assignment 8

my first interview was with my cousins boyfriend, who is also a chicago police officer. i emailed her the questions and asked her to have him write a response, since i didnt have his email address;

me:
the path that you took towards success (to become a cop)

moments where you may have felt discouraged or unsupported and how you overcame the challenges

nick:
the path i took as going to school was getting an associate degree in criminal justice, and the reason i became a cop was more of an influnce bc living in a bad neighborhood(18th st) and i guess seeing all the gang bangers scared of the police made me want to become a cop plus the police in the neighbor hood were always nice to me. i was always supported but i guess i felt discouraged when i first started working on the street and was shot at but i overcame that by realizing that its part of the job and im working in a bad neighborhood by choice.


my second interview was with my mma coach. his name is roberto ramirez and has been doing mma for over 15 years and has been a coach for almost four. i asked his the same questions that i asked nick. this is what he told me:

well even though i never made it to the top of the top, i did have some success. i mean, i won some fights and lost a few fights. but thats life. some people wouldnt see that as successful, but i do. ive been doing this (mma) for almost 20 years and have never had any major injuries and can still spell my name. so in my eyes, thats successful....as far as how i got here, dedication. you have to be dedicated to train, dedicated to the lifestyle, and ready for anything. i started off learning jeetkunedo in about '92 and then started brazillion jui-jitsu in about '94. i became an instructor in jeetkunedo in '99 and eventually started the chicago fight team later on that year.