Category: Piece of the Week

by Wester Mi pobre madre.  I’m sorry for all I’ve done to you.  You don’t deserve a thing that my brothers and I have put you through.  You deserve nothing but the best.  You’re the strongest person that I know, by far. I know it wasn’t easy raising three troubled boys all alone.  I remember those long days waiting for you to come home from work as a little kid.  Now I wait for you to come visit me from this institution.  I’ve put you through a lot since I was a little kid.  Always going to school meetings and picking me

by Snoopy I hate waking up in this cell knowing this is not a dream. I hate having the same damn food every day, even hearing the same ignorant voices and seeing the same faces. Drives me crazy, I feel like beating their heads, especially the ignorant ones. Knowing that I’m going to be here a while sucks. I wish I can go home. After they find out that I’m innocent, I will sue them for everything they got, this shhh is so stupid. When I get out, I plan to make some money, get the things I want and

by Destiny I have learned that being disrespectful gets me nowhere. I have learned to respect and love my parents for what they have done. I don’t want to live life hating them for all that they weren’t and lacked to do. I want to live life loving them for all that they did do. I thank God for them. I have a mouth, and before I got locked up I did not give zero to one hundred shhhh’ about how I talked to my elders. Now I know that shhh talking them gets me nowhere. Communication will get me farther

by Adriana I would have to say the dumbest thing I have ever done was start- using meth. Now I crave it every day. When I was on it I would act erratic and out of control. Now that I am sober it really sucks, since I started at such a young age I don’t really know what life is like or how to act. I struggle with more simple tasks because of the constant drug abuse. I am behind in school because I was such an addict that I would just get on one and nothing else. My eating habits

by Hd The real me is hidden in the dark. Stuck in my shell, never wanting to come out, afraid to be judged, scared not to be good enough. No one sees the real me.  Fake smiles and laughter.  Scared to feel scared to want and not be wanted back, curious of what people think.  How could they be so blind? So unaware. Maybe they just don’t seem to care. They act like they do, but if they did they would see that something is really wrong inside of me. Not crazy, just different.  Not like the rest.  When I

by Jv I feel like a caged bird. Not being able to fly is torture, literally. I’ll prove them all wrong, that I don’t belong here by staying out when they open my cage door to let me fly. But in the meantime, I sing. You may ask why? I’ve heard people say it’s because that’s what birds are made to do. I sing because it makes me feel free. It gives me hope. Although I do not literally sing, for I am not a bird, metaphorically I do sing. For when a bird sings, it does so not realizing that

by Elijah We’ve all had someone in our life that even the thought of their face can make your heart skip a beat. I had a friend who was very dear to my heart, but my actions caused our relationship to slowly wither away. I feel like there is still hope though because between us there was always something special; like a flower that needs water. We just need the right spark to ignite our flame that will start the fire that will last a lifetime.

by Aine I’ve lost too much on the streets that I cannot even comprehend. Many of my friends have gone on a different path in life and I wish I went with them. I’ve lost over half of my friends and gained new ones that have only dragged me down since. This is the first and last time I’ll be locked up. Dedicating this much time to the system is not the way of life. You’re locked up in this facility when you can honestly be anywhere else in the world. That thought haunts me every second of every day in

by Adrian What I see when I look in the mirror is a young handsome Hispanic male who has been troubled by drugs, violence and hell. I see, who I used to be, who I am now, and who I will be in the years to come. I want to get my life together, get a job, get females and have fun. I have been through a lot and I already know how it feels to lose. I can only imagine how it feels to win, kick back and listen to the blues. I see a scholar who has his whole

by Izais Detention… A place where “staff” run your life, a place where “freedom” is only a word you read in books or hear from kids who talk about it like they won’t ever know what it feels like to feel “free” again. Detention is a place where the word equality does not exist. Detention is a place that steals your youth; it robs you of the precious and unique experiences of young-adulthood. It grips its cold, dark fingers around your self-pride, self-confidence, self-reassurance, and self-everything. It slithers in your conscious and slowly poisons the very few thoughts that keep