Essay in Pictures

Photo essay in retrospect

Going into the neighborhood of Lisbon and 35th street I had no idea what I would see. I assumed there would be some fast food restaurants, drug stores, and businesses like any other place in Milwaukee and was correct. However, as I wondered around the area I started to question which one of these businesses would know the community best? Would an employee at the Dollar Store have more exposure than someone at the Subway? Or vise versa. Then I happened across the solution; a place that everyone from all walks of life visits, rich or poor, young or old, eventually we all end up in a library at some point in our lives.

Seeing the Washington Park Library was no accident, the building stands out like a bit of a sore thumb because of its modern architecture. Once inside I sat down at one of their tables and thought up some appropriate questions as I observed the other visitors. I then headed up to the librarian’s counter and asked for a brief interview; Enid was more than willing to help out.

I started by asking about her experience with the neighborhood. While it turned out she did not live in the area she had been working with the Washington Park Library for several years and had good knowledge of the area. She felt the area was unique in that it was very socially economic. Also, being near the city and next to the Washington Heights Park drew in lots of diversity. I learned that the current library has been there for six years and was built to accommodate the growing needs of the community. The majority of visitors to the library are children; once school lets out the place filled with kids.

Enid went on to say that the kids use the library as a place to hang out and get help on homework. It was about 3:30pm when I was there and there indeed was a large amount of children, mainly on the computers. She jokingly added that they need more computers; the 30+ they had always filled and the children were given time limits on how long they could use them. When asked if she thought the community could be improved in anyway she felt the children needed more after school activities.

After the interview I decided to walk around the surrounding suburb on foot and discovered some things I missed while driving around. While the blocks of houses were neatly kept, nice looking homes with nice looking lawns, tucked into nearly every block was an abandoned building. These homes didn’t appear to have anything wrong with them physically so one can only assume the occupants had to move out due to financial difficulties. The need to board up the windows eluded to another possible problem in the neighborhood; that of homeless people breaking in for a place to stay, or the abandoned buildings being used for illegal activities.

In the end the experience was a lot of fun. It was interesting to explore a part of the Milwaukee community that I had never been to before, and meet someone new. I look forward to working with Our Next Generation and learning more about the community.