This photo was taken by producer Maryna Ajaja for “A Day in the Life of 98118″ on Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at the Columbia City farmers market. It was taken during the filming of a short documentary by award-winning director Virginia Bogert, who worked with a crew of professional filmmakers and production assistants from neighborhood schools.
COMING SOON: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF 98118 SLIDE SHOW
REPRESENT! 98118 is a community-building project that documents what it means to be “at home” among many different cultures. Using various methods of expression — film, photography, poetry, storytelling — neighbors share their experiences living, working, playing, studying, and worshiping in the 98118 zip code. By creating a “self-portrait” of our culturally rich community, we seek to foster alliances that will benefit the residents of Southeast Seattle. We invite community members to submit art and stories of life in the 98118.
REPRESENT! 98118 uses the arts and humanities to explore the questions that define our community. Where is home? Who are my people? How did we come to live in this place? Who can we trust? What are the rules? How do we define “the common good”? By adding our voices and perspectives to on-going discussions of what it means to be a citizen of the world, we seek to challenge age-old ideas of what it means to be an American.
THE MANY DIFFERENT CULTURES OF 98118
Within a few blocks of one another, worshipers may be engaged in an African American Bible fellowship, an evangelical Ethiopian students union, a Filipino-American Catholic Mass, a Haida sacred dance circle, a Mexican Pentecostal revival, an Orthodox Jewish Sabbath observance, a Religious Society of Friends Meeting, a Samoan gospel choir, a Somali Muslim prayer service, or a Vietnamese Buddhist evening chant.
The 98118 zip code stretches from Rainier Beach to Genesee Meadow, from Seward Park to the East Duwamish Greenbelt, from the shores of Lake Washington to the hills overlooking Interstate 5. Within this area, there are more than 20 schools, about 50 community organizations, at least 60 different languages spoken, and too many restaurants to count.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF 98118
On Wednesday, October 5, 2011, we officially launched REPRESENT! 98118 by documenting as many of the day’s activities as we could. Photographers were out all day getting snapshots of people at work and at play. We’re gathering the photos to make a slide show of the day, so visit this site again to see the results.
SUBMITTING ART AND STORIES
If you like to write, perform, or create art, this is an opportunity to add your view to a collective portrait of our zip code. If you like to talk, sing, or tell stories, this is a chance to add your voice to the oral history of our community. Simply click the button in the menu above for “Submit Art and Stories.” From fall of this year through spring 2012, selected work will be displayed on this website as well as in businesses and organizations that serve the 98118 zip code.
FACES OF THE 98118
The portraits at the top of this page were taken by photographer Sheila Arthur. They are teachers, students, postal workers, professors, dancers, musicians, designers, architects, artists, business owners, engineers, organizers, doctors, nurses, athletes, social workers, singers. If you would like to be one of the “Faces of the 98118,” contact us and we’ll come out and take your portrait.
