“Everything is gone” by Chris Hedges

Note: retitled on June 28, 2012

by Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
June 25, 2012

Abandoned church - Camden NJ

Abandoned church – Camden NJ
Image by Blake W.B. via Flickr

I park my car in the lot in front of the rectory of Sacred Heart in Camden, N.J., and walk through a gray drizzle to Emerald Street. My friend Lolly Davis, whose blood pressure recently shot up and whose kidneys shut down, had been taken to a hospital in an ambulance but was now home. I climb the concrete steps to her row house and ring the bell. There is an overpowering stench of garbage in the street. Her house is set amid other brick and wooden residences, some of which have been refurbished under Monsignor Michael Doyle’s Heart of Camden project at Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic parish. Other structures on Davis’ street sit derelict or bear the scars of decay and long abandonment.

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