Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Childhood memories encourage author

Sociology professor, artist writes about his persistance to succeed

Kenn Rodriguez News-Bulletin Staff Writer; krodriguez@news-bulletin.com

Los Lunas Lots of storytellers never write down their stories — Noé Lara of Los Lunas isn't one of those storytellers.

Lara, who teaches sociology at the University of New Mexico-Valencia Campus and is an artist and painter, said he never had the idea that he would write a book — that is until his friends began saying he should.

"I used to tell these stories to my friends and colleagues, and they were always interested in it," Lara said. "Finally, one day, one of my friends said 'You need to write a book about this stuff.'"

So Lara began writing and eventually assembled his book "¿Cuántas Píscas? (How Much Cotton Can you Pick?): A Latino's Lonely Journey to Success," which was recently published by publishers AuthorHouse.

"I'm the type of person who keeps notes and a diary, so I had a lot of information from back then," he said. "I just started compiling it, and all of the sudden it became a book. I started writing notes when I sensed I was forgetting things."

The book begins when Lara was 6, telling the story of his journeys with his parents David and Lola Lara, and his family as migrant workers in the 1950s.

"The book talks about how we lived at the time, and then became migrant farm workers," he said. "That was part of the book, kind of the struggles and challenges, especially since we had parents who didn't go to school at all. In our family there were 12 of us, so there were a lot of us."

He said he began working very early on.

"I can remember being 5 years old and working," he said. "You go into the fields and you can pick a little cotton. In Wisconsin we picked cherries. My dad would say 'Just pick two buckets and that's it.' So the ones lower to the ground, you pick 'em and you fill two buckets. But we were taught to work from a very early age."

Lara said the book follows him through his formative years in Lubbock, Texas, where his family eventually settled and continued to work crops, mostly cotton.

Lara said he worked the fields as his family all did, but he began to dream about getting an education. Unfortunately, West Texas was not an inviting place for those of Mexican descent in the '50s and '60s, he said.

"At that time in West Texas - Spanish was my first language - we didn't have any models," he said. "None of the teachers or principals were Hispanic. We were very discouraged in speaking Spanish. So it was very hard at times.

"You talk about all the people around you telling you that being Hispanic wasn't a good thing," Lara said. "You had the Davey Crocket series talking about killing all these Mexicans who couldn't fight. You had the Frito Bandido, all of those types of things. Anything associated with Hispanics in Texas was no good."

Lara said he was able to overcome that misconception, but said he got very little help - and was even discouraged at times.

"I went to the (school) counselor - and people back then had no expectations of Hispanics," he said. "And he puts his arm around me and says 'Look at the way you dress. Look at where you live. You don't have the money to go to college. You need to start thinking about being a mechanic or something.' He discouraged me from doing that, even though I wasn't that discouraged."

He also tells a story of showing up to an empty class only to find out that his classmates were taking the SAT college entrance exam - without him.

"I said 'Well, why wasn't I taking it,'" he remembered. "They said, 'We didn't' think you were interested in college.' So I had to go take it on my own at Texas Tech."

Lara was eventually able to get the money together to go to Texas Tech University in Lubbock, thanks in part to a Methodist group that was looking to help fund an education for Hispanics. He earned both a Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Sociology.

Later chapters in his book describe Lara's time working as a child advocate in Lubbock, as well as in New Mexico for the Children, Youth and Families Department, which he did until retiring in 2005.

He also writes about his three children from his first marriage, Noé Domingo, Daniela and Elizabeth, and his spiritual journey and his life with his current wife, Diana.

"I also wrote the book to honor my parents because they were wonderful people," he said. "And as little as they had, they provided for us as much as they could. The moral upbringing and the respect they instilled and the values they taught us were important.

"I had to sort of go back to my roots before I became successful in achieving the American dream," he said. "What I'm trying to say is it's possible — it's doable. That's what I want to tell the kids I teach. It's not easy, and you're going to make some mistakes, but it's doable if you hang in there."

"¿Cuántas Píscas? (How Much Cotton Can You Pick)" is available locally at Miss Mary's Mid-week Market, 417 N. Highway 314 in Los Lunas and online at Amazon.com, Borders.com and Authorhouse.com.

Lara said he would likely be having a book signing at Miss Mary's Mid-week Market later in May. For information on that or the book, call (505) 440-8841 or email artmusic.7@msn.com.

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