What Returns With the Tide
On my daughter’s graduation, the memory of collecting clams with my mother, and the quiet hope that art can bring lost things back to life
My daughter is graduating this year from San José State University, and I could not be more proud.
From a very early age, she knew what she loved: telling stories, drawing worlds, creating characters, and bringing emotion to life through art. What surprised me most was how certain she was when she chose SJSU. She knew the department, the school, and what she wanted to do with her life.
I was skeptical, not because I doubted her talent, but because that kind of clarity is rare at such a young age.
Over time, she proved it was real.
She stayed true to herself, to her craft, and to the stories she wanted to tell. Today, seeing her graduate and help bring a project like To Turn a Tide into the world feels incredibly special.
When change feels impossible, what inspires someone to become the change themselves?
Sometimes the answer begins with something small: a memory, a story, a moment that refuses to fade.
For Sofi, part of that inspiration comes from a memory we share.
At the center of it is a memory I still carry very clearly: collecting clams as a child to bring home to my mother, and then cooking them together. I remember how proud that made me feel. I remember how good they tasted, how simple and beautiful that moment was, and how something so small could hold so much love.
And now, to see my daughter bring those memories back to life through her own art moves me deeply.
There is another part of this story too. Over the years, those clams disappeared. Pollution, neglect, and the ways we have too often failed to care for the environment damaged that little world. Nature faded, and with it, those beautiful and delicious moments that once felt so abundant.
But the good news is: they are coming back.
Maybe not in the same numbers as when I was a child, but they are returning. And to me, that feels like hope, the kind of hope that inspires someone to imagine a different future and, sometimes, to become part of the change themselves.
That is part of why this project touches me so much. It is not only about memory. It is about what we lose, what we carry, what we repair, and what can return.
To Turn a Tide, pitched for SJSU’s BFA 2026 program, is more than a comic anthology. It is rooted in family memory, in generational experience, and in the hope of breaking difficult cycles. Sofi helped shape the overall creative vision, led a team of fellow students, and brought the guiding story to life with both talent and heart.
She has also been a dedicated advocate for community and representation, serving the SJSU WIA Student Collective first as Graphic Designer and then as President.
I am proud of her talent, her discipline, her leadership, and above all, the heart she brings into what she creates.
Watching her grow into herself, with such clarity, care, and creative force, has been one of the greatest joys of my life.
Seeing her turn family memory into art, pain into meaning, and the possibility of return into story makes me even more proud.
If you would like to support the project, here is the Kickstarter:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1091924088/to-turn-a-tide