"Almost Home" Final Blog

The last chapter doesn't tell another story, but follows up on a previous one. We hear about the resolution of Paulie's situation; a happy ending to an extremely unfortunate childhood. After the Alaska Covenant House took care of him, Paulie got a steady job at a restaurant, and got in a relationship with a girl named Courtney, another waiter. To make things better, Paulie gets word that his adoptive mother and father, Frankie and Tiffanie, had talked things out, sorted out their differences, and are getting their own lives together. For a young man in such a difficult predicament as Paulie, this news brings great hope for an uncertain but now very optimistic future.

"Almost Home" Blog #7

The second to last chapter in "Almost Home" described Meagan's story, a teenager who has been in and out of the Covenant House in Hollywood throughout her short life so far. Growing up south of LA in the roughest part of Orange County, she was never directly involved in a gang, however was constantly around them throughout her childhood. As strange as it may seem, she got used to being around such violence, and didn't let it affect her personality on the inside. However, on the outside, she had to exhibit a rough exterior, occasionally fighting and shoplifting just to get by in her rough neighborhood. However, what her family did not know about her until her late adolescence was that she was lesbian, and as soon as they found out her mother and grandmother kicked her out and burned her belongings, saying they didn't want any "dirty lesbians" in the house.
For a few years, Meagan continued her ways on the street, simply because it was her only option for survival. After being kicked out of the house, she became a small part of an alarmingly and tragically large statistic- one of 240,000-400,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual, or questioning homeless minors annually. One of the hardest parts of Meagan's life was her father, known to be a kind and understanding man, had only met her 3 times. She would have given anything to see him again, but things had just gotten to be too complicated with his wife, Meagan's mother. One day, two women who happened to be walking around Orange Country who worked at the Hollywood Covenant House, Thandi and Rachel, discovered her on the street, and heard her story. They decided that the Covenant House would be the perfect place for her to go for a longer period to get her life back on track after her friends and family had so tragically misunderstood her.

"Almost Home" Blog 6

The 6th section of this story tells a story that is close to home to all of us who live in Maplewood and South Orange - the lives of two boys, Keith and Jim, from Newark. The city seems so far away, but is so close to the beautiful suburb of these two towns. Keith and Jim, much like the other characters in "Almost Home," had been born into awful circumstances. In their case, they lived in a cramped, two-bedroom apartment of an alcoholic single mother who was a both a crack seller and addict. The mom became single after she had smashed two bottles against her husband's head in a terrifying fight, killing him instantly. The boys weren't aware that she had killed him because she never went to jail, and eventually Keith became an insomniac due to such an excessive exposure to crack.
One day, since  the mom left for days on end and didn't feed them, the boys reached into the cupboard and made some toast. However, they made the toast not by putting it in a toaster, but burning the bread directly over a flame on the stove. Quickly, the bread burned, caught fire, and smoke filler the room, spilling into the hallway.
Minutes later when the firemen arrived, they asked where their parents were. Unsure of where their mom was, the boys explained to them how she had been gone for days at that point. As a result, they took the boys to a foster mother, named Ms. Dawson, and explained that when their mom came to get them they could go back home. However, the mother never showed up, and eventually a few months later Ms. Dawson took them to the Covenant House. Keith and Jim are now continuing school and are planning on attending college, hoping for a much brighter future ahead.

"Almost Home" Blog 5

This chapter of the book told the story of a teenager named Creionna; a homeless mother and Hurricane Katrina refugee. At the age of 18, she had her first son, a baby named Dominic. For Creionna, odds literally couldn't have been less in her favor. After earning a high school diploma after she became a mother and had to care for Dominic at such an early age, Katrina hit. While getting back on track after such a tragic natural disaster would be both saddening and extremely difficult for anyone, doing so for an 18 year old girl with no job, source of income, and little life experience was virtually unimaginable. In addition, the storm had wiped out all affordable housing along the coast of Louisiana (her only living options there,) and all rents were increased by up to 50% elsewhere. However, despite these arduous circumstances, Dominic became her inspiration to improve her life and therefore his as well. One day, she received both good and bad news in a phone call - that her father was finally released from jail, but also that her sister had suffered both a stroke and a heart attack. She felt it was her job to take care of her, so Creionna moved back with her father. To her surprise, new neighbors had came - an older family with a son named Rashad. She found him attractive, and decided to get to know him more. It turned out that he had been through other rough circumstances involving drugs, and wanted to get back on his feet along with her. The two started minimum - wage jobs, and are now attending college together in hopes that they can provide better lives for themselves and their children.

"Almost Home" Blog 4

The next chapter / section of "Almost Home" by Kevin Ryan and Tina Kelley presents the story of a boy named Benjamin Baker. Benjamin grew up in foster care, after his parents constantly abused him as a child. During adolescence, Benjamin received a great opportunity when he was admitted Cisco Junior College on a huge scholarship to play football. Being 6' 6'', possessing a great sense of humor, and amazing athletic skills, it was the perfect change for him to turn things around and begin a life of his own. Despite this, his years of growing up in foster homes caused him to burst out in anger at his coach after a practice one day, automatically dropping him from the team. The next day, he finds himself where he was before he was at school - sleeping under a bridge across from a Greyhound station. Eventually, he turned to selling drugs as his only source of money.
With practically no money and no place to go, he wanted to re-unite with his family. All of a sudden, he had no memory of his mom burning his hands, or being thrown onto the street- he just wanted someone to finally have his back. After eventually traveling back to his mother's house, she took him to Covenant House, and eventually Benjamin graduated from University of Houston with a 92 average and a degree in kinesiology.

Almost Home Blog #3

In this section of the book, I read about a girl named Muriel. Each section of the book serves as a long chapter, each one discussing an individual's life and how they turn out and escape the problems they deal with. Muriel's story is particularly tragic in that she, along with many others in this book, is simply born into an awful situation. In her case, it was fetal alcohol syndrome; and as a result of growing up in a broken home just like Paulie, she went down a very bad road and became addicted to hard drugs before the age of 13. After a short time of trying to recover, Muriel worked as an escort after following advice from her one and only role model in her life, her older sister named Nancy. However, she fell into the trap again, and after becoming addicted she was exploited into prostitution. After growing up with adoptive parents who treated her terribly, she didn't care if what she was doing was tragic, harmful, or simply wrong - she was always taught that her choices simply didn't matter. This chapter ends well in that she went to the Covenant House, and got back on her feet. At first, she was still hiding and using drugs in the facility, and eventually they suggested she either began looking hard for work or make alternate living arrangements. A realization dawned on her one day, and now Muriel not only has a steady and safe job, but also serves as a motivational speaker for young girls who were once in her position and gives advice as to how they can get out and live healthy, productive lives.