Hometown narrative

For this assignment we were asked to write a paper on where we came from ad grew up.

 Kortney McClure 

Mrs. Nall

Composition review

13 September 2022

Where I am From

I was born in a small town in Louisianna about 30 minutes from Shreveport. Probably not even that far if you are a member of the community. This town goes by the name of Minden. There isn’t much to tell you about Minden because Minden is a dangerous place to live. Kind of like little rock, but worse. However, that is not where I grew up. I grew up in Benton Arkansas, and that is where I call home. 

Let me begin by telling you more about Benton Arkansas. I moved here when I was incredibly young. I was so young I do not even remember living in Minden. Benton is a small community where everybody knows everybody. Even if you come across somebody you do not know, they will know somebody you do know. We are the home of the Benton Panthers, where we are rivals with the Bryant hornets. We all sort of take that very seriously. We even host a game every year so big that we must play on the college field in Little Rock 20 minutes away. That game is the highlight of our year, but here in Benton if you grew up in Benton you grew up in Bryant too. I mean we have a road called Alcoa where one side of it is considered Benton, but the other one Bryant. There isn’t much for children or teenagers to do here. We used to have a bowling alley, and skating rink. They both went out of business. The only thing is really the Park, and well after you have been there enough and grow old enough it becomes boring. For the teenagers, they pretty much find anywhere to hang out, but often get kicked out of those places. Some of these places are Walmart parking lot, Acadamy parking lot, and lot of gravel we called the gravel pits growing up. The gravel close to sunset lake where the mosquitoes will eat you alive, but we didn’t care about growing up.  People don’t want a lot of loud, messy teenagers hanging out where they are trying to shop or fish. It's almost always quiet and peaceful here. Every now, and then you will have something happen. When something does happen the news spreads very quickly. As good as that sounds Benton isn't all good. Especially not lately. Benton is also full of addicts, and stoners. It is normal for us to see a drug addict talking to himself driving down the road, which is sad. Recently, we had an inmate escape jail. We thought our jail was secure, but then again, we aren't used to having dangerous murderers in our jail who are determined to get out. Most of the time you see failure to appear, DWI’s, and drug charges when you look on the roster.  For a good job opportunity, you must be willing to travel. You can find a lot in Little Rock though. Little rock is technically a 20–30-minute drive, but if you are from here, it will likely take 15 depending on if you know short cuts or where in Little Rock you are going. Speaking of Little Rock, that’s where we go to do most of our clothes shopping. In Benton you have plenty of boutiques, but if you want a mall Little Rock is the place to go. Although, I don’t know if it will still be that way in the next 10 years. We are growing rapidly. Some people are excited about it, and others well they are going to miss their peaceful town. There isn't much more to say about Benton. I felt like Benton was a dead-end road for a while, so I decided to move to Dallas when I was 18, but eventually the roads brought me back to my peaceful little town. 

Growing up in Benton has been peaceful, but sometimes I think to myself how interesting it would be to have stayed in Louisiana. Would there be more to do? Would there be more to talk about? I also crave more adventure, and love to travel. That may be because growing up I didn’t have much to do. However, Benton is still my home. Benton is what made me. I grew up here, and it will always be the place that I call home even if I decide to find a bigger city with more to do.