I am from a place where you hear a helicopter and police siren every single night. I am from a place where there's not a night you don’t hear gunshots, you have to be alert and watch your back because of all the gang members you pass by walking home from school.  I am from a place called “the ghetto,” where there's trash all over the floor and smells like weed and cigarettes, a place where no typical rich white American would wish to live.Gardeners gathering the garden leaves watching the lazy lizards lying like lumps.

I am from a place where we eat mexican food for dinner. I am from a family that makes tamales on thanksgiving instead of a turkey.The house gets as hot as an oven. The babies suck on their thumb half asleep as the rest of us stay until midnight gathered around. Crumbs everywhere from the pan dulce we eat at the posadas. The sound of the drums playing feliz navidad.

I come from a family that pushes the birthday person face into the cake because it is funny and a tradition. Boom! Pow! Smash! The sound of the pinatas being smashed. The kids race to go look at outer space, not knowing what to tace. Shooting Stars danced across the sky.

I am where trust is as delicate as a little baby. Break me and I will destroy you. Hope is nothing but a fragile seed. People are as blind as a bat because they don't know the real me.  My soul can be as black as coal.

I am a person who can be an emotional wreck over how stressful school can be, but I am hardworking and patient and could get through the day. Wishing everyday for time to fly by, as I listen to the lecture with my wooden face. The classroom can be a zoo. Kids cutting teachers off with their mouths. The teachers are dragons and get mad for the disruptive students in the class. Every morning I struggle to get up and my alarm clock won't stop screaming. The door protest every morning and opens slowly as I drag myself to school. But I am as bold as brass and I can make it through.  I am Sandy a strong, determined, patient female