Portrait of an American Woman Nathaniel Garcia

Meet Lile, a 19 year old woman from Oakland, California. Lile has worked many different jobs in her life. Her favorite job was working as a sign waver for Mancini Sleepworld. She talks about how sometimes people would wave or give her bottles of water. Sometimes people would even give her money. Not all the people were so nice though; some people would flip her off as she waved the sign. The worst job that she had was working with her grandmother cleaning because she felt like she had to do all the hard work and didn't get paid what she deserved. Lile talks about how she and her sister were expelled from Castlemont High School over a fight with cheerleaders. She talks extensively about her experiences at the school and how there were fights on a daily basis. She said that because there are so many students, there's constant conflict and not enough staff to keep order. She said there were little repercussions to the fights she witnessed, but that she was expelled nonetheless. She now attends a day school where she is learning how to code and program computers. She is finishing up school and set to graduate soon. Lile says her favorite part of history is the Salem Witch Trials and her favorite book is Zora Neale Hurston's There Eyes were Watching God. Lile would like to go to college and study nursing. She is currently looking for a job. Every week, Nathaniel Garcia interviews and paints a portrait of an American woman. See the entire series at www.nathanielgarcia.com/portraits

Meet Vera, a 25 year old artist from Oakland, CA. Vera was born in France to an American father and Vietnamese mother. She went to school in France until she was 7, then moved to San Francisco where she grew up.

Vera went to college in Massachusettes and she studied math and science, but now works as a full time artist. She made a shift from science to art because she felt disappointed by the lack of answers science could offer. She says she was originally motivated to study science because she was seeking an answer to the question of consciousness, a topic she found science largely ignored. She felt a desire to share her ideas with the world and switched her path to art. She creates abstract paintings.

Vera talks about her unique experiences taking 5-MeO-DMT, a hallucinogenic tryptamine, in a ceremonial setting.

Vera envisions a post-nation world in which America will be gone and humans will be better able to work together rather for the sake of humanity rather than as nations.

Vera likes to go to the top of Nob Hill and look at the city of San Francisco.

Every week, Nathaniel Garcia interviews and paints and American woman. See the full series at www.nathanielgarcia.com/portraits