Jose & Maria Avellaneda, Seward, Alaska, Spring 2009
I am a first generation immigrant from Colombia who moved to Alaska
at the age of three. My family’s arrival in the late 1980’s was best documented by the 4 new entries in the local phone book under Avellaneda:
a grandfather, two sets of aunts and uncles, five cousins, plus my immediate family of five.
The three Amigos
From left to right: Erika, Oscar, and Herbert
The core of my strength is built upon the endurance my parents had to carry them through the first few years of speaking little English and working two jobs. Their devotion and work ethic has influenced my siblings and myself in every aspect of our professional and personal lives.
Nowhere else is this more evident than in the accomplishments of my younger siblings. My sister Erika studied abroad to gain a better understanding of how to care for this planet’s delicately complex life and those of its creature inhabitants. My brother Herbert is a disciplined Air Born Ranger who repels from helicopters in the deep of night in remote areas of the world. His enormous respect for life stems from the love he has for his daughter Lilly and his wife Desiree.
Me & Laura
Laurita and Oki.
I am an accomplished photographer with a fierce desire to understand the human race. My fascination with our social behaviors has led me to document various people and events through photography, multimedia and writing. I am a teacher, community organizer and business owner with a socially conscious bent. My constant hunger for new knowledge has kept me curious about the reality around me and respectful to the realities of others. Over the past year Laura Norton-Cruz and I have grown immensely because our constant push for one another to become the people we see ourselves as.I am incredibly happy to have found a partner for life with whom I can grow old with and continue the fight for social injustices, all the while loving each other unconditionally.
About Oki
Los Avellanedas in AK
Jose & Maria Avellaneda, Seward, Alaska, Spring 2009
I am a first generation immigrant from Colombia who moved to Alaska
at the age of three. My family’s arrival in the late 1980’s was best documented by the 4 new entries in the local phone book under Avellaneda:
a grandfather, two sets of aunts and uncles, five cousins, plus my immediate family of five.
The three Amigos
From left to right: Erika, Oscar, and Herbert
The core of my strength is built upon the endurance my parents had to carry them through the first few years of speaking little English and working two jobs. Their devotion and work ethic has influenced my siblings and myself in every aspect of our professional and personal lives.
Nowhere else is this more evident than in the accomplishments of my younger siblings. My sister Erika studied abroad to gain a better understanding of how to care for this planet’s delicately complex life and those of its creature inhabitants. My brother Herbert is a disciplined Air Born Ranger who repels from helicopters in the deep of night in remote areas of the world. His enormous respect for life stems from the love he has for his daughter Lilly and his wife Desiree.
Me & Laura
Laurita and Oki.
I am an accomplished photographer with a fierce desire to understand the human race. My fascination with our social behaviors has led me to document various people and events through photography, multimedia and writing. I am a teacher, community organizer and business owner with a socially conscious bent. My constant hunger for new knowledge has kept me curious about the reality around me and respectful to the realities of others. Over the past year Laura Norton-Cruz and I have grown immensely because our constant push for one another to become the people we see ourselves as.I am incredibly happy to have found a partner for life with whom I can grow old with and continue the fight for social injustices, all the while loving each other unconditionally.
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