HATS

Ex-felon.
Ex-convict.
Recovering addict, mental health client.
Ex-streetworker, incest survivor.
Ex-ward of the state on a PINS petition.
Ex-foster child, rape victim.
HASA client.
Welfare recipient.
Mother of 8.
Wife.
High school graduate.
Music lover (instrumental and vocal).
Singer.
Valedictorian.
Patient.
Overachiever.
Published poet.
A chameleon:
Shamiqua, Candida, Zoraya, Dusty—
these were the names I went by on the street.
Positive since 1985, a long-term survivor.
An all-round winner.

Sindy Scott-Jenkins

“The poem ‘Hats’ was inspired by me. Growing up, I was the oldest of eight children and a lot of times, I didn’t really say much, but I wrote a lot. Yet I always seemed to change for other people. I needed people to need me. And I didn’t find myself pleasing because I really didn’t know much about myself. So ‘Hats’ was inspired by me—the real Sindy. Writing this poem helped me see that I have depth and substance, and that I am real. A lot of times you get caught up in being so many different people for everyone else that you forget who you are. ‘Hats’ is a way for me to remember who I am. It serves as a reminder that I am gifted and talented. It lets me know that I’ve been through the struggle and I’m still here.

“The Creative Writing Workshop at ASC has allowed me to open up. It’s taught me that it’s OK to laugh, it’s OK to cry, it’s OK to daydream. Growing up, people tell you not to do this or do that, but in my writing, I can do anything I want to do or become anything I want to be. I can be the little kid that I am or I can be the 38-year-old woman society wants me to be. I love that about writing.”

—Sindy Scott-Jenkins

Sindy Scott-Jenkins has been an active member of ASC’s weekly Creative Writing Workshop for more than a year. Her poems have appeared in Situations 7 and Situations 8.

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