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This is Irene Reese interviewing Mr. Ricardo Parra at the main library located at 311 East 12th in Kansas City, Missouri on September 4th, 1981. This is tape side A. Mr. Barra. Is the neighborhood and affairs representative of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. He

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is also the past executive director of the Midwest Council of La Raza. Mr. Barra, will you give us a little information about. Your early life, like the names of your parents, and where you were born and when? OK, um, my father was Adolfo Parra. He was

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born in Mexico. My mother is Jose Paparra, who was born in Tanganicuaro in the state of Michoacan in Mexico. Um, My early life. I was born in Kansas City, Kansas. Uh, 1946. Um, I lived there for about. 5 years, maybe 4 years, um. We had to

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move to Kansas City, Missouri because of the 1951 flood. I do remember some things, uh, about, uh, Kansas City, Kansas. Uh, I lived on Saint Paul Street. It was called it was the number is 711 Saint Paul Street. I could always remember the, the number 7-Eleven

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and, uh. My father worked in a Swiss packing, Swiss packing house. How many, how many were there in your family? How many brothers and sisters altogether? All of us, 4 boys, 4 girls. The girls were first and then the boys, uh, later. Mhm. But, uh, and

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you said your father worked for the packing house and your mother was worked outside the home, and she just worked primarily worked primarily as a homemaker in the homemaker. And you do remember, I know that the flood of '51 affected many people and the flood forced

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you to leave your family, to leave to come to Kansas City, Missouri? Yes, I remember that. Uh, the first place that we stayed in Kansas City, Missouri was in the home of my uncle Bernave who lived on Washington Street in on the west side in Kansas

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City, Missouri. Uh, many, uh, Of our relatives, uh, from my mother's side stayed there and we're all, uh, we're all pretty much staying there. We were part of this, uh, the flood of refugees that showed up from Kansas and. Remember we were getting inoculations for different

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kinds of things that were flood related and stuff like that. But, uh, generally, we all, uh, accepted it pretty well. Uh, you know, we were young little kids. We really probably didn't know what was going on. I thought it was fun. It's probably some kind of

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adventure, this kind of thing. And later on, we went to live with, uh, uh, on my father's side, my aunt Lola and my aunt Chita, and, They lived on Jarbo Street on the west side in Kansas, Missouri. Um-hum. Uh, after that, uh, Uh, my folks found

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a place, um, on Summit Street, 2019 Summit, and, uh, Uh, my mother still lives there. So that has been your home all these years. So surely if you don't remember as much, excuse me, from the Kansas side, you do remember more from Missouri. Can you recall,

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um, What was the neighborhood like, you know, what, what, like the streets, was there a great deal of activity? Were there like close to the summit? Were there a lot of little shops, businesses? Were there always people out that you could see as you were growing

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up? Well, I was I was growing up, I guess I began to experiment, uh, there in the neighborhood, find out, um, who was who, um. Uh, I guess some of the first people that, uh, we met, uh, were the sifuentess. They lived, oh, Two or 3

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houses down, uh, the Garcia family lived, uh, 2 houses up. Uh, Eva Gonzalez, who is a friend of our family, uh, moved right next to our family, uh, on Summit Street. So some of those old neighbors who lived there then, some of them probably still are,

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still do, uh, some of the youngsters that I grew up with were like uh. The, uh, the Flores boys, uh, and, uh. On Jefferson Street, um, across the alley from us. Um, The Experience was, uh, generally a very good one, growing up on Kansas City's west

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side. Up the street was, uh, was a little confectionery. It was called Mrs. Rudy's store, and further up the street, going up to about 18th Street, there was a clinic, uh. Uh, it was in an old home. It was called the Richard Cabot Clinic. Oh, Since

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then. The one that still exists, but now it's a newer building. Now, it has a newer building. Now, it has a newer building. Yeah. Um-hum. Uh, I remember going to school at, at Switzer school. Um-hum. Uh did you go there all through. All through my, uh

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Elementary school. All through my elementary school, I was at Switzer. Uh-huh. I remember my first day at school. I was a, I was a real crybaby going, going to school and not wanting to, To stay there, this kind of thing. I guess that was probably the

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experience of many, many, many, many kids. The, uh, I guess another thing that I recall now is in school, the changing of my name, which at that time, I didn't, uh, know what was going on, but. You were always R Ricardo, right? I was always at

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Ricardo, but somehow the school Changed. Decided to somewhere in some kind of transitional period, whether it was kindergarten or first grade, Uh, the name began to change in my Crayola box where I kept all my Crayolas. It didn't say Ricardo. Of course, I couldn't read. Uh,

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uh, I knew, you know, that there was something different there. It was, uh, Richard. OK. And so, I later on. For many years, you, you responded to Richard. Right. And, uh, that was, you know, something that later on, I'm glad that I reclaimed. Uh, my own

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identity as a Ricardo. Um-hum. Mhm. Uh, and did you always hear Spanish at home, for instance? Right, Spanish was, uh, the first language of the home, uh. I did pick up English from the home. Um-hum. But did you know? Pretty much from my brothers and sisters.

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Uh-huh. What had already gone through school. Uh-huh. And stuff like that. So. And I had the advantage of their experience already. Uh-huh. So, by the time you went to school, you already knew some English, is that it? Right. Right. And so you didn't find it a

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very, uh, difficult or a very traumatic kind of experience, did you, then, or do you remember, except you did cry, but it was probably because it was such a new experience or. Yeah, I think so. I think that's probably what it was. I had, The benefit

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of 6 other people that had already gone through school, gone and tasted some of the world and this kind of thing, and, you know, they, so I guess that's one of the advantages of showing up later. Other people, I guess it's harder on the people that,

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uh, have to struggle. In the first breaks, uh, into, into the society into, into the school life, this kind of thing, and you're late you're able to pick up a lot of things from that. I was able to learn a lot from my brother Roberto. Mhm.

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Do you, as, as, as well as you can remember, was you were those early years, I mean like the school years, were they pretty fairly happy ones, or did you? I mean, overall, I know that there were bound to be times when you probably thought everybody

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was against you or something, but. Uh, generally in, in, in my elementary school years I had, Pretty good, good times I had some good memories that. Um-hum. Some other memories that were, were, That I thought at that time were rather traumatic, but now that I look

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at them, they're OK. They were just regular, normal, part of it. Part of just growing up, this kind of thing. Did, um, did you have any hobbies, uh, as a child, or were you able to do, were there sports, reading, I mean, it didn't have to

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be anything highly organized or music or art or anything that you did for fun or because you just had a flair for it or had a chance to do it. Well, I think, uh. We used to play all kinds of kid games, and, uh, I enjoyed

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that with, with the neighbor kids. We had like a little clubhouse also, uh, you know, a few of the, uh, neighbors, uh, had like little clubs and they pick up their garages and stuff like that. And, um, I, I really didn't get into any kind of

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organized activity in sports until, uh, later in my youth, and I think, Um, that Some of the things that probably kept me away from real, uh, it really didn't keep me away. I just suffered with it, uh, because I would still be involved in all kinds

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of sports was, uh, was my asthma. I had asthma from about 004 to perhaps, uh, 12 years old. And I think after I started, Lifting weights around 12, uh, and doing exercise. I think that assisted, Quite a bit in, in helping me out. I remember I

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used to go to the, uh, Children's Mercy Hospital almost weekly for either, uh, uh, skin test for allergies. Uh, they, I don't think I could ever find out what it was, but, uh, I remember I was taking pills, getting shots all the time, this kind of

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thing, but it just went away later on. From time to time, it occurs very, very, very rarely, uh, and, you know, I'm glad that, I. Yeah. That my mom was, you know, real, uh, uh, concerned with that and with, You know, come rain or shine, snowing,

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uh, whatever it was, you know, we'd be taking the bus going up to the, Emergency hospital to get some kind of medical treatment for, uh, for my asthma condition. Um-hum. Now, um, were you, was your family or were all of you members of the Guadalupe Church

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and were you, Actively involved with anything there or your mother or your dad? Well, we, we, uh, I guess our religious instructions, uh, Since we had gone to public school, we had to get, uh, authorizations to, uh, be able to take religious instructions. Our religious instructions

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was at, was at the, uh, Guadalupe school and, uh. After, after school, like this would be like, uh, catechism classes. We would, we would walk down from, from there and they, they would have the catechism classes. Um, My brother Roberto, myself, Alfredo, who participated and uh

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made our first communion, our confirmation at uh. At, at Guadalupe and. There are always many festivals, uh, Not many, but I guess there are festivals that, that one can always recall in, in the past, uh, like, uh, the fiesta was always, you know. Um-hum. A big

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activity that was, uh, done in the area. I guess it still is. It's. Um. At one time of year's the one in the summer, right? The. Right. It used to be on 23rd Street and, and they. Um-hum. They moved it to, uh, I guess over at

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Crown Center. Oh, uh-huh. That's where they've been having. Uh-huh. The one for, uh September. Um-hum. The priests, uh, At Guadalupe, I remember they were the Augustinians. Usually they're Spanish priests. I think recently, uh, they, they have some priests that have may have had missionary work, Anglo

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priests that have come in to. I've, I've been there for Christmas services I came. For christmas last year, I, I attended there at Guadalupe. Um-hum. And, uh. But in the very beginning, they used to be mostly Spanish from Spain.tly Spanish Spanish priests from Spain. Though, I

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think, uh, there was another priest, uh, a Mexican American priest that was there also. Father Ramon Caetan, I think. Yes, he was at, uh. He was. He go to look for a Sacred Heart or both. Um-hum. I believe. I think he was there for a short

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time. Yeah, and now he's over, I guess, in Kansas. Um-hum. Um-hum. Let's see, I was gonna ask you, um, Then from upon your, uh, finishing Switzer school, did you stay in the community and did you go to West, or did you go to Westport, or where

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did you go after you graduated from from Switzer Elementary School? Well, from Switzer, uh, I went to West Junior. It wasn't West yet. It was still in that situation where it was a junior high school, very unique school, the only one in the city that went

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up to the 10th grade and And that's, uh. Um-hum. I guess, uh. They had 4 grades in, uh, it suits you went through the 6th grade or 7th, 6th grade. Up. Or do you remember? Up to the 6th. And, uh, From the, from the 6th you

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would move into, uh, West Junior, which would take you from the 7th through the 10th. 10, 4 years. And, I guess the. That was a very bad situation because it meant that by 10th grade, someone was 16 and there really wasn't that, because that cut in,

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in two grades, not having those two grades. Um-hum. Some people would not go to school. Yeah. They would see. They wouldn't. They, they would have to go further away, so that meant that many just automatically dropped out as a result, right? Yeah, and I don't know,

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uh, it was the only school in the city that went up. It was set up like that. That was set up like that, and, uh, it was a, it was a bad situation. Well, I, Uh, you know, I was there at West, and from West, uh,

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the other schools that I went to, I didn't complete at West or West Junior. That's what it was. I, I completed at, uh, At Westport, but I had gone to Manuel High School and, uh, Westport High School. Then you graduated from Westport, actually. Then I actually

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graduated from. Was there any reason for you changing then from Manual? You went to Manuel, but you had a choice. When you left West, was there a choice for youngsters who went there to go to one or the other, or they had to, did they have

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to go to one? Did the school district say they had to go to one school? Well, what I thought was, was permission to. Um-hum. Uh, um-hum. To go to, go to school elsewhere. And, uh, you had to come to the school board and get the permission,

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uh, to do so. And so, uh, my brother was at Westport. Robert. Robert, my brother Robert, so I decided to. So, you went. To go there and it, it, it, it worked out, uh, well for me going there. You rode the bus, did you? Rode the

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bus, uh, And, uh, you get, I got to learn about, uh, other groups, uh, Other situations, sometimes the experiences were not uh. Real, real positive when you would see that the over at Westport, they, they tended to treat, uh, uh. The parents of the regular traditional

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Westport. Uh, students better when they would come in for parent conferences and, and someone like us, the outsiders coming in, uh, sometimes, uh, they, they tended, uh, to, to look down or, or, um. Ignore you bypass. Or, or whatever it was, it, it wasn't the same

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kind of reception that, that others would be getting at the school. Um. And so, I guess, there, I guess we would be kind of, we were seen as, as outsiders. I'm sure that probably, uh, it's changed. And I also got to be able to travel other

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parts of the city by. Uh, going to summer sessions at, at other schools. I was able to go to Southwest and Northeast and I was able to have, uh, pretty good experience of going to school with different people, uh, from different parts of the city, and

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I think that was a generally good positive experience, um, at Westport I was. Uh, involved in being the, uh, editorial editor for the, uh, what do you call it, Cryer. Yes, I was going to ask you about that for the newspaper there. Uh-huh. Uh, I've always

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had a real interest in like newspaper work and stuff like that. And did you do that all the time while you were there or no, it was in some of my, my final years, one of my final years, uh-huh. And uh were you involved in some

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other, uh, club or organization or activity while you were there, right? There was, uh, the, uh, Spanish Club, uh, El, uh, Circulo Calderon, and, uh, who was your sponsor? Francisco Ruiz was the sponsor of El Circulo Calderon there at, uh, the Westport Westport, uh-huh. And, um,

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so you developed an interest in literary things, or you'd had this interest which You continued, right, right, and I think I had some, some good teachers. I one of the teachers I found very encouraging, like in English was, uh, uh, Mr. Tom Sicking, and, uh, he

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was, uh, very encouraging and And he's also, uh, a sponsors the newspaper. School newspaper. Um-hum. And from there I, uh, got into that and became interested in, Various issues at the school in the community, uh. Uh, and I think that, uh, that presented a, an awakening,

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uh, my consciousness on, on a number of social issues that later on I would be involved in, in the community and, uh. You think in a way that was the beginning of you wanting to be involved, say, even in the things you were doing today. Yes,

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I think, uh, yes, I could say that, you know, very much so that. Um-hum. Uh, that experience, uh, Uh, was a positive growing experience that, that touched other areas later on. Um, later on it became, well, like in the community and the war on poverty activities.

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Um-hum. Um, I served as a board member for the, uh, Human Resources corporation. I. Well, when did you, we'll get to that, but when did you finish high school? About, when was this? That would have been in '66, 67. Um-hum. Around that time. So, were you

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working outside of the, School? Were you, did you have a regular job too in between, or do you remember? Or were you doing some of these other things just kind of on a voluntary basis that you began to get involved with? Well, no, uh, So I'm

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like, Work experiences were, were not related like, uh, my social, uh, concerns, activities, uh, some of them were like I worked in, Nice plant one time and another time I worked in the hotel industry, the garment industry, uh, various other kinds of jobs as a warehouseman.

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Did you do this upon graduation or, or while, while you were? While I was going to school. While you were graduate. Doing some of these activities. Um-hum. But, uh, I guess, uh, My movement into the area of social concerns, social action activity. Happened about the same

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time I was going to school. Uh, I became a volunteer for, uh, The Human Resources Corporation, um. I ran an election on the west side and and was elected to be on the board and also to be the representative. For, uh, at the west side of,

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in the Human Resources corporation boundaries was known as Area One. I was. So, you were the for Area One. For Area One. This was all voluntary. Yes, all voluntary activity. Then later on, I, I got a job with Human Resources. I, I didn't stay there too

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long. I was maybe a, a job for a month or so as a neighborhood worker, and I decided that, uh, I wanted to get more, uh, get more involvement in this whole activity that was happening. And so I, uh, joined Vista and became a, a Vista

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volunteer. My training was in, in Colorado with the, uh, Vista Training Center, and it was under the auspices of the, uh, University of Colorado at Boulder, and that was a real good experience. We, our experiences were rural urban, uh. Some of it was spent in southern

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Colorado in the uh San Luis uh Valley and another portion was in Denver. And it was, uh, it was, it was a good experience. Came back, uh, Uh, When I didn't come back to Kansas City. I, I went to Wichita, Kansas, where I, I served in

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the Mexican American community known as the Waco Finn area of Wichita. After finishing up Evista, I, Came back here to Kansas City and uh worked for the human relations department uh for the city. It was, I was, I guess I was involved in all kinds of

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activities that. How long did you do that for, uh, with new relations department. I was there for about 2 years, and from there I went to become a trainer, a state training officer, uh, for the Vista Training Center at Park College under, uh, the Volt Technical

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Corporation. I stayed there. A little while and moved on to become a program director and developer of programs for the Guadalupe Center. And. The Guadalupe Center, Parish Center or Centrelink? Well, at that time it was the Guadalupe Center because there was it was just one center.

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OK. So. That was before Centric. OK. I just wanted to. And, uh. Clear that for the record. And I guess after that, I, I went to work for the, uh, Midwest Council La Raza. Oh, but how long were you there then at the center, at the

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Guadalupe Center? Several months. I was there several months. Uh-huh. Were you going to school too while you were doing this? Were you, were you enrolled at any college too? Well, when I was with the human human relations, uh, department for the city, I did take some

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courses at, uh, uh, Penn Valley Community College. Um. At that time it was, I guess. It was making the transition. It was Metropolitan Junior College and then it became Penns on you, you didn't, uh, complete a whole year or you didn't stay? You just, or you

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just took certain courses. Is that it? That you weren't just selected certain courses that I, I would be interested in taking. Um-hum. And so then, After working at the Guadalupe Parish or the Guadalupe Center, you went on to to work with the Midwest Council La Raza.

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How did you get involved with that or did you have contacts or did you? Well, I had been involved with Midwest Council La Raza like for a year before as a volunteer being on the board of directors of the organization. And they, Uh, needed someone to

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assist them with, uh, some migrant transition centers that they were setting up in Rock Island, Illinois, Beaverdam, Wisconsin, and, uh, Saint Paul, Minnesota. And I was called, you know, would I be interested in coming up to, uh, help out as a regional coordinator for the project?

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I said, Sure, be glad to. And, uh, I wasn't there very long, and I became the executive director for the organization. What you, about what year was this and when you do them? 1971. And, uh. Is it already 10 years you've been with him? Yeah, it's

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been 10 years since I've been in Indiana. Yeah. Doesn't seem that long, does it? Yeah. Time flies. Right. Uh, and we did, uh, quite a few projects. We had a, uh, Migrant farm worker, uh, manpower program, a training employment program that we set up in South

00:23:52.209 - 00:24:07.530

Bend. We, we set up an education project in, uh, Chicago Project. In other words, all these are under or were under your jurisdiction, but many of these were programs that had not existed before but which you initiated. Is that initiated you started them? And, um, many

00:24:07.530 - 00:24:24.020

of them we spun off where they were able to become their own entities with their own boards. Uh, and be responsive to, uh, the communities they were in, for example, Benremos in, in Chicago, which one? Oh, Beremos became a, uh. It started off as, uh, survival

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English, and, uh, GED and this kind of activity. And. And these are all under, Oh, we're under. We're under. Hu. No, they were under, uh, various federal. Different, OK, they're different. Now, in other words, they were not just under one, They all fall under different. Right.

00:24:41.229 - 00:24:56.819

But they're all under the Midwest Council the last time, which was a sponsoring agency. OK. Uh, some of them received their monies from HEW, others from OEO, others from, others from HUD. Others. Um from, uh. It's just different government Department of Labor. Yeah. Yeah. And, So

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we were involved in various service activities uh with Midwest Council and we also noted a need in. Uh, as far as targeting on, on social action activities because we knew that advocacy was really important trying to change some things, so, uh, we decided to develop a

00:25:18.229 - 00:25:38.040

stronger advocacy program, uh, in Midwest Council saying that uh services were not enough that we also had to, uh, be in there and, uh, try to change some things structurally. So, uh, we started the Midwest Council La Raza Mario communications project and, uh, social justice project,

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and the, I guess our support for that, uh, was mainly like from the churches, uh, church, church groups, private donations, uh, because, as you know, the, uh, many of the governmental structures, they, they will not give you money so that you can come in there and

00:25:55.020 - 00:26:13.800

try to change what, what they're doing this kind of thing, so. Uh, that was a very, very, very good experience, uh, and very necessary, uh. We, our issues uh. Were farm labor, farm labor issues, farm labor concerns we were involved like uh with the farm labor

00:26:13.800 - 00:26:35.560

organization committee organizing committee out of Ohio FLAC. Um, we were involved with, uh, it's a number, number of groups on farm labor. Also our concerns with immigration like in the large cities, like for example Chicago, um, education concerns, uh, employment concerns. Other issues dealt with civil

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rights and human rights, uh, Uh, it was just a, a kind of a. 05 or 6 selected issues that we were targeting because we would not want to be just all over trying to do everything, so we would select, uh, these issues as, uh, our target

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issues to work on. Um. And I think, uh, I think we did, we did well with those. And, um, then somewhere along the line, then more, in the more recent years, you, you were married. Do you want to mention anything about that? Oh. How it came

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about. Or when it, you know. Well, uh, I guess. That happened in 1979. You met your future wife up there too, right? I, but I met my wife, Olga Villa, uh, in 1971, uh, Uh, we became the best of friends working in the Midwest council. She

00:27:30.520 - 00:27:50.609

was there before I was. Um, she's a native of, she's a native of, uh, Michigan. She's been working in Indiana about this, about a year longer than I, than I've been in Indiana. Uh, she was born in San Antonio, Texas. You know, she became, uh, my

00:27:50.609 - 00:28:07.390

best friend, still is. And, uh. And you were married more recently. We were married and, uh, and she also works. And she's also involved in, uh. Same. Social issues. Social concerns. She's working with the Spanish speaking Catholic mission. And the Spanish speaking Catholic Commission serves uh.

00:28:08.060 - 00:28:30.910

Uh, region 6 and 7 of the, uh, National Catholic Conference of bishops, I guess that's the states of, uh, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois. Anybody out in Minnesota. Uh. So, she travels. She has to travel. Yeah. That area? So, she travels pretty much, pretty much the Midwest.

00:28:30.989 - 00:28:51.060

Um-hum. Um-hum. And, uh, so then you were with one, Well, you were director of the Midwest Council of La Raza, and then more recently than you've, you're making this change or you're just now making the change, right? And how did that come about or well, uh,

00:28:51.800 - 00:29:09.339

We pretty much wrapped up our activities of, uh, Midwest Council. Many of the functions that, that we had, we incorporated them in, we incorporated them into other organizations that were doing similar kinds of things. Excuse me, I'm going to turn this tape over. Um, you had

00:29:09.339 - 00:29:26.579

made this change, you might go on from there. OK. I, uh, we, uh, I had worked with Midwest Council for about 9 years, and we were pretty much wrapping up our activities. We had, we were, some of our functions, we were transferring them to other organizations

00:29:26.579 - 00:29:44.589

that were doing similar kinds of things and, Uh, so we're pretty much winding down. I worked for, uh, I went to work later on with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and I've been there 15 months. Um, And I think, uh, that has been

00:29:44.589 - 00:29:59.819

an interesting experience for me because it's been one where I've been traveling back and forth since my home is in South Bend. The job has been in Indianapolis, and, uh. So that meant you had to travel 150 miles. 150 miles each way. For this kind of,

00:30:00.189 - 00:30:22.880

for this kind of work. Working with, uh, neighborhood and consumer affairs. And, uh, Um, It's, it's been a, a positive and, uh, uh, growing experience. Uh, my plans for the future is I hope that, I would be getting into school to, uh, continue, uh, my education.

00:30:22.959 - 00:30:36.329

I'm interested in. Your formal. The area of journalism. Um-hum. And I think that's, that's where I'd like to, Uh, you be going and be doing that kind of work. Are you. Are you thinking of maybe enrolling up there since now you will be, uh, At one.

00:30:36.560 - 00:30:55.300

That would be Location. The one location rather than all this commuting. Uh-huh. Yeah. I'm thinking about taking some classes. Where it, um, What college or university would be convenient for you where you be now? Well, um, Indiana University at South Bend or Notre Dame possibly say,

00:30:55.349 - 00:31:15.719

uh. Uh, going commuting into Chicago because there's, you know, quite a few good schools in Chicago. So you'd have your, your pick. More or less, um. Would you, um, OK. Go, um, go back just a little bit. Did you mention any other organizations that you had,

00:31:15.800 - 00:31:28.079

you had been active with? Were there any other clubs or organizations that you were active with, I mean, outside of school here, like in Kansas City, weren't there? Were you involved with one or two of those or not? Oh, I was involved with a number of

00:31:28.280 - 00:31:43.859

organizations, all kinds of organizations. Well, we didn't mention those, so you might mention them now if you want to. OK. Uh, well, one of the, uh, First organizations was of course the Human Resources Corporation right it was on their board of directors. And uh also the

00:31:43.859 - 00:32:11.469

uh area poverty council, uh, on the west side. The area one neighborhood council. Also, uh. I was with the, uh, Uh, West Side Community Council, Mexican American Neighborhood Council, They were the Mexican American Organization for Progress MAOP MOP I was involved. Uh, with that organization. Yeah.

00:32:12.979 - 00:32:33.079

Boycott committees that were developed to support the United Farm Workers here here in town. Those are some of the, some of the organizations. Another organization was, uh, the West Side Educational Task Force and, uh, Laras Education Committee. Was involved with, uh, with that organization, um. My

00:32:33.079 - 00:32:56.040

assistant my brother Roberto in publishing uh a little newsletter Adelante and uh another one was uh uh the People's Voice and that was Uh, published in the west side. Later on, we, uh, both became involved in uh Serving as writers for uh. A Mexican American newspaper,

00:32:56.219 - 00:33:13.119

uh, Viva, which was published in, well, it was published in Kansas City, Kansas, but I guess was regionwide, uh. Type of paper, uh. It existed for about two years, was it? Something like that or a little longer even, two or three years? Right. Right. And, uh,

00:33:13.949 - 00:33:33.020

I've always enjoyed writing. Going to Midwest Council, uh, we developed a little newspaper later on became a newsletter. It was Los Degas. Um-hum. And, uh. You, do you still have that? Do you still. No, I, I'm, I'm a contributor to, uh, But it still is, is

00:33:33.020 - 00:33:57.160

in existence. Uh, the newsletter? No. No. No. Uh, it, it's just one letter. No, the newsletter's not in existence. Oh. There are other ones that have taken its place. And, uh, So you said you, you, you were interested in in pursuing your some additional training, say

00:33:57.160 - 00:34:12.830

your formal. To complete some kind of formal training like in journalism. That's what you would like to do, right? Right. Have you received any, any recognition or any awards that you might want to mention for some of your work or the things that you have been

00:34:13.250 - 00:34:38.300

involved with and working with? Awards or any. I can't remember right now. I can't remember any. Any major awards or anything. Just I guess the award trying to do a good job. Um, The, um, Well, besides, um, Your formal education, what as you look ahead, what

00:34:38.300 - 00:34:52.878

are some of the other plans or ideas or goals that you have set up for yourself for the near future or far future or that you think that you would like to, if you don't accomplish something yourself, perhaps you would like to see accomplished. All right,

00:34:52.999 - 00:35:17.080

I'd like to see, uh, Some work done on, on education at, uh, Uh, trying to. Bring that to more people and, uh, seeing that we get, you know, quality education happen. Make it the various, uh, Uh, Mexican American communities. And I know that's been a major

00:35:17.080 - 00:35:41.669

issue, uh, on Kansas City's website for many, many, many years. Uh, I'd like to, uh, Uh, contribute, uh, by, by being a, A writer, a communicator. Try to get some of these ideas that I have, you know, out, uh, Has it in print. These are some

00:35:41.669 - 00:35:57.739

of, some of the things that I think I can contribute. I'd like to see. They do Um-hum. Get done. I'd, uh. Oh, there's just so many ideas that. Um-hum. Well, and your writing, since you're interested in that, you would like to certainly continue that and, and

00:35:57.739 - 00:36:11.090

actually do some writing. Like, are you interested in just, well, Course, you're interested in social issues, so I imagine essays or things of that nature, but don't you dabble in poetry or. Yes. Don't you like that too? I enjoy that very much, yeah. Do you get

00:36:11.090 - 00:36:25.810

a chance to do any of that now? Uh, do I get a chance to do it from, yes, I do. Uh, I sometimes capture some stolen moments, some stolen time here, and I write a poem. This kind of thing. I, I enjoy, I enjoy that very

00:36:25.810 - 00:36:43.330

much. Is there anything else you would like to add at this moment? No, I, I think, uh, Uh, this has been, you know, An opportunity to get some of these things. You know, the tape recorder and stated and I, I think I'm a little bit young

00:36:43.330 - 00:36:56.189

for, for doing my obituary, but, uh, I will be back, uh, with, uh, we will further revisions to this, uh, tape, uh, sometime in the future. This is not a conclusion. This, I would say that this concludes only this, this particular interview, but this does not

00:36:56.189 - 00:37:01.909

preclude the fact that we can do another one at a later date. And I certainly want to thank you for it, Mr. Pablo.