Roxanne Garcia Oral History, 2020/12/04

Interview with Worker and Mother Roxanne

Roxanne Garcia, a worker and mother, is the person I am interviewing. We discuss her life, including some background information about her family; including her parents and siblings. In this interview we reflect on suicide, prison, education, enfranchisement, COVID-19, and motherhood. The overall concept behind this interview is to see where a random mother and worker finds herself within the complexity of modern life, specifically as it relates to her children’s education, prisoner’s rights, and the pandemic. Her experiences intersect many issues and hot topics.

December 4, 2020

Raymond Holliday

Roxanne Garcia

Raymond Holliday

audio interview

English Home & Family Life

English Politics

English Social Issues

English Economy

English Online Learning

mother

brother

child

prison

Los Angeles

California

New Mexico

voting rights

pregnancy

positive test

government aid

food stamp

suicide

abolish prisons

suicide

education

COVID-19

reality

family

Mental Health

Motherhood

Social Justice

Incarceration

12/04/2020

07/07/2021

03/07/2023

01/24/2024

Raymond Holliday

Roxanne Garcia

audio

English

12:11

Raymond Holliday 0:03
Hello, Roxanne.

Roxanne Garcia 0:03
Hello.

Raymond Holliday 0:05
So to get things going I wanted to ask a little bit about your parents' background. Where are your parents from?

Roxanne Garcia 0:14
My dad's from Germany, and my mom is from Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Raymond Holliday 0:18
What part of Germany is your dad from?

Roxanne Garcia 0:20
Berlin.

Raymond Holliday 0:21
What year did you move here?

Roxanne Garcia 0:25
50, 50, 1956.

Raymond Holliday 0:27
1956.

Roxanne Garcia 0:29
They came here on a refugee- the church paid for them to come over here.

Raymond Holliday 0:34
The Catholic Church?

Roxanne Garcia 0:36
Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 0:36
Okay.

Roxanne Garcia 0:37
Yeah, the Catholic.

Raymond Holliday 0:38
Okay. Um, and your mom lived in New Mexico before she lived in LA. Where did your dad live in America?

Roxanne Garcia 0:46
Well, they moved to Oregon. Then they came to LA.

Raymond Holliday 0:51
Nice. So how many siblings do you have?

Roxanne Garcia 0:55
Four.

Raymond Holliday 0:57
Okay, and how old are they compared to you?

Roxanne Garcia 1:01
The- my older brother's one year apart. My sister's 11 months apart, and I have an 19 year younger brother. I'm saying it all right? Okay.

Raymond Holliday 1:11
Uh, where do they each live?

Roxanne Garcia 1:14
Well, all of them live in New Mexico right now.

Raymond Holliday 1:17
Wow.

Roxanne Garcia 1:17
Except me.

Raymond Holliday 1:18
And your- your youngest?

Roxanne Garcia 1:20
Lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Raymond Holliday 1:22
Wow. Okay. And how many kids does your sister have?

Roxanne Garcia 1:26
Two.

Raymond Holliday 1:27
Okay, how many do you have?

Roxanne Garcia 1:28
Four.

Raymond Holliday 1:29
Do your two brothers have kids?

Roxanne Garcia 1:32
No.

Raymond Holliday 1:33
Okay. What is your first memory of LA, your hometown?

Roxanne Garcia 1:44
Like when I was little?

Raymond Holliday 1:46
Yeah.

Roxanne Garcia 1:47
Oh, I would be riding the streets with our friends. Okay, yeah. Riding the streets on a bike. Yeah, I think that's it.

Raymond Holliday 2:03
What about any like- what about the- would you take rides with anyone?

Roxanne Garcia 2:11
Oh, did I tell you about the mailman?

Raymond Holliday 2:13
Yeah.

Roxanne Garcia 2:13
Okay. Just say, oh, yeah. Riding with the mail lady.

Raymond Holliday 2:18
Okay. Did- did- yeah. Did she asked you guys or did you guys ask her?

Roxanne Garcia 2:23
I don't remember. We would go in her car. She liked us, I guess. A lady. That was kind of weird, though.

Raymond Holliday 2:29
She's probably just lonely.

Roxanne Garcia 2:30
Maybe, huh. Wanting kids.

Raymond Holliday 2:32
For sure.

Roxanne Garcia 2:32
And our- we were like, one of those kids out running the streets.

Raymond Holliday 2:35
And so what- would- and it would be a route by your house?

Roxanne Garcia 2:38
Yeah, it would be on our streets.

Raymond Holliday 2:39
And the mail lady would take you around?

Roxanne Garcia 2:41
Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 2:41
That's cool. Uh, so you told me earlier that you went to two high schools. Why did you go to two high schools?

Roxanne Garcia 2:50
Because I moved- I used to live in Orange County, and I moved to- I went to Santa Fe High School. And how I ended up there is I lived in Orange County. And then I moved with my mom for like, about, like, almost a year. And during that time, I went to junior high school. And then I went to high school for like half a year and then I moved back to LA and then I've been here ever since.

Raymond Holliday 3:16
Okay.

Roxanne Garcia 3:17
And I went to Marshall High School.

Raymond Holliday 3:19
Uh, where do you remember wanting to live when you were a kid? Like what was your goal for where you wanted to live?

Roxanne Garcia 3:25
LA, I guess? LA. I always liked LA since I lived different places.

Raymond Holliday 3:31
What was your first job?

Roxanne Garcia 3:34
Um, [unintelligible] theater. We didn't really do anything. We just...

Raymond Holliday 3:39
What kind of theater was it?

Roxanne Garcia 3:39
Oh, [unintelligible]? Acting. People do acting there. So that was my first job. It was a summer job.

Raymond Holliday 3:47
Uh, what was it? What did you do at the job?

Roxanne Garcia 3:51
Well, I would just- we would- we mostly- we cleaned, but mostly when we just hang out and talk we didn't really do much. They didn't really have acting like you know all the time. Like there wasn't really shows. I guess you can say.

Raymond Holliday 4:04
You remember when you got your first car?

Roxanne Garcia 4:07
Yeah. What kind? Toyota.

Raymond Holliday 4:09
Yeah, how old were you?

Roxanne Garcia 4:12
21.

Raymond Holliday 4:16
Do you remember where, like what was the one of the first places that you drove in your new car that you wanted to drive to?

Roxanne Garcia 4:23
Oh, where I wanted to? I just basically went to work and back. I didn't really drive places.

Raymond Holliday 4:29
Respect. Which band or artists was the first you remember being your favorite?

Roxanne Garcia 4:38
I already told you. [laughs] Oh, yeah, Bush, Bush was one, was just one. I actually like, I'm trying to think but I also liked. U2, I liked U2. I liked Madonna at the time. There was a lot of, now that I think about, there was a lot of them around that time that I can remember. But yeah, Bush was really one of my favorite favorite ones.

Raymond Holliday 5:09
Yeah, that was a good time for music.

Roxanne Garcia 5:11
Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 5:14
Okay. Do you remember one thing your- your siblings taught you? Especially your older brother?

Roxanne Garcia 5:21
He was mean to me always. That's what he was. I don't remember. I don't know. He didn't, he wasn't really around because he went to jail when we were younger, when he was in high school.

Raymond Holliday 5:31
Okay, so do you remember that you had to teach your little siblings things?

Roxanne Garcia 5:35
We just always taught each other stuff. Me and my sister.

Raymond Holliday 5:39
That's good. Okay. Who was the first person who was related to you or that you loved who passed away?

Roxanne Garcia 5:49
Oh, my cousin. She killed herself. Her name was Amelia.

Raymond Holliday 5:53
How old was she?

Roxanne Garcia 5:54
19. Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 5:56
Where did she live?

Roxanne Garcia 5:57
New Mexico. That- during that time when I went there for those like 11 months, whatever. That's when all that happened. It was- it was crazy.

Raymond Holliday 6:05
How did your- your aunt or your mom handle it?

Roxanne Garcia 6:09
My aunt, she was devastated. She was like crying and everything. She was really mad.

Raymond Holliday 6:17
How did she take her life?

Roxanne Garcia 6:19
She shot herself in the head.

Raymond Holliday 6:25
Well, to make it to a lighter note, the- one of the first times, or the first time you found out that you're going to be a mom. Uh, where were you when you found out that you're going to be Kaya's mom? Your firstborn?

Roxanne Garcia 6:42
I think at my house because I didn't get my period. I mean, it was those type of things.

Raymond Holliday 6:46
Yeah. Did, were you...

Roxanne Garcia 6:48
I think- oh, I got to test the 99 cent store.

Raymond Holliday 6:51
Yeah.

Roxanne Garcia 6:51
And then it said.

Raymond Holliday 6:53
Were you like happy excited?

Roxanne Garcia 6:55
Yeah, I was excited, yeah.

Raymond Holliday 6:58
Um, have- so you have four kids now. Have any of your kids had to deal with any sickness, hospitalization?

Roxanne Garcia 7:05
No, none of them.

Raymond Holliday 7:07
Okay.

Roxanne Garcia 7:07
They’re all healthy.

Raymond Holliday 7:08
Okay. Um, do you have- we kind of already answered- answered this, but do you have any relatives who have been to prison?

Roxanne Garcia 7:18
Yes. How many? My brother is one. My uncle. I'll actually just my cousin Jerry. Yeah, a lot of my cousins. I don't even know.

Raymond Holliday 7:30
So can I ask what your brother...

Roxanne Garcia 7:33
Carjacking, when he was 16. Him and his friend, he went, he went for three and a half years. And he got two strikes right when that law came out is when he, yeah.

Raymond Holliday 7:50
So do you think felons who are in prison, or who have served their sentence and say they're in prison, and they, they have good behavior and, say they've served their sentence and they're ex-cons. Should they have voting rights? They don't currently.

Roxanne Garcia 8:09
Yeah. Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 8:12
Do you think like, do you think it's wrong that they- that they don't have those rights right now?

Roxanne Garcia 8:18
No, I can see why because they're criminals. They don't want people to, you know, I don't know.

Raymond Holliday 8:25
Yeah.

Roxanne Garcia 8:26
Bad minds, I guess? They think different.

Raymond Holliday 8:31
So, which election, government election was the first you remember as being more important than any other?

Roxanne Garcia 8:39
Obama. President Obama.

Raymond Holliday 8:41
Why- why do you think that one?

Roxanne Garcia 8:44
That's probably, I don't know. I'm older now. And that's what I remember. Plus, so he, oh, yeah. Because he was black. Okay, that's why.

Raymond Holliday 9:01
Okay, final set of questions. Do you know anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19.

Roxanne Garcia 9:09
Yes.

Raymond Holliday 9:10
Who's that?

Roxanne Garcia 9:11
Sam. I don't think you know him, Anthony's friend.

Raymond Holliday 9:15
Where do they live?

Roxanne Garcia 9:16
Diamond Bar.

Raymond Holliday 9:17
Okay. So they still live in the Los Angeles County?

Roxanne Garcia 9:20
They live in, is that Los Angeles County? Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 9:22
Okay. Um, how close are they to you, just a friend of Anthony's?

Roxanne Garcia 9:28
Yeah. Friend of Anthony's.

Raymond Holliday 9:29
Okay.

Roxanne Garcia 9:29
Only like when we go out to like, Loughlin or...

Raymond Holliday 9:33
So your fiancé’s friend.

Roxanne Garcia 9:35
Yes. Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 9:37
So do you think- so let me ask you this. How dangerous do you think COVID-19 is a one to ten, common cold being a one?

Roxanne Garcia 9:48
Well, it's pretty, I don't know.

Raymond Holliday 9:50
One to ten.

Roxanne Garcia 9:52
It's just a, like a, seven.

Raymond Holliday 9:55
Like a seven.

Roxanne Garcia 9:56
Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 9:56
Okay. Do you think it is, uh, more or less dangerous than the common flu?

Roxanne Garcia 10:02
About the same. They just don't have a vaccine for it, that's why. maybe more because there's no vaccine.

Raymond Holliday 10:09
Okay. Now, during the pandemic, should your kids' teachers be paid the same for remote learning instruction?

Roxanne Garcia 10:19
Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 10:23
Would you say that remote learning has been more or less difficult for them?

Roxanne Garcia 10:29
Less difficult and the kids not concentrating as much as they should, because they're not in a classroom. They're distracted.

Raymond Holliday 10:36
So like the work is less difficult for them.

Roxanne Garcia 10:39
Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 10:39
But it's more difficult to learn.

Roxanne Garcia 10:41
Yeah, because they just don't concentrate. If you have a computer, you're going to go on YouTube or, you know, other- other websites to do or distract you, I guess.

Raymond Holliday 10:51
So, have you ever applied for aid from the government?

Roxanne Garcia 10:57
Yeah, food stamps.

Raymond Holliday 11:00
Um, and you've never been denied?

Roxanne Garcia 11:02
No.

Raymond Holliday 11:03
Have you ever heard of like any of your friends or any situations that where they should get aid and they didn't?

Roxanne Garcia 11:10
Um, no. I mean, yes, yes. I guess I have, but they never, they're just lazy. [both laugh]

Raymond Holliday 11:16
Yeah. Can you name any other virus events or scares from the past?

Roxanne Garcia 11:25
SARS, H1N1. That's, I don't know.

Raymond Holliday 11:30
And do you remember, like, the the news during those times? Like whether they they treated it seriously or not?

Roxanne Garcia 11:39
Yes, they did. Especially with the SARS.

Raymond Holliday 11:42
Yeah.

Roxanne Garcia 11:42
That one was crazy, because I was pregnant with Kaya when that whole SARS thing happened.

Raymond Holliday 11:46
Oh my gosh. So, -o for your first pregnancy.

Roxanne Garcia 11:49
I know, right.

Raymond Holliday 11:49
And you had SARS going on.

Roxanne Garcia 11:50
And then this one? Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 11:52
Okay.

Roxanne Garcia 11:53
So basically the same thing because the COVID with River.

Raymond Holliday 11:55
And so River was born when?

Roxanne Garcia 11:57
COVID, this year, 2020.

Raymond Holliday 11:59
Okay.

Roxanne Garcia 11:59
May 19.

Raymond Holliday 12:01
So right when?

Roxanne Garcia 12:02
Yeah.

Raymond Holliday 12:03
Okay. Cool. Thank you for your time, Roxanne.

Roxanne Garcia 12:06
Okay, thanks.