Teenage years
America's Worst Nightmare
Would like to take you on a journey through a pivotal part of my life, to a time when doing dirt was mandatory in order to earn your stripes. All while accepting there is a great chance that your freedom won't last, days from long ago yet not forgotten from the distant past. When a Judge felt it necessary to explain his thoughts to make it crystal clear, if I stay this course I'm on by 18 I will be incarcerated serving years. That is IF and ONLY IF not already gone, dead, and buried 6 feet down, and to add insult to injury, he did this in front of a jam packed court house. Barely a teenager, just 13 at this junction when he decided to let it go and unload, his thoughts, feelings, and beliefs with his this is your life choices speech, a dog and pony show. Yet on deaf ears his sermon fell harmlessly without hearing a single syllable that exited his mouth, as stubborn and unreachable I was plus his preaching made me completely tune him out. Had no interest in listening to any of it let alone walk anyone's fine line, my priorities were set for me on that money making hustle of a grind. While putting on for my set I represent by flagging and stacking gang signs, willing to do whatever needed to ensure survival consuming the majority of my mind.
By Arthur Walton4 years ago in Confessions
The Reason I Left My Bra On. Second Place in Inside Jokes Challenge.
While I am sure many people have their own college dorm stories, this story generally harbors a significant laugh from my audience. After the laughs, comments like "you didn't!" or "were you drunk?" follow. Maybe I should be embarrassed, but instead I'm quite proud of myself for it. No, I wasn't drunk. I was completely sober. It came from my very own impulsive mind, and watching the incident in real time caused my roommates to bust out of their chairs in giggles.
By E.L. Martin4 years ago in Confessions
What Now?
When, I think about what I want to be in life, I had a list of careers in my head and as each year went by, the list got shorter and shorter. I am a very creative person so I fell in love with the arts, fashion, and music. You'd think that having a list of careers and jobs that I liked would help a lot with my future well, I think not. I am currently in college and I'm majoring in Business Administration and hopefully minor in entrepreneurship, fashion design, or fashion merchandising. Once I graduate, I already know I'm going to be like: What now?
By TheCeruleanRose4 years ago in Confessions
Totaling My Parents Dodge Caravan Off-Roading
I'd try a few times before giving up a fight. It was shortly before Winter of Grade 11 and I asked my mother one last time if she'd buy me smokes. The age to buy smokes used to be quite low, and having to get smokes through other means often meant talking to less-than favourable people. Although she smoked in high school, she insisted I'd have to supply my own habits.
By The Passionate Autistic4 years ago in Confessions
S'cool Days
There is an “Inside Joke” challenge on Vocal, the premise of which is “Share a funny, true story about you and one of your childhood friends.” The problem with this challenge is that very often funny stories are over very quickly when they are committed to paper.
By Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred 4 years ago in Confessions
ADHD & DADDY ISSUES
Growing up with ADHD for me meant that I always had trouble focusing on even the simplest of tasks. For that reason I was pretty heavily medicated as soon as possible, which is a big part of why it took me a week to type this essay out. The other reasons would be that I am currently working full-time and that I couldn’t decide whether to write about my indescribably dysfunctional relationship with my father or the ADHD that was crippling up until a couple years ago. (So I finally decided to give both a shot.) Growing up with ADHD while I watched my completely “normal” sisters go about their daily lives was awful, especially when my father was constantly comparing me to either one. If I couldn’t spell a word correctly, he put me in the corner to guess until I got it right. When I got honors or was one of six to receive the spelling award, I had done something else wrong that overshadowed my accomplishments. We checked my grades daily and if there was anything missing there was hell to pay. Even when he was in prison, he still managed to breathe down my neck and control my every move, not taking into consideration how his incarceration had affected me, forcing me to grow up much faster than mere 13 years should have required. While my friends hung out every weekend I was forced to drive 3 hours to visit a man whom I firmly resented at that point in my life. And while I should have been at home working on schoolwork, my sisters and stepmother and I were being evicted in front of the entire neighborhood, forced to move into my mothers’ small apartment only to move from there to what was basically equivalent to a rundown shack and to be yet again be evicted by our misogynistic…jerk of a landlord and move back in with my mother. So while I struggled to stay afloat, my already very limited friend group was dwindling because I was unavailable and secretive out of embarrassment and my grades thus dropped drastically. I had left the honor roll behind and took up a secret form of rebellion instead. Then there was high school. I made it through the first few months in a kind of stereotypical bliss of naïveté and “love”. Until rumors about my father started again and my boyfriend told people a cruel rumor about me. I spiraled again and my grades suffered more than ever and throughout the next few years I continued to lose friends. There was a sort-of brief period of time in which my father kicked me out and I lived with my mother. (Our relationship honestly never recovered and, if anything, has become even more tense and hostile with recent developments and betrayals.) On the other hand, my grades went up semi-steadily and I was just shy of making the honor roll my senior year and received my first A grade since 7th grade which was a massive accomplishment for me. The bottom line of this whole story is that I’ve overcome so much and worked so hard to make it to where I am today that it would crush me if my education were to be halted or were to cease altogether. I deserve a shot despite being what you might see on paper as a bad student who you’re worried might fail. But I promise you that if you give me this chance to prove myself I will joyously and gratefully take it and cherish that opportunity.
By Lauren4 years ago in Confessions
COLLEGE
Hello, nice to “meet” you, I’m sydney—like the opera house or Australia—lower-case “s” intentional. My life’s been chaotic (not in a good way). My parents aren’t together—haven’t been as long as I can remember. I have a step-mother—not evil—and two half-sisters—not wicked—Hannah and Emily.
By Lauren4 years ago in Confessions
An Exploration of My Old Instagram Usernames
The legacy of being a fangirl is embarrassing and nostalgic at the same time. My first fandom was the Percy Jackson fandom, and from the age of 12 to 18 I racked up a fair few fandoms for both YA fantasy and dystopian books, and tv shows.
By Leigh Hooper4 years ago in Confessions
Why *That* Degrassi Episode Still Holds Up Almost 20 Years Later
When Degrassi: The Next Generation aired, I was 10 years old. I was more or less the target audience for a show about kids who go through the normal trials and tribulations of middle school. Degrassi was an important part of my life through high school, and even moreso in college - my freshman year, when I didn't know how to make friends, I would inter-library loan DVD copies of Degrassi Jr. High and watch while I ate meals in the dining hall alone.
By Victoria Malcolm4 years ago in Confessions
The runaway
The runaway Have you ever thought about running away? Most people have. The problem is there is a lot more to running away than just leaving. Today I am going to tell you my runaway story. First you have to understand some things, Prior to running away I had.. Issues. I had depression anxiety and I cut myself. Now I know what you're thinking. This girl is crazy, and you're right. I am a little crazy. The problem was at that point in my life I didn't know I had anxiety or depression, all I knew was I felt bad and something had to change. So I cut myself.
By Rebel4 years ago in Confessions
