PEOPLE OF RED HOOK, by Lisa Gitlin Where, we talk to anyone.

I’m standing on Columbia Street with my hundred-yard stare that overtakes me when I’m scanning the area for my first interviewee. A woman calls out to me – “Are you okay? You look like you might be lost.” I tell her I’m not lost, I’m a writer for the Red Hook Star Revue and I’m just looking for someone to talk to. She agrees to be that someone. I go up to her and I tell her I’m going to record our conversation. I screw something up on the phone and say, Dammit, Lisa!” The woman says, “Your name is Lisa? So is mine!” Instant connection!

So for the August issue I’ve decided to ask kind of a weird question, but it might produce some interesting comments. The question is, what is your opinion about human nature?

Lisa Lazarini: I think that trust in people doesn’t come easy. It’s got to be earned. But I do believe people are more good than bad.

You’re a positive person.
Yes. I’m happy by nature.

And that’s reflected in your feelings about people in general.
Yes. I always try to see good in people. But when there’s not a good feeling you have to take a few steps back.

What happens when you don’t get a good feeling about someone?
I get a negative vibe. It can happen before I even speak to a person. It awakens the nerves in my body and I go, whoa! It has nothing to do with a color of a person, if they’re female or male – it’s just the vibe that one puts out.

What is most important to you about a person?
Wanting to do good for others, to help others. That’s most important.

Santucci: (no photo)
I think at this time now, everybody’s becoming so angry. I feel like a lot of people are becoming less human, if that makes any sense. Because when you look at all this stuff that’s going on right now, all this disaster, all the violence against each other—I’m forty-three now — it wasn’t like this maybe 20 or 30 years ago.

You’re talking about the eighties and nineties. And you lived in New York?
Yeah. Right here.

hat was also kind of a rough time in New York. But maybe it wasn’t as depressing.
It wasn’t as depressing as now. We’re getting away from being human, because we start going into social media…going into our computers… They’re turning people into robots. We’re becoming detached. It’s getting very hard to have a human relationship. You know, human to human. Like right now I feel so lost, because my phone is broken. I won’t have a phone until Thursday.

Do you in a way feel that it’s good to experience not having a phone? Or do you just not like it?
I don’t like it! But I think human nature is a beautiful thing. I love other humans. We just have to start getting more close to one another.

Alex Mejia:
I think my fellow humans have a good spirit, that they’re generally predisposed to behave well towards one another. But obviously there are negative aspects. It can be easy for people to fall into doing horrible things.

Like what horrible things?
Oh, you know. Murder…stealing…all the big stuff.

But you think that human beings are essentially good.
Yeah. Definitely.

So what about all the crap that’s happening all over the world, what is your feeling about that?
Well, it’s very complex. The power structures are competing over certain resources, and that’s what leads to all this horror.

It seems to me that the people that crave power are the ones that get it. And then they screw things up for the rest of us.
Yes. It’s a wormhole. Once they start down that slide, they keep going. A lot of the people that are doing these things, it’s not their first rodeo.

They get sucked in by the devil, and then they can’t get out!
They lose their principles.

Texas:
I do like people. I got no hate. White, purple, black, Spanish, Haitian…I love you all. We’re all one nation. That’s my belief. I can’t talk for everybody. I can only talk for myself.

But that’s a beautiful belief. Some people will say they don’t trust other people, they’ve had a lot of bad experiences…and that’s kind of sad.
I have had bad experiences, people have done stuff to me. But I don’t put those people into the new set of people in my life.

And the people that did stuff to you, they’re not typical of people in general.
Correct. And I know how to keep a distance. I’ll still show you love, but I’ll show you a different kind of love. I won’t show you brother love.

Are you a church-going man?
Yes I am. And I’ve seen a lot of changes from how I was brought up and raised.

Where were you raised?
I grew up in Dallas, Texas.

Oh, ok. You still have a little bit of Texas in your voice. So how have things changed since you were coming up?
I see a lot of things going on that weren’t allowed when I was coming up. Like all these guys out here with motorcycles, riding around with no helmets, they go by a police officer, and a cop doesn’t chase ‘em. When I was coming up, you had to have a helmet, you had to have insurance, all that stuff. Now, it’s like, it don’t matter.

Why do you think that is?
Society has changed now. I even feel sorry for the young girls over here, not just over here, everywhere. A man will sit next to a girl and say I love you. And they can’t even spell love! They don’t even know what love is. But the women need to open up their eyes too.

So men used to behave more like gentlemen?
Yes. Definitely.

You think younger people today aren’t being taught the same way as before?
I don’t blame the parents. The parents do their jobs, but it’s up to the child to fall behind the parents. But the children don’t do that. They fall behind the parents only to a certain point. When I was coming up, you had to be in the house before dark. If you weren’t in the house before dark you’d get a beating. Nowadays, forget about it!

Also in the old days, we didn’t have all the guns we’re seeing now…
Oh, don’t get me started about the guns. When I had my little fights, my hands were my guns. My feet were my guns. My mouth was my guns.

So is there any hope for people?
Yes. As long as we trust in God, we’ll be okay.

Bonita:
I don’t trust people a lot of the time. I’ve been in relationships, men-wise, but even friend-wise…you trust your friends, and then they say little things… when I had money they were okay, but when I stopped working and didn’t have money, it was a whole different thing. So that means, that whole time when we’ve been friends, you were feeling that way about me.

So you’ve gotten in relationships with people that disappoint you.
Yeah! They do! Now I keep to myself a lot. Because I really don’t have trust in people. Human beings are supposed to love and trust one another, and I have done that, and it’s a bad feeling, when you put your trust in somebody, you give your all to somebody, and they turn around and hurt your feelings. But I still have love for people.

You just keep them at a distance.
Yes I do. I keep my distance from the people I used to be around. When I was working, and bringing money home, they would do little things like give me gifts. Like someone gave me a chain that has “boss bitch” on it. Why would I want something like that?

It was really kind of an insult even though they pretended it was a gift.
Yeah. I’m a grown woman. Why would I want to walk around with a chain that has “bitch” on it? (We both laugh.) Family can be the same way. Like I didn’t hear from one of them for two or three years, and all of a sudden they call me and the first thing they ask for is…

Money!
Money! You don’t call and ask me how I’m doing, because I live by myself…you know, how you doing, Auntie, you need anything? First thing you say is, I need a couple dollars.

Some people are just generous out of the goodness of their heart. Like, you’re a giver, right?
Yes. I give too much.

And we have high standards for people. We expect other people to behave the way we do. And when they don’t, we’re disappointed.
I myself am not a borrower. I don’t like to ask people for anything. I won’t ask for something unless I really need it. Anything I need, I know that God will provide it. I put my trust in Him.

Michael:
I think people are inherently good. But there are a lot of people that I don’t like.