TRANSCRIPTION
My first question is at what age did you begin to work in the fields?
I began to work; I think I must have been 9 yrs old. But we actually started going when I was born that's how my dad was able to keep track of the years that we had been going because he knew that when I was born we started going up to Minnesota. But my older sister would take care of me, and then once I reached the age of 6 I started working… like a water girl, I would take water to them. You know, because by the time they would go and come back from the rows that they were working on, it took it quite a while, they would be thirty and I would take water to them. And then by the age of 9 I was able to start working with them, and I know it was illegal because children were not suppose to work, there were laws that protect children but at that time I just wanted to work, I wanted, I thought of it as excited because I was doing what the older people were doing. And so I started working at that age.
And what is it that ya'll would pick from the fields?
Well we didn't pick we actually went and we would thin sugar beets. We actually went as we would, we had our own farmers, and we had 2 farmers that we were working for. And each farmer had around five fields a piece. The fields were long. Each row was a mile long and sometimes we would last two weeks in finishing one field, sometimes one week depending on how big the field was. But we would finish with one farmer and we would start the fields of the other farmer. And we would think the sugar beets with a long hoe and after we were done with the thinning we had to wait like 2-3 weeks and then wait for all the weeds to come out and then we would go through the fields again but this time we would just go weeding it just taking out the weeds.
Did you ever stop so they could spray pesticides on the fields?
Yeah! Well we didn't stop. Usually they would spray them before or after but sometimes as we were working we saw airplanes spraying the fields that were next to our field sand they were just spraying. They wouldn't spray over us but I always wondered, you know, how that would still affect us because as the wind blew you still get some of those toxins.
Do you think you were affected by that?
I'm pretty sure we were. I don't think it's a coincidence that all of us have the same rheumatoid arthritis in the family starting with my parents, and all my sisters have that arthritis that aches and pains of the bone. I think that being exposed to that has caused that, there's no way of proving it but I'm pretty sure we were affected by that to a certain degree.
Where would you stay/live when you traveled up to Minnesota?
Well the farmers, every May, at the end of May the last week of May my mom would always pack up luggage and blankets and everything. We'd pack up the truck because the farmer would actually send us money, gas money, so that we could be able to make the trip over there. Once we got there they had small houses. Like about three small houses. Because we were such a large family that we weren't able to all fit in one house. We all stayed in 3 small houses. The boys would stay in one house, my mom and dad in one house and the girls in another. And we didn't pay rent. Of course when you work there you don't get paid per week, it's a seasonal job. So after the season, after you finished doing the thinning and then the weeding of the sugar beets and then you would get paid, but throughout the time when we would go grocery shopping we would put everything on credit and then when they would pay my dad then he would go and pay whatever he owed.
Living in those circumstances what would you do for fun?
Actually I think we did a lot more constructive things for fun that I see my kids doing now. Simple things we appreciated I think because we lived life with so much scarcity we didn't have a TV. When I was little and I remember going to the neighbors' house because there was a little girl that lived there she was an only child and they were very well off. I remember looking through the fence trying to see her TV. But at the same time we would play hide-go-seek, jump rope, we would sit in the porch and just share stories. We would play jacks we would climb trees. We would get the head of a doll and use it as a ball and play baseball with it. And just get a board. We would just go out on the street and play ball. And we had the funnest time. The boys I remember they would play marbles they would play with those tops, but there's always a way of entertaining yourself. My parents would make sure that we had chores to do but after the chores we were able to go outside and play and just have fun.
What did you learn anything by working on the fields that had benefitted you now.
Oh I've learned so many things. You know even though it is considered to be hard work you look back and say "gosh would I do that again?" But I think there's always a negative and positive to everything. And I think the positives are, we were very well fit because it was physical work and it was like walking on a treadmill all day long. I remember we would get up at 5 in the morning and by 6 we were already starting to work and then we wouldn't stop because my mom would always say, "Don't come home until the sun sets." Well up north the sun did not set until 9 o clock and so it was a long day. But we were happy. I guess what made it enjoyable was the fact that we were together as a family; all my brothers and sisters, and just that unity that we had. I reflect back on those times and I tell my husband now, those were the happiest moments of my life. Because we were all there under mom and dad's protection and we felt secure. So the benefit was the physical exercise. I think it was good. We all maintained our weight (laugh).. it was work. The other benefit that I would say is that, it kind of gave you a lot of time to reflect because a you work there everything was so quiet and you related it was working outside in nature as I was working I would reflect back on where I was and where my life was headed. It gave me a lot of time to think. And I remember looking at my mom and dad and I saw them getting older and they were getting slower and of course they weren't able to work as much as we could because we were younger and strong. It gave me a lot of time to reflect and that's when I thought on how you know, I don't know how I'm gonna do it, in my family had never heard of about such thing as going to college or you know because, not because we didn't think we weren't college material but that was not in our plans. In our family we had very strong cultural roots. My dad was very, very Hispanic that he actually believed that women were not suppose to go to college it was the man's job to go to college and seek for a better future and provide for their family. And women were suppose to just stay home and get married and raise kids. Now that I think….. there's a lot of good in that because my mom devoted her whole life to raising us and educating us the best that she could. And I think because of that, we were instilled good values, good morals, and good discipline. But I don't know I guess times do change, it's not the same. it use to be we were able to, even though my dad struggled financially, because we were so many by the time he was gonna buy shoes for one the other one needed shoes or another one needed something else. But he was still able to manage to provide. I would always see how things were changing and I don't know I didn't want except that as my fate. I said "one day I'm gunna stop coming here and definitely my parents are gonna definitely stop coming because they can't be working anymore" that's actually what gave me time to reflect and think about "ahead". But I think that my parents never taught us to think ahead. And I think that the problem with kids these days. They think in today, they think in the now they don't think 10 years from now what they're going to do or how they are going to be impacted with what they do now, he decisions that they make. And for some reason, out in the open it just gave me a lot of time to think. And I started to thinking what am I going to do, am I going to do this for the rest of my life? What am I going to do? So that when I started getting an idea to pursue a career. I didn't know how I was going to do it but the idea came then and I owe that, those goals I set for myself, I owe it to that hard work.
Describe your early school experience to pursue a career, how was the education?
Well because we were migrant workers we would come in a little late into school. Like I said every May, it was a cycle. At the end of the school year we would just leave and go. I guess my parents always made sure we were here at the beginning of school. And I think that is the main reason why we never stayed behind in our studies. The only thing that I did see was that because we were labeled as migrant workers, when we would start school they put you in the category "Migrant" and so they would start putting us in these different programs. There's such a program that's for migrant kids. And they started putting my younger brother in a resource class, and he was very intelligent. I was very amazed at the fact that at his age he was very intelligent, I think he was the age of 12 and he came home very offended that they put him in a resource class because he was from a migrant family. Right away, they start labeling you and start putting you in all these programs because they assume that because you come from a migrant family that you were behind or you were slow or whatever. My brother actually told my parents and they went to the school and talked and they gave him a test and he passed with a very high score. Like, again, you had to prove yourself In order to gain the benefits the most benefits to gain out of the education system. It's not only because coming from a migrant family, I think that was one strike against us, another strike was just being Hispanic. When you're Hispanic you already have a strike against you. You have to prove yourself, all my life I had to prove myself.
In your school was there a language barrier?
You don't know this, your too young to know this but when I went to school it was the time where you were not allowed to speak your language because it was not excepted, so if your spoke Spanish they would paddle you. Every teacher had a paddle in their room and they would take you outside in the hallway and paddle you. Or if it was even more severe you were sent to the principal's office and then they would hit you there with a bigger paddle. I was always the scared type of student. I would always tried to do everything right because I never wanted to get in trouble so I wouldn't speak because even though I did know English, but because my parents would speak more Spanish to us, my English was very weak because everything was Spanish. All types of literature that we had at home was in Spanish. I think I learned how to read Spanish first then reading English. So I was very strong in Spanish so when I entered school my English was very week so I was afraid to speak, because the first language to come out of my mouth was Spanish that was my language of dominance. But because I knew that I would get in trouble I would just stay quiet. So then they started questioning… "Maybe she's special-ed? Maybe something's wrong with her?" so they started pulling me out and started giving me all these different tests, and fortunately I did not qualify for any special program, I don't know I guess I must of scored average. But I knew I had to work harder. I knew things did not come as easy to us who dominated a second language stronger than English. So that when I decided to not just accept what I was taught at school but actually come home and work harder in catching up. And that's what I did, I put a lot of extra time at home and that's how I was able to catch up and before I knew it I was top of the class. When I saw that I was excelling in my subjects it kind of just gave me more encouragement to keep going and I started to be more competitive. Not in an obvious way more like an introvert way. I would see that the person would get a 90 and I would say "I'm going to get a 100". I always had that drive. Not necessarily in a mean way just to embarrass her but to prove to myself that I could do it. And I guess that's what drove me to excel in my education.
In school did they provide you with free lunch?
I remember there was no such thing as free lunch. There was reduced lunch but only certain people qualified for that. You would pay for plastic chips and with that chip you would get a discount. We didn't worry about that because my mom would pack us our lunch and of course she would make her fresh made tortillas and her taquitos. We thought we had the best lunch in the world but when we got to that particular school. I don't know if it was the same in every school, but in that school they threw our tacos away because they said that it was not a healthy lunch. And I remember crying one day because it just hurt me. Not because they threw away my lunch but it hurt me because that was the tortillas that my mom had made. It hurt me because of that reason. And then I remember telling the teacher, "but that was the only lunch I have. That's all that's the only lunch my mom can give me." So she says, "Well but there's a way you can get free lunch. You can work in the cafeteria, cleaning tables". And so me and this friend of mine, Gracie Benavides, she and I decided to go apply and we went to the office and they gave us the job. And we cleaned tables. And that's how I was able to get my free lunch.
How were you treated for having that job of cleaning tables
Even then the kids were so cruel and so mean. We had to put up with people laughing and making jokes about what we did. But you know you have to do what you have to do. It was hard but I was able to overcome that.
As you got older did school somehow become easier to deal with?
Academically it was because like I said, I started to dominate the English language I started pushing myself to excel in my studies. But at the same time there was still that sense that I had to prove myself. And I think that's the real reason why I pushed myself towards doing the best. Because I felt like I had to prove myself. When I was in high school I remember it was in the eleventh grade, and nobody asked me what classes I had wanted to take because they already had my schedule done. My counselor had given me all these co-op classes and these cosmetology classes. And when I spoke with my friends they had a different schedule than me. I said, how come you have English 3 and I have these cosmetology class where I have to learn to cut hair, I don't want to lean to cut hair…(laughing) And they told me because you need English 3 and English 4 to be able to enter college. I remember telling that I wanted to go to college. So they told me to change my schedule. Nobody told me that I needed those classes. I guess from the beginning we were still going up north, we were still migrant workers, I guess because of that label that follows you, I was not considered to be college material. So they decided to go ahead and decide my future for me. I spoke to the counselor and I asked him, you didn't give me these classes that my friends have. I understand they're required for you to enter college. He said, well because you're gonna learn a skill. When you graduate you will be able to work and help your family pay the bills…" I was upset!! So I went to a different counselor and she changed my schedule for me.
Were finally able to graduate? What was your college experience?
Yes, I finally finished and I applied for scholarship. I didn't get the scholarship because most of the scholarships went to a few people. I was amazed how one student could get five scholarships. I went ahead and registered for school and I remember being very afraid. Because I didn't know if I could do, being that I was the first to graduate from high school in my family. I was the first one to even have the idea of going on to a university level. I didn't know how it was going to be like. There was nobody to give me an orientation, this is what you do, you go here, nothing. But just by asking people I was able to manage and learn. At that time I didn't drive, I didn't have a car. Somebody who would work in San Antonio would give me a ride and drop me off. Then I had to wait till six in the afternoon for somebody to be able to have a way to go and pick me up. So I would stay there and do my homework and sometimes even take a nap. Until I learned how to drive and got my first car it became easier for me.
What were some changes in you from when you first started college till now that you're going to get your Masters?
Oh there's a huge difference. Back then when I first started I was scared. I felt like I was thrown out to the wolves. When I went out there the world received me with a slap on the face. It was cold and you felt all alone. But soon I was able to overcome those fears. I was more confident in myself and I saw a big transformation on me. I started to rely less and less on my parents. I started to work and going to school at the same time. I saw a huge change in myself.
When you would get paid, did you help your household?
When I worked at home, the check we would hand it to mom and dad. They would give us gas money and maybe twenty dollars to spend. My siblings and I were okay with that. Because we were raised to as long as you lived at home you had to contribute. With my check and the check from my older siblings my dad was able to pay the bills, buy groceries. My dad was a self employed carpenter and as my dad got older he was not able to work anymore so we all had to pitch in. It got harder as my older sisters would get married but we were able to manage.
What was your major in college? Were you able to get a job after you graduated?
I started out in nursing I like nursing, I loved nursing I know I wanted to work with people and I knew that I wanted to encourage and motivate people. I knew I wanted to work with people. So I started nursing and I got all my requirements then I went to the Baptist Memorial Hospital. I was there doing my internship. I still liked it but there were some things that started to discourage me from that profession. I was there until when they said that my dad was going to die of cancer, I quit and I was on my last year of training. I would've gotten my bachelors degree as a registered nurse, so I needed one year to go. But then I got out when he was in the hospital and I spent most of my time by his bedside taking care of him. He had some cattle and he sold them to be able to pay the medical bills, but that wasn't enough. So I had to find a job, I couldn't go back to school because I really had to work in order to help pay more medical expenses. So I went looking for jobs, nobody would hire me because I was overqualified because I had so much education behind me and nobody wanted to pay more. Even after I told them just pay minimum wage, I just wanted a job. I went to several places until finally I went to Lytle Elementary and I applied as a substitute and sure enough they called me right away. When I was there I had a lot of teachers that were encouraging. They said," you know you're doing the job of a teacher and you have so much ability and we see the things that you do. "We see the kids; we see the things that you teach them. Go back and get your degree as a teacher, and get paid as a teacher. I would hear it from many people and then I said I think this is what God had for me. I don't think it a coincidence that they didn't hire me in the places that I went to apply. I don't think it was a coincidence, I really think that God was directing my path; this is where I want you. I enjoyed what I was doing but I was only getting paid as a substitute. So I actually listened to them and I went back to school and I finished and started working, even till this day I love my job. But I really think that after 25 years I'm ready to move on into another area that's my other passion which is actually counseling with kids.
What would you say is your greatest accomplishments today?
I guess it would have to be being able to influence a lot of my students. I go to HEB and I tell my husband let me comb my hair, because everywhere I go I find adults that remember me and these are married men and they all come to me and they remember me. I may not be able to reach all my students but if I could reach one students life it's worth it. Just being able to make a difference in the children's life is an accomplishment. God blessed me with three children and I hope that I can make a difference in them. And my goal is to be able to encourage them. To see not today to live not for today but to see ten years from now and to see what decisions their going to make now and how they are going to be impacted later on in life. But as I tell my kids, anything is possible you just have to want bad enough.
Do you have any regrets?
No, I'm glad that of all the things that happened in my life. I feel that if I didn't have to struggle as much as I did I don't think I would have gotten as far as I've been. I really believe that struggles in life help you develop character.
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
Well just the fact that I'm very grateful when I look back on how my life was and where I am now, I'm very grateful. God had a plan for me my job is to find out what he wants me to do. When we find what were passionate about I think we will be happy and we will be able to succeed. And my advice to every person is to find what you love, what you have a passion for. Because when you have a passion you are going to do a good job. Seek your passion and go through that route.
