Thursday, October 27, 2011

Reading Rosa Lee

This took me a while to write. But I'm almost unsure how to feel about Rosa Lee. This woman's story seems all too familiar. Rosa Lee lived in a life of poverty and because of this she resorted to drugs and stealing. She and her children were caught in a cycle. I think what hit me the hardest was the involvement of drugs. Rosa practically ran a drug business in her household. She would use her children and even her grandchildren to sell drugs so that she wouldn't get caught. This was how she got money. It wasn't long before Rosa Lee got caught up in the drugs herself. And not only herself, but her daughter, Patty. Patty began to exhibit destructive behavior. And I find it so difficult to read. I try not to make too much of a connection. But it reminds me of how, just a few months ago, I lost my aunt to a drug overdose. This stuff happens everyday. Sometimes this book makes me so angry. But in reality, how can they help it? This is how they were taught. There was no other way.  


Now, Miss A and I didn't talk too much about her life outside of the CFL. And she does seem like a clean and "well-to-do" person. So it's hard to relate her to such an extreme case. But she is without a job and she cannot read. So she does have her own struggles.


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