Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2011/06/06
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jayanand, I know what you mean, I have seen a lot of photographs done in poor parts of India's big cities, and they always seem to be very colorful, lively places, despite the poverty. In the United States (not just Ft. Wayne), poor urban areas are very bleak, often violent, places. The Happy Motors picture was done in an industrial area near one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, an area that averages 4-5 shootings a week and a murder every 10 days. Most of the city is not that bad, but even the safer areas of town are becoming bleak and depressing places as more and more people lose their homes and middle class neighborhoods are seeing more and more empty houses. Unemployment here is about 25% now. For university graduates it is almost 80%, according to the local newspaper. The jobs that do exist here are all just manual labor jobs, very few need or want educated people. Indiana University and Purdue University are both state-supported universities here in Indiana, and are among the best in the country. People come from all over the world to study here, in a state where virtually none of the graduates of these great universities are wanted by employers. The state's governor has complained that the state is paying to educate tens of thousands of students who will immediately leave the state with that education because no one will hire them here. Indiana residents get to attend state-supported universities at half-tuition; the state government pays the rest....so the taxpayer here is basically paying to educate workers for other states, since most of the grads leave Indiana to find jobs! Of course, the governor merely complained, he didn't actually DO anything about the problem. I have a bachelor's degree from IU, and will have my masters degree next year. I have two classes left before I am finished with it. I left Indiana after earning my bachelors because no one would hire me, and I will leave again as soon as I am able. Damned shame; Indiana wouldn't be such a bad place to live if there were jobs paying living wages to men like me. The climate is nice, the cost of living very low, and this is my hometown. None of that means a thing if I am homeless and starving, like I was before I left the first time. -- Chris Crawford Fine Art Photography Fort Wayne, Indiana 260-486-2581 http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798 Become a fan on Facebook On 6/5/11 11:33 PM, "Jayanand Govindaraj" <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote: > Chris, > Looking at your photographs of Fort Wayne from half a world away, I wonder > why anyone would live there. It looks totally demeaning. We have much more > appalling poverty here, but it does not feel so bleak, or such a dead end, > if you know what I mean. > Cheers > Jayanand > > On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 2:10 AM, Chris Crawford <chris at > chriscrawfordphoto.com >> wrote: > >> http://chriscrawfordphoto.com/chris-details.php?prodId=479 >> >> >> -- >> Chris Crawford >> Fine Art Photography >> Fort Wayne, Indiana >> 260-486-2581 >> >> http://www.chriscrawfordphoto.com My portfolio >> >> http://blog.chriscrawfordphoto.com My latest work! >> >> http://www.facebook.com/pages/Christopher-Crawford/48229272798 >> Become a fan on Facebook >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Leica Users Group. >> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information >> > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information