Jamie Mustard

It's a weird place to live.

But I could read, but I just couldn't write.

So I said no, and I went.

I'm escaping at 19.

I call this relative after the escape from a hotel room where I've switched cabs five times.

And I said, does the offer still stand?

And she says, yes.

I said, send me a ticket.

You can leave tomorrow.

And I said, no, no, no, four days from now.

I go to New York and I start doing remedial classes at a community college, learning to write, learning to do basic five-year-old math.

It's brutal.

I do that for a year and I go to a small private liberal arts school in Westchester County, New York.

This taking inner city kids without transcripts or any educational pass, they'll let you in.

My relative hears the stories.

She's like, you should try because they're taking kids without pass.

They'll take anyone.

And you are anyone, my friend.

Yeah.

So I get into a normal college through this back door and I meet a girl within the first three weeks and she sees that I can barely write.