OUr Journey through the community
Our journey in the part of Pennsport around Furness was both rewarding and informative. The first thing that we noticed was the dominant presence of the school itself. The school is large (it takes up its own block) and can easily be seen as a dominant aspect of the neighborhood skyline. The streets around the neighborhood, including those around the school, are narrow, with row homes expanding outward. These row homes seemed to be in a good state of repair, and many of the residents we talked to affirmed that people in the area take pride in their neighborhood.
There were a lot of bars and clubs, both marked and unmarked, and small businesses that dotted the neighborhood. We spent a lot of our time in Colburn's Deli, as a lot of students and teachers stop there for breakfast before school or a snack after. We found out that a lot of the bars in the community are part of the Mummers network of clubs, and that weekends in the neighborhood can get rowdy, but that the neighborhood was otherwise quiet.
When we walked out further, we found a lot of local businesses: from a local pharmacy, to a flower shop, to the varied clubs and pubs, to small restaurants, to the Pennsport Mall which is littered with small community shops. However, we also saw signs of the new development, which corroborates with the residents telling us that Pennsport is expanding and the Census Data that shows that the average income in Pennsport exploded upwards 26% between 2000 and 2010.
There is a definite sense of community in the neighborhood. Local residents knew the names of the owner and employees at Colburn's Deli, and even asked how the owner was doing because she was in the hospital. One of the most striking things that we noticed was peoples' willingness to talk to us. Aside from our more structured and annotated interviews, we conducted many informal, conversational chats with people. We were able to walk up to groups of workers, community members on their stoops, and shop owners. When we told them that we were student-teachers in Furness, they were more than willing to talk to us, at length, about their neighborhood and the school.
There were a lot of bars and clubs, both marked and unmarked, and small businesses that dotted the neighborhood. We spent a lot of our time in Colburn's Deli, as a lot of students and teachers stop there for breakfast before school or a snack after. We found out that a lot of the bars in the community are part of the Mummers network of clubs, and that weekends in the neighborhood can get rowdy, but that the neighborhood was otherwise quiet.
When we walked out further, we found a lot of local businesses: from a local pharmacy, to a flower shop, to the varied clubs and pubs, to small restaurants, to the Pennsport Mall which is littered with small community shops. However, we also saw signs of the new development, which corroborates with the residents telling us that Pennsport is expanding and the Census Data that shows that the average income in Pennsport exploded upwards 26% between 2000 and 2010.
There is a definite sense of community in the neighborhood. Local residents knew the names of the owner and employees at Colburn's Deli, and even asked how the owner was doing because she was in the hospital. One of the most striking things that we noticed was peoples' willingness to talk to us. Aside from our more structured and annotated interviews, we conducted many informal, conversational chats with people. We were able to walk up to groups of workers, community members on their stoops, and shop owners. When we told them that we were student-teachers in Furness, they were more than willing to talk to us, at length, about their neighborhood and the school.