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Related Pieces
Piece Description
Blanca Alvarez, originally from Nogales, Mexico, recounts the story of her crossing the border to join her family in Los Angeles, California, more than thirty years prior. She and her daughter, Connie, go on to remember their early years in the United States. Those days were full of challenges for the Alvarez family. But now Blanca, 53, and Connie, 33, can look back and smile at things like a phase of eating only bean tacos and spending the nights working. Connie, who went on to graduate from UCLA, says her mother's life back then -- raising kids and working, even as she went to school herself -- has been an inspiration to her. It's a reminder, she says, that challenges can be overcome.
Broadcast History
NPR Morning Edition 3/3/06
Transcript
BA: We were walking and walking through the mountains,
CA: In the desert?
BA: Uh huh. And um the man he told us to take our shoes off because
there was a lot of rocks. And he said I don't want no noise because the
dogs are very very good to detect every noise.
CA: Ohhh.
BA: And he said I'm gonna whistle and you gonna duck. And it was a point
where he whistled you know we went out on our stomachs. And we stay
there, oh my god, I can see ants, big ants crawling. And I was so scared
and he said when the border patrol change shifts‚
CA: Yes.
BA: You know you gotta run. I remember it was torture in those rocks
without shoes. So I, we run as fast as we could and then he said you
gonna walk through that bridge, I'm gonna walk behind you, and you gonna
give me the money there and then from there you're on your own.
CA: What kinds of jobs did you have since first arriving in the country?...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Each Friday morning we bring you another installment of StoryCorps, and oral history project that travels the country collecting the stories of everyday people. They interview each other; excerpts are archived at the Library of Congress.
This week’s installment comes from a mobile story booth in Los Angeles.
There, Blanca <
That’s Connie Alvarez speaking with her mother Blanca at StoryCorps. Connie graduated from UCLA. If you’d like to learn more about StoryCorps, make a reservation for your own interview, or hear additional stories visit NPR-dot-org.
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