It's a process

I was 14 the first time I got arrested. For fighting. Always been a scrapper.

I went from CFS to Independent Living (an EIA program for people under the age of 18) and welfare never gave me time to settle in to living on my own. They said to get a job or get kicked off assistance. I got kicked off and had to do it on my own. I was 18. So I sold drugs. It was the easiest thing to do. I was in a gang and knew a lot of people in the right places. It was the easy way out.

The hard times? Getting robbed – at gun point, at knife point. Being hungry – and me, I get really grumpy when I don’t have food man. I mean it. I get REALLY grumpy until I find something to eat. Sometimes you wonder if you’re gonna live through the night because it gets so cold.