Bashkim's Question Response

Since reading True Notebooks and Nathaniel coming into the picture, I can see how he represents an obstacle for the other kids. More obstacles present themselves such as Mark dealing with the staff. Mr. Sills and the other guards seem like a threat to Mark and I feel like he has to overcome them every time he walks in to teach a class. Mr. Sills doesn't leave any space for error when it comes to the kids and you can see he puts that pressure on Mark as well. For example unlike Mr. Jenkins, Mr. Sills means that when class is over it's over. There is no extra five minutes. In my life I feel like I have to do better than my parents, I also know that they want me to do better than them. This is more than positive because when I do things right they're proud. It also pushes me to accomplish things academically even if it's not with exceeded expectations. Cons to this is when things don't go the way I or they want and disappointment fills the air. I've never done anything to disappoint too much but when something isn't going right I hear about it, then usually exceeding what my parents can do kicks in.

Carmelo's Question Response

Mark's writing class is a great conformity for the inmates. Positivity seems to come from every session even if the topic brought up was negative. Writing is expressive and something good for these kids, it also can help, if they were to get out, care for more education. Lets say the kids were to be released, instead of going back to a gang they would join a writing corp. or something. Groups I have conformed with has definitely impacted who I am today. I've always hung out with the kids that everyone knows in middle school and high school, I guess the "jocs" or "popular" kids. That's just it though, It was completely positive because I was never a "joc" and not everyone knew ME. I knew the kids I was hanging out with and they knew me but everyone else knew them, not like I did. I liked the group of friends I still to this day hang out with because of them, not what they did.