The ConTextos Authors Circle was developed in collaboration with young people at-risk of, victims of, or perpetrators of violence in El Salvador. In 2017, this innovative program expanded into Chicago to create tangible, high quality opportunities that nourish the minds, expanding the voices and sharing personal truths of individuals who have long been underserved and underestimated. Through the healing process of drafting, revising, and publishing memoirs, participants develop selfreflection, critical thinking, camaraderie, and positive self-projection to author new life narratives. With support from Chicago CRED, ConTextos works with New Mount Pilgrim MB Church’s MAAFA Redemption Project. MAAFA’s mission is to significantly improve the quality of life for young men of color and their families on West Garfield Park providing dormitory-style residential support, workforce training, personal/spiritual-development, and a host of wrap-around social services. The embedded ConTextos Authors Circle provides a synergistic space of reflection, connection and healing growth as authors continue to forge new life chapters. The powerful memoirs from the 2021-2022 MAAFA Author Circle complicate myopic, monolithic narratives and include an array of Sankofa Stories, transformative experiences and vibrant insights of young men on the West Side of Chicago.
I am from the Westside of Chicago All the way from Mississippi. From Tricycles and Bicycles, White and Black people. I am from the Best side. It could be lots of fun, Although it gets boring sometimes. Birds and Gunshots in the Parks. The parks have no people in them nowadays.
I am from Chicago Westside, Best side everyone outside, lousy I’m from Chicago and tattoos From hair and cuts I’m from the Good side and Killings. Hope and stop the violences. From Getup and Try it again, And Don’t Give Up. I’m from Rap city, a good land I’m from where it’s not safe, Stop signs. Mom and Dad met in the neighborhood, just outside hanging out.
A memoir is a personal narrative that shares reflections, insights and transformative experiences of an author’s life journey.
When I was little I used to have this bike, and I always wanted to ride it. My Dad taught me how to ride the bike. I always used to fall off the bike, and he used to tell me, “Get back up, and try it again.” That’s what I used to do, until I was able to ride the bike. I miss those times when my Dad was around telling me good things like that.
When I was little, my mom told me not to go outside to ride my dirt bike. I decided to take off with the bike anyway. I waited until she went to sleep, went into the garage and took out the bike and rode it. When I fell off the bike and hurt myself, I said to myself that when I get back home it won’t be too good for me because she told me that I couldn’t ride.
When I was little, I used to live in Plainfield and I used to always go in Walmart, and just ride around the store with one of their bikes. I also used to open up their food around the store and eat it. I had to be real fast doing that because I did not want to get caught opening up anything up inside of the store.
Growing up, I always wanted to ride my dirt bike. It was fun to ride because it was fast, and I felt that I was a good rider. I also used to race my bike with other riders, I also used to have 3 other guys that I used to ride with. I got my dirt bike for Christmas. It was a motorbike. I was like 15 years old. That same day I went outside and rode it. I called my friend Nate, and fired up because I already knew they had bikes. It was really no snow on the ground, so we was able to ride. The only thing was that it was cold outside and wet.
We rode for like two hours. Now that we had our bikes, that was our daily routine. To get up and ride our bikes. We came up with a crew name to call ourselves, it was the GMC boys. We came up with that name because we always used to have money on us. Nate was a good rider, he knew how to pop wheelies on his bike. He was going crazy on his bike when I didn’t have my bike to ride. I used to ride Nate’s bike sometimes because he already had his bike, and I didn’t get my bike until Christmas.
Eric really didn’t ride his bike like that because he had a girlfriend that he was stuck on. She had his mind gone. He was a good guy, so when he was with his lady, my brother would use Eric bike to ride so that would make up 3 guys riding bikes all around the hood. It was a good thing because we was on winter vacation in school. It was for like 3 weeks long, we had a long 3 weeks off that gave us a lot of time to just chill out, and ride our bikes.
When it got too cold for us, we went inside to warm up and to get us food and snacks. Their family was cool with everyone, so it was cool for us to go inside to just chill and get some heat for the most part. We was all good, we really didn’t have to worried about nothing.
Sankofa is a word from the Ghanian Twi language meaning “Go back and get it.” “Sankofa teaches us that we must go back to our roots in order to move forward. That is, we should reach back and gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve our full potential as we move forward. Whatever we have lost, forgotten, forgone or been stripped of can be reclaimed, revived, preserved and perpetuated.”* *UIC African American Studies Department
My Grandfather’s name is Donnie, he taught me a lot in my life. He always used to take me to school every morning and cook before school. He always used to cook for me rice and pancakes. I used to put a lot of syrup on the pancakes. I used to pour sugar on the white rice to make it sweet. After I got done eating, it was time for me to leave out the door to leave for school. On the way to school we drove a white truck, it was a nice truck. It was a pickup truck, my grandmom used to ride us. I didn’t mind because I used to ride in the back of the truck, it was fun to ride in the back.
When I was 1 years old, my Granddad taught me how to ride a two wheel bike. It was the summer time one morning, we woke up and got something to eat at home, and after that we got our day started. We walked out the door, hopped in the truck, and took off to the Walmart, and he bought me a bike. It was a two wheel bike, it was red and blue. It was the summer time so he had a long time to teach me how to ride. It was a good thing because in the back of the house there was a big alley. It was long so we had the whole alley to ride down. It felt so good for him to teach me how to ride the bike everyday. We got up in the morning, eat us some good food and then we got to it. We went back and went to work. By the end of the summer, I knew how to ride a two wheel bike. It was so cool to learn to do that. I was so excited.
When I was a kid growing up in L-Town, me and Granddad was having a ball. It was the summer time; we used to get up in the morning to cook us some food, then we would eat, put our stuff on, and then we would hit the door. We would go to the store, get us some candy and see some people and after that, we would come back, go to the back alley and open up the garage.
My Grandaddy taught me how to be a handyman. When he woke up he would wake me up. I wanted to be just like him. I used to watch him get dressed from head to toe. I did the same thing when we was putting on our stuff. We used to turn on the radio, play the tunes, real rap music, then after that we ate our food. The kitchen was lit up, smoke was in the air. We was having a ball.
I would like to see a shooting star. I want to stay alive, and get rich. My goals in life are to have a lot of money, a family and to own something for a change. I want to aww the world. I want to stop the killing and have a nice living. I want to have kids and be a long living legend.
I always wanted to have super powers. This would help me out with a lot of things that I am going through, including thinking through situations. Figuring out different ways to escape to where I’m going.
I always wanted to see a shooting star, because I would make a wish to have all my dreams come true in my life. All the things I had wished for previously.
I always wanted to go to Brazil. I want to go because I know it will help me get on a better life path. I know there will be a lot of different people I will meet out there. I will open up a laundromat business and have a lot of customers. I know once I go down there, I will never want to come back. Because I will have changed by then.
I look forward to staying alive and being rich. That’s because I will have a lot of money coming in from different laundromat companies. I won’t need for nothing. It will help me out with other things as far as myself and my family being rich. I won’t have to ask for anything.
We will have most things setting us straight for life, as long as I’m living with well health. It will turn me to investing in my body as far as the gym. I will be set for life is what I’m trying to say.