So sometime last week Laura and I had a convo with Chris in the Woodvale park and…Laura does a better job of describing Chris and the conversation in her own blog…soo…copied from Lauras blog (don’t judge me, she just says it better than I ever could!)

“Chris was a 16 year old goth kid we made friends with two years ago. His dad is in the UDA, he was always hanging out in the park when we were there, always critical of everything we did, and for some reason I just really wanted to get to know him. This was the kid who idolized Marilyn Manson but thought the church was one of the scariest things he could think of. I think half of the stuff he said was meant to get a rise out of us, but by the end of the week he was getting into the football tournament we were running at the park and even came into the church on the last night ("You guys really don't act like any of the Christians I know..."). When we look back on the people who really defined our experience, Chris is one of the names that always comes up. On Wednesday, as we walked past the teenager room, Malia grabbed my arm and whispered, "Laura, CHRIS is in there!" Needless to say I was thrilled to see him! He's lost the piercings, gained a few tattoos, and wants to be an actor. We spent most of the day on Thursday hanging out with him and talking more about his life, and it was by far the most interesting conversation I've had since I got here. Even though Chris doesn't want anything to do with the paramilitaries and is actually blacklisted from the UDA and UVF, it is so evident that he was raised with a separatist mentality that strongly borders on hate. He reaffirmed the idea that he would never be able to walk from his house to my house because the Catholics in between "would leave him for dead." When we asked if he would ever support a more integrated Northwest Belfast, he just laughed, "And let 'them' come into our neighborhoods and take our jobs? As long as people like me are around, that will never happen." I couldn't help but wonder what it was he was so protective of... to me, an outsider, not only did everyone look the same ("Oh, but you can tell a Catholic by his jersey/haircut/accent"), but the streets were just as sad in both areas. But the line has been drawn.”

Also, another thing I wanted to mention was that at the park and during the festivities Catholic/Irish music began playing from somewhere! Chris was soo quick to point out the fact that this music was CATHOlic music, and would I have ever noticed if he wouldn’t have brought it to my attention..probably not? And the thing is..no one seemed to notice or care about the music, but he started to get all uptight and I said no one is noticing..and he said “yeah they notice, they are just pretending they don’t”. and then I being the person that I am said “well the children don’t seem to notice a thing” and laura said “yeah that’s how it should be!”…and then me being the woman of many questions..i asked chris “so when does this change?..when do your views change? When do you stop being unaware and naïve? And who helps you create those views?”…he said for him it was his dad…or Da as he would say! “my da would take us outside the house and he would have us carry a stone in our hand, and when we would walk by a Catholic he would tell us to throw it!”

Is it really suppose to be like that?..i mean this isn’t a joke..this is someone’s life..this memory makes up someone’s childhood…and that’s not okay …is it?