Seeking Heaven's Gate in L.A. — William Anderson

Seeking Heaven's Gate in L.A. is a coming of age story of Roger, a young teenager, struggling with his Christian teaching at home and in church as he encounters the growing and dangerous influences of the Crips and Bloods gangs in the local South Central L.A. neighborhoods. Roger begins by explaining that he comes from a Christian home where his father and mother make sure the family attends church and Sunday School. As he is being taught the Christian faith and how to live, he is challenged by his friends who are beginning to enjoy the excitement of stealing. He decides to attend an all-white school in the valley outside L.A., but he is discouraged by the prejudice he encounters there. Roger is caught between dealing with this daily prejudice at school, and getting involved with the Crips gangsters in the neighborhood. Though he wants to follow his Christian teachings, he finds himself being led astray by the influences in his environment. With mounting pressures during the week from his friends at school, he starts experimenting with sex. Every day at school, he finds it stressful having to interact with and defend himself against the Crips gangsters. In the end, Roger gets caught up in circumstances that change his life in unexpected ways.