Author Biographies:
Cassidy Ernst- My name is Cassidy Ernst and I was born on November 28th, 1997 in Visalia, California and that’s where I grew up until I moved to San Francisco after graduating from Redwood High School. My life has always been very family oriented even after my parents divorced while I was in the fifth grade. Even though this traumatic experience impacted my life extremely negatively in the beginning, considering that I had to face having a father suffering from alcoholism and the fact that my family was not the family I had thought it to be my whole life up until that point in time, I still cherished my family and turned to them for guidance as well as close friends,which I believe constructed me to be the person that I am today. I think it inspired me to want to see the glass half full after so many years of blame and of seeing the glass half empty and later as I aged it built a complex within me that I can never shake and one that I never want to. A complex in which I constantly think of what others are going through and how I could help or improve their situation. This desire to empathize with others lead me to what I am majoring in at San Francisco State University; Criminal Justice with a hopeful minor in psychology. My intentions with choosing this major were to reach out through the justice system and aid victims of crimes while also having the privilege of hearing about what other's are going through on a daily basis or what they have gone through in the past. At one point I had wished to be in the medical field but I realized that I wanted to help people with their psychological wounds opposed to their physical ones. Another reason I may of given up on that aspiration could of also very well of been because both of my parents are nurses and when you grow up with one parent on a constant day shift in the ER and one on a constant night shift in the ICU you kind of loose your desire to be there constantly as well. My older sister and I shared this same view, which is why she went into a career that is not on the spectrum of the medical field at all but in the field of sales. She is seven years older than me and until my father remarried she was my only sibling but now I have two more, one being a 4 year-old half brother and the other a 14 year-old step sister.
In the next couple of years I plan to study abroad and finish college with a degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in psychology and will hopefully be out in the world helping other people to the best of my ability.
Alexandra Ricci- My name is Alexandra Faye Ricci and I was born in Modesto, California on August 25, 1996. While I was growing up my time was split living with my mom in Merced, California and my dad in San Francisco. My parents divorced when I was only a year old so I’ve been going back and forth for as long as I can remember. Both of my parents had remarried by the time I was six so I have a younger half sister from my mom and step dad, and two younger half brothers from my dad and stepmom. They are now aged 12, 11, and 10 years old. After graduating from Merced High School, I decided to attend SF state because I liked the English Department and some of my family lives here as well. I’ve never had a dream career or a strong drive to do something specific with my life. But I’ve loved to read my whole life and that is what has lead me to pursue a possible major in English. I haven’t received much support on that from my family but its what I think I’d like to do something with in the future. English has always been my favorite subject as well as being the subject I do the best in so I’d really like to keep with it. Recently I’ve also considered minoring in Spanish because its a very interesting language to study. In the next few years I hope to finish college and have a much more solid idea of what I want to do with my future.
Tajamul Rizvi- Hello, my name is Tajamul Hasan Rizvi, but I just go by TJ. I was born in Trenton, New Jersey on April 6, 1996. I moved to Livermore with my family in 1997 and have been here ever since. I am the youngest of four, my oldest brother being 32, my sister being 28, and my other brother being 26. My parents are from Lahore, Pakistan which makes us the first generation in the United States. It is pretty interesting having both cultures mix in life. Some things that are normal to us is very alien to my parents. For example, my parents think that you should not have a hobby while studying. They have picked up the American culture pretty well and have assimilated nicely into it. My dad is an Engineer and my mom is a teacher. My oldest brother is a mechanic for Porsche. My sister works overseas organizing shows for bands as well as fashion shows. My other brother works at an outdoor outfitter store and also goes to school. I just attend college here and work at a mall selling hats, with whatever free time I have devoted to working or driving my car. I graduated from Livermore High School in 2014 and decided to come here to San Francisco State for an engineering degree, but I have not decided yet. We will see what happens in my future, but I have some pretty high hopes for it.