Second Letter to Maria

Dear Ms. Maria,

My name is [withheld] and I appreciated you coming in and talking to us. I am in a gang also and part of me wants to leave all that alone but at the same time it is a huge part of my life. I felt like you were telling my story over but just a little different.
When you made the statement about not being apart of that gang and disowning them, it sort of inspired me like big time. I thought about all the girls my age that loved being a crip. (Oh, that’s the gang I’m in). Anyway, including me we rep it hard and we make it seem like that’s all we want to do when we get older. Get pregnant, rep our gang, smoke, drink, party…blah blah blah. But I don’t want that, I want to be a nurse practioner, I want to be respected for the things I’ve done not the people I’ve hurt or killed. Only thing is right now I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place. I feel like I just want to give up (I also feel like I am rambling in this letter).
Anyway, before I pour my heart out to you and embarrass myself I just wanted to again thank you for coming in and sharing with us your words of wisdom. Each time I get passes from my group home and go around my old hanging spots I will remember you and push myself to do the right thing no matter what.



Yours Truly,
Anonymous 2

First Letter to Maria Reyes, Freedom Writer

Dear Maria Reyes,
Hello my name is [anonymous] the one, who asked where you got your jeans from, and I want to thank you for coming and talking to us about how you made it and that you didn’t give up. It takes a lot of courage to come all this way to talk to us.
You have made me think about my life and think do I really want to be this person people think I am. I have been through a lot and how I’m going to make it, I feel I can do it from your experience. You said that you didn’t like school that much and I hate school but I need it to be better if I want to get somewhere in life. I’m not that good in typing letters so, I just want to thank you a lot and you helped me see something different in my life that I didn’t know I had. You changed the way I see things. Talk soon.