In our own words

By Laura Maynard and Becky Weise

In the past six weeks, we have spent countless hours roaming around the neighborhoods surrounding Ridge Avenue.  In fact, we spent so much time there it sometimes felt like home.  While at first it would seem that none of us had anything in common with the people in the neighborhood, through exploration and conversation, we found differently. 

It is easy to discount the area as a low-income neighborhood full of abandoned houses and jaded people.  On closer inspection, however, a whole new picture emerges.  These people are a family, block by block, house by house.  They know their neighbors, they watch out for each other’s children, and they take the time to talk to college students on assignment. 

The people we met throughout this course are unlike anyone we’ve had a chance to get to know before.  They know the neighborhoods like the back of their hands, and many of them have a sense of drive and determination unlike anyone else.  Many can afford to move to nicer sections of the city, but have chosen to remain in the communities, in a lot of cases, in which they grew up.  They don’t want to lose the sense of family they’ve found on the block.  Where else can you find neighbors willing to scold your children when they run too close to a passing car?  Where else can you find blocks upon blocks of people sitting on porches, watching the day fade into night?

These blocks and neighborhoods have a personality all of their own– something you wouldn’t notice at first glance.  From the time we spent exploring the area, we learned a great deal about the spirit and sense of community that can be found in the neighborhoods.  What you see is not all that’s there; there’s a need to take a deeper look.  Something beyond a shallow glance through our neighborhoods, despite sections that had empty house and rubble, the people of the neighborhood are where the sense of community takes root.  Monumental strength and character often lurk behind run-down neighborhoods.  That strength is what helps to turn a neighborhood around, and although it is a slow process, the step-by-step bits and pieces add up to the improvements and what amount to the flavor of the area.