What makes Nora Rodriguez a hero is that she helps Central American immigrants become mexican citizens and will do anything to help her clients. In the article "Honduran Entrepeneur helps Central American Immigrants gain Legal Status in Mexico" by Mayela Sanchez states that " The immigration office only gives applicants a list of required documents but doesn't advice them how to fulfill the requirments." The evidence shows that Nora helps Central American immigrants fill out there papers to fulfill all the requirements without the form telling them how to. I can relate this to another hero that stood up for what was right. His name is Cesar Chavez. He stood up for farmworkers who were working all day. He stood up for them and never stopped…
Maria Montoya Martinez was from San Ildefonso Pueblo. Born on an unrecorded date between 1881 and 1887 Maria was the oldest of five sisters. She started learning pottery skills from her aunt, at first just by watching her. At this time, traditional pottery techniques were being lost, but Maria and her family were trying to preserve the culture of art. By the age of seven or eight Martínez was making crude bowls and plates of her own. She received a well rounded education by first attending a government grammar and rudimentary school. Maria and her sister were selected to spend 2 of their formative years at St. Catherine’s Indian School. When Martinez returned home, she quickly achieved economic independence by mastering the craft of pueblo pottery. In 1904 she married Julian Martinez and they worked closely together. She created the pots and her husband painted them. After an archeologist had discovered ancient pottery, Maria and her husband were asked to reconstruct the pottery. After much trial and error, Maria successfully produced a black ware pot. She began developing new designs, shapes, and techniques for black pottery. She won many awards and presented her pottery at many world fairs and received the initial grant for the National Endowment for the Arts to fund a Martinez pottery workshop in 1973. Maria and her husband eventually settled in San Ildefonso, where they raised four sons and one daughter.…
The interview took place at 1393 S. Palomares Street. The interview was digitally recorded. and a copy of the interview will be kept in the Internal Affairs office for future reference. The following is a summary of the recorded interview of Martha Vazquez:…
Ellen Ochoa was the first female Hispanic astronaut. She was born on May 10, 1958, in Los Angeles, California. Her parents were Joseph and Roseanne Ochoa. Ellen’s father left when she was young and her mother had to raise five children between the ages of six and sixteen by herself. Out of the five children, Ochoa was the third and had one sister and three brothers. Because of her mom pushing them to be involved with music by playing instruments, Ellen played flute and was very passionate about it. In school, Ellen had straight A’s and graduated high school as valedictorian of Grossmont High School, in La Mesa, California. She felt education was really important and that’s what made you stand out.…
Linda Chavez is a prominent Hispanic-American conservative Political Columnist. She has written many political columns over the years, using her personal experiences and political expertise to develop a rapport with her readers. Ms. Chavez utilizes several sound writing techniques to engage the reader. She employs factual evidence, appeals to logic and appeals to emotion.…
For centuries Spanish composers were overlooked due to the simple fact that they were never given the opportunity to become legendary. However, the Spanish composer and famous pianist Alicia de Larrocha made certain that she, as well as her fellow Spanish composers, were not overlooked any longer. Beginning in the early 1920’s, she began her extremely successful life and accomplished every one of her dreams and aspirations before she passed away in 2009. Alicia’s success can be exemplified through her personal relationships with those around her, by her distinct playing style, and the astonishing way she overcame obstacles she was faced with throughout her life that lead to the abundance of rewards she received.…
June 17th, 1996 might have been an average day for some people, but for 21 year old Santa Urena, it was the start of her brand new life in America. Santa Urena, now forty-two recounts the day her Sister, Brother and her Mother immigrated from the Dominican Republic to Bronx, New York. Only carrying a small luggage and an English to Spanish dictionary and a dream of a new life. “ I wanted to explore the city...ride the trains” she stated. She had heard all the wonderful stories of people and the places in New York and She wanted to live the American dream. But she had to start somewhere,so she began going to school and began learning basic education. If that wasn’t hard enough, Santa had to adapt to the American lifestyle. Like getting her…
Selena Quintanilla Perez was a famous Mexican American Tejano singer. Her life was filled with lots and lots of success. With all the success she had, Selena had lots of problems on the way. Selena had lots of friends and family supporting her to all of her success. On March 31, 1995 something very bad ended her career.…
120 Days is a documentary that explores issues of immigration in America and it shows what it really means to “be American” through an immigrant’s perspective. Although this country boasts “liberty and justice for all”, and having the opportunities to fulfill the “American dream”, we can see from the Cortes family’s experience that that isn’t completely true. Throughout the film, it is clearly demonstrated that this family is extremely selfless, as they have given so much to their community, even though they don’t have much themselves. In one scene, Miguel and Maria Luisa even receive an award from the mayor of Raleigh for outstanding citizenship. It was incredibly emotional to watch, because this was just 2 months before Miguel’s deportation. No one knew this though, and as a result,…
When entering a new school, you meet new people, and they judge on your first appearance, they go on how you dress, what brand you’re wearing, how much you have, how you look, if you’re pretty or ugly and if you’re fat or skinny, and tall or short. This is how Gabrielle Flores story went.…
Even though Gustavo has experienced many roadblocks, such as horrible jobs and less than ideal conditions, he refuses to let go of the hope that his children can lead good lives back home in Mexico. Similarly, Arturo and Alma refuse to give up on the idea that Maribel can recover from her brain injury, even though America does everything in its power to change their minds with things such as difficult job conditions and Garrett. Even though public figures rant and rave and do their best to close immigrants off from being able to provide from themselves and their children, Gustavo and the Riveras prove that all that is necessary to do so is strong work ethic and endless…
Tanya Barrientos acceptance of society racism hinder her from having relations with Latinos, she puts in print an article entitled “Se Habla Española”. Barrientos was born in Guatemala and moved to El Paso Texas with her parents at the age of 3, who expect for both of their children to read, write, and speak only in English. Her parents felt that if she could speak without the accent of Spanish, American society would see that children with different cultural backgrounds could fit into English humanity smoothly. “In 1963” (83), “People who called themselves Mexican-Americans or Afro-Americans were considered dangerous radicals, while law bidding citizens were expected to drop their cultural baggage at the border and erase any lingering ethnic traits. (84). As a result of the racial discrimination American citizens had towards law-abiding citizens, Barrientos had instantly stop speaking Spanish when she was moved to El Paso Texas.…
hardships and or social barriers. It was not uncommon back then as it is not…
I discovered that her story was very relatable, because I grew up hearing my parents stories about leaving their families at such young ages and moving across country for a fresh start in the States. At 14 years old, Diane Guerrero, was left utterly alone. She stated angrily, “When the authorities made the choice to detain my parents, they did not even bother to check that a young girl, a minor, was just without a family”(43). The immigration officers did not care about Diane, in fact, they never contacted her to find out if she had a house to stay in, now that she was homeless and parentless. Luckily, a few close family friends took her in, but she went bouncing from home to home for the next 4 years, hardly ever talking, let alone seeing her parents. She could have gone back to Colombia and let go of any and all opportunities, shockingly, she chose to stay here and take advantage of her citizenship. Hopeful, she said, “College gave me a shot at a future” (141). Diane was aware that college was her way to get a future and “maybe even bring my parents back” (145) I think, that’s a valid example of why people want to live in this country.…
It has been 11 years since we have arrived to Los Angeles, California. I can still remember the feeling of when my father had said to us that he we would be moving to a far place to try to find better jobs for my mother and him because with the two jobs my father had and the washing and ironing of other peoples clothes my mom did was not bringing enough money to support my sisters and me and did they wanted to provide a better life for my sisters and me. Mexico was such a poor country that my parents could not see themselves make enough money to support my sisters and me, let alone see us get a better education. So my parents decide to migrate to the United States with one of my mother’s brother. We arrived in Los Angeles, California on July 16, 1931, with my Aunt Julia and Uncle Fernando. My family and I were so happy to finally arrive to the U.S. to live the “American Dream.” Soon we would find out that our dreams would come crushing down fast.…