UMAS
Juan Trujillo was 27 years old when he moved from Denver to Boulder to work at a printing company in 1965. He was a lithographer by trade. Eventually he would leave this job because of racist remarks that were thrown his way. After about three years on the road as part of the hippie movement he made his way back to Boulder. He was 30 years old when he took a summer course on Chicano Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder. This course which he took was offered by the United Mexican American Students (UMAS). Later that fall he enrolled for undergraduate classes at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Well living in Boulder he spent most of his time at the University of Colorado playing Frisbee there every day. According to Mr. Trujillo his first encounter with UMAS unfolded like any other regular day. He was walking on campus one day when he heard shouts like "Chicano Power!" "Brown Power!" Trujillo then asked another student nearby,"I asked this other freak that was standing next to me, "hey man what's happening?" He said, Aw man, they are a bunch of communists. You better stay away from them." Ooh!" Trujillo avoided his fellow peer's advice and continued to hang around the group and began to hear cuss words being spoken in Spanish and thought, "these are my kind of people in way man." Since they were supposed communists he cautioned himself with the group.
As the days passed on he got more interested with the group and all the activities they were participating in. He attended a dance that UMAS was hosting and expected to see pictures of Karl Marx and Vladmir Lenin. He instead stumbled upon a group of a bunch of young kids dancing to mambos. Trujillo soon came the conclusion that he wanted in the fun and if that meant becoming a communist that he would do it. This communist group that he would join would be UMAS.
The way that Trujillo got his nickname "Freddie Freak" was, "for being nuttier than a fruit cake cause I was. I tried to drink myself to death and all this stuff" according to Trujillo. When he moved to the mountains a change started to take over. He became less inhibited and would sit outside for hours and hours. He realized that he was a changed person and that he was more free. Trujillo started to run around naked. According to Trujillo he described this period of his life "that was the freedom of being a freak, being able to express yourself and not your shame."
