Don Washington’s Interview

                              “It’s a writing thing… Everyone should try you’re a writer.”

                      “Now they expect me to write something and I can’t let them down.”        

Don Washington was raised in South Korea, while there he never spoke Korean. He goes back to South Korea every two or three years. When he came back to the United States, Don moved to Oklahoma and spent his high school years in that state. In his high school years, Don was a shy, awkward and silent football sophomore, and he was a smart boy because one of his teachers explained to him how the world works. Don’s favorite hobby is writing. He writes for himself and for a lot of people. Don writes about horror, science-fiction, short stories and politics. Don also writes on a blog about politics and social justice. His real job is a lot more intense than his blog. He doesn’t mind writing for other people.

                                      “My real job is more intense than my blog.”

                               “I teach people how to control, predict, and change.”

Don’s real job is doing research and investigation for organizers that are in training. The research is about finding facts of civil rights and justice. He taught young people how to control and create change to help out the world and all of their own community.

                                 “The only thing you can control is to react to something.”

                                       “So this is the evil secret that no one tells you.”

Don thinks that the evil secret is something that no one tells. He doesn’t believe in regret. Don explained to us that the evil secret is that we only control to what we react to based on the consciousness we have when it comes to regrets.

                                       “I never thought of dropping from high school.”

                 “My guess is, there’s a lot of people around here that think they have their act together.”

Don believes that everyone in school is supposed to get education so we don’t end up in a low wage store job like 7-Eleven. Don is currently working on ending the School Prison Pipeline to help students from different CPS schools not get detention and so that they can all get better education and graduate.  

“The important thing is you’re the quarterback like me is what school suppose to do.”

“Did you know right now there’s not enough money in the school budget right now?”  

Don had explained that he does something everyday to help the school not to lose money and so that they can keep textbooks and such to teach those who will be still be in school and for the school not to be close. Don is one of the community’s heroes that help with the politics, governmental problems for the city and kept CPS school open.

Don Washington

        Don Washington was born in South Asia but it honestly doesn’t show. Mr. Washington doesn't have any accent that shows any proof that hes from South Asia, so I was shocked when he said he was from South Asia . He went to high school in Oklahoma and during those high school years and some college years he was an insecure teenager. He was a jock during high school that had a Korean accent and was quiet.

        A big part of Don Washington's career is that he writes. Don Washington writes three different genres. He writes horror, science fiction, and he also writes for a blog about politics. His real job is as a researcher of organizers in training. From what I’ve collected he’s really quite a political person.

        Mr. Washington has a pretty good view on education although he was trying to make a point I couldn't help but laugh at the way he was trying to make it although I understand what he had meant. Mr. Washington believes that we are supposed to get an education so we don’t have to end up as he stated, ”working at seven eleven.” He's currently working on the school to prison pipeline.

        Don is doing something about the fact that some schools in Chicago don’t have all the materials they need for the students such as textbooks aren’t all available to every student, some schools don’t have good desk, and shocking as this might be some schools don’t actually have a library which every student should have the privilege of having in their school.

When asked what is one of Mr. Washington's regrets, Mr. Washington replied that he doesn’t really ‘believe in regrets” as he said. Mr. Washington is a very funny man though he is someone you can not be around without having a smile on your face during our interview with him our table was laughing and smiling. He's someone who even if he doesn't know you it’s hard to not enjoy his company.

Mr. Washington is a very interesting person that I’m grateful of having the privilege of meeting and having the privilege of see first hand how a piece of his personality is. If given a second  chance to have redone that interview I wouldn't have had it any different. That was a funny and yet comfortable interview.

Carlos Ruiz

Carlos Ruiz was born in Chicago, Illinois and moved to Puerto Rico when he was two and returned to Chicago by the age of ten. His hobbies are reading, playing baseball and eating pizza with his friends. While in college he studied sociology and grew an interest in his community. When he graduated the company BUILD hired him, and he now he works with Ames and Kelvyn Park.

   His views on education pertain to responsibility. He believes that even though you’re in college and you’re free from your parents’ rules and what not, you need to focus enough to do your work. He encourages students to listen to their parents (or guardians) and to come to school everyday.
The work he does is centered around helping kids in school and getting them scholarships for college. He helps kids with behavioral issues and others who are gang related and give them something positive to do. He helps students with schoolwork and homework and finds it rewarding to help kids. Though his work may have rewarding experiences, he does have challenges like when working with a student and said student gets injured or dealing with phones and social media.  

When asked what a role model is Carlos responds: “Someone that leads, someone that people can look up to, to either do good themselves or do the same good that person did.”

                                     Jennifer Velazquez
  Jennifer Velazquez was outgoing during the interview. She made us laugh and was cool about the questions that she was asked. Jennifer is 19 years of age and is almost a junior in college. She graduated high school in 2012 and she started helping her community during her sophomore year in high school.
 When we asked her about education and if education is important for everyone, she stressed that education is important to everyone no matter what. Also one of her answers was that if CPS can really improve on students behavior and end suspensions, CPS can improve the education of the students. When asked if she likes helping people she replied, “ I always have the drive to help people.”
 Jennifer works for Logan Square Neighborhood Association or LSNA for short. She has been working at LSNA since 2012 where she does a lot of work with social justice and she puts together events for students at Kelvyn Park High School. She helped students with no documents go to college and helped them apply to college as well.
 When asked about issues affecting our community and schools she gave us good answers but her two best ones were that youth violence is a huge issue in our community and, the closing of public schools just to open charter schools is pointless. When asked what she would do if she was in charge of CPS she said, “I would put people from the community on the board of education instead of money hungry people.”
Jennifer believes heroes should be open minded and are not afraid to stand up for themselves and others. She also said that heroes can be young and of almost any age to help people.  “You don’t have to be from a different planet or have super powers in order to be a hero,” when asked about how someone can become a hero.

Silvia Barba

Ms. Barba works for City Year.  She was born here in Chicago and grew up in Little Village. Her favorite hobbies are cooking and spending time with her nieces and nephew. She’s the youngest in her family and she has three older sisters. When she was younger she would travel to Mexico to visit her family members and that she was a calm kid too. She says that most of her memories are over there.

She says that, “ Once I’m done with city year, I want to work as a social worker.” She wants to do this because she likes working with students and helping them out.

We asked her about what distracts students nowadays and she said social media is one of the things that distracts us. She says that, “It makes bullying easier, like there is a lot of people who say things online, that they wouldn’t say it to the persons face. And that really distracts you guys.”

Then we talked about school and college. Her parents were always there for her and supported her, and she had some teachers that would support her and push her to do good in school. She believes because of them that she probably wouldn’t be where she is now. She told us, “If you don’t go to college it’s okay but just figure out a plan for you to succeed, because you don’t want to go to college and then be stuck working in a place where you don’t want to be at.”

Carlos Daniel Rosa

Carlos Daniel Rosa

Carlos Daniel Rosa- family is mostly Mexican and he has both of his parents. He hangs out with his Aunts from his Mom’s side of the family. He’s Mexican and Puerto Rican. when he was in high school he saw himself with his law degree. he hasn't accomplished his dream of being a lawyer because right now it isn't the perfect time. His biggest regret is not focusing and trying to get an A so he took a B in college if he’d take and tried for an A he’d have a better chances to get scholarships. Hes from Chicago he loves it here he says great things as in “ its a city of 3 million people that are struggling trying to make it day by day some of us have more than others.” he also doesn't like the major. Advice he gave us was to take advantage of all the opportunities we get in life. like this the only time will get education that is 100% free like we have 3 more years left to take the opportunities because after high school well be having to pay money loans. he gave us advice on how we should connect with people at least smile. he always wanted to be a lawyer because he likes yelling and fighting with people mostly in the future. Things will need for sure is a smart brain and will get through a lot. He said all you need is a degree or a mind tool and you probably won't lose a lot of things. In ten years he sees himself married and with kids him getting his kids everything they need him making more money and helping to pass laws. education is the most important thing. he says we need to think of college so it'll make it easier for us to graduate. he said to be nice and at least show that were trying or want to learn make connections because those teachers will be the same teachers writing recommendation letters for us. He was a student counsel nerd and he was on the debate team so that's most likely what he did on his free time. he thinks gang education is important because you could lose everything. he thinks most schools should be community schools like everyone should feel comfortable coming into the school and they need more funding so that kids could have more programs and sports.

Carlos Daniel Rosa

  Carlos Daniel Rosa

Carlos has a small family and they all live in Chicago, his two sisters, and his mom and dad. He didn’t study hard in college and if he had he would have gotten an A.  Carlos was born in Chicago which he believes is a beautiful city.  He believes that you should take advantage of the many opportunities that you have especially in high school because this is the only time you can study for free.

Education is important because you can lose your house and your job but if you don’t have a degree. Your brain is a tool that you can use and you are never going to lose that it’s something that is going to make you better. In 10 years he sees himself married with children making more money to pay and buy things for the children. Education is one of the most important things that our society can do.

Working with people across the U.S. to help fight deportation. We have to make society better and i got inspired by my family. My mom used to speak up and not back down. David think’s we need to get together and talk about 1. what is the role that the police play in the community and our schools. 2.resources and opportunities to our benefit that young students not to go to jail and to get them employment ober summer.

He likes the fact that people play in the community with no fear of what may happen. 1 student can make a difference there were kids in my school that did a march in the past and they won. i would make every high school a community high school and i would cut down the number of people downtown making a lot of money and in best those resources in our schools. to make sure that rent would be affordable.

My now is hero is my mom because she would encourage me to do better in school. A hero to me is a person that fights for what they believe in. Carlos' hero when he was young was cartoon heroes because they were fighting crime and making the place were they were more better.