TIM C.

My goals are to become a children’s doctor as well as to be the owner of a barber shop. But my dreams were put on hold because I was arrested and charged as an adult when I was a juvenile. I knew that I would have to change my mind because I wouldn’t be able to get into a good school due to my charges. So, I had to throw that dream of being a children’s doctor out of the window. I was 16 at the time. I had just started my life and my dreams were already gone. I couldn’t even go to high school because I was locked up. Sometimes when I was in my cell I cried because of all the pain that life has put me through. I had to get my GED and I couldn’t go to college. I didn’t have the resources.

I felt like god gave up on me after being locked up for as long as I was. I became empty hearted. Nothing and no one could get close to me – it was me against the world. I hated when my mom would come see me because I felt like I let her down. Baltimore and the state of Maryland didn’t care for me and didn’t care that I really didn’t do the crime that I was charged with, and I hated them for that. I was not born with hate or to be a hater, but I was transformed into an animal. When I was charged as an adult, I felt that I was no longer the owner of my dreams, my hope, or my life.

In my piece, the black section represents my dreams for my education, the white stands for travel, blue stands for health, purple stands for relationships, and green stands for personal growth.