Chittock Avenue: Stories from a street with a reputation
Posted by Aaron - 23/08/10 at 02:08:39 am
Jake May | Citizen Patriot
For about a month, photographer Jake May and I walked up and down two blocks on Chittock Avenue, a street in Jackson with a growing bad reputation and site of the July 6 fatal shooting of Benjamin Willard. We wanted to find out what else happens on that street.
Life on Chittock: Plenty of eyes watch Chittock Avenue, and there is plenty to watch.
Plenty of eyes watch Chittock Avenue, and there is plenty to watch.
Morning to night, children play on its sidewalks, occasionally spilling into the street. Adults gather on porches; neighbors join. Cars speed up and down the hill between Rockwell Avenue and Morrell Street.
The 900 and 1000 blocks of the street are alive, teeming with activity, some neighborly, some not.
It is the latter — the consistent calls to police, loud disputes between families and neighbors, suspicious activity on the street and alley, and a murder last month — that has gained Chittock a reputation it might not deserve.
“I think there is a stigma,” said Juan Almaguer Jr.
When Jake and I started, people thought we were 1) from the cable company, 2) police, 3) case workers from the Department of Human Services. Once we assured people we were none of those things but journalists, all but a few welcomed us onto their porches and shared their stories. Now I cannot drive down the street without someone flagging me down just to chat.
Jake had his camera. I brought with me the paper’s Marantz digital recorder. In addition to the story, we produced three audio slideshows capturing life on Chittock.
| Life on Chittock Street: Troy Bednar |
| Life on Chittock Street: Bruce Edwards |
| Life on Chittock Street: Wanda Jordan |
One final note: Wanda Jordan grew up 3 miles from me in Ada, Michigan. Small world.
No Comments yet »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Powered by WordPress with GimpStyle Theme design by Horacio Bella.
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS.