Humans of The Springs

Our project Humans of the Springs is directly modeled after Brandon Staton’s amazing venture, Humans of New York, a project he has published on social media and in books since 2010. He encourages others to create their own version.

The Springs is vibrant, dynamic and diverse. We love it. The idea to do something like this came from walking on Boyes Blvd and Hwy 12 with our sons and our dog. We are long time residents of the Sonoma Valley and love living here. Both of our families moved here in the early 1970s.

It is a great experience working together on this project.  We are always surprised at the variety of people’s experiences in our community, and are consistently impressed by how quickly people agree to participate, how sincere and thoughtful they are with their answers, and how generous they are with their time. It’s been a very cool experience so far.” Find us on face book at facebook.com/HumansofTheSprings

— Jennifer Gray Thompson and Douglas Thompson

SUBJECTS:

Robert, Owner of Lonesome Cowboy, Highway 12

“We came here in 2007 when Sandy’s stepdad passed away.  He owned a home here on Verano. We thought we’d rent out the house, but we looked at each other and said, ‘Why not live here?’ I love the community.  It’s a small town atmosphere, much like where I grew up.  I think of everyone as my family. It’s beautiful, really. This one time, a dad was walking by to buy his little daughter ice cream.  She was so fascinated by everything. She stayed for the longest time and then had to come back.  Her dad just sat there and ate his ice cream while she walked around the store and looked at everything. I didn’t bother her.  I just watched her.  She walked everywhere like she knew exactly what was going on.  It was beautiful.  The care that I see that this community has for their children, that is what I love.”

Familia: Adolfo, Maria, Jimena (translator): Hwy 12, Boyes Market Parking Lot

Maria: “I have been here for 16 years. It’s calm here and I love the people. I miss my family in Mexico.”

Adolfo: “I am a vineyard worker.  I have been here for 35 years. What would make me most proud of my daughter is to make her a doctor”

Jimena: “The number one thing my parents try to teach me is to be nice.”

Benito, La Michoacana Bench, East Thompson & Hwy 12

“I have been here in Boyes Springs for 25 years and work in the garden, landscaping. I have my children here. My daughter is 13 years old and my son is 8 years old.  What I want most for my children is to see them every day and to help them with school. I am not with my first wife. I am married again. My wife is American and I met her at a party of a friend of hers. She has a daughter and a son.”

Clyde, West Thompson & Hwy 12, Fruit Basket

“My grandfather died in 1978 when I was a teenager.  I grew up in the South and my grandfather was from Holland and was a person there was really no obstacles for him. He got to do and see things.  This was a big deal in the South because the South is not about mobility.  Experiencing him was different from most of the things I knew.  He influenced the way I see challenges.  I don’t see a lot of obstacles and I think that comes from him. I moved here a year and a half ago from San Francisco. I wanted a place that was close to the city and maybe a bit flatter.  And I wanted some more land. It’s a bit slower than I’d like, but it is also more peaceful in ways I did not expect.  There’s a level of calm and relaxation. People I’ve met and have made a connection with me are really special. The people here are more into making connections.  And they are here to be here.”

Jeannette, Owner of Republic of Thrift, Hwy 12

“I was raised in Morgan Hill, which is a lot like Sonoma in that it is a small town in a valley. My dad was a farmer and I had to work for him in the summer from the age of thirteen, sorting cherry tomatoes — eight hours a day, five days a week. I tried picking strawberries, but it was too hard. My sister started at the same time – she is two years younger. My dad said he would pay us two dollars an hour, but at the end of the summer, it was one dollar. We used the money for school clothes. I wanted to go out into the world, so after I left there, I travelled a lot.  My first job was a Great White Shark travel guide. I lived in San Francisco where I met my husband.  He is from Ireland and was here working for a bank.  We moved here in1999 and we have an 11 year old. I just recently started eating cherry tomatoes again.”

“I like to sit here and watch the people go by.”

Amy, Republic of Thrift Parking Lot, Hwy 12

“I have a large family.  I always have someone there for me.  I have been so lucky to have both my family and my husband’s family here. I grew up here, but my husband grew up here and a big city in Mexico: León, Guanajuato. It’s funny because we live here and we have 10 chickens and stuff.  My husband says he never thought he would live in small town and raise chickens, but he loves it.”

“She loves rocks.”

Alex, Owner of First 2 Fight, Lichtenberg & Hwy 12

“Growing up, seeing my mom and dad working just to get by.  I didn’t spend a lot of time with mom and dad at the same time because they were always working fulltime jobs. Someone was always going to work. My mom always told us ‘No one is going to give it to you; you have to work.’ My first job was when I was 15 years old at La Casa.  The first day was Cinco de Mayo and all of the older guys said I was going to cry and quit. I sucked it up and pulled through. After my senior year, I went to work for Gloria Ferrer.  A lot of kids quit, but I stayed there for 13 years. My mom always said, ‘It gets hard and you have to stay.  You cannot quit or that is what you will get used to.’ That’s where it comes from: my mom.”  Two years ago, my dad was diagnosed with leukemia and he is now in remission.  He talked to me when he was diagnosed and told me ‘I know it is hard, but make your passion your job. You love the gym.’ I think he didn’t want me to regret anything.  It was scary to leave a paycheck and 401k, especially because I have a daughter and rent.  But when I get up in the morning, I don’t need an alarm.  At the gym, I have kids from 7 years old to adults in their 50s and I feel a lot of responsibility towards them to be patient and a good example.  The kids see what I am eating and how I am training. I watch what I post on Facebook. I have to be a role model.”

Family: Alyssa, Robert, Millie and Audrey, Arroyo Road

Alyssa: “After my parents got a divorce, I grew up in Sonoma and Hollywood.  I would spend one year in Sonoma; the next in Hollywood. I learned the same people are everywhere. What’s cool about moving every other year is you can decide who you are going to be.  You can decide ‘Oh this year, I am going to be a jock or whatever.’ It was hard with boyfriends because you’d have to break up at the end of the year or try the long distance thing, but letters are a thing that used to happen.  Sonoma was really hard for me – I don’t want to say mean things about it – but going to LA and then coming back here was rough. Sonoma was behind LA in lots of ways.  I didn’t understand why people here would tease someone for being gay when in Hollywood, being gay was celebrated. I was brave because I knew I could just switch schools and be in a different group if I needed to. People say to me a lot ‘You say the things I am thinking’ but I think I am brave and that most people are the same amount of hilarious, but they don’t say what they are thinking.”

Millie (left): “To be brave is to do something you really don’t want to do, that scares you, but you do it anyway.  One time when I was brave was yesterday when our dog Bosco got out and I didn’t want to go outside to look for him. We went up the street and got him back.”

Audrey (right): “I feel good after I am brave. I was brave at school when me and my friends were drawing these cats and all of the boys really hated them. They were bullying us and so we made a debate with all of the kids in the class. Some of the boys were even on our side. In the end, we won the debate.”

Robert: “I’d say being brave for me now is kind of accepting the things I have to do as an adult to get where I want to be in life. School.  This house. I used to do the least amount possible. Now I practically kill myself to get the things done so at the end of the day, I can feel good.  I don’t want to feel like I am not facing my fears. I feel that everyone is going through stuff at different times, but this is a big one.”

Bryan, Calle Del Monte

“I like this neighborhood.  I like when the roads are busy and you see people. That’s what I like.  Everywhere I go I see people walking and I just say hi to them and it’s cool doing that. I’m 19 and got kicked out of high school in the middle of 9^th grade. I would fight a lot and get in trouble. I took an extra piece of metal from shop class and got arrested by the school cop.  I forgot to leave it. I never went back. My parents got real mad. My grandfather owns the taqueria on the corner and works with my mom – she’s the one with the green eyes. They made me go to work there so I wouldn’t be home, playing video games or whatever.  I got to turn myself into county jail for 3 months on March 16^th. I hope to get my GED there – my lawyer is going to sign me up and then I will sign up at the JC.  I’m going to look these three months as an opening of my eyes to see what I really want. I want to be a leader. My little brother is coming up and I tell him to be good. I want to own a business like my grandfather. I’m tired of seeing my mom cry.”

Lynda, Vallejo Street

“I love this street. I’m originally from Liverpool, England.  I was a Mod before the Beatniks.  I came to America because everyone started to look like clones of the Beatles.  And women in England at the time didn’t have cars and drive.  American had more opportunity – women drove cars.  I came here in 1965 and lived on the East Coast. I didn’t have any family come over and I didn’t marry, so it was hard to be away from them. I was living on the East Coast and decided I wanted to live where the sun shined, so I took a Greyhound bus to the city.  I lived with this guy. We had $1200 and started driving to Santa Rosa and we took Hwy 12. That’s how I found Sonoma. I always wanted to live in the country. My first place was on Adobe Canyon Road and I grew flowers.  I loved it. In life, you get guided but you just have to listen.”

Hari, Owner Boyes Springs Food Center, Calle De Monte & Hwy 12

“I am from Eastern Nepal.  My son is a doctor in Illinois and we bought this business together. I’ve been here since 2009.  The culture is different.  I miss my family though. My brother is here in Santa Rosa and my youngest son has been here to study.  My two other sons are in Nepal. I have four grandchildren from my son in Illinois, the doctor.  I live here in an apartment, but I am going to buy a house.”