Holy cow!! A picture my daughter took made it onto HuffPo!

[SeattleGirl]

They are doing this thing called "Capture the Recession", where you take a picture in your area that, for them, shows the effects of the recession. My daughter's picture, "Tent City in Seattle, WA" is currently ranked #1. I'm impressed!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/29/capture-the-re...

Edited to add a shot of the picture she took:

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. I don't see it.

Can you post it here so I know which one to vote for?

Congrats to your daughter.

[Ilsa]

11. Here you go:

[SeattleGirl]

14. Thanks, Ilsa. Just added it to my OP too. n/t

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. Got it. Voted!

[Deja Q]

12. Think "pink".

Pink tents. Then, in that picture, look for a sign.

[DJ13]

2. Great photo

I gave it a 10 rating!

[SeattleGirl]

15. Thanks!

So did I.

[bbinacan]

3. Congrats! n/t

[SeattleGirl]

25. Thank you! n/t

[rvablue]

4. Cool. Make sure you get some screen shots of that to save for posterity and a future resume, too! n

[SeattleGirl]

16. I have it saved to my Photobucket account. n/t

[liberalmuse]

5. You must be proud!

I love the picture. BTW, does she go to Nova per chance?

[SeattleGirl]

19. I am!

She has taken some really great pics, but I am so proud of her for this one.

No, she doesn't go to Nova.

[lamp_shade]

6. Me too. I have it a "10".

[SeattleGirl]

22. Thanks! n/t

[Ilsa]

7. I'm impressed as well! That was a great picture! All of those tents

and homeless people are right in front of an apartment complex looking for renters. That is a recession personified.

[SeattleGirl]

20. Sweet!

Thanks!

The contrast between that new building (looking for renters, as you noted), and the tent city is pretty stark.

[malaise]

8. Congrats

[SeattleGirl]

23. Thanks, malaise.

[Deja Q]

9. The right place at the right time.

Congrats for your daughter, as the juxtaposition between the tents and the big banner "Need housing" is otherwise a funny cartoon... if it wasn't for the disgusting state of Washington state's economy.

[SeattleGirl]

24. Thanks, Q

Yep, housing prices around here are still astronomically high. They ARE coming down, but really, I think the prices far outstrip the actual value, and that goes for rentals as well.

[gkhouston]

10. It's a fantastic pic. Heart-breaking, but fantastic. n/t

[SeattleGirl]

26. I agree. n/t

[CaliforniaPeggy]

My dear SeattleGirl!

Well, she just got another vote from me!

That is stunning!

The juxtaposition of the tents and the banner above is too much for words...

I guess those people need housing...and it's out of reach.

Kudos to your very talented daughter!

K&R

[SeattleGirl]

27. Thanks, Peggy!

Coming from someone who takes stunning pictures herself, that's a great compliment!

[jkshaw]

13. Congratulations to your daughter!

[SeattleGirl]

28. Thanks, jk! n/t

[Cleita]

17. Congratulations SG.

That picture says it all, empty housing and people who need housing who can't afford it. The homeless I saw in downtown Seattle when I was visiting up there was heartbreaking, but it's bad all over.

[SeattleGirl]

29. Hi Cleita

Yep, it really says it all. So many homeless people all over this country, and they can't afford the new place right next to them. Sad and heartbreaking indeed.

[inna]

21. omg. recommended. but how incredibly sad; it's a really powerful picture. :( nt

[SeattleGirl]

30. Thank you , inna. n/t

[lillypaddle]

31. ah, proud momma

and with good reason! I voted! (and rec'd too)

[SeattleGirl]

34. That I am!

And thanks for the vote!

[WillyT]

32. Great Job !!! - K & R !!!

[SeattleGirl]

35. Thanks, WillyT!

[Maine-ah]

33. question about the tents...

they're all the same color, and all look kind of new. Does the city or some other organization with in the city provide tents for the homeless?

[SeattleGirl]

37. That particular tent city is called "Nicklesville", after Seattle Mayor

Greg Nickles.

Here is the story, written by a friend of my daughter's:

http://seattle.metblogs.com/2008/10/13/nickelsville-mov... /

[xultar]

36. WOW...So awesome!!!!

[SeattleGirl]

38. Thanks!

That picture really captures what's going on, I think. A tent city right next to a new apartment complex. Very sad statement on our society.

[troubledamerican]

39. Is that photo in Lake City? Looks exactly like where I used to live. 32nd Ave NE?

[SeattleGirl]

41. Nope, U District.

Not sure of the exact location, but I know that's where she took it.

[troubledamerican]

44. That's where I am now.

I don't know where that is in the U District but I've seen two tent cities on 15th NE. Neither one are the one in the photo - !

[eppur_se_muova]

40. The sign adds the perfect touch of irony. nt

[SeattleGirl]

42. Doesn't it, though?

[ihavenobias]

43. Awesome!

Very cool.

[SeattleGirl]

45. Thanks!

[onestepforward]

46. Congratulations!

This picture is so awesome because it speaks volumes in our current times. Great photo!

[SeattleGirl]

47. Thanks. She sure did capture it, didn't she?

[madmax]

48. Great pic

k&r and voted. Kudos to your daughter.

[orleans]

49. wow--amazing, ironic picture. so telling in the subtle hues of pink & blue

i voted for her.

thanks for posting this.

[SeattleGirl]

57. Thank you, orleans

[Liberal_in_LA]

50. congrats

[SeattleGirl]

58. Thank you.

[barbtries]

51. it's a powerful picture

deserves to be number 1. congratulations mom!

[SeattleGirl]

60. She's got a good eye.

[asdjrocky]

52. Hey SeattleGirl.

Great pic and good on your daughter!

[SeattleGirl]

61. Thanks.

I'm still kind of blown away at it being on HuffPo.

[bridgit]

53. Go, Sis!!

[SeattleGirl]

62. Thanks, bridg!

[Call Me Wesley]

54. Great, but very sad picture.

Excellent capture!

[SeattleGirl]

63. It is, isn't it?

The really sad thing is the city keeps coming along and making them move the tent city. Why is being poor and homeless a crime>

[liberaltrucker]

55. She's a talented photographer

Very powerful, and sad, photograph. 10 rating.

[SeattleGirl]

64. Thank you, lt

[MrScorpio]

56. Most excellent

Your daughter is very talented

[SeattleGirl]

65. Thank you.

I agree.

[vanboggie]

59. Well, I looked at the others

and seriously like your daughter's the best. It's a great contrast and really delivers the message. Very well done, and she just got a 10 from me over on Huffpo.

[SeattleGirl]

66. Thank you. I agree. The other pictures were good, but I

think my daughter's really captures the essense of what is going on right now.

[WinstonSmith4740]

67. Great shot..

Your daughter obviously has a great "camera eye".

I went to the slide show, and the one that stood out to me was the "We still have our freedom" one. I'm showing my age here, but Janis Joplin (well, Kris Kristopherson wrote the song) hit it right on the head with "Me and Bobby McGee"

"Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose"

[SeattleGirl]

71. I know what you mean.

I actually thought of that song too, when I looked at that other picture.

[ccharles000]

68. k/r

[Rainngirl]

69. Excellent!

Good one! I wish I'd shot it!

[SeattleGirl]

72. Thanks.

She does have a good eye for photography.

[uppityperson]

70. She has a really good eye for composition. Congrats to her.

[SeattleGirl]

73. Thanks!

[BlooInBloo]

74. Awesome! What part of town is that? The building looks suspiciously like mine!

[SeattleGirl]

76. I think they used the cookie-cutter building design on that one!

Could be Any Neighborhood, USA, couldn't it?

[BlooInBloo]

78. Indeed. If that bldg had balconies, I would say that it *was* mine.

[wovenpaint]

75. Good one!

Congratulations to the photographer-and her proud Mom!
The photo though-oh, the irony! It does speak volumes....

[SeattleGirl]

77. It screams irony, I think.

The people in this tent city, dubbed Nicklesville, after Seattle's current mayor, keep getting shuffled all over the city, and yet we have apartments all over the city sitting empty. Why is it a crime to be homeless?

[mntleo2]

79. Dear SeattleGirl. This is Cat!

...I work as an activist with these people who run the tent cities in the Seattle area.

The most heartbreaking story I heard was from one of the residents is a young man who was an Iraqi vet.

He and I had met up at the state capitol in Olympia as we were lobbying against some of the horrible cuts in GAU that the governor was promoting. GAU is "welfare" for childless people and it is for people who cannot work because of mostly health issues, who have run out of unemployment and have no other income. It is not enough to even pay for a room, much less an apartment or the money to heat it and cook in it.

But this young man had not come for himself, even though when I looked deep into his eyes, I saw how haunted he was from war, They shone with a haunted hell and were old far beyond his years. And to be homeless, so young, an Iraqi vet, and with PTST, he had enough issues of his own that needed addressing. As an Iraqi vet he shouldn't have been living in a tent city at all.

Nope, while this young vet was homeless himself with many of his own problems, he was worried about one of his tent city neighbors who was dying of lung cancer from asbestos from working in the ship yards here. He had brought a letter from the man who was too sick to make the rally and lobbying, begging our legislators not to cut his GAU because if they did that, he would not even be able to die in a tent. Furthermore, the young man wanted to draw attention to this man's plight and ask for our legislators to have enough mercy to help get this man a home where he could die in peace with an actual roof over his head. GAU does include healthcare, which this sick man would lose and then he could not get his medicines and he was already in terrible pain and sick. Deathly sick.


I saw this vet a couple months later at a housing forum and told him how impressed I had been with his story. So impressed I had told it and told it, and he told me that the neighbor was still there in Tent City and was slowly dying, too weak to go get food so this young man took care of him and made him eat. It was in the dead of winter when we met again and we shivered as we talked. We wept together and as an older woman I tried to comfort him. I let him know he was in my prayers as was his neighbor, but I wished I could give him a $1,000,000.00 as I tried to mother him a little, we cried for the many homeless who shiver out there.

Because see to this young man, homelessness has a face, a very personal face. The face of a dying old man who had no one but this young man as a friend. He did not even see his own face, so beautiful and so full of war ....

Thank your daughter for taking that picture and tell her she is only telling half of the story. There are so many more stories inside the tents ...

Cat In Seattle

[SeattleGirl]

81. There are indeed so many stories out there, and many of them don't

have a face, like the dying man in his tent.

Thanks for sharing that one, Cat.

[midnight]

80. Your daughter has completely caught this terrible crime in all

it's unfairness. Americans through a variety of economic issues have become homeless. In the background of our country's tent cities, are signs asking if one needs housing. O the irony of our economic policies.

[SeattleGirl]

82. I agree, midnight.

THe picture practically screams, "Can you not see the crime that is being committed here?????" Among other things, I think it points out how, in this country, our worth as a person is directly related to the amount of money in our bank accounts....and to whether we even have an account.

There is something so very wrong about all this.