Home in DC

The most obvious thing in my life that I consider home is my family. I have 20 aunts and uncles, and over 30 cousins. My family is huge; unfortunately I do have pictures of all of them. Family is “home”, because they have unconditional love, therefore they will always be there for me no matter what. In my collage there is also lots of color; color is what gives “home” emotions. I think that emotion is what makes an environment interesting. My favorite color is green, but my personality is more like orange. Orange is vibrant and joyful, and pretty much self explanatory. I love fashion, music, and art; without those three things, life would be so boring. I believe that art is “home”, because it allows me to express my feelings without having to say a word. Music and fashion is just one of the many forms of art. Expression is home to me because I like to feel comfortable in my skin, and having to express myself freely is one of my most appreciated privileges in the American society. Home to me is love and life; having an abundance of those two things makes my life very appreciated.

- Aquilla Braxton

My home is both great and perilous. This is a place of vast opportunity, yet great oppression amongst the under privileged. There are the sublime monuments, the noble buildings that run this country, and the Capitol of the US. There are a lot of great people here that have ties to world affairs like senators, special agents, and the president. But just like any where else in the world DC has its problems. There are the drugs, crimes, deaths, and gangs that plague DC and make living here perilous. Some people are just wicked here. The impoverished parts of DC are like another world. People get murdered all the time for saying the wrong thing to someone or even just walking down the street. Now days some people just pick up guns and kill each other to settle disputes instead of resolving their problems through a logical conversation. On top of that you have to literally worry about losing your life from just walking down the street because if you are walking down a street and a rival neighborhood that has animosity toward the street you’re waking down sees you they will just kill you on the spot even if they have never seen you before. Many of the kids around here grow up and join their neighborhood gangs and just kill each other because they live in different communities. The worst thing is that these neighborhood gangs victimize random people for fun. You can’t walk outside at night and it’s not a good idea to travel alone because these gangs thrive off of negativity. The deaths are what really make things surreal here. The kids grow up seeing death all of their lives. When some one gets killed in a neighborhood the little kids run to see the corpse as if they were going to see a fight in a sand box or something. Some of the kids grow up and think that this stuff is normal, so they follow in the foot steps of the wicked. They grow up, sell drugs, join gangs and die young. I have seen that happen many times and I know many people who have died living that life. Living in these conditions does not mean were a tough group of people, it just means we’re oppressed.

That’s my home; it’s both good and bad. Yet the best thing about living under these circumstances is that if you’re strong enough to resist the path of wickedness before you, you will come out a stronger person. The great person in the picture to the right is evidence of the great people living here and the picture to the left with the big building and dark surrounding shows how great but dark this city is.

- David Traynham

When I’m not home I spend most of my time out in places such as this—the city. I consider the city my home because once you walk around in it for so long you start to feel a part of it. When you walk around in the city it gives off a sense of importance because walking through a crowded city makes you feel like you really have somewhere to go and something to accomplish. But if you really have somewhere to go the city is not the quickest route (there’s always something happening)!

This is a picture of the subway. I really don’t consider this place a part of my home, but it always helps me get there. The subway to me is almost like an underground city itself because it’s always filled with people, and if it’s shut down for maintenance it messes up everyone’s day.

- Ryanne Moore