Carroll
Carroll, 2009.
A few months after first meeting Carroll and Shelly I spot Carroll alone and asleep on the church steps adjacent to the Huntingdon El Station. It’s the middle of the day and Carroll is sleeping like a rock. Carroll often sleeps out in the open during the day as a safety precaution – a bag of her personal belongings tightly grasped in her lap. By making herself vulnerable she finds an odd sort of protection that activist and writer Jane Jacobs referred to as “Eye’s on the Streets” also known as Natural Surveillance. I approach and attempt to talk with her but she is inert, anchored to the steps. A storm is coming so I set up my camera quickly and get off one shot before a downpour hits. When the rain starts Carroll is brought back to life. She slowly gets up and walks under the tracks for shelter.