The Harbinger by Jennifer Shneiderman

A photograph

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This art was selected for our ekphrastic issue. If you are a writer who is inspired by what you see here, please consider submitting your words here.

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I have been photographing sites on the edges of Beverly Hills and Los Angeles. With real estate prices rising, new projects are built and the old decay and face demolition. The poor are squeezed out and the middle class edges toward a precipice as the entertainment industry flees, taking money and jobs. Crime, lawlessness and thousands of unhoused persons have left the cities exhausted, restless and tense. I hope my photographs convey the ongoing transformation and document the vestiges of what these cities used to offer--hope.

Jennifer Shneiderman is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, writer and visual artist. Her work has appeared in many publications, including: Yale University’s The Perch, UCLA’s Windward, The Rubbertop Review, and Kent State University's The Listening Eye. She studies art with Israel Lopez at East Los Angeles College. Her visual art has been featured, or is forthcoming, in Rock Salt Journal, Harpy Hybrid Review, and God's Cruel Joke.