Sunday

Here we go again – another week of Tent City. I was so excited to see some familiar faces and even more excited to see new faces at the camp. Walking back into the Tent City site brings a feeling of power. It amazes me to see people from all over campus come together to work for something they believe in. 

The thought it might help is small, but its impact is not. If we can work all week trying to educate people on campus about different propositions and measures for the November ballot, then we can make an institutional impact to benefit funding for education.

I’m looking forward to an exhausting week.

Monday

Good morning De Anza. Thankfully I slept through the morning leaf blowers and feel well rested. This is probably going to be the best night of sleep I am going to get all week. 

Gotta go table in front of camp to feed some hopefully curious minds.

Tuesday

I remember last Tent City, I was overwhelmed at all the community support received and donations people shared. 

Let me just say, friends who let you use their apartment to shower = awesome. Friends who work at restaurants and bring free food = awesome. My friend, Fred, lives across the street and has opened up his apartment for me to shower at whenever I need. And my friend Lena works at a really good Mediterranean restaurant that donated some of the best falafels I’ve ever tasted. Then Sachin works at Cicero’s Pizza and came through with 10 hot boxes. Also, Matt Bradley (mega alumni visitor)= awesome.

Tonight eight more have joined us, people I’ve never met before. And they’re here for more than just to hang out and have fun. They’re actually interested in learning more and more about what they can do to help. It’s mind-blowing. I don’t think that would be me two years ago, I would’ve just come for the party. No lie.

Wednesday

Just got finished with a group meeting and I am SO excited for tomorrow. That’s right. Thursday, it’s going down. 

Thursday

It’s 6 p.m. and I still have the Ziploc with my toothbrush in my jacket pocket. I’ve been on the go since waking up at 6 a.m. running all around campus helping out with Club Day, DARE, Tent City and La Voz. I must’ve been a greasy, red-faced mess.

My day started with getting up early to take down most of Tent City to make room for Club Day. After that, I continued to go back and forth from the Students for Justice table at club day to the Senate office to make sure things were good for the day.

Reverse Protest – I wish we had been a bit louder and we had more people protesting ridiculous things like “Higher Fees, Yes Please.” But I guess that would be a difficult thing for people to take part in.

As I sit here, writing this – reflecting- I guess all I really want to do is help. I want to bring a force into people’s lives that make them want to involve themselves to do something for more than themselves and be happy about it.

               Regards,

                       Alex Mendiola

So Choi (left) and Ali Masood take a break from making signs to hang out in the community tent. (Jonathan Michaiel)

Night falls on Tent City Wednesday as students make last minute preparations for the coming Day of Action. (Nick Girard)