In memory
Antenor Gomes Barros Filho
—
My father. Hard-working, honest, a lover of hip hop. The man who planted the seed of everything this school is.
Who my father was
My father was an incredible man. Hard-working and honest, the kind who never bargained with his character. It was in Favela da Torre, in Diadema, that he taught me how to be a man.
He was the one who introduced me to hip hop and rap. In his black, boxy VW Gol, the soundtrack was the Espaço Rap cassette tapes. I rode beside him, listening, learning without knowing I was learning.
He passed away on 23 July 2009, at 37. I was 11. But before he left, he planted a seed in my heart.
What he left me
Work and honesty
Every day he showed me that you build a life with work and with keeping your word.
Hip hop
The Espaço Rap tapes in that black Gol were my first school. Rap taught me that words from the quebrada carry weight.
The Torre
Favela da Torre is where he raised me and taught me to be a man. It is from there that this school speaks to the world.
2009
He told me I should become a software developer.
Before I ever worked in tech. Before I even fell in love with literature. In 2009, when almost nobody in the quebrada talked about it, my father already saw that path for me. He was a visionary.
Today I write the code of this website. Every lesson, every page, every line here grew from the seed he planted.
Thank you, Dad.
This space is yours. Da Quebrada pro Mundo is the dream you placed in me, going out into the world.
Your son, Alexandre
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