Gabriela

Gabriela

Oral history from Southern Texas to Topeka, Kansas

Gabriela has Spanish and Mexican heritage and grew up in Southern Texas. Currently, she serves her community as a middle school teacher at a dual language (English and Spanish) school in Topeka, Kansas. In this oral history, you can listen to Gabriela’s approach to teaching as well as her family’s connections to prominent Latino activists such as Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

Gabriela (G)
Marta (M)

G: I just happened to see a post from Angela Cervantes about how she had a group of women that used to meet and write stories. And she said that she wanted to start it up. I answered her and I said, hey, I'm Latina; I'm a writer. Can we start up something? When do you meet? And I forget what the name of the group group–

M:--Las fuerzas

G: And it was her and myself, and José, and Maria. They all knew each other. I was an outsider. And then of course, we added Miguel. I mean, we had I think a group of about 30 by the time we were done. You know, it did morph into something else, into a group that was just Spanish speakers.

G: But it definitely speaks to what you were saying, how there's a sense of no Latinos in the Midwest and maybe it was maybe it was 32 years ago, I moved to Overland Park and yes, I did feel I was the only Latino within a 20 mile radius, and I probably was.

G: But anyway, that was a dream of ours, to get our voices, to get our faces out in the public. We did it strongly for about ten years. I say we had maybe 30 readings a year. We were very busy. We did file to be a nonprofit. We've done everything from libraries to, we've been to the AWP several times, which was very impressive–

M: And it’s back again? Yeah. Three or four times in March, I believe.

G: So, I haven't done it since I've been a teacher. That part of my life, it's like maybe I should do something with my thesis. I'm working on writing again. But yes, there was a need and we found each other by chance. We were more than just an organization, we were a family, we still keep in contact with each other.

G: I believe that in a time of need that if somebody called us up, we would all gather and again, maybe not have it as, as strong as we used to. But I think for me personally, it's the reason I'm teaching in middle school. I realized that I really did well with the younger generation.

G: We did a couple of workshops with the migrant youth at KU where they host them over the summer and teach them leadership skills and all that. And we did two or three of those. I felt strongly that those children needed to see somebody like me as their educator. I wanted to make a difference. I think that's basically what everyone else in the group wanted.

G: A lot of us have gone on and done some wonderful things like Zanath Caraza, she's out of what ten, 12 books published now, the first time she ever read in public, was it one of our readings? So she was definitely very much part of the organization also. But anyway, so that's what I have to say.

G: What questions do you have before I follow up?

M: So let me ask some follow up. Where do you teach now?

G: I teach in Topeka School District.

M: Oh, wow.

G: I teach at Landon Middle School. I'm a seventh and eighth grade dual language teacher.

M: Wow, wow.

G: The vast majority of my children are Latinos. They come from Scott, dual language, which is a bilingual program. Dual language program, yes. That's what I do. Again, I'm serving the community and the kids are like my children. I'm invited to all the quinceñera parties or whatever because they like seeing someone like me in the classroom.

M: Yeah. Do you do you see your teaching as a way of changing or I don't know, making tea more a home for Latinos like do you see the fact that you're teaching there as in some way changing the place? I knew very little bit about Topeka because I don't live in Topeka, but there is already a community there, a very [lots of emphasis] strong community, especially within the community of dual language parents, that advocates for the program, they're advocates for their children, they're advocates for their education.

G: It only takes me a simple statements like “te habla con tu mamá, or “hablar con su mamá” , okay, no, no, no, Ms. Lemons. When Ms. Lemons calls means, she's already giving you 50 chances. The community is there,

G: It’s a northeastern part of Topeka and not all good, but that's where my children come from. Even the children that are not native speakers, that are not Latino are part of the group. It's part of the family.

M: Yeah. Okay. Let me [unknown] the Zoom lens. I guess I have two questions and I'm going to backstory this by talking to you about something I was talking about with José Faus, okay? Because as you know, he's in addition to being a writer, he's a muralist. And he did that gorgeous fantastic mural in Argentine that's well known.

M: Now as I think about how we make a place our Latinos like, it's really obvious to me how murals can help to make a place their own right. Like you're painting the history of your community on a wall. Or, I don't know, Mexican restaurants or Mexican stores, things like that.

M: I wonder how writing fits into that. Like can writing make a place? And the follow up question, is teaching a form of advocacy or activism in your case? [laughs].

G: Absolutely. In my, my peer that the other dual language teacher that does the lower grades, the sixth and seventh, She, for example, doesn't like to do a lot of story writing, she doesn't like to do poetry and novels that she does more of the grammar and all that. Definitely.

G: As a matter of fact, I try to extend my children's learning by introducing authors that normally they would traditionally would not be taught. I teach them like for example, Gabriela Garcia Marquez. We'll also read the poet. I'm drawing a blank…Peruvian poet. There's Octavio, I'm drawing a blank–

M: It’s okay. It will come to you later.

G: It'll come to me. Yeah. But anyway, I definitely introduce some of the Latin American authors to them so that they know that people of brown color have beautiful voices and what beautiful language the Spanish language is.

G: But yes, I think another thing that I became aware, fully aware of the need of me being in a school with dual language kids was we do a lot of story writing. And for example, I have them write semi-biographies, autobiographies of themselves, and I learned a lot about what their neighborhood is, the violence, the drugs, the issues with immigration. They will tell me the truth in their papers.

G: I'm a culturally responsive teacher, where everything I teach somehow try to relate to their own personal lives. I think it makes a difference because my children do their work–

M: Yeah.

G: You know, and not only that, if you're excited about writing poetry or about just writing in general, they're going to be excited about it.

M: Yeah.

G: So, yes. I think that it's important to do this for the kids, offer an extension of their traditional teaching, because I think it gives them a voice, most definitely. I believe that these children have their own opinions, they have their own beliefs. And I think it's important for them to, important for me to mentor them so that they can write what their personal values are. What makes them strong in their community as a son and a daughter.

G: Because when we have parent-teacher conferences, it's always about respect. You have to respect your t– [the parents ask]: “Is my son or daughter respecting you, Ms. Lemmons? If not, give me a call.”

G: Sometimes when people come to the United States as immigrants, they say after the second generation that you lose the language, some of the culture. But my children are not like that. Sometimes when we have days that we're just doing easy work, relaxing on a Friday. What kind of music do they want to play when I play Spotify? They want corridos, they want reggaeton, they want Fernandez.

G: Definitely, they advocate for themselves and their culture. I think that they need to see more people like me in the classroom. But I hope I answered your questions, but–

M: You did, you answered the second one very well. And I'm going to get back to it in a second. What about the first one? Does writing have a role in making place?

G: Absolutely.

M: How?

G: I will give you an example. I teach House on Mango Street by Sandra Ciseneros. It was one of the first books I ever read, that Latino brown person. And it was in college. I didn't know that Latinos wrote until I got to college. And this is being from South Texas actually. She was one of my college professors at the University of New Mexico, and I'm part of the Macondo, which is something she founded.

G: And I tell them that this is big in House on Mango Street, it is definitely about a sense of place, a sense of, a sense of belonging. I have several projects that relate to the sense of being, the importance of knowing who you are and where you came from. I haven't, for example, to do a diagram of their house, what does their house look like? And then I say, okay, well, what about the five senses? What do you smell? Do you smell? What is that soap? It’s fabuloso? They're always fabuloso. What do you taste? Tamales, pinto beans or whatever. What is your world?

G: And then I say, okay, pick one of the places in your house, or even outside the house that speaks to you the most. Go into that place and tell me what you see, what you hear, what you taste, tell me your story. And they love that project. I come out with some fabulous stories, Not all happy, like I'm eating food or whatever, I'm celebrating La Navidad or whatever. Some of these stories are deep and they're not all pretty.

M: Yeah, yeah.

G: I think writing definitely has a place in making my children feel that they have a voice, that somebody understands them and their voice is important. Yeah. Somebody is listening to them. This is who I am and where am I going to go to? Wherever you go to family is always your roots–your raíces.

M: So that's beautiful. That was a great example. Thank you so much for that example. That was a wonderful example.

G: I am trying to get back into writing. I've just been so busy. When I went to the transition to teaching program, I literally like took six college hours each semester, and then I taught full time, got thrown into it. Into yeah, I've been slowly trying to get back to my writing, but I think that's where my corazón is.

M: Yeah. Yeah.

G: There's another thing I want to share other than the center, so is the House on Mango Street. We have a section where we talk about cultures, about people that come from other countries, immigrants in our text and I developed a lesson plan, it's a process, number one, I ask the children in Del work. Basically, if you were to if you were to tell name me, the person in your family who knows everything about the family, you know, I forget the jargon, Who would it be?

G: ´Then I ask . Okay. Oh, whatever. Mom and dad. And then I say, okay. So who are you from? That's the second question. What do you know about where you're from, whether what country or whatever, whatever your last name. Then I say, okay, you found your expert on the family, the historian or whatever.

M: Right.

G: Okay. Write me five questions that you want to know about you and your family or about yourself. Okay? So they do that. Then the fourth part is I say, okay, we get all the kids together in groups and I say we're going to do jot thoughts. Okay. Again, including the five that you had given me the previous day. Jot down as much as you can. Things you want to know. Where do we come from? Do we have anybody who served prison? What's your favorite food?

G: Well, what do you want to ask these people? If you had in front of you, why would you ask them? So I come up with a list of about 100 questions that the kids come up with on their own, not me. Yeah. And they have to pick ten of them and they have to interview this person and it's phenomenal.

M: That sounds like a fantastic exercise.

G: I mean, they, they have to do a Google Slide presentation, they have to present to the class and like last year I found out that half of my children came from Durango [Mexico].

M: Oh, wow. Wow, that's fascinating.

G: It a joke. It was a joke after a while. And I said, you know what, You know what it is? It's like there's somebody in Durango says, hey, you know, “Tengo una tía en Durango y te puede dar chamba:” you know, why don't you move to Topeka? I said, yeah, that's how community starts. Yeah. But anyway, that's a project too, where they get to learn about themselves and some other history. Anyway, I've got l–

G: I have something to tell you. Definitely have something to talk about. Yes. Be cause. My birth father, who died recently, was actually very much involved in the Farm Workers Union. Uh huh. It was actually one of Sid Chavez bodyguard. And I was adopted out of the family, but my siblings all worked in the fields in Santa Maria, California. And my mother was actually a civil case where the United Farm Workers sued the growers because she got really sick from the pesticides.

M: Oh my God.

G: And my brother, my brothers, remember I still have two of them alive, three of them. Remember Cesar Chavez staying over at their house. They knew whenever Cesar Chavez came over that we would be sleeping in the garage. And they talk about how the women used to come over to the house in Santa Maria and do the flags and stuff.

G: So would you be interested in something like that?

M: I would love to hear that. Okay.

G: That would be my brother even told me one time how they would do the hats to wear the fields.

M: Oh my gosh, I am to hear, I feel really bad.

G: My father passed a couple of months ago, my birth father, and he personally knew who is the woman, the right hand of Cesar Chavez? …Dolores Huerta. They were friends. They were friends. And I always wanted to put them in contact with each other.

M: So thank you so much Gabriela. We'll be back in touch anytime, any time I'll send you the stuff on the ficciones.

G: Yes, yes, yes. I'm on board with that.

M: Awesome, thanks, Gabriela.

G: All right. Adíos.

M: Bye bye.

G: Bye bye.

Marta Caminero-Santangelo

Gabriela

English and some Spanish

video

Overland Park, Kansas