Heroes/Villains

Pictured on this page is an easygoing, dream striving teenager that has much potential. With him, you see what you get, and then some. For the past few years, he has been the only child within the home. However; he is one of thirteen children brothers and sisters. Out of them all, he is the baby. He has dreams just like any other person in the world and is living life day by day in order to make his dreams come true.

This is Jeriel Brown (Jei for short).

Jei grew up in the Chicago Public School System leading up to the beginning of high school back in the year 2015. This is the year that sparked the new beginning to the next chapter of Jei’s life. He started off just like any other freshman; searching for what they want to make themselves known for or, what career path to pursue rather. As stated in the interview, Jei has always expressed a passion for photography as well as the concept of art overall. He has always had a great aptitude with the functionality of a camera. Since the high school that Jei attended provided much more advanced equipment, he fell in love with the concept of photography so much more. This is what jei wanted to be defined as, and this was how he would be defined as all throughout high school.

Moving on through the years, Jei gained popularity and made his statement more and more prominent throughout his high school career. Developing friends made him more expressive with his work and more imaginative with the things that he knew that he would be capable of accomplishing. Ideas became more abstract and rather “outside the box” which made him more and more creative, trying to out-do his prior projects from before.

Like all things that one has a passion for in life, there is always something to make you enjoy it less or run it for you. In Jei’s case, it is a course that he took his senior year of high school called “AP Studio Art.” This class was divided in two sections, those who focus on painting, and those who focus on photography. This class decreased Jei’s passion for photography because of the structure. He was used to creating whatever he wanted, whenever he wished to create it. He took his time to make sure it all came out perfect and just to his liking. This class enforced due dates, topics that relate to a specific subject, and overall, just added pressure to his work. This made him look forward to creating art a lot less and ultimately weakened his passion for the career. Towards the end of the semester he rushed several of the assignments and did not enjoy developing them as much as he once did before taking the class.

This drifted Jei’s focus from the art of photography, to physical training. He noticed some of the others in our friend group get into lifting and maintaining a gym lifestyle and that caught his attention. He began going to the gym on a steady basis and even learned several benefits and tips in which he passed on down to me. From this point on he made going to the gym a habit and accustomed himself to making enough time in the day for it. Although it may seem as though he started this new lifestyle because of friends, he also did it for himself. We all go to the gym for a reason, and his reason was to tone down and define his muscles. Weight was never an issue for him because of the wonderful magic of puberty that dispersed it all throughout his height. He simply saw an opportunity for improvement and jumped right on it.

Aside from Jei’s prior hobbies and habits, he also went into detail about the things that make him content in his day-to-day life. He enjoys seeing his friends happy with their lives and it makes him even more content when he is the one who caused his friends to be happy. He was then asked, “Does this come with much sacrifice?” He mentioned that there does in fact tend to be much sacrifices like getting up early to drive someone somewhere or even having to say no to plans because he wants to accommodate for another friend. These including other sacrifices made is what Jei does to make himself happy, while making his other friends happy. Many feel that this is the reason that Jei has so many friends. He is just that much of a likeable person. All throughout high school, Jei has gathered friends across all grade levels. He rubs off on everyone just the right was that make them want to have him apart of their lives. Jei playing an important role in the high school’s symphonic band, he was looked up to by several underclassmen for about two years and he never seemed careless or ignored them. He treated everyone of all ages, shapes, sizes, and backgrounds equal. He also gained a bit of “clout” joining the baseball team during his sophomore year and did the musical his senior year. Doing all of these activities for sure put Jei’s name out there and made a staple on the school. In fact, he got so popular that he was voted most artistic male and him and I were voted male best friends. It is safe to say that Jei made a lasting impression on the school and its students because of his fully accepting personality.

Following this topic, I decided to act on the contrary and ask Jei about anything that brings any sort of discontent into his life; whether it be from family, a friend, or himself. His response was rather consistent and vague throughout. Essentially, it all comes back to the way the people around him feel. For instance, many of these cases occur over social media. Social media is a fairly large platform in which people interact through several different apps and accounts. Jei says how on some social media platforms, people tend to be a lot more open minded and start arguments amongst each other. What makes him discontent and hurt is when two of his good friends argue over something and he is expected to choose a side. Jei likes peace and happiness between all of his friends because it creates a good environment for everyone everywhere, at any time. Jei’s perspective does shine a light on the fact that what you do and say does have an effect on those around you including your friends and family. One must take into account that what they say to a person may also have a similar affect on somebody they are close to. Overall, Jei’s life is determined by the lives around him. He wants everyone and everything to be happy and well even if it means him sacrificing something on his end to make that happen. He is truly a considerate and loyal friend to have.

In the end, it is clear to see that Jei is just an ordinary, easy going guy with a big heart. Unlike most, his mask doesn’t cover much. He hides close to nothing and what you see on social media, is what you get in real life. An artistic and creative guy that you can see yourself spending an entire day with and still not getting bored. He seems to be the definition of an open book and invites anyone to come and leave a note inside.