Alexis Rivera_Memoir_First Draft

Memories of Influence

Inviting Taylor over to my house for dinner before a high school football game. This was the first time she and I had connected outside of school, and we became close friends shortly afterwards.

Purchasing a Disneyland annual pass with women I had only met three days earlier. It was the first weekend at Chapman University, and this was a major investment to make after having just met these women. This night altered our relationships together and bonded us, at least for the months that followed. And for the few that remained friends even years later, our lives changed dramatically, and it can be traced back to this decision.

Happily eating grilled cheese with Karen in Appalachia, after our young and attractive high school teacher handed one to each of us. This is one of many fond memories I have of the trip, and it was in Appalachia that my love for serving others was sparked. As this memory may be the topic of my memoir, it would serve as one example of many that illustrates why I enjoyed myself greatly on this trip, and how it inspired me to go on many trips following. The basic situation would follow me through the major points of the trip, and how having an opportunity to work with the kids in that community, or see snow fall for the first time, or spend a week away from home shifted my perspective on short-term missions. This memory and overall memoir would take us to an abandoned elementary school in Kentucky, sleeping on bunk beds in the frigid cold and surrounded by desolate trees in the middle of November. It would take us to a small room where country music was playing loudly and excitingly, and to a well-loved school with kids who just wanted to spend every moment by my side. The small town we spent time in was impoverished, and there was manual labor to be done and food drives to be had. But the residents were welcoming and friendly, and seemed to enjoy having high school students come once every year. If this were to be the topic of my memoir, I would move forward in time: begin with my time in Appalachia, and move towards my current consideration for overseas ministry.

Stepping onto the Lewis and Clark College campus for the first time, and knowing immediately I had found my home. The topic, or the basic situation in this possibility for my memoir, would be a journey out of high school and into college, and the discoveries that were made along the way. I discovered pieces of myself in Portland that I had not been able to acknowledge back home, and would document how these realizations came to be. This memory and overall memoir would take us to a college campus in Portland, Oregon, situated close to the Willamette River and about twenty minutes from the downtown area. My dorm room overlooked a wooded area, and sometimes while doing homework by the window, I would watch as people walked in and out of the woods. This story would begin at the start of my time in college and move forward, narrating how the parts of my personality I discovered there have stayed, but morphed and shifted as my values have changed.