Language_Eagle Pass_KA_07022024

This is Kelly Alvarez. Today's date is July 2nd, and I am here in [COMMUNITY NAME] for an interview with one of our community members. Before we begin, I'd like to get verbal consent for the form that we went over. So could you please repeat after me and say, "I consent to being interviewed and audio recorded for this study?"

I consent to be interviewed and audio recorded for this study.

Okay, perfect. So we'll begin with the questions. Now to get started, can you tell me about how you came to live in this community?

I was born and raised here in [COMMUNITY NAME]. I went to school here, and I married here and had my children here and I plan to stay here for the rest of my life.

Okay, could you tell me a bit more about the community and how you would describe it to someone who doesn't live here?

Yes, our community today is um, I would say simple, uh. It doesn't have a lot of entertainment compared to San Antonio, a well known city. Here, we do not have clubs. We do not have um- big malls like San Antonio. It's a simple mall, just what you need, um- There's not a lot of outdoor activities, outdoor activities is what you make it your own. So it's a very family oriented community, where uh we have events, community events. Um, what we do have that is very popular is the casino. Kickapoo Lucky Eagle Casino.

Right, I agree. Everything here is what you make of it, um. I think the most important thing is the relationships that you form. Um- but yeah, I agree. So next, how do you think this community has changed throughout your time living here?

It has changed a lot. One of the biggest things that has changed is the population. The population has dramatically gone up, including traffic. Traffic here has gotten to a point where it's can be stress, stressful. It's congested. That's what stands out the most. Other than that, Oh, also, we have a lot more uh- companies we like restaurants, franchises that we didn't have before. We have Denny's, for example. We have, we're getting a Texas Roadhouse. We have Chick-Fil-A. And to you it might sound, "how do you not have that?" That's because back then, our community was very small. Our population was small. We did not have a lot of businesses. Um, that would be it.

Yeah, I do agree um that we are a growing community, the population is getting bigger. Um, and I'm excited to see how we grow you know, in terms of the population and also businesses that are coming here. Um, what would you say are the strengths of this community?

The strength would be for me, family. Our political leaders here are very well known due to the fact that our population is small. Our social media is well known among our leaders and our um population. We get to know them because they post a lot on social media and we feel comfortable voicing our opinions and thoughts. Our community is very kind. I feel like I am comfortable here. This is where I would like to be for the rest of my life.

What would you say are some of the weaknesses of this community?

The weaknesses, I would say are probably resources. For our elderly community. They- Our community needs to improve in providing more resources such as food, transportation, medical, and the biggest one is medical. We do not have a medical system here that will provide urgent care, immediate urgent care. We do not have specialist, for example, we do not have a doctor that will see you for allergies. We do not have a dermatologist here in town. Um what else? We do not have doctors that will see you for certain types of cancer. Sur- uh many surgeries that we need, we need to travel. That would be the biggest downfall for [COMMUNITY NAME].

Yeah, I agree. And I'm glad that you brought it up, because it is an important thing that needs to be talked about. And the elderly community is probably the most affected by it. So, um moving on, um, could you tell me more about your roles and relationships that you have in this community?

Yes, I am a housewife right now. I personally, my role is to care for my family, to provide for them, help them, encourage them. Outside of my family, I do my part to be a good member of my community. I respect everyone. I am on social media, providing my input and opinions to other community leaders to encourage decision making in our community.

And what do you do for work?

I am retired, I don't work. I am enjoying my retirement spending time with my family and looking for new things to do. Now that I have time, I am trying to exercise and be more healthy and take care of myself as well. So I can enjoy my family.

That's great. It's nice to hear that you're enjoying your time now. You deserve it after, you know, being in this community so long. And you know, it's good to rest and enjoy the time that you have with your family. So I guess we can skip these questions since these are about work. Um- and now I'd like to talk more about your experiences as a resident of this community. So for this first set of questions, I'll read a statement to you and I'd like you to indicate the extent to which you agree with each one. I'll have you give your answer on a scale from one to four where one is you completely disagree, two is you somewhat agree, three um I'm sorry, two is you somewhat disagree, three is you somewhat agree, and four is you completely agree. And if you'd like to comment on any of these statements, please feel free to so. To start, the first phrase is, "I consider myself to be American." Would you say that you one, completely disagree, two, somewhat disagree, three, somewhat agree, or four, completely agree?

Four, completely agree.

Okay, the next one is, "I consider myself to be Texan." So how would you rate the following statement.

Four, completely agree.

Okay, the next one um. There's three statements here, so just let me know out of the three which one you agree with the most strongly. One is, "I am American first and Texan second." Two, "I am Texan first and American second," or three, "being Texan and American are equally important to me."

Wow, I've never thought about that. I will have to say, I am an American first and then Texan second. Because I love all America. America uh- is inclusive to all states. I live in Texas, and I love Texas. Texas is in America. And I travel too. I would love to travel someday to other states. Even though, I'll always call Texas my home. I would like to include more states. So I would say American first.

Okay, next. Um- The phrase is, "to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak English." What would you rate this one using the same scale that we started with?

I would say somewhat. I don't recall what number it was, but some what true. It's part of being a Texan. Also an American, it's our main language. You don't have to be perfect at English. We are a bilingual community, especially here in [COMMUNITY NAME]. But I think speaking English is very important because it's part of our our language, like our language, our it's inborn in us. I feel that it's almost a requirement. If you do not speak it, I think you can learn it. It's it's easy to learn English because you'll know someone for sure that speaks it. We do have a lot of people that come from Mexico and I've seen them grow and learn English. And we love it. We love to see the bilingual because we learn from them, they learn from us. I myself am bilingual, my family is bilingual. So I would love for those that do not know how to speak English, that we should help them, so that they can um better communicate with all of us, with everyone, especially when they travel.

I think that's a great answer, um. Because it's really important to really to be able to communicate, especially in a community such as ours, where relationships within the community is such an important thing, and like being able to communicate is um- what these relationships are built on. So next, um kind of similar, "to be a true Texan, you must know how to speak Spanish." To what degree do you agree or disagree with this?

I do not agree with this one because Spanish is not our first language. I would say that the majority of Texans speak English and Spanish is more, I think, of a- Mexican language. And we do have a lot of Spanish speaking, and we do have a lot of bilingual like myself, but the majority of the language spoken here is English. And it is a language that we need to speak because for those that don't speak Spanish, well how are we going to communicate with them? Since the majority speak English, we do need to understand it, even if it's the basic you know? We can just speak the basic so that we can understand you. It doesn't have to be very eloquent English, as long as it's understandable. So we can get around and know each other.

Okay, the next phrase is, "in my community, you can do everything you want and get everything you need, even when you don't speak English."

I would say yes. Here in our community, fortunately, everyone speaks, in my experience, English and Spanish. I do not remember a time where I have spoken with someone that only speaks English or that I needed a translator. So for me, I haven't had that experience. So I will be able to get whatever I need. But if someone didn't speak English, it's always easy because here the majority here in [COMMUNITY NAME] are bilingual. You can easily get a translator to express what you want to get what you want. And nowadays with the with a phone you can translate words, sentences. So it is easy to get what you need or want, even if you do not speak English here in [COMMUNITY NAME].

Okay, the last statement is, "in my community life has been pretty stable over the last 40 years and things haven't changed much."

I don't think things have been stable when it comes to, I'll go back to the population. When it comes to businesses, it's pretty much the same when it comes to entertainment. When it comes to the medical department, the medical field, it's pretty much the same ever since I can remember. As far as I can remember, in the medical field, we have not advanced at all. Every time we need an emergency operation a serious operation or specialist we need to travel. That has not changed. Our families have been stable. Education wise, I would say stable as well. I do not see much advancement in that area. So okay, yeah.

Okay. Um- Now, I'd like to hear from you about the community itself. What are some of the things that have changed in this community during the last few decades?

During the last few decades? In the last few decades, life was simpler, it was smaller. It was more family oriented than now. Because I think back then, decades ago, [COMMUNITY NAME] was more of a city of poverty. Back then, the communities, families would transport themselves to where they needed to go through by biking, walking. That was normal back then. Uh today we need transportation to get everywhere. We can- we have access to so many things today. Compared to when I was here. In my teens, my 20s 30s, everything seemed to be more complicated, especially for myself that I did not receive higher education. I only went up to eighth grade. What I see a lot of struggle here is people my age, struggle with social media. Back then we didn't have that. We didn't have social media, cell phones. Um we did not have advanced television like we do today. Uh we relied just on books, newspapers. Now, that was one. That's one of the biggest things from back then. And now. Um and the struggles that, you know, unfortunately, we go through that we have to ask our children and grandchildren to help us with simple things like updating our phone, searching something on the phone, looking for- for information on the phone, everything is on the phone now. And back then pos- we didn't we didn't have that.

Now, would you say this is overall a good community to live in?

Absolutely. This community, even though it has things that I would like to improve in, like the medical department, I would still love to express to everyone who doesn't know this community that it is a good one to be in. Violence is not high. Prices, mortgages, groceries are not as high as other states. Even in Texas, higher up north, Texas prices are higher, gases are ho- is higher. A lot of the expenses that we have compared to other cities and states are very low.

Now, you mentioned that, um- the community has changed over the past few decades and that when you were in your youth, there was things that were different about this community. So what would you say is the best part about being a kid or being a young person in this community?

Well, in my time, the best thing, if I were to compare me as a child, a 10 year old, compared to if I were a child today, a 10 year old, the differences is huge. When I was a kid, 8-9-10-11 year old, we loved nature, we love the outdoors, we communicated with each other, we played with each other, we helped each other, encourage each other. We read books with each other. We made our own movies when we were bored. We baked our own cakes out of dirt and water, for play. We were creative. We had creative minds. Um- We explored. Exploring was adventurous. And today, a 10 year old today is stuck on a cell phone, on a computer, on the television. They are not doing hands-on exploration activities. We would, I remember as a 10 year old in the evenings in the weekends, all the children playing outside on the street riding bikes running up and down the street. It was safe. We would eat um- treat- we would eat oranges from a neighbor's tree. Everyone was friendly. And today it's, it's different today. You tell a 10 year old if they wanna go outside and play with the elements of the earth, and more than likely they will not be interested, or the parents won't let them because it's not safe. Or the parents are not willing to go outside with their child and participate in such activities, because the parents sometimes too, are on the phone on a laptop, or watching TV. So that's, that's what I would say about that.

Do you feel that the traditional way of life in this community is going away?

The traditions are changing. The traditions that I grew up with are still here, but they changed where the new generations are adding to the traditions. It depends on each family unit. But for us, my family, we go back to our traditions. For example, when it comes to celebrating Christmas, which is one of the biggest celebrations holidays, we still do the same thing. What I have noticed, a big change is families today, still celebrate holidays, but they do not unite how we used to back then. When I was a child, everyone would get together in someone's house, cousins, uncles, aunts, everyone, and it was big. Our houses are small and crowded. Today, everyone seems to celebrate individual family units. For example, mom, dad, children, that's it. And I see it on social media around the holidays. Thanksgiving, I see people celebrate, they're posting images and it's usually just mom, dad, and the children. When I grew up, it was mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, cousins, everyone together in one place. But the tradition of the celebration itself is still there. Same thing with all traditions and holidays, I see that it's still there. And we are still humble. And we still love doing all these celebrations and traditions. It's just we do it in a more, I would say private way.

Mhm um, those have been great answers so far. We have just a few more questions that are gonna be a bit more fun um. So, what is your favorite sports team?

Sports team? I do not have a favorite sports team. I mostly watch what is trending. The sports team that I watched most is the Dallas Cowboys because that is what trends here in my community. That is what my family likes to watch. They watch it, so I sit down and watch along. But I am not for a favorite or the type that will tune in on my own and watch a team. I will watch it because someone else is watching it. They show interest, and I just participate in in that.

Okay. Did you have to do chores when you were younger? Or now?

Yes, I had to do chores. It was mandatory. When I was a child, we had to do all types of chores, indoors, outdoors. Today, I still do them out of responsibility to my family and my health. And I will continue to do them as long as I am able to and have the health to do it.

What would you say was the worst chore?

The worst chore as a child was raking the leaves outside in the heat. That was boring. And it still is. And I still hate it today, raking leaves outside in the heat. I've never liked doing that. And I don't think I ever will.

What was the chore that you didn't mind so much?

I would say brooming, brooming and mopping. At seems easy because you're just walking, pushing a broom, side to side. That's the easiest chore. Same when I was a kid and now, it's not that bad.

Did you ever get caught pretending to do a chore but not really doing it?

I don't think so. How do you pretend to do a chore? How, how can you pretend to wash dishes or pretend to broom and mop? I don't think I ever did that. I had very strict parents as a child. As a child, you will get punished- physically punished for doing something wrong. Disobeying your parents was a big no-no. I learned that way not to do that. I don't remember ever doing that. Or now either.

I'm sure some people would have found a way to pretend but you were a good kid- A good kid, I guess. [LAUGHTER] Some people think that it's hard for boys and girls to be friends. So, what do you think?

No, that has never been, gone through my head, that it's, no. I think boys and girls depending on their age, where they're at in their life, I think it's, it's good to have friends of all genders. I think when you your relationships change, when you have a relationship or you have marriage, that can change. You need to be respectful of the household. But if you have no limitations, such as marriage, or commitment to someone, I say, having friends with males and females is good. It is okay. I approve it. No problems, as long as there's respect among each other respect that males and females are different. They react different to different things. So as long as there's a respect between them, everything should be okay.

Okay. Um, now did you ever tell a story about another person thinking that the other person was not near you, but then they turned around and saw that the person was standing right next to you?

Oh, wow. I do not remember from the top of my head but I have had conversations about other people. I have had conversations about even relatives that are going through something where we are voicing our opinions. Um, that would be probably the riskiest part because I have had experiences where I have spoken with- with someone for example, let's just say I spoke with a cousin of mine we had a conversation we were talking about another cousin and then the co- um the cousin I was having a conversation with went out and told what I said. I've experienced that several times. So I am careful with what I say and who to it say to from that experience, but not that I have been caught talking about someone. Uh, only that I have been tattletailed. I guess you could say it that way.

Okay, last question. A lot of people think that the 1990s was the golden decade of pop music. Would you say that you agree? And if you don't, what is the best decade of pop music and why?

I definitely agree in the 90s. We have Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, these are the voices where you could sing to, songs and lyrics you can sing to you could listen to their beautiful voices. And you could relate to, not like today. Today we have artists that mumble through song, you don't even understand what they're saying. Like Drake, he is all "blah, blah, blah." [LAUGHTER] And the acoustics are louder than their voices. It's crazy. It's crazy, the music of today. The music from back then in the 90s, I love it. I still listen to it.

Okay, um well, thank you so much for your answers. I really appreciate um you taking the time to talk with me. Now, we're gonna move on to the last module of the interview, where I'll have you read a passage out loud. So I'll just hand this over to you and you can begin reading whenever you're ready.

I've lived in Texas all my life. I was born in Titus County, and when I was five, we moved to a farm near Whit- White House, which is southeast of Tyler. I liked growing up in the country. When my chores were done, I'd ride my horse, climb trees and or hike down to the creek to fish or swim. One time we tied a rope to a limb of a cypress tree and we'd swing out wide over the swimming hole and drop into the water. I pretend to be Tarzan swimming on a vine. In this spring I fly kites, and summer nights, and we catch fireflies, but we call to them lightning bugs. Once in a while we'd have flights with corn cobs or prin- pine corns. In the winter, we'd build a fire in the fireplace and pop popcorn and roast peanuts and pecans. I guess I was a live wire. When I was 19, I went to work in Dallas at a fire store Tire shop. Tire store. I didn't like city life, and for a long time I go home every chance I got. Mama would always cook my favorite foods, fried okra, hoppin john, that's rice and black eyed peas, and pecan pie. We had lots of good times, but going home is not the same now. After daddy died, Mama sold the farm and moved to Tyler. I'd rather be living on a farm right now instead of here in the city. But my wife and kids don't understand me when I grip about city life and talk about moving to the country. My oldest child says, "Daddy, that's crazy. I just die if I had to live on a farm." I almost cried the first time she said that. I know Texas is changing, but I try to make sure we don't lose touch of our roots. While we may live in a city, I want my kids to have a good feeling for the land, have a sense of place, and take pride in being Texans. If they lose our ties to the land, the price of progress is too high.

Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. It's been great. Speaking with you, thank you for your time. Um- If you have any questions for me, or if you'd like to say anything else, um if not, I can go ahead and stop the recording.

Thank you so much. I enjoyed it. And I am happy to have helped in any way.

Perfect. Thank you.