Stories of Christina Jogoleff and Mauricio Macias

Christina and Mauricio, two folks in their 20s with deep ties to Watsonville, started gleaning for somewhat different reasons. They talked about the multiple, nuanced connections in their lives (and family histories) to gleaning. Their candor and their commitment come through in their descriptions of their relationship to gleaning, their efforts to expand the ranks of gleaners to be more representative (particularly of the Watsonville area), and in the connections they make between their lives and politics and their family histories.

Christina talked about her mother and father's sides of the family. Her mother identifies with her Irish roots. Her father has mixed Mexican and Russian heritage. There was tension between the two families, she says, because her mother's side of the family disapproved of Christina's father. And there was a certain tension within her father between the Russian capitalist and the Mexican sides of his background. Christina talked about the complex heritage of her mother's Michigan farm roots, her urban San Diego childhood, and her father's early history of work as a saboteur and spy for the UFW during the farm worker strikes. She traces some of her interest in growing food to her mother and her mother's mother. But when she thinks of fields and field work, she thinks of the injustices her father told her about, not about the Michigan corn fields on her mother's side of the family. Her father's two heroes, he told her, were Cesar Chavez and Jesus Christ. The lessons he passed on to Christina from Chavez were peace (including peaceful resistance), tolerance (accepting difference), and giving back to your community. Her aunt and uncle started the Cesar Chavez Service Clubs which have spread from San Diego throughout southern California.

Mauricio's mother and father came from farming families in central Mexico. The main crop was corn on his mother's side and guavas on his father's. Together, his parents immigrated illegally to California. Mauricio remembers the cornfields and storms from early in his childhood, when his family returned to visit their families in Mexico. And he remembers the collective process of scraping the kernels from the dried ears of colorful corn. His father was politically active, fighting for water rights for their community when a US oil company sought to move into the region, threatening both land and water. The cruelties of agribusiness impacted both families and led to his parents leaving Mexico. Of the 7 children in the family, only Mauricio and one older brother were born in this country. Though his father died when Mauricio was 8, he passed on his political passion to Mauricio.

Remarkable and very rich stories.

Listen to Christina and Mauricio's Stories