by CC, Sacramento Dear young reader – Life comes with no guarantees. Mistakes can become accomplishments. And accomplishments can become mistakes. Your life is what you make of it and so much more. Learn from others’ mistakes…learn from your own. There is no secret. Millions of people living in poverty. It is no secret that we all lose people close to us. There are no secrets about life. Understand that life is a gift, how you interpret the gift is all up to you. No matter your circumstance, always make sure you have a fighting chance at life. People may
Continue ReadingMonth: February 2022
Missing My Baby’s Special Day
by CT, Sacramento I swear this is the hardest part and time of my life. I never thought I would be here on December 7th, 2021. This day is far more important than any day of the year. Three hundred sixty-five days and this one day I was supposed to do something special. This is my daughter’s first birthday! No one can understand the pain that I have today. I’m supposed to be there and I’m not. I was supposed to be there to help blow out her candles and give her kisses all over her beautiful face. I miss
Continue ReadingMy Life, Continues
JJEM, San Mateo Previously on “My Life”, after Steven had a seizure, he was unconscious then three minutes later he woke up out of the blue, but he wasn’t himself at all. When I sat him on the bench, he was just mumbling to himself and he was whispering whenever he talked to us. He also started vomiting and Georgie brought water for him because I asked him to so he could drink. Then I asked Georgie to look for the ice cream man so he could buy us something to eat. But when he came back, he said he
Continue ReadingNature’s Best Medicine: Nature
by Leo Cardez, Dixon Correctional Center in Dixon, Illinois In prison, most of us spend our days bathed in fluorescent lighting starring at four walls. If we’re lucky maybe we have a TV or the occasional gym or yard recreational time. Most prisons are iron and concrete edifices; cold, austere human warehouses. Our separation from society is court mandated and unquantifiable painful, but our separation from the natural world is quantifiably damaging to our health and psyche. We came to prison as punishment, not for punishment. Our connection to nature is far more important to our cognition and other aspects
Continue ReadingHoobie
by Richard Zamora, Centinela State Prison in Imperial, CA Hi, my name is Richard Zamora and I’m a recovering drug addict and alcoholic. I’m proud to say that I’ve been sober for three and a half wonderful years. Please allow me a minute of your time to share with you my experience with drugs and alcohol. I used drugs and drank alcohol for the same reasons a lot of others did. The main reason being I was numbing the pain I had been feeling for so many years. Growing up I felt like no one loved me, cared for me
Continue Reading