Well, last year I was on a poms team and I loved it! Everyone such as my teammates was there and we all had our cheer uniform on. The uniform was a blue/white skirt and blue/white top. We had to wear a long-sleeve white shirt. We were at a competition at a big university. I forgot the name of it, but it was big and nice. All you see in the school are yellow and blue stairs, different topic posters such as meetings, food, etc., classrooms big and small, maroon and white, maroon lockers, and the big yellow gym. We were assigned a classroom to wait, do our makeup, and change. We had red lipstick, glitter on our cheekbones, and whatever eyeshadow we wanted but I didn't want any. What I see around me is stuff a normal classroom has such as desks, whiteboard teacher desks, etc. I see colorful things because everything is different colors. The smell of the perfume is like the scent of the flowers at a market, also the scent of lotion-like coconuts, and the spray deodorant scent is like cucumbers since we all had to look nice and smell good for our performance. What I hear are my teammates talking about random things and conversations about the performance. “Hey, can I get some of your drink?” said Jackie. Also, I see people practicing our dance. I felt nervous because I felt like I was gonna mess up or something because of how nervous I was. In my head, I thought, “Oh my god, what if I mess up? That’s going to be so embarrassing.” Before our performance, we got to eat since they made food in the school. I smell the pizza being cooked and also the chips with cheese. I love that smell since they’re my number 1 junk food to go. I see how they’re preparing the pizzas and the chips with cheese. I had bought a pizza and once I took a bite out of it I didn't wanna stop since I haven't eaten all day since we had to wake up at 6 AM to get to the high school on time. Once I took a bite of the pizza I tasted all the tomato sauce and cheese. “Hey, we got this!” whispered Roselyn. “I don’t know. I'm shaking since it’s my first time” I whispered. But in my head I thought “Maybe if I keep thinking negative that’s when I will mess up.” My feelings did change throughout the time because once I was performing I felt more confident since people were clapping and cheering for us which made my energy boost up. “Let’s go Soto, let’s go,” the audience yelled. Something I wish I did differently was dance better because I have energy, just not enough. At the end of the day, we all tried our best and waited to hear out the winners. We held each other's hands, they felt so sweaty like if we were done washing our hands due to the fact we were the last ones up and we were dancing. We waited until we heard the judges say “2nd place for hip hop goes to… Soto High School.” We were all so excited that some people in our team cried.  

Afterwards my oldest cousin cut the cake, we ate and all said our goodbyes. My family and I packed and went to the car and went home...

On June 8th, 2019 I went to the Nickelodeon slime fest with my little cousin. My cousin was 11 years old and I was like 14. The weather was nice but yet it was cold. I wanted to cry so bad. It was a bad idea to wear shorts. They were so many famous people such as Pitbull, Nickelodeon stars, Chance the Rapper, and so many more, I was so happy and grateful. I could hear little kids screaming and crying. I wanted to tell the kids to shut up. I saw so much green slime everywhere, In addition, they had an obstacle course where at the end you get dumped with  green slime. I saw so many foods stands with a different variety of food, I could smell the hot dogs and the buttery popcorn. I could hear so many kids screaming, crying and famous people singing on stage. That day my cousin and I had so much fun we were playing fighting in the grass ( btw I got body-slammed but it was funny) for fun bc we were waiting for Pitbull to perform, my favorite person in the world, plus he gave a speech to the younger kids, which I thought it was so cool. Something I could’ve done differently was record everything, and wore jeans and not shorts. 

My favorite childhood food was Popeye’s. I remember when I was young it was my two sisters, my brother and his best friend. My sisters both had black hair, one of them had glasses and my brother had short black hair and his best friend had blond/light brown hair. He was in the army so usually he would have on his army hat with his last name on it. This specific day it was sunny and also hot, we were at my house in Texas. The room had an Xbox, TV, bed and a wall that we used to write on, nothing really special just plain. Since it was hot we were playing the game and I remember my hands touching the controller and it was a little wet, you can say it was sweaty from our hands. We got hungry so my brother's best friend always bought us Popeye’s and it was me, my brother’s best friend and my other sister, we went to Popeye’s. We first walked in and it smelled like chicken, mashed potatoes, etc. Popeye’s only really has orange and white as the colors, I hear people ordering the food they want to the cashier and the cashier is putting it down on the computer. My brother's best friend asked “What do y’all want to get?” We said, “Can we get the spicy chicken” and he said, “I’m going to get the family box,” then we said, “Okay, thank you.” I was excited, because I loved Popeye’s and we would rarely buy it ourselves, we only ate it when he would come over. When we went home that day we ate and the chicken was so juicy and good, especially the creamy macaroni and cheese it was so good! The chicken was so perfect the skin was perfectly crispy, the biscuit was dry but I washed it down with my drink. 

Back then, like around in the middle of 7th grade I was at this school called Nathan Davis, but since my parents bought a house by Marquette Park they decided to transfer me to Tarkington, ever since I went to Tarkington. Since then I’ve had good and bad memories, but that's okay because the bad memories can be used as lessons so I won't do that certain thing I did in those memories ever again. I felt great in my memories because back then it used to be easy and not complicated like right now and I miss those memories because they mean so much to me, they mean the world to me to go back to those memories and live them once again. Although I wish I did one thing differently, I wish that I was never a troublemaker because I was a whole different person back then. I used to be the opposite of positive most of the time, I can just hear the teachers yelling at me or getting mad because I behaved most of the time but not all the time, but to be honest I was way younger, so I'm not going to be mature straight off the bat, because most kids get raised different ways and I was one of those kids I had to adapt to the maturity when I entered freshmen year and it worked. When I started high school I started to change. I wanted to reinvent myself because I used to get in trouble 24/7 no matter what happens I always used to get in trouble for certain things. The school cafeteria always smelled good like if we were in a restaurant that had at least 4.5 stars type of smell. The cafeteria looked like a big dancing floor and there were so many tables and there were huge windows on the sides. and I enjoyed being at the cafeteria with my friends having conversations or sometimes we used to be playing around with each other and next thing I know I hear the lunch ladies yelling at us saying out loud,” CAN YOU GUYS STOP THE NONSENSE OVER THERE?!” because we were loud and I couldn't help it but laugh because they were so loud I was just sitting there awkwardly looking at them yelling at us. The food at the cafeteria tastes good as if the food was homemade and it had an authentic taste that everyone likes. And it felt like actual food, unlike my old middle school ND where the food was looking like witchcraft and never made me want to eat it because of how disturbing it smelled and looked. In recess, me & my friends used to play soccer and mainly football, and every time I touched the soccer ball and it felt like that good material and not that great value version type of material, or football it felt like I was doing something that I enjoyed playing it so much that after graduating 8th grade I also played them in my spare time with friends and it was so fun. I miss those days. Back in those days, I used to enjoy being younger because I had more freedom around me and I did kind of like school but not that much because if it wasn't because of my friends, it would probably be kind of bad because it's always boring when we went to lunch or recess and my friends made it more fun by being a bit chaotic, but they never went overboard because we would all probably would've gotten suspended. 

by Rodrigo T., grade 10, from ChiTown Stand Up! Spring 2021

Last summer my cousin Jesus called me and said we should hang out with my other cousin, named Ricky. We all met up at Ricky's house and we were just chilling, deciding on where to go. We decided to go downtown, but I wished we had just gone to Ridge Mall because everything is more expensive in downtown. I was talking to my cousins telling them I wasn't going to buy anything, I changed my mind once we went to the Gucci store. There was a whole line of people and the Gucci store looked way too crowded, but we waited in line. I bought myself a Gucci belt and at the end, I regretted it because it was too expensive. I'm feeling stupid on the way back home, I wish I hadn't bought the belt. 

It had taken us a while to get there, I looked out the window as the building passed by. I was bored on the way there since I had nothing to do. I could hear my brothers Guillermo and Angel in the back whining about when we were going to get there and that it was too hot. I turned back to see sweat dripping down my brother's face as I passed them a water bottle. I burned my arm with the hot leather from the seats. When I turned back around I told my mom if we could open the windows. “Mom can we put the windows down, it's too hot back here,” I asked. “Si mija, go ahead I unlocked them,” she responded. “Okay, thanks also Chris fell asleep,” I stated. “It’s okay just let him sleep we still have a long way to go,” she explained. So I had to carefully reach over my older brother who had fallen asleep to put the window down. He sounded like a lion roaring because of his loud snoring, I couldn’t really hear the music over him. All I could hear was the beat of the song which was upbeat and fun but the lyrics were garbled. I grabbed the juice I had bought. It was mango. It tasted as if I was eating a mango, so refreshing and delicious. My sister was on the right of me, wearing a maroon and black dress with her hair up in a ponytail. I remember thinking how pretty she looked in the outfit. My mom was in the front driving with my dad on the passenger side. They were talking about where we were going to go once we reached there. “Pero los niños se van a cansar de caminar,” my mom explained to my dad. “Necesitan caminar, siempre están en el sofá sin hacer nada, es mejor para ellos estar afuera,” my dad’s rebuttal. They decided we were going to go to Millennium Park to see the bean. I was excited, but my thighs hurt from my older brother putting his legs on my lap. I reached down and grabbed a bag of salt and vinegar Lay’s, I love the salty taste if left in my mouth and the small hint of vinegar. Once we got there, I woke my brother up from his nap. It took forever to find parking. l remember how warm the sun felt on my skin and how the breeze made my sister's dress sway once we stepped out of the car. There were so many people around us and everything looked so bright and colorful. We walked around the park for a while before finally stopping to take pictures. We took pictures in front of the bean. I remember how shiny it was, it reminded me of newly polished silver, it felt so smooth but hot to the touch. I had so much fun being there and getting to see all the beautiful and tall buildings and getting to be with my family. 

I went to the Shedd Aquarium, the minute you walked in you can smell the water. There were lots of exhibits of animals that lived in water. My friends and I dressed in jeans and shirts. Watching the dolphin show along with our other peers, I see the dolphins, water, food, people. I see the colors blue, gray, white. I smell animals, the smell of the water, the food places around. Petting the starfish. I hear the people who are the directors of the show, I hear my friends we’re talking about how cool it is and how we were going to get souvenirs after. My classmates from 6th grade were there. I was in a group with my friend Janayah. “Ouu look at this,” is what you heard us saying every few minutes gazing at exhibits. I'm feeling happy, but towards the end kinda scared because after the bathroom break, I lost my friends and couldn’t find them. I remember feeling very anxious I couldn´t find my friends or our chaperone. The place was so big and there were lots of different schools and people. I went to the dolphin area and found my teacher and had to stay with her, but still didn’t find my group. Towards getting back on the bus they were so relieved that they found me. I wish that I would’ve listened to the chaperone telling us to stay in one place. I thought they had left me because I was the only one coming out and there were too many people. 

In Mexico, it smelled like burned sand with a hint of gasoline mixed with dirty food wrappers. And trash alike. Everywhere I went, it sounded like the mariachi played for an hour for one song, and then another came for the same entertainment. The food there tasted weird like eating pizza tasted like tacos and the drinks were better than I thought. Every wall I came to touch felt warmer than usual and felt comforting. 

It was a cloudy Friday afternoon and I could see the floor looked wet like it had already rained. Me, my mom, my brothers, and my sister had just picked up my dad from work. He was wearing his uniform that had highlighted strips on his shoulders. We went to a restaurant that we haven’t gone to in a long time due to the pandemic. The restaurant is called LuLu’s, and I remember getting out of the car. We started walking to the door, and as soon as we went in I can hear the fries cracking and popping as they got fried. As well as I hear Lu and two other guys laughing and telling jokes. I can see the floor has square tiles, and they were almost the same color as a brick, but darker. The main thing that I see is the one main thing I always get with my food, and that’s the strawberry milkshake. I can see the shake being mixed for a customer that’s in front of us. Lu was the one making the milkshake and I can see the strawberries being put in the shake. I started to smile as I remember coming here as a little boy, and everything looked just the way it was. The counter was silver with a silver nacho container on top. My mother said, “Julian, ( younger brother) what you would like to eat since you’re picky?” He would then start to look at the menu and try and see what he wanted. My mother told him to hurry up since we were next to order. He didn’t like anything so we just decided to get him a shake. My parents then started to order for us while I started to take my siblings to go take a seat. The tables are connected to the seats, and the seats are the kind that would twist side to side but never back. As we wait I can see all the pictures of sports teams framed on the wall. I then went on to go see some of the framed sports teams on the wall. They were all Chicago teams like Bulls, Sox, Bears, Blackhawks, and Cubs. I wanted one in my room so I looked at the Bull’s frame and it felt smooth with bumpy black corners. My mom and dad would then yell my name, and tell me to come and help them get the food that was in two trays and while they paid. I can smell the sweetness of the shakes and I can see the grease from the fries that were stuffed into the hot dog wrappers. We would then start to eat together and when I would open the hot dog wrapper, and as I did the greasy, salty fries would fall out of the wrapper it was stuffed in. I would then take a bit of the hot dog and would taste juice, but it also made me remember what brand it was. It was a Vienna Beef hot dog, I knew because it had that dark maroon-like color and it had that taste that I can never forget. I then went on to try my shake and it tasted sweet and gave me the feeling that made me think I was a little kid again. Then my brother would say out of nowhere if he could get McDonald’s, so since he didn’t like anything here my parents told him, “Yes, after we’re done eating.” Once we finished eating we would then throw away the trash that we had. We would say thank you to the three guys that made our food and we would finally leave.

by Eric R. Jr., grade 10, from ChiTown Stand Up! Spring 2021

One of my Pictures was The street that that I was raised in my whole life 63TH. This place is in the south and it's in the hood. What it looks around hears is more poverty and a lot of people in the streets. When I'm out here in the summer you can see all type of colors all over. Also it all depends were you're at to be able to smell things when you're in the main street you can sometimes smell the taco place right in the corner. Sometimes you can also smell the bread from the panaderia next to the taco spot. But sometimes it just smells like earth fresh air. In the part of the neighborhood I'm from in the summer you can see people all over the block. You can hear people screaming cars passing by and loud music playing in the background. Sometimes me and my neighbors like to make a cookout and my parent love to talk about their stores from back in Mexico. All you can hear is laughter all over the back yard. You can also hear dogs barking all over. 

On a summer day, my cousins and I decided to have a cousins day. We met up at my great grandparents’ house to decide where we were going and we all agreed to go to Chinatown. The cousins that went were James, Jared, Deshun, Jaylen, Ahmad, London, and me. I have a lot of boy cousins my age, but there are only two girls, me and London. Once we made it to Chinatown we all were taking pictures because the community is different from our community. It had a lot of signs written in Chinese and the town is very colorful. We walked around the whole town and stopped at stores. Some stores were able to let us buy souvenirs. When we turned the corner we saw an Ice cream sign. We found the rolled-up ice cream shop and all ran up in the store to get ice cream. Inside the shop, it was very loud because of the machines they use. The machines sound like lawnmowers. We sat at the black big tables and ate our ice cream. I got strawberry ice cream and it was so delicious.  After we got done eating the ice cream, we all went to Millennium Park and took pictures. We tried going down the gray tall slide for a video, but it was a disaster. Inside the slide, it smelled like feet and must, so I did not go down all the way. we all started to get hungry so we all decided to go to Hooters, which is one of my favorite restaurants. When we walked inside the restaurant it smelled like fresh grease. The waitress seated us at a table and asked us each what we wanted to eat. I got 10 boneless hot wings, curly fries, and lemonade. The food came like 10 minutes after we ordered and it looked so tasty. I couldn't eat my food as soon as it came because the food was so hot. My boneless wings and fries tasted so fresh and seasoned. All of us were talking, we were all enjoying our food. The restaurant is very comfortable. It doesn't be noisy and loud and I appreciate that because that helps me enjoy my food better. Once we all finished our food, we went back to our grandparent's house and watched a movie. It was hard deciding on a movie because we all like different types of movies. Four of us decided to watch IT, but that didn't go as planned. ¨I don't like scary movies,¨ said London. ¨why not?¨ I asked.  She answered ¨It makes me think of scary things.¨ James replied ¨well we can't watch a scary movie.¨ After all the disagreeing our final decision was a Madea movie. When we all get together our favorite place to go is to our grandparents’ house because they have a big family room with two big black couches and a big television. Their home is home and comfy. Once you walk in you're going to get a smell of Febreze, that's their permanent house smell.  

Over the last twelve years, I married my beautiful wife Maya. We have three beautiful kids: two boys and a girl.  It has been tough living without my brother, but I know that I can make it. We have a charity for kids without parents called the Matthew & Tina Foundation. The name is the legacy of my brother and momma. The pain will never leave, but their deaths were not in vain. My family moved to the West Side suburb called Oak Park. Now we can live the Chicago Dream.

In We Have a Dream, 8th grade students at Chicago Jesuit Academy articulate the fears, joys, and frustrations of growing up in the city. They offer intelligent solutions to Chicago’s problems and ask simply for their voices to be heard. What a privilege it is to listen.

When people feel as though they are an important part of a really big city, it gives them a new sense of pride in their ownership. I know that feeling because when we found out that our house used to be a storage house for Capone, it made my house feel extra symbolic. You never know what you are going to find when you explore your city and learn its stories.