Break Silence / End Hep C

       Something that I wanted to touch on is the fact that I am a Hepatitis C survivor. Did you know that 1/3 of those diagnosed with Hepatitis C are African-Americans when we only make up 6% of the population? After my diagnosis, I was worried, lost and at one of the lowest points of my life, and I was scared to seek treatment. I was feeling lousier by the day. Upon my diagnosis it was clear that it was the time to act, so I bit the bullet and never looked back. Since then I have attended several support groups and meetings with other people who have been cured, which has given me a new outlook on life. This lead me to do bigger and better things with the AIDS Foundation, the drug addicts union, and the needle exchange program in a way to help others any way that I can. What started as a concern has blossomed into a passion that I will continue to help others with. The way to keep what I have is to give it freely to others. As I continue to pay it forward, I hope others will continue to do the same. BREAKING SILENCE!
- Ms. D. Gigante

You Are Doing the Right Thing

    Without Project Read, my life would be nothing, that is true. I love Project Read and the people are nice. If I have a problem, they help me. It's a great blessing to be here. It's good for everybody to learn to read, to change their lives forever, to reach their goal, and to have a good life. That's a positive thing to do. I never thought I would write something like this.

    I am proud of being here at Project Read and I've learned a lot. It is a pleasure being here. I work with my phonics exercises. I check my email. I look at how to build Fuller truck transmissions. Back on the east coast, we build them on the table, but the one I saw online did it differently. The way they do it here is quicker. I saw how they did the timing. It was different than how I use to do it. I read about how to adjust valves on a Caterpillar engine. A Caterpillar engine is easier to adjust than a Cummings engine on a Mack truck. I learned how to rebuild truck rears from seeing it on a computer.
-- Eugene

Gouda

    

    A long time ago, two alley cats, Ruff and Tuff, lived in the alley behind the Cat Lady's house.
    One day, Ruff and Tuff were doing their usual cat scratching act, when they came across a bag with a ribbon tied around it. Ruff swiped at it, then Tuff grabbed it and into the Cat Lady's house they went. There were cats everywhere, cats were on the icebox, cats covered the furniture, cats laid on the shelves. An old tommy cat said, "What do you have there?" Ruff replied, "Well, it's a bag, so it must be a cat." That's when one of the cats said, "Let it out, let it out!"

    Ruff and Tuff both grabbed the ribbon and pulled, the bag came open and out came a fuzzy little furry creature. One of the cats shouted, "What an odd looking cat." The old tom replied, "When you were a baby, you looked different, too." Then one of the kittens asked, "Well, what does the card say?" "Gouda"

    Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months. Years went by. Gouda loved his home, he liked taking cat naps, lapping saucers of milk, and chasing balls of yarn.
    One day, Ruff and Tuff ran by him and straight out the door. Gouda thought it was a game of tag, so out the door he went after them. He chased Tuff straight up a tree and out on a branch. Tuff leaped to the next tree and that's when Gouda froze.
    People walking by him started to gather. Gouda then heard firetrucks and saw flashing lights. Gouda was scared and started to howl.
    Gouda was happy when he saw a ladder coming towards him. The fireman brought him down the ladder. As soon as the man put him down, Gouda wagged his tail with relief and ran down the alley.
    When he turned the corner, Gouda was surprised to see a man with a big net. Gouda ran this way and that way trying to escape. He got caught anyway and was tossed in the back of a truck. First the tree, now the truck. When will he get back home to his saucer of milk?

    Gouda noticed that there were other creatures in the truck with him. It was odd that they looked more like him than his brothers back home, he thought.

    As he was thinking about this, the truck started to move. They knew they were off to the pound. One by one, the animals were loaded off the truck and into a giant cage. First went Snow, an 11-month-old energetic little girl, always trying to get other dogs to escape. Next it was Gouda's turn to go into the cage, followed by Tuck, an eleven-year-old dog, or better, for he did not want to move. Right then, Snow kept exciting all the animals which kept the man very busy trying to keep them all in the cage. He was so busy he forgot the gate was open. Out they went.

    Gouda ran side by side with his new friends, panting and wagging their tails. This is when it hit him, he was a dog! He instantly felt closer with his new brothers and knew they had to get away from the dog catcher. So, he brought his new friends as fast as he could down the alley and through the window to join Ruff and Tuff and all the other animals. Gouda was relieved to be home with his old and new brothers. He went over to drink a saucer of milk.

    To this day, people still talk about all the odd cats at the Cat Lady's house.

The End.

-- Russell

Project Read Authors at SFMOMA

Theresa, Eugene, Demetria, Russell & Claudia

Project Read Authors' Night San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Break Silence 4B

Why, when I called 911 when my friends and I were victims of another drive-by shooting in public housing, did I have enough time to speak to two family members and an SFPD officer who happened to be a long-time family friend? And there were no sirens. Why was there such a lack of urgency? More than 30 minutes is unacceptable when you’re only three blocks away. Are we less important because we are not homeowners or paying market rent? It sure seems like it. If SFPD didn’t care about all those black lives lost, why would they care about my blue and green bikes that were stolen on camera? I guess we live on the wrong side of the tracks. We must break silence about the lack of compassion and urgency in SF public housing. We must care about our own black lives to protect and serve our community better by becoming the next generation of SFPD officers.

-Ms. D. Gigante

Artist Statement by Demetria Gigante

Break Silence

Artist Statement by Demetria Gigante

I’m inspired to make art to share my experiences with others. My writing is art because I struggle with a learning disabilities and mental health. My blogs and this collage help me heal from my mental and learning disabilities.

Art has influenced my life because my blogs are my creative way to process my experiences of trauma. It is a healthy way to express my feelings and work on not holding them in. My blogs and collage give me a sense of accomplishment and a way to introduce mental help and literacy to my community.

Art has influenced my recovery from PTSD by understanding more about my mental health and how I feel about my experience with trauma. I know it is okay to have mental health issues and to seek help. With Behavioral Health Services, I will heal. This recovery encouraged me to work on my learning disabilities, too.

Living with PTSD is a work in progress. I started with isolation, self-medication and agoraphobia. These feelings and behaviors caused digressions in my career, life style, goals, parenting and struggles with self-sufficiency. After a recent trauma with another drive-by in my community, I sought help through the Victims of a Violent Crimes organization. They referred me to a great therapist that matched my mental health needs. Collaborating with Project Read, I began my creative journey writing my blog, Break Silence, and working with RAMS to make my collage. With these services, I’m becoming myself, engaging and sharing with others, and learning harm reduction skills. 

(Thank you to Project Read learner Demetria Gigante for sharing her artist statement. Her work will be displayed in the Works in Progress: Second Consumer Art Show at the San Francisco Main Library Atrium from October 1 through mid-December, 2017. There is a reception on Tuesday, October 3, from 4-5:30 pm (program at 4:30) in the Latino-Hispanic Meeting Room in the Lower Level of the Main Library. Information about the exhibition can be found citywide.ucsf.edu/art_show.)

Demetria with her collage at the art show reception.

Herm Lewis

    My name is Theresa Lewis and I'm writing about somebody I admire a lot who came a long way in life - my brother. His name is Andre Lewis, but everyone calls him Herm Lewis. I have seen my brother come from being an addict to being a leader.
    I admire the way Herm changed his life and became a good husband and a great father. He never left his family for dead. No matter how hard it was, he stayed. And it was hard. He went through a lot. He stayed with his wife Rhonda until her death a few years ago. He stuck by his kids. He stuck by his step-kids, took very good care of them and treated them like his very own kids. Nobody could tell by how he treated them if they were his biological kids or his step-kids.

    Herm went from being an addict, from selling weed, to going to prison. Prison turned him around. He came home and he was a spiritual speaker and an advocate. He speaks positively wherever he goes. I look at him as a legend in the community and a very powerful speaker on and off Facebook. I look up to him, admire him, and everyone respects Mr. Herm Lewis to the fullest. If he ever runs for mayor, he'll have my vote!

    When Andre was a little kid, he was a loner and he never caused problems in the family. He was always telling on me. If I smoked weed and he saw me, he ran and told Mommy. I was always trying to sneak and do stuff. He always told on me. I could never get it past Herm Lewis - my brother who I love, admire and respect to the utmost. Good job! Stay being positive and the leader that you are!
    Herm owns his own home, his own business, and works for Golden Gate Scavengers. He is truly a survivor and someone I admire and respect. He's been through a lot so I am very proud of the man he has become today!

Getting the Job Done

    My name is Theresa Lewis. The President wants to build this wall to keep the immigrants from coming here. I did agree with that because I thought they were taking jobs from people here in California. Then, I had to think about all that, and maybe I'm wrong for saying what I'm saying, but this is how I feel.
    Immigrants are the most hard working people that I know. The reason why I say that is who wants to do the farming? Who's going to go out there and pick the cherries? Who's going to go out there and pick the lettuce? Who's going to get the job done? The immigrants are good at that work. Are we gonna go out in those fields, bent over working in that hot sun? I feel like they are good at so many things that we could be good at, but we don't want to do it. We also are not going to take the pay that they offer to do it. I was listening to the news where farmers were talking about this and how they lost so many workers. 

    So, now I ask you. Who's going to do this? Who's going to take that pay? And what are we going to do about it? So, I ask you. Are you gonna do it? Are you gonna go out there in the fields? Are you gonna take that pay? Or, maybe the farmers are going to have to raise the pay so we will do the job.
    At first, I was agreeing with the President, but I'm not so sure anymore. I just feel like the immigrants work much harder and are much faster getting the job done. We do have to eat.

It's Your Birthday

It's your birthday,
another year has passed.
You're a little wiser,
a little smarter,
a little older,
and a little bolder.

So you think you're not a child any more.
So maybe I don't have to remind you to do your chores.

Soon you'll be on your own with no one to remind you of anything.
And after you cook you can clean your own kitchen.
You can have us over for dinner and cook us a vegetarian meal.

Your mother taught you well so be proud.
It's your birthday and I'm proud of you, too.

--Stephen

What is Poetry?

People like poetry.

People like to write poetry.
Poetry is about someone you write about--someone you care about  and love, or a special person in your life.
Some people love to write poetry about beautiful things--

  about the earth, the sun, and the sky,

and some people write about oceans and seas.
Some people write poetry and poems to someone

they love and care about.
Some people write about true love.
Some songs people sing are about poems.

--Eugene

What is Our Society Coming To?

My name is Theresa Lewis. I remember once upon a time when I was coming up and we had an issue with one another. We took it to our parents and our parents took it to the next parent and, if they didn't settle it, the next day we met at school and we'd fist fight.

Now a days, these kids today , they just be killing up each other -at school, on the streets, on the freeways. Where are these kids getting these guns? Where are they coming from? Why is it these guns are so easy for kids to get? And
they're taking lives like it's okay and it's not!

Everybody suffers when these kids die--the mothers, the aunties, the cousins. We all suffer. And you can't say it's just in the black neighborhoods now. It's everywhere-Latino, Asian, Chinese. So, again I say, where are these guns coming from and why is it so easy for these kids to get guns?

When I was coming up. we couldn't get guns. My parent kept hers locked up. One day I went to my nephew's middle school and they had metal detectors. I never seen nothing like that!

The movies are not making it no better. They make their movies with people killing each other. They use rappers to make these movies. What example is that for our kids?

They make all these video games with guns killing up one another like it's okay. Then the kids want to go out and do the same things. As parents, we can't watch our kids 24-7. We can talk to them, provide for them, preach and tell them right from wrong, but we have to go out and work to provide for our families. We can't watch them 24-7.

What is our society coming to? And what can we do for our kids? How can we keep our kids from getting these guns? Again I ask, where are the guns coming from?

Anniversary

April 7, 1919, the date that always commemorates your birthday. Whether it was destiny or the will of the Lord you moved ahead of me on this journey in the same month. Although I can’t remember exactly which day. I don’t really care, you are still with me. Few people knew that your name was Ramona del Carmen. I think that you never liked your first name because I used to call you Ramona just to tease you but, you were and always will be Dona Carmencita. Somebody said (I don’t know who) that the life of the dead is in the memory of those still living. I agree. You made a mark on my life in a way that I am only now aware. Your memory is in my way of cooking, my way of talking , in the words I have used when I talk with my son and then he asks me for a translation as If I was talking with him in another language. Maybe he is right, your language. While I am alive you will alive. Happy 98th anniversary Grandma.

-- Claudia

How to Make a Marriage Work (Last)

Go out to the movies.
Take more walks in the parks. Hang out and love each other--doesn't cost money. She will appreciate it and love you.
Cook more for each other.
Save money for giving surprises to each other.
Do things to keep the home clean and neat.
Kiss more often and give hugs.
Go to church and pray to God--keeps you spiritually in line.
BBQ sometimes on the roof, in the park, or somewhere.
Have kids and have fun with them Do lots of things for them, Tell them they are the best.
Do not cheat in your relationship.
Be honest.

-- Daryl Jerome Faison (1963-2015)

Who Do We Blame?

    My name is Theresa and I want to talk about all the people out here in the last five to ten years. Why is it that everywhere you go and everywhere you look there are people on canes, walkers, and wheel chairs? And I ask myself, why is that going on? What are they doing to us? Is it the meat that is keeping us sick? Is it the doctors that are keeping us sick? Is it the pharmacies keeping us sick? Who is to blame for this?
    I understand everybody has to eat, but is it at our expense? Keeping us sick? I understand that doctors have to pay their bills. Cattle ranchers have to pay their bills. Pharmacies have to pay their bills. So where is this really coming from?
    I think it's the meat, what the cows eat, what they put into the meat. Why are so many people diabetic? I see everyone having to have spinal surgery. So many of my friends, we're having the same spinal surgery. Why?
    Where's this coming from? The commercials have all types of drugs and so many side effects. Why are so many people obese? So much obesity, so many drugs! Who do we blame?

Break Silence 4A

Break Silence 4A

Why is there a disconnect from the SFPD and the residents of San Francisco Public Housing? I have seen and experienced the lack of engagement, urgency, common respect and courtesy towards each other. I come from two generations of homeowners, and was taught that the police protect and serve.

That is not the case.

I have not seen SFPD protect or serve in the SFHA community. We must break silence. Wouldn’t it be nice if our officers knew our names before the drama of an arrest? Maybe if SFPD would get out of their cars and just be a part of our community. If we were more engaged we could learn to build some respect for each other as civilized human beings and not enemies, like how I was taught. We could trust and believe that police are really here to protect and serve. Help make black lives matter wherever you live in SF.

We must break silence and all be more engaged with each other, we could change the attitude of a generation to come.

Ms. D. Gigante

Love is the Topic of this Free Writing

Introduction to love:
    The word love has a variety of meanings in both the classical and new testament (Greek). One definition is the feelings between personal friends, as was the relationship between David and Jonathan. Additionally, it also refers to the emotional relationship between a man and a woman in a romantic relationship such as Romeo and Juliet. Still further, there is the warm feelings as experienced between parents and their children. One biblical example is Job and how petitioned God on their behalf.

     Our focus today, however, is on love that is above all other kinds of love. Simply speaking, "agape" love does not have to meet any standards for God to love us. He loves us because it is his nature to love. He is the essence and the epitome of love.

-- J.C.

Don't Let This Happen to You

    This short story is about Mr. John. John was a very good man. He went to church every Sunday. He went about helping the poor, and they that were down on their luck. But after doing so much for others and really caring for them, and showing his love for others, someone took advantage of his kind heart. That made him change drastically.
    Mr. Melvin was a married man. He had been married for many years. After he caught his wife committing adultery with one of his closest friends, it sent Mr. Melvin into a space where he thought he was all that and a bag of chips. He had always wanted something to hold over his wife's head and this was the perfect thing. Melvin began destroying her name and treating her badly. Mr. John became very upset because Mr. Melvin's wife was his sister.
    Mr. Melvin began bad mouthing her and the family members. Mr. John wanted to do bodily harm to Mr. Melvin for revenge. Mr. John was a Christian and his thoughts made him no longer feel like a Christian. After Mr. John had let Mr. Melvin change him so much, he felt he had nothing to live for. The shame of losing the dignity of his sister and of his family made him feel like it was all over.
    Mr. John felt like he wanted to get back at Mr. Melvin, but he didn't know how or what he was going to do. Mr. John had always been a strong Christian and believed in God. That night when he went to bed, he said a prayer and asked God the Father to help him do what is right since Melvin made him feel so low and ashamed. When he awakened that morning, he had a different outlook and respectability on all things. He made the opinion to just let God deal with Mr. Melvin and after making that decision, he felt better and happy.
 -- J.C.

Breaking Silence 3

Did you know that the average literacy level is 8th grade in the U.S.A.? As a 44-year-old, it was time to Break Silence to literacy at the SF Public Library at Project Read. I have struggled all my life reading and writing with ADHD and Dyslexia. So, what is the average literacy level in a low income community? Living in SFPH more than 10 years, I have been uncomfortable reading and signing legal documents. Not understanding what I'm signing year after year. Are we all at risk of becoming victims of housing displacement and not even know? Regardless of education level, I know that we must Break Silence by educating each other on the new housing laws and understanding what's on the ballot that directly effects our low income community. Let's vote and show that our Black Lives Matter.

Break Silence to literacy and our vote does matter!

-- Ms. D. Gigante

The Revenant - Review by Project Read Book Club Member

The Revenant is a remarkable tale of nothing short of dying. It is a relentless thrill ride that hurtles the reader into dark and interesting places.
-- Anonymous

Break Silence, Part 2

   Why don't we as a black community think we need to seek mental health? Why do we have to think we are crazy to see a PSYCH? Well, living in a S.F. Housing Development and surviving more than 80 drive-by shootings, and over 40 murders in a 2-block radius, if you weren't crazy you will be. We all must suffer from PTSD on some level whether we know it or not. I suffer from a severe case of PTSD and Agoraphobia. I thought I would get over it with time and just pull up my boot straps. But not! I have finally sought out help through the Victims of Violent Crimes website. I built up a false sense of courage and anger issues. Women can also become violent due to PTSD. Their partners can be victims of domestic violence. PTSD can affect our black community in so many negative ways.
   Can we show each other that our black lives matter?
   When will we break silence about Mental Health?

-- Ms. D. Gigante

For More Information:

San Francisco District Attorney’s Victim Services Division
850 Bryant Street, Rm. 320
San Francisco, CA 94112

(415) 553-9044