“The neighborhoods I grew up in were poor and full of drug users. I don't think you have to look that hard to find those kinds of lives. But I also don't think you have to have experienced it really close to be able to empathize.” ThinkingLooksKindHardAblePoorGrewDrugGrew UpNeighborhoodUsers Author:Jess Walter
“In the neighborhood around Waseda, there were all these movie theaters, so every morning I left the house and watched movies instead of going to class. The experience of encountering films then is one of my greatest memories. Before that I'd never paid any attention to directors, but there I was taking a crash course in Ozu, Kurosawa, Naruse, Truffaut, Renoir, Fellini. Because I've always been naturally a more introspective person, I was more interested in becoming a screenwriter than a director.” PersonsFilmCoursesHouseLeftMemoriesAttentionClassMorningBecomingDirectorsPaidTheaterNeighborhoodEvery MorningCrashIntrospectiveScreenwritersMovie TheaterKurosawaRenoir Author:Hirokazu Koreeda
“Playing rock 'n' roll music, it's going to be integrated, but being black you didn't want to go into some neighborhood where you weren't wanted.” WantWantedBlackRocksNeighborhoodRock N RollIntegratedRock N Roll Music Author:Gail Ann Dorsey
“Football, you can go out and buy a football and play it in your backyard. Basketball, you can go out and play it in the schoolyard or in your driveway. Baseball, you get a glove and a bat and a ball and you go out and play in the neighborhood. You can't do that in hockey.” PlayFootballBasketballBaseballBallsNeighborhoodHockeyBatsGlovesBackyardsDriveway Author:Jeremy Roenick
“Local churches are ten times more segregated than the neighborhoods they are in and they are twenty times more segregated than the schools than the nearby schools.” SchoolChurchTenTwentiesLocalsNeighborhoodLocal Church Author:Derwin L. Gray
“I coach church planters to look at the ethnic diversity of schools and neighborhoods they are near. This will be an indicator how ethnically diverse their congregation can become.” LooksSchoolChurchDiversityCoachesNeighborhoodDiverseCongregationIndicatorsPlantersEthnic Diversity Author:Derwin L. Gray
“I sat around the kitchen every Sunday afternoon listening to my mother and aunts talk about the people in the neighborhood. Gossip - I loved it. And that turns out to be the writer's job: to attend to the gossip and spread it as far as you can.” PeopleJobsMotherTurnsListeningSpreadSatKitchenNeighborhoodSundayGossipAfternoonAuntSunday Afternoons Author:John Dufresne
“I had begun what I thought might be a career in social work. I was married and deeply involved in the anti-war movement. I thought I'd go about saving the world one person at a time. I worked with kids, teenagers mostly, in neighborhood centers, on the streets, and eventually in a drop-in center.” WorldPersonsWarMightKidsSocialCareersStreetsMovementInvolvedMarriedSavingTeenagerNeighborhoodAnti WarSocial WorkSave The WorldAnti War Movement Author:John Dufresne
“That's where I live, a junkyard in a neighborhood of junkyards. We have three tractors from the 1940s and '50s, several old pickup trucks, and a pile of scrap metal.” ThreeNeighborhoodMetalsTruckScrapPickupsTractorsPickup TrucksJunkyardScrap Metal Author:Bonnie Jo Campbell
“We see nation-states collapsing all around us: Libya, Syria, Iraq. We do not want another failed state in our neighborhood, which would rapidly turn into a stronghold for terrorists, as we have seen in Gaza. We do not want tunnels to suburbs of Tel Aviv or missiles pointed at Jerusalem.” WantStatesTurnsNationsIraqTerroristNeighborhoodSyriaTunnelsMissilesSuburbsJerusalemGazaLibyaStrongholds Author:Ayelet Shaked
“I have huge admiration for people who think like the effective altruist, who try to rationally think about how they can change the world for the better, and who try not to be swayed by irrational considerations, such as skin color or whether or not someone lives in the same neighborhood.” PeopleThinkingWorldTryingColorHugeSkinsChanging The WorldConsiderationNeighborhoodAdmirationIrrationalSkin Color Author:Paul Bloom
“When I sit here and see that the eight brothers from the neighborhood that I grew up with still have success, it had to be magical.” StillsBrotherGrewGrew UpEightNeighborhood Author:Raekwon
“My older brother was the guitar player in the neighborhood band. My parents were the cool ones that had the basement for rehearsal. Rather than hang with my peers after school, I wanted to just listen to the band. More than that, I wanted to play.” PlayWantedSchoolParentPlayerBrotherBandGuitarNeighborhoodPeersRehearsalJust ListenBasementsGuitar PlayerOlder BrotherAfter School Author:Jill Sobule
“When the riots happened in L.A., they didn't go to Beverly Hills to trash Rodeo Drive. They trashed their own neighborhoods. It's one of those tragedies that we always see in riot situations, where the only thing that they can lash out against is the stuff that's right there in their own communities. They destroy the very things that help them survive in their own community. There is a level of futility in that.” HelpingStuffCommunityLevelsSituationHappenedTragedyHillsNeighborhoodTrashRiotFutilityLashesRodeoBeverly HillsRodeo Drive Author:Samuel L. Jackson
“These events are swirling around them. In the white community, people felt like they had no control over their neighborhoods, their destiny. In the black community, centuries of government and economic forces were pushing on them. I went in with a kind of arrogance, maybe, that came from living in a very intellectual family, and I left knowing that there was a lot about the way people lived that I didn't know about.” PeopleKnowsWayKindGovernmentLeftForceFeltBlackCommunityWhiteDestinyKnowingEconomicCenturyEventsIntellectualArroganceNeighborhoodPushingBlack CommunityPushing On Author:Sara Paretsky
“I have one vivid memory of one of the days that the marches were taking place. We were in a Catholic, predominantly Polish and Lithuanian neighborhood. Chicago is a place where people define themselves by their parish and by their ethnicity.” PeopleMemoriesCatholicNeighborhoodMarchChicagoVividPolishEthnicityParishVivid MemoriesLithuanians Author:Sara Paretsky
“The day of the march, we were forbidden to go to the march site. The man I worked for, the Presbyterian minister, knew we would want to be sort of martyrs for the cause and risk arrest. He didn't want any of that going on. So he made us stay in the neighborhood.” MenWantMadeCausesRiskHe ManMinistersNeighborhoodMarchSiteForbiddenMartyrPresbyterians Author:Sara Paretsky
“I grew up on welfare in the South Bronx; I had a very tough upbringing in that neighborhood. Reading books like The Four Agreements, A Return to Love, and The Power of Now helped me to overcome many internal battles. Had I not worked on myself, put value in myself, I would not have the loving and supportive people that I have right now in my life, including my husband and children” PeopleChildrenBookValuesReadingFourGrewReturnRight NowBattleHusbandGrew UpToughOvercomingSouthIncludingWelfareInternalsNeighborhoodAgreementMy HusbandReading BooksSupportiveUpbringingPower Of NowBronxFour Agreements Author:Andrea Navedo
“Another option, which I think is the thing that makes more sense, is this fact that the police are a reflection of the occupation of certain neighborhoods and certain parts of cities that are designed, basically, to keep the bottom down and basically maintain the status quo, but out of sight, so that the other side - the people in power, the people with money, the people with comfort, the people that are living in the "safer" areas - are sure that they can sleep safely in their bed while bad thing are happening to people and it's not their problem.” PeopleThinkingFactsProblemCertainSidesSleepCitiesComfortBedHappeningsReflectionAreasSightPoliceDown AndBottomNeighborhoodBad ThingsOccupationStatus Quo Author:Oren Moverman
“I lived in a little working-class town that had no black neighborhoods at all - one high school. We all played together. Everybody was either somebody from the South or an immigrant from East Europe or from Mexico. And there was one church, and there were four elementary schools. And we were all, pretty much until the end of the war, very, very poor.” LittlesWarEndsSchoolTogetherBlackChurchPoorClassFourHigh SchoolEuropeTownsSouthEastNeighborhoodImmigrantsMexicoWorking ClassElementary School Author:Toni Morrison
“If you're driving more than 50 mph through a neighborhood where the speed limit is 25 mph, I question whether you should keep your driver's license. You're a menace to society.” IfsShouldLimitsSpeedDrivingNeighborhoodDriversLicenseMenaceSpeed LimitsMph Author:Robert James Thomson
“My wife spent a lot of time on what we do from a civic contribution giving perspective, for a number of years, I've really joined her in that. We're focused on issues in the United States, particularly issues with people who have been trapped in neighborhoods in what I might call intergenerational poverty.” PeopleGivingYearsHas BeensStatesMightUnitedNumbersPovertyUnited StatesIssuesWifePerspectiveMy WifeFocusedContributionNeighborhoodTrappedCivics Author:Steve Ballmer
“We live in a world that has narrowed into a neighborhood before it has broadened into a brotherhood.” WorldNeighborhoodBrotherhood Author:Lyndon B. Johnson
“It's really the story of a young woman, or two women, growing up in Naples in a poor neighborhood. The way that they get out of it - or don't get out of it - that's part of it. But it's also the story of the mid-20th century in Italy so it's really like a social, historical and personal novel. I think that even though I didn't live in Italy in those years, it did cover that same type of generational upbringing that someone like me might've had in America.” ThinkingWayYearsTwoStoriesMightAmericaYoungSocialPoorNovelGrowing UpGrowingCenturyTypeHistoricalLike MeNeighborhoodYoung Women20th CenturyUpbringingNaplesPoor Neighborhoods Author:Ann Goldstein
“People from the Porter Ranch neighborhood of Los Angeles are starting to return home today. A natural gas well leak in the neighborhood has been permanently sealed. It had been releasing methane and other pollutants into the air for four months. Thousands of people have complained of respiratory illnesses and other problems.” PeopleWellsHas BeensProblemHomeTodayNaturalFourAirMonthsReturnStartingIllnessGasNeighborhoodLos AngelesLeaksNatural GasRespiratoryMethane Author:Ari Shapiro
“I live in a neighborhood that's very family-oriented, so I feel like everyone else is sleeping and I'm sitting up, making music. It's just me. It's a nice time to be creative.” FeelsSleepCreativeNiceSittingNeighborhoodBe CreativeSitting UpNice TimeFamily Oriented Author:Nina Nesbitt
“Just the way LA is laid out - 30 miles of disparate neighborhoods - adds to the loneliness of the characters. There's a lot more space to feel isolated in. In Los Angeles, you have to meet the person, then walk out separately to your own cars, and follow the person to their neighborhood, and then pray that street parking isn't going to mess things up.” WayFeelsPersonsCharacterSpaceWalksStreetsCarLonelinessPrayingAddMilesMessNeighborhoodLos AngelesIsolatedParking Author:Paul Rust
“Mexico City is very different now than when I grew up, but I was in the streets all the time - though I was born to a middle-class neighborhood where there weren't a lot of gangs and things. I was always comfortable.” DifferentBornCitiesClassStreetsMiddleGrewComfortableGrew UpMiddle ClassNeighborhoodMexicoGangMexico City Author:Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
“I have like 10 different processes I go to. My favorite one is to just go to an obscure neighborhood I haven't been to in decades and just wander around.” DifferentProcessHavensMy FavoriteDecadesWanderNeighborhoodObscure Author:Robert Sietsema
“The '80s was brand new. It was AIDS. It was gangbanging. It was starting to become big dope-dealing, and crack was starting to flood the neighborhoods. And then you had hip hop, which was something new, other than what we were doing, which was sports, playing football, basketball, baseball. And I was excited.” BigsSportsFootballBasketballBaseballStartingHip HopExcitedAidsBrandsHipsHopsNeighborhoodSomething NewCracksFlood80sDopeBrand NewPlaying Football Author:Ice Cube
“Whatever happened in the neighborhood. That's what I was rapping about. And that sparked people's interest. And that's what kind of put me on that path.” PeopleKindInterestPathHappenedRapNeighborhood Author:Ice Cube
“The way I grew up and the neighborhood I come from, when you know somebody's beating you and you still let it happen, then you're a victim. You're no longer a man when you know something is happening and you don't stand up. So that's just how we raised.” KnowsMenWayStillsHappensGrewGrew UpHappeningsVictimRaisedNeighborhood Author:Ice Cube
“I grew up in a pretty tough neighborhood. I grew up around drugs, alcohol, prostitution, I grew up around everything, and I think part of seeing that from really young has made me really steer very far away from it in all of its forms.” ThinkingMadeFormYoungSeeingGrewDrugGrew UpToughAlcoholNeighborhoodFar AwayProstitutionSteers Author:Alicia Keys
“Virtually all families in the middle of the earnings distribution aspire to send their children to a school of at least average quality. (We'd think ill of any parent whose aspirations were lower.) The rub is that the best schools tend to be located in more expensive neighborhoods.” ThinkingChildrenSchoolParentQualityMiddleAverageIllAspirationExpensiveNeighborhoodAspireEarningDistributionBest School Author:Bob Frank
“I grew up in an apartment my whole life. It was just me, my mom, and my brother - she supported us. And we've always liked driving through rich neighborhoods, especially around Christmas. We would always admire the wealth. I always had this strange feeling with it.” WholeFeelingsWealthRichStrangeBrotherGrewMomGrew UpMy MomWhole LifeDrivingAdmireMy BrotherNeighborhoodApartment Author:George Clarke
“My thing was always trying to do as much as I possibly could do. I wanted to do all the things the other kids did in the neighborhood.” TryingKidsWantedNeighborhoodAlways Trying Author:Stevie Wonder
“My relationship to New York has changed a lot. I feel lucky to live here. A lot of times you walk through the city and don't notice that you're in a really beautiful neighborhood, or that you're passing a beautiful building. It's nice, as an exercise, to keep aware that you're in a really lucky place.” FeelsBeautifulWalksCitiesNiceNew YorkChangedBuildingExerciseLuckyPassingPassingsNeighborhoodReally Beautiful Author:Frankie Cosmos
“It's interesting to talk to Bernie [Sanders] about his life and growing up, you know, growing up in an immigrant neighborhood in Brooklyn. His mother died at a very early age. He was young then. And, you know, I think that experience really shaped him.” ThinkingKnowsAgeYoungMotherInterestingGrowing UpGrowingDiedNeighborhoodImmigrantsBrooklynMother Died Author:Tad Devine
“I studied with Sandy Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse. I was in the last class to study with him before he had his larynx removed, so I actually remember the sound of his voice. He was an incredible teacher.” LastsRememberSoundVoiceClassStudyTeacherIncrediblesNeighborhoodSandy Author:Mary Steenburgen
“What if instead of seeing a neighborhood that reminds you of the place you grew up in, you see your actual neighborhood? The data exists. The technology exists. It's just a matter of sourcing it and processing it in a compelling fashion.” IfsMatterTechnologySeeingFashionGrewGrew UpDataNeighborhoodWhat IfCompellingProcessing Author:Chris Milk
“But what we found in the study is that churches are ten times less diverse than the neighborhoods they sit in. So there's something more going on than just reflecting the neighborhood, yeah.” FoundChurchStudyTenYeahNeighborhoodDiverseReflecting Author:Michael Emerson
“So one of the profound things we found when studying these congregations, the mixed ones, is just how much overlap and interracial ties that develop not only with the people in the congregation, but they start meeting each other's families, and their friends, and they go to each other's neighborhoods if they live in different neighborhoods, and at work they meet people they wouldn't otherwise met, and so it creates a whole new definition of what the group is.” PeopleIfsDifferentWholeFoundStudyGroupsMetsMeetingsProfoundDefinitionsTiesNeighborhoodCongregation Author:Michael Emerson
“And again, this connection that you get: I meet Joe at church. Joe's connected to a whole network of people I don't know. Joe likes me. He invites me over to his son's birthday party, and I meet his whole family. I meet his friends. I get to know his neighborhood. That happens all the time.” PeopleKnowsWholeHappensChurchPartySonConnectionsConnectedLikesNeighborhoodInvitesWhole FamilyBirthday Party Author:Michael Emerson
“I think it's going to open up a wider place for a discussion about we ought to come together in our churches, in our neighborhoods, in our work places, in our clubs and our networks. I think it'll be more acceptable to talk about it. We'll see what happens. It'll take some time. But I think it will.” ThinkingHappensTogetherChurchOughtClubsDiscussionNeighborhoodAcceptableWork Place Author:Michael Emerson
“I'm sort of a cavedweller: I miss my house, my yard, my kitchen, my wife. The trees. When I get home, I like to get down into my office neighborhood as soon as I can.” I CanHomeHouseWifeTreeMissingOfficeMy WifeKitchenNeighborhoodYards Author:John Darnielle
“I'm writing songs about New York. A lot of them carry the names of neighborhoods in Long Island. Maspeth, Montauk. I'm getting into the idea of a F. Scott Fitzgerald-esque Long Island back when New York was...New York.” WritingLongIdeasSongNamesNew YorkIslandsNeighborhoodWriting SongsBack WhenLong IslandScott FitzgeraldMontauk Author:Zach Condon
“The notion that you go to a public institution in order to learn private information about yourself is absurd. We used to understand that when students went to universities, they would become cosmopolitan. They were leaving their neighborhoods.” UsedOrderInformationStudentsInstitutionsNotionLeavingUniversityAbsurdNeighborhoodAbout Yourself Author:Richard Rodriguez
“I came from a white middle class neighborhood. Was I expected to go back there and teach the woman next door about Renaissance sonnets? The embarrassing truth of the matter was that I was being chosen because Yale University had some peculiar idea about what my skin color or ethnicity signified.” IdeasMatterNextWhiteClassTeachDoorsMiddleColorSkinsUniversityExpectedChosenMiddle ClassNeighborhoodPeculiarEmbarrassingSonnetRenaissanceEthnicityYaleSkin ColorYale University Author:Richard Rodriguez
“When I was about five my dad built a stage for me in our basement. A full stage, with a curtain, a backdrop and a dressing room. There were three colored spotlights - a red one, a white one, and a blue one. Blue was for nighttime scenes, and red was for when we were in hell. If the neighborhood kids wanted to use the stage, they had to incorporate me into the play.” IfsPlayUseKidsWantedThreeWhiteRoomsHellFiveStageDadSceneBuiltRedBlueMy DadNeighborhoodCurtainsDressingsSpotlightBasementsNighttimeDressing RoomsBackdrop Author:Paul Reubens
“I walk with Federico Garcia Lorca around the Upper West Side in Manhattan because that was a neighborhood he lived in and I imagine walking around Paris with Cesar Vallejo, a great Peruvian poet who lived in Paris. And I kind of create the walk as a kind of drama of my apprenticeship.” KindSidesWalksImaginePoetWalkingDramaWestParisNeighborhoodManhattanApprenticeshipWest SideLorcaPeruvians Author:Edward Hirsch