Growing Pains

Poyo sells marijuana. He has been dealing weed since high school, so at 21 he's now a veteran in the game. I've met enough people since my high school days who make a living doing that, so it didn't come as a surprise when Poyo opened that can of worms.

Since meeting Poyo a few months ago, I've become his sounding board. Initially, he was just coming to me with questions about his classes. Naturally, those conversations evolved into matters dealing with his academic struggles. That, correspondingly, brought about a slew of issues that seemed to be affecting Poyo's performance in the classroom. To that end, I began racking my brain for ways to help him succeed at the college beyond simply suggesting that he spend more time at the tutoring center.

One of the primary ways I try to help students is by offering them ways to broaden their network. I truly believe that success doesn't occur in a vacuum. Individuals who come from supportive villages become strong people. In that vain, I offered Poyo the opportunity to participate in a focus group I'm running at the college. Through this group he would be able to rub shoulders with Deans, Vice Presidents, and other power brokers at the college--individuals who could possibly open doors for Poyo that have previously been closed.

Without hesitation, Poyo opted to be a volunteer for this focus group. We then agreed on a time to meet at the college so he could start helping me with the first project. He didn't show up at all for the appointment. I was disappointed. Surprisingly, he texted me the following day and showed up at my office to meet with me.

Me: You let me down, man. Where you were you yesterday?
Poyo: Yesterday? I thought we was meetin a hour ago. That's why I sent you the text, because I was runnin' late.
Me: Running late? We were supposed to meet at 11 am yesterday not today.
Poyo: Oh. My fault! I thought it was today. That's what I thought you said in the text. I'm so sorry. I really thought it was today.
Me: Our signals got crossed then. I can't meet with you now, though.
Poyo: Really. I'm sorry. I just have a lot on my mind right now. I could've just confused the times and what not.
Me: What's on your mind?
Poyo: When I got home, my mom's face was all bruised up. My stepfather beat her.
Me: Oh. Damn. Really? What did you do?
Poyo: Man, I was ready to... but she was making excuses for him, talkin about she started it and she hit him too. It was crazy, man. I still don't know what to think about that. The day before I got in some trouble too.
Me: For what?
Poyo: Memba how I was tellin you that I move stuff.
Me: Yeh.
Poyo: I got bagged on the highway by the cops.