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Culture on the Cheap
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: Jose
Filed under: Bronx, Hunts Point, Hunts Point Bronx, Stuff That Makes Miss Heather Happy
Taken by Chris Arnade.
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool, Part II: Jose, Airborne
Filed under: Bronx, Hunts Point, Hunts Point Bronx, Stuff That Makes Miss Heather Happy
Taken by Chris Arnade.
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool, Part III: Jose
Filed under: Bronx, Hunts Point, Hunts Point Bronx, New York City, Stuff That Makes Miss Heather Happy
Chris Arnade (who took the above photograph) writes:
Last year I was in a desolate part of Hunts Point, talking to a friend. A group of about ten teenagers came down the street, loud, filled with energy, and seemingly marauding (kicking over cones, jumping on and over stationary cars, etc). I have never had a problem in my twenty years in New York City, but that does not mean I don’t stay aware. As they passed, out of the corner of my eye I spotted Jose, do a back flip over a hydrant. Amazed, I yelled out to him. He and his friends, who were also warily eyeing me and my friend, thinking we were cops, were planning to run away, but his friend Henry had a sprained ankle, so they stood their ground.
Since then I have come to grow very fond of Jose and his friends, and have done two proper photo shoots. Big fans of Parkour, Hip-hop, and Anime, they are fighting against an area where the pressures of poverty, drugs, and limitied opportunity weigh heavily.
For me it’s another lesson in expectations. All of my accumulated baggage from popular culture signaled for me to get away from these kids and their bad intentions, all theirs told them to get away from the cop who would treat them unfairly. Neither of us did that, and because of that I certainly have learned a bit more about the Bronx.
Groups of teenagers have thrown rocks at me from a distance (I just spread my arms and say “Give me your best shot, you arm aint that good.” So far that’s worked). I understand what the combination of boredom, energy, and hormones can do. Hell, I threw rocks at things when I was that age.
More of Jose here: Jose the amazing
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: Face Of Recovery
Chris Arnade (who took the above photograph) writes:
Andre had just gotten Essence’s Easter photo taken and was walking home when I met them. Andre, 40, is a former addict who has been in recovery for 12 years. He started using drugs at age 12, and was soon smoking and dealing crack. He was sent to jail twice and spent almost 7 years incarcerated. “I lost communication with my kids, burned a lot of bridges, and almost lost my wife of 22 years.”
He went into detox four times, but it his wife and three kids who finally gave him cause to make it stick. “My kids didn’t ask to come here. For me to make them and not take care of them isn’t a good thing. You have a choice. Drugs don’t jump up in your body. You either pick it up or walk away. I have walked away.”
When I asked him how he wanted to be described he said, “I am loving and sincere. I never forget my struggles because that’s where I come from” Of her father, Essence, age 3, said, “He makes me laugh, always tickling me!”
NYS Flickr Pool
