The Random Mind

LeBlanc raises many concerns about the issues he investigates following his research at Random Mind. The author was able to devote ten years to pursue two young women from the Bronx and to adulthood and LeBlanc recounts the tales from the 1980’s to that date with its ambitious efforts (LeBlanc 2012). Jessica, the elderly of both teens, gets entangled with a drug baron, a very rich heroin-deceiving husband. Rather, Coco is in love with an aspiring gangster, Jessica’s brother. The author is more interested in bringing out the life experiences of the couples, not before they get into sexual relationships, but what exactly transpires after the two pairs agree to make it as married partners on criminal foundations. The two young ladies send controversial messages to LeBlanc`s audience, as it is not clear whether they fell in love or went in for abuse rather. After getting married, they endure both theirs and their partners’ prison terms, together with their children (LeBlanc 2012). LeBlanc shades light to the young generation in the contemporary world that there is no shortcut in life after she so well elaborates the challenges, the pair faces, including; the uncertain future, whether abuse, struggling with both the social and health problems, and facing violence in their communities. LeBlanc’s literary approach is very sprawling, as she technically isolates herself from the mundane life of her characters, and creates a free and open platform for them to without pressures of coercion express what life is like, after defying the social systems, moral and ethical guidelines as well as the law. The reality is a manifestation of people who live in the urban centers with absolute poverty, social distress, self-condemnation, and phenomenal stereotype (LeBlanc 2012).

The author investigates and brings out the true meaning of teens who get misguided, misadvised, and led out through temporary euphoria. The Puerto Rican teens launch a long and devastating journey into their future since the 1980s, with a mission of finding an abundance of sex, love, family, prosperity, excitement, and social connections. Ironically, it becomes evidently controversial to the reader that the two only end up in perhaps more devastating situations than the problems they were running away from in their village, as here in town, they pump into sexual abuse, drugs, siring babies without conscientious acknowledgement; hence the continuation of the prison life they so dreaded in vain (LeBlanc 2012). A more insightful, sympathetic, nuanced, and insightful portrait of the misplaced and ill-fated teenagers is created by LeBlanc, a revealed truth to the society. What appears concealed, ignored, and thought of as unrealistic is made intentionally known to everybody in the contemporary society. Using her news reporting and information soliciting journalistic expertise, LeBlanc is capable of retrieving and delivering first-hand information to her audience. Her characters have a natural voice, and they speak for themselves, her work is character independent and free from scholarly bias, all the confounding effects often encountered as hindrances in character expression all eliminated, hence doing her work as enticing and as realistic as possible (LeBlanc 2012). The reader feels compelled to read the whole book, and the reality LeBlanc brings on board is about the rot in the society, critical social issues that every stakeholder; the government, social welfare non-governmental groups, the community, parents, and individuals should be party to inclusively to help mitigate the situation, through well strategized both short and long term goals.

LeBlanc carefully creates a platform that exposes the risk factors, strengths, and resources available to the young people in question. Through Random Family, LeBlanc tells the American society of all evil lying in the news reports, the outlaw saga superimposed against the headlines, gold-drenched drug abusers, the gangsters that run the city and significantly influence the youth, as well as the street corner families in the city (LeBlanc 2012). Following her ten year period of consistent research, LeBlanc outlines evidence-based and authentic information about the little-known life in the miniature ghettos of the urban life. Her readers are perturbed, her audience is immersed in an intriguing scenario, where a plain agreement or disagreement to her narration could not be the exact response to her controversial findings. She highlights the weaknesses the young people in question have by journeying with her audience through a spectacular literary trajectory that manifests how girls become mothers, how the women turn into grandmothers, Furthermore, LeBlanc elaborates how so often young boys turn into drug dealers, gangsters, embrace criminal practices, and eventually are left at the mercy of harm and fate, considering how hope struggles in vain against deprivation in the urban set ups. The opportunity and resources available for the nineteen-year-old young Jessica present in the person of a tycoon heroin dealer, Boy George, as the young Caesar, Jessica’s brother takes on the fourteen-year-old Coco, an aspiring thug. This is the peak of opportunity for these two pairs, as given the right advice, place, time, and adhering to guidance and counseling, the four would have only made it in life if they rehabilitated their attention at this point (LeBlanc 2012). Nevertheless, their adamancy at this slim period of rare opportunity only translated to irreparable harm. They tried to outrun their future and uphold fantasized densities in life, by going to night clubs and immortalizing the night away only made their lives unbearable, and their weaknesses in life knocked at their doors the more. The other opportunity that presented with resources in their lives is when the two pairs separate lavished in the city, with Coco and Cesar sticking closer while Boy George and Jessica kept running around the city, with the first couple gambling with life and death and the second one swimming amidst ruin and riches. This was a remarkable show of weaknesses among the four teenagers, as they never knew what lay in their future weighting, attracting many severe consequences than when they must have embraced discipline and taken responsibility for their tender lives before harm, came knowing. When the rule of law takes its course, poverty, distress, prison life, betrayal, homelessness, prison separation, heartbreaking, and damage becomes inevitable (LeBlanc 2012). Through Random Family, LeBlanc makes it known to her audience about the rare opportunities, resources, and responsibility assuredly present for the young people, as well as the harm and danger that lies ahead if a weakness of lack of trust takes the curse.

In my reaction to the material, and how it might help me serve children at risk and their families and communities, Random Family is indeed an eye opener for what has not been done and thus what should be urgently done in the society to guide the youth. Both the local and state governments have a role to play in preventing a social breakup, particularly when it comes to honorable and principled values among the young generations. It has been scientifically confirmed that young people are often enthusiastic, explorative, and anxious to discover and conquer the world around and beyond them, nevertheless, moderation and social coexistence amidst responsibility is cardinal for healthy outcomes (LeBlanc 2012). Individual programs, guidance, and counseling, protecting, and advising those vulnerable to abuse is imperative within the family setting and beyond. Family support, parental guidance, child intervention, socialization and respite care is critical. Therefore, all efforts geared toward enlighten the young people about the risk that lies ahead in drug abuse, theft, and such criminal cases is imperative and creating opportunities for them too to ensure that they are busy and that they do not feel as social prisoners in their communities.

Reference

LeBlanc, Adrian Nicole. 2012. “Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx.” Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction 7(1): 1–433.