Youth counselor Sally Nixon (left) talks with Tyondra Newton about her life, whether she wants to have kids, and her hopes for the future.
Originally aired on October 14, 2005, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Transcript
Sally Nixon (SN) and Tyondra Newton (TN)
SN: When was the last time you talked to your mom?
TN: Like a week before she passed away. I was just asking her when she was gonna stop lying to us and be honest.
SN: If you could tell her anything in the whole world, what would it be?
TN: That it was sad that we had to go through what we went through, but the things she did to us helped me learn so when I have children, I won’t use drugs and stuff.
SN: Do you want to have kids?
TN: Um, not right now. [Laughs]
SN: When—do you ever want kids?
TN: Well, I think about this a lot. In ten years, I just wanna have like this big ol’ thing like Michael Jackson has, you know, that Never Never Land where at-risk kids can come and have some place safe to stay because like when I was growing up, I didn’t think I was gonna live long the way my life was going already. I had thought I was gonna commit suicide or I was gonna get killed by getting beat or something like that.
SN: What are you afraid of?
TN: I’m afraid of dying before I prove that I’m somebody. A lot of my foster parents told me that I will be nothing, I will be just like my mom and things like that, but I know it’s gonna be different