who am i 16 pages

Who
am
I?
Family Adventures
Of Cholo, Vato,
And Pano
¿Quién
Soy
Yo?
George Rivera and Tony Ortega
Aventuras Familiares
De Cholo, Vato
Y Pano
This book is dedicated to the veterinarians and staff
at the Huron Animal Hospital in Denver, Colorado,
who care for Cholo and Vato as if they were their own dogs.
— George Rivera
In memory of my grandmother Trinidad Ortega who taught me
"Who am I" with our many summer trips to Pecos, New Mexico.
— Tony Ortega
Story by George Rivera, Ph.D.
Illustrations by Tony Ortega
School had ended, and my grandmother was
using the summer to get ready for winter. She
was sewing a quilt out of many different
pieces. Sometimes she would let me sew too.
Cholo and Vato were always with me when I
had that special time with my grandmother.
I was always very curious and wanted to know
more about everything. So one day, I asked
her, “Abuelita, do you know where we came
from? Who are our people? Who am I?”
Immediately, she replied, “See these patches
that I am sewing? Each one is different but
all the pieces go together, like people of all
different colors fit together.” So my abuelita
began her story.
1
La escuela había terminado y mi abuela
pasaba el verano preparándose para el
invierno. Cosía una cobija de muchas piezas
diferentes. A veces me dejaba coser a mí
también. Cholo y Vato siempre estaban
conmigo durante esos ratos especiales con mi
abuela.
Yo era siempre muy curioso y quería saber
más sobre todas las cosas. Entonces, un día le
pregunté, “¿Abuelita, tú sabes de dónde
somos? ¿Quién es nuestra gente? ¿Quién
soy yo?” De inmediato ella respondió, “¿Ves
estos parches que estoy cosiendo? Cada uno es
diferente, pero juntos forman una sola unidad,
así como toda la gente de distintos colores
encaja perfectamente.” Y así mi abuelita
empezó a contarme su historia.
2
“Remember when you and your cousins got
together at your Uncle Louie’s house?”
“¿Recuerdas cuando tú y tus primos se reunían en
casa de tu tío Luis?”
I answered, “You mean when we all played in the
patio — me, Henerieta, Emily Jean, Pancha, and
Little Louie?”
Yo respondí, “¿Te refieres a cuando todos
jugábamos en el patio - yo, Henrieta, Emily Jean,
Pancha y Luisito?”
“And don’t forget Cholo and Vato! Yes, those
times. Do you know why some of you speak
Spanish and have Spanish names? Spanish came
from Spain. A long time ago the Spaniards came to
New Mexico, Colorado and many other places.
They married some of our Mexican and Indian
families who already lived here. We are those
people.”
“¡Y no olvides a Cholo y a Vato! Sí, esas veces.
¿Sabes por qué algunos de ustedes hablan español
y tienen nombres españoles? El español es de
España. Hace mucho tiempo los españoles
llegaron a Nuevo México, a Colorado y a muchos
otros lugares. Se casaron con mujeres de las
familias mexicanas e indígenas que ya vivían aquí.
Nosotros somos de esa gente.”
3
“You learn who you are from your family,”
Buelita said. “Can you remember any other
times when you learned about yourself from
your family?”
“One time I was with Cholo and Vato visiting
my Aunt Mary in Pecos. I helped her build a fire
in the oven that she had outside. She called it an
‘horno.’ The wood that I picked for her got the
bricks inside the oven very hot. The bread that
she baked in that oven was the best bread I ever
tasted.”
“We built the horno ourselves out of mud and
straw,” she said. “We still use it because that is
the way of our people.”
“ De su familia uno aprende quién es,” dijo
Buelita. “¿Recuerdas alguna otra vez que tu
familia te enseñó algo de ti mismo?”
“Una vez yo estaba de visita con Cholo y Vato en
casa de mi Tía María en Pecos. Le ayudé a
encender el fuego en el horno que tenía afuera.
La leña que recogí para ella puso los ladrillos
dentro del horno bien calientes. El pan que ella
coció en ese horno fue el mejor que he probado.”
“Nosotros mismos construimos el horno con
barro y paja,” me dijo. “Todavía lo usamos
porque es costumbre de nuestra gente.”
4
“Grandma, you used to make tortillas on your
wood stove. We ate the tortillas with beans,
squash, and potatoes. Sometimes you would
give Cholo and Vato pieces of a tortilla.”
“Abuela, tú hacías tortillas en tu estufa de
leña. Comíamos las tortillas con frijoles,
calabaza y papas. A veces les dabas pedacitos
de tortilla a Cholo y Vato.”
“Food is part of who you are,” said my
Buelita. “Different people eat different foods.”
“La comida es una parte de quién eres,” dijo
mi Buelita. “Gente diferente come cosas
diferentes.”
I started remembering all the fun I had when I
visited my aunts and uncles in New Mexico.
Since we did not have chickens in our back
yard in the city, I used to love feeding them
every morning. When the sun went down, they
always came back to the chicken coop where
Cholo and Vato were waiting for them.
Empecé a recordar lo mucho que me divertía
cuando visitaba a mis tíos en Nuevo México.
Como no teníamos gallinas en nuestro patio en
la ciudad, me encantaba darles de comer cada
mañana. Cuando se ponía el sol siempre
regresaban al gallinero, donde Cholo y Vato
las esperaban.
5
“The land also is part of who you are. It gives
you what you need to eat and play.”
I thought about that and remembered when I
used to pick chokecherries. I did not eat them.
They did not taste very good. Even Cholo and
Vato would not eat them. I picked them
because my aunt would make jelly out of them.
They tasted great with our homemade bread
from the horno.
6
“La tierra también es parte de quién eres. Te da
lo que necesitas para comer y jugar.”
Me puse a pensar en eso y me acordé de
cuando recogía capulín. Yo no los comía. No
tenían buen sabor. Ni siquiera Cholo ni Vato
los comían. Los recogía porque mi tía los usaba
para hacer jalea. Sabían bien rico con el pan
casero recién sacado del horno.
7
I thought about the days that I went fishing
with my Uncle Louie. Cholo and Vato would
bark each time I got a nibble on my fishing line.
We caught so many trout one day that Uncle
Louie had to give some away.
Recordaba los días en que iba a pescar con mi
Tío Luis. Cholo y Vato se ponían a ladrar cada
vez que yo sentía una mordida en mi sedal. Un
día pescamos tantas truchas que Tío Luis tuvo
que regalar algunas.
8
The Pecos River was also good for
swimming. There were shallow parts where
we could swim safely. Pancho and Jerry
would always come with me. Cholo and
Vato were great swimmers too!
El Río Pecos también era bueno para nadar.
Había partes no muy profundas donde
podíamos nadar sin peligro. Pancho y Jerry
siempre iban conmigo. ¡Cholo y Vato
también eran buenos nadadores!
“Do you know how we kept that Valley
alive?” asked Buelita. “We built ditches that
brought the water for everyone from the river.
That was the way that we watered the beans,
alfalfa, and corn. No one owned the water. It
belonged to all the people who needed it.”
“Oh, I remember! One time Cholo, Vato, and
I helped Uncle Louie clean the ditch so that the
water could flow better.”
“¿Sabes cómo mantuvimos vivo ese valle?” me
preguntó Buelita. “Construimos acequias que
llevaban agua del río a toda la gente. De esa
manera regamos los frijoles, la alfalfa y el
maíz. Nadie era dueño del agua. Pertenecía a
toda la gente que la necesitaba.”
“¡Ah, ya recuerdo! Una vez Cholo, Vato y yo
le ayudamos al Tío Luis a limpiar la acequia
para que el agua corriera mejor.”
9
I loved visiting my uncles and aunts. Their
yard was full of all kinds of strange animals.
One time we found two horned toads. Cholo
and Vato were afraid of them and stayed far
away, but I got very close. They never bit me.
10
Me encantaba visitar a mis tíos. Su patio
estaba lleno de toda clase de animales raros.
Una vez encontramos dos camaleones.
Cholo y Vato les tenían miedo y no se les
acercaron, pero yo me acerqué bastante.
Nunca me mordieron.
Before I left New Mexico, my uncle would take
me to Chimayo. There was a church there that
was called a “santuario”. It had some special
dirt that many people said could make miracles
happen. My uncle said that it helped an old
man with crutches walk again. I always put
some in a jar to take back home with me.
Antes de irme de Nuevo México, mi tío me
llevaba a Chimayó. Allí había una iglesia que
llamaban santuario. Mucha gente decía que la
tierra de ahí era milagrosa. Mi tío me dijo que
a un viejo en muletas le ayudó a caminar otra
vez. Yo puse un poco de esa tierra en un tarro
para llevarme a casa.
11
12
“So see,” my Buelita said, “You are part of the
history of a special land where Indians,
Mexicans, and Spaniards lived. These were your
ancestors. They were your family. That is who
you are.”
That summer I learned so many things about
myself. I am sure that Cholo and Vato learned
some new things too.
“Pues, ya ves,” dijo mi Buelita. “Tú eres parte de
la historia de una tierra especial donde vivieron
indígenas, mexicanos y españoles. Ellos son tus
antepasados. Son tu familia. Eso es quien eres.”
Ese verano aprendí mucho de mi historia. Estoy
seguro de que Cholo y Vato aprendieron algunas
cosas nuevas también.
Tony Ortega holds a MFA in drawing and painting
from the University of Colorado at Boulder and is
currently an assistant professor for Regis University.
He received the Governor’s Award for Excellence in
the Arts in 1999 and the Mayor’s Award for
Excellence in the Arts in 1998. Tony Ortega’s lifelong
project is to contribute to a better understanding of
cultural diversity by addressing the culture, history and
experiences of Chicanos through his art. His artwork
has been exhibited extensively in Denver and throughout the United States, Mexico, and internationally.
In real life, Pano is Tony’s son, Ciprano. For more
information please visit his web site at
www.artcomm.org/adortega.
Dr. George Rivera is a professor in the
Department of Art & Art History at the
University of Colorado at Boulder. He has
published articles and essays in journals,
books, and catalogues in the United States,
Mexico and Spain. He has had exhibitions
in Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru,
Russia, Spain, and throughout the United
States. He is a Senior Fulbright Specialist
scholar and was a recipient of the
Governor’s Award for Excellence in the
Arts in Colorado in 2002.
Dr. Rivera has collaborated with Tony
Ortega on three other books, which
involve the characters Pano and his two
trusted dogs, Cholo and Vato. In real life,
Cholo and Vato are the names of Rivera’s
two Shih Tzus. The objective of all of his
stories is to convey an appreciation for
Mexican/Chicano culture and history.
Partial funding for this project was obtained from a generous award from the
Office of Community Relations at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Partial funding of this project generously awarded through the Office of
the Associate to the Provost for Diversity at Regis University.
To order additional copies of Who am I?, please contact:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Office of Community Relations
303-492-7084 or www.colorado.edu/cu4k12/
Spanish translation by Maria Fernanda Bravo; design and production by Michael Campbell
13
Text copyright 2005 by George Rivera
Illustrations copyright 2005 Tony Ortega