Be Proud of Yourself.
“What are you most proud of about yourself right now?”
That is the question I ask strangers I meet throughout my day to day life. I have met a handful of people from around the world, and I have spent a couple minutes asking them to share their stories with me. Some are just starting over in life, others are content with where they have been for the past decade. Everyone has a different story, a different point they are at within their lives, but they all of one thing in common: they have every right to be proud of themselves.
Adrian Spears, 61 | San Luis Obispo “I made a decision to allow my daughter, who is 4-years-old, to be adopted by a couple…we are working out something to where I will still be in her life. It hurts that I made that decision…but I’m proud of myself for doing it.”
I met Spears in San Luis Obispo on the corner of Garden Street and Higuera Street. He shines shoes for a living and has been working this job since 2012. Spears began in Santa Barbara and moved to San Luis Obispo about three years ago. This street corner has been Spears’s spot since November 3, 2020.
I met Klinger at Gallery Exposed, a photography gallery located on 7th San Carlos Street in Carmel-By-The-Sea. The gallery currently showcases two photographers’ work; Klinger’s and the owner’s, Rachael Short. Klinger was born in Prague, Czech Republic and moved to the United States with his parents. His passion for photography comes from the escape that it gives him. He has been taking photos for the past 35 years.
Viktor Klinger, 47 | Carmel-By-The-Sea “I am proud to have made it this far. It has been a good journey and where I ended up.”
![Grace Cheney, 18 | Harmony
“My creativity. It is what fuels me through the hard times in school. Finding ways to be creative through [school] or just hard times in general, I am glad to be able to see the fun in things and make things original to me](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/6340a1c97e645f24c21d520b/db3a37b9-ec6f-4eb7-9903-c7925efe5398/Grochowski_220305_BeProudOfYourself_0029.jpg)
Grace Cheney, 18 | Harmony “My creativity. It is what fuels me through the hard times in school. Finding ways to be creative through [school] or just hard times in general, I am glad to be able to see the fun in things and make things original to me.”
I met Cheney in Harmony, California, a small, unincorporated community in San Luis Obispo. She works at the Harmony Valley Creamery inside an old truck that has been converted into a mobile ice cream parlor. She attends San Luis Obispo Classical Academy. She is currently a senior in high school but states that she would be a freshman in college if she did not take two years of second grade.
I met Ross here at CBU. We work together for the student publication, Lancer Media Group. She will be graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and New Media and plans to become a photojournalist. Her inspiration for photography began after the loss of her son when she realized she did not have good photos of him. Ross hopes that she will be able to document history and leave behind impactful images that will last lifetimes.
Tonia Ross, 55 | Riverside “I am graduating from California Baptist University in May (2022). I made a decision in 2006, and now I have made my dream come true.”
