Health

Stress

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  tired

  Mother: Shearine M
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  Drug Trash in Playground--"Wet"

  Mother: Ashley O

  "Even though that’s empty you can smell the embalming fluids.  It’s the worst smell in the world.  It smells like mint from far away, but when you get closer if you know what “wet” smells like you know it’s wet.  My kids are like two feet tall, and they’re right next to it, so they’re smelling that.  That’s disgusting."
   

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  Self Portrait

  Mother: Erica S

  "I’m struggling and the depression and the sadness I think really just comes from my harsh life.  When you’re trying to do positive things and move forward and make things better, it’s discouraging and it’s hard and that’s depressing.  It makes you sad.  It makes you tired.  It makes you want to give up.  It makes you wonder "why?" "what's the point?" I want people to see that that’s a person who was just really having a bad day because of everything that goes on.   It’s not always easy for us, period.  Single women.  Minority women.  Women, period.
  

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  Whitney

  Mother: Whitney H

  "Misunderstood by many, loved by enough. I stand on my own two feet like a grown woman. Single mother of one and barely making it but never struggling."

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  City Hall at Night

  Mother: Imani S

  "I was on my way to the overtime job that I was doing when I got my food stamps cut off.  They had called me to work there for one day.  So, I was thinking to myself, “Well, if I go down here this one day, are they going cut my food stamps off?  I really didn’t know what to do.  At the time I was walking through there, it made me think, “Was I going to get cut off again?” What kind of programs can the City do to help us stay on the food stamp program when we do extra work?  I don’t think it’s fair for us to get reprimanded for doing something positive.  That’s why I chose that picture."

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  Imani and her friend Peppy

  Mother: Imani S

  "She died on my 18th birthday   I never celebrated my birthday after that.  I missed six months of school when she passed away.  I just sat in my room in a corner in the dark for six months.  I wouldn’t eat.  The only time I came out of my room was to go to the bathroom.  And I rarely had to go to the bathroom ‘cause I wasn’t eating or drinking anything."

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  Medical Testing

  Mother: Tianna G
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  Child Illness

  Mother: Tianna G

  "Every time my son got sick, their dad had to take off of work. That's  money we're missing. That means: Do we pay the rent or do we pay the light bill?"

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  Asthma

  Mother: Tianna G
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  Neighborhood Emergencies

  Mother: Tianna G
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  Stress

  Mother: Tamika H
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  Gym benefits

  Mother: Crystal S

  That is the YMCA--through your medical coverage you can join the Y. They actually will pay for you to get a membership to the Y as a way of reducing more health problems,  a way to keep them from forking out more money if you get overweight and start developing more medical problems. I think it’s a good way to relieve stress, too. You know, you get to go the gym and you get to work out, you just get some free time to clear your head for a couple hours.

   

   

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  Treadmill

  Mother: Crystal S

  I get stressed, I get overworked, bills are piling up, I feel like I’m ready to explode… I just go on my treadmill, reduce the stress. By the time I’m finished I feel a whole lot better. Try to find a constructive way to deal with everyday life without drinking, without smoking, without fighting, without cussing, beating on the kids because you're just at your wit’s end. Find something constructive and positive for yourself to do.

   

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  Ceiling repairs

  Mother: Janelle R

  That’s the ceiling in the bedroom, and actually it fell down from the snow last winter. My kids’ dad, he came over and fixed it up but it still is not safe. It [worries me] a lot. I want to actually go into a shelter, but right now I’m on a waiting list for a shelter. 

   

   

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  Bars on the windows

  Mother: Tangela F

   These are the bars on our windows. It’s a mean of safety because if anybody busts the window you know they can’t get in. But sometimes we feel just caged in and it’s sad that we have to feel that way...I don’t like what’s outside my house.

   

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  Portrait

  Mother: Pauline S
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  Tired

  Mother: Mona H