Here I have a picture of my neighborhood in 1916.  The ironic thing about it is that my neighborhood is exactly the same.  The only thing that changed about my neighborhood is the colors of the houses and the trees have now grown.

    The inside of most of the house on the block are still the same as it was in 1916.  For example in my house we have to fireplaces and on the mantales there are two head that like like two old Jews men.  All of the doors in my house have skeleton keys.  Most of the walls on the first floor of my house are made of wood.  The whole dining room is wood.
 

    The only thing that is bad about the fact that my neighborhood has not changed much is that, I have no weird or interesting story to tell.  But the good thing about things not changing is, I get to see all of the things that I get to see all of the things that they had in 1916.

    I have just moved to my new neighborhood.  So, to find out more about it I asked my next door neighbor to tell me a few details about my neighborhood.
 

How long have you been living here?
    - I have lived here for about six years.

Have there been any changes in the neighborhood since you have been here?
    - There have been a few changes but not major.

What are some of those changes?
    - Well, the only changes that have occurred was the stores in the neighborhood. For example the store on the corner has been a: fruit stand, muslim store( where they had incents and other religious items), a bakery, and now it is a regular store. Can you imagine this all happening in just six years.

Is there anything that has not changed around here?
    - Yeah, the houses are still all the same and another thing that never changed is that we always have a block party every year on the Fourth of July.

Have you experienced any exciting things while living here?
    - You know at one of our block parties the Assemblyman stopped by and everyone was very surprised because there are so many block parties on that day and he chose to come to ours. He played games with the kids and ate all the different foods.

What do you like the most about this neighborhood?
    - What I love the most about this neighborhood is the diversity. You can go next door and and have a West Indian dinner. Or you can go across the street and hear stories about how it is in Puerto Rico. There are so many different faces in this neighborhood.

Is there anything that you don't like about this neighborhood?
    - Well you know, there is crime that occurs every now and then. I could live without that.

If someone was to come to you and ask you about this neighborhood, how would you describe it?
    - I would tell them that it is a nice neighborhood, especially if you like to socialize. Everyone is very helpful and friendly. We have a great block association. So, everyone looks out for one another. I wouldn't say that it is completely safe but every neighborhood has its ups and downs. Basically, I don't plan on leaving any time soon.

A day around my way
Is far from an ordinary day
Let's begin on President Street
Where there are Bloods and NTKs
And if they try to talk to a shorty and she don't give them no play
She betta watch out for that bottle coming her way

Now let's see who's on Carrol Street
Oh it's that n*#*# Dre
He's been selling weed
Since the age of fourteen
And now got a baby on the way
And by who?
His home boy's thirteen year old sister, NuNu

Next we have Montgomery AKA Mount-Grimmy
Everyone on this block is either selling weed or rocks
And you'll always see someone on the corner
Yelling;" Yo, son the cops!"

Next we have Sullivan
Where n*#*#s roll dice all day
And when they don't get 6's
" Ya betta not get in they way "

 Now we have reached Empire Blvd.
Where you can here the latest reggae tunes
You can caught a contact
Just by walking through
Because all the dreds are smoking booms

Finally we have reach Sterling Street
Watch out for those n*#*#s on the corner holding heat
They won't hesitate to bust their gunz
Especially if ya trying to mess with their onez

Now that you have spent a day around my way
Please tell me
How was your day today?

    I really enjoyed doing this project because I had just moved in this neighborhood.  I learned alot of background about  my neighborhood.  It is interesting to see how everyone in the neighborhood relates to each other and how they stick together. The best part of doing this project was hearing the stories about the fun things that happened in my neighborhood, and the people in it.

    The most difficult part was for me to open up and ask questions because of the fact that I don't really socialize with the people in my nieghborhood that much.  But when i got to know them they were very interesting. I think that getting real statements from people help the readers of this project understand my neighborhood better. In the beginning I tried to do the project without talking to people in my neighborhood which idn't work because i have not lived there long enough to no much about it.

    I think that this project was a great idea.  It helped me understand things that I didn't understand before.  I found out that the people in my neighborhood were nice people and had very unique backgrounds. I think that everyone should do a neighborhood project especially if they a new to their neighborhood.