Blogger 6_ Do I define me, or the neighborhood?

A neighborhood can shape a woman, like it has shaped my mother, by testing her common sense and whether she can turn down pressures that come head on. She would have to live paycheck to paycheck and try her best to give a child something better then what she had. Certain quarters can define a man because he has to prove his manhood, by his definition could be many different things; it’s nothing usually good and sometimes too late. By personal experience my father ran the streets, boosting, robbing, grew his own “garden” and helped raise me. He has told me that because of his choices he carried around his protection until I was three. I understood though that it was not about what he carried around but the respect he had for others and how everyone knew who “Ju” was and the mutual respect they had for him.  

The neighborhood I spent most of my life growing up was Redwood Shores in the Heron Court Cooperatives Homes. It’s a kind of affordable housing, but to me it’s a mini ghetto in a predominantly Caucasian and Asian community.  I was told that the city didn’t want us there and instead of saying that, they would try to make little changes but always make it hard to continue to keep the community. My communities consist of noises, crack heads, robbers, and ghetto loud ones and because of them I understood what it meant and to have a dream and to never lose sight of it. I am despite of my neighborhood because I never returned. My childhood friends and I would talk about how that little community has a hold on people who grew up there, when they move away and always find their way back. It’s a blessing because you can afford to live in a nice area even if you may not be able to afford the full advantage. Heron Court is a curse because you never get to your goal; you have gotten too comfortable at where you are at, working paycheck to paycheck.