All Over the Map

On the night before Veterans Day, 2010, students packed Commons 206 at Cal State San Marcos. Whether they were there to learn more about women who serve in the military or simply to fulfill credit requirements for their Women’s Studies class, in the end it didn’t really matter. They got to hear 22-year-old Sgt. Saray Ramirez, who joined the Army National Guard when she was 17, explain how empowering it felt to be able to change monster-sized tires on monster-sized trucks and bond with the guys she served with in Iraq.  Ramirez was born in Mexico and became a U.S. citizen through her military service.  “Overall, I think my experience in the military has been good,” she said. “Especially being a female Hispanic. It’s given me a lot of strength, personal courage.”  And the students got to hear Army veteran Kristine Wise share some of her experiences as a logistical specialist who was deployed to Iraq from May 2003 to January 2004. They got to see how much courage it took for...

It was 1996 and my kids were around 7 and 9. I picked them up from school and we headed to the Vons in Escondido to buy some groceries on the way home.  We filled up the cart with the usual staples – vegetables, fruit, milk, bread, peanut butter, chicken -- and they snuck in a box of sugary cereal in the hopes that I wouldn’t notice or care.  Deciding not to care, I had them help me load everything onto the counter.  I handed the cashier my credit card and she tried scanning it.  “I’m sorry but it’s been declined,” she said apologetically.   My checkbook was in my purse, but I knew there wasn’t enough in our bank account to cover the groceries which was why I was using the credit card.  Since the work had stopped coming in my husband and I had been using our credit card for everything.   After trying a few more times there was nothing we could do but leave our groceries and walk out the store.  I remember the prickly feeli...