Interviewing My Mother

Marisela Martinez Short, my Mother, is an emigrant from Guadalajara Mexico. Marisela was born on May 27th 1976, currently she is thirty nine years old. She immigrated to America when she was sixteen years old in 1992. I chose to interview Marisela because I find her story and the way her life changed dramatically very interesting.

Six years ago, a summer afternoon, my dad hugged me and I said “I will be gone for three days, I have a job in Austin, but I promise that I will be back before your birthday. I promise.” Days, weeks, months almost two years passed by and I did not receive any phone call or text message from him. Throughout that time my dad was gone, my mom told me that she was getting the papers ready to divorce my dad. I was noticing that the last three-four years that I was living with both of my parents, their relationship was getting worse. It was not a healthy situation for anyone in the house. What I mean about not being healthy is that my mother and father were damaging one another, emotionally and verbally, which my brothers and I would watch everything. Every day was the same routine, we forgot how it was to have a peaceful home. Around that moment, I honestly never thought divorce was going to be their solution.

From the moment the doctor slapped me on the butt to hear my first cry, you knew then, this child will be trouble for the next 18 years of her life. It was like my whole life was jinxed before it even started and nothing would ever be right .. Ever.

During Sharon M. Drapers childhood years, they were very successful because of her parents. Her parents encouraged her and her siblings to study, work hard, and as a result they could reach any goal they set for themselves. As encouraging as her parent were, they would set standards for each child and push them to be the best they could be. Her parents taught her that every opportunity you get you take because you never know what the future holds for many cases. In the educational aspects “For her parents education was precious commodity”. (SharonDraper1) Ever since the time

For my oral history project, I decided to interview my mother. I am pretty close with my mom, as we talk daily, and I am comfortable often to seek advice from her. A challenge that I faced was trying to find an appropriate date and time for the interview. My mom works six days a week, and I am often preoccupied with classes and school work. Another challenge was my mom’s hesitation with going into too much detail about her experiences. In addition, it was difficult to interview another family member such as a relative because I was not particularly close with my uncles or aunts, nor were any of them easy to contact due to variations in time zones. Furthermore, arguably one of my largest reason why I choose to interview my mom was because I never had taken the time or initiative to ask about my mom’s past. I had only knew of some general aspects, but never asked too much into detail. The oral history project was a perfect opportunity to dwell deeper into my family’s history and how they came to America.

afternoon while I was hitchhiking home from school, it struck me like a baseball in the back: my mother wanted me to marry someone of my own social

seemed to knock down gender roles. Throughout my interview with her, a major theme that

Her parents wanted her to get married and arranged a wedding. I wanted to be single. My parents did not like my decision to commit to the church and God, so they had me do many things around the house to make me want to move out and start a new life with a husband. Finally her parents gave up and let her be

Family history is vital to knowing who you are, where you come from, and how it shapes your personal identity. As I reflected over the course of my life, and explored family’s educational past, a startling revelation was uncovered. I have a lineage of uneducated family and did not recognize this truth until the assignment. Research extended back to grandparents on my mother’s side, revealed neither one finished elementary. A lot of unanswered questions are now coming to light. Although I completed high school, college education was incomplete, which yielded a poor end result; my son dropped out of college as well.

Even though my father never went to college, I have always wanted to go. I knew I wanted to be better and do more than my deadbeat dad did. My father always told me “you are a smart girl”, and to him anything below a C grade wise was utterly unacceptable, well for everyone besides my brother who could never manage more than a D. The amount of punishment he had to endure for that I didn’t want to imagine how much it hurt. I remember the pit in my stomach every time report cards were sent out even though I knew I did well, but the better grades I got the easier it became to keep them up. I thank my father for his strict parenting when it came to education because I know now if I didn’t have rules like that I don’t think I would be where I am now, and better off than him.

Despite playing the role of protector, there was no role that I enjoyed more than being able to help my siblings further their education, ensuring that their homework and mine was completed, accurate and ready for my mother’s review upon her return home from work. I was determined to transfer my passion for learning, and education in general, to my siblings and anyone in my household who would listen, which might have contributed to the fact that all but one of my siblings went on to attend and graduate from college. For me, getting an education wasn’t an option, it was the only option, a sentiment that I relentlessly stressed to my siblings, and my mother, who though a high school dropout at one point, went on to pursue and receive several college degrees later in life. At the age of 12, I took on my first job, which was essentially an entrepreneurial endeavor. My brothers and I spent the spring, summer and fall canvassing our neighborhood, seeking out residents who would allow us to mow their lawns or rake their leaves in exchange for a reasonable fee. While the earnings of that first job were meager, the intangible benefits and life lessons that I derived from it were tremendous. I learned a lot about earning and managing money, responsibility, and most significantly, what I did not want do with my life. The

Imagine having two kids with a wide array of physical and mental complications. Raising my brother and I was no easy task. Working as a certified nursing assistant is what my mom does best. My parents separated when I was at the age of three. When my father felt he had too much on his plate, he thought it would be alright if he left; because, honestly he wanted nothing to do with us. When my mom was ready to be married, she did not have an arranged marriage like her sister. My mom has felt miserable her whole life. doing everything; and I mean everything with her mom. There was not one decision she got the opportunity to make for herself. She figured that this was the right thing to do. That she did. She ended up getting married at a small

See growing up in a large family like mines education was very important. Despite we didn’t have many to graduate from college put a lot of pressure on me. See my grandparents didn’t go to high school or college. So, they were real hard on their kids about go to school and graduate. So, made my parents hard on my brother and me about our education. My brother and me will be the first in our large family to graduate from college. My mom was real hard on me because she didn’t want me to go to in be like her. She had

In tenth grade, right before I was about to take a group quiz with three boys in my Algebra II class, I felt the need to ask the question “how much time do we have?” My teacher laughed and replied “You have the whole class period but Mackenna, we all know you’ll be done with the test and finishing up curing cancer before the boys complete question one.” All my life, I’ve been identified as an intelligent person and a strong, assertive leader. I never really thought about where those attributes of myself came from until considering structure and agency. After pondering the notion deeper, I realize that the bulk of my status as a smart woman came from the structures found in my family––particularly my mother’s matriarchal role. However, the

My father came from a family of very little money. His parents were divorced when he was nine years old. Culturally, he was raised by both parents separately. His mother was a single mom putting herself through nursing school. My father is the oldest child of 4, and often took on adult responsibilities. Their status was considered lower class; however, their outlook was very giving and self-less. They were appreciative for everything they had, because they knew how hard it was to obtain. My father’s side is very outgoing, hardworking and independent. They remain humble, and are very well-rounded members of society.