For those who take the time to look, a neighborhood known for violence brims with character
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Tyrone and Kiara Blue, Ronan Park
In a neighborhood known for gunfire, it’s easy to overlook beauty.
Vaughan Avenue
But beauty is here in the streets of Bowdoin-Geneva –
Peter Barnes (right), Geneva Avenue
in the languorous summer light, filtered through wind-rippled leaves,
Hamilton Street
in the tropical pop of tank tops and flip-flops on street corners,
Vibertt Bennett, Norton Street
Draper Street
in the sound of a guitar drifting through an open window.
Jorges Soarez, Linden Street
Few outsiders come to walk these streets and discover the richness of the place and its people.
Bowdoin Street and Geneva Avenue
On a hot day, Bowdoin-Geneva hums with vibrancy.
Manuel Barbosa and Faustino Mendes, Bowdoin Street
Children shout, chasing the distant jangle of an ice cream truck.
Kaluwa Kieta, Ronan Park
Towering sunflowers cast sharp shadows on bright stucco walls.
Near Geneva Avenue
Darryl Monroe, Bowdoin Avenue
Mt. Everett Street
A couple ambles down a quiet street at dusk, her arm wrapped around his elbow.
Valter Barbosa and Santa Mendes, Bowdoin Street
There are hidden places tucked away in these streets:
Bowdoin Avenue
cool, quiet spaces for praying and squares of sunlit earth for growing things.
Draper Street
Zulieca Barros and Vandir (on bike), Draper Street
There are places of sorrow – candlelit sidewalk memorials – and spots for simple, luminous joy: a hilltop swing with a view that stretches forever;
Draper Street
a front porch noisy with the voices of family and friends.
Jimmy Simmons, Patricia Robinson, Rochelle Lewis, Jimmy Robinson, and Alliha Gillen, Geneva Avenue
View from Bowdoin Street
Geneva Avenue
The people here despise the violence,
Antero Rocha Goncalves, Hamilton Street
First Parish Church of Dorchester
but say they are not defined by it.
Clarkson Street
Walking these streets,
Willie, Draper Street
seeing the layers and colors of life here,
Homes Avenue
you know what they mean.
Grace Rodriguez, Draper Street
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Alvin Chang/Globe Staff