There are 11 Boys and Girls Clubs in Long Beach. All of them are north of Anaheim Street.
I live on Third Street, about 10 blocks south of Anaheim. Third Street is where the guy pretended to murder my neighbor and her pit bull. Third where the senior described how his friend shot someone in the face. That’s Third, and that’s South Long Beach. Generally, the more north you go in Long Beach, the more ghetto it gets. Anaheim Street a boundary marker, like Telegraph in Oakland. I’ve heard locals refer to the street as Anacrime. If you drive on up Long Beach Blvd past Anaheim, you’ll see why. Keep going and you’ll end up in North Long Beach, parts of which look like a separate city. Make your way even further past city limits and you’ll arrive in Compton.
When I signed up with the Boys and Girls club, the head administrator assigned me to its southernmost center. Southernmost, but still north of Anaheim. The administrator told me there was a lot of gang activity at the particular location, specifically because it’s near Anaheim. My roommates confirmed that the area was kind of rough.
So, I was a little apprehensive when I pulled into the parking lot of the center last Tuesday. But I was also feeling shy. Actually I always feel shy these days. It’s horrible. But also I was afraid that the kids wouldn’t connect with me, or they would treat me like an outsider.
But really there was nothing to worry about. I found that out. I quickly learned my first task: help the kids draw a picture, and create a small human figure with wire. Both of these were to be used in a stop motion video.
I sat up a large table and put the art supplies on top. Most of the kids ran up to me. “What are you doing? Can I draw?”
“Yeah, go ahead. Grab a piece of paper and some crayons. Have a seat.”
“Can I draw a beach?”
“You can draw whatever you want.”
I was an expert at saying that.
“Can I make my wire person have a tail?”
“Yep. You can add as many tails as you want.”
To the kids I was a kind-hearted expert. Actually I was just a guy willing to spend a few hours with them on a Tuesday.
Some of the kids cracked me up. One was a mini comedian, performing a monologue that demonstrated his automotive expertise. Another boy was a little romeo, helping a girl with her drawing. That same girl would grab whatever figure I made and tell me, “I made this!” Then she’d start giggling as if she had told me a hilarious joke.
A few hours later I saw mothers pick up their kids. They were happy that their child had been doing something safe and constructive, rather than for example, shooting each other in the head. And the mothers were even happier knowing that their kid would probably not grow up to stand around talking about shooting people in the head either.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Tracy // Jul 14, 2009 at 5:18 am
whoa you’re teaching at a boys’ and girls’ club?! thats so cool. the consulting firm i’m working at right now is actually creating a nonprofit pretty similar to boys’ and girls’ club.
2 thebaglady // Jul 27, 2009 at 5:36 pm
You should take some pictures of their pictures and post them here for the lols
3 Bowman // Jul 27, 2009 at 6:28 pm
Tracy – Glad you’re into it.
thebaglady – That would be mean spirited and I’m a nice guy.
4 mary ann // Oct 18, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I love that u give a glimpse inside of some kids lives but I have lived in LB all my life and if you go north into Bixby Knolls and CA Heights these areas are not gang infested or run down areas and they are north of Anaheim. I agree Anaheim needs to be cleaned up but that is only one small section of the city that has crime. If you go down Anaheim further you run into University park estates and this is not an ares with high crime houses in all these areas range from the high 800,000 to 4 million dollars and the same is if you go south of anaheim into Belmont shores and Bixby hills so LB does not have all bad areas with shootings in the face sort of crime.
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