Category: Piece of the Week

by Jose, Santa Clara The sound of owls late at night while we were outside in the village, is music to my ears. It’s soothing to me. It’s very relaxing, the late- night crickets with the owls and cars passing by in the distance on the freeway. I miss those days posting with the team. Most of us are locked up now and most of us are not coming home for a while. Out of my generation, about half of us are locked up. I think about those nights all the time. One more sound that is music to my

by JV, Sacramento Yes, I lie to myself to make me feel better and more confident about myself, and to also benefit myself. And people lie to me all the time, so I don’t really think lying to myself means too much. In certain situations, I am afraid about the truth, for example, to lie to myself afraid to get in trouble or get locked up to save my freedom. It is my fear. I am really not afraid of jail, I am afraid to not see my family, call whenever I want, hug on them, hang with them, and

by Nieto, Santa Clara “Man, be yourself, I’ll hang with you no matter what. You don’t need to lie to be involved with us.” I tell my lil one that all the time.  I can’t stand people who boost they own image. Just be yourself. Like c’mon, we’ve been coming in ‘n out the hall five plus years now. I know if you really done that or not. Just don’t get, why people tell lies just to, what, be cool? It’s actually embarrassing, is what it is.  I could never tell someone something when in reality, I never did it.

by Shane, Sonoma Part of me is mad at the world. Most of me. Maybe all of me. I don’t know. This anger is the only thing that’s ever really told me I have a self, an identity. I’ve heard plenty of people tell me they love me for who I am, make me feel whole and welcomed, welcomed only to be hurt again. When does one say forget it, I’m the cold one now? Well, I have. It’s better than what I was before, a weak and emotionless mentality. But I’m now seeing that I need to find a

by Kealon, Sonoma I should have listened to my dad’s advice and what I thought at the moment was him “nagging.” I wish, and it’s my biggest regret now that I’m in the situation that I’m in, that I should’ve listened to my dad constantly telling me to go to school and further my education and to watch who I associated myself with.  I constantly regret not watching who I called friends or hung around because now I’m locked up because of who I surrounded myself with. Obviously, it’s nobody’s fault for my current dilemma. I take full responsibility for

by ARJ, San Mateo A mistake that I made was chasing money over freedom. I used to think anything is worth the risk for money. Now I realize that all the money in the world can’t buy you freedom. You need to make right decisions so that nobody can ever take your freedom from you.  Money is a great thing to have and it can make you happy, but having to stress if you’re going to get caught or even get killed makes it not worth it for me anymore. Some people might say I’m just not with the “street

by KS, Sacramento I should’ve listened to my mom and dad for all the game they gave me when I was younger. I should’ve soaked up the advice they gave me, so I didn’t have to end up here. They been to juvenile hall plenty of times as kids, in and out the system all the time. If I wasn’t stubborn, always thinking I know everything, I wouldn’t be where I am today.  If I took the advice I needed from them as a kid… they gave me really good advice, to never lead me in the wrong way or

by ARJ, San Mateo The thing I am most proud of isn’t anything I did on the outs. The thing I’m most proud of is being able to take this hard time in my life and turning it into something rather than just being mad that I got caught.  I know it might sound dumb, but I am happy that I got caught because I was on a path that would have ended with me either dead or locked up for way longer than I am going to be right now.  When I first came down I was very angry

by Gabriel, Sonoma I’m proud of not only myself but my girlfriend. I am proud of both of us because we met about six months ago and at that time, I was not my best self. I was going through a rough time where I was homeless and not in my best mental mindset. What I mean by that is I was always a mad person – maybe mostly not mad but sad because I never had a family. I never was never told or showed by someone that they loved me.  Instead of being able to express my feeling

by Elijah, San Francisco I got my heart broken a few times. I broke my own heart by being in here. As a kid, I never thought I would be here. It is hard for me to be in here. This is one of the places that I thought I would never come to but I made the wrong choice, being with the wrong people. I am a leader but I was following somebody and that is what got me in here.  It was peer pressure and he got in my head about it. I spoke to my mom about