Everyday People--Extraordinary Lives

My first year as a columnist for the Los Angeles Times is coming to a close. What a rich and rewarding year this has been for me.

It was a year of vigorous debates with readers over passionate issues. From the changing definition of citizenship to the relationship between crime and race. From ethnic politics to bilingual education. From same-sex partners in salsa clubs to cultural stereotypes on beer cans.

But it was also a year of quiet, intimate interviews with interesting people for what has emerged as regular weekend profiles. The interviews with individuals, or sketches of their neighborhoods, have alternated with columns about the issues that affect their lives, which usually run on Tuesdays.

On Saturdays, I’ve tried to introduce you to those remarkable folks who shared a part of their lives with me along the way. Often, reporters get to interview important people. I spend my time looking for average and anonymous folks who stand out in everyday life for some reason.

They are people of valor and values who impress me with their strength, talents, perseverance or some show of true love.

My only regret is passing through their lives as fleetingly as deadlines pass through mine. My consolation is being able to leave behind a permanent record of their struggles and otherwise unheralded accomplishments.

High Qualities

When I started, some colleagues wondered whether I would run out of people to write about, since I was hired to focus on Orange County’s Latino community. Would there be enough worthy subjects among a minority population to keep me in business?

I’m now convinced I could never exhaust the supply of compelling personalities who inhabit this subculture. Partly that’s because immigration is an inherently dramatic, life-changing experience. And then too, there’s truth to the journalist’s mantra that everybody has a story to tell--no matter where they come from.

“Cada cabeza es un mundo,” as my mother used to say. “There’s a world inside every head.”

A fine writing coach once gave me a tip about telling stories effectively. Think of a word or phrase that encapsulates the theme. Boil down the story to some quality that conveys its essence. Perhaps courage or luck or self-sacrifice.

Here are some of the qualities I gleaned from a few of the people I profiled this year.

Devotion: Maria Marquez stuck by her husband for 51 years, despite his macho abuses, his demands, threats and jealousies. When he developed Alzheimer’s, she insisted on personally caring for the old, broken factory worker until he died. She then brought him eternal distinction by donating his brain to Alzheimer’s research, giving doctors at UCI the first Mexican-American subject to help them explore ethnic differences in the workings of this perplexing disease.

Determination: Josias Gonzalez fought cultural and class expectations--and his own mother’s objections--to become the first in his family to pursue a college degree. The young man grew up working the fields around Visalia, but he broke ranks and risked his family’s displeasure by secretly applying to UCI, where he has embarked on studies in engineering. Josias insisted that education would make him even better able to contribute to his family’s survival, as he has done all his life.

Self-improvement through honest work: Candelario Tapia takes pride in shining shoes at his humble outdoor stand in downtown Santa Ana. The care he applies to his craft has earned him faithful customers, from professionals wearing wing-tips to fellow immigrants in huaraches. With his modest earnings, Tapia sends money to his family in Mexico. On his time off, he studies to improve his English and get a high school degree.

Dignity: Lydia Olmedo Fuentes lost a privileged lifestyle after immigrating from her native El Salvador, but she preserved her grace and elegance under pressure to survive as a single mother. To raise her two daughters, Fuentes gave private piano lessons and sewed wedding gowns. During a delightful visit to her impeccable home, she served me homemade soup along with wise advice.

Community and solidarity: Santa Ana fifth-grader Joel Carrillo started spending three nights a week at a downtown bookstore, doing his homework under guidance from the owner, Rueben Martinez, his employees and their customers. In a city of overcrowded schools and homes, they had all chipped in to help Joel, who has an attention deficit and had already flunked one grade. This was the story of a committed mother who can’t speak English, supportive older siblings, a caring teacher and a community leader who practiced what he preached about the value of education.

These are all fine qualities to contemplate as we enter the final days of the 1900s. As a mosaic of our immigrant population, these stories give us faith that our nation has much human capital to build on in the century to come.

Of course, there are cynics who say I have ignored reality by stressing only positive portraits. Some readers urge me to write about crime and corruption and welfare abuse to complete the ugly picture they see of the Latino community.

All people have problems and imperfections, so bad news abounds. I don’t need to be another destructive, disparaging voice. Indeed, I worry about those who insist on accentuating the negative as a way of endorsing their contempt for an ethnic group.

Like the pathetic, bitter woman who called me this week in response to my column about my family’s Mexican customs at Christmas and how they have blended with U.S. traditions over the years. It was a sweet story that somehow provoked a sour response in this one reader. Her hostility compelled her to call and offer a perverse twist to the normal holiday greeting.

“I hope you and your entire Mexican-speaking family have a miserable holiday and are not even here anymore to enjoy another year,” said the woman, her voice quavering. “You need to go back someplace else where you live.”

My wish for her and people like her: Lose the anger before it kills you. Yes, the world is changing, but the new one we’re creating is not nearly as threatening as you imagine.

I have faith in the future because I also receive calls from people who rise above our differences. In response to that same Christmas column, I received an uplifting message from an African American man who has lived in Southern California for 20 years, far from his family back East.

Every year, this man has been invited to celebrate Christmas with his “adopted Hawaiian family,” the relatives of a co-worker. They eat and laugh all day. “When you can share like that, it’s all the more meaningful,” the caller said.

He thanked me for the columns, though they aren’t directly about him or his world.

“These articles you write, don’t stop writing them,” he said. “They help me connect with my own traditions.”

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Agustin Gurza’s column appears Tuesday and Saturday. Readers can reach Gurza at (714) 966-7712 or agustin.gurza@latimes.com