Sirena Di Diana (22)

Using one word, what comes to mind when you hear “Little Village”?
Home and loud

Childhood in Little Village
Growing up Italian and Mexican, growing up looking different than others and not knowing Spanish.
Going to Zapata with the same kids for years
Going down the block to friends houses
Walking to the eloteros and paleteros selling food
Parents telling you gunshot noises were fireworks.
Being excited for the carnival for Mexican Independence day on 26th and Kostner, getting distracted in school when carnival rides were being put up
Corner stores all over the neighborhood, Zavala’s, Adelina’s La Betania
Fighting with kids from Corkery Elementary School, always having competition with them and then ultimately becoming friends with them.
Climbing on top of the Zapata Branch and getting a look of the whole neighborhood.
Young Adult
Joining the swim team and Model UN in high school and representing Little Village High School.
Always wondered what it was like going to another high school and branching out further than Little Village High School
Going to Saint Xavier for college, feeling a little weird living over there for school and missing home, but “I wanted to be one of those kids that made it out.”
“You're from a neighborhood where sometimes people think you're not gonna make it out, but you did.”
Someone got shot in front of her house, a kid jumped over the gate of her house and hid behind the bushes and her mom tried to stop the bleeding while she called the police.
Adult
Started to embrace more of her Latino side because she is Italian and Mexican.
Started becoming more aware with how people think about us in the neighborhood
Someone from a networking event said to me after saying I was from Little Village “Oh wow, you speak so good for being from that neighborhood”.
You either get the excitement or the gasp when you tell people where you're from.
Change in Little Village?
More programs for kids and teenagers in the neighborhood
Focus on the positives instead of the negatives of Little Village