This story was originally published on L.A. Youth.
By P.S.
When I ran away from my dad’s house I was 14 and wanted to be a rapper. I thought I was going to get signed by a record label and get a lot of money. I thought I’d be famous by now. It hasn’t worked out that way. I didn’t make it as a rapper but I don’t regret running away. It got me into the foster care system. The system helped me get back in school and learn how to be an adult. Without foster care I’d probably be a dropout or homeless right now.
My dad and mom were teenagers when I was born. They weren’t ready to be parents so my grandmother raised me. When I was in seventh grade, we started having problems. If I heard the word “no,” I talked back. When I was in ninth grade, my grandmother drove me to my dad’s house for good. She was tired of my behavior.
My dad doesn’t have a job. He drinks every day and hangs with his homies. When I first came he and his girlfriend sat me down. He said, “You’re almost grown. I ain’t got no rules for you. I don’t know how to be a dad. I don’t want you to go out on the streets to drink. If you’re going to drink, you drink in this house.” He was talking to me like I was a roommate. It was cool with me because I didn’t like rules.
I didn’t go to school because I knew my dad didn’t care. I hardly did anything besides get on the computer and drink hard alcohol like brandy. I was really into writing lyrics and making music. Some of my dad’s friends were rappers and I saw them work with the software. Eminem and 50 Cent rapped about where they came from and that’s what I wanted to do. I’d record rap and hip-hop songs about making it big and being in “the hood.” I had a music page on MySpace with three songs that had more than 1,000 listens. When I finished a song I would think, “If this has a little more work on it, it will definitely be a hit.”
Read more...
When I was in middle school, I started watching foreign films, particularly those from Asia. I'd like to think that, at the time, my choice in movies reflected a perspective independent from other teens my age. As I grew older and continued to enjoy watching Bollywood and anime flicks, then relatively unknown to US audiences, I persisted in viewing the world through an independent lens. For instance, I am now a vegetarian and refuse to shop at large corporations known to exploit their workers and/or use sweatshops, like Wal-mart and Forever 21. These movies literally opened up new worlds to me. And knowing that there were other cultures out there, other ways of seeing the world, other ways of telling a story, be it romantic or horrific, helped me see the alternatives available to me in my own life.
Read more...
Ana Beatriz
Even though I grew up in South Los Angeles, I always thought Hollywood was somewhere else. I really didn’t watch much TV when I was younger, so I had no idea Hollywood existed until I got to the 8th grade. My friends would always talk about the Hollywood, with famous people just walking, shopping, and eating just having a good time like every one else. I was surprised when my brother told me that the place people came too from all around the world, in hopes of catching a piece of the movies, was only 30 minutes away. The famed HOLLYWOOD sign, I didn’t recognize until my brother told me what it was.
Read more...
