October 13, 2004

Dear Teacher Corps Friends:

Since it�s not likely that I�ll be able to join you at the reunion, here�s a rundown on what�s been happening in my life since I last saw you: 

• You may remember that I was the first trainee to resign (I truthfully couldn�t stand the C.S. from EPISD (y noestoy hablando de �con safos�). I sincerely hope that the EPISD people are much more enlightened thirty years later!
• Shortly afterwards, Salvador Valdez, Arturo Franco, Alberto Franco, and Guillermo Acosta also resigned (I know that some of them later returned to teaching). Together we published Nosotros Magazine until 1974.
• After a short stint at El Paso SER as a GED instructor, I spent the next six years (until 1981) working at Montgomery Ward in Cielo Vista Mall; part of that time was as a leased department manager and later as the customer service manager.
• In 1981 � 1983, for about a year and a half, I was news and production director for the Spanish-language radio station XEZOL, working out of the El Paso studios (best job I ever had, except for the money).
• From 1984 to 1989 I was first a teacher, then academic dean at Durham College, which used to be at the corner of Wyoming and Cotton. As dean I instituted programs in Import-Export Specialist, Bilingual Secretary, and Small Business Management (I taught the Spanish courses as well as some other subjects). Unfortunately, the redneck owners from Tennessee didn�t see the value of the aforementioned programs (which were well-attended) and cut them within a couple of years.
• From 1989 to 1996 I taught computer classes (as well as a few other subjects, mainly in the business English area) at International Business College on Zaragosa. I left El Paso for Albuquerque in March 1996.
• Other than jobs, while I was still in El Paso I cut a record in 1973 and continued my career as a semiprofessional mariachi singer/composer until about 1983. I also assisted Bert Salazar with the publishing and editing of the monthly tabloid El Pase�o between 1985 and 1990. And I married the former Mar�a G�mez in 1990 (we�re still married).
• My first four years in Albuquerque were mainly dedicated to working as a software instructor at Computer Corner, which provides service and training in addition to retail. Since January 2001 I�ve been the Chief GED Examiner at Albuquerque TVI, the local community college. Things have been going well for me at TVI; I make it to El Paso at least twice a year to see old friends and my wife�s relatives.
• No children of my own, but I helped raised Mar�a�s two daughters and one son, and at this point we have four grandchildren (the latest was born August 30). And I�m still enjoying a completely bilingual-bicultural lifestyle.

Unas palabras al final: Me renunci� del Teacher Corps �nica y exclusivamente porque no toleraba la pol�tica del EPISD. Me encantaba trabajar y estudiar con ustedes y tengo muy buenos recuerdos de todos; tambi�n de los alumnos y los padres de familia. Que se diviertan todos en la reuni�n.

Su seguro servidor, 

Don Pearson