John A. Pérez is the first openly gay Speaker of the California Assembly. Representing Maywood, Vernon, Huntington Park as well as the communities of Boyle Heights, Downtown Los Angeles, unincorporated East Los Angeles and parts of South Los Angeles, Pérez grew up in El Sereno and Highland Park and became active in the labor movement while in school at UC Berkeley. Below, the Speaker tells us more about himself.
Q. What is the last habit you tried to kick?
A. I don’t know that I’ve had a habit I’ve tried to kick. I think you have to revel in your habits.
Q. Who was your childhood hero?
A. Underdog.
Q. What do you consider to be the greatest simple pleasure?
A. A night at the Hollywood Bowl in the summer.
Q. What do you do to clear your mind?
A. I try to take drives along the coast to be near water.
Q. What do you wish you had the nerve to do?
A. I don’t think I should say that.
Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. Sade.
Q. What is your favorite word?
A. Bird. Bird, bird, bird, bird is the word.
Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?
A. The word journey to me is more personal, and less a question of where do you go physically.
Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?
A. I never have known which profession I’d want to practice next, and that hasn’t changed.
Q. What teacher or professor changed your life?
A. There were several…my ninth grade English teacher, my history teacher who challenged me to do difficult research, and Ken Jowitt, a professor of comparative politics. And then there was the greatest professor of all who I only got to spend one evening with – Paolo Freire. We sat and talked about The Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Q. Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a Saturday?
A. Any one of a million community events.
Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for dinner?
A. My mother.
To read more about Pérez’s talk, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.