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Located in Southeast San Diego is a small and ignored patch of land known as Shelltown. At one time the region is believed to have been underwater, and the vast abundance of soft sand and seashells were enough to convince early San Diegans to give the area its quirky name. Among San Diego's poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods, Shelltown is effectively isolatetd on three sides by major highways, and choked off at the north end by the enormous expanse of Greenwood Cementary. Drugs and gang violence here, as well as in the immediately surrounding areas, prompt most to give this part of the city a very wide berth. For better of worse, this is where I grew up, and below are some shorter works describing my experiences in the neighborhood. Most of the events I went through personally, while the remainder occured to either friends or acquainances, and while I do not presently claim allegiance to any particular street gang, at one time I felt a strong compulsion to belong somewhere, to be somebody, to have a voice in a society that for the most part refuses to acknowledge that I and others like myself even exist. |
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