Isabella Alpire-Roca 0:02 

My name is Isabella Alpire-Roca. I am a student at Virginia Commonwealth University. I'm interviewing Angelica Ayala Jimenez from Arlington, Virginia. Today is Tuesday, February 13, 2024 and the time is 6:19pm, the interview is being conducted at James Branch Cabell Library in Richmond, Virginia. Angelica, thank you so much for allowing me to interview you for this project. First, I'd like to ask some basic questions about you and your family and background. Can you tell us off by sharing where you were born, your childhood, and kind of how you grew up? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 0:51

Sure, I'm first gen so I was born in Arlington, Virginia. My family, at least, my mom is from Argentina. My dad's side is from El Salvador, all of my Salvadorian sides here in the States, while it was just my mom, my uncle and my grandpa, who is now deceased, who were from Argentina. So I was raised alongside my grandma, my mom, my aunt from my dad's side, his sister and my cousin from my aunt, my dad is out of the picture. So it's just that I'm done. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 1:33 

So you said you grew up around Arlington. Did you ever leave Arlington? Or? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 1:39 

When I was younger, like, around, before I turned, like, three, we moved around, at least, like, around NoVA, Fairfax, Woodbridge, but then we came back to Arlington. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 1:52 

Could you tell me about your educational trajectory? Where did you go to school, and what is the highest level of education you ever received? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 2:01 

I still went to High School in Arlington. I went to Wakefield High School, so it's more South Arlington compared to the other two high schools, which were W & L and Yorktown, which were up in northern Arlington. And that's my highest completion of education. Besides me studying right now at University. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 2:19 

Did you grow up with religion, and if you did, could you tell me about it? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 2:23 

I wouldn't really say it was, like, we didn't go to church every Sunday, but basically, like, infused in, like, our culture, being Catholic, but I wouldn't consider myself, myself religious, or my family extremely religious, it's just part of our culture. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 2:45 

Now let's talk about how you or your family arrived in Virginia. How did you come to live in Virginia? And how long have you lived here? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 2:55 

I've lived here ever since I was born. Never really been outside of Virginia, besides, just to travel for vacation, but that's it. I've never been outside the states. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 3:05 

And how did your parents get here (to the United States)? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 3:10

My mom came here with visa in an airplane to Virginia. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 3:27 

And do you know why they came? Like, why did they decide Virginia would be where they wanted to be? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 3:33 

I think it's because it's closer to DC, at least, yeah, just go through the DC so more resources for them. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 3:45 

And do you still have family members that live in Argentina or El Salvador? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 3:51 

Yes, but I'm closer with my Argentine side and with my family that live there, besides my Salvadorian side, since most of them are already here. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 3:59 

Do you talk to them a lot? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 4:02 

Do you mean my family back in the country? 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 4:04 

Yes. 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 4:04 

In Argentina, yes. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 4:13 

How often would you say that you see or talk to them? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 4:17 

Maybe, like once or twice, like a month over like video call or through text with my cousins, through Instagram. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 4:28 

You've already mentioned that you have a lot of El Salvador and family here. Do you have, like any other family members that you haven't spoken about that live in Arlington?

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 4:41

Not really in Arlington, besides my dad and my two half sisters, they live in Fairfax, and then my aunt, who used to live with us, when I was talking about my childhood, now lives in Maryland with my uncle and my other five cousins. Oh, wait, I also have an uncle with my other four cousins, but I'm not sure where they live, because I'm not really close with them. I'm only close with my aunt. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 5:18 

And your cousin, and like family that you grew up with, Are you still close with? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 5:23 

Yeah, extremely close. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 5:24 

The following questions are about life in Virginia. What was Arlington like while you were growing up? And how has it changed over time? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 5:37 

At least growing up ,and still is, very diverse. I always felt like, at least that, especially growing up in elementary school, middle school and high school, that I felt there was always a sense of place for me, I never felt like, like an outsider in Arlington, probably because there was a lot of Salvadoran immigrants as well as just very high Latino population as well. There's not a lot of 

Argentinians, but there are a lot of Bolivians there too. So the South American culture is still there too. So at least now, the only change I see is the gentrification of certain things like houses, buildings, apartments now, but the diversity hasn't changed. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 6:22 

And have you seen gentrification, like firsthand been impacted by it? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 6:28 

Yes. So there was a food star near my place, which was basically like an international market, and everyone went there who were, I guess you can say middle to lower class. And then I think I don't know exactly the amount of years ago, however, they changed it into like this apartment complex which had businesses below. So they have a Harris Teeter now, there's like a nail and spa, but they moved the food star to a different place. But yeah, that was the biggest one I've seen, and now all the apartments look very like, I wouldn't say basic, but very modern, like, they're like, really easy to build. I've been seeing them across, like, for past businesses, especially Latinos and definitely a lot of African businesses used to be. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 7:22 

You've talked about that a little bit, but what has your experience been with the Latino community there?

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 7:29 

Again, I never felt like an outsider, so I always had a lot of Latino friends growing up, but most of my friends, I'll say they were from Central America, at least in my high school, and throughout my um education years, there wasn't allow a lot of South Americans, or at least from the very South America. So, like, I didn't get to win this. A lot of, like, people from Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, mostly a lot of people from Bolivia, Venezuela, Colombia, and then a lot of Salvadorans like myself, Puerto Ricans, Guatemalans and Mexicans. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 8:10 

And although you didn't have a lot of like Argentinian peers, do you still feel connected to it? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 8:18 

Yes, at least, definitely from my mom, since, I guess you can say, yeah, she's single mother, so definitely I still have like, the Argentine accent, but at least you can say it's kind of like more watered down because of being with my Salvadoran side of my family too. So I guess you can say my like accent, or when I speak is like more like mix, but you can still tell there's Argentina but I'll say, even though there was a lot of Salvadorians, like growing up being surrounded by them, I'm definitely more closer, feel more connected to my Argentina culture, actually. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 8:53 

And within Arlington, what has been your experience with those outside of the Latino community?

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 9:01 

So I had a very diverse friend group growing up. I still do my best friend back home, she's from Ghana. She was also first gen. She was born here in Virginia, but her family was from Ghana. A lot of my friends are also from Asian decent. Most of her family's also first gen, came from the Philippines, South Korea, so I won't say any hostility or anything. But again, being in Arlington was very diverse, and specifically southern Arlington, compared to, I guess, like the white suburban back in northern Arlington. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 9:39 

What are some of the biggest obstacles you have encountered in Arlington? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 9:44 

Arlington, I'll say the gentrification, because it has increased, like housing rates, apartment rates and rent. So that's been a struggle, especially at least what I've noticed with like a middle to lower class POC, at least that hasn't affected my family, luckily yet, but at least I keep on noticing the gentrification of those apartment buildings are like apartments upwards, but the first floor is just like businesses, so it's kind of making it more harder for people to like live in and also just doesn't look as, at least vibrant as it used to be. But I wouldn't say anything specifically with like the people, anything and thing is just like, in terms of, like the economy and business that's been what I've been most affected in Arlington.

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 10:51 

You mentioned earlier, before the interview, that you were looking for jobs. Have you had any jobs previously around the area, or what kind of jobs have you been looking for? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 11:02 

So my family really emphasized on just studying. So only last year I had, like my first job was basically just a summer job. I worked at PetSmart, the pets Hotel. I'm just basically just taking care of dogs and cats and Alexandria, Potomac Yard, but besides that, mostly it was just babysitting. But right now, I'm looking for internships specifically related to graphic design just to get more experience in that field, and also wanting to work in museums, because that's my end goal as an anthropologist as well. So making designs that can also work with museums, helping like print posters, brochures, as well as just helping with events too, and wanting to like, at least, like internships at like the library, but also just experience I want to get.

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 11:56 

And what has been your experience with the school system in Arlington or the general area? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 12:01 

Well, at least what I've heard from my other friends who go to school for a bit in northern Arlington compared to southern Arlington, because it's very diverse. There was, like, a lot of illegal things going on. So, like, at least Wakefield was known for weed. So we did have a lot of police officers around, I guess there were also kind of like social workers. You can go up to them and just talk for advice as well. But they just like to walk around, and will also work with the counselors as well, but that's the main difference I've seen compared to, like southern and northern Arlington. But besides that, in the school education system, I feel like our education was really good. Everyone had access at least, we didn't have to pay for AP exams or anything. We had at least a program like having MacBooks in High school, middle school was for iPads. And then in elementary school, we had iPads, but mostly only in class. But throughout middle school and high school, you actually take the technology home and use on a day to day basis, which I found, like at least compared to other parts of Virginia, that were like privileges because of our close proximity to DC, as well as Arlington being like one of the more richer counties, and especially in the area of NoVA. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 12:27 

So the following questions are about your experiences during the COVID 19 pandemic. Where were you living when the pandemic started? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 13:49 

I was still living in Arlington, like my apartment, at least now, with my mom, my grandma and my grandma's boyfriend. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 13:56 

How did you first learn about COVID?

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 14:02 

Obviously, through online. So the first hints of it, especially on the news, especially like Univision, Telemundo about it, like the fear of, "oh, this is happening in other places. But it hasn't reached Arlington yet." But it didn't hit until, like, being inside, we had to stay inside. COVID was still unknown, the possibilities. And it came in like March that we received the news. I was in school, and it was during lunchtime that, like, over, like the intercom, our principal said, "oh, you know, we'll be, there'll be no classes for a wee” At the time,  I remember everyone was cheering. So they viewed COVID as an excuse to let school go. But now looking back, it was just like, very ironic, because everyone was just excited, like, oh, you know, one week off school, and then turned to two, and then the rest of the year it was just online. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 15:07 

How did you or your family deal with all of the abrupt changes, like the stay at home orders? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 15:14 

Definitely being very, more cautious, and at least I was the only, I guess, child at the time. Everyone else was adults, my family in my household, so they definitely emphasized me, like anytime I went out, they were like "Angie, you know, wear your mask and double mask too. Never forget that. Always wash your hands when you come back." So I wouldn't say it was more of an adjustment, because that's what I'm used to. Just like cleaning the house, but I'll say we adjusted fairly quickly. It's just especially like buying masks online. I think it was easier for us, but I feel like we adjusted very quickly too, but we were just extremely cautious. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 16:00 

And what was it like during that year, like the online learning and doing school online? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 16:08 

At first, everyone at least started to like it, because it was easier to cheat for tests and exams. However, even for me, I realized that strictly online learning is not always good for me, that, like, I need, like, physical things to do, because I feel like more of a hands-on learner. So like, I know I wouldn't say my grades didn't drop, but I was less focused on studying, just getting the class over with online, especially that I didn't feel as enthusiastic about learning compared to how I was in person. That it just felt like something to do, and I can immediately, like, close my laptop after I'm done and just like, chill. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 16:57 

And how did the adults in your home deal with the stay at home orders? Were they able to work from home? Or no? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 17:05 

No, at least my mom, she's a manager at McDonald's. At the time, my grandma was a cleaning lady, and as well as working at a restaurant and office. And then my grandma's boyfriend, he works construction. So those jobs never changed. They still had to go in person, but they always went with masks. And even I would remind them how they would remind me to, like, always wear your mask and like, you know, wash your hands when you come back home. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 17:41 

And were any new family members, friends or someone close to you, severely impacted by COVID? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 17:48 

I wouldn't say severely impacted, besides, like, economic wise, I feel like our income was still the same for like, like, my one side of the family. But I will say I feel like our fear and just being very more cautious, definitely like that was very noticeable. So I'll say emotionally, we're very changed by that, and just scared of getting COVID, which some of my family members did, but I've never went through deaths in the family. They all recovered, but it was just scary, like once you got it, because they didn't know the details, because they only heard the horror stories on Telemundo. But no, so I will say it was more of an emotional, I guess, impact than anything economically or physically, which I'm very grateful about. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 18:43 

How do you think the Latino community was impacted by the pandemic? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 18:49 

At least in my area, people, at least a lot of Latinos, like their parents, my Latino friends, their parents still had to go work normally. Again, the area I'm in, most of my friends are also middle to lower class, so their family just had to work to get money. Only one of my friends whose parents lost their job because of COVID, because a lot of people were scared to, like, go to work because they didn't want to get sick, so they just didn't go which, again, caused them to get fired. But at least luckily, in my like social circle, and at least the bubble in where I lived, luckily, there was no, like, heavy deaths I've only heard of, like struggles dealing with COVID And just like the aftermath of probably like, which was, like, loss of taste, heavy breathing, like coughing a lot, but likely nothing so severe, like deaf, but it was more of an emotional toll, and just kind of getting, like, like, Oh, who's going to get covid? And just hearing, yeah, so I guess we'll say, like, paranoia. Yeah, in that sense, yeah. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 20:03 

Did you get vaccinated? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 20:05 

Yes, I got a double vaccine. Yeah, I got vaccinated. And all my family did immediately when we heard the news, because I remember it was like the ranking of people who go like, first, social workers I believe, but once my family and I viewed that, like, oh, like, people like us can now get vaccinated. We immediately, like, signed up and immediately got vaccinated, With the vaccine, at least the first time we got kind of sick, but it was until the second vaccine it was like, kind of like, unwell. But besides that, yeah, then no severe side effects or anything like that. But my whole family got vaccinated immediately when they had the chance.

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 20:59 

So there was no hesitation at all to get vaccinated? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 21:02 

No yea, no hesitation, because there was obviously, like, propaganda on the news that, like, they don't know, especially at least the older folk in my family. Well, I will say there was hesitation in the sense that, like, my older family, they would read stuff from Facebook and think, oh, you know, don't do this, because it's like, I wouldn't say it's gonna affect you. Like they didn't believe in, like, the tracker like thing and like the vaccines. They were just scared. But like, at least the younger people in my family, like me and compared to the rest of my cousins and like my aunt as well, since she is younger, we were like, trying to convince them. We eventually did to get them vaccinated before our time, like, came up to be vaccinated. So by then we were ready. They immediately got it. So again, with the paranoia thing. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 21:58 

And I just have a couple last questions. This would be the last section. You reiterated this a little bit earlier, but do you feel like you belong in Arlington? Or ?

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 22:15 

Yeah, at least, now that I'm here studying in Richmond, I definitely miss the diversity back in Arlington and it felt more of a community. At least here in Richmond, there's not a very strong, at least not a Hispanic presence I've noticed compared to Arlington. And again, at least what I miss is like the food, the music you will hear, and like the cars passing. But yeah, so they'll always consider Arlington my home. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 22:44 

Do you feel a sense of belonging here now you're in school? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 22:47 

Um, I will say yes. It's just like sometimes feeling homesick back in Arlington and just knowing that like Richmond could be more than what it is. But because I again, also VCU, I'll say at least the area here's like, gentrified as well. But it's just like, I wish, more Hispanic restaurants were nearby, because it's like, Damn, you know, I like, I missed this. But, yeah. So I consider Richmond my second home too. But if anyone had to ask me, like, where you're from, of course, I'm gonna say Arlington. And then I would just say, "Oh, I studied, or I'm studying right now at Richmond," which is technically right now, my second home for a couple of months. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 23:37 

And have you ever omitted any parts of your identity for practices, like cultural practices, to fit in anywhere?

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 23:46 

Surprisingly, coming to Richmond helped me feel more proud of being in Arlington, as well as being more Latino. Because since there's I feel like there's no, I mean, there is Latinos here, but like, more of a representation here, and I have to, like, show that I'm Latina, and then, like, I'm proud of where I'm from. It wasn't even until I came here that I learned a term about NoVA, because I only heard NoVA as in, like, NoVA Community College. So when people said here, they're like, Oh, I'm from NoVA. I'm like, You mean to community college? But then I found out it meant, like, Northern Virginia. And then that's when I also found our sense of like belonging, that like, Oh yeah, I'm from NoVA. So sometimes I don't even say I'm from Arlington. I say I'm from NovVA, because now I realize Northern Virginia is very different from the rest of Virginia. So I'm also proud to say I'm from NoVA and Arlington, and at least here being in Richmond, I definitely felt like I've explored my identity, and now I feel like I'm the most I can be. Like, I'm proud to be Latina. I'm willing to show off and like, I'll say that. Like, hey, I'm still going to Argentina. But yeah, so I feel like I became more show off ish of my identity. Once I came here because there was a lack of it. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 25:03 

So because of the lack of representation for you, you emphasize your cultural background more more publicly? 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 25:14 

Yeah. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 25:22 

What do you think about how the issue of immigration is talked about by politicians and the general public? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 25:30 

I mean, I understand the I'm concerned of, like criminals coming in, but like it's just so easy to do background checks, that's all I believe that, like very progressive and like in my terms of, I guess liberal of immigration policy that was more people should be brought in. And obviously we're worried about, like, being criminals and stuff background checks. We could put more money into that. But I definitely believe in bringing people in. I don't feel like closing off or especially when Trump was president, build a wall that definitely and his strict immigration policy, at least, he emphasized that he would send people back. That definitely scared my family a lot and made us, like, very worried, so that also put us in like, paranoia that, like, if they're like, going outside, that they would like to be seen and be like, taken away immediately. So I'll say, at least during Trump's presidency, compared to COVID, we were definitely more scared, physically, emotionally. So yeah.

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 26:58

What would you like the general public and politicians to know about Latinos? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 27:06 

We've always been here. Right away in another we've influenced the culture enough. I think we deserve basic respect. You can't emphasize stereotyping a whole group of people. We've seen that in history, how that goes down. It's just, there's so many easy solutions, and they just, I feel like they just always see the negatives. When there's so much we've done and there's so much more we can do for the future, especially just for America and being at least now that I can say I'm like, Argentine American, Salvadoran American. Yeah, yeah, there's so much more we can 

do to help this country, and as well as there's so many easy solutions for immigration if you're worried about criminals getting in here. But yeah 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 27:51

And what would you like the public to know from your life story? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 28:07 

Growing up at least in a very diverse area, at least being very open minded, I would say, Just please be open minded, and like learning at least the way I grew up living with other cultures definitely opened up my mind and made me appreciate at least my own culture. Because I was like, oh, you know, it's like, oh, we have some experiences like you guys do, or like we do this differently compared to you. But I feel like even with like differences, we'd like what I've seen with other people in like, my area, I felt like more closer to my identity and, yeah, just talk to other people that you might even disagree with or different, like, I guess, background, because you can learn a lot from them, especially, definitely, I feel like having Open Minds are important nowadays, especially when it comes to immigration, but yeah, I guess just keep an open mind. And you know, talk to someone from a different background than yours can definitely help. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 29:15 

What would you like the students to take away from this interview? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 29:22 

I feel like my story, at least the response that I've answered can be, you know, said by anyone you know, my experience is not unique. It's been repeated many times before, at least again during covid. I'm glad that my family wasn't too heavily affected, but yeah, I'm just a typical Latina just living life. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 29:55 

Is there anything that you want to add that we may not have talked about today? 

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 30:02 

No but I think my responses were enough for the questions. 

 

Isabella Alpire-Roca 30:07 

That's all the questions I have for you today. Thank you so much for speaking with me.

 

Angelica Ayala Jimenez 30:11

Thank you. Bye.