Asia-Hicklen

  Page 126 I honestly believe that we are not products of our environment. I will use my household for an example. I will give you a little back story on the family. My mother has three children and one adoptive son. We all went to different schools, but they were all in Jersey City. Her adoptive son is the youngest, he is still in High School. Two of us went to college and the other one went to trade school. My older brother and I did not finish but I decided to re-enroll. My older brother has not returned to trade school since he left. We were all raised the same way, to be up-standing citizens. Here is where it gets tricky, my older brother chose a life of crime. Whereas me and my younger siblings are on the straight and narrow. I am not saying were perfect, but we do not get involved in crime or anything of the sort. My brother does not have to be the way that he is, he chooses to. Jersey City has some unfavorable areas and those are now the areas where my brother likes to ha...

  After I graduated High School, I immediately went to college right after. It was something that I didn’t really want to do but I did it for my mother. After spending two and a half years at William Paterson I decided that I didn’t want to do college anymore, that I would rather work and make money. My mother was so excited about her daughter being a college student that I really had to muster up the courage to tell her. Around this time my mother became ill, and I was struggling with the fact that I had issues with getting home when I needed to. I would be on campus for months at a time before I was able to make my way back home. I didn’t really have any money at the time either. I knew this would crush her spirits, but I had already made the decision. I didn’t know that it would be a decision that I would later regret. Had I stayed I would already have my degree and been working in my field. I see all of my college friends working and excelling, not that I am not but they are fu...

  Page xi      When I was about fifteen or sixteen years old, I made a decision that could have been a life-or-death situation. On my way home from school one day a friend of mine called my phone saying that she was getting into a physical altercation, and she needed my help. I decided to go help. That was probably one of the worst decisions I have ever made. When I arrived at the fight, I noticed all the thoughts I had about the fight wasn't nearly as close to what I was thinking. The crowd that was against us had to have been about sixty people deep. It was only about ten of us, talk about scary. I did not expect for things to go the way that they went. About five minutes into the fight, I pulled off the top of this girl and only thing I could remember was a warm sensation flowing down the right side of my face. An innocent bystander kept saying to me that I had been cut. My adrenaline was pumping so I couldn't feel a thing. Another bystander tied a scarf around my...