Spring Has Sprung In The Hood

Oh the signs of spring arriving in the hood are every where. One doesn’t have to look far or listen long to see it is true. Why in just one week we’ve seen used needles, condoms & a ripped up Bible appearing from under the winter snow as it melts away. There is fresh new gang graffiti spray painted on the garage door directly behind our house that we can’t miss when we’re gazing out our windows. Why just the other day at 2 am in the wee hours of the morning I was awaken by a group of young people in our alley loudly conveying their sentiments to the neighborhood as they proceeded to kick in three boards on our neighbor's fence. And just today arriving home from work we noticed that directly in front of our house where we park on the street it sparkles in the sunlight thanks to the freshly broken glass of the Smirnoff variety. Yes….and…..oh a sure sign that spring is here is the orchestra of whistles you can hear from about 10:00 pm to 5:30 am of people communicating and announcing their location to one another on the streets. The dogs are barking more often now through out the night and early morning hours. They are warning us that activity has started once again because spring has sprung in the hood and there is no way a person (or dog) can miss it here. Yes indeed, the signs of spring are all around us once again.