#WeAreArity Wednesday: Jonathan Raspberry

What is your #1 recommendation of something to do in the city you live in?

Everyone must enjoy summertime Chicago on a boat on Lake Michigan at least once! I do it once or twice a summer, and I’ve done that, at least, for the last six or seven years.  

What is the best piece of advice you have ever received at work?

If you don’t know, ask. If you spend a decent amount of time trying to figure something out and you just can’t, then don’t be afraid to ask or request help. Somebody else has likely already encountered a similar issue or problem and can help you out. 

What is your favorite way to practice self-care?

I ride my bike or get in the car for a drive. I bought a bike during the pandemic and when I just want to get away, I will ride until I’m a little bit tired. I was doing, on average, about maybe 10 miles every time I got on a bike. But I haven’t been on since the weather has changed this year, so I probably need to go look at it in the garage and make sure it’s working right. That way, when I’m ready to get on it, I can. 

Pull out your phone. What are your top three most used emojis?

The face with tears of joy, folded hands, and smiling face with heart eyes.   

I’ve never adapted to the high five. I use what I believe is called the “praying hands.” I generally use that if I’m agreeing with something, if I really like something, or if I’m really using it as praying hands. I manage social media for my church here in Chicago, so I do use it that way.  

The face with tears of joy is generally my go-to if somebody sends me a text, or I see a comment that I like on social media, I’ll just respond with that. It’s kind of like another way to say LOL without having to type LOL, right?

The last one — the smiling face with heart eyes — I’m currently in a long-distance relationship right now, so obviously that comes with it. When shopping trips occur, she sends me a lot of pictures, asks me if I like that, so it’s an easy response.   

What was your best class in school?

My memory is photographic, so I have always been good at remembering dates, images, stories — so, any form of history. I don’t know if you can be officially — for lack of a better word — diagnosed with a photographic memory, but the way I remember things is I actually can see and remember weird details.  

If I were to remember an event, I could probably remember what a lot of the people had on or where we were. So, I think that’s what helped me a lot with history in general because I could just remember dates and details that I saw on the page. 

What is your hobby?

Photography and buying sneakers. I’ve slowed down over the last couple years because when we were in the heat of the pandemic, I was just — for no reason — buying shoes, even though we weren’t going anywhere.  

The last time I counted, I was over 120 pairs. Now, there are some that I literally haven’t put on my feet in years. I have all of them in boxes, and they’re stacked within the closet and in the room.   

I’ve always enjoyed having different sneakers, but once I got out of school and wasn’t necessarily asking parents for money anymore, then it kind of became my own problem to deal with. It got worse before it got better.  

And then the photography piece – like I mentioned, I run the social media for my church, but I also do a lot of the audio and visual work on Sundays when we have different events, and part of that is I’m the cameraman as well. So, it’s slowly become a weekly thing for me. I do this work mostly with the church, but as I’ve done more and more, I’ve started to get requests for other events.  

I do more of event work for photography versus actual photo shoots with backgrounds and things like that. But for different events, if somebody reaches out to me, I will do those. I haven’t gotten into nature or scenic shots. It’s more like event-type photos where you want memories and different actions and things like that.  

What is an easy way to do something nice for someone?

Give people the same respect and treatment that you expect for yourself. I mean, that’s pretty simple. I think you should just treat people how you want to be treated. If there’s someone in need of something and you would want somebody to look out for you if you were in that position, then simply just help.