Daisha Andrews

10/20/15
English 101
A Surroundings Impact
There is a famous saying that Its not how we start, its how we finish. There is a book
The Other Wes Moore about two men with the same name but with different fates. Both Wes
Moores beginning childhood was similar because they both grew up around drug affiliated
environments and negative influences of people that werent very optimistic. Both Wes Moores
were introduced to the same current negativity in their community while living in different areas.
The Other Wes Moore is a biography and autobiography that describe how two men
(one being the author) with the same name living completely different lives from similar
upbringings. Author Wes Moore and Other Wes Moore were born in Baltimore, MD. Author Wes
Moore was only three years old when he and his family moved to the Bronx with their
grandparents in New York after his fathers unexpected death. The 1980s of Bronx, New York
was known for rundown abandoned buildings, low income residents and there heavy drug
influence in the city. Author Wes Moore describe a recollection of his grandparents talking to his
mother about the environment of Brooklyn, New York: I heard my grandparents talk about
how drugs and violence had slowly crept in. Fear and apathy had become the new norm in what
had once been a close-knit community (Moore, 40). As, Author Wes Moore was getting older
and growing up in the Bronx he began to hang out with people who werent thinking about their
future. Wes Moore had a friend named Shea (a drug runner in his community). One day, Shea
suggested to Wes about tagging a building and minutes later the boys were arrested. After, Wes
was arrested he made a decision to separate himself from Shea. Now, Author Wes Moore and

Other Wes Moore had similarities because Other Wes Moore spent his early years growing up in
Cherry Hill Apartments. Other Wes Moore describes his environment of Cherry Hill as: a
breeding ground for poverty, drugs and despair. They were poor constructed homes that line the
streets like dormitories and swing sets at the complex that were always vacant because of the
drug activity that was surrounding the swings. People knew that if you werent from Cherry Hill,
you dont go to Cherry Hill (Moore, 29). Other Wes Moore was a kid growing up in a poor
neighborhood watching his drug dealer brother with money and new things. It was just a matter
of time until Other Wes Moore entered the drug world. He described how he was a part of a team
in Dundee Village where he used to live before moving in the county with his mother. Wes
moved to his aunts house after serving six months in a juvenile detention center for attempted
murder. The move to the county didnt stop him from going back to his previous city
community of Dundee Village to get drugs and sell them. Other Wes Moore returned to the same
terrible community his mother tried to escape him from just to sell drugs again.
Children are very observing of their surroundings and influenced by the people living in
their environments. Psychologist Gary Barnard has an article on Washington post titled Make
your life matter. Barnard said Ones environment influences the development of self and as we
mature into an integrated self we tend to have stronger and more purposeful influence on our
environment. Other Wes Moore development of self was his observation of guys selling drugs
in his community and satisfying their wants for the latest materialistic things. Other Wes Moore
growing up as an adolescent was an influence on the environment and it wasnt a positive
influence. Other Wes Moore negatively influenced the environment of Dundee Village because
he was in a crew that had children living in the community working as drug runners and didnt

take a stance to stop this corrupted influence of Instead, Other Wes Moore was leaving the
county he lived in just to go to the city and continue to sell drugs.
Neighborhood effects are vital to many problems that children will face in life growing
up. When, a child is born they observe and follow everything they see; their environment can
play a role on their growing stages in life. Also, children are only experienced to the environment
their parents economic status can meet. There are various effects that psychologist Tama
Leventhal and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn addressed in the book The Neighborhoods They Live in:
The Effects of Neighborhood Residence on Child and Adolescent Outcomes that: Three studies
based on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics have found that neighborhood affluence
associated with youths chances of completing high school, attending college and years of
schooling completed (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 9). Education was the most important
because a childs surrounding is from their parents economics and education. If a child grows in
a poverty area theyre accepted able to the bad affects that come with the neighborhood (drugs,
violence and people with elementary school education) and find the life as the new norm; unless
they make the decision to change their life.
Author Wes Moore and Other Wes Moore experienced similarities in their environments
with drugs and small minded people. Other Wes Moore was more relative to the negativity of his
environment because of the heavy flow of drugs in his environment. In The Neighborhoods
They Live in: The Effects of Neighborhood Residence on Child and Adolescent Outcomes
education was important in the article and education is a part of a childs effect depending on the
good or bad influence of their neighborhood. Also, economics status is vital to an individuals
education which with their education can determine place of residence.