<Begin Segment 21>

TL: When you were in school, did your teachers treat all the children pretty much the same or did you find that they seemed to have different expectations of you or the Mexican American children?

YB: No. I felt that (we) were treated pretty much the same in grade school. I didn't see any difference. In fact, if I didn't have a ride, my horse was sick or something, the teacher would come horseback and I'd ride behind her, and I'd go to school.

[Interruption]

TL: Were there any teachers in your early years or even in high school who became a mentor for you in some way?

YB: I, I know that I was well cared for and loved by the principal's family, because the sister-in-law and I became very good friends. And I was also a member of the... Camp Fire Girls, which the principal's wife, Mrs. Westcott, was our leader and guide. So I was a Camp Fire Girl there; and we'd go to their house parties and to outings that we'd have for the summer. And... and all the people came from Solvang picked me up for a ride, come by my house, the two of them, because they just figured I was just another square-head... only I was Japanese. [Laughs]

<End Segment 21> - Copyright © 1998 Densho. All Rights Reserved.