Margarita, Mujer Mexicana
Oral biography of a rural schoolteacher who became SNTE Chihuahua secretary general and federal deputy. Only living primary source: Margarita herself.
Problem statement
Margarita Moreno Mena is elderly, mobile with a walker, mentally sharp. She is the only living primary source for her own story. A schoolteacher who became SNTE secretary general for Chihuahua without understanding how. A federal deputy during the Lopez Portillo and De la Madrid years. A single mother who held a household together across two cities for a decade. This story exists entirely in her memory. When she dies, it disappears. No institutional record will capture it. No relative has documented it. The window is open now and closing.
Proposed solution
A systematic oral biography built from 3x weekly recorded calls, transcribed by Whisper, researched by Rulfo against Hemeroteca Nacional and Mexican press archives, structured by Elena into a dual-narrative literary novel. Margarita's story plus Pepe's present-day discovery layer. Automated research loop fires the same night as each call. Team delivers refined next-question to Pepe before every session.
Success definition. Measurable
Done = A complete first draft manuscript ready for publisher submission. Minimum 60,000 words. Dual-narrative structure intact. All 7 open research threads resolved. Rulfo verification complete on all historical claims. Elena gate passed on all chapters. Agathe's temple story integrated if relevant.
Testable: manuscript file exists, word count verified, Jonathan Hale persona has run structural review, Elena has signed off on narrative quality.
RACI
| Role | Persona | Accountable for |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Pepe | Story direction, call cadence, final voice decisions |
| Project Owner | Elena | Narrative quality, chapter output, "done" definition |
| Project Manager | Lars | Milestones, daily tracking, blockers |
| Cultural Historian | Rulfo | Historical verification, research threads |
| Research Orchestrator | Quincy | Post-call research loop, staging review |
| Knowledge Architect | Nina | Entity registry, file integrity, KMS |
| QA | Kim | Research tagging, corpus integrity |
| Infrastructure | Bowie | Loop automation, graph, technical fixes |
Risk assessment
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margarita's health deteriorates | HIGH | Critical | 3x weekly cadence non-negotiable. Every call is an asset. |
| Memory contradictions corrupt corpus | MEDIUM | Medium | Rulfo verification plus contradictions.md as research leads, not corrections |
| Pepe loses momentum mid-draft | MEDIUM | High | Milestone structure plus Elena producing scene-level output keeps momentum visible |
| Publishing path unclear | LOW now | Low now | TBD at manuscript completion. Not a current blocker. |
Feasibility
Budget estimate
| Item | Cost |
|---|---|
| Whisper transcription | ~$0.006 per min. 35 min call = $0.21. 3x weekly = $0.63 per week |
| Hemeroteca Nacional | Free |
| Drive storage | Covered in existing plan |
| Professional editor. Future | TBD at manuscript stage |
| Total current phase | Under $1 per week |
Milestones
| # | Milestone | Done when | Target date |
|---|---|---|---|
| M1 | Entity registry live plus knowledge graph deployed | Nina schema complete, graph live at pepecarrillo.co/mmm-graph, all 8 sessions integrated | 2026-09-06 |
| M2 | First two chapters drafted | Elena delivers Ch1 plus Ch2, Pepe reads and responds | 2026-09-27 |
| M3 | Full first draft complete | All chapters drafted, Rulfo verification done, Jonathan Hale structural review complete | 2027-01-31 |