Walking Distance
When my son was born I spent many hours walking him randomly around Providence's West End neighborhood streets simply trying to put him to sleep. This distracted mindset allowed me to see new pictures in these neighborhoods that I had been un-inspiredly living in for the better part of twenty years. Here there is urban history and lives being lived . It is remarkable to realize I had not been seeing this in front of my face all along. Within several city blocks we have a Dominican barber shop, an Italian social club, a Liberian church, several hipster bars and restaurants, a South East Asian market and the people living in-between, next to and on top of all these establishments. This is one of many true American neighborhoods, but one who's actual diversity is becoming increasingly rare. Here the many live next door to one another. The recent foreign immigrants, those who's families have lived here for generations and those more recent arrivals from the suburbs or more expensive larger cities. These groups may not often mix socially, but the have also not self separated leaving one ethnicity or strict social class dominant. This is the neighborhood I wanted to show my son he was born into.
