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Her life exemplified the adage, "We come from the earth, we return to the earth, and in between we garden." I miss her still, although she died six years ago, in her 70s, after living here nearly 50 years. I was almost glad she didn't live to see the night a young man was shot to death right in front of our houses.
她的一生說明了這一格言，"我們來自泥土，我們歸于泥土，在此期間我們在園中耕耘。"現在我依舊思念她，雖然她在六年前去世了，當時七十多歲，在這兒已住了近五十年。令我感到近乎高興的是，她沒有活著看到那天晚上一個年輕人就在我們寓所前被槍殺。
A map of the neighborhood 15 years ago, when my family came, would show community places that are gone now: bank, pharmacy, hardware and small, black-owned corner stores. There are alot of vacancies now, jobs are gone, and people travel to malls to shop. Many families run out of food the last days of the month.
十五年前我家搬到這兒來時的一張地圖會告訴你現已不復存在的一些社區場所：銀行、藥房、五金店以及黑人的街頭小店。現在這兒許多房屋空著，活計沒了，人們得去購物中心買東西。許多家庭一到月底就沒吃的了。
On my map I can plot some of what killed this community's safety: the too-many liquor outlets — nine within four blocks of my house; the drug dealers who came with crack about 1985. Clustered near the drugs and alcohol are the 16 murder sites: the 15 men, the one woman.
我可以在我的地圖上標出一些使我們社區失去安全的因素：太多太多的酒鋪——我家周圍的四個街區里就有九家;約于1985年攜帶強效純可卡因來到這兒的毒販。在這些販毒品賣烈酒的地方附近是十六個謀殺現場：被殺害者中有十五名男子和一名女子。
"I want to get away from all this," I think often. But really getting away would mean selling our home and leaving, and so far, my husband and I have been unwilling to give up, either on our neighbors or on our hopes for helping make things better.
我常想:"我要逃避生活中這種種煩惱。"但真的離開就意味著賣房走人，到目前為止我和丈夫都不愿離開，既不愿放棄鄰居，也不愿放棄幫助改善這兒情況的希望。
But we do get away, to the mountains. We've been walking the John Muir Trail in sections the last few summers. I've never liked the way it feels good to go to the mountains and bad to come home. That's like only enjoying the weekends of your whole life.
但我們有時也真的會離開，到山里去。這幾年夏天我們一個路段一個路段地走遍了約翰·繆爾小路。我從不喜歡到山里去覺得高興、回家來就感到敗興這種思維方式。那樣的話，就像人活一世卻只有周末過得愉快似的。
