美国国家公共电台 NPR Building Museum Exhibit Chronicles Scourge Of Evictions, Homelessness

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

You know, it's pretty rare for a book about a wrenching¹ social problem to read like great literature. But when "Evicted²: Poverty And Profit In The American City" came out in 2016, it won a Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur genius grant for its author. And now Matthew Desmond can add curator to his list of achievements. A new exhibit at Washington, D.C.'s, National Building Museum is based on his book. And NPR's Neda Ulaby stopped by.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE³: Like a lot of people who've read "Evicted," curator Sarah Leavitt gets teary when she talks about it. Levitt was that moved by its stories of Milwaukee families struggling to stay in low-income housing. When she finished it, she thought...

SARAH LEAVITT: This is a story that I needed to help tell, that this museum needed to help tell.

ULABY: Over the years, Leavitt had curated plenty of exhibitions about houses, but never one about people getting kicked out of them. More than two million Americans get eviction⁴ notices each year. Leavitt imagined a show with small houses you could really enter. But each one seems somehow wrong, with missing roofs or walls.

LEAVITT: It's half gone. It's half empty. The house isn't there anymore. It's not providing that shelter and support for the family.

ULABY: Leavitt emailed author Matthew Desmond, who was thrilled by the chance to help interpret his book in a three-dimensional, tactile⁵ way.

MATTHEW DESMOND: I've been on dozens of eviction moves with sheriffs and movers and landlords. And, you know, seeing what gets piled on the sidewalk is moving and telling - you know, when you see a half-eaten birthday cake or kids' things.

ULABY: So he asked her to make sure the museum showed that kind of stuff that gets left on the street and videos of real people who've lived through evictions.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DESTINY: My name is Destiny (ph). I'm a working mom.

ULABY: People like a working mom whose job cut down her hours. Then she got fined for being five days late with the rent. Less than a week after that came the eviction notice.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DESTINY: It crushes you, but you got to keep moving.

ULABY: The Building Museum exhibition relies on Matthew Desmond's data. One wall's covered with cardboard moving boxes in the shape of the U.S. Each stands for a different state. Their size reflects the number of evictions filed in a recent year.

What's the state with the most evictions?

LEAVITT: Georgia.

ULABY: Curator Sarah Leavitt says the post-recession housing crisis hit the Southeast especially hard due to high rents, stagnant⁶ incomes and limited government help. In Georgia, more than 200,000 eviction notices were filed back in 2015. And in Maryland?

JOHN JONES: One hundred thirty-three thousand, eight hundred thirty-two

ULABY: John Jones (ph), who's from Maryland, visited the exhibit "Eviction" after reading the book.

JONES: It's heavy.

ULABY: Jones was struck by wall text explaining eviction cases in Maryland courts.

JONES: The average case receives only several seconds of attention in the courts.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED JUDGE: The first order of business shall be the call of the list of cases.

ULABY: That's video from a real eviction court in Camden, N.J., says Matthew Desmond.

DESMOND: That really gives you a sense of the chaos⁷ of eviction, how many kids are in eviction court.

ULABY: And he wants it to leave you thinking.

DESMOND: This is not an institution of justice. This is not a place that they go to have their voice heard. This is a place they go to be processed.

ULABY: On the Building Museum walls hang eviction notices from all over the country.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: There's a knock on the door.

ULABY: With wall text read here by an actor.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Whether or not the belongings⁸ are packed, the kids are ready or the new plan is put in place, it no longer matters. The eviction has begun.

ULABY: In an epidemic⁹ that's hurt cities, suburbs, rural areas and towns, everyone is affected¹⁰, the exhibit says, through schools, workplaces and public health.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: There's a knock on the door. It's time.

ULABY: Evictions used to be rare. The exhibit at the Building Museum ends by reminding visitors this is a fixable problem. Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF JULIUS ASTON'S "TRIESTE")

1 wrenching   

n.修截苗根，苗木铲根（铲根时苗木不起土或部分起土）v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的现在分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛

参考例句：

• China has been through a wrenching series of changes and experiments. 中国经历了一系列艰苦的变革和试验。 来自辞典例句
• A cold gust swept across her exposed breast, wrenching her back to reality. 一股寒气打击她的敞开的胸膛，把她从梦幻的境地中带了回来。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

2 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

5 tactile   

adj.触觉的，有触觉的，能触知的

参考例句：

• Norris is an expert in the tactile and the tangible.诺里斯创作最精到之处便是，他描绘的人物使人看得见摸得着。
• Tactile communication uses touch rather than sight or hearing.触觉交流，是用触摸感觉，而不是用看或听来感觉。

6 stagnant   

adj.不流动的，停滞的，不景气的

参考例句：

• Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少，工业生产一直停滞不前。
• Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。

7 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

8 belongings   

n.私人物品，私人财物

参考例句：

• I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
• Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。

9 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

10 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。