I Always Wanted to Belong

My early years were spent on my aunt and uncle's farm in rural New Mexico, about twenty-five miles south of Albuquerque. Life on the farm was hard work in those days. What we had to eat was what we grew ourselves, plus the few store items we traded for. By age eight, I was guiding a horse-drawn plow by myself. In the family and in our farming community, we spoke only Spanish. It wasn't until I went to school that I was forced to speak English and was told that speaking Spanish wasn't right. I never felt I was as smart as the other kids or as good as anyone else. On the farm I knew I could do anything; in school it was a different story.