Roosevelt Grafitti

As I crouched on the sidewalk shooting this retaining wall in Seattle's Roosevelt neighborhood, I noticed a very senior, petite Asian woman marching toward me with great purpose. I quickly stood up, self-consciously dusted off my derrière, and faced her respectfully. She thought I was a detective from the Seattle Police Department. She shook her finger at me and scolded, "Why you take two year to come investigate?" When I told her that I'm an artist and that I found the grafitti beautiful, she told me the story of how she fled an abusive polygynous marriage in Indonesia forty years ago, and of the children she left behind.