A b e c e d a r i a n

What did you derive from the program ?

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Liberty taught me how to trust. How to depend on others. There was times early when I wanted to cut out. ...At first I kind of felt alone. I have friends now that I've had for the past 7 -8 years who my mother considers to be family that I've met here.

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It taught me a sense of independence. To think. To let me become more aware of the different kinds of people there are out there. The different methods that people use to get things done.

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To think:

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To put two and two together. How one occurrence maybe linked to another.....To think: it's just to look at things that there's a bigger world out there. Not just to look at things as black and white. But black white and other. People have different agendas. There's not just one set pattern of thinking. Or two set patterns of thinking. There's not right and wrong. It can be wrong with right intentions and right with wrong methods for going about doing certain things.

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The program, even when you have people like Joe Ubelez, history, not only was it to get a sense about history, it was just to think. To realize things that you don't think about in everyday life. Somebody is homeless but why is this person homeless ? Everybody who's homeless is not a crack head, everybody who is homeless is not a drug addict, everybody who is homeless . It's just there is more to life than you read in the newspaper.

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Also independence. Placing responsibility on a youth.... Going home, learning your lineage, bring it back. Get a sense of being proud. Understand of being proud of where you're from no matter what downfalls you have in your family. If your family had a negative past you can be the one to change it.

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What the Program was About

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It was a program that brought out, enhanced a kid who has potential to do well in life. To go somewhere. To ...remove this kid from his neighborhood. Help him to think. Hopefully, eventually, as he grows he'll give back. Help him to understand his surroundings. Take him out and hopefully he'll give back. Someday he'll understand his situation and his surroundings more. Not just make him elite from the rest of his neighborhood. But to make him more community oriented. That's what happened to myself. I felt privileged to be part of a program like this.

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To give back

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People often get blamed once they have their they move out. They get shunned for leaving their community.... My goal is to get my mother and myself out of the projects. But as long as you don't forget where you came from. There's people who move out and go into denial. Like I got mine, There is nothing wrong with the black community.

My situation is not so different than someone who lives in the Bronx or someone who lives in Brooklyn. Most of us came from single parent homes. It can be any community. It's meeting other people and seeing that your situation is not a unique one. It acknowledges that there's a problem and something is wrong. So it's a matter of what can you do, to get people in communities to even acknowledge that there is a problem. That there is a bigger picture outside of you living in the projects or people on the street corners, or drugs and violence. It's getting people to realize that.

What do you remember most?

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Basketball

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What stands out the most I would have to say, believe it or not, it was the little basketball program we had.....because even with us, it formed a little community inside Bank Street. When something went wrong, we were all held accountable for it which urged us to make sure we kept each other on the right path....The team from 6 years ago, I would say about 90% of us are in school and everyone else is doing well for themselves. Even if they chose not to go to school. They're working. But that's because we motivated each other. Even when the program ended, like now we still keep in touch. They are the people I most trust in my life....People I trust them like my family....A family kind of unit. My mother accepts them as her children as well.

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Liberty & School

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I went to an all boy catholic school.....My school wasn't like spanking your hands on a ruler catholic school.... When you got here it wasn't like a school experience; hands on; trips, being creative , making things with your hands, family teas, dance performances, video production....a lot of people would dream if they could put there kid into this. It's a dream to put your kids in a program like that. Like you had kids coming from Brooklyn to come here on Saturdays....We had the advisory committee. We were responsible to each other. Kids ran themselves. Kids were ....You were at that age where you should be able to take responsibility for yourself.

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Adult Interaction

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There were kids here you when they first came if something happened with an adult they'd raise their voice, they'd curse, it's something they were used to doing. Even at school. They'd curse at teachers. Over the years here, I've seen people grow. When you talk they have to listen to you because you are speaking in a respectful manner. In a level where you're trying to understand them as well as them understanding you. I went from cursing and complaining to seeing people. To be able to deal with people on an eye to eye basis. With myself, I started getting frustrated and going into a corner and just shutting down to developing speech patterns : an intelligent conversation...trying to come to an understanding.

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Future

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Last week I just turned 21. May 29th. When I was 15 16 that was something that I never thought....21 wasn't like a vision. It was just something I thought I wouldn't see because of my environment.....My neighborhood was just a bad neighborhood. Just recently I started to think about life, my future two summers ago.

Myself in the future I see myself doing something with kids that involves kids. To give people the same opportunity that adults have given me. Options. Make options aware to them like people have done to myself. I see myself teaching for period of time.

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Teaching

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I want to be involved or start a program similar to Liberty. I feel that teaching and a classroom experience would help me see where kids were coming from, not only from my experience but also to see where they're coming from. I would love to teach at the elementary level, but I think the level I'd be most valuable is high school, which if it's in New York City is a challenge in itself. I feel it's necessary, it's something I feel that I have to do in order. I would get my own sense of accomplishment by teaching others....If I can reach one, I'm happy. If I can reach 2 or 3 kids, see them go onto school, see that they're successful with their lives...to have that kind of effect on a person would make me feel good.

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At Risk

 

Anybody is at risk...but everybody deserves a level of respect.

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Underprivileged

 

When I think of the word underprivileged I usually think of young black and Latino kids in certain neighborhoods throughout New York City. You can go into certain neighborhoods and you can tell like lack of community centers, lack of community organizations, it's like no outlet...no outreach. That's what I see as being underprivileged.

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Labels

 

My mother raised in me two ways: to be color blind but also to be aware that I am a young black man. I can view people without a particular color. But she wants me to be aware that the color of my skin ... people label me.....

Hope Sounds too much like a dream scenario. When people say hope it sounds like they have a lot of doubt....

Future My life motto is that the longest day has an end. So many things can go real good for you but eventually it will come to an end. Things can be going real bad for you eventually it will come to an end. It's how you deal with it. The future is about how you deal with the here and now... One of the important things my mother raised me with is: if something doesn't happen, it wasn't meant to be.

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How do you wish to be remembered?

 

Why I want to teach, is not because I feel I have to give back to my community, its something that I want to do. I just want to be remembered as someone who cared about people, who was generous not because he wanted people to be nice towards him doing generous things, but because it's something that I wanted to.

I feel like my purpose is to have something to do with children, to promote well being, just to help people....

 

To think

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Think. I've been saying that the past two summers that I have been working with Liberty. It doesn't take that long to think. Think about yourself. Think about others. Think about how your actions may affect others. You can do something stupid if you thought about it. There's nothing I can tell you but this: just think.