Morgan, Ivy P.

[Deleted]

............................................................................... twenty-five . photo editor . nyc ............................................................................... JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW - Red Dust ♫ THE DARCYS - Muzzle Blast ♫ THE BELLE GAME - Ritual ♫ HONEYCUT - The Day I Turned to Glass ♫ NERVO - Hold On ♫ SEVEN LIONS - A Way To Say Goodbye ♫ .................... December 24, 1997  4:03 am New Orleans, LA “NO! I’m not leaving. Where’s Mommy? Daddy? We can’t leave without Mommy and Daddy, Alex... It’s Christmas Eve." ......... I was seven and my brother, Alex, eleven, when our parents died. As the fire started to spread through out our home, I was locked in my bedroom due to my door being blocked by a fallen bookshelf, and flames had heated the doorknob. I can’t really remember much else, but somehow my brother got me out.. But our parents weren’t so lucky. I do remember being consoled by a nurse though, who was helping to treat the burns I received. She told me my parents didn't feel any pain when they passed on to Heaven. But even as naive as I was back then, hearing the other burn victims screaming in agony through out the night... I knew the truth. I knew they suffered. And I’ve had a fear of fire ever since. Having no family left to care for us, we were immediately taken into a foster care group home. We refused to be split up, and I think it was that reason alone that we stayed within the system for so long, carrying around what belongings we had left in an old suitcase and black trash bags. When I was thirteen and we were taken in by the Cavanagh family, I thought Alex and I had finally found a home. But their spoiled son Henry, who was fourteen, didn’t take it well. He often shunned me at school, and some days when he was really cruel, I’d run off and explore the city on my own. Foster care had forced me to become rather independent, so I didn’t mind being off on my own for hours on end. It was a break from reality, really. With my father’s little Panasonic camera in hand, I started to create a visual diary of my day. And I still create visual diaries now. Photography helped me cope when the Cavanagh family decided not to adopt my brother and I. It helped keep us afloat when the money ran low and rent was due. It helped me cope the day I found out my brother was being sentenced to prison for twenty-five years to life. It helped to remind me there was still beauty in the world even when the depression wanted me to see only darkness. It has continued to help me stay clean... Photography saved my life. ....................

liza, kenza, resident (coding @ rae)