My neighborhood is historical, diverse, fun and very large. I have lived here in Shirley since July of 1987, I would turn 4 on September 23 of that year, about 14 years ago. My neighborhood is composed of the towns of Shirley, Mastic and Mastic Beach. These communities are located on a peninsula on the south shore of Long Island, New York. I am about 50- 60 miles from New York City; about an 1-1-½ hours drive depending on the traffic.
             When my parents made up the decision to move out here, my mom was going crazy. Shirley is considered the boon docks, the middle of nowhere to people who live more out west and she couldn't take it I vividly remember taking the drive out to Shirley with my parents, my 2 year old sister and my grandma to check out the house and the town before we decided on buying it. After a long drive heading out east on the Long Island expressway, you get off at exit 68(William Floyd parkway) and head south. You will reach Sunrise highway and Montauk highway shortly; they both run parallel to the LIE. At the "main" intersection of Montauk and William Floyd, there was a Roy Rogers, a run down shopping center, a broke down movie theater and a really big sump. That was enough to make my mom cry, but my dad wanted to get away from the mumbo jumbo of big city suburbia and find more peace and quiet; he found it all right. Some outsiders consider my town, Shirley, Mastic and Mastic Beach pretty bad. Everyone has their own opinions and ideas.
             As with any town, it has its good and bad parts. Back in the 70s and 80s when development really took full swing there was a lot of "welfare" dumping. This area was chock full of undeveloped cheap land, so people built small houses on them. Back in the really early 1900s, this whole area used to be a vacation/resort town. It was all summer homes, but as more and more people moved in, these houses became year round residences. These house were...