Genre
Synopsis
There are some people who are brought up in love and there are some who are doomed from birth. Aries is a cynical, struggling African-American single mother in her early thirties who is too numb to love anyone other than her two sons. Without them, there’s no purpose to breathe. They live in a gentrified project in the small town of Stamford, Connecticut. Aries works three jobs, leaving no time to spend with her sons. After a life-changing decision to have an abortion and a self-inflicted injury, Aries finds herself stuck at home with no job and no purpose. With nowhere else to go, Aries enrolls in college but can only read on a third-grade level. To succeed, she must find self-love and trust in God. There she fights the battle of a lifetime.
First, she must learn to read on a college level before taking college courses. Second, she has to fit in with millennials. Last, she must overcome years of abuse, abandonment, and rejection. Aries writes a memoir, taking us on a journey to her childhood. Young Aries takes us through the slum streets of the South Bronx, drug-infested ghettos, abandoned buildings, crack houses, the methadone program, church, and to Sister Vine’s house (a woman who practices voodoo).
On her journey, we learn that at the tender age of nine, Aries’ mother, Lenora, offered her a hit of crack. By age ten, Aries missed almost a hundred days of school to work and support her sisters. By eleven, Aries fought to overcome sexual abuse by her stepfather, Whit. The case goes from Criminal Court to the Supreme Court. And by age twelve, Aries and her siblings are placed in foster care. We’ll meet Lenora’s best friend, PB, who is an alcoholic afflicted with cerebral palsy and her secret lover, Niecy. Niecy dates an Italian man who is fifty-years older than her to support her crack addiction. Also, we’ll meet young Aries’ siblings Naomi and Armani, and her love interest, Alex, who is ultimately murdered at the age of fourteen.
Like gauze, we peel away the many secret layers that cover the wounds of verbal, physical, sexual, domestic, drug, and alcohol abuse. These very awkward situations make us laugh at a very serious matter while it charges our hearts to cry with one family’s unspoken yet exposed secrets of healing and growth, which produce strength, courage, and self-love.
During this season, Aries will be giving college assignments that will provoke thought and change while trying to adapt to a college environment. We will see Aries learn to read, build confidence, gain self-love, and discover that she is not dumb. The completion of her book will lead us into season two. Aries will have to decide to face her family's secrets or avoid conflict to keep the peace.
