Lift Every Voice - Oral Histories - Audra Sneed

AS: Right, it is very different. A & M was really big and I think I kind of got lost at times. I don’t think I applied myself like I could have. I think I’ve always kind of been bound by this fear that I wasn’t good enough or I couldn’t do it and at age thirty I’m starting to realize that that’s false and that I can do it. I got pregnant the last semester of my senior year at A & M and I thought my world was going to come to an end. And for the first time in my life I had to, I guess, go back into poverty, let’s say. And it was hard because I was like, “Okay I have a degree in business, but I’m on welfare.” And that was a really hard transition. And I’m just glad that I was able to, I kind of got in my mind, I was like, “Okay well I’m going to do what I can” and I always told myself that I was going to get a master’s and maybe a Ph.D. because I always wanted to be able to take care of my daughter. Just in case I didn’t get married.

JH: So what happened after you got pregnant?

AS: Oh man! After I got pregnant, that was, I say it’s the gift and the curse. I don’t regret having my daughter. She’s a ball of fire. She’s great, smart, [and] beautiful. But I had to really dig deep. And I don’t think I’ve ever had to dig that deep. I had to kind of rebuild my life. I remember standing in line for WIC, for food stamps feeling embarrassed but also glad that it was in place at the time to be able to survive. I had gotten a job out of college. But I was working for Wal-Mart and I was a manager, but I knew that being a single mom I wasn’t able to work fourteen, fifteen hours with daycare and all those things. So when my daughter was born I was off work for eight weeks and I searched for a job and I got a job on campus at UT.

JH: How did you, have you been working on campus at UT since then?

AS: Since 2000. My daughter was born in October of ‘99, I got a job at UT January 2000.

JH: Okay. And is she in school now?

AS: Yes, she’s in kindergarten. And she’s a ball of fire. She’s smart. I’m very hands-on. I feel like no one’s going to take care of my daughter like I am. And so, I’m really concerned about her social upbringing, her mental, just everything. When she was going to make the transition to kindergarten there’s a school by UT called Lee Elementary and I heard great thing about it because most of the professors use it. So I went to orientation and I didn’t see one person of color on staff. And I said: “I won’t be sending my daughter here.” I need my daughter to be able to deal with any type of person and that means anybody, Asian, Hispanic, I don’t care. Someone from another country. She needs that global, that global foundation. So she’s in Pflugerville [laughs].

JH: It sounds like traveling has been a really important thing to you in your life. Can you say a little bit about that, travels you’ve done?

AS: Oh man, traveling is so wonderful because one, it let’s you know how blessed you are. I think a lot of people perceive Americans as arrogant but I just think we’re just a blessed country. To be able to do the things that we want to do. To be able to say the things that we want to do. I think someone said it best it’s like, to be an ancestor of a slave and to have a master’s degree, I mean, that’s amazing. And so when I go, like when I went to Europe, I loved Europe! I though it was so beautiful. I thought the people were wonderful. But I was so proud to have my heritage of our culture. I think traveling just kind of lets you know that it’s a big world out there. It just kind of embraces you and makes you more marketable, makes you more adaptable. Every time my daughter sees a plane, she’s like, “Mommy, are we going to Europe?” (both laugh) I’m like, “No, we’re not going to Europe. We’re going other places.” And I know that it’s made a difference in her life. She is so well-rounded and me being a single mom it’s just so imperative that she have a certain type of foundation.

JH: Yeah.

AS: I love traveling.

Disclaimer:
“Oral Narrative as History.” Students received class credit for this work, and were under the supervision of Dr. Martha Norkunas, director of “The Project in Interpreting the Texas Past.”

Every effort has been made to transcribe the audio recordings exactly. On occasion a word, or phrase, was difficult to hear and this is indicated by a question mark in brackets.

Interviewee:
Audra Sneed

Interviewer:
Johanna Hartelius

Date of Interview:
February 22, March 3, April 3, 2006

Place:
University of Texas, College of Engineering, Austin, Texas

Recording Format:
Digital video and micro cassette audio