LISETTE CASTANEDA

I interviewed Lisette Castaneda on October 22, 2008. On that day, I really got to know her. She is Mexican, has medium wavy hair; she is also very down to earth and friendly. Lisette is caring and has a big heart for people who are less fortunate. She is very energetic, and she loves to meet new people. Her favorite interests are reading and writing, and also worshiping the Lord Above. She graduated from Lane Technical High School. Now, she is the president of LSNA.

Lisette started working with social justice issues when she was 16 years of age. She first bceame involved with LSNA while on a council, and as I mentioned before, she is now president of LSNA. Lisette loves her work. She believes that the community views her and her work as very positive. She stated “right now we are making a big push to have supportive housing.” Lisette feels that it is her calling to help out her fellow Hispanic brothers and sisters because not everyone can fight for themselves. She also says “it can be hard when you’re fighting for what’s right because people can view you negatively.” She believes that social justice will benefit us as citizens, to improve society so people can have equal rights. She says it’s a basic right that everyone deserves.

Lisette is very caring and dedicated. She is also a regular person--she has obstacles to face and she has goals. She also has a big imagination. Lisette believes that if she could change anything about society, she would change the way youth are viewed. She says for a long time there was no such thing as a teenager, it was just children or adults, and people didn't  know how to deal with teens. Also, she has goals to what we should do now. One of her goals is to be successful in life. She always wanted to do good for other people, and not just for herself. Life was not that good for Lisette at times either; she had obstacles to overcome in life as well. One of her obstacles was that her parents separated when she was just 11 years of age. Also, her neighborhood wasn’t the prettiest, and her home life was difficult. Lisette believes she is a better person for that.

Lisette has heroes in her life. She defines a hero as someone who goes well beyond themselves. She looks at people like Martin Luther King Jr., and Cesar Chavez as heroes because they fought for rights for everybody.Lisette says that her mom was a hero to her as well because she was always there for her and she was always selfless. What makes Lisette a hero in my eyes is that she goes after what she feels is right, and she doesn’t care what people think of her. Also because she looks up to people who were very powerful, it helped her to overcome big problems and keep moving on with her life. I think a lot of people should look up to her and give her a lot of respect because she is doing things some people are afraid to do.


Written By:Carlita Wyatt