“My name is Z clutch, and I’m y’all fav glen steppa. I love to dance and hang with my sisters I also love animals. I’m fighting for the justices of my childhood friends Draco and Jakhi, they were both killed due to gun violence and they still have an ongoing investigation on their case. I believe spreading awareness about troubled teens is important to our communities because people feel like teens act out for no reason, but the truth is they are going through things that others don’t know about that causes them to act out the way they do. My photos of teens in my community can show examples on how the community you grow up in or that you be around can influence the way people act.”
Z.M. | 10th Grade
Stories For Action, Spring 2024
“Girlhood can be defined in many different ways. Everyone has different definitions of what girlhood is. Us girls we’re always trying to fit in. From changing how we look to changing how we think. Girls go through a lot behind closed doors. We have to deal with the stress of [not] getting pregnant, not to add the pain we feel monthly due to our periods. But like girlhood us teens are influenced by our community. The teens in our generation go through and see a lot of things that we aren’t meant to see especially at such a young age. Things like police brutality, gun violence, drug use, physical and mental abuse. The list goes on. Adults in this generation assume all teens that act out are just troubled. But in reality we either just want to fit in or we have built up trauma that nobody sees. All teens want to fit in. We might not want to fit into the same place but we look at the people we want to be like and we’re influenced by what they do. Or we have been through traumatic events that cause us to act out for attention.”
