Bon Air 4th Visit

I was really pleased with the way this visit went. The most memorable part of tonight was Galvino sharing with me what got him “locked up.” He didn’t get to finish his story, but I still appreciated that he decided to tell me this. It finally felt like he trusted me by sharing this information with me, which is a great feeling. He decided that the story of his arrest is the story he wants to use for the final project. It was also the story he told to me that defined his life. I asked him if he still sees himself as this person and he told me that he’s not a bad person, he just got mixed up in the wrong crowd. I agreed with him on this statement. Professor Dolson joined us for a while and asked Galvino about his life. He talked a lot about how he wants to join the army and do the ROTC program when he graduates high school. He told me he’s really excited about it and it was good to hear that because it didn’t seem like he had much to look forward to in his current situation. He also mentioned that he had 3 brothers and 8 sisters, which really shocked me. What shocked me even more was when he said that two of his brothers died. Professor Dolson asked if he does anything to commemorate his brothers’ deaths, and he said no. She also asked if it was hard on his father and he also replied no. This really upset me– I guess these kinds of things happen all the time where he’s from. The questions didn’t even seem to affect him in any way. Besides those sad stories, Galvino was very open with me today and I appreciated that greatly. I am looking forward to next week and hearing the rest of his story about how he got put in juvie.