Our Stories

Last December The Hearth and De La Raíz worked together to offer an evening of stories and songs in the wake of the Almeda fires. Focused on tales of resiliency, The Things That Do Not Burn/Las Cosas Que No Se Queman presented six stories by local Spanish and English speaking residents.

Matilde Arias and her mother always been close. When she was 12, her mom was diagnosed with cancer. Chemotherapy saved her life, but after entering remission, she had a stroke. As her mother worked to regain her mobility, Matilde took on the role as the second adult...

Raul Tovar During my six month trip in Mexico, a special moment took place in a magical mountain village along the Sierra Madre mountain range in Oaxaca. My younger brother was visiting me during my stay in Mexico and after some eventful days in Puerto Vallarta,...

Bianca BallardMusic, dancing, food, and family were wealth for my grandparents, teachings I was exposed to at a very young age. All of my grandparents were campesinos (farmers). When I remember them, I think about the Cuban sugar cane fields all sharp green-rising...

Rosario “Chayo” CervantezRosario “Chayo” Cervantez is from White City, Oregon. She has been an activist in our community, organizing educational panels with LIFEArt and began the first wide-city Latinx Student Group thatbrought together students from all high school...

Gabriel BarreraI grew up wanting to be an artist ever since I started drawing into sketch books. My parents cultivated my growth as an artist by providing me the tools to create as an artist. My mother was a teacher and my father worked in aerospace as a machinist and...

Virginia CamberosWho would have guessed that the first Latinx Woman to become Regional Director in Southern Oregon for a racial justice organization was working in Corporate America for 20 years. I never realized how blinded I had become of the injustices of workers...

Lorenzo Ortiz and his bisabuela As I approach college graduation, I reflect on my growth and what my path will look like as I progress in my career and find my way back to “the Valley,” as my friends and I refer to the Rogue Valley. I was born in Ashland but I grew up...

Last December The Hearth and De La Raíz worked together to offer an evening of stories and songs in the wake of the Almeda fires. Focused on tales of resiliency, The Things That Do Not Burn/Las Cosas Que No Se Queman presented six stories by local Spanish and English speaking residents.

Matilde Arias and her mother always been close. When she was 12, her mom was diagnosed with cancer. Chemotherapy saved her life, but after entering remission, she had a stroke. As her mother worked to regain her mobility, Matilde took on the role as the second adult...

Raul Tovar During my six month trip in Mexico, a special moment took place in a magical mountain village along the Sierra Madre mountain range in Oaxaca. My younger brother was visiting me during my stay in Mexico and after some eventful days in Puerto Vallarta,...

Bianca BallardMusic, dancing, food, and family were wealth for my grandparents, teachings I was exposed to at a very young age. All of my grandparents were campesinos (farmers). When I remember them, I think about the Cuban sugar cane fields all sharp green-rising...

Rosario “Chayo” CervantezRosario “Chayo” Cervantez is from White City, Oregon. She has been an activist in our community, organizing educational panels with LIFEArt and began the first wide-city Latinx Student Group thatbrought together students from all high school...

Gabriel BarreraI grew up wanting to be an artist ever since I started drawing into sketch books. My parents cultivated my growth as an artist by providing me the tools to create as an artist. My mother was a teacher and my father worked in aerospace as a machinist and...

Virginia CamberosWho would have guessed that the first Latinx Woman to become Regional Director in Southern Oregon for a racial justice organization was working in Corporate America for 20 years. I never realized how blinded I had become of the injustices of workers...

Lorenzo Ortiz and his bisabuela As I approach college graduation, I reflect on my growth and what my path will look like as I progress in my career and find my way back to “the Valley,” as my friends and I refer to the Rogue Valley. I was born in Ashland but I grew up...