We All Played Together

“Once I got to be in seventh grade, eighth grade, we crossed 15th Avenue and nothing ever happened.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for We All Played Together It’s the Froebel neighborhood, in Gary. It ran from 15th Avenue on the south end to 11th Avenue on the north end, and it went from Broadway […]

I Wanted More for My Kid

“As a parent, sometimes you just overthink things.” Edited by Welcome Project Intern Ella Speckhard Transcript for I Wanted More for My Kid The reason why I originally moved to Schererville is because, one reason was that, you know, I wanted the better schools for my son. Just when you start thinking about, you know, […]

I Wanted to Work

“He comes back… and he said, ‘I have a permanent position for you.’” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for I Wanted to Work I started looking for a job. You know, I worked in Germany. I wanted to work. You know, I liked to bring in money. I never wanted to be like my mom […]

Divorce Themselves from Gary

“We had this huge exodus and the population went from majority white to majority black.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Divorce Themselves from Gary Edited by Rebecca Warner. Transcript for Divorce Themselves from Gary Well when I first started out, I was covering mostly high school stuff for the Post-Tribune. There were some great […]

Becoming a Teacher

“I did not want to be used as the token Latin.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for Becoming a Teacher In the fall of 1960, I went to IU and studied education. And I did some work at Indiana Northwest. And then I wound up at Bloomington. I got my degree in Education in 1966. […]

Starting to Change

“As I got older…my freedom to be outside was definitely different.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Starting To Change Edited by Olivia Brown Transcript for Started to Change I live in Northwest Indiana for about eight months now. I just moved there last year. I lived in Dolton before. Dolton is, it’s more of […]

1967 Snowstorm

“No, a captain stays with the ship.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for 1967 Snowstorm We got trapped in the 1967 snowstorm in school. And since we had a bunch of guys, we got all the ladies out at noon. And Dr. Gilbert was the superintendent. And he said, “The kids can go home. The […]

To Germany and Back

“It really makes you a woman and makes you responsible.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for To Germany and Back I graduated from Froebel High School, and my intention was not to go anyplace. I wanted to go to school. And I wanted to be a teacher. And my husband then because we were, after […]

The Neighborhood

“Nobody ever said, ‘Hey, you’re a Mexican,’ or ‘Hey, you’re an Italian’ or anything like that.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for The Neighborhood Did he ever suffer any discrimination? I don’t know. Because I was a kid and he was working in the mill. My mom definitely did not suffer any, I don’t think, […]