Looked at this book today and was struck by the artist’s statement that Seattle was chosen as America’s most livable city. Maybe in 1983…
I wish the people who talk about the Seattle they remember, when there was no street crime or homelessness or anything but blue skies and gentle rains (with plenty of parking) remembered this:
In 1983 Mary Ellen Mark began photographing a group of fiercely independent homeless and troubled youth who were making their way on the streets of Seattle as pimps, prostitutes, panhandlers, and smalltime drug dealers. Initially published in July of that same year in Life magazine, this work culminated in the 1988 publication Streetwise, and the 1984 documentary film of the same name by Mark’s husband, filmmaker Martin Bell.
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Tiny’s story also insists that we consider the roots and cycles of poverty, addiction, and homelessness—and their potentially destructive manifestations and effects: even the safest and most secure family life may suddenly feel terrifyingly vulnerable. An already unstable family situation may implode.
Maybe Seattle — the city that introduced Ray Charles to heroin — has always had some inequality but no one saw it until the gap between rich and poor became more visible. Poor is easy: start at zero. But rich…is rich a rambler with a garage or a high-rise apartment with a car elevator?