The excerpt, Fort Greene Dreams by Nelson George is a text in which he describes five years of his life while living in a neighborhood in Brooklyn. He moved to Fort Greene in 1985, although he grew up in Brooklyn, this new neighborhood was very strange and different to him.Although Fort Greene was known as a dangerous neighborhood due to gang activity, the author wasn’t too phased by that. He looked at the positive things that this neighborhood provided. Things such as being close to Manhattan, which made going out very convenient. He enjoyed the tennis courts, a picturesque park with rolling hills and his apartment. His apartment as he describes it in the text was a duplex with wood floors, two bedrooms, a large kitchen, brick walls and a large backyard.

He describes his time living in Fort Greene from 1985-1992 as being the most important years of his life in terms of his rise in music, film, writing and sex. During these years he wrote and produced screenplays, invested in various movies and wrote five books including his breakthrough work The Death of Rhythm and Blues. The author then goes on to describe ow this large spacious apartment made him feel lonely, made his ambition grow as if to fill the void of that large space. As he would go get food, he would sense the creativity around him coming from other aspiring artists and talented individuals. He said “With my take-out food in a bag I’d hurry back to 19 Willoughby to wolf down my meal and get back to work, anxious not to be left behind” this shows his passion and what drove him to be successful.The author later describes how dangerous the neighborhood was and how he only got robbed once but to his own fault. While living at Fort Greene, he learned what kind of writer, lover and son he was. The most surprising revelation was that he was a mentor. It was in this apartment that a nurturing gene of mentoring, criticism, and producing was manifested which would later on define his life and self image. This neighborhood was able to bring out the talent and gift he: had in him all this time, it made him realize to “measure myself by my body of work” which in the end payed off to his advantage.