2008 Woodie Awards
DJ Johnny Flores to obtain degree after long delay
HEIDI STENQUIST
Issue date: 4/8/08 Section: Arts
HEIDI STENQUIST
CityTimes
At 49, John Flores can finally say he is. Sober now four years, he's looking forward to graduating this June having earned his Associates of Science in radio/television.
Thirty-three years after dropping out of high school, he's making up for lost time and years of not being so good.
"I didn't know I'd be able to do it," he says of college. "In the past, I couldn't stay focused because I was always [messed] up." Now, after a little more than two years, his focus has been on school. He is picking up the pieces of his life after years of addiction.
Flores grew up in Linda Vista, a self-described "Americanized Mexican or "Poncho," raised by hard-working parents who believed in the American dream. His dad signed him up for baseball by the age of 7, and he would play all night on the street with his friends after practices. Things gradually began to change when a friend, "David", started smoking. Flores did too. He was 13.
The next two years, he was "messing up, partying," drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, marijuana, pills, basically drugs "A-Z." The two "partied too much together," and by 15, after eight years, Flores no longer played team sports. Once a "good defensive player," his antics got worse, and so did his drug use.
"I didn't want to go by any rules," recalls Flores, who says he used crystal meth on a regular basis; he drank and partied with his friends, finally dropping out of school and running away to join the Army at 17. He enlisted 10 months after the U.S pulled out of Vietnam, during a time when drug use was prominent and drug tests were still not in place. Within eight months he was overseas in Germany, where he found himself getting into unnecessary trouble.
"I didn't listen to authority," Flores says, "drugs were found easily in the form of liquid speed, and sold over the counter in the villages." He was also smoking hash and drinking alcohol. After six years, he left with an honorable discharge for time served.
CityTimes
At 49, John Flores can finally say he is. Sober now four years, he's looking forward to graduating this June having earned his Associates of Science in radio/television.
Thirty-three years after dropping out of high school, he's making up for lost time and years of not being so good.
"I didn't know I'd be able to do it," he says of college. "In the past, I couldn't stay focused because I was always [messed] up." Now, after a little more than two years, his focus has been on school. He is picking up the pieces of his life after years of addiction.
Flores grew up in Linda Vista, a self-described "Americanized Mexican or "Poncho," raised by hard-working parents who believed in the American dream. His dad signed him up for baseball by the age of 7, and he would play all night on the street with his friends after practices. Things gradually began to change when a friend, "David", started smoking. Flores did too. He was 13.
The next two years, he was "messing up, partying," drinking beer, smoking cigarettes, marijuana, pills, basically drugs "A-Z." The two "partied too much together," and by 15, after eight years, Flores no longer played team sports. Once a "good defensive player," his antics got worse, and so did his drug use.
"I didn't want to go by any rules," recalls Flores, who says he used crystal meth on a regular basis; he drank and partied with his friends, finally dropping out of school and running away to join the Army at 17. He enlisted 10 months after the U.S pulled out of Vietnam, during a time when drug use was prominent and drug tests were still not in place. Within eight months he was overseas in Germany, where he found himself getting into unnecessary trouble.
"I didn't listen to authority," Flores says, "drugs were found easily in the form of liquid speed, and sold over the counter in the villages." He was also smoking hash and drinking alcohol. After six years, he left with an honorable discharge for time served.
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