When outsiders think of Long Beach, California, they think “hood.” They tend to think a city full of gang members and crime. The beauty of Long Beach is often overlooked because music and movie entertainment highlight the negative aspects of the city. For example, Long Beach native Snoop Dogg often raps about his experience with gang violence, drugs, and sex in Long Beach. In the song “Gangsta Love” Snoop Dogg says, “Straight from Long Beach where we gets more naughtier than Comanche.”
What many people don’t know is Long Beach is California’s second most diverse city, according to the CNBC website, with blacks, whites, Asians, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, homosexuals, heterosexuals, rich and poor all living together cohesively in order
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From the smell of grilled meat from family-owned Mexican restaurants to the nonsensical arguing from homeless people on the streets, Long Beach is eclectic and colorful. It is likely to have million-dollar homes on a golf course and around the corner have a seven-person family living in a three-bedroom home wondering how they will pay their next bill. From the richest people in the city to the poorest people in the city one thing that Long Beach natives have in common is love for their city. “I love Long Beach because you get to know all kinds of people without having to leave the city,” said Robert Magee, a Long Beach State student. “I probably will live here after …show more content…
Home of Scholars and Champions.” The school really does live up to the slogan. It is respected by all of the community. Over generations attending the school has become tradition. Children know that they will attend Poly from a young age and never even question it.
“It’s a tradition to go to Poly. My mother, father, sister, and cousins all went there,” said Kweli Gale, a North Carolina Central University student.
Traffic accumulates every morning as parents drop their children off in front of the school on the busy main road. Horns honk and children are screaming to their friends as the parents come to a stop for about seven seconds because the street prohibits parking. You see children walking from every direction down the road as parents aim to beat traffic and drop them off further.
As you walk into the school there is an open area which is known as the “quad.” The school is set up in the shape of a clock with each building being a different number, for example, 100 building, 200 building, etc.
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It’s sometime during the 2014 school year, Gales’ senior year at