Zapata: When and where you were born and if you can describe the era the culture and era you were born in and what your parents did? Abalos: I was born here in Odessa, Texas. I was born in 1953. I was born in the barrio, the Hispanic community, and I was there until I was about 10 or 11 years old. Then, we moved to another part of town. My father was a laborer and my mother was at home- for the most part- mom. Sometimes, she would get a job cleaning houses. There were 10 kids in my family. I was fifth from the top. I had a very good childhood and had parents who loved us. We were poor but there was never any question in our minds that our parents loved us, and we were number one for them. I feel like I had a very good childhood. It was a very expanded childhood. We lived in the barrio and we stayed in the barrio for the most part. I could walk to school. It was a block down, if that much. The church was right- we passed the church to get to the school. My grandparents, both sets, were within a block or two of us. Aunts and uncles lived within a block or two of us. It was like – it takes a village- I really believe in that. I believe in that because it was a village watching out for us. We knew we could not do anything, not get into trouble because frankly my mom was going to know. Somebody was going to tell her, either and aunt, uncle, or a neighbor. So, we were always- we stayed pretty much in line.