La Casa director begins first year as official U.S citizen

Lillian Casillas-Origel, director of La Casa Latino Cultural Center, arrived at age 10 from Mexico to her new home in the United States with fireworks exploding in the background.

After two previous attempts, Casillas-Origel was sworn in as a U.S. citizen the third time around in December 2011.

Her family decided to move to the United States from Mexico City due to the economy and the fact that her grandmother was ill.

“It was really scary because you don’t know what’s going on,” Casillas-Origel said. “Everything I knew was no longer. Everything had changed.

“We took care of each other,” she said. “It was a very communal experience.”

Casillas-Origel didn’t know any English when she came and said for the first few years, people sounded like the adults in the “Peanuts” television specials.

“I really liked school,” Casillas-Origel said. “I didn’t see it as work at that time.”

Casillas-Origel said the school she attended recommended she and her siblings stop speaking Spanish. Her parents didn’t want them to lose their language, though.
As a compromise, her parents would speak to them in Spanish, and they would answer in English. She said she easily switches between the two.

She said one of the reasons she decided to come to IU was because she liked Bloomington and its small-town feel.

“That’s kind of what I grew up with in Mexico,” she said. “Everyone here was from somewhere else. I was no longer the only immigrant.”

She trained at IU to be a teacher and went on to became a program assistant at La Casa and later the director.

Casillas-Origel said she tries to visit Mexico every other year. All of her father’s family still lives there.

Her first two attempts at citizenship did not work out because she did not like how she was treated. Casillas-Origel had permanent residency, but new security measures were enacted that would require her to renew her residency. She said she decided she might as well become a citizen.

“People often think that because you’re from one country, you’re incapable of being loyal to another,” she said.

Melanie Castillo-Cullather, director of the Asian Culture Center, has known Casillas-Origel for about 13 years. They started out as colleagues but are now friends who shop together and talk frequently. She said Casillas-Origel is like her sister.

“I can share my opinion about anything without being judged,” Castillo-Cullather said. “She’s a good listener. I’m very fortunate to have a friend like her.”

La Casa Graduate Assistant Karina Garduno met Casillas-Origel eight  years ago when she was an undergraduate.

“She’s a really great person with a big heart,” Garduno said. “Working with her has been a very good experience for me. I’ve learned quite a bit from her. She has taken me under her wing.”

Garduno said she wants to make a cardboard cutout of Casillas-Origel because everyone wants her to be everywhere at the same time.

 “She’s just a very happy person to be around,” Garduno said. “She always likes to look at things in a positive light. She really puts her heart into her work, and it shows.”