Interview on Beliefs
Seminar Fake
Mattie Di Giovanni on Antonella Cruzalegui
Returning
I met with Antonella in the University Center cafeteria on a Friday morning since neither of us had class. We talked during a down time so it wasn’t really loud and we talked over some smoothies. We talked for a little bit before starting the interview. She shared her beliefs of returns to me, what you do comes back to you. She is from Peru and moved here for college and is studying fashion design. The interview was condensed for clarity.
Mattie DiGiovanni: So, what factors do you base your belief system off of?
Antonella Cruzalegui: Well, I’m not a religious person, But I believe that you should do good things to get good things.
MD: Like karma?
AC: Not necessarily
MD:What do you do to strengthen this belief of ‘do good things get good things’?
AC: I just try to not be mean.
MD: Do you do anything like charity work? Or what do you do that is ‘nice’?
AC: Well my idea is to be nice to people, not being rude – that kind of thing. When I was in Peru I would do charity work there. We would go to places that were affected by the earthquake a long time ago and build houses for those who did not have homes.
MD: Have you seen a return of good things in your life for being nice and doing good things?
AC: Not really
MD: How do you support this belief then?
AC: I still have luck I believe. Even if I have a rushed day I can still get to class on time, just small things that are good returns.
MD: So do you believe the inverse then? That if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you?
AC: It’s like karma but I don’t believe it is karma. I just don’t prefer to do bad things. It does bring bad things, and a bad aura.
MD: So how long have you had this belief for?
AC: I was born into a christian family and they have a belief of the ten commandments, and some of them are don’t do bad or do good, and I took some of those things to believe but not all of them. Like the fact that you cannot say God.
MD: Do you still believe in Christianity then? Or do you only practice it with your family?
AC: No, my family believes it, I mean my father and my brother do not believe it that strongly. My father maybe a little bit, but my mother believes it very strongly.
MD: Do you think you see the “good karma” or return in your friends lives? Or in people around you where they do something and they get something good in return?
AC: Yes and No. I mean It all depends on the person and their personality. It depends on what kind of vibes they attract. Like what kind of things they do to deserve good things. I haven’t really ever thought about what I believe in.
MD: well do you have a strong distinction between what is right and wrong? Do you ever see something and think it’s wrong, like when someone is rude to a waitress.
AC: Yeah, like the other day I was outside my dorm Stuy, and it was late and this dude he comes up to us (my friends and I) and he gives us a bottle of Vodka. But then he goes to the other side of the street and there was a homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk and he takes another bottle he had and pours it in his face. We were all like “What?! That’s so wrong”
MD: okay so he did two wrongs, 1. Morally he shouldnt be giving underaged kids alcohol, and 2. Thats insanely rude to poor anything on the homeless man’s face.
AC: after that he went away and came back 5 minutes later with his friends, like the bottle wasn’t even opened. We just left it there and he was asking us “oh where is it?” all aggressively, so we just walked away.
MD: That’s a weird situation but obviously you can pick out all the wrong stuff he did. When you experience or see a situation like that do you ever think “I hope they get what they deserve”?
AC: yeah totally.
MD: So if there’s a situation that you think is right and someone else thinks is wrong can you see their side?
AC: I just try to think about what I believe in and what I think is okay and stick to that.
MD: so are there any situations where you try and play devil’s advocate? And See both sides to the situation?
AC: I try to see that every time, I mean when it’s small things. When it’s really bad things like the dude who poured alcohol on the homeless man yeah I don’t see it, I just think that’s plain wrong. But when its other kinds of things I try to.
MD: Can you give a situation where you would try and understand both sides.
AC: Mostly with my friends and things they do. I don’t consider them to be exactly right, but I understand why they might do them. Yeah I don’t meddle with their lives.
MD: You also probably have a biased because they are your friends. You know them better than an outsider or a stranger.
AC: Exactly. For example: my friend drank too much, and was smoking pot. She ended up in the hospital and I don’t think she is a bad person for that. I still care about her and everything. But, if I heard a story like that happening with someone else I would probably think poorly if I didn’t know them.
MD: Do you feel like your friends did something wrong if this happens to them
AC: Not in the sense of karma but obviously drinking can be dangerous, it’s not like they did something morally wrong and are being punished.
