Category: Piece of the Week

-Marcus, Santa Cruz In the midst of writing his story, his pencil snapped. Growing in frustration, this particular storyteller, sharpened the halves and began to write again. However, this action of a breaking pencil redirected his train of thought. Here is the story he wrote (from the pencil’s view): I feel my wisdom may travel to a receptive writer, one who is in touch with the world. For I was once a majestic thing, towering above the other trees to become a splintered thing, fractured, yet my wisdom remains whole.  This lead — which has replaced my leaves — may

-JRS, Sonoma  Look, we all got bad habits. Whether it be drugs, alcohol, fighting, talking back, gang life shhh, the list goes on. My bad habit is being a chameleon, trying to fit in no matter what crowd.  But I’ve fit in more with people when I’m just being myself. I’m goofy, serious, nerdy, a little crazy, and got one hell of a mouth on me, but I got friends and family that love and cherish me for me. My friends and family are my support system, and I’ve been breaking my habit for three years now but still catch

-Julia, Marin  “Until the lion learns how to write, every story will glorify the hunter.” Chinua Achebe  This quote to me seems to say that until both stories or sides are told, only the one told will be telling the events. One person will always prevail; they will tell it in the sense that all glory goes to them. To me, the hunter in other terms is the good person and the lion is the typical bad person. But that’s a black and white version. To me, looking deeper into the quote would be the gray portion. When we don’t

-Alejandra, San Mateo  Hey, today they want me to talk about my ideal partner. My ideal partner is my boyfriend. He is everything I look for in a guy. He’s smart, respectful, loving, good looking, and he spoils me always.  He’s nothing like the guys in our generation. He’s one of a kind. We’ve been through hell and back. No matter what, we’re always there for each other. He makes me feel happy, excited, and loved.  We’ve been together since I was thirteen and he was fourteen. I remember it like it was yesterday. He’s my twin, my other half.

-T, San Bernardino For basically the majority of my life my father wasn’t really present. He was always out in the streets doing things that would always take him back to the same place. He has been getting locked up ever since I was little enough to not understand.  I would say that a big role of why the way he lives his life is partly because of the drugs he does. The other reason is because of the adrenaline he gets from running away from the police.  He enjoys the way he lives, except for when reality hits him

-Nicholas, Sonoma Pride to the sun, to the wind in my lungsOh, wretched man I am, I have a lack of prideOh, how the deeds I could have doneWould have been great, but I fell victimTo my thoughts in the days I felt grey.The days I couldn’t cure, that’s why prideTo the moon, to the sun, to the stars,Because through everything I’ve lived,I’ve seen pride through my eyes allBut from within, for I was tempted with sin,Oh, wretched man I am.Pride to my father, my brother, my mother,How proud I am to those who loved me,My acts too little to

-JDC, Albuquerque I’m proud of my mom. It’s easy to be proud of a parent just because they’re your parent, but my mom has been through hell itself. I watched her from a young age struggle with her mental health. I know that if I struggled, I would try and give up.  She never tried to give up but instead found ways to cope and still be the best mom I could’ve asked for. She implanted strong morals in all of her children. It might not have made sense back then, but the more I grew up, I realized I

-A, San Bernardino Feeling worthy can be hard for some people, and personally for me as well. Sometimes other people or situations can make you question your worth. You should always remember you are important and loved.  Just because a minor situation happened, you should never think low of yourself. Be kind to yourself and have self-respect. Knowing your worth will help you gain confidence and not let anyone walk all over you. Always think about how much you matter before saying, doing, or thinking something negative about yourself!

-Ryder, San Francisco Ever since I was very young, I’ve had a love for art. Unfortunately, there are not too many careers that pay well in the art fields. I never really considered working an art related job until my sophomore year of high school.  I was in a drawing and design class, and we had a one month unit on architecture. I fell in love with the process of drawing buildings and then even more so the process of designing them.  The summer after that school year, I took a college class on architecture and knew I wanted to

-Margucci, San Francisco I speak truth when I speakAll my life I held it inIt’s time to let it freeI’m not gonna lie, I’m a tweakerPlease just let me beDon’t like situation ultimatumsLike either you or meBecause if it go down, I’m goin upI’m choosin meMan, I think I love this girlProlly found my peaceI’m on to bigger, better thingsHear it in my speechI’m workin hard, I got scarsDreams within my reachI want to wake up and see wavesHouse up on the beachIf you tryna hear the truthThen you should speak to me.