Raised in the Projects in Brooklyn, Silva-Paulus wants to expose
the realities of the false narratives people are fed.
“Looking back on my experiences in the Projects, there’s a
difference of realities between living there and people thinking what it’s like
to live there,” Silva-Paulus said.
Silva-Paulus is inclined to find and tell stories similar
and dissimilar to his own childhood and coming-of-age journey. He said he feels lucky
to be in a time where people are more accepting and are more willing to listen
to the “other.”
Growing up in a single mom household with an older brother,
Silva-Paulus witnessed crimes and school fights nearly ever week. Besides
getting his cell phone stolen once, Silva-Paulus never experienced the
hardships people assume to happen in the Projects.
“I was very sheltered growing up, and I rarely left my
house, unless I was going to school,” Silva-Paulus said.
Now a sophomore at Rutgers University, Silva-Paulus majors
in journalism, writes political articles for The Daily Targum, and works at RUTV.
Currently, he works in the master control department at RUTV,
but he said he hopes to be transferred into production, where he can get the hands-on
experience needed for a documentarian.
“Right now, I just make sure the programs that air run
smoothly and on schedule. It’s definitely not want I want to be doing, but I
want to move to the production department by the fall semester to actually make
the videos that air,” Silva-Paulus said.
Besides studying journalism, Silva-Paulus also majors in
computer science because he loves playing video games, thanks to his mom.
“My mom was so weary when my brother and I were growing up, that
she would buy video games for us as a bribe so that we would stay inside, but
we ended up falling in love with them, and we still make her buy us some today
even though we’re no longer in the Projects,” Silva-Paulus said.
Silva-Paulus explains that his desire to play video games
and tell underrepresented stories originate from his heritage, sexuality, and
not-so-picturesque childhood. Silva-Paulus is a first generation, gay American,
who lived in a poverty-stricken neighborhood for the majority of his youth.
“My mom, who is very religious, is originally from the
Dominican Republic, and raised us in Brooklyn until we moved to North Bergen
when I was 13,” he said.
Silva-Paulus came out of the closet at 14, but didn’t tell
his mom until he was 16, in fear of her backlash of her strict Catholic
beliefs. Despite all of this, Silva-Paulus’s mom accepted him and his sexual
orientation, even though she had tried to change him at first.
“She saw my brother play football in high school and
insisted that I join the team and become friends with ‘strong, manly men.’ But,
she learned fast that I hated football and that you can’t change who you are
and how you feel,” he said.
Born in Manhattan, Silva-Paulus lives in North Bergen, N.J.,
with his mom and older brother.
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