6: Isabel: “I pretty much felt like I wasn’t even there”

It’s an overcast day in February. The windows of the conference room at the Youth Center look out on a parking lot full of dirty snow, oily puddles, and salt covered cars. The scene is bleak. There is nothing inviting about it. Feeling the cold, Isabel never removes her white puffy winter coat. But she, herself, offers a stunning contrast to the austere-looking world outside those windows. Her deep brown eyes are pools of warmth. Her light brown hair is pulled neatly back into a partial pony tail made up of a series of smaller, intricately constructed pony tails; it’s a cheerful look. Her smile is genuine, but tentative. She’s twenty years old and has been out of school for about three years. I’ve recently interviewed her younger brother David, and perhaps because of that, she has anticipated my questions. She’s given a lot of thought to her experiences at Comprehensive High, to her decision to leave, and to what this means for her present and future. At seven months pregnant with her first child, a daughter, her hopes for this child are central in her mind as she shares her story: