'Love story with Topeka'
"Americano: My Journey to the Dream." Thomas Rodriguez
By Jan Biles
When Thomas Rodriguez and Jack Cobos were growing up in
The Bottoms, they didn't know that someday one of them
would be a writer and the other a graphic artist.
And they had no way of knowing that 50-some years later
they would be collaborating on "Americano: My Journey to
the Dream," an autobiography by Rodriguez that would bring
back memories of the "low-income, high-crime neighborhood"
where children collected and sold scrap metal and
grandmothers made clothes from flour sacks.
"I knew that, if I didn't write a book, in 10 to 15 years a lot of the
history of my family would have been lost forever," Rodriguez said. "It's
tragic to lose this history."
Rodriguez, 63, executive manager for diversity and affirmative action at
Clark County School District in Las Vegas, had written five earlier books
documenting the history of Hispanic people in Nevada. Each was published
by Amigos Publishing, a Topeka-based company owned by the 59-year-old
Cobos.
Submitted
Jack Cobos is a Topeka designer and creator of Amigos Publishing, which he
runs out of his home. Cobos is publishing a book by former Topekan Thomas
Rodriguez, of Las Vegas, who grew up in Topeka's The Bottoms
neighborhood.Rodriguez said the idea for "Americano" had been
"germinating" for a number of years.
"I'm not going to be here forever, so it's important for my children and
the large extended family I have across the country, which numbers over
200 now, to know their heritage," he said.
Rodriguez's ancestors were immigrants from Mexico who settled in The
Bottoms, a 24-block area bordered by Kansas Avenue, Adams Street, 6th
Street and Crane Street. The residents were a mix of Mexicans, blacks,
Germans, Russians and American Indians.
His paternal grandparents moved to Topeka in 1915 and rented a house at
102 Jefferson St. His grandfather was a laborer for Rock Island Railroad.
His maternal grandparents arrived in 1920 and lived in a two-story
boarding house at 523 E. 1st St. that was owned by his great-aunt and her
husband. They worked at his great-aunt's grocery store in exchange for
food for almost a year before his grandfather was hired as a laborer for
the Santa Fe Railroad.
MEXICAN CELEBRATION
The city of Topeka will celebrate Cinco de Mayo today with an employee
luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Hills Festival Hall at the Topeka
Performing Arts Center. The program features Mariachi Mexico de Kansas
City and El Grupo Atontonilco Folklorico.
Cinco de Mayo, which means "fifth of May," commemorates the victory of
Mexicans over the French army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. It is
primarily a regional holiday in Mexico but also is celebrated in other
parts of the country and in U.S. cities with significant Mexican
populations. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day, which is
actually Sept. 16.
A NEW CHAPTER
"Americano: My Journey to the Dream," an autobiography by Thomas
Rodriguez, is available through Amigos Publishing, c/o Jack Cobos, 800
S.E. 36th St., Topeka, 66605.
Cost of the 420-page, hardback book is $24, which includes shipping.
For more information, call Cobos at (785) 266-4910 or e-mail him at
jackcobos@yahoo.com.
"We were poor as field mice, but you know what, we didn't know it," he
said. "We had everything that made us happy."
Some of his fondest memories are harvesting black walnuts with his family
in late September or early October at Ripley Park; playing with the cows
and pigs in holding pens at John Morrell Co.; and swimming in the Kansas
River.
He also writes about Fiesta Mexicanas; Mexican fast-pitch softball teams;
his years at Hayden and Topeka high schools; and the early Chicano
movement in Topeka.
"The things that become most important to you are the things you took for
granted while they were occurring to you," he said.
While Cobos also grew up in The Bottoms, he and Rodriguez weren't
childhood pals, mainly because of their age difference. Still, Cobos can
relate to the anecdotes included in "Americano" and thinks the book has
the potential to become a historical document.
"I think this book will be referred to in many years to come," he said.
Submitted
Thomas Rodriguez's book, "Americano: My Journey to the Dream" tells the
story of his ancestors' immigration to the United States and his childhood
in Topeka. Shown are his father, Joseph, at age 8, his uncle Tom as an
infant and grandmother Felicitas Rodriguez.Rodriguez, who was among the
first generation of his family to be born in the United States, said he
has witnessed a new wave of Mexican immigrants coming into this country.
During the 23 years he's been in Las Vegas, he has seen the Hispanic
population grow from 35,000 to 400,000.
However, he said, the immigrants coming to United States today share the
same aspirations as his ancestors.
"You live simply, you work hard, your kids go to school and you buy a
home," he said.
Rodriguez said he returns to Topeka nearly every year.
"Topeka is such an important part of me," he said. "It made me everything
I am. I may be gone physically, but emotionally I never will be. So the
book is sort of a love story with Topeka."
Jan Biles can be reached at (785) 295-1292
"Americano: My Journey to the Dream," an autobiography by Thomas
Rodriguez, is available through Amigos Publishing, c/o Jack Cobos, 800
S.E. 36th St., Topeka, 66605.
Cost of the 420-page, hardback book is $24, which includes shipping.
For more information, call Jack Cobos at (785) 266-4910 or e-mail him at:
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Thomas Rodriguez can be reached at:
Diversity and Affirmative Action Programs,
The Topeka, Kansas, Capital-Journal
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Clark County School District
2832 East Flamingo
Las Vegas, NV. 89121
Tel. (702) 799-5087, or E-mail to: