I lived in Talladega AL for  most of my life. I no longer live ther because of the positive changes I wanted to make in my. The political system and legal systemare very corupt in Talldega (as are alot of places). Drug abuse is an epidemic there. I hope to inspire some change in some of my peers from there like one of my mentors says "change starts at the bottom!" My life has been rocky to this point, but I am becoming a better man because of my experiences and I also kn ow first hand the evil & good that human beings are capable of. Sometimes I wish I wouldnot have done alot of the things in my past but they made me who I am tyoday. We must embrace an d share our past unless we want to relive it!

  I did not have the ideal childhood but I must say I had it alot better than most. My father was found dead, hanging in his jail cell on Christmas Say 1987. He was arrested for public intoxication & resisting arrest, because he was crossing the street in his nieghborhoood (although I am sure there is a little more to it, I just don't kn oe it). After the cops gottried to arrest him he refused and they beat him severly. I have grown up my whole life hearing " your father loved you, he did kill himself, them damn cops did". These things arre hard to hear when you have to trust and be protected by thesame officcers that worked that night. I had a major distrust for lawenforcement my whole, I still have no respect for the Talladega Police Department. Mainly because of this and some of my own experiences. I have done alot of illegal things in myy time and paid dues for most of them. At the time I thought that they should leave me alone, because I didnt think I was hurting anyone, but boy was I wrong. Every drug I sold I help destroy someone elses life. Everytime I did drugs I pushed my family father away and broke a little more of my mothers heart. 

I am gonna go to school for archetecture (maybe pre-law as a minor).keep building on my reputation as a carpenter.