7 miles of Southie

South Boston. This is a neighborhood that I really don't visit. I run at Castle Island and Carson Beach which is along the water ofSouth Boston, but I haven't run in the city. I haven't run through the neighborhood,  which is completely different than running along the beach.

South Boston has a colorful negative history from Whitey Bulger , no gay folks in the St. Patrick's day parade to racial tension and busing. It was known to be mostly White, working class Irish. If you did not fit into that category you stayed out of Southie.

I remembered when I moved to Boston 12 years ago and a black man got beat up because he was with his white girlfriend. I was told by many people to stay out of South Boston.

Running in the streets I saw the craziness of the gentrification. The half a million dollar condos topublic housing. You can visually see the stark difference and how the gentrification process is happening.

I could have taken pictures all day. Some of the locals are still holding their ground. I saw many runners, beach yoga participantstopeople walking to work, homeless, and might be down on their luck. Of course it depended on what corner I turned that shaped the narrative of the person I saw.

Bars, Albanian Catholic Church, urban mural along public housing walks, boys and girls club, award winning architecture, to condoms on the street.

Interesting experience to be a black women running; by choice in the streets of southie