Chuckie

Chuckie

September 2005

I met Augustini a year and a half ago when he was introduced to me as “Chuckie”.  I did not even know his real name was Augustini until about a year later, and that he did not particularly like the nickname Chuckie, but accepted it.  Chuckie is a Mexican immigrant who has been in the U.S. for about five years.  He works anywhere from 66 to 72(+) hours a week in the kitchen of a New Brunswick restaurant and receives meager wages for his labor.  He shares a one room apartment with his friend, which contains no kitchen and has a communal bathroom with other one room renters in the building.  These tight quarters lie about fifty feet from the New Brunswick rail line where the sound of the regularly passing trains is more than clear.  The neighborhood is dominantly working class, Latino families and in the short time I was visiting Chuckie at his home I witnessed another daily hardship in his life.  When we walked out of his house he was loudly insulted with homophobic slurs by a handful of younger neighborhood girls.  For about as long as I did not know Chuckie’s real first name, I also did not know that he was gay.  He is a shy person and after experiencing his daily life I understand why that probably is.  In opposition to the adversity he endures though, Chuckie is an extremely upbeat and friendly person.  The little time he has to himself is vital.  That time is spent with a community that is going through many of the same difficulties as him and the strong bonds between them gives the impression of family.