Chapter 1 begins as Mark is being let back into the K/L unit of Central Juvenile Hall. He is returning from a trip to learn that one of his students has been put in the Box. His students ae all inmates at the Juvenile Hall and greet him enthusiastically and ask him about how he's been. Mark has been away at his sister's wedding in Connecticut; they students ask him if he has anything for them. Mark settles the class, and the students begin to write, the subject being "family gatherings," due to Mark's recent experiences. The students have a wide series of reactions to family gatherings, both positive and negative; many of these reactions—Mark can't help but notice—have to do with violence. Having been at the facility for a while, Mark is somewhat used to the presence of violence in his young students' lives, but still unprepared for how often it comes up. Despite this, he urges the inmates to reflect upon these stories and thoughts in their writing. After a short break, while the students read their stories and essays: two students—Raashad and Antonio—write about the ubiquity of gang life, even in these benign family gatherings: "Apparently my brother had shot one of the groom's cuzzins and he was paralyzed.