scrub away the thought
I stopped to shoot a feature on the way to an assignment yesterday. I saw this little girl in pink scrubbing the steps set against the green grass of the lawn. I figured she was being punished, but thought it might make an interesting image. Mom said it was OK, so I made a few images but felt a little uncomfortable. The next door neighbor, whose steps they were, I learned, poked her head out to protest my making the image.
I went back next door, passed though a gauntlet of barking dogs and talked to mom some more. "She is basically a good kid, she's just going through a lot right now." Instead of asking what she was going through, I asked what she was scrubbing away. "She wrote 'I want to kill you' in crayon" on the neighbor's steps.
I'm not sure where to place the photo, since a stand alone won't work, but got Mom's number in case I do find an appropriate place to run it.
What piques my curiosity is the timing. Bay City has been averaging one homicide per year. The first of 2008 was discovered on Monday. The victim of the one murder of 2007 lived and died two blocks away and worked with the eight-year-old girl's mom.
posted by cohnhead at 4:28 PM
4 Comments:
Absolutely fascinating. The whole thing: the story and your relationship to it.
My first thought is that it would make a wonderful standalone. But that's when I assumed it was just some bad words or some other low level vandalism. The aggressive nature of the content is a little more awkward and complicated for publication.
not only is this a nice photo, its an interesting and thought provoking story as well. and by the way I really miss you.
Did you just stumble upon a more in-depth story? Not a rhetorical question, but I wonder *why* she would do what she did and how that might play out in other areas of her life. Sounds like mom might already be amenable.
agree with the above... really interesting. how old is she? the aggression we hear in her writing could be different to our ears versus a 13-year old...
i like this picture... the emotion of the situation is apparent.
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