Reflection

After going to the community I learned that this community is in no means perfect. I saw low income housing, bars on windows and doors, and empty buildings. To further convince me of the improvements needed, the two men I interviewed talked about the Mobil gas station being held up a few nights before. On top of that I also witnessed a car accident outside of the Family Dollar where I was interviewing the two men. This seemed to be a community looking for change and renovations. Even though I saw negative aspects there were also positive aspects as well. After spending some time within the community, I saw road construction, newer buildings next to older buildings and churches on every block. From all these observations I came to conclude that this community values its faith and family. Although crime seemed to be apparent in certain places, overall I felt that the community was looking for a new sense of pride. The people seemed friendly for the most part and this community definitely had businesses unique to its surroundings.
Blogging about this experience has further reiterated the observations I made. I really enjoyed the two men I got to interview. They seemed shy at first but warmed up when they found ways to answer the questions with a touch of their own personality. Having lived in the community all their lives, I felt they had a strong connection to the changes they would like to see being made. In contrast to that I also got insight into the changes that have gotten the community to the point it's at right now.
I thought the most difficult part of this midterm was the overall assembling of the blog. Choosing pictures to both show the diversity of the community as well as show the experience I had was probably the second hardest part of this project. The experience with the blog was definitely something I was not used to for a midterm. At first I was having trouble starting the blog, then I had difficulties uploading the video slideshow but after several tries I managed to get everything in order.

Photo Essay

The community around 35th and Libson showed me many things during my time there. My friend Kelly and I walked around at first in order to see some of the local businesses. A few things this neighborhood was not short of were churches and day care centers. Kelly and I interviewed two gentlemen enjoying ice cream outside of the Family Dollar. They informed us that crime was definitely a problem and pointed to the Mobil gas station across the street stating that it was robbed just two days prior. Both men had lived in the community all their lives and said that some things they'd like to see are "a Rec Center and a Home Depot" and when asked to describe the community in one word, "rough." Although the men were cynical about their neighborhood they were friendly and quite honest about the improvements they would like to see happen.