Section B · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Thursday, May 6, 1999
Students share culture, successes
Two friends achieve ambition of escaping childhood poverty
By Phil Cauthon Special to the Kansan
Estevan Herrera grew up sleeping on the couch of his El Paso, Texas, apartment while his father worked graveyard shifts to provide the bare necessities for the family of seven. Yet he knew he was not poor. Poverty was what he saw when his family would pack into their Chevy station wagon and drive across the Rio Grande to visit his grandmother in Juarez, Mexico.
As the car wound its way through the rough streets of Juarez, Herera recalled seeing mothers holding their children begging, families living in cardboard boxes and barefoot children covered with dirt and sweat.
One of those children was Tomas Chacon, who peddled newspapers and shined shoes amidst the poverty in downtown Juarez, while his American counterparts across the river were in air-conditioned kindergarten classrooms.
Last year, Herrera and Chacón,
KU Spanish doctorate students, met on campus and quickly formed a friendship when they learned they came from hometowns, which lie side-by-side across the border sharing a 'bordere' culture.
Their worlds on each side of the border may have been as different as Mexico and the United States, but their family histories were both shaped by one ambition — to break out of the cycle of poverty.
Both paths led to the University of Kansas, where the two are teaching introductory Spanish courses. Herrera and Chacón recently worked together for the production of "Vampiros" (Vampires), a play they performed and recorded this spring. The play, a parody about political corruption in Mexico, was written and directed by Chacón and stars Herrera as the lead vampire. "Vampiros" is one of three plays that Chacón has had published.
Although their lives at the University have much in common, the contrasting experiences that brought them to the University make their chance meeting and friendship more incredible.
Maria Herrera blesses her grandson, Estevan, before he returns to the University of Kansas. Her house was Herrica's childhood link to Juarez, Mexico. Contribute art
Tomás' story
Chacon and his 11 siblings, mother and grandmother were accustomed to frequent moves around Juarez. The Chacon family always rented an apartment with three rooms — one room for the adults, one for the six sisters and the other for the six brothers.
The smell of caldo, a staple vegetable soup, regularly filled the home despite the windows wide open to combat the relentless heat. Because his mother insisted the large family eat together, Chacón often sat on the floor or on a crate.
When his father left the family, Chacon had no choice to give up school and go to work. He joined the masses of unemployed peddlers in the streets doing whatever it took to earn a few pesos.
"We were happy even without enough money or enough food," Chacón said. "Grandma always said it's not necessary to be rich or have a lot. It's necessary to be together as a family and to be at peace."
At age 12. Chacon left the streets and his family. He moved in with his other grandmother. Three years later, he finished elementary school — something many in Juarez never achieve.
Shortly before high school,a trip with his grandmother to a government publishing house changed his life.
"For the first time, I saw that words were metallic letters." Chacón recalls. "I realized I could create my own ideas around letters and words and express myself. It was then that I started writing poetry and crosswords."
He got a position making crosswords for 35 pesos a week — less than $3 a month. When he realized that most crosswords were
Herrera's parents knew that if they stayed in Mexico, their children would have little chance to escape poverty.
Estevan's story
published in New York, he knew he had to get to the United States
So his parents went to Los Angeles and soon after, Estevan was born. As parents of an American citizen, they were allowed to stay in the United States, and they later moved to El Paso, where Herrera grew up.
"That's why I call myself a 'free- childism.' Herrera said. "When my parents became citizens 15 years later, I was happy to have tutored them. There I was quizicing my parents on the presidents, the branches of government and the Constitution."
Moving to the United States did not immediately free the Herreras of poverty. To avoid crime-ridden government housing projects, the family of seven had to live in a tiny two-bedroom house.
"It wasn't until I was older that I realized the pains and struggles my parents suffered to give us better opportunities," he said.
Well before high school Herrera could speak Spanish and English fluently. His teachers often told him that he would go to college.
"It's that kind of positive reinforcement that drove me," Herrera said.
A different sort of motivation came from trips to visit his grandmother in Juarez. Herrera remembers the scene as his family's station wagon crossed the bridge over the border, surrounded by throngs of poor. Herrera's mother kept change in the car for the sunscorched women peddling crucifixes and plastic roses, children competing to wash the car's windshield and toddlers in torn clothes trained to hold tin cans.
"These people are so numerous that they become anonymous and more like part of the landscape than individuals fighting to live," Herrera said. "Every time we would see them, my parents would not let me forget that I should be very grateful
Richard Bachman/ KANSAN
for the opportunities I had."
Crossing cultures
Herrera seized his opportunities and moved from El Paso to earn bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Notre Dame. About the same time, Chacón was completing his bachelor's degree in Mexico City, but he knew that the Mexican university could only take him so far. The university's poorly equipped libraries and scarce resources led Chacón to apply to the University of New Mexico, where he earned his master's degree.
"When you are the only borderiso at KU, you can't help but accentuate the differences. So given the odds of finding someone in Lawrence from my hometown — well, it was quite a welcome surprise," Herrera said about finding Chacon.
By the time they met at the University of Kansas, both Herrera and Chacon had been away from El Paso and Juarez for several years. Now, the stark differences in their paths leading to Lawrence were overshadowed by their common "borderiso" culture.
"When I met Estevan," Chacón
said, "I found in him those things I was looking for. The customs, traditions, the behavior, idiomatic expressions, those were all things I missed very much."
Their lives at the University have taken them to a new culture but away from their families. Family functions are less frequent and incomplete, and their parents must go to church alone while others are surrounded by their families. Chacón's parents have no telephone, making communication rare.
"It was very hard at first," Adelina, Herrera's mother, said in Spanish. "But I know that they have left for something good. I am very proud of my children."
Last Christmas, the two friends toured downtown Juarez together. Chacón guided them through parts of town Herrera knew only from the window of his family's station wagon years ago. The streets still seethed with the poor and homeless struggling to just stay alive. But Chacona was not among them.
Now he was giving away his change and praying that they might escape Juarez's cycle of poverty as he did.
Edited by Melody Ard
The first chapter of your success story.
928 Mass. 843-0611
The Etc. Shop
www.kaplan.com
Classes start Wednesday, May 26. Enroll today!
To get ahead, go with the leader. Call Kaplan, the test prep experts, and find out how to make it happen. With 60 years of proven success getting students into the medical schools of their choice, we're the #1 name in test prep. Classes are filling up fast, so call today.
NEW STORE HOURS!
CALL 1-800 KAP-TEST
841-PLAY 1029 Massachusetts
PLAY IT AGAIN SPORTS
3514 Clinton Pkwy 331-3300
812 Mass
331-0820
Mon-Thur, 7am-10pm
Fri, 7am-9pm
Sat, 8am-9pm
Sun, 9am-9pm
Mon-Thur, Satur-Spm
Fri, Sam-Bpm
Sat, Sam-Bpm
Sun, 10am-Bpm
We Buy, Sell, Trade Consign USED & New Sports Equipment
Come take a study break at the Clinton Parkway store
with our NEW, EXTENDED hours!
World Leader in Test Prep
We're Looking
with coupon (limited to one smoothie)
Men & Women.
For A Few Good
If you have a flexible schedule,you could EARN $1,075 participating in a clinical research study!
You may qualify if you're:
participating in a clinical research study!
- An 18-45 year old non-smoker
- An 18-45 year old non-smoke
- Taking no or few medications
- Within 10-15 lbs of your ideal weight and
- no more than 200 lbs
- Available for three separate 2 night/3 day stays & 3 follow-up visits
QUINTILES
Call today!
www.cro.quintiles.com
(913) 894-5533
(800) 292-5533
Together we can make a difference!
featuring: Suga Daddies The Ray-Guns Holstein Jenkins Family
Friday, May 7 7:00 p.m. Terra Nova Hall 9201/2 Mass St. (above Milton's) Tickets $5.00 All Ages
All Ages
Co-Sponsored by
Really the
LAST
day to get your classi fied ad copy in the Kansan for this semester