Personal Narrative: Small City Of Los Angeles, California

Many people believe that Orange County, California is the best place to live for its great location, community and economic strong hold. But what those people forget to take into account is the people that make up this community. Living in Mission Viejo, an overwhelming amount of people think that this a place of Eden, that has the greatest neighborhoods to raise children. Well they are wrong. Our self-inflicting wounds are done by teenagers who choose to poison themselves. I was once one of them.

I have lived in two distinct communities: the first was the town of Moraga, the second, is the city of Stockton. The former is the epitome of white picket fence suburbia, with friendly neighbors, a high ranking public school system, and a non-existent crime rate. Growing up in Moraga, I was able to receive a great education, roam around freely, and never feared horrors such as gang shootings and drug abuse. Sadly, when I moved to the latter, most of these horrors were apparent weekly.

Growing up wasn't easy. Especially in my neighborhood, I grew up on the south side of Sacramento. Even though it was the capitol of California didn't really mean much h as for every place has its bad areas. I've seen many deaths and tragedies growing up. when I was 12 years of age my mother got excepted to the University of California, Berkeley.so we moved from Sacramento to Berkeley, and I went to a small school in Albany called Albany middle school. There I met a totally different type of kids. Kids that never really seen or experience anything that I have. At first I had a hard time adjusting cause I had that kill or be killed mentality that I had to grow to have from growing up on the streets in Sacramento. But after my fist year I adjusted

What makes California a special state? When someone says California, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? California has many people from a wide variety of ethic, racial, religious backgrounds, and I am one of people who live in California. My journey to California began when I was seventeen. Back to my life in Turkey, when I graduated from high school, the only thing I wanted to do is to learn English. Thus, I decided to leave Turkey for a different way of life, and I came to California, because I thought California was the best state in order to live my life and achieve my goal. It is known as a sunshine state. However, “the reality is that the sun does not always shine, and when it does, it is often blocked by smog”. Why I felt

Although the beautiful winters in Rochester already make the university cool, I, as a student, can make the school even cooler by being an active member in organizations and introducing Bay Area culture into the campus. I have lived most of my life in the Bay Area, during this time I have grown accustomed to the cultures from here. I plan to introduce the cultures and customs that originate in the Bay Area. Since they aren’t known over the country, these cultures only occur in the Bay Area. For example, the hyphy culture began to emerge in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a response from Bay Area rappers against commercial hip hop. However, this culture and movement wasn’t popularized anywhere else in the country. Consequently, this urban

I am a girl who loves variety in everything. I love Indian food, spicy that burns my tongue, Mexican food that makes me want more and more and Chinese food that brings me comfort. I love shopping for cute clothes and warm clothes and shoes with heels and shoes with soles. San Jose gives me this variety and I am happy for it. I love the beach with its nippy wind and the sand beneath my toes. The summers that seem hot to me, but are nothing compared to other cities. I love the snow, but not enough to shovel it every day, that's why I love San Jose. I do not like wearing rain boots and coats that weigh me down so San Jose accommodates me. It's weather is barely ever wet and the temperatures never go down low. I've never really experienced any

It was only a matter of seconds before I heard the insignificant sound that marked the start of my day. “Tsss,” hissed the brakes as the bus came to a complete stop in front of the waiting crowd and the driver opened its doors to allow passengers to get on. I hopped on as adults and students alike fought for a place on the vehicle that would take them closer to their destination. As the bus started to move, I stared out the window and watched as the buildings slowly passed by, creating a mental list of the establishments in my neighborhood. To this, I added the many libraries, hospitals, convenient stores, supermarkets, and restaurants that were scattered on the blocks leading to my school. As I mindlessly performed this task, I could not help but think of how these buildings were so different and yet so similar. On my right was a Chinese convenient store and a Latin American restaurant, and on my left was an Indian grocery store and a Middle Eastern restaurant. Although they represent countries from different

Growing up in a small town, Community is everything. Everyone rallies together for the same cause and belief. Knowing that, my hometown of Maple Lake has a small population of about 2,000 residents, many people see our town as a “Drive-By town”. Every town has a story to tell, I believe Maple Lake needs a new design to our downtown area, to encourage growth and thriving business, which in turn helps boost the town's economy.

I gaze intently at the city skyline. Within my peripheral vision, I detect the Statue of Liberty to the right; to the left, the Empire State Building. Taxi cabs and miniature people scramble around the streets. I listen to the constant roar of conversations. I inhale the pungent odor of cigarettes and hot dogs. I taste the salty, ocean-kissed air. When my memory is filled with every detail, I pull my head back. Resting in my hands is a glass ball, precious and fragile. I shake it violently, then stop abruptly. Sparkling specks swirl, then settle, covering the city with a glittering blanket. Warmth circulates throughout my being. For one moment, I am calm, floating peacefully like those shining bits of dust.

When I was eleven years old, my biological mother had requested I come live with her. Despite my excitement to go live with my mother, in my mind, I moved to a foreign country where I felt as if I were an alien. I moved from Eugene, Oregon with a population of mostly white Caucasians to Indio, California highly populated with the Hispanic culture. I was the minority in my neighborhood and in my school. Indio was a city full of enculturation, and the children practiced the same cultures as their parents and their parent’s parents. It was highly populated with the Hispanic culture. Everyone spoke both English and Spanish but Spanish was used most often. While I did not learn the language, I was intrigued by everything around me such as the primary religion most practiced (Catholic), the language, food, music, and the family values. The social structure of the Hispanic people was something I was not familiar with, these were very large families who cherished one another and their religion was taken serious. They valued hard work and play. I truly enjoyed living within the

I hate the idea of starting over. I sit in class and wonder everyday, “ What would my life be if I was still living in Los Angeles? “ . Would I have the same friends as I did when I left or would I have met new people. I guess I’d never know. But I don’t like thinking about the ‘what ifs’. That just makes me feel worse and doesn’t give me the chance to move on in life.

DING DONG! “That must be the pizza, I’ll go get it.” I said as I got up from the couch and grabbed the twenty dollar bill off the coffee table. I went to the door but it wasn’t the pizza I was hoping for, it was a man. He was very muscular, older-looking, probably in his forties or fifties and dressed in navy blue from top to bottom. My eyes met a badge on his sleeve reading Police Department, City of New York. I looked at his wrinkled face and it was gentle but as I saw his eyes I could tell something was wrong. My heart began to race.

In the first place, there always a lot of traffic jam, where I live at Fountain Valley. After that, that was very difficult for a lot of me to find parking, which get crowed all the time during the cars needed to move from parking. Meanwhile, I will have a hard time finding parking spaces, I hate that I drove around every Tuesday and Thursday for 45 minutes or an hour. Finally, I couldn’t go there for meeting.

Diana and I met in June 2011, when we were both employed at Nathans Famous in Oceanside, NY. At the beginning, we were simple coworkers. After a while, we started taking long summer walks in Oceanside and Long Beach, usually after our evening shift was over. In August 2011, Diana and I had our first date, at a restaurant in Long Beach.

I hope you had a nice weekend. Will you happen to be in San Francisco on Tuesday, September 1 in the afternoon? Both Chris and Tracy would love to catch up. If not, we are more than happy to setup a call to go over the Energy and Real Assets Space. When you have a moment, please let us know.