Ok today I wont rant and rave, and today I wont ask you all to go to my other page. I don't think anyone does. I don't know why though, I always post a link to it in easy reach. I know, maybe your afraid. Afraid of what may be lurking in that page. I assure you there are no boogy men in there, just maybe me...the Bride of Frankenstein. Hahaa.

This morning on my Favorite Morning NEWS show, (can any one guess what that is? Yep, you got it GMA) I saw a rather funny story. Actually it isn't really that funny, but to some one like me it is.

So the story was about a new book that hit book store shelves recently. It is about a young bi-racial woman who grew up in the rough (to say the least) area of South Central L.A. I know you've heard of the horror that ensues on a daily basis in that gang ridden area of Los Angeles. It’s the home of the notorious Bloods and Crips gangs. It has been the back ground to many gang movies, Like South Central, Boys in the hood, and of course Menace to society just to name a few. If you have not seen these movies, you should. I definitely DO NOT recommend them for young children, PG 17. All of these movies were made in the early 90's and are based on stories that are part of every day life for some young people that live in that area. But, South Central L.A isn’t the only dangerous hood in the US. I'll get back to that in a second.
So, this woman wrote a biography about her life as not only a bi-racial child, but her life as a foster child growing up among gangsters. You may be asking, why is this so funny to me. Well the fact that people do grow up in these kinds of situations is not at all funny. The funny part is that this woman wrote a book that got published, just to have it ripped off the shelves because of a lie that she told. What kind of lie you ask. Well, where do I begin? Let me see how can I put this? The whole damn book was a lie. She lied about every detail in her book, from the chapters where she saw a person die before her eyes, and how she picked up the very casing of the bullet that killed her foster brother and how she actually felt his blood with her own fingers, to the chapters that detailed how she was forced to run drugs for her black foster mother. Sounds like a riveting story, to say the least. It also sounds like those very movies I named earlier. In fact that is probably where she got the ideas for her story, because the fact is, she actually grew up in a neighborhood that is the polar opposite of her the one in her book. She grew up with both of her white biological parents. She went to a very high end and prestigious private school, where some Hollywood actresses, whose names escape me at the moment, attended. And the even funnier part of this whole thing is that the publishers would have never known that the entire book was a ruse if a certain person would have never stepped forward to out the imposter. You will not believe who "ratted" this “wanna be” gangster out, it was her very own sister. Oh, yeah, you read thats right, her sister told the world, which caused the book to be pulled off the shelves only one week after hitting the shelves. Ok, well here is where I get to my point. I find it funny that a girl from a well to do family would make up such a story. I find it amusing that she in fact has no idea what it is to walk the streets of a rough gang infested neighborhood. Well, I do! I know what it’s like to go to elementary school with friends who end up turning to the life of violence and gangs. I know what its like for those same friends to be killed for the choices they made. I can’t even count how many drive bys were executed on the street where I lived. No telling how many other, drive by shootings were done in the rest of my neighborhood. I can’t even remember how many of my school mates were murdered in cold blood in my very own neighborhood. Now, mind you, I never saw a person killed but I saw the after math. I saw the families who were destroyed by these thoughtless acts. I saw faces I grew up with disappear, never to be seen again. Many lives were lost in the abyss of violence that was my neighborhood in the North Side Of Fort Worth, TX. I was always torn between gangs. I was never a gangster, but I had to be very aware of where my alliance laid. I think I got off easy in ways. Because I grew up with almost every gang member of all of the gangs that infested my school, I got a pass. I was never seen as an enemy, at least as far as I know, I wasn't. I was actually a good student, but for my safety and to keep away any bullies, I held back some may call it "soldiered". I didn't do as well as I know I could of for fear of loosing street "cred", or perhaps look like a nerd, which was almost as unsafe as actually being a gang member. I somehow found a safe and happy medium. Unfortunately I was witness of many gang fights. I was actually in a few fights myself. The fights I was in were not gang related rather, a way of establishing strength and refusal to be pushed around by so called bullies. Except, these bullies didn't just call you names, they were violent and abusive. These bullies didn't really have any gang affiliation; they were a separate entity, a separate darkness that had to be avoided at all cost. It was a way of survival. It was my way of survival. I thankfully was able to escape the "Barrio" and went on to get a college degree, which for me was an impossibility, had I stayed in my "hood". My parents did all they could to keep my brother and I from becoming homeless and starving. They stayed involved in our lives as much as they possibly could, considering they worked 3 jobs between them. They also made sure to we regularly attended church. They allowed him and me to be in extra curricular activities. My choices of after school activities were choir contest, High School Tejano Band singer, and a few sports like basketball, volley ball, softball. I did anything to that would keep me off the streets and away from the bad influences of my peers. Many others were not as lucky as I was to be involved in these types of activities. I don't regret my childhood, I embrace it. It made me want more out of life, than what others were too quick to accept. It made me who I am. I am strong and intelligent, yet street smart and weary of fakes. This so called author could not have pulled off a lie of this magnitude on me. For that woman to write a story about her so called "hard" life when in all actuality it was not hard at all, at least not in the way she described it to be, was amusing and disturbing to me. All anyone with dreams and aspirations could ever want is to leave the ghettos and barrios they are living in and never look back. Why then would she want to be a part of that life? Who dreams and aspires to be poor and living in constant danger, no one, at least no one in their right mind. I think that this woman obviously has issues that need to be resolved with a therapist. For her to write a story like that and to call it a true story, an autobiography is an insult to those of us who had no choice but to survive that kind of life. I laugh at her. I laugh out loud at her ignorance. I would never wish that life on anyone, but in her case I wish that she would have really attempted to survive in a "hood" or "barrio" like the one she glorifies in her book, maybe then would she see the wrong in her actions and the ignorance in her words. If this had taken place 15 years ago, I would have had to send her a post card from the "barrio" that said Wish you were here.


to access the entire story for your self click this link or go to ABCNews.go.com

You can also click or copy and paste the link below to watch the story your self, it even shows the author dawning a red bandana, ‘cause every one knows that that is a true sign of a gangster.
http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4392410&affil=wfaa
Melissa