By Chloe Fatuova
https://cfatuova157.wixsite.com/chloefatuova

Every Sunday I used to shine shoes.

My friend had a couple of dry cleaners and I talked me into buying one. Working. That’s it. I always was working days and nights, and, you know, always always had a job. I used to take $3 out of my pay and give the rest of my money.

I used to enjoy playing. Had to give that up. American Dream is, I don’t know. It’s what you do to make it. That’s what it is. It’s what you do to make it.

Rocco is…

  • 97 years old
  • Male
  • Italian
  • Straight
  • Lower Class
  • Catholic

Author’s Note

My 97-year-old grandfather, Rocco Fatuova’s, story disrupts the typical assumption of the American Dream. The American Dream is a forward thinking concept in which people trust in their futures to get the life they want. They work hard, they support their families, in order to achieve an end comfortability and success. Did my grandfather work hard? Yes. Did he have to support his family? Yes. That was his American Dream. And all he envisioned for himself. He never thought beyond getting by, he never thought about a future with me, a granddaughter, in it.

To him, the American Dream is considered, “bah.”