Ghetto Fabulous

This past weekend my oldest stepson had a track meet that just happened to be at my high school alma mater. He'd be running his sprints on the same track that I dreaded running the mile in gym class freshman year. Where they'd force us to go out to "play" some sport during "individual sports", which was just some fancy name for PE when you took it sophomore year. The same track where my best friend got into a fight with another girl over a co-ed softball ball game during class that resulted in an awesome bitch fight once we got back to the locker room; complete with hair-pulling, scratching, and hitting eachother with their hair brushes.

Ahh...those were the days.

I was actually quite excited to go back. I was pumped when I found out that the meet would be actually at the school, on their track, and not at the football field where we had our home football games. I thought it would be nice to see what the old place looked like. I was excited to tell the boys that this is where I went to high school at; that I ran on this same track. That essentially, this is where I came from. This was my hood.

I was horribly disappointed. Embarrassed really. This was my hood indeed.

Often I find myself questioning whether or not I grew up in a bad neighborhood? Did I go to a bad school? I obviously did not think so when I lived there. When I grew up there. When I went to school there. But 12 years away from that school, that neighboorhood, that life. Is it worse then it was? Has it changed. Have I changed?

Two years ago when I had my 10 Year Reunion, I arranged for a tour of the school and was plesantly surprised. It looked pretty much the way I had remembered it, but better too. The school is a performing arts and computer technology magnet. The theater is state of the art. There is an entire room dedicated to computer animation and sound mixing. More MAC workstations loaded with the latest and greatest software then I have ever seen. That I was ever exposed to when I was there.

If everyone who was at the meet that day could have seen what we saw on our tour, I'm sure it would have impressed them. They'd be talking about all the great things the school had to offer. Instead I'm sure most went back to their homes and talked about what a horrible neighborhood they were in. How run down and crappy the track was. How bad the houses around it looked.

So many of the businesses that I remember being there, the places we hung out at, the homes of the kids we went to school with, were either gone or unrecognizable. Did their families still live there, I wondered? Did they really just let the place go like that?

It made me sad to think that maybe the students there now were not proud of their school, or their neighborhood, or their lives. But maybe they didn't know any different, just as I had not when I was there.

Every year I get a letter from our alumni association asking for donations to help build a new youth sports complex on the very land I stood on that Saturday afternoon. New football stadium. New track. New soccer and softball fields. Every year I open the letter. I read the letter. I throw the letter away. Today I wonder why do I do that? How awesome would that be for the kids here today, the kids in this neighborhood to have those facilities. I don't think twice about the facilities my kids have at their schools. The building dedicated to wrestling for a school that has 14 consecutive state wrestling titles. The little league they belong too with great fields and nice new uniforms every year. The tracks they run on everyday at their schools. The opportunities they have because of it. Alot of it made possible by private donations. By the generousity of many.

I don't know if my neighboorhood will ever see these facilities get built. I don't know if these kids will every get to run on a brand new track. Play soccer on a grassy, litter-free field. Be proud of what their school has to offer. But I hope they will. And seeing it first hand has made me realized that every little bit helps. I'll do what I can to contribute.

I've never for one day regretted the school I attended. The education that I received. The experiences I had, the friends I made. I can truly say I had a wonderful time there. I have fond memories. I still have awesome friends. I had a fabulous experience. I hope the kids that are coming out of that school, that neighborhood now, can say the same.