It is one thing to see it on TV, another thing to live it I am sure. But it is definitely a third thing to read about it on a blog. What am I talking about?
One of the many people forced out of 475 Kent Street this weekend (NYT permalink) was David Alan Harvey, someone I have never met, yet though reading his blog and the comments of his wonderful online community of friends and fellow photographers, I was immediately struck by the emotion of this difficult situation. As it turns out David was in India when the eviction order came, can you imagine being half a world away and finding out your home was being evacuated, possibly never to return. This is a break-in of another kind, one formed out of a lot of people looking the other way until it was too late.
I have no idea what kind of resolution there can be to such tragedies, New York, being what it is probably has thousands of such situations. I am left wondering about my own building, recently a pressure valve gave way, again, and gallons of water flooded into the apartment above me, leaving a full two inches of water on the floor. Thankfully, and mysteriously, very little of that water made its way into my apartment where my camera equipment, computers, prints and negatives are stored.
In David’s case his wonderful friends came to his rescue and organized an impromptu emergency move of his archive to a safe location. His blog was instrumental in the sharing of this information, and also in the creation of that same community. Again, I have never met David, but the spirit and energy of his contributions to others and their contributions back are evident in every post and something to take notice of. The lessons are share with others, and be very suspicious of your landlord.
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