All Sudhir Venkatesh, a first year grad student, hoped was to impress his professors with his project about urban poverty survey. But he never imagined to befriend JT, the gang leader to the Black Kings.
In the beginning, Sudhir thinks he could just walk into one of Chicago’s most notorious housing projects and start asking questions. He was actually held hostage for 24 hours because the gang members thought he was from a rival gang. When they decided it was safe to let him go, they told him his questions won’t get him anywhere and what he needs is to see their lives from the inside out. Sudhir spent 7 years with the gang learning how they operated their crack-selling business. It’s also the story of a complicated friendship between Sudhir and JT, who are a universe apart. Do you think if you had a relationship like Sudhir and JT, would it last? Why or why not?
If I had a relationship with Sudhir and JT, I don’t think it would last. I do not like getting in trouble, and being their friend, I feel that I would constantly be running into trouble. With having a crack-selling business, you would always have to cover your tracks. With me always forgetting things, I would probably screw something up and screw up the whole business. The book sounds really good and I hope to read it someday!
ReplyDeleteIf I were in a relationship like Sudhir’s and JT’s I don’t think it would last. Being so different from each other especially having different views, values, and lifestyles, I feel this relationship would become very difficult over time. I especially wouldn’t agree with their business and would feel I would have to inform someone about their acts. Being a “universe apart” with so many different traits I would not be able to last in a relationship like Sudhir and JT’s.
ReplyDeleteIf I have a relationship like Sudhir and JT, I believe it would last. In a friendship, there has to be ups and downs for both to experience and see what you’re like in those situations. Through those experiences, you learn more about each other. That’s the kind of situation that Sudhir and JT face. They can learn to appreciate their differences and see the good of each other through the complicated problems they encounter or judge from the outside perspective. Sudhir shows that with a totally different lifestyle he is willing to take that risk to understand the daily life of JT. Growing together through the experiences of bad and good of each other’s life is what makes a friendship stronger and that is the reason why I believe I can last in a relationship like Sudhir and JT.
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