Midland and Kennedy

I stopped and talked to a family on Fage St. again today and was told a think or two about social structure and what holds the south side together. It's family, he said. The roots are deep here, and once you start digging, you may have to keep going all the way to China.
He told me that these were people that grew up together and the families that were together, even when they moved around the city they stayed in touch.  More than once, he said, this place is about people that grew up together and stayed here.

So maybe that's the secret, staying put. The man I was talking to said, he'd moved around a lot himself but here he was.

I'm still trying to figure out why some people watch t.v. and others sit outside and just take life as it is.  

After leaving Fage St. I went further down Midland and talked to another man about why people in this part of town seem to be outside more. He said,  "This is my house, I own this place. I feel comfortable here."
"You keeping an eye on things?, I asked."

He denied that he was watching the neighborhood, "No, I'm not watching anything.  This is my place," with a little more emphasis this time.   What he seemed to mean, was this was his patch of earth and he was damned if he wasn't going to use it on a nice day like this, and since he owned it, it wasn't like he was hanging out somewhere just to have a place to hang out. This is HIS place. And, it was a nice day to be out in it, even if you were someone like me and it wasn't my place.