My New York

New York City the fast paced live style of workers, residents, and hustlers. Growing up I could remember visiting the city with my family and seeing the tallest buildings, tons of people, and at every street someone was trying to sell something.

My parents made sure to keep all five of us kids close, so that we would not get lost in the crowd. We visited museums, buildings, like the empire state building and the world trade center, or as I remember them being called the twin towers, we walked the major streets 42^nd and 34^th street. But what kind of tourist would we be if we did not visit the green lady.

The statue of liberty I could never forget this visit because I was my first time getting on a boat. I remember being nervous because I could not swim, but I didn’t let myself get scared. I just tried to stay excited about going to see the statue. We made it safe to the island and headed up the stairs of the statue, but only half way because at that time they were not allowing people to go all the way up to the head.

Being raised in Brooklyn East New York is something I can never forget. As a child I only knew it was a rough neighborhood and it wasn’t safe at night, hell it wasn’t that safe during the day ether. I remember hearing about the different gangs and the colors they used, and how my older brother wouldn’t wear his brand new winter coat because it was red and black. How you could get into a fight, stabbed, or shot for wearing the wrong colors even if you just liked it because it looked nice. At night I remember my father and my tio running outside almost every night because someone would try and steal my tios car. The one memory of the car stealing I would never forget is the one when my father’s van got stolen and my father and tio gave chase in my tios car.

Living near the park was one of good things of my New York. We went to the playground with my family, swinging on the swings, and playing tag running everywhere. We spent a lot of time at the park during the summer, but this also meant a lot of scratches and scars that came along with the playing. We found a lot of things, from different types of balls, to dollars, to even a watch I remember. A lot of fun times at the park, but still a dangerous one at night especially by the handball court which was up the hilly park and to the back of the park.

I really came to enjoy and favor the city when I began high school and began working. Out of all of my family I was the only one to go to high school in the city. This was a long train ride, an hour almost to get to 59^th st train station. In this high school I made friends that lived in all boroughs, and I was able to walk around the city more often right after school. I spent a lot of time in the city with friends from fifth ave to the L.E.S.,  getting to know more and more of city and how it can change from one block to the next.