'ROUND THE WAY GIRL

It dawned on me today as I crossed Atlantic Ave. that during my 18 years growing up in New York City, I never, ever saw a news crew in my neighborhood.

That is, of course until today. Not sure what was going on. There wasn't a crowd or anything, so nothing of true significance, I am sure. Still, this was the first time I can recall seeing the media taking a real interest in my part of the 'hood.

And there was plenty going on. Like the time Rita's mom and boyfriend were fighting and the boyfriend threw the television out the window (4 stories down; no Honeymooners' reruns that night). What about my first day of school--it should be a national holiday, you know. Then there's the rip-roaring block parties we had throughout the 80's and 90's. Or the summer days we gleefully played in the water being sprayed from the johnny pump (that's a fire hydrant for you youngsters).

How about the numerous trash-talking filled softball, handball or basketball games peacefully played in the park across the street from my parents' house? Or the silly pranks the boys in the neighborhood pulled, like the Wedgie Game (Lawrence was the only one who ever cried)? Or when Mike, Black Mike and Sammy all got shot for being in the wrong place at the right time; Sammy survived and is currently a NYC Corrections Officer.

So while some news crew or another may have wandered into Bed-Sty, Brownsville or East New York, during the time I was growing up here, I never saw them. Ever. Yet I always wanted to be a journalist. It wasn't watching Sue Simmons or Chuck Scarborough on the local NBC news that fostered my desire to pursue journalism. They were just images on the screen and weren't necessarily real to me. Still, I loved writing; especially the who, what, where, when and why (and sometimes "how").

Which proves that it is, in fact, very possible to grow almost anything out of nothing.

Currently Reading: Speak So You Can Speak Again: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston by Lucy Hurston
Currently Listening To: (what else?) Round The Way Girl by LL Cool J