Sunday, October 24, 2010

South Central


View Larger Map

I hate South Central. I hated growing up there and now that I'm older, I have a better understanding and comprehension about things, it still hate it. If you've never lived them for an extended period of time, then you can't understand it. When you live in South Central, the majority of the time it's not because you have a choice, it's because that's what you can afford. Your options extremely limited and you have to make the best decision possible given the means you are provided with. If you aren't familiar with South Central for some reason, here's the Wiki version of it.

My family lived in South Central for a few years back and forth throughout the entire 90's. We were there for 3-4 years, then moved to Long Beach for 3 yrs. Came back and lived there for another 2 1/2 yrs before coming to East L.A. again. Over all, I wanna guess-timate a total of 7-8 years that we spent there. It's a big chunk of who I am as an individual because of the nature of life in SC. My experiences are not that different than others and I'm lucky to say that it was better than what was normally portrayed on tv or in movies. That doesn't mean I still saw and experienced things that pierce into my psyche and being.

Yesterday I just happened to be in SC again, visiting a friend to go to a party. Ironically, he lives mere blocks from where I use to live. Walking around the old neighborhood again brought back all those memories and reservations about the community. Not making eye contact, not taking out my phone, acting like I'm not scared because in reality, I still get nervous when I'm there. I can go on for days, but I digress. Just being back there again kinda made me feel good about being where I am, like a splash cold water on my face. I don't ever want to be in a position to have to move back again. I hate South Central.