So I grew-up in Tampa...in a neighborhood called Clair-Mel. I haven't done any research or made any studies, but it seemed the neighborhood was split in 3rds - 1/3 of us were Hispanic...another 1/3 was caucasian (white, European American...whatever the PC term is...)...and the other 1/3 was African American...
There was some tension...enough tension...some streets I avoided at all costs! There was a lots of fights...and those fights just perpetuated more fights. Despite the fights, it was an awesome place to be in the '80's...I remember hearing the sounds of my step-father and company mixing up the domino tiles in between games...man, those things were so loud!
Football was the craze...Michael Jordan hadn't made his imprint...but it was coming...Walter Payton was the sports hero...and we played football every minute we got...we even formed street teams and made a whole league...of course Hartley Rd. Hawks was the best...and I was the only little person that got any playing time...I was super fast!
Music...my older brothers were into hip-hop...and I mean by this - Run-DMC, LL Cool J (way before he went commercial), Beastie Boys, Afrika Bambaataa, Soul Sonic Force, etc...
My brothers even taught be how to breakdance...headspins...the whole 9...my mother must of been freaking out....regardless, I was in contests with them...it was awesome...I loved entertaining a crowd.
By the time I was in 5th grade, my older brothers were out of the house...and school was really hard b/c everyone wanted to fight...so I asked to go to private school like my cousins...they seemed to never have any problems. And as I started 6th grade, we also moved across the way...a totally different way. Talk about culture shock!
My house in Clair-Mel...we lived here from 1980-81 to 1988...this picture was taken in 2007.
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