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Scarlett Lawson
L27740696
Cultural Observation Paper
Yout-201
Professor Richard Brown
Liberty University
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Beverley Hills Skate-Park Observation
My Husband and I arrived at the skate-park around noon, soon after dropping our own children
off at their grandparents, so we could have a few hours of un-interrupted people watching. I had asked my
husband to come with me for a sense of security, since the last time we were here there was quite a lot of
questionable behavior. Today when we first arrived it was pretty quiet, I assumed many kids were either
eating lunch or possibly still in bed, being it was the weekend. We both decided a Saturday would be our
best bet to see youth out and about since there was no school for 2 days. There were about a dozen
different kids walking around, 2 girls around 15 were walking past the skating area both stuck inside their
cell phones and chatting back and forth. They were both in reveling clothing, one was in a pair of baggy
blue jeans that were frayed and a very small white cropped tank top and the other was in a cropped black
hoodie and a pair of cut off jean shorts. Which made me feel sad and angry because of being a young
adult myself with a knowledge of todays fashion industry and what is being marketed to young girls, they
don’t really have a lot to choose from when it comes to shopping for clothes but also being a mother to an
almost 9 year old daughter, I had a protective instinct to want to take them home to change. There were
also 3 older boys that were either very close to being adults or were already very young adults that were
already skating. They seemed to be off in their own world and unaware to the younger kids around them.
Two were in baggy pants and graphic T-shirts, but the one who wasn’t skating as much as the others was
in a pair of very fitted skinny jeans and a tank-top, which reminded my husband and I both of how a lot of
the skaters would dress when we were in High-school close to a decade ago, especially our Sophomore
and Junior year. About 10 minutes later 2 older guys met up with the tank top guy and his friends, and
about half of them lit up cigarettes. It stayed pretty quiet for about 45 minutes with the occasional couple
or group of pre-teens and younger teens that would either walk by or run by goofing around with their
friends, going to another area of the park. Then about 1:45ish it started to get busier, within a half an hour
there had to have been 20 more teenagers show up. Some I assumed were leaving a game because they
were in uniforms and there are multiple sports fields located within the park. A majority of the youth
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seemed to be around 14-15 and the others were a mix of pre-teens and older teens. The older kids kept
walking to another area and the others went either to the grassy picnic area on the side of the skate-park
or to what appeared to be a shuffle-board court. Another half hour passed and more kids begin to show
up. There was a group of boys that looked to be 15-16 years old who stood out to me. They were walking
through the parking lot where my hubby and I were and the boy who seemed to be the main guy in the
group seemed to be upset and all of them were using very vulgar language. They continued passed my
husband and I to where a group of 4 kids (3 girls and a boy) around the same age were sitting. The main
guy who seemed upset confronted 2 of the girls and there was a screaming match between the 2 girls and
boy. From what I could make out, aside from many curse words the one boy was looking for one of the
other girl’s friends and the girls repeatedly told him she was not at the park. Finally, the 2 calmest of the
boy’s entourage grabbed him by his shoulder and calmly convinced him to walk away. Then it quieted
down for about 20 minutes and I turned my attention to 2 children that were with their dad and he was
attempting to help them to learn how to skateboard. The oldest was a boy no older than 10 or 11 and the
other who I assumed to be his little sister who was around 8, since she was very close to my daughter’s
age. The girl caught on and had the hang of pushing and riding around while her brother struggled with
his balancing on the board and was visibly frustrated. We then heard a bunch of screaming coming from
the picnic area and it was the same group of boys from before arguing with the same group from before
except there was another girl who looked to be about 14-15 and another boy who looked much older that
were now with them. The new girl was very upset, crying and yelling at the boy from before while the
older boy who was with them put his arm around her and tried to pull her away while telling the other guy
to leave her alone. That seemed to escalate things cause the boy who instigated it all went and pushed the
older boy in his chest and the older boy then proceeded to yell at the other one to “get the *explicit* word
away from them” and told him he didn’t want to this. Thankfully before we had to intervene, two men in
a golf cart, who worked for the park told the two groups they needed to leave or call their rides. So the 1st
group of boys started to walk off while the main guy yelled many explicit names at the older one. The
other group went their separate ways all except the older boy and girl who were the main ones in the
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confrontation, they stayed talking with the 2 park workers. Then about 10 minutes later as my husband I
decided it was time to leave the girls grandmother showed up and began talking to the 2 workers. Before
we got into our car the 2 workers asked if we saw what occurred so we walked over to where they were
standing and told them what we had witnessed. We then found out from the grandmother that the girl who
was 15 years old, had been having trouble with the other boy who was 16 since the beginning of the
school year. She had dated him from last fall and they broke up towards the end of the summer cause the
boy kept getting to controlling. Well, the boy didn’t like that too much and began to follow her around
school, call and text her constantly. It had gotten to the point where he was interrupting her classes and
waiting for her outside of every class and the school resource officer had to get involved. The older boy,
who was 17, was her new boyfriend she had been dating since Halloween. The ex-boyfriend did not like
this so he began to bother her outside of school. The grandma then told her granddaughter it was time to
get the police involved, since it became an even more serious matter. They were the last ones we decided
to observe. This whole experience has made me worried for not only my own children for when they get
older but for my niece. The kind of behaviors and the way the girls are dressing are only getting much
worse as the years go on. Which means more and more kids are falling away from Christ and have very
little morals and values, if any at all.
