There Are No Children Here
Alex Kotlowitz was a freelance journalist. In 1985 a friend came to him and asked him to write a text for a photo essay he was doing on (children living in poverty) for a Chicago magazine. That is when he met the Rivers brothers, Lafeyette, age ten, and Pharoah age seven. He spent only a few hours with them interviewing for the photo essay. Lafeyette had an impact on Kotlowitz. When asked what he wanted to be, Lafeyette responded with "If I grow up, I'd like to be a bus driver." Meaning, at ten years old, he wasn't sure if he'd make it to adulthood. In 1988 Kotlowitz suggested to the boys' mother, LaJoe, the idea of writing a book about Pharoah, Lafeyette and the other children in the ...
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the book, we are much like flies on the wall. We see and feel everything the boys' go through at Henry Horner Homes, the project where they live. LaJoe moved into the Henry Horner Homes in 1956 with her mother and father. Back then it was a beautiful place. There was a green, grass baseball diamond, which was regularly mowed. For the children there was a playground with swings and jungle gyms. The bricks were smooth, the windows were shimmering, and the walls were freshly painted white. The adolescents joined boys and girls clubs, marching bands, and other constructive organizations. Now things are different. The remnants of grass are dry brown patches, mostly dirt. Where there was once a playground, there is now a shooting. The bricks are now worn and tattered. The windows are either translucent or broken. And the walls are no longer white, rather a dull, yellowish color. Worst of all, instead of joining boys and girls clubs, the adolescents joined gangs. At the Henry ...
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There Are No Children Here. (2005, April 16). Retrieved March 26, 2025, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/There-Are-No-Children-Here/25461
"There Are No Children Here." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 16 Apr. 2005. Web. 26 Mar. 2025. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/There-Are-No-Children-Here/25461>
"There Are No Children Here." Essayworld.com. April 16, 2005. Accessed March 26, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/There-Are-No-Children-Here/25461.
"There Are No Children Here." Essayworld.com. April 16, 2005. Accessed March 26, 2025. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/There-Are-No-Children-Here/25461.
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