Maria Garcias
This condensed narrative is intended to provide a closer look at the positive aspects of the west side; more specifically the Guadalupe Neighborhood and Maria Garciaz’s experiences there.
“For me it’s always been about turning lemons into lemonade because I try and see the glass half full instead of half empty. Again this one individual told me it’s all in how you look at this challenge or problem. You can look at the problem and allow it to oppress you or you can look at the problem and figure out how to solve it. Whenever I’m faced with these challenges I think ‘Okay, it’s a challenge - what do I need to do or who do I need to bring to the table to turn it into something positive?’” – Maria Garciaz, February 2009
Growing Up: Transience
I was raised mostly by a single mother and am the middle of seven children; we were a very transient family and moved two to three times a year. Because we were poor we often moved into homes that were old and ugly or rented houses that needed a lot of repairs.
We would move so much I always tell people, I think I’ve been to every elementary school in all of Salt Lake City and that’s probably why I am so familiar with so many different neighborhoods. We finally saved enough money to buy a home when I was fourteen. My roots are Salt Lake City.
Developmental Years
I attended East High school which was not very diverse and became an angry and hostile teenager. There were a lot of reasons for my anger: some related to discrimination, some to economics, but mostly because I was different and not accepted by other kids. My anger got in the way of school work and I was close to getting kicked out of school. I was sitting in the principal’s office and there was an individual from the school district who asked me, “Do you want to be the loser that they think you are, or do you want to get over on them and graduate from this school?” While I didn’t like being called a loser his question really motivated me to finish school because he said “Don’t let them beat you at this game, you have to graduate from school.” And so I did. I graduated from East High School and it wasn’t easy. Not because I wasn’t smart, but because I was… kind of a…a rebel more than anything else.
Even though I had decent grades to go to college I was never told by my school counselor that I could go to college. No one in my family had ever gone to college; what was important to us was working hard.[One day] I was walking down the hall at East High and this Hispanic adult grabbed my arm and said “Hey are you interested in going to college?” and I said “What do you mean? I can’t go to college.” He said “Aren’t you getting ready to graduate?” and I said “Yeah.” He said, “Come with me and these other students up to the University of Utah.” They helped me get into college and I graduated with a degree in political science. So I got very involved and very engaged in the civil rights - what they called the Chicano Movement at that time - from ’75 to ’80. I think individuals like myself and Judge Valdez, Alicia Suazo, Joyce Valdez, and a lot of people in their forties and fifties paved the way so that it was easier for kids of color to get into college and to have those opportunities.
[Near the end of college] I started working as a probation officer; that’s when I started working more intensely with youth. There was this anger in these young people involved in the court system, the same anger I had in high school. Maybe it was the way they were treated that got them into the system. But they were not lucky enough to meet someone like I did, someone who said “You really need to stop being so angry and learn how to get over on the system and graduate, that’s the best revenge. The best revenge is graduating.” So that, in part, is what I imparted to the kids that I worked with. What I would say to them is “How can I help you to be successful?” I did that for five to seven years. While I was a probation officer I was assigned by the court system to help [NeighborWorks] in ’82 participate in a program that would help teenagers in gangs by getting them off the streets, employing them, and engaging them in building community.
Neighborhood Interactions: A Little Philosophy and the Wine Club
I am a huge believer in knowing who your neighbors are. It’s natural for me to want to know who my neighbors are. If you don’t know who your neighbors are, they won’t be able to help you when you need help. A few years ago I helped organize a wine club. The last Saturday of every month people from the neighborhood and guests from other neighborhoods get together to sample wine. The wine club is an excuse to visit with each other; it’s not really about drinking the wine because half the people do not drink. It’s about talking about the issues and how they impact the neighborhood, the community and Salt Lake. We talk about Trax, talk about what’s happening with the city council, and so forth. [At wine club] a lot of small groups gather and because we all have a sense of each other, someone will say “go talk to Maria” or “go talk to Dave about that”. People at the wine club find out information or find out what resources exist.
At the monthly Guadalupe wine club gathering neighbors talk about the elderly people in the neighborhood and we ask each other to stop by and check on them. Next door to NeighborWorks we have an elderly neighbor and she is an amazing woman with a wonderful smile. I believe she is one of the original Japanese families who moved into this neighborhood several decades ago. She does not leave her home very often other than with her adult children. NeighborWorks helps take care of her by shoveling sidewalks during the winter and checking in on her occasionally to see if she needs anything. Her children take good care of her but they have families of their own and they get some comfort knowing that we are nearby. NeighborWorks helped repair electricity, heating and roofing, and volunteers painted the exterior of her home to give it a minor facelift. She loved the improvements and it was great to see her excitement with them. She feels that this is her neighborhood; she feels safe here and knows she can count on the neighborhood to watch over her.
Right next to where I live there’s an elderly black woman who has no family in the city, so we check on her almost daily. We have services like Meals on Wheels and other programs come visit and check in on her. We make sure that the seniors in the neighborhood are taken care of because they might not have anyone close by. I think that communities and neighbors like opportunities to get involved at that intimate level where they can check on their neighbors. With my neighbor next door, she has no family close by. Her husband died fifteen years ago and any other family she has lives out of state or in another counties. She calls my husband every day at five o’ clock in the morning and he goes over and checks on her oxygen. It is not an imposition and I believe this is what the west side is about. It’s a neighbor to neighbor thing. There’s another young man who lives nearby and he has a physical disability. He doesn’t have the energy to get up and do things. He’s married and has two children and his wife works full time so he takes care of the children. A lot of neighbors think that he’s lazy; it’s not that he’s lazy he just uses his energy for his kids since they are the most important thing to him. His house can look unkempt and this bothers other neighbors. But I know he cares because when we cannot take care of the elderly black woman next to me he will take out her garbage. This is his way of showing how he cares. I believe in the west side it’s about knowing your neighbors and understanding that every little bit of help makes a difference.
