Ivanhoe resident, Mother, Educator, Ivanhoe Community Council member, and Co-founder, Ivanhoe Sol, the San Joaquin Valley’s only fully bilingual newspaper
“Sometimes, you don’t realize how impactful your story is and how important it is to tell it and share what you’ve been through. No one else has experienced that. Even if someone has experienced it in the same household, it’s still in a different light and perspective.”
Para leer esta historia en Español
Where does your story begin?
I am the oldest of two Mexican parents, Antonio and Maria. My parents had four girls. My brother lived with his mom, so it was us girls who had to help my dad at home with whatever he needed. Even now, if he needs something, we’re all there.
Ivanhoe is my home. I’ve been here forever. Although we moved down the street from Ivanhoe for a few years, we attended Ivanhoe schools.
My parents and my sisters live down the street from me. I don’t see myself leaving, and I don’t see them leaving either.
I had my kids young, and now I’m a mom of four children. I have an adult son, another son who will be 17, and two girls who are preteens—12 and 13—but they’ve been sassy forever.
I’m their mom, so everything I do, even though it sometimes feels as if I’m pulling away from them, I always have the mindset, ‘How is it going to benefit them?’ or asking myself, ‘Why am I doing this?’—so that them, their kids and my parents can have a future. If what I’m doing doesn’t benefit my kids, I always have to ask myself, ‘Is this something I should be pushing forward, or am I just kind of getting sidetracked?’
Home away from home
Ivanhoe is a small town with many families from the same areas of Mexico. My dad is from a town near San Julian, and my mom is from Guadalajara. Many people are also from Depa, which is nearby. So when we were growing up, everybody was from the same areas, and that always made it feel like home.
We’ve got two packing houses and some churches. On 328, there are two: one is leaving town, and one’s in the middle. The Boys and Girls Club used to be a church, and then it dead ends to another church, and there’s another church on that street, too.
Even if you don’t know who someone is, you can trace them back to another family member, or they may be connected in other ways. It’s always felt like an extension of our family. Somehow, we’re all linked together.
I tell my kids to be careful because there is always someone around who knows us, and we’ll find you. More or less, you know the people walking in your neighborhood. Is there a way to make it better? Yes, we can always make it better. We made some progress today with unveiling the sidewalks , but we still need a park.
Seed Stages of Ivanhoe Sol
We wanted to inform our community, share the good news of Ivanhoe, and keep people informed, so we discussed the idea of a newspaper.
We had a meeting where Listening Post came out here with Internews. That’s when we got input on what [our community] needed. We asked ourselves, ‘How do we get the news to everybody? How do we make sure that everyone’s got the same information?’
An important part of establishing the paper was it being bilingual. I remember talking with my parents and hearing them say, ‘You have a newspaper, but we don’t read English.’ So we got rid of that excuse by having it in Spanish. It’s also online, so it’s more accessible, even to people far away. One of our favorite newspaper issues is the graduation issue, which is slowly taking off. We want to highlight all of the amazing people in our community. One of my son’s art pieces has been in paper with his permission as well.
I’m a DACA recipient and we’re always in the news. It’s been a mission since the last President tried to close it off and took it to the Supreme Court. I had an editorial about DACA in my classroom. I decided to use it in the classroom because we were learning about editorials. One of my students was surprised that I was the one featured. They said, ‘You talk about how life-changing it is. But now, right here [in this editorial], you’re [only] stating it. I explained to them that it’s okay to have an opinion about it, but it has to be factual when you write.
Sometimes, you don’t realize how impactful your story is and how important it is to tell it and share what you’ve been through. No one else has experienced that. Even if someone has experienced it in the same household, it’s still in a different light and perspective.
Getting the Community Involved
We have a community that cares – and it’s multigenerational. We have new people [in the community], but even if people are renting, they’ve been renting their house for a long time. The community is stable, but how can we get them committed? That’s always been the biggest challenge in civic engagement. The goodwill is there; we just need to get people more involved.
The newspaper allows us to provide information ahead of time about upcoming events. For example, we have an article coming out that will discuss the recent Summer Night Lights event. We also have a few more events, including our school supplies and backpacks giveaway, where kids can come out and get their school supplies for the year.
We provided ballot information during last year’s elections. In certain parts, there are just candidates representing Ivanhoe, so you don’t have to go through the whole voting ballot; you can just focus on your area.
Investing in the next generation
I teach at Earlimart Elementary School . I am currently focused on leading the Garden Club, which is my thing at school. I love gardening because you can’t fail too much. If it doesn’t grow, plant another seed, and you’re fine. I also run our Newcomers Club. It’s an afterschool program where we’re working with Spanish-speaking students on learning English. Students have already completed their schooling during the day, but now they have to stay and practice more. It’s important to know that students want to come and learn.
I’ve tried to get my students to start a school newspaper. I shared with them about other school districts where school newspapers report weekly with a video, which could be five minutes or fifteen minutes.
I tell them to own the camera and be powerful with their words. If you create it, you control what you put out there. For instance, let’s say you want intramurals back in the school. You can use the paper to share that with the whole school, and then students might decide that they want intramurals again.
If you say that school lunch sucks, nobody’s going to listen because you’re complaining. But if you instead say, “There’s a school district serving fresh food that was tasty and a great hit,” – you’re putting ideas out there so people will listen.
Defining Leadership
Leadership is like being a teacher. You’re teaching each other and learning from each other. You know you’re both going to make mistakes, and you’re going to support each other. When I think about leadership, it’s about helping people or places become their best. It’s thinking about how we help everybody shine in their own light, right? Because everyone’s good at something.
My oldest son used to struggle with talking to people. We had one of our events, and I asked for his help. He agreed to do everything but talk to people, but I made him responsible for greeting people and handing out tickets. I felt it was exactly what he needed, although he didn’t initially want to do it. While he wasn’t happy about it, everyone who attended received their tickets as he handed them out.
Now, he works at a call center.
When you are good at something, leadership is about helping you shine. When you struggle with something, leadership is about getting you support so you don’t feel like you’re going to fall because someone is there to help you.
Aspirations for the Future of the Sol
One of the goals for Ivanhoe is a locally centered park for everybody to enjoy. At the same time, I would like a senior center, youth center, or a central hub, ideally the Ivanhoe Community Council’s building, where all these other services are available.
Regarding the Sol, I want us to continue publishing so my grandkids can see it. That’s a long time from now, but they will get to see it.
I also want to see it become stronger. I want to see that new generation do something different, with a fresh new breeze. I want to see more youth involved. Right now, they can just join, but eventually, they can take over so that it keeps going.
At some point, our vision will change and won’t necessarily be current because we’ll become that older generation. Someone else who’s younger will have a different perspective. That’s the circle of life.
Copyright James B. McClatchy Foundation. Published on the James B. McClatchy Foundation website using the Creative Commons License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ : Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)