#NoDAPL

These folks asked me to take their photo and send a tweet about it, so I did:

Maybe it made a difference.

On the Sidewalk (Hells Kitchen)

Every day, I see more and more people sprawled on the street. A scene like this is typical: life going on while a guy is flat on the ground. Often, the blankets, boxes and bedding around the figure suggest they are homeless. Less often, the person looks as if they've collapsed on the spot--I assume intoxicated with a substance, as appears to be the case with this man whom I saw a couple weeks ago at the corner of 9th Avenue and 43rd Street in Manhattan. What's unusual in this photo is that a police officer is on the scene, although the situation doesn't necessarily call for police intervention. A representative from a social service agency would be ideal.

I suppose in the old days (whenever they were), a stranger might have offered a helping hand. Did such days really exist? Perhaps in a small town people were (and are) willing to lend a hand, when requests for help come infrequently. But in Manhattan, where there are people begging on every other street corner and bodies and blankets squeezed into doorways and along sidewalks across Midtown, stopping to help does not feel like a viable option. The problem is too large for any one good Samaritan, and even stopping to give a quarter or a sandwich isn't a solution (although perhaps it is a solution of the moment, for one person's fleeting need).

Each person I see provokes a series of questions: Who are they? How did they get there? Are they in any way responsible for their current unfortunate situation or are they entirely victims (and why do I feel the need to assign blame anyway)? Aren't there social services that can help them? Why are there so many street people? Why don't they rise up and demand change? Why don't they travel to a friendlier environment where they can sleep on soft ground and not cement? What was their life like 10 years ago? What will it be like 10 years from now?

Mea en Mi (Lower East Side)

Spotted this on a pole at about dog height (from the Spanish verb mear).

Sleeping on the Street (Various Neighborhoods in Manhattan)

Near Union Square.

About a week ago, I felt as if I was constantly seeing people asleep/passed out on the street. I don't know if they were all homeless but I assume the person in the doorway (photo above) nestled among various belongings was. Perhaps the others were too drunk or too tired to go home. I'm not sure what the point of taking their pictures is. I wondered if it was an invasion of privacy. One could argue that if they're going to sleep in public, they've surrendered their privacy, but then if they don't have a space of their own in which to guard their privacy, perhaps the right thing to do is create the illusion of privacy by ignoring them. Except I couldn't ignore them. Seeing them left me feeling upset, fearful, anxious. I decided to snap photos of everyone I saw, but then I skipped a few people... and then I stopped seeing them.

Did they go away? I'm not sure, although I find it hard to believe people stopped sleeping on the street. I'm afraid that after a brief moment of seeing them, I once again simply stopped noticing them.

Near Port Authority on 9th Avenue.

Amsterdam Avenue near 98th Street.

Near Port Authority.

Man on Sidewalk, Facedown (Upper West Side)

I'm seeing more and more of this lately.

Shreddable Society (Hells Kitchen, Manhattan)

A chapter of the AARP held a "Shred Fest" for 3 hours on 43rd Street, and the line went down the block. I'm trying to figure out what this says about society. That the fear of identify theft has reached epidemic proportions? If so, people could shred their credit card and bank statements using personal-sized shredders at home. So are people too lazy to do it? Or too cheap to buy the shredders? Or do they keep jamming, like mine used to do? There's something poignant about seeing so many people sharing the same moment--all equally inundated with boxes and cans and laundry bags of paper, all equally fearful it might fall into the wrong hands.

Student Project, Discarded (off Union Square, Manhattan)

I hope the kid got an A.

Philadelphia, PA

I like the colors.