The judge gave me a break. He was like: wow, we've never heard of this. So he gave me time served in the county jail, I didn't even get a felony. I have yet to get a felony, which is so crazy. I think Lindsey Lohan has more felonies than me.

I'm not really anti-gang - I was a gang member and so was my son. I'm pro-youth, pro-community, pro-family, pro-arts, and pro-peace.

If young people had love, hope, true education, the arts, full and meaningful lives they won’t join gangs. My life since living the gang and drugs has been directed to making positive what it means to be Chicano, human, man, woman, and on how to draw out the imagination and creativity that all people have.

The judge gave me a break. He was like: wow, we've never heard of this. So he gave me time served in the county jail, I didn't even get a felony. I have yet to get a felony, which is so crazy. I think Lindsey Lohan has more felonies than me.

Gangs exist when there are lots of empties in a person, in family, in community. It points out how we need to do more to bring real art, passions, teachings, caring, and resources into the emptiness of young peoples' lives.

Eventually I went back to high school. I went to a coaching center in my neighborhood. I had to leave the homeless situation because it was so bad and I knew that I was falling deeper and deeper.

Nobody supported me; my family thought I had gone crazy. They thought, you crazy gangster, you crazy drug addict, now you want to be a writer? That's it! They totally gave up on me after that.