Hood Heroes - episode 11: Lex Garcia, and writing as a way of life
“At the core, I am a writer. But I am also a Chilleur ! ” It was with these humorous words that our conversation with Lex Garcia began. Real name Alexander de Gracia, this millennial from Montreal is now a screenwriter and one of the new figures in small screen writing. Of Panamanian origin, Lex tells La Converse about his journey full of unique experiences and his feeling of belonging to the east of the city.
Through her story, Lex has a message of hope for the youth of the city's neighborhoods.
Montrealers par excellence
With a huge smile and a bit of shyness at first, Lex moved into the La Converse studios. “When people ask me who I am and how I would describe myself, what always comes up is that I am from Panama and I am from East ” Lex starts smiling. Describing himself as a “street lover”, the Canadian-Panamanian feels that he has “hung out everywhere with everyone” . ” Me gusta la calle (I like the street, editor's note), I like going out, I like parties, I like events, etc.” he lists.
Like anyone else, Lex feels that he has a fairly ordinary background. “I moved a lot, I went to several schools. I quickly understood how the academic system worked here: I knew what to do to avoid problems, I knew what to say to get my professors to leave me alone,” he said.
A few years ago, when he started studying psychology, Lex questioned himself. Writing has always been there, in parallel, but he doesn't know how to integrate it into his identity. He therefore finds himself, after a series of fortuitous events, “making the right jokes at the right time in front of the right people.” He recounts his reaction when one of his projects was taken into consideration by VICE Media: “I was waiting for the bus in Rivière-des-Prairies (Editor's note), and I received a call from an unknown number. My first instinct: don't answer, block the number. The guys from Hood, we're panicking, he describes with a laugh. Then, the same number called me back immediately afterwards. As I answered, I knew that he was a guy who worked for VICE and that he was interested in one of my Pitchs ”, he recalls, his eyes full of stars, as if he were reliving that moment.
“I am a man of the people”
“I don't have a particular attachment to a single neighborhood, but I must admit that I have a lot of affection for Villeray. Villeray is a Mecca for Latinos in Montreal,” he began by evoking his attachment to his culture of origin. “The Panamanian community in Montreal is very small. We all know each other, and we can recognize each other by our accent when speaking Spanish with other Spanish speakers.”
In Villeray, there is a large Latin American community. Lex talks about it a lot when it comes to talking about his sense of belonging to Latin American culture. “I learned to dance the Salsa And the Bachata* with Salvadorans; I spent so much time in Colombian evenings and ate the best food in the Peruvian community! Besides, Shout Out to Peruvian food. Best food in the world! ” he takes the time to say. For Lex, it is these contributions that, one by one, build Latin American culture in Montreal.
He also remembers the time when he hung out in the streets of the East of the island. “The best Latino businesses are in Villeray,” he says. My parents used to rent movie cassettes at a market that sold them under the table in Spanish, and that's how I didn't lose my native language,” he said in a childish tone.
” La Lucha ”, or the fight
Although his career is full of small adventures, the author remains aware that it is difficult to succeed — in all areas of course, but especially in those that we are passionate about and that seem to be impossible to reach.
“Who says work, says effort; and who says effort, says failure, possibly”: this is how the screenwriter presents his vision of the world to us. He continues: “I started out in music. I was very motivated and worked hard. Today, I admit, I was not very good”, he confides after a shy laugh.
Being lost is part of the process, he explains. “There is a struggle — La Lucha, in Spanish — in everything. But the important thing is to keep going. Where there is failure, there is also an opportunity to reinvent yourself,” he declares, determined.
On a more personal note, he admits, “I hate to write, but I hate not to write even more.” Lex has been writing since he was 13. In more difficult times in her life and as a teenager, writing allowed her to fight against her problems. “In writing, I often talk about dramatic comedy. The best drama is always humorous, he says. It's kind of like that, the spirit of life. Some moments are a bit more complicated than others. But the important thing is to learn from these episodes. That is also the spirit of art.”
What is also important for Lex is being resilient and flexible. “There is nothing in life that is a L (a loss, editor's note) or a Fumble (a missed opportunity, editor's note). After this failure, how can I succeed? This is the question you have to ask yourself in difficult times,” he said.
It takes a community to raise a young person
On the subject of the difficulties that neighborhood adolescents face in Montreal, Lex Garcia reiterates the importance of the community and its great benefits in the life of a young person.
“What it takes is a community to raise a young person. It's an ability not to isolate ourselves, and that starts with ourselves. It doesn't even start with the child in question,” he starts calmly.
“What shapes a child's life is not just their family or loved ones. It's all he sees, everything around him. It's the man at the convenience store who makes sure he's not in the process of Foxer (Editor's note: do not go to his classes). It is also the oldest in the neighborhood who should keep an eye on him and the others who are younger,” he lists.
There is also the concept of “community empowerment” referred to in Hood Hero. “Young people need to feel safe and comfortable at home, close to their bearings. Violence takes many forms. Children who commit crimes are not criminals. To define a person by the sum of their misdeeds is to make them one-dimensional. But a person is multi-faceted — and it's even more complex among young people.”
“When you see young people who have Butt (firearms, editor's note) on them or who Zak (Editor's note) cars, for example, we have to ask ourselves a question: where are our shortcomings as a community? It should be borne in mind that the actions of some reflect the shortcomings of others. She is There the conversation with young people”, he declares.
A community problem
Lex believes that these community shortcomings are found very early on in the supervision of young people. “At school, if you are not good academically or in sports, nothing will be offered to you. It is Wack (disappointing, editor's note). I was lucky: I started working at 12; I got busy early.”
There is also a huge problem of the abandonment of these young people, who are — or are becoming — in difficulty. “We don't keep all young people busy. We only employ those who can be productive, those who do arts or sports. We leave others behind. But you have to take care of all young people, regardless of what they like or don't like.”
In fact, Lex writes a lot about isolation. “The individual is a part of the community. When it is weak, the whole community does badly. I think that we need to take care of those who isolate themselves, and it is even more important and necessary to do it with young people. Adolescents who isolate themselves are still in full development. Their brains are growing, and the decisions they make are important for their development. We need to take care of our young people,” explains the former psychology student.
Her way of supporting her community is by writing about them. “Nobody asked me to write about them. But my way of giving is to devote my time to this reality and to report on what I see in my art,” he explains. It is also about becoming a positive example for the youngest, for those around you or who see it from a distance. Lex believes that helping those who helped him “also means giving back.”
“I write for everyone. But above all, I am entering into a dialogue with my community. Maybe I don't always succeed, but at least I try,” concludes Lex Garcia.
*The Salsa And the Bachata are Latin American dances.