When I first visited Dorchester, back in summer of 2001, I didn’t know what to make of it. I was en route from New York and stopped over for two days only. In that time Dorchester had not revealed it’s personality to me.

Jump to December 2002…..on a extended two week visit in Fields Corner I left with a formed opinion, it was dirty, there was chaotic Asian chatter, abruptness, trash and no apparent order.

Fast forward 2007 and I moved from one part of the Dot to another. [Yeah, yeah yeah…more trash to take out] If I didn’t know better I’d say that things are better in my new parts…..but I won’t….cause they aren’t. As with every other distinction between places…first world and third world, urban and rural, uptown and downtown, the difference has to do with one’s appreciation, former experiences , the quixotic notions sold to us by the media, inherited prejudices, or disparity in services rendered by the powers that be.

I miss my old ‘hood……Korean cleaners, African Braider, Italian cooks and Spanish grocers trading for the “American Dream” against the backdrop of sirens, syringes, potholes and trash. It was where the bustle to make a dollar was more important than trimming lawns and welcoming neighbors. It was my lesson in anthropology, institutional racism, American public policy, health and as close as I will ever get to home…….How different things are along the same Red Line. Tammyanka