contents - Gallatin School of Individualized Study - New York ...

and not harm my pets. I didn’t want to go back to the house. I was still stayingsomeplace safe.Now, one year later, I have moved into a one-bedroom apartment. I amhappy to be alive today. My mother died in 2007, and now I’m by myself. Mychildren are afraid to talk to me. My daughter is 22 years old and my son is 25 now.They are afraid of their father. He controls my children and tells them if they talkto me he’ll give them no money and take away the cars he gave them. I have notseen my son for 11 months now. I hope and pray my children will talk to me andsee me.Persevering135maria riveraBorn and raised in New York, Maria Rivera is 46 years old. “I like all kinds of music,” shesays. “I like to talk to people.” She studies at the Adult Learning Center of LaGuardiaCommunity College, where her teacher is Miriam Fisher. To guard her safety, she haschosen not to be photographed for the Literacy Review.