Introd Uction Democracy and Freedom

Introd uction Democracy and Freedom

eneath the hysteria being generated around immigration, intertwined in the neighborhoods creating draconian anti immigration laws, reside millions of individuals of Mexican descent who are working hard, supporting families, and supporting community growth. The stories of these individuals, however, are seldom represented. Rather, images of conservative talk show host Sean Hannity on horseback, chasing "wetbacks," seem to dominate the airways.

The scholars, activists, and organizations represented in this issue of Reflections, however, demonstrate how to counter this dominant narrative, showing us both the dignity of the individual and the possibility of collective action. In the opening pages, Jesus Villicafia Lopez, Margarita Rojas, and Salvador Garcia share their personal experiences of crossing the border and establishing a new life in the United States. This personal experience is then drawn into dialogue with the work of the Minnesota Immigration Freedom Network and University of Minnesota's Chicano Studies Program. The case of Maria Gonzales, who is trying to complete her education, is represented and embedded within university attempts at Fairfield University and Emerson College to broaden a commitment to the educational rights of all students. Octavio Pimentel and Victor Villanueva then remind us that any sense of "education" or "success" must grow in dialogue with the values and traditions of the communities themselves. The issue of Reflections then ends as it began. Through the work of Mark Lyons, whose oral history project provides a venue for immigrants to speak about their experience in their own words, we listen to the personal experience of individuals from different heritages and origins creating a life in the United States.

Reflections. 1 This issue would not have been possible without the support of Erin Buksbaum, Brian Bailie, Collette Caton, Eli Goldblatt, Cristina Kirklighter, Mark Lyons, Luisa Rodriguez, Nancy Santiago, Rachael Shapiro and Denise Valdes. Espejos y Ventanas I Mirrors and Windows I am very grateful to benefit from the support of such strong allies and the ability share such important scholarship with the readers Mark Lyons, Introduction to excerpts from Espejos y Ventanas / of Reflections. Mirrors and Windows

Steve Parks t is time for Latino immigrants in the United States to take back their Editor, Reflections stories-stories that have been rewritten by people in a campaign to I drive them out of the United States. The revised stories read in the press and heard on the streets, promulgated by mayors and legislators and citizens who have a vision ofAmerica the Way It Used to Be, go something like this: our towns are being taken over by brown-skinned immigrants who drive our crime rate up and overwhelm the criminal justice system; these immigrants drain our economy, sucking our resources for schools, healthcare and welfare programs; they take away jobs from Americans and drive our wages down; they don't really want to be Ameri can-they stick to themselves, won't learn English, and are only here to take advantage of our way of life while refusing to contribute to it; and now, post 9/11, they are a terrorist threat. Citizens, we are being invaded; take back your communities before it's too late.

One problem: the stories are not true. It would take many pages to refute these claims-and that's not the purpose of this article-but the claims are simply not true. In Espejos y Ventanas / Mirrors and Windows, Oral Histories ofMexican Farmworkers and Their Families, immigrants have their chance to set the story straight. The truth is reflected more accurately in the story of Jesus Villicafia L6pez, age 16, who picks mushrooms over 80 hours a week and lives in one room with eighteen other men to support his family back home. Or the story of Margarita Rojas, who worked three jobs to support her family and faces deportation in spite of being married to an American citizen. Or Salvador Garcia, who lived separated from his

Peflcclinll<; • 2 Reflections. 3 This issue would not have been possible without the support of Erin Buksbaum, Brian Bailie, Collette Caton, Eli Goldblatt, Cristina Kirklighter, Mark Lyons, Luisa Rodriguez, Nancy Santiago, Rachael Shapiro and Denise Valdes. Espejos y Ventanas I Mirrors and Windows I am very grateful to benefit from the support of such strong allies and the ability share such important scholarship with the readers Mark Lyons, Introduction to excerpts from Espejos y J1!ntanas / of Reflections. Mirrors and Windows

One problem: the stories are not true. It would take many pages to refute these claims-and that's not the purpose of this article-but the claims are simply not true. In Espejos y Ventanas / Mirrors and Windows, Oral Histories ofMexican F armworkers and Their Families, immigrants have their chance to set the story straight. The truth is reflected more accurately in the story of JesUs Villicafia Lopez, age 16, who picks mushrooms over 80 hours a week and lives in one room with eighteen other men to support his family back home. Or the story of Margarita Rojas, who worked three jobs to support her family and faces deportation in spite of being married to an American citizen. Or Salvador Garcia, who lived separated from his

[{efl eel i nJlS • 2 Retlections • 3 family for over 20 years, makes no overtime even when working 70 hours The following stories are excerpted from Espejos y Ventanas / Mirrors a week, and had to sing La Bamba to the judge before she would give him and Windows, Oral Histories ofMexican F armworkers and Their his green card. Or Mayra Castillo Rangel, a recent college graduate who is Families, New City Community Press and Syracuse University Press, living the dream that brought her parents here. 2008. The book is in English and Spanish.

Here is a difficult question: What do Americans do about the fact that Jesus Villicafia Lopez there are 11 million immigrants in the US who have no legal documents? Jesus Villicana Lopez is from La Ordena, A simple answer is to send them home-i.e., we should not reward people a village near Moroleon, in the state of who entered the US illegally by allowing them to stay and work. If you Guanajuato. He was 16 years old when he break the law, you should be deported: a narrowly defined, legalistic did this interview, 6 months after coming to definition ofjustice. I suggest we frame this discussion using a broader the United States. definition ofjustice that reflects our American values: Social Justice. When we talk of social justice, we not only ask if immigrants came I made the decision [to come North] on my with papers, we ask if their presence contributes to our society. Do they own because I wanted to find a new way of share our democratic values? Should people willing to work harder than life or a future for myself. I wanted to be self imaginable and obey our laws be given the chance that our forefathers reliant and also to help my family-my mom and my brothers. I have had? We talk about the paradox of the wealthiest country in the world four siblings, all younger than I: my sister is 8 years old and I have one bordering on one of the poorest regions in the world-so what about brother who is 14 and another who is 12. Because I am the oldest, I have economic justice? What do we gain and lose by finding a way to share a great responsibility to be with them, to protect them and my mom. It's our wealth with our neighbors? my duty to give them the best, to create opportunities for them so that they can get ahead. I am responsible for showing them how to live life. How we ultimately respond to the challenge of immigration will say much about who we are. Will "immigration reform" express our nativistic, In Mexico, I lived in a stone house patched with clay that had a dirt basically racist, cultural isolationism? Or will reform reflect our generosity floor-it was tiny, with only one room for the entire family. We made that welcomes diversity, that welcomes and rewards people who work hard our living growing com and beans to eat-this is a staple food of the and contribute to our society and have the same dream that we all share? region .... My mother insisted that I go to schooL.! know that school is very useful, but I didn't have the resources to continue my studies and As our country makes this self-defining decision, it is crucial that neither did my mom or my grandparents. So I decided to leave school immigrants have a true voice in the discussion, that we learn to listen. and come up here. I believe that by doing this work here in the US, I May Jesus, Margarita, Salvador, Mayra and the other narrators in Espejos can help my brothers and sister get ahead in life and provide them with y Ventanas / Mirrors and Windows be heard. a better education, a career, so that they won't have to make the same Mark Lyons sacrifice that I made when I came here for them. I send my family four or Editor, Espejos y Ventanas / Mirrors and Windows five times as much as they used to earn each month. Every three or four weeks I send around $1000 to Mexico.

Reflection" • 4 Ret1ections • 5 I left Moroleon for the North at daybreak, with great sadness. I was with I work seven days a week, 12 or 13 hours a day .. .It's piecework-they a group-my uncle and some friends of his, all older. I was the only pay me by the box-so if I want to make more money, I have to force young person in the group. The night before I left I tried and tried to get myself to try to harvest more mushrooms. They ask you to pick an to sleep so that I could leave easily in the morning, but I couldn't sleep average of six boxes an hour-they pay $1.00 a box. Each box holds ten the whole night. I stayed up all night with my mom and then it was time pounds of mushrooms. There are times when I fill eight or ten boxes an for me to prepare to leave. My uncle came to the house and said that they hour- so I pick 80 to 100 pounds of mushrooms each hour. had come for us. I left with my suitcase and then, with the blessing of my mother, I climbed into the car and we left. Crying, with great sadness, I would like to say something to all the people who might think that we left our families and the village where we lived behind. We left being here in the United States is easy. I want them to know it isn't focused on our future, with the intention of finding a new way of life and that way because you don't necessarily know what you're up against. confronting new problems. But, then, at the same time, it was a risky and You think you will come here and find happiness, a new world full of very dangerous adventure. marvels-but it isn't that way. You will face tremendous loneliness with a great many problems, large and small. And you have to be responsible I am one of the younger people in the camp. When I first came here the for yourself instead of expecting to rely on others. truth is that I felt an enormous fear inside of me, since I didn't know where I was and I knew no one except my uncle, who came with me. I would advise all who are thinking of coming here to think carefully At night I felt this profound loneliness because I was in such a big place about things. First, think about what you will do when you are here, without knowing anybody. who might accompany you on your trip, and if you are,mentally and physically prepared, if you are strong enough to face your personal and Actually, I was very surprised at the conditions here in the camp. When social problems. Because if you are not prepared to face life, to face I left Mexico, I thought that I was coming to a place where we were new challenges, it will weigh very heavily on you over time. Often it is going to be, well, free, with a big living space. But when I got here, I misfortune that makes us unable to bear this burden and that gets us into realized that it wasn't that way-it was a small place where many of us trouble. And everything that you hoped for when you came here can tum were cramped together. At times we really have to make an effort to get out quite differently than you planned. You can succumb to temptation, along, since there are so many of us-we are 16 now, and in the summer like alcohol or drug addiction, and all the desires and dreams that you there will be 20. The camp is one long room, an open dormitory, without came here with can so quickly disappear into oblivion. If a person separate bedrooms. Each of us has our own space where we sleep, but comes with desire, with interest, and if he knows why he's coming, there is no real private space. We make sure to respect each other's what he's coming to and what he intends to accomplish here, then, things, though. With so many people living together, there are bound to yes-it's worth it. be conflicts sometimes, but we know that we have to try to avoid them. Afew months after this interview, Jesus 'father died Jesus was not able I get up faithfully at daybreak, at 2:00 in the morning. Before I leave to return to Mexico for his burial. In the Spring his mother, two brothers for work I eat a little. If I want to, I can rest one or two days a week, but and sister moved into their new three-room house in La Ordena-paid since I'm not that tired, I figure I should put more energy into work. So for with the $10,000 that Jesus had sent home.

Rcfl eel i 011.\ & 6 Ret1ections • 7 Margarita Rojas 1994-he beat me over and over, viciously, without feeling, without reason. He just went crazy. I thought, "The moment will come when Margarita Rojas is 32 years old She grew God will grant me a chance to leave because today I am leaving." up in the town ofZacapu, Michoacan, and Then, throughout the early dawn hours I stayed up to make sure that came to the United States when she was 18 he would be sleeping. I kept my children all dressed up, including their years old This interview was completed one jackets. When I heard that he was snoring-that was about 5:00 in the week before her final deportation order was moming-I took my Richie in my arms and I woke up Adriana and I to go into effect. told her, "Big girl, let's get out of here." She was suddenly happy and After I left high school, my dreams were my daughter left quickly, like a little kangaroo, without making noise. always to be a kindergarten teacher, to have And we got out, thank God. some money-which we didn't have at home .... But the economic I dedicated myself to working hard to help my children get ahead so situation didn't make my dreams possible and, afterwards, the man that they would be able to have nice clothes and good shoes, and I was who came into my life-the father of my children-ended my plans. I succeeding. In the morning I cleaned houses 'til 12:00 or 1:00 pm. discussed with him that I was going to continue studying, but tradition After cleaning houses, I took a bath and went out to do demonstrations, dictated otherwise. It was more like, "Women shouldn't study because selling clothes, gold jewelry, beauty products and lingerie. I was the eventually they get married and never practice their profession." owner of three businesses; I had a chain, an enormous network, like It was very difficult for me to bring myself here because I was leaving you can't imagine, of people who depended on me-they were selling my heart there-my land, my family-but I knew that I had to struggle and they paid a percentage of the sales to me. I was popular. I was to make a better life. I thought that it was going to be better. For me, able to have an apartment for me and my children. It transformed me. it was very difficult to change countries, to change customs, to change My life changed after I started living alone and then I was happy. 1 everything. I remember that when I went to say goodbye to my parents, wanted tranquility and peace. I wanted to help my children get ahead my house was very sad-it seemed as if somebody had died, everyone by myself, so that no one would tell me, "You and your children eat was crying. I had to hug my parents and tell them that I was going. My because of me" or "Because of me you all have a place to sleep and to parents cried, but they didn't stop me-they always believed that we live." That's why 1 had cried so much. I wanted to say "I can do it by should make our own lives. But, I tell you, I left half my heart there. myself, I don't need anybody." 1 stopped crying then.

. All those five years [here in the United States with my first husband] Finally, I started a very beautiful relationship [with a man called Pablo, were full of abuse, violence, mistreatment and daily insults. And all who is Mexican and an American citizen] ... Pablo wasn't the typical this time [my daughter] Adriana saw how we were living-she was macho that I had known. He gave me a lot of courage to be able to be frightened and crying. She was six years old and was very traumatized. free, to be able to make my own decisions, and he was never going to She didn't love him. She would tell me that when she would see her oppose them. In September 2000 we got married officially before the dad, her stomach would hurt-she was scared of him because he also judge. I tell you, for me, all of this was very beautiful because now beat her, he abused her. Then, I remember it well-it was December 30, 1 felt protected, I felt loved, 1 felt very supported and respected. He

Rc n cctl(1IlS • 8 Ret1ections • 9 wanted a family and I gave that to him. I wanted happiness, attention forgiveness-it's like I am stooping down and humiliating myself, but I and support and he gave all that to me. will do it for my children. I would tell the judge, "Maybe I don't show it, but my heart is broken. Now, I no longer cry-for a very long time 1 [1 applied for a work permit at INS, but] the only thing that they gave did cry, but I don't want to cry anymore. The only thing I ask of you is me was a deportation order .... I feel very bad, I feel like they have me that you do not destroy my family." tied up and I can't do anything-I feel like a criminal. I say it's unfair, after so much struggle, because I am married to an American citizen, Margarita Rojas decided to fly to Mexico with her children on January with two children who are citizens and one who is a resident. I feel very 25-the day before she was to appear before INS andface deportation. frustrated because I think, "What will happen to my children, with their However, at the last minute she chose to stay in the United States rights, the dreams that they have?" I feel worse for them, worse that and appeal her deportation order one last time so that her daughter, they will lose everything that is their life here. Right now, 1 feel like Adriana, could receive the medical treatment she needed. On January they have me in a plastic bag and 1 can't breathe, like I am drowning. 26th she said good-bye to her children and appeared before the I wish they would let me breathe, let me be free. Immigration Service, prepared to face detention in jail pending an appeal ofher deportation order. Her deportation was postponed and My dreams are for my children to be able to go to college, to fulfill she was allowed to return home to care for her children. Her case is their lives as professionals, and not to have to depend on anyone the still in the courts. way their mother did. I wouldn't want them to have to do the kind of jobs that I did-l don't want my daughter cleaning houses or my son Salvador Garcia running all over the place looking for work. As I have said to Adriana, "1 would be so happy to see you working, helping a lot of people, Salvador Garcia Baeza is 54 years old and is lending your hand to whomever needs it because you remember from the town ofMoroleon, Mexico. He came how we were in need and how we had many people who helped us." to work in the mushroom industry in Kennett Square in 1979 and got his permanent I feel very bad because my husband and I finally found happiness and residency card in 1986. He brought his sons now a law is going to separate us. The only thing that I ask God is that to Pennsylvania in 1996 and his wife and when we go to Federal Court the judge turns out to be a just person. daughter in 2000. If I had the opportunity, I would tell the judge not to act as a judge, but rather as a normal human being with feelings. I would say to him, I think that our family survived the "I am not a criminal. 1 didn't murder anyone-why are you judging separation because above all there was communication through letters, me this way? Think more about the welfare and rights of the children. when they were little ten-year-oIds, twelve-year-olds, fourteen-year Have compassion-we all have children. Don't pay so much attention olds. There were individual letters for each one, giving them advice. I to what I did by violating this law to re-enter the United States think my wife has maybe 300 letters-all those that I sent during those millions and millions of people do it, almost every Mexican who is here 22 years, she has them all. Each month 1 sent one letter. There was a lot has done it." I am a proud person and it's very hard for me to ask for of communication by telephone, asking about everyone, talking with

Rdl cctions .. 10 Reflections. 11 1k

them for 10 or 15 minutes. I gave them advice. I felt happy after talking illegal workers. The US government says that the illegal is a burden with my wife, with the children. I felt renewed energy to begin work for the United States, but I don't think so. Because if the illegal makes another day. $300 dollars a week and they take out income tax, they take out Social Security and local taxes, state taxes, then how is the illegal a burden? Of course, it was difficult being separated from my children. I didn't If the government is thinking about kicking out those illegal people, see them grow up. Now I know how they are doing because I see them. sending them back to Mexico or EI Salvador or Guatemala or to Well, I can say that I feel proud of how they've behaved and also I'm Argentina, wherever, tell me, who will do the work? Who? Americans proud of my wife, that she knew how to take charge when I was in the will not work for $6.50 an hour. The people who work in factory United States. There are families that aren't like that. jobs or picking mushrooms or construction or who work in hotels or restaurants like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's or Chi Chi's [In my present job] they pay me $7.20 an hour and I have worked there most of them are Mexican. I think the US government should do what for eight years. Nowhere do they pay overtime. I've been working 13 they did with me and all of the Mexicans in 1986-give us amnesty hours a day for a month and a half-70 to 80 hours a week-and they and residency. still don't pay time-and-a-half. They say that they don't pay overtime because it's "agricultural work." I think that after 40 hours a week, I remember the day I got my green card, in '86. I went to an you should be paid overtime, it doesn't matter what you call it Immigration office in a town called Lima. They asked me questions "agriculture"-or whatever kind of work. I think the important thing is if INS had caught me, if I had problems with the police. I told them no. that we do our jobs. Then they asked me if I was a Mexican, and I said yes. They said, "If you are a Mexican, sing us the song 'La Bamba.' How does it go? If Where I am, it's not easy to complain and band together because people you sing it and we see that indeed you know it, then you are a Mexican. have a horrible fear-they're very scared to defend themselves. They If not, you are lying to us." So they had me singing "La Bamba" and fear that they would be told, "No more work for you because you're a there I was, showing them that I was indeed a Mexican. troublemaker." I think they're afraid because most of them don't have papers-mcrybe 10% have papers. Of the 80 Mexican employees where Para bailar la Bamba To dance "La Bamba" I work, 15 have work permits and proper papers and I think that 65 Para bailar la Bamba To dance "La Bamba" are illegal .... But, also, it's true that undocumented Mexicans aren't Se necesita una poca de gracia You need a little bit ofgrace very afraid of being deported. Let's say that one day INS comes in and Una poca de gracia para ti, para ti A little bit ofgrace, for you, for you rounds up the 65 illegals. Suddenly the factory is left without people. Y arriba y arriba And get up, come on The 15 of us that are left will not do the work of the other 65, isn't that Yo no soy marinero 1 am not a sailor right? [Laughs]. Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere For you I will be,/or you I will be Bamba, Bamba Bamba, Bamba Even though the bosses are very aware that it's against the law to hire illegals, they do it anyway-because they can pay them cheaper wages, Y para subir al cielo, se necesita And to get to heaven, you need right? It's a type of exploitation-they increase their profits by using Una poca de gracia ... A little bit ofgrace ...

Reflection" • 12 Ret1ections • 13 I feel great pride for having gotten [my green card]. This green card bought my brother and me a blackboard, chalk and an eraser and lent represents years of sacrifice-not being with my family, living and us his English books to start preparing for school. He said I had to learn working with men only, suffering. It's hard. all I could alone and at times he would help with what he knew, which I now realize wasn't a lot-but even though it was little, that and the When I die, I would like to be remembered with affection. I want encouragement all helped. He showed me the alphabet, the numbers people to remember what I gave them in my life-the little things. and some basics. He also took us to a Puerto Rican friend of his at the What I am most proud of is the people that I know-friends and mushroom plant where he worked so she could help us too. She read neighbors, in Mexico and here. And coworkers I have lived and worked books for us and my first English book I read was by Dr. Seuss. I think with. I am proud to have fulfilled my obligations to my family, my it was something like One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I felt children. I always took care of my family when they were in Mexico very proud because by the end I could read the whole book by myself, and sent them money so they would have enough to eat. Even though I even if it was from memory. I could recognize some of the numbers and would drink a few beers, it was never more than six or so. And I didn't colors and other words and I could tell I had good pronunciation. spend all of the money that I earned on myself. I always thought of my wife, of the children. I wanted to make sure that they had a place to I think entering school was very difficult. 1 was very afraid .. .I had to live, clothes to wear, food to eat, and an education. I tell my wife, I tell present myself at the main office to get my schedule and be advised on her, "You got lucky when you married me." how classes were going to work. .. 1 was so happy when I learned that [the principal], Mr. Carr, spoke some Spanish. That comforted me, but Mayra Castillo Rangel 1 still couldn't help but cry in front of him ... I was very, very nervous and afraid and couldn't help it ... [I felt] grief and shame and more fear Mayra Castillo Rangel is 22 years old and then I cried even more. and came to the United States when she was 12. She is a graduate of Chestnut Hill I think my family continues to be very ingrained in the Mexican College, where she majored in French and traditions. I'm between the Mexican and so-called "American" Communications. She now works at Arcadia traditions myself. I like that and work it to my advantage, to understand University in the offices ofadmissions the two different worlds. Living in the US, I think I understand the andfinancial aid and is also the Minority culture and the language, but I try not to stray too far from my Mexican Recruitment Coordinator. Mayra is the culture. I am still proud to say that I'm Mexican, but I'm happy to live teacher of the dance group Danza Tenochtli, in another country where I've had to adapt myself to the new culture. ofLa Mision Santa Maria de Dios, in Avondale, PA. As a Mexican I love to dance the cumbia, a little quebradita and, of

th course, our folkloric traditional dances. I love the food and although We arrived here on July 14 , I think, during the summer of 1993 right I don't know how to cook the traditional dishes 1 still have my mom after 1 graduated from 6th grade, primary school, there. When 1 entered and I ask her from time to time to make me un molito, or un pozolito school here I entered an all-English school, although I had some or maybe some enchiladas or even her own gorditas. Of course, 1 love bilingual teachers and classes. Before 1 started 1 remember my dad my language, the Spanish that we speak at home. I forget some things

Rcfkction" .14 Ret1ections • 15 from time to time since I don't speak it a lot. Since living in the US, other amenities that have come along the way, like cars-not luxury I like the liberty, my freedom. I'm no longer a submissive Mexican cars or even new cars-but what we need for transportation and to feel woman, meant to be only a wife and a mother. That's what I've come to accomplished in one way or another. I have an education that I know conclude about myself now that I live here. I would never have had in Mexico. I have traveled to many places around the world-something I don't think I would have done if I had I think that in part, my mom has been my role model, perhaps without stayed in Mexico. I actually think I would be married with children wanting to be or without her realizing it. I have heard my mom talk and now; there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm just happier where I am seen how hard she has worked all her life, sometimes at two or three now, single. Yes, materially we are better off, but we have all suffered jobs, plus she is also a mother and housewife, all at the same time. We a lot. We have lost the comfort of feeling at home when we go back to Mexicans tend to believe or always say that the man is the head of the Mexico because we have become Norteiios [Northerners] and have lost household, the one that contributes the money, the one that works more, part of our Mexican identity while gaining a new one in the US. We yet my mom has shown me that I can go forward and I can do what I have all suffered racial discrimination in one way or another and felt want because she has done it herself. inferior at times and that was definitely not part ofour dream. I just graduated [from Chestnut Hill College], where I studied French. That is what I chose as a career, although I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with it. People say I have a gift for languages, and maybe Pasajes de Espejos y Ventanas/ Mirrors and Windows, en espaiiol I do, but the toughest part is figuring out what to do with this gift. At times I have thought about being a school counselor because I had one JesusVillicaiia Lopez in high school who really helped me when I was going through a tough time. I had two college professors who gave me a lot of support and Jesus Villicaiia Lopez es de La Ordeiia, un believed I could do a lot with my life-they said I would go far in life. rancho cerca de Moroleon, en el estado de When they told me that, I believed it and little by little I got the courage Guanajuato. Vino a Kennett Square cuando to look for and ask for more in life. If anything, that is what I would tenia 16 afios-- 6 meses antes de hacer esta like to do with the youth from our community and others-encourage entrevista. them, make them see that we are in the land of opportunities and more possibilities than what our parents had in Mexico and that if they really Yo decidi venir [a el Norte] por mt mismo, want something, to go ahead and grab it. It is tough at times, but it can por querer buscar una nueva forma de vida be done. o un futuro para mt mismo. Por querer realizar mi vida dependiente de mi mismo y ayudar a mi familia--a mi I wonder if my family has accomplished the American Dream-in mama y a mis hermanos. Tengo cuatro hermanos, todos son menores part, yes, and in part, no. Our dream was to have a better life than we que yo. Tengo una hermana que tiene ocho aiios y un hermano que had in Mexico and we do have it, in a way. My parents have a home, sigue enseguida de mt de catorce afios y el menor de doce aiios. Por ser a job, my dad has some benefits, we have food on our table and some el hijo mayor tengo la mayor responsabilidad de estar junto de ellos,

RdlcctiOll\ .. 16 Renections .. 17 from time to time since I don't speak it a lot. Since living in the US, other amenities that have come along the way, like cars-not luxury I like the liberty, my freedom. I'm no longer a submissive Mexican cars or even new cars-but what we need for transportation and to feel woman, meant to be only a wife and a mother. That's what I've come to accomplished in one way or another. I have an education that I know conclude about myself now that I live here. I would never have had in Mexico. I have traveled to many places around the world-something I don't think I would have done if I had I think that in part, my mom has been my role model, perhaps without stayed in Mexico. I actually think I would be married with children wanting to be or without her realizing it. I have heard my mom talk and now; there's nothing wrong with that, but I'm just happier where I am seen how hard she has worked all her life, sometimes at two or three now, single. Yes, materially we are better off, but we have all suffered jobs, plus she is also a mother and housewife, all at the same time. We a lot. We have lost the comfort of feeling at home when we go back to Mexicans tend to believe or always say that the man is the head of the Mexico because we have become Nortenos [N orthemers] and have lost household, the one that contributes the money, the one that works more, part of our Mexican identity while gaining a new one in the US. We yet my mom has shown me that I can go forward and I can do what I have all suffered racial discrimination in one way or another and felt want because she has done it herself. inferior at times and that was definitely not part ofour dream. I just graduated [from Chestnut Hill College], where I studied French. That is what I chose as a career, although I haven't figured out what I'm going to do with it. People say I have a gift for languages, and maybe Pasajes de Espejos y Ventanasl Mirrors and Windows, en espaiiol I do, but the toughest part is figuring out what to do with this gift. At times I have thought about being a school counselor because I had one JesusVillicana Lopez in high school who really helped me when I was going through a tough time. I had two college professors who gave me a lot of support and Jesus Villicana Lopez es de La Ordena, un believed I could do a lot with my life-they said I would go far in life. rancho cerca de Moroleon, en el estado de When they told me that, I believed it and little by little I got the courage Guanajuato. Vino a Kennett Square cuando to look for and ask for more in life. If anything, that is what I would tenia 16 aiios-- 6 meses antes de hacer esta like to do with the youth from our community and others-encourage entrevista. them, make them see that we are in the land of opportunities and more possibilities than what our parents had in Mexico and that if they really Yo decidi venir [a el Norte] por mi mismo, want something, to go ahead and grab it. It is tough at times, but it can por querer buscar una nueva forma de vida be done. o un futuro para mt mismo. Por querer realizar mi vida dependiente de mi mismo y ayudar a mi familia--a mi I wonder if my family has accomplished the American Dream-in mama y a mis hermanos. Tengo cuatro hermanos, todos son menores part, yes, and in part, no. Our dream was to have a better life than we que yo. Tengo una hermana que tiene ocho atlos y un hermano que had in Mexico and we do have it, in a way. My parents have a home, sigue enseguida de mi de catorce atlos y el menor de doce atlos. Por ser a job, my dad has some benefits, we have food on our table and some el hijo mayor tengo la mayor responsabilidad de estar junto de ellos,

Hence! ion'. .. 16 Ret1ections • 17 de protegerlos a ellos y a mi mama. Tengo la obligaci6n de darles 10 de mi, puesto que yo no sabia donde estaba ni conoda a ninguna otra mejor, de tratar de abrirles mas las posibilidades de que se superen, a persona, solo ami tio que me estaba acompanando. De noche ami se vivir la vida. me hada una profunda soledad de estar en un lugar tan grande y sin conocer a nadie. En Mexico, viviamos en una casita de piedras pegadas con tierra y con un piso de tierra, con solo un cuarto para toda la familia. Nuestro Pues 1a verdad, yo me sorprendi mucho las condiciones dentro del sustento y alimentacion era el cultivo de maiz y de frijol--e1 cual se campamento. CQando salf desde Mexico yo pense que iba a llegar a un alimentaban la mayoria de los habitantes de mi region. [Mi madre] 1ugar donde ibamos a estar, pues, libres, con un espacio grande para insistia en que la escuela seria la forma para superarme ... Yo se que vivir. Pero aillegar aqui me di cuenta de que no era asi--era un lugar la escuela sf es de mucha utili dad, pero como yo no contaba con los pequeno donde estabamos agrupados muchos. A veces cuesta trabajo suficientes recursos para seguir estudiando, ni mi madre ni mis abuelos. entendemos unos a los otros, puesto que somos muchos--somos 16 Pues, tuve que venirme para aca y decidi dejar la escuela. Yo en mis personas hasta ahorita, pero en el verano seran 20. El campamento es pensamientos creo que a traves de mi trabajo que estoy realizando un largo cuarto, un espacio abierto, sin dormitorios separados. Cada aqui en los Estados Unidos puedo sacar a mis hermanos ade1ante, quien tiene su propio lugar en donde descansar, pero no hay ningful brindandoles un mejor estudio, una carrera para que no tengan que sitio privado. Pero todos los que estan alIi respetamos las cosas de los hacer el mismo sacrifico que yo estoy haciendo aqui por ellos. Yo les demas. Al estar viviendo muchas personas juntos, si a veces se llega mando a mi familia cuatro 0 cinco veces de 10 que ganan en Mexico a1 a haber muchos confiictos, pero nosotros sabemos que debemos de meso Ya pasan tres 0 cuatro semanas yajunto mil dolares y los mando evitar eso Yo constantemente me 1evanto por la madrugada, a las dos para Mexico. de la manana. Antes de ir al trabajo desayuno un poquito. Si yo quiero, puedo descansar un dia 0 dos dias a la semana, pero ahora que no estoy Sali de Moroleon a el Norte por la madrugada, muy triste. Estuve con cansado, pues es cuando debo de echarle mas ganas al trabajo. Asi, un grupo--mi tio y alguno de sus amigos, todos mayores. La noche trabajo siete dias a 1a semana, algunos dias trabajo 120 13 horas. Me antes de salir yo trate y trate de dormir bien para en la manana salir pagan por caja, yo ando por contrato--si quiero obtener mas dinero, yo bien, pero no pude dormir toda la noche. La pase en vela junto con mi tengo que esforzarme mas por tratar de pizcar mas hongo. Le piden a mama y entonces se lleg6 la hora en que yo tuve que prepararme para uno que pizque de promedio de seis cajas cada hora-Ie pagan $1.00 por salir. Mi ti~ llego a la casa y dijo que ya habian llegado por nosotros. caj a. Cada caja contiene diez libras de hongos. Hay veces que lleno ocho Sali con mi maleta y, pues, con 1a bendicion de mi madre, subi al carro o diez caj as cada hora-o sea, pizco 80-100 tibras de hongos cada hora. y salimos. Todos tristes, llorando, dejamos las familias y nuestro rancho atras. ibamos mirando siempre hacia adelante con el fin de encontrar Me gustaria dedr algo a todas las personas que piensan que estar una nueva forma de vida y enfrentando distintos problemas. Pero, pues, aqui en los Estados Unidos es algo facil. Quiero que sepan que no a la vez, era una aventura riesgosa y muy pe1igrosa. es as! porque uno no sabe a 10 que se va a enfrentar. Piensa que va a venir aqui encontrando la felicidad, un mundo nuevo Heno de Yo soy uno de los jovenes en el campamento. Cuando al principo venia maravillas--pero no es asi. Va a enfrentar una soledad tremenda, con aqui, pues la verdad es que yo me sentia con un miedo enorme dentro una inmensidad de problemas grandes y chicos. Se tiene que hacer

Reflection" • 18 Reflections. 19 responsable para si mismo sin ayuda de los demas. que yo iba a seguir estudiando--pero no se usaba mucho, en las tradiciones de elIos, que la mujer estudiara. Como que era mas, "La mujer no debe de Yo Ie aconsejaria a qui en piensa en venir aca que pensara bien en las estudiar, ya al rato se casa y nunca va a ejercer la carrera." cosas. Primero, se pusiera a pensar en que va hacer al estar aca, con quien se va a venir en ese viaje, y si esta preparado fisicamente y Era muy dificil venirme aca, porque dejaba mi corazon alIa, mi tierra, mentalmente para enfrentarse a sus problemas personales y sociales. mi familia, pero yo sabia que tenia que luchar por hacer una vida mejor. Porque al no estar preparado para enfrentarse a la vida, enfrentarse a Pense que iba a estar mejor. Para mi era bien dificil cambiar de pais, nuevos retos, es algo que con el tiempo se Ie va a hacer a uno un peso cambiar de costumbres, cambiar de todo. Yo recuerdo que cuando yo enorme. Muchas veces puede ser por la desgracia que uno no puede me fui a despedir de mis padres mi casa estaba muy triste--parecia que llevar ese peso, y llega a andar en malos pasos. Y todo 10 que esperaba alguien se habia muerto, todos estaban lIorando. Yo tuve que abrazar de venir aca va a estar en otros pasos que no deseaba. Puede recaer en a mis padres y decirles que me venia. Mis padres Uoraron, pero no me diversos vicios, en el alcohol 0 en Ia drogadiccion, y las ganas que Ies detuvieron ellos--ellos cretan siempre que nosotros deberiamos de hacer traia aca, a trabajar y superarse, se van a quedar en el olvido. Pues, si nuestra propia vida. Pero Ie digo, deje la mitad de mi corazon ahi. la persona viene con ganas, con interes, y sabe por que viene y a 10 que viene, y que es 10 que va a realizar aca, pues si--vale la pena. Todos esos cinco afios[ aqui en los Estados Unidos con mi primer esposo] fueron de abuso, violencia, de maltrato, insultos diarios. Y todo este Unos pocos meses despues de esta entrevista, el padre de Jesus tiempo [mi hija] Adriana vio como viviamos--ella se asustaba y ella fallecio. Jesus no pudo regresar a Mexico para asistir a su entierro. En lloraba. EUa tenia como seis afios, y estaba muy traumada. Ella no 10 la primavera del 2004 su madre, dos hermanos y hermana se mudaron queria. Ella me decia que cuando veia a su papa Ie dolia el estomago--le a su nueva casa de tres cuartos en La Ordelia-pagada con los $10,000 tenia miedo, porque tambien a ella la golpeaba, la maltrataba. Entonces, que Jesus les habia enviado. bien recuerdo--fue el30 de diciembre del 1994 cuando el me golpeo mucho, muy feo, sin sentido, sin razon--el estaba loco. Yo pense, "Va a Margarita Rojas llegar el momento que Dios me va a permitir salir, porque hoy me voy." Entonces, en el transcurso de la madrugada, yo 10 estuve velando que se Margarita Rojas tiene 32 alios. Credo en durmiera. Deje a mis hijos vestidos, inclusive con la chamarra. Cuando yo Zacapu, Michoacim, y vino a los Estados escuche que el estaba hasta roncando--eso fue como a las 5 de la mafiana Unidos cuando tenia 18 alios. Esta entrevista -yo tome a mi Richie en brazos y desperte a Adriana y Ie dije, "Madrecita, se completo una semana antes de que su orden vamonos de aqui." Ella se puso feliz y, rapida, mi hija salio, como final de deportadon jitera puesta en eJecto. cangurito sin hacer ruido. Y salimos, gracias aDios. Despues de que yo sall de la secundaria mis Me dedique a trabajar fuertemente para saCar a mis hijos adelante y suefios siempre eran ser maestra de Kinder, que ellos pudieran tener una buena ropa, un buen calzado. Y 10 estaba tener alglin dinero--que no teniamos en Ia casa logrando. En la manana limpiaba casas, desde las 12 hasta la I de Pero 10 economico no facilito mis suefios y, despues, el hombre que llego la tarde. Yo, despues de limpiar casas, me bafiaba y me salla a hacer ami vida--el padre de mis hijos--me quitoia intenci6n. Yo Ie platicaba

Rc rJ cet i on" OJ 20 Ret1ections OJ 21 demostraciones, a vender ropa, joyeria de oro, productos de belleza puedan realizar como unos profesionales y que no tengan que estar y ropa interior de mujer. Yo era duefia de tres negocios; yo tuve una dependiendo de nadie como 10 hizo su madre. No me gustaria que ellos cadena, una red enonne, como no se imagina, de gente que dependia tuvieran que pasar los trabajos que yo pase--no quiero que mi hija este de mi--ellos vendian y a mi me pagaban un porcentaje por las ventas. limpiando casas y ni que mi hijo este buscando trabajos que 10 corran de Tuve popularidad. Pude tener un apartamento para mi y mis hijos. Me un lado, que 10 corran de otro. Como yo Ie he dicho a Adriana, "Que feliz transformaba. Mi vida cambi6 despues de que yo me fui a vivir sola- fuera yo verte trabajando, ayudando a mucha gente, que extiendas tus estaba entonces feliz. Yo queria tranquilidad, queria paz. Yo queria sacar manos al que 10 necesita --porque recuerda como nosotros necesitamos y a mis hijos adelante, yo sola, y que nadie me dijera, "Por mi comes ill y tuvimos mucha gente que nos ayudo." tus hijos," 0 "Por mi tienen donde donnir, donde vivir." Por esa razon yo habia llorado mucho. Yo queria decir, "Yo puedo, yo sola, no necesito de Me siento muy mal porque al fin mi esposo y yo encontramos la felicidad, nadie." Yo deje de llorar entonces. y una ley nos va a separar. Lo Unico que yo Ie pido aDios es que cuando vamos a la Corte Federal, eljuez sea una persona justa. Si yo tuviera la Por fin empeze una relacion bien bonita [con un hombre que se llama oportunidad, Ie diria al juez que no se pusiera como un juez, sino como Pablo, un mexicano y ciudadano americano. ] ... Pablo no era el macho un ser normal con sentimientos. Yo Ie diria, "Yo no soy una delincuente, dpico que yo habia conocido. EI me estaba dando mucha confianza de yo no mate--l,por que me estas juzgando as!? Piensa mas en el bienestar y poder ser libre, de poder tomar mis decisiones; y que el nunca se iba a derechos de los nmos. Tenga compasion-todos tenemos hijos. No tome oponer. En septiembre del 2000 nos casamos oficialmente ante el juez. tanta atenci6n en 10 que yo hice, por haber violado esta ley y re-entrado Le digo, todo esto para mt era lindisimo, porque ya me senda protegida, -10 hacen millones y millones--casi cada mexicano que esta aqui 10 ha ya me senda amada, me sentia muy respa1dada y respetada. E1 queria una hecho." Yo soy orgullosa, y para mt es bien dificil el pedir perdon--es familia y yo se la di. Yo queria felicidad, atencion, apoyo, y el me la dio. como estar doblegandome y humillandome; pero sl, por mis hijos, 10 hago. Yo Ie diria aljuez, "Yo quizas no 10 demuestro, pero mi corazon esta [Yo aplique por un permiso para trabajr de la Inmigracion, pero] 10 linico partido. Yo ya no lloro--por mucmsimo tiempo 11ore, y no quiero 110rar que me estaban entregando era una orden de deportacion ... Yo me siento mas. Lo Unico que Ie pido es que no destruya mi familia." muy mal, me siento como si me tienen amarrada, que no puedo hacer nada, me siento como una criminal. Yo digo que es injusto despues de Margarita Rojas habia decidido volar a Mexico con sus hijos el25 de tanta lucha, porque estoy casada con un ciudadano americano, con dos enero-el dia antes de su fecha de aparecer ante las autoridades de hijos ciudadanos y una residente. Me siento muy frustrada porque pienso, Inmigracion, y enfrentar deportacion. Pero, al ultimo minuto, ella decidio "l,Que va a pasar con mis hijos, con los derechos de ellos, los suefios que quedarse en los Estados Unidos y apelar su orden de deportacion una tienen?" Me siento mas mal por elIos, mas mal que ellos van a perder todo vez mas, para que su hija, Adriana, pudiera recibir la atencion medica 10 que es su vida aquL Ya me siento como que si me tuvieran en una bolsa que necesitaba. El 26 de enero ella les dijo adios a sus hijos y aparecio de phistico, que no puedo respirar, me siento ahogandome. Quisiera que ante el Servicio de Inmigracion, preparada para erifrentar detencion en me dejaran respirar, me dejaran ser libre. una careel, en espera de la apelacion de su orden de deportacion. Su deportacion fue pospuesta, y a ella Ie dejaron regresar a casa para cuidar Mis suefios para mis hijos son que ell os puedan ir al colegio, que se a sus hijos. Su caso todavia esta en las cortes.

Reflection" • 22 Ret1ections • 23 Salvador Garcia Yo pienso que donde estoy, no es facil de quejarse y formar un grupo porque alIi Ie tienen un miedo horrible, espantoso a que uno vaya a Salvador Garcia Baeza tiene 54 anos de defenderse. Porque tienen miedo que les digan no mas trabajo para edad, y es del pueblo de Moroleon, Mexico. ti por andar quejando. Yo pienso que el miedo de elIos es que la Vino para trabajar en la industria de los mayoria no tienen papeles-l 0%, no mas, tienen sus papeles. De esos hongos en Kennett Square en 1979, y obtuvo 80 empleados mexicanos donde trabajo, quince tenemos permiso de su residencia permanente en 1986. Trajo a trabajo y papeles buenos, y pienso que 65 son ilegales ... Pero es la sus hijos a Pensilvania en 1996, y su esposa verdad tambien que los mexicanos sin documentos no tienen mucho e hija vinieron en 2000. miedo de ser deportados. Entopces, por decir, algim dia la inmigracion Yo pienso que nuestra familia sobrevivio la entra, y hay una redada de los 65 ilegales. Automaticamente la fabrica separacion porque sobre todo hubo comunicacion por cartas, cuando se queda sin gente. Entonces, los 15 que quedaran no vamos a hacer el eran pequeftos de 10 aftos, de 12 alios, de 14 aftos. Habia cartas trabajo de los otro 65, loverdad que no? [Se riel individuales, una para cada uno, dandole consejos. Creo que mi esposa Aunque los patrones saben bien que es ilegal agarrar ilegales, ellos 10 tiene unas 300 a la mejor, tiene todas las que yo Ie mande durante esos hacen-- porque pagan mas barato loSi? Es un tipo de explotacion--las 21 0 22 aftos. Habia una carta cada meso Hubo mucha comunicacion ganancias de ellos son muy buenas con el ilegal. El gobierno de los por te16fono, preguntaba por todos, platicaba con ellos 10 minutos, 15 Estados Unidos dice que el ilegal es una carga para los Estados Unidos, minutos. Les daba consejos. Yo sentia una alegria despues de hablar pero yo pienso que no. Porque si el ilegal gana $300 a la semana y a con la esposa, con los hijos. Me daba un animo muy grande para uno Ie rebajan tax sobre ingresos, a uno Ie rebajan Seguro Social, taxes empezar a trabajar otro dia. locales, y taxes de estado, entonces locomo es el ilegal una carga? Si Si, como no, era duro por estar separado de mis hijos. No los vi crecer. el gobierno esta pensando en echar esa gente ilegal para afuera, para Ahora se como son porque los yeo. Entonces digo para mi es un orgullo Mexico 0 para EI Salvador, 0 para Guatemala, 0 Argentina donde sea, por el comportamiento que tienen y tambien un orgullo con la esposa, dime loquien va a trabajar? loQuien? Porque los americanos no van a que los supo dirigir cuando yo estaba en los Estados Unidos. Hay trabajar por las $6.50 a la hora. La gente que trabajan en las fabricas, familias que no son asl. las hongueras, la construccion, muchos hoteles, los restaurantes, lono? Como MacDonald's, 0 Burger King, 0 Wendy s-Ia mayoria son [Ahora donde trabajo] me pagan $7.20 cada hora, y he trabajado mexicanos. Yo pienso que el gobierno de los Estados Unidos debe aHa por ocho aftos. En ninguna parte se paga tiempo y medio. Ahora hacer 10 que hizo conmigo y con todos los mexicanos en1986--darnos estoy yo trabajando un mes y medio trece horas diarias-70-80 horas la amnistia y la residencia. semanales-y no pagan tiempo y medio. Ellos dicen que no se paga tiempo y medio porque es un trabajo que Ie nombran "agricultura". Yo me acuerdo el dia que recibf mi green card, en el 86. Fui a una Yo pienso que pasando de 40 horas la semana se debe pagar tiempo y oficina de migracion que habia en el pueblito que se llama Lima. medio, no importa como se llame-"agricultura", 0 cualquier c1ase de Me hicieron preguntas, que si migracion me habia agarrado alguna trabajo. Lo importante que pienso yo es que uno trabaje. vez, que si tenia problemas con la policia. Les dije que no. Entonces

Refl txti on\ • 24 Ref1ectiolls • 25 me dijeron que si era mexicano, les dije que sf. Me dijeron, "Si eres Mayra CastiUo Rangel mexicano cantanos la cancion de "La Bamba". "Como es que es? Si la Mayra Castillo Rangel tiene 22 aiios de cantas y vemos que si tu la sabes, es que eres mexicano. Si no, es que edad, y vino a los Estados Unidos cuando nos esta mintiendo." Ahi me tienen cantando "La Bamba", y yo alIi tenia 12 aiios. Ella es graduada de Chestnut demostrandoles que si era mexicano, sf. Hill College, donde se especialiazo en el Para bailar la Bamba idioma frances y comunicaciones. Ahora Para bailar la Bamba ella trabaja en La Universidad de Arcadia, Se necesita una poca de gracia en las Oficinas de Ayuda Financiera y Una poca de gracia para ti, para ti Admisiones; y tambien es la Coordinadora Y arriba y arriba de Reclutamiento de Minorias. Mayra es la Yo no soy marinero maestra del grupo de Danza Tenochtli de la Mision de Santa Maria Por ti sere, por ti sere, por ti sere Madre de Dios, en Avondale} PA. Bamba, Bamba Llegamos aqui el 14 de julio, durante el verano de 1993, justo despues de Y para subir al cie1o, se necesita graduanne del 6to. grado de primaria aHa. Cuando entre a la escuela aqui, Una poca de gracia ... fui a una escuela donde ensefiaban solamente en ingles, aunque habia Bueno, para mi significa un gran orgullo por haber obtenido mi green algunos maestros y c1ases bilingiies. Antes de empezar la escuela, recuerdo card. Este green card representa afios de sacrificio-de no estar con la que mi papa compro un pizarron, gis y borrador para mi hermann y para familia, de vivir y trabajar con puros hombres, de sufrir. Es duro. mi. Tambien nos presto sus libros de ingles para empezar a prepararnos para la escuela. Dijo que yo tenia que aprender 10 que pudiera sola y que Pues cuando me muera, me gustaria que me recuerden con carifio, en ocasiones el me ayudaria con 10 que sabia-ahora me doy cuenta que que me recuerden por 10 que yo les di en mi vida-cositas. El orgullo no era mucho--pero aunque era poco, eso y el alentamos era una ayuda. mas grande que tengo es sobre la gente que yo conozco, de amigos, de Me ensefio el alfabeto, los mimeros y cosas basicas. Tambien nos llevo con vecinos, en Mexico yaqui. Y compafieros de trabajo, que he vivido con una amiga suya puertorriquefia en la planta de los hongos donde trabajaba ellos y he trabajado con elIos. Tengo orgullo de estar cumpliendo con para que ella nos ayudara tambien. Ella nos leia libros y el primer libro mi familia, con mis hijos. Siempre estuve pendiendo en elIos cuando en ingles que lei fue escrito por el Dr. Seuss. Creo que era algo como "Un estuvieron en Mexico, de mandarles dinero, que no les faltara para Pez, Dos Peces, Pez Azul, Pez Rojo". AI final de la lectura me senti muy comer. Aunque aqui luego me tomaba unas cervezas, nunca fue mas de orgullosa porque pude leer todo ellibro sola, aunque fuese de memoria. seis, 0 asi. No gastaba todo el dinero que ganaba solo en mi. Siempre Podia reconocer algunos nfuneros y colores y otras palabras y podia danne pensaba en la esposa, en los hijos. Que no les faltara en donde vivir, y cuenta de que tenia buena pronunciacion. que vestir, y que comer, y su educacion. Yo OOle digo a la esposa mia, Ie digo, "Tu corriste con suerte conmigo, en tu matrimonio conmigo." Creo que entrar a la escuela fue muy dificiL Tenia mucho miedo ... Me tenia que presentar yo sola en la oficina principal para obtener mi horario

Reflect i (111" • 26 Renections • 27 y para que me dijeran como funcionaban las clases. Estuve tan contenta es 10 que escogi como carrera, aunque todavia no he planeado que voy cuando supe que el [principal], Sr. Carr hablaba algo de espafiol. Eso a hacer con esta carrera. La gente me dice que tengo el don de aprender me conforto, pero alin as! no pude evitar llorar delante de el... Yo estaba idiomas, quizas sea as!, pero la parte mas dificil es descifrar que hacer con muy, muy nerviosa y asustada y no podia evitarlo. Senti tanta congoja y ese don. A veces he pensado en ser consejera escolar porque tuve una en vergiienza y mas miedo y entonces 110re alin mas. la escuela secundaria que realmente me ayudo cuando estaba pasando por una etapa dificil de mi vida. Tuve dos profesores universitarios que me Creo que mi familia continua muy apegada a las tradiciones mexicanas. apoyaron mucho y creyeron que podia hacer mucho con mi vida. Dijeron Yo estoy entre las tradiciones mexicanas y las 11amadas "americanas". Me que 10graria grandes cosas en la vida. Cuando me dijeron eso, les crei gusta eso y creo que es ventajoso para mi entender dos mundos diferentes. y poco a poco me hice valor para buscar y pedir mas de la vida. Si hay Viviendo en los Estados Unidos, creo que entiendo la cultura y el idioma, algo que quisiera hacer para la juventud de mi comunidad y de otras, es pero trato de no apartarme mucho de mi cultura mexicana. Todavia me alentarlos, hacerles ver que estamos en el pais de las oportunidades y de siento orgulllosa de decir que soy mexicana, pero estoy contenta de vivir mas posibilidades que las que tuvieron nuestros padres en Mexico y si en otro pais donde he tenido que adaptaTIlle a una cultura nueva. Como quieren hacer realmente algo, sigan adelante y alcancen sus metas. Eso es mexicana me encanta la cumbia, un poco de quebradita y, claro, las danzas dificil a veces, pero se puede lograr. folkloricas tradicionales. Me encanta la comida y aunque no se como cocinar los platillos tradicionales, de vez en cuando todavia Ie pido ami A veces me pregunto si mi familia ha logrado el "suefio americano", en mama que me haga un molito, 0 un pozolito 0 quizas algunas enchiladas parte si y en parte no. Nuestro suefio era tener una mejor vida que en e incluso unas gorditas. Claro que me encanta mi idioma, el espafiol que Mexico y de alguna manera la tenemos. Mis padres tienen un hogar, un hablamos en casa. De vez en cuando se me olvidan algunas cosas ya que trabajo, mi papa tiene algunos beneficios, tenemos comida en la mesa no hablo espafiol todo el tiempo. Viviendo en los Estados Unidos, amo mi y algunas otras diversiones que hemos logrado, un gran avance como libertad. Ya no soy una abnegada mujer mexicana, destinada solamente a son los carros-- no carros lujosos 0 incluso carros nuevos-pero 10 que ser esposa y madre. Es a la conclusion que he llegado de mi misma ahora necesitamos para transporte, y sentimos que hemos logrado algo de una que vivo aqul. manera u otra. Tengo una educacion superior que yo se no hubiera tenido en Mexico. He viajado a muchos lugares del mundo, algo que no creo Creo que en parte, mi mama ha sido el ejemplo a seguir, quizas sin siquiera que hubiera podido hacer si me hubiese quedado en Mexico. En realidad querer serlo 0 darse cuenta de ello. Yo he oido a mi mama hablar y he visto pienso que estaria ya casada y con hijos ahora; nada malo en eso, pero como ha trabaj ado fuertemente toda su vida, agunas veces hasta con dos simplemente estoymucho mas contenta como estoy ahora: soltera. Sf, o tres trabajos, aparte de ser madre y ama de casa, todo al mismo tiempo. en el aspecto material estamos mejor, pero todos hemos sufrido mucho. Los mexicanos tendemos a creer 0 siempre decir que el hombre es el jefe Hemos perdido el confort de sentimos en casa cuando regresamos a del hogar, el que contribuye con el dinero, el que mas trabaja, sin embargo Mexico porque nos hemos convertido en "Nortefios" y hemos perdido una mi mama me ha mostrado que yo puedo salir adelante y hacer 10 que gran parte de nuestra identidad mexicana mientras que hemos ganado una qui era, porque ella misma ha hecho 10 mismo. nueva en los Estados Unidos. Todos hemos sufrido discriminacion racial de una manera u otra y nos hemos sentido inferiores en ocasiones y eso Me acabo de graduar de Chestnut Hill College, donde estudie frances. Eso definitivamente no era parte de nuestro suefio.

Reflection'. • 28 Ret1ections • 29 values life andfreedom . ... To that end, we pledge our efforts and take as our credo what Jose Vasconcelos once said at a time of crisis and hope: "At this moment we do not come to workfor the university, but to demand that the university work for our people. " A Dream Deferred?: Building Activists -from EI Plan de Santa Barbara: A Chicano Plan/or Higher for Educational Justice, Access, and Equity Education (1969) Alondra Kiawitl Espejel, Mariano Espinoza, Louis Mendoza, and Martha Ockenfels-Martinez Introduction: From the Outside-In and the Inside-Out aking as its departure an ongoing collaboration between the This collaboratively written essay explores and advocates Department of Chicano Studies at the University of Minnesota for the rich potential of community -university educational Tand the Minnesota Immigrant Freedom Network (MIFN) to activist partnerships for praxis-oriented learning that enrich build a multi-ethnic movement that addresses educational access and the lives of all by unleashing the collective power of students, equity for Latinalo youth and recent immigrants, this essay presents teachers, and community members. Offering four perspectives one example of how Chicanalo faculty and students bridge the town from such a collaboration in Minnesota, a place that has been a magnet for national and regional anti-immigrant activity, gown divide on behalf of the community, as espoused in EI Plan de we reflect on the false notion of a town-gown divide, the Santa Barbara. In sharing the viewpoints and experiences of students, emotional, political, and deeply personal investments we have faculty, and community organizers, we hope to provide one model in making these collaborations successful, and the critically of collaboration for readers of Reflections, but it is important to note important and imperative nature of community-based work that we are less invested in showing the connections to or benefits for shaping a more humane and just future. from this within a service-learning framework than we are in tracing the genealogy of civic engagement that comes from Chicano Studies, Chicanismo simply embodies an ancient truth: that a person is which is based on a similar but distinct set of political investments in never closer to his/her true selfas when he/she is close to his/her educational refonn. To this end, the important question posed by the community. Chicanismo draws its faith and strength from two main editors-"How can we work with immigrant communities in a way that sources: from the just struggle ofour people andfrom an objective meets their needs and enhances our scholarship without interrupting analysis ofour community s strategic needs. We recognize that their sense of communal identity?"-needs to be problematized in its without a strategic use ofeducation, an education that places assumption of difference between "we" and "immigrant communities." value on what we value, we will not realize our destiny. Chicanos This first section provides historical context for this discussion. The recognize the central importance ofinstitutions ofhigher learning second section frames the legacy of educational exclusion within to modern progress, in this case, to the development ofour the context of labor segregation, particularly as experienced by new community. But we go further: we believe that higher education immigrants, and argues that systemic change is still necessary. In this must contribute to the formation ofa complete person who truly

Reflection" .. 30 Reflections. 31 section, the Executive Director of an advocacy group shares with us in manifestos like El Plan were the needs of a culturally relevant his personal motivations and the emotional basis for his work and curriculum and the obligation of students to utilize their education to asks us to think about the lessons we convey when we accept a status empower their community. quo that underdevelops our youth and limits their opportunities. The Under pressure from Chicanalo students inspired by the twin forces third and fourth sections of this essay trace the personal trajectories of two students-turned MIFN staff members, highlighting how the of the national movement to establish Chicano Studies and the local successes of African American and American Indian students who personal is political and the role Chicano Studies and service-learning courses played in empowering them to find their passions and later had successfully advocated for ethnic studies departments, the first lead different social justice organizing projects within the organization. department of Chicano Studies in the Midwest was established at Finally, we conclude with some reflections on the nation's demographic University of Minnesota in 1972. As with other departments founded in changes and ask university-community collaborations to strategically this period, the underlying conceptual framework and curriculum were engage with this historic change. informed by El Plan and included a strong component of community engagement and research. Despite this highly successful intervention Aprender es luchar, luchar es aprender: Community Engagement for amending institutional neglect, the ongoing lack of access and as an Integral Component of Chicano Studies educational inequity at all levels remain fundamental challenges for the Chicano-Latino community in the twenty-first century. The Almost 40 years following the authorship of El Plan de Santa Barbara, graduation rate for Latinos remains less than 50% nationally as Chicanalo Studies has been firmly established as an academic discipline Latinos consistently lead the nation in high school drop-out rates.4 2 in hundreds of colleges and universities across the country. As the In Minnesota, a state that prides itself in being amongst the national epigraph makes clear, the establishment of Chicano Studies was a leaders in educational achievement, the public school graduation rate grassroots intervention into the exclusionary practices of an educational for Latinos is an abysmal 41 %.5 system that was either hostile or willfully blind to the educational needs of Chicanos and Latinos. Like many of its sister departments around the nation, over the years Chicano Studies at the U ofM has included opportunities for community The students and few faculty and administrators who had gained collaboration on research projects, the development of partnerships with entry into the echelons of the university professoriate in the 1960s farm worker organizations that included research, political action, and made a strategic decision to link K -16 educational empowerment to organizational support. Until service-learning courses were formally the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Despite the use of often radical offered by the department in the 1990s, much of this work was ad hoc rhetoric that utilized strategies including protests, sit-ins, and cries and depended on the politics, interests, and relationships of individual of "open it up, or shut it down," the ultimate goal was to expand faculty and students. Though service-learning has been supported and 3 educational access and make education more relevant. These early advocated on campus for many years, there has also been a healthy struggles were premised not only on the belief that educational equity skepticism of "traditional" service-learning models that relied too much was a fundamental civil right, but that the public had the right to hold on the "experiential model" of learning that privileged the student's leaders of educational institutions accountable. Moreover, explicit learning experience over community need. The long and vexed history

Rcflccti(1l1'i .. 32 Ret1ections • 33 of university exploitation of minority communities under the aegis non-hegemonic principle expressed in El Plan, which states in its of research has made many ethnic communities justifiably wary of introduction that: university sponsored research or service-learning projects because even under models that are designed to be mutually beneficial, the assumption For the Movement, political action essentially means influencing of a power or knowledge differential has often viewed communities the decision-making process of those institutions which affect through a lens of deficiency and favored students, presumably outsiders Chicanos, the university, community organizations, and non who could broaden their world view from first-hand experience with community institutions. Political action encompasses the elements "difference," be it class or racial. Such assumptions, unwittingly or not, which function in a progression: political consciousness, political often contributed to a missionary model of service-learning, with all its mobilization, and tactics. attendant colonialist baggage.

In 2004 the Department of Chicano Studies made a strategic decision Politicizing the Personal to focus its service-learning courses on Latino educational achievement Louis Mendoza, Associate Professor of Chicano Studies in the Twin Cities. To achieve this we identified four community partners, two schools, a Latino after school program, and a farm As a first-generation college student from a working class barrio of worker organization. As the fastest growing population in Minnesota, Houston, I am also a product of my Catholic upbringing and education; new Latina/o arrivals are a mix of internal migrants and foreign-born despite the fact that my educational journey has included moving with and without official status. Distinctions between documented and away from this belief system and the region of my childhood, these undocumented make no sense as these youth are an integral part of the values are not so far removed from the values that undergird service workforce of the future, their civic identities have been forged here, and learning: social awareness, social responsibility, the value of reflection, an educated populace benefits all. and the virtues of magnanimity and reciprocation.6 And yet, I have also found that advocating for systemic change requires social change This focus on educational advancement was well-received by university and risk. Having relocated to Minnesota from Texas in 2004, I found students and our community allies and supporters. However, because it necessary to think about migration and immigration in new ways. of the severe under-representation of Latino students at the university, Immigration and its consequences, the ensuing friction, fears, and we also needed to develop and support off-campus engagement fights, is not to be escaped in states like Minnesota or other "new opportunities for students who wished to redefine and expand the destinations" of Latino migration. My position as Department Chair traditional service-learning experience. What follows in the remainder carried unique expectations to be a resource for the public's awareness of this essay is an explanation of our particular context and a strategy of this "emerging" population. This was true in spite of the fact that a that developed from our collaboration that did just this by yoking Chicano-Latino presence in Minnesota is a century-long phenomenon, our existing service-learning project with a local movement aimed not something new at all. at removing institutional barriers in a manner that required a unique level of commitment, creativity, and responsibility by student leaders Not insignificantly, the mainstream community's concerns were involved in the effort. In many respects, these students acted on another heightened by census reports announcing the emergence of Latinos

Ret1ections • 37 While the issue of higher education for immigrant and Latino youth persons to leave local communities empowered, and thereafter, open is a concern that is seen as marginal for those who fail to see how this to ongoing evolution after outside civil rights workers left. Baker and issue affects them, for a great portion of the mainstream, supporting Clark emphasized the reality that real change for African Americans and advocating for educational access initiatives is a re-affirmation of (for racial justice in the United States) would not result instantly from the fundamental humanistic principles of justice and fairness. Working successful (read: large) marches, rallies or demonstrations. Through on the MN Dream Act presents an opportunity to learn about alliance their work they asserted that change would result from ongoing racial building. In Minnesota, and places where the population is fast-growing uplift and social responsibility practices, derivingfrom new visions, new but still relatively small, we know that a campaign like this cannot be abilities, and new structures originating in and nurtured by local people framed as "us" versus "them." While there are a great many people who are organized and educatedfor change and who themselves become who do not see access to education as a fundamental human right for all organizers and educators for change. (1) students, there are also a great many people who understand that we are part of one large community and that our destinies are intertwined. Voy en camino a una reunion con las familias de Worthington, asi como en el pasado, el futuro 10 estamos construyendo con nuestras acciones en el presente. Las comunidades fuera del area metropolitana usualmente Politically and economically, the future of this country depends son aisladas y marginalizadas no solo por las distancias, pero los on having an educated workforce. The failure to educate all young recursos a los inmigrantes. Muchas organizaciones sinjines de lucro se people today will have drastic consequences for this country in the forman en las zonas urbanas y bastantes son las personas que quieren future. Working with MIFN, with students, and allied communities ayudar en las zonas metropolitanas pero pocas son las organizaciones is tied to one of the founding tenets of Chicano Studies, to take every e individuos que reconocen y estan dispuestos a salir de sus zonas opportunity to widen the doors leading to the university. What follows comodas para trabajar con las comunidades rurales. Me siento cansado are perspectives from organizers at MIFN, whose staff includes former y esta obscuro, al igual que en el pasado ahora hay que hacer sacrificios students and employees from the department who embody the false personales, dejamos a nuestras familias, seres queridos y amigos. El notion that a town-gown divide necessarily exists-in this case, we are Organizar, construir y fondar un movimiento no es faci/, requiere de the community, the community is us. largas horas de trabajo, noches sin dormir y dias sin comer.

Nuestra lucha, el Inicio y Activismo como cimientos del Como Nacimos Movimiento Nosotros la Red de los Inmigrantes somos una organizacion que Mariano Espinoza, Executive Director of the MIFN nacimos de la gente, En el an02003 saIimos a la calle para denunciar las injusticias, explotacion y opresion en contra de los inmigrantes, While mobilizing suited one important aspect ofthe Civil Rights Inspirados por el espiritu del movimiento de los derechos civiles miles movement-gathering and deploying large numbers ofpersons towards a de personas participaron en acciones, rallies, marchas conferencias y common- mobilizing did not ensure lasting, broad or continual change. conferencias prensa para resucitar y poner de regreso el tema de una Ella Baker and Septima Clark focused on organizing and educating reforma inmigratoria en la agenda politica nacional.

Rc fl cct ion" • 38 Reflections. 39 De Minnesota participaron cerca de 90 personas, de Worthington fuerdn Fue muy bonito aprender de otras culturas, y aun mas bonito fue el dos trabajadores miembros del sindicato ufcw, Jesus y Raymundo, ellos que nos mezclamos para hacer una uni6n y una fuerza muy grande. son miembros de la uni6n de trabajadores que representan a los obreros Segundo a segundo, instante a instante nos ibamos haciendo amigos, de la Swift una de las empacadoras de came que existen en esta area nos ibamos conociendo mejor, ce1ebrando las riquezas culturas y del estado. sabiduria que todos tenemos.

Jesus y Raymundo son dos inmigrantes de Mexico que ha vivido en Mi lucha, Mi Experiencia Personal la comunidad por mas 20 afios, Jesus es ahora el vicepresidente de la Uni6n y Raymundo trabaja ahora como un organizador a nivel nacional Las memorias que dejamos en nuestros paises, los recuerdos de para el mismo sindicato en Carolina del Norte. nuestros hijos son la comida que alimenta el cuerpo para cruzar la frontera y las barreras que se nos oponen al andar, pero entre mas En e1 Freedom Ride hubo muchas memorias y acciones que rea1izamos, tiempo pasamos aqui, vemos que el suefio Americano se convierte en fue un momenta que se quedo marcado en nuestras vidas, nunca me un mito inalcanzable, irreal y jicticio. imaginaba que este movimiento iba hacer tan grande, nunca pense que miles de personas iban a estar participar a 10 largo y ancho del pais para Recuerdo el primer momento, recuerdo mi suefio de darle 10 D?-ejor a mi apoyara y unirse en solidaridad a nosotros los inmigrantes. hija. La noche era obscura, el fri6 del desierto era tan fuerte que rompia mis ropas lentamente y se infiltraba a traves de mi cuerpo hasta llegar La caravana de los trabajadores inmigrantes es un movimiento que a mis huesos, mi cuerpo temblaba de fri6. Fue ahi, en esos momentos naci6 para pelear, luchar y para cambiar las leyes racistas y opresivas rodeados por los nopales donde me imaginaba como e1 amor de vida que existen en este pais, que nos estan afectando oprimiendo y pronto llegada de Mexico para reunimos, sone con los ojos abiertos opresando cada uno de los dias en que vivimos. Estamos 1uchando que Denise seria la nifia mas afortunada del mundo, me i1usionaba por una reforma inmigratoria y leyes humanas y dignas. como ella ereceria rodeada de 1ibros e historias en la cama. E1 hermoso suefio Americano era mi medicina contra el frio y e1 dolor de huesos. N uestra Escuela es N uestra Vida Pero Denise fue mi alimento para levantarme, seguir caminando y recorriendo e1 trayecto lleno de injusticias y abusos, el suefio que Para luchar hay que conocer nuestra historia, necesitamos saber no solo de donde venimos, Si no Pero porque venimos? y Como somos ella ida a la universidad. El suefio de que ella sena una profesionista desplazados de nuestras comunidades de Origen. A traves de nuestras inyecto mi cuerpo de energia y me levante, mis pies llenos de ampollas historias personales vamos adquiriendo y construyendo nuestro empezaron a caminar nuevamente, ahi venci mi primera lucha, mis pies conocimiento para despues conectado a un movimiento. sangraron pero mi espiritu se levanto para luchar y para dade 10 mejor a mi pequefia nifia. A Denise 1a futura astronauta, la gran doctora. Deny Durante el transcurso de estas dos semanas estuvimos escuchando y mi pequefiita ... Tu suefio va ser mi suefio ... tu futuro mi futuro ... tu aprendiendo de nuestras propias experiencias, el porque venimos a este lucha sera mi lucha... pais, aprendimos como mexicano, guatemaltecos, somali y asiaticos fuimos desplazados de nuestros paises para buscar un futuro mejor.

Reflection,,> to 40 -Ret1ections • 41 Al final del viaje nos sentimos todos como parte de una familia muy Nuestros hijos, los inmigrantes y las minorias somos el pasado, el grande donde no veiamos las nacionalidades ni el color de la piel como presente y el futuro, sabemos que este pais se construyo en base una diferencia, si no Al contrario nos vimos como seres humanos a la opresion, racismo y esclavitud, A traves de nuestras propias donde un sistema nos esta utilizando a todos. En este grupo habia gente experiencias empezaremos el proceso de concientizacion personal y blanca, documentados e indocumentada Al final fuimos una familia. colectivo para luchar contra las raices economicas, politicas, culturas y racistas que nos opresan. Al regresar a Minnesota decidimos seguir luchando y organizando para fundar un movimiento y una lucha como nunca se habia hecho, Sabemos que podemos movilizar a cientos y miles de personas y teniamos el espiritu muy alto, una energia increible y maravillosa tambien reconocemos que para hacer cambios hay que saber como porque habiamos vivido nuestras experiencias y junto con muchas hacer cambios. La red de los inmigrantes esta comprometida a personas nos estabamos alimentando nuestro espiritu, pero tambien capacitar, aprender y ofrecer las herramientas y los recursos para aprendimos que las injusticias que se viven en otras partes del pais ayudar a las personas a desarrollar su potencial humano y de abeces son mas grandes que las que estamos viviendo en nuestras casas. liderazgo. Reconocemos nuestras vidas como historias para lograr procesos de cambio y tam bien tomamos en cuenta los procesos Alimentados por la energia y la pasion nos empezamos a reunir. academicos y de investigaci6n para ayudar nuestras causas. No teniamos una organizacion establecida, estructura, no teniamos nada. Lo hicimos como voluntarios. Lo hicimos por todas y todos los Necesitamos hacer una conexion y establecer lazos de solidaridad y inmigrantes de Minnesota y 10 hicimos porque teniamos la necesidad, trabajo con las escue/as, universidades, iglesias y grupos comunitarios, no podiamos bajar los brazos en esta lucha que habiamos empezado. para crear un movimiento y una red de Solidaridad. Queriamos una organizacion que no tuviera ligamientos con otras organizaciones, una organizacion que fuera de nuestras luchas y de Aprendemos de nuestras historias para incrementar nuestros nuestros esfuerzos, independiente y sin ataduras, ahi nacimos como conocimientosJ nos capacitamosJ comprometemos y nos movilizamos organizacion. para crear una comunidadjusta, de igualdad y respeto.

EI Inicio de un Movimiento en Base a N uestros Principios En el 2004 hicimos Ia primera reunion con legisladores y convocamos una reunion con organizaciones separadamente. Nos reunimos con el Nosotros los inmigrantes somos seres humanos a traves de nuestras Representante Carlos Mariani y la Representante Margaret Andersen experiencias personales vamos formando un poder de conocimiento Kelliher para proponerles la idea de introducir una propuesta legislativa colectivo y unidos creamos un movimiento masivo y educado para que Ie ayudara a los jovenes inmigrantes ir a la universidad. crear cam bios y construir comunidades saludables y autosuficientes. Lucharemos para remover las barreras racistas institucionales y Yahi quedo grabado en mi memoria un recuerdo que jamas olvidare: mentales que nos impiden vern os como hermanos y hermanas, sin los legisladores me dijeron que yo estaba loco porque este no era el importar sexo, nacionalidad 0 creencias. momento adecuado para introducir una propuesta de ley que Ie iba a dar acceso a los estudiantes inmigrantes a las universidades publicas del estado. Yo estaba sorprendido porque no sabia que existia un interes

Rcfl ecti on" • 42 Reflections. 43 politico, no entendia el porque una priori dad para nosotros tenia que el racismo y el odio racial que hay ahorita baje, que nos vean como hacerse a un lado. Pero 10 importante es 10 que los estudiantes querian personas iguales que somos como ellos, que nos les venimos a quitar su hacer y asi se inicio el compromiso de apoyar a los jovenes inmigrantes trabajo, solo queremos 10 mejor para nuestros hijos. en sus esfuerzos para cambiar las leyes del estado. Cuando nos decian que no, nosotros deciamos que si. Cuando nos decian locos, nosotros Nifias: Queremos mas escuelas para que haya mas doctoras y maestras respondiamos ustedes estan mas. Ellos no sabian 10 que era no tener para que los nmos puedan hacer 10 que ellos quieran hacer. papeles, pero nosotros si sabiamos.

Tambien tuvimos otra reunion con Centro Campesino en Owatonna, Martha's Story estabamos concientes de que se necesitaba trabajar con los aliados Martha Ockenfels-Martinez, Youth Organizer for MIFN de las areas rurales, pero nadien mas de la ciudad se presento. A esta reunion lIe go una persona que no sabiamos quien era, con una It took me three years to find a home within the University of personalidad muy fuerte y extravertida. Hablamos acerca de 10 que Minnesota. I finally found my niche when I stumbled upon two podiamos hacer para empujar por el MN Dream Act y muy rapidamente classes. The first was a Chicano Studies history course. At that time I nos dimos cuenta de que sabiamos como organizar pero no sabiamos did not identify as Chicana/o, and given that I had never taken a class nada de como pasar una ley. Y en ese instante esa persona desconocida that focused on my mother's people's history, I was surprised that se levanto de su asiento como un resorte, tomo el marcador, fue hacia el the books we read told my story. It was the story ofthe farmworkers, frente del grupo y nos dio una catedra de como se pasan las leyes - esta of the beet-pickers, of the earliest Mexicanos to arrive and settle in persona fue Matt Musel. E1 nos pregunto si sabiamos quien era ellider Minneapolis, and of my family. The second course was a Spanish class del senado, nadie dijo nada, despues pregunto si sabiamos quien era titled "Service-Learning in the ChicanolLatino Community," and I was el speaker of the house y el cuarto se quedo en silencion por segundos placed with the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride (IWFR) because que parecian una eternidad. Aqui nos dimos cuenta que teniamos I had wanted to work with an immigrant rights organization. After muchas cosas que aprender y aunque al sa1ir de la reunion tuvimos watching relatives deal with the damage this country's immigration mas preguntas que respuestas, tambian sabiamos que ibamos a seguir system can unleash upon a family, I felt the need to follow in the trabajando con los jovenes para que ellos adquirieran el conocimiento footsteps of my activist grandmother and my union-organizing father, que nosotros apenas estabamos acaparando. and to become more involved with the social justice issues that affected my family and my community. (en Worthington) I began my internship at the IWFR tentatively, given that I had never Mariano: i., Vamos a ganar las licencias? Claro que si. i., Y que mas? La worked with a non-profit before, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. reforma inmigratoria. i.,Josefina, y usted que quiere? It's funny now, thinking back to my first days as an intern, when I would struggle to memorize every piece of information that was given Josefina: Yo quiero 1a reforma inmigratoria, quiero igualdad para to me on a fact sheet or a brochure, so that I would know the complete todos, sobretodo en el trabajo porque no esta pareja la cosa. Quiero que history and the work 'of the IWFR. Mariano and Quito were the only

Rctlccti0lb • 44 Reflections. 45 staff members at the time, and they wanted the interns to infuse their own creativity and passion into the work we were doing. I really appreciated this approach to a creating non-hierarchical atmosphere, and their manner of working with me as an intern has greatly influenced the way that I myself now work with interns.

My first major project was organizing an educational forum on the MN Dream Ace at the University with a team of four other interns - it was the first time the IWFR had an event on campus. That was my first expenence in creating a program, contacting speakers, creating a fiyer, as well as generating a strategy for outreach so that people would actually come to the event. I still remember feeling relieved when people began filling the seats of the auditorium, and I will never forget The MlFN wasformed in the wake of the national Immigrant Worker s the overwhelming feeling of witnessing power as we all listened to one Freedom Ride of2003 and the Minnesota Freedom Ride of2004. of the student speakers share his story with the audience. He told us Both events were held in the tradition and spirit ofthe Civil Rights the story of his family, of his struggle with the educational system, and movement, replicating the model ofthe 1960s freedom rides to call of his desire to fight for college access. The tears he shed weren't for for humane andjust changes to America s outdated immigration laws. dramatic effect, and while some cried with him, all of us were shaken Here a student leader is pictured sharing her story with a legislator by the story - and that's when I first realized the power that is our in out-state Minnesota during the 2004 Minnesota Freedom Ride. voices, our stories. Yes I Can Dream! curriculum. The idea behind the curriculum was to The event went smoothly and many people stayed after the program to create a space within the schools where immigrant and allied youth find out how to get more involved, thrusting me into a position I didn't could voice their opinions, stories, and personal histories around quite know how to handle. I had just barely pulled off my first semester immigration and education. We agreed that we wanted it to be based 8 of being an intern; how was I supposed to know how to direct others on the concept of Popular Education , and I think it's important to who wanted to work with us? I had to learn by doing - I had to make note that we were also practicing this ideology as we worked together. the path by walking - and I realize now that this style of acquiring Although I don't believe any of us had ever written a curriculum knowledge and skills is part of the beauty of the work that we do. before, collectively we - high school students, college students, organizers, and immigrants - held within us the knowledge and the The next semester the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride morphed dreams that we needed to shape the concepts behind the curriculum. into the MIFN, and they hired me to work parttime. My job included assisting the Youth Organizer as well as taking care of various We held informational sessions at La Raza Student Cultural Center to administrative needs. During this time we began to convene for recruit students to be the facilitators (or coaches) of the curriculum in weekend-long planning retreats to figure out the structure for our the schools. Many students showed up wanting to get involved with the

Reflection..; • 46 Reflections. 47 students at the University through our ties with Chicano Studies, an academic department, and La Raza, a student cultural center.

After the service-learning class, and the Directed Studies course with Professor Mendoza, I was hooked. Attending school full-time while working part-time with an immigrant rights organization, I was not motivated by other classes that had nothing to do with the world outside the walls of the University. I thus began my life-saving habit of seeking out classes that incorporated community-based learning into the coursework, such as the Social Justice classes, other Chicano Studies courses, and Independent and Directed Studies classes.

That first year we implemented the curriculum I was a coach at both Northfield High School and Lakeville High School. And I absolutely loved it. I smile to think of how frightened my co-coach Sylvia and I were on that first day. Even though we knew the lesson, it was our first time actually facilitating the curriculum with students. Although the nervousness didn't end with the first lesson, the energy that the students Our Yes I Can Dream! youth curriculum began by doing simple had while engaging with the material made us eager to continue our but powerful exercises that asked students to participate and learn discussions with them. organizing skills so they could be better equipped to take action and As we progressed with the curriculum, it became clear that some make positive changes in their community. In this photo, founding stude-nts had never been offered an experience such as this one before. board member, Matt Muse! (center), and Mariano (far right) train a More than once, a student would share their personal history and group ofyouth at La Escuelita on the power people have when they migration story with the class, and afterwards one or two classmates come together to support an issue. would burst out with "Oh, I didn't know that about you!" or "I didn't growing movement, and from these students we formed the cohort of know your story was so much like mine!" Through our conversations coaches for the next semester. Needing a greater connection between we developed a community within the classroom. Almost all of the the community work we were doing and the bachelor degrees we students wanted to go to college to follow their dreams,although they were attempting to attain, we worked out a plan with Professor Louis knew that it would be extremely difficult to fight the barriers that stood Mendoza so that we could take a Directed Studies course in Chicano between them and their school of choice. We discussed the reasons Studies that was based on our work with the MIFN. We had begun why such barriers existed, not only for students to better understand the the process of creating a stronger partnership between the MIFN and history that was keeping themselves and their peers from continuing

Ref} eet i on<., • 48 Retlections • 49 Hundreds ofLatino, immigrant and allied youth gathered at the 2008 A young student leader addresses the crowd at the Capitol, discussing Student Day at the Capitol in St. Paul to voice their needfor access to why it s important for legislators and decision-makers to institute an equal education, regardless of income level or immigration status. policies that open up the doors ofaccess to education for all youth, regardless of immigration status or income level. their education, but for them to begin conceptualizing ways to change this unequal situation. the sake of practice, but to change someone's mind and heart, I am still struck by that same feeling of being a witness to power. Last year 1,000 students gathered for our fourth-annual Student Day at the Capitol to educate legislators on the crisis that both the educational After three years of working in some capacity with the MIFN (as an system and the state of Minnesota is facing. Immigrant and allied intern, a volunteer, or a part-time employee), it was inevitable that my students stood together on this day to tell their stories and their dreams, experiences from organizing would deeply influence how I participated to illustrate the need for legislation that will ensure access to higher in my college courses, and how I viewed the world. During my last education for all students. Each year I listen as the students develop year of college I took a few graduate level courses, and I was shocked their voices through their work with the coaches and the curriculum, by the oppressive viewpoints sometimes put forth by the older (and and without fail, each and every time I hear a student speak not just for supposedly more educated) students in the class. Their world view was

Hcfkct i (illS. 50 Reflections. 51 constructed by academic theories and statistics that were based on data tainted with classism, racism, and sexism. F ortunateiy, I had grown stronger through my work with the MIFN, and so I was able to use my voice to offer a different perspective, and to create with them a deeper understanding of the issue in question, one that expanded beyond the walls of academia.

I am now employed full time as the Youth Organizer for the MIFN, and in my four years of growing and working with the organization, I have seen the real life-changing effects that our collaboration with college and high school students has had on everyone involved in the process. I only hope that partnerships such as these continue to thrive and grow because I know from experience how valuable and rewarding it can be to bridge the worlds of academia and community together.

Allies, college-level coaches and young middle-school students are . pictured walking from a church to the Student Day at the Capitol in 2007. All came together to take action to remove the institutional barriers standing in the way ofa college education for immigrant and Latino youth.

In January 2007 hundreds of Worthington immigrant community members came together to share food and speak out during the public forum against the December 12, 2006 raid in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents deployed into the heart ofrural America to shut down the city and the nation s number-two meatpacking plant, Swift and Co.

Rcfl cct i (lns • 52 Reflections. 53 Our Voices coexist alongside so much oppression? As business school academics continued to mute the sounds of injustice tugging at my vocal chords, Alondra Kiawitl Espejel, MIFN Communication Director I became more distant from my studies. The incongruence between my Stories are powerful. How these important stories are told, who gets linear school work and my off-campus commitments put everything in to tell them, and who owns the irtjrastructure through which they pass question and I strained to find a foothold. Perhaps that is why, a year or are important pieces on the chessboard ofjustice.-Center for Media two after trying to stay afloat in business school, an email from La Raza Justice (Oakland, California) Student Cultural Center advertising an event for Dias {Ie los Muertos and champurrado struck a major chord. The history La Raza students It is important to be able to tell your story, especially if you are coming spoke about, their well-built relationship with the Department of from a marginalized community. Yet for some of us, it is a struggle to Chicano Studies and their campus organizing turned my throat's muted find our voice and share our stories. Almost 20 years ago my family sounds into a steady hum of resistance. I continued to volunteer off decided to pursue a better life and opportunities in the US, so at the campus, held a job at the University's Career and Community Learning age of ten I was sent to live with my cousins in rural Minnesota. Even Center, and increased my activity with La Raza as I sought more ethnic though I went to school, I couldn't communicate with my teacher or studies courses. I was looking to make sense of what rumbled on the classmates because I didn't know how to speak English. I didn't fully inside. I could feel my voice getting stronger, my story getting clearer, understand what it meant to be one of two students of color in my my footsteps feeling lighter. whole class, but I could feel the disconnection and loneliness. When I was in high school I hid my story behind mind-numbing good grades As I became more entrenched in on-and-off campus organizing efforts and exhausting runs with the cross country team. After applying to only to open the doors of access to higher education for Latino and immigrant one college, I arrived at the University of Minnesota's business school. youth, I transferred out of the business school and began to look for One of my scholarships required me to volunteer off-campus, so I ways to make my life and practical experiences count towards a new began to tutor at after-school sites helping other poor kids like me with degree. I majored in Chicano Studies and enrolled in African American their homework. The distance between my marketing classes and the and American Studies courses; some used the service-learning language, after-school programs made it painfully difficult for me to understand others didn't, but all encouraged off-campus learning opportunities. what I was doing in college. I'm not referencing the long bus rides The alienation seeping from the university realms that are drenched in from one location tothe other, I'm pointing to the stark differences privilege threatened to take me away from the immigrant community between the under-funded community centers filled with young English I knew to be home. Therefore, my personal and university survival Language Learners outfitted with clothes barely warm enough to fend depended on creating and tapping into classes where the teachers and off the cold and the corporate-sponsored classrooms neatly stacked the coursework sought to integrate my story and community work into with human bodies wearing expensive suits, or designer lip gloss, or the goals and objectives of the class. Enrolling in Chicano Studies and freshly coiffed hair. service-learning courses nurtured and validated my identity, encouraged my academic success by challenging mainstream notions of knowledge I felt confused, frustrated and angry for having to navigate such production and kept me connected to the community I had come from. different, yet inextricably related worlds. How could so much privilege But even as I unearthed my voice and united with many others in chants

Refl ections • 54 Ret1ections • 55 for equal access to education for all, I began to understand that our We talked about stories that mirrored our humble realities, rejoiced immigrant voices would not be heard and sound public policy would in our laughing children and championed human rights. Yet the non not be passed unless we changed the structure of media ownership (the inclusive frame of the media and the Governor's report kept our voices people who decide what stories get told) and the very policies media out. Not surprisingly, a month later, the constant omission of our stories are supposed to follow (the official and unofficial practices that dictate along with the media's sensationalistic coverage of the Governor's anti how stories get told). This understanding of media justice is one of immigrant actions, served as a launching pad for him to enact 287G, a the main reasons why, only a few days after Minnesota's Republican costly and racial-profiling-based program in which state troopers and Governor delivered a vicious anti-immigrant blow, the MIFN's media other local officials are deputized to enforce immigration laws. and communications work was born. In response, as an immigrant led and primarily immigrant staffed On December 8,2005 Governor Pawlenty issued a so-called report organization, we created the Voices of Immigrants Changing and titled "The Impact of Illegal Immigration on Minnesota." According Educating Society (VoICES) program aimed at humanizing the face to Quito Ziegler, then Co-Director of the MIFN, the Governor had of immigration in the media. Since 2006, we have positioned our publicly declared war on the immigrant community. This observation is communications work as a participatory educational campaign to reClaim not to be taken lightly as history has proven that discursive violence is the public discourse by targeting allies, mainstream media editorial one step away from real-lived violence and oppression. The Governor policies, and stylebooks to abolish the usage of the terms "illegal alien" - with a microphone in one hand and his so-called report in the other and "illegal immigrant" when covering the issue of immigration. At its - delivered the mythical story that immigrants drain the state. The deepest level, this campaign works to eliminate the institutional racism media, an active player in the public's perception of our immigrant and institutional violence aimed at our immigrant community vis-a-vis community, eagerly covered the report's publication, thereby helping to the status quo of media policies, structure and framing. propagate the Goliath of a lie. Instead of expanding the frame of how the issue of immigration got covered, the media adopted a formulaic One of our biggest accomplishments since has been achieved through frame of "costs versus benefits" which sought to put a monetary value a partnership with University of Minnesota service-learning students on our lives and humanity. and activists from the La Raza Student Cultural Center. After several meetings, our organization, along with the students, was able to push Three days after the release of the report, community organizers, the Minnesota Daily l0 to change their editorial policies to abolish the funders, students, youth workers, educators, legislators and business usage of the terms "illegals" and "illegal immigrant." Although the owners met to tell the story of the Minnesota we knew to be true - the work was neither easy nor formulaic, the constant and organic pressure story of a state whose economic growth, cultural vitality, and global from several students and campus groups along with our support helped survival depend on the hands of immigrant workers, on the minds of to achieve this collective victory. We have also engaged with other immigrant students, and on the transnational connections of immigrant prominent news organizations such as the Star Tribune and Minnesota 9 families. Although we had to cater to the limited media framework of Public Radio to raise awareness about this issue with their editors. "additive" stories (i.e. what do immigrants add to the state?), we were ultimately craving to hear immigration stories that breathed complexity.

l(cflcctinn:-. • 56 Ret1ections • 57 Additionally, college students in service-learning classes who act as recognizes the fact that immigrants are not "needy" individuals waiting high school coaches are working in partnership with us to improve for someone to rescue them; instead, we are intellectually nimble people students' proficiency in the area of media literacy and communications who invite you to become an equal player in the "chessboard ofjustice" (reading, writing, critical thinking skills) through the media lesson and knowledge production. we include in our curriculum. The media lesson, and our curriculum as a whole, is based on a long-standing Chicano Studies tradition Conclusion: Limitless Dreams, Rooted Realities of intellectual exploration and civic engagement, linking action to analysis,ll and heeds scholar-activists' advice that "students are far Armed with unwavering hope for a better world, we continue our work more apt to remember and be transformed by what they do" than by as equal partners in this journey for justice and encourage many others what they read. 12 Thus, the high school youth analyze the content of a to join us. What our stories have shown is our limitless ability to dream set of media clips that they themselves generate when they take action of a society where the systematic dehumanizing of people through through civic engagement methods. This participatory media lesson and language and the denial of access to educational opportunities exist no overall curriculum supports students in their journey to develop their more. When speaking of immigration, we believe that the proliferation leadership skills while encouraging them to take on the role of change of covert institutionalized racism perpetuated under the banner of the makers. In this way the youth themselves are removing the educational "rule of law, fairness, and citizenship" must be challenged. After all, barriers they face when trying to graduate from high school or gearing as Saint Augustine once said, an unjust law is no law at all. For that up to pursue a college degree. Our curriculum is also a college access reason, our stories and service-learning collaborations are aimed at tool that gives students information about their college-going options removing institutional barriers, serving as a living testament to how we and scholarships. 13 Consequently, as the youth become more informed have turned our dreams into community-rooted strategies based on our about their options they also become more engaged in their school lived realities. life and community. As they become more active and interested in As we look to the work that lies ahead, we provide no formula nor their educational life, they start seeing themselves as college-material offer fool-proof solutions. What we offer is a window into the intimate and become their own ambassadors, actively shaping their own future and organic nature of our endeavor, highlighting the deep yet flexible through collective action, enhanced communications and increased commitment this kind ofjourney entails. At the same time, we community building activities during the after-school hours. encourage community-based organizations, college campus affiliates, These efforts are a prime example of how college and high school youth policymakers and funders to prepare for the momentous shifts just can work alongside one another and with social change organizations to around the bend. Soon, minorities will grow into majority status, play an important role in humanizing the ways in which society perceives thereby providing all of us with an immense opportunity to turn our the immigrant community, thereby countering the negative effects of the commitments to educational access and social change into an inclusive media. More importantly, as the high school youth begin to unearth their democracy enriched by everyone's fully realized potential, regardless voice and sharpen their advocacy skills, service-learning students and of immigration status. It is now, more than ever, that our schools and university allies are given the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with the communities will need more collaborative projects like ours which immigrant community from a socio-cultural asset-based perspective. This energetically work to unite seemingly different worlds.

Reflection" • 58 Reflections. 59 Endnotes 7 The Minnesota Dream Act is a bill that would allow undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at Minnesota universities and colleges. 1 EI Plan de Santa Barbara: A Chicano Plan for Higher Education. Otherwise, they have to pay three times the in-state tuition rate, Chicano Coordinating Council on Higher Education. La Causa even if they have spent most of their lives being active members of Publications, Oakland, 1969. This manifesto was a collectively Minnesota's communities. This too often makes college unattainable authored document that articulated the philosophical foundation for for many promising students. the establishment of Chicano Studies in higher education. 8 Popular Education is the world view that all of us are at the same time 2 As an academic enterprise, this field of study assumes various names, learners and teachers - with an emphasis on not privileging certain such as Raza Studies, Mexican American Studies, and Chicano-Latino knowledges above others. Studies, to name a few. Moreover, there are related fields such as Borciua or Puerto Rican Studies, and Latino, Latino/Latin American, 9 At the time of this meeting I was a board member of the MIFN and or Hispanic Studies Programs that each have their own distinctive worked in the Department of Chicano Studies. Some months later, I history and sometimes include Chicano Studies within their domain. stepped down from the MIFN board and applied to become an MIFN staff member. 3 See Carlos Munoz's Youth, Identity, and Power, Hector Galan's Chicano! History ofthe Mexican-American Civil Rights Movement, 10 The Minnesota Daily is the largest university-based newspaper in Part 111, Taking Back the Schools, and Moctesuma Esparza's feature Minnesota. film, Walkout for sustained treatments of Chicana/o educational activism in the late '60s and early '70s. 11 Martinez, Elizabeth (Betita) and Max Elbaum. "Building New Roads to Liberation." ColorLines, Fall 2005: 19. 4 http://nces.ed.govlFastFacts/display.asp?id=16. Accessed online: 01/06/09. 12 Pulido, Laura. "FAQS: Frequently (Un)Asked Questions on Being a Scholar/Activist." Engaging Contradictions: Theory, Politics, and 5 Minnesota Minority Education Partnership. 2009 State ofStudents of Methods ofActivist Scholarship.!. Ed. Charles Hale. Berkeley: UC Color & American Indian Students Report, Executive Summary: 11. Press, 2008. 348.

6 "Disciplinary Pathways to Service-Learning: Theory and Rationale." 13 This is particularly important in Minnesota as it's one of the states By Susan J. McAleavey. http://www.mc.maricopa.edulother/ with the highest student-to-counselor ratio. engagement/pathways/rationale.shtml. Accessed online: 01/06/09.

Reflection" • 60 Ref1ections • 61 LIM BO: Marie Gonzalez & The Dream Act

Glenn Hutchinson, Johnson C. Smith University

Playwright Glenn Hutchinson discusses his play Limbo, which is based on interviews with Marie Gonzalez, an undocumented college student. Like many other young people in limbo, Marie has made the United States her home; however, because she is undocumented, she is at risk of being deported back to a country she has not known since she was 5 years old. Marie has become an activist for the Dream Act, legislation that would help people in her situation. Following an introduction, Hutchinson has included some excerpts from his play that was performed in Charlotte, NC last year.

riginally from Costa Rica, Marie Gonzalez came to the United States when she was five years old. She grew up in Missouri and her father ran a restaurant and later worked Mama and Papa prepare to be deported They say goodbye to their as a courier for the Governor. When a "concerned citizen" contacted house with their daughter, Marie. immigration about their citizenship status, Marie's parents were deported. With the help of Sen. Durbin of Illinois, Marie has been Based on my interviews with Marie, LIMBO explores the story of given a temporary extension to study at Westminster College. She Marie and other students like her who are in limbo. Their parents graduated in December 2008; however, her extension will expire in have brought them here often when they are very young. They go to June of 2009. school here. They make America their home; however, they are not Over the past several years, Marie has become a national leader in citizens. They are in limbo. immigration reform and has testified before Congress promoting the With the help of the Hispanic Cultural Center of Charlotte (HCCC), Dream Act (legislation that would help other students in her situation). the Arts & Science Council, and a small independent theater (Carolina Actors Studio Theatre), LIMBO became a collaborative effort to tell

Fefl eel inns. 62 Ret1ectiollS • 63 Before she is deported, Danielle asks Isabel to take care of her son.

The opening dance of Limbo

these stories of undocumented students. The HCCC helped connect the theater to the Latino community by recruiting actors and also helping me interview more students who had similar stories like Marie. We received a grant from the Arts & Science Council to pay the actors and bring Marie to Charlotte and speak with the audience after each show opening weekend.

What resonated most in this community effort was how Marie's story connected with many young people in our community. Many audience members commented on how they feel like they are caught in between two places-the place that they call home and the place that tells them it is not home.

Here are some scenes from the play that was produced at CAST Theatre and the University of North Carolina-Charlotte in 2008. In Brenda Giraldo the play, two college film students decide to make a documentary (the actress who about Marie. played Marie) and Marie Gonzalez

Hcflccti011:- • 64 Reflections. 65 Scene 3: The First Interview MIGUEL

(Westminster College. The beginning of the interview is on film, and then it fades out as the actors onstage recreate the interview. MIGUEL And we're finishing up school. is sitting beside his camera & microphone, and MARIE sits in front of the camera. Nathan holds a boom mike.) MARIE

MIGUEL Oh.

Gracias por la entrevista.

(Thanks for the interview.) MIGUEL Sorry if ... This is our senior project for film school. Is that cool? We hope that this documentary will get picked up and shown a lot of MARIE places.

Sure. So, you make a lot of movies? MARIE

Yeah, sure ...

MIGUEL

Well, not really. We're independent, you know. MIGUEL

I really admire what you're doing.

MARIE

Yeah? MARIE

(Slight pause.) Thanks.

Jkflccti(lil" .. 66 Retlections • 67 MIGUEL MARIE

I mean, you're standing up, trying to change something. I have this status-legal to be illegal in the U.S.

(Slight pause.)

MARIE So I speak out. I tell my story. I want to change things.

Well, a lot of people can't tell their story.

MIGUEL

MIGUEL What's your major?

But you can? MARIE

Political Science/International Business. MARIE

Yeah. They deported my parents, but they let me stay-thanks to Senator Durbin. I have a temporary extension to stay, at least until June MIGUEL th 30 • After that? I don't know. I hope that I can finish school. Any brothers or sisters?

MIGUEL MARIE Yeah. I'm an only child.

Kcfll'cli ons • 68 Ret1ections • 69 MIGUEL MARIE

Me too. Yes. Since I was five years old.

MARIE MIGUEL

Oh, so we're both spoiled rotten. So, when did ... when did all this ...

MIGUEL MARIE

Yeah ... Tell us where you're from. I was a sophomore in high school when I found out we were, as they say, "undocumented." My parents had filed the paperwork with un abogado ... a lawyer, and we thought we were OK. But it turns out we weren't. So that's why my parents were sent back to Costa Rica. MARIE Missouri. Jefferson City.

MIGUEL

MIGUEL Do you get to talk with them much? No, I mean, where were you born?

MARIE

MARIE When I can. Sometimes on the webcam, when they're at my uncle's in Costa Rica, he has an internet cafe. The internet is kind of expensive. Costa Rica. I was born in Alajuela. An expense they can't really afford. I got some calling cards for Christmas. I use it once a week, 10 minutes, 15 minutes.

MIGUEL

And you grew up in Missouri?

Ref} ccti nn" • 70 Reflections. 71 MIGUEL MARIE

How are they? I remember this one tree, and there were always toucans there. The bright feathers. Those beaks.

When people ask me about Costa Rica, I don't have much to say. I MARIE don't know much. I know where my parents live, my grandparents. There are rain forests, gorgeous beaches, but I don't know much else. A couple of my sorority sisters have gone down & stayed with them ... They're very hopeful. What I remember most is leaving and coming here. Five years old. Getting on the plane. Before that, anything is fair game if it's my parents' memory or mine. MIGUEL But what happened to my family-I don't want anyone else to go What is your first memory? through that.

(Lights on PAPA and MAMA fade.)

(PAPA sits at kitchen table. He places a newspaper article I haven't seen them in 2 Y2 years. into a large brown binder. MAMA clears the table of dishes.)

[In this other scene, Marie says goodbye to her parents. After our two MARJE productions, many audience members commented on the different ways animals and people are treated in America.] I haven't been to Costa Rica since I was 5. I don't even know ifmy memories are really mine or just things my parents told me that I've Scene 14: Dogs made my own. (MAMA and PAPA sitting in living room of their empty I remember images, bits and pieces. My grandfather, my dad's dad, house. Sound of a barking dog outside. Their luggage is near took me to this park in Costa Rica. Toucan Park. the door, beside a kennel for MARIE's dog, Precious.)

PAPA PAPA (looking out back window)

Cahuita Park, mi amor. iCallate!

R('f1('cti()n~ • 72 Retlections • 73 MAMA (More barking from outside.) Papi ... Los vecinos.

PAPA PAPA Si. Trying to say goodbye. What does it matter? We're leaving anyway.

(Slight pause.) (Barking continues. PAPA looks out back window.)

PAPA PAPA Perro estupido. jSilencio!

(Slight pause. Barking stops.) MAMA

Marvin ... PAPA

Gracias. PAPA

l,Qu6? I love dogs. I love Precious, but he doesn't bark like that. MAMA (PAPA looks inside kennel.) Sometimes, yo quisiera ... I wish was one of those dogs.

(Slight pause.) PAPA

Are you still alive, dog? Don't you hear your friends? They're ... They're trying to say goodbye. PAPA

Refkcti (lns • 74 Reflections. 75 MAMA PAPA

Have you noticed how the Gringos take care of their dogs? l,Los Nose. vecinos? Buy them special food. They buy special little clothes for them. Walk the perros around. They even gift wrap their poop. Consienten their dogs more than their niiios. MAMA

I don't think so. Pues, all of the dogs across the border should come PAPA (laughing) here. They don't know what kind of life they are missing.

Sf. PAPA jAmnesty para los perros!

MAMA

In Costa Rica-do you think dogs live en pura vida? l,Recuerde los MAMA callejeros? i Vivan los perros!

PAPA PAPA Si, mi amor. jLos perros! (Slight pause.) (Pause. They laugh. Then MAMA begins to cry.)

MAMA MAMA Papi, l,Que til crees? There are illegal people, but are there illegal dogs? We're leaving. We're going to leave behind my only baby. (Slight pause.)

Reflectiolls.76 Ret1ections • 77 PAPA (comforting her) MARIE

I know. Some photographs. I want you to have these.

MAMA MAMA

When will I see her again? Papi? Tell me, when? Gracias.

PAPA (MAMA looks at the pictures.)

No se. But we want her to stay and live her life. MAMA

MAMA Ah, mi amor. Your graduation. Que linda.

Yose.

(MARIE enters with small box.) MARIE

Stop, mom. You're going to make me cry again.

MARIE

I think this is everything. MAMA

And aqui. The ... iQue? MAMA

"Que es, mi amor? MARIE

National Honor Society.

Rcflcl't inl1s • 78 Reflections. 79 MAMA MAMA

And here, you playing volleyball. The way you hit that ball-fuerte! Sf. We are so proud of you. Mi vida. Where did you get that? Not from me. I hated sports. (They hug.)

PAPA PAPA From tu papa problamente. We need to go.

MAMA MARIE ;.,Ay, the athlete, sf? Even Precious.

MARIE PAPA (going to front window) I don't want you to go. You can say goodbye to him at the airport. We have to go. Ay, look at the people out there.

MAMA

Yo se. But we have to. We will come back. (MARIE goes to front window.)

PAPA MARIE

You need to stay and go to college. Tu sueiio. Become una abogada and Dios mio, I didn't think this many people would show up. change the law.

Rcflccti(llh • 80 Reflections. 81 MAMA MARIE

i, Quienes son? And as we went to the airport, a caravan of 40 cars. Everything had been switched to my name. My dog was in a kennel. Precious. It was the last time to see my dog ... They let me go to the gate. That's the MARIE last time I have seen them .. .

Friends. And look at that-all of those cameras. [Marie's story is not unique. The following scene attempts to dramatize the problems and messages about college that affect young people]: PAPA Scene 8: School Let's go, Marina. MARIE (interview)

I always had that dream. Most of the counselors had met with us (Pause. They all take a look at the house they are leaving.) planning for college. I was always very studious. I loved school. There was no question that I was going to college ... going to law school.

PAPA (Actors enter and recreate school classroom.) Adios, mi casa.

TEACHER

MAMA Each one of you, take an envelope and count the money inside. Hasta luego.

(Pause. They leave.) STUDENT #1

Money? We get money?

Refl eel inn" • 82 Ret1ections • 83 TEACHER STUDENT #1

It's monopoly money. Fake money. $1000

STUDENT #2 (to STUDENT #1) STUDENT #4

Stupid! Oh ... he is the man!

TEACHER STUDENT #2

I want you to count the money. Each one of you has a different amount. $400

STUDENT #1 STUDENT #3

I got more than you. $300

STUDENT #2 STUDENT #4 It's fake, stupid. i.,Cual es la diferencia? $20

TEACHER STUDENT #5 Please! OK. Now I want you to put the money back in the envelope. Put it back in the envelope ... There you go. OK. How much money $1 do you have?

Reflectioll:-- • 84 Ret1ections • 85 TEACHER TEACHER College graduate. Now read what's written on your envelope.

STUDENT #4 STUDENT #5 Oh, I get it ... Mine is GD. HSDO.

TEACHER TEACHER That stands for high school drop out. Next. Graduate degree.

STUDENT #4 STUDENT #5

HSG. What'sPD?

TEACHER TEACHER High school graduate. Professional degree. Like a doctor.

STUDENT #3 STUDENT #1

CG. Wow. Well, this sure was a fun game.

TEACHER TEACHER What do you think that stands for? Do you know what the point of this activity was?

(Pause.)

Reflectiolls to 86 Ret1ections • 87 STUDENT #2 TEACHER

You forgot to do your lesson plan for today? That may be true. But what about college? What about his future? That money is only temporary.

TEACHER STUDENT #3 The point of this lesson, young lady, is to show you the power of education. If you drop out of high school, this is how much you are What isn't temporary, Miss Smith? going to make.

TEACHER STUDENT #4 What? That's not true. My cousin, Lorenzo, makes a lot of money. He just bought a new car. STUDENT #2

STUDENT #3 And Lorenzo can't go to college. He's illegal.

Oh, sl, that new red Mustang. l,No? STUDENT #3

STUDENT #4 iCallate, estupido!

Que padre. STUDENT #2

STUDENT #3 Es la verdad. l,Si 0 no?

Chevre.

Reflection" • 88 Reflections. 89 TEACHER DANIELLE

That's enough! Sit down, please. suefios. dios mio ...

as soon as they see me, as soon as they hear my voice, STUDENT #3 they ask, where are you from?

iEstupido! i say here & then that look: ''you aren't from here" they say con sus ojos, their eyebrows. TEACHER as if home is una fortaleza & What I want you to think about is ... What is your dream? What do you i've invaded theirs, want to do when you leave this place? Do you want to work the same for veinte afios, still job for years and years making just enough to get by? Or do you want a stranger? or maybe to pursue something more? Danielle, what is your dream? they think a spaceship has landed & they're talking to an alien.

yes, yo soy de aqui, DANIELLE i am from here at least for now, You don't think I have dreams? ... Suefios. And what is the dream for the same as you. mi nifio, Samuel? Money? home is right now. (Slight pause.) mafiana-we'll see.

that espacio, that space between your eyes & mine, the place where we might listen or might not.

Reflections.90 Reflections. 91 [This is the closing monologue of Marie): i have a whole cocktail party up there, people going back and forth, never stopping & Scene 26: Voice sometimes it's that movie announcer guy, sometimes it's papa, mama, sometimes it's some voice that i've MARIE never heard before. I can't make any long-term plans. but what worries me is A ton of my girlfriends are getting married ... that i 'lliose my voice. I can't promise anything past June 30. That's my last and final day to be in the U.S. because when i listen for my voice- (Slight pause.) even when i speak you know, sometimes when i'm reading my history textbook, i hear the is that me? voice of sean connery. each day, i'm not sure why. changing. it works for the war stuff, but i have to get him out of my mi voz ... head for women's suffrage he doesn't sound believable. (Slight pause.) limbo. my roommate says that she hears the voice of her professor, which works out, because she has this ridiculous crush on him & so she reads it every night before she What will we as educators and citizens do in response to the many goes to sleep. students who are in limbo? Marie's story is one of many for us to consider. If you would like to see the complete interview of Marie my other roommate tells me she doesn't following our performance, type in Marie Gonzalez and Limbo on hear a thing when she reads. youtube OR visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGDZjdYqA-8. well, of course, she would have to actually open a book to really know.

Reflections. 92 Reflections. 93 With over a quarter of the population born outside the United States (U.S. Census Bureau), Bridgeport is a fertile place to consider immigration. Like many aging industrial centers in the Northeast, Bridgeport suffers from a declining tax base, poor housing stock, and 'I was a Stranger':l Creating a Campus-wide high concentrations of poverty. Surrounded by one of the wealthiest Commitment to Migration counties in the United States, Bridgeport stands apart from its affluent neighbors in terms of race, economics, and ethnicity. The contrast Betsy A. Bowen, Fairfield University between the town of Fairfield, where Fairfield University is located, and Bridgeport is sharp. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2007 This article examines what it means when a university makes the average household income in Fairfield was $103,352; in Bridgeport a multifaceted commitment to migration, taking note of both what can be accomplished through such a commitment and it was less than half of that, only $39,684. Three percent of Fairfield what tensions remain. At Fairfield University, engagement residents live below the poverty level; 19% of Bridgeport residents with migration is expressed in the curriculum, service-learning do. Forty-five percent of residents in Bridgeport speak a language projects, faculty research, and in efforts to influence the other than English at home; in Fairfield, the number is twelve percent. national debate on immigration through the University's The Connecticut Department of Education reports that over 95% of Center for Faith and Public Life. The philosophical context for the children in Bridgeport's public schools qualify for free or reduced this work on migration reflects, in part, the Jesuit Catholic price lunch; in Fairfield, the figure is less than 5%. Recent immigrants tradition of the University. Service-learning courses across make up a significant portion of those with greatest material needs the curriculum involve work with immigrants. In a course on in Bridgeport. For that reason, and others, Fairfield University literacy, students assist children of immigrants at an adult has undertaken a range of service-learning projects, working with literacy center. community partners in Bridgeport that serve immigrants.

;;~~ rom the path outside my office I can look over the campus to In this article I want to examine what happens when an institution as Long Island Sound. The campus spreads out before me: 200 a whole devotes itself to migration and the needs of immigrants. By acres of well-kept lawns, trees, classrooms, and dorms. A small, "institution as a whole" I do not mean that every faculty member or comprehensive university in the Jesuit Catholic tradition, Fairfield office of the University is concerned with immigration or immigrants. has an undergraduate student body that is largely white and middle- Rather, I mean that there is a multifaceted commitment to migration to upper-middle class. But if I tum a little and look to the west, I see that is revealed in the curriculum, service-learning projects, the smokestacks from Bridgeport Resco, the waste treatment plant, scholarship, and in efforts to influence public policy and debate. In pumping gray smoke into the sky_ Railroad tracks run past the oil this article, then, I will try to layout the philosophical foundations for storage tanks. Just ten minutes from campus, Bridgeport is in some the University's involvement with migration, examine some of the ways a world away. In the past four or five years, however, the campus forms that work takes in service-learning courses, and consider the has been linked to the city through a focus on migration. problems that accompany the effort. In doing so, I will extend the work of Sondra Cuban and Jeffrey Anderson on service learning and the

Rcflccti(ll1'- • 94 Reflection,'; • 95 Jesuit understanding of social justice. Migration is a place where the support the intellectual growth of all of its members while providing Jesuit Catholic mission of the University intersects with the politically them with opportunities for spiritual growth and development and a progressive, but largely secular, inclination of many faculty members. lifelong commitment to social justice" ("Jesuit Education," para. 18). As such, it offers a promising place to link two kinds of expertise. For that reason, he maintains, "Jesuit universities have stronger and different reasons, than many other academic and research institutions, At the same time, working with immigrants makes even more acute for addressing the actual world as it unjustly exists and for helping to the familiar problem in service learning: how to provide service to reshape it in the light of the Gospel" ("Service"). the community without reinforcing students' (or faculty members ') preconceptions of those being served. A decade ago, Ellen Cushman Indeed, this orientation toward action is, Kolvenbach maintains, warned, "One limitation of service-learning courses can be students' a distinguishing characteristic of Jesuit pedagogy, an approach to perceptions of themselves as imparting to the poor and uneducated learning with its roots in the sixteenth century. That approach is their greater knowledge and skills" (332). When some participants in comprised of five key components: context (an understanding of the the service-learning venture have limited speaking skills in English leamer's situation), experience (direct engagement with the subject and uncertain immigration status, the gap between university and being studied), reflection, action, and evaluation ("Jesuit Education," community partners becomes especially pronounced. If we ignore that para. 10-14). The commitment to social action makes Jesuit institutions gap, we risk "perpetuating the hierarchical and potentially dangerous such as Fairfield University productive sites for what Cuban and relationship between campuses and their surrounding communities Anderson call the "political conceptualization" of service learning. that service-learning implicitly seeks to remedy" (Vernon and Ward Such an approach, they argue, "addresses both surface and underlying 30). Instead, as Linda Flower and Shirley Brice Heath caution, "a societal problems" and "entails correcting power imbalances, taking the sustainable relationship with learning at its core must be built on a perspective of and advocating for marginalized groups, and harnessing thoroughgoing respect for the knowledge of others-embodied in resources for social change" (145). Like Cushman, Cuban and the social and literate practices that actively seek alternative ways of Anderson advocate activist or action research as the means for creating reading the world" (53). University partners who work with immigrants social change. In such project, Cushman claims, "public intellectuals (or agencies that serve immigrants) need special sensitivity to create and community members can work together to identify and ameliorate that kind of sustainable and mutual relationship. local-level social issues" (334).

Jesuit Commitments In 2005, Fairfield University established the Center for Faith and Public Life, a think-tank designed to explore faith and civic engagement One thing that distinguishes Fairfield University'S work on immigration through research, curriculum, and public events. A primary focus of the and service learning is the philosophical context in which it occurs. Center is migration, which Rick Ryscavage, S. J., Director of the Center, In his discussion of Jesuit pedagogy, Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J., explains is a priority for the Jesuit order worldwide. "Our responsibility" former Superior General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), identifies he says, "is to connect that theme to the whole of the university." social justice as one of the primary goals of Jesuit education, saying: "The Jesuit ideal ... seeks to establish campus communities which

RL'fL:ctiOll\ .. 96 Ret1ections • 97 That effort has taken a variety of forms. In 2005 the Center helped to statement, the Conference identifies two key duties of governments create the Jesuit Migration Academic Network (JMAN) that links over regarding migration: "to welcome the foreigner out of charity and 20 Jesuit universities, in the U.S., Mexico, and Central America, to study respect for the dignity and rights of the human person" and "to secure global migration. JMAN is designed to support curriculum development, its border and enforce immigration law for the sake of the common research, advocacy, and service among participants involved with good, including the safety and well-being of the nation's inhabitants migration at these institutions. Its website is a clearinghouse, providing and the rule of law." Both of these duties, the Conference notes, "must news and data for researchers. The Center for Faith and Public Life be carried out and neither ... can be ignored" ("Comprehensive"). hosted a series on migration and the arts, as well as a conference on human trafficking, which brought together faculty members and social University Commitments service agencies to examine the causes and consequences of forced, The University's involvement in migration is connected to the exploitative migration. Currently the Center is working on an initiative curriculum in large part through the Office of Service Learning which called "Strangers as Neighbors," funded by the Carnegie Corporation, supports and coordinates service-learning efforts on campus. Migration to reframe what Ryscavage characterizes as "the coarse and polarizing is a focus of many of the service-learning efforts, but certainly not national debate over immigration in the U.S." The project will bring alL As the first Director of Service Learning on campus explains, together Jewish, Islamic, and Christian clergy, scholars, and public migration is "by no means a totalizing theme, but it is a coherent one policy leaders for a series of workshops. The goal, Ryscavage says, ... If students are having a conversation about migration, and some is "for the faith communities to agree on some common language of them are having those conversations in multiple classes, it makes for speaking about migration, then to educate their believers in that sense" that students have opportunities to put that learning to use in the common language, and together to enter the public national dialogue community (Crabtree). Many service-learning courses at the University ... with the aim of ending the impasse on changing immigration law have focused on immigration and immigrants, often in collaboration and policy (McCaffrey). While the grant uses the term "immigration" with the International Institute of Connecticut, a social service agency because it focuses on the U.S. context, the Center generally avoids the in Bridgeport that assists refugees and immigrants through "direct term "immigration" altogether because the term foregrounds the U.S. professional services, counseling, advocacy and the advancement of perspective on the issue by focusing on those who enter the country. fair and humane public policy" ("International"). Instead, Ryscavage says, "You have to deal with immigration in the context of global migration .... Migration is deeply connected to Courses that involved service learning and migration have come from globalization. It is one of the threads moving the whole thing." departments across the university and include:

The Center's focus on migration has its roots in Catholic theology • Introduction to Immigration (Sociology) which partnered with and social teaching-something that both enriches and complicates the International Institute on research about immigration trends in its work on campus, particularly with faculty. In their statement on Bridgeport. immigration, "Strangers No Longer," the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops situates the debate on immigration in a Biblical context, citing • Challenges of Global Politics (International Studies) in which Abraham, Moses, and others as prototypes of migrants. In a related students worked with both Mercy Learning Center, a literacy center

Rcflcctinn:-, • 98 Retlections • 99 in Bridgeport which serves a largely immigrant student body, and the experience, and reduce the psychic distance between students and International Institute where they did research on trafficked women in community members. the region. Two features, however, distinguish these community/university • Twentieth Century Russia (History) in which students interviewed partnerships from those at other universities. One is the deliberate, local Russian immigrants as part of their research on emigration in although not exclusive, focus on migration and immigrants. The focus recent Russian history. on migration allows us to capitalize on intellectual resources on campus related to migration, at the same time as we respond to some pressing • Financial Modeling (Finance) which also worked with the local needs. The other is an emphasis on reflection, an essential, if International Institute, with upper-level business majors assisting sometimes neglected, element of Jesuit education. immigrant entrepreneurs to develop sustainable business plans. Classroom Commitments • Economic Regional Development (Economics) where students worked with both Connecticut Legal Aid and the International Institute, I have been most closely involved in the university's work on migration doing research on fair wages for immigrants and assisting day laborers through one of these service-learning partnerships, which involved with claims against employers for mistreatment. "Literacy and Language," an intermediate-level English course which I teach, and Mercy Learning Center, a literacy center serving women in • Introduction to Feminist Theory (Politics and Women's Studies) Bridgeport. Mercy Learning Center dominates a block on Park Avenue, in which students helped create an awareness campaign on human one of Bridgeport's main streets. At the north end of the street, three trafficking in conjunction with the International Institute. or four miles from the Center, the houses are grand, with large porches and mature trees. As Park Avenue runs south towards the highway, the • Health Promotion Center (School of Nursing) Located in Bridgeport houses become smaller, and bodegas, bars, and storefront churches and facilitated by University's School of Nursing, the Health Promotion appear in their midst. By the time Park Avenue passes under 1-95, the Center provides health education, screening, referral, and follow-up neighborhood shows the unmistakable signs of poverty. services to underserved populations, including a large number of immigrant clients. The need for literacy education in Bridgeport is acute. Thirty-five percent of Bridgeport's 139,529 adults lack a high school diploma; five These courses vary, not only in their subject matter and the nature years earlier, that figure had been 28%. While 48,825 adults lacked of the service in which students are engaged, but also in the faculty members' impetus for undertaking their work on migration or with high school diplomas, only 251 obtained a diploma or equivalent in 2005-2006 (CT Dept. of Ed.). In fact, according to the U.S. Census immigrants. In this respect, the projects at Fairfield are similar to those at other universities without specific faith commitments. The projects 2000, 15% of adults in Bridgeport report having less than a ninth-grade education and 3 % report not having completed any schooling at all. are designed to share intellectual resources of the campus with the surrounding community, increase students' learning through direct For 21 years Mercy Learning Center has provided "basic literacy skills training using a holistic approach within a compassionate, supportive

Reflection" • 100 Reflections. 101 community to low-income women without regard for race, religion, For the past two years, students in "Literacy and Language" have color, or creed" (MLC Annual Report, 5). When it opened in 1987, assisted in the childcare program. The service is not a requirement in the Center had three students. In 2007-08, the Center served over 500 the course, but it has been popular. This year 20 of the 25 students in students and more than 130 of their children. Today, most students at the course participated, spending an hour and a half each week for 12 Mercy Learning Center are immigrants. They come from 42 countries weeks of the semester, a total of approximately 360 hours at the Center. and speak 25 different languages. In fact, 83% of students at the Center My contact at the Center, Sharon, and I have tried to design a project speak a language other than English as their primary language. Most that meets two real needs: my students' need to test what they are are Hispanic-69% of the total student body (MLC Annual Report). My learning about literacy acquisition by applying it to real children, and involvement with Mercy Learning Center began 10 years ago. During the Center's need for volunteers to supplement the paid childcare staff the past decade I have at different times taught a supplementary writing so as to meet state staffing regulations. For my students, working in class, tutored a GED student, led an English conversation class for ESL the early childhood education program gave them a chance to observe students, and led a professional workshop for tutors. In those 10 years children's development in literacy and apply what they had read for I have seen major changes in the Center, in both the makeup of the class-by Clay, Heath, Morrow, Purcell-Gates, Scribner, and others student body and the programs designed to meet their needs. to their experiences at the Center. In the final section of the course, devoted to adult literacy, students read material on the national context As the National Assessment of Adult Literacy makes clear, Hispanic for literacy, including reports from the National Center for Education adults are particularly at risk for literacy problems. Hispanics are the Statistics, and the local context of Fairfield County. As a result, when only racial or ethnic group whose literacy levels declined between each one sat in on an adult literacy class, they understood some of the 1993 and 2003, as measured by the National Adult Literacy Survey factors that shaped the adult learners' experiences. (1992) and the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (2003). In fact, prose literacy scores for Hispanic adults declined by 18% in that time Although it was tempting to ask for my students to work directly with and document literacy by 14%. The changes are likely to be the result adult learners, both Sharon and I knew that that arrangement would of increased immigration from countries where access to education serve the university students more than the adult learners who need at was limited. Altogether, 44 % of Hispanic adults nationwide have least a year-long commitment from a tutor and are likely to feel self below basic literacy in English. That means they are able to carry conscious with a tutor who is both younger and better educated. As out "no more than the most simple and concrete literacy tasks" (U.S. Vernon and Ward point out, in such an arrangement, "agencies train Dept. of Ed., NAAL 4). Mercy Learning Center offers both individual students who accrue cultural capital for their resumes and move on tutoring and a full-day Intensive Study program in English as a Second to the next course, leaving the community services agencies with a Language (ESL), Adult Basic Education (ABE) I, ABE II, and General labor shortage" (147). Instead, we arranged for each of my students to Educational Development (GED) preparation. Altogether, 516 women sit in on one adult class, after they had been working in the childcare participated in either tutoring or Intensive Study classes in 2007-08. program for several weeks and were familiar to the mothers whose The Center offers an array of supplementary services--educational children were in the program. In addition, I invited Sharon and one childcare, a social worker, a part-time nurse-to support students in of the adult students from the ABE I class, whom I had taught that their education. summer in an ESL class at the Center, to speak to my students as we

Reflection.'- • 102 Retlectiom; • 103 introduced the project. We wanted the college students to see one of the The students gained, too, in learning more about Bridgeport and adult literacy students as an expert, in this case on her children, not just immigration. Several were apprehensive when they began. Before a person in need of basic literacy instruction. her first visit to the Center, one student wrote, "I have never been to Bridgeport, but from what I hear it is a poverty- stricken town that Throughout the semester students worked with children at the Center, has many hungry women and children, and a rather high violence talked about what they saw, and wrote about the intersection between rate." Some of the students recognized that their own experiences with readings for the course and their experiences with literacy at the Center. economic or linguistic difference were limited. In the first week of the Their written reflections on the service learning showed me that they project Kerri wrote: could move easily between what they read for class and what they observed at the Center. It seemed clear that working with children had After my first visit to the Center, I felt that my eyes had been opened enriched their experience in the course. But if that had been the only to something that I hadn't witnessed ever before. The majority of the goal of this service learning project we might have accomplished it students in the classroom, about 95%, were Hispanic. They all seemed much more easily by having students observe at the University's own to speak Spanish to some degree, and all three teachers working in the Early Learning Center, which serves the children of faculty and staff classroom spoke both Spanish and English fluently. The neighborhood members and is located right on campus. was very urban, and showed many signs of being culturally diverse, something that 1 am not used to. The community/university partnership had additional goals, ones that could not be met by experience on campus. One goal was to meet a At the same time, her phrase "1 felt that my eyes had been opened" need at the Center for volunteers to staff the infant and toddler rooms. suggests a risk in service-learning ventures of this kind, the risk of the Without volunteers, the program would not satisfy state requirements for unearned epiphany. As much as 1 hoped that my students would be staffing. And, certainly, my students gained knowledge relevant to the changed by the experience of service learning, 1 also worried about course, particularly about second language acquisition and adult literacy, their accounts of quick reversals of assumptions. Several students, for that they could not have learned without their time at the Center. instance, drew on their own experience studying a foreign language to identify with the ESL students at the Center. After sitting in on the adult In addition, I wanted the course to provide students with opportunities ESL class, for instance, one student wrote, "I saw a similarity between to be "men and women for others," as it is commonly described at the women before me and myself. They sounded just like I had while Jesuit schools. Christina, for example, noted what she gained through I was first learning my second language, Spanish. In my introductory her service: "Taking part in such an important program not only made courses to the language I would try to conjugate verbs and many times me feel important in the sense that 1 was making a difference in the end up using the wrong endings." One student, however, noted the lives of others, but in my own as well. ... [This] is the first class I have profound difference between a college student studying a language and engaged in at Fairfield that allowed me to feel constant gratification as I an adult literacy student coping with English. She wrote: was able to witness my knowledge put to use instantly." 2 As I sat in the class I tried to imagine what it would be like for me to be in that situation or how I could compare it to my life. The only way

Rc f1 ceti nl1-; • 104 Ret1ections • 105 I could slightly relate was with my German class. I sit in class and I'm not just about them. Throughout the semester I saw my students very confused, I don't know what the teacher is saying and the rest of recognize that they were learning from participants at the Center. the kids in the class are the same way. But then I realized that I can Before beginning work at the Center, Katelyn wrote: "I expect to learn leave that class and function normally in society. a great deal from these children that I will encounter." Christina's final response for the semester shows evidence of something deeper, what I have come to worry less that my students are overlooking essential she calls "solidarity": differences when they identify with adult literacy students in the way that Kerri did. Instead, I see this as a process of development in which Aside from being able to relate what we learned in class to my time a first step is empathy and identification, and a second, which Brittany volunteering at the Center, one of the most important aspects that I took expresses, is identification with the awareness of differences. away from this experience was the importance of solidarity. "Faced with the seriousness of the living conditions of our brothers and sisters It is not enough that my students benefit from this service-learning who are kept at a distance from modem culture, we have a duty to show experience; a community/university partnership needs to be rewarding them our complete solidarity" (1995 Lenten Message, Pope John Paul for participants at both sites. Now that the semester has ended, my II) .... In my opinion, it was amazing how 20-year-old college students counterpart at the Center and I need to consider how we might change could work side-by-side with older women who had struggled with the project to make it a more deeply reciprocal endeavor. In one learning English at one point in their own lives, to better the future of sense, the project is already reciprocal: both partners benefit; together Bridgeport families through promoting and teaching literacy. they accomplish things that neither could accomplish alone. As such,. it meets the standard that Vernon and Ward propose-that service Her comments demonstrate much of what I hoped for in this learning collaborations be mutually beneficial. But other scholars call partnershi~respect for those she worked with, the ability to link us to a more ambitious standard, such as the one Flower and Heath readings to experience, and the deep satisfaction of collaborating with suggest in their description of a community project: "The premise ... others for the common good. is that the university serves the community by becoming a working partner in a project that not only acknowledges and nurtures community Conflicts and Convergences expertise but commits us to an extended, strategic effort to draw on Several questions emerge from this analysis of the University's that expertise in the pursuit of trans formative understanding" (53). Or, involvement with migration. First, is the University's work with more simply, as Ellen Cushman puts it, "a central goal ... is to make community partners different because of this institutional context? knowledge with individuals" (332, emphasis in original). More specifically, does the University's multifaceted commitment Clearly, the goal of nurturing community expertise or making to migration help members of the University and community knowledge with individuals needs to be adjusted when the half the organizations work together to bring about social change? If so, what individuals involved in the project are less than five years old. It was elements of this approach might be useful to other universities and the satisfying, therefore, when I saw evidence that the university students community organizations with which they work? had learned from the children and adults at Mercy Learning Center,

Rcflcctinl1<" .. 106 Ret1ections • 107 In many respects, no doubt, Fairfield University's partnerships with At the same time, the model that Fairfield provides also entails some community organizations resemble those at other universities with drawbacks. First, any time a college or university focuses on a theme a moderate to strong investment in service learning. The Office of whether is global citizenship, migration, or something else-some Service Learning provides both intellectual and practical resources, faculty members will feel left out, even disenfranchised. Their research including course development stipends, to those interested in service interests, disciplines, or even family situations make them less likely learning. Its Advisory Board brings together faculty members, to participate in those targeted efforts and less likely to receive funding student services personnel, student representatives, and community for their projects in other areas. partners to coordinate service-learning efforts, many of which involve immigrants or migration. The Office of Service Learning also cultivates Fairfield University's approach poses additional drawbacks. For connections with local organizations and social service organizations some faculty members, the Catholic frame of reference of the to identify potential community partners. In addition, with assistance Center for Faith and Public Life is irrelevant, or even alienating. from the Center for Faith and Public Life and academic departments, Although disposed toward social activism and social justice, they are the Office of Service Learning provides intellectual support, including uncomfortable with any effort associated so closely with the Jesuit and visiting speakers and readings, to help faculty and student services Catholic mission of the University. That discomfort with an explicitly personnel develop more sophisticated understandings of service Catholic identity was evident in the controversy that accompanied learning and social justice. the administration's decision to locate the Office of Service Learning in the newly-launched Center for Faith and Public Life. For many This Catholic foundation for the University's work with migration may years before this, service-learning projects had taken place on campus have an additional, and unexpectedly practical, benefit. I believe it has with few resources and little institutional attention. Then, spurred by helped the University overcome the resistance that is often directed the example of other Jesuit universities, Fairfield committed itself at educational institutions that engage with complex social problems to creating an Office of Service Learning, designed to give service such as migration. It is hard to criticize work with day laborers or learning efforts greater support, coherence, and recognition. Faculty other immigrants when the University can align that work with values involved in the creation of the Office knew it would be disadvantageous that its alumni and, to some extent, the general public share. It is to have it located in either the Office of Student Services or Campus worth noting, however, that even this foundation has not eliminated Ministry, both entities that had, in their own ways, supported all controversy from service-learning projects involving migration. community involvement by students. To be credible with faculty, the Students who worked with the International Institute of Connecticut Office needed to be located in the Academic Division and report to the to create an awareness campaign on human trafficking designed for Academic Vice-President. That might have meant being organized as local Catholic churches learned that the Diocese of Bridgeport did not an independent office or becoming part of the University's generally want the material made available in the churches because diocesan well-respected Center for Academic Excellence. Instead, the Office of administrators felt that human trafficking was too controversial a Service Learning was placed in the Center for Faith and Public Life, subject for many in their congregations. a decision that the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and first Director of the Office for Service Learning describes as "strategic, but not necessarily logical" (Crabtree).

Reflection., • 108 Reflections. 109 The arrangement had several advantages for the Office of Service its custodial services to a subcontractor. The goal, keeping costs Learning, providing financial stability, since the Center was endowed, down so as to avoid raising tuition excessively, was desirable, but a and institutional prominence. At the same time, it meant that service consequence was harmful. Because the custodial workers, a largely learning was specifically associated with the University's Jesuit immigrant workforce, were no longer university employees, they were Catholic mission. It would not surprise me if some faculty members or no longer eligible for tuition benefits that all university employees community partners feel like outsiders when they come into the Center are offered. The decision to outsource the custodial work led to where the Office of Service Learning is located. Thus, one cost of a considerable controversy on campus, including a hunger strike by a strong philosophical foundation for work on migration may be the risk small group of faculty and students, and resulted eventually in new of deterring those who do not share its premises or its vocabulary. For guidelines to govern future subcontracting. It would be easy to see Melissa Quan, the current Director of the Office of Service Learning, this decision to outsource custodial work as evidence of hypocrisy, negotiating the place of service learning in the University has meant but I think it reveals how deeply complicated it is for an institution, being careful about the language used to describe the office and its no matter how well intentioned, to reach the standards of justice that it mission. In drafting a mission statement, she said, the Advisory Board aspires to. of the Office of Service Learning drew on Jesuit values and traditions but was careful, she said, not to "ground it in that faith language too It seems fitting, then, that I am completing this article on the eve of specifically." That makes the Office of Service Learning somewhat National Migration Week 2009, sponsored by the U.S. Conference of different from the Center for Faith and Public Life, of which it is a part, Catholic Bishops. For more than twenty-five years, the USCCB has where that "faith language" is fundamental. dedicated the first week of January to publicizing the needs of migrants, both in the U.S. and overseas. Their reflection for the week states that Even if faculty members do become involved in community/university our task is "to welcome migrants and refugees with joy and generosity, partnerships involving migration that aspire towards social change, while responding to their many needs"/ "A acoger a los migrantes some difficulties remain. As Cuban and Anderson note, "a social y refugiados con alegria y generosidad, y a la vez respondiendo a justice approach would assume that faculty had competencies in social sus muchas necesidades" (USCCB, National Migration Week). In analysis and activism" (147). Few faculty members have been trained community/university partnerships involved with migration, that task in activism. As Cushman points out, "because university representatives of understanding and responding to the community's needs is both tend to esteem their own brand of knowledge more than popular forms complex and compelling.3 of knowledge" (334), we may fail to understand the needs and goals of the immigrants and agencies with whom we work, even as we try to assist them.

Finally, we are challenged to live out this commitment to migrants on our own campus where the University has the dual role of educator and employer. One story illustrates the complexity of that challenge. Several years ago, in a cost-saving measure, the University outsourced

Reflection:- • 110 Ret1ections • 111 Endnotes Flower, Linda and Shirley Brice Heath. "Drawing on the Local: Collaboration and Community Expertise." Learning and Language I The phrase comes from Matthew 25: 35, "for I was hungry and you Across the Disciplines. 4.2 (2000): 43-55. gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I Heath, Shirley Brice. "What No Bedtime Story Means: Narrative Skills was a stranger and you welcomed me" (The New Oxford Annotated at Home and at School." Language in Society. 11 (1982): 49-76. Bible). "International Institute of Connecticut, Inc." http://www.iiconn.org/

2 All excerpts of students' work are used with written permission of the Accessed 13 Dec. 2008. students. Kolvenbach, Peter-Hans. "The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice in American Jesuit Higher Education," Commitment 3 My thanks to Fairfield University which supported this research with a Conference Address, Oct. 2000. Accessed 18 Jan. 2009. http:// summer research stipend. Additional thanks to Melissa Quan, Director www.loyola.eduiyotc/father_kolvenbach.html#Commitment of the Office of Service Learning, for her advice and assistance, and to Campus Ministry for lending cars to students in the project. -----. "Jesuit Education and Ignatian Pedagogy, September 2005." Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. http://www. ajcunet.edulJesuit- Education-and-Ignatian-Pedagogy. Accessed 31 Works Cited Dec. 2008. Jesuit Migration Academic Network. http://jesuitmigration.fairfield. Clay, Marie. What Did I Write?: Beginning Writing Behaviour. Exeter, edulmigration Accessed 15 December 2008. NH: Heinemann, 1975. John Paul II, "Message for Lent 1995." http://www.vatican.vai Coogan, Michael D. (ed.) The New Oxford Annotated Bible. New York: holy_ father/john~aul_ii/messages/lentldocumentslhf jp-ii_ mes _ OUP, 2001. 07091994 lent-1995 en.html Accessed 20 December, 2008. Connecticut Department of Education, "Strategic School Profiles, McCaffrey, M;g. "Projectof Fairfield University's Center for Faith and 2006-2007." http://www.csde.state.ct.us/public/der/ssp/dist0607/ Public Life Aims to Transform the National Debate on Immigration district.htm. Accessed 13 Dec., 2008. with Funding from Carnegie Corporation." Press release, Oct. 23, Crabtree, Robbin. Personal interview, Jan. 21, 2009. 2008. Fairfield University. Accessed 15 Nov. 2008. Cruz, Nadine and Dwight E. Giles, Jr. "Where's the Community in Mercy Learning Center, Annual Report 2007-2008. Service-Learning Research?" Michigan Journal ofCommunity Morrow, Lesley Mandel. Developing Literacy in Preschool. NY: Service Learning. (Fall 2000): 28-34. Guilford Press. 2007. Cuban, Sondra, and Jeffrey B. Anderson, "Where's the Justice in ProLiteracy America. U.s. Adult Literacy Programs: Making a Service-Learning? Institutionalizing Service-Learning from a Difference. Syracuse, NY: ProLiteracy Worldwide, 2003. Social Justice Perspective at a Jesuit University." Equity and Purcell-Gates, Victoria. Other Peoples Words. Cambridge, MA: Education,40: 144-155. (2007). Harvard UP, 1995. Cushman, Ellen. "The Public Intellectual, Service Learning, and Quan, Melissa. Personal interview, 15 Jan. 2009. Activist Research." College English 61.3 (1999): 328-336. Ryscavage, Rick, S.J. Personal interview. 29 October 2008.

l\ert ccti(ln-.; • 112 Ret1ections • 113 Scribner, Sylvia. "Literacy in Three Metaphors." American Journal of Education, 93.1 (1984) 6-21. JSTOR. Vernon, Andrea and Kelly Ward. "Campus and Community Partnerships: Assessing Impacts and Strengthening Connections." Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. (Fall 1999): Moving Out/Moving In 30-37. U.S. Census Bureau, FactFinder. "Census 2000 Demographic Profile Mirta Tocci, Emerson College Highlights" ''http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main. html?_lang=enhttp://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html?_ "Moving OutlMoving In: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of lang=en. Accessed 13 Dec., 2008. the Immigrant Experience" is a service-learning course created and taught by Mirta Tocci in the Institute for Liberal Arts & U.S. Census Bureau, FactFinder. "2005-2007 American Community Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College in Boston, MA. Survey 3-Year Estimates''http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/ Tocci describes the five-year history of her collaboration with main.html?_lang=enhttp://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main. community partner, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acci6n, focusing html?_lang=en. Accessed 13 Dec., 2008. on how Emerson students' study of the psychosocial effects U.S. Census Bureau "State and County QuickFacts." http://quickfacts. of the immigrant experience inspires art projects created by census.gov/qfdlstates/0910908000.html. Accessed 13 Dec. 2008. Emerson students and Latino children aged 5-12 enrolled in U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Comprehensive Immigration IBA's Cacique after-school program. Reform." http://www.usccb.org/mrs/legal.shtmIAccessed Nov 28, 2008 I am a visual artist and I know how to be an immigrant. In the late U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Migration Week 2009. 1970s I.fled the Dirty War ofmy native Buenos Aires, Argentina, http://www.usccb.org/mrs/nmw/prayer.shtml, Accessed 3 Jan., and moved to Barcelona, Spain. In 1994, I left Barcelona to exhibit 2009. work and teach in the United States. From my own experience, I U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Strangers No Longer: Together know what it is to move to a new country, how my body responds onA Journey of Hope." Jan. 22, 2003. http://www.usccb.org/mrs/ to living in a land that is not my own, to speak a language that is stranger.shtml#4. Accessed 15 December 2008. not my mother tongue, to experience a dominant culture that has U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. no connection to my past. I know what it means to be invisible. And National Assessment ofAdult Literacy (NAAL): A First Look at the the force that it takes to become visible. This experience has been st Literacy ofAmerica s Adults in the 21 Century. NCES 2006-470. the subject ofmany artworks I have created and shown in museums and galleries in Argentina, Europe and the United States. For these reasons, 1 believe I am ready to explore this subject with Emerson students and with members of the Latino immigrant community here in Boston. (Tocci)

Reflections. 114 Reflections. 115 Scribner, Sylvia. "Literacy in Three Metaphors." American Journal of Education, 93.1 (1984) 6-21. JSTOR. Vernon, Andrea and Kelly Ward. "Campus and Community Partnerships: Assessing Impacts and Strengthening Connections." Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. (Fall 1999): Moving Out/Moving In 30-37. U.S. Census Bureau, FactFinder. "Census 2000 Demographic Profile Mirta Tocci, Emerson College Highlights" ''http://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main. html?_lang=enhttp://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main.html? _ "Moving Out/Moving In: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of lang=en. Accessed 13 Dec., 2008. the Immigrant Experience" is a service-learning course created and taught by Mirta Tocci in the Institute for Liberal Arts & U.S. Census Bureau, FactFinder. "2005-2007 American Community Interdisciplinary Studies at Emerson College in Boston, MA. Survey 3 -Year Estimates''http://factfinder. census. gOY !homelsaffl Tocci describes the five-year history of her collaboration with main.html?_lang=enhttp://factfinder.census.gov/home/saff/main. community partner, Inquilinos Boricuas en Acci6n, focusing html? lang=en. Accessed 13 Dec., 2008. on how Emerson students' study of the psychosocial effects U.S. Cens~s Bureau "State and County QuickFacts." http://quickfacts. of the immigrant experience inspires art projects created by census.gov/qfd/states/09/0908000.html. Accessed 13 Dec. 2008. Emerson students and Latino children aged 5-12 enrolled in U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Comprehensive Immigration IBA's Cacique after-school program. Reform." http://www.usccb.org/mrs/legal.shtmIAccessed Nov 28, 2008 I am a visual artist and I know how to be an immigrant. In the late U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, National Migration Week 2009. 1970s I.fled the Dirty War ofmy native Buenos Aires, Argentina, http://www.usccb.org/mrs/nmw/prayer.shtml,Accessed 3 Jan., and moved to Barcelona, Spain. In 1994, I left Barcelona to exhibit 2009. work and teach in the United States. From my own experience, I U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Strangers No Longer: Together know what it is to move to a new country, how my body responds on A Journey of Hope." Jan. 22, 2003. http://www.usccb.org/mrs/ to living in a land that is not my own, to speak a language that is stranger.shtml#4. Accessed 15 December 2008. not my mother tongue, to experience a dominant culture that has U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. no connection to my past. I know what it means to be invisible. And National Assessment ofAdult Literacy (NAAL): A First Look at the the force that it takes to become visible. This experience has been S1 Literacy ofAmerica s Adults in the 21 Century. NCES 2006-470. the subject ofmany artworks I have created and shown in museums and galleries in Argentina, Europe and the United States. For these reasons, I believe I am ready to explore this subject with Emerson students and with members ofthe Latino immigrant community here in Boston. (Tocci)

]kflcctinn, • 114 Reflections. 115 This is the course rationale that I wrote in 2003 for IN405, "Moving What is identity? What does it mean to be visible? What are the real and Out/Moving In: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of the Immigrant imaginary journeys that comprise our individual and collective maps of Experience," the service-learning course I have been teaching each experience? What is "remembered" by first, second, third generations year since Fall 2004 at Emerson College in Boston MA, where I am of immigrants as their history? Do we "remember" a world we never Artist in Residence in the Institute for Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary lived in? How do our memories extend beyond what is personally Studies. When I left Argentina, the Dirty War, la Guerra Sucia, was experienced to the memories of our ancestors passed down, and then raging, although I was not then aware of its scope and the extent of its integrated, even if not experienced, into our consciousness? What is it to barbarity. I had been out of art school for just a few years when I was live on the border between two countries, two cultures, two identities? advised by teachers and friends that the drawings I was making and In "Moving Out/Moving In" we explore questions provoked by "moving exhibiting could be considered "dangerous," and so I left my family, out" of one's own country and "moving in" to another, moving out of my friends and my beautiful city to be safe-and free. In the next and into one's self, one's culture, one's community. We engage in an several years Argentine police and death squads, engaging in what they interdisciplinary study of these questions and express our discoveries called a "reorganization of society" would kidnap, torture and murder through multidisciplinary art in a very real, artistic interaction with tens of thousands of suspected socialist dissidents, mostly young people children of immigrants aged 5-12 enrolled in the Cacique Youth like me, many of them students. Initially they threw the bodies of many Learning Center, an after-school program offered by IBA (Inquilinos of those killed in Rio de la Plata, but the currents of the river brought Boriquas en Acci6n) in Villa Victoria, a 20-acre, 435-unit housing them "home." Then the death squads dumped the bodies in the Atlantic community of3,OOO multicultural residents in Boston's gentrified and Ocean so that they could never be found; the dead became known as affluent South End neighborhood. We move out of our comfort zones, "the disappeared ones," los desaparecidos. For me, it would be eight away from what is familiar, and into connection with children whose years before I returned "home," eight years before I saw my parents backgrounds, culture, class and community are new to us. again and even then I returned as a citizen of Spain. Most of the residents of Villa Victoria are low-income and either first As I read my course rationale today, I remember those eight years with or second-generation Puerto Rican. Most of my Emerson students emotion, but now, after having explored the immigrant experience are affluent, sixth-generation American citizens of mixed European for five years with Latino children here in Boston, I am filled with ancestry. "The Villa" is just a few short blocks from where I live and a the emotions of many journeys beyond my own. From my Emerson fifteen-minute walk from the Emerson campus. The social and cultural students I know, as well, something more about the experience of distances, however, are far greater. Ours is a story about shortening those whose homelands became my new homes. From the breadth and the distances between us, building bridges between communities and depth of our collective exploration, I now know the complexity of the celebrating what we can learn and create together. questions we ask about ourselves and "the other" and how vital it is to meet face to face and to speak from the heart as a foundation for We come to know each other by making art together, not just because creating empathy, understanding, connection and change. I am a visual artist, but also because we work with many very young children who do not or cannot express the complexities of their experience in words alone. Further, many of the older children we work

Reflc:ction, • 116 Ret1ections • 117 with are more capable of expressing complex thoughts in Spanish, Community Partners a language that many of their Emerson student collaborators do not know. As Elliott Eisner, Lee Jacks Professor of Education at Stanford Our community partner for "Moving Out/Moving In" is IBA, University, notes in his "Ten Lessons the Arts Teach," Inquilinos Boricuas en Accion (Puerto Rican Tenants in Action), "a dynamic community building agency dedicated to increasing the social The arts teach children that despite the cultural bias that assigns and economical power of individuals through education, economic to literal language and number a virtual monopoly on how development, technology and arts programming that builds safe, vibrant understanding is advanced, the arts make vivid the fact that and culturally diverse affordable housing communities." (IBA website) neither words in their literal form nor number exhaust what we can know. Put simply, the limits of our language do not define In addition to managing Villa Victoria, IBA's full-time, professional the limits of our cognition. As Michael Polyanyi says, 'we know staff provides services for youth, families, adults, and the elderly through community organizing, civic, health, peer leadership, more than we can tell.' 10 cultural and educational programs, among them the Cacique Youth We explore through art also because, as Eisner notes, Learning Center, "a licensed after-school program that empowers young people through homework assistance, technology training and Work in the arts teaches children to pay attention to qualitative literacy development; health, safety & recreational activities, civic relationships; that problems can have more than one solution involvement; and the arts: and that questions can have more than one answer; the arts celebrate multiple perspectives; they teach children the art, not Emphasizing project-based experiential, interdisciplinary learning only of looking, but also of seeing, not only of listening, but also activities, the program helps youth develop their capacity to think of hearing; they teach students to think through and within a critically, solve problems creatively, excel in school, and become material; the arts enable us to have experience we can have from civically engaged. Cacique empowers low-income youth, particularly no other source and through such experience to discover the range Latinos, with the necessary opportunities, skills, and supports needed by and variety of what we are capable of feeling. The arts are about youth to succeed in school and in their personal lives." (IBA website) recreation, the emphasis on 're-creation.' What is being recreated? Oneself. One of the great aims of education is to make it possible For IBA, civic engagement is both a learning objective and an essential IO 13 part of its history and identity. for people to be engaged in the process of creating themselves. -

Further, the experience of making art together is social and collaborative. In 1968, predominantly low-income Puerto Rican community Our work is play; while we work we talk, sing, move and dance. Finally, activists successfully stared down the bulldozers of urban renewal I believe that our subject is inextricably linked to our process; in the and strategically organized to gain control over the development words of the German visual artist Joseph Beuys, "To make people free is of their neighborhood. These actions, which led to the formation the aim of art, therefore art for me is the science of freedom." (Beuys) of the Villa Victoria community, are seminal moments in the history of affordable housing, civil rights, community organizing and Latinos in the City of Boston. Social historians recently have

Reflectil1n".118 Ret1ections • 119 stressed the importance of documenting the history of marginalized Communications, Film, Writing, Journalism) have enrolled in IN405 to groups in mainstream histories that have often excluded them. work with between 10 and 14 children, aged 5 to 12, from the Cacique Boston's history as "the cradle ofliberty" is incomplete without the Youth Learning Center. full inclusion of the history of Latinos in the city and the formation Students enrolled in "Moving Out/Moving In" begin their exploration of Villa Victoria is central to that history. (lBA website) researching IBANilla Victoria, cultural identity, Latino identity, and Civic engagement is also central to the mission of Emerson College, the immigrant experience. The three principle texts for the course are Children ofImmigration (Carola and Marcelo Suarez-Orozco: Harvard to educate students to assume positions of leadership in University Press, 2001), Latinos: A Biography ofthe People (Earl communication and the arts and to advance scholarship and Shorris: W. W. Norton, 1992) and Ethnicities: Children ofImmigrants creative work that brings innovation, depth, and diversity to in America (Ruben G. Rumbaut and Alejandro Portes, ed.: University these disciplines. This mission is informed by core liberal arts of California Press, 2001). We explore the subject of immigration in values that seek to promote civic engagement, encourage ethical interdisciplinary study, beginning first with our readings, research, practices, foster respect for human diversity, and inspire students class presentations and intense discussions and then in our creative to create and communicate with clarity, integrity and conviction. work and play with the children, which consists of weekly meetings at (Emerson catalogue 2) the Cacique Youth Learning Center making artistic projects together organized around six themes we explore in our research: Identity; To Since Fall 2007 our partnership has been further enhanced by our joint Be Visible; The Real Journey; The Imaginary Journey; The Community investment in a grant to IBA from the Linde Foundation to support the of Memory; The Map of Experience. At the end of the course we host design and execution of programs and projects that develop increased an exhibition or a performance that invites our communities to share in knowledge of and skills in the visual arts and improved life-skills our experience. Our work together is organic-informed and inspired (namely language skill development, academic success, self-esteem, by research but expressed or embodied in physical form, either in a self-efficacy, leadership and belief in helping others; critical thinking, work of art and/or in performance; its best expression is experiential, communication, ability to set and meet goals and develop self social, physical and immediate. The exercises we do and the art we discipline, perception and adaptability, teamwork, risk-taking, decision make change from semester to semester, but the themes, the questions making and perseverance). A final goal is the development of cultural and their progression have remained basically the same. competency, the capacity and/or knowledge to be aware of the various ways that culture shapes our individual, family, community and societal Identity: Who Am I? lives. The curriculum and pedagogy of "Moving Out/Moving In" are designed to fulfill these objectives. We begin our exploration together with exercises focused on the subject of identity. Children of immigrants "forge complex and multiply Course Description determined identities that resist easy generalizations." (Suarez-Orozcosl) Each year since Fall 2004 between 16 and 25 Emerson students They must shift among several identities, from that of their specific country of origin to what it means to be "American," moving from the from a broad range of majors and disciplines (Performing Arts,

RcflcctillllS. 120 Reflections. 121 gender, racial and class identifications of one culture to another, from We begin our one language to another. (Zentella 321) initial session together mindful Many aspects of the immigrant of these issues. experience have a negative impact We start with on identity formation in these name games children: ethnic stereotyping, followed by five bicultural stress, social minute "Me" marginalization (Smirez-Orozcos performances 66-123, Stavans 1-30, Shorris presented for 146-171, Portes and Rumbaut the children by 147-191) and what the Suarez the Emerson Orozcos term "social mirroring," the students. We pass (predominantly hostile and negative) out boxes full of art supplies, each with a child's name on it. We draw reflections mirrored back to the nametags and then create working groups, each with a mix of children children of immigrants by others in and Emerson students; each group then chooses their own team name their social spheres: and identity.

W.E.B. DuBois beautifully articulated this challenge of what he We then termed 'double-consciousness' - a 'sense of always looking at proceed to one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by photograph the tape of a world that looks on in ... contempt and pity .... and interview Philosopher Charles Taylor notes [Multiculturalism: Examining each other. the Politics ofRecognition (1994)]: 'A person or group of people The simple can suffer real damage, real distortion, if the people or society act of taking around them mirror back to them a confining or demeaning photographs or contemptible picture of themselves. Nonrecognition or communicates misrecognition can inflict harm, can be a form of oppression, a positive imprisoning someone in a false, distorted, and reduced mode of "mirror," the being.' When the expectations are of sloth, irresponsibility, low sense that we intelligence, and even danger, the outcome can be discouragement. see and wish When these reflections are received in a number of mirrors to be seen by each other, that we value what we see to the extent that including the media, the classroom, and the street, the outcome we wish to record, preserve and display images of each other. Taped can be psychological devastation. (99) interviews from prepared questions about our respective families, food,

Ret1ections • 123 music, holidays, rituals and traditions further communicate the desire to listen, the need to be heard and the value of our respective "voices" and experiences.

In the next session we all fill out questionnaires, citing our favorite activities, song lyrics and clothing. We then use these questionnaires to "act out" each other; each of these performances ends with the question "Who am I?" The whole group guesses until they guess correctly the identity of the person who filled out the initial questionnaire. We then draw and paint "Who Am I?"

In the third session on identity we talk about and draw pictures that describe our social interactions in our neighborhoods, schools and on the street. These conversations inevitably lead to depictions of the cultural stresses and negative kinds of social mirroring the Suarez-Orozcos and others define, which, in turn, become the subjects of our art.

To Be Visible: Do You See Me?

Many children of immigrants feel invisible. The fact that a vast multiplicity of nationalities and ethnicities, unknown and unseen by "the other," is lumped together under the headings of "Latino" or "Hispanic," terms that are themselves misunderstood and misused by most Americans, confirms this sense of not being seen or =::.: ~=~:~I' known. (Sanchez 45-57, Jl-Itll. IF.II .. mP R511'= Zentella 321-334, Portes

RcnCcliOJl.,.124 Retlections • 125 and Rumbaut 1-19) The relative paucity of working class Latinos The Imaginary Journey: I've Never Been to the Place in the media, on network television, in movies and advertisements I Come From. What Is It Like? underscores the sensation of somehow being here but not being here. Subtle behavior, such as a listener's moving away after hearing Spanish "Ethnic identity is, in or the first sounds of accented speech or the inability of "the other" part, a way of answering to pronounce one's name, further isolate the child and contribute to a the question, 'Where do I feeling of loneliness and invisibility. As we work, our goal is to learn come from?" (Portes and about and celebrate each other's individuality, ethnicity and culture. We Rumbaut 161) Mapping invariably learn a little Spanish from the children who wish to teach us the "Real Journey" and we focus on seeing and listening intently to each child. becomes our entree into imagining a homeland that The Real Journey: Where Did I Come From? How Did I Get Here? most of the children have never seen; if they have ....- ' ....- There are as many stories visited the country of their of migration as there are ancestors, they have done immigrants. In her premier so as small children, and - immigrant biography then only for the length chronicling her family's of a school vacation or migration from Russia holiday. We travel to to Boston in the 1890s, their homelands in our imaginations, asking the following questions: Mary Antin wrote, "I wish What country are you from? What does this country look like? What I knew some other way is the landscape? What are the colors of this country? Are you in the to render the mental life mountains? Near the sea? A river? In the desert? In the city? What of the immigrant child of do you smell? What do you taste? What is the food like? What does reasoning age .... What the child thinks and feels is a reflection of the it sound like? What language are the people speaking? What phrases hopes, desires, and purposes of the parents who brought him overseas, do you hear? What animals are there? Birds? Is it hot there? Cold? no matter how precocious and independent the child may be." (198) We Crowded? Isolated? We then paint a picture of this place. We travel to render this "mental life" in pictures. Many of the children we work with and from that place. were born here and have no experience or memory of their families' journeys. We ask them to ask their parents how they got here and why, The act of imagining an unknown place is central to the immigrant what mode of transportation they took, what routes they traveled and experience. Earl Shorris writes, "Before a person can become an whom they met along the way. Then we "map" their trips. emigrant, he must first become expert in the study of his own condition, for emigration is made of despair and dreams, despair over life at home and dreams of life in another place. These dreams of emigrants are of

RcncctiOll, • 126 Ret1ections. 127 connection to their parents' homeland, but it is a bond forged by my experiences rather than their own. For my children Cuba is an enduring, perhaps an endearing, fiction. Cuba is for them as ethereal as the smoke and as persistent as the smell from their grandfather's cigars." (7)

The Community of Memory; What Do We All Remember? What Do We Carry With Us?

In Habits of the Heart the sociologist Robert Bellah defines "community" as "a group of people who are socially interdependent and who share certain practices that both define the community and are nurtured by it. It always has a history and so is also a community of times and places so distant that they pass through abstraction to become memory, defined in part by its past and its memory of its past." (333) real again, as do fairy tales or visions of gold." (131) The children We work with our "community of memory" when we explore where of immigrants also dream of "life in another place," but that place is we came from, why we emigrated and what happened to us on our often their homeland, no less imbued with magic than their parents' journeys. In his memoir Places Left Urifinished at the Time ofCreation and grandparents' dreams of the United States. The Cuban-American the Mexican-American filmmaker and writer John Phillip Santos poet Gustavo Perez-Firmat notes, "My children, who were born in this recalled, "I wanted to bind Texas and Mexico together a raft strong country of Cuban parents and in whom I have tried to inculcate some sort lik~ enough to float out onto the ocean of time, with our past trailing in the of cubania, are American through and through. They can be 'saved' from wake behind us like a comet trail of memories." (5) their Americanness no more than my parents can be 'saved' from their Cubanness ... Like other second-generation immigrants, they maintain a

Reflection, • 128 Renections • 129 The residents of Villa Victoria are themselves a community, defined in part by the commonality of their experiences as immigrants, by shared ethnic roots and cultural practices, by the unique history of the Villa itself and by the present-day programs and celebrations that bring their community together; with its five-year history, "Moving OutlMoving In" is now a part of the Villa's community of memory.

Building on our work with "real" and "imaginary" journeys, we explore our community of memory by making "containers of memories" from suitcases that serve as the repositories of our experiences, desires, hopes and dreams; they are also metaphors for what we carry with us when we "move," what gives us the courage, strength and inspiration to change and grow, to create our authentic selves in a new world. We work with objects to stimulate our individual memories and then place these objects in our group's suitcase, which takes on new meaning as an expression of the group's "community of memory."

Exercise: The Container of Memories

• Each group chooses a suitcase to hold their memories.

• Everyone in the group chooses an object (from a bag of objects provided by the Instructor) for which he/she has an affinity or a connection.

• With ONE Emerson student in the group acting as "Scribe," ANOTHER asks each member of the group WHAT the object provokes them to remember and WHY the object evokes this memory. Is it the color, shape, form or significance of the object that causes you to recall something? Or some other quality of the object? When it is the next person's turn to describe his/her object, A DIFFERENT Emerson student in the group takes on the role of "Scribe" and writes down what he/she says. We continue in this fashion, passing the responsibility of Scribe among all of the Emerson students in the group.

Reflections. 131 • After each member of the group what we carry with us as we move. We then place or attach these has talked about his/her object(s) elements in/to the suitcase, making the "container" an art object. and memories, we work together to place the objects in the suitcase • We then leave our suitcase and "travel" to see each of our neighbor's or fasten the objects to the suitcase suitcases. We talk with each other about what we see. Each group then in a way that the group agrees talks about what they've made. communicates their collective The Map of Experience: What Do We Know From sense of the relationship among Where We've Been? these objects. We then make individual drawings and paintings, In her astonishing memoir Lost in Translation: A Life in a New choose and write down fragments Language, the Polish-American writer Eva Hoffman offers a passionate of text from our interviews, cut argument against the notion of a universal reality: "There's a world out images from magazines, etc., there; there are worlds. There are shapes of sensibility incommensurate that communicate more of our with each other, topographies of experience one cannot guess from individual memories or indicate within one's own limited experience." (204) Similarly, Carola and

]kflcl'ti(lIl." • 132 Retlections • 133 Marcelo Suarez-Orozco ask, "What do we really know about what it is like to be a child in a new country?" (66)

In a very real sense, our work together in "Moving Out/Moving In" provides us with the opportunity to map what we know about the immigrant experience using visual art as a kind of poetic cartography. At the end of the course we share our "maps,"-the projects we've made- with members of our collective communities in a public exhibition/performance. Over the years we have presented exhibitions in the Gallery at the Center for Latino Arts/ Casa de La Cultura at Villa Victoria and performed in the Semel Theatre/Tufte Center for the Performing Arts at Emerson College. Our experience together is further "mapped" on the "Moving Out/Moving In" website, where Emerson students share what they have come to understand about themselves and "the other" through their collaboration with the Cacique children:

Rc n ccti OllS • 134 Retlections • 135 Not only did I learn from the children and our interaction with them, but also from the experiences and insights of my peers. The semester proved incredibly invaluable, widening my scope of experience, opening my eyes to the viewpoints of others, and, primarily, forcing me to reconsider my own attitudes towards where I came from. (Modrall)

While I was writing this research paper I came upon a definition of the word 'Hispanic': 'Hispanic' is an English word meaning 'pertaining to ancient Spain'. This means that even I can be considered Latino because all of my ancestors were Spaniard colonizers that had mestizo children with native indios. You can even hear it in my name: Maria Paz Manansala Alegre. I am the third Maria Paz Manansala; it's a family name and the first Maria Paz Manansala was 3/4 Spanish. I never once thought of it like that before, and that changes everything. This is no longer a plight of peoples that I have read about, but a plight of my people and my heritage .... This course affected me so much. I can relate so much to the children because I too am a first generation immigrant. I was born in the Philippines but raised since in the United States. In watching the kids I recognize my own personal struggle with ~ .... my identity as well .... It's a tough road these kids travel. I know, because I'm a traveler, too. It's funny. I never thought of myself as one, but because of my life and present, I see that I am a Latina, too. (Alegre)

This semester in class has stretched me in such an emotional way that I'm not even sure I can articulate what I feel about what I learned .... Getting to know people for who they are, and not for what they aren't is what I gathered from all of this. In leaving this class I am leaving behind my ethnocentrism. I've learned that part of being who I am, a part of my identity, is identifying characteristics in others that elevate my mind, that take me to places that I, under regular circumstances, wouldn't go ....

Rcflccti(1ll\ • 136 Retlections • 137 This is me moving out of some of my insecurities, and realizing Hoffman, Eva. Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language. Penguin, that I am moving into a better me who is more equipped to 1990. recognize myself as I fit into my own niche in this changing IBA Website. 20 Nov. 2008: society called 'America.' (Saunders) Modrall, Jessica. "Moving Out, Moving In.'' 10 Jan. 2009: We are the creatures who pause to look, who remember to look, Perez-Firmat, Gustavo. Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-Americ:an Way. who glance over the shoulder, who foresee, who gaze and peer and University of Texas Press, 1994. stare and wink and blink, and develop various views, who have Portes, Alejandro and Rumbaut, Ruben G. Legacies: The Story ofthe an overall viewpoint, who behold this life in various ways--our Immigrant Second Generation. University of California Press, 2001. visionary life as it begins with a child's wandering, wondering Rumbaut, Ruben G. and Portes, Alejandro. Ethnicities: Children of eyes, unfolds in a child's dreaming life, talking life, picture-making Immigrants in America. University of California Press, 2001. life, and persists until the eyes close for the last time. (Coles 57) Sanchez, George. "'Y tU, que?' (Y2K)." Latinos. Ed. Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco and Mariela M Paez. University of California Press, 2002. Santos, John Phillip. Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation. Penguin, 2000. Works Cited Saunders, Shirmeika. "Moving Out, Moving In.'' 10 Jan. 2009: index.php> Shorris, Earl. Latinos: A Biography of the People. Norton, 2001. Antin, Mary. The Promised Land. Houghton Mifflin, 1912. Small, Mario Luis. "Culture, Cohorts, and Social Organization Theory: Bellah, Robert. Habits of the Heart. University of California Press, 1985. Understanding Local Participation in a Latino Housing Project." Beuys, Joseph. Joseph Beuys Multiples. Walker Art Center. 8 Jan. American Journal ofSociology 108.1 (July 2002): 1-54. 2009: Suarez-Orozco, Carola and Marcelo. Children ofImmigration. Harvard Coles, Robert. Their Eyes Meeting the World. Houghton Mifflin, 1992. University Press, 2001. Eisner, Elliott. Learning and the Arts: Crossing Boundaries. Tocci, Mirta. Moving Out/Moving In. Course Syllabus. Fall 2004 Proceedings from an invitational meeting for education, arts and Institute for the Liberal Arts and Interdisciplinary Studies, Emerson youth funders held January 12-14,2000, Los Angeles, CA. 29 Dec. College, Boston MA. 10 Jan. 2009: movingoutmovinginl> Emerson College Undergraduate Catalogue, 20 Nov. 2008: Zentella, Ana Celia. "Latin@ Languages and Identities." Latinos. Ed. http://www.emerson.eduiacademics/uploadl08-09_ U GCatalog. pdf Marcelo M. Suarez-Orozco and Mariela M Paez. University of California Press, 2002.

Retlections. 139 to push the underlying theory to its extremes in order to open it up to explain new combinations of experiences that emerge from our ever-evolving pluralistic public sphere. As Linda Flower points out, service-learning strategies have taught many to "speak up" and "speak against," "but they do not teach us how to 'speak with' or 'speak for' Intercultural Dialogue and the Production of our commitments in a nonfoundationaI way" (2). Thomas Deans also

a Rhetorical Borderland: Service-Learning in a .'2/ points out that these rich critical traditions take us only so far, so could Multicultural and Multilingual Context afford to be supplemented by having students "write themselves into the world" in order to "intervene materially into contexts beyond the academy" (8). Our goal in this paper is to dramatize our attempt to Dominic Micer, David Hitchcock, Anne Statham, create "a rhetorical space that can support trans formative relationships" University of Southern Indiana (Flower 2) through exploring our area's interaction with its growing Latino/a population. We wanted to think through a process of aiding This paper reports the process and outcomes of a the newly arrived Latino/a population that would ease the problems multidisciplinary service-learning project in a major that form around such culture clashes. In the process, we develop an metropolitan area in southwes~ern Indiana that focuses on understanding of this growing relationship as a rhetorical borderland determining, then meeting, the needs of our growing Latino/a in which fixed identities are challenged by mapping the figures, voices, population. We discuss three service-learning courses involved with this project - one completed, one in progress, and one and concerns of the borderland through an intercultural dialogue being planned. Deploying a theoretical apparatus emerging creating a sense of belonging "with." In addition, we highlight-with from sociology and intercultural rhetorical theory, we discuss varying degrees of success-a process of becoming developed from our students' interaction with this rhetorical borderland and critical reading and writing strategies along and about the rhetorical the processes of becoming and hybrid thinking that occurred borderland that are productive of hybrid modes of understanding in the process. "with." While we continue to examine and reflect on the process of our projects, it is important to recognize they are still ongoing and we are I. Background and Participants still learning from their application.

t is often pointed out by many that service-learning emerged from On the way to developing these projects each of us experienced past traditions of Deweyan democratic education, '60s-based issues within our disciplines related to such applied work. The unique courses as happenings, Jerome Bruner's experiential learning, appeal to Hitchcock resided in the project's potential to network with and the long tradition of critical pedagogy developed from the work participants who were primarily non-academics but who shared his of Paulo Friere and others. While this past clearly undergirds our belief in the need for "active citizenship." One of the challenges he has understanding of service-learning, and we find ourselves harmonizing faced over the years is formulating a coherent response to the social with its democratic and critical impulses, we also recognize the need imperatives inherent in being a Spanish expert in higher education. Part of the problem lies in adapting his own set of critical skills, acquired

RcfL.'ctinn" • 140 Ret1ections • 141 in a framework founded on the notion of theoretical distance from along by several leadership roles in Women's Studies programs, which one's subject matter, to the multicultural reality of the communities in allowed her to see things from a more interdisciplinary perspective which he has lived. A specialist in the contemporary drama of Spain, and also to realize the power of applying one's expertise - involving Hitchcock was trained in the early '90s primarily to analyze literary students - in addressing serious societal concerns. works with a level of objectivity that occasionally seemed to render secondary the problems of real human beings. While the lower- and For Micer, the rhetorical disciplines-Composition and Rhetoric, intermediate-level language courses he instructed as a teaching assistant Technical Writing, or Rhetorical Theory-have provided a space for often centered on cultural issues, the notion of outreach through implementing service-learning, as these disciplines have begun to service-learning was simply unheard of. Yet in all three regions in advocate putting the content of courses-rhetorical and discursive which he has taught-the Southeast, New England, and the Midwest structures and styles as ways of knowing and being-into action in demographic changes that translate to an increased Latino presence service environments. In a technical writing course he taught, students have forced him to discover concrete ways to reach out and assist the created a user-manual for a Portable Vacuum-Action Cleaning System Spanish-speaking population to help them find more fulfilling lives, and for a local company. While once uncommon, these writing assignments to intervene into existing community structures that display varying are becoming far more common as rhetorical classrooms tum more and degrees of acceptance to newly arrived immigrants. By necessity more to the community to engage their students in learning that is deep, evolving into a generalist in Spanish who could always expect to teach meaningful, and real. While still suspect by many in terms of traditional a proportionate number of classes in language, culture, and literature at scholarship, the rhetorical disciplines have, for the most part, accepted primarily teaching-centered institutions, Hitchcock came to understand service-learning in ways that many other traditional disciplines have as inevitable but also personally satisfying the acceptance of a high not because theory meets practice in very clear ways. level of community engagement he would never have foreseen in a II. Our Model for a Needs Assessment and Intercultural Dialogue theory-oriented graduate program. As we have come together to pursue the issue of the integration of our Statham also faced some pressures away from such considerations. She growing Latino/a community, we have turned to the service-learning had entered graduate school in Sociology in the early 1970s, having literature. Our collective hope was to determine the unmet needs in been involved in the anti-war, civil rights, women's and environmental this community, and provide some solutions or encourage others to movements. However, she soon became engrossed in simply surviving work to meet the needs we identified. Each of us became motivated to in a very quantitative program, and found it difficult to "model" the participate by a concern that this immigrant population be adequately sorts of processes and issues she was truly interested in. At her first job, heard and understood in our commimity, and as a result, able to live she found colleagues to work with who were using a more qualitative, here more comfortably. critical approach, and soon began to adopt this framework, which she brought with her to a smaller, comprehensive institution and began to At its core, this project poses the following problems: How can a focus on more applied, local concerns - researching the closing of an service-learning initiative help create a public forum that invites not auto plant, tracking women caught in new welfare policies, exploring only differing discourses to the table, but also distinct languages? reasons for dropping out of high school. Her evolution was helped

Retlections • 143 In the study described below, we examine the process of designing challenge of helping everyday people bridge the cultural differences such a forum dynamically, through a partnership that has grown and that otherwise threaten to keep us apart ... ? (134) reconfigured itself over time in response both to new opportunities and to consistently newer and newer understandings. We are troubled by While our initial projects did not begin as a direct response to these the following material concerns: what forms would such a multi-lingual concerns, we have come to understand our projects as emerging from intercultural discourse take? What does it produce in terms of students' this broad domain. The point is, for Long as well as ourselves, to engagement, as well as our own? And most of all, what may it produce explore how we create a sustainable relationship between the emerging in terms of concrete plans for public documents that, like the forum local Latino/a public, our university, and the broader public at large. We itself, represent and serve a multilingual civic discourse that attempts have opted for a patient, long-term approach, and as we move ahead, to be inclusive and for the use of both the mainstream and minority we find ourselves alternatively emphasizing our own "processes of groups?-in this case a growing and heterogeneous Latino/a population research, methods, and outcomes" and also "rhetorical engagement relatively new to the area surrounding our university, a regional on pressing social issues" that "help ... everyday people bridge the comprehensive university in the southwestern comer of Indiana. cultural differences that otherwise threaten to keep us apart."

Part of the problematic we are exploring develops from what Elenore We believe that one way to manage these ever-changing and somewhat Long, in Community Literacy and the Rhetoric ofLocal Publics, competing demands is through mapping the rhetorical borderland refers to as "a whole set of nested alternatives" that emerge whenever in which the rhetorical and discursive practices of the university, members of the university engage with the local community for Latinos (both newly arrived and those previously established), and purposes of activist projects. For Long, these alternatives take the form Evansville's other ethnic and racial communities are rethought to of the following questions: help the differing communities bridge their differences. At the core of rhetorical borderland understanding, then, is an ontopolitical (Connolly Do community-university partners do best to prioritize an ever 1-40) approach which recognizes that the transformative potential growing network of relationships in the faith that they will mobilize of thought also has an effect on how we live (exist) in the world: to in response to exigencies that arise in the future? ... Or should we think differently is to exist differently. This idea is also guided by the ... focus on circulating [a conversation] broader, more inclusive political matrix that defines contemporary rhetoric. As Luming Mao, in attitudes toward literacies-what literacy means and how it is his Reading Chinese Fortune Cookie: The Making ofChinese American practiced? Or should partners focus on pooling rhetorical expertise Rhetoric, defines it, rhetoric to support community-based agencies that, in tum, sponsor local publics? That is, is the problem of sustainability primarily an ... represents the systematic, organized use and study of discourse institutional concern for material resources, institutional interests, and discourse strategies in interpersonal, intercultural contexts, and social capital ... ? If this is the case, we would do well to reflecting and reinforcing rhetoricians own ideology, their own prioritize processes of research, methods, and outcomes. Or is the norms of discourse production and discourse consumption, and top priority rhetorical engagement on pressing social issues? If their ability to persuade, adjust, and realign. (13) this is the case, what kinds of rhetorical interventions are up to the

Reflection" • 144 Reflections. 145 It is the very contingent and partial nature of rhetoric that requires This project did not begin as a service-learning project; rather it began us to understand it from multiple perspectives, thus entering as a simple attempt to engage with the wider community surrounding into conversations with differing kinds of rhetoric: all rhetoric is USI. Hitchcock, a faculty member in Spanish, had participated in a interpersonal and intercultural but is always already caught up in its Lilly-endowed program called Connect with Southern Indiana (CSI) own discursive modes of thinking and being. To rethink rhetorical aiming "to boost Indiana's retention of intellectual capital." CSI understanding requires negotiation with differing models of rhetoric. became the proving ground for the genesis of this project. Hitchcock, When Mao charts the emergence of a hybrid Chinese-American with partners from education and the private sector, including the rhetoric that develops from the interaction of contemporary European co-publisher of one of the area's few Spanish-language newspapers, American rhetoric and Chinese rhetoric, he identifies how the sought to create a project aimed at aiding the Spanish-speaking public, encounter changes the very subjectivity of the agents involved. In this but would not do so without carefully eliciting the perspectives of that encounter the subjects become identified not by their difference, but population group. They developed a Regional Hispanic Community by their "togetherness-in-difference" which is not to be understood as Survey, presented at the formal conclusion of the CSI group's endeavor a final state of success (a goal to be achieved), but the beginning point in June, 2007, with three objectives: 1) to understand the characteristics of how diverse subjects can begin the process of transforming their of the local Hispanic community, 2) to define the needs of Hispanics, understandings and their interactions. and 3) to determine the true population numbers. The team's long-term goal was "to see the Latino community integrated into mainstream Mao further builds the notion of a rhetorical borderland from the society, actively involved in all aspects of community life" in a way combined work of Gloria Anzaldua, Henry Giroux, Mary Louise Pratt allowing it to "interact and contribute in a meaningful way while and others. For Mao, ''becoming'' and "togetherness-in-difference" preserving important -aspects of culture and traditions." They struggled are concepts that are part of the "borderland" metaphor. A rhetorical as a result of the need for a process in which the assessment of the borderland is more than a metaphorical space, however, it is also a gathered survey data would reflect multiple points of view, address physical space where, in Anzaldua's words, "two or more cultures the validity of prior assumptions, and rigorously go about defining edge each other" and, in Giroux's words, "a space [is] 'crisscrossed "integration," a slippery signifier if ever there has been one. They with a variety of languages experiences and voices'" (quoted in Mao emphasized providing connections so needs could be met, while 20). For our purposes, the response to the problem of engagement supporting the community in keeping its culture intact and projecting derived from our concern that the local Latino/a population be its cultural coherence to the non-Latino community. This is one adequately heard and understood in our community and has taken clear way the rhetorical borderlands often remain invisible: the very the form of documenting, mapping, and overseeing the rhetorical discourse the community uses to enable minority communites often borderland as it develops and changes in our corner of the Midwest. reconstitutes them as identity types. However, it is important to note that while we see rhetorical borderlands interact every day, they have a tendency to affect mostly CSI team members found it difficult to implement their plan in part those groups outside of dominant culture. Part of any project designed due to the constraints imposed by conflicting professional schedules, to intervene into rhetorical borderland issues is to make visible to the in another due to their simple lack of experience in conducting such dominant culture the sometime invisible borderland. research. Hitchcock's discipline of modem languages clearly afforded

Rcf1cctinn;., • 146 Reflections. 147 him access to more advanced students of Spanish who, through their Using this approach with students can be a powerful experience. Once considerable proficiency in the language, could aid him directly in students sort through the influx of information and learn how to analyze surveying heritage speakers and, as he imagined it, translate questions the data, their confidence grows and they begin to reflect on what they and answers from the survey. Nonetheless, a coherent assessment are learning. With this project, and an earlier project of depth interviews of the intercultural dialogue that would be taking place called for an with welfare recipients, students wrote about their prior assumptions integrative approach that was facilitated with the addition of Statham about the group being studied. Sometimes these beliefs were based on to the USI faculty in 2007 as Professor of Sociology and Director previous experience; for example, one student working on this project of Service-Learning. Given her experience with conducting needs with the Latino community wrote that he had had a traffic accident assessments of Latino populations, Statham recognized the possibility involving a Latino man who had no insurance. The student reported she and her field might offer in seeing the project through to fruition that he came away with extremely negative feelings toward the entire by implementing it in her "Human Interaction" course. This capstone group. As the semester ended, he reflected that his impression of the course for 15 undergraduates and 5 master's degree students seemed an community had changed, that he now had more understanding about apt vehicle for interdisciplinary cooperation. Statham suggested a focus the varied experiences of the entire Latino/a community. group as opposed to a survey approach, and applying methodology that would allow us to hear the actual voices and perspectives of those in Students analyzing the depth interviews with welfare recipients the local community. reported a similar trajectory; they had assumed the individuals involved were lazy and just did not want to work, but they now The students in this course did a qualitative, focus group study in and understand the various ways they had come to be poor and so came around the local Latino community, using a Symbolic Interaction to believe that most of the poor were working very hard to improve approach set forth in the course text (O'Brien). The text focused on their situation and were often victims of things beyond their control. the process of identity acquisition and maintenance through ongoing These changed perspectives seem possible without direct contact interaction, often discussing the position of marginalized groups in between students and the group in question, as both groups above society, raising points that were then applied to the issues faced by were analyzing qualitative data others had collected. The power of the Latino/a community being studied. The Symbolic Interaction the personal narratives the students were reading, looked at in the perspective under-girds much qualitative work in the field of Sociology, detail required by the content analysis, constant comparison method in a way that often sees itself in opposition to more mainstream (Glaser and Strauss) both classes employed, were the central force quantitative work. A combination of ethnographic approaches (field in this transformation. Learning may be enhanced as students are observations, structured depth interviews, key informant interviews, given the space to work through their reactions and reflections. Actual focus groups) are used to produce narratives that reflect the actual interactions do not always allow for this consideration, especially if lived experiences of often marginalized groups (Strauss and Corbin, the interactions are tumultuous, and may actually engender resistance. Lincoln and Guba), providing an avenue for those voices to be heard. This is not to say that interpersonal interaction is irrelevant or The epistemological notions underlying this approach take "truth" as unnecessary in producing meaningful and lasting change, just that perspectival and often focus on the plight of oppressed groups. this methodology of engaging students in the process of qualitative research can be transformational. In terms of the model we are using

RCf1l'Ct ion;.. • 148 Ref1ections • 149 here, these kinds of narratives help students to understand how they Power Distance, Masculinity, and Long-Tenn Orientation. For are existing at the juncture of a rhetorical borderland which requires Hofstede, the value of these indices is relational and not essential. them to, at the very least, rethink: the dominant structures of meaning That is to say, if a certain culture has a High Masculinity index, which and rhetorical scripts as the only versions of how to understand these indicates the tendency for aggressive behavior, then that behavior is cultural interactions. Once we began to involve our students, we only relationally valid in interaction with other cultures. Hofstede is began to see change as emanating from several levels: the change not claiming these traits are essentially embodied in the being of each in the community suggested by our work and then acted upon by individual member of that culture. us or others, but also the change that occurred in our students, as they began to see things in a different ways, as they gained more According to these cultural-dimension-based thinkers, someone can information and perspective. It is our belief that many of the negative develop communicative competence by learning these behavioral feelings currently aimed at this population arise largely from lack of traits and using them to seem more like an insider. However, critics understanding and awareness, as illustrated by some of our students' challenge models like Hofstede's because they "lack depth in prior attitudes and beliefs. describing cultural mindsets used in daily activities, and ignore the institutional molding of these mindsets" (Gannon 236). Thus the Within this framework, the Hispanic Needs Assessment represents dimensional approach needs broadening in order to maintain the goal what Linda Flower would call a Community Problem-Solving of dealing with the Latino community in tenns that respects its cultural Dialogue (CPSD): "A CPSD tries to bring the voices of Academic identity. Moreover, intercultural researchers challenge competence Discourse, along with those voices described by that discourse, to as a teaching model. Michel Candelier of the European Center the table" (Flower 105). The CPSD builds understanding through for Modem Languages argues that because competence requires collective inquiry into the issues surrounding a community. The idealized constructions outside of actual discursive production, its definition and production of community as well as awareness of teachability is questionable: "One can even wonder - and this speaks the means by which a community establishes itself and adds to its in favour of the usefulness of producing a list of resources - whether own understanding is significant here. To communicate across these a 'competence' ... linked so closely with the diversity of situations boundaries requires intercultural and interlingual awareness. Creating where it is used, can really be 'taught"'(18). Candelier goes further a CPSD requires the building of a kind of intercultural communicative and views competences mainly in the domain of social usage I needs, competence by which a discursive agent could reduce error by while resources seem rather to belong to the domain of cognitive (and increasing its knowledge about a culture and eliminating the cultural developmental psychology). As a result, while competences come stereotypes that frame initial understandings-precisely the kind of into play when one engages with a task, resources can be defined development that happened to Professor Statham's students in their detenninately and worked on practically in the classroom thereby analyses of personal narratives. This has long been the generative "contributing to the development of competences via the resources that model in intercultural communication, as represented by a host of are activated" (18). Our collective goal is to find and use the resources theorists working on what they call the dimensions of culture. For that can trigger the kind of rethinking necessary for our students to example, Geert Hofstede has created series of indexes based on five develop competences within themselves and their communities. dimensions that impact culture: Individualism, Uncertainty Avoidance,

R~nccti(1ns. 150 Reflections. 151 III. The Courses and Projects absence of linguistic shifts may be attributed to two factors: the presence of a facilitator completely fluent in Spanish at all of the The outcomes of our course projects demonstrate the ways that service Spanish-language sessions and the careful transmission in Spanish of learning can ensure that immigrants' political concerns are considered the ground rules for the sessions. Following human subjects protocol, in the classroom, especially highlighting their need for access to participants were promised confidentiality, instructed not to use their resources and issues pertaining to stereotyping that often create a "fear full names and asked to give consent orally on tape, rather than signing of the other." But the needs assessment conducted by the first course consent forms. The settings where the groups met included a public (Statham's) is also the beginning point for the understanding of the library, churches, and a factory-"natural" contexts, in other words, relationships between communities as a rhetorical b~rderland not just in which the respondents regularly worked and met for a variety of as a site for multicultural interaction, but also for the mapping and purposes, ranging from social to educational to spiritual. In many development of an understanding of rhetorical resources for negotiation cases, the focus group was held at a regularly scheduled gathering of meaning in communities. time. In others, the conductors traveled to places of employment for special meetings. While the quotes from the focus groups given below Statham's class organized and conducted 11 focus groups during represent points that most in our sample seemed to agree with, we February and March of 2008, intending that the information would identify the type of group for further clarification. be used by organizations attempting to meet the needs of our growing Latino/a population. The focus groups included Latinos with a range The students in the class were trained to analyze qualitative data using a of educational levels and 'occupational experiences, as well as Anglos content analysis approach (Glaser and Strauss). Themes which emerged who could shed light on the larger community's perceptions. Six of the from repeated readings by several individuals were then further examined groups were conducted by Statham, her students, and other community for finer details. Several themes emerged that seemed to account for the volunteers in English, five in Spanish by Hitchcock, a student, and a data as a whole. First, the data suggest that the city's Latino/a population heritage speaker on the faculty of another area university. Sites for the perceives this community in Southern Indiana to be friendly, accessible groups included four English as Second Language classes for adults, and peaceful, that it is, overall, a good place to raise a family. The two groups of primarily professional people (Latino/a and Anglo) transcribed comments below from varied groups illustrate this point: attempting to assist this population, one Latino/a professional society, one group of Spanish-speaking employees for a local company (white The people have acted very well, nice businesses; there is no and blue collar workers), and three groups of Anglos (one a student racism like in other regions of the United States. (3, English as a group, another a group of adults in a small neighboring town, and second language group) a third group of professionals offering health services to the local community). Because the groups themselves were fairly homogeneous Raising a family ... it's a good place, even though when you hear a (often the strategy with focus groups), we did not witness much of the lot about meth labs and problems with the students ... there's not code-switching ,or intercultural interplay that is often encountered in too much like that. I think it's a good place to raise a family. It's a bilingual groups. All of these conversations were carefully transcribed family place .... It's not like Atlanta ... here it's more ... calm. by a professional transcriber or a Spanish-speaking student. The (5, Latino/a Professional Association)

Refl ccti OilS. 154 Ret1ections • 155 ... some boys knew that I was the only Hispanic in that building ... and I said, "Well, don't use the people for how they look." (5, kids from the university ... they were always doing something, Latino/a professional association) putting stuff on my car, and they knew 1 was Hispanic ... l don't knew if they are really racist or if they simply didn't like Hispanics. From our transcripts, the class derived this list of needs that were (11, Spanish-speaking employees, white and blue collar) emphasized in the focus groups:

... right now the Hispanic population does not trust anyone, because 1. Start a Spanish radio and television station, and do announcements they're trying to feed their families, trying to not get caught ... not in Spanish; get thrown in jaiL (2 ,professional group, Anglos and Latino/as) 2. Hire bilingual staff for schools, hospitals, clinics, etc.; ... We who have to do the worst jobs, take up the worst stuff... often 3. Offer easily accessible classes in English on a consistent basis; they order us around rudely, and we don't think that is right, because there is a lot of racism ...... on the part of the supervisors, 4. Create Spanish-speaking or bilingual day care; and it's rare to find a supervisor who's not that way at [SPECIFIC COMPANY]. There are one or two that aren't racist like the rest ... 5. Offer education about different cultural groups to the community All the Americans are ... (11, Spanish-speaking employees, white at large; and blue collar) 6. Offer more help for parents trying to help their children with My husband's from Bolivia and we found that a lot of people homework; just assume that he's from Mexico because he has an accent... 7. Create a Latino Welcome Center for newcomers, include We've even had people say my sister-in-law speaks Mexican. (2, temporary housing; professional group, Anglos and Latino/as) 8. Create a total picture of METS routes in Spanish that shows the 1 have an accent, and as soon as I open my mouth, I'm asked, entire city; 'Where are you fromT And when I say Mexico, they don't seem impressed, and I'm like, "Did you know that I have a master's 9. Offer small business training to members of this community; degree and probably more education than you do?" (2, professional group, Anglos and Latino/as) 10. Improve access to drivers' licenses and insurance;

I have a coworker who stared at me and asked me, "How much 11. Create a visa category for those with less education; you charge me for mowing my lawn?" 1 told him, "1 charge about 12. Establish a process for granting visas and extending stays $100." He said, "Oh, that's too much," I said, "How much do you through consensus; charge?" He said, "$50." "Okay, mow my lawn." He looked at me and turned around and went away and after talking . .,he realized 13. Put local resources into efforts to improve the situation. Do not that 1 was an engineer and he was an electrician, then he apologizes depend on volunteers.

Ken ccti rills. 156 Reflections. 157 As you will see, other service-learning classes have been able to pick recognition and appreciation of the integrity and diversity within the up on some of these issues, and other community groups are attending Latino/a community by many of those outside this group. Some of these to others. Statham and Hitchcock spent a good deal of time visiting views appear to be shared by some Anglo groups, as well. Nevertheless, with groups to discuss how these needs could be met. The local paper the general attractiveness of the region, in offering Latino/as the is now publishing a Spanish/English newspaper every other month. opportunity to build a new life in a historically safe and wholesome A local bank is spearheading efforts to fund business training for the environment, can be seen as instilling within the respondents the belief small business owners in this group. Several community organizations that mobilization of the community and a coherent action plan merit a are looking into establishing bilingual day care situations. Several significant effort to alter the cultural landscape. Such a conclusion is groups are talking about collaborating to increase access to English certainly evident in the constructive suggestions for improvement that the classes. The class produced a power point for presentation, and a needs assessment document summarized. Hence, service-learning has the narrated version is now on our service-learning website, for anyone potential to identify/uncover serious issues and, based on the response to in the community to access. our presentations, motivate community players (including other service learning instructors) to respond to these needs. And the expression of While some of the sentiments contained in the quotes were more or issues in narrative form has the potential to change the views of the less common among some of our subgroups - for example, the more students doing the work, as well as those receiving the information. educated Latino/as were more likely to emphasize accessibility issues, problems with being mistaken for lower status workers and knew more Micer's class bu~lt upon this work. When he heard about the Hispanic about the resources in the community while less educated Latino/as Needs Assessment developed by Professors Statham and Hitchcock, more often talked about difficulties finding English classes or jobs or it occurred to him that this might be a powerful way to engage his getting to work and stressed more often their image as hard workers, students in thinking through an intercultural rhetorical problem. What and Anglos were less aware than Latino/as of all of these issues-there we found in the needs assessment was an opportunity to do a series was remarkable agreement across these groups on many of the issues of projects that would benefit the Latino/a community on two levels: raised and the way the community was characterized. The comments reducing their burdens in belonging to a new community and increasing can be summarized as representing a candid, constructive, and the new community's understanding of their new neighbors. His occasionally pointed critique of the community in which Latino/as Intercultural Technical Writing (ITW) class began with the premise live and work. that when a person writes and designs texts they are doing so for global audiences which often have different rhetoric ( s) for communicating. These common threads of marginalization tying together the various On the one hand, a rhetoric-based technical writing course which starts discourses encountered in the eleven focus groups indicates that from this premise will take the understanding of diversity to be of variations in socioeconomic background and English language primary interest, and not an additional construct, thereby transforming proficiency do not diminish the shared sense among Latino/a respondents the study of diversity within business, scientific, and technical writing of the pervasiveneness of the simplistic Anglo reduction of the "other." fields. On the other hand, in its most practical terms, a course in the It also reveals a widespread perception among Latinos of the absence rhetoric( s) of intercultural technical writing will prepare students of existing communicative vehicles capable of facilitating both the from a host of disciplines with the ability to discern, understand, and

Refl ceti (Ill:'; • 158 Reflections. 159 use the codes, conventions, and stnictures of discourse of differing of the stereotypes. Instead, for the class to focus on creating discursive cultures as resources for the development of strategies designed to practices that would not interrupt the community's sense of culture, we improve relations across rhetorical borderlands. Starting with the Needs needed to understand specific discursive practices in their otherness as Assessment as a CPSD, the ITW class decided on three inquiry-based members enact or perform them. The Needs Assessment functions in projects: a translation of the Metropolitan Evansville Transit System's high regard here, as do the narratives Statham's students analyzed. They (METS) bus route maps; a pamphlet that explains cultural differences become an archive of "speech acts" in which members of the Latino/a within as well as between Hispanic populations in the area; and a community, not particularly fearful of reprisal so perhaps more culture brochure that outlines the types of identification needed to attain access bound than other kinds of communication, complain, promise, construct, to necessary services of survival (school enrollment, driver's license, explain, and question their world with words. health, rental, auto, homeowner's insurance, and so forth). In this way, our project did begin with the political concerns of immigrants, and Using the work of intercultural technical communicators Thatcher, continues to do so. For the purposes of space, we will present only the Conoway and Wardrope, and Wardrope, the class identified the METS map project. following resources as rhetorical resources we should try to implement in our documents: paianca, or leveraging-using someone with The Hispanic Needs Assessment, as a CPSD, establishes more than power to communicate for you; simpatia, "agreeability in the face needs, providing for intercultural communicators the resources of disagreeability" (Wardrope); respeto, an expectation that people by which competencies can be developed to construct rhetorical should be treated with dignity, reflected through appropriate non hybrids-a Latin-American rhetoric of sorts. The job of the members verbal behavior; conjianza. or trustworthiness-preferring the trust of each community is to identify these resources so they can see and confidence of established relationships and cultural insight over how to translate them into rhetorical hybrids. Again, it is necessary credentials and outsiders; and personalismo, reference to the degree of to see this as a kind of transformation of the self, what Mao calls warmth ofa personal relationship. The value of these Latino/a concepts "becoming," in which a performative identity is constituted for the as resources is determined to the extent that they construct a hybrid performance of a competency. Without the direct material production rhetoric that is useful in our discursive dealings. At the beginning of a rhetorical borderland, such performative competencies are often of their project, the METS group hypothesized using respeto and left undistinguished. The goal ofITW-while taking into account its conjianza to create a bus riding experience that provides an immigrant listed course outcomes-also developed the necessity of drawing the with a sense of belonging. attention to the very idea of an existing rhetorical borderland without which any changes to the community's already existing practices would Immediately, however, the students ran into problems. The first seem to be wasteful expenditures of both and time and money. problem was based on a perceived weakness in the existing informational infrastructure ofMETS itself. The students were unable The first objective of the class was to do the required research that to find a specific way to "map" the rhetorical resources on to the new would allow us to generate a list of resources from which we could base map. The felt they didn't have enough information about what it might competence on specificity and not generalized cultural sensitivity, a mean to be Latino. Interestingly, their initial failures began to emulate model that requires working through stereotypes and the gradual erasure the "rhetoric of complaint and blame" that underscores the speech-

Ref! cet i 0]1\ • 160 Ret1ections • 161 acts of the Needs Assessment. According to Flower, the rhetoric of Micer tried a new strategy asking the students to think through complaint and blame "takes the form of a vigorous rehearsal of the rhetorical style as a kind of bodily comportment in relation to the bus wrongs by others in a context they [the speakers] do not control" riding environment (Spinosa, Flores, and Dreyfus 19-28). The students ("Intercultural Knowledge Building" 250). The students blamed the responded with a working theory about how the bus itself could become Transit System itself for the problems involved with making the map humanized-the bus should itself become the bearer of confianza, which arose out of a developing sympathy with local immigrants respeto, and personalismo. The students created the following list of because if students could not figure out how to deal with the existing transformations: first, a map of the entire METS system should be documents for the METS routes, how could non-native immigrants created and placed on the inside of each bus, as with many metro transit be able to navigate it. While reading through the narratives triggered systems across the country; second, the bus routes should replace local an effective and productive response in Statham's students, for Micer Evansville place name routes with routes identified by colors (colors the reactions created a problematic that needed more community should include "typical" Latin American colors in dialogue with interaction to resolve. Flower suggests the development of rival ''typical'' American colors) and letters or numbers (creating confianza); hypotheses as a way to break out of the rhetoric of complaint and third, all METS maps should show these changes and offer a translation blame. We now realize that a critical part of the process is to provide of all English directions in Spanish-to be constructed in the same font students with the interpretive tools that will enable them to differentiate type and size (offering respeto); fourth, METS buses should list in the their own values from the values of the community they are entering front window, beside or below the route color, number and letter, all into. This is an important prelude to preparing students for productive of the stops and transfer points the bus crosses instead of only the first rhetorical work in the community. and last stop (this is common in many Latin American countries, again creating confianza and personalismo ). While the research is still ongoing, the METS group ultimately created a feasibility study that challenged its initial mission. The group found For the students, the lesson they learned, and what they taught Micer, the very idea of a map-particularly of the kind we were thinking about is that it is precisely the immersive context of the service-learning (an individualized map that could be folded and placed in pockets) to enterprise with its contingencies and rhetorical borderland strife that be problematic because it is a particularly Western culture-bound idea creates a successful rhetorical performance. While the response by (cf. Ihde 73-102). In addition, they felt the rhetorical forms were not the students did not take the particular discursive hybrid form Micer emerging from the everyday experience of bus riding. While a concept was hoping for (it's a lot easier to put a map in a Faculty Annual like confianza makes perfect sense in a document providing directions Report than it is a bus), they constructed a new model of awareness, on how to perform a particular attention-demanding task, riding a of togetherness-in-difference, and rhetorically engaged an issue to bus should be a more comfortable experience. The students reasoned bridge cultural differences. As Mao puts it, it is extremely unlikely that a map was overkill because consistent bus riders would only ever some form of "rhetorical creole" (149) emerges from these types of need it once or twice before they figured out the route. They also cited interaction. Because of this, we will likely have to keep re-visiting evidence from Thatcher and Wardrope about Latin American respect these kinds of inquiry seeking resources to recognize and celebrate for spoken word instructions over written instructions. the absolute otherness of these forms of acting in the world. These resources, combined with the insights learned over the course of the

Reflections. 163 semester, not only helped to build competencies to understand how to increasingly likely event that their professional direction draws them exist together in difference, but also become the ground on which to toward situations involving producers and consumers from different build other courses and continue work on some of these projects. ethnicities than their own. These issues, in all likelihood, will replicate those that emerged as significant for the Latinos surveyed in the needs Hitchcock's Spanish for Business class, still in the planning stage, assessment. Among those participating directly as respondents in attempts to build on the ground that Statham's and Micer's classes that earlier project were several officers of an outreach group called helped to create. In most college programs such courses have been Hospitality and Outreach for Latin Americans (HOLA), comprised of devoted historically to instructing students in the lexicon of forms and members of the growing Southern Indiana Latino business community. documents typically encountered in international trade. These types Hence, HOLA was clearly an obvious partner needed to move the of courses do not however necessarily afford students opportunities town-gown connection forward in a constructive way in the business for direct contact with companies engaged in such commerce. course, enriching its content by inviting students to attend business The traditional course's potential for experiential learning might meetings, assigning them practical tasks to be completed, advising have been constrained by mere geography (i.e., the absence within them on the behavioral norms of Latin01 a commerce. nearby communities of Hispanic firms or even an identifiable Latino population) but also by the faculty's inexperience with service-learning. Hitchcock's Business Spanish students will produce two principal Hitchcock's great lesson-and, for a seeker of academic innovation products: an individually generated portfolio of the imaginary company and social justice, a fortuitous one as well-from his initial encounter and a group-produced white paper profiling area Latino/a business. with service-learning is that one outreach project can be anticipated to These projects will function as resources to develop greater empathy generate another, in that each project contains the potential of raising with the community being researched and to increase understanding the standard of how an instructor understands personal and community of the practical application of the linguistic tools students will acquire. transformations as necessary outcomes of academic work. In offering Also, not insignificantly, the products will stimulate students to (for the first time in his four years at USI) a professions-oriented course continue to master the language. Again, however, an understanding of about which several Spanish majors had inquired, Hitchcock now transformation of the undergraduate can be extended to the potential perceives as both viable and necessary the incorporation of a service each holds of altering the communities in which the graduate may learning component into the course as a means for making such an choose to reside. Like Micer's students, it can be surmised that experience transformative. The customary heavy doses of translation those enrolled in Spanish for Business will be more likely as young exercises, preparation of legal documents in Spanish, and memorization professionals to adopt a more proactive approach to resolving conflict of long lists of vocabulary lists-all arguably necessary tasks but and facilitating engagement in the intercultural situations that inevitably too often taught in isolation from the communities supposedly being await them. "learned" about-can be balanced by students' direct engagement with many of the Latino and Anglo shareholders Hitchcock encountered in The same rhetorical forces recognized as constructive in reimagining the needs assessment project. Those shareholders represent a sizeable a city bus map can be doubly employed when the. architects of new group and one able to speak more directly than the instructor to many models of commercial relationships are also empowered by their of the issues that these students can be expected to confront in the linguistic mastery-the historically identified, primary outcome of

Reflections. 164 Ret1ections • 165 language programs-and have been aided in pursuing their objectives class benefited greatly from the insights Hitchcock could offer them by the service-learning partner already possessing the heritage tool about Latino/a culture and experience, as they were conducting the of the Spanish language. The partnerships developed in the academic focus groups and analyzing the data. His students benefited a good course become self-perpetuating and self-multiplying in the post deal from their involvement in this project, as transcribers, facilitators graduate's "rear' business environment, to the extent to which a and translators. Micer might have also found it useful if Hitchcock had scenario can be imagined in which a rich network of ethnically diverse interacted with his class. players possess a level of mutual awareness and respect that increases the potential for a level business playing field. Certainly, particular Micer's project took off from the needs assessment accomplished by conclusions drawn from the needs assessment project about the absence Statham's students. While the project began as an attempt to bridge of community media and health services aimed at the Latino population cultural difference through the analysis and production of hybrid have served as catalysts for faculty reassessment of the entire slate of discourses for the sake of easing the local Latino community's restriction Spanish offerings offered in the university, highlighting the potential on movement-it developed its own transformative potentiality. The for integrating service-learning components in some courses, such students, while looking for resources to hybridize cultural forms pushed as advanced conversation, and the need for creating others, such as past the conceptual to deal with the average Spanish-speaking person on Spanish for the medical and legal professions, respectively. Hitchcock the ground in their capacity for everyday movement. While the professor can imagine, for example, a service-learning endeavor involving was trying to get them to recognize all semester the material force of advanced conversation students creating and participating in a Spanish rhetorical affects, the students turned it around to show how the rhetorical language community affairs program, partnering with a local radio force emerged from the embodied interaction. It is arguable-and we station, or another classroom situation in which future health care do argue here-that only service-learning enterprises have the capacity professionals, working with a local hospital, produce a DVD about to create the immersive and immanent environment for students to be basic first aid. Above all, Hitchcock recognizes now that concrete able to work with the contingencies of everyday life to better understand service-learning can result in increasing faculty and student sensitivity the everyday and also the transformative potential of thought and action to the meaningfulness of interdisciplinary work and its potential for within the everyday. effecting genuine social change-an immeasurably important lesson for Hitchcock's anticipated projects were influenced by the Hispanic all members of a growing university. Needs Assessment in the first place, and then also by the opportunity IV. Conclusions to observe the project as it moved across courses and disciplines. In tum, Hitchcock's connections in the Latino/a community facilitated Our interdisciplinary effort shows the strengths - and issues - that important partnerships for the Micer's and Statham's projects. can arise by working across academic borders. None of these projects would have been possible without input from the other disciplines We hope we have provided models for others about how to manage represented here. Hitchcock's earlier community work, within his the tension between our own research processes, our students' disciplinary framework, looking at Spanish culture, set the stage for engagement with difference, and everyday people's efforts to bridge Statham's Sociology class project. Also, the students in Statham's cultural differences. Through a reexamination of competencies through

Rcfkcti(llh • 166 Reflections. 167 differing resources, we have learned how to listen to the input of other Gannon, Martin J., ed. Cutural Metaphors: Readings, Research cultures and languages, and how to reconcile diverse voices for the Translations, and Commentary. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage,200l. purpose of proposed community change. In the end, the strong bonds Glaser, Barney and Anslem Strauss. The Discovery of Grounded between the southwestern Indiana region and the university have Theory. Chicago: Aldine Publishing. 1967. reflected the belief that we educate leaders for a specific place and Hofstede, Geert. "Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in a specific historical moment. The greatest possible outcome of the Context." Online Readings in Psychology and Culture. November service-learning experience is the liberation of its learners from the 8, 2008. Center for Cross Cultural Research Western Washington racial and ethnic stereotyping that, while not always overt, constitutes University, 2002. http://www.ac.wwu.edul-culturelhofstede.htm an obstacle to "doing business" in ways that forward all community HOLA (Formerly H.O.L.A.: Hospitality and Outreach to Latin interests without diminishing the uniqueness of the various cultures Americans). N.d. Online. November 18,2008. http://www within the general community. holaevansville.com Idhe, Don. Postphenomenology: Essays in the Postmodern Context. Evanston, IL: Nortwestern UP, 1993. Lincoln, Yvonna and Egon Guba. Naturalist Inquiry. Newbury Park, Works Cited CA: Sage, 1985. Candelier, Michel, compo Across Languages and Cultures. European Long, Eleanor. Community Literacy and the Rhetoric of Local Publics. Center for Modem Languages Research and Development Series W. Lafayette, IN: Parlor Press, 2008. Version Two. Online. November 25, 2008. Graz, Austria: ECML, Mao, LuMing. Reading Chinese Fortune Cookie: The Making of 2007. Chinese-American Rhetoric. Logan, UT: Utah State U P, 2006. Connolly, William E. The Ethos ofPluralization. Minneapolis: U of O'Brien, Jodi. The Production ofReality: Essays and Readings on Minnesota P, 1995. Social Interaction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge P, 2006. Conoway, Roger N. and William J. Wardrope. "Communication in Spinosa, Charles, Fernando Flores, and Hubert Dreyfus. Disclosing Latin America: An Analysis of Guatemalan Business Letters." New Worlds: Entrepreneureship, Democaratic Action, and the Business Communication Quarterly 67.4 (2004): 465-74. Cultivation ofSolidarity. Cambridge, MA: MIT P, 1998. Flower, Linda. Community Literacy and the Rhetoric ofPublic Strauss, Anslem and Juliet Corbin. Basics ofQualitative Research: Engagement. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois U P, 2008. Techniques and Procedures in Developing Grounded Theory. ---. "Intercultural Knowledge Building: The Literate Action of Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1998. Community Think Tank." Writing Selves/Writing Societies. Eds. Thatcher, Barry L. "Cultural and Rhetorical Adaptations for South Charles Bazerman & David Russell. Online. Colorado State American Audiences." Technical Communication 46 (1999): 177-95. University: WAC Clearinghouse Electronic Books. February 1,2003. ---. Intercultural Rhetoric, Technology Transfer, and Writing in U. S. December 30, 2008. http://wac.colostate.edulbooks/selves_ -Mexico Border Maquilas. Technical Communication Quarterly societies/flower/flower. pdf 15.3 (2006): 383-405.

Rt.:fl eet ion" • 168 Renections • 169 ---. Writing Politices and Procedures in a U.S./SouthAmerican Context. Technical Communication Quarterly 9.4 (2000): 36S-399. Wardrope, William. "Beyond Hofstede: Cultural Applications for Communicating with Latin American Businesses." Proceedings ofthe 2005 Business Disrupting Discourse: Introducing Mexicano Immigrant Communication Annual Convention. Online. November 2S, 2008. Success Stories Association of Business Communication, 200S. The goal of this article is to disrupt and challenge the negative discourses often associated with Mexican immigrants by introducing Mexicano concepts of success, including buena gente, buen trabajador, and bien educado. These concepts emerged within a Mexicano immigrant community in California that I have been a part of for more than ten years. In collecting data for this project, I conducted a qualitative study, using ethnographic methods, over a two-year period. This article focuses on two individuals: luis and Armando.

Caught between the Indio-Mexicano rural uncles who stacked hundred pound sacks ofpinto beans on boxcars all day, and worked the railroad tracks behind the Sturgis sheds, who sang Apache songs with accordions, and Chavez uncles and aunts who vacationed andfollowed the Hollywood model ofMy Three Sonsfor their ownfamilies, sweeping the kitchen before everyone came to visit, looking at photo albums in the parlor. (Jimmy Santiago Baca, 17)

ho am I? Definitely not Mexican American. Not really Chicano. Yo soy Mexicano. Growing up in a migrant W community where most of us were first generation MexicanoJ I always identified myself as one. Much different than

Rcfl eet i (Ill" • 170 Ret1ections • 171 ---. Writing Politices and Procedures in a U.S./SouthAmerican Context. Technical Communication Quarterly 9.4 (2000): 365-399. Wardrope, William. "Beyond Hofstede: Cultural Applications for Communicating with Latin American Businesses." Proceedings of the 2005 Business Disrupting Discourse: Introducing Mexicano Immigrant Communication Annual Convention. Online. November 25, 2008. Success Stories Association of Business Communication, 2005. The goal of this article is to disrupt and challenge the negative discourses often associated with Mexican immigrants by introducing Mexicano concepts of success, including buena gente, buen trabajador, and bien educado. These concepts emerged within a Mexicano immigrant community in California that I have been a part of for more than ten years. In collecting data for this project, I conducted a qualitative study, using ethnographic methods, over a two-year period. This article focuses on two individuals: Luis and Armando.

Caught between the Indio-Mexicano rural uncles who stacked hundred pound sacks ofpinto beans on boxcars all day, and worked the railroad tracks behind the Sturgis sheds, who sang Apache songs with accordions, and Chavez uncles and aunts who vacationed andfollowed the Hollywood model ofMy Three Sons for their own families, sweeping the kitchen before everyone came to visit, looking at photo albums in the parlor. (Jimmy Santiago Baca, 17)

ho am I? Definitely not Mexican American. Not really Chicano. Yo soy Mexicano. Growing up in a migrant W community where most of us were first generation Mexicano, I always identified myself as one. Much different than

Reflection, .. 170 Ret1ections • 171 other hybrids of Mexicans, a Mexicano self-identifies with Mexicanos Framework from Mexico, or newly arrived immigrants, and feels lost when Mexican Americans or Chicanos talk about the power in being a Appadurai's work claims that we are all part of a transnational world cross-breed between a Mexicano and an American. As a Mexicano, I and therefore the United States should not control how people across do not have a strong connection to White European American (WEA) the world think, write, evaluate, etc. Rather, people need to encompass ways of being, but instead I am much more familiar with Mexicano the different perspectives that appear globally, especially as they relate ways of being. Ironically, I am not from Mexico, but instead I was to world system images. He writes, "The crucial point, however, is born and raised in California. that the United States is no longer the puppeteer of a world system of images, but is only one node of a complex transnational construction of Having lived in a migrant community for many years, I have seen imaginary landscapes. The world we live in today is characterized by many success stories within Mexicano communities. These stories a new role of the imagination in social life" (29). Appadurai's concept ranged from single mothers taking care of their children to small of globalization is key to understanding how the US has had a major business owners doing everything they could to survive. Ironically, influence on the world system images. Even within the US, there is these community members, who I thought were successful, were often a similar practice, which simultaneously centralizes WEA ways of considered unsuccessful by WEA discourse. It was not until many being, while marginalizing all others that are produced in the US. In years later that this picture got clearer and I realized that my Mexicano recognizing this, the same puppeteer (described by Appadurai) that community members were being identified as unsuccessful because controls world system images also exists within the US, but in this case they were being framed by a WEA perspective of success. the subordinate status is given to people of color. Appadurai's work has influenced my ways of thinking because it has made me realize that In grappling with these ideas, this article focuses on Mexicano concepts the global oppression of practices-what is being defined as good or of success, including buena genIe, buen Irabajador, and bien educado. bad-also appears within the US borders. These concepts emerged within a Mexicano immigrant community in California that I have been a part of for more than ten years. In Similar to Appadurai's work, Mignolo's work focuses on the history of collecting data for this project, I conducted a qualitative study, using the colonial world. Mignolo's work claims that there is a long history ethnographic methods, over a two-year period. This article focuses on of normalcy of oppressive practices that has kept certain groups on the two individuals: Luis and Armando. The following section provides margins. He elaborates that this oppression has not been solely attributed a framework for understanding Mexicano notions of success in a to race, but has encompassed different forms. For example, he writes, transnational context. Within this framework I highlight transnational "In the sixteenth century, race did not have the meaning it acquired in the theorists' conceptions of oppression, as well as point to several eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. However, the racial classifications Mexicano ethnographies that provide a foundation for understanding from the eighteenth century are based on skin color rather than on blood the key constructs of buena gente, buen trabajador, and bien educado. purity, which cannot be understood without the former" (934).

Understanding this history of oppression is crucial when grappling with the accepted/expected discursive practices in the US. In other

Reflection, • 172 Ret1ections • 173 words, race has not been a sole contributor in constructing and writes, "As a matter of fact, my argument holds for any discourse determining people's oppression. As Mignolo writes, there have been that sets up its own authorial subject as the implicit referent, i.e., the other factors, which have influenced the identification of a dominant yardstick by which to encode and represent cultural Others. It is in this group and an oppressed group. In most cases, the dominant group's move that power is exercised in discourse" (55). By acknowledging ways of being are what influence the entire group (whoever that may her claim, it is important for people to understand the powers behind be). For example, since WEAs have been viewed as the dominant the evaluation perspective that guides different activities. In a sense, culture in the US, then their cultural practices, ideas, and ways of her work speaks directly to Appadurai, Mignolo, and Dussell and their being have been classified as idealistic, and thus all other cultures critiques of how US discourses influence the world by creating unfair are expected to follow these practices. Acknowledging this, it is not and unfamiliar criteria to which all are being judged. surprising that a wide variety of "success stories" produced in the US have been evaluated by WEA standards. Appadurai, Mignolo, Dussell, and Chantry have greatly influenced my work, and in particular this article. That is, their work demonstrates In a similar fashion, Enrique Dussell writes about how Europe has how WEA discourses, often identified as US discourse, influence others guided the interpretation of the world's history over the last 200 years, in the world. More specifically, their work makes evident that global and how this practice has marginalized different cultures and their oppression is practiced in the US by targeting people of color. More perspectives of the world. He writes, "Although Western culture is specifically, their work has made me realize the negative impact that globalizing-on a certain technical, economic, political, and military marginalized groups, like Mexicanos, have faced and currently face (in level-this does not efface other moments of enormous creativity on the US), because they are being evaluated by, to use Chantry'S words, these same levels, moments that affirm from their 'exteriority' other "a yardstick" that is not their own. cultures that are alive, resistant, and growing" (224). In his work, Dussell encapsulates the notion that marginalized groups produce One way in which Mexicanos are commonly misevaluated by culturally specific practices-in this study, culturally specific success WEA standards is by sizing up their sense of success. I argue that stories-despite western domination. Drawing from Mignolo's work Mexicano conceptions of success may contrast with WEA notions of I am identifying Mexicano concepts of success that reflect Mexicano success. Whereas WEAs may define success around concepts such as perspectives/ideas/ways of being in the US. By identifying alternative independence, wealth, and formal education, Mexicanos may define views of success, I am hopeful that dominant US society can success within constructs such as buena gente, buen trabajador and reconfigure how Mexicano practices, and more specifically- bien educado. Let me briefly describe these concepts. Buena gente success stories-are evaluated. refers to a sense of interdependence and the desire to put the needs of "others" before oneself. A buen trabajador is defined as a hard worker. The practice of using dominant criteria to measure Others' worth is The type of work the individual does is not important, but it is the examined in Chandra Mohanty's work, wherein she confronts the simple act of "working hard" that is valued. Lastly, bien educado is an influence in "Western feminist work on women in the third world" individual who is well mannered and respectful of all others, despite and its negative effects. In her work, she writes about the unfairness their age or social status. of being evaluated by criteria that is unknown to the participant. She

Reflect iOll\ .. 174 Reflections. 175 Even though researchers have not directly identified buena gente, displeasure of the Jmirez family, they are given only two tickets to buen trabajador and bien educado in their work, they generally speak attend Alejandro's graduation. When Mr. and Mrs. Juarez learn this, to these terms in their qualitative data on Mexicanos. For example, they insist that Mr. Juarez give his ticket to Carger so that she can Angela Valenzuela writes about students who have strong cultural attend. Mrs. Juarez says, "My husband says he wants you there, resources and she alludes to the constructs of buena gente, buenos no matter what we have to do" (103). Luckily for everyone, other trabajadores, and bien educado as she discusses her participants. arrangements are made and everyone attends the graduation. However, Importantly, the schools she studied are organized in such a way that the willingness of Mr. and Mrs. Juarez to give up their ticket is an Mexicano students must either follow WEA views of school success excellent example of buena gente. Apparently, Mr. and Mrs. Juarez or maintain and further develop their cultural resources (including valued Carger's friendship; as a result, they put her needs first. buena gente, buen trabajador, and bien educado). In most cases, it is difficult to accomplish both without being criticized; such was the Carger's work was important to my work because it provides examples case with her participant Frank, who chose not to excel academically. of Mexicanos being buen trabajadores and buena gente. Carger's Understanding that individuals like Frank are successful despite not example of the Juarez family being buen trabajadores and buena obtaining WEA standards of success is important in conceptualizing gente provided me a lens to understand concepts embedded within alternative notions of success. Mexicano ways of being that have been traditionally ignored by WEAs. Additionally, this work helped me further understand the concept of Carger's OfBorders and Dreams: A Mexican-American Experience buena gente by providing ample examples. of Urban Education is another ethnography that describes data that can easily fit the concepts of buena gente, buen trabajador and bien Guerra's Close to Home: Oral/ and Literate Practices in a educado. This study tells the story of the Juarez family and focuses on Transnational Mexicano Community also describes data that can be the education of Alejandro Juarez, the eldest of the Juarez children. applied to the concept of buena gente. His research, which focuses on In one instance, Carger describes Mr. and Mrs. Juarez in terms that Jaime and Rocio Duran's social networks, is a four-year ethnography resemble the notion of buenos trabajadores. She discusses how Mr. of a Mexicano community in Chicago. In his work, he demonstrates Juarez has had an extremely difficult time financially supporting how his participants make sacrifices at their own expense so that their his family. During his life, Mr. Juarez has tended pigs, worked in community can benefit. A prime example is a married couple named construction, painted, washed dishes, dug ditches, made ice cream, and Jaime and R0c10 Duran. This family's living environment clearly sold tacos in order to survive. No job is too menial. Alejandro's father represents the communal living practices most common in small certainly bears out that observation. For him, there is dignity in work, ranchos in Mexico. The concept of buena gente applies to participants any work. This mentality clearly emphasizes the need for Alejandro's such as Olga and her husband, who commonly allow people to live in father to be identified as a buen trabajador. their house. These data demonstrate that some Mexicano households are willing to make many sacrifices to help people in need. This idea As Alejandro's graduation nears, Carger's discussion on the Juarez of communal success is difficult to compare to the WEA standards of family highlights aspects of the construct of buena gente. To the success that often emphasize self-sufficiency and independence.

Ref1ccti(ll1\ • 176 Reflections. 177 Vasquez et al. in Pushing Boundaries also focuses on Mexicano structured and each lasted at least an hour. Unstructured interviews constructs of success. This work looks at language learning and gave my participants the freedom to speak freely on different subjects socialization in Mexicano communities. Vasquez et al. 's participants as long as they stayed within the context of the interview. Structured often resemble the qualities of buena gente, buen trabajador, and interviews gave me the ability to ask direct questions concerning bien educado. In particular, they describe Dona Maria, who is given comments or concerns raised during previous data collection sessions. the prestigious title of fa sobadora in her community. Una sobadora is often considered to have the status and positionality of a medical My analysis of these stories was closely guided by Strauss' idea of the doctor and chiropractor combined. This work was especially important comparative method, wherein I continually looked for specific themes to me because in discussing fa sobadora the authors describe data that arose from within the data. Having identified the themes that that encompass all the notions of success that I highlight in this article arose from conversations, I triangulated the data with observations at (buena gente, buen trabajador and bien educado). As a researcher, social gatherings, observations at home, and interviews of participants this work fueled my interest to further explore terms like buena gente, and their friends. Finally, to make sure that I fairly represented an buen trabajador, and bien educado because it is apparent that these observation, and/or fairly transcribed an interview, I allowed my constructs are clearly valued in some Mexicano cultures; therefore, I participants to carefully review my analyses. In both cases, Luis and thought it was important to introduce these concepts into academics. Armando read over my analyses, or in some cases I read the material to them, and they added certain information they felt I had missed, Voces Mexicanas and in other cases deleted some information which they felt I had misunderstood. Overall, both participants were happy with my analysis. Most of the conversations used in this study were conducted informally over a two-year period during 2004-2006. In addition to interviews, I Data spent many hours socializing with Luis and Armando, which allowed me to learn valuable information. These social activities ranged from While the more recent ethnographic work on Mexicano communities simply visiting them at their homes in Migration Town, to attending often frames Mexicanos as successful, this is not the researchers' weddings with them, and in Armando's case, attending others' family primary focus in their works. In this study, my focal point is on functions such as graduations, baptisms, and confirmations. Mexicano success stories. In particular, I am interested in eliciting self-identified success stories and showing the variability of success Methodology stories within Mexicano communities. My own research is conducted in a small Mexican immigrant community named Migration Town (a I collected data for this research project over a two-year period. Data pseudonym), which is located on the outskirts of the Sacramento Valley was collected using qualitative research methods, including participant with easy access to Sacramento, the Bay Area, Lake TahoelReno and observations and interviews. Each of the participants was observed a wide variety of recreational areas. The county population is 43,851, a minimum of ten times in various environments (e.g., work, home, twelve percent of which are Hispanic. Out of that twelve percent, family events). Additionally, each participant was also interviewed eighty-three percent identify as Mexican (Census, 2000; Yuba/Sutter a minimum of ten times. The interviews were both unstructured and Statistics, 2000).

Rcfkct ion" • 178 Ret1ections • 179 Migration Town is predominantly working-class/poor. The largest my size, he thought it was surprising that I chose a profession that employers are agricultural. Approximately 100 different farms depended on my cerebral strength and not my physical strength. (ranging from 112 an acre to 150 acres) grow various fruits year round, including peaches, prunes, kiwis, strawberries, cherries, and walnuts. I also took an interest in Luis because of his survivor instinct, his hard working ethic, as well as his desire to always stay busy. Additionally, The majority of the farm owners (about forty percent) are East Indian, followed by white farm owners (about thirty percent). The remaining I admired how he feared nothing. I remember one time as we were thirty percent are owned by other ethnicities (Mexicans, Italians, casually having a conversation and he reached over, nonchalantly, Hmongs, Chinese, etc.). In contrast, about ninety-five percent of the without interrupting the conversation, and smashed a wasp against the farm laborers are Mexicanos, and five percent are other ethnicities (East table with his index finger. The idea of simply killing a wasp with his Indian, Hmong, Chinese, White, etc.) (Interview, Chito, 1-29-03). Like bare hand was not what impressed me, but it was the demeanor with most towns, Migration Town has four very distinct neighborhoods: which he did it. South West; North West; South East; and North East. On several occasions 1 helped Luis work on small, but time-consuming, Mexicano Constructs of Success projects. For example, every summer I always helped him clean out his swamp cooler, re-tar it, and change the pads. Although it was not a big I first met Luis in 1999 while visiting my parents. My father deal, he really appreciated it. He often mentioned that he thought it was introduced me to Luis and described him as a hard-working man (buen admirable that 1 helped him (and others) with these small projects. He trabajador). According to several rumors in the barrio (neighborhood), told me on several occasions, "1 am so glad that you do not think you no one could outwork Luis. He was stubborn and competitive, and are better than us. With all your college degrees and stuff, you really was especially proud of his hard-working ethic. On many occasions don't have to be doing this, but you do." Luis challenged his friends to working contests, often defined as the individual who filled the most bins with fruit or pruned the most trees. I met my other participant, Armando, in 1999 through my sister. Luis convincingly beat many other buenos trabajadores from the As soon as I met Armando, we became good friends. Armando is barrio (like Valdes, Miguelito, and El Padrino), and so most other a confident individual who loves to have a good time. When I first workers did not accept his challenge. met him, I invited him to play basketball, and to my surprise he was actually really good. Although he never played high school or college I established a strong relationship with Luis because he was a kind basketball, he could playas well, if not better, than all my other friends and hard- working individual. Although he carried himself as a tough who had played in organized basketball leagues. man, he also had a soft side, which he liked to hide. For some reason, Luis always had an interest in me. For example, he found my size to Shortly after I met Armando we were at a Cinco de Mayo celebration, be appealing. Since I am 6'6" and weigh 320 lbs., he envied my size enjoying the music, when my sister asked him to sing a song with the because he felt that my presence demanded respect Additionally, since band. Although at first he refused, he soon agreed. When he got up on he knew me well, he knew 1 was a buen trabajador as well. Admiring stage, 1 applauded happily because 1 thought he was simply doing it to please my sister. As he started singing, I realized that he was not a

;~('f1 ect i (111-" .. 180 Ret1ectiol1s .. 181 novice and instead was an excellent singer. With the crowd cheering Lastly, my participants claim that a buen trabajador does not work for him, he continued singing for about half an hour more. Once he got wealth, but instead he or she works for self-respect and to better the off the stage, I was flabbergasted because I did not know what to tell lives of those who depend upon him or her. him. Finally, I said, "Where did you learn to sing like that? He simply laughed it off and said he had been singing since he was a little kid. The last construct of success that my participants claimed appeared in their community was that of a bien educado. They felt a bien educado What I admire most about Armando is his kindness (buena gente) and did not follow the literal translation in English, that is, to be well hard-working ethic (buen trabajador). Over the last eight years I have educated through formal schooling; nor did it mean to be well-versed seen him make many different sacrifices to help others. His optimistic in a certain subject area. According to my participants, a bien educado view of life is especially humbling. Although he often faces many refers to a way of life wherein the utmost respect is always provided to difficult obstacles, he has completed many difficult goals. Recently, he all people, regardless of the situation. Finally, my participants believed has obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Social Work and Spanish, and a bien educado is well-mannered and possesses a keen sense of more importantly, has obtained his legal citizenship in the United States. situational and interpersonal awareness.

Through the many conversations and interviews that I have had with It is important to mention that I am in no way attempting to essentialize Luis and Armando, there were three distinct and powerful constructs Mexicanos as only utilizing the constructs of buena gente, buen of Mexicano success that often came up, including buena gente, buen trabajador, and bien educado to define success. By no means am I trabajador, and bien educado. Luis and Armando defined the term attempting to claim that Mexicanos do not value traditional WEA buena gente as most often associated with the practices of a particular notions of success (commonly defined as wealth, independence, and individual or group of individuals who put the needs of others before academic success). I understand that the diversity in Mexicano culture their own. More specifically, they defined the term buena gente as an is great and that there are many different interpretations of success. individual willing to sacrifice their individual goals for the benefit of Instead, what this ~tudy is attempting to show are some alternative the community. According to my participants, there is no one definition views of success-success stories that are constructed in Mexicano of buena gente, but it could best be described as "the willingness to communities-and are not necessarily viewed in the same way by help others." WEAs or even all Mexicanos.

The second construct of success that often emerged in their community Luis Tovar and South East Migration Town was that of a buen trabajador, which they defined as an incredibly hard worker. They claimed that being a buen trabajador did not mean that I have known Luis for about ten years. He is a soft-spoken, serious an individual necessarily worked hard at a particular task, but instead it man and is commonly described as moody because at times he does refers to a particular lifestyle in which work itself is valued as a quality not want to deal with you. "Q-vole Luis? Como estas?" ("How are of goodness. My participants further explained that the product of work you Luis? How are you doing?") I have asked him on more than one is not necessarily evaluated, but instead it is the act of working hard occasion, and he simply ignores me. Later on, he'll excuse himself or being disciplined that matters for the quality of a buen trabajador. and explain that he has a lot on his mind. While Luis is not an

Renections • 183 extraordinarily large person, he has a powerful presence. He is 5' 10," standing 6' 6" and weighing 360 lbs, he easily towers over the migrant weighs about 230 lbs, and is 41 years old. He has worked his entire workers. Guero s uniform consists of black boots, pants, and a shirt. life as a manual laborer, so he is in great shape. Having picked fruit Around his 50" waist, which he claims is 42", is his black belt, where most of his life, his face shows light scratches from fruit trees. Luis he hangs his pepper spray, handcuffs, and trusty .357. From any part of left Mexico shortly after the death of his father. Originally he arrived the parking lot that lies just in front of El Volcan, you can hear EI Guero in Los Angeles, but left after two weeks because he felt that there were grumbling in his broken Spanish, "Dame tu carta" ("show me your too many border patrol agents. Through his friendships, he had heard of ID"), which is then quickly followed by "Cinco dolares" ("five dollars," Migration Town, which his friends claimed had plenty of work and few the entrance fee). When patrons sometimes complain about not having border patrol agents. an ID or not having $5.00, he just looks them straight in the eye and continues to say, "Dame tu carta" followed by "Cinco dolares." What Migration Town's South East neighborhood, where Luis lives, is by far most customers do not realize about EI Guero is that he does not speak the ugliest part of town. Often the streets are dirty and the streetlights any Spanish except for "Dame tu carta" and "Cinco dolares." rarely work. The windows are broken in the old, abandoned buildings. Most of the homes in this neighborhood are about I 00 years old and are The bar is the most eye-catching section of EI Volcan, which is 25 feet completely rundown. There are no gas stations or fast food restaurants, long and runs north to south. Behind the bar stands Chito, a 25-year but there is a small community grocery store. Interestingly, the people old-man who stands 6' and weighs 370 Ibs. He is an avid weightlifter, of this neighborhood feel safe, while those outside the neighborhood so his physique is huge. His back, chest, and shoulders are twice don't feel it is a safe place. the size of any customer's. On his forehead he has a 114" scar he received as a baby from a broken bottle. Although nice, Chito can be a The triplex where Luis lives is over 100 years old and is painted in dangerous man. Underneath the bar he keeps a black AO caliber Taurus various colors, ranging from dark and light green to brown and most of with walnut grips. the paint is chipping off. A one-foot-high chicken-wire fence guards the backyard. The owner of the triplex is "EI Padrinolthe Godfather" (the Armando and the North West Side actual godfather to most of the children in the neighborhood). On the west side of Luis's triplex are railroad tracks. All day the screeching of I have known Armando for about nine years now. He is twenty- the trains remind residents of the neighborhood's pain. nine years old, stands 5' 4", and weighs about 140 lbs. Armando has a strong, confident presence. HOe is loud, enjoys being the center EI Volcan, where Luis works as a bartender (as a second job), is a of attention, and has many talents, including being an exceptional Mexicano bar located in the Peach Town neighborhood. A II2-mile basketball I?layer and singer. On numerous occasions he has sung in bridge separates the rest of Migration Town from Peach Town. El Volcan front of large audiences. In one situation, at a mutual friend's college is located in ~ section of Peach Town where nothing else exists besides graduation reception, he asked the Mariachi if he could sing with them, a few bars and some old car lots. The front of the bar is a bright yellow so he could dedicate a song to a special friend. Although hesitant at color with black stripes. On Saturday, the only night the bar is open, first, the Mariachi accepted. Armando sang "EI Rey" ("The King"). "EI Guero," works as the head of security. As an ex-convict and Marine With his impressive, loud voice, ("Yo se bien que estoy afuera, pero

Rcf1,xtion\ .. 184 Reflections. 185 ef dia que yo me muera, vas a tener que llorar ... llorar y llorar .. Buenos Trabajadores ." I "I know well that I am outside, but the day I die, you will cry and cry ..."), the audience went crazy, and started giving gritos (yells). Luis: Luis's favorite spot for many of our conversations was his porch. Afterward, the Mariachis were so impressed that they asked him to He always sat on the same old oak bench, wearing a worn, but clean pair continue singing, which he kindly refused. of denim shorts and a black cobra tank top. He often carried cigarettes, which he only smoked on occasion. On those evenings we sat for hours Armando's family arrived in the US fifteen years ago and immediately as we ate peaches and talked about his life. Every hour or so we were enrolled him in school. Although it took Armando a few years to learn silenced by the roaring of the train. Four minutes later we were talking English, he quickly adapted and excelled in high schooL After high again. A very confident man, Luis was eager to share his stories with school graduation, he attended the local university, where he graduated me. When I asked him why he came to the US he replied, "Depues de fa in May 2004 with a double major in Social Work and Spanish. Since muerte de mi padre, mi madre no tenia mucho dinero para damos. Por then, he has been accepted to graduate school, but is unsure if he will que yo era el mas viejo yo me fui para ver que me encontraba HI "After attend. His family and himself have been in the US illegally. Only in the death of my father, my mother had limited money to give us. Since I the last year, 2008, has Armando received his citizenship. was the eldest I decided to leave to see what I could find."

One year prior to this study, Armando lived with his parents in a small Since the American English word "success" cannot be literally translated Mexicano working class town named Red Oaks (located about 10 miles into Spanish, I reworded my question and asked him, "Que hace una northwest of Migration Town). Since then, he has moved into a two persona admirable en su cumunidad' / "What makes someone admirable bedroom (1100 square feet) house in Migration Town's North West, in your community?" He responded: "Una persona admirable, 0 sea, una a neighborhood that is old, but safe. Although most of the houses are persona que se considera buena gente en mi comunidad es una persona about 60 to 70 years old, and are about 1100 square feet, they look que no sea creida. 0 sea una persona que siempre quiere ayudar a todos. very nice. This neighborhood has one of Migration Town's two major o simplemente, una pesona que siempre considera a otra gente enfrente supermarkets. There are also three small gas stations and two fast food de los deseos de ef'/ "An admirable person or a person who is considered places. Lastly, there is a park, which is mostly visited by homeless. buena gente, in my community is someone who does not consider himself better than others. Or, simply put, a person who always considers The house Armando resides in is painted a light peach color; its uneven other people's desires before his or her own." surface gives it an authentic southwestern look. The yard is nicely trimmed and shaded. The inside of the house looks modem, with According to Luis, a successful person is someone who is considered a charcoal gray carpet complementing the black, tubular furniture. buena gente, which became apparent when he shared the following story: The kitchen, measuring 12" x 20', is painted a brick color with white drawers and shelves. The house has two rooms measuring 15" x 10" Cuando yo primero /lege a California yo no tenia ningUn centavo. each, which have two large windows with a white, old-fashioned border Pero unos amigos que ya vivian aqui me dieron la oportunidad para and white ceiling fans. Overall, the house is clean and well-kept. vivir con ellos. Durante esos tiempos, estos compas me consiquier6n un trabajo tambien. Que buenas gentes. Por ellos aqui estoy ahorita.l

RcFlcctiOll<" .. 188 Reflections. 189 Mexicano ways of being, WEA ideologies and perceptions of success a lot of money, while to others it might mean to have an education. There slowly influence his lifestyle. are many different ways to describe a successful person.

Armando: For a two-year period I have had many conversations with OP: OK. I agree with that. But specifically, how do you describe a Annando concerning his definition of success. For example, during a successful person? Fourth of July family party he publicly announced he was graduating from college. After his announcement, we talked on an old broken bench AB: To me a successful person is someone who is smart. Do you to discuss his future goals. Armando told me, "Tu sabes .. .I want to attend know what I mean? Like for instance, I am successful because I have graduate school, which means I would have to commute again. That is graduated from college and it was very hard for me. The only bad thing hard. I need to have extra money for gas, leave early, and then spend all about this is that because I do not have a Social Security card I am not day on campus. I am not sure if I am ready to continue doing it." able to work right now at a good paying job. Soon I will, though, and I will be able to buy many things that I have always wanted. Armando has been in the US as an undocumented worker/student for the last fifteen years. In 2008 he received his legal citizenship to the OP: That is a good point. How did you graduate from college? It is not US. In one of our conversations Armando shared that his parents came easy for anyone, and I recognize that it is especially hard for someone to the US because they were extremely poor in Mexico and thus were in your situation. looking for a better life: "No, en Mexico no teniamos nada de dinero. AB: One main reason that I graduated was because of the support of my Habia dias que no teniamos dinero para comer. Par esa razon nosotros parents. Without my parents I would have not been able to accomplish nos venimos para aca. "/ "No, in Mexico we did not have any money. nothing. My parents are very poor, but almost every day my father and There were days we did not have money to eat, so my family moved mother would give me any extra money they had. Another very helpful to the United States." In Mexico, all his family members worked to experience that I had was that I had a lot of people who emotionally make ends meet. Through their collective effort, most months his helped me. Most of my neighbors knew that I was attending college family made enough money to survive. In some months, especially so any time I would run into them, they always reminded me to keep when a family member lost a job, his family barely had money to eat. on working hard in school because otherwise I was going to have a Frustrated with this situation, Armando's family moved to Migration very tough life working in the fields with them. They also, especially a Town. The following is a conversation between Armando and me about couple of them, always reminded me to stay very proud of my culture. his concept of success. Because of them, I think, Spanish was my major along with my Social OP: So, Armando, platicame que es una persona successful! tell me Work major. what is a successful person? OP: So what does your family in Mexico think of you? Do they think AB: That is a hard question. There are so many different ways to describe you are a gringado? successful. Tu sabes? / You know? To some people it might mean to have AB: Me? Agringado? No way! My family from Mexico still thinks that I am the same. I still have traditional Mexicano values and that

Ren cd i Cl]1S • 190 Ret1ections • 191 is something they feel is important. They do tell me, though, that my Arguably, Armando views success as obtaining a higher education, Spanish is beginning to sound funny. They also tell me that I am very which may be considered a WEA concept of success, but his poverty, lucky. They always remind me that it was great that I worked hard darker features, Spanish language, and immigrant status marginalize and was able to accomplish so much. I still am not legal here [in him and keep him from becoming "successful" according to WEA the US], though. standards. Noting Armando's hard-working ethics, it is clear he is an excellent example of a buen trabajador. Although Armando is an Gupta and Ferguson, and Clifford elaborate on the idea of culture extremely busy man, due in part to his status as a full-time student, he and, more specifically, on people who occupy multiple borderlands still found the ganas (drive, desire) to be an active community member and thus are considered "border crossers." The border crosser is in his neighborhood and a buena gente. For example, through our relevant to Mexicano immigrants because, as in the case of Armando, conversations I learned that Armando often helped people build and/or Mexicanos are often asked to straddle two worlds while rarely fix their homes, drove neighbors to doctors' appointments, read letters, belonging to either, which often makes it frustrating because each and basically fulfilled many requests from his community members. culture contradicts the other and thus the active agent, the individual, feels lost. As a result of his active participation at school and in his community, Armando is recognized as a buen trabajador. He is admired by In Armando's traditional Mexicano community, common Mexicano many and has achieved many different goals that make him a well practices such as bailes, quinceaneras, and menudo on Sundays are respected community member. Although Armando may have achieved common. Because he is familiar with these cultural practices, it is a common WEA view of success (receiving his Bachelor of Arts) he easy for Armando to participate. However, he is forced to operate in has maintained his commitment to service and accessibility to the WEA ways of being that often do not accept his Mexicano ways of Mexicano community. being. For example, at various times in his college environment he was made uncomfortable because of his skin color and accent. This A Transnational View of Success was often the case in his classrooms where his Mexicano ways of being were often put at a deficit. In hopes to avoid these incidents, Luis and Armando have found ways to reconcile Mexicano and WEA Armando created and used a "memory of place" (Gupta & Ferguson; social values for their own benefit as well as the benefit of their Clifford) to construct a new world imaginatively. Armando lived in a community. Nevertheless, both recognize the racial and linguistic Mexicano neighborhood where his Mexicano traditions are alive and divisions that divide Mexicano and Anglo worlds. Luis perceives the well, which gave him the power to survive. As he puts it, "Without divisions as ones he can broach through hard work, whereas Armando my Mexicano friends and traditions I would be nobody." Living in a considers the chasm of race (and the privilege of whiteness) that Mexicano community also gave Armando the strength to recognize separates his people from WEA to be impassable. that although his Mexicano culture is often criticized, its benefits Since Luis is a new immigrant he views the US as the land of clearly outweigh its sacrifices. opportunity and blames his inability to get a better job (other than as

Rcficcli(lll'-. • 192 Ref1ections. 193 a fieldworker and a bartender) on himself: "En unos ailos cuando ya The bridge to success and social esteem connects to both sides of the puedo hablar ing!es yo voy a poder encontrar un trabajo mejor.!."/ border. We as educators fail Mexicano students when we narrowly "In a few years, when I can speak English I will be able to find a define social success in terms of extrinsic rewards as embodied in better job." Luis does not view the US negatively. On the contrary, the symbols of wealth and the benefits of elite culture. The intrinsic he believes that the current laws, which many would regard as anti rewards of belonging and being useful to one's people are far more immigrant, work to his benefit. He claims his ideas of success are powerful incentives for learning and forgoing one's place in the world. embedded within the qualities of buena gente, buen trabajador, and As mentioned early in this manuscript, my intent is not to stereotype bien educado. He says, "Lo mas importante de una persona es que sea Mexicanos andlor WEAs. Instead, I hope to establish a space where a una buena gente. Si no tiene eso no tiene nada."I"The most important conversation about different notions of success may appear. thing for·a person is to be a good person. If he does not have this then he does not have anything." He believes that because respect is highly valued, it is important for everyone to represent that through the persona of a buena gente. Works Cited In contrast, Annando believes that a successful person is someone who Appadurai, Ajun. "Disjunture and Difference in the Global Culture has attained a college education, "Una persona que tiene un titulo Ie Economy." Theorizing Diaspora: A Reader (Key Works in Cultural tiene hecho."/ "A person who has a college education has it made." Studies), Eds. Jana Evans Braziel and Anita Mannur. Boston, MA: For this reason, Armando attained a college education at all costs, Blackwell, 2003. which he completed despite, at that point, his undocumented status. On Baca, Jimmy Santiago. Martin and Mediations ofthe South West. NY: the other hand, Annando despises people who completely attempt to New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1987. assimilate into WEA culture. Armando is an expert "border crosser." Bhabha, Homi K. "Cultural Diversity and Cultural Differences." The Living in his transnational world while also functioning in mainstream Post Colonial Studies Reader, Eds. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths US society allows him a space to operate in. According to Armando, and Helen Tiffin. London: Routledge, 1995. there is no middle ground regarding issues of identity and solidarity, Carger, Chris L. OfBorders and Dreams: A Mexican-American which he primary identifies with his Mexicano community. Having Experience of Urban Education. NY: Teachers College Press, this belief is perhaps the biggest difference between himself and most 1996. WEAs pursuing a college education. Annando always used a critical Clifford, James. Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth lens while obtaining his education, so he was able to be an active Century. Boston: Harvard UP, 1997. critical agent in his formal education process, which always made him Dussell, Enrique. "World-System and Trans Modernity." Nepantla: critically aware of his Mexicano positionality. Viewsfrom the South 3.2. (2002): pp. 221-244.

Reflections. 194 Reflections. 195 Guerra, Juan C. Close to Home: Oral and Literate Practices in a Transnational Mexicano Community. NY: Teachers College Press, 1998. Gupta, Akhil and James Ferguson. "Beyond 'Culture': Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference." Culture Power Place: Explorations Reflections on Racism and Immigration: An Interview in Critical Anthropology, Eds. Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson. with Victor Villanueva Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1997. Mignolo, Walter. "The Enduring Enchantment (or the Epistemic Brian Bailie, Collette Caton, Rachael Shapiro, Syracuse University Privilege of Modernity and Where to Go from Here." SAQ 101.4 Victor Villanueva studies the intersections of rhetoric and (2002-2003): 927-954. racism. He is the recipient of the 2009 eece Exemplar Award, Mohanty, Chandry T. "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship which honors scholars whose work represents the best and Colonial Discourses." Third World Women and the Politics our field has to offer. Villanueva also won NOE's David H. ofFeminism, Eds. Chandry Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching Lourdes Torres. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991. of English and CEE's Richard Meade Award for Research in U.S. Census Bureau (2000A). State and County Quick Facts: English Education for his book, Bootstraps: From an American Yuba County, California. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfdl Academic of Color, an autobiographical tale that exposes the states/06/06115.html problems with literacy education in America based on his Valenzuela, A. Subtractive Schooling: US-Mexican· Youth and the own experiences as a Puerto Rican growing up in New York. Politics of Caring. NY: SUNY Press, 1999. Though Villanueva does not often write specifically about immigration, his work illuminates the connection between Vasquez, Olga A., Lucinda Pease-Alvarez, and Shiela M. Shannon. rhetoric, racism and xenophobia, and encourages all of us in Pushing Boundaries: Language and Culture in a Mexicano the field to consider how our conceptions of literacy oppress Community. Cambridge: UP, 1994. those not of the dominant culture. Yuba/Sutter Statistics (2000). http://www.syix.com/yubacity/ statspage.html n January 22 of this year, we huddled around a computer in our dingy office on the Syracuse University campus and held a wide-ranging, ninety-minute interview with Victor Villanueva via Skype. A portion of that interview is captured here. In this interview we were hoping to get a sense of the way in which a scholar of color and the son of Spanish-speaking, Puerto Rican parents sees the issues of race and immigration coming together to form a powerful discourse concerning xenophobia, linguistic diversity, and social power. We started by first discussing Villanueva's own experience as a colonized individual and then moved on to larger issues related to race and immigration.

Rcf1ectiClns. 196 Ret1ections • 197 Guerra, Juan C. Close to Home: Oral and Literate Practices in a Transnational Mexicano Community. NY: Teachers College Press, 1998. Gupta, Akhil and James Ferguson. "Beyond 'Culture': Space, Identity, and the Politics of Difference." Culture Power Place: Explorations Reflections on Racism and Immigration: An Interview in Critical Anthropology, Eds. Akhil Gupta and James Ferguson. with Victor Villanueva Durham, NC: Duke UP, 1997. Mignolo, Walter. "The Enduring Enchantment (or the Epistemic Brian Bailie, Collette Caton, Rachael Shapiro, Syracuse University Privilege of Modernity and Where to Go from Here." SAQ lOlA Victor Villanueva studies the intersections of rhetoric and (2002-2003): 927-954. racism. He is the recipient of the 2009 CCCC Exemplar Award, Mohanty, Chandry T. "Under Western Eyes: Feminist Scholarship which honors scholars whose work represents the best and Colonial Discourses." Third World Women and the Politics our field has to offer. Villanueva also won NGE's David H. 0/ Feminism, Eds. Chandry Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Russell Award for Distinguished Research in the Teaching Lourdes Torres. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1991. of English and CEE's Richard Meade Award for Research in U.S. Census Bureau (2000A). State and County Quick Facts: English Education for his book, Bootstraps: From an American Yuba County, California. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfdl Academic of Color, an autobiographical tale that exposes the states/06/06115.html problems with literacy education in America based on his Valenzuela, A. Subtractive Schooling: US-Mexican Youth and the own experiences as a Puerto Rican growing up in New York. Politics a/Caring. NY: SUNY Press, 1999. Though Villanueva does not often write specifically about immigration, his work illuminates the connection between Vasquez, Olga A., Lucinda Pease-Alvarez, and Shiela M. Shannon. rhetoric, racism and xenophobia, and encourages all of us in Pushing Boundaries: Language and Culture in a Mexicano the field to consider how our conceptions of literacy oppress Community. Cambridge: UP, 1994. those not of the dominant culture. Yuba/Sutter Statistics (2000). http://www.syix.com/yubacity/ statspage.html n January 22 of this year, we huddled around a computer in our dingy office on the Syracuse University campus and held a Owide-ranging, ninety-minute interview with Victor Villanueva via Skype. A portion of that interview is captured here. In this interview we were hoping to get a sense of the way in which a scholar of color and the son of Spanish-speaking, Puerto Rican parents sees the issues of race and immigration coming together to fonn a powerful discourse concerning xenophobia, linguistic diversity, and social power. We started by first discussing Villanueva's own experience as a colonized individual and then moved on to larger issues related to race and immigration.

Reflections. 196 Ret1ections • 197 C. Caton: I want to talk about the concept of home, which is often a so all that Black Panther stuff got repudiated in that process. So in my loaded concept. Can you describe for us what you think home to mean case, I find that I'm likely never going to face that demon, which is my and what you would identify your homes to be? That is, to what extent estrangement from Puerto Rico. This is my parent's home, but because do you feel that you occupy a borderland and how does being mistaken Puerto Ricans have been racialized-it is a racialized distinction, I have for an immigrant help to influence your concept of home? to own it. And it's a part of my cultural upbringing, after all. I was raised Puerto Rican. I am Puerto Rican. But the place, Puerto Rico, is V. Villanueva: Home is a funny thing. It's not borderlands that become not mine at all, completely foreign. the issue, certainly for a Puerto Rican, surrounded by the sea, encased by the U.S. It has to do really with colonialism in my case, and the So concepts of home are complicated when it comes to people of degrees to which long term colonialism like that which Puerto Rico has color because the people of color in the United States have been experienced for close to 600 years, so that there's almost no escaping the colonized. And the colonized is very much different from the it-even the assertion of one colonized language over another. immigrant of another time, who gave up home to create a new home. For the people of color it's always imposed; it's always imposed. And What I find is that having been born in the United States, during a perhaps there is a complication, there's a kind of alienation that I've different era when bilingualism wasn't even an issue-assimilation into had to experience. I'm not sure what that kind of alienation would be English was simply a given in the '50s, to the extent that even in school, like for those who maintained contact with home. the children's names were translated into English. So Carlos Bermudez became Charles Bur-mew-dezz, and we all pronounced it that way; The ICE-Immigration and Customs Enforcement-they tried to send that's how we were taught to do it. I had a friend whose last name was Chicanos down to Mexico, to be like spies. Everybody knew who they Jimenez, but he was Jimmin-ezz, and nobody corrected it. And I was were, though. They were obviously not Mexicans to the Mexicans. So Villain-new-eva until my father heard about it and got pissed off and there is, I think, always in the process of racism and in the process of insisted that I insist on Via-nueva, which I've done ever since ... and colonialism, there is always an estrangement, a kind of belonging to even that is not quite right. Even that is a link to another colonization, another world, a part of the colonizer, and apart from. Belonging to no because the Puerto Rican pronunciation would be Bee-ja-nueva, but I home, in some sense, and no home to come to. was not to do it that way; I was to do it in the "finer" Spanish. At the same time, what am I if not an American? I am an American. In the Albizu Compos essay, the one that will show up in College And even when the state does things that are appalling to me, English in July, I write at the end of that article that I feel a kind America at its worst, I'm okay about being an American. I'm never of fear, a kind of shame, in going to Puerto Rico. There is a kind not okay with it, really. I just wish that racism wouldn't be so damned of estrangement. African Americans know this one, too. African entrenched in this society. Americans can't go back to Africa; it's not theirs. Eldridge Cleaver tried, and after living in Africa for a time, he came back and became B. Bailie: How does the specter of immigration affect your credibility an ultra, ultra-conservative, a religious fundamentalist, because he in the Academy, and your work, or the types of things that you're asked would say anything, do anything, to come back into this country. And to speak on?

Rc n L'Ct i (l11~ • 198 Reflections. 199 V. Villanueva: It's kind of funny because my knee-jerk reaction is to itself should do that. That makes it necessary for me to stay tied as say that it doesn't, but that's not true. Immigration is one thing, but much as possible to the cultures our students bring in, which are not what happens is, it's the racism that affects my presence in a lot of just racialized cultures, but all the pop culture stuff. I have to learn a ways, and it's a particular kind of presence. There is a way in which new vocabulary weekly. Anyhow, so there is a consciousness of being all Latinos become one thing, which is Mexican, and if Mexican then attuned to the degree to the culture of the youth that walk in without we're tied to questions of immigration past and present. becoming part of youth culture, because I still need to maintain my own sense of dignity and the like. And so much of my work did look at the ways in which racism presented itself with things like what's going on again, which is the The short answer is this: I'm always playing with language. With expatriation of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. And I say it's going everything from foul language, though always with a caveat (I always on again because the governor of Washington State, Christine Gregoire, tell my students that if they really dislike it let me know in private and has said that perhaps what they should do is deport all illegal Mexican I do have a vocabulary that could exclude that). So that includes that, immigrants who are in the jails right now. And you know, we've and yet even with vulgarities and the colloquial, there is maintaining seen this before: it happened in the 1930s, it happened in the 1950s, the seriousness of the subject matter under discussion, and the subject here we go again. Anytime that the conditions are hard, there is this matter for me is always language, whether it's racism in language~ scapegoating, and racism is always a part of that scapegoating. xenophobia in language, class in language, gender, sexuality ... it always has to be tied to language. And I mean it's always been my Now, my presence in this business ... for many years it seemed that complaint about Composition Studies, that it continues to act as if it my presence had less to do with what I said than how I said it. Which doesn't have a subject matter of its own, and so Comp is always doing was, on the one hand, flattering, on the other, very aggravating. So that this topic and that topic and the other topic, when the topic is always folks would want to talk about why I write the way I do as opposed to language and language use! what it is I was saying in what I wrote. So you know, that's kind of a quirky thing. I think that's dying down now, that the focus is more on You know I just had to write a chapter for a retrospective on Stephen what I am saying. North's The Making ofKnowledge and Composition, which used to be required reading back in the day. I had just gotten my first Assistant R. Shapiro: How does being a scholar and educator of color affect the Professorship when that book came out. Well, that book is all about way you teach rhetoric and writing, and what pedagogical choices do research and composition. Why are we worried about that? Why are we you consciously make? doing cognitive research, ethnography, this, that, and the other thing V. Villanueva: First of all, being a scholar of color forces me to address when we should be doing rhetoric? Our business is language; let's questions of color. There's just no way to avoid it if one is conscious of do language! Let somebody else ... let the scientists do the science! the degree to which this is an institutional constraint. That's one of the Look at how poorly they do language. We've got stuff we could teach conscious decisions that I have made, is that somehow not only should them! So anyhow, the answer is: always being conscious of language, my writing mesh various discourses, but my teaching, my pedagogy language and its multiplicity. I've had to learn that and it seems to be a good skill to teach as well.

{\Cfll'ctl(,ll" • 200 Reflections. 201 lli

B. Bailie: Can you describe your travels through the States? And to Spanish as well as the Spanish kids having to learn English-was in what extent and in what ways and places do you relate to the struggles North Carolina. of immigration? R. Shapiro: Can you talk about the state of the English-only movement V. Villanueva: The thing is, I travel a lot, but as I travel what I'm doing versus the language diversity movement? is going from one university campus to another. So I get to see an airport, a hotel, and a university, and maybe a fine restaurant here and V. Villanueva: At the governmental level it's been English-only there. And what that means is all I'm ever really seeing is the degree to versus English-plus. Geneva Smitherman is one of the folks behind English-plus. You know the sad part is this really is an immigrant which immigration doesn ~ filter in to the universities; question, because to me it is one of the most backward things that Then again, I was in Salt Lake City a couple years ago to talk about we've got going. There were even students here, at WSU, arguing for the new racism, which is what I think about a lot these days. I gave English-only, to which I could say you could be ignorant for free. You my talk, took part in a town-meeting thing, did a TV interview and know? Why pay all this tuition if what you're demanding is ignorance a phone-in radio interview, and then I was supposed to do a public [laughter] which is very low cost? I mean, it's amazing to me! No, I reading from Bootstraps at the city library. That afternoon, somebody think this one is really ... I can't think of the word ... well, probably blew a bomb at the city library. It likely had nothing to do with me. the best word I can come up with is "retro." But you know, retro can be There's no way I'll ever know. But I do know that the night before, the cool-this is not cool. entire conversation in a large town-hall type meeting I was asked to be a part of had to do with immigration, and my argument at that time was I think at this point there are 28 states. In maybe 1990, 1991, that immigration itself is a scapegoat, and I'm thinking about Kenneth somewhere around that time, Florida started this English-only thing, Burke's ways of talking about scapegoats in Permanence and Change but it was California that picked it right up. So at that time, 12 years especially, a diversionary tactic for other grander concerns that were ago, 15 years ago, there was one state-California-with English going on. So it was a very political kind of setup conversation. only legislation or official English. They always argue that no one is telling folks what they can speak at home but only what they can There are also the ways in which immigration doesn't affect me and speak in governmental situations. Well, the problem with that of course my family personally, since we have the wonderful status of being is that that goes against free speech, and it surely goes after the 14th colonized. [laughter]. Anyway, the short and long of this is that in my amendment, which is equal representation under the law. If you can't travels around the country immigration just isn't something that I'm speak the language and you are forbidden from speaking the only confronted with regularly. Yet it's there. I did see that while I was language that you can learn then you're not getting representation. in Chapel Hill, and I have the same kinds of stereotypes of the deep And no law can change cognitive processes. It takes time to learn a South as everybody else, but the schools, if I remember correctly, language. Just because it's been mandated, as if anybody doesn't want were entertaining bilingual ed. So of all of the places I've been, the to learn English in America! That's absolutely crazy, this idea that only places I've had heard anyone thinking about not just bilingual somehow putting in a law is going to change all of that. but cross-directional bilingual ed-where the white kids had to learn

Rcn C'C1H)J1" • 202 Ref1ections • 203 So I think it is hysterical, and not funny, that it really is hysteria and our business, in Rhetoric and Comp, and actually in education also. To xenophobia. There's somehow this phenomenal fear that the strangers my way of thinking, the problem that I was addressing when I spoke are going to change the country. And what's interesting about that is about the orality/literacy business was the idea, first of all, that orality I) industry sees a market and knows how to deal with it-the banks and literacy had different cognitive capabilities. And that to me was so are bilingual, the commercials are bilingual, you know, everything ... wrongheaded, to have this stupid cognitive argument attached to people they know how to deal; and 2) those who wield the power will be the who are parts of oral cultures. And it was a kind of a flip on something ones who will wield the power of language as well as everything else. that black folks in particular took pride in, that they were tied to the So English is never in any real risk, and certainly not at risk from all of oral, to the griot. And every society has had its heroes as oral tellers. these Latin American and Mexican immigrants. They want to talk about The bard is an oral teller by definition, not Shakespeare. So the problem the risk? My grandson's learning Chinese. Where's the next hegemone? with cognitive dysfunction was a problem with the way that orality and China maybe, United Arab Emirates maybe, I don't know. But we literacy were being discussed prior. know that all empires fall and this one is no longer what it was. But its fall is not likely to come from folks much more interested in eking out The problem with orality/literacy now, more directly tied to your a living than in tumbling empires. question, is that what's not being said is literacy in English. And not only literacy in English, but a certain genre of literacy in English. To me, there is a greater understanding of bilingual education, a Not only a certain genre, but a certain register, and a certain dialect realization that that is necessary, but most of the bilingual programs of English literacy. So it becomes racialized because of the degree out there right now are transitions into English. So, no, I think that one of narrowness that's implicit and rarely discussed. And that's what's is not in good shape, and I think that folks who choose not to learn a particularly interesting to me about John Trimbur and Bruce Horner's language insist that those who don't speak English learn a language. work: that they're making the case that there are all kinds ofliteracies It's a funny hypocrisy because the only reason it's a problem is because and the question is how do we do cross-transference, how do we learn so many monolinguals in English aren't willing to learn Spanish. That from the literacies of others as well as teach the literacies that we one just annoys the hell outta me! [laughter] And in my own case, when have out there ourselves? So I think that the minute that we confine I went to school, we had to learn English; we weren't allowed to speak it to standardized English or to Edited American English, and Edited Spanish, and then I got into college and they say you need a foreign American English is code word the prestige dialect, for standardized language. I said "What? If you'd have left me alone when I was 6 years English, without the personal, then we are reinforcing old racist and old I'd have had it!" xenophobic ideas. I mean, the only way to take care of the fear of the other is to force the other to be us. C. Caton: So how does the idea or the myth of literacy construct immigrants as deficient, and how does one's submission to the myth of C. Caton: In a post-9/l1 era, US citizens who are visually marked as literacy further internalize racism in US education? "other" frequently face the same racism as immigrants. To what extent is racism being conflated with xenophobia? V. Villanueva: Dh, that's a big one, isn't it? I think I addressed that 20 years ago, when the orality/literacy debates were a very big deal in

Reflection, .. 204 Reflections. 205 V. Villanueva: Yeah, well that's an interesting one. I think they've And let me do one thing more. It is true that in the literature always been. The only ways in which black folks could survive "institutional racism" and "structural racism" are interchangeable as for about 150 years was by being mild, reducing the fear of the terms. I prefer the term "structural racism," because this is a country other. Because you know xenophobia is not just fear of foreigners, that was founded at the time of the need to have a rationalization for xenophobia is just fear of the other. Folks get marked phenotypically racism. I mean, it was economically necessary with the institution of and linguistically, because there is a way in which if you are European, this country to create this second- and third- tier citizenry: women, and Western European, and a particular brand of Westem European, and you black folks, the slaves. And that's after they killed off the Indians. So, speak with an accent, you're charming. Any other accent is an outsider. it's at the point that it's built into the structure.

I just think that the answer is "yes." The way I think of the construction That's how we have this inequitable distribution of labor, this of racism, and I'm reading about that right now, is tied to needing inequitable division of incomes. If we no longer talk about racism and to make the other subservient. It's tied to notions of colonialism. point to the man who made it to the top [President Obama], then we Xenophobia is this fear that the other will not be subservient. Post-91l1 don't look at all those who can't even make it halfway up. And it's in particular becomes the case in point, and the rising fear of black men always disproportionate, the numbers of people of color who ~re at the in the post-Civil Rights era. So, very similar kinds of things. People lower ranks than white folk. So it's built into the entire structure. The of color or people who have been colored are supposed to be in a institution would have to be the institution of the United States. subservient position but no longer act subserviently, if there is such a word. Xenophobia kicks in; racism amps up. In terms of teaching, I think that students are more willing to listen, even though they come in with sets of beliefs that are passed on to C. Caton: Okay, so let's take this issue of racism into the institution and them. If you have never been exposed to the ghetto, it's easy to believe what we can do as teachers. How can community outreach help teachers that things are getting better. Ifyou see more middle class folks of in our discipline undo institutional racism towards immigrants? color, it's easy to believe that things are getting better. And maybe in some sense they are, but better is never good enough. I mean, there's V. Villanueva: Okay, well, toward immigrants, towards anyone, that quote from Malcolm X that goes something like "You can't drive because you know this immigration question's a funny one. What a knife nine inches into a person, pull it out three inches, and call it I'm thinking of, for instance, is Katrina. Or let's talk about Texas. progress." [laughter] That's Malcolm's. But that's where we're at-the When folks talk about immigration, it's always a racialized notion blade'is still in there, but we've pulled a little bit of it out and think of immigration, and it's a funny racialized notion of racism, too, everything's cool. But I think that students, once they're exposed to because it's always anti-Latino; it's focused almost exclusively on it, exposed to the very idea of going out and finding the instances in Mexicans, even when the Latino is not a Mexican. He or she becomes the news media, they have to grapple with the idea that just because it mexicanized. Yet we have a phenomenal number of African immigrants doesn't look like it did 30 years ago or 40 years ago doesn't mean it's in the country. And we make a distinction between African-Americans gone away. And the ways in which racism is built into the language is and Africans that we don't make among Latinos. We all become this so damned interesting, and students will receive that. undifferentiated other that is Mexican, so it's a funny thing.

Rc n ('ct i 011" • 206 Reflections. 207 C. Caton: So can community outreach, or service-learning, or teachers going out and working with those who don't have access to the higher educational institutions, to remove some of that class barrier ... can that help? What do you see as the role of the academic? Our Southern 'Roots' in New Orleans: Early latino/a V. Villanueva: Yes it does. It depends on the kind of work it is, though. Immigration and Its Relevance to a Post-Katrina World I mean, part of the problem with service-learning, back in '98 when I was chair of CCCC, that was the beginning of service-learning Cristina Kirklighter, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi presenting itself in our business. And what I asked of the service learning folks was for them to theorize what they were doing, and to Research on early Latino/a immigration in the deep South is minimal largely because of the Black and White racial begin to look at its downsides as well as its upsides. The downside I dichotomy that pervades the South. New Orleans has a rich see is that it can be too easily converted into social work. And I don't Latino/a and Spanish presence, yet little research covers mean that there's anything necessarily wrong with social work, but I do Latino/a immigration from the 17005 to the mid- 1900s. This mean that there's a perception by those of color and in poverty about paper will trace the early history of Latino/a immigration in bureaucrats, about do-gooders, and you don't want to fall into that New Orleans to help foster deep Southern Latino/a "roots" for because all that you're going to get then is bullshit back. And so you this growing immigrant population. The paper will also focus will be taken advantage of, the service-learners will be taken advantage on the largest New Orleans Latino/a community, Hondurans, of, at the same time that the real learning isn't allowed to happen. Paula tracing their early history and current immigrant experiences Mathieu, she's got a book on service-learning that shows the ways in after Hurricane Katrina. that service-learning can really work. It's really great stuff, and Ann Feldman and her work in Chicago is also really interesting work. So The presence of Hispanics in Louisiana is too important to be yeah, I think there's alot that can be done on that end. passed over unnoticed. Unfortunately, the information is scattered and inadequate. The Latin American Apostolate wishes to assemble I'm in a program now where we're not just preparing students to go this information and hopes that this publication will contribute to on, you know, it's not this little incestuous thing, where you prepare an awakening of interest and commitment students only to go into universities and do what we do. But among the students here are students who want to go into NGOs and work in (Foreword to The Hispanics in Louisiana (1982) by Luis Emilio the neighborhoods and the like, and I think that it would be good for Henao) us to change-and "us" means English-types, or in your case, Writing Program-types-to include that in how we talk about our business. It was then the year 1980 that I started to look for documentary That our business isn't solely to produce little clones who will go into sources, any source of information related to Hispanics in the past universities and write diatribes that will be read by our clones again, but and the present, studies which have been conducted by Tulane that we can-and should-get things happening in the neighborhoods. University, Loyola University, and LSU in Baton Rouge. I went to the libraries, to the archives to look for any investigation

Rc n ('('I i 1111" .. 208 Retlections • 209 C. Caton: So can community outreach, or service-learning, or teachers going out and working with those who don't have access to the higher educational institutions, to remove some of that class barrier ... can that help? What do you see as the role of the academic? Our Southern IRoots· in New Orleans: Early Latino/a V. Villanueva: Yes it does. It depends on the kind of work it is, though. Immigration and Its Relevance to a Post-Katrina World I mean, part of the problem with service-learning, back in '98 when I was chair of CCCC, that was the beginning of service-learning Cristina Kirklighter, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi presenting itself in our business. And what I asked of the service Research on early Latino/a immigration in the deep South learning folks was for them to theorize what they were doing, and to is minimal largely because of the Black and White racial begin to look at its downsides as well as its upsides. The downside I dichotomy that pervades the South. New Orleans has a rich see is that it can be too easily converted into social work. And I don't Latino/a and Spanish presence, yet little research covers mean that there's anything necessarily wrong with social work, but I do Latino/a immigration from the 1700s to the mid- 1900s. This mean that there's a perception by those of color and in poverty about paper will trace the early history of Latino/a immigration in bureaucrats, about do-gooders, and you don't want to fall into that New Orleans to help foster deep Southern Latino/a "roots" for because all that you're going to get then is bullshit back. And so you this growing immigrant population. The paper will also focus will be taken advantage of, the service-learners will be taken advantage on the largest New Orleans Latino/a community, Hondurans, of, at the same time that the real learning isn't allowed to happen. Paula tracing their early history and current immigrant experiences Mathieu, she's got a book on service-learning that shows the ways in after Hurricane Katrina. that service-learning can really work. It's really great stuff, and Ann Feldman and her work in Chicago is also really interesting work. So The presence of Hispanics in Louisiana is too important to be yeah, I think there's a lot that can be done on that end. passed over unnoticed. Unfortunately, the information is scattered and inadequate. The Latin American Apostolate wishes to assemble I'm in a program now where we're not just preparing students to go this information and hopes that this publication will contribute to on, you know, it's not this little incestuous thing, where you prepare an awakening of interest and commitment students only to go into universities and do what we do. But among the students here are students who want to go into NGOs and work in (Foreword to The Hispanics in Louisiana (1982) by Luis Emilio the neighborhoods and the like, and I think that it would be good for Henao) us to change-and "us" means English-types, or in your case, Writing Program-types-to include that in how we talk about our business. It was then the year 1980 that I started to look for documentary That our business isn't solely to produce little clones who will go into sources, any source of information related to Hispanics in the past universities and write diatribes that will be read by our clones again, but and the present, studies which have been conducted by Tulane that we can-and should-get things happening in the neighborhoods. University, Loyola University, and LSU in Baton Rouge. I went to the libraries, to the archives to look for any investigation

Renee-lion" • 210 Ret1ectiollS • 211 Southern cities such as New Orleans have, for the most part, evaded the perceptions of community activists or groups, but then again, Southern national Latino/a immigrant research conversations. This is especially cities and their immigrant populations have their own characteristics. true with the early Spanish colonial and Latin American immigrant Southern Latino/a immigrants will be empowered to know their "roots" history that can explain why many twentieth- and twenty-first-century in Southern history as they find ways to form their Southern identities Latino/a immigrants would be drawn in large numbers to this city. A as Latinos/as. As a Southern Latina who has a father from Tennessee, number of Latino/a immigration scholars (including those who study a Honduran immigrant mother, and Latino/a immigrant relatives from New Orleans and Louisiana) are rather dismissive of studying Latino/a New Orleans, this research journey was transformative and makes me immigrants before the 1960s and would rather focus on the large waves proud to identify myself as a Latina from the South. of immigration. However, to take this approach with New Orleans creates a shallow understanding of this city's Latinized historical Scholars who research Louisiana's history usually focus on the French, presence. Lengthy studies on Latinos/as in New Orleans or Louisiana Creole, and Cajun influences of this region. Little research exists on consist mainly of either print or microfilm SociologylAnthropology the Spanish influences except for studies on settlers in Louisiana from theses, dissertations, interviews housed in Special Collections, and a the Canary Islands. In fact, according to Father Luis Emilio Henao, few locally books published by the Archdiocese and Latin American Louisiana was a place of contention between the French, Spanish, and Apostolate of New Orleans. The research, for the most part, is located British (7). Under French colonization (1699-1764), the immigrants on some dusty shelves in a few libraries. I propose in this paper to to Louisiana were limited to French deportees, French and German share the rich Latino/a immigrant history of a Southern community. colonizers, and Black slaves. Minimal mixing of these groups occurred The South is long overdue in recognizing the contributions of its during this period (8). However, a dramatic population change took Spanish, Mexican, Latin American, and Latino/a inhabitants throughout place during the Spanish colonization period of 1765-1803 under its history. I hope this paper will encourage readers of Reflections the influence of nine Spanish Louisiana Governors (Encyclopedia who are interested in studying, researching, andlor working with of Louisiana). Under Spanish governance, many "immigrants, Latinos/as in the South to celebrate this rich Latino/a immigrant history independent of their origin or language, were offered a house, land, of New Orleans and work to break the Black and White Southern a set of tools for working and monetary assistance for a period of historically racial dichotomy. Although New Orleans does not represent time until they became self-sufficient" (9). The Spanish significantly every Southern city, lessons can be learned from studying its Latin increased Louisiana's population and took in the following groups: based immigrant population and historical roots. Southern Latino/a Acadians, Canary island colonists, settlers from Kentucky and other immigrants and those who work with them through studies, community Union states, French political refugees from Haiti, Mexican soldiers, engagement, or other interactions must know that the deep South does and free Blacks from Haiti (9). The majority of immigrants sought have a history (outside of Florida) with Spanish, Mexican, and Latin refuge and freedom from oppressed conditions. Spaniards and Creoles American immigrants who arrived well before the last few decades frequently intermarried during this time, so the Spanish influences had and significantly influenced certain Southern communities. Groups a significant impact on the Creole population (Painter 20). and leading figures who have helped Latino/a immigrants throughout In the early years of Spanish colonization, Gen. Alejandro O'Reilly, a the early history of New Orleans may not fit within the conventional Spanish Irishman, proceeded to bring "stability and economic reform"

Ref! t,ctinn, • 212 Reflections. 213 to the 13,000 inhabitants of New Orleans, and brought Catholicism to He decreed to provide succor without giving alms, "civic affairs" (Laviastida and Rodriguez Owsley 77). Under Spanish As with works [projects] where a daily wage rule, new residents paid homage to "the Spanish Crown and to the Could be earned by the daily labor of many vagrant men Catholic religion" (9). Governor Esteban Rodriguez Mira threw out Who had become only habitual beggars. a Spanish Capuchin friar who wanted to implement the inquisition in New Orleans (Lea 459). To ensure their adherence to Roman He decreed by these measures that the Poor Catholicism, many Spanish clergy came to Louisiana along with the In the future might be recognized first Bishop, Santiago Jose Echevarria, who closely monitored the So that those not having a just claim missions in this colony (Laviastida and Rodriguez Owsley 78). They Would not defraud those who did. also brought in Irish priests to reach out to their English-speaking He decreed that Pauperism be reduced communities (Henao 17). New Orleans missionaries and church For many not wishing to be confined to shelters leaders became significant community leaders that reached out to new Against their will, deserted, inhabitants as they still do today with the Apostolate of New Orleans. And in their work they were happier. (127) New Orleans Catholics today still practice rituals that are of Spanish origin, and Latin American immigrants often noted the similarity in De Galvez sought to open up the New Orleans port to Europe and the rituals practiced in their countries of origin. Today, New Orleans has Americas through trade in order to bring prosperity to New Orleans' the largest Catholic population of any city in the South, which makes it inhabitants, but th.e Spanish ministry thought this was too liberal; an attractive place for many Latino/a immigrants. Governor Bernardo however, trade with Latin America increased. He became the Captain De Galvez (1776-1785) was largely responsible for bringing the General to both Cuban and Louisiana and was later appointed as the impoverished Canary Islander immigrants to Louisiana, where many Viceroy of Mexico. He died shortly afterwards. descendants still live today and celebrate their Spanish heritage. As a highly admired governor, he played a major role in defeating the British Upon the U.S. Louisiana Purchase in 1803, many Spaniards left in Louisiana and securing West Florida for Spain. Governor de Galvez New Orleans, but the Mediterranean cultural presence flourished defeated the British with 700 troops largely comprised of a "militia of during the first half of the nineteenth century. Trade with Latin all colors" shortly after a devastating hurricane (Woodward Jr., 104). American and the Caribbean increased significantly because of the Despite this hurricane's wrath, which sunk many ships and destroyed New Orleans port expansion. Large numbers of Cuban and Mexican many houses in New Orleans, de Galvez rallied his troops and exiles immigrated to New Orleans, which created a strong Spanish iminigrants of Louisiana. He was beloved by Mexicans, Spaniards, and speaking political climate (Lavastida and Rodriguez Owsley). The Louisiana immigrants. Manuel Antonio Valdes of the Mexican Gazette first U.S. Spanish language newspaper, EI Misisipi, originated in New wrote an eloquent epic ballad dedicated to Governor de Galvez shortly Orleans with its first publication in 1808. It paved the way for more after his early death at 38. Parts of this ballad are haunting, especially Spanish-speaking publications.that would soon develop in the U.S. given our knowledge of how neglectful political leaders have been to The Latino/a immigrant and resident population used the newspaper immigrants and the poor long-time residents of New Orleans: to voice their views on Caribbean politics and show their support of

Reflection" • 214 Reflections. 215 Southern slaveholders. Hundreds of New Orleans Cuban residents immigrant community to his church by offering services in Spanish to and immigrants, who had leanings toward Caribbean slaveholding serve this growing Mexican and Latin American community. However, interests, joined the Confederacy (Sanchez Korrol). New Orleans also Latinos/as were all over the city and tended to want to go to church became known as a place where secretive plots developed to overthrow in their neighboring communities (Lavastida and Rodriguez Owsley). various Latin American governments, such as the one instigated by A number of Latin American social clubs developed during this time William Walker to overthrow the Nicaraguan regime (Lavastida and with many women serving on the Board of the Directors. Some Latino Rodriguez Owsley). These plots were the early beginnings of New men blamed women for these social clubs' disintegration because "they Orleans' longstanding connections with the Banana Republics, which want[ ed] their way," but a more realistic reason stemmed from the lasted well into the twentieth century (Braken 17). Although some of the tensions between the various Latin American nationalities within these Latino/a immigrant and resident population of New Orleans engaged in clubs (Painter 41). As the "gateway to Latin America," New Orleans activities this writer strongly opposes, they did demonstrate to other U.S. brought immigrants from numerous ports throughout Latin America Latino/a communities the vital roles Spanish-language newspapers and who held strong loyalties to their former countries. eventually other forms of media would play in giving voice to Latino/a immigrant communities. A little known but interesting development In the 1940s, many immigrants who arrived in New Orleans were during the 1850s was that hundreds of Louisiana Creoles immigrated to educated, spoke English, attended New Orleans universities, and Mexico so they could escape the threat to their free status. According to assimilated into the New Orleans-community (Painter). They Mary Gehman, many Creoles went to Vera Cruz or Tampico, Mexico. contributed in many ways to this community and surrounding These Mexican Creoles significantly influenced these regions and New communities.· However, many individuals outside of long-time Orleans' influences are evident in their food, architecture, and names. residents of New Orleans are unaware that New Orleans' port was once Many of their descendants have French and Spanish surnames and the gateway to Latin America, where immigrants arrived, and, as is celebrate their Mexican Creole identities. This may be one reason some the case with many first entries, remained in New Orleans. During the recent Mexican immigrants are attracted to working or living in New first half of the twentieth century, many New Orleans storeowners had Orleans. This U.S. city on the Gulf of Mexico may remind them of their signs in their downtown windows that said "Aqui Se Habla Espanol." cities or familiar places on the Mexican Gulf coast. Some Mexican Wealthy Latin Americans frequented their stores, and the New Orleans immigrants to New Orleans could be distantly related to Creoles from business owners catered to them with their bilingual staff (Painter New Orleans. Ironically, Mayor Nagin, who is of Creole descent and 71). New Orleans was mostly a U.S. Southern haven for white Latin who has publicly expressed his fear of Mexican immigrants in post American and Mexican immigrants, students, and visitors. Katrina New Orleans, may be related to Mexican Creoles and/or If it were not for Norman Wellington Painter's Master's Thesis in Mexican immigrants wishing to seek a better life in his city. Sociology (1949) entitled The Assimilation ofLatin Americans in New The 1920s saw another wave of Latin American and Mexican Orleans, we might know little about the emerging Latino/a community immigration to New Orleans. In the early 1900s, Archbishop Placide in New Orleans during the first half of the twentieth century. Painter Chapelle of Louisiana appointed a Dominican Friar, Thomas Lorente, was a graduate student at Tulane University, a university which is to be his secretary in New Orleans. He attempted to bring the Latino/a deeply committed to its Latin American students and which, since its

Rcfl C'cti on" • 216 Ref1ections • 217 inception in 1834, "has pursued a mission of advancing progressive being beaten for speaking Spanish in their classrooms, and the myriad and cutting-edge study and research in Latin America" (Stone Center of other discriminatory measures that still linger in the parents' and for Latin American Studies). Indeed, Tulane was and still is a U.S. grandparents' cuentos (stories) from my Latino/a students. Painter must higher education gateway for Latin American students and professors. have been challenged to be "objective" during the '40s when New It serves as one of only a few U.S. institutions of higher learning Orleans appeared to be significantly less oppressive for Latin American that has a long history of promoting research on the Americas and and Mexican immigrants than cities and towns in Texas and California. fostering extensive research ties with Latin American professors. The University of Louisiana, Louisiana State University, Loyola University, He studied 67 case histories of "Latin American people" in New Orleans. and Delgado Community College are other institutions with a long Case histories represented 4% of the Latin American population in New history of admitting and educating Latino/a immigrants, especially Orleans who were born outside this country, and Latin Americans in immigrants who could not afford Tulane (Garcia Ponce). Painter, who New Orleans represented 113 of one percent of the total population. This was an undergraduate member of the Hispanic honor society at Baylor percentage was probably lower since the Latino/a population in New University and grew up in a small town in Texas during the 1920s, must Orleans has always been undercounted, even after Hurricane Katrina. have witnessed differences in the way Latin American and Mexican Painter's study on Latino/a immigrant assimilation was relatively immigrants were treated in New Orleans, which perhaps created a groundbreaking for his time since most research focused on European strong incentive to study the New Orleans' Latino/a community. A groups and concentrated on "northern industrial cities." A few studies clue about his Texas roots emerges when he says "Again the personal were conducted on Mexicans immigrants and migrants in Texas and attributes of the researcher may have unconsciously influenced the California, but Painter's study was unique in that he captured immigrants various analyses. But objectivity was striven for at all times" (164). from all over the Americas that settled in New Orleans. Painter notes One quote from a case study participant who used to live in Texas that American Sociology emerged as its own academic department in demonstrates the differences between Dallas and New Orleans: universities because of multiple studies of immigration (2).

In Dallas, Texas I went to get a shave; the barber would not shave His groundbreaking study of Latino/a immigration is fascinating me. The people all over Dallas are ignorant; there is widespread in that it occurs in the South and portrays Latino/a immigrants as prejudice. They class all Latins together and judge them by the significantly less oppressed in New Orleans than in almost any other worst examples. I asked the barber where the Mexican quarter was; city. He acknowledges, like many other researchers, that the focus I wanted to get some Mexican food. in New Orleans centers on a Black and White conflict. He sees this as a benefit to Latin American immigrants who he claims can easily The barber said, "See that n_r over there? Ask him, he can tell assimilate given their small population (141). However, he creates you. (55) a more complex picture of New Orleans and its history with Latin America that explains why these immigrants from a variety of This quote haunts me almost 60 years later, as a South Texas professor Latin American and Caribbean countries might not experience the who knows the history of Mexican lynchings, the Texas Rangers' hardships other Latino/a immigrants faced elsewhere. From his case tyranny, segregated Mexican-American and white schools, children studies, he found that many New Orleans Latino/a immigrants came

Reflection" • 218 Ret1ections.219 from good educational and middle class backgrounds, knew some to survive in a Black and White Southern city. However, given the New Orleans' schools and universities would welcome their children, strong Black Catholic population in New Orleans, Black Latino/a familiarized themselves with New Orleans' cultural ties to Spanish immigrants found assimilation easier given the religious affinity history and Catholicism prior to immigrating, spoke some English, to Black Americans that was almost nonexistent (and sometimes and successfully secured employment in a city with strong economic oppressed) in many parts of the South. They hoped that their children ties to Latin America. Latino/a immigrants lived in neighborhoods could attend Black Catholic schools and a Black Catholic university. throughout New Orleans, and it was quite common for them to They also found affiliation with the Black Caribbean influences that intermarry with U.S. citizens. Many of them had just as many friends were part of the Black American culture of New Orleans. that were Latinos/as as they had with Anglos/as. Thirty- one percent of Latinos/as he interviewed said that they belonged to mainstream Little has been written on the Latino/a population in New Orleans organizations, such as the American Medical Association, AAUP during the 1950s and early 1960s except for when Cubans arrived Young Men's Business Club, Masonic Lodge, and the Association of in New Orleans to escape Fidel Castro. However, according to the Commerce. Some of the interviewees said that they were barred from census data that Elmer Lamar Ross collected in 1973, the Latin joining mainstream organizations like these in other states like Texas American Foreign Born population increased dramatically from and California (42). 2,728 (1950) to 8,331 (1960) to 15,388 (1970) in Orleans Parish (5). The census data may be understated given the number of illegal A significant flaw in Painter's study is that he failed to interview immigrants in New Orleans. Something happened during these Black Latino/a immigrants and, according to Mary Karen Bracken, decades to attract a Latino/a immigrant group to New Orleans, one they were in New Orleans at this time (41). According to an interview that is seldom written about in this country, Hondurans. Often, when I she had with Ismael Cacho Nunez, a Black Honduran retired U.S. mention that my mother is from Honduras, I receive perplexed looks Merchant Marine, many Black Latino immigrants were seamen from folks, especially in the South, who I know are not sure where or port workers who easily eluded documentation checks because this country might be. they could pass for Black Americans (53). Black seamen have long been respected in Black culture given their worldly experiences However, this is not the case in New Orleans, a city that has the and their ability to bring port communities news from other parts largest population of Hondurans outside of Honduras at around of the country. They frequently intermarried with Black Americans 140,000-160,000 out of approximately 300,000 Latinos/as in New and quickly assimilated into Black American culture (53). Xavier Orleans. They are a significant population in New Orleans who University in New Orleans (established in 1925) was the only Black received little attention as a primary focus of study. Only one U.S. and Catholic university in the nation and did recruit Black Latino/a lengthy work (a thesis) has been written on the Honduran presence college students (see Evelio Grillo's Black Cuban, Black American). in New Orleans (see Samantha Euraque's 2004 thesis entitled However, Southern Black Latinos/as were often seen as only Black "Honduran Memories: Identity, Race, Place, and Memory in New and not Latino/a. Black Latino/a immigrants quickly assimilated Orleans, Louisiana"). Hondurans have had a long and sometimes into Black American culture in New Orleans and elsewhere in the tumultuous relationship with New Orleans dating back to at least South because of the harsh Jim Crow laws at that time. They needed the late 1860s. Interestingly, the Honduran presence in New Orleans

Rc fl cd ion, • 220 Ret1ections • 221 became much more prominent when three Italian immigrants in New cruise ships from New Orleans predominantly go to the Caribbean Orleans, Joseph, Luca, and Felix Vacarrol, decided to import bananas islands. With the Vacarro brothers centralizing their Latin American from Honduras. These poor Italian immigrants worked on Magnolia ties in La Ceiba, it soon became a place that attracted immigrants Plantation hauling produce before opening up a store with Salvador from the continent and beyond. The most frequent cruise ship stops D' Antoni. Their store was lost to a Mississippi levee break and a from New Orleans were in La Ceiba. New Orleans and La Ceiba few years later they lost their orange crop due to a harsh Southern residents found a particular familiarity in their respective cities winter. With a small battered ship, they began a successful business since both cities have the largest Carnivals (Mardi Gras) in their of importing bananas to New Orleans from La Ceiba, Honduras. They country and regions. La Ceiba has week-long festivities in the third quickly acquired more ships and formed the Standard Fruit Company. week of May to commemorate San Isidro and is known to be the Unlike the United Fruit Company that cared little about their Latin largest Carnival in Central America. This city also has a significant American communities, the Vacarro brothers built hospitals, schools, Black population (Garifunas) who are descendents of African slaves and infrastructures along with a railroad that helped the people of and a local Indian tribe. Zora Neale Hurston conducted extensive Honduras (Sanchez). They gained prominence in New Orleans as anthropological studies of Garifunas (see Tell My Horse: voo doo and well, although the people of New Orleans stereotypically claimed life in Haiti and Jamaica}. Starting in the late 1980s, the Honduran that these Italian immigrants had ties to the mob (Kames 32). community sponsored well-attended Honduran festivals in New They also had a fleet of 35 ships that not only carried bananas but Orleans, where New Orleans experienced Honduran music, food, and also passengers from Mexico and throughout the Caribbean area, culture. The Latino/a community also had Carnaval Latino, another including Central America, starting around 1924. These Italian festival that started around the same time (Treadway). In recent years, immigrants brought the Latin American, Mexican, and especially they were also instrumental in bringing Fiesta Latina, a Latin music Honduran immigrants to New Orleans. festival presented by the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation. These similar communities would explain why many Hondurans in According to Trujillo-Pagan, the number of Central Americans in New Painter's case studies and later immigrants to New Orleans expressed Orleans increased from 100 in 1890 to 1,023 in 1930. The Standard a familiarity with this city that reminded them of home. This may Fruit Company and the United Fruit Company employed many explain why some from New Orleans in the first half of the twentieth Hondurans who immigrated to New Orleans and were responsible for century were quite comfortable with their Honduran immigrants. forming early Latino communities in the Mid-City region (99-100). These early Honduran immigrants arriving mostly from the coastal After WWII, Honduran soldiers immigrated to New Orleans, where regions of La Ceiba, Trujillo, Tela, Porto Cortez and San Pedro Sula they attained American citizenship (Henao 22). The 1950s brought played a role in attracting immigrants from other Latin American several strikes, a large Honduran hurricane, and several political countries. With the Standard Fruit Company cruise ships, between upheavals that propelled some Hondurans to leave their country for 1927 and 1951, the Vacarro brothers also offered residents of New economic reasons. The natural place for many Honduran workers was Orleans many excursions to Havana, Cuba, La Ceiba, Honduras, New Orleans, especially for La Ceiba residents more familiar with Nicaragua, Vera Cruz and Tampico, Mexico, the Mexican cities that this U.S. city. A wave of migration began in the late 1950s (Euraque). have Creole influences (Maritime Timetable Images). Today, the Earlier in the decade, a more affluent class of Standard Fruit

Reflections. 223 Company Honduran employees often sent their children to boarding in New Orleans may have seemed attractive for other immigrant schools in New Orleans after their children finished attending the groups. Cubans arrived in the early 1960s seeking refuge from the Standard Fruit Company-sponsored elementary bilingual school in Castro government. Two decades later this established community La Ceiba. Many of the New Orleans boarding schools were receptive of Cubans, New Orleans sea captains, various priests, and journalists to Honduran children who later attended U. S. universities. Elmar were instrumental in bringing Cubans to New Orleans in 1980 Ross's study of the educational level for the Latino/a population in during the Mariel boatlift (Owsley-Rodriguez interview with Joan 1970 shows that Latinos/as ranked highest out of Blacks and Whites Treadway). Hondurans and Cubans made up the largest Latino/a in educational attainment for the state (99). He also found that population from particular countries making New Orleans different Latinos/as had higher percentages in attendance of nursery schools, in its Central American/Cuban dominance compared to other areas kindergartens, and college (97). With the acquisition ofTransportes of the country. Post-Katrina has brought in another large immigrant Aereas Centro-Americanos (TACA airlines) by Waterman Steamship population, Mexicans. The last few decades of the twentieth and the Company in 1949, TACA airlines becomes chartered in New Orleans. beginning of the twenty-first century have seen a dramatic increase Central American immigrants (especially Honduran immigrants) now in the number of New Orleans Latino/a immigrants and more have easy access to New Orleans via planes and ships (Grupo TACA). researchers focus on this time period. However, the early period of In 1959, Dr. Raul G. Reyes "founded the Asociacion Hondurefia Latino/a immigration and Spanish influences are rarely touched upon de Nueva Orleans with the goal of preserving Honduran cultural to any great length. traditions through the sponsorship of folkloric and social events" (qtd. in Bracken, 57). He later ran for the Presidency of Honduras, but lost To extensively focus on the early period and contrast it to the Post the election (Garcia Ponce). Reyes still practices in New Orleans. The Katrina Latinos/as would serve as a reminder of a historical past of association he fonned coincided with the first Latino/a concentrated immigration that should not be forgotten. It may remind the New community, "El Barrio Lempira" that was located in the lower Garden Orleans population and educate others outside of New Orleans District (Euraque). Honduran restaurants, bars, supermarkets, and that the Latino/a presence is deeply grounded in the cultures of other small businesses began cropping up in the area and in Elyssian this Southern community and that the new Latino/a immigrants fields. Other Honduran groups developed in subsequent years, such have a place in this cultural history. Decades later, after Hurricane as the Honduran American Emergency Fund, Asociacion Hondurefia Katrina, I find it difficult to read articles in 2005 that focus on what Unificada de Louisiana, and Hondurenos Unidos de Louisiana. Honduran immigrants endured in New Orleans. Many Hondurans The groups have had problems that hindered the leadership, but fled to New Orleans after Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which devastated they worked to help Hondurans and their Louisiana Honduran Honduras and sent the country into economic turmoil. They endured communities, especially in Post Mitch and Katrina. two devastating hurricanes in seven years and now face hardships reaching the U.S. In 2005, it was reported that 505 Hondurans died Early Honduran and other Central American communities developing on their way to the U.S., many from train injuries in Mexico as they around the city paved the way for other Latino/a immigrants to tried to board or disembark. The once easy access to New Orleans come to this city and find hope in fulfilling their American dreams. from Honduras is no more. U.S. Honduran immigrants were sending The Honduran immigrant population and its relative early success approximately $1.2 billion dollars to their families prior to Hurricane

Rcflectioll:-- • 224 Reflections. 225 Katrina, so the negative impact for Honduras was profound ("Region immigrants and their descendents have a large community in New Tallies Toll of Katrina: Honduras Hardest Hit"). The money sent to York City with many relatives residing in New Orleans. Various Honduras from families in New Orleans was approximately 20%-30% Garifuna organizations banded together to raise money for relief efforts of all family money that came from immigrants. ("Garifuna in New York Rally for Hurricane Katrina Victims in the South"). Some Garifuna immigrants reportedly stayed at the Super In one interview with a Honduran immigrant, Mirta Flores, who Dome and eluded Immigration authorities because they could pass for endured both Hurricane Mitch and Hurricane Katrina, was asked African Americans in this Southern Black and White city. what it was like to experience another hurricane in such a small time period: Another Honduran population who fled New Orleans and then came back to rebuild their homes and businesses are professional immigrants [Translated by Melissa Gutierrez] She says really only God really and their children who either resided in this city for a long time or knows, but that I would really like, sometimes I have the feeling to were born here. They are professionals who returned to rebuild, left just get up and leave and go back to my country, but when I think the city for other jobs, or retired to Honduras or other places. They about my five children, I think that really, there I have-they have often employed Latino/a immigrants or serviced them through their no future, because of the poverty that we live in there. And so I just respective professional occupations. Throughout the years, many of feel and I believe in God that he's going to help us get through this, these successful Honduran professionals helped newly arrived Latino/a and eventually, we'll be able to get a job in the future. (Honduran immigrants with their American dreams and established a welcoming Immigrants in New Orleans) Latino/a environment through cultural events, fundraisers, and other Mirta, like many Honduran immigrants, feared deportation and community endeavors. fled to the shelters once she heard Immigration was searching for Honduran Americans like me have respect for this resilient undocumented immigrants. Many immigrants fled to Houston and community in New Orleans which perseveres despite insurmountable flooded a Honduran restaurant, El Coquito, asking for "food, shelter, obstacles. Some are now new immigrants rebuilding New Orleans medicine, and information" (Hondurans Helping Hondurans After or established immigrants returning to rebuild their familiar Katrina). They distrusted shelters and more conventional sources of communities in physical, cultural, and/or social ways. Others are information, so Cristina Berrio, the restaurant owner, became "the sons, daughters, grandsons, or granddaughters of immigrants who informal consulate." The Honduran Consulate provided little help. A know no other home and have heard the early stories of immigration local Latino/a newspaper, Jambalaya News, covered the corruption that "root" them in a Southern Latino/a New Orleans. It is a and incompetence of the Honduran Consulate General Office in New community that cannot and will not be ignored. Orleans that ultimately harmed Honduran immigrants seeking help (Murphy 12).

Hundreds of Garifunas from the North Coastal Honduran region were also reportedly in New Orleans when the storm hit. Garifuna

Reflections. 227 Works Cited Kochhar, Rakesh, Roberto Suro, and Sonya Tafoya. "The New Latino South: The Context and Consequences of Rapid Population Berchak, Katie Judith. "Nueva Orleans: Hispanics in New Orleans, The Growth." Pew Hispanic Center. 26 July 2005.7 Dec. 2008 < http:// Catholic Church, and Imagining the New Hispanic Community." pewhispanic.org/reports!report. php?ReportID=50>. Thesis. Louisiana State University, 2007. Korrol, Virginia Sanchez. "Bridging the Caribbean: Puerto Rican Roots Bracken, Mary Karen. "Restructuring the Boundaries: Hispanics in in Nineteenth Century America." History Now: American History New Orleans, 1960-1990." Diss. University of New Mexico, 1992. Online 5 (2005).10 November 2008 . fundinguniverse.comlcompany-histories/Grupo-TACA-Company Lavastida, Jose and Beatrice Rodriguez Owsley. "Hispanic Presence in History.html> . Louisiana and the Catholic Church." Cross Crozier and Crucible: Euraque, Samantha. "Honduran Memories: Identity, Race, Place, and A Volume Celebrating the Bicentennial ofa Catholic Diocese in Memory in New Orleans, Louisiana." Thesis. Louisiana State Louisiana. Ed. Glenn R. Conrad. New Orleans: The Archdiocese of University, 2004. New Orleans, 1993.77-87. Garcia, Olga Ponce. Telephone Interview. 20 Dec. 2008. Lea, Henry Charles. The Inquisition ofthe Spanish Dependencies: New "Garifuna in New York Rally for Hurricane Katrina Victims in York: Macmillan, 1908. the South." Garinet Global, Inc. 6 September 2005. . id= 166&parent_ id=230> . Murphy, Brenda. "In New Orleans: Hondurans on the verge of being Grillo, Evelio. Black Cuban, Black American: A Memoir. Houston: Arte deported." Jambalaya News. 10 Nov. 2007. Publico Press, 2000. Owsley, Beatrice Rodriguez. Interview with Father Luis Henao. 9 July Henao, Luis Emilio. The Hispanics in Louisiana. New Orleans: Latin 1987. American Apostolate, 1982. Painter, Norman Wellington. "The Assimilation of Latin Americans in "Honduran Immigrants in New Orleans: Fleeing Hurricane Mitch, New Orleans." MA Thesis. Tulane U, 1949. Katrina, and Now the U.S. Government." Narr. Amy Goodman. Peat, Don. "Hondurans Helping Hondurans After Katrina." Honduras Democracy Now. 13 September 2005. Transcript. this Week: Your Central American Weekly Review. 17 June 2007. Hurston, Zora Neale. Tell My Horse: voo doo and life in Haiti and . Kames, Thomas L. Tropical Enterprise: The Standard Fruit & Ross, Elmer Lamar. "Factors in Residence Patterns Among Latin Steamship Company in Latin America. Baton Rouge: Louisiana Americans in New Orleans, Louisiana: A Study in Urban State University Press, 1978. Anthropological Methodology." Diss. University of Georgia, 1973.

i~cfIccl inn'. .. 228 Retlections • 229 Sanchez, J.P. Honduras' Banana Trade Industry. LaCeiba.com. 8 December 2008. . Spanish Governors. Encyclopedia of Louisiana. 10 December 2008. Listen to My Story: The Transformative Possibilities of Treadway, Joan. "Honduras fest coincides with independence." Times Storytelling in Immigrant Communities Picayune. 13 Sept. 1995: B-1. Trujillo-Pagan, Nicole. "From "Gateway to the Americas" to the Mark Lyons, Proyecto Sin Fronteras I Open Borders Project "Chocolate City": The Racialization of Latinos in New Orleans." Racing the Storm: Racial Implications and Lessons Learnedfrom Hurricane Katrina. Ed. Hillary Potter. Lanham: Lexington Books, Since 2006, Open Borders Project I Proyecto Sin Fronteras has 2007.95-114. used digital storytelling in our work with teens and adult Woodward, Ralph Lee, Jr., ed. Tribute to Don Bernardo de Galvez. learners in summer workshops, computer courses and ESl New Orleans: The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1979. classes. Participants write stories or interview others about their immigrant experience, record, edit and mix their stories on an open-source program, and create short audio stories. Their stories are published on our website, used to stimulate discussions, shared in public forums, and played on the radio. The process of creating stories and sharing them has been profound. Listening to each other's stories and reflecting on our common experience is an act of honoring our lives and affirming our sacrifices and dreams. Through our stories, we build a collective identity as immigrants. Telling our stories allows us to take risks, to talk about missing our families, our isolation, our frustrations as we try to feel at home in our new world. Our stories create openings for conversations with our friends and family, to say things unsaid. Our biggest challenge: how to use our stories as instruments for change, to give us a voice, to be heard, to organize, to become actors responding to issues that affect our lives. This article is accompanied by a CD of several of the stories produced at Open Borders Project and referred to in the text.

Refl eet i 011" • 230 Ret1ections • 231 Sanchez, J.P. Honduras' Banana Trade Industry. LaCeiba.com. 8 December 2008. . Spanish Governors. Encyclopedia of Louisiana.! 0 December 2008. Listen to My Story: The Transformative Possibilities of Treadway, Joan. "Honduras fest coincides with independence." Times Storytelling in Immigrant Communities Picayune. 13 Sept. 1995: B-l. Trujillo-Pagan, Nicole. "From "Gateway to the Americas" to the Mark Lyons, Proyecto Sin Fronteras I Open Borders Project "Chocolate City": The Racialization of Latinos in New Orleans." Racing the Storm: Racial Implications and Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina. Ed. Hillary Potter. Lanham: Lexington Books, Since 2006, Open Borders Project I Proyecto Sin Fronteras has 2007.95-114. used digital storytelling in our work with teens and adult Woodward, Ralph Lee, Jr., ed. Tribute to Don Bernardo de Galvez. learners in summer workshops, computer courses and ESL New Orleans: The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1979. classes. Participants write stories or interview others about their immigrant experience, record, edit and mix their stories on an open-source program, and create short audio stories. Their stories are published on our website, used to stimulate discussions, shared in public forums, and played on the radio. The process of creating stories and sharing them has been profound. listening to each other's stories and reflecting on our common experience is an act of honoring our lives and affirming our sacrifices and dreams. Through our stories, we build a collective identity as immigrants. Telling our stories allows us to take risks, to talk about missing our families, our isolation, our frustrations as we try to feel at home in our new world. Our stories create openings for conversations with our friends and family, to say things unsaid. Our biggest challenge: how to use our stories as instruments for change, to give us a voice, to be heard, to organize, to become actors responding to issues that affect our lives. This article is accompanied by a CD of several of the stories produced at Open Borders Project and referred to in the text.

Rd'lcl'ti(ln~ • 230 Reflections. 231 pen Borders Project / Proyecto Sin Fronteras is an educational recording is edited in an open-source program called Audacity. The organization based in the Latino community of North voice is mixed with music, voice-over, and sound effects. The final Philadelphia. Our mission is straightforward: to provide product is an audio story, between two and ten minutes in length, which immigrants technical computer and language skills that will improve can be burned on a CD, put on a website, played on a radio station, sent their employment opportunities, to use our classes as a venue to create to families back home, or used in a campaign. The producers learn two a community, and to identify and develop leaders who can involve our important skills related to literacy: to tell a story that has meaning to community in a dialogue with the institutions that affect our lives. them and their community, and to use computer technology.

As immigrants, one of the greatest challenges we confront in our new We chose Audacity as our editing tool because it is free (just Google world is our anonymity. We are separated from those we love back Audacity, and follow the directions) and very user-friendly. Participants home, are often isolated from each other on this side of the border, and are energized by the ease with which they learn the program, and are invisible to the larger world that does not know who we are, does quickly begin to explore its creative possibilities. It is an ideal tool not value the contributions we make as we work, pay taxes and add because it is accessible to our community, which has limited financial our rich cultures and sense of family and community to the weave of resources and limited experience working with computers. America. We feel like non-beings. The stories that have been produced in these workshops stop me One of our great strengths is that we are a community of storytellers every time I listen to them. But what is even more powerful are our oral tradition is the glue that connects us to our roots in Guatemala the stories around the stories: risks taken, experiences honored, or Mexico or Ecuador or Colombia or Puerto Rico. Our stories can help thoughtful feedback given, conversations initiated, reflections shared, us create new communities in EI Norte, affirm our common experience a community of storytellers cultivated, the potential for these stories and dreams, and work together to speak to the larger society, to be to give the immigrant community a voice in the larger community of heard, to become visible. Philadelphia. I will share some of these remarkable stories, as well as their back stories-how they were produced and the effect they In 2006, Open Borders introduced digital storytelling into our work. We had on the narrators and the listeners. (In the jacket of this edition of began with teens in our summer program, then gradually expanded to Reflections is a CD that includes eight of the stories that I will discuss. the point that we incorporate storytelling into almost all phases of our Stories found on the CD will be noted by: [CD-Track # ].) work with youth, communities, ESL classes and technical classes such as webcast design. Since the inception of our program, students from The Open Borders Youth Radio Project service-learning programs at several universities in Philadelphia have played important roles in our digital storytelling program, especially in I ask Micaela Hernandez, Glenda Vargas, and Tatyana Martinez why our work with youth and English language learners. they chose to be on the production team that will interview Gregory Taylor, an ex-offender who works for the National Comprehensive This is how a digital story works: The producer creates a story, as Center for Men, where he mentors other ex-prisoners who want to a written narrative or an interview. The story is recorded, and the re-build their relationship with their children. Tatyana talks about

Reflect iOll;'" • 232 Reflections • 233 her father being production teams and interviewed local heroes in our community. For in jail since the example, in the summer of2008, a team produced a radio· show about day she was born; an ex-offender who mentors other men who have come out ofjail and Glenda tells ofthe want to rebuild their relationships with their children [CD Track 3]. years her father Another team did a show about a Mexican woman who fights racism was away injail; and sexism in South Philadelphia [CD Track 6]. Micaela says, "Its ". just a topic I'm The Ecuadorians of Upper Darby interested in. " Two Martha has not seen her children-now 13 and 17-for ten years. As days later, when we she edits her interview from 37 minutes down to 5 minutes, the focus are developing the narrows down to her griefof being separated from her children, of question set for the her guilt and pride and dreams for them. Her story tells of the day interview, Micaela she left home, her desperation to find ways to communicate with her "comes out" about children, her hopes for reuniting with them [CD Tracks 1/English and her father being in jail since she was three-the first time she has 2/Spanish). As we listen to her story on the final day ofour workshop, told anyone for many years. After sharing the details of their fathers' all crying, Martha says, "This is the first time I've been able to say this incarceration, the three decide they will weave their own stories of to anyone since coming north. " being separated from their fathers into Gregory s story [CD Track 3). A large community of Ecuadorians has recently settled in Upper Darby, For the last three summers we have held the Open Borders Youth a working-class community on the edge of Philadelphia. Many of Radio Project, in which 15-20 teens from North Philadelphia were paid these immigrants come from the village of Sidcay, in the Ecuadorian to work as producers, twenty hours per week for six weeks. Seventy highlands; most of them have made the trip north alone and left family percent of the teens were Latino, thirty percent are African-American. and children behind. Because of their undocumented immigration We divided the project into two sessions. During the first two weeks, status they have not been able to return home for five, even ten years. we used a set of exercises to teach participants the elements of telling On eight Saturday mornings we met in the basement of Lucia P., a good story--how to build a story arc, using description and creating set up laptop computers and held a digital storytelling workshop. scenes, being specific while exploring a universal theme. Participants First, participants talked about what it meant to be an immigrant and wrote personal stories about the most important thing in their room, or developed a list of themes that would help them focus their stories. a sad or happy memory, or an event that changed them forever. During Their list was like a table of contents for the diaspora occurring all over this period they also learned technical aspects of recording and sound the world, of people moving from poor countries to richer countries, editing in Audacity. Most importantly, the first two weeks were about from the country to the city, to survive: life at home and the decision taking risks by telling stories that were important to them, and building to leave, the pain of leaving and separation from family and children, trust as they listened to each others' stories carefully and honored them. the dreams that brought them to EI Norte, life in the United States, the During the second session, which lasted four weeks, teens formed

Refl cct lPl1 " • 234 Ret1ections • 235 dream versus the reality. After much discussion, the group decided to Lessons Learned from Our Digital Storytelling Program focus on the theme of leaving home. We then held a mini-workshop on The vision of introducing storytelling into all phases of our work is how to do a good interview-asking open-ended questions, putting the very much a work in progress. However, after three years of developing narrator in a scene and asking her to fill in the details, listening actively and tinkering with the model, we can make four observations that make and going where the conversation leads. The group then developed a us feel we are on the right track, that we want to continue to deepen and set of open-ended and scene-creating questions to explore the theme of leaving home, and interviewed each other. Most of the interviews were refine our work in this area. 15-40 minutes long, which were edited down to around five minutes Lesson # 1: When they feel safe, people will take risks and tell in Audacity (a revelation for everyone, especially those who had never stories that are important to them; they will begin to believe that touched a computer). Finally, they added music to their sound track. they have an important story to tell. Reyna, age 15, initially wrote a English as a Second Language at Open Borders superficial story about "one of the most important people in my life," an aunt who she said she said she didn't really know. I mentioned Xiomara has written her first story in English, and reads it into the that it felt as if she didn't really care about her story, and began to recorder. She tells oftaking her two young children on the bus to the "peel the onion," as we say at Open Borders. "Why did you decide to County Assistance Office to get them Medicaid. They miss the stop and write about your aunt?" "Well, I didn't know her, but I heard that she end up in Center City Philadelphia. She tries to ask for directions, but would really be there when you needed her." "Does she remind you no one speaks Spanish. She and her children walk the three miles home of someone who has really been there for you?" "Well (a long pause), to North Philadelphia. She promises herselfthis will never happen my mom was there for me." When was that?" "When I got pregnant again. She will/earn English [CD Track 9]. last year." "Is this the story you really want to tell?" We talked about risks, and Reyna decided to go for it. She wrote a brutally honest letter English as a Second Language classes are held at Open Borders. Most of to her one-year-old, Jonathan, about how angry she was that because the instructors are volunteers from undergraduate and graduate programs of him she couldn't hang with her friends after school or on weekends; at Temple University. In the fall of2008, Open Borders Project did a then described all she was going to do to assure he had the best shot workshop with the ESL volunteers which focused on teaching students in life. Devon, 17, with a history of problems in school but now back to write a brief story about their immigration experience. Students wrote on track, wrote of being homeless, and his favorite toy in the shelter stories, which we recorded and mixed with music; then we gave each being a Power Ranger without any arms [CD Track 4]. Darnell's story student a CD of the class stories as a graduation present [CD Track 9]. told of planning revenge with his brothers to punish his father for all We are working with Temple to make these stories an integral part of the beatings his family had endured. Eduardo, an artist at nurturing the ESL curriculum, to enhance written and oral language acquisition. his tough persona, described the favorite object in his bedroom-a One class has introduced cooperative learning: one participant discusses photograph of his mother taken five years before, the last time she was the story she wants to tell, and the group makes suggestions on how to happy, just before his father left. improve vocabulary, grammar and structure.

Reflectioll" .. 236 Reflections. 237 Teachers decided that if we were going to push teens to take risks, brainstormed a list of criteria of how you know a great cookie when we would have to take risks too: we offered them the opportunity to you taste one. Students then (blind-) tasted the teachers' cookies, and interview us. Any questions were legitimate, as long as they were chose the best according to their criteria. We then developed criteria respectful. Students worked in teams, developed question sets, and for what makes a "good" story. Students met in small groups, listened interviewed teachers while other students observed. One group asked to each other's stories, talked about what parts of the story moved a service-learning volunteer about her personal life, what she thought them, suggested ways to make the stories more powerful. When the about living with her boyfriend before marriage. Another group stories were completed, recorded and mixed, the entire group listened interviewed a volunteer teacher about being bi-racial. An Anglo teacher to the final cut. We recounted memorable scenes and images, and was asked about why he worked in the Hispanic community, what he acknowledged the bravery of telling stories important to us. Long got out of it. Student observers gave feedback about the quality of the discussions were stimulated by the stories, about teen pregnancy, abuse questions, extent of active listening, and opportunities for follow-up in the home, difficulties communicating with parents, betrayal by questions. With this feedback, the interviews were resumed. friends, relationships between boys and girls. Micaela and Tatyana got into a long discussion about how their lives would have been different Lesson # 2: A transforming moment within our workshops is the if their fathers had been home, rather than in jail, and tried to imagine act of listening to each other's stories, giving feedback, reflecting. would it would be like if they ever came home. After interviewing Luis' story described his harrowing five-day storm-ravaged voyage Irma Irma Zamora about the racism she had faced since coming from from Ecuador to Guatemala on a boat loaded with sixty passengers, all Mexico, Daquan and Vanessa reflected on their own experiences with of whom had to stay below deck all day to hide from the helicopters racism [CD Track 6]. (his description of being crammed below deck in the fish holds lying head-to-toe sounded like historical descriptions of slave ships). His Wednesday morning ESL class: Anthony was stuck on his story about fellow Ecuadorians recounted their stories of paying $14,000 for a coming to the U.S. from Santo Domingo. He felt he had nothing guide, getting to Guatemala or Mexico by boat, and trekking north. important to say-he had obtained a visa and come legally, no People became very animated retelling their stories, as they realized struggles, no crossing the border in the desert, no danger. Not like other that they were in a sense heroes who had embarked on a dangerous stories. Uninteresting. "Anyway, actually, my life was much better in voyage, all for their families. Ourlast night, eating Chinese and Santo Domingo, I am not living my dream here." His classmates all listening to each other's stories, went on to midnight. People cried, told chimed in: "There's your story, The American Dream." stories about their stories, talked about how the group was a safe place to share stories they had kept hidden-even from their families and Lesson # 3: Stories create opportunities for dialogue, for missed fellow immigrants. conversations with family and other important people in our life. Glenda described her most precious possession-a letter her father sent Listening, feedback and reflection were all critical components of her from jail. She decided to ask him to read the letter for her story. the Youth Radio Project. We developed an exercise called "critiquing He had no idea she was making a digital story about him. They talked the cookie," to model a way of giving constructive feedback to help about his being away, his leaving suddenly, how important his letters students improve their stories. Teachers baked cookies, and students and cards were, how much they meant to each other. He recorded his

Reflectillns .. 238 Ret1ections • 239 letter with passion and tears (Glenda decided to edit out the tears~ committee and contacted some community leaders back home. Their his and hers. [CD Track 7]) Vanessa recorded the story of the most plan: to create an internet cafe in their village which would also be an important day of her life-the day she went to a baseball game with her afterschool computer program for their children. Funds would have traditional Mexican father. Miracle of miracles--the game was rained to be raised, people back home trained. (For many reasons related to out, and they had The Talk-about her wanting more freedom, needing organizing in a community where people work many hours and have him to trust her, how it was hard for him to let go, how they loved many priorities related to survival, this project came to a halt). Another each other [CD Track 5]. Vanessa's father listened to her digital story example: When Gregory Taylor and Kofi Asante, the director of the and learned how important that moment was for her, how important National Comprehensive Center for Men, heard Micalea and Tatyana's he was. Darnell's mother nodded with knowing and a sense of pride interview of Gregory they hatched a plan: to incorporate digital stories as he publicly played his story about how he and his brothers ended into their work, use their computer lab to bring men and their children the abuse in their family. After completing her interview with Gregory together to create mutual digital stories in which they talk about being Taylor, Micaela made the long trek by bus to visit her father, who had separated, how they are learning to be together, future hopes for their been in jail for the last fifteen years. They talked for two hours about relationship. A final example: The New Sanctuary Movement, which how they had missed each other, what they wanted for their lives, what trains people about their rights and ho~ to respond in an immigration was possible. When Gregory Taylor listened to the radio story Micaela raid, has begun to use stories of families that have been tom apart by and Tatyana had made about him, he began to cry and asked for a copy. the raids and deportations, a tool to educate and mobilize. "My two older children understand why I went away for four years," he said, "but my younger children don't. I want to play this story for my The Transformative Power of Stories two younger kids; it's time we had the conversation about why I really Telling our stories is a process towards achieving literacy. We learn to went away." articulate what is important in our lives, what our dreams are, the barriers Lesson # 4: These stories have the potential to be instruments for we confront as immigrants. We gain a better understanding of our own change. As immigrants, we must confront many burning issues that lives and the world we live in. Our stories can be a starting point for impact on our ability to share the American Dream: poor schools, profound conversations, analysis and collective problem-solving. unemployment, lack of ESL and job training programs, limited access We define ourselves and anchor our identity by our stories. Stories to health care, inability to reunite our families that have been split by demand to be heard, they teach us to listen to each other. True listening our diaspora, having to hide in the shadows because we have no legal is the foundation of all relationships-between students in a class, or status. This is our greatest challenge: now that we have found our voice parents and their children, within our immigrant community, as we and told our stories, how can we use our narratives to organize, to be negotiate with institutions of power to gain our piece of the American heard, to become actors in solving the problems that affect us? We Dream. When we tell our stories and people listen, we become visible. are learning. An example: after sharing their stories of missing their Our stories give us power. children and families back home, the Ecuadorians in Upper Darby decided they wanted to find a way to communicate electronically, face to face with cameras, with their families in Sidcay. They formed a

Ret1ections • 241 Endnotes

CD List for Digital Stories Referred to in This Article Track 1: Martha (English translation, read by her friend, Lucia) (5:45) Track 2: Martha (original, Spanish) (5:45) Track 3: Tatyana and Micaela, Interview with Gregory Taylor, National Comprehensive Center for Men (5: 18) Track 4: Devon (2:54) Track 5: Vanessa (l :53) Track 6: Daquan, Vanessa and Janeth, Interview with Irma from Juntos (9:00) Track 7: Glenda: Her Dad (4:11) Track 8: Glenda: Her Mom (3:10) Track 9: Tuesday ESL Class (Ricardo, Alexis, Jonathan, Xiomara, Armando, Edmira) (8:17)

I am grateful to Manuel Portillo, Lucia P. and Eli Goldblatt for their contribution to this article.

Reflections. 242