Relapse

Thugs have feelings. They often have legitimate goals too. In the case of Thuglife, he wears every emotion on his sleeve and he wants to be a college graduate. After two seasons with me, Thuglife is now looking forward to taking his talents to a 4-year college. In the meantime, he's dealing with some weighty issues at home.

For as long as I've known Thuglife, he has been clear about the hood being his home. He goes back whenever the opportunity arises. He has friends there, many of whom are gang affiliated. He also has relatives there. Among those many relatives is his Mom.

In 2002, Thuglife left his Mom in the hood and relocated to his Aunt's suburban home. He lived there, in affluence, for several years and graduated from the high school in town. Despite leading a better material life away from his mom who was battling a crack addiction, Thuglife has rejected his suburban existence and continues to embrace the ghetto...

Thuglife was happy to see me. I was on my way into the office when we randomly crossed paths. From the outset, he did most of the talking. It was clear that he had a lot on his mind. He had recently visited a Private, Liberal Arts campus and fell in love with the place. Beyond that, he was contemplating his summer plans which involved moving back to the hood.

Thuglife: I'm gonna be moving in with my brother once the school year lets out.
Me: Why are you moving in with your brother? Don't you usually go to your mom's?
Thuglife: Yeh but she's pissing me off right now. Me and her kinda went at it the other day.
Me: Why?
Thuglife: (eyes watering) She back on that stuff. Shit's makin me mad. I wanna fuck these dudes up who are sellin her shit. Excuse my language. I'm just mad.
Me: How do you know she's doing it again?
Thuglife: I could just tell by looking at the corners of her mouth. She been actin' funny too and her face doesn't look the same. Trust me. I know.