WHETS TO NE
Guadalupe Nos Cuenta CONTRIBUTOR
Victoria Bouloubasis PHOTOGRAPHER
Peter Eversoll
Victoria Bouloubasis is a journalist, docu-
G
uadalupe toasts peanuts, ses-
round head hits as high as Pete’s
ame seeds and pepitas in her
hip, which provides a sturdy base
home in eastern North Carolina on
for Pete to rest the hefty Canon
a summer Sunday afternoon. It’s
DSLR camera he’s been holding.
hot out, the way it always is in July in the South, when the mosquitos get
“Take a picture, man,” Pete says,
tangled up in the humid, stagnant
kneeling to meet Wilbur’s eye lev-
air before they reach your skin.
el and to show him how to cradle the camera in his pudgy hands.
mentary filmmaker and folklorist based in
In the trailer, the makeshift cur-
the South. She explores the intersections of
tains are drawn, keeping it dark
Wilbur grips the Canon with both
food, migration, labor and identity.
and cool enough for Guadalupe, in
hands, his finger barely reaching
a Lycra tank dress, to toil over a rich
the shutter. The smudgy lenses
mole for her guests, my friend Pe-
of his glasses poke the view-
ter and me. Guadalupe’s kitchen is
finder as he peers through a tiny,
modest. The limited décor includes
morphed rectangle to watch his
monsters drawn in crayon, by her
mother flip tortillas on the stove.
eight-year-old son Wilbur, all over
He bobs his head from side-to-
the walls and above the stove, and
side with the camera pressed
a photograph of her parents in a
firmly against his face, becom-
dusty frame on top of the refrigera-
ing comfortable with the view.
More at: victoriabouloubasis.com, @thisfeedsme
tor. She brings it down to show it to me; her father had died a cou-
Pete visits Guadalupe and her two
ple of weeks before. She has no le-
young sons at least monthly as
gal permission to travel, to mourn
an employee of North Carolina’s
at home. She is, in a sense, stuck.
migrant education program. His job is to ensure the boys, children
With a long, definitive swoop of
of a migrant worker, are getting
a pencil, Wilbur finishes the last
what they need from school. To-
problem set of his math home-
day he arrives with a bag filled
work at the kitchen table and
with notebooks, pencils and eras-
scurries out of his seat. He stands
ers, stories, and lastly, a carton
up next to Pete, who is nearly six
of Neapolitan ice cream — our
and a half feet tall. Wilbur is eight
contribution to Sunday supper.
years old, with a big belly and a shy smile. The spiky hair atop his
Guadalupe
chats
with
me
as
7
