Montezuma & First Avenue
Looking deep through the center of my frame I notice a portion of a silent neighborhood. A variety of houses, tree lined streets, and I-10 freeway off in the distance. I observe few traces of life, including children coming home from school. A small vehicle creeps into the view of my frame, coming toward me and then turns. It was a newer vehicle, just like all the others I had noticed for the day. A crisp breeze chills the spine as the winter sun strikes the asphalt. A quick glance outside the frame reveals an almost complete neighborhood, absent from my view are parks, schools, or the traffic of Central Avenue. With everything rushing into focus, I become would become instantaneously overwhelmed with what I see. Every house, yard, tree, vehicle, and person invoke vibrant colors, shapes, and sizes to this palate. The houses are unlike the cookie cutter version to which a visitor from Northwest Phoenix is accustomed. These houses have individual colors and styles; each has different landscape in the yard, and the age two houses next to one another can vary from 1-50 plus years. In Northwest Phoenix, Home Owner’s Associations have place restrictions on occurrences such as these. A I move my gaze new images enter into the setting. A public telephone stands on the side of the street, positioned in front of someone’s house. A perplexing location for this typically downtown convenience store image. But is something missing from this peaceful, yet a bit surreal scene? Absent are sidewalks, which usually line city streets. And streetlights, although it was daytime I detect a definite deficiency which generates a rural feel to this location. Off in the distance the faint sound of the ice cream truck’s musical jingle. This is a frozen frame of South Phoenix.