Voices of the West Side

The stories on this page emerged out of the year-long University Neighborhood Partners (UNP) Honors Think Tank: Community and Change. UNP staff and faculty from the College of Social Work brought together 11 Honors students from the University of Utah and 11 west side community leaders (Urban Pioneers and Hartland Resident Committee members) to explore how people’s life stories could be used to build community in rapidly-changing neighborhoods on the west side of Salt Lake City.

One of our guiding questions throughout 2008-09 was, “What does building community mean in today’s society?” After examining the definition of “community” from multiple perspectives and addressing the question of how to create meaningful opportunities for community involvement for people from widely different backgrounds, we began our intensive community-based research with local residents in west side neighborhoods of Salt Lake City, Utah.

Our work focused on issues of demographic change, cultural norms of family, language, tradition, local decision making, and neighborhood involvement. Using principles of community based research, tools of ethnography, and methods of examining individual life histories, we went beyond an “ivory-tower” approach to identify and develop concrete and grounded strategies for addressing these questions.

This website is a culmination of our final projects, including eleven life stories with complementary art covers which can also be seen as an art exhibit. It is our hope that these efforts will not only build community between the east and west sides of Salt Lake City but also among the west side neighborhoods.

James Egan

I think the major lesson I derived from my work with Omar is that community building cannot occur without considerable patience on the part of community members. There are many complex problems to be solved in almost any community. A universal struggle for any community is negotiating the ineluctable tension between the individual and the masses, the part and the whole. Omar’s story is an example of the interdependence of these opposites. By my lights, his story reveals individual liberation as a continual process involving a patient collaboration with the whole. To be sure, Omar’s own effort was essential to the big steps in his early life, but he did not overcome his personal and social constraints alone.

I hope I did not emphasize this strain (i.e., his beliefs about the relationship between community and the process of liberation) of Omar’s story at the expense of some other strain that he feels is important. During our discussions he agreed with my analysis and elucidation of this strain and consented to “go with it.” I trust he wasn’t holding anything back, but, nevertheless, feel an obligation to explicate my position in this regard.

As for my relationship to the details of Omar’s background, I am quite foreign to many of them. Though I have spent a great deal of my life in Salt Lake City, I have not (until recently) been acquainted with the Rose Park area and I know very little about Hispanic immigration. For example, I learned what a “coyote” (a person who transports immigrants into the United States) is during our interview. I have known some Hispanic immigrants over my lifetime, but I have not been able to become intimately acquainted with one until I met Omar. My friendship with Omar has helped me get a glimpse of the challenges that immigrants face upon arriving in the United States. For this reason (among other important ones), I made use of as much of Omar’s exact words and phrases from our interview as I could. I did not want to inappropriately represent the facts. Fortunately, Omar is much more articulate than he gives himself credit for; consequently, the elegant yet casual tone is a product of Omar’s skill for free and honest expression.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Omar on this project and I am grateful for the learning process it was for me. Omar’s simple story is certainly impressive to me and I hope that in the part I have played in telling it I have done it justice. This is not the place for a lengthy discussion of lessons I learned through the process of putting this story together, though there were plenty of them. I feel inclined to say, however, perhaps the most important lesson was that I benefited greatly from both the unfamiliar and the familiar aspects of Omar’s story, I learned that the immigration situation in the United States is much more complex than I had believed and that the life of an immigrant includes a myriad of nuances that I have never experienced. But I also learned that despite the differences, there are places of commonality, places wherefrom we might build solidarity. I may have known that in theory before or, at least, hoped it were true, but Omar helped me see my theoretical hope reified in his very life.

Stanley Lloyd

At the request of my community partner, his life story is not published on this website.
As a junior in Speech Communications, Political Science and Campaign Management at the University of Utah, I did not have much background in performing contextual research. When I initially signed up for the University Neighborhood Partner’s Honors Think Tank, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Throughout the course of the year, I have learned to recognize the social categories to which I belong and how some of those categories provide me with certain privileges. As a white, male, native Utahan who is a member of the dominate religion, I never fully realized all that I had taken for granted and all that I do not have to think about in my day to day life. Coming to these realizations is something that I will never forget, especially given the lifelong learning that I did while in this Think Tank.
For me, starting this project was a bit like walking into a pitch black auditorium with the purpose of finding a paperclip and only a penlight to guide me. I felt totally and completely lost on how I was supposed to tell someone else’s life story, especially the story of someone who has lived twice as long as myself. From the moment I began working with my community leader, however, I realized that I was not in this alone. This story was something that we would make together.
In preparation, I thought about the many things I was expecting to discuss in this interview. There was so much I wanted to know about my leader’s past, where he had been in his life, and how he ended up here in Utah. I also wanted to focus on what he felt a community ought to be and what an individual ought to give back. Finally, I wanted to know more about the west side and what steps can be taken to further build the sense and feeling of community. In addition to these specifics, I wanted to gain a better understanding of the greater concept of telling stories as a means of building community. As the major focus of this Think Tank, I also wanted to get a firsthand look at how an individual’s story could be used to build an entire community.


Caitlin McDonald

As an interviewer of Abdi Mohamed, I was required to consider my own positionality when listening to his experiences of community and neighborhood. I am in the majority within my own neighborhood – a white, middle-class member of the LDS church. I have never known hunger or been in the middle of a war. I have always been expected to go to college and live a comfortable life. And yet I consider myself somewhat of a minority – my international experiences in China and India as well as the opportunities I have had as a student at the University of Utah have increased my perspectives of difference. I understand that community can be a physical or geographic space, such as a neighborhood, but I believe, as Abdi does, that community can extend its reach outside of a physical neighborhood.

Brayan Nava

From the very first moment I met Mr. Juan I instantly felt a connection. He has this outgoing and humorous personality that I love to be around. As I got to know him more, I definitely saw the development of a great relationship. As people of color I felt that we would instantly have many things in common and would have long conversations. The conversations turned out to be extra long because there is so much chemistry between us. From the moment I found out I was to interview Juan, I knew I was in for a good time and that I would learn so much from this great man.

I was expecting to have numerous similar experiences because we were both born in the same country and shared very similar values to some extent. To my surprise, I never imagined how growing up would be that much different for us. We both experienced hardships--some that I could relate to, but Juan blew me away with all the things he shared with me regarding how he lived, his educational experience, working, and traveling adventures. I can’t see a little kid doing all those things at the young age of nine, but Juan is living proof of that and I’m glad to hear from him. I picture him as a little adult who took big decisions in life and was always strong and full of potential. I definitely see him as a fun and spontaneous friend to play with at that time. Little Juan took upon big risks and challenges in life that many of us are not even close to ever experiencing and for that I admire him. He opened my eyes to a different way of living that I never thought would be that way and made me realize and greatly appreciate the way I lived and the things I had.

Something else I found out that was interesting is the fact that we were both born in the same city. I thought that would connect us even more but it surprised me that he did not feel that way. At first I felt that he disliked Mexico City because he did not mention it at all and boldly stated “I was only born there”; I took it as an insult. It was not a big deal, but the way he said it sort of cut my enthusiasm for that. I later learned more how he identifies and that he definitely does not have anything against my homeland; there is simply no connection. He was raised in Yucatan in a small village and most of his family is from Mayan descent. That also got me thinking because I actually did not live in Mexico City for too long. At the age of three, I moved to a near town-Toluca and spent most of my time there until I moved to the U.S. However, I did visit a lot and most of my family did live there and that’s why I always felt a sense of belonging to my City. Juan also offered a deep perspective relating to self identity. He told me “I am Mayan everywhere I go and even when I can I put it on paper.” He was referring to filling out paper work and when it asks about ethnicity, he always tries to find a way to select Mayan; and if not he will choose Latino/Hispanic. I thought he would identify as Mexican and Latino but he strongly stated that he is Mayan. I admire that and once more made me appreciate and think about my own identity, and how I should not hesitate to express who I am and stand proud.


Juan has a lot of character and I had this notion that he must have had a good and happy life to be like this. Throughout the interview, I found out how difficult it truly was despite all the fun adventures he had. He matured very soon at a level that impressed me because at such a young age, he had experienced so much and was very wise and still is. Interviewing Juan made me realize that just because you are born in the same country, raised with the same values, have the same color of skin, and speak the same language does not mean you will be very alike. We all live different stories and it is amazing how different we all become as we live our lives. Nevertheless, with respect and comprehension we can go far in relating each other in different dimensions. I learned so much from Juan Lopez. He renovated many of my perceptions and I’m grateful for that.

Travis Outly

I am a Junior undergraduate student at the University of Utah, majoring in Biomedical Engineering. I am a Tongan-American 27 year old male. I come from a large family and grew up for most of my life in North Carolina; however, I have lived all over the country including: Utah, California, Minnesota, Florida, Georgia, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

I am in an Honors Think Tank working in association with the University Neighborhood Partners. We are documenting and creating stories of residents of Salt Lake City’s west side neighborhoods. These stories are being compiled to show the many positive people and aspects of the West Side as well as to inspire change and create a sense of pride for West side residents.
I had the honor of interviewing Tiffany Sandberg, a resident of the Fairpark Neighborhood, the North West area of Salt Lake. She has been a resident of the Fairpark Neighborhood for over 18 years and has been an active leader, serving in many capacities to help strengthen and better her community. I have known her for several months and have worked with her in a small group on another project documenting the Salt Lake Fairgrounds during the Fall semester of 2008.
Although Tiffany and I are different in so many ways: ethnically, religiously, age, gender, etc; we share the common goal of wanting to build a stronger community. In my experience, it has seemed that the West Side of Salt Lake City has a reputation of being dangerous or “ghetto” and is often represented in the media in a negative light. It is an extremely diverse area. However, it is my feeling that this diversity often causes people to misunderstand the west side and even fear it. I hope that through reading Tiffany’s story, strangers to the west side will see the west side as I have come to see it. The west side is a great place! It is a community that actually has so much to offer its residents as well as a community that has potential to do and be more.

This interview was conducted in the Warnock Engineering Building at the University of Utah on the evening of January 29, 2009. It was conducted in a quiet private study room. Questions asked in the interview were a compilation of questions created by the UNP Think Tank students and facilitators as well as a couple of my own.

Eduardo Reyes

As both a Rose Park local and a resident of the University of Utah housing community, I have become a mediator between both geographic communities. I arrived to Rose Park in 2000 when I was 11 years of age. When I graduated from West High School, I moved to the University of Utah dorms to continue my studies. Thus, I have had the privilege to observe and analyze both communities while daily interacting with residents and neighbors that have expanded my knowledge in community building.
It is this type of perfect position that encouraged me to take my curiosity to another level and expand my research to work with the west side communities through the UNP Honors Think Tank. In this class, I was assigned to work and collaborate with one of Rose Park’s main leaders, Ron Jarrett. The similarities and differences between Mr. Jarrett and I have helped me look at Rose Park from a different perspective. For Mr. Jarrett, Rose Park became his home when he was only one year-old. He has been able to experience the continuant socioeconomic changes that have made Rose Park so unique. As an Anglo-Saxon and Mormon resident, Mr. Jarrett has seen how little by little the demographics in Rose Park began to change with the influx of newcomers, especially on a great scale, Latino immigrants. As for me, I am one of the many newcomers who at eleven years old embraced Rose Park as my new home. I am a low-income, Catholic Mexican whose ideas and personal experiences reflect the life of hard work and poverty in rural Mexico. Such contrast made our partnership one of the most unique and productive. This interview embraces the quality of partnership from both parties to come up with a life story that will inspire and reinforce the promising future of Rose Park.


Kendra Richins

When you’re not a part the community that the majority of the neighborhood associates themselves with, it’s hard to want to stay there. When you hear of a neighborhood whose residents associate themselves with a community you feel you could belong to, it’s easy to want to transplant yourself and your life there. Amanda Moore has inspired me to move. My first house and kindergarten school I do not remember. My second was a brand new house in a brand new neighborhood just across from the Air Force Academy; there was ethnic diversity, but we were all middle class. Finally, my current home is in what I have heard called the richest zip code in the Salt Lake Valley. The houses are cookie-cutter, the moms are all stay-at-home moms and drive their children around in unnecessarily large Suburbans. It’s not unusual to see, everyday, a car worth over $100,000 or a home over 5,000,000. What isn’t commonplace however is seeing someone of a different ethnicity, someone who is not a part of the upper-middle class, someone who rides their bike because they cannot afford a car, someone who has the vivacity of another cultural history, someone who speaks a different language. And rarest of all would be to see individuals as I have previously mentioned incorporated in to the neighborhood community.
I am white, I am upper-middle class; but I am not cookie cutter and I do not want to be. I want to see culture and difference, I want it to be painted on my walls and roads and danced in my streets. I want to see and meet and get to know my neighbors – and have them be real. After speaking with Amanda, I want to live in the west side neighborhoods of Salt Lake City. Amanda has lived in and moved from each of the neighborhoods that I have had a passion for living in and ended up in one I have just begun to consider (yet now am in love with). Her path is identical to one I have thought of for myself; yet where my views and opinions come simply from dreams and whimsical ideas, Amanda’s come from experience.

Wendolens Ruano

As a member of the University Neighborhood Partners Honors Think Tank Class, I had the privilege to have Ruby Chacon as my West Side Community Leader Partner. I am a second year student at the University of Utah studying sociology. I am Latina and have grown up in a low-income single parent household. Since we left our community in Oakland CA, when I was 13, I have not lived in any certain neighborhood for more than two years which made it difficult for me to build community there. I have lived in Utah for about 8 years and lived in Magna, West Valley, East Salt Lake, West Salt Lake, Layton, and currently living in the Residence Halls at the University. With my background, I did not have much knowledge of what a community consists of, which made me curious to know about Ruby’s experience with the neighborhoods and communities she has and is a part of. Through working with Ruby, I have been able to have a greater understanding of the west side community, which I did not have before. I was able to better understand the preconceived ideas of the west side, due to fear of the unknown, how they are broken down, and better understanding that the west side of Salt Lake City is a community in which the residents work together to create the best for their community. I have been able to understand what it means to be part of a community and especially the west side community of Salt Lake City. It has broken down prejudices I had in the past (the west side is “ghetto” or it is dangerous, etc) and been able to learn and grow (better understanding the communication there is, and the friendships/mentoring in the west side). I had the opportunity to interview Ruby Chacon at Mestizo’s Coffee House on February 6, from about 2pm to 4pm. That interview helped me understand more about the goals that Ruby has for Mestizo’s, her community, and herself.

Frances Tian

We are sitting in Maria Garciaz’s office; rows of ‘homies’ line the windowsill. Homies are figurines modeled after the youth of L.A.; they remind her of her experiences with youth as a probation officer, Garciaz says. The great amount of time in her life Garciaz has spent as a probation officer is a reflection of Garciaz’s desire to help others and translates across to how she and her neighbors treat one another.
Garciaz is especially animated when she talks about her community, the Guadalupe Neighborhood. Interviewing an older person who has seemingly lived five lives and is from the west side is intimidating and interesting, especially as someone younger who is very much from the east side and before September 2008 knew nothing of the west side and hardly anything about urban life. It is important to remember that this difference in positionality the way we, as interviewer and narrator, interacts. The difference in positionality may lead to a hierarchical, objective interview relationship; we need to keep this in mind so we can remember to be as non objective as possible.
The way we interact affects the outcome and products of the interview and thus affects the way I view the west side/Guadalupe community. Maria Garciaz considers herself to be an ambassador to her neighborhood, and that it is her duty to defend it against the somewhat negative image the media has promoted. Garciaz states straight out during the interview that she believes that an outsider, such as myself, may make an even more credible ambassador. I can only hope that over time I begin to see a fully rounded picture of community interactions in the west side. Seeing the good, the bad, and everything in between enables me to be a better future ambassador and brings myself and hopefully others one step closer to realizing that there isn’t that dramatic of a difference between the east and the west side, and therefore bridging the gap in between the two.

Jessica Wilkinson

My thoughts and opinions on neighborhood have been affected and shaped by numerous aspects of my life, including my own neighborhood, religion, sex, and the region where I grew up and now live. Throughout the course of the University Neighborhood Partners Honors Think Tank class I have learned to recognize how these communities and social categories have helped me to gain a better self definition.

I grew up and currently live in Davis County, Utah. In my current neighborhood I fit into the racial and economic majority being a middle class Caucasian, and I fit into the religious minority not being a member of the LDS Church. I consider myself and take pride in being a strong and independent female.

Having lived all my life in Utah I felt I had a fair understanding of the Salt Lake communities that Brad has spent most of his life growing up in. Many of the aspects of his neighborhoods were very familiar to me having experienced similarities in my own neighborhood. What made the process of interviewing Brad enjoyable was to learn more about the differences, and to see the similarities through a fresh viewpoint.

I tried to approach the interview process with sensitivity and an open mind. I was fortunate to be paired with Brad, who made this process not only educational, but also fun!

Randy Wood

Over the last five months, I have had the pleasure of conversing with, eating with, laughing with, visiting with, talking with, and interviewing Muna on several occasions. As a senior at the University of Utah studying International Studies, German, and Economics, and in an effort to better understand my hometown community culture and diversity, I enrolled in the University of Utah’s Honors Department Think Tank dedicated to the University Neighborhood Partners (UNP). With a vision to better our communities, many students and residents in the Salt Lake Valley banded together to shape communities by learning and telling stories. After researching the west-side areas of Salt Lake (Fairpark, Rosepark, and Glendale), our small group of think tank members partnered with resident committees facilitated by UNP to learn from each other and provide an opportunity for some of the “urban pioneers” of Salt Lake’s west- side to be heard. This is where I met Muna. After meeting Muna in several different settings including our classroom and her home, I conducted a personal interview with Muna on January 31, 2009 to hear her story. How she came here and why she chooses to stay. The following condensed narrative has been compiled from actual dialogue, facts, and thoughts given during the course of the interview. It is written from my third-person perspective, often utilizing direct quotations. Some grammatical tense changes were made and changes to actual speech can be seen in [brackets].