Biographic Information: English, Female, 77yrs
Themes: Life history interview, Participant talks about her whole life (childhood, family, education, career, moving around the U.S.., etc.)
Download the .DOCX at the link below:
Transcript:
[00:00]
Interviewer: Okay. So hi Xxxxxxx, um, thank you for doing this um interview with me I really appreciate it. Could you tell me about your friends.
Participant: My friends?
I: Yeah.
P: Like my friends right now?
I: Your friends right now your friends when you were younger, whoever you want to tell me about.
P: My friends right now are amazing. Some of them are friends from when I was younger, because small town, schools, you grew up together. Uh, I have several different friends, all different cultures. So, like, uh, my very best friend my daughter calls her tía and everything else, and her family is much more traditionally Hispanic and does all the traditional celebrations, so we get to partake in that. There’s (2.0) my sister, who’s quite as heck. (laughs) Um, but yeah, I don’t know, [1:00] I have a myriad of friends, I don’t know what you want to know about ‘em.
I: Um, tell me about your best friend.
P: My best friend?
I: Yeah.
P: She’s great. Um, we have been best friends for about nine years now, and we went to high school together. So, we’ve actually known each other, close to twenty years.
I: Did you guys- were you guys friends in high school?
P: No.
I: Oh. So, what made you become friends?
P: Um, I got over the fact that she was one of my mom’s favorite students and I wasn’t petty and jealous anymore. (laughs)
I: So your mom was a teacher?
P: My mom was a teacher yeah. So my mom taught at the same high school I went to ‘cause I went over here to the charter arts high school Alma de Arte. And, um yeah. Any, any time she had a favorite student I just like “throw it away”. (laughs)
I: Your mom was right, she was your favorite. She’s your favorite now.
P: She’s my favorite. Yes. However, we both like have grown and changed since we were in high school so even if I wasn’t under that mom impression I just don’t think we would have fallen in that same friend group.
I: I see. And um, [2:00] were you guys the same age?
P: She’s a year younger.
I: Oh, okay. Uh, what are you- to the charter school you said right?
P: Mhm.
I: Okay. And what other friends are you friends with now. I have friends from my freshman year of high school which wasn’t at the charter school ‘cause it wasn’t open yet. Um, both of them I met my freshman year of high school which was in 2003.And there’s, um, it’s the one I said that’s smart as heck she lives in Roswell she’s a band instructor. Uh, she actually came down a couple weeks ago. [Oh.] Her um students for the first, for college experience. [Oh.] So I got to see her and she got to see the office and stuff. And then my other friend also lives in Roswell, where I was my freshman year. Bounced around a lot.
I: Wait, so your freshman year high school you in Roswell?
P: Yeah.
I: Okay.
P: I have been in Cruces, (laughs) more or less my whole life. Um, just lots of my, my parents kind of just went where the jobs were. So, I lived in a lot of um places along southern New Mexico. [3:00]
I: And if I remember right your dad was in the army.
P: Mhm.
I: Okay.
P: My dad is retired from the army he retired in 1992.
I: Okay, so tell me a little bit about your family.
P: Um, so I have my mom who was born and raised in Las Cruces. Um, this is like 1955 (laughs) that she was born. Um, so my mom’s side of the family is from here. My roots go right back. We used to have family land out in the valley. Um, so, my (2.0) grandfather and grandmother met my great grandmother built a house out here in 1957, which is a house I lived in until a few years ago.
I: Oh. [Yeah.] So you live in your great grandma’s house?
P: Yes.
I: Dang! That’s cool. [Yeah!]
P: It’s a little piece of farmland. It’s like a two-bedroom farmhouse. It’s really old and falling apart now. [(laughs)]Which is why I had to move out ‘cause I can’t maintain this home and it too small for my family.
I: Was it in Mesilla?
P: Uh, [4:00] no, so it’s out going towards radium. So you know when you’re driving down valley, as if you’re going to go to Doña Ana. It’s a little bit further past Dona Ana. And then, um but like right before Radium Springs.
I: Like past the Tractor Supply and like the Ace Hardware.
P: Yes, past that.
I: Okay.
P: So I’m- I was about four miles past that Ace Hardware store out there. [Oh.] ‘Cause there’s that elementary school.
I: Oh, yeah. Um, I know which one you’re talking about [East Picacho Elementary] Yes.
P: And then just a little bit- so I was, I actually lived on Valley Drive. [Oh.] So my whole family had like a stretch of farmland in that area.
I: And does anybody live there still?
P: No. No, no no. [No?] It died out.
I: Were you the last one that was there?
P: Yes. And now the house is just in vacant. ‘Cause the, I mean, it sold when my grandfather passed away, my mom and my uncles, they sold the land to a farmer because none of us are ag (2.0) people. So we sold it off to the Salopecs, who are like a major pecan industry um people here. So they put pecans [5:00] on the land and then they let me live there and rent out the house.
I: Oh, okay. Do you have any siblings?
P: I have two siblings. I have two older brothers.
I: Oh, so you’re the youngest?
P: I am. I’m also the best.
I: (laughs) I’m sure they would say the same.
P: No, they will. (laughs)
I: (laughs) Does your mom think that?
P: Um, no. [(laughs)] Yes and no. No, she loves, she has a very special bond with my older brother, right? Because he has a different father than me and my middle sibling. And for a long time, it was just her and my brother.
I: Mmm.
P: And had that single mom life with just the one kid until she met my dad and then popped me and my brother out. (laughs) So they have that special bond, which now as a mom I get, right?
I: Yeah. Like you under- [You-,
P: you bond with each kid differently.
I: And you have two kids, right?
P: I have three kids.
I: Oh, you have three! I thought you only had two. I thought you had a girl and a boy.
P: Nope, I have two boys and a girl. [Oh.] So I have a fourteen-year-old, a twelve-year-old, and then my youngest is nine.
I: Nine? Oh, dang. So they’re getting into the teenage years. [6:00] (2.0) How’s that going?
P: It’s good. I taught my oldest how to shave. ‘Cause like over the weekend his mustache came in. I’m not even kidding. It was like I went to bed on Friday and then last night it was just like- I’m like, “Dude, you need to go wash your face, your lip is dirty.”, he’s like, “It’s hair, mom!”
I: You’re like “Oh! It’s coming in.”
P: Yeah. And then he’s like, “Can you teach me to shave? My dad hasn’t done it yet.” And I’m like, “Yeah, tots”. I taught my son how to shave this morning. That was fun. I like teenagers. I’m much better prepared for the teen years than I am for like the baby toddler things, I think.
I: Oh, and you work with like-
P: I work with you guys, yeah [like]
I: We’re basically teenagers still. Kind of young adults.
P: Young adults, late teenagers.
I: Late teenagers.
P: You’re coming out of that aso- adolescent stage into the adulthood.
I: Uh huh.
P: I don’t know. I just like that age range better anyway.
I: Um, do your kids play any sports?
P: Um, not like- I don’t- professionally doesn’t sound, it sounds too bougie, but, the play- they play recreationally. So not, not necessarily on a team [7:00] or anything like that. My son does want to get into baseball, but it’s his freshman year of high school and he’s never played on a team before. So he’s having issues getting through,
I: Mmmm. Well it’s a good experience [try-outs] though. Like the, the team.
P: Oh, playing in a team? [Yeah.] Yeah, yeah. I was a jock.
I: Oh, really?
P: Yeah.
I: What’d you play?
P: I played volleyball, basketball, and track. [Ooo.] And did that in middle school. And then in high school, um, I did marching band. Which doesn’t seem athletic, [No.] but the way that the- it’s, it’s pretty intense.
I: What um instrument did you play?
P: I played flute, trombone, baritone and tuba.
I: Which one is your favorite.
P: The baritone.
I: Which, which one is that one? Is it like, one of the big ones? [It’s like a mini-]
P: Yeah. [Oh.] So, it’s one of the big ones. It’s like a mini tuba essentially. So, you know how the tubas are like giant. Um, then the baritones like the next size down from the tuba.
I: Mmm. But you- it’s like still handheld. You don’t have to.
P: Oh, yeah. It’s still massive though.
I: It’s heavy. I know that big one. I’ve, I see the guys always carrying. I’m like,[8:00] “How are you guys carrying that?” Like, like literally [the tuba like one of the tubas like,]
P: Not too bad because it like wraps around. Um, it’s not like the concert tuba that sits in the lap. So it, it does help because you have it resting on your shoulder and stuff. The baritone it’s still like a so if you, you can picture a trumpet, right? And then times that size by like four. And that’s the baritone that you’re carrying. [Mmmm.]
I: Okay. It’s still pretty decent size.
P: It’s still pretty decent size. It’s still [especially, if you’re carrying it.]
I: Which one do you think was the hardest to play?
P: The flute.
I: Really?
P: Mhm.
I: I feel like it’s a lot of like your, your lips have to be a certain way, right?
P: It’s like that with all instruments. Um, the flute for me. I don’t know. It’s kind of like (sigh) this is gonna sound so cheesy and dumb, but you know, Harry Potter, right? You know the whole theory, like the one chooses the wizard?
I: M mm.
P: Okay. Well, it’s a theory in Harry Potter that you don’t just go and pick your wand and you have it like, it has to be the right fit and the right wand for you. [9:00] And I think that is very synonymous with musical instruments because, I did the flute for a couple of years and then we didn’t have any trombone players in our band because it was a fairly small school and all of our trombone players, so I was like, okay. I’m not really finding my jazz here on the flute, I’m going to go ahead and switch over to this. And I started getting a little bit better, and then when I transferred to Mayfield my junior year which was a much bigger band much more experience. The band director put me on the baritone. Which was like a valve instrument. And all of a sudden everything just like clicked and fell into place. Like all the practice I’ve been doing for years, everything just like trickled in. So I think it’s just about what’s finding right for you as a person and not necessarily that one instrument’s harder than the other.
I: Like it’s personalized?
P: Yeah. So-
I: So you said you went to Mayfield, so you went to the charter school and then you transferred to Mayfield?
P: No, I went to Mayfield then I- I went to four high schools.
I: Oh, which high schools?
P: I went to Roswell High. [10:00] I spent about nine weeks in Pecos, New Mexico while my mom was working there and just really not happy um and then was here in Cruces and went to Mayfield and then my senior year I went to the Art High School.
I: Mmm. Is the Art High School like downtown kind of?
P: Mhm.
I: Okay, yeah. [Yes.] I think I’ve seen that one before.
P: It’s right there. It’s off of Court. It’s like by Pioneer Park almost like- you can literally walk to the downtown mall. It’s like two blocks away from the downtown mall.
I: There’s a downtown mall?
P: Huh?
I: A downtown mall?
P: Yeah, like you know where like Rad and all the [Ohh.] bars and stuff are?
I: Yeah.
P: That’s the downtown mall.
I: Oh, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know you call it the downtown mall.
P: I don’t know if it’s still. It’s called that, isn’t it? Or is it called the plaza now? [I don’t know.]
I: I have no idea.
P: Back in the day, ‘cause I’m so geriatric now. [(laughs)] It was the downtown mall. (laughs) I remember it before it got its remodel.
I: Did it like look totally different?
P: Oh yeah, it used to be like how it was built when the city like originally got built up and this street um [11:00] it was and it was very um run down and almost deserted. Like there wasn’t a lot there. There was like the theaters and a couple of little things but the way it is now it wasn’t how it was back then. There wasn’t bars and restaurants. There wasn’t like the comic book shop and the ar- um there’s maybe a couple like art galleries but not too many. So it’s really like developed up and they put in the plaza and the stage and [Yeah.] the city’s really built it up over the years.
I: So where did you guys used to like go hang out when you were in high school?
P: Hastings.
I: Hastings?
P: Yes.
I: Like the bookstore?
P: Yeah.
I: Oh they don’t have one here no more, right?
P: No, no, no. The company went totally bankrupt and they’re all all of the Hastings are gone. Similar to like Blockbuster. But it used to be where like the Sprouts is.
I: Mmm. And that’s like the main hangout spot?
P: Yeah.Well that’s where me and my friends hung out. I wasn’t one of the cool kids. I didn’t go do- I mean there was the- you know there were times we’d go hang out like at the river under a bridge and did stupid shit and when I lived in the smaller rural parts of New Mexico we would go cow tipping and things like that [12:00] but.
I: It’s crazy how like city and like country like totally different things that you do. ‘cause I grew up in like a more of like a farm town compared to like Cruces [Mhm.] and it’s like totally different like s- perspective. Like even like Mayfield like that’s a whole different [Oh yeah.] perspective even from here like city- [And]
P: where were you at?
I: Um, do you know where Farmington is?
P: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
I: So there’s a small town called Bloomfield.
P: Okay.
I: And I’m from that. Yeah.
P: So very similar. I spent some time um in Roswell but there’s also a really small town between that and like Artesia called Lake Arthur, and literally kindergarten through twelfth grade was um there was only two hundred students.
I: Like K through twelve?
P: K through twelve. Yeah, so like if I had stayed there my graduating class would have been like twelve.
I: I know I met people here all the time. They’re like, “Yeah, I graduated with like ten people.” I’m like, I thought I came from a small town.
P: Yeah. We had six-man football.
I: H- I- yeah.
P: Yeah.
I: I know I thought I came from a small town but like Bloomfield honestly per- like a bigger town- [13:00]
P: Mhm.
I: compared to like some small towns.
P: Bet it is. They are very different dynamics.
I: Oh, for sure. Like it’s definitely a culture [Mhm.] change for sure for sure.
P: And even still Cruces is teeny tiny.
I: Oh yeah.
P: I did spend right before COVID I moved out to Phoenix and I spent about two and a half three years there.
I: What were you doing in Phoenix?
P: Um, avoiding life. (laughs) [(laughs)] No, I just moved there to explore new opportunities and try to like grow and develop. But then COVID happened and my um, (sigh) I wasn’t able to work from home but my ex-husband did. So my kids were with him and they just kind of got settled here in El Paso and stuff. And ultimately I was like I don’t want to- I could have easily moved them over there with me ‘cause I was doing okay career wise. But I didn’t want to rip them up so I came back here.
I: That’s fair. Um, so do your kids live here, in Cruces?
P: Yeah.
I: And their dad lives in El Paso? [El Paso.]
P: [Oh.] And my middle [14:00] lives with his dad so he lives in El Paso right now. But dad and kids are moving back. [Oh.] Hopefully by the end of the month.
I: So everybody’s going to be here then.
P: Hopefully.
I: That’s exciting.Are you excited?
P: Yes. I hate only seeing my middle baby twice a month. It’s not enough [Twice?] Yeah.
I: Aww.
P: ‘Cause we share weekends right? So me and my ex-husband alternate weekends. So we get every other weekend we spend with all three kids and then they have their weeks with us. But-
I: Oh, I see.
P: Me and my ex-husband get along. It’s not like a volatile thing or anything like that. Uh, we’re not like best friends. But you know- [But you]
I: do it for the kids.
P: We yeah. We put aside our differences for the most part for the kids. And we both really kind of just agree that it’s- (sigh) the kids are smart enough to advocate for themselves and say where they want to be and where they feel they’re going to be most successful, and we just want to support them.
I: That’s fair [So,] That’s good. So how do you- how do you guys do like schooling if like you said he gets [15:00] them one week and then you get them the other week?
P: Just the weekends.
I: Oh okay. [Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No.]
P: Maybe when he moves down here and that’ll change and we can do that. But honestly I don’t see that happening. Well, my ex-husband is a great guy and I’m not trying to trash talk. We just have very different vibes. And the oldest and youngest who live with me vibe better with my personality and the middle is much more happy with his dad’s personality and his setup and structure. If that makes sense.
I: Yeah, no that makes sense. Um-
P:And it’s not anything bad. [Yeah.] It’s just differences.
P: No. What um what do you like what’s one of your favorite things to do with your chi- kids?
I: Mmmm. Honestly I like doing the like family things that happen around town. So like the Ren Fair. Um, we’ll go walk around the mall. We’ll go play at the batting cages. We take them batting. Uh, we do a lot of parks and like [16:00] swimming, hiking, those types of things. So, I, I don’t like crowds. So I try- I tend to avoid big crowd things. Like Ren Fair is one of those like random like [like you’re]
I: you’re more like an outdoorsy person?
P: Outdoorsy? I’m just anti-people.
I: Anti- people (laughs). You said they behave for anybody.
P: I’m like anybody, but like anything over twelve people is too much for me.
I: That’s fair. Um, do you guys go to Dripping Springs a lot and hike?
P: Uh, the youngest and have been up to Dripping Springs a couple times. The oldest likes to do A Mountain ‘cause he likes the challenge of it, he’s my athletic one. The younger one’s more kind of leisurely. And the middle is terrified of heights. So when he’s taggaling along for hikes we go like either that or one of the flat trails the La Llorona um Rio Grande Trail that goes through.
I: I did not- I’ve heard that one before.
P: Yeah, it’s it’s literally it’s just like a walking path that follows the river and it’s over there by where that park is up off of um 70 going out towards Phoenix.
I: Mmm. I’ve never heard of that before. [17:00]
P: Really?
I: Like oh, that way towards like by the um the, fair place?
P: Yeah if you’re heading out towards the fairgrounds it’s when you go over the river it’s right there.
I: Hmm.
P: And it’s called what’s really funny and ir- ironic is because it’s La Llorona Park which you know [Right.] the you know the like urban [Yeah.] story of that. And it’s a park where kids play by the river. So it’s one of my favorite [(laughs)] like facts about Las Cruces, and here’s our really dark demented park. But.
I: That’s actually- but I remember when I was a little kid we had a ditch and I’d be like don’t go by La Llorona ‘casue (inaudible) [La Llorona is gonna get you.] and it got [hang on don’t go.].
P: Like my, my, my abuelita used to tell me all the time. (laughs) “Mija don’t go.” And I’m like.
I: And it scared us! Like it definitely like we were all terrified. Oh yeah well ‘cause my- the farmhouse I was telling you about earlier it’s literally less than a quarter mile away from the river.
P: Ohhh.
I: Like I could just walk up to the levee and you can see the river from my house.
P: Yeah that’s what they were
I: like the river was [18:00] closer to me than we are to Hardman and Jacobs.
P: Oh (laughs)
I: yeah no that’s-
P: (laughs) so growing up I was like no. “I’m gonna die!!”
I: Don’t- you didn’t ever go by it?
P: I don’t buy it.
I: Um what’s your favorite memory as a kid and why?
P: Mmm.
I: You could tell me as many as you want.
P: Um I mean really like so I grew up in the early 90s right was when I was little. And so I just have a lot of memories of that small town life. Riding the bike around like how you see on the nostalgia shows. It really was like that for me. Um one of my other favorite memories was when my brother broke my arm.
I: Oh how did he do that?
P: We were playing paper football so-
I: Paper football?
P: Yeah ‘cause you can’t throw actual balls in the house right it makes everybody mad. So we would wad up pieces of paper and me my dad and my brother would play football in the house. And um the ball fumbled [19:00] and it went under you know that little ledge in the kitchen where the counters are and it like sits over it went under there. So I squatted down to grab it and my brother’s like tag but he tagged me and pushed me back and I went to catch my arm. So, my arm bent but then my brother lost his balance and fell on top of me. [Ohh!] And it went *cu-chuu*
Oh and then my dad’s like “You’re fine stop being a sissy.” And then two days later my mom took me to the doctor and they x-rayed it and they had to wrap it in a splint and let it heal for a week and then had to go back and re-break it and then get it and then get it wrapped in the cast. And that started the year and a half of me being in a cast because I continued to break it after the cast would come off.
I: Oh my god.
P: I was very um adventurous as a kid. Reckless. I don’t know.
I: You had no fear?
P: No fear. Dude I have so many scars it’s not even funny. Like when I was little my bike peeled out on a railroad track and ended up getting splinters rust and gravel in a scab all at the same time. And like there’s literally still scars on my knees. I don’t know if you can see them here.
I: Oh dang.
P: And that’s from when I was like five.
I: [20:00] And you just like- were going over the tracks or?
P: Yeah, I was just being very fast on my bike and like,
I: you went. *pff ch* and *pffu*
P: Um the second time I broke my wrist again I was on my bike and I was riding with my friend and we went to turn a corner and they went a little bit closer in and my front tire hit their back and that’s when I like flipped off my bike.
I: Oh my gosh.
P: Used to do what’s called ghost riding where we drive, we get our bike as fast as we could and then we jump off and just let the bike coast without anybody on there.
I: Like you would let it just. [(inaudible) a few times.]
I: Wait you would let it just, ?
P: Yeah you would ride it as fast as you could and then you’d hop off while it was in motion [Oh.] and you would just let it go and whoever’s bike went the furthest won.
I: I have never heard of that.
P: Yeah. (laughs) I mean we didn’t have technology we were bored kids.
I: No you used your imagination.
P: Yeah. Um just like a lot of fun memories like that.
I: Uh at fourteen. I worked in the snow cone stand under the table that was one of my favorite summers ‘cause I just stayed in a little literally ice box. [21:00] And-
I: Especially in this heat.
P: Especially in the heat made snow cones and read books. All day every day. [Oh.]
I: Are you a book reader?
P: Yeah well not too much anymore but I was. I have I have kids and things now I don’t have to read.
I: I have responsibilities now. Um what was your favorite like book to read? Like what is your all-time favorite book? Um I have several. From childhood and stuff, I’m going to say Harry Potter. That was a very pivotal moment in my life. The books were brand new and coming out at that time period and, (clears throat) sorry, I grew up very religious. My family was very very religious and so it was something it wasn’t allowed. So it was really kind of my first act of open rebellion. You know when you purposefully- like when you’re little you break rules, but you don’t always, you don’t mean to break rules, but this was breaking the rules with intent. So I blame Harry Potter for my very like punk rock lifestyle and like, “No. Your rules are dumb.”
I:We’re not going to listen to you. [22:00]
P: Yeah, um so it was like Harry Potter was very significant in my childhood. In adulthood I really got into Christopher Moore books and there’s a book called um “A Dirty Job” and that’s probably my current like one of my all-time favorite books. Like if I could I’d write it into a screenplay series tv show thing because I know it’s so forwards and backwards.
I: And which one was that again?
P: It’s called A Dirty Job.
I: A Dirty Job.
P: By Christopher Moore.
I: Okay.
P: A guy becomes not the grim reaper but like a soul collector. So when people die um in the book the theory is that your soul gets put into an inanimate object that’s of high importance for you. So for example, I still sleep with my baby blanket. Like I have a thirty-four-year-old blanket that I still cuddle with every night. [(laughs)] It’s it’s basically a rag now. But I do imagine if there was an object my soul were to be placed in it’d be that blanket right? So everybody has a special object. And it’s essentially these people’s jobs to collect these objects. So that way the bad people of the underworld [23:00] don’t take over or whatever. And it’s it’s really kind of graphic and dark and twisty and has very weird humor to it. And-
I: And you read that when you were in like high school?
P: Oh, I read that when I was 19. So, I read it in beauty school. It was right after high school.
I: Oh you went to beauty sch- beauty school?
P: Yeah. I’m a fully licensed cosmetologist. I was [Oh really?] in the industry for like ten years. Yeah.
I: Oh my gosh. What did you- like hair? What do you do?
P: Hair, nails, um all of it. Not too much the esthetician part. I never really got into that side of it. But I did hair for a really long time. Then I switched over to nails and I took again it’s like the instrument thing right? Like I took the nails like a fish in a water. Like it was like *pheww* um but hair and nails mostly.
I: Do you still do it like on the side?
P: Um not really. I don’t really have time for it. It’s a very time-consuming thing. And if I were to do it on the side that means I’d have to do it on my home, and I don’t like random people in my house. Um I do nails for my friends. Like if one of them would have [24:00] a special event coming up and I’m like can you do my nails? I’ll load up my kit and I’ll do their nails. And then like for the concert I made a set of press on nails for myself for Christmas and pressed on nails for myself for the concert on Friday. So I do things like I cut my kids hair. I cut my own hair. Color my own hair.
I: I did not know that. So what made you be um like switched over to like an advisor?
P: Mmm. Um, well I did student government stuff when I was in college. ‘cause I still went to college after I got my cosmetology license. [What did you get-]
I: a degree in?
P: Um, I have, it’s just in general studies.
I: Oh okay.
P: So I, I only have my associates ‘cause being a single parent and going to school and working jobs is very difficult to do. (laughs)
I: Yeah, no I can uh imagine.
P: It took me six years to do my associates and I was like I’m good. I’m gonna wait till they’re. I have what I need to be successful and stable for my children and let them grow. Um ultimately the thing that made me really change career paths was I was in Phoenix [25:00] and I was doing nails. And while I was very successful I wasn’t necessarily happy. And then COVID hit, and Phoenix didn’t shut down. We only shut down for four weeks. But here it was shut down for years. And I saw all of my friends struggling. And I was just kinda like I don’t have, I’m at a point in my life, I don’t have benefits, I don’t have retirement, I don’t have health insurance. I don’t have any of these things available to me. And I really do need a job to be that for my children. And I have admin clerical experience. So I got us, uh just like a reception position at a warehouse company in Arizona. And then when I moved back it- I tell people all the time it was kismet. It was literally meant to be because it was genuinely like a force calling me back to come back here. Right, like I said I could have easily moved my kids to Mexico. I was doing fine at the job I had. Everything was okay but for some reason I felt I needed to be here. And so, [26:00] I moved back and I was just looking around online. And I was seeing what jobs NMSU had. And this position I was like, “Oh my god this is literally what I did in college. This is what I meant to do.” And I applied and I got it and it’s all just like is the only job I applied for when I moved back was this one.
Dang.
What so what did you do in student government when you were in college? Um I was the secretary. So I was at Doña Ana which is the community college. Um, God bless community colleges. (laughs) And so their student government structure is set up a little bit different where we have like the branches. It’s more considered how like high schools are right. Where high school has the president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. And um the senators would be representations of the actual student organizations not necessarily college. [Ahhh.] So every student registered student organization had a senator that came to our senate meetings and things like that.
I: Were they like ours now?
P: Uh sometimes. No. I mean not really. Like the senate meetings ran they don’t go long long long like how ours do. It was mostly a [27:00] this is what’s going on, do you have any business to approach? So.
I: And um did they like write reimbursement bills and stuff too or?
P: Um yeah we did do reimbursements and stuff. ‘Cause we did sponsor travel. We- but it wasn’t necessarily a reimbursement. They would apply for the fund where we would take the purchase.
I: Oh.
P: Yeah.
I: So, different processes.
P: Very very different process. Because it’s in such a smaller scale too here right? Like we have so much money and so many students that we do need to have that due process. But at where we were because it was smaller it was more kind of how it’s set up for the councils right. We have this money set aside for the council and each council gets to appropriate this amount of money to their organization.
I: So it’s kind of like like the, the college councils kind of. [Yeah.] Like more or less like the appropriations.
P: And it was essentially just like a set thing. So for example because I was president of the theater arts club when we did travel the student government covered half of the travel. So as long as we could obtain the other half of the [28:00] expenses the student government covered the other half. So, if our trip total was ten thousand dollars they’d contribute five and we would contribute five.
I: Mmm. And they still pay fees too? Like they’re like call it-
P: their student fees and that’s how they get their money. [Dang.] And during my time we were able to lobby to allocate a higher percentage of those student fees to be put towards
I: students.
P: Students. We got an actual office space during my time. We were able to present ourselves with our higher ups to get moved out of a tiny little storage. Like literally our office was smaller than this space when I started.
I: And that’s like where you guys all met?
P: Like Lorraine’s office was where everybody had to meet and share. Maybe it was smaller. Maybe more like Eddie or Cidlalis. It was so small. Dude it was literally a storage closet that they put a conference room table in. (laughs) I’m not kidding. [They said let’s make it professional] Like, I’m a bodacious woman and this is how far all sides of the table were from the wall. Like I would have to climb in my seat and like sit down. It was insane. [Geez.] Um, [29:00] but what happened is, my second year of doing the sec- of being secretary ‘cause I there was somebody else they had to step down from the position and the president was like, “Hey, I want you to come in and be my representative and run.”. So it was me and one other person during just the general senate meeting and the senate voted in who they wanted. And I won.
I: Of course. Of course.
P: And they uh, so then my next term I got elected in the traditional way and that’s when our admin what I do now but and what you know the hiring process takes forever to bring in new actual like faculty and staff. So, the whole year I was just kind of learning and doing these things so they could get processed. So I was working with our, essentially who Dr. Edwards is to us. Um, I was working with his administrative assistant processing all the paperwork and filling it out to give to her to submit.
I: Mmm.
P: So that’s why I was like oh my god this job’s perfect. I’ve literally done this before. I know NMSU’s systems. I know their policies and I love student government. I’m super boojee [30:00] about it.
I: Do you, like, do you, are you glad you, you ch- you chose NMSU to work at?
P: Yeah.
I: Yeah.
P: Sometimes. No. (laughs) [(laughs)] It’s like all jobs, right? There’s stresses. I miss, I miss the nail industry so much because there is such a side of me that’s so creative and just like art driven. And I don’t really necessarily always get that here, which is why when they were like, hey, post the welcome backconcert, I’m like, “Bet, no problem.” But I love, I love the challenges it brings. I love the support to continue your education, the trainings, the professional developments that they’d offer. Like it just makes me a stronger person in general.
I: Yeah.
P: And I plan on being here for-
I: Forever.
P: No. [(laughs)]. At least the next fifteen years, my goal is to be here and get my youngest through their bachelors. And then I would like to not necessarily early retire, but I’d like to switch-
I: professions.
P: Not professions. I’ll still probably [31:00] apply for like, if I’ve dedicated fifteen years at that point, twenty years of my life to higher education, I might as well stay in it. But I really want to go to like Oregon or Washington State where it’s rainy and cloudy and mountainy and trees. ‘Cause I lived in the desert and they keep my whole life and I’m over it.
I: You’re over it. You’re ready for the cold.
P: I’m like, I’m ready for it. I’m ready for the cold. I don’t necessarily want the snow or the wind, like the East coast gets, I want the mountains I want the trees and the dreary.
I: The, are you more of a, like, do you like the colder weather more than the,
P: Mhm. So I do have seasonal depression and I’m, well, I have depression all the time, but it gets worse during summer and it’s much easier to manage in, in winter time (laughs). (2.0) But that’s, yeah, I don’t know. I like the cooler weather. I don’t like it when it gets above eighty degrees.
I: So do you, oh, so then you don’t like the summers here. [32:00]
P: No, I don’t like the summers. I did not like the summers in Phoenix.
I: Oh yeah. I can’t imagine. But Phoenix is so nice.
P: It’s nice in a lot of ways. It was a really love hate relationship for me and everywhere has refrigerated air. So as long as you’re inside, you’re fine. But, not everywhere has refrigerated here. Like I have a swamp cooler and so I just hate summer.
I: Yeah, that’s it. I feel like Phoenix is just like a, I don’t know. It’s just like a different vibe over there.
P: It is.
I: And like, especially for like younger, like people in like their twenties, I feel like it’s a good place for them to like go.
P: Oh yeah. And it’s a good learning experience. It was very different for me because (sigh) people aren’t as friendly there as they are here. [Mmm.] I don’t know if that makes sense. Like it’s just such a different dynamic. Like here, everybody’s your neighbor, everybody’s your friend. And I don’t mean that like, oh, we’re best friends, but you know, it’s,
I: Cordial.
P: it’s cordial here. Like if you, if you see somebody, they say hi, [33:00] like even if they’ve met you one time in passing, like, or, you know, it’s, (sigh) it’s just very chill. Like my neighbors, there’s three of them living in the place, but the driveway is only a two car. And so one of ‘em’s been parking on the stream. It’s like, oh, okay here I’m parking my spot. Right. Um, ‘cause I have two spots and I have one car, but things like that didn’t really happen there.
I: I feel like it’s maybe more of a, ‘cause it’s a bigger city and not more or less like over here, it’s like city, but like a small-town vibe. [it’s city with a small mentaility] Yeah.
P: That’s how I explain it to people. I’m like Cruces is a city, but it’s very small town.
I: It’s a college town.
P: Yeah.
I: Like that’s what makes it so big is the like cul- the intimacy.
P: Yeah.
I: But I don’t know.
P: It’s interesting. It was interesting dynamics. It was also the first time I realized I had an accent. Oh my God.
I: Really?
P: Yes.
I: Where, like, how did you realize?
P: Because all of a sudden, first of all, my ex-boyfriend, [34:00] him and his family is like from Chicago, so like super hella white, right? [(laughs)] And I know looking at me, you’re like, “Bitch, you’re white.” I am but my mom’s side is hella Hispanic. It was just they’re from Chihuahua, right? So they have the very fair skin. And then my grandparents-
I: Wait, so your mom’s from Mexico.
P: My mom’s from Cruces. [Oh] My grandma was from Mexi- er my, I’m sorry, great [great] grandma was from Mexico and migrated over here. And so then my grandpa was born. [Oh.] and he was,
I: Okay, that makes sense.
P: Yeah.
I: Makes sense so.
P: So it’s, it’s trickled down a little bit. And then part of it is when my mom was born, she was born in 1955, which is when the civil rights movement was on. And since they were so white, they could pass my grandfather and my mom and my abuelita, my great grandma, they all decided um that they didn’t want the kids learning Spanish or Mexican culture because they wanted them to pass for white so they could have an easier path in life. So a lot of the traditions died out with my mom. [35:00] But there are still a lot that are very um prevalent in our home.
I: Mmm.
P: Yeah.
I: Dang.
P: Yeah [So.] That’s the one that always (laughs) you can tell by my hair and my lips and like my body shape of the Hispanic side.
I: Um, did your mom speak Spanish?
P: When she has Vicodin. (laughs) No, um it really is like if she’s kind of not thinking about it too hard, she can and she has some grip on the language, but she doesn’t necessarily speak it super fluently.
I: Do you know any Spanish?
P: I know some. I don’t like speaking it because I have a horrible speech impediment um that I went to speech therapy for years for. And I really struggle with my R’s. So like La Llorona is really hard for me to say. Um, we had a student Anayasi.
I: Ana- Anayansi.?
P: Yes. It’s hard for me to pronounce that. And then um the artist the other night, it’s Yor- Yordano, baby. But the Y and the R, it’s when the Y’s and the R’s combine, I can’t make that sound ‘cause I have to hit all my R’s [36:00] really hard.
I: Like you have to over [it’s very] like over pronounce it?
P: Yeah. I was very much like, “Hi I’m Xxxxxx. It’s weally nice to meet you. And beaws are weally scawy.” [(laughs)] I’m not even kidding.
I: (laughs)
P: I had a gap in my tooth. So I had a lisp with it.
I: At least you were, you were embracing it.
P: I am. Yeah. But there’s like a lot of like residual trauma with pronunciation and not saying the Spanish words correctly, especially growing up in such a Spanish dominated um area. Right. Like just our culture is so Spanish dominated that even when I did try to speak Spanish with my friends, they would make fun of the way I said things [Mmm.] ‘cause they were so gringa. Right. Like it just.
I: And kids.
P: And kids.
I: Yeah.
P: You know, they’re kids.
I: Yeah, they’re kids. They’ll do.
P: It’s something I’m working on coming and I have, I have been learning more and more.
I: Well, when I become an SLP, I’ll help you. (laughs)
P: [37:00] Help me with my Spanish also. My English is solid now.
I: Uhh, I’ll send you to Maya. I’m not bilingual. I’ll send you to Maya for your uh, uh Spanish SLP.
P: Perfect. Now.
I: But do you have anything else you would like to say?
P: Mmm. No, I don’t know if there’s anything else you needed me to say.
I: No, I think we’re all good. But I really appreciate you doing this for me, Xxxxxxx.
P: Yeah, of course, no problem.
I: Um.
[37:25]
New Mexico Border Spanish Corpus 