I <3 North Philly

Deeply, Madly, Passionately.

It's like no place I've ever seen, or expected to encounter.
I remember when I first came to visit Temple...
I honestly didn't see much but the campus, I didn't pay the outskirts much mind.
Except for when we were approaching campus.
And even then, I still said, "I mean its just like D.C. Like Northeast or around Howard."

I totally disregarded the fact that I was walking into a nation of forgotten people.

I mean really, forgotten.

I can only speak for the parts I've visited and lived in; which ranges from 10th-30th & Oxford...and up through Girard (not a great estimation or description but work with me.)

To see it is one thing, but to live in it is another.
To live in it is a great thing.
Because it's no logner superficial, no longer surface. It's no longer them, it's US.
We're all in it together.
The students, the fiends, the dealers, the robbers, the stunters, the hustlers, the corner stores, the kids, the police, the cramped colorado streets, the bootleggers, the working men, the welfare cases, the senior citizens, the blacks, the hispanics, the asians, the whites--we're all in it together.
Everybody's just tryna make it.

That's North Philly for you.
The home of the grungiest and grindingest.
The heartless and the homeless.
I mean, its the cream of crop and the bottom of the barrell all at the same time.

And I appreciate that.
Actually I LOVE that.

I love that I can go out of town for a month and know the whole block "lookin out".
I love that I can walk to the end of the block, cop a gang of snacks for like $2 and have a full blown conversation with Papi behind the counter about absolutely nothing!
I love that mi cookout es su cookout.
I love that you can shut down your whole street for a block party, with a cone and a table, and you don't have to get permission from noooo body!
I love that EVERYBODY SPEAKS!!!
I love that I truly have a second home.
I love that if you need help, all you have to do is ask.
I love that anytime something major happens, you won't miss it, cuz your neighbors will be outside screaming to the top of their lungs about it within the next 5 seconds.
I love that I was HERE and nowhere else when we elected our first BLACK PRESIDENT.
I love how resilient these people are.
I love how they still find ways to smile, when there's not much to be happy about.
I LOVE that I've seen more men taking care of their kids HERE, than anywhere else I've ever lived.
I love how underestimated Philly is, because one day--it's gonna prove the cynics wrong.
I love the way North Philly gave me a home, an education, a purpose, a promise, and a possibility.


Peace New York, but I love Philly, and it keeps on loving me back.