About
Real Hartford is . . . evolving.
Change, to me, is often invigorating. While it’s important to know, like, really know, our history, we should do that without becoming mired in nostalgia or refusing to adapt or change our ways of thinking.
This site began as one thing in 2007. I am in a completely different stage of life now and frankly, if I kept doing what I did then, I would hope readers would call me out of being stuck.
What has become of central importance in the last few years has been the climate crisis. An intersectional approach is necessary, yes, but if there is no livable planet, not much else matters either, no?
Here, you are going to find writing that is largely about the environment, including the transportation sector. The #BeyondHartfordBeyondCars #GetRailedCT series is going to expand beyond the summer season. I am completely upfront with my agenda: I want readers to consider other possible ways of living.
Despite these changes, my perspective is very much shaped by a few facts. I am a life-long Connecticut resident and long-term Hartford resident. I have lived longest in the Frog Hollow neighborhood, and no, not on that one block of Capitol Avenue. (I like that block very much, no shade, but I was in my house years before the middle of that block stabilized and anyway, I can’t afford those prices). The school I can see from my bedroom is one that has been ranked as one of the lowest in the states, and that does not mean it is a bad school. Likewise, it’s not a bad neighborhood, though the increased illegal fireworks fetish that I have to endure from May through September might make me lose my mind. I grew up in an ex-urb out in the other part of the state. My first and forever love has been the Earth. My first friends were animals; it even says so in my Baby Book. I am firmly Generation X, meaning that I was a free range, mostly unscheduled youth, and every day I wake up moderately surprised that I am not actually in a Seattle moshpit.
I will write about Hartford when I have something worth saying about Hartford. But you’ll at minimum get your Hartford fix with the monthly calendar, the Place This Place mystery game, and the thrice weekly photos in the Climate Possibilities series (launched July 2023).
This is created by Kerri Ana Provost.
What gets published when?
- Place This Place: test your Hartford knowledge on the first Monday of each month. Or on any of the days that follow if there are no winners right away. Those who win the most move around on foot or by bicycle. You are encouraged to explore the city at a human pace.
- Event Calendar: the curated event calendar publishes a few days before the new month, and once it’s done, no additions are made (corrections only)
- Safe Streets Connecticut: a monthly look at how close, or not, we are at reaching Vision Zero goals in Connecticut
- Climate Possibilities: *new as of July 2023* on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, posts will (usually) contain photos from around Hartford and feature content about our changing climate
Why must you use that kind of language?!
Pick an answer:
1. “There is no obscene content. I use beautiful, efficient English language words that get the point across”
2. I write how I speak and am not here for your tone policing.
3. Nobody is making you read this. The Internet is vast, and surely there is something out there that you might enjoy more, so go find that instead of wasting anyone’s time with tsktsking emails as if you are my parent.
I have questions about the Pedestrian Murder Maps. . .
The Pedestrian Murder Map project began in 2020. Since getting rid of my car a few years before that, I had been observing driver behavior as a pedestrian, cyclist, and user of public transportation. It became increasingly evident that the way pedestrian and cyclist crashes with vehicles were reported had been frequently distorted through windshield bias; to put it another way, reporters who almost exclusively moved about by vehicle were publishing content that was inaccurate because they had no way of knowing there was another way to view a collision. What’s more, they typically run with whatever the police department tells them. (Don’t believe me? Next time there’s a pedestrian crash, open up news coverage of it in three or four local outlets and read each one. Rarely will anyone break from their formula and the information is identical) This, along with my lived experience on dangerous streets, and the sense that most people had no idea how pervasive an issue traffic violence is, motivated me to begin mapping locations in Connecticut where drivers killed pedestrians and cyclists.
The maps exist to help people understand how frequently pedestrians and cyclists are killed, where there are patterns of street violence in specific locations, and what role shoddy infrastructure plays. This is why, especially from 2022 forward, many pins on the map have descriptions of the roadway. Often, reporters will say things like “the pedestrian was walking alongside the road” or “the pedestrian was not in the crosswalk,” but they fail to say “the pedestrian was walking alongside the road because there is no sidewalk and they were not in the crosswalk because there are no marked crosswalks for 1.5 miles in either direction.”
When a driver kills a pedestrian or cyclist, one of the first things we see is a rush for some to blame the victim. Instead of looking at what the victim may have done wrong in a split second decision — and often, by the way, they have done absolutely nothing wrong — our attention should be on the systems where bad decisions are made day after day which enable an individual’s poor choices to be deadly instead of a minor issue. This means looking at the people and systems that uphold terrible street designs. It’s difficult to go 86 MPH down a narrow alleyway. It’s not difficult for someone to reach that speed on a straight, multi-lane road. This means looking at the auto industry and those who permit the existence of vehicles that travel at unnecessary speeds. If we can put speed limiters on e-scooters, we can do this for cars. We can look at requiring ignition interlock devices as an industry standard. Special licensing for those who wish to drive oversized SUVs and pickup trucks that have massive front blind spots.
The other thing that must be said is that these maps exist to remind people that pedestrians and cyclists are people. They are not faceless entities. Whenever possible, their name and photo is added to the map. If there is biographical information, I provide it. While I do updates on Twitter, I do not maintain a secret spreadsheet with numbers that I am just pulling from. This work is intentionally not automated. It is sad and sometimes depressing every time I need to open up the map and add a new entry. For that reason, no, I will not give you a body count whether you ask nicely or are snippy with me about it. I want you to have to pause and remember what these pins represent, who these numbers represent.
I find out about fatal crashes usually from news reports, and then I verify and update information as needed from the Connecticut Crash Data Repository; however, sometimes there are fatalities that the news never reported. Either they never reported the crash or never updated the victim’s condition. Agencies that report to the CCDR do not always do so timely, and months, or longer, after a fatal collision, the information arrives. I make every attempt to have current and accurate information on the maps.
As for the name, nobody paid attention when I asked nicely if drivers could slow down or if maybe we could pay more attention. Sometimes the gut punch is what’s needed to get folks to wake up, and it worked, didn’t it?
Please do not send me crash information unless it has not appeared on the map 48 hours after the collision.
Why aren’t you naming the artist for every single piece of public art you post?
First of all, I’ve written about this in a post, but I’ll sum up my thoughts here for those who don’t want to be fettered by things like reading what’s already been written:
(1) Much of the public art I post photos of is uncredited or unsanctioned — someone made a poster or a sculpture, whatever, and left it in a public spot without signing their name, and probably without the blessing of the property owner. So, even when I know who produced it — and sometimes I definitely do as Hartford is a small town — by naming them, I am possibly jeopardizing the ability for them to continue gracing us with their talents if someone decides to come for them. (2) Some of these posts are part of a guessing game, and if I put the author’s name in the initial post, someone might search their name and easily figure it out, and that’s not the point of Place This Place. Usually, once the mystery has been solved in the comments, I will name the artist (if known), because I do want people to visit the site and know something about what they are looking at. (3) In the monthly event calendar is a cultural asset map, and when known, I name the artist of a work there. Could someone cheat on the mystery game by clicking all the tabs until they find an answer? Sure, but it takes a lot longer than the two seconds to Google something, so I don’t worry about that. (4) And this is the thing I want touchy artists to really listen to: just because a mural or sculpture happens to be in a photograph does not mean that the picture is centered on it, and I do not name the architects of every building photographed, do not name every person who hammered a nail to construct said building, do not name everyone who poured concrete or installed windows, and it’s quite something to expect that one person would be named while the laborers who made the surface possible in the first place are never credited. Laborers, I’ll add, who are in an especially dangerous line of work. A mural takes a few weeks to complete. A building can take a year. Tell me the last time a muralist credited the building crew who made their canvas possible. Sorry, not sorry. I’m from a family of laborers, from carpenters to electricians, and just as much skill goes into their creations than happens when a person applies spray paint (that someone else engineered) to a wall (that someone else built) (5) By putting art in public, one needs to detach from ego. It is not behind glass in a museum. It will blacken from tailpipe exhaust. Some schmuck will tag it. If 3D, it might get knocked over, intentionally or accidentally. If it’s on cloth, it’ll rip. It becomes part of the public conversation and fabric. Like it or not, people will call it by whatever title they think fit, and chances are, they are not paying attention to who created it. Public art is not something a person can be precious about. When I’ve made my own, I’ve kept exactly that in mind. Context is everything. (6) Sometimes there are oversights, because I’m human and this is not my full-time job. You’ve never clicked “publish” by mistake while multitasking? Please. You can kindly bring it to my attention, as a neighbor and part of the community, not as if we are anonymous people on the Internet who will never run into each other while in line for coffee. My contact information is easy to find.
I want to re-post a photograph or article on my website or social media account. Can I do this?
You are welcome to share links to the posts, pages, or site. This is not just about driving traffic, it’s about capturing the intended context.
Content (text, title, images, logo, photographs, etc.) on this site may not be republished without prior permission, whether it is by a for-profit site, a non-profit, or a “curatorial” enterprise. Doing so is considered plagiarism, theft. Photos may not be republished without written prior permission. I can’t pay bills with exposure. With that said, I am usually very generous, but not if something is going to be free content for reporters or something taken way out of context. I’m also open to collaborations, because we should be operating from this kind of mentality, rather than exploitation or competition.
Sponsored Posts?
This is not a lifestyle or mommy blog. Just as some people find graffiti upsetting, I do not like ads covering the landscape, whether that’s natural or digital. Also, I basically hate capitalism.
I like what you’re doing. How can I support you?
Thank you! You could throw a few bucks at me through Venmo. You can share links to posts on social media and by email. You can leave thoughtful comments. Or, if you don’t feel like thoughtful, at least play the monthly guessing game and keep that going — even if you’re unsure, maybe your guess becomes a clue for someone else, and the whole point of that game is to get people to pay more attention to what is in Hartford, most of which gets ignored by the news.
Contact
Email with story tips, items for the event calendar, or to arrange speaking engagements: kerriDOTprovostATgmailDOTcom
Other correspondance should take place in the comment form on this site where your first and last name are visible as to incentivize responsible dialogue.