Audio File
Transcript
My name is DaJuan Davis. I am 11 years old.
My name is Shemar Tinker. I am 18 years old.
And we interviewed Cliff Simon on July 20th, 2018
My date of birth is 12/1/86. I grew up in the Hill District all my life. I was born up Sugar Top, and then for a couple of years we moved to the North side. Mom and Dad kind of got their little ways of separation or whatever. They weren’t seeing eye to eye. We end up moving back to the Hill, down Crawford. Lived there till 11th grade, from 2nd to 11th, and then me and my family relocated back up Sugar Top, so it’s been all around the Hill for real for real for me. I grew up pretty well. My mom and dad were very supportive. They were always around. But you know, just being in the neighborhood, you know, you see certain things and you see the struggle. But I lived very humbly and I didn’t really ask for much, you know. I really wasn’t a spoiled kid.
I love the culture of the hill. We just have our own thing, like the way that we talk, the way that we look, we’re very confident. We’re just so different, we’re so unique that I-I love it, like, there’s no place like the Hill. My mom and dad were both teachers. They taught in the Wilkinsburg District and my mom taught at Kelly and my dad taught at Johnston Elementary, so I had to go to elementary school out in Wilkinsburg at Kelly. I loved it,met some good people there, but it’s just funny that I got Wilkinsburg in my heart, but I’m not really Wilkinsburg, you know? Like, the people that I grew up with, we all lived around each other, and the cool thing about is that we’re all friends to this day. Growing up around the community in Crawford, it was just… it was very wholesome because I can go to my friend’s house anytime I wanted to. They was always over my house. Coming into high school, they put me in certain like tough classes because they assumed that, you know, that I was doing well, that I can do well. But I had a lot of distractions in high school, you know, I was a ladies’ man, so therefore, my focus wasn’t too strong. So 9th grade, I didn’t do too well, but that struggle kind of helped me out with my 10th, 11th and 12th. You know what I mean? It kind of made me like, “Yo, Cliff, you got to chill out because you want to go to college.” I learned that high school is where you really make your most money at, because those A’s and B’s are basically like your tickets to get into college. I think that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing now, to preach what I learned from high school to teach some of my high school and middle school students high school is definitely where it’s at. You got to make sure that you got them grades.
The Center That Cares that I work for, it’s a nonprofit organization that’s been around for 19 years, ran by Reverend Grayson, his church is Wesley AME Zion church, and the three sites that we have is Warren, which is a church right across the street from Wesley on Center Ave, Wesley Center Church and the Grayson Center. And some of the things that we did was community clean up, volunteer work, counseling, being a mentor to the kids, you know, sometimes I kind of help out some conflicts within the schools. I just became like, all around mentor in that school. It was a cool journey, the school year working at Uprep. One student that I was able to talk to, he was going through so much stuff at home that he was lashing out at school. We don’t know what’s going on with these kids’ homes that’s making them be aggressive or abrasive. I kind of don’t really like to stigmatize a bad or a good kid. I think all in all, kids really want to do right. It’s just all about who’s in their ear, who’s talking to them.
I went to CCAC, and then I did a semester at Clarion for football. Then I went back to CCAC and finished my associates in liberal arts and science. And then right after that, I probably sat out maybe about a year or so, and then I applied for Point Park. I ended up getting my degree in business management with focus being marketing out of Point Park. I just had a baby girl, who I’m very excited about, who I love dearly. Just taking care of family and just another responsibility under my belt is… I love it. I wouldn’t trade it in for the world and I’m trying to be a dad. I always envision it to be like I’m gonna have all this money. I’m gonna be married, and sometimes some things don’t work out in the way that you, like, kind of envision, but I am happy. I’m fortunate and blessed that I have who I have.
I think the way that you can stay positive is having positive people around you. Just try to keep all the negative things, just, out of your life, like, eliminating it. It is so easy to do the wrong things. Learn from your mistakes, because we always do make mistakes. Keep that positive space within you. You know, being able to take criticism, not being so aggressive. You know, always want to be argumentative, you know, just kind of just learning how to be compassionate, wholehearted and mindful, principles I live by.
I have my short term and my long term goals. I mean it could be even something as simple as making sure that me and my mom might not be arguing that night, you know what I mean? Or, like, just making sure that people around me are safe, and, you know, long term goals could be just something like just making sure that I’m having a foundation and trying to just stay on the right path. Don’t be content. Try to get out of your comfort zone. I feel like we, as black men and young men, we have a lot of temptations, and it’s just all about avoiding the temptations and hearing stories and learning from other people’s stories to know that you don’t gotta do that. Try to just keep your head high. Don’t feed into the stereotypes. Just hold yourself accountable, because what you put in the universe, it’ll all come out.