What happened to Latin & Soul E-Book

Jeff Leeshon Watkins

• Herausgeber: Spines
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2026

Beschreibung

In the heart of Far Rockaway, New York, unfolds the tale of Jeffrey Leshon Porter, a.k.a. Shawn, whose life weaves through innocence, family ties, and urban struggle. Rising from a youth shadowed by loss and the fading echo of his prophetess grandmother's words, Shawn's path twists through danger to the cold embrace of prison. There, his spirit is tested, yet from the ashes, he emerges resilient, seeking redemption. His reborn ambition takes form in a dream—a bustling restaurant, symbolizing his hard-fought journey. Yet, his ascent is threatened by betrayal and discord, challenging his trust and resolve. Guided by a matriarchal spirit, Shawn's saga is a testament to the power of hope and the relentless pursuit of one's destiny, against all odds.

Leseprobe

WHAT HAPPENED TO LATIN & SOUL

Jeff LeeshonWatkins

What happened to Latin & Soul

Copyright © 2025 by JeffLeeshonWatkins

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

ISBN 979-8-90002-477-6

WHAT HAPPENED TO LATIN & SOUL

JEFF LEESHON WATKINS

CONTENTS

1. Childhood in PK

2. Trial IT IS…

3. Number 02A1787

4. Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility

5. 2008 December 14th

6. What Happened To Latin And Soul!!!

7. August 24th Grand opening

8. A conversation with GOD

9. Grandma’s Dream

10. Indulge

To the readers

Special thanks

About the Author

I dedicate it to my kids.

Jadah, Na-jah, Q, Azalea, Adani, and Purpose.

And my GrandmotherEthelPorter.

CHAPTER1

CHILDHOOD IN PK

September 6, 1979, at approximately 4:38 a.m., I took my very first breath in FarRockaway, NY. Not that I’m praising it, but it’s the home of cops and dollar van killers. Rats the size of cats roam the playgrounds. I remember as a kid stepping into Redfern elevators, I used to hold my breath from the stench of bums, piss, weed and hot breath. Depending on which floor we were stopping at meant how long I had to hold my breath. Damn sure wasn’t trying to breathe that air at all. Farroc is also the home of the legendary StackBundles and Chinx. BothSpitfire lyricists had their own style of rhyming and definitely put on for FarRockaway. R.I.P. to them both. They will forever be missed in hip-hop.

My mom named me JeffreyLeshonPorter. Gave me the first name Jeffrey because that’s my pops' name. Leshon—I have no clue where that came from. Nobody in my entire family has ever called me by that name. It was always Shawn. I didn’t even know that wasn’t my real name until I was about 7 or 8. My entire family called me Shawn; that’s all I knew.

Growing up in Farroc, it was always me and my little bro CP. Batman and Robin—you get the picture. Overly protective of him. Loved my brother till death. It was always him and me. My grandmother used to tie towels around our shoulders, and we used to run around her house pretending to be Superman. It was a thing we always used to do at Grandma’s house. I remember those sunny days, Grandma used to pack a lunch for me and my bro and take us to RockawayBeach. It was always the highlight of our stay with Grandma. We never ate our lunch she packed—lol—we always threw our food to the pigeons. Especially the saltine crackers. Man, life was great. I would give anything worth giving if I could just replay those moments again in actual time.

So after CP and I finished throwing our lunch to the pigeons, Grandma would walk us back home to eat chicken pot pies for dinner. Our favorite—you would’ve thought we were getting a 5-star meal the way we used to jump up and down for some chicken pot pies—lol. Life was great. I remember summers, CP and I used to go over my AuntSheila's house to spend time with my cousin Derrick out in the Hamels projects. Summers over there were the highlight of our summer.  PlayingNintendo till two, sometimes three, in the morning is all we did. We were only about 6 or 7 at the time. Not a care in the world.

Barbecues at UncleMichael’s house were always a thrill. The way he used to hype us up on the basketball court had us all thinking we were going to the NBA—lol. My childhood was dope, I can’t lie. Family reunions came by the busloads at VirginiaBeach. Family came from all over, from Brooklyn, all the way from down south. What a time to be alive. This part of my childhood was always memorable. My grandparents, Donald and EthelPorter, were what kept my family together at that time. But things would change as time went by.

My mother and pops split when I was about six or seven, I believe. Something about my pops cheating on my moms. Don’t know how that rumor came about, or if it was true or not. They split when me and the bro were both very young. Things changed so fast for me and my brother. I remember living with my grandma at the time. Really couldn’t decipher what was really happening at that time because I was so young. Next thing I know, I’m being introduced to a guy named Larry. Larry was an old-school, down-south, NorthCarolina dude with great manners. Little did I know at the time, he was going to be a major part of my life.

We went from living in FarRockaway to moving in with my grandma in Queens to moving yet again to a small town upstate NY called Poughkeepsie. Again, we were young and really didn’t understand the changes that were happening in our lives.

* * *

Poughkeepsie, Poughkeepsie, Poughkeepsie. Big change from FarRockaway, no subway stations, the project buildings here are much smaller than I could remember being used to in the Rock. A lot of land and trees here. You could actually see the stars at night. It was a big change for me and my brother. At the last stop on the Metro-North, my brother, my mom, and I moved to Poughkeepsie with one bag of clothes amongst the three of us. Still too young to understand what was happening, just two kids unaware that our parents had split, and we were now starting a new life in a small town called Poughkeepsie. Two hours away from FarRockaway.

Our first stop was a small complex called TubmanTerrace. HarrietTubmanTerrace, to be exact. We moved into a small townhouse with my aunt Audrey and her kids, Princess, Bernard, Cythia, and Michelle. They took us in like one of their own. Nothing but love from this family. My uncle Jackie married Audrey back then, that’s how we met them all. He brought the two families together. We became family, and Poughkeepsie was our new home now.

I remember as a kid, Tubman used to have these monkey bars in the middle of the complex. One day, I went out to go play and noticed a thick rope hanging from the middle of the monkey bars. I saw this kid at the time do what I thought was a trick with the rope. He put the rope around his jacket and swung in circles from the rope. Fascinated as a kid, I wanted to try it too. I waited for him to be done so that I could try it myself. Finally, he left. Now it was my turn. I climbed to the top of the monkey bars, pulled the rope up, and put my head and one arm through the hole of the rope. I carefully lowered myself down, and once I let go of the monkey bars, my arm slipped through the hole of the rope, and the rope caught my neck instantly.

Here I am hanging by my neck in the middle of Tubman with no one around. I remember I tried to grab the monkey bars but couldn’t because I felt the rope around my neck taking the air outta me. I panicked and tried to scream for help, but couldn’t; it was too tight around my neck. I started to see white dots and felt faint. Outta nowhere, my uncle Jackie came running to my rescue and lifted me up to catch my breath. He took the rope from around my neck and was very upset as to why I would do such a thing. He saved my life that day. God must have a purpose for me, because I would have died without a doubt. For weeks, I had rope burn around my neck; safe to say I never did that again.

Growing up in Tubman was dope. I met a lot of friends. Jermey was the first friend I met in Tubman. This kid was spoiled; he had all the games and G.I. Joes back then. He was raised by his grandparents. We got real cool with each other and pretty much became close friends. As time went by, a Jamaican family moved in, and this is when I caught my very first crush. Her name was Latoya. Beautiful light-skinned girl with hazel eyes. I instantly became attracted to her and wanted to know who this new girl was. Latoya became my girl. Of course, we were young and absolutely knew nothing about being in a relationship. But we were. What do they call it, puppy love? 

Tubman used to have this place called TheCenter where we used to go for some after-school program type thing. All the kids from Tubman used to attend. Here we did school homework and games. Playing hide and go get it through Tubman complex was setting us up to have babies early, lol, just a bunch of dry humping the girls whenever we caught them hiding. Who created that game? I have no clue who created these games we enjoyed playing, but it was all innocent; we didn’t have a care in the world.

Years passed, and still no pops around. We haven’t seen him since my mother left Farrockaway. At this point, my mom and Larry started to get serious. It seems like it all happened so suddenly, went from dating to being engaged to me watching my mother walk down the aisle, to them both saying their vows and saying “I do” before God and the entire Porter family. CP was the ring boy. I remember how dope I thought he looked with his tuxedo on, sharp haircut, smiling from ear to ear, bringing the rings down the aisle. It was a celebration, and Larry was now officially my stepdad.

Still, I was always wondering where my father was and why we hadn’t seen him in so long. A few of my cousins asked me why I wasn’t in the wedding; my guess is just as good as yours. My reply, I don’t know, maybe I was too tall at the time to be a ring boy, or too short to be a groomsman. I believe I was about 9 years old. Too young to understand the politics at that time, but how quickly I would catch on through the years.

Clinton School was my elementary school in Poughkeepsie. This is where I would meet my close friends to this day, my bro Vaughn,Fitzoy, Jayquan, BamBam, and my elementary school sweetheart, Elisa. Elisa to me was one of the most beautiful girls at school. I had a deep crush on this girl. Puppy love all over again after Latoya and I broke up. I used to dream about Elisa damn near every night. Elisa was a Jehovah'sWitness, so she couldn’t have any boyfriends at that time. But that never stopped me from flirting with her. You couldn’t tell me she wasn’t going to be my wife one day—lol. Everyone knew how I felt for her then and till this very day. Of course, we never got married or had any kids, but we have remained friends since elementary and have nothing but respect and love for each other to this day.