Social Justice Blog Series: An Interview with Becca Garcia, Creator of, “I Am Enough”
StoryCenter Admin
Editor’s Note: Last spring, StoryCenter led a workshop with former peer educators from City College of San Francisco’s Project SURVIVE, which for 20 years has been training students to promote healthy relationships through presentations on campus and in community organizations and high schools. In recognition of April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and to kick off our Social Justice Blog Series, we share this recent conversation with Project SURVIVE storyteller Becca Garcia. Her story, featured as our "Story of the Week" for the week of April 3, appears at the end of the posting.
StoryCenter: You participated in a digital storytelling workshop that StoryCenter led last year, in partnership with Project SURVIVE. Can you talk a bit about what that experience was like for you?
Becca: I will forever be indebted to Project SURVIVE. I have said it many times before, but this organization has saved my life in more ways than one. When Leslie Simon, the Project SURVIVE Coordinator, contacted me to see if I would be interested in this film project, I knew that I had to do it. It was an opportunity for me to give back to my community and share my experience, strength, and hope. My experience with the digital storytelling process was challenging in so many ways. I had never really talked about what had happened to me at length, let alone written out the specific moment. I believe for me it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, since I’ve never seen myself as a writer. While I collected photographs of my past, it really brought me back to a dark place in my life. A place of feeling a lot of self-hate, despair, and not feeling good enough. The workshop was the first time I really faced my sexual assault head on, and I remember telling myself I would not cry because I was stronger than that. Spoiler alert… Crying is not a sign of weakness, it is a form of healing, and yes I definitely cried– A LOT! The digital storytelling project made me realize how much of me was missing, and it helped me fill in the pieces. I regained my voice and spirituality through this process and am forever grateful. The incident I describe in my story happened to me a few years ago, and since taking the workshop and sharing it in video form, I have been able to live a life beyond my wildest dreams.
StoryCenter: Why did you choose to tell the story you told, in the workshop?
Becca: I chose this story because so often I have heard people say, “Maybe it was my fault” or “I was just wasted, so it couldn’t really have happened.” This reality was all too real for me. I felt alone for a very long time and inflicted a lot of pain on myself. I wanted to forget what had happened, so I began to drink and party because that’s all I knew at the time. It wasn’t until the Project SURVIVE storytelling workshop at StoryCenter that I was able to openly and honestly talk about what had happened. I feel that there are a lot of people who have experienced something similar to what I went gone through, and I just couldn’t be silent anymore. I didn’t want this to have power over my life any longer!
StoryCenter: How has it felt, to share the story publicly, online? Have you gotten any feedback about it?
Becca: It’s interesting– I thought that I would have felt free from what had happened to me, but I still strive every day to work on myself and heal. It is definitely a process. For example, in my art I form a lot of shapes and vessels of varying sizes, and that take me a lot of time, practice, and patience. I can relate this to my very own healing process. It has taken time, but I have learned to be still in thoughts and create a spiritual safe space for myself. There are days that are still dark for me, but I know that there is always tomorrow, which brings hope and peace. I’ve shared my digital story with close friends and have been embraced by their love. I still haven’t shared it with my family, out of fear of what they will think, but again it’s a process that I am still learning to sort out.
StoryCenter: Can you say something about why it feels especially important to you as a woman, to speak out on issues of sexual assault?
Becca: I believe that it’s so important to share my experience with others. Growing up, I never had the opportunity to speak up about the things that happened to me, so I acted out through dangerous behaviors (drinking, sex, drugs). I didn’t have an outlet to express and meditate until I found my passion in ceramics. Creating the digital story was a step forward in healing and forming my own spirituality as well. It showed me that I had art and a community that supported me, and that I didn’t have to walk this path alone. Talking about sexual assault is difficult for anyone who has gone through it, and I want people to know that I am here, I am an ally and a friend. No matter what background you come from, there are people who care and are willing to listen. I want my story to show that there is hope! Sexual assault dose not define who you are or who you will become.
StoryCenter: How do you see your involvement in sexual assault prevention advocacy taking shape, moving forward?
Becca: Currently I’m a student at Davis (University of California) majoring in Sociology: Law and Society and minoring in Human Rights. I hope to one day open a non-profit of my own focused on trauma in the arts. I hope to reach out to people of multiple backgrounds who have experienced trauma in their lives and help them create a positive outlet and space to come and express themselves. Whether through poetry, song, or any form of art, they can have a safe space to come and be part of a supportive community.