My Neighborhood - Original Writing

Living in communities that are run down, neglected and forgotten takes a toll on all members of the community. This is especially true when residents witness new properties being erected around the city as their own neighborhoods are deemed “ghettos” and not receiving the investment necessary for improvements. Many of the low income housing that is available to city residents aren’t the most desirable properties as they may have structural deficiencies, lead paint, rats and roaches running amuck. Many older properties also do not have adequately functioning heat or hot water availability. The housing projects also do not have air conditioning. On hot days, having no cool break in addition to all the other negative social factors, this can be a deadly combination that may perpetuate frustrations and ultimately lead to violence.

In the town of Grover’s Corner Wisconsin, there lies a small farm town with all the small town aspects. The newspaper editor runs the newspaper from his own house as the doctor runs the clinic from his house. The small town being shown through the combination uses of one building, giving off the small town feel, “The town hall and post office combined; jail’s in the basement” (Wilder 4). The younger men have the jobs of delivering the milk and newspapers in the morning. “Joe Juniors getting up so as to deliver the paper” (Wilder 6). In Our Town there is Irony among the fact that the Joe Crowell graduated from the head of his high school class and his college class, then went and died in the war. Throughout the story, the author Thornton Wilder uses mood and tone to really help describe and explain what the play is telling us.

Many Americans live with the idea that the days of racism are far behind us; however, the film The House I Live In, directed by Eugene Jarecki 's, and the book The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander, state otherwise. Although the United States holds five percent of the world’s population, it is responsible for a fourth of the world’s prisoners. More than the majority of these prisoners are of color. (Jarecki 2012; Alexander 2012, 189) Therefore, the statistics contradict the U.S.’s long-held ideal of freedom and equality. This large prisoner population has been a consequence of the War on Drugs—a war that has not only locked up millions of African Americans but also given them a permanent second-class status. Both the video and the book

“Listen to the mustn’ts, the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts, and the never haves. Then, listen to me. Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” This is a poem the famous children’s poet Shel Silverstein. Now, if he was best known for being a children’s author, how could he even be considered to be controversial? Now, Shel Silverstein, while having no earlier inspiration for his career to draw and write for children, wrote many famous poem books, such as Falling Up and Where the Sidewalk Ends: however, with him writing these books came some controversy with it, such as claims that he promoted cannibalism and suicide.

There are many changes that I have observed in my neighborhood since living here for 21 years. There has been a recent migration of homeowners moving out of the neighborhoods. The home owners are either renting out their homes, to a new influx of section 8 tenants or they have chosen to walk away from their homes leaving many in the area to go into foreclosure. Foreclosure and crime are two of the biggest element of change that I have noticed in my neighborhood, and many of these problems arise from the economy, health and illness, and familial structure breakdown.

Our Town by Thornton Wilder focuses on the lives of the residents of small town Grover’s Corners, New Hampshire in the early 1900s, more specifically, the lives of young George Gibbs and Emily Webb. Throughout Act I, Thornton describes the daily lives of the people of Grover’s Corners. The milkman delivers the day’s milk, the paperboy brings the morning paper, mothers prepare breakfast, and children get ready for school. The day winds down, everyone has had their supper, homework is finished, and adults arrive home from choir practice. Life in Grover’s Corners is traditional, ordinary, and unremarkable, not much goes on out of the ordinary. Act II focuses on love and marriage in the town. The narrator says “Almost everybody in the world gets married, - you know what I mean? In our town there aren’t hardly any exceptions. Most everybody in the world climbs into their graves married.” and Mrs. Gibbs articulates that “People are meant to go through life two by two. Tain’t natural to be lonesome.”(54) George and Emily get married, much like the other young couples of Grover’s Corners, and proceed to live blithely and contentedly on George’s uncle’s farm. Act III looks into the last act in a person’s life, death. Emily passes away during childbirth, and at the cemetery, she meets the spirits of her mother-in-law and many other deceased townspeople.

Over the last couple of decades, Buffalo has found itself in a grave housing crisis. The urban population is shrinking and the population in poverty is growing, leaving houses abandoned and left to fall apart. Although many cities in the Rust Belt are facing similar problems, about 15.7% of Buffalo housing was left vacant as of 2010, which places Buffalo as ninth in the nation for vacancy rate. As the masses abandon their homes, run down neighborhoods see an increase in crime and drug use, and a rapid decrease in property value (Armstrong et al. 1-2). Many see this deterioration, however, as an opportunity to renovate impoverished neighborhoods and make them more attractive to the upper and middle class. This process, known as gentrification, should increase the overall well being of residents by making neighborhoods safer,

“Emergency code 10-48, suspect is a 6’1 male, black hoodie, armed and last seen fleeing towards Gray Street”, the radio roars. I’m on Gray Street. The last thing I want on my first month in the force is a damn killer in my face.

Notorious in the Neighborhood (Sex and Families across the Color Line in Virginia, 1787-1861) by Joshua D. Rothman

This is a problem that plagues a lot of people. For example Alda Ballard has lived in her Catharine Street brownstone since buying it with her husband in 1980 for $20,000. She's lived in the neighborhood for 70 years.Like many Philadelphians, Ballard clings tenaciously to her memories of her Center City West neighborhood in its heyday, before things went bad, when houses became empty shells that eventually collapsed or were torn down to be replaced by lots overflowing with trash.

In Our Town, by Thornton Wilder, he invites his readers to consider the positive and negative qualities of life. He is able to convey his views and opinions on the human condition through his use of love and marriage. Wilder’s examination of self-conflict in the decision to marry suggests a pessimistic view on the human experience. Through the self-conflict of Emily and George, Wilder is able to confirm how marriage can be frightening and troubling.

City street lights mark the edges and corners of blocked off territory. Land labeled “ghetto” and “dangerous” translates to land that was ignored for the profit of the few. This land exists a short drive away from us, they are backyards to the neighborhoods we chose not to stray from. They are West Garfield Park, East St. Louis, Englewood, The Ville, and every impoverished community that suffered in isolation while those around watched. Our generation can be quick to judge the actions of oppressors or the lack of necessary change in our history, however a lot of these remarks can be made about today’s segregated neighborhoods. In cities such as St. Louis, where segregation is deep rooted and has allowed further issues to stem from such divisions, the voice of the community is often silenced by quick, misguided assumptions on such areas. These are not “bad neighborhoods” they are not populated by “bad people”, but are rather neglected portions of a city that has found it easier to accept these stereotypes than look beyond the superficial. We have the tools and knowledge to solidify that there is more to these neighborhoods than gangs or torn down houses, the question is now what do we do with them?

The author starts off the story and the passage off with a periodic sentence it gives the reader an immediate image in their head of the setting but it isn't understable until the last half of the sentence.The reader is held in suspense until the last word.”I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.” This sentence engages the reader right from the beginning making you wonder why the mother is rooting through the garbage while her daughter is worried about overdressing. This sentence can also be used as examples of contrast and engaging opening sentence.The author contrasts her clean cut lifestyle with that of the mothers who is shown rooting through

Our Town, by Thornton Wilder (first staged in 1938), has proven to be one of the most popular and enduring American plays ever performed (VORK, 2017). For the first time in 1938, the play was performed for a live audience in Princeton, New Jersey (Weinbloom, 2006). The audience did not agree with Thornton Wilders vision for the play. He along with his play was criticized. Many individuals back then thought the play was a complete waste of talent for Mr. Wilder. Miraculously, when the play was performed in New York, the audience were very delighted with the performances in the play.

Over the years, the city of Syracuse has created and implemented a plan to revitalize the neighborhood of the Near West Side. This plan is known as the Near West Side Initiative. Along with Syracuse University and other public and private entities, the city’s aim is to combine new innovations with the community values and diverse culture within the neighborhood through home renovations, the conversion of abandoned spaces, and crime prevention (Neighborhoods Matter). The quality of neighborhood environments have subsequent potential related to health which can be assessed as parts of the following elements: economic, physical, social, and service. There are various factors within each element relating to the promotion or demotion of the