Meet Melissa…

Melissa, 42
Incarcerated: 24 years
Housed: Albemarle Correctional Institute, NC

I was born and raised in Hawaii. A very peaceful place that didn’t have racism, social classes, or what’s in and what’s not in school. When the military moved us to North Carolina, they needed my dad, my parents said, “What fun!” I felt like he was taking me from all I knew and loved, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and animals! No matter how many times I tried to hide in my closet, he found me and so off we moved with my siblings and mother. It was a culture shock. I became an introvert and decided to figure life out by myself. That’s when I found Lisa Frank stickers and fell immediately in love with them. I was in 5th grade and in my young mind I believed that by her stickers I’d learn how life works. I went by those stickers to teach me how to fit in. It wasn’t until sometime in middle school that my mind was totally blown and I found out those Lisa Frank stickers lied to me. I thought that all cats were girls and all dogs were boys and when they got together and had babies they would have both cats and dogs in their litter. I found out all this was a lie when one of my friends told me his dog gave birth to a litter of 6 puppies! I was like, “What!!! there’s girl dogs too?!?!” I figured from that point on I needed to ask more questions instead of trying to figure things out myself. I was incarcerated at 18, a year after highschool. At 42, I still love Lisa Frank but know that life can only be learned by living it and doing your best and never give up, no matter what life may throw your way. Family is everything and time is precious with them.

Meet Rebekah…

Rebekah, 41
Incarcerated: 5 years
Housed: McPherson Unit, Newport, Arkansas

The hood behind the walls.

From childhood into adulthood. From womanhood into parenthood. At 41, I am once again, behind these walls. The years I can’t get back are gone. My daughter is my role model, woman, sister, adult, even though she has no kids, she’s my parent at times. She stuck by me praying and helping. The one I call in my hood, when I need advice. The one who never abandoned me, as I did her as a child. 

This time these walls talk to me and have shown me the hoods. In one way or another it’s the hood to us all. This year is finally not wasted. All the things I never grew to know all these years. It can be the ghetto, where you learn to be bad. Or it can grow life, teaching us all the hoods. From childhood, adulthood, womanhood, motherhood. With the help of the hood and a special woman I look up to, my daughter, Kalie. This time I found life in the Hood.