right. I think the hardest thing for me is that we live in California, we live in the Bay Area; I do feel like I’m in a bubble. I’m not exposed to a lot of things that people see in other states in terms of racism. I’m very privileged that I don’t encounter that type of stuff every day.”
