City Links

Dear Baby Tashari Cromwell,

Life is going to deal you a pretty shit hand at life and what sucks the most is, you never really have a chance to take it all in. All the mess starts from very young. Oh, for future reference when you went to "work" with your mother, she wasn't doing shit but turning tricks. That's the true tea right there. That's one thing you know for a fact you learned from her. How to get what you need from a man you were entertaining. Your mother would always so "Never leave with just a wet ass" and of course you never understood what it meant, but the older you got, the more sense it made. That's something you still follow til this day. If he's into you, he'll court you, and if he don't then he ain't worth shit because it's niggas out here that will. But anyway, It wasn't long before you was taken from her and placed in the system at the tender age of six, and having to fight for everything you own started there. Being in foster care, you had to literally fist fight for the necessity. Like a meal for instance. Make no mistakes though, your mother definitely tried to get you back and she even did so successfully but only to get you taken away again.

Being in and out of Foster Homes were tiring, once you hit fifteen you just never went back. You did manage to join a house, and you vogue DOWNNNN. There wasn't a ball you pumped and you didn't collect your tens. It was that world where you felt like you finally belong. Your gay mother took you in, and everything was nice until you started to fight with them too. Your temper is out of control, even still. It's something we still have to work on but hey, Rome wasn't built in a day. So far, you've fought yourself out of foster homes, gay homes, jobs, and even relationships. The sad part is I don't have anything super fascinating to tell you about our life now at 21. It's still a work in progress, and hopefully I get a letter from an older, wiser version of us. That'll let me know there is still hope for me because right now I'm feeling a little hopeless. I guess to sum it all up, get ready for neglect, and disappointment. It's a running trend for you.

Shit fasho gets easier, well maybe not easier, but definitely better. Especially in comparison to the things you have to endure right now in this part of your life. Shit, in 2022, you coming up for real. You dropped a song that went viral, blew up, and all the long nights that's going to come--when you and your niggas up late in "White Tim's" garage in a makeshift studio, and dropping cringe shit on soundcloud gon' pay off. Nigga we got SIGNED. How ironic that "Lonely" was the song that changed your life, and lonely is the perfect way to describe where you are now. Yeah you had your sister on the many nights mama wouldn't come back.. and I hate to tell you fam, but one day she ain't gonna come back at all. We pass her sometimes when we driving through the old hood nowadays, but we don't even look her way... Aye, I ain't say we was perfect.. we still got some shit to work on right now but I have to admit, when I do see her, I turn back into you and think about how fucked up she was. But enough of that shit for right now, back to the important shit. Nigga, you pulling up in a SRT Hellcat now, got you a diamond grill--a real one--and not the ones you make out of gum wrappers every morning outside of your school before class start. And the bitches, bro the bitches.. the fattest asses, the biggest titties. Stripper bitches, lawyer bitches, thug bitches all kinds of bitches. You still only had one girlfriend ever though because commitment ain't really your thing. It's more than likely cuz of our mama though, shit, and our father too. Oh, you finally met that nigga though at 13. They bought some big convicts over to the juvie to talk to us and his ass was in the line up. That shit crazy. First convo you had with that nigga and yall both was in jail. Apparently, that nigga known for putting in work. From California to Atlanta and when word got out you was his seed that was your gateway to the streets... and it paid off for a lil while, but. Anyway tho.

I know you're a dreamer, you've always been a dreamer. Even now, at 21 you still be dreaming hard as fuck. You know what's crazy? Even til this day we still got that uglass green composition notebook where you used to list everything you ever wanted in it. And it goes from stuff you want in this moment in your life (and eventually got because I made sure of it) and goes to stuff I want now. I never stopped adding to it. Lol. I think it's wild to see shit I used to think was a delicacy.. like being able to take a bath without having to boil your water first, having thanksgiving dinner, or having a christmas tree..or being able to buy Tahara an actual gift on her birthday instead of "best big sister" construction paper cards, to now like owning businesses and getting sponsorships. Oh and the gushers? Boyyyyy, we got so many Gushers in 2022.. a whole drawer full and we don't even have to save them, Tahara don't have to steal them, and nobody can take them from you to hurt you no more. So right now, I know it's a lot of cold nights for you. I know you go to school in pain from sleeping on a floor with Tahara, or stuffing your feet in kicks she outgrew about two years prior. Or waiting around for the lunch lady to close the cafe down afterschool so you can beg for another pizza to split with ya sister. But just stay down, pimpin. It'll get better.

P.S we still tenderheaded.

Dear 21 year old Marisol Ali

Girl we done made it to 37. I know, I know. I still can't believe it either sometimes. Especially at 21? Mm, I remember those nights girl. That raggedy ass strip club and when times were rough you got on your 304 shit. I respect that but in a way we never got over it. I still never told no one but shit you had to do what you had to do. Hustling like that is how you met your husband. That's right, girl, husband. We were married and we married well too. But don't get too excited it's probably not how you think. Now you dealt with drug dealers and scammers, you know, niggas who were rich by hood standards. They would take you out the club, drip (that's new slang, it means like alllllaaaaaat) you out, but always would throw you right back to the wolves when shit went south. It was your eighty three year old husband that ultimately changed the game for you.

He had apparently been the CEO and chairman of this app that took off. Had a fortune. He was married when we met him, but his first wife was dumb enough to sign a prenup and we were adamant on not doing that shit when we got him to marry us. Your step kids hate you, and that's cool you hate them too. And when his old ass kicked the bucket, everything he owned was left to us.

Bitch, talk about a come up. The app, the plethora of other businesses he owned, homes, boats, you name it. He had it and now it's all yours. We didn't leave a dime to his kids, since they wanted to talk so much shit about us when we did marry him. Fuck them, his grandkids too. Tuh. This rich widow shit is lavish and easy. Just remember appearance is everything, but that's something we've always known. All we have to do now is donate to look good. Invest in smaller businesses for large payouts once success hits, and keep all the shit afloat by hiring people who went to college to do that shit. We can't be bothered with the actual work side of everything, really. I know for a fact how hard we dreamed about being rich but this is beyond even we can imagine.

            You’re the brightest kid that anyone would love to have and even though you’re so polished on the outside at such a young age, you have really bad days that you don’t ever discuss because you don’t ever want your mommy’s hard work or love to go away. Growing up without a father was tough on you but you were too young to understand how and why especially when mommy was there to give you whatever your heart desire and to teach you the ways of the world. There were things that she told you that should have never been for your ears to hear but there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t prepare you for and protect you from. 

Character Development Task 003:

A Letter to Your Younger Self.

Have you ever wished you could go back in time and tell your younger self something? Do you feel like you could change something from your past? This journaling activity can be a fun and rewarding way to acknowledge things from your character's past and find ways to use them to make positive changes for the future.

Pick a particular age or time period (i.e. middle school) and start thinking about the characteristics and emotional experiences of that version of your character. Some important questions to cover are: what would that version of your character think of today’s version of your character? Another great question to pose is what advice you might want to offer to that younger self? Think of advice that might help the younger "you" avoid negative thought patterns and tips on how to avoid ruminating on things that seem insignificant now.

Please remember that unless a character tells you directly what they have been through, even after gaining knowledge of things via the character development. You are in no way, shape or form supposed to have knowledge of any events mentioned, IN character.  

Character Development Task 003:

A Letter to Your Younger Self.

Have you ever wished you could go back in time and tell your younger self something? Do you feel like you could change something from your past? This journaling activity can be a fun and rewarding way to acknowledge things from your character's past and find ways to use them to make positive changes for the future.

Pick a particular age or time period (i.e. middle school) and start thinking about the characteristics and emotional experiences of that version of your character. Some important questions to cover are: what would that version of your character think of today’s version of your character? Another great question to pose is what advice you might want to offer to that younger self? Think of advice that might help the younger "you" avoid negative thought patterns and tips on how to avoid ruminating on things that seem insignificant now.

Please remember that unless a character tells you directly what they have been through, even after gaining knowledge of things via the character development. You are in no way, shape or form supposed to have knowledge of any events mentioned, IN character.