In “True Notebook” written by Mark Salzman, the author states his own experiences at a Juvenile Hall. Salzman was stuck in a book he was trying to write. In order to help him find research material, his friend took him to a Juvenile Hall and wanted him to help teenagers who were in Juvenile Hall with writing. In this book, Salzman leads us into his workshop sessions and shows us his students work directly, so we come to know these incarcerated boys as he does. From the essays written by his students, we can obviously know the characteristics of each student. Among the students who Mark was teaching, Francisco impresses me most. He was an active and positive person. He was also a person who wanted to be a strong man to face with difficulties.…show more content… He was in a Juvenile Hall in which people do not have freedom, but he had never been negative. He took every class seriously and worked hard. He said, “Negative leads to more negative, and positive leads to more positive.” When Jimmy Wu, another student in Mark’s class, was sentenced to prison for twelve years. He was very sad and thought his life was hopeless. At that time, Francisco comforted Jimmy and talked with him. From the conversation stated in the book, “Don’t say that, Wu! It’s gonna be OK. You gonna get out soon. Hell, you prob’ly be out in twelve. And you’ll only be… seventeen plus twelve plus...” Francisco also said that although Jimmy would be locked for long time, he would still be young when he gets out. It clearly shows that Francisco was very positive. He thought that twenty-nine years old is still a young age to start a new life. It also shows that he thought whatever ages we are, as long as we keep a good mind in our inner heart, we can live a happy life. Additionally, once he said“Society can take away our physical freedom, but we still got spiritual freedom. Nobody can take that away from us! You could be in the worst place in the world, but still get as much freedom as you want, as long as you God in your heart.” It reveals that his attitude towards life was very optimistic. Although he thought he did not have physical freedom, but he still had metal freedom. He expressed his
