LA

Im leaving to LA today. Im kinda lazy cause its such along drive and I be getting bored and stuff. Its just gonna be me and Andres in the car so its gonna be akaward. Laast time we went to LA it was hella fun. We all went to Universal Studios. That was around the time that Andres got along with my whole family and my sister was still with her dude. It was fun though. This time its just me and him. Its kinda funny cause we're only going for a sweet 15. My mom keeps telling me that we should have left for more days so that we could other things but he has to come back to work and I have my exhibition night on Monday and my graduation on Tuesday. So we gotta come back Sunday night, for sure. So yea, Im exited to get there but I the drive over is gonna be hard. But we taking his Escalade so I'll have more than enough room to go to the back and lay down.
I'll be gone for a while so see you all on Monday!

Alameda

Yesterday we went to Alameda and I felt a lot more comfortable there. I have been visiting Alameda all my life. Especially when I was younger, we would go to the beach with my family alot. The street that we were actually walking on is actually the main street that I go to. We usually go there because I have a friend that works at a Crepe shop and my sister has shows at a near by club/bar, Roosters.

Its not exactly like Oakland, you see alot more white people there, but its not all that different. The shops there arent too expensive but alot of people said that it was a pretty safe environment to be in and its only a couple miles away. Just a quick drive across the bridge.

I like going to Alameda because just in that one main street you can find just about anything. Theres coffee shops, book shops, clothing stores, shoes stores, nail shops, ice cream shops, comic book store, karate school, antique shops, different restaurants, and so much more. Then if you take the bus or drive for a couple minutes you can get to South Shore where all the stores are at. Petco, Mervyns, Walgreens, Trader Joe's are all on the same shopping center.

We also went to the Alameda beach. I used to go there alot when I was little but I hadn't gone there in hella long. I never learned how to swin and I've never really liked to get in the water so I didnt even get close to the water. It was nice to just sit there for a little while and just think to myself.

Why's Up Class

This class kinda reminded me of the postsession that I took last year. Last year I took the documentary class which was also with Mr. Lee. My group made a documentary on prostitution in our community. Just like in the Why's Up class, we went around to different neighborhoods and we interviewed people. At first, I was really shy. But after a while I got used to approaching people and interviewing them. I feel like I overcame my shyness. I dont really talk to people that I'm not familiar with. I tend to be more reserved and open up after getting to know the person. I've always felt akward when talking to strangers because you don't know them, and you don't know what might offend them.

I don't think that in this class I did anything that I wouldnt normally do. After taking the documentary class last year I actually got used to approaching strangers and being in different neighborhoods. In the other class I would ask people for an interview, but in this class I let the other students try so that they could try something new for them.

Its hard to say where exactly I drew the line of what I would do. Im a complicated person like that. Sometimes I'll be in the mood for something and other times I just won't want to do it. I've alwasys been that way. I'm always open to new things, but if I'm not in the mood then it's just not gonna happen. I think as long as I'm comfortable with what I'm doing and that I feel safe, then I'll do it.

I do wish that I would have tried new food. Every place that we went to I always looked for food that I was familair with. When we went to Chinatown, we walked to City Center and had pizza. In Rockridge we had Mexican food. In Lakeshore we had pizza. In Old Oakland I had a donut and a turkey and cheese crosant. I never took the chance to try something new. I didn't want to take a chance and eat something nasty. I've always been somewhat picky with my food.

I Miss You

It was back in 10th grade when I met Eric Soto. I never imagined that he would become such a special person in my life. I spent some of the funnest times of my life with him. But most of all he was there for me through my struggles. He was the one I would call when I needed to just talk, when I was crying and just needed someone to put a smile on my face, he was there.

I always called him, Pony. He was my Pony!!
It sucks that hes not with me anymore. He has been in Santa Rita for almost a year. The crime that hes being convicted for is actually really serious and makes me so sad to think that he would do something like that. When I found out that he had been arrested all I could do was cry. I couldnt believe that my Pony was gone.

I've always told myself that he didnt do it. I strongly believe in my heart that hes innocent. Its hard to imagine someone that means so much to you, locked up like an animal.

When I went the first time to see him, I couldnt help myself and I started to cry. I hate that hes in there. I write to him and keep in touch with him that way, but I wish we could go back to the good ol' days.

I have so much to thank him for:

"Thank you Eric for being such a true friend and for always keeping me up when I was feeling so down. You'll always be in heart. I love you like a brother and I hope to see you soon. And thank you for bringing Andres into my life. As much as we have fought, hes the reason that I stayed in school and quit all my bad habits. I wish you could have been there with me when I'm crossing that stage on Tuesday."

I MISS YOU & I LOVE YOU

A little bit about ME

So as you know my name is Jackie Perez. My real name is actually Jacqueline but I dont like nobody calling my that except for my patna Marco. So I'm a senior at Life Academy, been here for all my four years of highschool and I guess its been fun.

I come from a Mexican background. My parents came from Mexico when my mom was pregnant with me. I have two older sisters which I love with all my heart. Gloria, the oldest (22), shes all about her music and her band. She's the bassist of a heavy metal band, SAGACITY. Myrna (21), shes my road dog. Me and her, we down for eachother whenever. She's always been like my best friend and shes always been there for me no matter how wrong I am.Then theres my little bro, Franky. Hes 14 and hella funny. I try as much as I can to take care of him and teach as best I can, but then again I'm not the best daughter myself. I just hope that her doesnt make the same mistaked that I have made and he makes all proud.

My parents are the best parents in the world. Growing up we had our differences, I always wanted to act older than my age and didnt want to follow their rules. Thats just me, I'm stuborn. But when I got kicked out the house we all had a rude awakening. I really needed my parents and I realized that I'm not ready to take on life on my own and they obviously missed me. They couldnt believe that I had actually left. Now that i moved back in we get along great and things are good.

I'm a really laid back, open minded person. I dont really get along with girls, I dont know why, but thats me. Most of my friends were guys but now I'm always with my boyfriend.

Just a Thought

So my graduation is in about a week (June 10) and I'm having mixed emotions!

Of course Im happy....everyone knows that my senior year has been the worst year of my life. I've been through way too much in such a short amount of time. From loosing a baby to getting kicked out of my house. My attitude just went down the drain, but I have worked so hard to make it to were I am now. My parents have already gave up on me and dont really expect me to graduate but I cant wait to be up on that stange and say "I told you so!"

Im scared...my life has no sense of direction at this point. I still dont know what I want to do. I dont know if i should go to community college or if I should work, where I'm i gonna work?, what am I gonna do?

Im stressed out...I feel like my life is stuck on PAUSE. I know what I want in life but I dont know how to go about it. All of this takes a toll on me because I dont know what to do. I look at my friends and they all have a plan for their future and I dont.

Im sad...its sad to think that I'm not going to be with my friends anymore. The people that I have spent so much time with. The ones that have been with me through thick and thin! They all going to college and doing something good for themselves.

Most of all I feel kinda LONELY........

Fruitvale

All my life I have visited Fruitvale. It's a big part of my community. Over the last couple of years they have done some of years the city has done a lot of remodeling to make it look nicer. Like the plaza for the bart. It looks alot better now with the fountain and the shops.

Even though I didnt actually do interviews there I imagine that it would be alot easier because the people around there are more like us and they feel more comfortable to talk to us. You coauld even say that we would feel more comfortable asking tham for an interview.

Fruitvale is a very diverse place, you see all different kinds of people because it has alot of different things around that area. You have the bart, Bank of America, WaMu, mexican food, chinese food, clothes shops, market, etc.

I actually do like going there because its one of the nicer places here in Oakland. Its a nice highlight of my community.

Chinatown

I had driven by Chinatown before but I had never actually walked around there and seen what they have. My sister works at City Center so I drive by there really often to go pick her up or drop her off so it was interesting to see what I was missing.

I had no idea that there was actually an Asian Cultural Center. It was really nice, it had a fountain in the middle a small shops around and up stair with an escalator. I had never before heard that there was a library in there either. It was cool to look around.

It was actually really dirty around there. There was a garbage can that had garbage falling out of it and had bags all around it. It was actually kinda gross. There was also a lot of graffitti around there, kinda reminded me of East Oakland.

Chinatown seems like a really busy place. All you see it a bunch of Asians walking around all the time, coming in and out of the stores. It was actually kinda crowded too. So many people are there.

Lakeshore & The Oakland Rose Garden

On Monday we went to Lakeshore, just a short walk from Lake Merritt. I had been to Lakeshore before so it wasn't new to me. In a way it reminded me of East Oakland more than any other place that we have visited. There were all different kinds of people and of all different ages. The stores were also very familiar. There was even a Footlocker. It was actually really clean too. There wasnt a lot of garbage laying around and there were so many trees.

When we were walking around we walked towards the theater and I saw that right by the freeway there was like a little plaza. It was really nice, it had really tall palm trees and smaller trees with lots of shade. It even had a small fountain in the middle with benches. It looked like nothing you would find in East Oakland. Even around the sidewalks you would see alot of trees planted to make it look nicer.

After Lakeshore we walked a couple blocks and we went to the Oakland Rose Garden. On our way there we saw a house with really cool sculpture made of rocks. They were all inside the fence that was also made of rocks. We actually met the artist and got to talk to him there. He had a cactus made of rocks and some really big tall flowers.

The best part of the trip was the rose garden. It was really nice. I had been to a rose garden before, I think that it was the one in Berkely but this one was much nicer. There were so many roses and a pool in the middle. It also had a fountain that ran down a hill with stairs at each side but it was under construction. It was nice to walk around a see all the different types of roses. The one that I liked the most was a rose that was kinda yellow but it had specks of red. I had never before in my life seen a rose like that.

Old Oakland & Lake Merritt

On Friday we went to "Old Oakland" to the farmers market. I had never before in my life heard about Old Oakland. When I first heard that we were gonna go there I pictured really old buildings and maybe not alot of people around there.

When we got there my first impression was, "wow, this kinda looks like a movie." All the buildings were really old but really well kept. They weren't like falling apart or anything. I had no idea that this place existed. And I had been around there so many times. My sister works at Jamba Juice in City Center and we had just gone to Chinatown which isnt far from there at all. In fact just the night before we had had our Senior Banquet at a restaurant just a couple blocks from there.

I had never before been to a farmers market and I really liked it. There were people selling produce and there was also people selling jewelry, crepes, tamales, popcorn, ethnic food, they had just about anything you could think of. It was really interesting to walk around and see all the different types of people around there. You see just about every race. And people were so nice.

Old Oakland was very different from East Oakland. The buildings and just the way that it looked was really different. Alot of the buildings around here, especially in East 14, are pretty much being remodeled but not one building in Old Oakland is remodeled. All the buildings are the original building.

After Old Oakland we went paddle boating in Lake Merritt, not far from Old Oakland. I had never been paddle boating before so it was a new experience for me. All my life I had always driven by Lake Merritt and it was just a lake to me. I never imagined that I would actually get a chance to actually go in the lake and look out. It was really nice to just lay back and chill in the boat and look around. The sun was shining and it was warm and Oakland looked beautiful.