Excerpts from neighborhood descriptions

Here are some of the excepts from Soldan kids' descriptions of their local neighborhoods. They were written as a part of a "History and Community" study co-sponsored by the Missouri History Museum.

The kids were all freshmen in teacher Tamara Taliaferro's language arts class at Soldan.

(To read the main story about the neighborhood history project, click here.)

Dawn Jones

* By Dawn Jones:

"My community is a ghetto. Most of the young people that live in my community stay out until 2:00 in the morning. There are only about five high school kids on my street that actually go to school every morning. The rest of them dropped out or they skip school. They sell drugs and always get into fights with people around the corner.

"My community isn't all bad, though. The kids are extremely respectful. No matter how they act, they have never been disrespectful in any way. Across the street from my house, there is a church. There is another one around the corner. A couple teenagers are members of these churches.

"There is a park in my community too. Every Sunday, many people are at Fairground Park. There are five schools in my community. There are two high schools, Central VPA and Beaumont. The middle schools are Yeartman and Bunche. There is one elementary school, Ashland. My community also has a library, bank and a plaza-like thing."

* By Ashley Cage:

"A community, to me, is where everyone sticks together and helps one another if needed. If I had to choose to be in a community, I would choose mine because of the way I have grown to love and get to know the people around me.

"My community is very fun. I like my community because it is quiet, clean and everyone gets along. We're like our own little family within the neighborhood. We respect our community, along with each other. We treat our neighborhood like it's a person. Great. It's a part of us. It shows people the way we live, and who we are."

* By Chapel Haines:

Chapel Haines

My community is fairly all right. We throw a few block parties here and there. Sometimes we just hang out on the streets and chill. In my community, my favorite activity is going to the park. I like going to the park to play basketball and sometimes football. Other times when I'm not at the park or at home, I'll be at my friends' house or just walking around the neighborhood. These are the main things that go on in my community."

* By Mirza Sofric:

" My neighborhood is pretty nice, except for the abandoned movie theater. People without homes hang out there. It should be knocked down. A restaurant should be built there. Across the street from the theater, on Kingshighway and Chippewa, there is a really big area of grass and dirt. There should be a big Olympic size swimming pool for the public to swim in put there. Everything else is nice."

* By Lejla Fapaclovic:

"I live in the south side of St. Louis. And my neighborhood is not bad. It's not quiet, but it's all right. There's always something new happening in my neighborhood, whether it's someone new moving into the neighborhood or some kind of party or a celebration going on. Sometimes there are fights, but that rarely happens now. The people that live in my neighborhood are from different countries. People from Bosnia and Albania will all be grilling food and having a good time."

* By Ayanna Flenoid:

"My community is getting better
and better each day.
Flowers are blooming,
trees getting greener,
and grass growing.
Friendly people sitting on porches
Waving and sending a thought
HELLO!
Animals running
Up and down the street
Birds singing.
My community is a nice community.

"One thing I don't have to worry about is getting shot when I step out my doors. My community is full of kids of all ages. It has a beautiful garden that is nicely taken care of. My street is clean. Most of the time there is no trash on the ground."