
Thank you for publishing two of my photos in this piece by @AlexBaca for @CityObs about Derek Hyra’s (@DerekHyra) book, Race, Class, and Politics In the Cappuccino City.
This is part 1 of a 3 part analysis, and I’m appreciative of the use of my work to illustrate.
I wrote a much less informed review of the book myself, which caused me to go on a photo safari of the Shaw neighborhood, to see what I could see myself:
I’m appreciative of the scholarship here – to an extent I can never learn enough about what’s happening here, and I ask myself a lot of “why?” around the fact that not everyone has what they need.
Regarding the photos themselves, the first one (above), I distinctly remember taking, when I was walked through the neighborhood for the first time by the team at Bread for The City. For me at the time, it was still novel to walk east of 14th Street, and I am not the only human who experienced that novelty. The photo was taken many cameras ago, and I barely knew where I was. Now I walk on this street all the time.
The second one (below), I don’t remember as well, even though it wasn’t that long ago (4 years). The cranes are now gone and large residential buildings stand where they were. Also taken many cameras ago…

This was around the time I realized I was standing on the balcony of Scurlock Photography, where breathtaking images were captured as the riots began that destroyed Washington, DC following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Here’s a composite of 1968 and 2014 (also many Photoshop experimentation sessions ago, life is one big experiment)

This is part 1 of the review, which is what I would say is very challenging of Hyra’s point of view. I will post on parts 2 and 3 next.
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Source: Challenging the Cappuccino City: Part 1: A New Premise? | City Observatory