The Last Best Place? by Leah Schmalzbauer

Author:Leah Schmalzbauer [Schmalzbauer, Leah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Emigration & Immigration
ISBN: 9780804792974
Google: Tw4tBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 2014-08-27T03:28:52+00:00

Chapter 6

Through the Eyes of the Second Generation

It was a bright, cold March day in 2011 when I met up with Elena in the main reception area of the local hospital. It had been a year since I had last seen her, and I was struck by how different she looked. She was unusually thin and pale. On the phone the week before, Elena’s mom had told me that Elena was so sick she looked yellow. Now that I was in Elena’s presence, the accuracy of Ana’s description was disturbing. It was difficult not to focus on the prominent scar at the base of her neck.

As we exchanged warm greetings, I was impressed that Elena was able to maintain a gracious smile and polite demeanor even though she was clearly nervous and not feeling good. Elena’s four-year-old sister, Evelín, stood close by her side. Elena explained that following her appointment with the oncology social worker, she was going with Evelín to the Public Assistance Office to renew her Women Infants and Children (WIC) application.1 Elena’s parents, Ana and Rogelio, whom I introduced in Chapter 3, are both unauthorized. Although Elena spent much of her childhood in rural Jalisco, she was born in California. As such, she is a U.S. citizen and the public face of her family. She handles all of the family’s interactions with social services and public authorities.

Elena, who had just turned nineteen at the time, was a straight “A” student in a rural school in the heart of southwest Montana’s dairy region. She hoped to graduate in a few months. I knew her mom quite well, having been one of her regular tamale customers since 2007. We talked often and I had been to her home several times both to interview her and to buy tamales. The first time that I visited Ana in her trailer, she pointed out a framed certificate hanging high on their living room wall. The certificate boasted of Elena’s selection to the academic honor roll. Ana, who has only a second-grade education, was visibly proud. At the time, Elena was a shy, quiet, young girl who was still quite homesick for Jalisco. She had found solace in school, where she had formed a special bond with her English teacher and was excelling in math and science.

Elena’s younger sister, Carmela, did not like school. In 2009 she dropped out and moved with her boyfriend to a ranch in northeastern Montana. Soon thereafter she got pregnant. Ana cried when she told me the news. She wanted so much more for Carmela, and she clearly did not like or trust the boy who was soon to be the father of her first grandchild. Elena was Ana’s hope and her strength—a good student, responsible, and a role model for her two younger siblings. She was the pillar of the family. Elena paid special attention to her younger brother Yerrick, the only child in the family born in Mexico and who was thus not a U.S. citizen. “I tell him he has to do good in school and he can’t get in trouble.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.