Cristela Alonso

And in the winter, she would have the space heater and

And this is before the space heaters had safety features that would turn off the heater when they tipped over.

So my mom would have the space heater and put the heat facing up, and that's how she would cook food on the space heater.

It is.

But, you know, being hungry is even worse.

You know, in the winter, when it was cold,

She used to have this like a 10-gallon pickle tub from work that she would fill up with water and she would warm it up.

And that's how we used to shower.

We used to stand in the middle of this wash tub.

She'd fill up this big bucket of water, warm water that she warmed up in the space heater.

We would get a little cup and we would fill the cup with water and then pour it on our bodies.

And that's how we showered in the winter.

Were you known as the family that lives in the abandoned diner?

No, we were very private.

We didn't really have a lot of friends outside of our family.

We were very insulated.

And I never told anybody where I lived.

I think it's so necessary to talk about it, though, because I realize that people need to know that despite how I grew up, that I was able to go to school.

I was able to be a great student.

I kind of wanted to show people that the narrative that is presented about someone like me or like my family is