“I’m 27 years old, originally from Mankato, Minnesota. Lived in LA for 2 years now. I am finishing my PhD at the University of California, San Diego. And I’m here on the AIDS Walk.

Well, I did it last year. It was a lot of fun. In sociology, we call these events – they produce collective effervescence, which is that feeling of being around people who share similar passions, I guess. And that, here, is to contribute for finding a cure for AIDS and funding AIDS research and services, so I just wanted to be a part of that.

So I was interested in sociology because I’ve always been interested in social change. I’ve always felt that the kind of status quo that we live in does not need to be the way that it is. And that there is a chance to change it. To change it, you need to know what you’re dealing with. So I think sociology provides that kind of critical lens.

So I think you create change by uniting people, and uniting people through civic ideals. ‘Cause we’re already related through, you know, marketing as individual consumers. We’re related under our government in terms of our individual vote, but we really have to get together and create social movements – and that’s how I think social changes happen.

I have been part of a lot of the mobilization around public education. I’ve been part of a number of protests organized largely in San Diego, where I was for 4 years. With the austerity measures that have been cutting funds to public education, you know, I and a number of other individuals thought we had to respond. So I have been part of a lot of protest movements in and around public education and public services. I think if there was not any opposition to austerity measures, which is where you cut public budgets, we would see even more cuts. So yes, we are still seeing cuts, but I think it would be a lot worse if citizens weren’t mobilized, demanding these as public goods.

Absolutely. So I took a post-secondary class in high school. It was a social problems class at the local state college. And the professor was really amazing in taking what seemed to be everyday problems and showing how they’re not a result of individuals and really a part of how society is structured. It was that idea of the sociological imagination that really inspired me to continue to go into sociology.

What inspires me now? Really, events like this, where I see people getting together for social purposes. And it’s really the passion of other people that really inspires me. Because I see people putting in countless hours organizing events like this, organizing protests for public goods. And it’s those people who put in, day in and day out, that really inspire me to continue doing what I do.”

Excerpt may be edited for clarity.