"From Goody Two Shoes to Rock Bottom" is a piece about George's experience with surviving cancer and incarceration at the Long Creek Youth Development Center. The piece is a simple narrative; it's just George's voice intermittently intersected by music, creating tension throughout the piece rather than detracting from George's personable voice. George felt like a comforting friend at the end of the 9 minutes, and I wanted to jump through the computer screen to give him a hug by the end. George's voice immediately establishes a connection with the listener, and it's almost as if he is letting us in on a secret by using conversational language. He's a natural storyteller, and does a great job narrating his life, a lot like a less refined and younger version of Morgan Freeman.

Overall, I thought "From Goody Two Shoes to Rock Bottom" was an excellent piece. It puts the listener at the edge of their seat, wondering when George was going to make the fateful decision to start taking drugs and eventually, what he would do to merit incarceration. For the first 3/4 of the piece, it's impossible to imagine George committing any crime, much less arson. He uses anecdotes to help with characterization, and my favorite is one when he retells the story of when he steals some of his mom's cake in the hospital. He takes the cake when his mom isn't in the room, and dives under the covers to hide when the nurse comes because he knows he isn't allowed to eat solids, only to reveal his "crime" by peaking his head up from under the sheets with a face covered with frosting. I laughed out loud at that part!

I highly recommend this piece. It was nine minutes, but I left the piece feeling very satisfied.