# It's the pressure # The pressure # The pressure's on me # I could feel it it's depressing # Got me praying on knees # But the pressure the pressure # The pressure won't leave # Little devils and the angels waging war over me # Say how you gonna pull me away # I got too much love for these streets # I'm posting everyday # And all my homies riders we can get it every way # Staying loyal to the game is just the price that we pay # It's the pressure, the pressure # The pressure's on me # I can feel it it's depressing ...

The writing workshop essentially was to just get as much as their voice out as possible.

"Tell me where you come from, using the five senses."

I come from the smell of my mom's hair when I hold her close.

I come from the sight of gentrification.

I come from wanting to see my family and friends succeed.

I come from the sight of streets filled with gangs where the only sounds I perceive are those of sirens and gunshots.

Where the touch of a mom caressing her son's head before he leaves the house might be the last time she touches him.

I come from all these places.

- Not many youth my age last this long.

They either are dying by drugs or gangs and I have a fear of one day, something like that happens to me even though I'm not really involved in stuff like that but you'll never know what happens in a city like this.

It's a fear that I've always had ever since I was a little kid of of not being able to last long and not having a family in the future.

My school was stressful.

I was never the type of kid that paid attention in class and always either got distracted easily or hanged out with the wrong crowd.

-[Carlos] For me, it's really important to have a voice that's reflective of what you look like.

A lot of kids will be like, "oh "you're brown and a male Latino teacher "that's rare."

I know it comes with a lot of responsibility.

- [Gilberto] Writing healed some of the the negativity and the anxiety that I've had throughout the years.

It's all about stuff that either happens to me or happens to other people and write it in the form that it's actually me telling a story like it was in my perspective.

It's kind of like therapy to me.

- I was largely affected by teachers in my life.

I didn't consciously say, "I'm going to be a teacher."

You don't really have a choice when you know that you were a lot like these kids.

# Now I ride with emotions are hidden in the backseat # I just wanted one last chance # That can't be # Yesterday the tears tried, but I realized # You won't want to look down from above just to see me cry # You taught me to be strong # So I pray to you at night # For the strength to reflect # As I hold up all your light ..