The New Mission

In the Mission,

People have painted huge murals

They express culture from the neighborhood.

I see that the Mission is a neighborhood full of parks

And there are always kids playing in the playgrounds.

There are a lot of new and boring buildings

They are bigger and more expensive than before.

In the Mission,

I hear a lot of music everywhere

And people outside walking and driving.

I hear a lot of people talking in Spanish,

and also a lot of English.

People have been moving out

And there are new people living here now.

In the Mission,

I smell restaurants and food

like soup, because my mom

always makes it.

I see kids from my school walking to school.

This summer, there weren’t many people

letting off fireworks.

In the Mission,

I have lived in this neighborhood since I was born.

I made new friends when I played at the park.

I have lived here for a long time and

I know about the culture here.

I hope that the new buildings will look like the older ones

and no houses get replaced.

826 Valencia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students from under-resourced communities in San Francisco with their writing skills.