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.

  

Jarrett Diamond

Jarrett Diamond

The person I interviewed was Mr. Diamond. He was born and raised on the East side of Chicago. The neighborhood had a majority of African Americans. On the outer part was hispanics. One of his childhood memories was traveling to Michigan and Memphis to visit his grandma. Him and his are really close to eachother. On his free time he enjoys listening to music, hang out, and think. He says he’s big on thinking as far as individually. He likes to think on how he can make himself a better man. His favorite hobby is basketball. When he’s having a rough day he likes to go to the basketball court to clear his mind.  He says that everyday we all have a personal challenge. He doesn’t settle for not knowing how to do something. He’s eager to learn it.

We began asking him questions about education and how he felt about it. He said he feels that education is needed because education is one thing that everyone globally has in common. He says that education is something that’s going to get you through the doors. We asked him if he ever considered dropping out of highschool and he said that dropping out of highschool never crossed his mind. He said he honestly likes school and that’s why he works in one now. We then asked him what advice would he give us about college and he said college is where you find yourself. You find out how good your parents raised you in college. You can find out how much you can endure on your own. We also asked him what his opinion was on our school suspension rate and he said that our youth are misguided and misunderstood and that’s why our suspension rates are high. Also, he says he can see that our suspension rates are high because of pettiness. And lastly, we asked him where he sees himself in 10 years. He said he sees himself having his own school, or if he doesn’t have his own school he’ll be on his way to having his own school, or he can have power at a school. He believes that if he as an individual would have made say so then us students would feel different about school.

We then asked him questions about the work he does. He works for City Year. They’re designed to help students to not drop out of highschool. They’re here to help us freshmans make a smooth transaction from 8th grade to high school. They want to help us make high school as easy and as comfortable they can for us freshmans. He never had anyone to look up to when he was younger. He learned a lot by being the only child. He loves the job he does. He likes working with us. He says that his call is to work in a school. If he had the chance to come back and work here, he would.

We then asked him questions about his opinions on heroes. He said a hero in his eyes is somebody that does something brave for somebody else. You would have to put your life at risk to be a hero in his eyes. He would never think twice about saving someone’s life, but he would think twice about not saving someone’s life.

Francisco Giron

                                                                  Francisco Giron

    My community Hero was  Francisco Giron he was born in Chicago in little village, he love to play sports especially soccer because he was raised to play it. some advice he would give us about life in general is to be open to new things and not to give up. he played video games when he was in highschool  the way he grew up changed him he said he was born around violence. he has one brother and one sister he is the oldest.he wanted to drop out of highschool he only liked highschool because the people in general he didn't care about the work.his quote about life in general was “be open to anything.”

       francisco thinks Education is needed. He wanted to drop out of highschool many times, he was just there for the people mainly. he was not really interested in education. he graduated from college he described his college experience as the best 4 years of his life. he would want to go back he feels that education is needed but on the way that everyone needs it. he thinks education could be fun. advice he gave us about high school was have fun cause a lot of times some people wanna drop out because it is to lame he had no regret in thing he did in highschool his biggest regret is not having a regret. his quote about education was “you have to get a education to get anywhere in life.”

   He works for city year he loves helping kids because once you have a close bond with one of the kids personal stuff that they tell u and the kind of stuff going on in there life you're like wow i thought my life was bad. he says if he had one chance to do anything he would do another year of city year even though its crazy he thinks its worth it. kids expire him to keep doing his job . he get up every morning and thinks “deng it time to go to work” then when he gets to his first class and a kid cracks a random joke he thinks to himself “this is why i'm here, this is why i do this job.” he loves his job he think the kids are worth it. his quote was ”the kids go thru alot but i always see them smiling.”

    

      Francisco thinks violence is the biggest problem in our community. he faced gang violence around his neighborhood .it really hard it made him think about doing it. some things he said he would do to stop them is try giving them hope and make them believe they actually have something in life other than being in a gang. he believes everyone can make a change in our community if they have strength and courage to do it. another thing he thinks the worse problem is in our community is that kid are pressured in things they don't wanna do. the quote he says was “everyone face something in life so dont take a person for granted.”

   he believes that Hero is someone who sacrifices their life to same someone, does not give up on a person always there for everyone even if they don't deserve help. i feel  he is so correct    some people don't deserve help. but a real hero would go and help them, even a person who bullies people or other things like that. he believes a hero is someone who is proud to help and never ask for anything in return. a hero is a selfless person puts other before himself or herself.

the quote he used was “a hero is someone who has given his or her life to something then one self.”

   Giron Francisco truly thought me a lot to never give up even if i want to because i can go far in life, and to always believe in myself. francisco is a very good influence he was always there for everyone and he was like a bestfriend to me so it was a good honor to have interviewed him. he was a real champ in this, he told us stuff we will be never know About people. he let us know that never judge a book by its cover because somebody can be getting abused or even getting bullied u never know their real story. this is my conclusion on giron Francisco.

Carlos Ruiz

Carlos Ruiz

Carlos is  23 years old and is Puerto Rican. Both his parents are Puerto Rican, he has an older sister that’s 29 and a younger sister that’s 16. His dad’s side of the family are in Puerto Rico and his mom’s dad is in Puerto Rico while the rest of his family are here in Chicago. Growing up he was born  here in Chicago and then moved to Puerto Rico when he was two and then came back when he was ten. His childhood was different here in Chicago then it was in Puerto Rico. In Puerto Rico he was going to the

rivers and riding horses, climbing trees. While here in Chicago he could only go to Lake Michigan. Childhood was good he played baseball, video games. Carlos’ dream when he was younger was to play baseball in the major leagues for the Chicago Cubs. His favorite hobby comes from his dream. He likes playing sports, he still plays baseball on Sunday for the Hanson Park League. He told us to stay in school, pay attention to what our parents say because they know what they're saying. It may be difficult right now and you're like “Ugh, shut up I don’t want to hear you” and don’t do this or that. But I promise you when you get older it will be worth it and you’ll be like “Oh Mami and Papi I should’ve listen to you”. Also don’t grow up so fast and enjoy life as a teenager.

Carlos feels that education is huge and is very powerful even if it’s going to college or educating yourself. He was the first in his family to graduate from college. He tried playing baseball in college but couldn't do social life, academics and baseball. He needed academics in order to stay in school, he wanted to go to party’s and stuff like that.

Carlos works at kelvyn park and helps kids get into colleges, and he helps them with financial aid questions, homework. He also helps out at Ames to do after school programs, homework help. In- school intervention with the gang banger or “ behavioral kids”. Carols is helping us students by having us do after school programs then having us on the streets from 4 to 6. He grew up in this community so he knows this community and he hopes that he’s making a difference. Even if it’s one kid who takes his advice and does the right thing. Carlos has had some what of a challenge to connect with us since we’re hard headed and because this generation is also close-minded.We have teachers that are always talking down at you,talking back to you and telling you what to do. He wants to make us students feel like he’s with us. “I talk with students not at them.”

Carlos wishes that he can do a Harry Potter type of thing to stop the violence in our community. But no one can do that so it has to start small. It has to start small with leaders in the community motivating one person and a another so on and so on. Gangs have been around for forever and it’s sad to say they’re not going anywhere. There’s so many things that needs to be done in order to solve the gang problem in Chicago. Carlos’ idea would be a peace circle and getting all the local gang leaders talking about what needs to be done in this community. It’s not going to stop the shooting and the violence but it’s a start. It may help make them realize that they need to stop shooting innocent people. If you want it to or not racism still exist in society. But now it isn’t not as much racism it is more classicism. It turns to racism because most of the people who are rich are white and the people who are poor are minorities.

Carlos looks up to his parents. His parents taught him to be grateful for what they have.They worked hard, they only got a GED.But growing up he was never left without a meal or slept in the cold. He may have not got the pair of J’s he wanted.But he would've got them a week later. They gave him everything he had and they’re still there for him now.Those are his role models.The youth he works with inspires him even when he only touches one person and they tell him thanks. And there’s some older Hispanics males who he looks up to for the work they have done. A hero would be someone you look up to,someone that you can look up to at times. And people can motivate themselves to be just like them. A Hero, A Role Model, A Leader there all together.

Jorge Rodriguez

Jorge Rodriguez  

Jorge grew up in Chicago by Humboldt  park his father left so he was raised by females and grandfather. “I remember being woken up at 8:00 am and my grandfather would tell me lets go paint the fence’’ .Then we ask what was it like growing up in Humboldt park?”I used to go to this corner store at my block and coming back I would get shot at”. “well not at me but some one on my block”.When he was a kid he use to get up in the morning at 7:00 on Saturday and would feel safe because he knew that in every room there was somebody in it .

Next we asked Jorge about his family and what are they like?”well first word that comes to mind is crazy but no like I said I was raised by woman”. Then we asked what was his biggest regret?”Honestly not doing better in school because when I did applied I got rejected from each one”.”but that did not stop me from going to college i still went but i will still be like i wanted to go to Florida or other places”.Next we asked Jorge to talk about his neighborhood?” there was lots of violence in my  neighborhood like i said got shot at when i was coming back from the corner store”.” There was gangs in each block”. then we asked what was his dream as a child? “I wanted to be a firefighter because everyone hated a cop but like would argue with a firefighter .” “like no i don’t want you to rescue me.”But as i got older i did not look in to it know what it takes.”

Next we asked what was college like? “ College(laugh) college is the most fun you will ever have you not go to a party today cause you got to do work but tomorrow it’s on.” “ And it doesn't even feel like it’s school .” Then we asked him about the work he does? “ I am BAM counselor i teach boys how to become a man.” Jorge also believes that down  the road the things that Jorge showed that kid that he will use it in the future. Next we asked what is a personal challenge?” My challenge is that I lazy you know I be like i will later but then don’t want to do it at all.”next we asked Jorge how does he feel about cps today? “ A question that I ask is why do you go to school?” “ And the answer that i get is that they have too.” “ And I feel like school needs to be fun for the kids and they would be like “I want to go to school”.

Next we asked Jorge about if he ever had a life changing event? “ my dad use to get drunk and one night you got too drunk and you came at me with a knife”.” And that was like man  my own father came with a knife like what world is this.” Then we asked as a follow up question? “ Well i do share that story but BAM is not all about me it’s about you guys”. “ I mean I have no problem sharing the story”. Last we asked if Jorge can give us any advice about life ? “ Life is always going to be hard “. ‘And you can be like I want this house or this car But life does not work out that way”.

Jorge’s views on heroes are people who never stay down they keep getting up.i enjoyed this interview because I am one of his students and i feel that he is a cool and laid back dude . And I think that  Jorge is a community hero to me because he was helped me through my freshman year like how to control my anger and other values of becoming a man (BAM).                      

Carlos Ruiz

            The person who I interviewed was Carlos Ruiz. He was born in Chicago, on August 15, 1990. When he was young he always moved to different houses. He moved to Puerto Rico when he was two. He lived on the southside of Puerto Rico. He came back to Chicago when he was 10 and has lived on Armitage and Kostner. Carlos likes playing soccer and basketball a lot. He also enjoys pizza a lot.

            Carlos' view on education was that we should always stay in school because our education is very important. It might sound boring or lame but it’s worth it especially right now because we are young. We also shouldn’t be acting like we are old already when were in our teenage years. We get to enjoy life when we were young and live it to the fullest and to never give up because if we really want something we have to go for it in order to accomplish our dreams or goals.

            Carlos let us know that he worked for the BUILD program to help out kids and let them participate during the summer so that they would have something to do. There are jobs that we can do during our vacation so that we can get better in things that we have a passion for. This summer program helps out our communities a lot because it helps kids stay out of trouble and to get distracted and it also helps kids stay out of gang violence, drugs, and alcohol.

            He suggested to always stay away from drugs. A lot of people are dying right now because of the use of alcohol or drugs and people don’t seem to realize that. “If you’re a gangbanger and you think it’s cool, it really isn’t, once you die nobody will care like you thought they would”. That was one of the inspirational quotes that he gave us. “Do something that will make people remember you, not anything bad, or else it doesn’t mean anything," was another piece of advice he gave us

            Carlos' hero is his mom because she helped him out with college and always inspired him to keep going or do better. She would get mad a lot but he loved her because she believed that he can go far and become what he always wanted to become. “I missed my mom even though she was strict about me going out a lot and not being home as often, I missed her food a lot but her especially," was what Carlos said about his mom.