Trask Avenue

I took this photo several years ago. While some details have changed (the abandoned diner is no longer there, for one) the underlying reality of what this illustrates remains sadly the same. You still see the disenfranchised, disposed and dispirited milling about as you drive through this section of New Brunswick. It makes you wonder what happened, what series of events led them to where they are today. I’m sure their stories all started on different paths only to intersect at this time and place. Whether beaten down by the system, society, personal mistakes or any of the thousands of reasons people lose their way isn’t important, at least not of immediate importance.

If you travel just a few blocks north, literally less than a five minute walk, you find yourself in the shadow of one of the best medical complexes in the state, one of the top health care facilities in the Northeast United States. To some of these folks I’m sure when they look up at the sun reflecting off the pristine windows or the doctors crossing in a skyway high above the street between two buildings, this palace of medical care looks as impenetrable as The Pentagon. But I suppose you can’t worry too much about sickness and disease when you don’t know where your next meal is coming from.