So close, yet so distant.

I grew up in a small home, with me being the oldest out of my two sisters. And when I couldn't get along with them, my cousin Pita was always there. Since we were small, we've always been close, causing havoc everywhere and starting trouble whenever possible. Pita and I were like best friends, I recall us always playing video games on that old school Nintendo, or just hanging out in the front of his house. Pita was like the older brother I never had. Even though he has many younger siblings and an older brother, we were able to get along better because we were about the same age, as he is only a year older than I am.

Unfortunately, as the years went by, we've began to slowly drift apart from each other. Since I started high school, Pita has been like a stranger to me. He started hanging out with the wrong crowd, and involving himself in gangs.

To this day, Pita is on trial for attempted murder.

When I found out about this incident from my mom, I couldn't believe it. This occurred probably right in the middle of my sophomore year. My mom picked me up from school and told me about how Pita tried to cut up some man's face. I haven't seen my cousin in a while, but I knew that wasn't like him at all.

I felt bad for not being able to keep in touch with my cousin. I thought that if I had been around more, this wouldn't have happened. If I was there like I used to be. But of course, it was too late now, and my mom told me that no one was to blame except himself and his parents.

As the investigation continued, I found out that Pita was sort of "crazy" when he did it. He was out of his state of mind, and they soon found out that he was on drugs. "That's what happens when you hang out with the wrong people," my mom said to me.

As time passed, I seemed to forget about this incident, for schoolwork and everything else was all that occupied my mind. Then, summer came, and Pita's court dates were still going on. The case was that; Pita shall not be immediately sent to jail, because they found him in a loony state and were trying to figure out where to put him.

So on the 18th of June, I was finally able to attend a court date with my mom and aunt, Pita's mother. When I entered the court room, I saw a long glass wall on the side. As we sat down, I heard chains moving behind the wall, and realized that was where he was kept, like an animal, along with the other "criminals." All I could see behind the wall were blurred orange suits, and after waiting for a long while, the judge then announced the name of my cousin, Pita Hing.

We all got up to stand at the opening to be able to see him. He came out in a a yellow jacket, with chains in the back. "That's what murderers wear," I thought. But he wasn't a murderer, he didn't kill anybody. Pita seemed so different, his hair was longer and he looked extremely sad tied up in that straight jacket, indicating that he was crazy. We stared at him for a long time while the judge talked. He finally glanced over at us. I smiled at him, letting him know that I was there to support him. He returned a mournful smile back, and after he did he stared at the ground for the remainder of the time. It was so sad, he looked miserable. I felt bad for him, his life was basically thrown away. He was only a year older than me, turning 17 this 22nd of June. He had dreams of studying to become a mechanic, he loved working with cars. He had his life planned out but was stopped by those obstacles in life that pulled him down.

So now, the next court date will be on this 25th of June. That is when they'll know whether to place Pita in a group home, or in a mental hospital until he turns 18. The sad part is that if he gets placed in a mental hospital, his family won't be able to see him very often because the hospital will be all the way in Southern California, near Long Beach. That is extremely far from Stockton, and we want him to be near us so we can visit him frequently. But whatever happens, I just hope that Pita will be able to have a future despite this obstacle that has stopped his life. He doesn't deserve to be in jail knowing that he was able to drive and was almost near his high school graduation.. Knowing that he has his future ahead of him.

Happy birthday, Pita.

Two brave hearts of the community; gone

On June 2nd, during an early Tuesday in the Oak Park village apartments, two unarmed security guards were found executed in their cars. Their bodies were found at 2 A.M, as they were parked alongside each other in the parking lot behind the complex. The guards, Oscar and Eugene, worked for Ad Force Private Security and were both very liked in the community. They were always described as polite and caring, even Eugene, on his days off, would come to talk and visit his friends here in the community, and even fish with them. The people that he protected were like his family, since Eugene had no close relatives.

When I come back from grocery shopping or doing laundry with my mom, I would always see her wave to Eugene, sitting in his car. My parents, my aunt and her boyfriend knew and were friends with Eugene and Oscar. My aunt's boyfriend was friends with Oscar, the other guard, and as I have seen, Oscar was always seemed chipper and excited about life; he was just in such a great mood. So, my family were close with these guards that protected us, and it's such a shame that they were found dead in the place they were supposedly loved.

As I think about what has happened, I know it isn't fair. Eugene and Oscar were always kind and friendly towards these people, and the community that they were guarding ended up killing them. Now, I live in these apartments, this village we call Oak Park. And I feel ashamed to live here. Whoever killed the guards just set a bad reputation for us, making the whole community look like criminals. Even a friend of mine said that her mom was afraid to pick me up or drop me off anymore because of this incident. The majority suffer from the minority, it's such a shame.

I, personally didn't know these guards, but to some people, they were like family to them. My parents saw them everyday, after a long day of work. When my dad gets ready to leave his car, he would see Eugene, always opening up with a "hi, how are you?!" They would then engage in small chit-chat, and it was like a part of his everyday routine. So, as a result, we have new guards but they aren't as friendly as Eugene and Oscar. They look at us as if we're going to murder somebody, and it's just very sad. The guards didn't deserve it. And this community doesn't deserve to have a bad reputation. I just hope that they find whoever killed the guards soon, as it will bring my parents and my aunt great relief.

Student misses chance to see favorite band

Alesana, a screamo band, came to play at the Stockton Empire Theatre last Friday. April 3rd to be exact. They came along with I Set My Friends On Fire, and a few others. Anyone who knows me pretty well, or has seen my MySpace, probably knows that I obsess over Alesana. And that I probably worship them daily. Maybe. I have their band picture as my desktop wallpaper, their icon as my AIM icon, and the wallpaper on my phone is Alesana. I have dozens of pictures of them in my computer, almost all of their songs, a big poster that says ALESANA on the front of my bedroom door, and heck, I’m even wearing my Alesana tee shirt right now.

So, did I go to the concert? The Alesana concert? Me? Why of course you would think so, anybody would. A friend told me that I was the first person he thought of going.

Well, no. I didn’t go. Crazy, right? Yeah, my parents, or rather my dad said I couldn’t go, because I’m only 15. Said there would be crazy teenagers there and that I couldn’t go without my aunt or anything. Didn’t really give much of a valid reason, but that’s what he said. So I immediately felt sort of heartbroken hearing this. I didn’t really know what to think. So, after this, I despised my dad. My mom just told me to shut up and get over it.

I went to school the next day, telling my friends the heartbreaking news. “What? You love them! Why not?” “Whaa? Ask again!” And so on. I told them that there was no way that my strict parents could change their mind about this, and so that was the end of it. As the day went on, I tried to forget about it, but my friends who didn’t know the news were constant reminders, e.g. flashing the ticket, talking about the show.

So after school, I decided that I was going no matter what. I was going to disobey my parents’ authority and go anyway. Now, I normally wouldn’t even think about doing this, I wouldn’t even consider that option. But this was Alesana. I really loved this band, and would do anything to go to that show. My good friend Jeremy told me not to go, and that I’ll regret it later. My aunt also told me this, because my birthday was coming up and I was going to feel sorry for what I did. But really, I didn’t care. Seeing Alesana was worth getting in trouble, it was probably worth anything.

So, I was supposed to go to my friend Alisya’s house that day also. We were going to work on our Huck Finn English project, thanks to Mrs. Dei Rossi. So we took the bus and went to her house. And that was when we would sneak off to the show. We had to wait until her mom came back from work though, because her mom would let her go. So we worked on the project until 6. The show starts at 6:30. I began to lose all hope, knowing that I would never be able to go. Alisya knew this too, and just told me to call my dad to take me home.

So now, here I am. My parents didn’t know that I planned to sneak out, so I wasn’t in any trouble. The show was on Friday, and today is Sunday. The feeling that was attached to me all those 3 days hurt more than I could possibly imagine. I tried not to think about the show, but every time I did I could not stop crying. To know that I missed Alesana and all their glory when they finally come here. To know that people who didn’t even listen to them went to the show. To know that I had a chance to go to the show and see my idols. That hurts the most.