I didn't know what to call this post

...everything I started to typed seemed a bit cheesy. I'm having one of my moments where when thinking about the North End my heart starts to swell and I feel a sense of pride that I've never felt towards anything else. I guess what got me started thinking about it was the anniversary of the still unsolved triple shooting from a year ago. Yeah, I know, not usually a topic that would spur on warm fuzzy feelings. In the story linked above, I'm told that one of my neighbours is still too frightened to open the door and that children no longer play outside. Really? Because I live probably no more than 200m from where the Boyd shooting took place and all of my neighbours still open their doors and just the other day one family had a large celebration and the children happily played outside.

MY North End has hundreds of volunteers that make sure picnics and street festivals happen and that walk the streets keeping an eye on things
MY North End has more than a dozen agencies that do the best they can with the resources they have to help people receive an education, feed and house themselves and find jobs - a hand up not just hand outs
MY North End has hands down the best secondhand store in the city - the MCC on Selkirk Ave, some of the best coffee in the city at Black Pearl, and more meat shops than you can shake a Kulbasa at
MY North End greets me with one of the best views in the city every time I cross the Slaw Rebchuk - sunset behind the Arlington Bridge could be on a postcard
MY North End has industrious, hardworking citizens from all races and backgrounds
MY North End still has the most affordable housing in the city which has allowed many people to get their start on the property ladder, not all of those people leave as soon as they get the chance
MY North End has church dinners, bake and craft sales just like your neighbourhood does
MY North End has shops within walking distance and it's possible to live without a car - bus routes aplenty
MY North End has history on literally almost every corner

Yes, MY North End also has some criminals and there a more theories than there are perogies at an all you can eat fundraiser as to how to solve those problems. I am one person, and I've decided that they way I will help the North End is to love it. Love it unconditionally and when it stumbles, love it more. If the rest of Winnipeg, and the negative Nellie's in the North End itself would stop kicking and whipping it, eventually it might just stop attacking back. Negativity breeds negativity. Come visit and let me show you MY North End, it's a beautiful place.