MA Latino News covers the social determinants of health and democracy. Collaborations like the partnership with Boston University’s Department of Journalism in the College of Communication is integral to the health of news and the health of democracy. 

One of Anna Rodriguez’s murals, “Mind over Matter,’’ adorns Warren Street near Nubian Square. Another that bears her imprint pays homage to Roxbury’s ZIP code 02119. 

The others are in the works, and Rodriguez is just getting started. She creates murals that aim to capture a message of self-love. 

“Being from Roxbury and being an artist…it is really important for me to be connected to my community,� said 27-year-old Rodriguez.

Rodriguez began painting and drawing when she was 13 years old. She enjoyed designing art on the “shoes and clothesâ€� of her friends. 

Three years ago, after the global pandemic upended lives, Rodriguez became serious about her artwork. Instead of putting pen to paper, she is learning to create murals.

Rodriguez began to hone her skills in digital art and “master spray painting,’’ a technique that artists use to finetune their mural styles. She is still learning the skill of angling her wrist and listening to the can to create the right layers and texture in each of her murals.

Rodriguez said she began working on murals after being inspired by other artists. One of them is Rob Gibbs, who goes by the name “ProBlak.â€� Gibbs is a popular mural designer and community organizer whose mission is to transform the cultural landscape of Boston. 

“He did a mural in my neighborhood — a beautiful, life-changing mural,’’ Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has started an Instagram account — with her username “_ellainspires� — to showcase her art and murals. This new digital workspace allows her to get feedback from followers and express her art.

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“ELLA� (@_ellainspires) • Instagram photos and videos

Her “Mind over Matter” mural is a permanent fixture in Roxbury. Its big white letters atop a colorful background can be found on the corner of Warren and Taber streets. Rodriguez said she wants to connect her interests — healing and mental health — with her art, and in turn, help to keep Roxbury beautiful. 

“It’s just about creating beautiful things, and beautiful spaces,’’ said Geo Ortega, a Roxbury visual artist — and mentor to Rodriguez — who helped Rodriguez with her work. 

Ortega teaches visual arts at Madison Park Vocational Technical High School, which has helped to increase the art footprints around Nubian Square. Murals — bursts of red, yellow, and blue and images depicting the local people — are displayed throughout the school covering the outside, hallways, and classrooms. 

Ortega first met Rodriguez when he was project manager on a mural Gibbs painted with the Museum of Fine Arts on the back of Madison Park. Rodriguez walked up to Ortega and asked about the project. Soon she was part of the mural community. 

“She did pretty well really fast,’’ Ortega said. 

Ortega said he is trying to change the perception people have about murals, including the words they use to describe them. Many artists have reclaimed the word “graffiti,’’ which for years had a negative connotation. Instead, Ortega has been incorporating graffiti into pieces of his art such as the stripes on a tiger he painted. 

“Graffiti can be beautiful. We can make it so it improves a space,â€� Ortega said.  

Roxbury’s murals are part of a wider city effort to reflect Boston’s diverse communities. 

The City of Boston, which featured the work of prominent artists in Roxbury on its website, also started a mural tracking map, and Boston’s mural crew, established in 1991, has been painting murals across the city. 

Rodriguez said she is proud that her work is part of Boston’s multi-generational artist community. 

“I’m very grateful for anyone that reacts to it and has any impact. It’s not about quantity for me,â€� Rodriguez said. “It’s about just having meaningful relationships with the people that I do have.â€� 

This story was published in collaboration with Boston University’s Department of Journalism in the College of Communication. The student journalist is a member of a Reporting in Depth class taught by former Boston Globe reporter Meghan Irons.

Hannah Edelheit is 19 years old and a second year journalism student at Boston University from Denver, Colorado. She enjoys writing and wants to be a journalist in the future.

MA Latino News covers the social determinants of health and democracy. Collaborations like the partnership with Boston University’s Department of Journalism in the College of Communication is integral to the health of news and the health of democracy. 

When her daily pay rate finally increased after 17 years, Gema Schaff bought a new pair of shoes. 

The 75-year-old Spanish language court interpreter, originally from Havana, was able to upgrade her wardrobe with new flats for work. It was part of her goal to replace “some really worn out� warm-weather shoes. 

“The [other shoes] look really old, and the first thing I thought was: I can get new shoes,’’ Schaff, who currently lives in Cambridge, said. 

The new shoes were a small victory for Schaff, who helped successfully advocate for a long overdue wage increase for herself and other Massachusetts court interpreters hired to do daily translation work. It is a battle these interpreters have been waging for years — and earlier in February they staged a walkout highlighting their plight. 

Three of the women who participated in the walkout recently described their long quest for fairer pay and said their efforts are far from over.

Before this year, Massachusetts court per diem interpreters — mostly immigrants, some in their 60s and 70s — had not had a pay raise since 2006. For 17 years, they were paid $200 to $300 per diem for translating court proceedings to defendants in criminal and civil court cases.

“The feeling was of complete helplessness,� Schaff said about the years of advocating for higher pay for per diem workers. “There was nothing we could do to get a fair pay.�

Interpreters are an essential part of court proceedings, often traveling across the state to provide courtroom translation services for people with limited English proficiency. 

They translate predominantly in Spanish, but also in Vietnamese, Portuguese, Haitian, and Chinese languages, such as Mandarin and Cantonese.

“In the trial court … you really have the opportunity to help people,â€� Schaff said. “If you are in a position to help somebody in such a stressful situation, I think you’re very privileged.â€�

Genevieve Howe, a 65-year-old Spanish interpreter of 12 years, said the idea for protesting their low wages had been circulating for many months before the interpreters settled on a date for the five-day walkout.

“We’ve been badgering our office for years to correct the compensation rates,’’ said Howe of Dorchester. “The walkout, clearly, got us the attention that we needed.�

Per diem interpreters alerted court officials about the walkout to ensure that defendants were being serviced, and met with the state’s new trial court administrator, Thomas Ambrosino, on Feb. 1.

Ambrosino approved increasing the pay to $300 for half-day and $450 for full-day certified interpreters along with $200 for half-day and $300 for full-day screened interpreters. This increase is retroactive to Jan. 1.^ 

“The Trial Court values the work of all of our interpreters and recognizes that they are integral to providing access to justice,’’ Donahue said.

The interpreters welcomed the increase but said it was not all they had hoped for.

“Some people … felt disappointed that $450 was the number that the courts offered,â€� Howe said. “It feels like a victory because we’re getting a 50 percent increase which is a nice bump up.â€� 

But the women had sought an increase of around $560 for a full day of work for certified interpreters after consulting with an economist. 

They also expressed concern that a state plan to hire 50 new staff interpreters would eliminate the per diem workers who have “been loyally working in the courts’’ without receiving a raise for 17 years, according to a Feb. 4 letter addressed to Governor Maura Healey’s office. 

The trial court currently has 65 staff and 90 per diem interpreters, Donahue said. 

“I do fear that being largely a group of immigrants and people of color has played some role in the trial court’s failure to pay us the attention that they should,� Howe said in an interview.

Mercy T. Cevallos, the 77-year-old Spanish interpreter of Newton who sent the letter to Healey, wrote that the $450 figure was “unacceptableâ€� and cited a compensation formula that led to the $560 figure.  

Without fair pay, Cevallos said she had to tap into her savings to pay her rent, utilities, and general living expenses, which was “emotionally painful.�

Going to court is confusing and stressful, and for people who don’t understand English, the feeling is much worse, said Cevallos.

“We’re buttressing this legal system that requires that people have access to a fair trial,� Cevallos said. “And we would like to have that apply to us as well in compensation terms.�

Per diem interpreters are also not fairly compensated for the travel time required to get to and from courthouses, which can sometimes take one to three hours a day, Howe said. 

Ambrosino promised to meet the per diem interpreters again in May to look at the travel time issue, Howe said.

“It’s just a huge relief because it’s been so long with nothing happening and no one paying any attention to us,â€� Howe said. “It feels really good that we have his ear [and] that we can continue to be in communication with him.â€�

This story was published as part of a collaboration with Boston University’s School of Journalism in the College of Communication. The student journalist is a member of a Reporting in Depth class taught by former Boston Globe reporter Meghan Irons.

Clare Ong is a Sophomore studying Film & Television and Journalism at Boston University. She is a 20-year-old international student from Singapore who came to the U.S. to pursue her dreams of working in the film and media industry. She hopes to be a filmmaker, photographer, or documentarian in the future and aims to tell powerful stories through her work.