Willow Glen Resident Cover Story: Nov. 16, 2005 By Alicia Upano
True Colors: Young adults express themselves on canvas

Heart of Chaos hosts the second Youth on Fire exhibit in November, 2005
Nichole Nye's painting, 'Untitled,' is one of a variety of works on display.

Circle Time: Willow Glen resident Joanne Hobbs (center) is a
Brooks College Sunnyvale instructor who works with young
artists (from left, clockwise) Cynthia Garcia, Hector Garcia,
Abe Guzman, Nicole Nye and Michael Denning. Their work
will be showcased at the Youth on Fire exhibit.

True Colors: Young adults ExpressThemselves on Canvas
He was a class-cutting, skateboard-riding student with dyslexia. In his senior year, Curtis Manzano wasn't going to graduate. But Willow Glen resident Joanne Hobbs, his Lincoln High School teacher at the time, saw a young man who was talented, sincere and insightful. He just needed direction.

Manzano took Hobbs' computer graphic design class as a sophomore and junior and began hanging around her classroom during his senior year, sometimes three periods a day, he says. He would use the time to focus on his favorite hobby, drawing. Self-trained, Manzano drew archetypal figures infused with Native American nature themes. Manzano is one-quarter Comanche, one-quarter Navajo and half Hispanic although he never knew much about his indigenous heritage.

"Drawing after drawing, he turned out these amazing pieces," Hobbs says.

She encouraged him to continue. She offered to print his work, and even bought him a sketchpad for Christmas. Although he had found a nurturer in Hobbs, graduating from high school still looked like impossibility, and his personal life was unstable. In 2002, Manzano told Hobbs he was running away.

"Sometimes I wake up and wish I had another life," Manzano told Hobbs.

Her response was heartfelt. "I can give you another life," she told him.

The short exchange became a contract between mentor and student. As the two began working together, Hobbs found Manzano had reason to wish for better. Manzano's father was absent throughout his childhood. His mother struggled with drug and alcohol addictions. He had to fend for himself at the age of 11. He slept on the sofas and floors of friends and families, and once in a van for six months. At age 12, he began working, earning $1.25 per box of candy he sold on the street. By age 14, he was earning room and board in his cousin's home by lifting stone statuaries.

"It was hard," Manzano says. "I was never anywhere too long."

Now with Hobbs' help, Manzano could travel down a road that would lead him toward a brighter future.
Hobbs helped Manzano complete high school, which enabled him to graduate through a home schooling program.Manzano's creative life also began to evolve.

Road to discovery
Under Hobbs' guidance, Manzano began expressing himself through art--paintings, airbrush, sculpture and glass blowing. Read more

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