“We live the same, but we live differently”
Deon Bell was a restless child, which initially led him to the streets. Since then, he’s been able to harness the life that lies inside him. Continue reading “We live the same, but we live differently”
Tag: Parenting
“As soon as I could see over a counter I was working”
Raised by entrepreneurial parents who pushed her to follow in their footsteps, Lori Hill has forged a path of her own. Continue reading “As soon as I could see over a counter I was working”
“We teach everything”
Mohamud Suleiman, who has braved the waves of inopportunity and is taking on the responsibilities of fatherhood, still believes his time will come. Continue reading “We teach everything”
“I mean, family’s all you got, right?”
While Matt Pizur’s early life was defined by a rocky relationship with his father, he’s been able to carve out his own sense of happiness. Continue reading “I mean, family’s all you got, right?”
“I miss my roots”
Carolyn Bradford walks down an empty 42nd Street at dusk. Bradford’s gregarious personality complements her ostentatious appearance — patterned glasses, a leopard-print jacket and dangly earrings decorate a personality defined by exuberance.
“My childhood was great,” she says. “Bein’ a military brat, it was great. Until I got older, and then my parents got divorced when I was young. Now, they’re both deceased.
“I changed”
Donald Ealy shuffles across an empty Center Street in Park West. Ealy’s tired eyes and thin mustache adorn his weathered face; a patterned cardigan and brown driving cap lend him an air of aged dignity.
“When I went to prison, my eyes wasn’t open,” Ealy says. “I wrote the judge a letter thankin’ him for savin’ my life. I had 30 years. The judge brought me back to court because he said he had never got a letter like this before, and he said the letter was so sincere … he brought me back to court and took 15 years away.”
“If you have a good foundation anything’s possible”
DaVaughn Patterson finishes cutting a stretch of grass on 44th Street, just south of Garfield Avenue in Washington Park. Patterson, still in tattered shoes and a hoodie, lets one of the neighborhood children help before putting the mower away.
“I don’t have a problem with Milwaukee,” he says. “I work with a lot of people that work in Milwaukee but don’t live in Milwaukee and have a different view of Milwaukee, you know?”
Continue reading ““If you have a good foundation anything’s possible””
“It was just the choices that I made”
Nathaniel Wright leans against a white railing while speaking with family on an Autumn afternoon. Wright wasn’t born in Milwaukee but many of its neighborhoods, like the one he’s standing in, are familiar. Violence, he says, is what links Milwaukee with his birthplace of St. Louis, Missouri. “You tend to follow in the footsteps of … Continue reading “It was just the choices that I made”
“I was the kid that tried to fit in”
Marion Long walks out of his yard, on the way to the Three Brothers Tobacco & Grocery at 44th and Burleigh streets. Amongst those coming and going from the corner store, Long stands out, exuding a quiet sort of confidence. “I’m a kind-hearted person,” he says, as he leans on the corner of the building. … Continue reading “I was the kid that tried to fit in”
“I always felt like an outsider”
Amy Tim stands in front of a stoop in Harambee with a couple of her kids nearby. Tim, who grew up on Milwaukee’s northwest side, has been in-between two worlds for as long as she can remember. “I struggled … growin’ up because my mother was African-American and I’m bi-racial,” she says. “Bein’ a bi-racial … Continue reading “I always felt like an outsider”