Rocky Mountain Public Media, the home of Rocky Mountain PBS, KUVO Jazz, and TheDrop303
has developed a partnership with Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange to launch this monthly
essay series, as part of our vision to co-create a Colorado where everyone feels seen and
heard. These stories are sourced from community members across the state\u2014told in their own
words and selected from our 64-county community ambassador program. They are not editorial
products of our journalism team, but are first-person reflections on life in Colorado – building
bridges through empathy. To learn more about all of our brands and content, check us out at
https:\/\/www.rmpbs.org\/about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re starting the series with a piece written by one of our team members, JJ Caric, who
relocated to Grand Junction 2.5 years ago for a job with us and found so much more\u2026
I was born in May of 1997 in a rural town in Southern China. Time unknown. Weight unknown.
Length unknown. First fifteen months of life unknown. In August of 1998, I was adopted by
Italian and German parents from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My parents were and are the best
parents that could\u2019ve adopted me. I found support in every corner of my life growing up.
However, a throughline of my childhood, teen years, and still sometimes in my adulthood is the
resistance and refusal to acknowledge my Chinese background. Jokes were made to my friends
that I was 100% Italian and 0% Asian. Arguments were had between my mom and me about not
wanting to go to Chinese dance class and instead go to cheerleading, or gymnastics, or any
other activity like all the other girls my age attended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing up, I also only surrounded myself and became friends with white kids, thinking that was
popular, mainstream, accepted, and beautiful. Not accepting my natural hair, I dyed it blonde
from the age of 13 until this past year, when I was 28.
During this time of life, I also resisted and hated living in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh wasn\u2019t a \u201creal\u201d
city\u2026I was destined for Los Angeles or New York City, which were the only cities where I
applied to college. I ended up going to New York for my first year. Maybe it was the movies I
watched as a kid, but ever since I was little, New York was like a fever dream. It was exciting,
fast, entertaining, glamorous, and full of energy. Quite honestly, up until recently, the past three
or four years, I think I was chasing what everyone else considered beautiful or \u201cthe dream.\u201d It\u2019s
glorified on social media, magazines, and celebrity culture to look a certain way and live a
certain lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Little did I know, about two and a half years ago, my impulse decision to accept a job and move
to Grand Junction, Colorado, would have everlasting and profound positive effects on the way I
see myself and the world. To have a chance at happiness in Colorado, I decided to say yes to
everything. Mountain biking, climbing, skiing, hiking, camping, you name it.
I also decided to make friends with anyone and everyone I had a connection with. My first Asian
friend was someone I met in my first week in Grand Junction. She\u2019s still one of my closest
friends today, and funny enough, she\u2019s in New York now getting her Master\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My time so far in this beautiful Rocky Mountain state has been beautiful, messy, confusing, and
peaceful, and it has made me discover and meet myself for what seems like the very first time.
Who knew, I do enjoy camping and skiing, and large city crowds actually give me anxiety. Who
knew, I felt the most comfortable in my skin for the first time, so I decided to change my hair
back to black. My Colorado journey is not over yet, but so far, my time on the Western Slope
has been transformative in the most budding and blossoming way.
We Want to Hear from You
We\u2019re inviting community members across the state to share their own stories of living in
Colorado \u2014of identity, discovery, and what it means to belong.
Tell us about a moment or a place in Colorado that changed how you see yourself or your
community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Share your reflections at ambassador64@rmpbs.org
This is part of Ambassador64, our statewide listening initiative to ensure public media reflects
the voices of all 64 counties in Colorado\u2014starting with yours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rocky Mountain Public Media, the home of Rocky Mountain PBS, KUVO Jazz, and TheDrop303has developed a partnership with Colorado Ethnic Media Exchange to launch this monthlyessay series, as part of our vision to co-create a Colorado where everyone feels seen andheard. These stories are sourced from community members across the state\u2014told in their ownwords and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1410],"tags":[1264,1265,1262,1263],"class_list":["post-6643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spnosored-patrocinado","tag-colorado-ethnic-media-exchange","tag-grand-junction","tag-rocky-mountain-pbs","tag-rocky-mountain-public-media"],"yoast_head":"\n