Growing up on the Southside of San Antonio, I had no idea what the Westside was like when I joined the staff of El Placazo, San Anto Cultural Arts' youth-produced community newspaper.

I found it absolutely amazing that even in my own hometown there could be so many differences in neighborhood pride throughout this city. The Westside had its very own special culture of pride marked in murals, vanguard hip-hop inspired fashion, slang, and lowriders that we didn't have on the Southside as much.

But what I've learned in my relationship with the center is that the Westside is much more than that. Almost everyday for a year, I went to San Anto and created alongside youth that vocal about what was going on from education to social issues like domestic violence and drug addiction.

It was raw. It was uncensored and it was not mainstream. That's made me attracted to the place, a haven for youth who had to be heard to escape the bad and capture the good in their lives.

We created for the community and to show other youth that their voices are important. It's a battle getting coverage of the youth perspective in mainstream media without adults always getting in the middle and San Anto afforded youth from working-class backgrounds like me to find their voice.

I joined El Placazo when I was 15, after my mom saw a story on the newspaper in the San Antonio Express-News. I remember my interview day as vividly as the vibrancy of that lime green building off Chihuahua Street I came to associate with liberty of self-expression.

We had no car at the time, so I rode the #68 bus down Guadalupe Street, and nervously bumbled my way to San Anto's building, meeting then coordinator Melinda Zepeda, who arms flailed in the front yard of the structure. Immediately, I was embraced and asked when I could start. A shy kid who didn't have the best social skills, I found myself alongside the dozen staffers at San Anto get-togethers, and being exposed to perspectives from ex-cons, prostitutes, and drug addicts in our pages every month.

San Anto opened my eyes to the beauty of a culture that is ignored by the mainstream. I had been shielded from much of the people's reality of fear and hope intertwined in the Westside and so well-documented in San Anto's work. All the stereotypes people had fed me about the Westside, about its crime and poverty even from classmates that looked down on it from my Northside college prep school, were irrelevant once I got there. It would be a phenomenon I'd feel down the road working and covering issues and people that were in plain sight, but also forgotten.

The Westside won't be forgotten as long as the youth and their mentors at places like San Anto keep the art and its inspiration to the community alive.

Bio: Francisco Vara-Orta, now 24, is now in California as a full-time staff writer for the Los Angeles Times.

I can honestly say that San Anto Cultural Arts has been a blessing in my life, The greatest achievement that resulted from my involvement with San Anto Cultural Arts was receiving my B.F.A. from the School of the Art
Institute of Chicago. San Anto has always played a positive role in my life, whether it was keeping me away from negative activities, or showing me the need for contribution in my own community.

it kept me involved within my community, in touch with contributing. My development as person and as an artist significantly improved, my character was enriched by the various opportunities I was able to articipate like community arts projects,

San Anto provided support(moral, educational, artistic,) that I wasn’t able to find in any other place. I received encouragement to achieve as much as possible and limits were never set. San Anto challenged me to take on leadership roles as an artist. I was always provided with mentors who taught me different skills . San Anto Cultural Arts was a turning point in my life towards a better path one that was helpful in guiding my transition into my career. San Anto embraced my potential as a young person and continues to
encourage. I see San Anto as a resource for betterment of the individual within a community.

Bio: Ruth Buentello graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Spring of 2008. She is now working at SACA as Assistant Mural Program Coordinator and Archivist.