Martin Marquez

My name is Martin Marquez.  I am a 21 year old, young Chican@ male. I was born and raised in the beautiful city of San Francisco, CA. Growing up, my father suffered from an addiction to drugs. Times were rough after he injured his back and couldn't work anymore. My mother was our main provider and my father's terrible habit grew stronger. As the years went on, we had to leave my father.  I was in the 7th grade - that is when I began to write poetry as a way to express myself, as a way to set myself free, and as a way to share my story so I can find someone who can at least know what I'm going through. I continue to write to this day about the amazing mother I have been blessed with, the beautiful struggles that have been set before me, what I witness in the society I live in, and about my proud, brown identity. Because of what I've been through, writing has been my strongest therapy and talent I have discovered. This talent, thankfully, is still with me and I hope it always will be. I now live in South San Francisco, Ca with my mother and younger sister, Monica. Thank the gods and the goddesses that I have reached my last year at Saint Mary's College of California, where I am majoring in Sociology. I cannot wait to graduate nor see where this amazing journey we call life takes me.