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Hi friend,

For almost two decades, I have been writing about laborers: railroad hands, agricultural workers, gardeners, bricklayers, boardinghouse landladies, Chinese launderers, Japanese farmers, and now, in my newest book, restaurant workers. Coming from a family of restaurant workers, and having written on the topic of workers for so long, I am acutely sensitive to how easily they can be overlooked or taken for granted. Yet I can still have blind spots. 
 
The other day, I was in my office at the Huntington—where I’m serving as interim Research Director—meeting with a colleague at the table to the right of the doorway. When the janitor looked in the door and saw that there was no one at my desk, she walked in, but she quickly noticed us and started to back out to leave. I had overheard her speaking Spanish before, so in Spanish, I said, “My name is Natalia. I am the new Director. Please don’t let us disturb your work. Come in.” She was taken aback, but she introduced herself too: her name was Maria, which, I told her, was my mother’s name too. She then looked at the desk, looked back at me again, and said, putting her hand to her heart, “There's someone in this office who speaks my language.” 
Workers posed in front of the Huntington residence during construction (photCL 285)
 
Naturally, I was deeply moved, but it also made me think about how we onboard different workplace employees. When new administrators are hired, for example, their managers might send out a memo to their colleagues or make an introduction at a department meeting. But other workers whose tasks are still essential to the institution aren't at those meetings. I stumbled into this interaction—belatedly, I realize now—but it did prompt me to ask to be introduced at our all-staff meeting a week later. When I went up to the podium, I looked into the audience and, by chance, Maria was in the front section. After I introduced myself in English, I also introduced myself in Spanish and said, “I hope you stop by and say “hi.” I’ve already met Maria and would love to meet you, too.”  I’m still wondering about what other kinds of procedures could make for a warmer, more connected workplace. But for now, I’m starting here.

 

Your moment of joy:
Sake and her friends caught by the pup-arazzi
My puppy niece, Sake (fifth from the right), is living her best life.  Here she is on one of her doggie day care hikes in Griffith Park.

A shout-out to:
We don't often make space for the ways in which Latinx histories and experiences and Black histories and experiences intersect. Thank you, JJ Green, for a wide-ranging and revealing conversation on Colors: A Dialogue on Race in America
My former undergraduate student surprised me at the Tia Chucha's book reading

Hi LA, I hope to see you at an upcoming book event—and I hope you’ll stick around afterward if you want to talk!

Bel Canto Books with Professor George Sanchez, author of Boyle Heights: How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future of American Democracy, Long Beach, September 7, 2022 at 7 pm PT.

A Place at the Nayarit is Alta’s California Book Club’s October 2022 selection! I will be in conversation with John Freeman on zoom on Thursday, October 20, 2022, 5 pm PT. Register here.
All 2022 proceeds from the sale of my book, A Place at the Nayarit, will go to No Us Without You, a 501c3 charity that provides food relief for the hospitality workers who have been disenfranchised in the pandemic. We share a goal of showing how immigrant workers have sustained the country, and I'm proud to support them. 
 
I have learned much from the good people who have attended A Place at the Nayarit book talks. And I'd love to hear from those whom I haven't met yet or heard from in a while. Please share your thoughts on the book on TwitterInstagram, or leave a review on the platform of your choice.

Until next time,

Natalia

 
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Natalia Molina
Department of American Studies and Ethnicity
3620 South Vermont Avenue, KAP 462
Los Angeles, CA 90089

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