Book excerpt: ROUGH AROUND THE EDGES presents a powerful narrative of cause and effect. The author shares his experiences of growing up in the streets of Compton, California. An environment that brought about a multitude of events resulting in an adolescent feeling broken, angry and volatile. At the age of 12, an unfortunate tragedy unfolds in front of his very eye's. At the age of 14, he joins a gang, and at the age of 19, the author is sentenced to 20 years in prison for making one of the worst decisions in his young life. But it's while incarcerated and faced with a whole new series of events, he reaches a turning point and sets out to transform his life for the better.