Though clean-up efforts have increased over the past couple of decades, many environmentalists and residents claim that legacy toxins remain in the river. Others have different ideas about the state of the water. Regardless of who is right, the banks of the Anacostia provide a place for people of all ages to commune, relax, and fish. This is a collection of stories, ideas, and events from my time getting to know those who fish along the Anacostia.

Catching Catfish: Fishing Stories from Anacostia from Becky Harlan on Vimeo.

By: Suzannah Hoover, Meredith Rizzo, Crystal VanderWeit, Uliana Bazar

Two years after the implementation of the Washington DC fee popularly known as the bag tax, Truestory productions took to the streets to find out how the fee is changing the health of the Anacostia River, despite some local sentiment that the fee is unfair. We explored how the fee has effected residents and where the money is going.

A family struggles with foreclosure

Auston O’Neill, 60, sat in his home in Centreville, Virginia, in Fairfax county, about 45 minutes outside of Washington, DC. He sprawled his bills over the kitchen table. There were so many papers; it looked as if they were going to engulf him. Among his papers were bank statements, mortgage payments, loan information and checks made out to his name for thousands of dollars.

“My house is still in foreclosure and I have a foreclosure date of sell at auction of the 14th of November,” said Auston, months after receiving the first foreclosure letter from Wachovia bank in August 2011.

While other people his age are easing into retirement, their 401k’s, and grandchildren, Auston and his wife Bonnie, 65, have to deal with the stress of losing their home. The O’Neills bought their house in 1987, and their last son, Auston Jr., was raised in this house. They haven’t told their son, now 25, who lives in California, about the foreclosure. Bonnie tells me through tears, as she sits in her leopard print blouse, and black slacks–her church outfit–that she is worried it will be too upsetting for him. This is his childhood home; the place he always comes back to. “And what if he doesn’t have that anymore?” Although Bonnie is worried about her son’s feelings, it shows that it is her, who is most dismayed.

“God gave us this house,” said Auston. Twenty-five years ago, while looking to buy a house, The O’Neills wanted the lot that their house now stands on, but were told it was not for sale. The O’Neills decided to ask God for a favor. “Bonnie and I went outside and we prayed and we asked God to open that lot up for us,” said Auston. They went back inside and asked the realtor to make one last phone call just to see if anything had changed. On the other end of the line, the manager said the lot was now open. The O’Neills immediately put a contract down on the house.

Once they settled in, their home became a revolving door. First, to Bonnie’s mother, who needed to be cared for. After that, the people kept coming. The O’Neills open their home to women who don’t have a place to live or are fleeing from abusive situations. Currently, they have a woman living in their basement who needed a place to stay because she was kicked out of her previous living arrangement. Their kindness has helped a lot of people who are trying to get back on their feet. Bonnie and Auston, each have a child from a previous marriage, both are now in their 40s. They also have 11 grandchildren, and a few great-grandchildren; because of this, their home is always open. “We have something. The lord gave it to us so we need to share it with others, because it was a gift to us” said Bonnie.

Foreclosure is a phenomenon, which according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Cooperation (FDIC), 1 in every 200 houses will have to deal with. A Reuters article published by Corbett B. Daly in January 2011, claims that in 2010, for the first time, banks seized more than one million homes. In 2009, according to RealtyTrac, the leading online market for foreclosed properties, Virginia was ranked 16th, out of 50 for states listed in order of the highest foreclosures. In October 2011, in Fairfax County, where the O’Neills reside, over 2,700 houses were foreclosed on. The O’Neills situation is not unique, but it’s something they didn’t think would happen to them. “This didn’t start because [of] something that we actually did wrong this started because the bank offered us something and did not live up to what they said they were going to do” said Bonnie. It is a common misperception that the only people, whose houses are foreclosed upon, are people who have completely stopped paying their mortgage.

The O’Neills have lived in limbo for the last year. They received notice, either a few weeks or sometimes only a day, before their house will be sold. They never know if they should begin to pack their belongings, or wait for a miracle. Up until now, all of their selling dates have been canceled at the last minute, only to be pushed to another date a few weeks later. Although stressful, the O’Neills have viewed these cancellations as a blessing. “Since we started praying every month, [...] we have gotten an extension and a reprieve every month. [...] I think that has been the lord. I don’t think it’s been anybody but the lord,” said Bonnie.

“God has always intervened in my house, but if God wants to take away this house, I know he will give me something better” said Auston. God means everything to the O’Neills. “I know that without him I wouldn’t have made it through this. I probably would have had a nervous breakdown by now,” said Bonnie. “If I didn’t have a relationship with him I think that probably my wife and I would have been split up, my children would be doing drugs, like so many broken families, but what has held our family together is the relationship that we have with God” said Auston.

The O’Neills belong to a non-denominational grassroots church called The Victory Christian Worship Center in Chantilly, VA. They currently meet for worship every Sunday in the local Hyatt hotel, and during the week for smaller sessions in member’s houses. The goal of the church is to help people in need of spiritual awakening connect to God. This church has not only been a way for the O’Neills to worship, but also to make friendships. This is not the kind of church where people walk in, sit in the back, and leave early. At the Victory Christian Worship Center the relationships the members have with each other are very important. Every Sunday, after church, Bonnie and Auston, join the other members for lunch at a nearby restaurant. The conversation at lunch diverts from religion and the members share stories from their past, before they knew one another and before the creation of their worship center.

Auston has been unemployed since April 2010, after his place of employment ABC Technologies, closed. Auston believes that he has been unable to find new employment because he was convicted of a felony at the age of 25. He and Bonnie are both receiving Social Security benefits.

Wachovia offered Auston an unemployment loan on his mortgage. With this loan the O’Neills would be able to make smaller payments for six months; paying closer to a thousand dollars a month, compared to the twenty-seven hundred they were used to paying. However, Wachovia noted, if they missed a payment, their mortgage would return to the original amount. Even though this loan would help them, they were still making all their payments on time, so the loan agreements were reasonable. “They didn’t send any paperwork that we had to sign. They sent paperwork saying for the next six months this is what the payment would be and they didn’t say anything about a balloon payment,” recalled Bonnie.

At the conclusion of the six months, Auston called Wachovia asking what would happen next, since the loan had ended. Wachovia told Auston he owed the bank a balloon payment, to cover the money he hadn’t paid for six months. The O’Neills were shocked, “no where in the paperwork [...] [did it say] that I would have a balloon payment of sixteen thousand dollar,” said Auston.

“We tried to explain to them: [...] we didn’t have any money so why would we have done this in the first place if we had known that it was going to cost us this bulk all at one time. And I’m not working. They said they didn’t know but it wasn’t for them to figure the reason out, it was for us to pay or we would go into foreclosure,” Bonnie said. They received their first foreclosure notice that August.

Shortly after being foreclosed the law firm Surovelli, Isaacs, Peterson & Levy took on their case, pro bono. This law firm has had success in class action foreclosure cases, but in the O’Neills situation, they were alone. After months of minimal successes, on November 30th, 2011, the O’Neills received a call from their lawyer who said there was nothing more they could do, and their house would be sold the following day. Without the help of their lawyer, the O’Neills needed to take the situation into their own hands, and had less than 24 hours to do so.

When a house is foreclosed, it is listed in the for sale section of local newspapers to let people in the area know when and where the property will be sold. When the selling date arrives, the house is auctioned on the front steps of the local courthouse, where individuals and real estate agents bid for the best price. The O’Neill’s house would be auctioned in front of the Fairfax county courthouse, which draws a crowd of approximately 50 people for each auction.

To prevent their house from being foreclosed, The O’Neills wrote a letter to their congressman and spent all night with a lawyer. On November 30th, Auston said, “Wachovia forced us to declare bankruptcy.” Declaring bankruptcy changes the foreclosure game; it can bring foreclosure proceedings to a halt. According to personalbankruptcy.com: “Chapter 13 bankruptcy was designed to stop foreclosure and may provide you with the protection and relief you need to stay in your home and catch up on your past-due debts.” The following morning, Auston received a call from his congressman’s office saying that the their house would not be sold. “Now I understand what it feels like to be on death row,” said Bonnie, while she waited to find out if her house would be auctioned or pardoned.

“You don’t hear a lot about the other side. You hear, ya know, there’s people out there and they’re not making their payments and this and that, but there are a lot of people who might not be making their payments for reasons like us. They won’t let us make our payments,” said Bonnie.

For now, the O’Neills are actually relieved. They made the right decision of not to start packing their belongings. Auston called me on Decmeber 1st, after he received the phone call from his congressman, “I knew God would intervene,” he said.

To the O’Neills, God has, at least for now.

My mother’s struggle with raising her grandson

Throughout my childhood, my mother often spoke of her dreams to retire in the North Carolina Mountains. She pictured a log cabin overlooking the vast countryside. She imagined whiling away long summer days rocking in a chair and rummaging for antiques in little valley towns. She could not have known that she would spend her golden years not in the mountains but in the house I was brought up in, raising yet another child.

“When I first decided to take Michael in, it was to give him stability,” she said.  “At the time I really didn’t realize my retirement would be put on hold, but now I don’t see any plans of retiring in the near future.”

My mother, Terri Ferraro, 56, is one of six million grandparents raising a grandchild in the United States. According to the AARP and the U.S. Census Bureau, that number is a fifty percent increase over the previous decade. The recent economic collapse is a major contributing factor due to high unemployment, but many children find themselves in the care of a grandparent because of a parent’s death, neglect, mental illness, drug abuse or incarceration.

In Jan. 2001, Terri’s daughter attempted suicide for which she was hospitalized.  Fearing for her 15-month-old grandson’s safety, my sister, whose name I will not use in this story due to the sensitive nature of her ongoing struggle, gave her son Michael over to Terri. “He was little and dependent on a grown-up,” Terri said. “I thought it would be best for him to come live with me.”

Michael’s mother has bipolar disorder, a debilitating condition characterized by episodes of extreme highs and lows. She has had difficulties sustaining a relationship with her son. For most of his life, she has been inconsistent with her promises and responsibilities.

“She goes in and out, when she wants to be part of the family,” Terri said. “When she decides she doesn’t want to talk to anybody anymore she cuts you off and it can be years at a time.”

A year after Terri took Michael into her home, she became his legal guardian.

Michael’s father left after he was born. In 2003, he passed away due to a drug overdose, never to reunite with his son.

When Michael started elementary school, the erratic relationship with his mother ended. Like most other boys his age, he was active, but his struggle to pass each consecutive grade suggested he had different problems than most of the other children.

Michael insisted to read and write without mistake. If letters or numbers weren’t written perfectly the first time he would become angry. He would not finish assignments, hide homework and refuse to do any work.

“One of his teachers told me that when he became frustrated he would put his head down for the rest of the day and not do anything else,” Terri said.

At home, his compulsive behavior manifested itself at bedtime. Many nights, it became a battle to get him to calm down. Terri had to execute his stuffed animal ritual precisely the way he wanted. Scooby-Doo to the left, Teddy under the blanket, Mr. Turtle above his head along with 15 to 20 other stuffed animals that had a specific home of their own. If this routine was done incorrectly it often escalated into a panic attack.

After raising three girls, Terri didn’t anticipate how challenging raising a boy could be. Twelve years later, she struggles with the different needs Michael demands from her. His defiance, lack of interest in school and compulsive behavior has been difficult for her to handle.

“We also have to say goodnight a certain way or we have to do it all over again until it’s right,” said Terri. “He’ll say, ‘Goodnight, I love you.’ I have to respond with, ‘Goodnight, love you too.’ ”

“Imagine parenting at 50, 60, 70 and having a special needs child,” said Pat Owens, the president of GrandFamilies of America, an organization that advocates for family relationships and believes the best placement for a child in need is with the biological grandparent, or other relative, which is vital to the child’s well-being.

Ms. Owens believes that children in situations like Michael’s require unique attention. “They’ve been uprooted and these children have been traumatized,” she said.

Michael has been in therapy since second grade. “His problems are stemming from his mother,” said Terri. “He thinks she doesn’t love him and he says he thinks about her all the time, which is really sad.”

Paul Newman, a licensed clinical social worker that has worked with troubled families for over 18 years, said the inconsistency of Michael’s relationship with his mother may have been detrimental to his well-being. “It can be an issue to overcome or an issue to address,” he said. “The child believing that the mother has her own problems and having that deeper fear of abandonment, that’s when it becomes pathological.”

Michael has a fear of losing his grandmother as well. “At night, he tells me that he is afraid that I am going to die and leave him too,” said Terri. “I believe his anxiety stems from this.

This year, Michael started middle school. By the end of the first month, he was failing most classes and was suspended for fighting. His emotional and behavioral problems became more than what Terri could handle. She took him out of public school and enrolled him into the Samaritan Center for Young Boys and Families.

The Samaritan Center is a five-day residential program that provides an education and discipline to young boys and parenting classes for the parent or legal guardian.

“A lot of kids need to trust; they’re hurt and they’re angry,” said Jim Collura, the lead teaching parent at the center. “We try to teach them how to deal with the anger.”

The structure that the Samaritan Center provides for Michael has had a positive impact. ”He’s now receiving tutoring along with behavior modification skills that will hopefully put him on the right track when he has to return to the public school system,” said Terri.

Even though raising Michael has been challenging through the years, Terri has not given up. “Other than behavioral issues, he’s kind, compassionate and affectionate,” she said. “It warms my heart when he hugs me. I’m happy that I’m able to provide him with a stable, loving environment.”

My name is Clary Estes and I was born and raised in Central Kentucky. I recently moved to DC to pursue a career in photojournalism. I have found that experiences throughout my life have informed and influenced my work in ways that I have not always realized. Recently, I have been interested in better understanding my personal identity as I continue to grow both as a journalist and as a photographer.

‘Home’ is defined by Merriam-Webster as, ‘one’s place of residence’. However, after living in a city that is hundreds of miles from the people I love and the places in which I feel most comfortable, it was not hard to find that ‘home’ is much, much more than that. Therefore, during the brief asides back home, I have gone in search of what my ‘home’ really is. I then found myself looking at the pieces of a life I once lived, and that I continue to recall in my memory.

This is an ongoing project.

Benjamin consumes around 15 beers a day and is a habitual pot smoker.  He has struggled with both addictions since early adolescence.

For anyone with a history like Ben’s, the alcoholism and the marijuana abuse could be seen as mild. During the last two years Ben has also coped with heroin addiction. He has been received, removed, failed, and/or run away from both formal and alternative substance abuse programs.

A year and a half ago he finished a nearly eight-month long jail sentence for a DUI.

Along with his addiction, Ben has always had to deal with a diagnosis of chronic depression and ADD.

This year he will be turning twenty-five years old. The images in this story were produced when he was 23.

At the time of this story, he was in the fifth month of a relationship with recent Goucher College psychology graduate Rachel.  The two met while he was staying with Rachel’s roommate after being kicked out of his parents’ house.  The two of them lived off the modest income made from her Americorps Vista stipend and his 20 hour a week job at as a food runner at a restaurant.

As with a majority of addicts, Ben will lie to himself and others just to perpetuate his addict lifestyle.  This is the longest time that he has lived independently from his parents.  Ben no longer considers himself an alcoholic and has not attended an AA meeting since March 2011.

This project depicts his adjustment to sustaining relationships that are not tied solely to his drug use and alcoholism.

Photojournalists bring stories of all kinds to life both with their images and –to a lesser extent– with their words. But what does it feel for a photojournalist to be the subject of a photographic essay? What is it like to give up control of your image and of your life, and to let someone else tell your story the way they perceive you? Getting to the core of this sense of empathy for one’s subject is the purpose of the assignment in Susan Sterner’s Social Documentary class. According to Susan, this assignment helps “to develop empathy as a photographer… it’s important to experience that kind of vulnerability.”

The rules of the assignment were simple: while seated in a circle, we were assigned to document the life of the person sitting to our immediate right. I was assigned to follow Whitney Leaming; in turn, I was shadowed by Meredith Rizzo, who helped me understand my own role as a mother and student constantly on the go from an outsider’s eyes. While the overall experience of being followed was uncomfortable at first, the newness wore off after a short while.

Whitney is a focused and intense woman, who makes her long hours of work and early workouts look easy. Following Whitney, I learned that it can sometimes be easy to be perceived as pushy when you’re photographing someone, and that it’s imperative to have as much open communication as possible with your subject.

There is also a dichotomy in all of us, where we want to be helpful to those who are documenting us but we also seek to guard our privacy.

Thank you for letting me into your life and allowing me to take pictures, Whitney.

This is a short video profile on Nether, a prominent street artist in Baltimore. He was interviewed by the Baltimore Brew recently.

“Beautifying Baltimore one vacant at a time.” – Nether

The video was taken by Zoeann Murphy and it highlights one of D.C.’s cultural centers: Ben’s Chili Bowl. Zoeann received her BFA in photography at SUNY Purchase College and has previously worked on numerous participatory photography projects, such as Unseen America. She has also worked for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. Zoeann joined the Corcoran’s New Media Photojournalism program to educate herself in the evolving world of journalism.  Currently, she has been focusing on her local neighborhood, the U Street Corridor, and its changing landscape. You can check out more of her work on her personal website, at zoeannmurphy.com.

Xion Lopez, born Ronny Taylor, is a 20 year-old transgender woman living and working in Washington, D.C. — a city where increasingly trans women appear to be the target of violence. Despite the fact that there is a large and visible gay community in the District, the trans community seems to remain marginalized. Over the summer of 2011, several assaults on transgender women took place in DC, including two murders and at least two other shootings.

During the end of 2011, Xion’s transition was complicated not only by the newness of her gender reassignment hormone therapy, but also by the fact that her living situation was in a state of flux. Xion described her family home in Prince George’s County as a place where she was treated as an unwelcome guest; was often forced to share a bed; and was prohibited from presenting herself as female in the company of others.

As an intern at Transgender Health Empowerment here in the District, Xion was able to come into her own and find her voice as a young activist and leader in the community. The following vignette represents an important step in Xion’s journey as she begins a new chapter, moving into the Wanda Alston House, a group home for other youth like her — a “safe space” where she can be Xion all the time.

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All words, photos and video for this story contributed by Dakota Fine.