I’ll start with my father’s story. My father is the youngest of 7 children, he’s 73 now. He was born in Dean Funes a small agricultural town northwest of the capital of Cordoba province, Argentina. His family was living in a one room house by the railroad station where my grandfather was working as the station chief. My grandfather saved for years to buy a piece of land where he built a 4-room farm house in the outskirts of the town and my dad grew happily there. After finishing high school he was accepted into the Agricultural Technical Farm School a type of boarding school for young farmer where he learned everything about agriculture. After graduating he was hired as an extension specialist for the Agricultural National Agency and moved to Catamarca province. Catamarca is different from Cordoba in many ways, people speak with a difference accent and the empanadas are made a little different, the music and the dances that populate the gatherings have a distinctive cadence and everything is done after drinking mate and a nap. When my dad was in his early 30s he was named chief of the local Agricultural Agency in a little town called Tinogasta, Northwest of the capitol Catamarca. He was the new guy with big ideas in Tinogasta, he organized the young teachers of the local schools and together founded and funded the first public library in town, he also organized groups to train and help the local youth stay and work the farm land…he brought fresh ideas that contribute to revitalized the community and promoted a vibrant group of young entrepreneurs and leaders that even today are influential in the city. There, he met my mother they fell in love, married and moved away to the capital Catamarca where 3 years later I was born.
Since I can remember my dad was a big influence in my world view. Always opening doors and windows to my brain to learn and see new things, encouraging me to talk and discuss matters of science and politics, he was always sharpening my dialectic fencing skill saying that an eloquent and smart voice is more powerful than a thousand weapons, never letting me win a debate without a fair fight. His way of thinking was always very Jeffersonian in essence, guidance and opportunity to learn and experience but giving me the space to make my own decisions. The world was and still is; thanks to my father a very exciting and new place to learn. Also from a very short age my father opened the door to another big influence in my life…the American culture. We used to sit every Sunday afternoon and watch the “World of Colors” presented by Walt Disney and cry and laugh together at the wonderful stories. By the time I started high school my mind was set in the American style of understanding and doing things. I was always going against the grain of the rest of my friends, thinking and knowing things that made me different; when my friends were busy doing what was expected of them I was busy reading Science Fiction and learning English, when my friends were repeating the lyrics of the 80s songs without understanding the meaning I was the one translating for them. I knew my future wasn’t where I was born; and just like my dad, the opportunity presented itself and I took it, then love followed and I run with him (after getting married , of course) to a new place: The United States of America. As a new comer I was treated with respect and opened arms in America, I moved more in a year than in my entire life leaving in Argentina. I felt lucky but at the same time I was ready for the challenges and the rewards the new country was putting in front of me, I had knowledge and I was able to quickly adapt. In less than 13 years I was able to build a technical career in Science and collect great experiences and friends; I was able to become middle class and a homeowner. I was able to build upon my father’s achievements faster.
My father migrated 7 hours (by car) from his birthplace and made a difference in his new community, I was able to emigrate 20 hrs (by airplane) and make my mark, who knows maybe a difference someday. My daughter now has a large extended and global family throughout the American continent, 2 languages and a rich cultural background where Jefferson and my dad will be influential figures in her life…I will hold her hand to make the pilgrimage back to my old country so she can see and experience all the knowledge there as well as in here, her birthplace; after all the world will be hers like it was mine once when my father let me by the hand in that journey.
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