Within any classroom there may be students from different neighborhoods, states, countries, but everyone definitely has a different background that needs to be respected and celebrated. This is Citlali's story a Mexican American teenager who decides her senior year is going to be focused not on the negative experiences that she has at her school with racism but rather giving that energy to the most positive thing that she has in her life which is her family. She seeks joy and finds that in her abuela, her grandmother. This is an encouraging story that addresses the stress that a Mexican American student can have within the classroom. It also shows that instead of focusing on the negativity it is possible to turns it around and focus on who she now knows to be the most important person in her life. Sometimes it takes us watching someone that we love get older and weaker and more fragile to realize that not only is there tomorrow not guaranteed but ours is not either. As she takes advantage of this private time she has with her grandmother she is invited to meet with her in the kitchen before the sun rises. Citlali's mother told her that the best times of her life were spent with her mother learning how to cook tamales.

There is absolutely nothing better than bonding with someone in your family from a different generation who has had different experiences over a hot stove and ingredients that they don't have to measure because cooking this one specific thing is second nature to them. A beautiful homage to respecting your elders, learning and loving every moment that you get to spend with them.***Performer should be of Mexican heritage but may be any gender.