Abstract Grandmother and retired childhood care provider, Darene “Dee” Johnson, discusses her childhood growing up in Washington D.C. on 11th Street, NE. She recalls playing games in Lincoln Park with her cousins and siblings and enjoyed the beauty of the fruit trees and gardens in her neighborhood. However, during this period in his childhood, Ms. Dee explains the tension in her family, and her mother’s untreated mental and physical illnesses. Moving to Southeast D.C., Ms. Dee immediately...