Shots Fired!!

Hello everyone,

I have been kind of busy with work and some fun here in the city so I have not written for a bit.


This week although it has been a good week has also been very eye opening. On Friday while I was at work around noonish, I heard something I though was fire works so I totally ignored it. To my surprise it was not. On the corner of my street their was a drive-by and someone was shot. I didn't realize that all this had happened because I was actually inside working with the other intern and came to realize what had happened about 30 minutes after when we heard the cops coming to the area. They taped off the site and did their investigations and left. Although no one that I know was hurt I have never been in this type of an environment. It is interesting to find out that how thing s work in Little Village, ( this is the name of the neighborhood), Basically it is divided by a street and if you live on one side of the street you belong to the Latin Kings and if you are on the other side you belong to the two six gang. Usually the kids that join are from middle and high school and do it because it is the "cool" thing to do, and need to protect themselves. It is sad that many kids get involved in these acts not willingly but because of the pressure that exists from their environment. The other interesting fact is that the gangs do not do this as a cause of drug trade, by what I was told they do not sell drugs or if they do it is a minimal amount so this reinforces that belonging to a gang is more a sense of a community for them.

My other experience with gangs or teenagers thinking they are gang banger's is because I tend to walk to the train station instead of taking the bus, which is ten blocks away. While walking down the street i saw this kid posted up on the corner and I continued my path like normal but he was in my way. so i walked very close to him and I think he felt threatened by me, because he was about 16 years old and smaller than I am, because while I was walking behind him he put his hand behind him and out of the corner of my eyes I saw a gun that he was grabbing. I didn't react immediately and kept walking till I crossed the street, i then crossed again and acted as if everything was normal and looked both ways as to see if cars were coming but trying to spot this kid again. I saw him and he continued with his hand behind his back so I just walked away thinking not to look back or make any bad moves that could compromise my safety and thankfully nothing happened. What is interesting to me is that I was never in this environment and had heard about it through friends in the military and watched it on movies, but now I know it exists and can take away Innocent lives and is harmful to society.

LVEJO also has a youth program and they do great thing with it by educating the kids on environmental issues but it is not enough! to try and erase this problem it has to be a radical change within the community and more so at home with the parents. Their can be 1000 organizations like LVEJO that promote good things and try and keep the kids off the streets but if the parents do not start at home, and the schools somehow try and eliminate the problem than it will continue to exist and harm society.

Also, this week I finally received my questionnaire from lawyers and it was revised and well now I have to setup some appointments with families and go door knocking, finally!

I also spent much of the week in the gardens and cleaning up weeding and making things look pretty, while they still produce some vegetables. Working in the garden is a very satisfying experience! Also, I am entering one of our gardens into a city contest and have to take some pictures of them, to which I just invested in a digital SLR camera and well this is my new hobby, trying to take some good pictures. I will also be taking a lot more photos so you all can see what I see and the beauty that Chicago has to offer.

Ohh I also wanted to just let you all know that if you have some time to plant something in your backyard or in a pot, even if it is one small little thing like a tomato plant, JUST DO IT, it is so rewarding to see the plant grow and give you some veggies or fruits or whatever it is you plant can produce. I mean it only will take you 5 minutes to do and a small amount of time to go to the nursery and get the plant, and maybe 2 minutes a day going to water it. But the rewards are great!! you get to eat and fill your belly with deliciousness and it was all done by YOU!

OK peeps this has been my update I hope you all are well, if you are still reading this know that I am learning a lot about our crazy world and will keep you all up to date with my findings.


CHAO