I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent. Sharon Charde

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      I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent: How Poetry Changed a Group of At-Risk Young Women

      LCCN: 2020933918

      BISAC: SOC032000—SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies

      Printed in the United States of America

      Each day, we’re given many opportunities to open up or shut down. The most precious opportunity presents itself when we come to the place where we think we can’t handle whatever is happening. It’s too much. It’s gone too far… There’s no way we can manipulate the situation to make ourselves come out looking good… Basically, life has just nailed us.

      It’s as if you just looked at yourself in a mirror and saw a gorilla. The mirror’s there; it’s showing you, and what you see looks bad. You try to angle the mirror so you will look a little better, but no matter what you do, you still look like a gorilla. That’s being nailed by life, the place where you have no choice but to embrace what’s happening or push it away.

      —Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart

      It’s not like I’m some whole person trying to help the broken people I see along the road. I think I am broken by the injustice I see.

      —Bryan Stevenson

      Table of Contents

      Cast of Characters

      Foreword

      Introduction

       Part I

      Initiate

      Fish Tank

      First Meeting

If I Could, I Would

Facials, Confrontations, Advocates

Sun Porch

Nothing Left to Lose

Tricky Business

We Keep Going

Taos

Geoff

Christmas

I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent

      Sister Benedicta

      Push

      Mother’s Day at the Morgue

      Just Read, Sharon!

      Show and Tell

      We Try Again

      Another Gorilla in the Mirror

      Cathedral

      “My File”

      Mixing It Up

       Part II

      My Girls

      Raindrop in a Gale

      “My Story”

      Black Queens

      Attached to Outcomes

      We’re on TV

      What’s Love Got to Do with It?

      Artwell

      A Scar Unraveling

      Tarray

      Chimere

      Jeni

      Hotchkiss

      Dennis

      I Should Have Been Happy

      What I Want My Words to Do to You

      Movie Stars

       Part 3

      Turning Point

      Miranda

      The Boston Trip

      Getting There

      Cloud Place

      The Rip in Her Jeans

      Carla

      The Gorilla Returns

      Trapped

      A Family

      Molly

      Blood on the Floor

      The Perfect Teachers

      Conclusion

      This Is The Way It Is Right Now

      Afterword

      Acknowledgments

      About the Author

Cast of Characters

      PROGRAM DIRECTORS

      Lori

      Michelle

      Beka

      TOUCHSTONE STAFF

      Lesley

      Hiram

      Angel

      Briana

      Donna

      Kaneisha

      Jess

      Lindsay

      Carol

      Vernell

      Denise

      GIRLS IN EARLY GROUPS

      Kaylee

      Mayra

      Alondra

      Brisa

      Ana

      Nia

      La Toya

      Tiffany

      Nadia

      Isabella

      Melanie

      Ellie

      Rontae