He attacks the paper with words like his life depends on it. Why? Because it does.
After a year away from the city that’s quickly killing him, Bryce returns home. It’s a home plagued by gangs, drugs and violence, where being white makes him the minority. Where he’s been taught to believe that anyone who doesn’t share his pigment is a threat, a threat that’s left him isolated and alone. Afraid. But it’s what he knows. It’s a home that allows its inhabitants to leave in one of two ways; casket or handcuffs, no matter their skin tone.
Shelburne, Connecticut, better known as Hellburn. 1996. Cassettes blare from boombox speakers, but his world is changing in ways Bryce isn’t ready for. What if the things he thought he knew were wrong? What if he was afraid of the one thing that could save him?
He swore he’d escaped the depression, the bullying, the panic attacks and anxiety, the suicidal thoughts keeping him awake at night. He knew better than to try and walk away, so he ran like hell. It’s all he’s ever done, whether it be from bullies, girls, confrontation, or from the person he knows he has to be.
Sometimes it’s easier to ignore the truth than it is to face it. And the truth is, the quiet, insecure loser he’s been for the past fifteen years is so far from who he’s destined to become that he should be a stranger.
But change isn’t something that happens overnight, change is a journey, a search for some kind of purpose. When there’s nothing left to do but adapt or die, back to the wall, it’s time to sacrifice and do whatever it takes, for the chance to change.
After a year away from the city that’s quickly killing him, Bryce returns home. It’s a home plagued by gangs, drugs and violence, where being white makes him the minority. Where he’s been taught to believe that anyone who doesn’t share his pigment is a threat, a threat that’s left him isolated and alone. Afraid. But it’s what he knows. It’s a home that allows its inhabitants to leave in one of two ways; casket or handcuffs, no matter their skin tone.
Shelburne, Connecticut, better known as Hellburn. 1996. Cassettes blare from boombox speakers, but his world is changing in ways Bryce isn’t ready for. What if the things he thought he knew were wrong? What if he was afraid of the one thing that could save him?
He swore he’d escaped the depression, the bullying, the panic attacks and anxiety, the suicidal thoughts keeping him awake at night. He knew better than to try and walk away, so he ran like hell. It’s all he’s ever done, whether it be from bullies, girls, confrontation, or from the person he knows he has to be.
Sometimes it’s easier to ignore the truth than it is to face it. And the truth is, the quiet, insecure loser he’s been for the past fifteen years is so far from who he’s destined to become that he should be a stranger.
But change isn’t something that happens overnight, change is a journey, a search for some kind of purpose. When there’s nothing left to do but adapt or die, back to the wall, it’s time to sacrifice and do whatever it takes, for the chance to change.