Larry Hoover (LH): As a kid growing up in Santa Fe we had the Lucianitos and we had the West Siders on the other side. So on Friday nights I would fight with the Lucianitos and on Saturday I would fight with the West Side. There wasn’t no knives and no guns…this was part of growing up.

Anastacia Garcia (AG): Uh-huh.

(LH): And my mother would tell me, “If you don’t straighten yourself out, you’re going to end up going to Springer. “ And Springer was a penal institution for juveniles and low and behold, my mother was right: 30 years later I went to Springer, but I went as a teacher.

They needed a graphic arts instructor and I had my own print shop. And uh, at that time, there was no fence around Springer, so if they ran away, they could get away real easy. But in the five and a half years that I taught, I never had an escape. We had some really, really tough little boys there. I treated them like humans. Even though what they did was wrong, they were there for a reason—to learn something and to better themselves. And I would reward them on a Friday with a barbeque or I’d take them to the movie. I’d take them on a bus, without no guard. My pencil was my weapon, was my sword. Cause if I gave them a zero for the day, they couldn’t watch TV, they couldn’t go to canteen, which is the little store where they go and buy their goodies, so that was my sword.

And um, not too long ago I got a phone call from one of the boys there. He called me from El Paso, TX, and he says, “Mr. Hoover! This is Rudy.” And I said, ‘How you doing, Rudy?’ He says, “Well, you know, I’m the manager of a press here in El Paso, TX and we’re going to open another store. Would you like to come and work for me?” And I told him, ‘I’m retired, no thanks. [laughing] I’m out of that now. ‘ But that to me was my reward because he was good.

(AG): He did good.

(LH): I taught him good and he did good.