The Beat Within

by FT, Billings, Montana I am from Butte MT. Sometimes you can taste copper from the mines.You can smell a lot of thingsdepending on what part of town you are in. Downtown smells like fast food.Uptown smells like flowers from the gardens. Sometimes I feel scared. Because you see kids on the streetsand doing drugs on the streets. People fighting each other for no reason at all.  But why does all of that make it home to me? Because it’s not where you arethat makes it homeit’s where you feel safe. Where I feel safe is with my family and friends. The ones who care about me. The ones who didn’t hurt me. The

 by Elian, Marin A lot of people have talked to me in my life, but the two people that they have talked to me is my grandma and my big homie. I remember one time my grandma talked to me for almost an hour. She was telling me to do good and asking me what I want to be in my future. I always didn’t know what to answer, but I still remember what she told me. She told me to not give up, ever,in life and every time I am giving myself up, it reminds me of my grandma,

by Jeremiah, Santa Clara This life I’m livin’ is like a movie. The things that have happened throughout this life is messed up, kind of wish things were more simple and less frustrating. I sit and wonder why people are the way they are and it sucks people turn on you, lose love for you too, just because you want to live the life you’re comfortable with.  This doesn’t break me, I just keep moving forward still solid and steady with the business. I learned even when you don’t do anything wrong and still get blamed, just take it because

by JJ, Sacramento I had just returned home, after a time away from my loved ones. I had not been home in a long-long time.  I pulled into the driveway, turned off the radio, took a couple deep breaths, grabbed my bag of clothes, and got out of the car. As I calmly approached the front door to the house, thoughts of my past life were flashing in my head. I no longer had the house key, so I knocked. I waited and waited no answer.  Did they know I was coming home? I knocked again. Before I gave up