Sometimes, in places you least expect it, you find gems. The most amazing stones are the ones that are still raw, reveling in all their purity. The diamonds that are in their natural state, glowing from within. The pearls still in their oyster sanctuary, warm and safe protected by it’s parenting muscle. Once they are taken out of their natural state, they are cut, scarred and buffed to an elaborate luster. When their manipulation is exhausted, they look absolutely different, ashamed of their untarnished youth.
When Blanca Guerra was 13, she said she was kicked out of the house and left homeless.
She spent nights in the Suisun-Fairfield Cemetery on Union Avenue behind the columbarium – the wall where cremation remains are kept. It gave her protection from the wind. Sometimes she slept in the park on Second Street.
“I remember it was so cold at night,” she said…
