United to Strike: A Story of the Delano Grape Workers
PART I Fall 1965
Chapter One September 1 1965 Dear Diary Today I am eleven It's funny because I don't feel eleven I still feel ten but somehow waking up this morning makes me a whole year older My best friend Jasmine says being eleven makes us closer to God I don't know if she means that we're one year closer to death or just that it's our church confirmation year Jasmine is morbid my new word of the day so it could go either way Think happy thoughts and Jasmine don't go hand in hand It's more like prepare for the worst Maybe she thinks in the temporary instead of the permanent because her dad and grandparents used to be migrants They traveled from farm to farm looking for work When they got here the work stuck around so they stuck around Jasmine still thinks that can change for some reason She doesn't listen when I tell her my lola says the vineyard work in Delano has been steady for generations
Things change Jasmine insists Things always change Things can stay the same too I remind her I guess Jasmine doesn't believe in the power of positive thinking I don't know if I do either but I do believe that words are powerful I like words There's just something about them the flow the music that makes me want to write them all down They're always whirling around like a crop duster airplane propeller waiting to be plucked out and put down on paper I even went to our library after school and looked up all the jobs you can do with just words No labor unless you count what's going on in your head and no moving around so much like Jasmine's family used to do before they got to Delano It turns out there are a lot of jobs that I could do with words My favorite is investigative reporter I like the sound of that Tala Mendoza investigative reporter It sounds official and important doesn't it If I was an investigative reporter I'd be taken seriously all the time People would talk to me instead of just smiling and saying Well aren't you the cutest thing ever have a
yema I like yema as well as the next person but I don't want to have one shoved at me anytime I try to do something serious Jasmine's brother Isko who I don't like because he's thirteen and thinks he knows everything about everything says if I write more maybe I'll talk less Is it my fault that I have all these words that need to come out Isko bought me and Jasmine each a diary for our birthdays He says it's to get us to stop chattering like magpies It makes sense that he'd give Jasmine a present because she's his sister But it's weird that he got me one too Before now I think the most Isko has ever given me is a punch in the arm Nanay is practically planning our wedding now She says Isko buying me a gift means something I'd rather marry the Creature from The Black Lagoon than Isko but I didn't tell Nanay that It would burst her bubble Let her plan if it makes her happy A happy Nanay is the best birthday present of all Jasmine has five older brothers and two younger sisters I have zero brothers and zero sisters but that's not because Nanay and Tatay didn't want a big family like the Perezes Nanay and Tatay always
