My Neighborhood and Me

My name is Lillian brim am a 23 year old San Francisco native born and raised in the Mission District. There is a lot of history and culture in the neighborhood. We are mostly known for our array of different murals and rich history, connected to social change and the struggle and fight people went through for human rights. My neighborhood at one point was full of forward thinking people and the working class. Originally it was predominately a Hispanic neighborhood during the late ninety’s, early two thousands there was the rise of the yuppies. They came in and caused gentrification to a place I called home.  It started with  raising  the rent use to go for $800 dollars a flat, within a matter of a year or two the rents sky rocketed to the highs of  $2,500 dollars and up.The  people had been living there for years had to find other places to live. Historical places that represented the culture of the neighborhood where slowly getting shut down. Coffey shops, skateboard shops and clothing stores were being put in their place. Completely stepping on the culture of the neighborhood and what it stood for and still stands for to this day . The People who moved in came with their own agenda of how things should be ran. Looking at the people who have been in the community as if they were lost, I’m all for new people coming in and bringing knew things to the community. But to come in as if you own the place and call it you’re own with no regard of the history or culture of a place isn’t OK. the way i see it if you are coming in to a community,you should try and be embraced into the community not put the people in the community out.

Highschool Experience

The High school i attended was called Urban Pioneers. It was a wilderness/continuation school located in the heart of the peresido the school itself used to be an old navel barracks so it was a house which gave it an extra homely vibe. We were so far out out in the wilderness we were secluded away from everything so it made our since of community even stronger. We really lacked parent support though a lot of the students were coming from low income families,were homeless, or stayed with grandparents. So the strongest form of support we had was ourselves and teachers.
The facilities weren’t up to par we didn’t have text books because the school couldn’t afford them. We lacked basic resources that a school would need to run efficiently. There was no paper or pencils in the class, there idea of a tech lab was eight outdated computers that were slow and needless to say didn’t have updated software we were still using windows 95. We did have some of the best teachers though for the school being so underfunded and staff being under paid.
They were still so very passionate about about making sure we succeeded and got our education almost as if we were there own children. The students in the school came from all walks of life and different backgrounds. We had kids who were coming from different countries first year in America to some people it was there last chance to be able to finish high school. The last senior class before they closed down the school everybody graduated.

code switching since a young age

I feel the people who have influenced me the most in the way that I speak would have to be my mom and peers. From the time I was old enough to speak my mom would correct me and tell me the proper way to say things. It’s like she drilled it in my head to the point it became a part of my regular speech with her. But as time went on and I was older and was around my peers I picked up another type of language that I would speak with them that wasn’t as refined. I noticed myself coming in the house from hanging out with my friends and changing the way I spoke because I knew that once I stepped in that door I better not bring my outside speech inside.  At year up we talk a lot about code switching I feel that everyone knows a little about code switching even if there not aware of it it’s almost like something that is embedded in you at a young age especially when you hit school age because you have a certain way that you are supposed to address your teachers, elders, family and so forth and as you get older you have to really be prepared to speak proper English in the professional world dealing with your superiors or it could cost you your job and possibly your future.