What do you think?
Rate this book
East Side Stories: Gang Life in East L.A.
In his interview, Luis Rodríguez explains that the demonization and false glorification of gang life has done much disservice to the termination of gang activity, activity which he defines as "90% boredom." What's the key to reducing gang violence and improving inner-city lives? To the dissolution of jail time as a right of passage? Part of the solution lies in providing better education, in teachers able to tap into and help direct the overlooked creativity of inner-city communities. A great responsibility lies, as well, in a national understanding and support for communities bound by poverty, and in encouraging people to work together to help people work for themselves.
192 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1998
34 people are currently reading
598 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 17, 2012
Lexile: N/a
Genre: Photojournalism
Age: Middle and above
characters: various young men and families from East L.A. and south central
Setting: East L.A. and South Central
POV: From the photojournalist and from the individuals photographed
East Side Stories is a photobook filled with photography, essays, and interviews. It is split 50/50 between text and photography. The photographer, Joseph Rodriguez, spent 1992-1995 documenting and hanging out with the people of East L.A. and South Central neighborhoods of Los Angeles. He formed relationships with their families and was often present at family gatherings and parties. Photos feature backyard cook outs, gang kick backs, portraits of children of the neighborhood, and interviews with many of the teens who were photographed. The interviews reveal insight into why these young men and women gravitated towards gang life, the poverty and neglect in their neighborhoods, and a yearning to belong to something greater than themselves. Included is an essay by Ruben Martinez, who interweaves the personal testimonies of these individuals with the history of Mexican-American gangs. In addition, there is an interview with Luis Rodriguez, who is the author of Always Running: Mi Vida Loca.
Personal reaction & why I recommend it, & main ideas: I gravitate towards this book because as you read the chilling stories of the ways these men were initiated into the gangs, the close calls they've had with death, and their experiences with school, you are provided with candid visual representation of who is telling the story through the photography by Joseph Rodriguez. The photographs speak for themselves, but are complimented by the text. I like this book because many of the subjects of the photographs range from middle school to young adult, and there is so much room and opportunity for exploring their stories and making connections to life in Chicago. Even though gang culture in East L.A. is different from Chicago's gang culture and dynamics, the experiences are similar, and the fact that young people witness heavy events such as those depicted in this book speaks to the idea that we must be acknowledging this in the classroom. I would really like to do a project where I would have students pick a photograph that they like and write about it to someone they are imagining cannot see it, or writing to the actual subject in the photograph, similar to a letter. There's so many writing projects that could be done with this book.
Genre: Photojournalism
Age: Middle and above
characters: various young men and families from East L.A. and south central
Setting: East L.A. and South Central
POV: From the photojournalist and from the individuals photographed
East Side Stories is a photobook filled with photography, essays, and interviews. It is split 50/50 between text and photography. The photographer, Joseph Rodriguez, spent 1992-1995 documenting and hanging out with the people of East L.A. and South Central neighborhoods of Los Angeles. He formed relationships with their families and was often present at family gatherings and parties. Photos feature backyard cook outs, gang kick backs, portraits of children of the neighborhood, and interviews with many of the teens who were photographed. The interviews reveal insight into why these young men and women gravitated towards gang life, the poverty and neglect in their neighborhoods, and a yearning to belong to something greater than themselves. Included is an essay by Ruben Martinez, who interweaves the personal testimonies of these individuals with the history of Mexican-American gangs. In addition, there is an interview with Luis Rodriguez, who is the author of Always Running: Mi Vida Loca.
Personal reaction & why I recommend it, & main ideas: I gravitate towards this book because as you read the chilling stories of the ways these men were initiated into the gangs, the close calls they've had with death, and their experiences with school, you are provided with candid visual representation of who is telling the story through the photography by Joseph Rodriguez. The photographs speak for themselves, but are complimented by the text. I like this book because many of the subjects of the photographs range from middle school to young adult, and there is so much room and opportunity for exploring their stories and making connections to life in Chicago. Even though gang culture in East L.A. is different from Chicago's gang culture and dynamics, the experiences are similar, and the fact that young people witness heavy events such as those depicted in this book speaks to the idea that we must be acknowledging this in the classroom. I would really like to do a project where I would have students pick a photograph that they like and write about it to someone they are imagining cannot see it, or writing to the actual subject in the photograph, similar to a letter. There's so many writing projects that could be done with this book.
Read
September 9, 2008Photojournalism at it's finest.
June 11, 2009
A different and intriguing perspective on gangs told in essays, diary, and photography. While I think the authors were a bit too quick to paint society as the perpetrator of gangs and the overemphasize the prevalence of "misunderstood" gangsters, I did appreciate the stories that took a look at the family perspective. I see a lot of the same traits mirrored in some of my own students, who come from similar backgrounds. The more I get to know about them, the more I want to help them out - which was actually a guiding factor in why the authors wanted to publish this book.
September 25, 2007
Photobook in beautiful black & white. Interesting interview with Luis Rodriguez, author of "Always Running."
February 22, 2008
The stories and the photographs paint a vivid and heartbreaking picture of gang life.
March 2, 2008
A beautiful and stark portrait of life in East L.A.'s gangs.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews