About me! by Karla Dejesus

Karla (she/her)

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 17:19:31 UTC

I am a gemini sun, Aquarius moon, and pisces rising!

I am someone who thinks about things very intentionally and wants to make sure that she is able to be a resource in her community.

I'm from Chicago and will always claim Chicago and specifically my neighborhood- Pilsen.

I am a community organizer that does everything through an abolitionist and youth justice lens. I follow Mariame Kaba's "Hope is discipline" and know that someday we won't have all of these systems in our way.

Pilsen

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 17:25:25 UTC

Chicago is definitely a hard place to grow up in because of the lack of resource that is given to our communities, but Chicago and Pilsen are at the root of who I am and I wouldn't have it any other way :)

What I did this summer

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 19:39:36 UTC

I co-directed a summer program for young people who want to organize in their communities! I helped build the curriculum, facilitate, and got to be in community with really dope youth from Chicago's Southwest side :)

Current read

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 19:46:02 UTC

This book is called The War on Neighborhoods: Policing, Prisons, and Punishment in a Divided City, it focuses on the west side of Chicago and how the war on drugs and all the racist policies affected Black chicagoans, specifically those who live in the west side.

I really have not gotten far in it, but so far I'm learning so much!

Just read

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 19:48:12 UTC

My last read was We Do This Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba

It was a brilliant book that was hard to read because it reminded me of everything that we are currently fighting against but nevertheless gave me a lot of hope!

We were able to get Haymarket to send our youth a bunch of copies and even my lil sister is reading it :^)

Next read

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 19:50:47 UTC

This summer was a really difficult one in chicago because we are all so burnt out from doing things all last year but also because the pandemic has made things a lot more difficult and we have lost a lot of people to many different things that are the result of disinvestment. I was feeling a little down and someone offered to get me this book which talks about Indigenous resistance in Mexico with the Zapatista movement, im really excited to read it and be regrounded

Hobbies

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 19:51:56 UTC

In my free time you can catch me at the gym, hanging out with friends, listening to music, exploring NYC, FaceTiming my family, studying astrology, and trying to make vegan Mexican food that fails sometimes >_<

Fav food

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 19:55:14 UTC

my mom's flautas are the best, she and her cooking are a gift to this world!! women from Guerrero, Mexico have such beautiful skills

current fav reaction

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 19:56:13 UTC

my last watch

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 20:00:10 UTC

my friends wanted me to watch an anime so I saw fruit's basket and it made me feel all the emotions there are

Current fav song

kd2686 — 2021-09-19 20:01:17 UTC

I'm going through an old school reggaeton moment