I've known almost everyone in my neighborhood for all my life. My mother grew up here, too. She moved to our house on Greene Avenue, between Bedford and Franklin, when she was three. I think some areas around mine are more dangerous, but my block is quiet.

In the summertime, you'll find beautiful trees in full bloom, neighbors gardening in their backyards, children playing merrily and older teenagers riding their bikes while younger kids try to keep up behind. Close by are all kinds of restaurants and parks, a bowling alley and mall. The mall is one of the best paces to go if I'm feeling bored.

It's nice that so many teenagers my age live in my neighborhood. One of my best friends, Jessica Ponder, lives close by. Jessica, Ameera Allysa, Myeedah, Aliyah, Latifah and I love to go to the movies and shopping whenever we get a chance. Growing up we played hopscotch and double Dutch, and rode our bikes in our neighborhood all hours of the day without a care in the world.

My family's closest friends are our next door neighbors Rebecca, Gary, Allysa, and Taylor. We've known them for about 11 years and we go to family picnics together and come together on every holiday. They call us their extended family. The children of both families have joined our backyards so we can have a huge tent. In the summertime, we sleep back there. My mother and my neighbor, Lavern, would buy us a lot of junk food to last us the night. But to enter the tent, you must be a V.I.P. (Just kidding.)

In the tent we have a fan, VCR, TV, stereo and a Nintendo 64. One time we were up until about 4:00 in the morning, singing songs like "Jumpin Jumpin" by Destiny's Child, and "Genie in a Bottle" by Christina Aguilera. All of a sudden I could hear my Aunt Rebecca saying, "Turn that down I have work in the morning!" We looked up to see her head popped out the window, and all together said, "Sorry, Aunt Becky." But as soon as she put her head back in, we turned the stereo back up to full blast. And she popped her head back out the window and said, "I'm not playin', girls, I'll make y'all come in the house." We all just busted out laughing while apologizing once again.

Many African-Americans own homes in Bed-Stuy, and four years ago, some parents started a block association so people can come together and organize things like block parties. The parents felt we had nothing for kids to do in the summertime, so they began to have meetings twice a week. At the block parties, we always have double Dutch and dance contests where we compete for trophies. The younger kids play games like relay races and potato sack races.

We also have a lot of safe places to go, like the YMCA, the Brooklyn Public Library and the public parks, where you can play cards, jump rope and, in the summer, run through the sprinklers.

Some people call it ghetto, some people call it dangerous, but I call it my Bed-Stuy.