Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
New York Shitty Day Ender: Faces Of Recovery
Chris Arnade writes (of his latest series):
I was invited by Debra Vizzi, the head of VIP Services, to attend their Friday Morning Breakfast Club, a weekly support/inspirational meeting for addicts in recovery. Tatiana, 24, from the Bronx and now in the women’s residence, was one of many to stand up and share; she recited a poem she had written.
Tatiana started using drugs in ’06, initially weed, mushrooms, and ecstasy, but she quickly moved to heroin. The drug abuse led to her selling herself, and constant thoughts of suicide. Twice before, she has been through detox and rehab, and has now been clean for 99 days. “This time I’m getting clean for me, not for my family. That’s a big difference.” When she leaves the program she is hoping to get the last four credits to complete college and go into nursing.
When I asked her how she wanted to be described she said, “I am an eccentric piece of work. Addicts are sensitive people who often don’t know how to deal with their emotions.”
Please take the time to read her poem here, Strolling craigslist avenue for drugs. Tatiana’s picture is the first in a companion series that I hope to shoot over next few months called Faces of Recovery.
Thanks to the writer Cassie Rodenberg for all the help, and please check out her blog…
From The New York Shitty Inbox, Part II: 7th Annual Memorial Ride & Walk
Filed under: 11222, Bronx, Brooklyn, Greenpoint, Greenpoint Brooklyn, Greenpoint Magic, Manhattan, New York City, Queens, Staten Island
This item comes courtesy of the folks at Ghostbikes.org. On Sunday, March 18th, they will be conducting their 7th Annual Memorial Ride & Walk. Follows is a general outline per their press release.
The Annual Memorial Ride and Walk brings New Yorkers together to remember pedestrians and cyclists killed in our city over the past year. This will mark the seventh year that this event has occurred. Riders will visit the site of each ghost bike, a white-painted memorial for cyclists, installed in the past year. Please help us show solidarity with the family and friends of those lost by joining us for this important event. Bring flowers and other items to honor those lost.
Bronx-Manhattan Ride
11:30 La Finca Del Sur Community Garden, S138th & Grand Concourse (4 or 5 to E138th St, Bronx)
Queens-Brooklyn Ride
11:30 Cross Bay Pkwy & Beach Channel Dr. (A to Beach 90 or Beach 98, Queens)
Staten Island Ride
12:00 Everything Goes Book Cafe, 208 Bay St (between Victory and Hannah, Staten Island)
Brooklyn Ride
12:30 Avenue T & 9th St. (D to 25th Ave. or N to Avenue U, Brooklyn)
Convergence
4:00 Unnamed memorial, Union Ave. & S5th St., BrooklynThe event is free and open to all.
Rain date: Sunday, March 25
Those of you who are interested in attending any of the above-listed events can RSVP via Facebook by clicking here. Otherwise you can get more information and updates at Ghostbikes’s web site.
Given our very own 94th Precinct reported 77 pedestrian/motorist accidents in 2011 (two of which were fatalities) versus 47 in 2010 (still not a stellar figure), I strongly encourage any and all north Brooklynites to participate in this event. Be it by attending the Memorial Walk/Ride proper or helping with the creation and installation of ghost bikes at the Greenpoint Reformed Church thsi upcoming weekend (March 10th from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) we can make our voices heard!
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool, Part III: Fire Damage, Hunt’s Point
Chris Arnade (who took the above photograph) writes:
The Associated Super Market on Hunts Point Blvd, the only real grocery store in the area, caught fire last week. On friday they gutted the inside, throwing smoke and water damaged cans and bottles into two large dumpsters out front.
I walked by near midnight friday night as a large group of residents where filling carts and vans with anything they could salvage. Whole families where working together. A father in his fifties said “I been shopping here for almost twenty years, giving them almost all my money. Nice to get a little something back for free.”
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: Sonia
Sonia, forty-six years old and the mother of five, is a crack addict who “sells her body for drugs.” Smart, polite, and well-spoken she told me and my friend Nina of her life-long battle with her addiction. She started when she was twenty-two, an overwhelmed single mother of three children working two jobs. She got into prostitution, becoming “a five dollar whore,” trading sex for drugs with neighborhood dealers.
When we asked her how much money she needs a day for the drugs she said “as much as I can. I can’t stop. I get some money, go and buy it, smoke crack, relax for thirty minutes. I have to get some more. It’s non-stop. Until I keep walking back and forth and nothing nothing nothing gives, that’s when I will say, ‘God says go home.'” She has a “significant other,” a wonderful man who’s been with her for seventeen years. He does not drink, smoke, or do any drugs.
She has been clean before, something she says can only come from her. She started crying telling us of the eight-year period when she was clean. “I went to a program, mothers and children, everything was great, I came out, got a job, felt good, had money.” She fell back four years ago.
When I asked her how she wanted to be described she responded, “I am good person with a very bad disease.”
Many of you have undoubtedly seen the work of Chris Arnade. He has been a major contributor to my photo pool for some time. He is also a really nice guy. His latest series is called Faces of Addiction and Sonia is part of it. If/when you have the time, gentle readers, do take a moment to read the stories he has assembled thus far. It is really compelling stuff.
From The New York Shitty Photo Pool, Part III: Jinpa Sherpa
Chris Arnade (who took the above photograph) writes:
I have always been fascinated with Nepal, a country I was lucky enough to visit as a child, so when I saw Jinpa working the counter of the Hunts Point 7-11 I asked him if he was a Sherpa. He was surprised to find someone who knew much about Nepal, so we chatted for awhile.
Jinpa, like many Sherpas, is a serious mountain climber, having summited Everest six times, Lhotse and Cho Oyu twice and Shisaphangma one time.. He works at the 7-11 when not taking clients on climbing trips in North America.
Its not often you find the guy selling you Powerball and drinks has literally been on the top of the world.
Here is a picture of him on the summit of Mount Everest: Top of world
It is stuff such as this that makes operating site— and living in New York City, for that matter— such a joy. What makes this city the amazing place it is is its people— and their stories. This is one example. I am certain there are many others waiting to be heard!
NYS Flickr Pool
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