Julian Rodriguez plays with his son Christopher at their home on Pueblo’s East Side. Julian’s decades long struggle with addiction brought him intimately close to the gang operations as he often bought from and sold for the gangs in order to support his own addiction. With his son, Christopher on the way, he achieved sobriety and had his facial skeleton tattooed to remember his commitment to his son and to commemorate his brother “Bone Head” who was killed in a shootout with the police. “Everything that I desire and want in this life is for that boy.” Christopher will grow up on the East Side, in Duke territory, but Julian hopes that a loving relationship with his father can keep him from that lifestyle. | Gabriel Scarlett
Stephen Logsdon, 33, is attending second year at the Vette City Con and plans to keep coming to them as long as they keep having them. Logsdon dressed up as Harley Quinn and had handmade almost everything from the bat to the hammer. Vette City Con will be held for their second year of performances and event venues at the National Corvette Museum on Saturday Jan. 27, 2018 and Sunday Jan. 28, 2018. | Shaban Athuman
Stephen Logsdon, 33, is attending his second year at the Vette City Con and plans to attend more as long as they keep having them. Logsdon dressed up as Harley Quinn and had handmade almost everything from the bat to the hammer. | Tyger Williams
A young gang banger, age 14, visits the memorial site for one of his fallen brothers, another of the Los Carnales East Side Dukes. He has embraced this dangerous lifestyle and says that he wants to ‘bang’ for the rest of his life, just like his family members. “Ya know, you just gotta be out here and follow orders and do what you’re told,” he said. “That’s how I’mma make a name for myself.” | Gabriel Scarlett
Once a prison yard shot caller with fifty men under his command, Johnny has since chosen a path away from the Los Carnales gang and into a welding job in Denver. He drives two hours each day to work. Finding employment as a convict took him years, but he feels that he owes it to the next felon to work hard and not burn those who have given him a chance. “I am proof that it is possible.” | Gabriel Scarlett
DaeQuan Smith, 24, holds a locally made t-shirt of his brother, Kentrail Robbins, who was murdered in 2012 in a still unresolved case. “My older brother was a handsome young man. Plenty females. Always dressed nice. Someone I could look up to. He never fronted on me either; he always looked out for me and my sister. We have the same parents you know. Grew up in the same house and wore the same clothes. Last time I saw him was in the mall and I told him to buy me some new shoes and he was with his friends and he tried to front and say he wouldn’t buy me some new shoes but I knew he would. Last time I saw him. It seems I loose at least two friends a year. Every time I go back to school I loose a friend and that takes a hold of me when the semester starts,” Smith said. | Michael Blackshire
Aspire Academy forward T.J. Smith (1) reaches for a rebound during the ‘Hooping on the Hill’ tournament at Bowling Green High School. Aspire Academy won 70-45 vs. Bella Vista. | Silas Walker
Tyreon Clark lines up his Boys to Men Leadership students before they go to class at Parker Bennet Curry Elementary School. Clark gives each of his kids a handshake or high-five. “It’s up to people like me to be responsible for the development of programs like this” Clark said about the leadership programs he is involved with. | Silas Walker