Stories “One Tale at a Time” Community-Based Oral History Project

(Bio in Spanish) Nació en Metlatónoc, Guerrero, el 12 de mayo de 1984. Su lengua materna es el Tu´un Sávi (mixteco) variante del este medio, y su segunda lengua el Castellano. Estudió Licenciatura en Educación Primaria para el Medio Indígena y Maestría en Práctica Docente e Integración Cultural; es migrante jornalera desde pequeña y ha recorrido con sus padres los principales destinos agrícolas del país. Protagonizó el cortometraje “Ita Yuyu”. (Premio Pantalla de Cristal, Guadalajara, 2003) en su lengua materna. Como músico tradicional ha grabado dos discos en su lengua materna (Sonido de lluvia, 2007 y Vikó, 2012); es también gestora, promotora e investigadora cultural, formadora, docente tallerista, Mediadora de la Sala de lectura “Colibrí Migrante” desde 2017, traductora e interprete.

Obtuvo el Primer Lugar en Concurso de Canto (Metlatónoc, Guerrero, 2003) y el Premio CaSa en la categoría de Narrativa en lengua Tu’un Savi (Oaxaca, 2021). Sus textos se han publicado desde el año 2021 en diferentes blogs, revistas, en radios y en su canal de YouTube (Tachi Savi-Martina Rojas) donde también enseña su lengua materna. Actualmente vive con su familia en San Quintín, Baja California, donde desarrolla sus proyectos.

(Bio in Spanish) Nació en Cuajimalpa, Estado de México. En 1980 migró con sus padres a los Estados Unidos. Creció en la ciudad de Santa Ana, California, donde todavía reside. Recibió su Licenciatura de la Universidad Estatal de California Fullerton en Español con énfasis en Literatura y una especialización en Servicios Humanos. Se ha dedicado a servir a la comunidad por más de 26 años.

The daughter of immigrants from Mexico and the Dominican Republic, Maria Guadalupe Carmona
was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1963 and raised in the adjacent small town of Stratford.  She
began to learn about her father’s life through his bedtime stories, likely intended to amuse or instruct
or both.  As Maria grew older, curiosity about her father’s life was prompted by visits to his
hometown, Cholula, Puebla, and by the recognition that her father’s life’s journey was quite different
from those of her friends’ parents.  Perhaps depending on her age and his readiness, he would
answer her questions with great or limited detail.  Still, these exchanges enabled Maria to appreciate
better the experiences that shaped her father and how his immigrant struggles and achievements,
while certainly inspirational, are merely in keeping with those of hundreds of thousands of
immigrants who came to the United States before him and even today.  In his final years, Don
Guillermo avoided no question, and the conversations were better still.  However, as with any life
and certainly with one lasting 97 years, Maria is left with questions.

Professionally, Maria Carmona is a public health policy analyst and advocate living in Silver Spring,
Maryland.  She is also a former schoolteacher and applied anthropologist, having conducted field-based research in schools and communities for research institutes based in New York City and the
Washington, DC metropolitan area.  Maria received her undergraduate degree from Harvard College
and holds graduate degrees from Columbia University.

A graduate of Princeton University, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, grew up in a household of Mexican immigrants. Jesús shared his early life of gang violence, poverty, and language barriers with his nine siblings; he grew up in South Central Los Angeles and the small border town of Brawley, CA. Jesús practices as an emergency medicine physician and is currently working on short stories, poetry, novels, and non-fiction pieces. Jesús became French trough marriage and he embraces his tri-culturalism.