Carol Lara on Family & Growing Up

00:02 My name is Juliana Jackson. I'm 20 years old. Today's date is March 11th, I believe, and. Or 2022. And I'm speaking with my mom, Carol Lara, and we are in Dow, Illinois, recording this. So the first question is, where's your mom's family from? Where's your dad's family from? Your grandparents families, and what do you want them?

00:32 Okay, so my mom's family is from Lima, Peru, but more specifically, my grandfather was. Let's see, from Peru, and my grandmother was from Ayacucho, Peru, on my mom's side. My dad's father was from Hamburg, Germany, and his mother was from Pacas Mayo, Peru. But they all lived in Lima, Peru, you know, as. Like, when my mom and my dad met, they all lived in Lima, Peru. And what was the second part of that question?

01:21 What do you know about them?

01:24 So I grew up here in St. Louis. Well, and not here, because now I moved to Dow, Illinois, but I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. And I really didn't have a lot of a relationship with my grandparents because my parent. My grandparents were in Peru. But I know they loved me and I loved them. We had a relationship through the phone, and a lot of it was through tapes. My mom would record, like, a lot of our conversations that we would have at the house, or we would sing songs, or I would tell them how my day was at school. And we would always record those cassette tapes. And then she said she would send them to Peru. But I don't know if a lot of them made it because I found a lot of them later on in my mom's things. So I don't think they always received those tapes. But that was interesting growing up.

02:23 Okay, growing up, did you have a nickname? And if so, tell me the story of how you got it.

02:33 Yeah, Carito was. Is my nickname, but I don't know how I got it, really. I think that's just a nickname that they give to people named Carol in Latin America because there is a song called Carito by Carlos Bis. I know the name didn't come from there, though, but it's. Every time I would hear it, though, it made me feel pretty special. And it was like, about a. A. An English teacher, an American teacher, I guess, in Colombia. And he was, like, in love with her when he was a little kid, and she. So he would say something like that.

03:19 Yeah.

03:19 And he loved, like, when she would talk to him in English.

03:22 Oh.

03:23 So it was kind of cool because, you know, I was always like the little la gringa. I Was the American.

03:30 Yeah.

03:31 Kid. Because I was the only one born here in the United States out of my brother and my sisters. So everybody knew me as like, la gringa.

03:39 Okay. Were there any teachers who had a particularly strong influence on your life? And can you tell me about them?

03:50 I would say the one that sticks out to me the most is my art teacher. And honestly, I just have like a really. One big vivid. Actually two vivid memories of her. Her name was Mrs. Caro, and I was probably like in second or third grade. And she was just, like, really cool. Like, she dressed really cool. And like, I would just. I don't know, I just admired her. Just her little. Just her style, the way. Her freedom, her passion about art. And so there was a couple things. Like, one time I wore this shirt, and it was like a velvet shirt, a button up shirt, and it had all these different colorful patterns on there, but, like, they were really mismatchy. And she told me that she loved my shirt and that, like, just made my whole entire year.

04:45 Yeah.

04:46 And so I just felt so cool. And I felt like finally, like, I. I don't know, like I made it into her club.

04:54 Yeah.

04:54 And. And then I remember I drew a picture. I painted a picture, and it was of a. Of a Hula girl on a little island. And it was like an impressionist painting, I think. And she wrote on the back that she loved the movement in the. In the. In the painting. And I got an A plus and just made me feel like, so. Like, validated. Yeah, validated, exactly. So that was. I think that was my favorite teacher ever.

05:32 Yeah.

05:33 Other than that, I had a. I had a world history teacher who was just really funny. And it was a really. It was. He was a coach. His name was Coach O. Coach Owens. And he was just very funny. And so, like, you know, if I got the class late, he would, like, have me stick out my arm and he would, like thump me on my arm. And like, everybody thought that was just hilarious. And like, even though it was like, you probably could have never do that.

06:01 Yeah.

06:02 Now in 2022. But back then it was just. It was just fun and funny. So. Yeah, that's it.

06:12 Okay. All right. Thank you for joining me, Carol. Mother.

06:18 You're welcome. And if anybody heard snoring in the background, that was our dog Coley, who.

06:23 Was 10 years old, who was taking a nap.

06:26 Who was taking a nap next to us.

06:28 Okay, this will conclude our interview.