In the Spotlight: Vanesa!

Another Friday! That means it's Spotlight time!! I'm really loving these! *Short commercial break: If you haven't filled out your survey, please do!! If you haven't been sent one or you no longer have the one you were sent, PM me and I'll be more than happy to send it to you. End of commercial. *

This week's Spotlight features Vanesa! I'm so glad that you found us again, Vanesa!

Getting to Know Vanesa!

How did you get interested in LHOTP? I don't really know! I was six when I began to watch TV show. I think I was not so awfully interested back then. I only watched them to have some fun. When I was a teen 18 years old), I found out that Laura and her family where real persons and I wanted to know more about them and read the books Laura wrote. Every time I read "Based on "Little House Books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, I wanted so badly to read them..."I was already interested in History, and when I knew that Ingalls story was history I became more than interested in it.

Which came first for you: the books or the TV series? TV show. In my country, Laura Ingalls books are not available. I bought them by a cousin who was living in Dallas back them. I payed them to him and he send me the whole paperback set, plus the William Anderson's Laura's biography and some booklets by him, included "Laura's Rose".

If you’ve read any of the books, which one do you like best? It's a hard choice, since all of them are excellent on their own, and for different reasons. But I like "The Hard Winter" the best. I like all the family pulling together to avoid this hard winter would take their lives out.

How often do you watch the TV series? It depends. I have "seasons of LHOTP", in which I watch them almost every day. Sometimes I could watch three epies in a row. But it could also be four or six month without watching the show.


Have you watched other productions of LH? If so, did you like them? I've seen "Beyond the Prairie". No I didn't like it. The characters were not convincent fr me, and Laura acted too much roughly there. I know Laura was a tomboy...but even if it could seems a contradiction, she was a "delicate tomboy". Besides, the Laura from BTP was to much resentful to having to work for Mary, her blind sister.And even if this movie claims to be "Laura Ingalls Wilder TRUE history", it wasn't.

Did you get to see the LHOTP musical with Melissa Gilbert? Obviously not...I wish I Could watch it, though.

Do you have a favorite character? Mary and Charles. Laura is my absolute favorite character, but I can relate more to Mary, and I admire men who are like Charles, so I put Mary and Charles ahead.

Do you believe that the moral lessons that Little House taught helped to make you a better person? I want to believe they did. I began to watch LHOTP paying more attention to storylines when I became an active Christian, so I don't know if LHOTP made a better person of me, or I just choose it as my favorite show for I was interested in Christian values.

Is there an episode that stands out in your mind as a favorite? Too many. But if I must choice only one, I think that "As Long as we are Together" would be one of my unforgettable episodes from LHOTP.

Do any of the episodes move you to tears? If so, why? I used to be moved to tears when watching LHOTP, LOL. I bawled my eyes out more than once watching it. Two of those were "I'll be waving as you drive away" and "There's no place like Home"

Who do you most relate to? Mary; she is very much like me: she loves history and to read and writing. She is not interesting in playing outside running and jumping, as Laura did. I can also relate to Ma, since I like this kind of woman.


Where were you born? I was born in Buenos Aires. Capital from Argentine Republic.

How many states/places have you lived in? I lived most of the time in Martínez, a residential neighborhood close to Buenos Aires. In fact, these kind of neighborhoods are called "Great Buenos Aires", because they truly belongs to B.A, but not technically. I lived a short time - six months- in Comodoro Rivadavia, a small city of Patagonia, whose story is very similar to Walnut Grove one, but when I lived there was almost a big city in the middle of a cold desert. When I was 24, I moved to live to B.A downtown, in the flat who was those of my grandparents. I'm currently there.

How many people are in your family? Four: my parents, my brother and myself. I'm the elder of the two. My brother is two years younger than me.



*Vanesa's dad and some friends in Madrid


Have you ever been married? / Are you married? No.

Do you have children? No.

Do any others in your family share your affection for Little House on the Prairie and Laura Ingalls Wilder’s work? Yes; my mother, She also watched all the TV show with me and she is also interested in Laura's real life. Since she could read English, she read all Laura's books.



*Vanesa's brother, Maximiliano, her nephew, Fernando, her brother's friend, also named Fernando, and Vanesa's mom


Have you met any of the cast members? Sadly, not.

Do you own anything Little House related? A book autographed by Karen Grassle. I cherish it a lot.

Have you met any of the board members? No; I don't live in the States.

How long have you been a member on the LH board? Oh...I suppose a great deal of years. I found it, when it was hosted by other internet space. I think it changed twice and I was always there. I stop posting for a year, but before that, I was active in it. I'm a member, I think, since 2002.



*Vanesa's older nephew, Alberto



*Vanesa's younger nephew, Fernando

What are some things that you enjoy doing to relax? Listen some good music reading a good book.

What season do you like best? Spring, summer, autumn or winter? Winter. Summer is also alright. I do not like Spring or Autumn because I'm allergic and these are awful seasons for me.

What season were you born in? Autumn.

What is your favorite holiday? Christmas.

What has been your biggest challenge? I don't really know. When I must write my first book! I believed I'll never achieve it.

What are some of your best memories? When I was a little girl and my grandparents would bring me to their secondary house in countryside. I lived it all as if it was a great adventure. I loved to swim in the river, to fish, and to live without electricity. We had very similar lamps to the Ingallses ones. and some of them (pressure ones with a little tank of kerosene)How did you find this board?) had a great light. It was very quiet there, and I found more than interesting that we must purchase all our grocery things in a motor -boat grocery store.

What is one of the things you like best about our LH board? It's a friendly place in which people accepts you like you are, not like you must to be. We can chat about everything here. It is not like other boards in which people discusses viciously and you must talk only about the main issue of the board.

Were you shy or outgoing as a child? Rather shy. The intellectual type. Some of the children would believe I was stupid.

What did you want to be when you were growing up, and did that pan out? I wanted to be a classic dancer and it didn't work.

What was your first pet? As far as I know, we always had had pets. Always a cat and a dog together, and sometimes, it happened to have two dogs and two cats. I also had hamsters and a little white mouse.

Did you go to your prom? If so, what was the theme & style of the time? Sorry; I don't know what a prom is...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you so much, Vanesa, for letting us get to know you better!

Vanesa, what great pictures!! Thank you for sharing them! It threw me when I first read that you were born in autumn, because I thought I remembered your birthday being in May. So I checked, and sure enough - you were! But then I realized that May here is spring, but not in Argentina!

Cool that you wanted to be a classical dancer! Did you take lessons?

Yep Savannah, Australia and Argentina share the same seasons.

Great knowing more about you Vanesa! I see you're really proud of your family!

alexczarn wrote:

Yep Savannah, Australia and Argentina share the same seasons.

I know - but I forgot that she lives in Argentina. It had been a busy week when I read her answers.

OH! Vanesa, I meant to tell you, too, that a prom is a school dance, usually held at the end of the year.

Savannah!

Great interview, Vanesa.

Savannah wrote:

Vanesa, what great pictures!! Thank you for sharing them! It threw me when I first read that you were born in autumn, because I thought I remembered your birthday being in May. So I checked, and sure enough - you were! But then I realized that May here is spring, but not in Argentina!

Cool that you wanted to be a classical dancer! Did you take lessons?

Hahaha! Yes! Since we are in different hemispheres, we are in the exactly opposite season. You are inWinter, we are in Summer; we are in Autumn, you are in Spring and so on...

Yes; I took some three lessons but I knew it was too hard for me. I took folk Argentine dances and that surely WORKED out!

Vanesa.

Savannah wrote:

alexczarn wrote:

Yep Savannah, Australia and Argentina share the same seasons.

I know - but I forgot that she lives in Argentina. It had been a busy week when I read her answers.

OH! Vanesa, I meant to tell you, too, that a prom is a school dance, usually held at the end of the year.

Oh, I wish we have proms here, since I love to dance very much!

Vanesa.

alexczarn wrote:

Yep Savannah, Australia and Argentina share the same seasons.

Great knowing more about you Vanesa! I see you're really proud of your family!

Thanks, Alex! Yes, I love my family a great deal, just like you. When I saw your family pics, I understood how much you are proud of your lovely family.

Vanesa.

I really enjoyed reading your answers, Vanesa, and learning more about you and where you live. I think it's great you are interested in writing a book.

Thanks for sharing the pics as well. You have a nice looking family.

Hey Vanesa! I find it very interesting talking to someone from South America. I talk many people south of the equator, but mostly in Australia. And I understand the book problem. I have a friend in Australia I ship books to. Cheaper for her. What's it like living in South America? Do you have the same privileges we're given here? What's the landscape like there? Mountains or flatlands?

Vanesa, you have a wonderful family and I loved reading your Spotlight! So glad to have gotten to know you years ago when you joined the forum.

flatbroke wrote:

Hey Vanesa! I find it very interesting talking to someone from South America. I talk many people south of the equator, but mostly in Australia. And I understand the book problem. I have a friend in Australia I ship books to. Cheaper for her. What's it like living in South America? Do you have the same privileges we're given here? What's the landscape like there? Mountains or flatlands?

Hi, Larry!:

Well, South America is really BIG and different. It's not the same to live in Argentina than in Brazil, and it's also very different living in Chile than in Colombia or Bolivia.

Argentina is a really big country witha ll kind of weather and people, like the States. We had had a lot of immigration since XVIII century, and very mixed. We have Spanish , Italian , German, Austrian, English, Scottish, Irish, Polish, Croatian, Boers, Welsh, Syrian, Armenian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean and of course indian people . We have mountains at certain areas,but also flat lands, we have sea (it's cold...but or beaches are O.K) and forest and at very little subtropical area at the North-East of the country, like you have Florida or Louisiana. We also have Patagonia at South, the part closer to South Pole. There we have landscapes very similar to Switzerland, but also flat frozen land. We had lost of landscapes and people and folk music and meals and weathers who changes in every region. Buenos Aires is a very important and cosmopolitan city who had parts similar to Paris, Madrid, Rome or even London. It's a nice place to live, but sometimes I think it's too chaotic. Too many people living here!

If you want some photos, I can post them.

Vanesa.

Rhonda wrote:

Vanesa, you have a wonderful family and I loved reading your Spotlight! So glad to have gotten to know you years ago when you joined the forum.

Thanks, Rhonda! You are a sweetie!

Vanesa.

I don't know what you mean about "privileges", Larry...I think my highest orivilege is to be your friend!

Vanesa.

Vanesa wrote:

I don't know what you mean about "privileges", Larry...I think my highest orivilege is to be your friend!

Vanesa.

I think he means govermental privileges, etc

Vanesa wrote:

I don't know what you mean about "privileges", Larry...I think my highest orivilege is to be your friend!

Vanesa.

You're so sweet!

But Alex was right; what type of government do you have? I know I could find it online, but I like it better to hear it from someone who lives there.

Hi, Larry:

We have the same kind of Constitution and citizeness porivileges than the States. We have a presidential governement with two cameras. We are also Federalist. Not much difference there...

The actual administration is not of my personal taste, but we can pass over it, I guess...

Your friend
Vanesa

Wonderful interview. Your nephews are so cute!

Great profile, Vanesa. You should be very proud.

Vanesa!
I loved reading your profile!

I am so slow about reading this. Its Wednesday already!
Vanesa, you seem to be so sweet. Its been great reading about your home, family and love for Laura. YOU are what this prairie site needs and the kind of fan that Laura needs to help promote her legacy. Love the photos!!

I second everything Gin has said. Including the part about being so late in replying!

I enjoyed reading your spotlight too, Vanesa! It has been a pleasure to know you for so many years....you are a lovely person, and so interesting! Don't ever give up on your book! You can make it happen.


Wonderful pictures too!

It was great learning more about you Vanesa. You're an interesting young lady.

Sorry I missed this earlier. What a wonderful interview, Vanesa. I'm happy to learn more about you. It's always interesting to read about people who aren't from America. It gives you a different perspective of the world.

What a lovely family you have. Thanks for sharing those photos.