Graciela Rivera

Photo of Graciela Rivera.JPG

Dublin Core

Title

Graciela Rivera

Subject

Voices of Frog Hollow Video Project and the Hartford Public Library

Description

Graciela Rivera is the current Hartford Public Library Park Street Branch manager. Having moved to Frog Hollow at age thirteen, Graciela grew up working in her mother’s hair salon on Park Street, Grace Hair Studio, and frequenting the Hartford Public Library. Graciela gained a love of reading and a deeper appreciation for and connection to the Frog Hollow community at the library. In Summer of 2021, Graciela began working on a community-centered project titled “The Voices of Frog Hollow,” in which she and her co-worker, Nygel White, walked the streets of Frog Hollow and interviewed key figures, business owners, and community members. When talking about her work, she expresses hope that “people will gain more interest and love for learning about the history of their neighborhood,” just as she has.

Creator

Frog Hollow Oral History Research Team

Source

Interview

Publisher

Trinity College Liberal Arts Action Lab

Date

November 16, 2021

Contributor

Frog Hollow Oral History Research Team

Format

MP3, JPG

Language

English

Type

Interview

Identifier

Hartford Public Library, Frog Hollow, Voices of Frog Hollow, Puerto Rico, Community, Neighborhood, Immigrant

Coverage

Voices of Frog Hollow Video Project

Oral History Item Type Metadata

Interviewer

Catherine Doyle, Emeline Avignon

Interviewee

Graciela Rivera

Location

Park Street Library at the Lyric

Transcription

Emeline [00:00:00] So we are here at the Hartford Public Library at the Park Street branch. It's November 16 and it's about 3:20 p.m. and we're here with Graciela Rivera, and we'll be discussing her work with the project Voices of Frog Hollow and more about her involvement and life in Frog Hollow and any other further contributions she has to add.



Catherine [00:00:34] OK, so to start off, could you just again state your name and then just tell us about your involvement with connection with Frog Hollow



Graciela[00:00:46] My name is Graciela Rivera and I'm the heart for Public Library part branch manager. This is library now has a new name, which is Park Street Library at the lyric. This is the branch I manage. I've been in Frog Hollow ever since I was about 13 or 14 years old, so I would visit the the local branch, which is which is now this branch that I get to manage. But when it was on the corner of Babcock and Park, I would visit it as a child and made, you know, really good connections there with the librarians and the resources and programs available. And it was really pivotal in my life growing up here in this neighborhood to be able to find a place that had like computer technology, books and resources that I needed to continue on with my schooling in high school and things like that.



Catherine[00:01:42] Um, so you said you came here when you were 13 years old, so before Frog Hollow, where did you grow up?



Graciela [00:01:50] Yeah, sure. So I grew up in Florida, I grew up in Hialeah, and I moved around a lot as a kid, so I lived in Miami for some time. I went to many different elementary schools and middle schools there, and I think that when I moved here to the Frog Hollow neighborhood, I finally found my family found some stability. So I was able to go to one middle school, one high school, one college. So I think I found, you know, a very welcoming neighborhood when I came here and a lot of stability, which means a lot when you're a kid, you know, and you're trying to find yourself and, you know, find and make decisions about your future and things like that and having stability is very ideal.



Emeline [00:02:36] And so can you talk a little bit more about your time going to the library when you were growing up in Frog Hollow and kind of just your interactions with the Frog Hollow community, some memories



Graciela 00:02:52] It's interesting because growing up in Frog Hollow. You know, in frog hollow, I would take the city bus to school because the Connecticut transit had a bus stop specifically for Hartford High School students. So right here on the corner of Park and Babcock, I would take a city bus and it would take me straight to school. And, you know, on my way there, the fire station on the corner, I would always see the firefighters and it was a very lively neighborhood. It still is. So, you know, a lot of a lot of the people in the neighborhood know each other, very friendly neighbors. They're the little grocery stores, the little stores, the bodegas, as people call them, you know, would make sandwiches. And I would I would have them for breakfast. And, you know, it was really nice. And visiting the library I met, you know, different people there and really gained an interest in reading and read some books that were that I could relate to as a as a Latina, you know, person in the neighborhood. So there's one called when I was when I was Puerto Rican by Esmerleda Santiagua. I actually did a paper on that when I was in high school because I was so inspired by that story of this girl moving from Puerto Rico to New York and how that changed her life and the many opportunities she was able to have here in the United States and sounded like something that I could really relate to. So.



Cathering[00:04:27] And you kind of touched on this, but what part of your upbringing made you want to stay and work in the comminity?



Graciela[00:04:32] It's really interesting because my first summer job ever was through library system and was working at the Dwight branch, which is the next neighborhood over in Parkville. And you know, that's where I got my first ever experience working somewhere. I learned the importance of getting to work on time. There was a librarian named Patience who really served as a role model for me. And, you know, I learned how to use the library system there. I really got some really good experience as a library assistant, so I was able to check out materials for people and like practice and customer service skills. And I really got a feeling for the love of reading that I have and the fact that I really enjoy literature. So I was in a high honors English class in high school. I went to classical magnet before it actually became a school. And we were housed inside the Harvard High Building. We were in portables in the back and I remember I was on the last graduating class that was going to be in that building because that school had just become a magnet school from a program, it turned into a magnet school. And then the following year, in 2006, it was going to have its own building. So, so I was there, and that was that. But yeah, I just really enjoyed being a part of the library. And, you know, even in the afternoons when I would leave school and I really didn't want to go home, I would just tell my mom, I'm going to the library, I'm going to go tutor or I'm going to do my work there. So it was always like that safe place that I could go to in the neighborhood.
Emeline [00:00:00] So we are here at the Hartford Public Library at the Park Street branch. It's November 16 and it's about 3:20 p.m. and we're here with Graciela Rivera, and we'll be discussing her work with the project Voices of Frog Hollow and more about her involvement andlife in Frog Hollow and any other further contributions she has to add.



Catherine [00:00:34] OK, so to start off, could you just again state your name and then just tell us about your involvement with connection with Frog Hollow



Graciela[00:00:46] My name is Graciela Rivera and I'm the heart for Public Library part branch manager. This is library now has a new name, which is Park Street Library at the lyric. This is the branch I manage. I've been in Frog Hollow ever since I was about 13 or 14 years old, so I would visit the the local branch, which is which is now this branch that I get to manage. But when it was on the corner of Babcock and Park, I would visit it as a child and made, you know, really good connections there with the librarians and the resources and programs available. And it was really pivotal in my life growing up here in this neighborhood to be able to find a place that had like computer technology, books and resources that I needed to continue on with my schooling in high school and things like that.



Catherine[00:01:42] Um, so you said you came here when you were 13 years old, so before Frog Hollow, where did you grow up?



Graciela [00:01:50] Yeah, sure. So I grew up in Florida, I grew up in Hialeah, and I moved around a lot as a kid, so I lived in Miami for some time. I went to many different elementary schools and middle schools there, and I think that when I moved here to the Frog Hollow neighborhood, I finally found my family found some stability. So I was able to go to one middle school, one high school, one college. So I think I found, you know, a very welcoming neighborhood when I came here and a lot of stability, which means a lot when you're a kid, you know, and you're trying to find yourself and, you know, find and make decisions about your future and things like that and having stability is very ideal.



Emeline [00:02:36] And so can you talk a little bit more about your time going to the library when you were growing up in Frog Hollow and kind of just your interactions with the Frog Hollow community, some memories



Graciela 00:02:52] It's interesting because growing up in Frog Hollow. You know, in frog hollow, I would take the city bus to school because the Connecticut transit had a bus stop specifically for Hartford High School students. So right here on the corner of Park and Babcock, I would take a city bus and it would take me straight to school. And, you know, on my way there, the fire station on the corner, I would always see the firefighters and it was a very lively neighborhood. It still is. So, you know, a lot of a lot of the people in the neighborhood know each other, very friendly neighbors. They're the little grocery stores, the little stores, the bodegas, as people call them, you know, would make sandwiches. And I would I would have them for breakfast. And, you know, it was really nice. And visiting the library I met, you know, different people there and really gained an interest in reading and read some books that were that I could relate to as a as a Latina, you know, person in the neighborhood. So there's one called when I was when I was Puerto Rican by Esmerleda Santiagua. I actually did a paper on that when I was in high school because I was so inspired by that story of this girl moving from Puerto Rico to New York and how that changed her life and the many opportunities she was able to have here in the United States and sounded like something that I could really relate to. So.



Cathering[00:04:27] And you kind of touched on this, but what part of your upbringing made you want to stay and work in the comminity?



Graciela[00:04:32] It's really interesting because my first summer job ever was through library system and was working at the Dwight branch, which is the next neighborhood over in Parkville. And you know, that's where I got my first ever experience working somewhere. I learned the importance of getting to work on time. There was a librarian named Patience who really served as a role model for me. And, you know, I learned how to use the library system there. I really got some really good experience as a library assistant, so I was able to check out materials for people and like practice and customer service skills. And I really got a feeling for the love of reading that I have and the fact that I really enjoy literature. So I was in a high honors English class in high school. I went to classical magnet before it actually became a school. And we were housed inside the Harvard High Building. We were in portables in the back and I remember I was on the last graduating class that was going to be in that building because that school had just become a magnet school from a program, it turned into a magnet school. And then the following year, in 2006, it was going to have its own building. So, so I was there, and that was that. But yeah, I just really enjoyed being a part of the library. And, you know, even in the afternoons when I would leave school and I really didn't want to go home, I would just tell my mom, I'm going to the library, I'm going to go tutor or I'm going to do my work there. So it was always like that safe place that I could go to in the neighborhood.

Original Format

Audio Recording

Duration

52 min

Geolocation