Sickness

I have a hard time thinking up titles, unfortunately. I chose today's title because half the people in the program are sick, including Dr Airhart. I am not sicki, which is good,

My internship is mostly a long, tedious process of driving around neighborhoods and photographing churches. Boring, right? No. You see, churches are monuments to the thoughts of humanity. They are a type of cultural artiact.

When I drive through neighborhoods, I ask myself why some people build their churches on main thoroughfares (Lafayette, Richmond, Elmwood, Main) and other people on little, out of the way side streets (Baynes, Bird, Calumet). Why do some churches on the thoroughfares stay healthy, and others wither despite the high visibility? Most of the side street churches are separatist or radical, including a full complement of Quakers, Brethren, Baptist, Swedenborgian and so forth. Some, such as the Friend's Meeting House on Allen, are part of a historical radical culture and are situated in the heart of the artisan/gay/hipster neighborhoods of today. Others are in run down neighborhoods that are now chock full of Pentecostals and Catholics. Why does this happen?

Speaking of Pentecostals, I have decided my best friends are Hispanic Pentecostals. They maintain, at considerable expense, any old church they happen to buy. The best thing that can happen to a church in Buffalo is to be bought out by an up and coming Hispanic congregation. They take care of their buildings. Non-Hispanics, no matter what race, tend to trash their churches far more often. It really is a marvelous thing to behold.

So live on, Hispanic Pentecostals.