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Bryan Estrada

@bryanestradaca

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⚖️ Comunidad, Justicia Social y DEI-B
🌈 Proud LGBTQ+ | 🇲🇽 Chicano
📚 MBA UC Davis | 🎓 Fresno State '24
🎨 @someday_soleo | 📍Fresno, CA

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So much love and tradition woven into the art here in Old Town SD. Marigolds everywhere... draped over altars, tucked into doorways, scattered across the ground. A trail left behind for a loved one to find their way home.

With so much weighing on our communities right now (especially in the Central Valley), I keep coming back to this: our culture, our people, our traditions HAVE ALWAYS carried us through. We remember. We mourn. We stand together, because we are all we have. We need to continue telling their stories, because stories only end when we stop telling them.

Feeling inspired to build something of my own soon. For the people who once held our hands, gave us words of strength and comfort, and shaped us into who we are today. I'll make sure to leave a light for the forgotten too, so no one has to make the journey home alone. Descansen. 🕯️ #díadelosmuertos #oldtownsandiego #community #love #storytelling taken in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park by @bryanestradaca

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6 days ago

@zoetheband 💙 taken in Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl San Diego State University by @bryanestradaca

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13 days ago

Happy LGBTQ+ History month! ❤️🏳️‍🌈 I took a stroll down Placita Olvera, the oldest street in Los Ángeles and the birthplace of the city.

The mercado is full of life. So many shops, kind and welcoming vendors, music, tasty foods; it was one of my favorite stops during my trip.

It can be easy to forget how much history lives in a place people just call cute or touristy. La tierra recuerda y nosotros también. 🤎 #placitaolivera #olverastreet #lgbtqhistorymonth #pride #love taken in Olvera Street Plaza by @bryanestradaca

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15 days ago

Centro Cultural de la Raza. I got there right at opening, a windy day, and for a little while, the place was entirely mine. There's something about standing alone in a space that's usually full, where people gather, dance, celebrate, create, build community, and feeling all of that energy still living in the walls even when no one else is around. The colors inside felt like they were holding their breath, waiting for the doors to open. I felt lucky to catch it in its quiet. ❤️#CentroCulturaldelaRaza #SanDiego #Cultura #Community #Love taken in Centro Cultural de la Raza by @bryanestradaca

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18 days ago

My first Guelaguetza was everything! 🥹Thank you @grace.aleli and @jlzorrillas for being there with me. ❤️

Fresno really showed up! All eight regions of Oaxaca were represented: Cañada, Costa, Istmo, Mixteca, Papaloapan, Sierra Norte, Sierra Sur, and Valles Centrales and you could feel how much heart went into every part of the day. During one of the sets I got pulled on stage to dance with a group from Stockton performing "La Danza de los Diablos" a Oaxacan dance blending Afro-Mexican, Indigenous, and Spanish Catholic traditions, representing the battle between good and evil. Getting to be part of that, even for a short moment, felt so special.

Spent the afternoon soaking it all in: culture, music, vendors, and way too much good food 🤤 aguas frescas, memelas, tlayudas, pan dulce, café. The people and the culture made it what it was. So much joy, energy, love and PRIDE everywhere you looked!!

Hope you enjoy this little highlight. Genuinely grateful I got to be part of it.

Gracias @cbdio_ and @fresnocitycollege 🙏 por organizando.

#Guelaguetza #GuelaguetzaFresno #Oaxaca #OaxacanCulture taken in Fresno City College by @bryanestradaca

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19 days ago

Hi, friends. I thought you'd enjoy seeing some of the artwork I got to see at Chicano Park in San Diego. Over 80 murals, painted onto freeway piers, walls, and local businesses.

A little backstory: this park exists because the community fought for it. In 1970, when construction crews showed up to build a Highway Patrol station on land the neighborhood had been promised as a park, residents occupied the space for 12 days until the city backed down. What was meant to be concrete and steel became a canvas instead, murals of Aztec warriors, Quetzalcóatl, farmworkers, revolutionaries, and community leaders, painted by the very people who fought to claim it!

Walking through, you're not just looking at art. You're standing in the middle of a community's refusal to be erased, pier after pier, story after story. You can feel the love embedded into everything.

I spent close to two hours walking the entire park, slow and unhurried, pan dulce and café de olla from Panchita's Bakery in hand, quiet before the crowds, just me and decades of history above my head. ❤️

#ChicanoPark #BarrioLogan #ChicanoMovement #ChicanoPride #HispanicHeritageMonth taken in Chicano Park by @bryanestradaca

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22 days ago

La Plaza de Cultura y Artes, a Mexican-American museum and arts center in LA (right next to Olvera Street). So many stories, so much emotion. I sat and watched one of their videos on repeat for ten minutes just taking it all in. Deportation and separation of families is an absolutely vile and inhumane thing. One that leaves its mark on people much longer than I think we're able to comprehend. It's easy to remain disconnected from this stuff when all the media seems to do is bombard you with so much all at once.

I am grateful for the quiet afternoon that allowed me to see what was before me; to feel the sadness, the sacrifice, and the continuous fight towards dignity.

Inspired, fueled, and always moved to contribute more. ❤️‍🔥

#LaPlazaDeCulturaYArtes #ChicanoPride #QueerChicano #HispanicHeritageMonth #RaicesMexicanas taken in LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes by @bryanestradaca

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24 days ago

¡Fresno te manda amor, México! ❤️🇲🇽 ¡Adelante, juntos!
#FiestasPatrias #Fresno #México #Orgullo #Love taken in Downtown, Fresno by @bryanestradaca

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a month ago

While in LA, I got to check out a few remates: Santa Fe Swap Meet, Valley Indoor, and San Fernando's. Each one brings back memories.

For most of my childhood I watched my mom and dad get up at 4:00am, hustling to cook breakfast; my mom boiling her favorite tea or café de olla, my dad making burritos and packing lunches before leaving home. Some weekends I'd go with them, small enough to wedge myself between the merchandise and lunch boxes. I remember feeling embarrassed, ashamed of being poor, of being seen by people I knew, not realizing that everything my parents were doing was for me. I'd sleep on the ride over and wake to metal clanking (vendors assembling stations), the smell of churros and tacos, my favorites of course.

I felt spoiled, knowing my parents knew the other vendors, who'd spoil me with aguas frescas and food for free.

It's hard, labor intensive work, that both of them have done ALL of their lives. I can see the wear and tear on their bodies, my dad's coarse hands, my mom's walking gait and beautiful, sun spot freckled face. Between the remate, el campo, and my dad working as an elotero through his cancer treatment, they've done whatever it takes to provide for our small family.

Vendors' hands touch the food that ends up on tables across this country, feeding people who will never know their names. A reminder that immigrants, laborers, farmworkers provide for this country more than they'll ever be given credit for. I ask you remember the small vendor on the corner, the swap meet seller, the elotero, because they have a family they're trying to provide for, to feed, to house, to get by the best way they know how.

I wonder whether these families ever get to feel it fully, the true extent of their labor, physical and emotional. Maybe some do, I hope. Maybe watching their kids get opportunities they never had is exactly how they know. I have to believe that. A beginning so many of us are fortunate to have and that continues to inspire me.

Lots of love, siempre. #swapmeet #remate #love #family #todoparalosniños by @bryanestradaca

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a month ago

¡Feliz día de independencia, México! 🇲🇽🎉 #mexicanindependenceday #elgrito #vivamexico #16deseptiembre #hispanicheritagemonth

I decided to take a solo trip to SoCal this past week and I'm looking forward to sharing all the beautiful things I saw with you.

Here I am standing in front of the Virgen en El Mercadito, a shopping area in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles.

To everyone celebrating, may we rejoice in the beauty, strength, and resilience rooted in Hispanic culture; the films, food, danzas, clothing, tienditas, fiestas, or whatever that may looks like for you.

To my Mexican community here in the U.S., I know times are tough, as they always seem to be, but our fight, our spirits, our pride will not be broken, nor will it ever be taken away. I know celebrating can feel like the last thing we want to do in times of crisis. Please give yourself grace and space for whatever comes up, the joy and the heaviness both. We celebrate together, we fight together. I will continue to support, show up, and voice where I can Te amo mucho. 🫂🇲🇽

More from my trip coming soon 🤎 taken in El Mercadito Night Market by @bryanestradaca

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a month ago

A little late posting these, but here they are making waves in my mind again. I wish I could capture the coastal air, the sun, the flowers, the beauty of the tchotchkes I found along the seashore and share them with you all. Maybe pictures will do justice? Enjoy! 😎☀️ taken in Hermosa Beach, California by @bryanestradaca

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a month ago

Today is supposed to be a celebration of 250 years of American history, but for many of us, the weight of life is hard to ignore. Watching families being separated day after day, "progress" begins to feel like a word from the past.

My heart is with my community today, with the brave individuals who left everything behind for a chance at a better life, and with those who continue to bring so much color and life to our society.

I am so grateful to call this place my home, a place where so many different cultures and languages weave together to make us who we are.

Regardless of borders or citizenship status, every single person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. by @bryanestradaca

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3 months ago