For some people (me), the concept of not traveling far is a familiar one. I like to travel, to see the world (Alaska); I also like to have a roof over my head, especially when the weather gets colder. Rather than switch into a soul-sucking career that I’d hate (think anything finance or insurance related, or anything involving a dress code), I do fulfilling and intellectually challenging work which, incidentally, doesn’t pay enough for a single person to be jetting off to Borneo every six months. Fortunately, I can be amused, entertained, and awed just about anywhere.

On Friday, I traipsed through Cedar Hill Cemetery in the South End of Hartford.

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These were taken at Riverside Park in Hartford.

On Friday there was a little bit of flooding. By Saturday afternoon, the dirt trails were basically impassible, unless you felt like walking about seven feet through knee-deep water.

 Some soccer event filled the parking lots.

These photos were taken in the West End Community Garden.

Ted Carroll, President of Leadership Greater Hartford (organizers of the event) gave the greeting, which also moved along. I don’t want to be the person to point this out, but there is some irony in thanking the Hartford Courant and WTIC radio for being media sponsors of this event, since the Hartford Courant along with other local media are part of why the national media picked up on recent incidents, causing damage the Hartford’s reputation. Some on the Courant staff have written meaningful columns after this, but we should remain critical of any outlet that would post video without any context. We live in the age of the internet, when material is quickly picked up and dispersed. Few bother to investigate their sources, as Christine, Heather, and I were discussing. False information gets spread nearly instantly, and is difficult to rectify later. It’s fine to be diplomatic if a company is giving money, but let’s not forget their own role in why the event has to happen at all– even with such a great showing of people from Hartford who do care about our community, I have to wonder how much damage this will undo.

MIRA and Mind Evolution, both spoken word artists, earned robust applause from the audience. MIRA performed “I Wish We All Had Daughters,” and Mind Evolution, “When I Grow Up.” There was dance, drumming, a puppet of what I believe was a Phoenix (it was a bird of some kind, I think), and a series of “conversations” (interviews and speeches).

Rabbi Donna Berman announced that there would be a second Hartford Cares gathering held at the Charter Oak Cultural Center in July. That one will allow the community more of an opportunity to be active in the conversation.

From my chats with people, there was a lot of surprise about the number of people in attendance and the racial diversity. A few thought that the “cheese factor” would have been way higher than it was. Actually, until the grand finale of dozens of adults and children crammed on the bandshell stage, singing and swaying, it really was not corny. And for those who must know, there was absolutely no singing of Kumbaya.
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On March 12th around 9:30pm I witnessed a man in his early twenties who did not appear to be homeless (clean shaven, well-dressed, and looked healthy) pissing next to a blue mail drop box on the corner of Hudson and Park Streets. Almost every afternoon there are men in the parking lot fixing cars. My theory is that this is a chop shop, but my roommate thinks it’s probably just an illegal d.i.y. “shop” that involves legitimate services, but without the licenses and taxes. There’s also invisible litterbugs that plague the area. I never seen people actually throw stuff down, but my backyard is pretty nasty if I don’t constantly pick up wrappers from things. Judging from what these things are (juice boxes, soda cans, and candy wrappers) I’m going to put the main suspects between the ages of 8-16. They are probably also guilty of stealing dollars out of their mothers’ purses so they can go to the store and buy this crap. I never littered, but I know all about maintaining a sugar high during those important years of growth. I suppose I could always go out back and lecture them on how they are stunting their growth, and use myself as a prime example.

Other activities of people in this area: yelling at the street, prostitution (which explains the random condoms in the parking lot, I think), budding gangs that basically exist just to write graffiti on buildings, paintball, driving illegal vehicles down street (quads, dirt bikes, etc.), jaywalking (of course), curb shopping (guilty as charged), schlepping around bags from C-Town, randomly ring doorbells asking for people who do not live there, and using the car horn as a doorbell. There are also some people who like to have very loud arguments out in the street. I’d say this happens once every few months, but I’m not home 24/7 to say for sure. It’s almost always females fighting, or young teens. From what I can tell, it’s also mostly yelling and posturing, which I can be thankful for.

South Green is a small neighborhood wedged between Downtown, Frog Hollow, Barry Square, and Sheldon-Charter Oak. The area seems to be contained between Barnard Park, Colt Park (but doesn’t include Colt Park), and Hartford Hospital. This area has about 2600 people, only about 53% of whom have completed high school. There is a 31% poverty rate for families in this area, which is higher than the poverty rate for the city of New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina.

There are also a ton of small yip-yip dogs in the neighborhood. I don’t hear them often, but if I look out the window, 75% of the time there is somebody bringing their Chihuahua or Pug out. Most people seem to be moderately friendly (you know, by New England norms), except for the few on the street who are involved in the street economy. They don’t get the welcome mat rolled out for them.

The OMaxfield site has more photos and blurbs about all of the city’s neighborhoods.