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.