Category: Piece of the Week

by Eddy I define success when you don’t have to stress.  Put your mind to the test and you’re able to rest.  When you’re no longer in poverty, laughing and joking.   Thinking to yourself, like can’t nothing bother me.  Success is when you beat the statistics of what they said you were gonna be and your standing at the top thinking, I know they envy me.   Success is when you got consistency and stability and where you don’t have to fake anything.  Walk anywhere with your head held high like this is the real me.  Success is when

by Baby K I’ve said goodbye to a lot of people before and after they died. The first goodbye I ever said was to my mom when I realized that there was no fixing our relationship.   The second goodbye I’ve said was to my baby sister. We had my little sister from birth until she just turned one-year-old. It really hurt me to say goodbye because she had just started to say my name, and whenever I wouldn’t pick her up she would cry. What hurts me the most, though, is that I will never be able to see her again because the

by Jojo I am going to be first in my family to graduate from a four-year program. I will major in biogenetic science and further study to become a prosthetic engineer in honor of my father. The college of choice is UCLA or UCD. I’m willing to put in the work and give it my all to accomplish my goal. Once I’m out of here, I want to serve the less fortunate at homeless shelters or soup kitchens. But my main goal is to eventually open my own homeless shelter once I get the money and support that I need. 

by So Shady I was fifteen years old. I was my mom’s favorite kid. She never told me that, because I have three brothers and she had to say that she loved us all equally, but I knew I was the favorite.  My big brother was the troubled one. He was always in trouble. He smoked and was in and out of jail. I told my mom I would never turn out like him and she made me promise. I had just gotten into high school. I was supposed to attend Berkeley High but I ended up attending McClymonds High.

by Lanna I’ve seen my own brother die in front of me. It could’ve been me if I was sitting on his side of the car. And even though I am thankful I am here, I still lost my brother and it doesn’t sit right.  He was always there for me. Whenever I needed him, he was right there. Seeing him in that casket lifeless hurt me deep. It was like losing my best friend. I didn’t think it was gonna happen so soon. I thought we were gonna win together. But I know if he was still here, he’d

by Y I’ve been coming here on and off for four years. That’s like nine times in total. I was fourteen the first time I came here. It was for some dumb shhh in school. My first time here I was locked up for two months.  Today I’m seventeen, fighting to get back home, though my PO recommends hall time and placement 6-9 months then some, basically a year, for what? Getting caught up with a little as gun. The first time I came here i should have done my max time and I would have been terminated. Now, because

 by Cd When I was fourteen years old, I went down. I got separated from my mom, aka my best friend. She was really disappointed in me because she knew I could do better.  I was down for eight months and that eight months was hell because I couldn’t have fun or enjoy being with my best friend – my mom. That was my dad too.  My mom means everything to me because she always has been there for me since my dad left me and got locked up for a double murder. He got twenty-five to life without parole.  To be

by Jz There are three classes in human society: dead broke, payin’ bills and nothin’ more, rich and “above all” as people refer to it. Dead broke are most of the time lookin’ for fast money and end up in prison or dead. Middle class get by but don’t get nothin’ less, nothin’ more. “Above all” is not worried at all, and I mean ever damn thing. You can come from poverty and have two directions. Either stay broke and have your next generation stay broke or come up an illegal way or some have a job. They starve every night most of the time and go to

by JH I could tell you a million stories of separation in my life. It almost happens religiously. What I mean is that it’s happened so many times; it’s almost like a daily routine but over time. The first time I was separated from someone I care about was when my biological parents went downhill in their lives. My dad was arrested for a crime he did not do, and my mom overdosed with a needle in her arm while I was in a playpen next to her. I was separated from my whole family and put in foster care

by Andy My third academic publication shall be this one, in January 2020, a new decade in addition to a New Year.I have declared then and now again, that geopolitical and socioeconomic issues are no longer my business.  Moving on from all that, I mostly read intellectually challenging and thought experimenting content. Among such books and related media include: Getting Started in Hold ‘Em by Ed Miller, DUCY by David Sklansky, Mathematical Brain Benders by Stephen Barr, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray, and many related life skills and self-help titles.  Many issues of controversy,