When I was young

RONALD SMOOT Artist/Vendor

When I was young, I would always get a beating for being bad in school and anything else I would do. I’ve been abused by my stepfather — he used to beat me with an extension cord. That made me even more bad, I was trying to prove him wrong but I’d failed again. I would still be bad. I was very stupid, he told me, I was a liar for doing bad things in my life and I started to believe him after awhile.

My grandmother only beat me one time with an extension cord. She hit me everywhere. I did not want her to ever beat me again. Then I started to act like I had good sense when I was 15 years old. My grandmother told my father to not to beat me anymore, he's getting too old, she said, and he stopped. When I got to be 17 years old my grandmother put me out because I wouldn’t save my money. I had a government job with the sewage department. Then I left and went to stay with my mother for about 2 years, then I was on my own with my roommate. The first person who stayed with me was my best friend in the world, then his mother put me out, she just told me all I have to do is buy some food for the house. I said okay.