Alexandra is the Online Editor for Granite Bay Today and The Gazette. This is her second year on staff.
Smoke hangs in the air high above Granite Bay High, filtering ruddy yellow light through the leaden sky. Though it’s supposed to be partly cloudy, the day is overcast, and the strange blanket of ashen clouds glows with diffused sunlight. Nostrils are filled with the scent of charcoal as the interview with Alexandra Felt continues.
Felt, a senior at Granite Bay High School, has short buzzed hair, a black, long sleeve shirt, and ripped jeans.
I interviewed her about her history, her heritage, and how the current political climate contributed to who she was.
We stood outside the publications lab, leaning against brick pillars.
Felt’s mother, Stanca Felt, was born and raised in the Socialist Republic of Romania, the one-party Soviet satellite state that ruled from the end of the Second World War until the violent overthrow of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime, firmly ending over four decades of political repression and corruption.
She came to the United States when she was 26 years old, and then met the member of the Church of Latter Day Saints that she fell in love with.
In the United States, Felt grew up in touch with her Romanian heritage, as her mother worked to ensure their history was not forgotten.
“My mom does her best to teach me about where I come from,” Felt said. “We always remember the revolution every year. We remember Romanian independence, you know, that’s an every year thing for me.”
The term ‘communist’ is frequently used in politics as an insult.
Given their past, I asked Felt how she and her family felt about this.
“It’s frustrating to (my mom), to me, to my family. (...) It’s not coming from anyone who has truly experienced what it’s like to have no freedom.”
Felt went on about what helped to form who she is today, including that she idendifies as gay.
“I feel much better and my parents are very supportive. (...) When (I) see people being, you know, put down for something that they can’t control and then also being a part of that, it just, you know, informed my views on equality and diversity and stuff.”
Felt’s family story is a unique one, of a mother who survived incredible repression before finding her true love in her adopted country.
Felt herself grew up in tune with both the American and Romanian aspects of herself, and even found the acceptance to also discover another part of herself.
She’s an inspiration, and the students of Granite Bay High could learn much from her story.
