Interview+Presentations

Jesse Santana: Multicultural Interview  Sabrina Cabanilla PPS 6010 Dr. Coleman April 26, 2012 Interview of a Multicultural Family  Stewart and Fadme Young are an interracial couple who live in a 4 bedroom single family home in Orange, CA with Fadme’s mother, Maria, and their sons David (5), and Andrew (4). Stewart is employed at Georg Fischer as a Project Manager, and Fadme works for Opus Bank in the Human Resources Department. The couple first met in an “I Love England” chat-room in 1998, established a relationship during Fadme’s visit to the United Kingdom in 2000, and married in 2001. Both Stewart and Fadme had different experiences growing up- Stewart being born and raised in South Hampton, England, and Fadme being born in La Paz, Bolivia and raised in the United States after the age of 4.  Stewart described his life growing up in the UK as comfortable and close-knit with his family. His father was an accountant, and his mother worked part-time as a shop assistant. Stewart is the middle child and only boy, sandwiched between an older and younger sister. He remembers fighting with his sisters, both verbally and physically, and was usually the one in trouble because he admittedly was the one causing the trouble. He describes his parents’ discipline style as “a good smacking” usually constituted by coming home past curfew (7:30pm until at 14, 10:00pm at age 15 and beyond). His hobbies growing up were fishing, biking, and playing golf with his friends. While he grew up in an urban area, there was always easy access to rivers, lakes, and woods for recreational activities. His family would sit at the table for dinner each day, and as they got older and moved out, the immediate family would still get together for dinner each Sunday. Every year, the family would go on holiday to different places in Europe.  Fadme considers her childhood to be one of very humble beginnings. She was born and raised in a rural area near La Paz, Bolivia in 1975. Aside from, falling off of the top of a slide and onto concrete at the neighborhood playground, and standing in line for rations of food, and not seeing much of her father due to his position as a Bolivian military official, she does not remember much else about her early years in Bolivia. In 1980, per her father’s orders, Fadme and her family (including father, mother, and younger brother) fled to the United States to escape the economic instability and political hardship. According to Fadme, her father’s involvement in the Bolivian military put himself and his family at risk. They were able to come to the United States on tourist Visas, which her father was able to get approved for extension through the Minister of the Interior (who later became a political prisoner in Miami). She describes her father’s discipline style as one that consisted of a lot of yelling, and when he demanded or asked for something to be done, it had to be done yesterday. Fadme recalls sharing a bed with her family in her Uncle’s (mom’s brother) garage in Santa Ana, moving from crowded apartment to crowded apartment.  Both Stewart and Fadme had different educational experiences growing up. Stewart admits that he was never a “schoolboy” and his parents expected and accepted that about him. He describes his attitude toward school as, “I pass everything. I don’t exceed. I pass. That’s it.” He attended college part-time after secondary school, though dedicated most of his time working full-time for a bus company, then for a gasket-cutting company. During the one semester he was in college, he attended class just once a week taking coursework to be a mechanic. Fadme’s mentality toward school was, “I need to excel at everything.” Her parents were very demanding when it came to her education. Upon arrival to the states, she could not speak or read English, though she was able to be accepted into a Kindergarten class with a translation teacher. She spent 3 years in an ESL program. When she was in 1st grade, her father protested against having her being held back. She excelled in all other courses except her reading comprehension was behind due to the language barrier. By 3rd grade, Fadme was caught up to the curriculum due to countless hours that her father had spent with her on homework, which helped improve both his and her English. Good grades were rewarded with preferred items or activities and family outings. Poor grades resulted in a lot of yelling, disconnected stereos, phones, and denial to watch concerts and shows (during later years). Fadme graduated high school with honors, and was accepted into UCI as a computer science major- though she (regretfully) never finished obtaining her undergraduate degree.  For Fadme and Stewart, transitioning into their lives together both in the UK (during their first 3 years of marriage) and in the US involved a lot of learning and compromise. For Fadme, the move to England as their wedding approached was an uncomfortable period because of her father’s views against premarital cohabitation, and because (as her family was back in the states) Stewart’s family was mostly involved with the wedding planning- which made her feel like a guest at her own wedding. Driving was a skill each of them had to get used to. Upon her move to the UK, Fadme refused to learn how to drive and had to travel via public transportation. According the Stewart, learning how to drive in America was a piece of cake. Between the two of them, Stewart has had to assimilate to new holidays and traditions, such as Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. Neither Stewart nor Fadme discussed any difficulty living with in-laws, and they describe their parenting style as cohesion of their own experiences growing up (minus the smacking). The Youngs do not describe themselves as highly religious, but because of Fadme’s mother’s devout Catholic faith, they expect to raise their kids as Catholics (both children have already been baptized). Also, because of their appearance, Fadme and Stewart classify their children as Caucasian, or “Other” when the option is available.  One thing found interesting upon completion of this interview was the fact that Fadme was assumed to be the nanny or babysitter of David and Andrew when she went to pick them up from daycare. When asked about how she felt or reacted, she shared that she never took it personally, and understood that the teachers or parents who made these assumptions were going off of the fact that David and Andrew looked more like their English father. However, when thinking about it today, she shared that teacher’s should just ask and not assume based on an appearance. Both Stewart and Fadme shared their view of America as a “land of interracial couples” where practically everyone is mixed. They don’t acknowledge that they are raising their kids as Bolivian, or English, or even American- but they are raising their kids to be good, genuine, and kind-hearted people- which (they feel) should matter across any ethnicity.

Kathleen Kent PPS 6010 Multicultural Interview <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The multicultural family I interviewed was the Juarez Family. This family is comprised of a Persian mother, Lisa, who is 29 years old; her husband a Hispanic 32 year old named Fred, and their 2 three year old boys John and Oscar (who is Fred’s son from an extramarital affair). This family lives in a large house in Garden Grove with Fred’s brother and another (non-family) roommate. Lisa and Fred met while working at a restaurant 9 years ago. They married to get him legal status as he came here illegally when he was 16 years old by himself. They did not investigate this process and came to find out that as part of the aftermath of 9-11 that amnesty through marriage was discontinued; to this day this is a huge struggle for this family. They are limited to where they can live, where he can work, and how and if they can travel places. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The extended family is both extremely and sparsely involved in the lives of the Juarez Family. Fred is from Mexico, he comes from a family with 5 brothers and sisters. His family lives in a very dangerous part of Mexico, 4 of his brothers and sisters have already come to the US, but he prays everyday for the money to get the rest of his family safely to America. Two years ago Fred’s parents got visitation Visa’s and now they come to visit from Mexico for about a month per year. They own a ranch where they raise steer for bull riding competitions so during the winter months they can leave the bulls out to graze and come to the US to visit. When they come to visit they stay in Lisa and Fred’s house and help with the children and fix things around the house, they also enjoy collecting cans and bottles to recycle and look forward to the money to bring home. Fred’s parents speak no English, and in the beginning Lisa spoke no Spanish. Since the first visit by his family 2 years ago she has begun learning conversational Spanish. Lisa appreciates and looks forward to their visits, as she can always use the help around the house. During the last visit Fred bought his father a new truck, his father asked him to return the truck or keep it for him here in the US as he feared that if he took the truck home with him to Mexico he would be murdered for the vehicle. This upset Fred and has fueled his wanting the rest of his family in the US immediately. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lisa works for her father at one of his three restaurants. Her mother passed away when Lisa was 11 years old, she killed herself while Lisa was in the room with her. Her father is very controlling and only wanted her to marry within her culture. He found out she was married only when she was 6 months pregnant and could not hide it anymore. Her father has still not met Fred. Lisa’s brother often comes to visit as he lives in Santa Ana and has kids that get along with her boys. She also has a sister, but they are not close. All three of the children work for their father; this seems to be how he controls all of them even though they are adults. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The two sons are three months apart and are clearly from different mothers. Fred was cheating on Lisa and had Oscar. Oscar’s mother has 5 children with 4 different fathers. Fred says that when he was a child his father would take him to the whore houses in Mexico and pay for prostitutes for himself and his sons. He said that this is the culture he grew up in and does not apologize for having his extramarital affairs, although Lisa has made it clear that this will not happen again. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">Education is a platform from which they have had many discussions, but there seems to be no resolution. Fred quit school at 15 years old and moved to the US, he has no intention on furthering his schooling. Lisa had a top notch education with private schools, after school tutors, and has almost completed her AA degree. She has plans to get her doctorate degree, but has been postponing going back to school since the birth of her child who is now 3. She wants John to go to the best schools, and already has him enrolled in many activities, but no preschool. Fred feels that he can be educated at the local public school, but Lisa sees the need to have him apply at all the schools in a district in Los Alamitos, a city about 30 minutes from their current house. There has been no resolution on this topic. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The future for this family seems uncertain at best. But at the very least they are bound through a respect for the vows that they made so long ago, for the most part. The important aspect will be making sure that the lines of communication stay open. They will need to continue to discuss their feelings and stay truthful for this to work for the children.

Jacquelyn Kent Multicultural Interview PPS 6010 May 3, 2012


 * Segundo, Angie, & Sabrina Cabanilla**
 * Father, mother, and daughter of a five person nuclear Philippino family in Long Beach, California**

Angie’s family was first to move to the US in 1983 because her older brother joined the US navy and then petitioned to allow his family entrance into the country. Angie was friends with one of Segundo’s younger sisters. Segundo is the second of eleven children born to his parents. Segundo followed his love, Angie, to the US.
 * Immigration**

Living in the Philippines was challenging due to its weak economy and marshall law. Although the transition to the US still challenges him, he is confident in his use of the English. Referring to his family he said, “My English is better than their. They don’t want to admit it.” Sabrina found this irritating and amusing as she was raised in the US and has no accent to speak of. Segundo, however, still speaks with an accent that sometimes made understanding his communications difficult for the interveiwer. Angie found a job as a filing clerk for an insurance company in Los Angeles. It was difficult work on her body. Fortunately, she found an accounting job which she had been trained for in school in the Philippines. She has been an accountant ever since.
 * Work**

Segundo’s work story is more complex, emotional, and his English apparently was not always as strong as it is now. He told his history somewhat non-chronologically but best efforts were made in organizing the events in order. He first got a job with National Lumber. Unfortunately, it required a lot of manual labor and customer service which did not work well in terms of communicating to the clients. After six months, he began a janitorial job at the Hyatt Regency. It was recommended to him by the realtor that sold him their first home that he should get a job with the government in order to have benefits and security. Segundo then tested for a job in the Post Office. He was accepted and was assigned the night shift of organizing the mail for distribution. This stressed his body to the point of getting sick on the first day of work. He had to quit the job which caused him even more aggravation because in the Philippines, companies and industry hire only young people that then stay for life. According to him and Angie, it is very difficult to get a job after thirty. Eventually after temporary work, he got a job for the City of Long Beach at a hospital as a billing clerk which excited him because it could be permanent work. This still require communication with clients and police who complained about his accent. He was then transferred into the record keeping and maintained the hospital’s microfische library. Eventually, his job was digitized but he kept his clerk position for several years until retirement. In order to supplement his income, Segundo was a security and a realtor which he did for 13 years. Sabrina offered more input when it came to discussing parenting styles. According to all in the family, the Philippino parents are much more conservative and physical in terms of disciplining children. Segundo complained of the disrespect his children have for him, but it was more a point of laughable discussion than true tension among the three. Sabrina who often chided jokingly her father for his words and behaviors. Sabrina, however, said her mom was “cool.” There was this sense when talking to the two women that Segundo lives in his own world which didn’t necessarily acknowledge or accept the ways of the culture around him. It was also made clear that Segundo was to make money, but Angie would be in charge of family finances. It was a tone of “Mom was the person to go to and ameliorate if you wanted something.”
 * Parenting**

Segundo and Angie sent their three children to private Catholic schools for their primary and secondary education. When asked why considering the extra cost, they explained that in the Philippines that is what you do to appropriately raise children regarding religion, education, prestige, and behavior. Sabrina has mixed emotions about attending Catholic and all girl institutions because she is concerned that she may have missed out on the “typical” high school experience that most Americans have. Plus, the schedule was more restricted and didn’t allow for as many electives nor Advanced Placement courses which she feels prevented her from a comparitively thorough preperation for the rigor of college work.

The last portion of the discussion regarded their individual use and definitions of religion. Segundo and Angie embraced the importance of attending mass regularly. Religion is a cultural and unquestioned reality. One adopts the faith as exactly that - faith. One does not question or diverge from the established systems and beliefs. Sabrina felt she could and should have a more individual spirituality that didn’t need to involvement in an organized church. And that should make it obvious to the reader that this family is very similar to many families in times and places of change. It was a pleasure watching and engaging with the Cabanillas.


 * // Scoring Rubric for Multicultural Interview: 10 points possible //**

3-5 points || Minimal to no Evidence 0-2 points ||  ||
 * ** Student: ** |||| ** Family Name: ** ||
 * ** Objectives: ** || Good to Excellent Evidence
 * Interview questions led to an depth look into the experience of the family ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Interview is well organized ||  ||   ||   ||