Congratulations to WKUPJ student Gabriel Scarlett on receiving an Award of Excellence for the Alexia 2018 Student Grant! His project, “Flock of Doves,” reexamines the reality of one city’s gang culture, with emphasis on the fragile nature of youth and longing for acceptance.
“This essay is for those who searched for brotherhood on the streets, but instead found blue jumpsuits, stray bullets, and roadside memorials. They are the doves.”
View the project here: http://www.alexiafoundation.org/stories/flock-of-doves-gabriel-scarlett
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