More than just a pretty face

Lynette Sowell
-My front porch-
 
I only lived in the city of my birth for the first six months of my life. I heard stories of the walk-up, brick apartment building where my parents and I lived until we moved to Puerto Rico in 1968. One night a year or so ago, my father and I were chatting online about a picture I shared of him holding me when we lived in that little apartment.
 
After that conversation, I opened Google Earth and found the address. To my shock, the satellite image showed nothing but green grass and the faintest footprint of an old building.
 
Holyoke, Mass. was one of America’s first planned industrial mill cities, and when the paper and textile industries in that city crashed, so did its neighborhoods in the 70s and 80s. I pulled up some stats on the city; 31% of its residents live in poverty and it has one of the highest school dropout rates in New England. Its median income is $33,915, half the state of Massachusetts’ average.
 
 
 

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2210 U.S. 190
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