HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS / THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

HH OO is where the heart is

There’s no place like MM EE

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About Umoja:

Umoja is the freedom dream of Dr. LaTanya Greer and Vanee Smith-Matsalia for African American students at Curtis
Middle School in the great city of San Bernardino. Umoja means unity and unity is the foundation of our program.

Umoja is a program designed for the social and academic advancement of African American students at Curtis
middle school. We believe that as a community we have everything that we need to build, grow, develop and thrive.

Umoja is about helping students create the paths for the future that they desire.
We celebrate our community, our cultures, our heritage, and our legacies.

The Black History Month Photo Project

is in its second year here at Curtis middle school, and each time, Umoja has reached new heights. This year presented
new challenges as this project took place in the midst of a global pandemic, one in which our community was severely
affected. Instead of going out and doing photo walks together as a class, as we had previously, students were in lock

down conditions, in quarantine, and surviving Covid-19 as best they could.
And so, we armed them with cameras and an idea. We wanted to capture life in quarantine for Black students in San
Bernardino, show how varied our worlds and experiences are, and how much we share in spite of it. With this in mind, we
came up with the theme, “When I think of Home”. In the spirit of The Wiz, a film that centers the Black experience and
identity in classic fantasy, we wanted to spotlight the home experience of the African American community here at Curtis
and show the magic and beauty in it. We wanted to see what “When I think of home” looked like for our community, and

the students of Umoja shined through.

Cover Photo: Arion Valentine

Vanee Matsalia

Vanee Smith-Matsalia, the 20-21 San Bernardino County Teacher of the Year, is a career teacher-leader
and educator. Vanee has spent her career as a program specialist designing transformational professional
development for educators in Anti-Bias/Anti-Racism as well as several other topics and serves in multiple
capacities of educational leadership within San Bernardino City Unified School District. Vanee teaches
Avid Umoja, building curriculum around the classic AVID program and bringing in a focus on African
American cultures, history, and heritage so that her students can see the beauty and complexity of the
legacy that they exist in.

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T HH AA
NKS

We want to thank everyone who helped bring this project into being, specifically
Professor Tom McGovern, Cal State San Bernardino, Dr. LaTanya Greer and Mr. Albert

Hewlett, all of whom have been instrumental in our project and our program.
We present to you the 20-21 class of Curtis Umoja: When I think of Home.

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PATIENCE ABENISE

My name is Patience Abanise and I’m a photographer.
When I was taking these photos I was thinking of
myself in bold and bright colors. This is what you
will find in all these pictures. The first picture of a

bougainvillea (featured on back page). While taking
this picture I was trying to take a photo with a bee
on a flower because there were a lot of bees flying

around. The reason my shadow was in the picture was
because they were flying around in my face. My next is
a picture of my LED lights. Although the picture of the

lights appears purple when I took the picture it was
actually on the color white. The lights appeared purple

because their colors were mixed with red, green and
blue. Lastly, I took a picture of the tacos I had. I used
my flash so that you can see all the ingredients and all
the sauces. The project helped me understand that I

like things with colors and things that stand out.

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BROD JE BRADLEY

My name is Brod je Bradley and I am not an artist. What I was thinking
about when I took this photo is that I had to do something that is me.
I wanted to show the world that little things like the photo I took can
make a big impact. People might wonder… why take a picture of your
TV and fireplace? Well, the TV was just there so I added that, but the
fireplace is a different story. I am not a one place type of guy. I moved
from state to state to state. So, I couldn’t really settle but then I did. I
was happy. But something happened again which made me move but
my grandmother gave me that fireplace to me to have something to
remember. I guess she gave it to me after her dad gave it to me but
not the way you see it. I modified it to way I could to share it with my
friends. I also built it because I want to be an electrical engineer so it
was good practice at first then but it also just became me. This project
helped me show my type and time of life and history in my own way.

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DION CULPEPPER

My name is Dion and I’m a
gamer and a Basketball fan. I
chose these pictures because

one picture is my favorite
player Stephen Curry and I
like playing top tier games

like Witcher 3 and God of
War. My favorite picture is
the Curry jersey because I
bought it in 2018 which was
the best time in my life so far.
And that’s why I chose these

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STEVE IHIDERO

My name is Steve Ihidero and I
am an artist. When I took all these
pictures, I wanted to show out and
impress. The pictures describe
some of the things that I find very
interesting and spend time thinking
about. One of my favorite pictures
is tree picture with the sun setting
right behind it. In my opinion,
the picture is very beautiful and
heartwarming. To conclude, this
project really made me think deep
and look for what I found very
interesting and unique.

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KALAYA MEWBORN

My name is Kalaya Mewborn and I am unique.
That is the reasoning behind my photos. I
wanted to show people how creative my
mindset was. These photos were just simple
things put into a beautiful perspective. I
didn’t use a fancy camera. All I needed was
a classic phone and took a picture of my
creativity. In these photos I captured what
inspires me and what is entertaining and
interesting. Out of these pictures, I would
say My favorite is the diamond painting. It
took a Long time to complete, having to stick
the diamonds on it piece by piece. But the
outcome of it is always beautiful. Something
creative to hang up on the wall and show
how proud you are of the work you do.

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NARAJAH OWENS

Let’s just say playing games
helps me calm down when
people get me mad.

This picture is important to
me because my mom made
the sun for her and the moon
for my dad.

Also this picture is important
for me because my little
sister made it for me.

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JONATHON MOTEN
T JOHNNY REX

My name is Johnny and I
took most of these photos. I
took these pictures because
it shows what my life at
home is. The pictures I took
of the animals show how
loving and caring I am. The
other pictures of me show
how skilled I can be when I
want to be or need to be.

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AND’RE
THOMPSON

I love everything, but of the three
things I need the most is my
refrigerator. My refrigerator stores all
my food that I eat. I eat a lot, but I do
not stuff my face. The next thing that
is important is my glasses. I cannot
see very far but my glasses always
help. Sometimes I misplace them,
but I manage to find them. The last
thing that is important to me is my
headphones. My headphones are VERY
important because my house is noisy.
My brother and sister always scream at
each other, but that is sibling for you.

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ARION VALENTINE

I like this picture. I love shoes
and the shoes I had in the
picture are white shoes and
they stand out.

I like this picture because it
shows what I have achieved.

I like these pictures because I
love basketball.

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MAURICE WHITE

My name is Maurice White and I’m a
photographer. What I was thinking
about when I took my picture
was my family. I wanted to take a
good photo for them. When I take
pictures it’s fun and it’s a way for
me to express myself depending
on how you look at the picture.
What I do revolves around how I felt
and what I do, so my picture helps
me understand how I feel. In the
end what I do is that I love taking
pictures and expressing what and
who I am.

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KYREE WILSON

I liked how the lines from
the telephone poles went
one way that was different
from the way the tree was
standing. I also like how this
tree looks.

This is a picture I took of
images that are on a wall. I
like the reflection that comes
off the one picture of the
thermometer.

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Thomas McGovern

Photography by Students at Curtis Middle School, San Bernardino, California 2021

As a photographer and photography instructor, it is always gratifying to see image from the
perspective of young people. For this project, we asked the photographers to make pictures
of their environment during the COVID crisis. We are all practicing self-isolation and so the
images in this magazine are from that limited perspective, but like all creative endeavors, the
perspective of the artist is expansive.

As the current health crisis wanes, we have these images to remind us of what was important to
these photographers. These pictures are evidence of what they saw, how they lived and what
was important to them, and in years to come, the pictures and this magazine will be a visual
history of the lives of these students at this time in our lives.

This project and publication were made possible by support from the Office of Community
Engagement at California State University, San Bernardino. A special thanks to its Director,
Diane Podolske, whose encouragement and dedication to community projects inspires us.

Professor Thomas McGovern
San Bernardino

I have always

had a strong interest in photographic art. I just appreciate how incredible images can be captured in
some of the most random moments. How one shot of a particular angle during a four-year old’s birthday
party can tell so much more about the subject and shed some insight into what was happening at that
precise moment. Many years ago, when I was attending one of the great events in San Bernardino, the
CSUSB Arts/Music Festival, I went into the RFFMA Museum at Cal State San Bernardino where I viewed
one of the most amazing art exhibits I had seen in a while. It was photograph after photograph of these
incredible images of liquor stores, old restaurants and abandoned buildings from the Inland Empire.
These images told stories with their composition, colors and presence. This is when I discovered the
photographic art of Professor Tom McGovern. A few years later, I would meet Professor McGovern and
since he was a colleague of my wife, I got to know him quite well which led to an eventual discussion of
the idea of trying to collaborate on a project between CSUSB and Curtis Middle School. Coincidentally
when my colleague and frequent collaborator at Curtis, Vanee Matsalia, told me about how she had
ordered cameras for an upcoming photography assignment for her Umoja elective class, It was extremely
difficult for me to withhold my excitement. I could not exactly recall what I said word for word because
I must have been talking about a hundred miles per hour saying “you could do this” and “it could be
this” and “I know this professor at CSUSB”. It was February 2020 when Umoja would hold an event that
showcased the students’ photographic work designed as a gallery walk in room F4 at Curtis. Students,
staff and members from our community listened to the student artists talk about their displayed work. It
was so much fun to watch our students stand a little taller and seeing how proud they were to talk about
their photographs and why they were so important to them.

We knew that this project should try to become a recurring event. Professor McGovern was on board to
be involved again and even applied and won a grant that would provide students with cameras, receive
prints of their favorite images and have their work presented in a showcase magazine that you have
before you.

I have to give thanks to our principal Dr. Latanya Greer who has always been supportive of this project,
has helped the project in every way she can and has encouraged us to try to make this an annual
community project at our school site. I cannot thank Professor McGovern enough for all his hard work,
hands-on instruction and passion that he has brought to our students and to this project. I also have
to thank my partner in crime Vanee Matsalia who invited me be a part of this creative project and
who has brought so much excitement to both our students and those who have attended the
Umoja Photo Gallery events.

I am so grateful for this incredible opportunity that has been presented to our students. It is so great that
these students will have a document that they can look back on and remind them of their creativity and
inspiration especially in a time of a global pandemic that has affected their entire lives as young adults.
There are some incredible images that are contained in this project. Like the saying goes “every picture
tells a story”, this magazine is filled with stories from our students. We hope you enjoy the tales they are
showing us.

Sincerely,

Albie Hewlett

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Patience Abanise