YOC-TOWN

I live in the growing town, Antioch. I have lived here ever since I was 5 years old moving from Hayward.  The reason my family and I moved out to Antioch was to get away from the gangs and bad neighborhood in which my dad did not want to raise his family.  Antioch at the time was out in the “boonies”, in other words in the middle of nowhere. I have lived in the same house since we moved out here and have a great understanding of the neighborhood in which I live.  My neighborhood is very diverse nowadays and has been termed by some people as “ghetto”. I don’t believe this because usually the people that are ignorant enough to say this have never actually been to a “ghetto” area and do not know what that ambiance is really like.  There are definitely people in my neighborhood that try to scare people but most of these people are all talk and aren’t ready to back it up, which comes as no surprise. Overall I would say that my neighborhood is on the decline as far as safety and comfort ability.

I would say the statement that best fits me is that I am who I am despite living in my neighborhood. I choose this because I believe if I was a product of my environment, or let it shape the person that I am, then I would be trying to act hard and not have the strong morals and values that have been instilled in me. Living where I do has some impact but not much probably due to the way I was raised. I was raised to know right from wrong but more importantly knew that if I did something that was wrong that I would have to endure the consequences from my parents which I learned very quickly was something that I did not want to happen. I believe we are a product of our environment but only to the degree in which we allow ourselves to be.