Not My President

After Don’t Let Me Be Lonely by Claudia Rankine

This unintentional collection of micro-essays is dedicated to my Spring 2026 Ethnofiction Through Contemporary students in Orange County, California (OC). Without their weekly discussions and their willingness to put their opinions and stories on the page, I would never have started this series of notes. Muchas gracias to my partner, Dr. Manny, also known as mi guapo. He not only listened to my readings aloud each week but also helped me select the footnotes and consented to having his life made public.

A Note on Methods

This unintentional series allowed me to set my own guidelines, nonnegotiables, and experimental

style, which helped me avoid giving these U.S. presidents more time than they deserved. The process

also enabled me to evolve as a human, writer, and social critic.

Here are my guidelines and non-negotiables:

• No more than 1 single-spaced page.

• No more than 3 footnotes, but at least 2 are required.

• Include something personal and/or regional (OC-based) with some national information.

• Footnotes are sourced from open sources, such as me, internet searches, or books.

• No more than 2 days per note, but editing is allowed until publication.

• Grammarly is allowed for line edits and shortening when necessary. Humans too.

• Always, always bring forward a woman’s issue.

• Also, my life counts as a “woman’s issue.”

Note 1: Mailing or Emailing Ronald Reagan

Email from Andrew Tonkovich:

“To Err is Reagan^[1].  Terrific.  I will add to my collection.  Sometime I will wear and display my Nixon watch.  Wow, you will be impressed.

Email response from Sarah Rafael García:

Glad it was received! The post office worker was like, this address isn’t coming up in the system. I was like, they live in the canyons, always working against the system. He laughed and said, ok I’ll confirm it, and let’s see if it gets there. 

You know how many times people tell me to visit the Nixon library? Too many. 

When I went to Pittsburgh, too many told me to go see the Andy Warhol museum too. I’d say well, if only Valerie Solanas^[2] had a museum. lol”

I keep very few addresses on my phone these days. Not because I don’t visit people in Orange County, but because it’s rare to mail anything to anyone. As a bookstore owner, I receive many book donations, many of which include items other than books. On occasion, an online order makes it to our email inbox, and on that same occasion, it gets shipped to the bookstore because the youth worker who packed it had never addressed an envelope before and swapped the to and from. Email is also now considered antiquated by some. However, I do have a tight circle of people in my life who still appreciate walking to the mailbox before opening their laptops. I am the first to admit that walking to the mailbox is my favorite form of procrastination, rather than opening my laptop.

When I find something random in book donations, I try to think of someone who might find it useful or even funny. Sometimes it ends up as a social media post that exposes my Gen X identity; other times it’s just a text image for that one person who will get it right away. When I find Reagan in the dusty boxes labeled “grandpa’s things” or in a grocery tote with no brand, I know who to contact first.

Among the many horrible things Ronald Reagan is known for, like closing homeless shelters, the Iran-Contra Affair, the war on drugs, and mass incarceration, and possibly being a B-list actor for the Baby Boomer generation, I don’t associate him with those things. I know exactly what the Reagan era means to me. Amnesty.^[3]

Later, I found myself Googling “10 horrible things reagan is known for.” And amnesty was not one.

 ^[1]To Err is Reagan: Lies and Deceptions from the President is a 1987 satirical paperback book by Mark Green and Gail MacColl that compiles and debunks over 300 inaccuracies, gaffes, and misleading statements made by President Ronald Reagan. This unintentional email exchange, with local editor and friend Andrew Tonkovich, started this series.

^[2] A nod to the current state of affairs regarding the 2026 reporting of abuse of women by the women abused. Valerie Solanas shot Andy Warhol and later wrote the SCUM (Society of Cutting Up Men) Manifesto in the 1960s.

^[3] The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), signed by President Ronald Reagan, granted legal status to nearly 3 million undocumented immigrants. My father was granted amnesty 6 months before he died in 1988, while my mother remained a legal resident. His citizenship provided my mother with support after she became a widow, with no work experience or U.S. citizenship, and a single mother of 3 daughters at the age of 32.

Note 2: Washington vs. Nixon vs. Carter

The first president I remember is Jimmy Carter^[4]. I don’t know much about him beyond what he looked like. I do remember that on TV, he had gentle eyes and white hair, and I think I could’ve trusted him if he were my dentist or my school principal early in life. I can’t remember whether the TV was still in black and white back then, but today I remember him in color. Maybe that’s because I get a lot of books about him donated to the bookstore, and I’m remembering the book covers.

Over the years, I learned from my younger prima Deli that Carter was a humanitarian. He was always supportive of LGBTQ rights, despite his Southern Baptist upbringing, and he also pardoned all Vietnam draft evaders, something I hope exists in later years for those facing the draft now. Deli loves Jimmy Carter. When I find books about him at the bookstore, I let her know. I haven’t yet shown her one she hasn’t read. Deli isn’t really my cousin by the usual definition. She is one of four children born into the Linnert family. The Linnerts are my first-communion Catholic godparents, Consuelo and Tom, from St. Joseph’s^[5] in Santa Ana in the early 1980s. Tom was the first good white man I grew up knowing like family. He, too, has gentle eyes and white hair these days. I still greet Tom with a full hug and a kiss. I no longer genuinely trust other white men when I meet them for the first time. One or two get side hugs. Few get handshakes. Fewer have proven themselves worthy of my belief, kinda like U.S. presidents.

Recently, I asked myself what I knew about U.S. presidents in my lifetime and realized I know very little. George Washington was the first president. I learned that in elementary school. Over the years, I learned on social media that he was a slaveholder for 56 years. Nixon was president when I was born in 1974. I know his infamous line, “I am not a crook!” and the Watergate scandal. I also know that the Richard Nixon Presidential Library & Museum is in Orange County, but I have no desire to visit it, even though many of the university students I teach have told me their proms were held there. One student shared that she deliberately took her prom picture at his grave site as an act of defiance. I had no idea Nixon was from Yorba Linda or buried in Orange County^[6] until this semester. Maybe I know very little about the presidents before Carter because this country never accepted me as a real citizen. Maybe I don’t care to know more because I never felt proud to be their “citizen.”

^[4] From Wikipedia: Jimmy Carter is best known as the 39th U.S. President (1977–1981) who brokered the historic Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, established the Department of Energy and Department of Education, and championed human rights. His legacy also includes a major post-presidential career in humanitarian work and being the longest-lived U.S. president.

^[5] Scholar Jonathan E. Calvillo, author of The Saints of Santa Ana: Faith and Ethnicity in a Mexican Majority City, wrote that several records show that one of the first St. Joseph's parishioner was Della Molina Cruz born and baptized in 1892. The Spanish surname was used to trace that the Molina Cruz household identified as "Indian" in the 1930 U.S. Census Bureau and "American Indian" in 1949.

^[6] Based on recent census estimates, approximately 63% of Orange County, California's population identifies as a race or ethnicity other than white alone (non-Hispanic), making it a majority people of color county. The population is diverse, with significant Hispanic (roughly 34%) and Asian (roughly 22%) populations. For more info, visit: https://dornsife.usc.edu/eri/2025/04/15/equity-profile-orange-county-2025-storytelling

*Cover Image credit: An adaptation of the Presidential Portraits created in Canva by Sarah Rafael García.

Original Image source: “Presidential Portraits: Library of Congress Free to Use and Reuse: Library of Congress.” The Library

of Congress, www.loc.gov/free-to-use/presidential-portraits/. Accessed 16 Apr. 2026.

Sarah Rafael García is an author, community educator, curator, and performance ethnographer born in Brownsville, Tejas and raised in Santa Ana, California. She’s the founder of Barrio Writers, LibroMobile and Crear Studio — all art programs initiated as a response to build cultural relevance and equity for BIPOC folks in Orange County. Sarah Rafael García is an author, community educator, curator, and performance ethnographer born in Brownsville, Tejas and raised in Santa Ana, California. She’s the founder of Barrio Writers, LibroMobile and Crear Studio — all art programs initiated as a response to build cultural relevance and equity for BIPOC folks in Orange County.