Journal from the Archive, page two


27 April 2002

There were over forty notes waiting for me when I arrived back at the Row Houses.

Corisha wrote, "Come back we miss you for being here".

I'm glad for being here, too!

Another note included a smiley face and below was written,

"Plees.
Put in jor"

Corisha



Monday was a planting day. We broke ground. The Flower Man, Cleveland Turner, and I went to the flower store. The one he always rides his plastic flower laden bicycle over to when he buys flowers to plant around his neighborhood. They charged us an extra $1.50 because of the white guy. It didn't bother me much, but it did The Flower Man.

Tuesday was a trip to Galveston and Moody Gardens' Rain Forest the "The Largest, Most Diverse Frog Exhibit In United States". It makes me more embarrassed to be a Texan than Bush being president.

In one four foot cube environment were immature and some sick azureus, citronellas, bassleri, vittatus, trivittatus, leucomelas, auratus, galactonicus, and probably a few others. No food out that I saw. Living in a dirty environment with few plants and fewer places to hide. It is fogged at regular intervals. There were other bleak environments, with other frogs. Some looked healthy, but most just looked pathetic.

To try to end this thought on a positive note, they had some beautiful and healthy looking A. zeteki.

As we talked with the Moody Gardens' butterfly wrangler a ringed neck dove slammed head long into the open butterfly display door.
He died trying to break through.










Another card read:

"Can I sleep
as if
My own moments
Won't filter
or fade
as if
the streets don't tick on
counting
sidewalk kiss after
sidewalk kiss
blurring in neon
convenience and the
acceleration of a
green signal"

(unsigned)





An email from a young lady who lives at the Row Houses, Vera Lisa Hunter, questioned:

in one of you emails you wrote that the third ward is a ghetto. my first response was - a ghetto?!! i forget that parts of it could be and are considered a ghetto. this place doesn't feel like a ghetto to me. it is always surprising when people see the third ward as a neighborhood for poor people. i'm so entrenched into the culture, or maybe the subculture here, that i no longer have a grand objective opinion.

from talking to virginia prescott and rick st johns i realized that i need to prepare for the probable death of third ward. i guess it is only fitting because i am in a process of becoming a minimalist. this neighborhood is a physical thing. geographical communities are physical, and physical things can be destroyed. my goal is to only collect and become attached to spiritual things. for me i think those things can be summed up as lessons. i am in love with this place and i hate it because i don't want to see the diversity change. i must learn to let it out of my heart. i must cherish the good memories and prepare myself for change. it is so funny, i now see third ward as having a cancer called economic development. i don't think there is any chemotherapy for that type of illness. i don't want to see this neighborhood change. i ask myself why does this neighborhood deserve not to change?!! is it arrogant of me to not want to see change knock on the door of this community and no one answer as if we live in our own world? the world is ever changing. exactly what am i so desperately trying to resist? what should i do - resist, embrace, or ignore...??? i don't know. i don't think i have more than those three options.

ghetto bound
lisa





Tracy Hicks
223 North Shore
Dallas, TX 75216
214 948 0609