Life in the Bronx
Sometimes as an assignment, I ask students to write about their feelings of connection to things in their daily life. Students have written on a variety of things including trees, beaches, parks, computers, television sets, family heirlooms, photographs, high heeled shoes and red lipstick. I have chosen two papers that particularly touched me.

M.J. Viola, editor

SOMETHING I FEEL a connection to in my neighborhood is a small nightclub called Jimmy's Bronx Cafe. It has been there ever since I was a small child - right across the street from my apartment. The reason this place has so much significance is because every Saturday night I would watch hundreds of Hispanic men and women patently wait on line in order to step inside the club. Inside they would dance to the soulful rhythms of salsa and merengue, which for the most part is what I grew up listening to. It is all my father would play in the house. I grew up listening to Tito Puente and Ferndando Villelona. Now I work at Jimmy's Bronx Cafe and I have seen many of the artists I grew up listening to. As you walk into the lobby there are pictures of celebrities and world leaders who have visited. Bill Cosby, Bill Clinton and Fidel Castro are among the important people who have been there. Also, famous sports teams, like the Yankees, like to celebrate wins there. Jimmy's Bronx Cafe will always stand out in my neighborhood.

Gregory Rueda

THERE ARE BENCHES in the back of my building. They are red and blue and create a sad feeling in me. This is the last place where my best friend and I sat together. I know that we will never sit there together again and talk about anything and everything. There was one bench all the way in the back where we would sit away from the kids playing. This place makes me sad because it is where his life was taken. This is why I will only see this place from my living room window.

Kimberly Bellfield