Here at the UIC Heritage Garden, we believe that sharing stories is an essential way of getting to know about each other and our unique cultures and experiences. Please feel more than welcomed to share your unique stories, and stay around to check out the rest of the stories!
During the planting season, my mom would work with her parents planting rice, which was the main crop grown in China and was eaten as a staple food by the Chinese people. During the harvest season, she would help her parents harvest the crop and separate the grains from the rest of the rice plants.
You don’t know what’s in that hamburger! Have you seen the cows? You don’t know where they make it. You don’t know if the machine is clean! You don’t know what the cow eats. If you want to eat that, you need to have a cow yourself. Have your own chickens and have food from your own farm!!
From the list of environmentally-friendly practices there were only four items that my mom marked as things she or we do at home. Among those things she marked down recycling, using energy-efficient light bulbs, using drapes and curtains to regulate temperatures, and hanging clothes to dry.
Every year around Easter my grandmother makes these sweet pastries that resemble French toast, which are called torrejas. It has always been a tradition to create dishes that correlate specifically to different holidays in my family. In the case of this specific pastry, the process of making them is clearly shown as one indulges a piece of a torreja, and its burst of traditional flavors that teleports you to a different place.
The leaf of the banana is a symbol of festivities, because during a time of celebration people are served food onto a banana leaf. More than being just a biodegradable plate, the chemical composition of the banana leaf make using it as a plate, a wonderful experience.
My mom taught me that reusing things creates very unique and unexpected results. And if something cannot be reused, always try to recycle it.
It is cool that my dad wanted to build a bat house because I have been very interested in bats ever since I was a little kid. My curiosity in the critter was piqued after travelling up north to my grandparents summer home on Lake Michigan, where my cousins and I would spend all of our time outdoors including at night with bonfires. My dad and uncles shared with our family how they noticed all of the bats flying and diving for bugs if they looked into the trees at nighttime.
Each time I throw things in the trash now, I feel a pang in knowing that, compared to my immortal compost, whatever I am throwing away is simply going to sit somewhere with no purpose. The compost angels descended when I learned that our lovely neighbors have a giant compost bin in their backyard.
I realized that indie makeup companies are sustainable in their own unique way. In creating a community with no communicative distance from consumers, sustaining local practices, using ethical and environmentally friendly ingredients, and ultimately creating a new model of production that goes against the corporate norm, indie companies fill their own unique cultural niche of what it means to be sustainable.
When I turned a corner, I saw my physics teacher standing by the door to the classroom. Ms. Kovacs was wearing a t-shirt with WE ADD UP printed in the middle. Each word had its own row, and there was an addition sign to the left of UP. Underneath the words, there was a line and a number beneath it. The message on my teacher’s shirt didn’t make sense to me. Letters certainly could not be added up to numbers.
After coming to America, my mother still had the behavior engrained in her, so she continued to take baths the same way. I, however, stopped doing it all together. It was not until one day, when an announcement went out that the water supply to our building would be cut off for a few days.
Although, it may seem like a simple artwork if you take a look at the finished object, the effort and support from my family lending a hand to finish this project was incredible. I was able to explain my ideas to them, and in exchange I was given feedback on imaginative ways to make my project idea come to life.
The Ventra card is a big part of my identity simply because I am the kind of person that has to travel a lot every day and I can’t be relying on anyone or anything to get things done. With the card I get things done and at the same time I am engaging in an eco-friendly practice, which is helping me develop a new part of myself which is that appreciation and love for our environment.
I want to look at things the way my mom does, giving everything a second life. I think if we destroyed the negative sentiments and embarrassment towards certain practices that are more sustainable, we’d be able to go back towards a truly innovative society that encourages the use of imagination.
One of the funniest stories is how Bay potty trained me, but not like one would think. In Vietnam, plastic disposable diapers were rare to get, so she used cloth. However, since Ma worked for the Army she could get some from the Commissary. One day, Ma caught Bay holding me over one of the rare plastic diapers and making a whizzing sound to pee. I performed perfectly on demand. Ma didn’t know whether to laugh or be annoyed. I’m sure she laughed and then explained to Bay the diaper’s usage.
It actually began when we lived in Guatemala. I was a baby and my mom lived with my grandma, her mother-in-law. My grandma had, from my understanding, an open room where the chickens had a coop that they could access from there and outside.
Every year during Diwali, I see pretty pictures of Rangolis made by so many people trending through my Facebook newsfeed. Among them, the Rangolis of these two cousins, Neha di and Shibani di, always catch my attention. Their Rangolis are always made with tea lights and the marigold flowers.
Neha’s mom has plants all around her house and she treats them like her little babies. She would walk around the house watering them and talking to them.
Maria was raised among eleven brothers and sisters, and healthcare and food access was always limited. Maria shares that part of the healing process requires believing in what you do, trusting the wisdom and love of those caring for you and not just as an alternative to western medicinal practices.
In india, my mom, grandma, and my aunt would grow a ton of desi plants in the small plot we had left after the new neoliberal government stole our land and my grandma had to sell the rest because she was a single mother.
