Almost no young person interviewed by PNS who grew up on or around welfare had positive things to say about it. "It's like novocaine for a rotten tooth," remarked one teenager from a San Francisco inner-city neighborhood. "It's a form of financial incarceration," offered another. But most now agree that the future -- already uncertain -- suddenly feels a whole lot more so. They are already feeling the consequences of welfare reform -- from the eldest son of a non-English speaking Cambodian family who ponders quitting school to look for a job, to an African-American teenager in Juvenile Hall now determined to make good on his grandmother's sacrifices. The following pieces were written by teenagers who write for YO! (Youth Outlook), a newspaper by and about teenagers published by Pacific News Service.

(Charles Jones is a 21-year-old resident of San Francisco who grew up in Hunter's Point)

Sometime in the late early 2000's you'll hear some doctor say it on holovision and believe. Pete Wilson started the revolution. The end of welfare is the beginning of the end of economic consideration for those people who lose their jobs or can't find work in amerikka. Now they'll just eradicate them on sight (just kiddin', I hope.)

When you have this big conspiracy theory like I do, it's easy to put all into perspective. First, in an effort to win a second term, he promised to tuck the blacks and browns out of sight -- through three strikes, 209 (the anti-affirmative action initiative), 184 (the anti-immigration initiative) and the building of some 13 new jails. Then when the tension in the air was thick enough to punch a hole through, he pulled the kill switch on welfare.

Long before Clinton got on stage for an hour in his State of the Union speech and bumbled about "taking inventory here and surveyed there and take that there" and all that malarkey, Pete Wilson single-handedly destroyed California's welfare state, quickly and coldly forcing the "minorities" he set out to destroy off their asses and on their feet. What happens next is almost textbook: people will look for jobs and not find them.

The end of welfare comes down to this question: who can you trust? Thievery and robberies will be at an all-time high. Hell, we could end up like Russians lining up for loaves of bread, fighting like mad dogs over water rations.

It all hinges on how we as people deal with one another. We can be evil, selfish and unwilling to cooperate with each other. Or we can begin to depend on one another -- friends and neighbors -- instead of big brother -- for support. Once we Californians (west syeeders) prove that one CAN survive the post-welfare state, we could again be at the forefront of American politics. We can only do it together. Love and trust must be the most abundant commodity if we are to survive. The times coming will make communities become families, and some families will become mortal enemies. But it starts with you and me and our ability to love and trust each other.

(Ra Sek, 16, is a high school sophomore in San Francisco)

When I think about welfare it's very stressful. I have to think about what to do when the state cuts my family off of public aid -- not just us but other welfare recipients, too. This will change me a lot, I think. It will force me to grow up faster. I'll have to quit school and work full time in order to support my family.

My father used to work in a donut shop that paid him well, but he quit because he had to stand for long periods of time, which hurt his legs. During the war in Cambodia, my father was captured and chained by the legs. He managed to escape, but his legs were permanently injured. I wish my father were still working but I understand the pains he has in his legs, so there's nothing I can say.

I know it would be dumb for me to quit school at sixteen, but if I don't support my family, who will? This is a very scary question to me and my friends who are also immigrants. We're afraid that we will lose the opportunity to become independent.

My parents don't really understand the effect welfare reform could have on immigrants like us. I feel like I have to bring what I know about what is going on in the world home to my family. Sometimes I wonder, why can't they just learn it for themselves? But I know they don't understand English.

Some of my friends cope with their families losing welfare by staying out there on the street at night hustling, trying to make money. I could be on the streets selling drugs also, but I choose not to because I'd be risking my family's reputation. But sometimes I feel like I should sell drugs just to mess with the system, because we immigrants are being pushed to the edge.

If Congress and the President want to cut welfare, why not at least create jobs so that the immigrants work and get off welfare? I think there should be free child care for the kids so the parents can go to work. If this happens, America could be a welfare-free country. If it doesn't, then the United States will remain plagued with poverty. I just hope the final result of welfare reform will benefit both taxpayers and the needy. After all, my family and I are both.

(Caille Millner, 17, is a high school senior in Palo Alto)

I decided to ask some young people in my middle class suburban neighborhood their opinions about welfare reform. After all, these reforms are being passed in their name: It's the politicians' way of promising the middle class taxpayer her money won't go to "welfare queens." Here are some of their comments:

"There are people who need welfare, of course. However, I think that you should be making every effort to find a job or be a productive member of society, not spending your money on drugs."

--Annemarie, 17

"I think the system needs to be streamlined and more money put into job training. If we want to change the system, we should also crack down on deadbeat dads."

--Lindsey, 17

"Welfare needs reform desperately. The way it is now, we give them more money with each kid, which is an incentive to have more kids. It's an incentive to sit on your butt and get money. They need to work instead."

--Melissa, 17

"It's hard, because there will always be people hurt by the reforms, and always people who abuse the system. But I think these reforms will make people think before they get pregnant."

--Amanda, 17

"What I hear from the rumors is that the system is being abused and we should focus on those people who are really in need instead of those who don't want to help themselves. There should be a time limit on it."

--Gina, 16

"I think welfare reform is needed because they're all abusing it -- all the crackheads and stuff. I was watching a movie and it had this total crackhead talking about the government pays for his dealing."

--Aurelia, 17

(A. Clay Thompson, 24, once lived as an urban squatter)

Most of the millions affected by the recent welfare cuts at the national, state and county levels aren't scammers. They have reasons for requesting government assistance­struggles with addiction, disability, joblessness -- that were once deemed legitimate by a more compassionate society. But a small percentage of those receiving termination notices for foodstamps or SSI or Medicaid are definitely fleecing the system.

And I think that's great.

Because some of these folks are doing work that this country doesn't deem valuable enough to pay for. Art and the uplift of the human condition are among the pursuits we feel are undeserving. So many practitioners of these varied vocations spend a day or two a month standing in welfare lines.

Society is served by books that aren't bestsellers, by performers who say things few people will pay to hear. But we put a sickening emphasis on the profitability of cultural "products." Our movies must be blockbusters; our sculptors must be underwritten by rich people; our musicians must make the Billboard charts. These are the cultural workers we appreciate: the ones who receive the endorsement of corporate America, or the broadest cross-section of its subjects.

Society offers two career choices for the rest of us: full-time work with decent pay or part-time work at five bucks an hour. Anyone who's tried to live on a part-time coffee jockey wage while writing a novel, or worked as a nightclub musician while holding down a 40-hour-a-week day job, knows how hard both routes are.

That is why you'll find a fair number of struggling cultural workers who empathize with Sascha, 22, when he says, "I think of food stamps as my writer/activist paycheck. My writing is about inspiring people to make life better, but the small presses that publish my books don't have the resources to pay my bills."

Frequently artists, musicians, writers and the like don't receive any acclaim (or money) until years or decades after they begin pursuing their artistic vision. So how is a creator of unpopular literature or underground film or uncharted music supposed to make a living? That Sascha always sees fellow cultural workers at the Oakland welfare office is one indicator of just how low the pay-scale goes for creative souls.

Alex turned to food stamps when he couldn't afford to study music. "I've applied for grants and everything and I've always been denied," says the 21-year-old Oakland resident. "So I got food stamps so I could play and study bass, guitar, drums, and other instruments -- and make ends meet."

"What enriches the life of the individual also enlivens the society," Alex observes. "If this society supported the arts, we'd probably have fewer depressed people."

Many of the people who receive hand-outs are themselves lending a helping hand. Robin, 22, applied for food stamps when she couldn't find work in Arcata, Calif. " I was looking for a job, but I was also spending 20 hours a week cooking and serving food for the homeless. I think that work like that should be supported by society."

Henry has a BA in philosophy, is witty, well-dressed­and an unrepentant welfare scammer. "Food stamps let me do the work society should pay me for, yet won't," he says. This work includes volunteering at an activist resource center, cooking food for the homeless, and monitoring police abuse. "I accept food stamps from the state without guilt because I think my work is beneficial for society. It's hard to find jobs that challenge the status quo," says Henry. He puts in 60 hours of volunteer work a week.

Lately, Henry's been working with a coalition planning a march against the welfare cuts. "Welfare doesn't empower people," he observes, but cutting people off the rolls "will only make social conditions worse."

The politicians are right when they say we should end welfare. We should replace it with an appreciation for work in all its glorious incarnations. And we should ask why we haven't already done so.