Growing up Hispanic is difficult, especially with other ethnic races giving minorities the disadvantage. Although Hispanics are constantly being overlooked, there are certain individuals who stand out in communities exemplifying their true demeanor. Maria Isabel Treviño is an epitome of a diligent citizen who spends her time contributing to the success of others. Maria Isabel Treviño was born on January 31, 1976 in Los Aldamas, Nuevo Leon. She lived there for two months subsequent to when she was born. One day her dad, Benito Resendez, and mom, Andrea Resendez, and her older brother, Jose Abel Resendez, crossed her in the car illegally because they needed to go to California to work in the fields, and the process for her citizenship had …show more content…
just begun and there was no time to waste. She and her family were constantly moving when March or April came around during the summers from states like California to Arizona and even to Nebraska and would go back home to Mexico around October. While her family worked in the fields, there were homes provided from the field owners for her and her family but were not in suitable living conditions because of the houses’ decaying manner. This was a continuous process for years and years just so her and her family were able to provide for themselves and there wasn’t much that could be done to change their conditions. By the time she was six years old, her dad bought her a hoe so she could help with pulling out the weeds, which began her introduction to working in the fields. As she began to get a little bit older, around the age ten or eleven years old, she was old enough to start working in the fields, which meant waking up around 3:30-4:00 in the morning, and her parents woke up even earlier to make them breakfast. She hated this. She wanted to “live a normal life” and just wanted go to the pool and hang out with friends. Although she was still able to do these activities, she wasn’t able to enjoy them because of how exhausted she was at the end of the day. She wasn’t able to enjoy herself and half fun like any other kid her age. The working conditions were awful. For example, while she was in Arizona, the heat form the blazing sun was energy absorbing. Those days the temperature was 100 degrees and up. All the workers “had to wear long sleeve shirts, sometimes we would even wear two; we wear handkerchiefs around our neck, our cap and other one around our head,” and, “gloves.” Workers would wear old clothes and at the end of the day there was dust all over them because of the excessive amount of dust there was while working. “Our nails were full of dirt.” Although her family was financially unstable, and new members of the family were coming along, which meant for more providing, they still had a sense of unity. Her parents did things together all the time and were constantly laughing and having a good time together and at the end of the day, her parents would make dinner for the family, each of them enjoying each other’s presence. “I had a good time with my family.” There were times when she had to leave the fields because of family issues, such as: having to go back to Mexico because her mom’s dad was getting ill. However, they always had to come back to the states to continue their work. On the car rides anywhere she and her family went, they were always crowded and bunched up; although it wasn’t something huge, she was never given the luxury of having a seat for herself. After working in the fields since she was six, she finally got her first paycheck under her name at the age of thirteen, instead of the money being given to her parents, by sorting peaches, with her brother, willingly.
The amount she got depended on the amount of boxes that were filled. Since she was starting to make money on her own her dad told her, “You don’t have to give me any money but from now on, I’m not going to give you any money either.” So for the rest of the years, she had to save up for school supplies, school clothes, and any other thing that she needed; she kept that money all year long, and unknowingly, started learning how to manage her money and learn responsibility. Because Mrs. Trevino, even at such a young age, was able to manage her money spending, she decided to go and purchase the first Nintendo that was released with her own money. And on weekends she would go and enjoy herself with some of her friends and have that, rather, normal life that she always longed for. So for years to come, this was the everyday life style that Mrs. Trevino went through, with no complaints, until she was a sophomore in high school at the age of seventeen and got her first, good working condition, job at Pizza …show more content…
Hut. (Typically, sophomores are around the ages fifteen and sixteen but what occurred with Mrs. Trevino was that with constant moving as a child from the states to Mexico, that the grade levels were not equivalent; consequently, when her family decided to stay in the states, she was moved down to the third grade when she was supposed to be in the fifth. There wasn’t much she could do about it so she dealt with it for two years. During the fifth grade her teacher said that she was too advanced for that grade, so she took a test and skipped the sixth grade and went to seventh. So instead of being two years behind, she was only one year behind. She was even given the opportunity by her mom to drop out of school going into her freshman year of high school because her mom told her, “That’s it. You are finished with school; you don’t have to go back to school. Because you’re going to get married and your husband is going to support you,” but she declined the offer because she wanted to become a teacher and she always knew she did.) She still had to save up her money and do all the things she had to previously, and at this time her dad had bought her a 1,200-dollar car with no AC.
She would take care of her car with no assistance, by: washing it, paying for the gas, and changing the oil herself. This displays the independence that she had because stereotypically, girls are not supposed to do a man’s job. She eventually left her job at Pizza Hut and began working at the Photo Lab at Walmart, where she discovered her passion for photography. At this point in time, she had the choice to go work in the fields during the summer, and she declined the offer. She had moved on from that type of job, although her parents still went for work in the fields. She soon left the Walmart Photo Lab and decided to go work at High-Low – now known as O’Reilley’s Auto Parts – as a
cashier. By the time graduation came, she had been going out with Ivan Trevino for three and a half years and were planning to get married the December after she graduated. While she was planning her wedding, she was also attending college at Pan Am and got an apartment in Edinburgh near the college. She was still working at High-Low, so she could provide for herself and to pay off college tuition, even with the help from financial aid. December came around and she got married to Ivan Trevino. She soon moved in with him and then financial aid stopped providing her with the help she needed because her husband made too much, when in reality, it was barely enough to get by on. She was stripped away of the aid she needed to continue through college, yet she still continued in order to purse her dreams of becoming a teacher.
Rita Crundwell was the trusted comptroller and treasurer of Dixon, Illinois with a passion for horses. She took advantage of her trust and responsibility to commit the largest known municipal fraud in the history of the United States. This fraudster has surprised and astounded people around the world by the amount of the fraud and for how long it went. Rita served the small town of Dixon from 1983 to 2012 until sentenced to nearly twenty years in federal prison for embezzling an astonishing $53.7 million. The story of this Dixon Commissioner shocked her small town and is studied by auditors all over.
Rosie claims that “there isn’t a day that goes by in the restaurant that you don’t learn something” as well as Joe states “it was like schooling. a place where you’re constantly learning”. Mike uses reliable sources to gain detailed proof that blue-collar workers are not “a bunch of dummies”. Joe became an advanced problem solver who ended up initiating the redesign of the paint sprayer nozzle which eliminated “costly and unhealthy overspray”.
When nothing is going right in life, what do you do? Do you just quit and hope for the best or do you pick yourself up and work even harder to succeed? Iliana Roman, a single mother of three children and an owner of a hair salon, kindles the message that individuals who face adversity can still persevere in life. According to Roman’s memoir “First Job”, it is never too late to turn your life around. At seventeen years, old Roman unexpectedly became pregnant. This event led to Roman’s life changing completely causing her to drop out of high school. She was nearly to the point of no return, she simply could not hold down a proper job, and the only way to support herself and her child is working three to four odd jobs every week. Roman presents her message of persevering in life by incorporating hyperbole, repetition, and pathos.
She is fairly new to the work world and has lied on her resume’ to get hired, and realizes that the job is harder than she first thought. All hope is not lost because Violet assures her that she can be trained. She ends up succeeding at the company and telling her husband she will not take him back after he comes back begging for her love again.
Mrs. Roth chose this career in cosmetology since she was laid off from her job at the school district and was in need of money and a job. Thus, she decided to go to a beauty school for one year. She was only laid off for six months, so she came back to her job at the school district for part time while she finished her schooling.
Because Belisa Crepusculario had such a difficult childhood in which she experienced so much loss in her life, she is forced to become a stronger person both mentally and physically to survive such devastating circumstances. It will ultimately be this strong sense of survival that she develops through these experiences of great loss, which will guide her through the survival of life threatening situations.
Since before I was born, my Hispanic heritage played a huge role in who I am and what I have achieved. My great-grandfather immigrated to this country with the desire to provide his family with a better future than his own. My grandpa grew up in Texas on the boarder of Mexico and traveled to Blue Island, Illinois as migrant crop worker. This desire passed down by my grandparents and my great-grandparents has played a tremendous role in propelling me to where I am today. Each generation sought to make the the lives of their children better than their own. My grandma received the opportunity to live in the country of opportunity from her father, and my grandpa paid for my mom to get an education. My mother pushed me to do my best in school and
Judith Ortiz Cofer, a professor of english and creative writing, tackles gender roles as well as cultural stereotypes in “ The Myth of the Latin Woman” and challenges them by attempting to replace the stereotypes with the realities. In “The Myth of the Latin Woman” Cofer discusses her life in America as a Puerto Rican woman. She also shares her stories of when she was stereotyped and how gender roles play a role in how Latinos are viewed. Stereotypes will follow you around because of your appearance and how the media portrays Latinas.
Francita Alavez, “the angel of goliad” with captain telesforo Alavez to Texas in March 1836. Her name can be said in many Francita, Francisca, Pancheta, or Panchita and her last Alaves, Alevesco, or Alvarez.She was known, by the Texans, as a "high bred beauty". Her real last name and birthplace are unknown to us. Some people claim that she was with Gen. francita was with cap. Alavez in Texas,most people thought she was his wife. Later in 1935 Marjorie Rogers discovered that the captain already had a legitimate wife named María Augustina de Pozo who was abandoned on 1834.
In the Lieutenant Nun, Catalina de Erauso was born and raised in San Sebastian, Spain the year 1592. Her parents were Captain Miguel de Erauso and Maria Perez de Galarraga, a well-off family. At the age of four years, she interned in the convent of Dominicans of San Sebastiana, under the rule of carnal aunt. However, at the age of fifteen years she escaped from the convert after conflict over corrupts, where she stroll around in the effort of redeeming diverse offices (Erauso, Stepto, and Stepto 25). She managed to go to South America and joined Spanish Military. Catalina de Erauso was successful in military until she confessed no her deathbed. At the time, Catholic Church accepted convents because they believed that they were virgins despite
Immigration reform is a highly debated topic but looking through the eyes of an immigrant shows the dedicate a lot of them have towards bettering their own lives. In 1982, Elvia Quinoñez and her friends try several times to cross the American border before she finally succeeded.
Her hospitality was her passion as customers, family, and friends were drawn to her engaging personality and resourcefulness. She and her late husband Mario Improta, who met while working at Machlett Laboratories (which went on to become Raytheon) in Stamford in the 50’s, combined their desire to build something on their own and bought the Dairy Queen in Westport in the 70’s. It was a brave move they took to support their family of five. They went on to buy and run Mr. Deli in Darien in the 80’s and after that worked side by side at Critic's Choice in Stamford. Gloria never shied away from hard work and ways to expand her skills from computer training at IBM to certification as a nurse’s aid, graduating top of her class.
Only known by her pseudonyms, Yolanda, and more popularly, Ana Maria; Ana Maria is a Tzotzil, born in Sabanilla, Chiapas in 1969, who dedicated her whole life to became infantry major of the EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army). Tzotzil are an indigenous, Mayan people, who make up the largest amount of people in Chiapas. Ana Maria was raised to protest for indigenous autonomy and land reform with her family. Since the liberation of Mexico, land reform has been a reoccurring issue of revolution one result being Emilio Zapata ensuring the safeguarding of Indian communal land. The situation in Chiapas for indigenous families and farmers had gotten desperate. With most indigenous farmers losing their jobs after the fall of the coffee market, and an influx of Mayan farmers from Guatemala and El Salvador adding to their homeless problem; Ana Maria tried to bring attention to issues (Machado).
During the colonial period of Mexico equal rights between men and women were far from equal. Women were to be nuns and practice the word of Christ or become a wife and bear her husband’s children. With this being said women did not have many options when it came to furthering their education or working outside of the home. One woman scholar named Sor Juana De La Cruz fought for her rights and freedom to study and pursue her writing career. “Born November 12, 1651, in San Miguel Nepantla, Tepetlixpa México, Juana Inés de La Cruz’s intelligence and scholarship became known throughout the country during her teen years.” With her options diminished to only two and with her continuing passion to learn, she decided to become a nun. “She began her life as a nun in 1667 so that
The award-winning contemporary book, The Hired Girl, by Laura Amy Schlitz, tells an easily relatable tale. Initially set in Pennsylvania in 1911, the protagonist, Joan (later christened Janet), wants nothing more than to leave her pedestrian farm life behind. The only female in her family since her mother died, Joan takes on cooking every meal for five people, cleaning a two-story house, gardening, and the tending of animals at 14 years old. After reading an advertisement for a hired girl performing fewer duties than she and being paid six dollars a week, Joan asks her father if she could keep the money for the eggs she sells and he blatantly refuses. Her merciless father pulls her out of school despite her love of reading and burns her