BLANCA ALVARADO STORIES
BLANCA ALVARADO STORIES
By Rosalinda Sanchez & Kelsey Wilk
I am flooded with memories as I walk into the School of Arts and Culture at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San José, where I had worked for several years managing arts education programming. Memories of this neighborhood, of going to Guadalupe Church on Sundays with my mom, having pizza at Renato’s on King and Mckee on Friday nights with my dad and his bowling league consisting of his Frito Lay work compadres. All of the quinces and weddings at Friendship Hall, grocery shopping at the Chaparral Super, going to the peliculas at el Cine Mexico Theater on Santa Clara Street and getting Mark’s Hot Dogs at “La Naranja”. A lifetime of experiences in my rearview mirror, I eventually make my way back to this neighborhood after college and later find myself working there.
I am now the Executive Director of Audacity Performing Arts Project, an arts education organization serving primarily Title 1 schools throughout East Side San José. I view the space through an entirely different lens as a community member attending an event in honor of a very special person who fought hard for this same vibrant and commonly overlooked community. An event that Audacity would document in partnership with Alpha Blanca Alvarado Public Charter School in East San José. ¿Y quien era la invitada de honor? None other than Blanca Alvarado herself. No me digas…¡si te digo!
“I view the space through an entirely different lens as a community member attending an event in honor of a very special person who fought hard for this same vibrant and commonly overlooked community. ”
The Honorable Blanca Alvarado, who at 92 years of age still lives in ESSJ, the neighborhood she fought for her entire life. Who is Blanca Alvarado you ask? One of her most notable contributions is being among the original founders of the Mexican Heritage Plaza. She was born in Colorado, a coal miner’s daughter who moved to ESSJ with her family when she was sixteen years old. Her childhood was spent immersed in communities of multicultural migrant farm workers, where Blanca astutely noticed that there weren’t many outlets for her and her bilingual peers to celebrate their cultural identities. So, she started the Latino Student Union, Club Tapatío, at San José High School. While running the club’s food and clothing drives, she became politically active and never stopped fighting for her community.
Educator Kelsey Wilk met Blanca shortly after she began teaching at Alpha: Blanca Alvarado. During an 8th grade promotion, Blanca delivered a powerful speech to the graduates and their families, at which point Kelsey realized that learning more about their school’s namesake could be a great source of inspiration for her drama students. Kelsey then began to work with an ensemble of 5th to 8th graders after school once a week, as they proceeded to research, write and create a play about the living legend who shaped their community. The result was the original student play and documentary: Blanca Stories.
“...as they proceeded to research, write and create a play about the living legend who shaped their community. The result was the original student play and documentary: Blanca Stories.”