Planting a vegetable garden in a violent neighborhood .

neighborhood where gang violence often turns deadly, planting a vegetable garden next to a basketball court right outside the local recreation center could be considered an exercise in futility. The naysayers abounded when the seedlings were put in the ground.

"That's the wrong place, they'll get trampled by the kids playing basketball." "The rats are going to eat all the vegetables, if anything grows." "In two weeks, this recreation center will have 500 kids coming in and out. The kids won't pay any mind to it and run all over it."

I have to admit I had my own doubts,

but they came after I'd committed to growing a garden with the seniors in the wellness class at the Columbia Heights Recreation Center. When the coordinator of Senior Activities of DPR asked us if we'd participate in DPR's Beautification Day, some of us agreed to plant and cultivate a vegetable garden. DPR provided the seedlings and some tools. We provided the grunt work of digging out a garden bed in an area we knew nothing about. We found a lot of rocks and roots, but we kept digging and created two garden beds.

The garden was planted in early June. It had a two-week head start before the kids showed up for summer camp. The garden also had a lot of rain early on. After the initial planting, there was no set schedule of who would water it. Some commitments made were not kept. We had the wellness class Tuesday and Thursday morning, so we used watering the garden as weight training exercise. Some seniors came more than twice a week and took it on themselves to water when they came.

The garden grew and grew, and grew a little wild because no-one staked the tomatoes until late in July, but they still grew, producing cherry tomatoes for almost two months and counting. Eggplants grew and are still growing. They didn't grow as big as they could have but they were picked before full growth. They're still trying to grow with pretty purple flowers harking the new one "coming out".

Growing gardens gives you lessons for the next time you grow one. Two lessons from this year's garden: The first: Don't it always seem to show that you don't know what you got til it grows. The second: Always stake up the tomatoes to keep them off the ground.

Two Days After Obama's Election to the Presidency

Two days after Obama was elected president, I met a man named Rene at a bus stop in New Haven. Rene was originally from Canada, but served in the US military in the Navy during World War II.

Rene was concerned that the state was going to declare him incompetent by reason of insanity. So he was eager to have someone listen to his story. I had 45 minutes to kill til the next bus, so it worked out well.

As soon as I saw him, I wanted to photograph him. He had a peaceful yet powerful message to the world, and it was a message not far from how I’d been thinking about our country for a long while. For the past eight years, the country had gone to the dogs. Rene put it better than I could. His sign reads, “Good bye America. I didn’t leave. You did.”

When I asked if I could take his picture, Rene got very excited, almost beside himself with glee. He said he was going to shave his beard off that day, for the sake of the psych boards, and he’d really like to get a photo of himself with his beard. How convenient. He posed for several shots, then gave me ten dollars and an address and phone number to send them to. When I called the number the next day, it turned out to be the number for Amistad House, a home for homeless people in New Haven. The person at the other end said Rene had not lived there for over a month.

These are the three photos that best represent this semi-well-known stranger. A crusty old man, did time in the service, on his own and in his 80s. He said he never did drugs in his life. You be the judge. I ended up missing the next bus and waiting an additional hour.

©2009 ShiaPhotos/words

3/4 Photos for NPC Members' Photo Exhibition

These photos were taken the night I was arrested on 18th Street, handcuffed and locked up.


One of the two women arrested before me was roughed up needlessly when the handcuffs were put on.

"Roughing Alicia" 10/12/08 This is Officer Jevric assigned to Adams Morgan for over a year and (says he) doesn't remember anything from that night.



"Corrupt MPD Sergeant" 10/12/08
Corrupt is defined as making up a story that didn't happen and lying about it numerous times on the witness stand in front of a Superior Court Judge. That is what Officer Johnny Tubbs did on April 3rd this year in Judge Cushenberry's court.


Sergeant Johnny Tubbs tells me to get on the sidewalk here while he arrests two women. Two minutes later, I was in handcuffs too.


The sergeant said I opened a squad car door and photographed a juvenile inside in the middle of a crime scene. The prosecutor called this area "a crime scene" and with that fiction got 5 witnesses to agree. One witness was impeached on the stand when she claimed to be the arresting officer but had filled out PD forms to the contrary. The sergeant lied 178 times on the stand to back his original story. The judge said that story "made no sense."


"Alleged Crime Scene" 10/12/08

January 1st 2009 when the sun came up on Adams Morgan

6:00 AM
Looking down 18th Street from the window of Starbucks Coffee Shop at the corner of 18th and Columbia.







Adams Morgan was trashed that night, more than usual. Why? Because the Adams Morgan revelers had one more reason to trash and they knew they could get away with it.























In an old town house on 18th Street, Madame's Organ offered revelers space at a hefty rate. Perhaps those who paid so much expected to be picked up after, even where the space was public.


After the revelers left and the rats feasted, the birds move in.















Why is littering taken for granted here? Got any ideas?

It didn't make history, but it made us happy.

Mayor Fenty Cuts Red Ribbon; HD Cooke opens for a quick tour.

The school is not finished yet, but it will be finished before the students return at the end of August.

Jubilee Jumpstart/Ontario Courts Ribbon Cutting

April 23, 2009

They waited for the mayor to arrive. He was late. It was a ribbon cutting for a newly renovated low-income apartment building and 24/7 daycare center.











Well, symbolic ribbon cutting time. The ribbon was held by a Jubilee worker while the mayor smiled and cut it on the rent-a-stage.

On Police and Community Relations

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

After the ANC1c Public Services Committee, I was walking east on Columbia Road with Commissioner Mindy Moretti. We came upon an arrest in progress of a juvenile on Biltmore Street. The police were enmassed, 3 cars, several officers, including Officer Kurtz, our not-so-friendly until-you-get-to-know-him bicycle officer. After some time of scurrying around Biltmore, Officer Kurtz let us know that the young man was being held for a robbery. I am sure all that scurrying was important and related to the case at hand. However, isn't informing the community of the crime that occurred just as important? Mindy and I both knew they were busy and did not impede. We didn't even speak; just watched. Shouldn't the neighborhood officers know and communicate with ANC commissioners and vice versa? That kind of self-imposed separation from people who walk our streets seems counterproductive. It idoes not engender trust and understanding, two elements important to effective community policing. Gone are the days when Officer Friendly would know all the kids in the neighborhood because he met them in kindergarten. Maybe we can move forward to the days when community leaders can meet and know all PSA officers, and officers naturally inform the people about crime in the community. With greater trust and understanding the community would find it easier to share ongoing crime and public safety issues with police.