We Are All Others
Todas Somos Otras
By Sandra Barocio
Publication Year: 2026
In her memoir, We Are All Others, Sandra Barocio shares stories from her life as the child of Mexican immigrants to the United States, who worked hard to give their family a path to a brighter future. Moving from Texas to California in the 1960s, Sandra and her family shared many difficult moments, as well as times of great joy and closeness. This heartwarming story reminds us that in the end, it’s love and shared values that allow us to persevere even through the toughest experiences.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION…1
REMEMBERING: 1993…3
1 Gabriel’s Last Rehearsal – 1993…5
PART ONE: 1957–1966…19
2 “¿Quien es Sandra?” – 1957…21
3 The Bad Fruit – 1958…25
4 The Second Joint – 1958…33
5 Rainbow – 1958…37
6 Folgers – 1959…43
7 Sweet Candy Dreams – 1959…47
8 Buying Warmth – 1959…51
9 The Silver Tree – 1959…57
10 Fresh Baked Bread – 1960…61
11 Hurricane – 1961…67
12 Charro Days Fiesta – 1962…75
13 House of Many Colors – 1962…83
14 Pink Cotton – 1963…89
15 Christmas Stockings – 1963…97
16 Singing Thickets – 1964…105
17 And the Heat Goes On – 1964…111
18 Little Girls’ Hair – 1964…113
19 First Dance, First Promise – 1966…123
20 A Muddy Love Story – 1966…129
21 To the California Sun – 1966…135
PART TWO: 1966–1968…143
22 Somewhere Near Salinas – 1966…145
23 Strawberry Fields – 1966…153
24 Asparagus Tips – 1966…159
25 Moving Up – 1966…169
26 Cherry Tomatoes – 1967…173
27 Marmalade Skies – 1967…181
28 Gypsy – 1967…187
29 Newspaper for Papá – 1968…195
30 The One-Armed Man – 1968…203
31 Good Enough for Me – 1968…209
32 Faded as My Jeans – 1968…217
33 Cauliflower Year – 1968…221
34 Born to Be a Woman – 1968…227
35 Starved to Embarrassment – 1968…231
PART THREE: 1989–2025…237
36 The Talk – 1987…239
37 American Dream, American Nightmare – 2016…245
38 Another Hole in the Wall – 2023…253
Afterword – 2025…257
About the Author…261
Sandra Barocio | About the Author
Sandra Barocio dedicated more than ten years to volunteering and developing a non-profit AIDS Services program under the auspices of Catholic Charities for San Mateo County. After retiring, she began work on her memoir, We Are All Others, which builds on her lifelong practice of journaling. In 2018, she appeared on KQED radio as part of the series “Letters To My California Dreamer,” featuring stories from immigrants and their families. In her moving letter, she shared personal reflections on her family’s history, and their journey to California in pursuit of their dreams. She currently resides in Moss Beach, California.
Photo of Sandra Barocio by Miles Rodgers
Praise for We Are All Others:
“As a creative writing colleague of Sandra’s over the last ten years, I have witnessed her power of storytelling. When Sandra tells a sad story, listeners cry, and when she tells a happy story, listeners rejoice and laugh with her.
Most of us have never had the raw life experiences she describes, such as bedding down in an open field for your bedroom; wearing the same clothes day in and day out because that’s your entire wardrobe; or being shoeless or wearing ill-fitting shoes too big or too small for your growing feet.
Most of us have never had the heartbreak of finding your father left for dead in an open ditch along the side of a muddy dirt road in the middle of the night.
I am left speechless just trying to articulate the life-threatening experiences Sandra describes so well.
Sandra shares the strength and power of familial love, inculcated by her father and mother among their offspring from sacred birth onward. This love is the thread that stitches her family together, shielding them from the harsh realities of life that they face in the migrant worker communities of Texas and California.”
— Tom Kirkpatrick, author of The Love that Endures: Remembering my Mother and my Father, U.S.S. Arizona’s Chaplain at Pearl Harbor.
“I had the pleasure of listening to and reading the chapters and other writings that make up this book in a writing class we both attended. Sandra is a good storyteller, sharp and to the point, often offering a grand O’Henry last line. I deeply appreciate her memoir as an example of clear writing that chisels a sharp picture of her life, worth reading and re-reading! “
— Bob Neumann, author of Peace Warriors and There’s Gotta Be a Way.
“This timely memoir of one family’s migration, from Mexico to Texas to the Salinas Valley in California, searching for a better life for their children, offers tales full of humanity, emphasizing the interconnection between us all.”
— Christine Galea