Claudia
My family moved here in 2005, when I was going into sixth grade. My family moved away in 2011, but my dad kept his house here in North Chicago, so I still went to North Chicago High School, and graduated in 2012.
After that, I went off to college. Minot State University in North Dakota, 17 hours away from here. That was an experience on its own…different from Illinois, for sure. I graduated Minot State in 2017. I worked for the Native American government for two years, then moved back here in 2019.
At first, I lived with my mom in Gurnee. They still had this house in North Chicago… so I got my big girl job, moved into my dad's house and I was renting from him. That was in 2019. I just thought it was going to be temporary. You know, it’s my dad's house.
I started doing a little remodeling to the house, so I thought; “You know what? I'm just gonna buy it off of him.” So I did. I bought my childhood house in North Chicago, and I've lived there since then.
I did it for the kids. I have three Siberian Huskies and one chocolate lab. Four dogs. There was already a fence up, they had grown accustomed to the back yard, and I wanted them to have room to roam.
After being away, and thinking that your accommodations were temporary, did you have any reservations about putting down roots as a home owner?
I know people will still talk bad about North Chicago, but I never had any terrible experiences here. I had a little bit of hesitation, just because I wanted to get out of my bubble. I thought, “Why don't I try the city? Why don't I try somewhere else, you know, away from the family?” But I actually really enjoy being here. I like driving by my high school for some reason. I like the little community events. I just went to the Christmas tree lighting. I spent so much time away that it just felt so comfortable to come back. It wasn't that I was homesick or that I don't belong here anymore. It was a good feeling, almost like I never left.
When I went to Minot State, I was actually one of three Hispanic people in that school. It was just very different. It was mostly Canadian, and people from North Dakota going to school there. Very different for me, coming from a place like Waukegan, North Chicago, Gurnee– where it's very mixed. So, it was very comfortable to come back here. It's a little bit of me feeling a little bit safe, and like I belong.
I recently got engaged, and my partner is actually looking to move here from Spokane, Washington in a year or so. She's in med school, and looking to enter a residency program over in Cook County. She's connected with a couple people with the med school here in North Chicago, and trying to do a kind of mini med school for the community here. She definitely wants to give back in any way that she can.
When I say “This Is North Chicago,” what comes to mind?
Memories. We actually moved onto Wallace [Avenue] when we first moved here. My dad sold that house, and he moved to Greenfield [Avenue], and that's the house I'm at now. I think about that short move, I think about walking to the high school, I think about soccer practice. I think about the football games.
It's a small and tight-knit place. My neighbor is very friendly and she's lived there for years. Super nice lady, and she remembers me being young. I think it's a very small place where we have such a big opportunity to be even closer and actually know each other by name. I don't think you get that chance in other places.
We need to hear the voices and the experiences from here. Facebook will give you just what they want you to see. Whatever the news is that people are publishing about North Chicago, it's only 20 percent. You don't know the rest of North Chicago. You don't know their experiences, and you don't know the community.
Do you have a secret talent?
I have many little secret talents.
I’m working on miniature sculptures with polymer clay. Tiny food. So, a bowl of soup this small. You bake it in the oven for like 15 minutes to make it solid. Actually, I just made my fiancée a mini ramen bowl.
I have the most random things that I get into. The last thing I did was put up drywall. I did my flooring, and put up my fence over the summer. I started making candles last year, and bars of soap. I feel like I need to do something if I can't be outside with my dogs, or working on my garden. I have to keep my hands busy. I have talents from YouTube. That's what my talents come from.
You mentioned that despite your efforts with that fence and because of your dogs, you have developed a bit of a reputation.
It's only one dog. It's Shiloh. This is a regular occurrence that Shiloh gets out to explore. She's the escape artist and if she makes a hole big enough, the others will follow. Sadie is the oldest. Then it's Shiloh. And then Saint. Those are the three Huskies. And then Khaleesi is the lab.
Shiloh, the middle child, she digs holes. She'll jump fences.
She ended up on Sheridan Road, in Waukegan. Someone scooped her up. Their neighbors saw my posts on Facebook and they saw that it was my dog. They asked their neighbor, “Is that your dog?” And they're like, “Yeah, we just found her.” They told me to go get her, I knocked on the door… they’d bathed her and everything. She had a new leash on. I'm so sorry, but this is my dog. They did not seem happy. They were ready to keep her.
And she's put me in some sketchy places. She recently snuck into the Navy base. I don't know how she did that. The Navy police are calling me, she has a collar, and they're like, “You have to come get your dog.” She snuck in. I had to come all the way from Chicago, and I had military police at my door: “Is this your dog?!”
That girl just gets me in so much trouble.
I have a neighbor who has parties often, so they kind of just have a party table set out on their property. One day they they forgot to clean up and found my dog standing on the table eating their food. So yeah, they know her pretty well.
Shiloh is somewhat fearless, but what are you most afraid of?
In life or just irrational fears? I used to have sparkalaphobia. It’s an actual fear. It's the fear of glitter.
I got over that fear in college because the sorority I belonged to liked glitter– everything you got was covered in glitter– but when I was in preschool… I was so tiny. I'm small now, but I was super tiny. Like, baby-size. These kids had this glitter, and I don't know why they thought it'd be better to put it in my pants. You're crying, you're a tiny kid, you get sweaty. Everything sticks to you. And you're already naturally sticky… so that’s where that fear came from.
Everybody has a story. Everyone has overcome something.
Yes. Sparkalaphobia.
Samples of Claudia’s tiny foods, featuring a one-inch burrito and bowl of soup, made from polymer clay. Photo courtesy of Claudia.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.