Photography

Ceci Renee La-pier FuentesGender: “2Spirits”, Gender Neutral (I take female or male pronouns)
Age: 18
Hometown: Gresham, Oregon
Ethnic Heritage: Ojibwe

Family Background: I’ve come from a very loving family, though sometimes very dysfunctional I accept that life will never be easy nor will it ever be completely perfect. In life there comes tragedies and heartbreaks but I know that I will always be someone there to grab my hand and lift me up after falling, I may not have a lot of fancy things or live in the nicest home but I feel comfortable in the life that I live with my family. I accept them and they accept me, we may have our differences but I know when it comes down to it they will always defend me and be right by my side no matter the circumstances. 

Family Traditions: My family practice our tribe traditions which include something called a Bear Ceremony where myself and some other individuals that dress in a bear attire and do healing work on our loved ones friends and strangers. We also practice a Sundance Ceremony which is a ceremony of sacrifice and selflessness others have different views of what it means but that’s what it means to me.

Artistic Talents/Skills: I would definitely say that I have a talent for writing, I’ve spent a lot of my time writing when I didn’t have people to talk to so I used writing as a coping skill to help move on from hard situations. I can also play a lot of music instruments by ear, which means I can mimic music from listening to the way it sounds so I would say that is a skill that I have. I am not much of an artistic person I can only draw when I  am very concentrated. 

Goals and Dreams: I have had many goals and dreams in life but I think one of my biggest goals/dreams is to help provide a safe and comfortable home and life for my family, my family is the most important thing to me I would be nothing without them.  And my family has had a lot of stress and heartbreaks over the years and I would like to be able to take some of those burdens away.

Greatest Strengths: When it comes to my strengths I would definitely say that being social is one of my biggest strengths not just being able to make friends easily I also mean being able to be fully open to strangers no matter the situation and putting out my views on hard topics in life, which helps others open up and talk about struggles but also making myself approachable in all aspects of life.​