DVP Interview: Mike Marino and Luca Badetti

Luca Badetti interviewed Mike Marino for the Disability Visibility Project® at StoryCorps Chicago on May 07, 2015. In this clip, Mike talks to his friend Luca about life in L’Arche, a community for people with and without disabilities.

Text Transcript:

[Instrumental music: harp and piano drawing out slightly discordant but still pleasant repetitive chords]

Luca Badetti: Do you think disability is something good, bad, or neither of those?

Mike Marino: Um, good.

Luca Badetti: It’s something good. Can you tell me more about that?

Mike Marino:  It’s something done that, you don’t need to be afraid to have a disability. That’s the way that God made you. Your disability can’t hurt you. Just don’t let no one pick on you or call you the R-word

Luca Badetti: You were mentioning that you live together with people with and without disabilities, for people that don’t know L’Arche, what is L’Arche?

Mike Marino: Well, um, L’Arche is a place for people with and without disabilities. I’m happy to be in L’Arche with my friends and assistants there.

Luca Badetti: Mmm hmmm… and you all live together?

Mike Marino: And we all live together. We get along with each other.

Luca Badetti: Since L’Arche is a community, what’s community life like?

Mike Marino: Ah, we go to Arts of Life, our studio.

Luca Badetti: Which is your workplace.

Mike Marino: We make comics. And some artists do like painting, drawing and sketching. And every Wednesday, we do yoga. And there’s a band and we have a game coming up for the Special Olympics.

Luca Badetti: What do you play in the band and what’s your role?

Mike Marino: Well, my role is I’m a rapper. I sing Happy and Proud, both a rap. And the reason why I’m a rapper… I just got that rapper’s image from Eminem.

Luca Badetti: Mmm hmmm

Mike Marino: Which I want to meet him so bad and tell him how he gave me the idea to become a rapper.

Luca Badetti: And when you go home back to L’Arche what’s life like there? What happens in the house?

Mike Marino: Well we just chill out. Eat dinner, we pray a lot, that’s the main thing. Pray for like our family, our friends and our loved ones.

Luca Badetti: who cooks?

Mike Marino: On Monday, Monica cooks. On Tuesday, Jean cooks chicken, she loves chicken.

Luca Badetti: What day do you cook?

Mike Marino: I cook, sometimes I cook on Wednesdays. Yesterday we cooked, um, pasta.

Luca Badetti: So you help each other cook?

Mike Marino: Yeah, like, we, well help each other sometimes. I set the table and whoever cooks don’t have to do the dishes.

Luca Badetti: You are a person who really cares about people. You often wonder how your housemates are doing how your friends are doing.

Mike Marino: Yes

Luca Badetti: Would you say that you are a caring person?

Mike Marino: I am a caring person.

Luca Badetti: Do you ever get upset with people?

Mike Marino: Um, sometimes I get upset with Noah when wants to move out. But I know he just wants to be with his girlfriend.

Luca Badetti: When you get upset or somebody is upset, and you live together too, how do you deal with it?

Mike Marino: Well, just talk to that person. Say what’s the matter, how can I help you. And sometimes like they will listen to music to help them calm down or read a book. Or um… just talk to God.

Luca Badetti: If people with disabilities are not happy having a disability, what would you tell them?

Mike Marino: I would just tell them just don’t be afraid.

[Instrumental music: drawn out piano descending note progression that drops into an ascending and descending set of chords that repeats twice, peppy and upbeat]

 

Music Credits:

Music Credits: (“Everybody” by Podington Bear and “Chinatown” by Audiobinger) All songs included under an Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License

Sources: freemusicarchive.org

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Suggested Reference

Disability Visibility Project®. (5/7/15). DVP Interview: Luca Badetti interviewed Mike Marino. Retrieved from: https://disabilityvisibilityproject.com/2017/10/01/dvp-interview-mark-marino-and-luca-badetti/

Image Description:

A photo featuring Mike Marino and Luca Badetti was taken on May 7, 2015:

Close up portrait of two men standing next to each other. The man on the left, Luca, has short dark brown hair, light colored eyes, and is wearing a collared and striped short sleeve shirt that is white, gray and beige with a few chartreuse stripes. Luca appears to be white, is smiling at the camera, and has his arm around Mike’s shoulder. The man on the right, Mike, is wear a light gray duckbill driver’s cap, a bright royal blue T-shirt and a pair of black suspenders. Mike is looking slightly down at the camera and has black rounded wireframe glasses. Mike appears to be white, has a moustache, and is slightly smiling at the camera.

Credits:

Produced for the Disability Visibility Project® by Yosmay del Mazo and Alice Wong with interviews recorded by StoryCorps, a national nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the story of our lives. For more: www.storycorps.org and www.disabilityvisibilityproject.com

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