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Latino-Native American Cultural Center newspaper clippings, 1972-1988

Reasonable comfort
   By the time they married, Benavides was earning enough singing and playing his guitar evenings in an East Lansing restaurant that they could live in reasonable comfort.
He began his singing career on a cold rainy day his first fall at Michigan State. He was walking past what appeared to be a high-class restaurant decorated in a Spanish motif wondering how he could earn money to supplement his counselor's pay when he remembered that he had played guitar for free beers and sometimes a little more while in Texas.
"I thought, 'Why not?' So I walked in and waited around until the manager was free. I told him, 'I play the guitar and sing. Have you ever had entertainment in your restaurant?'
"He said, 'Nah. We've never had anything like that.' "
But Benavides talked the manager into letting him try a one-night stand in the restaurant.
"I played almost every night that first year, then cut it to weekends chiefly. I got $10 for playing three or four hours, but the restaurant got more and more popular, and tips brought my pay to as much as $75 a night."

His Real Interest
   But Benavides' real interest was in education.
'I guess I never thought seriously about going into show business," he says, although occasionally resurrects his musical talents by bringing his guitar to class and singing in Spanish and English for his students.
To help students feel at ease in a new class, Benavides may introduce himself while bouncing a tennis ball on the floor. next he tosses the ball to the students, who tell a little about themselves. Benavides suggests that students squeeze the ball or bounce it if they feel tense or nervous as they introduce themselves.
In a class exercise called the trust walk, he divides students into pairs with one leading the other student, who is blindfolded, around the streets of Iowa City. 
Benavides likes to shock his students out of any complacency they bring to his classes and help them screen themselves out of teaching if they're going into it for the wrong reasons.
"If you can't get turned on and excited about kids eager to learn, you should get the hell out of education," he tells them. "We have too many candidates for teaching to settle for mediocrity or complacency.
"Good teaching is hard work. You deal with human beings who may vary in culture, language and social and economic backgrounds. You have to look at every kid as unique."

Understanding Others
   Iowans now include some 20,000 Mexican-Americans, several Amish groups, Vietnamese refugees, 32,000 black citizens and more than 3,000 American Indians, and Benavides believes that all teachers should understand both cultural and ethnic differences and similarities so that they can pass this understanding on to their students.
"Before they can do this, they must first explore their own feelings, values and possible prejudices," he says. "You need to understand and accept yourself before you can understand and accept others, particularly those who differ from you in some way."

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Reasonable comfort By the time they married, Benavides was earning enough singing and playing his guitar evenings in an East Lansing restaurant that they could live in reasonable comfort. He began his singing career on a cold rainy day his first fall at Michigan State. He was walking past what appeared to be a high-class restaurant decorated in a Spanish motif wondering how he could earn money to supplement his counselor's pay when he remembered that he had played guitar for free beers and sometimes a little more while in Texas. "I thought, 'Why not?' So I walked in and waited around until the manager was free. I told him, 'I play the guitar and sing. Have you ever had entertainment in your restaurant?' "He said, 'Nah. We've never had anything like that.' " But Benavides talked the manager into letting him try a one-night stand in the restaurant. "I played almost every night that first year, then cut it to weekends chiefly. I got $10 for playing three or four hours, but the restaurant got more and more popular, and tips brought my pay to as much as $75 a night." His Real Interest But Benavides' real interest was in education. 'I guess I never thought seriously about going into show business," he says, although occasionally resurrects his musical talents by bringing his guitar to class and singing in Spanish and English for his students. To help students feel at ease in a new class, Benavides may introduce himself while bouncing a tennis ball on the floor. next he tosses the ball to the students, who tell a little about themselves. Benavides suggests that students squeeze the ball or bounce it if they feel tense or nervous as they introduce themselves. In a class exercise called the trust walk, he divides students into pairs with one leading the other student, who is blindfolded, around the streets of Iowa City. Benavides likes to shock his students out of any complacency they bring to his classes and help them screen themselves out of teaching if they're going into it for the wrong reasons. "If you can't get turned on and excited about kids eager to learn, you should get the hell out of education," he tells them. "We have too many candidates for teaching to settle for mediocrity or complacency. "Good teaching is hard work. You deal with human beings who may vary in culture, language and social and economic backgrounds. You have to look at every kid as unique." Understanding Others Iowans now include some 20,000 Mexican-Americans, several Amish groups, Vietnamese refugees, 32,000 black citizens and more than 3,000 American Indians, and Benavides believes that all teachers should understand both cultural and ethnic differences and similarities so that they can pass this understanding on to their students. "Before they can do this, they must first explore their own feelings, values and possible prejudices," he says. "You need to understand and accept yourself before you can understand and accept others, particularly those who differ from you in some way."