My Journey Here

by Danha Sanchez

My parent’s first apartment on Virginia Ave will not only bring back a wave of warm hearted childhood memories but it will also be a gentle reminder to humble ourselves. We started off sleeping on an air mattress and living paycheck to paycheck to being homeowners & living comfortable.I can still remember Mr.McDowell, our landlord, a 6 foot figure man resembling Santa Claus but wreaked in cigarettes. Every once in a while he would  come knocking on our door telling us he had to talk to us, most likely to raise the rent, but everytime he came he would stare at my younger siblings, Ximena, 1, and Enrique, who was barely 6 months old. I’m not exactly sure what went through his mind when he would look at my siblings but he would always say “nevermind, just came to say have a good day.” For all of the 10 years we lived there he never raised the rent for us. 

Danha Sanchez, excerpt from authoethnographic Writing