“My Neighborhood”
 

    I live at Thirty-five Marcy Place on a hundred and seventieth street in The Bronx.  I’ve
been living here for a little over six years.  I moved here when I was eleven years old, to a
brand new building that was never lived in before.  My family and I were one of many families to
move into this new building on Marcy Place.  I like living in my neighborhood and at times I
dislike it very much.  In this essay I will try to describe to you, the reader, why I like and
dislike my neighborhood to the best of my ability.
  The things that I like about my neighborhood are the diversity.  There are many different
races and cultures.  With all the different races and cultures, you learn more about the
different people and the way they live.  As the years pass by and as I grow older I began to
see that even though we are of different race and color we are all still the same and we can all
learn from each other.
   The most that I dislike about my neighborhood is the violence and the drug dealing.  When
I first moved to Thirty-five Marcy Place a man was shot and killed under my bedroom window
because of drugs late at night.  Fortunately since then nothing like that has ever happened
again.  My neighborhood has improved a lot.  Yeah, there are still people hanging out on the
street corners, probably doing things that they are not supposed to be doing, but, they are
respectful to those who live in the neighborhood.  They help make sure that the people who do
not live in our neighborhood are not doing any harm to those who do.
    My neighborhood is not the safest place, but then again no one’s neighborhood is.  After
living here for many years and getting to know my surroundings and my neighbors, even though I
may have never said a word to them, we all work together to make our neighborhood a pleasant
place to live in.  Because of this I can honestly say that where I am, is home.

Journal One

 As I walked to the train station this morning on my way to school, I did something I’ve never
done before, I stopped to observe my surroundings and I liked what I saw and heard.  It was
peaceful, the whole block was filled with silence and all you heard were the people in their cars
on their way to work, school buses picking up children and the four train taking people to work
and school safely.  As people passed by each other the sound of greetings, people saying “Good
morning” as they pass by or a nod as a way of saying hello, made me realize that everyone in
my neighborhood works together to make the community a more pleasant place to live.
 
 
 
 

  Today as I looked threw my window, to the park at the back of my building; I saw a group of
kids.  Some were sitting at the little tables and some where playing at the slide and monkey
bars.  As I watched them play in the cool weather I began to think back to when I was their age and it brought back memories of when I used to play in that very park with my brother.  Even though we fight a lot and really don’t talk much, it helped me realize that those are some
memories that I will hold dearly and treasure.  I said to myself  “ I hope someday they will look
back to this day and value it as much as I do.”
 
 
 

“My Neighborhood”

     While writing about my neighborhood I learned many things.  I learned how much living here has effected my upraising.  I also realized that even though we are all of different race and color we are all the same and we can all learn from each other. Not only have I learned about my neighborhood, but I also learned some very interesting things about the Bronx itself.
.    Writing about my neighborhood has helped me realize that my neighborhood has had an effect on my upraising because living here has helped me to want to do better and to set high standards for myself.
       I also learned some very interesting things about the Bronx itself.  I learned that once the Bronx was ruled by Kings andQueens and the very same castles still remain in Cloisters Park.  These castles are now museums and open to the public.  I also learned that Edgar Allen Poe’s cottage, which was built in 1812, still stands in the same location where it was originally built,and is also open to the public.  Of all the things that I have learned about the Bronx, this one shocked me the most. Not too far from where my grandmother lives, just a couple of blocks away, there’s a church named “ST. Ann’s Church” where Gouverneur Morris, who wrote the final draft of our constitution, lies in a vault at the church.  Founded by his son, the churchwas completed in 1841.  Its vaults contain the remains of all the Morris family, including Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Ann Cary Randolph Morris, the wife of Gouverneur Morris and a direct descendant of Pocahontas. Ever since I was a little girl I always passed by the church and I would look in, but I would have never dreamed that the church holds so much history.  I never knew that the Bronx holds so much history.  I also learned that the Bronx has many mansions that are open to the public that have been here for many, many, many years.
    Learning this has inspired me to continue researching information about my neighborhood and the Bronx itself.