About Documented Prism

Image of a prism, taken from http://www.thetech.org.

I have always been interested in science, but I never felt like a career in science would be attainable for me- I didn’t feel smart enough.

Growing up, I attended eight different high schools. My parents divorced, so I moved back to California, where I was born, with my Mom and two brothers to be closer to my Mom’s side of the family. It was definitely rough times for me and my family- from moving in with relatives, to staying at a shelter for women and their children, to getting special housing, moving back with my Dad, in Fargo, Nd, to moving back in with my Mom, and her remarrying. It was hard to stay focused in school. I wasn’t able to get involved with any extra-curricular activities or make many friends in high school due to all the moving. I ended up with a GPA of less than 2.0, which resulted in me enrolling at a community college.

I attended Chabot College in Hayward, Ca for three semesters, then enlisted in the US Navy. While at Chabot, I entered with the intention of majoring in Political Science. After becoming involved with the college’s newspaper The Spectator, I decided I should major in Mass Communications instead.

My Dad was in the U.S. Navy (it’s how he met my Mom in the Philippines) and always talked about his time in the service with great enthusiasm, so joining the navy was something I had in the back of my mind, but also didn’t think I’d be able to do.

While I was an editor on my college newspaper, I also wrote and took photos for the paper, as well as doing layouts for my section. I was the features editor for the first two semesters and then I became the sports editor for my third semester. I loved it so much that I took my second semester with the paper without credit and still dedicated 12-14 hour days on campus, devoted mostly to my work on the paper.

At that time there was a lot of controversy going on at the school, over whether or not it was ok for military recruiters to be allowed to recruit on campus. The students who wanted them removed, based their case on the grounds that the campus policy prohibits discriminatory groups on campus and with the military’s, then active, “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy, ruled that the military is discriminatory to the LGBT community. I picked up an assignment to go to the army recruiting office to interview a recruiter for a story to get a perspective from the recruiters’ side. The army recruiter I made an appointment with that day was running late, so I took a walk and noticed the navy recruiting office right next to it.

I ended up walking into the navy office on a whim and walking out with an appointment to go to Mountain View, Ca with one of the US Navy recruiters to take my ASVAB. My Mom completely freaked out over my sudden decision to join the navy, but later realized it ended up being a good decision and appreciated all the support I was able to give back to the family while I was in. I served for about five years. I was a Navy Master At Arms and served in Bahrain, Greece and Jacksonville, Fl. While at my last duty station, I met and married my husband.

I ended up separating from my husband after about a year and a half, and moving back to California.

I am now attending Diablo Valley College, in Pleasant Hill, Ca, with the hopes of transferring to UC Berkeley, in Berkeley, Ca, to get my bachelor’s degree, and then hopefully getting accepted into grad school. I believe now that a career in science is attainable and I’m more focused on my education then ever before.

What truly pushed me further into pursuing my interests in science was the journey my spiritual path has taken me throughout everything, from my time in high school to present day.

I was raised Catholic, but ended up getting into Wicca in 10th grade. I dropped Catholicism and took that first step away from the church and into Paganism, which really put me on a path of spiritual exploration and discovery.

While Wicca was a good starting point I realized that it was no longer as encompassing for me, as I took on new ideas and threw out no longer relevant ideologies. I became more of an eclectic Pagan, taking things from different spiritualities and meshing things into something that felt right for me. I continued on getting less into caring about a need for a deity and realized it was all about me and the lessons I have and need to learn in this life and self-transformation.

The further I delved into my spirituality, the more I realized an incessant need to root my beliefs in scientific reason and findings. Now I believe that science and spirituality need to go hand-in-hand.

This blog is meant for me to explore ideas that bring science and spirituality together. I’m still in a process of learning with all of this, so I don’t expect any of this to be perfect yet, but I feel I’m onto a good start.

I’ve learned that science on its own can take on a spirituality of itself, in its pursuit to unlock the mysteries of the Universe. I’ve come to realize that by simply investigating into the truth of the Universe, and taking the time to expand my mind and learn and grow as a human being, I’m also, concurrently, taking part in the development and transformation of my spirit.

When talking about spirituality in my blog, I’m not referring to religious doctrines or book religions. I don’t believe basing your beliefs solely on what a book or a preacher tells you does anyone any good. I’m not in favor of blind-faith, and feel that blind-faith is detrimental to society as a whole. Spirituality in this context is simply about a person’s spirit and their individual path to self-development and transformation- in whatever form that takes place.