June 18, 2009 

BY ERIKA A. MCCARDEN

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

 Arlene Ayala didn’t find the road to writing easy.

It took her a while to embrace poetry and participate in a creative writing program at the L.A.-based Homeboy Industries, which aims to help at-risk and former gang-involved youth become positive members of society through job placement, training and education.

“I never wanted to take the class, and I would get mad at Leslie,” Ayala said of Leslie Schwartz, who spearheaded the program. “We always got into it and I wouldn’t write anything. I kept telling her, ‘I’m not a poet,’ but she kept pushing and pushing. Now I write poems and enjoy writing, and it helps me focus when I’m mad about something.”

On June 11, Ayala, a former drug dealer, and her colleagues presented literary works from the first annual Homeboy Review — a collection of essays and poetry written and published by ex-gang members in Homeboy Industries’ writing class.

“I never thought I could ever write, but we have it in us,” Ayala said. “We’re so programmed to think we’re not going to be anything, and now it’s crazy to see our names in a book and it makes me want more. It’s amazing to have something to show my grandparents.”

Founded by Father Gregory Boyle in 1988, Homeboy Industries has grown to provide training and work experience for rival gang members with an enterprise comprised of Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Silkscreen, Homeboy Maintenance, Homeboy and Homegirl Merchandise, Homegirl Café and the newest, Homeboy Press, which publishes The Homeboy Review.

The new publication is written in three subdivisions: The First Section, which features literary works from established poets and writers including poet Luis Rodriguez, author Kerry Madden and Naomi Shihab Nye; Art and Justice, which analyzes the relationship between art and community; and 130 West Bruno Street, which highlights poetry written by “The Homies” from Schwartz’s class.

The evening debut of The Homeboy Review kicked off with readings by select students, Rodriguez, Madden and Boyle.

Also featured was a dedication to fellow “Homie” Trayvon Jeffers, who was scheduled to read his work that evening, but was shot and killed a week before. His mother sat in the front row as his friends read her son’s work, along with special poems written in his honor.

“Before the class I never transformed my thoughts to paper. I found that I have so much in me,” Robert Juarez said. “I learned that writing is a form of therapy. It let me search deep within and broke down all these layers. I learned that I can write my own destiny and that I don’t have to be stuck.”

Juarez has been working at Homeboy Industries for almost two years and worked his way up from an assistant to case manager. He is now responsible for managing and assisting recent parolees with transitioning into society. Juarez has become passionate about poetry and finds himself always writing in his spare time.

“It’s been instrumental in changing my life, and it’s pumped me up,” he said. “To see our work in print means a lot to me. I really like writing and plan to continue it.”

For Fabian Montes, writing became a personal refuge from his former ties with gang affiliation.

“The Press opens people up to our voices. It teaches us how to deal with our pain and anger better, and it’s a form of therapy for us to turn to rather than drugs,” Montes said. “Poetry was an outlet for me and saved my life. The Review will let people on the outside know that there are some really good poets here, with very deep things to say.”

Montes has been working at Homeboy Industries for seven years, attended East Los Angeles College, and is now a Release Case Manager and helps youth from juvenile camps transition into Homeboy Industries.

“The writing is a very important part of their life and transformation out of gangs,” Schwartz said of her students.

To learn more about Homeboy Industries or The Homeboy Review, visit www.homeboy-industries.org, (323) 526-1254.