Embedded Files
Photo courtesy of Helena Saven (12-4)
Where did your passion for boxing originate?
Back in 2013 my favorite boxer was Manny Pacquiao. How that came to be I do not know. But he was fighting one of the greatest boxers at the time, Floyd Mayweather. I took this fight personally because I wanted Manny Pacquiao to win. It turned out the fight was terrible and a lot of hugging was going on. There was controversy that they gave it to Mayweather to keep his record perfect, even though he might have deserved it. At this time, Mayweather wasn’t a prospect. He had already built his name off of the perfect record and his immaculate defense. That’s where it began, seeing Pacquiao fight, because he’s actually really small but he packs a hell of a punch. Watching my favorite boxers gave me the most passion, like Canelo Alvarez. There’s a lot of Hispanic representation in boxing, especially from Mexican Americans and Puerto Ricans. A lot of the Hispanic community comes together through boxing.
Can you explain what "locker room beef" is and why you do it?
One day we had a friendly boxing match in the locker room and everybody got interested. Despite the name, there’s no actual beef. We always maintain friendliness and respect, and we make sure no one actually gets hurt. We’re not going full power in there. I would say it’s to release some steam, but that seems barbaric. It’s just for fun.
What are you known for?
I love Latinas. I actually do need to address this, because that’s what I’m known for among all the high schoolers. I heard someone say that this is based on my interest in Latinas. While there might be bias, I do think it’s an actual problem. Seriously, the fact that we only have like 4 people of Hispanic heritage in our grade is a problem. We barely have any African Americans. The grades could be more diversified, which you can see more with the underclassmen. Although there is humor to this, it's a social issue. And I don’t think people see that. We have diversity in middle school, but once high school comes around it’s all gone. And I don’t think the new admission system helps. I think it’s terrible, honestly, that if you don’t perform a certain way on one essay you can’t get in. But I like the interview idea.
On that note, how would you handle the high school admissions process if you were in 8th grade?
I would be more unmotivated to go to Masterman because there would be so much more stress. Imagine the stress of having just one essay for the school you wanted to attend. On top of that, it’s not even real people grading the essay. I don’t think that’s good at all. If they’re going to do this whole writing process, there needs to be more opportunities for students to become better writers. Obviously, you have writer workshops, but you need to have specific instances in which students are pretty much forced to write better if this is the requirement. I don’t think the school offers enough writing opportunities to these kids.
If your best friend, Angelo Sali, were to write a song about you, what would the title be?
Angelo would write a rock type of song about me, like Machine Gun Kelly (MGK). I’m not sure what MGK is, I think he’s alt-rock. He’s in a dead genre anyways. But Angelo will write a punk song about me. The title is “Nasty.”
How did you gain the nickname “Nasty Naz?”
There’s an actual rapper named Naz, and that’s his nickname. My pops used to call me Nasty Naz all the time and it just stuck.
As a fellow HOLA member, what is your favorite part of the club?
I don’t think we do enough HOLA stuff. Obviously we look at articles and that’s cool and all. I think it should be more serious but it can’t be considering how many people attend. It would be more serious if we had more Latinos in the school, but the population is so low. I just like the people there; I like to chill with them.
In one of our HOLA meetings, we discussed your rebuttal against the unfounded claim that you had eaten a rat. Would you like to make a public statement regarding the matter?
Yes. I don’t know who wrote that. Someone posted that on MHS Lounge. These claims are FALSE. I did not eat a rat. But I feel like if I make it public, people will think I ate the rat. The only case of a rat ever in the locker room was when one jumped out of Griffin’s book bag. There was no eating of any rats. How would I catch a live mouse and proceed to bite the head off of it in front of multiple people?
Some have speculated as to why you comment on every MHS Lounge post. Why do you?
I comment on every MHS lounge post to make a statement about the Latina population. That’s usually how it goes. I’ll change whatever the MHS lounge post is to pertain to Latinas. If someone says, “There’s a lack of young teachers at Masterman” I would add “there’s also a lack of young Latinas. I think we need to address this.”
Thank you for your activism. Why do you say Latinas instead of, for example, Latinos?
That’s a good one. That’s a good question. Let me think about this. I can’t even defend myself. But when I say Latinas, people shouldn’t take it so literally as to only women of Latin heritage. I gotta give my own personal twist on it. I switch the Latinx to an a. And then we’re good.
Page updated
Report abuse