The Love We Make is a blogger, who writes about life, raising children, health, spirituality, eating, sexuality, money, politics and more. Today she was moved to write about Kyung-Sook Woo, the Windsor Terrace woman who was, murdered in her dry cleaning store.

In reference to the murder at the cleaners on 10th Ave. and these discussions about Brooklyn, I will add my two cents…

For today, I feel shitty about where I live. An innocent woman was murdered one block away from my house.

I don’t understand why people feel the need to generalize about Brooklyn or the people that live here. Brooklyn is one of the largest cities in the world- it is not ONE thing; it is many things to many people at different times in their lives. It can be beautiful and vibrant or it can be a hell on earth, it has as many moods as it has people in it.

I moved to Brooklyn from Manhattan, I had never even stepped foot in Brooklyn until I met my then husband’s family in 1990. I didn’t have too many preconceived ideas about it. We moved here after we had our son, mostly for economic reasons, like so many others.

There are things I love about Brooklyn: I love the architecture; I love Prospect Park- I walk it almost everyday; I love what’s left of the real ethnic neighborhoods that I’ve been to; I love seeing familiar faces; I love walking around it; I love trying interesting new restaurants and shops; I love the diversity of people, if they are open hearted, considerate and friendly- I love them. I love some of the parents, shop owners, writers, artists, and teachers… I am lucky enough to know.

There are things I hate about Brooklyn: I hate angry bus drivers and reckless drivers; I hate waiting for buses that never come; I hate waiting for the subway with my 6 year old daughter while 3 feet away rowdy teenagers are screaming obscenities and horsing around trying to throw each other on the tracks; I hate that kids steal iPods and other valuables from younger more vulnerable kids; I hate the fact that my beloved partner got mugged right in front of our house and no one did a thing to help him – as I was screaming my lungs out – he was beaten so badly I thought I almost lost him; I hate that the trauma center of that Brooklyn hospital was understaffed and filthy.

I hate the fact that one block from my home, a place I pass by everyday, across from my son’s bus stop – an innocent women was just murdered; I hate feeling too scared to let my son walk home alone from the bus stop; I hate the fact that our neighbors didn’t want to tell us our septic tank was overflowing in the back of our house because they “didn’t want to get involved”; I hate feeling scared.

I understand that no place is perfect and that where ever you live you will always deal with all kinds of people no matter what their ethnicity, religion or economic background- closed minded, angry people come in all shapes and colors, as do open minded, loving, accepting people. I believe Brooklyn has them all.