Esperanza Salinas

Esperanza: My other son and some of his friends when they went to the counselor's office to get their financial applications and stuff, “Ahhh! What do you want that for? You're not going to go to college anyway”. So we ended up doing the applications ourselves. Rolando got, um, the scholarship to University of Texas. Is it the presidential? I think it was the presidential. Anyway, he wanted to go to A&M, Sorry, Christi. And so, my sister was at A&M and I called her and I said, Lisa, you know, how do, how does one apply to, you know, to, I didn't get help from the counselors at school. So we did this on our own. She went to the to the counselor or the admissions office over there, and she told them, you know, I have this nephew who has all this and all that. And I had mailed her like his resume. And through the telephone, you know that he got the same scholarship at Texas A&M.

J. Najera: Wow.

Esperanza: Through over the telephone.

J Najera: Wow.

Esperanza: And, you know, the help that I got from my sister and another student that was from Edcouch- Elsa that that got a scholarship to Texas A&M. She was a valedictorian, Anglo. Anyway, Rolando got, got to. . . But when his scholarship was presented at graduation, the counselors from there went. (Seems to show astonishment.)

J Najera: Shocked.

Esperanza: Where did that come from? We did all that without a counselor's help at the school. So if I was able to help my son that way, what about everybody else? When? When my nephew was graduating, he did, we got together at my sister in law’s, at Jay's house, and they borrowed my typewriter and we borrowed another typewriter. And we had like maybe eight students that we helped them fill out their their financial applications and all that. I don't know if you knew that, Crissi, but we did that. We spent, you know, a couple of nights, you know, a couple of evenings with helping the students fill out their applications. And they all got in. They you know, they all got their applications to the schools. Whatever school they they were applying to.

Esperanza: On the colonias? Yes. Well, Francisco Guajardo comes over and he says, we have this project and we're going to include students from Monte Alto. And he explained it was a children of the colonias. And this is what we're you know what and I need, I need a volunteer. I need some teachers to, you know, to to sponsor these kids and work with them, whatever. And nobody raised their hand. But, I see he kept looking at me. I said, okay. So I took the sponsorship of that class and we had, I think, five students? No, we had more. It was a whole eighth grade class. But then some were chosen to go to Washington to go to the Smithsonian, with with this group of, you know, children of the colonias. And they brought in a professional photographer. He does, he's a photojournalist, Alan Pogue. And he came over and he would work with the students. They each got a little camera and film and they were supposed to, you know, write stories about their family and their experiences and things like that, you know, the colonia, you know, what it was to. And there were some stories. But anyway, I worked with them and then at the end of the project they had, they were going to Washington. We ended up taking the students from here, some from Edcouch-Elsa, some from Brownsville, the big colonia over there,

C. Salinas: Cameron Park?

Esperanza: And uh, yeah, Cameron Park. And then Laredo, was it Laredo or El Paso?

C. Salinas: Some were from El Paso and Laredo.

Esperanza: El Paso. Yeah. And these kids had the opportunity to go to Washington, get on a plane for the first time ever. They had never, because and I've got the book, I've got the, the, you know, that was, but I had people calling me from Los Angeles.. “Esperanza,. we saw this ‘Children of the Colonias’ film, you know,” Diane, “and it's really wonderful that the things that the kids are doing and whatever.” Anyway, they got to visit the Smithsonian. They had dinner there. They had a little reception for them. Did you go? You didn't go with us?

C Salinas: I don't think so.

Esperanza: You don't think so? But what an experience for a student from from Monte Alto.

J. Najera: Do you think that being a woman has affected your work in La Politica.

Esperanza: In what way? [No sé, tú me dices.] Well, a women are the ones that get the things rolling,

J. Najera: You know?

Esperanza: So, yes, definitely.

J. Najera: Tell me more about that.

Esperanza: Well,. the men two don't really go out and knock on doors. [Okay.] You know, visit the homes and things like that. Maybe they'll get together in a group and or at a restaurant, you know, and, you know, but the women are really the ones that move the community. So we're the ones that get out and like I said, knock on doors and and and take our relatives and, you know, make sure that that we call each other up and remind them. I've had some of my relatives go vote the last the last minute because, oh they keep putting it off and putting it off. “Oh, I'm busy while I'm working.” And I had to come from Weslaco to vote, the last time in this… I called him,. he hadn't come to vote. So I said, Well, you better come because the polls closed at seven and and that's it, you won't have another chance. So I had my, my nephew- in- law leaves his work in Weslaco to come and vote the last minute, but he did it, and and we're the ones that do that. My husband doesn't call anybody, you know, he'll visit his compadres or whatever, you know, in the neighborhood and they'll get together, you know, little groups. They'll get together with his brothers and, oh, they did get out, when Al ran for mayor the last two hours or something like that, they went and picked up 40 people. They got 40 people out to vote. [Wow.] Tio Renee, and they picked up Moran, and and your Tio Choche, they picked up. 40 votes. That's a lot. [Yeah.] So they'll do that, but we're the ones that, you know, the women are the ones that do everything. And then we when we have our little patchanguitasch guitars and stuff, well, you cook some rice, you cook some beans and let's get it together.

J. Najera: Yeah, yeah, yeah..

Esperanza: Yeah. So we really are the ones that that move, [Yeah.] you know, move the, the people to, to really get out. And then you'll see the volunteers, They set up the carpets, you know, and you'll see women sitting at the tables, you know. Encouraging, and "well, this person hasn't voted, this person hasn't voted, you know, go get them, go pick them up or go whatever.”

J. Najera: Right. I have one more question…

Esperanza: So we're, the movers.