Bliss street

It becomes difficult to write about something so personal, so visceral. “Bliss St.”, is a house inhabited by 6 women and one man. Alba (104), Olga (71), Teo (54), are the permanent residents. So many people have passed through these few rooms: Silvia, her daughter Valerie, Maria “bonita”, Ivonne, Geordie, Sandy and her cat, Angela. Frustrations, involuntary games, daily rituals, an inner economy of a made-up family, It is a story that needed to be lived in order to be told. “Bliss St” is named after the street in which the house lives.

It becomes difficult to write about something so personal.
“Bliss St.”, is a house inhabited by 6 women and one man. Alba (104), Olga (71) official owner who lives through the eyes of her mother, and memories of her life in Colorado, and her brother, Teo (54) who has been struggling with diabetes for decades and spends a lot of time in solitude, are the permanent residents.
Silvia (34) and Valerie (6) arrived to the house in 07’. Silvia from Nicaragua was victim of domestic violence. For a short time, her abusive husband Manuel, also lived there. Their departure after years of “ups” and “downs” is written in the drawings that Valerie left on the bathroom walls.
Maria “bonita” from Dominican Republic and her son Henry (5) soon after arrived. Maria, suffers from diabetes since childhood, she as well was victim of domestic violence.
So many people have passed through these few rooms: Yvonne, Geordie, Sandy and her cat, Carlos, Colombia, Angela.
I was affected by the same magnetism that has attracted so many to the house in Bliss St. (as the street is literally called), frustrations, involuntary games, daily rituals, an inner economy of a made-up family, It is a story that needed to be lived in order to be told.
It could perhaps be more “interesting” to tell other’s stories, observe other worlds, however, I decided to stay and tried to understand what is near, and visceral: this family, my family, what I have in front of me.