Category: Piece of the Week

by JS, Sacramento For me personally, it’s challenging for me to prepare for something because I don’t really prepare. I just do whatever it is when the time comes for me to do that thing. Something that I am preparing for is me to do a little bit of time and really focus on what I got planned for when I get home, and how I will turn my life around.  The steps I will need to take to be a very successful person after my incarceration is first – I want to finish college and get my degree in

by Dre, San Francisco I’ve been tripping out lately since my people passed on. That’s my mom, my auntie, my granny. I’ve been yelling and getting easily irritated and shhh. I’d be on my bed and shhh.  I’m releasing my grief through my anger. I’ll be working out and shooting hoops. That makes me feel better. I get the anger off my mind. Talking on the phone to friends and it gets the pain off my mind. This anger might always be with me, but I’m going to keep it under control. I’m going to keep it under control with

by Kugen, San Mateo Five years ago I did not think I would be writing something about five years ago in jail. I wasn’t exactly a good kid in school but I didn’t ever imagine myself in jail wanting to go home. Looking back, going home was a very normal thing, but right now I don’t even have a choice to.  I will at some point but today I will be sleeping here at jail, not at home in my bed. I am used to it already but exactly five years ago I probably would be watching TV or something

by Ivan, Santa Cruz A way that I’m going to prepare myself for the future is that, one, when I get out of the hall I’m gonna be looking for a job for myself. I look forward to bettering myself and do good things. I want to do good for things that do not affect me.  Another thing to prepare for my future is that I’m learning things here at the hall. I’m also preparing myself for the future to try to enroll myself to take some college classes or to  work for construction, so when I get out I’ll

by Lily, San Francisco I could change one problem in the world, it would be society. Why? you ask. Because social media has made it so that you’re not cool if you don’t fit the image that Instagram or Twitter has put out.  If you don’t have Vape or Jordans you’re broke or you don’t compete. So a lot of people put this mask on because who they are doesn’t fit the Instagram look or is not following the trend. It’s too many rules or should I say standards for our young people. And being on social media is hard

by City Boy, San Mateo Today I’m going to talk about being down bad and no one to depend on. First off I just want to say everyone has a different type of struggle in life that helps that person to persevere through or to stress about. Either way you can have one or another, or both sides. I just want to say that I have that feeling of being down bad or just nobody to talk to or just unmotivated.  I’m just always been down-bad money wise and relations with family, but every day I pray. I just have

by AK, Sacramento I heard good news one day while being incarcerated. I went to court one day and the judge himself pushed my court date back a whole month, only due to them wanting to investigate where they want to put me at. But I feel like most likely they’ll send me back home to my loved ones like last time.  And the good news really is I’m most likely going to go home on July 14th. I messed up coming back here, but the judge gave me a day pass to see my girl give birth to our

by Nae Nae, San Diego  What makes me who I am is my beauty. My ability to make my friends laugh and make ‘em feel good about themselves. The reason why I chose beauty is because I think it’s great to be happy inside and outside of my skin. I value this because back in the day, we as black people used to get beat because of our color and our level of smartness. But we as black people are still pretty which is why I chose my beauty. I also really enjoy how I’m able to make my friends

by Tai, San Mateo If I had my last supper I would eat some ravioli, some macaroni, and some fried chicken all together with some hot sauce.  Another meal I would probably eat is a bacon burger and some nacho fries. It do be smackin’ too! I don’t know who I would share this meal with. I would probably just eat this meal by myself or with a friend. I would also eat some regular McDonald’s because I don’ really spend too much money on food.  I only be buying food when I’m hungry. I could just picture myself eating

by Lil Mikey, Santa Clara Off this shh sucks. I have been in a cell for five days. The first day I just slept. I felt like shhh. I had the chills. I had a fever and I felt like I was weak the second I felt like life freaking sucks. By the third day I felt like I was getting better. I just felt like I had a cold. By the fourth day, I felt normal again and now I feel like I’m strong back to full power.  I just want to be able to go back to the