Growing Up In Brownsville

Imagine coming home to a house that has no warmth or food. Constantly feeling like you are in a place you can’t get out of. This is how poverty may feel to others. The expeirences from the author Jo Goodwin Parker in the story “What Is Poverty” and the McBride family from the novel “The Color Of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute To His White Mother” show that there are various effects of living in poverty that include emotional problems, adolescent rebellion, and

As I grew older, it was impossible to notice that my world was imperfect. In elementary school, all my parent’s problems here hidden; I didn’t understand my family’s economic status. As I grew older and began to ask my parents question about our lifestyle and compared it to the other people around us. This conversation would always end in the same place; because we can't afford it. My high school is composed of economically unstable families, and economically stable families. Seeing that other families were better off than mine, I grew up with the idea that a comfortable life, is a luxurious life. I know that others around

Before the 1880s, the are of eastern Brooklyn that was to become Brownsville was known as New Lots. This territory was primarily farmland, but it was also the location of the city’s largest waste dump, as well as the site of several facilities that supplied stone and other building materials. In its early history, New Lots had a diverse population. English and Irish settlers, Jewish immigrants, and a small number of African-Americans farmed the land. Others were attracted to the area by the open space and relatively fresh fresh air it provided. Brownsville at one time was a place for waste-disposal, a tenement slum, a haven for Jews before they were accepted, the cradle of a major crime origination, a testing-ground for public-housing and

According to the US Census Bureau, in the year 2000 the City of Brownsville was 83.01 sq. mi., today, the city encompasses 146.3 sq. mi. This growth has been one of Public Works biggest challenges. This development translates into an expanded service area, which puts a strain on Public Works’ other divisions to keep up with the new areas to be serviced while still dealing with inherited situations. In effect it generates longer waiting periods to address our citizen’s needs as well as our departmental goals. As the City continues to experience rapid population growth it demands more services and more from the services provided.

A fire rose within to burn social economic barriers that imprisoned me from achieving an education. As a member of a low-income household, I continually witnessed my parents struggling to pay for utilities, rent, and groceries. Although we received government assistance, it never seemed to be enough. My father worked long hours at a dairy factory to provide for our family, but his addiction to alcohol took most of his income. My mother depended on government assistance due to her chronic asthma and arthritis. Not being able to rely on my parents for stability, my six older siblings were forced to drop out of high school to become providers of their own.

On our journey to Brownsville the first struggle we encountered was with transportation to get to Broadway Junction. Of course the MTA isn't always reliable but there were frequent stops in between stops. While waiting for the train to get up and running again various people said things like “ugh not again,” “Something always happens on the A” and other similar phrases as well as others that seemed accustomed to train issues. Now if you think about it, the A train is highly populated by Hispanics and Black people. Could this have to do with why the MTA hasn't attempted to fix their transit situation. On another note most of the trains heading toward Brooklyn and the Bronx have the older not modernized train carts than the ones heading toward Manhattan or Queens. Theres a huge change in atmosphere just in the manner of transportation.

Many people tend to take things for granted. We overlook the things that some people wished they had so they can live without struggle. It usually just comes so easily for us and we don’t realize how hard other people’s lives are. Jeannette Walls knows firsthand what it’s like to be without these modern luxuries. In her memoir, “The Glass Castle” she writes about how she sometimes grew up without things like a place to live, clothes to wear, food on the table, electricity to power the house and keep her warm. In her upbringing, her parents never really supplied her with the things she needs or took very good care of her so she learned how to survive with the little she got. She learns throughout her life that she should never take anything for granted and to appreciate the good things in life because she doesn’t get most of the essentials that other people have normally. Throughout the story she always knew to be grateful and value every little thing she got because she didn’t get much.

Mark Caine once stated, "the first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself." Growing up in the Bronx, New York, this quote greatly applies to how the environment in which I grew up in shaped my aspirations. Living in the Bronx can prove to be difficult and it requires strenuous effort to find exceptional opportunities. Resources that are provided towards education are limited, meaning that most supplementary aspects that we need to obtain a "full' education is not granted to us.

Growing up in San Francisco was not easy. My life has been a up hill battle. I’vealways been a free spirited person. Always loved sometimes loved the wrong people. I grew up in San Francisco. Most people think of San Francisco as this wonderful free love place. Well it’s not this wonderful free love place. Fillmore is what my neighborhood was called. This Fillmore place was a very dark violent place. Many don’t make it out. Either you die young, or you go out on drugs. I always wanted more out of life. I always felt that if I could escape this dark unkind place I would be a better person. Sometimes as a child I would dream of living in a real family setting. You know a father that lived with my mother and I. “A real family not a dysfunctional one”. School has always been a outlet for me. I could go to school and learn, learn, learn. I’ve always been

The family I grew up in has been by far the largest influence on how I think, and they have taught me many great things and have been amazing parents, however in this essay I will focus on how my views have differed from theirs, and how I have learned to think differently. My mother is a small town in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma, and my father is from San Antonio, Texas. I have two sisters, one who is eight years old than myself, the other is two and a half years younger. I was born part of the middle class, white, and I 'm a male. Born in Dallas, Texas I 've spent the vast majority of my life in Frisco, Texas. The entirety of my childhood was spent growing up in a Southern Baptist Christian home. From a young age I was taught in church, which I attended for preschool, that an “acceptable” family is a mother and a father with children. This traditional family model was the setting in which I was raised, so I didn 't realize for a long time that

During the summer after I turned thirteen, I went on a vacation that changed my entire perspective on life. “Americans are so spoiled.” I remember hearing my mother proclaim this numerous times growing up. I would shake my head or roll my eyes every time, since I never quite understood what it meant. Of course, I had nothing to compare it to. I grew up in the suburbs in a middle class family. I never wanted for anything. I heard the stories of my mother and her siblings growing up; they lived in filth, they occasionally skipped meals, all seven kids slept huddled together on concrete floors. I heard those stories as if she was saying, “…I walked a mile to school, uphill both ways…” I never could have imagined the reality of what the stories truly meant until I visited my birthplace, the Philippines, for the first time.

I am the way I am because of my father, he drives me to get an education, and he wants me to be better than him. My dad constantly tells me “tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you’re going to be.” This quote means significantly to me because when I was in 6th grade I would hang out with the wrong crowd, later when I was a freshman, I made new friends, better friends, and the ones that push me to strive. My mom is my rock, she struggles sometimes since she raised my brother and I alone, but she always finds a way to get us what we need for school and sports that we play in. I have this picture of my brother, my cousin, and I in front of our house when we first bought it, it’s been 17 years that I’ve been living in it. It may not be the nicest house, but its payed off and I have a roof over my head, to me that’s all that matters. My neighborhood is actually quiet, I have 3 neighbors that are nice people, when we go out of town they watch our house for

Poverty is a terrible condition, which as unfortunate as it is, many people across the globe suffer from. Poverty can present itself in many ways and in many different circumstances, which is shown in the following stories. In ' Angela's Ashes' by Frank McCourt, young Frank is burdened with the responsibiliity of providing for his family. Similarly, in 'The Street' by Ann Petry, Lutie, a single black mother, is struggling to find shelter for her family. In both 'Angela's Ashes' and 'The Street,' a key member of each family is desperately trying to support their loved ones and meet their basic human needs. In both passages, the author uses specific characters, events, and settings to demonstrate the theme that one needs perseverance to overcome poverty.

We have all seen the poor or homeless people on the streets. They look cold and lonely. We don't really think about what their life is really about. But have you ever realized that most of them had a good life before they became poor or homeless. The book Almost Home by Joan Bauer goes over this, that the people who are less fortunate are still people and that they had a good life too. This and many other good lessons are gone over in this book.

I came from a wonderful and big family, I have seven brothers and sisters. Everyone helps each other whenever we need help, like if I go to College they will support me. I live in a great city called Salinas, CA. Salinas is a great place to live because the big cities are nearby, like San Jose, San Francisco, etc. The weather is awesome in the summer it does not get too hot and during the winter it gets around the 30’s. Also the beaches are near like Monterey or Santa Cruz. Salinas have a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, in that way we could have a healthy life. Some people might think that Salinas is a gang city where many shootings happen, but it depends in the neighborhood where you live. I went to a great school which is Everett Alvarez