Earlimart, CA.

           I grew up in a small house in Earlimart, California. My dad and step family still live there and I don't know if they will ever leave. That little old house looks much different now than what it looked like when my sister and I once occupied it. My dad has turned the entire front lot into his auto shop, and the backyard (which as a child appeared to be a wild forest with ancient trees) is now completely fenced off with all of the trees and bushes long gone. That area now houses a large collection of salvaged vehicles.

           Earlimart represents the most innocent and happiest days of my childhood. I have very fond memories of that small town and of the public library with the book about puppies that I would check out over and over again, of the elementary school, of the hardware store down the street that seemed to have been there since the dawn of time, of the tortas and pan dulce, of the swap meet on Friday nights, of my primos and primas, of my Abuelita Elena’s room, of my Abuelito’s garden, of baby Roky, and of the old log in the backyard that my sister and I used as a bench until one day fire ants swarmed all over my shorts and I cried and cried and cried in pain as my mother hosed me down in the front yard.

           When I was ten years old my parents bought a new bigger house in Delano, the city seven miles south of Earlimart. Delano would come to represent a much different part of my upbringing, the part of self-discovery I suppose. Delano would be where my parent's marriage would fall apart... where Ivan & Christian would be born.  

           Here I have a collection of video stills taken from home movies. They span about six years, beginning in 1991 when baby Roky first came home and ending sometime in 1997, right after the Earlimart flood.