Book by Lulu Duarte

Maestro Lulu Duarte

Maestro Lulu Duarte

Dedication

To Leonardo Pérez Duarte, my grandfather. I love you mucho.

Acknowledgments

First and foremost I want to acknowledge Mr. Greco for helping me bring this essay to life. I struggled at times when writing the profile, and with his help, the process was a lot smoother than it would have been without him. I would also like to thank my grandfather, for being willing to share his story with me. Lastly, I want to thank my classmates in Design for helping me when I had questions about my layout, their opinions on certain aspects, and overall for them listening and making the effort.

Table of Contents

Preface

When I first heard about this project, I knew I wanted to write about my grandfather. I have always been very inspired by his story, and knew I wanted to write about his life. The process of writing the profile was a bit more difficult than I had imagined; I ended up changing the angle of it many times because I felt like I wasn’t giving his story enough justice. During the interviewing process, I had a lot of fun learning about my grandfather and the stories he had. While he ended up going on a lot of tangents, they helped me connect with him and were overall worth it. The process of designing the book was also difficult, but it helped me learn important elements of design and how to use the program InDesign. In the end, I am happy with the outcome and I am proud of my work.

Introduction

Graduation caps fly in the air, and students are cheering, laughing, and crying. Emotions run high as this moment marks the end of an arduous four-year journey before they move on to their own passions and dreams.

Leonardo Duarte, an average height, dark-haired Hispanic man, walks towards the return line for rented caps and gowns, talking with his friends. They talk about his plans to attend college—as most of them would be working as tradespeople straight out of college—and wish him luck.

As Duarte reaches the end of the line to return his cap and gown, he sees Ms. Crawley, his junior year history teacher. She says to him, “What’s this I hear about you going to college?” Duarte says, “Yes I’m already enrolled for summer school at Fullerton’s Junior College”. She responds, “Leonard, you’ll just never make it. Even if by some miracle you were to make it through college, no one wants to hire a Mexican band director.” Duarte knew that Ms. Crawley could see the effect that her statement had on him in his face, but he wouldn’t give her the satisfaction of letting it change his course. (Duarte) Throughout his life, he would end up using this conversation he had as fuel to keep going when things got tough–because he knew he had to prove her wrong.

Duarte & the marching band at Chico High School

Chapter One

Duarte went on to direct band, orchestra, and choir in various schools from 1960 up until 2003. He was honored as “My Favorite Teacher” in American Profile magazine, and the music building at Chico High School, where he taught for a big portion of his career, is named, Duarte Hall, in his honor. Leonardo Pérez Duarte is an example of a resilient, determined person who endured significant racism and opposition to his aspirations; yet, he has been able to be successful and fulfilled despite it. He proves that it is possible for people who are systematically and socially oppressed to live fulfilling lives.

Duarte was raised on a farm in Brawley, California and his parents were Mexican immigrants, much similar to a lot of the other families that lived nearby. Per the time, schooling was segregated up until when he was in the seventh grade. Because of segregation and his location, racism wasn’t as bad as it became later in his life. During this time, his family had to move up to the Bay Area in the summer to pick fruit so they could make money during the hot summer months. This migrant journey was challenging for their family; moving to earn money meant Duarte often returned to school weeks after the year had started. Living on a farm also provided

the stress of Duarte having to get up early and stay up late working on the farm, doing chores.

Around this time in his life is when he heard the school band playing, leading him to fall in love with music. This inspired him to join the band in 7th grade

when a music program was created at his school. Duarte was forced to play the trombone, as that was the last available instrument due to him arriving at school late in the school year. Throughout 7th grade, Duarte kept playing and playing. He had a band teacher who handed him a book which Duarte refers to as the “Bible for trombone playing” (Duarte), and Duarte played through that book day after day. He would practice in the practice rooms at school for an hour each day until he went from beginning band in his first semester to advanced in the second.

Duarte conducting for Paradise Symphony

Chapter Two

Throughout high school and college, Duarte went through great amounts of opposition, specifically racism. He came into high school when schools had just become integrated, so it was really difficult for not only him, but people of color in general. His ideas to simply go to college were shot down by many, Ms. Crawley being one of them–a figure he should have been able to look up to in his high school years. Duarte also had to endure racist jokes at school. Phyllis Duarte, Leonard Duarte’s wife, recalls how “he had a hard time, because at the time there was so much prejudice against Mexicans and that was the biggest thing”. Little undermining comments here and there, or “microaggressions”, hold more weight than most people perceive they do. The Association for Psychological

Science, a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching scientifically oriented psychology, states that “microaggressions reinforce White superiority in the United States by ‘othering’ people of color (e.g., treating people of color as if they are not true citizens) and communicating that they are inferior” (Current Understanding of Microaggressions).

Microaggressions are often played off as jokes, yet their impact on the victim does not in any way mirror that point. Battling social and economic oppression weighed heavily on Duarte—yet he was able to persevere and used the words he

heard from Ms. Crawley as fuel to keep going. Every time he thought of giving up, he would hear her say “no one would ever hire a Mexican band director,” and he would just keep going.

Despite all of the racism Duarte faced throughout his life, he didn’t let it alter his path, dreams, and goals–instead, he used his opposition as a driving force to keep going. And instead of never looking back on these experiences, he used them as lessons to teach to his students, children, and eventually grandchildren. He taught them resilience and determination, and why it is important to not let other people affect your passions in life. Having an older role model is very beneficial to have in one’s life, and Duarte acts as one for his children

“The most important thing when I was teaching was to make sure that all of my students were ... becoming better musicians.”

Leonardo Duarte

and grandchildren. The Oregon Community Foundation did an initiative, in which they studied youth in a local k-12 school, and the effects of them having older role-models. They concluded that “youth with ‘mentor like’ relationships outside the home are less likely to have externalizing and internalizing problems like bullying and depression.” This shows a positive impact that an older role-model can have, and this is how Duarte acted not only towards his children and grandchildren, but the students he taught.

Duarte recalls that the “most important thing when [he] was teaching was to make sure that all of [his] students were progressing, getting better, becoming better musicians” (Duarte). Whereas his high school teacher Ms. Crawley sought to bring

him down and thought the worst of him, Duarte made sure he did everything he could to help his students learn as much as they could. In this way, he acted as an “illuminator”. According to journalist David Brooks, an “illuminator” is a person “seeing each person with reverence and respect.” Whereas a “diminisher”—for example Ms. Crawley—can be defined as someone who,

once they “learn a fact about another individual, they create a series of assumptions about that person. This often does not lead to a positive experience” (“Think Better with David Brooks”). Duarte saw what was wrong with the way Ms. Crawley treated certain students based on certain prejudices she held, and he knew he wouldn’t treat his students like that—instead he would treat them with respect and wouldn’t look down upon any one of them.

Leonardo Duarte

Conclusion

Now, Duarte lives the “American Dream”, living peacefully at home, spending his days tending to his garden in his backyard, and composing music. He also spends time with his wife and dog, and is able to live a happy and comfortable life. This was all able to happen because of the fact that Duarte never let people’s perceptions of him affect his passions. He wouldn’t be the same today if he took what Ms. Crawley said, and gave up on his dreams of becoming a band director. He also wouldn’t have made the impact he did on the students he taught, or his family whom he taught those same values to. He lives this “American Dream”, with people he loves, by people he loves, and being able to do what he loves every day comfortably and without opposition. He proves that it is possible to be in a difficult situation and prevail, and be able to live your life freely despite people trying to stop you. “I wanted to be a music teacher, so I became one” (Duarte).

Works Cited

“Current Understanding of Microaggressions: Impacts on individuals and Society” Association for Psychological Science

https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/2021-sept-microaggres sions.html Accessed 26 March 2024

Duarte, Leonardo. Personal interview. 15 February, 2024.

Duarte, Phyllis. Personal interview. 13 March, 2024.

“Positive Adult Role Models” The Oregon Community Foundation https://oregoncf.org/Templates/media/files/grants/k12_student_suc cess/2016%20Positive%20Adult%20Role%20Model%20Learning%20Brief.pdf Accessed 26 March 2024

“Think Better with David Brooks” Chicago Booth https://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/roman/stories/think-better-with-da vid-brooks. Accessed 20 April 2024

Author’s Bio

Lulu Duarte is a student at Mountain View High School, and a Design student at Freestyle Academy. She enjoys going to the beach, shopping, and sharing time with her family and friends. Her dog and cat take up a big portion of her time. Lulu loves art, specifically digital art through programs like Procreate and Illustrator, and plans on studying graphic design in college.