Personal Bioagraphy

I'm a freshman at Life Academy Highschool. The person who I'm always with is my best friend Laura who is like my sister. I'm 15 years old and I love to listen to music when I'm at my house. I like to listen to Lil Wayne and other hip hop artists. The songs that I like to listen to the most is the ones that talk about love. Right now I don't really know what I want to be when I get older. Some things that I have in mind are modeling, being an actress, or psychologist. I want to be a psychologist because I like helping my friends out with their problems. I think that out here in Oakland teenagers need a lot of advice in their lives and they need someone they can trust to talk to.

Our Trip to Alameda

Going to Alameda was fun. We got there sooner then I thought we would because I had never gone walking there before and I thought it was going to take along time. It is a really clean place and there was a lot of people walking around. The people there were really friendly because we passed through a park and they were eating chips and they offered some to us. We only got 4 interviews on food. I think that we didn't get a lot of interviews because it was around lunch time. There was a highschool around there so most of the kids were at lunch and the restaurants and other food places to eat were bussy. It was alright when we went to the beach. I didn't really do anything, just sit down. When I go to the beach I just like to sit down because it brings memories back and things that have happend in the past. It was fun to see my other friends playing around in the water. I also got my feet and part of my jeans wet because my friend was pulling me in the water but I got lucky and he didn't pull me all the way in. I had a good time over there.

My Own Thoughts

I overcame being shy with talking to strangers. I don't like going up to ask people for questions when I don't know the person. Now I think that it's easier for me to do that and I'm proud of myself for that. I was able to go up to some people and ask them if we could interview them and that's something that I don't normally do. I decided to try to overcome my shyness when I noticed that my group members were asking people to get interviewed so I decided that I had to help out too. Something that I didn't overcome was trying new food. I ate things that I'm used to always be eating. I don't like trying new food because I never know if I'm going to like it or not so I just don't risk it. I think it would've been better if I had tried new foods even though it's something that I don't like eating. The only new one I tried was crepes but because it's a dessert and I knew I liked the ingredients it has.

The Castro Street of San Francisco

I really enjoyed our trip to the Castro District in San Francisco. The people were really nice up there and we got really good interviews. The place was really clean and colorful. There also wasn't a lot of tagging. I think that the reason why people are really nice there is because they are really open to things that other people aren't. There was just something about being there that made feel relly happy. By the rainbow flags that are everywhere we can see how they have pride of who they are. The stores had very good things and were really pretty from the inside but most of the things in there are expensive. I had a great time there!

Lakeshore and Rose Garden

My trip to Lake Merrit was o.k. Me and my group only got 2 interviews because everyone was bussy so it was hard to try to stop them. It was really rude when my friend was asking this one man if we can interview him and he just kept on walking and started laughing. He might have thought it was funny but it really wasn't! I though that we were going to get a lot of interviews because there was a lot of people but I was wrong. I got really tired having to just walk around back and foward. This one lady was asking for money in the sidewalk and my friend gave her some even though she didn't ask her. This one other lady walked by and told my friend to next time tell her to get her own job. I don't know why she was tripping, she should mind her own business and let the people that are nice enough to give them money do it. When we went to Rose Garden which was really pretty. It had a lot of different kinds of roses but I didn't see them all because I was too tired to walk. I even saw like a purple or violet one which I had never seen before.

Farmers Market in Oakland and Lake Merrit

I think that our trip to the Farmers Market in Old Oakland went alright. The group I was in wasn't able to get a lot of interviews, we only got one and it was really short. Most of the people were bussy buying their things. It was a good place to be in because the environment was good. There was a lot of music and food. The people were friendly and one man even gave me a free crape which tasted really good. When we went to Lake Merrit I was scared to get in the pedal boats at first because I was scared to fall in the water. After we got in it i forget about falling in and being scared because I was having fun even though the sun was really hot. I think that was a good way to end the day.

My Trip To Rockridge

My experience in Rockridge was really good. I thought that it was going to be like Walnut Creek but it wasn't. I think that it is like a combination of Oakland and Walnut Creek because it had a lot of shopping stores and was really clean like Walnut Creek but it has graffiti like Oakland. One of the major differences I seen between Fruitvale and Rockridge was that Rockridge was way cleaner than Fruitvale. People in Rockridge were also nicer than Fruitvale. Another difference was that in Fruitvale there is much more people walking around so it's more bussy than Rockridge. What surprised me about this part of Oakland was that the people were nice and even though a lot of them mentioned that they had been robbed they didn't stare at us like if we were going to do something to them like people did in other places. One similarity that I noticed was that they both have graffiti around. Another similarity is that thay both have shopping stores even though Rockridge may be more expensive. I really liked being at Rockridge because it was the place where we got interviews the fastest so far and it was the place where people were the nicest. The people that said that they couldn't get interviewed was because they were bussy but they still told us that they hoped we did good in our project. I also liked the food I ate a burrito and it was really good.

Growing Up In East Oakland (MURDERZ)

I'm being rasied in East Oakland. It's hard having to live out here but we learn things that we wouldn't in other places. We go through a lot of problems with family and friends but I think that all the bad things just help us grow stronger mentally. I live in The Murderz since I moved here from Mexico which was 10 years ago. I'm proud of staying right here. It's hard to stay out of gangs when your surrounded by them and some of your friends are in them. There's a lot of pressure but i have been able to stay out of them and do good in school. I want a good future because I don't want to end up locked up or killed. Even though I do good in school and I want to go to college it doesn't mean that I have to leave any homegurls or homeboys behind. Only because they're gangsta's it doesn't make them any different from us and most of them just need love and someone to care for them. If they're there for me when I have problems then I'm going to be there for them when things go wrong too. They have tought me a lot about life and not only gangsta's but friends that aren't in gangs too. What I always say is that we just always got to keep our head up, if you give respect you will get respect, and what goes around comes around!

My experience in Chinatown

Before I went to Chinatown I thought that there wasn't going to be a lot of people in the streets or thet stores because I had never went to Chinatown. I thought that there wasn't going to be a lot of people to interview. My perception of Chinatown did change because there was a lot of people that were around. There was a lot of people to interview but most of them didn't want to get interviewed. A lot of the people were bussy but some store owners would say they were bussy when they had no customers in the stores. One difference between Chinatown and Fruitvale was that in Chinatown there was a lot fo Asians and in Fruitvale there was mostly Latinos and there was more diversity. Another difference was that in Chinatown there was only Asian restaurants and in Fruitvale there is all types of different food. It was also easier to interview people in Fruitvale because we didn't get a lot of rejections. What surprised me about Chinatown was that people weren't looking at us weird except sometimes when we asked to interview them like a jewlery store owner who looked at us like we were going to rob her or something. One similarity between Chinatown and Fruitvale was that in both there was a lot of people and there was a lot of noise around.

Homeless people in the Fruitvale

This is a homeless person that was in front of our school sleeping. We usually always see them around the streets and driking. It's sad because everybody just passes by and don't do anything about it. This must be because we're used to seeing this everyday but it is not something we should get used to because it's not right. When I pass by them I get a lot of questions in my head. How did they end up that way? Do they have family? How do they get money to eat? Do they even eat? How long they been on the streets? How long can they survive living in the streets? I guess these are questions that only they could answer. Sometimes it's scary to pass by them because we never know what they could do to us but nothing has ever happened to me.

Fruitvale

I think that it was easier to interview people in Fruitvale than in Walnut Creek. In Walnut Creek some people were nice but I felt weird because am not used to being around people like that and we didn’t know how they were going to react. I think that people in Fruitvale felt more comfortable being interviewed, maybe because they were mostly Latinos. Something new that I learned was that there was a lot more restaurants in Fruitvale then I thought there was because before I hadn’t paid that much attention. What I learned about the people was that they had respect for us and there community. I also learned that most of the people admitted that it’s not safe but they still like working there and they just make sure to take some precautions to be safe like closing early. One positive thing that I learned and liked about Fruitvale was that even though most of the people are Latinos there are a lot of restaurants that sell different types of food. Another thing that I liked was that there are a lot of different shops that sell very different things. I think that one negative thing is that people have to close their business early because it gets dangerous like after six. Another negative thing is that it is not very clean. What I learned of my topic about food was that in Fruitvale there is mostly every type of food except thai food which I think is good that they have a variety of food for everyone.