Personal Narrative: My LA

Alyssa Renard, 18
Los Angeles

Late at night, I crawl into my bed and turn on the TV. There is a documentary on the people who live on the streets of downtown Los Angeles. As I watch this program, I remember a trip I took with my Girl Scout troop. We were going to go downtown and give people on the streets and shelters scarves that we had made for them. While we were in the car driving, I remember being a little scared of how the homeless would react towards would react towards my troop and I.
Getting out of the car, it smelled different than where I live in the San Fernando Valley: dirty, unclean, B.O., odor, and other things that made my nose twitch. Walking into the shelter smelled a little bit better, but not as much. The people were very grateful, and showed us respect and gratitude. Even the people on the streets who had nothing, were very nice and accepting people. Walking around I realized how lucky I was to have the things that I’ve been given. After this experience, we went ice skating in an open rink downtown. I felt so free skating around right in the center of downtown Los Angeles. Here I was freely skating in a nice area, but just 10 minutes away was the shelter I had just visited. LA is home to many diverse groups of people, being very accepting and open to anyone who walks on its streets.