"My parent's, who are community leaders, really cared for me when I was growing up. My father always said, "You are a girl and you need to be cared for and protected." - Sandra Elizabeth Lopez is a kindergarten teacher from Xacana, Guatemala.
Stacey Marz
“Our Mother’s generation was different. They accepted their lot and were nurses, teachers or stay at home mothers. I’m a mother and I don’t think I have missed out any professional opportunities because I benefited from all the women and mothers who worked so hard before us.” Stacey Marz is a lawyer and the Director of the Alaska State Court System, self help services.
Mary
Mary was sitting on a bench in Stuyvesant Town and I saw her beautiful blue eyes flash in the sunlight and I stopped to photograph her. "I was Special Ed teacher in Brooklyn at P.S. 10 for more than twenty years. I loved it," explained Mary. One of Mary's daughters is also a teacher and ironically works at the same school in Brooklyn where Mary worked. She is a mother to four children and a grandmother to five children who all live in Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town. " I was raised in Queens but my husband was from Manhattan and we moved into Stuyvesant over forty years ago and just stayed, " she said. While interviewing Mary several people passed and waved to her and I got the sense that Mary has a big community of friends here. One of Mary's daughters is also a teacher and ironically works at the same school in Brooklyn where Mary worked. " I get to see my kids and grandchildren but not as often as I'd like. They are in school and working and busy. But, I get to spend a lot of time with them in the summer at my beach house in Springlake," she said.