gang activity/ guns

Thats why you have to carry two phones, one personal and one business.

And damn I hate the ghetto. Live in one and I'm tired of seeing idiots everywhere, if only everyone just smoked weed

 

The US is by far the biggest importer and exporter of all guns, so any type of non watered down gun control is simply not an option here.

You never hear about anyone getting killed by a stray knife though
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/11/5-year-old-boy-struck-by-stray-bullet-in-plainfield/

 

I almost always carry a knife, and generally try to avoid the ghetto though its often necesary to travel through the hood in order to get to some other places but usually im on a bus. You can tell some of the buildings that are fucked up today were once really nice.

I used to get to see all of it. When i was a salesman not only did we pitch to people on the street but we'd go door to door as well. We didnt go to residences but we did go bother people inside of businesses.

"Every door, every floor, every store" is what they told us to do

 

moving really isn't an option. moving within the city, anyway. i actually might move to grand rapids with my boyfriend. which is a terrifying concept....
but the truth of the matter is that i can't move with in the city of chicago, rent is ridiculously high in decent areas. and its always like that, two blocks away its almost a different world, but that proximity makes all of chicago unsafe, to be honest.
and boarded up buildings tend to make a neighborhood more safe. my neighborhood has considerably calmed down since everyone got foreclosed out of their houses and now they're just empty.

so many crack addicts by my house.
and also, same problem. don't have money for two phones.

i always carry a knife too. i'm not ashamed to say i'm more than willing to stab someone who comes at me.
my hood is like that. these ridiculously beautiful buildings from the high points of their existence. to my knowledge, it used to be an entirely italian area, and was really successful because of the pullman company. white flight happened in this area in around the 70's, now it's predominantly black, with me.

 

I've never spent much time in what most would consider the "ghetto." Had a friend who lived downtown in the nearby city and all his neighbors were either meth heads or recovering crack addicts, but it wasn't too bad if you just stuck around that little area. He used to leave his door open all night during the summer (there was a screen door) and you'd wake up to one of the crackheads hanging a baggie of weed over your face asking if you wanted to wake and bake. But unfortunately, it's always best to stay on the good side of the crackheads and our friend let a douchebag move in who quickly wore out his welcome and all of ours, too. My friend moved back home to help his dad and that was that. But yeah, not the best place in the world, but the cops did rounds every 3 or 4 hours and there weren't gang members with guns hanging out on street corners like the neighborhoods on the north side of town. My fiance used to hang out on the north side and the couple of times we've been to town and he went to visit his friends over there, he'd leave me at my friend's house in crack-land, lol.

My own neighborhood used to be considered the ghetto in this little town I live in. Lots of meth labs for awhile and people used to toss their used needles all over the ground at the neighborhood dumpsters. Every now and then you'd hear of a stabbing, but the only shots fired out here are at animals so far. The cops made their presence known, tore up a few houses, and things cleared up. It's not really a bad place to live anymore, worst thing you're going to find out here is pot and I can say I'm definitely no angel, heh.`

 

Wow, I couldn't imagine living where theres gunshots all the time. The first time i was visiting someone in Houston and it was like right outside the ghetto and i was a little freaked out. I always way out in the country when i was little and like others, we just heard gunshots when people were shooting skeet, or hunting.

I've never experienced seeing anyone getting shot or killed or hurt and i hope it stays that way. I can't think of how i would handle it if i had to clean someone's blood off of the sidewalk. My mom has never had money to live in nice neighborhoods but i've never lived in the ghetto either. We lived in a lot of trailors my entire life and we lived by some crackheads once. The boyfriend was abusive and i felt bad for the kid.

Much respect for you jay. You are strong and a sweet girl.