R e z i n

My Grandfather was a big influence on my life. As a child, my grandparents alwaystook us camping. For many years of my youth that was regaled with stories of growing up poor in Pittsburgh, and how he was able to get himself to a better life.

Economic oppression is part of my family heritage. My ancestors were relocated to the United States for a purpose, and that purpose was to make money for the Upper Class.

I grew up in a completely different environment. I was raised in a beach town in Connecticut. I always had a strong work ethic at the drive determination to do what I needed to do to get by. I still got to a point where I felt like working multiple jobs and having five streams of income, wasn’t enough to keep my head above water living on my own. I felt like I was being completely exploited by society, and the only way to be truly free would be to end that exploitation permanently.

While I was working out my plans to retire from humanity, my Grandfather came to my Father in a dream and told him what was going on. I never took help easily and honestly in my heart did not think it could save me.

Here I am years later, working in a job where I serve some of the poorest young people in the greater Pittsburgh area. It really couldn’t be a more fitting turnaround of my life.

The struggles of our ancestors live on within us. Stress scientifically codes to your DNA, and is passed on to further generations. My Grandfather was anti-racist, and class conscious, but saw homosexuality as a sin. I’ve walked and wondered if that’s part of this puzzle and why I was saved to continue the cycle.

Before he passed, my grandfather wrote out his life story and I have been feeding the script to an AI movie, generator in bits and pieces. This instrument speaks to the experience of being poor and western Pennsylvania coal towns. Living in the area now, people here glorify this history, but I was raised to believe that it was nothing glorious. All of this feeds into what I do and why I do it and is part of the fire that feeds this project. Check out the latest installment, and subscribe for fresh updates!