WEBVTT 00:00:00.440 --> 00:00:07.846 can we got them they were stabilized and Mhm. I think they probably don't 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:12.437 remember how many beds I'm gonna guess. There might have been 800 beds was 00:00:12.470 --> 00:00:17.646 a large place Kelly field was like situated here and we were up on the 00:00:17.679 --> 00:00:23.956 hill from Kelly Field in San Antonio And I was on shipping list two or 00:00:23.989 --> 00:00:27.877 three times. I used to have nightmares by then. I didn't want to go. I was 00:00:27.910 --> 00:00:33.887 a coward. I didn't want to get hurt. I've seen too much coming back and 00:00:33.920 --> 00:00:39.607 I'd have nightmares, wake up crying, I was fearful. It really was. But I 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:42.207 never did get 00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:49.376 call then. And then I got married and after that I went into civilian a 00:00:49.409 --> 00:00:56.987 nursing. Uh what did you marry? I'm married a fellow from san Antonio leo 00:00:57.020 --> 00:01:01.006 Guerrero and 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:03.576 I don't remember I think we lived there for a year and then came back to 00:01:03.609 --> 00:01:11.296 phoenix and eventually got divorced. And then you took that casada? Oh 00:01:11.329 --> 00:01:16.337 yeah what's my name? Had you changed your name? I changed my name before I 00:01:16.370 --> 00:01:22.587 graduated from before I got my degree of the issue. I'm going to graduate 00:01:22.620 --> 00:01:25.507 as a cassava. 00:01:25.540 --> 00:01:33.540 Mhm. Anyway um yeah while I was studying at issue I worked in mesa at the 00:01:35.989 --> 00:01:41.507 hospital there Then in 54 00:01:41.540 --> 00:01:46.007 I went to work at the V. A hospital 00:01:46.040 --> 00:01:50.706 in phoenix. Mhm. And 00:01:50.739 --> 00:01:57.867 in 58 Between 54 and 58 I went back to do more graduate work and got my 00:01:57.900 --> 00:02:00.807 teaching certification 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:05.507 and what started teaching public school in 00:02:05.540 --> 00:02:07.656 1958 00:02:07.689 --> 00:02:13.297 Actually. Mhm. And what made you switch from nursing to teaching? There 00:02:13.330 --> 00:02:19.217 are a number of things nursing was burning me up, burning me out. Um There 00:02:19.250 --> 00:02:25.397 were an awful lot of things that I couldn't change and there were a lot of 00:02:25.430 --> 00:02:30.337 things that I wouldn't do. I wouldn't follow certain orders. I would not 00:02:30.370 --> 00:02:36.346 give certain drugs. I refused to give certain drugs. The last one that I 00:02:36.379 --> 00:02:41.897 remember like it was yesterday at the V. A. Hospital. The administrator, a 00:02:41.930 --> 00:02:49.930 man had had gallbladder surgery and it was com blessing. And so getting 00:02:51.819 --> 00:02:56.606 ready to go home and the doctor writ wrote an order for a certain drugs 00:02:56.639 --> 00:03:02.807 and I looked at it and I said I to myself I'm not going to give that. So I 00:03:02.840 --> 00:03:08.316 took it to my supervisor and we had real harsh words between us and she 00:03:08.349 --> 00:03:14.647 challenged my opinion and I said well if you're so sure that that's a good 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:20.707 drug and a good dose I suggest you call the doctor and verify it with him. 00:03:20.740 --> 00:03:26.147 Absolutely not. I was insubordinate. You know all that stuff as I said 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:32.057 well I'm I'm not going to give it it's not me and I said I will do one 00:03:32.090 --> 00:03:35.467 thing though I'll take it down to the pharmacy and see what they say. So I 00:03:35.500 --> 00:03:40.136 took the chart down to the pharmacy and I didn't show him who who's the 00:03:40.169 --> 00:03:45.077 patient was either. I said what do you think of that? He says well if you 00:03:45.110 --> 00:03:48.106 give that you'll kill him 00:03:48.139 --> 00:03:55.457 and it was that sounds very harsh but it happened so then when I take that 00:03:55.490 --> 00:04:01.406 problem back to my supervisor and my supervisor 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:04.106 uh 00:04:04.139 --> 00:04:11.677 um Uh huh. They were they were worse than defensive now these are people 00:04:11.710 --> 00:04:16.147 that were I guess all the supervisors there at the time were probably 20 00:04:16.180 --> 00:04:20.147 years older than I was a lot more experience. I don't know maybe they've 00:04:20.180 --> 00:04:25.306 forgotten half of what they learned. I don't know why. 00:04:25.339 --> 00:04:31.947 I was the only mexican nurse there at the time also. And I was up for a 00:04:31.980 --> 00:04:34.207 promotion. 00:04:34.240 --> 00:04:38.306 And so everything came together 00:04:38.339 --> 00:04:45.176 and I said to my supervisor what I found out and I said if you want I'm 00:04:45.209 --> 00:04:49.166 not touching that drug. I said and I told her everything I'd learned. I 00:04:49.199 --> 00:04:54.147 said here's the chart. So she called the doctor and over the phone he 00:04:54.180 --> 00:04:59.366 changed the order. But it was those kinds of things. Now I'm not saying 00:04:59.399 --> 00:05:04.866 other nurses would have done different than I did. I don't know that. All 00:05:04.899 --> 00:05:10.596 I know is that I had too many experiences similar to that and others were 00:05:10.629 --> 00:05:17.267 just social problems. Like one time there was a african american woman 00:05:17.300 --> 00:05:22.036 that delivered a baby and you know I was told you and mason I was the one 00:05:22.069 --> 00:05:25.916 that was in charge of the delivery room and all that stuff. She delivered 00:05:25.949 --> 00:05:32.156 a baby and I uh wheeled her out you know to put her in a room. Well there 00:05:32.189 --> 00:05:39.647 weren't any vacant beds except one. And these were two bed rooms. And the 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:44.236 one and I put her in there where this one was, I don't know. Within 20 00:05:44.269 --> 00:05:48.906 minutes her doctor comes storming to get me and just read me the riot act. 00:05:48.939 --> 00:05:56.106 Because I had put back *** one in with his white patient. 00:05:56.139 --> 00:06:01.246 And I said, well, I said I helped deliver her and she had blood just like 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:05.007 your patient, she hurt, just like your patient. You know, I went through 00:06:05.040 --> 00:06:08.906 all that and when I would do that or say things like that to him, it would 00:06:08.939 --> 00:06:13.707 aggravate them even more. And so he demanded that I take her out of there 00:06:13.740 --> 00:06:18.476 . I said no. So you want her out of there, You take her out when you take 00:06:18.509 --> 00:06:22.856 her out. I'm calling the office. I said I was just a staff nurse. I didn't 00:06:22.889 --> 00:06:28.637 have any more authority than the delivery room to the bed. That's the 00:06:28.670 --> 00:06:33.606 authority I had. But you see the people above you, the supervisors, we're 00:06:33.639 --> 00:06:37.687 kind of indifferent and they were afraid and for some reason I wasn't 00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:42.786 afraid. Well the upshot of all that stuff. Within two days, everything was 00:06:42.819 --> 00:06:46.736 settled down and he had apologized to me and he had apologized to the 00:06:46.769 --> 00:06:51.596 patients and all that, that's fine. And on the third day he brought me a 00:06:51.629 --> 00:06:57.457 big box of chocolate candy. Now I think he learned something. But I didn't 00:06:57.490 --> 00:07:05.286 want that box of candy Because he was probably close to 50 and he had 00:07:05.319 --> 00:07:10.507 shown what he was to me and he had done all this damage to that mother. 00:07:10.540 --> 00:07:14.647 She had known about it. Oh sure. The thing everything was happening right 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:19.806 in front of both both women and the two women got along fine in those days. 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:24.156 You know, they kept new mothers in hospitals sometimes five days. They 00:07:24.189 --> 00:07:27.596 didn't go in and out the same day like they do now. Well it was those 00:07:27.629 --> 00:07:34.806 kinds of things that piled up on me. And When my father died in 1954 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:39.087 this air I did some arranging to take care of him at home because that's 00:07:39.120 --> 00:07:43.606 what he wanted. He wanted to die at home. And so I had to get some relief 00:07:43.639 --> 00:07:50.786 time. The job at the V. A hospital. And so I I did, I got relief time. And 00:07:50.819 --> 00:07:57.496 when I returned two weeks later after the funeral and all esta the super 00:07:57.529 --> 00:08:03.587 supervisor, the chief nurse. They use a lot of military terms in here are 00:08:03.620 --> 00:08:11.620 hierarchy called me in and just chewed me out. And her main thing was not 00:08:11.629 --> 00:08:18.577 that I had taken time to bury my father but that I had not planned with 00:08:18.610 --> 00:08:20.806 her. 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:27.257 I said, how do you plan a sickness and death? And I left and I walked out 00:08:27.290 --> 00:08:32.417 that door and I decided I'm going to get out of here. And then I started 00:08:32.450 --> 00:08:40.287 making my plan All right. I think there's a lot of, I hope there's a lot 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:45.146 of real good things that have happened since then To change things, but 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:48.707 those kinds of things burn you up and in teaching did the same kind of 00:08:48.740 --> 00:08:55.907 thing to me, you know. Uh, even teacher in 1958, Uh, and the first I would 00:08:55.940 --> 00:09:02.937 say 1st 10 years, it was just a dream. It really was even the day, even 00:09:02.970 --> 00:09:08.506 the years that I would have 40 kids. Uh, there was a lot of opportunity 00:09:08.539 --> 00:09:14.016 for me in the school where I work with principle that I worked with and, 00:09:14.049 --> 00:09:19.687 and the staff. She had a mixed kind of, she had races, all the races. She 00:09:19.720 --> 00:09:23.317 had japanese. No, this isn't finished. She had japanese teacher. She had 00:09:23.350 --> 00:09:29.807 token people, Japanese and black and mexican and whites. What was your 00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:34.726 school? It was called? Valley view school. Just like it sounds Valley view. 00:09:34.759 --> 00:09:39.886 There's in Roosevelt district, It was mixed ethnic thing. Your kids were 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:43.067 mixed and the teachers were mixed pictures were mixed and she was, the 00:09:43.100 --> 00:09:49.297 principle is very proud of her staff and we did a lot of, I thought was a 00:09:49.330 --> 00:09:53.557 lot of good things And the, the children's attitude was so different. The 00:09:53.590 --> 00:09:57.917 parents attitude was so different in those, those years. And I noticed a 00:09:57.950 --> 00:10:05.950 huge change started about 68, is when these terrible, I think destructive 00:10:06.059 --> 00:10:11.407 things begin to happen as far as the relations between kids and teachers 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:13.606 and parents 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:17.866 school boards. So before you felt that the parents supported the teachers 00:10:17.899 --> 00:10:24.276 , it's not that they supported, we all agreed, You know, and the kids were 00:10:24.309 --> 00:10:30.636 happy there for that period of time. I could not teach a class of 45 kids. 00:10:30.669 --> 00:10:34.787 There's nothing I can do for class of 45 kids with books and pencils and 00:10:34.820 --> 00:10:39.197 papers. I don't know if anybody thinks they can, but I don't think you can 00:10:39.230 --> 00:10:44.766 , you cannot, you can't even have time for an individual child to do much 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:50.616 reading or demonstrating or. So when I did, I started almost immediately I 00:10:50.649 --> 00:10:56.437 group kids in four or five kids together and they worked together. But as 00:10:56.470 --> 00:11:02.736 far as um, subject matter, one of the things that I would do in all the 00:11:02.769 --> 00:11:08.837 like science and social studies, things like that. I would, we would do 00:11:08.870 --> 00:11:13.506 what, what I would call project work. So they spend a lot of time in the 00:11:13.539 --> 00:11:20.587 library and their textbook, but they did it together as groups. They did, 00:11:20.620 --> 00:11:23.986 you know, you can call it research because that's a very descriptive word 00:11:24.019 --> 00:11:27.707 , but you know, it was at their level and they would produce certain 00:11:27.740 --> 00:11:31.337 amount of paperwork. I mean descriptive things that they would write a lot 00:11:31.370 --> 00:11:36.596 of talking and it was a noisy room and then the end of the project for 00:11:36.629 --> 00:11:41.356 instance, if they were studying uh, certain kinds of activities in a 00:11:41.389 --> 00:11:47.837 civilization, they would, they would put it on paper, machete and mud 00:11:47.870 --> 00:11:54.167 paper and cardboard, whatever they would design this story in three 00:11:54.200 --> 00:12:00.726 dimensions, on tables and they would leave it up for several weeks before 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:05.567 they would start another project. So did you have 45 kids? And you're sure 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:09.687 you had 45 Children? Sure, my first, my first class. And you had to teach 00:12:09.720 --> 00:12:15.717 them. So you don't know much teaching as you think of teaching. You can, 00:12:15.750 --> 00:12:21.236 you, you supervise more like facilitating their work here, keep their 00:12:21.269 --> 00:12:27.236 minds occupied if you can. And a reading. I I didn't have any trouble 00:12:27.269 --> 00:12:32.567 teaching reading that, let's see, I say it wrong. I didn't teach reading, 00:12:32.600 --> 00:12:37.226 They learned it. What I would do is I'd buy a lot of paperbacks. I just 00:12:37.259 --> 00:12:45.259 went out of the curriculum and what grade do you teach? And um, and so A 00:12:45.350 --> 00:12:51.146 lot of paperbacks, I must have had to 300 paperbacks in there. And a lot 00:12:51.179 --> 00:12:53.687 of the books were bought by the kids and a lot of them were bought by me, 00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:59.827 but they were all paperbacks for that level of learning and I just read 00:12:59.860 --> 00:13:07.860 them. Yeah. And then every friday for a long time for years, we would have 00:13:09.009 --> 00:13:14.787 nothing but contests, contests and math contests and spelling contests in 00:13:14.820 --> 00:13:20.976 vocabulary building. And it was funny because there were teams, they look 00:13:21.009 --> 00:13:27.396 forward to it that make up, they make up their own, you know, competitions 00:13:27.429 --> 00:13:34.386 , uh, on friday would be a calling all day friday. And by that time I was 00:13:34.419 --> 00:13:40.126 teaching all 6th grade, reading All six for the whole school and it was 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:45.907 still that in all 6th grade may leave you. And so it was all conscious. We 00:13:45.940 --> 00:13:52.276 have some of our problems and this was all done on the chalkboard. Okay. 00:13:52.309 --> 00:13:57.616 Some of our problems, I know I must have had 30 digits Divide. This did 00:13:57.649 --> 00:14:04.197 this number by five. Well, you know, that's fun. It doesn't matter if you 00:14:04.230 --> 00:14:10.106 make a mistake and everybody's watching you and you have teams. It was a 00:14:10.139 --> 00:14:14.937 survival really. That's what it was. You know, the team work, I had to 00:14:14.970 --> 00:14:20.317 survive and the kids had to survive and going back to that group work. 00:14:20.350 --> 00:14:27.707 It's interesting. I mean like that now they're really emphasizing getting 00:14:27.740 --> 00:14:32.026 students to work together as in groups and get more actively involved in 00:14:32.059 --> 00:14:35.756 their own learning. So you were doing something that they're trying to do 00:14:35.789 --> 00:14:39.537 now. Well, I, you know, I used to take a lot of classes at issue during 00:14:39.570 --> 00:14:42.366 that period. I don't remember the names of them now, but I remember one 00:14:42.399 --> 00:14:45.766 time I really report on this and I don't even remember who the 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:49.207 professional was. He thought it was unique. I didn't think it was, I 00:14:49.240 --> 00:14:54.626 thought it was natural. Um, and like I said, it was a question of getting 00:14:54.659 --> 00:14:59.276 through and accomplishing something they should do standardized 00:14:59.309 --> 00:15:06.037 Metropolitan testing that, that test every year and there were some kids 00:15:06.070 --> 00:15:10.256 and I wish I had all these figures. But I don't, there were some kids that 00:15:10.289 --> 00:15:14.537 would start at third grade level, your sixth grade kids, third grade level. 00:15:14.570 --> 00:15:19.596 You know, they were really disinterested kids really bored to death. And 00:15:19.629 --> 00:15:24.976 of course most of the boys and by the end of the year they're all at level 00:15:25.009 --> 00:15:31.547 or above in your classes. Oh, that's great. That was in reading especially. 00:15:31.580 --> 00:15:34.807 So that was important. Especially if you, if you can do, if you can 00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:39.807 succeed in you, the child can succeed in reading. You can succeed in math 00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:44.866 because math then becomes a game. If you, if you, if you can get to that 00:15:44.899 --> 00:15:51.266 point that it's a game. Uh, see the logic of it. Uh, so did you feel good 00:15:51.299 --> 00:15:57.606 about that work then? Yeah. You loved it. Like I really liked a teaching 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:00.807 and it was after, 00:16:00.840 --> 00:16:08.840 I can't remember for 67 1 68. Uh, the whole atmosphere began to change and 00:16:09.460 --> 00:16:15.797 it began with the parents and I called him nosy. They began to complain if 00:16:15.830 --> 00:16:21.646 their kids read a book named anne frank. They began to complain if their 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:25.907 kid red a Shakespeare play 00:16:25.940 --> 00:16:29.207 we produce place 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:32.876 When I went to champy, I produced three Shakespearean employees at sixth 00:16:32.909 --> 00:16:38.207 grade level. Okay, this is not broadway, 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:42.756 but these were places that scripts that were written for Children. Okay. 00:16:42.789 --> 00:16:49.356 When something that I got out of thin air, kids just love that and I 00:16:49.389 --> 00:16:55.217 intend ti I had kids that I had inherited a class that the year before had 00:16:55.250 --> 00:16:58.986 torn down all the school equipment from the playground. You know these 00:16:59.019 --> 00:17:04.607 metal bars and basketball? They tore it down the last day of school 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:07.897 and they just weren't having any part of school. But anyway those ruffians 00:17:07.930 --> 00:17:13.847 came into my class in september and through their legs on the table. Yeah 00:17:13.880 --> 00:17:18.917 they're cute but you want to knock them down anyway Through the link here 00:17:18.950 --> 00:17:24.467 I am, my name is also teach now what are you gonna do about I said I'm 00:17:24.500 --> 00:17:28.687 gonna get that leg and I'm gonna throw it on the floor and you're gonna 00:17:28.720 --> 00:17:31.407 sit over there. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:37.786 The principal said that he had asked for me to take that class because he 00:17:37.819 --> 00:17:43.496 thought I could control I had that reputation with the previous school 00:17:43.529 --> 00:17:48.357 where I have been and I told him I don't want to take your class, you have 00:17:48.390 --> 00:17:55.137 too many kids in this class that come from families where their parents 00:17:55.170 --> 00:18:00.437 teach at issue. You have too many important people and I see nothing but 00:18:00.470 --> 00:18:04.476 trouble. And it was the parents were the ones that cause trouble. We had 00:18:04.509 --> 00:18:09.006 drunken parties on weekends and they would bring their drunk, the Children 00:18:09.039 --> 00:18:13.486 would bring their drunkenness to school. These sixth graders and most of 00:18:13.519 --> 00:18:19.026 those parents were a. S. U. Parents and so some of the Children were 00:18:19.059 --> 00:18:21.826 turning green the next morning you know and then they come to me with a 00:18:21.859 --> 00:18:27.137 problem that tell me whatever it was. And so 00:18:27.170 --> 00:18:32.137 I said well do you think that to the kids? Do you think this is a 00:18:32.170 --> 00:18:35.746 classroom problem? Oh yeah because so and so was there and all these kids 00:18:35.779 --> 00:18:41.447 were there, we all spent the weekend together. I said okay then I'll go 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:44.796 see the principal about it. I think I agree with you. I think it's a 00:18:44.829 --> 00:18:50.826 classroom problem and that's what mr enraged parents when the principal 00:18:50.859 --> 00:18:56.996 would contact them and then um it's none of my business that teachers 00:18:57.029 --> 00:19:02.137 business. She had no business. You know none of her business. Even if it 00:19:02.170 --> 00:19:07.306 happened it's none of her business. And my defense always was if it's in 00:19:07.339 --> 00:19:12.357 my classroom or disrupting or disturbing or affecting it's my business. 00:19:12.390 --> 00:19:19.367 Right? But that's what I mean by parents became just defensive I guess 00:19:19.400 --> 00:19:23.016 they're scared. I don't know why they do that. It's not lack of knowledge 00:19:23.049 --> 00:19:30.246 , they know what things are like. So anyway everything seemed to By the 00:19:30.279 --> 00:19:38.279 time I retired 1980 Um you talked from 58 to 1980. uh Huh. By the time I 00:19:38.509 --> 00:19:45.036 retired I think I have six kids that were under court, administration were 00:19:45.069 --> 00:19:49.516 bad behavior things out in the community and still working with six 00:19:49.549 --> 00:19:53.607 graders and still working in the Roosevelt district by that time I was in 00:19:53.640 --> 00:20:01.640 , when did you move to Guadalupe? Well 68 and then I spent 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:06.566 I can't remember if I spent one or two years there and then two years in 00:20:06.599 --> 00:20:10.847 the temple school that I just described, it was called Myrrh School then I 00:20:10.880 --> 00:20:15.367 don't know if it even exists yet, but that's what it was called in. And 00:20:15.400 --> 00:20:21.167 then I begged to go back to I just did you find the parents more 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:24.467 supportive in Guadalupe? Yes, they're supportive in the sense they're more 00:20:24.500 --> 00:20:29.607 submissive. Mm But it was a very political, finance, very political. The 00:20:29.640 --> 00:20:33.867 town is very politicized. The temple school district is very political as 00:20:33.900 --> 00:20:38.637 far as the community is concerned and I knew all about it. I went there 00:20:38.670 --> 00:20:43.927 because I wanted to I applied for it. I volunteered I wanted a job there 00:20:43.960 --> 00:20:48.597 in 58 when I first started teaching, but the superintendent told me we 00:20:48.630 --> 00:20:52.207 don't need you. They had about 600 teachers in the district. We don't need 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:57.607 you because we already have one teacher to speak Spanish for the whole 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:03.127 district in Guadalupe, Guadalupe, we already have one. Can you imagine? So 00:21:03.160 --> 00:21:07.607 they need. So then when the principal contacted me in phoenix and wanted 00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:11.326 me to come out, she said we are going to have a vacancy. And I told her a 00:21:11.359 --> 00:21:16.427 lot of things we got along very well that principle and I I've known her 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:21.586 and so I said well if you're going to be there and if you can assure me of 00:21:21.619 --> 00:21:27.306 this, you know these three things or whatever, I'll give a try. So I moved 00:21:27.339 --> 00:21:30.207 from phoenix to, 00:21:30.240 --> 00:21:35.097 she died that summer, right. Actually signed my contract. She died. But 00:21:35.130 --> 00:21:43.130 anyway, the politics got very bad from then until I retired in Guadalupe. 00:21:43.640 --> 00:21:47.976 What was the situation there? We'll see. It's not partisan politics, is 00:21:48.009 --> 00:21:54.157 educational politics, community politics. And there's a conflict in 00:21:54.190 --> 00:21:58.707 philosophies and there is a conflict between the community and the school 00:21:58.740 --> 00:22:04.467 district. The school district was very racist period. I even organized a 00:22:04.500 --> 00:22:11.006 group, one year of teachers, uh, to challenge mexican american teachers 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:16.597 who had the meetings at my house. Uh, and we were going to, we did, we 00:22:16.630 --> 00:22:21.316 submitted a plan to the superintendent and all the company he keeps as a 00:22:21.349 --> 00:22:26.397 matter of what we want demands that we wanted to change the approach to 00:22:26.430 --> 00:22:30.556 educating mexican american kids. Who is the school board controlled by 00:22:30.589 --> 00:22:37.697 Tempe? Well, Kyrie nor Tempe to this day. Oh, it is to this day. So they 00:22:37.730 --> 00:22:41.447 had really negative attitudes about the kids in Guadalupe. Oh sure. And 00:22:41.480 --> 00:22:44.637 then we made a lot of money off them. They would, they would put kids in 00:22:44.670 --> 00:22:48.687 retarded classes. They were retarded. But see they get so much money and 00:22:48.720 --> 00:22:53.796 then they would use that money to distribute. They bought thousands of 00:22:53.829 --> 00:22:59.667 dollars worth of instruments. Musical instruments with federal money and a 00:22:59.700 --> 00:23:04.097 certain, see, I've been involved with people in different parts of the 00:23:04.130 --> 00:23:09.397 valley. So I had the information about those instruments from outside the 00:23:09.430 --> 00:23:14.207 Tempe district And I knew where the money pick that. They were federally 00:23:14.240 --> 00:23:19.836 funded and they could not be found in Guadalupe. They were in the rich 00:23:19.869 --> 00:23:26.167 district temporary district schools. So I said to my principal, I have a 00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:31.006 music teacher. I know, I know Zilch about music. I have a music teacher. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:35.407 He will volunteer to come over here every whatever it is days of the week 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:42.226 and the kids want to blow horns and we, and this school owns whatever was 00:23:42.259 --> 00:23:44.607 100 instruments 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:49.177 and we'll buy all the reads. Well, we'll just set it all up. Are you gonna 00:23:49.210 --> 00:23:56.306 do it? I said in the cafeteria, well I have a system of teaching music on. 00:23:56.339 --> 00:24:00.816 And uh, the principal himself was a mexican american. He was also a 00:24:00.849 --> 00:24:08.849 musician And he was also a political enemy # 1 to me and we knew it. We 00:24:09.069 --> 00:24:13.207 knew that. And I said 00:24:13.240 --> 00:24:16.137 otherwise, I said, we're going to have to have an investigation because 00:24:16.170 --> 00:24:19.417 that was federal money that was sent to the school to buy those 00:24:19.450 --> 00:24:22.907 instruments for these Children and they're not getting them the Children 00:24:22.940 --> 00:24:26.657 over there in such and such school and getting the instruments that belong 00:24:26.690 --> 00:24:34.276 here. He said, okay. And then uh, he said, gave me permission that were 00:24:34.309 --> 00:24:38.597 permission to go and talk to the assistant principal and the assistant 00:24:38.630 --> 00:24:44.367 superintendent. He said to me, he said, well, you know, he said those are 00:24:44.400 --> 00:24:47.526 nice kids, but they still have wood smoke in their hair. They're not going 00:24:47.559 --> 00:24:52.207 to learn a thing. We got a concert before the year was over 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.836 and those kids were so happy and so proud and and such poor musicians. But 00:24:56.869 --> 00:25:02.407 you know, they were blowing horns and they reported for practice after 00:25:02.440 --> 00:25:07.566 school. They learned to put these tools were they heard. And my friend 00:25:07.599 --> 00:25:12.407 from phoenix music musicians would come and he would do the teaching on me. 00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:18.236 I would just arrange the meeting and he agreed to volunteer. Oh yeah, 00:25:18.269 --> 00:25:25.516 yeah, yeah. Uh So there were a number of experiences like that where they 00:25:25.549 --> 00:25:32.357 were tracking these kids in the dummies, dummy classes and then not giving 00:25:32.390 --> 00:25:35.986 them the funds that they had coming to them from different sources and 00:25:36.019 --> 00:25:40.036 they're still they're still doing it all over. Arizona still doing it. And 00:25:40.069 --> 00:25:45.107 that principle didn't stand up for me. Not unless you pushed him to that. 00:25:45.140 --> 00:25:49.756 When, when we went to, when the mexican american teachers went to war in 00:25:49.789 --> 00:25:52.756 that district. I'm trying to remember the year. I think it was probably 00:25:52.789 --> 00:25:56.427 about 1975. 00:25:56.460 --> 00:26:01.607 And we've had enough. We went to war with the superintendent was sam fees. 00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:05.457 He had a heart attack. He couldn't stand his hair, his face would get 00:26:05.490 --> 00:26:10.996 purple every time you'd see some of us coming. He with anger, anger just 00:26:11.029 --> 00:26:18.407 tear blank. And so I'm gonna turn this off. And so 00:26:18.440 --> 00:26:25.246 when mhm When we had these meetings at my house and we'd ride up all these 00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:33.117 plans and we had it all together, the district sent my principal to those 00:26:33.150 --> 00:26:36.826 meetings. He wanted to help. I said the hell neither. You don't want to 00:26:36.859 --> 00:26:42.397 help. Yeah. Uh huh. The day I walked out of his office and I retired, I 00:26:42.430 --> 00:26:49.117 said sue me go ahead soon. It was very bad. But anyway, there were about 00:26:49.150 --> 00:26:55.427 10 Mexican American principles. By that time my speech to them was you 00:26:55.460 --> 00:27:00.657 have betrayed everything. You have the power. You got your job on the back 00:27:00.690 --> 00:27:04.897 of this and I named the teachers that have been punished on the back of 00:27:04.930 --> 00:27:09.447 this one and that one and the other one, that's why you have your job. 00:27:09.480 --> 00:27:14.006 They did all the politics for you. I said I'm still standing up but I'm 00:27:14.039 --> 00:27:16.907 not going to be here very long 00:27:16.940 --> 00:27:23.107 and you don't even have the decency of the courage to face your the kid's 00:27:23.140 --> 00:27:31.140 enemies. And because you're so many you could do something for something. 00:27:31.140 --> 00:27:37.667 Mm Nothing. They don't do a thing. And so I'm not saying that it's right 00:27:37.700 --> 00:27:40.836 or wrong. I'm all I'm saying is that there's a lot of people like that out 00:27:40.869 --> 00:27:44.576 there. They've got mortgages to pay, they've got obligations. They've got 00:27:44.609 --> 00:27:48.836 other duties. They've got who knows, they have all this stuff and they 00:27:48.869 --> 00:27:55.907 aren't the kind of people that came out of the same environment. I guess 00:27:55.940 --> 00:28:00.857 that some some people did. I'm not saying that I have it all right and all 00:28:00.890 --> 00:28:05.097 together. And I do things perfectly. I make plenty of mistakes. But let me 00:28:05.130 --> 00:28:09.357 tell you, there was a time when I was nursing, things were so bad between 00:28:09.390 --> 00:28:15.586 me and one of the doctors That every phone call that we made or that he 00:28:15.619 --> 00:28:21.217 made or I made to him was tape recorded by the hospital. And that was in 00:28:21.250 --> 00:28:24.907 the 50s about 1952 00:28:24.940 --> 00:28:31.026 because I would not follow his orders. And and the rest of the staff 00:28:31.059 --> 00:28:38.907 doctor supported me against him because they, you know, they knew and the 00:28:38.940 --> 00:28:46.457 the final blow came when I was delivering a baby. The husband was standing 00:28:46.490 --> 00:28:53.107 outside the door. The doctor, I had called a doctor. He wouldn't come 00:28:53.140 --> 00:28:56.246 across the hall. They were having a cesarean section. There were four 00:28:56.279 --> 00:29:01.276 doctors there. And so I would walk from my delivery room to their 00:29:01.309 --> 00:29:05.806 operating room and make my reports about every three minutes. This is 00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:08.816 happening. And it was her first baby. This is happening, this is happening 00:29:08.849 --> 00:29:13.266 , this is happening. So anyway, I mentioned to deliver the chat and the 00:29:13.299 --> 00:29:21.299 baby. Uh and then then when the surgery was completed that surgeon came 00:29:22.930 --> 00:29:30.076 and checked for terrorism problems. She had an easy time. I she didn't 00:29:30.109 --> 00:29:34.177 have complications. She had an easy time. The husband wanted to pay me 00:29:34.210 --> 00:29:38.647 $150. That's what it costs to deliver a baby. I said, oh no. I said that 00:29:38.680 --> 00:29:41.927 it would be very unprofessional of me to I said you get that if you want 00:29:41.960 --> 00:29:47.056 to give that away give it to charity. And uh he was just so grateful, you 00:29:47.089 --> 00:29:54.627 know what are you doing man? It's emotional. Uh huh. Then I think the baby 00:29:54.660 --> 00:29:59.897 had been there about 15 minutes and in walks, my friend, the doctor that 00:29:59.930 --> 00:30:05.887 wouldn't come and he would click his heels like Hitler every time he'd see 00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:10.776 me, he'd meet me on the quarter is here. Well anyway, by the time that 00:30:10.809 --> 00:30:17.107 happened they decided to have a a meeting about him and I wasn't impressed 00:30:17.140 --> 00:30:22.197 the tapes or and these other physicians that had witnessed this last event 00:30:22.230 --> 00:30:25.740 , they said that's it.