The Beat Within

by JS, Sonoma I am not going to lie. Before I answer this question, I want everyone reading to pause and visualize how strong your mind is. Think about if your mind was different who would you be.  I know that if my mind was different, I would have never been in this situation. Young men are being influenced the wrong way. For example, we look for respect if we don’t have role models. But nowadays the way respect comes is from hanging with a respected group, shooting and fighting.  But to be honest when you let your mind convince

by Andrea, Alameda My advocate is my dad. He always have my back and I love him to death. He is someone I can always talk to, and I know he always have my back. I know my dad see greatness when he looks at me. I’m very smart and independent. My dad always came through when I need him. When I’m going through things, he always makes sure he have my back.  My worst critic is my sister. Or it could be myself at times. I’m very hard on myself because I know what I’m capable of. I’m very

by CL, Santa Cruz When I think of the word cure what comes to mind is something that will help someone get better. The reason I chose this issue is because I always see commercials of people that need help with cancer and they haven’t found a cure for it to help them out.  I think my desire to find a cure for cancer is that too many people are dying of cancer and a lot of little kids are dying of that disease. I think it’s really sad how kids don’t get to grow up and live a normal

by CL, Santa Cruz I’ve had some happy moments in life, but I have three favorites. One is when me and my family took a trip to Lake Tahoe. That was one of the most fun times in my life because me and my mom, uncles, aunts, and cousins all rented a big house where we all stayed.  It was fun because when we got there, the house had a little hill where you could park your cars, but it was full of a lot of ice and the cars didn’t have chains on the tires, so the cars couldn’t

by D, Sacramento What do I believe is the ideal job for me? I think the ideal job for me would be a basketball player. I would like to be a basketball player because it is something I love to do, and I have been doing it for a very long time. I do it with my friends and a lot of people. I used to play with my family all of the time and I really enjoyed playing (as we were winning).  I also love a challenge when someone is against me or my team. It is really fun

by Raven, San Mateo  In my head, the athlete that’s the best to me is the boxer, Floyd Mayweather. I find it weird that he is never in the conversation for best boxers ever because Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, and Canelo Álvarez are some of the best. I like all of them, but they have their own losses. Floyd beat Canelo when Canelo was in his prime, but when Floyd was not. In my opinion, that’s a record you can’t beat. Other sports legends have lost, but this legend is undefeated so far.  He still has one more fight against