WEBVTT NOTE Created by CaptionSync from Automatic Sync Technologies www.automaticsync.com 00:00:00.506 --> 00:00:04.886 align:middle [ Applause ] 00:00:05.386 --> 00:00:07.566 align:middle >> This is my first visit and I'm very happy to be here. 00:00:08.496 --> 00:00:12.846 align:middle I hope my face shows up cause I may not, but I must apologize for being late. 00:00:12.846 --> 00:00:15.856 align:middle I was telling Chuck on the way over, to come and see y'all. 00:00:16.476 --> 00:00:20.996 align:middle It's my fault, because the plane was on time. 00:00:21.726 --> 00:00:23.336 align:middle You know. So I have no excuse [inaudible]. 00:00:24.256 --> 00:00:27.376 align:middle I should like to begin with a monologue. 00:00:28.436 --> 00:00:31.376 align:middle And it's going to be easy for me to tell you what it's about. 00:00:31.946 --> 00:00:35.046 align:middle If a writer can't tell you what it's 00:00:35.046 --> 00:00:37.426 align:middle about through the reading then he better be in another line of work. 00:00:38.206 --> 00:00:41.466 align:middle I'm not going to subject you to tell you what it is for two hours, 00:00:41.466 --> 00:00:46.876 align:middle remember the old '60s coffee guys use to sing with a guitar, they play for 22 seconds and talk 00:00:46.876 --> 00:00:52.236 align:middle for two hours about what the hell they had written. 00:00:52.236 --> 00:00:54.216 align:middle It's not that at all. 00:00:54.286 --> 00:00:54.686 align:middle Monologue. 00:00:54.686 --> 00:00:55.386 align:middle My name is Fructuoso Alaniz Garcia. 00:00:55.386 --> 00:00:59.616 align:middle And I was so named from my Saints Day, the 21st day of January. 00:01:00.416 --> 00:01:05.316 align:middle In English, according to my granddaughter, Lucia, my name means bountiful, productive. 00:01:06.116 --> 00:01:10.506 align:middle Myself I find it proper that one so name should be chosen to work the land, to know it 00:01:10.986 --> 00:01:15.256 align:middle and to give it life so that it, the land, return part of that life in grain, and cereal, 00:01:15.466 --> 00:01:17.336 align:middle and vegetables, and yes and fruits of labor. 00:01:17.686 --> 00:01:21.076 align:middle And a bounty to that person who prepared the land and watched the crops grow 00:01:21.076 --> 00:01:23.586 align:middle from nothing, but a hope and handful of seeds. 00:01:24.946 --> 00:01:28.676 align:middle When I worked my land, the one I own, I work it the same way I work somebody else's land, 00:01:28.726 --> 00:01:30.456 align:middle it makes no difference, none, really. 00:01:30.906 --> 00:01:31.606 align:middle Land is land. 00:01:31.756 --> 00:01:36.236 align:middle And when it's all said and done, or as we say when the music is over, one leaves the terrain, 00:01:36.576 --> 00:01:38.696 align:middle el terreno, for somebody else to occupy. 00:01:39.156 --> 00:01:43.676 align:middle But one must leave the land clean, weeded, and ready for that someone else to come to it 00:01:43.676 --> 00:01:46.996 align:middle with that hope and that handful of seeds I spoken of. 00:01:46.996 --> 00:01:48.146 align:middle I'm from here, the valley. 00:01:48.826 --> 00:01:52.436 align:middle The north bank border like my father and my kids father and his too. 00:01:52.856 --> 00:01:55.276 align:middle A Mexican of course, but an American by birth. 00:01:55.756 --> 00:01:59.246 align:middle Yes. And once when I was 19 years old, in 1918, 00:02:00.026 --> 00:02:02.196 align:middle I was sent to France, but as you can see I came back. 00:02:02.896 --> 00:02:06.366 align:middle Two of my cousins, Antonia and Francisco Garcia did not come back. 00:02:07.046 --> 00:02:10.686 align:middle My granddaughter Lucia and she too worked the land until she was 17 years old. 00:02:11.186 --> 00:02:14.426 align:middle My granddaughter says that my cousins are remembered, is that the word? 00:02:14.676 --> 00:02:15.066 align:middle Remembered? 00:02:15.656 --> 00:02:19.806 align:middle Anyway, my granddaughter says, if they are remembered in Austin, the capital, yes they are. 00:02:20.126 --> 00:02:23.166 align:middle In a park at the university, where the young men play football. 00:02:23.606 --> 00:02:28.076 align:middle She saw the metal plaques in that park, took down the dates of where and when the boys died 00:02:28.076 --> 00:02:31.546 align:middle and yes they are the same, Antonia and Francisco Garcia alright. 00:02:32.216 --> 00:02:34.326 align:middle That's something that I didn't know about, the memorial plates. 00:02:34.536 --> 00:02:35.566 align:middle Yes I was in France. 00:02:36.076 --> 00:02:37.376 align:middle And the land there was tired. 00:02:37.996 --> 00:02:40.596 align:middle I remember but it's come back to feed its people hasn't it? 00:02:40.796 --> 00:02:46.496 align:middle Hum. One thing about land professor, God's not making any more, but it isn't going anywhere. 00:02:47.036 --> 00:02:49.416 align:middle And you got to work it, that's all there is to it. 00:02:49.416 --> 00:02:52.586 align:middle I worked the land in Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio, places like that. 00:02:53.186 --> 00:02:56.876 align:middle We use to drive up from the valley to Texarkana, Texas, across to Arkansas 00:02:56.876 --> 00:02:58.426 align:middle and they had some bad roads there in my day. 00:02:59.026 --> 00:03:00.566 align:middle And down to Poplar Bluff in Missouri. 00:03:01.046 --> 00:03:03.266 align:middle From there we'd go east to the Mississippi River to Cairo, 00:03:03.266 --> 00:03:04.926 align:middle Illinois and then north to Kankakee. 00:03:05.736 --> 00:03:08.766 align:middle From there east again, to Reynolds, Indiana, that's on route 420. 00:03:08.996 --> 00:03:10.886 align:middle And then north to New Buffalo, Michigan. 00:03:11.456 --> 00:03:15.136 align:middle Well once in Michigan we picked plums, and cherries, grapes, soft fruit. 00:03:15.456 --> 00:03:19.686 align:middle But if we drove on to east Michigan we picked cucumbers in Pinconning or beets. 00:03:19.976 --> 00:03:21.506 align:middle And then we'd go south to Ohio. 00:03:21.996 --> 00:03:22.826 align:middle We'd pick tomatoes there. 00:03:23.726 --> 00:03:26.416 align:middle This could be done if we drove, if we had a car of our own. 00:03:26.866 --> 00:03:30.786 align:middle If we went by truck on a contract, then we'd go where they take us. 00:03:30.786 --> 00:03:33.926 align:middle Sometimes we'd meet in Hoopeston, Illinois and separate from there. 00:03:34.326 --> 00:03:36.286 align:middle Some friends and relatives of ours from the valley, 00:03:36.656 --> 00:03:40.196 align:middle worked for years for one family in Iowa, one family. 00:03:40.616 --> 00:03:43.406 align:middle They owned a nursery, and they needed special people for that. 00:03:43.846 --> 00:03:46.436 align:middle I worked there too, seven or eight seasons there. 00:03:46.486 --> 00:03:50.256 align:middle My wife she made the trips too and we traveled together for some 27 years. 00:03:50.566 --> 00:03:54.336 align:middle And once we worked in Wyoming with some people who came up from Laredo, Texas. 00:03:55.026 --> 00:03:59.156 align:middle My wife died ten years ago and our son Marcus died two years ago 00:03:59.606 --> 00:04:01.536 align:middle in a train truck accident in Monon. 00:04:01.536 --> 00:04:04.326 align:middle Indiana. And my granddaughter Lucia was unhurt. 00:04:04.796 --> 00:04:07.076 align:middle And she's a student at Austin, at the university. 00:04:07.696 --> 00:04:11.346 align:middle My son's widow, Estéfana, lives in our house and she runs it now. 00:04:11.956 --> 00:04:14.896 align:middle My wife and I raised her from childhood and she's been part 00:04:14.896 --> 00:04:16.296 align:middle of the family since she was a baby. 00:04:17.126 --> 00:04:19.066 align:middle And Estéfana is one of the best and one 00:04:19.066 --> 00:04:21.846 align:middle of the fastest lettuce cutters and packers in the valley. 00:04:22.766 --> 00:04:25.306 align:middle She's as good as some men I know and better than others. 00:04:26.096 --> 00:04:27.586 align:middle And she can read and write English too. 00:04:28.126 --> 00:04:30.576 align:middle Her cousin Isaura is a school teacher 00:04:30.796 --> 00:04:34.516 align:middle and in the summertime Isaura teaches school for free, out in the field. 00:04:34.946 --> 00:04:38.106 align:middle She buys pencils, and writing tablets, and she teaches reading, 00:04:38.106 --> 00:04:39.746 align:middle and writing, and the numbers to the kids. 00:04:40.176 --> 00:04:43.326 align:middle She's there at the school we built from seven to five, everyday. 00:04:43.856 --> 00:04:46.406 align:middle And she does it because she says it's necessary. 00:04:46.976 --> 00:04:48.616 align:middle Once in a while some friends come and help her. 00:04:49.046 --> 00:04:51.246 align:middle But no matter what, Isaura is there everyday. 00:04:51.916 --> 00:04:55.526 align:middle Working. My grandson, Balde, is 23 years old 00:04:55.836 --> 00:04:57.226 align:middle and he already owns a used truck. 00:04:57.836 --> 00:05:02.056 align:middle He and a friend of his, a valley boy named Raúl Santos Coy, is his partner. 00:05:02.486 --> 00:05:05.866 align:middle Balde is a champion hay stacker, yes he is in competition too. 00:05:06.306 --> 00:05:10.166 align:middle Raúl drives the truck and the two of them contract for hay hauling in North Texas, 00:05:10.256 --> 00:05:13.646 align:middle Amarillo, Plainview, what we call up north, el norte. 00:05:14.346 --> 00:05:18.296 align:middle Balde is my granddaughter's oldest brother and he sends money to Austin for her schooling. 00:05:18.866 --> 00:05:22.136 align:middle She's an example he says and he's very proud of his sister, well so are we. 00:05:22.756 --> 00:05:26.116 align:middle But Balde's also a fine young man who's not afraid of hard work. 00:05:26.286 --> 00:05:29.116 align:middle We have a saying here in the Rio Grande Valley, es el agua, 00:05:29.706 --> 00:05:31.506 align:middle it's the water, the Rio Grande water. 00:05:31.866 --> 00:05:35.246 align:middle It claims you, you understand, it's yours and you belong to it too. 00:05:35.606 --> 00:05:39.726 align:middle No matter where we work we always come back to the border, to the valley, es el agua. 00:05:40.196 --> 00:05:42.886 align:middle The valley is a good place. 00:05:43.316 --> 00:05:44.246 align:middle It's hard sure, seguro. 00:05:44.416 --> 00:05:48.586 align:middle But there's farm work and one just has to be harder than the work. 00:05:49.396 --> 00:05:50.776 align:middle And the valley is different too. 00:05:50.946 --> 00:05:52.376 align:middle And it makes us different somehow. 00:05:52.956 --> 00:05:56.916 align:middle When we leave it to go to Yakima Valley, or to Oregon, or for the hops, 00:05:56.916 --> 00:05:59.536 align:middle or Nampa in Idaho, we're home there too. 00:05:59.896 --> 00:06:03.456 align:middle Why? Well because the workers there are valley people, yes. 00:06:04.126 --> 00:06:06.856 align:middle And the kids who have never seen the valley, they say they from there, 00:06:07.056 --> 00:06:09.626 align:middle because that's where their folks are from. 00:06:09.626 --> 00:06:12.666 align:middle Es el agua, the parents talk about the valley, see and the kids know. 00:06:13.046 --> 00:06:13.806 align:middle This is changing. 00:06:14.796 --> 00:06:16.756 align:middle But everything changes, it's in the nature of things. 00:06:17.226 --> 00:06:17.666 align:middle I'll show you. 00:06:18.256 --> 00:06:21.866 align:middle When my wife and I and our friends picked cotton and this is just an example. 00:06:22.306 --> 00:06:24.546 align:middle We picked cotton in the valley from June to August 00:06:24.736 --> 00:06:26.786 align:middle and then the owner plowed the ground in September. 00:06:27.446 --> 00:06:30.416 align:middle Well by late August some of us would go to central Texas to pick, 00:06:30.416 --> 00:06:32.596 align:middle or to west Texas in October, and November. 00:06:32.906 --> 00:06:35.636 align:middle To places like Brownfield, and La Mesa. 00:06:36.046 --> 00:06:40.026 align:middle Sometimes we'd go to Arkansas, or to Missouri for cotton and to Tennessee. 00:06:40.506 --> 00:06:43.196 align:middle But not now and not for some 20 years now either. 00:06:43.516 --> 00:06:44.206 align:middle Machines do it. 00:06:45.066 --> 00:06:46.726 align:middle But they can't do everything, no. 00:06:47.306 --> 00:06:51.936 align:middle You still need la mano de obra, the human hand, the eye to see and distinguished. 00:06:52.216 --> 00:06:54.336 align:middle Machines don't take pride in what they do, they can't. 00:06:54.966 --> 00:06:56.316 align:middle But we did and do, yes. 00:06:57.286 --> 00:07:00.076 align:middle Work is work and most of it is hard, but that's expected. 00:07:00.606 --> 00:07:05.116 align:middle What's a bother and shameful too, is where one has to live in the American Midwest. 00:07:05.626 --> 00:07:09.756 align:middle In our cars, or trucks, or on the ground, in the carpas, a tent. 00:07:10.596 --> 00:07:13.836 align:middle Or in chicken and turkey coops, these are the words, yes, terrible. 00:07:15.026 --> 00:07:16.306 align:middle It isn't always like that, no. 00:07:16.896 --> 00:07:18.256 align:middle But even once is enough, believe me. 00:07:18.806 --> 00:07:20.306 align:middle What one endures, one survives. 00:07:21.296 --> 00:07:25.416 align:middle One even survives and endures the seasonal racismo, racism, 00:07:25.886 --> 00:07:27.886 align:middle prejudice from everyone, even our own. 00:07:28.516 --> 00:07:32.686 align:middle But I can't change it and God won't as we said, pero tampoco nos rajamos, we won't crack. 00:07:33.336 --> 00:07:36.836 align:middle We won't throw up our hands and say I give up, no. 00:07:37.636 --> 00:07:39.936 align:middle No, no nos rajamos y ya, we won't give up and that's it. 00:07:40.536 --> 00:07:45.336 align:middle But after all the work and travel it's back to the valley for more work. 00:07:45.546 --> 00:07:47.596 align:middle Es el auga, yes, hum, those who claim 00:07:47.596 --> 00:07:50.716 align:middle that hard work never killed anybody are fooling themselves and their friends. 00:07:51.306 --> 00:07:53.486 align:middle Hard work is hard, that's why they call it that. 00:07:54.306 --> 00:07:54.816 align:middle It's killing. 00:07:55.776 --> 00:07:59.316 align:middle But there's a certain kind of pride, foolish pride perhaps and unexplainable too. 00:08:00.166 --> 00:08:02.866 align:middle But a family is proud of what it does and what it can do. 00:08:03.576 --> 00:08:06.836 align:middle It's like when I was in France 60 years ago, one was there 00:08:06.836 --> 00:08:08.976 align:middle and one stayed there until they said let's go. 00:08:09.736 --> 00:08:10.286 align:middle Let's go home. 00:08:11.076 --> 00:08:13.386 align:middle And that's the way it is when we were in Indiana, or Iowa, 00:08:13.956 --> 00:08:15.476 align:middle or in the Red River Valley in Minnesota. 00:08:16.156 --> 00:08:20.436 align:middle One is there and then someone says let's go, let's go home to Texas, home. 00:08:21.296 --> 00:08:22.736 align:middle To the valley, es el agua. 00:08:23.826 --> 00:08:24.616 align:middle Thank you. 00:08:25.516 --> 00:08:30.240 align:middle [ Applause ]