1% polarization factor that it didn’t need.
Part 1
The only feelings I remember as a child walking up to the door of my house were those of dread or desperation. I guess the negative ones stick with you better, but when I was a child, there were times when I dreaded going home because my dad was a bit of a hot head and if I had upset him in any way whether it was in school or saying something he didn’t want to hear I would get yelled at or spanked. Not that I didn’t deserve it most of the time.
That feeling of dread was like I was opening a doorway to a hell dimension where something would leap out and viciously attack me until there’s nothing left to attack. If that door stayed closed, it served as a protective barrier, and I wouldn’t have to deal with whatever was inside.  Sometimes, I would go to friends houses just to avoid opening that door, or put it off for a few more hours at least until dinner time. Perhaps I did this in some vain hope that food would tame that savage beast inside the door.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Those earliest days where mom worked late were the worst. I had to be alone with the beast for entire evenings, and sometimes things were good, but I don’t think I ever developed a relationship with him until we had long since moved out of that house. So, even when things were decent and he was actually winning at gambling for once he and I never had a bond.  I’m so glad we moved away from that wretched place, and kept my dad away from casinos.
Part 2
The once brown, now turquoise door sank behind a row of aphid infested dying rose bushes. The inviting turquoise paint began chipping off almost as soon as it had been applied.  The L shaped walkway leading up to the door was typical blocks of concrete that looked like any other sidewalk. The door was a standard rectangle shape, and the doorway had also been painted turquoise, but the wood rot was obvious even if the paint stuck better to the doorway than it did the door. In the driveway one could see a decayed car from the 70s at the latest with nearly all of its paint chipped away to reveal a dark blue and rust tinted steel dermis.
Describe the landscape of your childhood
The Vegas sun was so hot that it could heat ground to such an intense level that through even the thickest shoes, one could feel a burning sensation. This burning was amplified by the black top which surrounding almost the entirety of play areas at the elementary school. There was a modest field, but mostly black top with grids of four square and basketball courts. The burning sand of the play ground was comparatively cool. Though, the sand created its own problems. I’m guessing the coarse sand was much cheaper than fine sand. So, occasionally the sharp points of the large grains could cause injury.  The fence surrounding the school area was the weakest looking chain link fence I’ve ever seen. A jeweler’s wire cutters would probably be able to cut through the thing wire that made up the fence. The fence was often lined with tiny shards of broken glass that were likely one parts of bottles thrown out of cars as the street that ran by the school was treated more like a raceway.
I remember my parents not letting me walk to school until the school district hired crossing guards at Alta, which was the only non residential street that I would cross on the trip to school. The road had an extremely high speed limit, and drivers were not known to slow down for kids crossing the street.
1.	The summer sun in Vegas often exceeded 120 degrees.
2.	The worst part about the heat was the burning I felt from the scorching blacktop through my sneakers
3.	The fences were lines with tiny pieces of broken glass.
4.	When I attempted to contribute to the urban debris, I got a week of lunch detention.
5.	The walk home was probably just over a mile.
6.	The time it would take for me to walk home varied greatly depending on whether I was walking alone or with someone else whose company I enjoyed.
7.	Like many schools, Jacobson had an abundance of portables in an attempt to accommodate the crowd of the school.
8.	The worst part for me was the ineffective AC during the summer.
9.	It’s possible that no single air conditioning system would have been effective in those building.
10.	However the units they did have were so ineffective that I thought the outside was often cooler than the inside.
11.	The four square courts were very popular.
12.	I preferred 5 square.
13.	The game of 5 square actually consisted of a circle, and inner circle and four surrounding quadrants.
14.	I always found the lack of squares in five square pretty humorous.
15.	The rules were essentially the same as those found in four square.
16.	Something about being in the center circle was much more alluring to me than being in the top square.
17.	Whoever was in the center circle had the most power, and sometimes formed coalitions to solidify that power.
18.	This situation to me served as an early demonstration of how those with power work to screw over those without it.
19.	The basketball courts were nothing special, just lines on the black top with shorter than regulation hoops.
20.	However, I enjoyed a good game or two on them.
21.	The field had a sort of pitcher’s mound and bases like a baseball court.
22.	We always used it for kickball, and I was regarded as one of the strongest kickers in the game.
23.	Perhaps the administrators didn’t let us play baseball or softball for fear of the damage we could cause to ourselves or property with the bats.
24.	That said, if the fields were any close to the fence, I’m sure I could have kicked the ball into the backyard of one of the houses that shared the face with our school.
25.	There was an affordable after school program for parents who worked til 5 or 6.
26.	I was in that program, but I wished I had the freedom to use more of the school facilities than the one playground we have access to.
27.	They served snacks in the program.
28.	One time I lied about being allergic to chocolate to avoid eating one of the most dreadful snacks they offered.
29.	When the administrators asked my dad about it, no one was pleased with my lie.
30.	I still felt like I won since I avoided the worst snack.