2 10 49 Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Language of Interview English Format Video, audio only, text only Audio Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Joohye Oh City (Region, State) and Country of Origin for 2nd and 3rd generation, this is the place of family's origin Brazil Current City of Residence Where in Kansas or Missouri the Interviewee currently lives Lawrence, Kansas Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Caio (C) Joohye (J) C: So I actually, I'm living in the United States for a second time. C: So I did my master's here [Lawrence, Kansas] for two years. And I'm doing my PhD at Department of Spanish and Portuguese. So I've been here for four years, four-and-a-half, pretty much. J: And do you consider yourself an immigrant, you think? C: That's interesting because this is something that I asked myself all the time because officially I'm a non-immigrant. Right. When I look at my visa, when I look at my I20, that–that’s pretty evident that I am non-immigrant. C: But I consider myself an immigrant. I live here. I've been here for four years. I've been it's been my socials, It's been my life. It's been my reality nowadays and I don't even I don't really know if I'm ever going back home or if I'm leading this country because I'll be here for at least three or four years until 2020…maybe 2024, 2025. C: So yes, I consider myself an immigrant. J: And you also talked about [how] you receive the Fulbright and then that's how you arrived at Miami to teach. Can you explain or can you speak more about–Was there a Brazilian community in Miami or was there relate to or how–What was it like? C: So I–my experience was pretty unique because I–I thought I was gonna get a stipend and live wherever I wanted. But I had to live on campus. And that was a historically black university [HBCU]. C: So that was interesting in a way because I come from a city called Salvador, which is considered the largest black city outside of Africa; it has a huge black–Afro-Brazilian population. C: So I was looking forward to the sharing and exchanging, like, this cultural aspects with them. And that was very positive though in this way. But I–I had to live surrounded by students and I was a TA. So there was a hierarchy and I had to be aware of that. So I wasn't–I couldn't not fully…I could not make many friends, you know. C: Regarding the Brazilians, I actually met a couple Brazilians. But they were, let's say, I have this. Maybe it's, maybe it's some kind of prejudice. But many Brazilians who live in Miami, that's my perception, hey are like upper middle-class Brazilians are middle-class, upper-class Brazilians who have a different way of seeing life as I do. So I wasn't really into those people. C: So I did make a couple other Latino friends, friends with people from other Latin American countries. That was very nice. Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic. And I gotta improve my Spanish for sure. Yeah…so. C: But most of my social circle was related to school, which was the Afro–the African-American population. So that was a microcosm. And say, you know, my experience was more of a microcosm in that university than Miami itself. C: I would enjoy the city sometimes, like on weekends. But that was, you know, that wasn't part of my daily life. I would stay on campus most of the time. C: But that was positive. I liked it so much. That's why I'm doing my minor in African Studies. African African-American studies. J: Yeah, That is wonderful. Then I saw that in a University Daily Kansan article that you, you do lead or you lead the Capoeira Club? Is that–Do you still continue to? C: I'm actually the president of the club. So we got some funds to hire an instructor. So we have classes twice a week with this instructor from Brazil. So yeah, I was the one who tried to get the funds–the funding for that. C: So yeah, I'm still leading the club and I'm also leading a Brazilian Student Association, BRASA, at KU. So I'm leading both groups. J: And could you explain more about why you decided to become president–your involvement and or like was it so that more people could be aware of these aspects of Brazilian culture? C: Well…yes. First of all, to be honest, it was because I wanted to spread my wings. I was like, I want to meet–I want to be able to meet other people from outside of the department at a personal level. C: But yes, I did want–and I do want to promote Brazilian culture. Is this something–this something I'm very aware of. C: I try to talk about Brazil as much as I can. You know, whoever I meet, whoever I meet. I try to talk about the country, about the cities, about this dynamics of race, politics. So this is something that I do all the time. C: It's political in a way because I do that in my work and my papers. I tried to include Brazil as much as I can. I try to organize events like parties, academic events. We did organize something interesting last semester. And we want to organize a Brazilian week next semester. So it is political as well. C: So yes, I have several motivations at a personal level and also at a political level. J: Does this also sort of translate over to the Lawrence Public Library? You did the Cunetacuentos or the Multicultural Storytime? Would you be able to explain a little bit more about that? C: Oh yeah. I love that. They actually have done so many things. I’ve done so many things at KU, now that you're asking. Yeah, there was a public library and the project if–as far as I remember, it was a project GRASP. If I'm not mistaken, which is the Graduate Association of Students of Spanish and Portuguese. Then some of the grad students would take turns going there and volunteer to tell to do the storytelling. So I would do that in Spanish. C: But then there was the Multicultural Storytime. And I remember, I think it was a, it was sponsored by the library. And I volunteered to tell stories in Portuguese. So I would do that. I would tell stories in Portuguese and Spanish. C: So basically half an hour on Saturdays, once in awhile, yeah. C: So, yeah, so that was a very good way of also teaching a little bit of the vocabulary. I would try to show a little bit of the vocabulary before telling the story to all the vocabulary as if I were in a classroom. So the parents and the kids would have fun and would learn and then I would do the storytelling after this. J: Okay, so we covered the Multicultural Storytime, the Cuentacuentos, the Capoeira club. Also, you did a samba, forró, and Zoom class for dance. Dancing? C: Yes. That's what I'm saying. Like now that you're asking, like, I have realized that I've done a lot of stuff here. C: Yes, some samba, forró,and zumba. It was an initiative of BRASA, Brazilian Student Association, and LAGO, Latin American Graduate Organization. C: So we would take turns, some of the students would take turns teaching whatever music style they would know. So I would teach the Brazilian [dance] styles once a month. So the class that would take place once every two weeks, and then we will take turns. C: So I would teach once a week, once a week, once a month. I taught samba; I taught forró, which is kinda resembles salsa a little bit, and Afro-Brazilian of music. Yeah, different Brazilian styles. C: And this is actually something that I want to resume because we had to stop because of the pandemic. Actually even after COVID, we will teach on Zoom for a couple of months, but then we suspended it. C: This is something I really want to resume. I want to bring this up by next semester and see who would like to volunteer to resume these activities. So again, this is me being political about spreading as much as I can about Brazilian culture. J: We've mentioned a lot of your own personal efforts in order, like you said, to promote on a personal and political level, like you said. But how do you, what do you do for yourself to connect with Brazilian culture? Do you still cook traditional foods or listen to the radio stations or read Portuguese newspapers? Or are these events also a way [to connect]? C: I'm actually, I'm actually strongly connected to Brazil because the first thing I do, after waking up, I put some podcasts. And then hear the news about Brazil. So much more into what's going on in Brazil, what's going on in the US, honestly. C: And especially because now we've been dealing with this president called Jair Bolsonaro; he is neo-fascist. Who is, you know–represents a disaster in Brazil, economic disaster, a political like, health disaster because of COVID. C: So I've been trying to follow as much as I can, you know, to keep up with what's going on there as much as I can. So I watch the news every day. I listened to podcasts. I listen to Brazilian music. C: Actually–basically, this is my daily workout. You know, before at night. I usually, I like this a lot. So I have different playlist with different choreographies, dance routines of Brazilian styles and stuff. So this is something that I do everyday. I keep looking for new songs, for example, new choreographies. C: So that's how I basically, this is basically how I worked out. I didn't say it like. C: And I'm always in touch with my friends. I'm always talking about friends and family. C: [On] social media. I follow lots of politicians and follow, lots of artists follow. Yeah. So I can, I'm still very connected to Brazil. And I'm actually here in the US because I–it's not because it was not just a dream. You know, It was not to live the American dream, to be honest, it was because the country [Brazil] is going through an economic, very serious economic crisis. So I just felt like I had to go somewhere else to be able to thrive. C: So, but I'm totally connected. And that's why I have this Brazilian Student Association. I have weekly meetings. I organized weekly meetings for people to get together and speak Portuguese. And I always expect to see Brazilians there, you know? C: So it's a way to be connected to other Brazilians. And it's been successful because, you know, I always have the chance to make a good crowd, you know, every, every week. So yes, I've pretty much connected. C: And this is something interesting because a lot of people in Brazil, they are surprised when they talk to me after a long time they get there. They're still surprised that I have a strong that I still have my strong local accent from my hometown because they expect me to meet other resilience. C: With time. I would lose my accent, but I don't, I haven't. I still have this strong local accident from my hometown and I make sure I keep it, you know, I really want to preserve it. This is my–part of my identity. J: And I know we touched on this with the other previous things we've talked about. But what would you say about maybe the Brazilian community within Lawrence, like greater Lawrence outside the University of Kansas. J: Is there, would you say, a Brazilian community? Or, how– how would you define it? C: I would say Brazilian community. Yes, we do have a very tiny Brazilian community in Lawrence. We have I don't know how I don't actually know how many Brazilian students are at KU. C: But I know of 30 students. 30 students, which is not a lot. But yeah, we have this very small community. But I know that in Overland Park, Olathe, in these towns surrounding Kansas City, there are more Brazilians. C: There is this Brazilian Academy, which is a studio where they offer [indistinguishable]. So lessons–Cappoeira lessons, Brazilian dance in different music styles. Dance classes. C: So there are many Brazilians who live in the area. So yeah, we do have a community and presented community here, but really tiny comparatively. If you compare it to Miami or Boston. C: Boston has the largest amount of Brazilian immigrants in the country. So it is pretty tiny, but just sad, like I wish there were more. J: And, you mentioned how you were able to bond with the other Africans and African Americans in Miami. And so I was wondering, were you able to form other bonds that were similar across cultures, across identities within Lawrence as well? C: Yes, because actually, this is what my department–actually my department, there are people from–this is what I've heard. Like in the department of Spanish and Portuguese. They're our best students for several countries, even from the, even from the United States. C: You know, like because there are so many people from so many different countries. So here the Department, Spanish and Portuguese will have, I have colleagues from Korea, Colombia, from Spain, Panama, the U.S., Uruguay, Argentina. Jewish Americans. Christians. C: So, yes. And outside of the department as well, I have friends from the Middle East, from Asia. East Asia, from–from Eastern Europe, Russia. So yeah, I really like the fact that I have so many friends from so many different countries. C: But unfortunately, I don't know many African-Americans here. I don't think there are as many. But yeah. J: Thank you for that comparison. This is, I guess, the final question and sort of a wrap-up question. J: Wth you–since you've had all these exciting experiences, I'm doing the Capoeira and also living in Miami and then Salvador, going back to Salvador, Brazil. And now you're here in Lawrence. Do you have any advice or wisdom that you would like to let the younger generation know or just other individuals? C: Yeah, actually, this is what I tell everybody. There isn't a perfect place to live. There isn't a place of dreams. I don't think you will find happiness in a place; it is not the place itself that will make you happy, but the circumstances you– C: That's what I told my friends in Brazil. That they can be really happy where they are. But they can be really unhappy where they are. C: If they come to the U.S. they can be really happy, but they can be really unhappy. It will depend on their legal status, will depend on the city where they're going to live, on the opportunities that they will have. C: So it will depend. C: I know Brazilians that are miserable in the U.S.; I know Brazilians who don't want to leave this country. I know Brazilians who are indifferent. They are okay. They will be fine with any work: with whatever, you know. C: And I know Brazilians who are really happy because they have good jobs, have stability and I know Brazilians who are unhappy because they have no perspectives, they have no–they are poor. They live in a very violent zone; it will depend. C: So what I would tell this generation is don't try to escape, try to live abroad as a way to escape from–as a way of escaping from your sadness or whatever. You know, I don't think another place will necessarily make you happier. It will depend. There is no formula. This is what I tell everybody. C: I actually, I, yesterday I gave a speech to this group of fifth grade students in Brazil. And I told them this, you know, that a person can be really happy in Brazil because we have all their things, for example, I don't have my family here [in Kansas]. I miss my family. C: But I have stability. I have safety. I feel really safe here. I don't have to be afraid of robbers, because Brazil can be really violent. So there are pros and cons. C: So there is a Brazilian, there was a Brazilian singer. I don't know if that's..if he’s the author of this. But he would say that living in Brazil is good, but it sucks. Living abroad sucks, but it's good. I think that it was Tom Jobin. I might look it up eventually. C: So this is what I would say. You know, there is no secret formula. Each experience is unique. There are happy and unhappy experiences, good and bad experiences. This is what I would say. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Caio Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from Salvador, Brazil to Lawrence, Kansas Description An account of the resource Living in Lawrence, KS at the time of this interview, Caio is a student from Salvador, Brazil. He first arrived in the United States to teach Portuguese in Florida where he remembers being able to connect to a diverse group of individuals because he grew up with a region that is racially and culturally diverse. Caio briefly went back to Brazil before arriving in Lawrence, KS. He is enthusiastic about sharing Brazilian culture with the community and is the president of the Capoeira Club, a member of BRASA, the Brazilian Students Association, has led Brazilian dance lessons and was part of the Lawrence Public Library’s Cuentacuentos and Multicultural Storytime. His advice for the younger generation is to focus on doing the best you can within your circumstances. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010s Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Lawrence, Kansas Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <iframe width="400" height="285" id="kmsembed-1_gxmh9bhb" src="https://mediahub.ku.edu/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/1_gxmh9bhb/uiConfId/45147491/st/0" class="kmsembed" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allow="autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-modals allow-orientation-lock allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-presentation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" frameborder="0" title="Heartland Caio Interview"></iframe> Brazil Community Education Identity Lawrence Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Joohye Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Diana Location The location of the interview Lawrence, Kansas Language of Interview English City (Region, State) and Country of Origin for 2nd and 3rd generation, this is the place of family's origin Bogota, Colombia Current City of Residence Where in Kansas or Missouri the Interviewee currently lives Lawrence, Kansas Intermediate point in journey (1) City/State or Country to which interviewee (or parents/grandparents) traveled before coming to current point of residence Lansing, Michigan Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Diana (D) Joohye (J) D: So we lived there from, oh my God, 2008 until 2012. D: Then we went back to Colombia because my husband had a Fulbright. So we needed to went back. So we were in Colombia for five years. And after that, he decided that he wanted to apply to jobs here in the United States. And I was agreed. D: So first we came here to Lawrence, Kansas for one semester because he was a visiting professor. D: We came here in August 2015 until December the same year. At the end of that period, KU offered him a job. So we went back to Colombia for one year to get ready and have papers and everything. D: And we came for good at the beginning of 2017. D: And he start work as a professor here in KU in the Communication [Studies] Department. And six months later I start here in Spanish and Portuguese Department as a lecturer. That was the beginning. J: Could you explain a little bit more in detail about your first experiences when you talked about your first arrived in Michigan? I bet that it was, there are some things that maybe were shocking or maybe some things that are similar. Maybe there's some things that were like “wow.” Could you explain in detail a little bit more? D: Yeah, of course. D: During that time we didn't have kids. So it was a totally different experience. I didn't speak very good English–I'm still working on that–but during that time my English was very…it wasn't enough. So that was difficult for me. D: But I started studying English every day. And that was incredible [and] helpful because I was immersed in the culture. So I had to speak English every day. So my English improved very fast. D: We really like Michigan. We were–we lived like a student, so it was different. [It was a lifestyle] with a small budget and we had a good group of friends. They're from different parts of Latin America. So our experience there was more like a student here, I think so. D: We–we found that Michigan State was a really diversity [sic] campus. It was–there were people from every part of the world. D: So there was something very different for me because I used to live in Bogota, that is a big city. But there are not a lot of people from other countries. So that was different. D: And what else? And before that, I worked a lot in Bogata. I did my masters, so I was always busy. Then in Michigan, I studied English in the mornings and then I was free. So I had a lot of time in my hands and that was totally different from my life before Michigan. D: And I start to do different things, travel a little bit inside this–Michigan and make friends and to craft and that kind of stuff. D: And of course, we need some food. Because Michigan has, we lived in East Lansing, that is next to Lansing. And we found in Lansing some Latin American markets. So we were able to find some Latin American food there. D: And also in Asian markets, we found some Latin American food or at least food that was similar to our foods. So that was great. D: And I had a lot of time to read. That's something that I love. D: That was like at the beginning and we really fell in love with Michigan. It’s a great, great part of this country. J: Would you also say that there was a strong Latin American community in Michigan? Or how would you describe what or was it mostly like being in University you're talking about because they are university students or was there also presence in the community? D: I'm not sure about the community–the Latin American community in Michigan–MSU had–during that time I'm not sure if there is still have that–they have Latin American group with the students and also professor[s] and staff. D: So when we go there, the Latin American group contact us and they gave us like a basket. With some gifts, some stuff that we were going to use and need, like, for example, pots, and also silverware, blankets. That [type] of stuff. D: That was really amazing because we felt welcomed. D: And immediately we start to to get together with them. They had different activities during the year, like a Halloween or Thanksgiving. Some parties to–to people–people be able to talk and meet. D: So that's why we were able to have a good group of friends from Latin America. We were in the same situation. We were students, or actually we also had some professor that became friends and we had a good group there. J: Would you also like to share, you mentioned that your husband received the Fulbright then you guys then you had the opportunity to go back to Colombia. Would you be able to discuss what that was like after some time in Michigan and then back to Colombia again? D: Yeah. It was very difficult. Because when–before we went back to Colombia, my first kid was born. He was born in Michigan when he was maybe two-months old, we went back. D: We had a totally different situation. We were new parents. We were tired. We were lost. And I think it was more difficult to went back to Colombia then to came to Michigan for the first time. D: It was more because when we came here, we knew that it was temporary. It was an adventure. But in Bogota, it was our real life. We were new parents. So it was difficult for my husband and for me; at the beginning, it was more difficult for me. D: But after, I don't know, maybe six months, seven months, I start to accept the situation, to get used [to it]. And my husband started to feel sad, nostalgic. Because also Bogota is a very big, crazy city. The traffic is terrible. It’s like a big city like New York, Chicago, I don't know. Many people. It is crowded. The transportation is crazy. Sometimes could be insecure [unsafe]. D: And Michigan…Lansing is a small town. Everything is easy. You get very fast to every part of the city. D: So that was like a shock. We knew that Bogata was like that. But we weren't aware that we were going to miss that much–the life that we had in Michigan. J: And then when you came back to Lawrence from that from the Fulbright and then to Lawrence. Would you also be able to describe more specifically that transition? D: Again to the first time when we came here as a visiting professor? J: Yes. D: Okay. I came here. We came here when my second child was two months old also. So that was tough for me. I wanted to came because I knew that it was a good opportunity for him [Diana’s husband]. He was absolutely sad about his job in Bogata. He really wanted to be able to research more and here is easier than in Columbia. D: I was–I wanted to support him and since I had maternity leave, because in Columbia you have paid maternity leave, we decided that it was a good time to came here. So we did. But it was very difficult. We live in an apartment that is part of the KU apartment from visiting professors small apartment, but it was enough. D: But I didn't know anyone. I was with a newborn. He cried a lot. My oldest boy didn't know how to speak English. So when he went to the daycare, he was miserable. He cried a lot. I was very sensitive. I think that hormone because of the postpartum. And my–and my husband was working like crazy because he felt that [he] got that one was an opportunity that he need to to take advantage of. D: I was–I was lonely, lost. I didn't know…It was difficult. I took advantage of be with my baby. But at some point, you need to talk with other adults. That was difficult for me. I don't have a good memories about that time. I like it. Lawernce. Because Lawrence is charming, but I didn't know anyone, so I don't know. J: Did you feel like after some time when you became a lecturer for the Spanish and Portuguese Department, you were able to start to feel more of the connections with other adults? D: Yes! Of course, because we were here as a visiting professor for one semester and then we went back to Colombia for one year. So that year was weird because we knew that we were going to came back again. And I knew that my life here, what's going to be different from the life that I had during those four months when we came here for the first time. D: So I was preparing myself and I knew that I was going to have a job and [a] different experience. D: So during the first six months when we came here for good. It was difficult because I miss my family. I wasn't sure about the day. That was the right decision for us, especially because of family and friends. D: But then I start to see that my husband was happy. My oldest kid start to learn English very fast, very easy. And my youngest one, at that point, was one year-and-a-half. So it was easier. And he start to–to–to go to the daycare as well. D: So I had more time for me and then I started to work. And, yes, that changed everything because I like to be active. I love to be with my family, but also I love to have my own life, my projects, my time. D: So it was good. D: That was a very good change of the dynamic for me. J: Would you be able to explain a little bit more when you said, “I like to have my own life.” Like some of them more in detail, like the projects or activities are the ways that we're able to do that? D: I love reading. I like to read and when you have a babies or kids it is very difficult to find the time to do it. Because at the end of the day, you're so tired that you just want to watch TV or I don't know…So for me it was very important. It is very important to have time, not just after they go to sleep. D: Just like I–in the middle of the day when I when I am awake to do certain stuff like a reading or meditate or just go to a coffee shop and work from there, or maybe have lunch with a friend. Or just watch my own shows, not just Paw Patrol and Peppa Pigs. Or a date with my husband or talk like a long time with my mom or one of my friends from Columbia. D: Or workout. I like to walk. I like to walk by myself sometimes with my family, but I prefer by myself. And it's not, not, not like as something very special, but it's important for me not just be a mom or a professor or a wife. It is more like I like to be able to do wherever I want during certain moments of the day or at least of the week. J: And also you start, you had the opportunity to start as a lecturer in the Spanish and Portuguese. Could you explain what it was first like lecturing and maybe preparing materials and teaching new classes of students and things? D: Okay. I had experience teaching at MSU so I was familiar with the college–I don’t know–contexts. Then in Columbia, I was a teacher in the middle school, so that was very different. D: So when–when I started to work here, I have, of course I was scared because I am an immigrant. That moment in the political context was very difficult in this country. This is still difficult, but at the time was when Trump start to be a president. So we were really scared of that. D: Even…I mean we were legal and everything, but still we didn't know how was going to be living here with that contexts, with that political situation. D: So when I started to work and found like a, maybe because I teach Spanish, usually. Students are more like open-mind. If you want to learn another language, it is because I think so, you know or understand that the world is more than the United States. D: So that was, that was a relief, like to see or to able to feel like the students were, like, nice, respectful, welcome people from different backgrounds. And this [KU’s Department of Spanish and Portuguese] Department of course has different people from different countries. So that was good. D: I did–I had to prepare material, but I had during that time a coordinator that he was very, very helpful and he was ready to help me, to explain me, to guide me. So I felt support. After, I don’t know, two months I was more comfortable. D: It was at the beginning, it was easy, I think so. I was a scared of course, but it was easy. And I felt like I was able to be myself as a teacher like my own mark or whatever. Yeah. J: And also you feel like before were there certain things which made it difficult for you? And you said you were able to be yourself when you started to teach. But before were there things that made it more difficult to be yourself or yourself at some times and not others? D: Can you reframe the question? J: That you are able to be myself as a teacher. And I was wondering with the like the students were open-minded and respectful. Were there other factors that allowed you to be more into yourself in your teaching? D: Okay. Yes, I think so. I had a supervisor but he never tried to [im]pose his view. He was very open to hear my ideas. Very respectful with my methods. I felt like I was able to propose different things to decide. We had to follow some–some maybe no activity, some topics. D: But I was able to decide if I wanted to explain certain topic the more deep or not or, like, I was able to read, my students, took decisions and my supervisor was very respectful with that, and I really appreciate that. That's why I felt like I was able to be myself. D: I had to follow certain stuff, but it didn't feel like I was repeating something that other person did. J: Okay. And this is sort of going back to one of the first things you talked about finding certain particular ingredients in some Latin American markets and also as Asian, Asian, some Asian markets. And I was wondering, is food, your primary way of staying connected with the Colombian culture or reminding you of Bogota? J: Or is it also, do you think there's like a linguistic aspect because you also teach Spanish, so the food and the language. J: And are there also other customs that you practice or that you hope that your family will continue? D: Food is important, of course, I am not the one who cooks at home, it is my husband. I don't like to cook. So he tried to cook a Colombian food. And some of the food that he cooks need like a very common ingredients. D: But of course, I need some food that I can find here. So sometimes–my brother lives in Florida–and there is very easy to find food from Columbia. So sometimes he sends a box with some food that I like it. D: When my mom comes, she also brings some treats on some of the stuff that I like it. So…but it's important, but it's not like essential for me. I'm not crazy about food. It's like not something that I think about it the whole time. But we eat a lot of Colombian food. I mean, the–the dish that my husband prepare, usually are Colombian food D: But other other things that connect with my country, obviously the language. We just speak Spanish at home because we really think that it's important that our kids keep their language. Every year is more difficult of course, because they are growing up and they want to talk English the whole time. And we're really, really, what is the word for that…are really determinate that have to speak Spanish because my mom doesn't speak Spanish. D: My mother-in-law does sorry, English. My mother-in-law doesn't speak English. And also because as a person that learned English when I was an adult, I know how difficult it is. D: I have and I had and I have some students that their parents were from Latin America or something like that and they didn't speak Spanish with them. And now they are learning. They are like, I don't know, understand why my parents never talked to me in Spanish. That is very important. The idioms. The way that we say some stuff. D: My mom comes very, very often. My mother-in-law, too. So that is important for–to keep the contact with our family and our friends. D: And also some traditions. I didn't know. Nothing special but e.g. in December. The seventh of December, in Colombia, that is the day that Christmas starts, like, officially, and you just light on some candles outside your home to celebrate Día de la Virgen [CHECK] Virgin Mary, Virgin Day, something like that. We still do that. It's hard because it's cold here during the day. But we tried to keep doing that. D: And–I don't know–the way that we are trying to to raise our kids. They are kids–they're growing up in a different culture that we did. So we try to to meet so to either know both cultures and that is tough. I mean, I think he's going to be great for them, but sometimes as parents it is hard. J: And are there any other details or examples that you would like to share about your story, your experience before I ask you a final wrap-up question? D: About my traditions? Or about what? J: Just in general about your story so far. D: Okay. Let's see. I don't know. I mean, we have lived here for almost five years. Almost five years. We're happy here. But I think that we never going not to feel as an immigrant. So this is our home now, but you are an immigrant. And I think that we need to make peace with that. Be proud of that. D: We feel, like, privileged because Lawrence in general is a safe open space that welcomes immigrants. But of course, there is always something in the back of your brain that knows that maybe, in some point, maybe there is going to be a person who say something awful in a store, for example when you are talking Spanish with your kids or I don't know. D: For example, when I go to a store and the person is not very polite, I try to think that that person is having a bad day or maybe is that the way that person is? I'm not trying to think immediately that that person is racist because otherwise it's going to be very difficult if you're always are defensive about everything. D: But it's a possibility. And obviously, I'm scared that especially for my kids because they are–they feel like they are Americans but they don't–they don't. And of course sometimes they ask why we don't do certain stuff and my friends do. Why is your pronunciation like that? They try to obviously correct my pronunciation…the whole time. D: Now they understand more that [my accent] is part of me, is part of my English and that it is brave for people who tried to speak another language. And that is totally okay. It's okay to have an accent, wrong pronunciation. D: So we're trying to educate them to see that everyone has the same rights, that they have to be proud of their culture, and that there is no issue to have two different backgrounds. But they realize that it's not easy, but we're trying. J: Actually, you answered my wrap-up question… D: Okay! [laughs]. J: Which the question was: If you had any advice for your children or just like the future generation in general, what would it be? And wow, thank you. D: You're welcome. D: I think that is important–I really like, for example, to read books to my kids from different authors, from different…with different news stories to explain. Maybe fiction, but explain that kind of situation. D: And we try to be very honest with them. These 0s, maybe he's going to, Maybe it is going to happen. You have to be ready. But at the same time, we had been lucky because we have a good group of friends here. We haven't felt anything bad so far. Maybe not very explicit. Maybe some people don't like us, I don't know, but we haven't felt. So yes. D: So my idea is that my kids don't feel bad because they don't have parents who speak perfect English and they accept other cultures. So they–they are in a good elementary school where they have more classmates from different parts of the world. So that is good. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Diana Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from Bogota, Colombia to Lawrence, Kansas Description An account of the resource Originally from Colombia, Diana has lived in Lawrence, KS for a number of years. In this interview, she speaks about her experience before moving to Kansas, when she first lived in the welcoming city of Lansing, Michigan. She found Lansing to be “totally different” from Bogota. After staying in Lansing, she went back to Colombia before arriving in Lawrence, Kansas. Diana emphasizes the importance of staying connected to Colombian culture through language. Her message to the younger generation is to respect others. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010s Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Lawrence, Kansas Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <iframe width="400" height="285" id="kmsembed-1_c8osuzon" src="https://mediahub.ku.edu/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/1_c8osuzon/uiConfId/45147491/st/0" class="kmsembed" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allow="autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-modals allow-orientation-lock allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-presentation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" frameborder="0" title="Diana Heartland Interview Trimmed"></iframe> Colombia Community Education Language Lawrence Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Marta Caminero-Santangelo Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Gina Format Video, audio only, text only Audio City (Region, State) and Country of Origin for 2nd and 3rd generation, this is the place of family's origin Guerrero, Mexico Current City of Residence Where in Kansas or Missouri the Interviewee currently lives Lawrence, Kansas Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Gina Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from Guerrero, Mexico to Lawrence, Kansas Description An account of the resource Gina is an indigenous woman from a rural town in Guerrero, Mexico. She speaks of her childhood which was when she realized that her family’s resources were very limited. Gina arrived in Lawrence, Kansas with hopes of continuing her education but found herself with a younger daughter to care for. She says that she has chosen to stay in Lawrence with her family because it protects her in a way other cities in other states would not. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000s Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Lawrence, Kansas Identity Language Lawrence Mexico Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Marta Caminero-Santangelo Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Jesse Language of Interview English Format Video, audio only, text only Video Current City of Residence Where in Kansas or Missouri the Interviewee currently lives Kansas City, Kansas Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Jesse (J) Marta (M) J: Okay. Well, let's see. My mother's side of the family is my grandfather…Her dad was already living here in the United States. He had came [sic] from New Mexico. He would actually because my grandfather was very dark-skinned. I've had a lot of Indian in him. He was an extra in silent movies as an Indian back into movies that before they were talking. They were the silent movies. J: He came up with a friend, Robinson, to Kansas City, Kansas for more work. And he found work with Griffin Wheel Company and that’s the company that makes railroad wheels and boxcars. J: And he had a home in Argentine, on the what's considered the south side of the tracks. And at that time, it was all Anglos on that side. And my grandfather was the first Latino to own a house on the south side of the railroad track and never did get the full story on that, how that happened. J: [Coughs] But anyway, again, I'm sure Alice Robinson is one that helped him with that. J: Then my great uncle Salvador came up from Mexico as a young man. He swam the [Rio Grande] river, he made his way to Kansas City, found a job with the Santa Fe Railroad as a painter and met my grandfather somehow or another, and lived with my grandfather for two years. J: After two years he returned to Mexico to return was my grandmother's Brunelda, my great uncle Leo and my great grandmother Paula. And so they came to live in that house. J: And the story goes from my uncles that because Grandpa Rico, who was 33 at a time allowed Salvador to live there said, you can marry my sister, who was at that time only 15 years old. J: So they had their first child, Uncle John, when she was 16. Mother came along four years later. Uncle Bob came along four years later. And Martin came for your later. Uncle Joe came four years later and uncle Frank came three years later. J: My uncle contended that my grandmother would only let him [the grandfather] sleep with her once every four years. M: [chuckles] J: So that’s the way the story goes. J: The house they lived in had a living room, two bedrooms, a bath, and a kitchen. So all the men slept in one room and all the women slept in another room. J: My grandfather also at this time, besides working at Griffin Wheel, was the neighborhood plumber. So him [sic] and his friend Chenel, who lived across the street–and by the way, I'm gonna get a hold of Chennel’s great granddaughter and we're going to be able to contact with her. Her name is Bea Madrigal. But that's a little later. J: Anyway, grandfather was also a bootlegger, which my uncle said led to his death when he died of cirrhosis of the liver. J: Grandpa Rico died the day they landed on the moon in 1969. So it’s always an easy date to remember when he passed. J: But anyway, getting back to the thirties, in the late thirties and early forties, my mother tells the story of grandpa being a bootlegger at Christmas time. They had men–Coop Doors [?] came by and they would sing songs and carols. J: And so my grandmother always told grandpa, take the boys out a bottle of gin. I don't know what it was. They may have been anyway. Excuse me. J: They took the bottle out and was passing it around, somebody slipped and dropped the bottle. It broke and all and there was snow on the ground. J: She said All these men were on the ground, eating the yellow snow, where the booze had fallen into. J: So that being said, that was just one story about grandpa and what he did, he was very industrious. J: My grandmother was very active in the church. But the only time I saw Grandpa go to church was for somebody's funeral or for a wedding. Otherwise, Grandpa didn't go to church. Never to get the full story on that. So a lot of times things happened and we weren't always keen to what was going on. J: Fast-forward to 1947. My mother is 17 year old girl. My father came up from Mexico on a borrowed passport. Somebody that you'd looked very familiar with. J: Dad was actually in the seminary at this time, and was studying to be a priest. He was the 13th child out of 13. And my grandmother said one of her son was going to be a priest. And because he was the last one, he got elected to the job. J: Well, he came up on a vacation, met my mother, and their dating story begins with him living next door in a boarding house. And because my grandmother was very strict, [my father] was not allowed to talk to my mother. So in order to communicate with her, he wrote to her own penny postcards. J: The mailman, after a couple of months of this and seeing how he would pick up a postcard from one house to take to the post office to get that back to the house. Next door decided that he would just hand the card over without having my dad having to put the penny on. J: So once in a while they could talk across the fence when grandma was sitting up in the patio and what and so then dad went over to ask grandpa for mom’s hand and my grandfather told him You have to go back to Mexico and you have to come back with your proper papers. J: He did not want her. How should I say? And I guess he wanted to protect her. J: So my dad goes back to Mexico, quits the seminary. And I'm sure that went over real well with my grandparents [sarcastically]. J: But anyhow, he came back to [the] United States, courted my mother for two more years. J: And then this time dad always told me when he went to take mother out on a date–grandma always went, he had to take two boxes of candy or two bouquets of flowers for grandma and my mother. J: There was one time a few weeks before the wedding, dad and the taxi hip pulled up to take them. They were going dancing at the Pla-Mor Ballroom. And my grandmother was sick and came to the door and told grandpa, my toe, my dad, you cannot you cannot go because I'm sick. J: And my grandfather said no, it's okay. Let her go. So that was the first day they had unchaperoned and it was right before they're married. But grandma Rooney, raise, holy hell. J: Then back forward again because of the way my grandmother came back across to the United States, they decided that my dad would, my mother were [sic] gonna get married in Mexico. My grandmother did not go. My grandfather did not go. J: There was a lady down the street, Luis Valdez, and she was kind of like a sponsor. And so she was [my] mother’s chaperone. And so they went to Mexico, they got married and returned home. They were married June 15th; nine months and two days later my sister was born on March the 17th. My sister always teased mom about how close that was, but mother would be embarrassed. J: So that was March 1950. I came along in May of ’51. My sister Suzy came along in December of ’52. And then my sister Christie was August of ’54. J: So within five years she [my mom] had four little ones. J: Mother was a stay at home mom. She did not go–she did not work or anything. J: At that time my dad worked two jobs. He worked at the Ag. [agriculture] plant during the summertime and they would lay him off usually right after Thanksgiving until sometime in February. So he had two three months during the year where he worked one job. And the other jobs were with the railroad; he worked for the Kansas City terminal for 17 years. J: Fast-forward to 1967 and Johnson–President Johnson cut the mail off of the train and put ’em on the airplane. And that's when air mail with it. And that pretty much broke the Kansas City terminal’s back. So dad got laid off and he got laid off. J: Mother–they decided mother was going to work. Mother had a highschool education. J: We [my mother and I] went to the same high school, Argentine that Tess [?] was talking about. J: My mother was 36 years-old. She walked up the half a block up to the main street to get on the bus. And she was scared to death because this was the first time she was going downtown alone. J: Any other time she go in downtown if my mother was with her my aunt or us kids. And so now she had to work and get out in the real-world. And so she went to work for the SOC Security Administration. J: In the meantime, dad got a job with the Santa Fe Railroad. Then mother worked in the daytime, dad worked at night. And that way there was always somebody home with the kids because by this time there were six of us in the house. My older sister would have been. 17 and a junior. I was a sophomore, 16 and then going down the list. J: So that was a–I know a changing time in the whole world at this time, women were getting to be more independent and not to where your job is at home with the kids. You don't need to be out and whatnot. J: So I know mom and dad struggled with some of that because one's mother went to work and seeing how other people lived. And how women got to do things on their own, so on and so forth. Where they've got to be a little bit of a cultural battle. J: Not only were we growing up, but my parents were growing up at this time. This had to be something that was most unusual. J: Then it was about this time that Tess and I were walking home from school. And I told you the rain story where it rained and my house was close [by]. So we said let's go inside. Well, let's get on the porch and not even inside the house. Just on the porch. You get out of the weather. J: And my dad came out and asked if she was hungry because that was the way my folks were all their lives. Even after they retired, I would come over to the house and the first thing they're doing is reaching for a pan to put on the stove to heat something up. And I said, I didn’t come over to eat, I came over to visit. J: But anyway, Tess came over and she was a quote, unquote, first white woman, white girl that ever came into the house. So that was a little bit of a culture shock for me, I guess. J: I mean, we were pretty well–I don't want to use the word segregated but I think we were just–our community was separate from everybody else. Everybody else had a separate community. J: In the time that we lived on 24th street, when I was much younger, in kindergarten, at the other end of the block with an all-black school called Lincoln grade school. J: The black people lived up on the hill about three blocks from the school. And they walked by our half every day to school and walked home every day. Never had any issues with them. We had a black lady living next door with her son and I didn't think anything of it. J: You know, it would just they would–just people living like we were. J: We had a fireman–he lived on the end of the block and he was a black man. And then on the other side we had two other Mexican families that lived... J: So we were just people. J: We didn't didn't know anything. I didn't know anything about segregation. I had not witnessed anything. J: I do have some friends that were my age. And they told me that they had gone to a drugstore to get a soda. A soda from the soda fountain. And the guy says, I'll fix it for you, but it'll be in a cup and you will have to take it outside to go. Meaning [that[ they could not sit at the counter and drink [the soda]. J: I did not get exposed to any of that; I guess I was–was blessed in that. J: About this time I got out in the world of work and I went to work at the Kansas City Star and I worked on the weekends at nights, stuffing newspapers. J: On, on Saturday night, they would print the front page, the wanteds, the sports, and the classified. Everything else was all printed ahead of time. So you would always have to put the two sections, the paper together. J: Working there, I was exposed to a lot more diverse group. There were probably 60% black there, 30% Hispanic, and about 20% white. J: And this was, I worked in the period there in 1968 after Martin Luther King had got assassinated. And they were having the riots all over. Our job normally work from ten at night to five in the morning, but because of the curfew, we had to be there at 06:00 and sit in a warehouse and wait five hour, we go to work–work. And then after the curfew after the work basket or warehouse, wait till 06:00 because we couldn't be out 6-6. J: All the brothers–and this is what we used to refer to when we were growing up. When we talked about the brothers, we were talking about Black people. We never said we never used the term Black. J: Then back in high school, if you were talking about Ivan or Melvin, the Black friends, you were talking about the brothers. J: Amen. The brothers told us, when we go home, the hang white sheet on your front porch and nothing will happen to your house. Because this was a time when they were burning houses and they were riding over density very, we're very fortunate that in Kansas City, Kansas nothing happened. J: When I hung a white sheet on the front porch coming home. Mom said, What are you doing? The brothers said if we don't want to have our house burned down, hang up a white sheet, and they know that you would be okay here though she let it go because you don't make something up like that. J: So that means I'm sad. I was over there. And during this thing, it was the first time that I heard somebody knew the N word. And even to this day, I cannot understand how they can sing songs and use the “n” word to me that just sets the hair on the back of my neck. That's an alarm. J: I heard somebody used “n” word and I saw this guy got beat within an inch of his life. I've never seen anyone beat like that and I hope I never see it beating like that again. J: The guy came back to work two weeks later you've been attained with bandage up, but he came back to work and I don't think he used the “n” word again. I think he learned his lesson. J: So that was 1968, and I graduated high school in 1969. I started dating a girl that year, she was two years younger than I was, and she was a white girl. Her name was Lorraine Perkins. Ended up being my first wife. J: But the first time I went over to pick her up, her mother said I couldn't see her daughter. So we did not go out at night. So we figured out the next week when it was time to go out for the football game and the mixer afterward. I would have one of my friends, either Kelly or Chris, call Lorraine and say, Are you ready to go? And they would pick her up, drive to block. She would get out of one car and get my car and off we go. J: My wife was a change of life baby. Her mother was very old at this time. You would probably I want to say Oh, she was in her 60s. I'm 69. I'm not old, okay. So anyway, that's how we dated for a couple of years until she graduated high school. We got married in 1972. We had two children, and we divorced in 1983 because we got married too young. Okay. J: I know a lot of the issues, a lot of time to see my I felt insecure when she'd go over to the house and they would start talking in Spanish. And she would always think they're talking about me. She would ask me later on. Were they talking about me? No. They're just more comfortable speaking in Spanish about some things. J: And I told her when we were younger a lot of times that they didn't want us to know what they were talking about. They would speak in Spanish because I was a boy. I was out in the street. My sisters were at home, so they learned the language before I did. J: I also had a hearing issue growing up. I had to wear a hearing aid for a while and I learned to read lips. J: The girls in high school told me at the first [high school] reunion and they said, you know, oh, I always liked talking to you because you always look at me in the face and not be staring at my breasts. And I had to explain to them. Well, I kinda peeked every now and then, but I had to look at you–at your eye [sic] because I was reading your lips or I would make sure to hear what you say. J: Now, you can go ahead and laugh, but it's true. And you know, you’re a boy, you’re a boy--you know had that hormone raging and everything J: So anyhow and also had a lot of the girls well, I won't say a lot. I had two, three different girls told [sic] me–and it was kinda weird because that first one they said–you know, I wanted to go out with you in high school, but my dad wouldn't allow it. But if I saw any discrimination, that's where it was. Okay. J: And I am on the pale side. I'm not really a dark Mexican like my friend Mario is my grandma. My sister's a little on the dark side. They always call her “the Laylita” because she was a dark one. My other sister would red hair and she was like I was on my dad's side, family. J: Even though my cousin Gracie explained to me that she went back to Mexico and started looking up the [family] tree and somewhere back up the line we had a great, great, great grandmother who was a Belgian landowner. They lived, they worked for the landowner. She said, one of our siblings is half Belgium, and then they just dropped down not filling but one of our great grandparents. J: But I don't know how much truth there, but she went back and she was able to find a paper on it. There’s that. J: See, what do I leave off? And then I married again. And well, actually this is the funny part. J: I dated my current wife for about three years and then we parted because we were both too headstrong for each other. Okay. We knew that it probably wouldn't work, so we went off and didn't see each other for ten years–twelve years. We both married somebody else. We both divorce–divorced that second person ran into each other again. My daughter Rachel happened and now 24 years later here we are still married. J: Though we are actively been together for almost 30 years with a break in there. So little irony in my story, but what goes around comes around. J: I went to work for the Santa Fe Railroad… J: Well, I went to junior college, like I said, right out of high school and that's when I did the Che Guevara thing and I was independent. J: I mean–I'm going to college. My first semester. I felt like my mind got opened up that I didn't see or I didn't listen in high school. J: There was…high school was high school and then you get to college and you get to these classes… J: I had a gentleman that taught American government. All he had was a desk, a microphone, and a pencil, and he would sit and lecture you for 45-minutes. And he would just start writing and you're hearing all these things. But I couldn't believe it. J: I had a psychology teacher who, she must have changed her name, because she had gotten married. Anne Brown, I believe her name when she showed us her arm with her number [Jesse points to his forearm]. She had been in Germany. She had been in one of the prison camps. J: Prison camp? What are you talking about? I don't know, nothing. So then you go and you research in the library and you read this stuff and we say all that was going on? J: Okay, so my favorite teacher was Henry Louis and he was a history teacher. He is passed now and I could not believe when he told me that the Civil War was not fought to free the slaves. J: He said no, the Civil War was not fought to free the slaves, they ended up getting freed. But the Civil War was fought because of money. You know, everything rolls down to the money. J: So anyhow, we got educated through there after a year-and-a-half looking at going to a four-year college. I was looking at being a high school history teacher and football and track coach. J: And then I started investigating to see how much money they made and how much money it [college] was going to cost–and this was before I got married to..and I thought there's no way swing it. J: There was not [sic] scholarships available like right now. Much easier to get to–to get help to go to college where there wasn't that much. J: I think if I would have put my foot down and really insisted on it, I probably could have done it but there was–I'd seen my guys, my buddies were already working at the railroad making good money. I mean, almost as much as the teacher was making at this time. J: I thought, How can I pass that up? J: You know, I shouldn't be at my–my folks still had four [children] living at home. I couldn't…and they were going to parochial school. So that was already costing [them] money. J: I was fortunate to go to parochial school until the sixth grade. And because of my hearing problem, I never did get along with enough [people] for whatever reason. J: I thought when I was real young boy, I was going to be a priest. I really wanted to be a priest. I don't know, maybe because my dad was lined up to be that way. I don't know, but then I got to be a teenager and the priesthood kind of slipped behind me. J: So anyhow, fast-forward, back to going to work for the Santa Fe [Railroad]. I started working at the clerk cleaning up box cars, checking numbers on the cars and the trains when they came in, I had to walk the track. J: And after one year, they…there was a separate department of the clerk’s department that was called the SFRD, the Santa Fe Refrigeration Department. They went to my boss and said, we need to hire someone and within the railroad… J: The first year that I worked, I was extra bored, you never knew what day you're going to work. You never knew how long you were going to work. Some of you had real good paychecks, some months you didn't. It depended on your work. J: Anyway, these guys were going to offer me a regular job with set days off. So my boss told them “hire this guy.” Well, they looked at me and my hair was about as long as yours was maybe a little bit longer [past the shoulder]. And the guy said, no, we don't want no hippie. So they hired two other people. Neither one of them worked out after a couple of months. So then they came back in that third guy again, he said, “Where’s your man? You want somebody to work and come to work there.” J: They finally hired me reluctantly. J: I ended up becoming a supervisor in that department, I had that job for 12 years until they've done away with it. Then after they've done away with that job, I had to go back to the clerical forces, for about two years and then I became a supervisor in the transportation department or rather the yardmaster. J: The yardmaster is the one that runs the yard. A couple of takes to make a train with which one separates them and whatnot. J: I was the second Latino yardmaster to work in Kansas City. J: At that time, they were looking–the railroad was looking to integrate departments. In other words, they wanted clerks to become the yardmasters; they wanted boiler men to become yard masters; they wanted foreman to become yardmasters. J: They wanted a cross-section because they figured if you know your part job already, you can and then you go to work the new job. You can see this part can help you. We can cut corners, changes. J: I won't say that I would breakin’ the line as far as becoming a supervisor in Kansas City because New Mexico, California, Texas, Arizona, they had Indians [Indigenous people] and Mexicans that were working as supervisors all over the place. J: The Santa Fe was very good about that [diversity efforts]. J: When I went to my first regional supervisor meetings and I looked and I see all my brothers, all the Latinos, Rodriguezes, Santanas, Camachos, and everything. What do you do? Well, you are? So am I. J: But we took pride in that and we did good. The Santa Fe was an excellent place to work. It got hard sometimes any job, but that gets far. Not easy. But for the most part, I was blessed to go to work there. J: In fact, to tell you how I got hired at the Santa Fe, I had been working at a steel plant and an ice plant, withdrew manual labor jobs. Okay. I had applications at the electric company, TWA, the gas company–four or five different places. I had applications. I've been waiting for the phone ring for them to come and get me the phone number rang, whether it because I had long hair like you. J: So then my dad says, “Come on, I'm going to take you to the railroad work.” J: I said I didn't wanna I didn't want to disappoint him. I thought to myself, okay. Let's go see what it's all about. J: We're walking up the steps to talk to the boss and held his hand and I said, Look, I'm only going to work here to give me a good job. Well, 40 years later I got my good job when I got to retire. So sometimes dad knows what's best for you. J: So I worked 40 years…My last ten years…Well, actually, the last 14 years was the BNSF [Railway company] and they also had a diversity department. And because my boss knew that I would be good with talking with people and whatnot. He thought that that would be a great department for me to go into. And that was working my regular job and having the goals, attending meetings. J: What we were was a link to get people to communicate with each other. J: One of the first issues that we came into was gender identity. This is 1996. Okay? We had, and I never did find out whether it was a fellow that turned into a gal, or a gal that turned into a fellow. But he was working in Amarillo. And the man did not want him in the men's restroom and the women and did not want him in the women's restroom. Okay. So then they had to create an extra bathroom that was for anyone to use. J: So you talk about an eye-opener situation like that. J: So [I] worked there. J: Then the other issue that we had, one that really dealt with me was the use of the word master. Because you had train masters, which is what I was, You had roadmasters. Who are the-the gentleman that took care of the track. And then you had master foremen who took care of the car department. J: So sometimes I think some of the employees were using that as a ploy to not work or to slow down production or whatever. But they were the word “master.” J: I always told him that I thought I went to master craftsman and not a master slave owner. You guys don't work for me, a slave, you guys are getting paid a very good salary. I don’t whip you, i don't beat you; I don't own you, you know, you go home from work every day lives. J: But it was hard to get across about being a master. And that's where some of the issues that are happening today is because of master-slave thing. So they never did throw out that term to my knowledge, I think there's still being used as train masters and yard master. J: Because that was a very that was a very important thing to be. My position. I am a year-and-a-half out of college and I'm working a supervisor job, but I'm one of the highest paid employees down there. J: I took pride in my job. I had–I had people that would come and work for me that had many years seniority and they could work someplace else and work in the daytime. But they chose to work with me afternoons and nights because they were comfortable with the way I did things. J: They knew what they had to do to get things done. And a lot [of] time I led by letting them lead. I let them show me. You got a better way to do this. Tell me I'm all ears. And so they would explain how to make a movie and I say go for it until I got a lot of respect for the truth that way. J: So I don’t think that I was ever one that they said, Oh, you got to work for that guy because we had those guys/ Oh you are going to go work over here for this guy. But when they would find out I would work and they say, Okay, we're going to have a good day. Suggests, is that fair? J: So I guess that's about it. J: I've retired after that. J: I started working [in] food kitchens. I help out where I can with that. J: I've been awarded a volunteer of the year. I don't know if I told you this or not. I'm going to receive a monetary award and a plaque for everything that I've done. J: The monetary award I wanted to put into the food kitchen fund to help continue feeding people and they will not allow it to happen. They said because you are a volunteer, this is something for you. You buy your new computer, buy a set of tires, you buy a plane ticket, whatever you wanna do. J: Well, my favorite thing is to play golf, and I've never had a better set of clubs. But there you go. In the next couple of weeks I'm gonna get a brand new set of golf clubs and I told my wife, [this would] probably be my last set. She said, Yes, that's what you told me the last time or the time before or fifth time, it doesn't come out of my pocket. Okay. J: I do the food kitchen work and it involved–when the kitchen was open…it involved about 18 different volunteers doing a separate job. We would feed 350 to 500 people. They would get a–two slices of bread and butter. They would get some kind of a dessert–donut or whatnot. They would get a choice of a salad or coleslaw, or something like that. They would get a choice of kind of some kind of fruit–apple, orange or banana. Then they would get either green beans or corn. Usually some sopa. They really love when we make it right. Okay, and then they would have a main course. Sometimes it would be Sloppy Joes, sometimes it will be pulled pork. Once in a while, it would be chicken, and then they will have to drink and milk. J: So it takes a little while to get all that organized. And my skills at the railroad from being an organizer and being a planner and looking up two, three things ahead, help out with that. And it really doesn't take up a lot of time. J: A lot of people think, oh, you spent a lot of time doing it. After all, it’s one day a month and one day I had to pick up the fly from there and that was a couple of hours. Another day, I had to go shopping so it was three or four hours. And then the day we actually cook was two to three hours. Then the day that we serve was about a five-hour day. So all-in-all maybe 20 hours in a month to do this. J: But this year with the pandemic, we're blessed with an organization called Operation Barbecue. They barbecue–that is another thing that I do. I'm a judge for the American [unknown] Kansas City KCBS society for barbecue meats. So I know what good meat tastes like, good barbecue. I know what bad barbeque tastes like, too. Some of these people that think they could cook can not cook. J: But anyway, this Operation Barbecue Relief, they organized when they had the first hurricane a couple of years ago. And these were barbecue enthusiasts, getting donations from different places. And they would get donations from different places, cook the food and feed–feed the people that were at the disaster area. J: Okay. Well, good friend, Chris Hillier [?], who is probably a big part of this second part of my volunteer, and really all the kudos should go to him because he is such great help. Through him, we were able to get food from the Operation Barbecue Relief. And so on Friday, we were serving meals. We had–they would give us to meet and decides and the utensils, the pan to put them in. But we haven't organized and put them together. I already had food kitchen people who knew exactly what to do and we started passing out meals, about 150 meals for families of four. We did that for about six weeks. And then Operation Barbecue Relief, because they had no place to go and cook the food because of the pandemic, they had to end that program. J: And then a couple of three weeks later, Pete’s Garden, which is another organization that goes around. They get grants and they collect food from different venues that doesn't get eaten. Like the hotel might have a conference there and they'll feed food and then they got food in the kitchen that didn't serve because people don't eat as much now as they used to. They always have extra so then they [Pete’s Garden] would get that food so it doesn't go to waste. And it would come to us. And again, we would put together and we would pass that out. J: During this time, we had St. Michael's Parish in Leawood. And we had the Church of the Ascension in Overland Park because every Wednesday they were supplying groceries, the families of our parish because the kids were getting school lunches during the week, Mondays and Wednesdays, they would get a lunch and a breakfast and so on. J: When we were getting the groceries, we would sort them out because some people would give you two cases of green beans and other people would be– somebody would give you eight loaves of bread. But we would have to break down the groceries. We make them be like shopping. There we go. And so we were passed from that out. And that lasted for about six weeks. We were doing that every Wednesday. J: Then. When that [unknown] quit, then Chris Pound, Catholic charity and through their program, we were able to give away boxes of produce every Friday–just ended last Friday. I don't know what I'm gonna do this Friday because I'm not going to be there. But these boxes of produce had cucumbers, had cabbage, had lettuce, had bags of apples, bags of oranges, celery, strawberries, cantaloupe. J: And so we were passing those out to the parish and because we had more than enough for the parish, we opened it up to the community, the Argentine community. J: I had two Facebook pages that I would put on there and I would say, come and get free food. No questions asked. The people would call and say, well, you know, I got a job. I said we're not asking any questions. If you want the food, you need the food and it's gonna go to good use, you come and get it.We're going to get it for somebody else. It's not for you. Come and get us. J: We wanted–we wanted to see what helped people and that's what we did. J: So through all that–through all that…that's how all this happened during the summer. I don't know that they give you the numbers on what we'd done. But it's the law and what somebody is not around it, it can be overwhelming. But to me, it was just another day in paradise J: Alright, so that's where I'm at today. I continue to do the soup food kitchen. We are in the process and now we have to make sack lunches because the kitchen is actually closed. The city allows us to hand out fact lunches out the back door. And because of this situation, they had jumped up. I think the most we have been is 862 packed lunches. We make about 800 sack lunches. And then any sandwiches or any apples or anything that would have leftover. We've taken back up to the school. We take back up to the food until they can use them tomorrow or the next day whenever it's needed. J: Hello…Still there? M: Yeah. I'm here. J: Okay, so I don't know if you have any… M: I have some questions. [To a male in the background of the screen: “Okay. Wait until I'm done, please. You can eat all that you want. Wait ‘till I’m done.] M: This is teenagers at home because they're not going to school. They're staying here for school. M: So, Jesse, did you live in Argentine, [Kansas City, Kansas], your whole life? J: Yes. I live while I move when I was married to my wife, I moved to Overland Park and I lived out there for about five years. And then I moved back to Argentina. And then two years ago, I moved to Lenexa. I sold my house. We downsized. We had a three-bedroom house, two car garage; it was just too big. J: And at that time I had not had what I had had my knee surgery but it would get too hard for me to maintain cut my flashing [unknown]anything. So we were just looking at downsize because we did not need that space. J: We put the house up for sale and sold like two days later. And the people next door and then combine it. The people across the street wanted at first, their loan didn't go through. We put the sign back out and the people next door came, bought it and they bought it. J: I don't know how many people were living. Next door. They had probably ten or 12 people living in a three-bedroom house. But when my house became available, they jumped all over it–two sisters bought it. J: I drove by a couple of times, a month or so later. My driveway could hold eight cars. There was eight cars in the driveway. I don't know how many people live in there. M: If I say the word home? What do you think of? What does the word mean to you? J: Home is where…My home is a parking lot. Vaguer [?] park. Oh, man, that home is the one that I told you about was Ted. I grew up there from the timeout 12 to 18 because over my formative years–that went home. That's where I live. M: Anything you would want for kids or other, you know, younger generation Latinos in particular, understand about your experience that maybe you think they don't understand right now? J: [coughs] No. I don't know if they understand how you have to work to get to where you want to be. What I've told you about my first job with the railroad. I was working from 3 o’clock in the afternoon to 11 o’clock at night. I had Tuesdays and Wednesdays off. J: Do you know how much [sic] social events I've missed? I'm talking about weddings. I'm talking about parties. Oh, we’re having a party Saturday. I'll be there after 11:00, you know, being the second way. Then you have to decide. They want a lot of people that I grew up with, they only went on to work eight to five was Saturday and Sundays off. No more hours. Well, those hours are not there. J: And I think it's even harder. Now with the way that education is that the pandemic has proven that by all these people working from home. I've got three blocks down the street–big office building before the pandemic that parking lot was always full. Now you drive by and you’re lucky to see a car there because all these people are doing their work from home now. You’ve got to have the education to do that. J: But there are good jobs out there. If you want to be a fireman, if you want to be a policeman, if you want to work for the telephone company, you want to work as a nurse, or anything in the hospital. You just think about it. Oh, I got sick at 4 o’clock in the morning. I'm going to the hospital. Look at those people [that] are working. They're working at nighttime. You have to understand that we're 24/7 mentality workplace. J: But then there was kinda hard it was hard, you know, my wife would be going to a party. Where’s your husband? Oh, well, my husband's working. So it was Tuesday, Wednesday nights when we went out. It was never crowded. We went to the movies. It was never crowded. You know, it hadn't advantages and disadvantages. You work those kind of hours. You can sleep when you want. J: I couldn't play any sports back then because everything happened on Saturday and Sunday until we found they were daylight things that we could play; we would get off work and then we could go and play ball at 9 o’clock in the morning. J: And then that's when I took up golf because that was something all you needed was a little sunshine to play that. J: So I would think that the hard–the hardest things for these kids, they have to understand everything and not an eight to four ob. Saturdays and Sundays off. J: I mean, that's the normal world. I can't tell you how many World Series games I missed. I was a big big pastime. Would listen to the radio, link them to buy a baseball, baseball game, World Series, football game, you know, whatever was everything radio, you had to visualize it in your mind because you couldn't see it on TV. Somebody say, oh man, we're going over to so and so's house. He could have put the TV up outside. We can drink beer and have hot dogs, you coming over? You know, they've just yeah. You [could] say I don't want to work. I'm gonna go–I'm gonna go probably why he going to pay your pay your bills? What do you do? You know? J: I want to get back to college. I want to get back and for nothing now just take more history classes, more. I can get into discussion, maybe some philosophy. Because you're older, you're wiser. You're not in a hurry for this class to get done. You can go do it. You gotta go through just the maturity thing and going to school. Just unbelievable. J: I mean, I know one kind of my brother-in-law and my sister were going through their differences and my nieces were asking me–and they were teenagers–they said, Uncle Jesse, yes, I can’t understand how a mom and dad are acting. I can't believe how things are and I told him, “Well, honey, you got to remember just because you get older, doesn't mean you grow up.” J: So it's something that I've always tried to remember. You know, the same thing which my boys would say, “Dad so and so team was supposed to and I said, yeah, just because you're supposed to win doesn't mean you're going to, well, there are disappointments in life that you have to deal with. There are situations that are not all hunky-dory. J: So it's just like what's going on right now. This thing in Louisville where the policeman got off killing a woman and everybody riding. Well, there's a way to explain your side of the story. I think without having to do the riots J: Maybe because I'm older, I'm thinking that so much hot blood is out there to try to make things happen your way. But it’s supposed to be that way–supposed to negotiate [coughs]. J: It’s supposed to be let’s share our thoughts. Just because you don't think the way I do doesn't mean I'm gonna I'm gonna, you're not gonna be my friends. J: It's so hard to see some of my friends on Facebook, how they feel about different things and all I can do is shake my hand. You know, that's a nice thing to do, is take your head. J: I've opened it with the death of Ruth [?] that a lot of people are gonna get out and vote. J: That's another thing that I do. I work the lesson. [chewing a crunchy snack] I've been a supervising judge in Wyandotte County for eight years. And then I've been supervising judge out here in Johnson County. J: Now what that means is I'm in charge of one polling thing. I answer all the questions, deal with everything that goes on in there. And we were very, very busy for the last primary. And I know that when the general election comes up in six weeks, that it's gonna be a very hectic day. J: I do hope that we don't have any issues. I'm very fortunate that I'm in a very affluent neighborhood in Johnson County. There are very few minorities but we do have them. There are no poor people [that] come to vote, okay? If anybody comes in rags it is because they choose to dress in rags. You know how the kids dress. Everyone that comes [to vote[ is very affluent. They're upper middle-class is how it is. Put it. And I'm sure that there are places even higher class and that in Johnson County. J: But I'm in western Shawnee and I don't have any poor people. I don't have any farmers. There are some places where you worked and Wyandotte County, we could see where people work in all of these people to come now, you can, you can, you know… J: One way of noticing is the ladies come in, they come and sign and they got rocks on your hand. And I'm not a jeweler, but I know that that’s not cheap, so they’re blessed. J: And so most people come and you're not going to argue with you about anything. They'll have a question. All my workers are excellent workers. Nobody looks at me like because I'm a Mexican or anything. J: There have been, in fact, where I'm at now–there was only maybe six people that I knew. When I worked at Wyandotte County and I worked at Argentine, I knew everybody that came in there. I had so many older ladies come up and give me a hug. I would give–the men would all come and say,they were so proud to see one of their [own] doing the work. Oh, Tucci–that’s my childhood nickname when somebody calls me Tucci, that means they know me from way back. Okay. Oh, tricky. J: And even now to this day, I probably had three phone calls from somebody in Wyandotte County asking questions about the voting. Do I need to vote now? Do I need to go? Somebody called and asked me about the primary and Kansas. Do I need to go vote in that? I said no, that's already been decided. You want to go vote? You can. And this lady was in her eighties. She wanted to know that you need to get out from there. I said “no, you're okay.” J: I don't mind helping out civic duty. I can't be a history teacher. I can still do my civic duty. So I help out. J: Very fortunate I got a great wife that's understanding that lets me go and do whatever I want to go do because she knows I'm helping people. J: My favorite thing that she says her sister was asking her. And I heard this on a speakerphone. Well, where’s Jesse at? “Oh, he's out feeding the world.” So that, you know what she's asked her what she considered when I'm doing what I do, my civic duty. So that makes me feel good that she knows that I'm doing that. I guess that's about it unless you have more questions. M: Well, Jesse, that's a really rich story. There's so much there's so much history in your story. You kind of are a history teacher. J: Yeah. Basically how I break things and break things down. It is by the history–thing that you can relate to it. I've talked about Martin Luther King, talked about landing on the moon. We've talked about Daegu where? So yeah, these are these are–things that are big impacts on my life. M: You can tell–you kinda mark your story by what was going on in the world and in the country. J: Now I have a lady. I can introduce you to her name is Bea Ramirez. Her maiden name is Madrigal. Her grandfather or her step grandfather, Channel [?] was my grandpa’s buddy. They lived across the street from each other and they were both plumbers. They were together like Mutt and Jeff [?]? J: So she is educated, she went to Pitt State and got her CPA. J: I will get a hold of her and I will send an email with her email and text. And then you guys can figure out how to get together and do this Zoom, call me. Let me tell you–Bea Ramirez can talk. M: I like, Okay. That's great. The more information the better. M: Hey, Jesse. So were you first-generation your family when you went to college? When you went to community college? J: Yes. I was a first first one to go to college. My brother…my sister went to work. My older sister, my two other sisters got married. And then my brother number four, he graduated from well, he went to KU..but he graduated Benedictine..He is the Fire Chief in Corpus Christi [Texas]. J: So, [he is called] Chief Rocha down there. So I go down there in January when the weather gets cold here, I go down there to play golf. Every time we go to the restaurant, Chief Rocha, I got your table over here. We would go someplace and there are ten people waiting to eat, they see him and say “Chief Rocha.” We'll walk around and everybody–kinda embarrassing at first. That way, It's pretty cool. He gets his recognition. M: Yeah. J: He likes that. J: And my younger brother went through Baker University and he worked for the city of Kansas City, Kansas he’s in procurement and left for another job. So– M: Did you ever wish that you grew up in Texas or California or something? Or were you happy growing up in Kansas? J: I grew up in a village. I had people–I had love all around me. I didn't I didn't see very much violence. Yeah. We had our fight as kids and whatnot. But there was always somebody there that you could depend on. I didn't see a lot of hatred–when we heard of our first divorce when I was about 12 or 13. Oh my God, that was sacrilegious, you know. J: We had a nun who was our teacher. And then she left the nunnery, came back three years later, married with the husband. But we all thought, holy cow, how in the world could she do that? J: And that's what mom explained that they are just people–even though they become priests or they become nuns–you still have to remember that they’re people. J: When I was married, my second wife, we had a pool at the house. And one of the priests, we had two priests at that time, one of the priests was just a year older and I would come over for a beer, right. I mean, ate steak and had beer. And then he said, “How about let's jump into the pool?” So all the kids jumped into the pool and they were jumping all over him and dunking him in the water and my then wife said–look what they’re doing to the priest! J: He's having fun. He's just a guy. J: You know, my dad still had friends with priests. Here's another little story. We went to Royal Stadium, not Royal’s Stadium [?], a municipal stadium, the 22nd of Brooklyn. This would have had to have been about 1958–59. We go to the ball game. My dad, friend, Father Paul, not wearing a collar. Okay. He's dressed in a regular shirt, and I thought, well, okay, but we get to the game and it's the first inning. And here comes the beer man. And my dad stopped the beer man and said “let me have two beers.” J: He gives the beer to my priest, a beer to my dad, I see the priest take a drink of beer…and I thought to myself, we're going to hell now. But that's how naive I was at that time. You know, you have your thoughts. It can't be no priest, the perfect, you know, then you find that they’re human. M: That's interesting. I've never actually thought about…Are priests allowed to drink alcohol? Well, the Catholic Church is against that. J: He did not get inebriated that I could tell. Okay. All right. We'll have to tell you that story. J: We did have a priest at our parish, he is deceased now, and he had an alcohol problem. J: I was on the school board because… because the age differences of my kids–two times, I had an eighth-grader graduate and then a kindergartener start the next year. Okay. Now, I was on school board for over 20 years. Okay. J: We had a school board meeting. Father King. He would smash smash, and we're trying to figure out what's going to happen with the school. The school didn't have enough money to run. We don't know if we're gonna be able to pay the teachers, if no one is doing [it] for us. So I told the head nun at that time, the principal, I said “we're going to have to call the archbishop.” Something's got to happen here. That was on a Tuesday. J: Well, the next thing you know is that weekend we had a different priest saying the mass. And everybody will want to know: “Where’s Father [King] at?” And then the word got out that he went to a rehab center. So they're human. J: And this priest was a great guy. He was probably in his late seventies and my mother always said he doesn't want to be working anymore; he’s working because we had a shortage. Okay. J: He went on to be afraid for another five or six years after he dried out [?]. Not at our parish, but at another place. J: So we're all just human. M: Yeah. Jessie, thank you so much. I really love your story. I'll send you the tape back…if there's anyone else so you can think of who you want to talk to me in the two years, that would be off. M: Or do you have a phone that you can take pictures of, letters and photos like that? J: Photos of what? M: Anything you have..pictures of your kids, your family? J: Well, yeah, I've got some pictures. You see me. J: You can see some of my pictures. One thing, when I look at my picture to myself, when I was young–I'm never smiling. I don't know if I was thinking, oh, if it was going, I couldn't hear somebody say “cheese” or whatever. But you will see a lot of my pictures. I'm not smiling as a youngster. J: I did not have a bad childhood. I did have issues with one uncle that was abusive to me and he's still my uncle. I'm not upset with them or anything, all that is gone in the past; I learned how to deal with my demon. You know, a lot of people [say that] they can not deal with my demons. J: I have another uncle who I got into a lot of this history from and he always contends that my grandmother didn't love him. Okay. I had to tell him grandma didn't love anybody but Frank, Frank was the baby. I said “so, don't worry about you not getting love from your mother.” Because grandma did not give– J: And you know, when people say, Oh, you love going over to grandma's house. M: [laughs] J: Well, if I loved going to grandma's house, it was because she had the TV. We had to go pay to watch Ed Sullivan because grandfather the ban on [unknown] you got to see who did the Beatles. J: The Beatles? Who wants to say anything about bugs? I say “Grandpa, no.” We gotta watch it. And I think we got to watch it because a little mouth [?] is going to be on top of video. So he said, Okay, let's watch the Beatles. I had to go over there to watch the Beatles. We didn't have our TV. J: Oh, you know, I was 13 or 14 when we got off work telephone and then polyline…Pick up the phone if somebody were talking to put the handle with a receiver and just listen to people's conversation. Then you hear..Is there somebody on the phone..Is this? J: Kids don’t know how easy they got it… M: It's true. My daughter calls me up from college. She says, “Hey mom, you want to FaceTime?” and we have a video call. Can you imagine? Even ten years old, years ago thinking, okay, I'll be talking to my daughter who's in college. Just like this, just like a Zoom call. J: I saw somebody that had a picture of a hand-held phone and they're holding it up like a regular camera [Jesse holds out his right hand like he is going to take a picture with a flip phone] and that's it. The first-out fees. Yeah. Yeah. J: Alright. I'll send you some pictures. I'll send you the Bea Madrigal information, and then you–we’ll keep in touch. M: Yes. Thank you so much, Jesse. I appreciate it. Have a great day and a great weekend. J: You too. Bye bye. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Jesse Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from Mexico to Kansas City, Kansas. Description An account of the resource Jesse’s parents are from Mexico, but he grew up in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. After graduating from high school, Jesse enrolled in community college but decided to work for the railroad. Now that he is retired, he frequently volunteers in soup kitchens. His advice for the younger generation is to know the value of work. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Late 1900s Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Kansas City, Kansas Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <iframe width="400" height="285" id="kmsembed-1_bfdgtl2w" src="https://mediahub.ku.edu/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/1_bfdgtl2w/uiConfId/45147491/st/0" class="kmsembed" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allow="autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-modals allow-orientation-lock allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-presentation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" frameborder="0" title="Heartland Jesse"></iframe> Community Education Identity Kansas City Mexico Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Joohye Oh Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Luis Format Video, audio only, text only Video City (Region, State) and Country of Origin for 2nd and 3rd generation, this is the place of family's origin Santiago de Veraguas, Panama Current City of Residence Where in Kansas or Missouri the Interviewee currently lives Lawrence, Kansas Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Luis (L) Joohye (J) L: My name is Luis Sanchez. I'm a Panamanian student from Panama, Santiago de Veraguas, Panama. L: I came to the United States for the first time ever. That was 15 years old. I was in high school in Panama and they won a scholarship to–for an Intensive English Program in Northwest Missouri State University, which I stayed for two months. L: That's pretty much of a bubble when I went over there in the sense that everything was provided, you know, like very like our interaction was…not manipulated. That's a strong word, was controlled or when did we go out? We went out. L: I was 15 years old. So I guess it's understandable. L: Then I went back to Panama with a pretty clear sort of impression of what life in an academic environment looked like. L: For the next years of my life, up until I was 22, I stayed in Panama when finished my finish high school. And I got my undergraduate degree from the University of Panama. And then when I finished that, I was working in a call center and I got this opportunity to come to Emporia State University, in Emporia, Kansas to be a GTA, a graduate teaching assistant for the composition department, for the English department, sorry, in the compensation program. L: So I decided to go ahead and do that. It was pretty rough. That opportunity was a great opportunity and I am pretty grateful and, you know, like all the things that I experienced or valuable, however, it was very difficult to go through it financially speaking. L: Emotionally speaking, it was a little bit of a roller coaster, but I was already in that–already, that kinda person in that point in my life in which I was very open to changes. L: I guess I was raised with this mentality of just take whatever opportunity you can No. Just kidding. But yeah. I was raised with that mentality was like take whatever opportunity you can–carpe diem. Abroad, study abroad. I'll just go for it. That's why I went, but I wasn't really thinking everything that it meant. L: It meant living on a minimum wage salary because that's what they paid me at that time. In here in Kansas, it was like $7.25 an hour and 20 hours max. So what was making? I was very, very tight budget. L: But I did that for two years until I graduated The English with an English MA. Ironically, all the classes that I took over there [at Emporia State] were related to Latin America. Well, most of them, not all of them. Of course, you have to take your rhetoric classes during history of English classes and all that. L: Because up until that point, I thought that I just really wanted to do English literature. I want it. I liked literature, I like reading books. I liked the discipline and I wanted to know more. And English gave me that sort of leeway, that door that I could begin doing that. I said I can do that over there and just getting my degree, but by the end of my master's program and I'm Boys State University, I had all these classes that had to do with Spanish Literature. In a way, I mean, look, look, look. I was looking at them through the lens of this English studies or English literature sort of thing, so to speak. L: So, you know, I had a very good mentor. Her name was Rachel Espalding at Emporia State shia helped me a lot. She got it in yellow and she gave me a lot of advice on what to do and not to do. And I remember her saying that after I was done with my masters, she was like, “Hey, if you don't know what you wanna do, why don't you stay here and you teach Spanish for a year? And then we'll see what happens after that.” L: And the idea of teaching Spanish at that point was a little bit like weird for me because I had been studying English over time. And teaching my own language wasn't something that I had like seriously considered or had done before in my life. L: So I went ahead and thought about it and decided, you know what, I'm gonna do it and I have a lot of momentum, so to speak, in my life right now. And I'm gonna go with it and see where it takes me. L: So I taught Spanish for a whole year after I [graduated?] with my MA in Emporia State. And then in order to be able to do that, because I was an international student, I enrolled in a class that has something sort of like related to teaching. And that was TESOL, which was teaching is teaching digital English as a second language. The problem was that the TESOL program at ESU as a completely online. As an international student, that's not something that's allowed. You have to take face-to-face classes. One thing one way that we did to go about it was that I was also enrolled in this program for IDT, instructional design and technology. That was face-to-face. I was getting a certificate and IDT taken face-to-face classes on that while I was taking all the online classes for the TESOL program while I was teaching Spanish simultaneously. L: So I was doing that. I did that for a year. L: The problem was that just teaching Spanish just wasn't doing the trick for me. I was still missing the literature reviews, reading the novels, analyzing them, or reading nonfiction. L: And I love doing that. L: And I was like, I'm a little bit not doing what I wanted to do. L: So I was like maybe I can start applying for a PhD programs. And this is when again, my mentor told me is like the best way I think I could start it you can do since the market right now for jobs after you graduate is pretty tight is to try to diversify and use that Spanish background that you have. So you can be in the position you want. And she said, I think a masters or a PhD in Spanish literature would really do the trick for you because since you are interested in, in literature is you're just switching the language, but you're still basically going to be doing the same. And you can focus in on those papers that you've written for us in the last years that were in Central America, Central American literature in the Boom. And it's part of, it's part of it all. L: And I was like, sure, that sounds like a good idea. L: So I applied okay, use It's very important to department Spanish and Portuguese PhD program that year. And it was a little bit it was a bit weird because I ended up being accepted into their masters program instead of their PhD. L: So I was upset, but in hindsight, it was it was for the best. It was necessary. That's how we needed to happen. I just I just needed to trust what was going on in that moment. L: But in the moment I was upset. I remember that was like No, and I was planned blah, blah, blah. But anyway, I entered KU’s department of Spanish and Portuguese masters program in 2019. Oh, actually, sorry. Fall 2018. If I'm not wrong, I could be wrong about that one. L: Then I started doing my masters there. I really liked it. I think I was in a place where I was doing what I want it. I studied very hard. I made friends there and got to know the professors and it was great. L: And it was a lot better than, you know, financially than than I was when I was an ESU because the feeling that was the most recurring for me was of this being pinned to the wall. Sort of like a sort of like a like a rag doll or something like that where you are like leaning against the wall and then there's little pins that don't let you move and there's like little things that you can do. And that's how I felt a lot of times when I was at ESU. L: Not really because the people there, because I met wonderful people there. But it was mostly because of the situation. I was making. I wasn't making enough money because as an international student, I couldn't work outside campus. There were very limited options I had; my parents couldn't send me much money or any money at all because they just don't make them. What do you want to compare two here. Compared to here. L: And so I was, there were many times in which I seriously considered going back to Panama. And I was, I was lucky and fortunate enough that I met people that were willing to help me and that went outside of their way to help me do that thing, do this thing. L: So I cannot say that I did that just by myself. I had a lot of people helping me. L: There were a lot of times in which if somebody hadn't intervened, I wouldn't have been able to do it. L: So my experience is not like, Oh, I just went and did this thing, everybody else can do it. That's that I feel like such a fake to say that because not–that would be assuming that everyone's going to have my same luck. L: You need both things: You need your luck and your preparation. L: Both things to be able to do it. And that is I think the most of your current feeling that I had, at least during my time in Emporia, I came to KU and that decreased a lot, I would say. But I was still feeling pin for different reasons. L: I think mostly because just here, I feel like this country is a lot different than Panama in terms of health care. Obviously, that is one of the things that worried me the most and one of the reasons for why every time my mom asked me, “Are you planning to stay and get a job over there?” I always answers like, “I don't know if it's” because I don't yeah, it's great and it makes a lot more money than I would probably ever make in Panama. L: But I don't I'm afraid that one day I will have an accident and then I'll, you know, financially screwed forever because fricking health, health care is just not good enough. L: One of the things that really worries me is how fragile. The whole thing is. How I'm just basically going on the momentum of things just hopping from one opportunity to the next one. And then the moment that something goes wrong, there's very little contingency that that can happen. I can say that now I have built a little bit more of a pillow for it. If anything ever happens. L: That's like in the great scheme of things, it's not much. L: And I can't imagine why, like newer generations of students or people that are just beginning to do this are going through because it's only going to refer. L: Here. I wasn't part of the story I was telling was that I was at KU. Do my master's. I finished it. I finished my masters in Chapter two years of completing it, and then I applied to do the PhD program here so I can continue working on what I wanted to work. L: And here's what I am. And my third semester of my PhD program, it's been a little bit over six years. And in the United States, I left San Diego to work in and poorest state. L: That is more or less made journey the United States has been in a lot of decision-making, having to be super flexible, not letting stress completely overwhelm you because that's not as a survival strategies like just letting stress just numbs your mind and you can't just think clear. L: And that's something that I had to I had to deal with but, but deal with, but stress was still there nonetheless. L: I can talk about this very particular time. Just very good example of one time I was super stressed when I was in Emporia. I had to leave my apartment because my roommate and I were having a lot of disagreements and I had to live it and I didn't have enough money for a deposit for a new apartment. L: And I can only afford an apartment that was under $300 a month. That's as much as they could afford on my paycheck on that considering all the discounts they did and all the fees that I had to pay the university. L: So for whatever reason. Somebody let me stay in their apartment for like two-three months. But even after that, I was also going trying to say the least, this extra little room there, but for whatever reason, I ended up finding this apartment that was under $300. And it was like a very small studio apartment. And asked what I was going to decide that this is where I'm going to live for the semester. L: However, I had everything set up until they said that the deposit was twice the amount of rent and you'd have to pay this this and this. And I just simply didn't have that kind of money. It was like $500. And I remember one of my friends said she asked “What's up? What's the matter? What what's happening?” And I said “I'm seriously considering just not finished my masters here and just go back to Panama with the little money I have. Buy a plane ticket, and just go back to Panama tomorrow night. And that's because I cannot afford an apartment.” L: It's kinda like playing checkmate and that is just playing chess and there's just no more moves, like absolutely no more moves. And then she said, “I'll write you a check, you'll pay me back whenever you have it.” And she let me borrow $500. Now I was like thank you very much. I didn't have any words. I was like, okay, this is, this is one thing that's happening. L: And I really appreciate it. Appreciate it in unfortunately, that person and I are not really talking anymore other than other things that have nothing to do with it. L: But I really appreciated her her gesture and she helped me and that's that's a big part of the reason for why I'm still here today. Because I found people in the way that we're willing to help another person. L: And then that's one example of one time that I just felt like super, super like I don't I don't think this is going to work out and not because it has nothing to do with my will to work. L: It wasn't because I was being lazy, wasn't because I wasn't being focused enough or it wasn't because I wasn't working hard enough–it was entirely and absolutely because the rules of the game, how everything was set up, there were just no more moves, so it's no more possible options for me to be able to stay in the United States in that, in that fashion. L: So that's one thing that happened where I felt like this was just not meant for me to happen. I was just lucky that somebody helped and stepped in. L: And then I lived in that apartment for I think it was a little bit over a year, year-and-a-half. L: The reason for why I ended up leaving, because the landlord did not respect the rules of my contract. And they tried to kick me out a month before. L: Yeah. L: They tried to kick me out amongst a whole month before my apartment under the claim that they said that they didn't have a payment for my rent, which I had receipts and everything. L: So they proceeded to throw all my stuff away out of the apartment and keep them in this little room, but they threw a lot of it away. And when I protested and I said, “Here's the receipt” and it's like, okay, we were in the wrong and I was like, “Okay, now I want you to pay back for the match rates and those stuff.” And they basically said, we're not going to pay for something old. Something–appear as if it was new, since it was old, they didn't want to pay it at all. L: And I had I had to go to the Emporia small claims court. I had to talk to a lot of people. It was very stressful, but it was one of those times where I just felt like the world wanted to just mess mess me over, screw me over essentially. L: After like three months of talking to them and going to small claims court, I got some money back and some replacement. L: It wasn't really much compared to really the damages, but I didn't know what I was doing. L: I had never sued anyone because that's basically what I ended up doing. I didn't know how much money to ask or anything. L: But it was [exhales] it was very stressful and a horrible situation that I don't wish on anybody. L: Yeah, That is a good example as though when I felt like there's not very many options for me. There's not very many things I can do to just keep moving forward, you know. L: So yeah. L: And then luckily after that…After after that happened with my landlord and the awful experience of essentially being wrongfully–it's called wrongful eviction, wrongfully evicted. I lived with my with my girlfriend for a month. L: And then I will put a month. I think it was a little bit over that until they completely moved over to Lawrence because I started my program at the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. L: So that's basically two examples that I can give when the times where things it was the darkest hour, I guess, where I honestly didn't know what I was gonna do and then know what I was going to live. Didn't know what the heck was going to happen. If I didn't, I was like, Oh my gosh, if I didn't know these people, there wasn't somebody that I that I can say, “Hey, can I stay over at your–at your house for the night?” L: What would have happened? L: You know, and–and I know I'm sure that people would say it's the Lord's or some religious explanation. I myself, I'm not a very religious person. L: But I can say that it's, it's pretty messed up that you want to excuse, that you would try to excuse a system from its failures by saying like, Oh, this is some, how we're supposed to happen. L: So I found a lot of people in my life that would tell me, try to tell me that and it would particularly annoyed me to hear that “no, this is not how it's supposed to happen.” This happened because the lack of consideration for for for people that don't make that much money. L: I don't know…There's been many instances in which I feel like there are institutions, there are situations, at least here in the United States and this part, part of Kansas that literally prey on the poor. L: They judge one people to be poor and those are the ones that people like the most vulnerable. L: And like like my fricking landlord that they thought I wasn't going to do anything because I was an international student. As I'm not gonna pay your things new because they were old. L: That's that's expecting me to just be like, okay, you know, humble down and back down. And I was like No, no, no. L: So that was my first, That was my first year as an important and I'm just saying the bad things to make some sort of statement. L: But at the same time, I also met a lot of great people, people that were willing to work at. Again, people that helped me, people that consider that I was in a very vulnerable situation in my life. And that's mostly what I am grateful. I am grateful that I may make awesome connections. J: And I don't just study them because of what they did for me. But because I was able to learn a lot from them. L: So yeah. L: I don't know if there's anything else that you would like me to do. J: I really appreciate your specific examples. And yes, that's exactly what we're looking for in the way he told her story was absolutely perfect. J: And also, I'm curious, would you be willing to share some more positive, brighter, specific examples from your life in contrast to the ones you share? L: Well, as I said, the fact that somebody let me say that when when I needed the most, it was something that I thought was like, I don't think that many people back in Panama would do this for me. L: But I can tell you one quick, that sort of set set the mood for everything that was to come. L: The first night that I arrived in Kansas City and MCI on the airport, there was a pandemic. There's a Panamanian teacher, professor at ESU, that it was the one who helped me with everything and set everything up. He was my point of contact and everything right. L: I was supposed to stay the night with in his sleep on his couch for the night and then he was going to help me find an apartment and a blah blah blah and for whatever reason that didn't happen as planned. L: He I think he would he got to basically doing things that he got that night, but he was just picking up his phone. And I was very worried. I didn't know what I was going to sleep. I didn't know a single soul in this part [of Kansas]. L: It was three in the morning. It was cold and it was dark. And I didn't recognize. Because it's my first day in the United States after, you know, ever since I was 15, as I said before, that that was very I was very worried. L: But anyway, so I was about to stay the night at a hotel. That's what it was going to do. I was like, Okay, he's not picking up. It's almost three in the morning. And I need to sleep; I've been traveling all day. L: And tomorrow. I mean, saying they actually mean in the morning, I need to be somewhere for the orientation. It was like I had to be there at nine in the morning, so I was just going to sleep for a few hours and then pack up my stuff. L: And I was I was looking for hotels and I was looking for a place. And then somebody came to me, somebody from Emporia from the, I think it was like local church members that would volunteer to help or greet international students. And he was helping me call the hotels or the more like the cheapest possible option. L: And then I remember he said he said, “I want you to hang up that phone. And just would you mind sleeping in my couch?” And I was like, “Yeah, that would really help me. That would really help me because all I need us to sleep for a few hours, getting my stuff and then go to the introduction.” L: And then that's why what I did. I slept in his couch and I was very grateful that he did that. And then I spent the rest of the day–the rest of the day. Next morning, I guess, walking around campus with suitcase on my hand, going to the workshops with my suitcases and my hands and trying to get a hold of the professor that was supposed to help me. L: And until the very end of the day, it was like at 7 P.M. when he finally answered and it was like, Dude, where have you been? L: I remember I remember that. I remember that his kindness that his name was Karen foresight. His kindness not only set the tone for what was to come, like, how my ears, we're going to be like, yeah, this is gonna be harsh and you're going to need people to help you. L: It was like you also have to be more flexible and be ready. Be ready that sometimes things have just not going to go the way you think they're gonna go. L: That was, that was like, uh, you could, you could think of it as like a negative moment, but you can also think of it as a positive in the sense that as a stranger that just helped me out and as the reason for why it's a big part of part of the reasons for why I'm here. L: Because somebody came and helped me. L: Another good thing is that I can call, I can, I can mention at the top of my head is the-the professors. The professors that I met at ESU. They were great. They were passionate about what they did. They lamented the fact that the university wasn’t paying me enough. They lamented the fact that I wasn't such a tough situation and they just tried to help me. L: I don't think that I would have become as passionate and interested in. I feel that I'm doing right now in getting at PhD, if I hadn't met the professors that I met in Emporia and the professors that are made here at KU, they served us as a model. L: And and I just I don't know. I think that before I came to the United States, I didn't really know what I wanted to do with my life or what I wanted it to look like. L: And I've been able to sort of like mold my thinking. Not just really like who I am, but like my, my thinking how, how do I want to approach life? L: I like the fact that now I can be like, What do I want my life to look like in five years? Why do I want my life to look like in a few months? Do I want to be in a situation that looks like this? L: That has been just invaluable. And that is the most positive thing that I have from this journey. L: It's been this experience that has helped me grow and it has helped me become a different person that I don't think my parents or my sisters or any of my relatives would recognize, you know, I don't think I'm the same person that left the airport at that so much time ago. L: Yeah. L: Does that answer the question? J: Yes, it does. J: And you did touch on this end. I was wondering if you mentioned having it was important to you that you grew up with with sort of like an open-mind or like that mentality, you know, like let's take these chances. And also you stressed how it was really important to be flexible in a lot of your situations. J: Is there anything else you'd like to add on for just general advice or wisdom reflecting back on your journey or everything you've learned? L: Well–I'm not entirely sure that I would call that open mind. I mean, yeah, it sounds like it and I can see why it is, but it's more like… L: Okay, okay, how about this? L: It is very common, I think, the idea that the idea here in the United States that if you live with your parents, that turns–tends to not have a very positive connotation. It tends to be more like, oh, you're a loser type of thing, right? L: And that's usually because your parents or parents here, generationally speaking, they tend to have a lot more money than their children, right? That's fair. L: Not all the cases. This a generalization obviously. I'm just talking in big, big ideas. And obviously there are things that are there like that you need to consider like race, ethnicity, and all these cases. L: But I'm just making a generalization here. To make a point. L: However, I feel like in Hispanic countries, especially in Panama, the idea is not so much to leave your parents. Like this sociality of success is not so much to leave your parents–it is more to get a job so you can help sustain the family. L: And even if you still live with them, the sign is it's okay to live–to live with your parents. What's not okay is to live off your parents. L: And so when I say like, oh, I was raised with this idea to go get it to go live the country with the idea of trying to improve, try to get the best education you can. L: So you can make money to help the family to get out of this sort of like generational–I don’t want to call it poverty–but because I didn't really live in extreme poverty, I lived, I didn't, I wasn't rich–my family was middle-class, but I wasn't. L: I cannot compare myself to a lot of my friends that were poor. L: So that's what I mean when I say this: Go, go do it. L: It's, it's more like go make some money, go get educated because this is going to, this is going to be only good for your family, you know? L: But there's a lot of things about it that are not open mind, you know? It's a traditional mentality in essence. And that's not open mind: It's just “do this so you can help your family.” L: You can help your mom. L: I remember that when I came here my thought and it still is though it hasn't changed as much, but it was more predominant. And everything I did was I'm gonna go to the United States, is I’m going to get a degree, come back to Panama and get a job. And then I'm going to buy my mom everything she wants. L: I remember that was–that was my thought. I want to buy my mother everything she wants because she does a lot of things that we've always wanted to do and I'm going to take her on trips. L: We’re going to buy her…and be her awesome son and all that. But that's not necessarily open-mind. That is, I want to stress that out. L: That is not necessarily to have an open mind because there's a lot of biases. There's a lot of things that come around with it. L: Like for instance, let me think if I can think of an example of [pause]... L: I, I think that the idea that education by itself, like getting a degree by itself, will get you out of poverty. It's not necessarily true. You know, there's, there's things that you need to get. You need different skills. You need to know people. You need to make friends with everyone, not just with the people that agree with you. L: I think with the–with the years and with experience and with meeting all these people, I became more open-minded. L: And that is something that I can, I can say. L: But it wasn't necessarily just because I wanted to go get it. L: I think it was just something that was passed along as a survival strategy from maybe people that have been a lot. I mean, disadvantaged. So does that make sense? They have been in rougher situations than I have and it can, it has been a survival strategy. L: And then again, that is not necessarily because of an open-mind. L: That's just because you need to be adaptable. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Luis Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from Panama to Lawrence, Kansas Description An account of the resource Luis came to Kansas from Santiago de Veraguas, Panama. Due to limited opportunities in Panama, he arrived in Kansas to pursue a Masters degree at Emporia State University. However, things were not always so positive: when he first arrived at the Kansas City International airport, the individual that promised to pick him up never showed up. Despite the challenges, he persevered through numerous obstacles and ultimately decided to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. Today, he continues his research and studies while teaching students Spanish. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2010s Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Lawrence, Kansas Language A language of the resource English Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <iframe width="400" height="285" id="kmsembed-1_ukm3i0i4" src="https://mediahub.ku.edu/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/1_ukm3i0i4/uiConfId/45147491/st/0" class="kmsembed" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allow="autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-modals allow-orientation-lock allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-presentation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" frameborder="0" title="Heartland Luis"></iframe> Community Education Identity Language Lawrence Pananma Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Joohye Oh Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Maria Format Video, audio only, text only Video City (Region, State) and Country of Origin for 2nd and 3rd generation, this is the place of family's origin Mexico Current City of Residence Where in Kansas or Missouri the Interviewee currently lives Wichita, Kansas Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Maria Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from Wichita, Kansas Description An account of the resource Maria is a detective within the Domestic Violence/ Sex Crimes unit of the Wichita Police Department. She came to the United States as a young child and attended elementary through college within Kansas. In this interview, Maria reflects on her identity as a first generation individual and someone of Hispanic heritage. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource Parents immigrated in the late 1900s Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Wichita, Kansas Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <iframe width="400" height="285" id="kmsembed-1_mgos7f4q" src="https://mediahub.ku.edu/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/1_mgos7f4q/uiConfId/45147491/st/0" class="kmsembed" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allow="autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-modals allow-orientation-lock allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-presentation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" frameborder="0" title="Heartland Maria"></iframe> Community Education Identity Language Mexico Wichita Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Yuvia Serna Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Rosie Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Rosie (R) Yuvia (Y) R: ¿Por qué Kansas? Llegamos a Kansas porque estaba [sic] unos familiares- De aquí..de allí, los familiares nos llevaron a una iglesia. R: Cuando estamos llegando a la escuela, la iglesia abrió más puertas para mí. R: Había una maestra en la clase de español y sus estudiantes hacían este…¿Cómo se dice “tutoring?” Titu–tituear por nosotros. Para que nosotros aprenderamos inglés mientras ellas enseñaban. Perdón, nosotros aprendemos inglés mientras nosotros enseñamos a los alumnos español. R: Y entonces, pienso de allí fue una gran experiencia poder de movernos, colocarnos en las posiciones que estamos ahora. Puesto que nosotros ayudamos a otras personas a aprender español entre a nosotros mismos aprendemos a inglés. R: Esto abrió varias puertas para mí. Tanto como conocer gente en nuestra comunidad y ayudarnos por supuesto en el nivel educativo. Y: ¿Qué año llegaste a Kansas? ¿y de dónde? R: Hace 27 años. Y: ¿y de dónde? R: de Chihuahua. Y: ¿Cómo fue tu viaje al entrar a la comunidad de aquí en Olathe? ¿Qué tipo de cosas has experimentado? R: Mi experiencia con la ciudad de aquí de Olathe, creo que Olathe es una ciudad muy calmada y es más tranquila, más que otras ciudades y me sentí desde que llegamos nos sentimos muy acogidos a la comunidad anglosajona y la comunidad hispana de aquí nos dieron mucha ayuda. Y: Además de venir aquí porque tenías familiares aquí, cuáles fueron otras razones porque quedaste aquí en Kansas? R: Pienso que una de las razones porque quedamos aquí en Kansas exactamente en la ciudad de Olathe este fue la tranquilidad y, no sé, las…¿Cómo se dice…? Las…las oportunidades que teníamos tanto como para ir a otra..para nuestro nivel educativo como otras cosas. Y: ¿Cuántos años tenías cuando llegaste? R: Tenía 16 años. Y: ¿Y llegaste para venir a high school? [silencio] Y: ¿Pasaste toda tu vida de aquí de los Estados Unidos en Kansas? R: Sí. Tengo 26 años viviendo aquí en Kansas en la ciudad de Olathe. Y: ¿Cuál fue la razón por la que te fuiste de Chihuahua? R: Por..porque venimos con mi mamá. [silencio] Y: Rosie, ¿qué mensaje le quieres mandar a la generación que viene, como tus hijos o tu sobrino o sobrina? R: …Cualquier organización que sea de sin fines de lucro porque siempre estas organizaciones van a ayudar a abrir más puertas. Y yo pienso que esa fue una de las llaves que yo pueda acercarme a mi comunidad y entender los problemas de otros en mi comunidad y ayudarlos a seguir. R: So… yo pienso que ayudarse a la parte…si eres parte de la comunidad, pones una ayudando a otra persona tanto hispana a entender las leyes o las costumbres de otros países, creo que estás haciendo algo mejor para las generaciones que vienen. Y: Ahorita te hablaste sobre el impacto que hizo apuntarte en organizaciones y ayudarte en la comunidad, como crees que te…¿Cómo diferencia creo que hizo que tu fuiste un inmigrante durante de esa experiencia? R: Perdón, no entendí la pregunta. Y: Siendo latinoamericana…latina, inmigrante en estas organizaciones, ¿qué crees fue el efecto de ser ese inmigrante? R: Pienso que…cuando estás en estas organizaciones, y tu eres esa voz que habla por los demás, creo que ven las cosas desde tu punto de vista como inmigrante y se toman en acuerdo…¿Cómo se dice cuando alguien…Cuando te toman en en cuenta que no solo hay el punto de vista que ellos están viendo la comunidad sino la punto de vista de alguien que viene de otras costumbres, de otras raíces, que viene a experimentar…que en mi caso vinieron con familiares, y pero hay personas que vienen de otros niveles de la sociedad que no tienen la misma ayuda que nosotros teníamos, yo pienso que eso fue– R: I mean…por ejemplo, pienso que muchos inmigrantes que han ido y ha sufrido por mucho tanto por no tienen las costumbres porque no tienen familia acerca de ellos ni…ser esa voz que ayuda a los demás, los que vienen detrás de tí. R: Pienso que es algo que me ayudó a ser quien soy hoy. Y: ¿Qué mensaje les quiere mandar a la generación anterior–tus padres, tus abuelos? ¿Qué les quiere mandar o que ellos sepan? R: Bueno, yo agradecería porque las decisiones que tomaron cuando yo era una menor…Gracias a esas decisiones que ellos tomaron soy quien soy ahora. Y tal vez sea una en un millón pero esa voz siempre va a estar levantando en mi comunidad porque gracias a eso soy miembro o miembra de varias organizaciones cerca de mi comunidad. Y: Y, alguna vez en tu tiempo aquí en Kansas, has podido regresar Chihuahua o has querido regresar a Chihuahua cuando no has podido? R: He regresado, sí porque siempre he podido regresar. Y: Pues, muchas gracias. Language of Interview Spanish Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rosie Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from Chihuahua, Mexico to Olathe, Kansas Description An account of the resource Rosie is from Chihuahua, Mexico. She first learned English while teaching Spanish to students. She says that the Olathe, Kansas community is friendly. Rosie is active in several local organizations after she found out that she could be a voice for immigrants like herself. Her advice to the younger generation is to understand the importance of giving back to one’s community. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1980s Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Olathe, Kansas Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <iframe width="400" height="285" id="kmsembed-1_l2dd05dm" src="https://mediahub.ku.edu/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/1_l2dd05dm/uiConfId/45147491/st/0" class="kmsembed" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allow="autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-modals allow-orientation-lock allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-presentation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" frameborder="0" title="Heartland Rosie"></iframe> Community Language Mexico Olathe Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Joohye Oh Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Rosina Language of Interview English City (Region, State) and Country of Origin for 2nd and 3rd generation, this is the place of family's origin San Salvador, El Salvador Current City of Residence Where in Kansas or Missouri the Interviewee currently lives Lawrence, Kansas Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Rosina Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from San Salvador, El Salvador to Lawrence, Kansas. Description An account of the resource Rosina grew up in San Salvador, El Salvador and received a Fulbright Scholarship which led her to study Journalism at the University of Kansas. Today, she teaches several Spanish classes including the new Spanish for Heritage Speakers class. She has gone back to El Salvador with her family and stays connected to her culture through podcasts and food. Rosina is also part of the Lawrence Salvadoran community that raises funds for a local scholarship for Latino/Hispanic students. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1993 Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Lawrence, Kansas Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <iframe width="400" height="285" id="kmsembed-1_pdevwyee" src="https://mediahub.ku.edu/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/1_pdevwyee/uiConfId/45147491/st/0" class="kmsembed" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allow="autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-modals allow-orientation-lock allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-presentation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" frameborder="0" title="Heartland Rosina"></iframe> Community Education El Salvador Language Lawrence Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Silvia Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from Guatemala City, Guatemala to Lawrence, Kansas Description An account of the resource Silvia grew up in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Her passion for social justice was sparked by her own experience in Guatemala where she saw disrimination against the indigenous population. After deciding to continue her academic journey, she was offered a Graduate Teaching Assistant position at the University of Kansas. At KU, she met a wonderful, supportive community of international students. She continued her anthropology research and eventually got married. Towards the end of the interview, Silvia reflects on her path and life and the wonderful opportunities she has had. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2000s Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Lawrence, Kansas Community Education Guatemala Identity Language Lawrence Oral History A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge. Interviewer The person(s) performing the interview Aron Muci Interviewee The person(s) being interviewed Suzette Language of Interview English Format Video, audio only, text only Video City (Region, State) and Country of Origin for 2nd and 3rd generation, this is the place of family's origin Nicaragua Intermediate point in journey (1) City/State or Country to which interviewee (or parents/grandparents) traveled before coming to current point of residence California Transcription Any written text transcribed from a sound Suzette (S) Aaron (A) S: Okay. My name’s Suzette Mendez. I came to Kansas when I was 12 years old–actually I was 10 years old–originally we lived in California and then I lived there…I came to the United States when I was a year and a half–so we lived in California and then moved to Kansas when I was 10 years old. And we’ve been here since then. S: I guess a story that comes to mind in regards with this project [Coming to the Heartland] is–my very first time when we went back home when we traveled to Nicaragua as a family. S: I had never been there. Like I said, I came to the States when I was a year and a half so I was never fully emerged [sic] in what the Nicaraguan culture was. S: I grew up here in the United States so this was all I had ever known. So when I went back it was really eye-opening; It was an experience that I would never forget. I remember how my life is very different from the life over there. S: I think that [deep exhale] when we went I was still–we went back when I was 12. So I got to experience the difference in culture. I got to learn more about where I came–where I’m coming from–my roots, so that was a really wonderful experience. [car honking] A: So is there something that happened on the trip that–correct me if I’m wrong, but you said that happened when you were 12, right?-- S: –Yes A: So is there something that happened on that trip that made you feel was important to you and that you were able to see some of the differences and that sort of thing…so what were some of the differences that you were able to see or what were some of the cultural aspects that you were able to learn? S: The food for sure. It’s very different. It’s something that–like my mom does Nicaraguan cooking but [pause] it’s–it’s different when you’re there, I guess, that’s what I want to say. S: The living aspect too, that’s the poverty–it’s one of things that struck me the most while I was down there. I noticed, you know–I could only imagine what would be my life if we had stayed in Nicaragua and never moved to the States. A: And could you maybe also explain a little bit about how your–I mean how do you see yourself today in terms of you being an immigrant– A: I mean with you immigrating so young coming to this country at such a young age did you see yourself as an immigrant growing up and going through school and things like that? Or did you see yourself in any other different light? S: Umm, no, like I never–Like I knew that my parents and I were from Nicaragua but I never really identified myself as like an immigrant. S: Like growing up, when I was smaller in elementary school, like I never thought about it that way I guess. S: When I started to get older, that’s when I could say, I know where I came from and I know that I’m an immigrant and that my parents were immigrants and that I was the very first generation to go to college and so it–that’s when I started to in high school–or elementary–in middle and high school when everything came into play. S: When we first got our legal status, I guess, then my parents kinda had a talk with me about what it was and that’s when we got to go back home [to Nicaragua]. S: Then they explained that they had been here for several years, I think that it was maybe 10 years that they had not been able to see their family so they explained that they were going to take a trip and we were going to be able to meet our cousins, our aunts, uncles, grandparents. A: Is that something you were excited for? Or was it something you were fearful of? Or just kinda unsure about? What were kinda some of the things that they prepared you for going back for the first time? S: To me, it was fun–it was exciting. I never grew up with any grandparents so that was something very difficult and different because I would know and because my friends would have their grandparents here and so I didn’t get to experience that until I was 12 years old and even at that time you would go for two weeks, three weeks at most, so I never really got that connection with my grandparents. S: With cousins, I never really grew up with cousins. The ones that I had in California were like two-three cousins and we would see them every so often for holidays so, like I said, I never emerged [sic] myself into the whole family environment with parents with my grandparents or my extended family because they weren’t living here, they were living back home. A: One of the–some of the things that others have talked about in their interviews is what they hope to share with maybe older generations or younger generations–So is there something about yourself that you feel like older generations or younger generations. A: So is there something about yourself, something that you learned about yourself that you feel like older generations don’t know about you in terms of how you see yourself? Or, is there something that you want to share with younger generations about who you are that you feel is important? S: I think what I would say to the younger generations would be to know where you come from. From a very early early years, learn your Spanish–I mean whatever language you speak: that’s something I always try to teach my child, now that I have a son, is you–you need to know where you’re coming from and it’s hard. S: Especially nowadays I know that I speak to him a lot in English and so his dad tries to speak to him in Spanish. And it gets hard for him [Suzette’s son] too and so sometimes [Suzette’s son] is like “I don’t want to speak in Spanish.” And I try to teach him why it’s important to do so. Where is his–where he is coming from, where his parents are coming from. S: So that’s something that I would try and advise the younger generation. A: And have you had a chance to take your son to Nicaragua? And has it been an opportunity to share a little bit of where you come from? And what was the experience for him? S: We have. I’ve taken him maybe about three times now. S: I think that the first time that I took him he was a year and a half–and one of the things that I try to explain to him is how fortunate we are in this country and we go back so he can see the difference between these two countries and what we have and cherish what we have here. S: We–I wanted him to know, you know, about poverty and how we can help people and so one of the trips we took down there, we made like 150 sandwiches and we bought drinks–water, pop, all that kinds of stuff–and then–and so we went to the streets and we took a car and we drove through the streets. S: At the stop lights there’s always homeless people or people working and try to get a little bit of money and so we would stop there and we would see all kinds of people–people in wheelchairs, little kids selling gum or drinks and stuff like that. S: And so we would stop and he would hand them [the sandwiches and drinks] out. People would just come towards the car and Isaac, that’s my son’s name, and Isaac would just roll down the windows and we would just hand sandwiches and drinks out. And so that is something that has always stuck in his mind and to this day he tells me “When are we going to do that again?” S: So I know that that made an impact on his seven years of life that he has, so yeah. A: That’s really great. I’m glad that he was able to have that experience that was so inspirational for him and exciting for him to go back and–that’s fantastic. A: Okay, wonderful. Thanks so much, Suzette, for participating in this project. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Suzette Subject The topic of the resource Oral history from Mexico to Kansas. Description An account of the resource Suzette was born in the United States but her parents are from Nicaragua. In this interview, she talks about visiting Nicaragua, being a first-generation college graduate and connecting with her family. Her advice for the younger generation is to learn Spanish or their heritage language and embrace where they come from. Suzette also highlights the importance of giving back to one’s community. Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Kansas Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <iframe width="400" height="285" id="kmsembed-1_9w99c2kp" src="https://mediahub.ku.edu/embed/secure/iframe/entryId/1_9w99c2kp/uiConfId/45147491/st/0" class="kmsembed" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" allow="autoplay *; fullscreen *; encrypted-media *" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade" sandbox="allow-downloads allow-forms allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-top-navigation allow-pointer-lock allow-popups allow-modals allow-orientation-lock allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox allow-presentation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" frameborder="0" title="Heartland_Suzette_Trimmed.mp4"></iframe> California Education Identity Kansas Nicaragua