Levee Baby
Follow the levee back home
The only semblance of nature in this town
Man made forests
Underpass Birds nest
Graffiti tunnel
Art contest
Parks are just too public
Levees are liminal
Follow the levee back home
The levee birthed me
Raised me
Call me a levee baby
Since 1997
From 4733 East Fremont Street
Now sits concrete
Near Highway 26
95215
Follow the levee back home
A portal
A bridge of sorts
Take the steps
Gravel underfoot
Follow the levee to work
Minimum wage
You spend all of your days
Just walking the levee to work
Droughtless Summers are so hard to find
Devoid watersheds
Lost track of time
Hot pink sunsets
The delta hyacinth
Follow the levee back home
Heat stroke
Bike pads
Flat tire
Try not to get jacked
Just follow the levee back home
From West To El Dorado
Hammer Lane
And Pershing
From I-5 to 99
Just follow the levee back home
Encampments
Displacement
Adjacent
Institutions
Follow the levee through UOP
From Okieville
To Brookside
From Bear Creek
To Stagg High
Just follow the levee to school
The only semblance of nature in this town
From Egrets to foxes
To tumbleweed towers
From night sky to sunrise
Just follow the levee back home
The levee birthed me
Raised me
Call me a levee baby
Eliza (Eli) Diana Eberhardt
Youth coordinator
What does a typical work week look like for you?
As the Youth Program Coordinator, I play a key role in shaping and guiding our youth programming. I’m one of the go-to people for organizing meetings, workshops, and events, while also mentoring a small group of passionate environmental justice youth advocates. My responsibilities include tracking their progress, supporting their growth, and helping to recruit and train new advocates. I actively engage with the community by attending local meetings and events, building connections, and spreading the word about our work. Along the way, I collaborate with our team, contribute to community-focused projects, and help bring our shared vision of environmental justice to life. Additionally, I’m involved in general operations, from event planning to attending essential trainings.
I also represent Youth Programs in meetings with partners under Stockton Rising, an umbrella project funded by a Transformative Climate Communities grant that focuses on addressing environmental justice impacts in South Stockton.
How’d you get to LMR?
I collaborated with LMR during my time as a Youth Empowerment Fellow at Changeist, and that's when I first saw the space and learned about the work that Youth Programs was doing. I then decided to get more involved and attend the Asthma Advocacy Day at the capitol in 2023, shortly after I was asked to share a poem of mine at an Air Quality panel at LMR aimed at listening to the perspective of Southside Stockton Residents. It was at this event that I realized my passion for social justice co-aligned with the mission of Little Manila Rising and I knew I wanted to become even more involved in the work. When a position opened up to work with youth, something I had been actively doing for the past 7 years, I applied and I am ecstatic to be a part of this ecosystem here at Little Manila Rising.
What do you like to do when you're not at LMR?
When I am not working, I pride myself as a creative and dabble in a wide range of hobbies like singing, playing guitar, ukulele, collage, poetry, and zine making. I am in a committed relationship with the arts, and a firm believer that any lesson can be taught through self expression, and that art is the pathway to true fulfillment. However, I am human, and when I am not inspired, or too tired from the work day to pick up my medium of choice, I am a huge movie buff. I love watching movies, especially indie movies, cult classics, documentaries, and A24 movies. I love watching something that leaves me reeling afterwards. I also enjoy playing cozy games like Animal Crossing, or Stardew Valley. I am a creature of comfort after all.
What does Stockton mean to you?
Stockton is home. I have seen this community thrive in times of turmoil, come together to support one another whether it's at a farmers market, a diy punk show, at the flea market, at the car shows. I see old heads and new generations come together and break bread over culture and music and family and food. I see people who harbor shame from being from here. People bring up the violence and leave out the resilience. People bring up petty politics and beef and leave out how their grandparents fought tooth and nail to get here.
See left to read a poem I wrote for a Poetry of Place Anthology titled "Center of Attention," published din 2023 by a local non-profit Tuleburg Press here in Stockton, Ca.,
A few things about me…
I am currently enrolled in a program to become a Harm Reduction Specialist, and my goal is to make recovery more accessible to all who suffer from addiction, and to take the stigma and shame out of what it means to be in recovery.