Thursday, March 24, 2005

Latasha

I met a young woman who was reading a Tale of Two Cities. She attends our girls group. Latasha is 4'8 at the most and 90lbs. She wears her hair short and back with a head band. She has round wire rim glasses that always seem to be falling down her nose. She looks like a mouse and speaks like a lion.

I met her when i stopped into the group to ask them to decided to quit early due to a snow storm and i saw the Tale of Two Cities. I met a young woman who at 17 is charming and alive with expectations and has a killer sense of humor. She is more than likable, she is a bubble of energy. we talked about Dickens and Tale of TWo Cites, mostly. the best of times and worst of times. It was day and it was night.

I met Latasha again this week. She was hanging out with a Supervisor. I learned that Latasha was referred by the school for services and adds alot to the group. I learned she lives in a shelter and her mother has a case of neglect with the city. Based on her not going to school or not doing " the right thing"
i met her again this week and she informed me she came from court. She has been convicted of assault. She really didnt want to tell me that and due to that she has to go to RIkers Island or jail in june. I found this out as i was asking her what she was doing this summer. She is going to Jail.
this petite young woman is doing 2 months time. I asked her if she was afraid and she said no...2 months is better than 3-7 years which is her sentance.
I asked if she could get community service as i would sponsor her efforts. She said it was too late for that..
as she is going to jail, i asked her how she would use her time. We have already talked about her reading and SHe is reading the JUngle now( i told her she would never eat meat again)
Latasha has a sense of humor and sense of herself and the world. This woman who is 17 will be going to jail. I suspect someone will care for her or eat her up ... She will not return the same young woman
She admits to doing something stupid and now having to take responsibility for it.

she is bright and not has tarnished her future as she has restricted some of the professions she can choose. or can choose her

she will go to prision with composition books to write her story or poetry and pencils and stamps and whatever else i can send with her. She doesnt want her GED but rather wants a high school dipolma. She is going to Jail with a SAT prep book. She says she took her sats and got a 970 so she wont take em again.
She printed a list of items she can take to jail so i will help her with some of them. Her mother will put some $$ in the commissary account so she rent a walk man. Maybe she should learn a language.
she and i talked about Blogs and Xanga accounts. She has no computer.

Latasha will go to jail in june and return in August. i would like to get her a job..
her goals are to be independant. she needs to have a plan to get there.. going away to college on scholarship is a way out . She is bright and talented and has a future ...

She has a future... she needs to find her future..