I didn\u2019t start out well, throwing a paperweight at my principal in second grade. Next year half the kids on the playground chased me for stealing a little girl\u2019s necklace. I didn\u2019t mind. I liked to fight. So did many kids in my neighborhood. A guy stabbed me when I was fourteen. I also fought in gangs. <\/p>\n
\tAt home my dad wanted me to be like him but I needed things my own way. Every day I smoked pot. Any time someone looked at me wrong, I punched him. When I was sixteen my dad threatened to ground me after school, and I grabbed a manual lawn edger and swung at his head. He ran to get his rifle and pointed it at me and five police cars came and the officers burst in and aimed shotguns at my dad and ordered: drop it. He served three days in jail. I got three months in juvenile hall and met a lot of tough guys who scared me. <\/p>\n
I hated being locked up and lonely but still kept coming back for fighting. I never stole, but I must have set the record for most time in juvenile hall, seven or eight months. I saw people come and go. I\u2019ll always remember the judge and district attorney looking at me like I was a criminal when I was charged with felony assault. I was lucky to get time served and probation. Right before I left, the judge said: I don\u2019t want to see you again.<\/p>\n
I had no experience and no job and no plans until I joined the Job Corps Center and learned to get up at a certain time every morning and make my bed and attend basic reading and math classes and take other courses for a trade. In about two months living here, I turned things around and learned to work all day and respect myself and others. I haven\u2019t had any trouble. The only fight was when some drunk guys wanted to test me and jumped me when I was new. After a while I became a dormitory leader and made sure people made their beds and did their work.<\/p>\n
If people like me didn\u2019t have the Job Corps, they wouldn\u2019t have anything to do. You can\u2019t beat it. We have plenty of good food and we\u2019re taught how to live. You have someone to talk over your problems with. I\u2019ll miss this place when I leave. The director told me I\u2019ve changed a hundred eighty degrees. Sometimes, when I look in the mirror, I see some scars from all those fights, but the scars are fading.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m becoming more relaxed. People still sometimes tell me not to stand so close and talk so fast. I understand. I\u2019m not angry anymore. I\u2019ll soon graduate from the cement finishing program and get a job in the trade, the same my dad worked in more than thirty years. I like the work and enjoy creating something that\u2019ll be around a long time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I didn\u2019t start out well, throwing a paperweight at my principal in second grade. Next year half the kids on the playground chased me for stealing a little girl\u2019s necklace. I didn\u2019t mind. I liked to fight. So did many kids in my neighborhood. A guy stabbed me when I was fourteen. I also fought…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1473,26,1471],"tags":[],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n