United to Strike: A Story of the Delano Grape Workers
wanted more kids but I'm their only treasure on earth Nanay said she needed an extra special name for their extra special girl She says she took one look at my face and named me Tala after the goddess of the morning and evening star Goddess Tala's love stretches all the way to the sun and moon and back Nanay's love for me did the same when she first saw me I don't mind being the only kid in my family It's not lonely at all Jasmine lives nearby and has enough brothers and sisters for everyone In our little apartment Lola lives with us and we have a lot of aunties and uncles coming and going depending on the season and which crop they're following There always seems to be someone looking for a job on the ranch or just passing through on their way to the next harvest Tatay says we're the landing place for wayward yesterday's word of the day family Sometimes I wonder where we would live if we didn't live in such an agricultural area Sure Delano is a nice enough place and great if you have a vineyard or want to work in one but it's not all that exciting Not that I'm dying for excitement or
anything but it would be nice if the town didn't feel so sleepy Sometimes I think it and me needs a good shake to wake up Last year my teacher gave us an assignment to categorize buildings in town Here's what I found churches 28 elementary schools 4 high schools 1 hospitals 1 newspapers 1 banks 4 movie theaters 2 doctors 8 dentists 4 eye doctors 4 bookstores 0 My least favorite part of this list is the zero bookstores An up and coming investigative reporter like me needs a bookstore or a public library Tatay can't always take me the thirty miles to Bakersfield to get books no matter how much I want him too Most families like Jasmine's live in town They rent a little house on the west side of town and drive to the ranch Three of her older brothers
moved out to the single men housing on the ranch so the Perez house is less crowded than normal In the men's housing it's only four to a room and all meals are free Well not exactly free but close Isko says the boss takes the money out of your wages but you still don't have to worry about cooking so that's something I guess He plans to join his brothers in the men's housing as soon as he's old enough I have bigger dreams than picking girdling and packing grapes And that is Isko's problem He doesn't know how to dream big Since there's only four of us in my family's house and we don't need all the space the Perezes do we don't actually live in Delano We live on the ranch just outside of Delano in an apartment Actually it's more like a barrack But because Tatay is the afternoon shift foreman we have a nicer bigger place than most There's a playground baseball field and tennis court for us to use though I've only ever seen people play basketball on the tennis court Never tennis It isn't so bad Not all growers treat their workers as nicely as our boss does Look at me saying our boss like I work next to Tatay and
Nanay I do help out but only on weekends and days off from school We have it pretty good where we live I've heard stories of family housing on some ranches that's like metal boxes with no heat or running water We're lucky In our family housing we have a newer clean place to live with air conditioning and heat Jasmine's house in town doesn't have air conditioning Maybe that's why she spends so much time at my house especially during summer The weather is warm in Delano and the soil is rich Tatay says it's the best place he's ever seen for growing grapes Whenever he says that Nanay reminds him that France has all those famous vineyards too She's kind of right France's vineyards are so famous you don't think of Delano when someone says grapes or wine you think of France At least I do and I live here Nanay talks about France like it's something special and how great life must be there all the way across the ocean But I don't know why Nanay wants to go all the way to France to pick grapes when she can pick them right here
