Neighborhood rhythms and the social activities of adolescent mothers

Abstract

Sugar Hill works by a clock. The morning is the safe time, the afternoon is get-ready time … (that's when I find most of my truant kids) … and the night is your-kid-better-be-inside time. I don't think most parents understand how some neighborhoods flow and how they affect what their children do. Neighborhoods have rhythms just like music. Sometimes the rhythms are soft, safe, and mellow, like you hear on the “quiet storm” or the “adult mix” [local radio station programs]. Sometimes the bass is harsh, kicking, and foul like gangsta rap. Just like the beat of music determines what kind of dance you do, neighborhood rhythms sometimes determine the fate of your children … who they get involved with, what they do, and when they do it. —Mr. Alex Howard, twenty-nine-year-old high school counselor I'm ‘bout to get up outta here, go over to Sugar Hill and get up in a lil’ somethin'. You know what time it is! It be 12:00 [p.m.]. Thangs be jumpin' and I gots to be there! Don't wanna miss nothin'. The bulls [men] is out. Gotta get one. —Miss Sherelle Allen, fifteen-year-old mother