{"id":11639,"date":"2025-10-22T04:36:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T04:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/11639\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T04:36:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T04:36:35","slug":"see-brooklyn-centre-through-the-super-garden-kidz-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/11639\/","title":{"rendered":"See Brooklyn Centre through the Super Garden Kidz\u2019 eyes"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I first met Ebonie Randle, she was tending to the beehive in one of the handful of lots that make up Shalom & Tranquility Community Garden in the Brooklyn Centre<\/a> neighborhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To the tune of funk classics from a nearby speaker, Ebonie and her beekeeping student, BreJona Whitlock, delicately cracked open a wooden box containing the hive. Smoke billowed from a silver canister and hung in the air. It\u2019s a calming agent for the bees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No honey this year, Ebonie said, but the bees laid hundreds of eggs. That was plenty cause for celebration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the moment, I was struck by the matter-of-fact tenderness Ebonie showed her bees.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

We talked more, and, as it turns out, she had filled out the form for a photowalk with me earlier that day. She told me about her \u201cSuper Garden Kidz.\u201d The group of neighborhood kids and teens hang out at the garden for family-style dinners, literacy lessons, Lego club, movie nights and a host of other programs throughout the growing season.<\/p>\n

It seemed like a no-brainer: Did I want to explore Brooklyn Centre with Ebonie and the Super Garden Kidz? Yes.<\/p>\n

I reached out to the Cleveland Print Room<\/a>, a local arts and education nonprofit, and they lent me instant cameras to make it happen.<\/p>\n

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This photowalk was chaos from the jump \u2014 but the good kind. We started off with a group of about six, but by the time we turned the corner off Ebonie\u2019s street, we had more or less doubled our numbers. Friends, neighbors and siblings started tagging along once they saw us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of my favorite things about this photowalk is the framework Ebonie came up with. She posed a simple question: \u201cWhat makes Brooklyn Centre beautiful to you?\u201d She was curious to see the kids\u2019 perspectives on the neighborhood where she\u2019s lived for most of her life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They did not disappoint. The kids marched through their neighborhood, a bundle of energy with cameras. Some flocked to the same things \u2014 a cat, a mural, a baby in a stroller, a hot dog vendor \u2014 like homegrown paparazzi. Others studied the shapes of flowers or the vines on a grand but faded home.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tempting to lean into the idea that childlike wonder is behind the kids\u2019 breathtaking pictures, but I think it\u2019s something simpler. It\u2019s their honesty. When they saw something they liked, they snapped a picture without overthinking.<\/p>\n

Photography is a language. In that way, the Super Garden Kidz\u2019 pictures are stream-of-consciousness. They don\u2019t just describe Brooklyn Centre \u2013 they show us what it feels like to be a kid there.<\/p>\n

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The Cleveland Print Room\u2019s cameras are digital but print out pictures using instant film. The kids didn\u2019t have unlimited pictures like they would on a cell phone. They had to pick their favorites to print.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Signal Cleveland\u2019s photowalks are conversations about the city\u2019s neighborhoods, guided by the people who live here and reflected in the photos they capture.<\/p>\n

Want to take me on a photowalk around your neighborhood?\u00a0Sign up here.<\/a>\u00a0You can also reach out to me by email and phone:\u00a0michael@signalcleveland.org<\/a>\u00a0\/ (216) 704-0295<\/p>\n

\u2013\u00a0Michael Indriolo, Signal Cleveland\u2019s Visual Journalist<\/p>\n

The cameras also have about two dozen built-in filters. I didn\u2019t spend too much time teaching camera operation, but they very quickly figured it out on their own.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One kid, Sam, talkative and curious, started sifting through the filters. He found one that imitated a fisheye lens. Think \u201890s skateboarding video aesthetic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sun hung low as we walked back into the garden. Sam pointed his camera to the sky, aimed at the pink-orange clouds. The filter was like magic. Later, when he looked at the picture, he saw a view of the earth from space.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like the whole world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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More information about the pictures<\/p>\n

Ebonie and the Super Garden Kidz took all of these pictures on Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025.<\/p>\n

You can see who took each picture, along with some more details about the places and people in them, down below.<\/p>\n

Really quick, I want to thank the Cleveland Print Room for lending me cameras to make this photowalk possible. The\u00a0Cleveland Print Room<\/a>\u00a0advances the art and appreciation of the photographic image in all its forms, by providing affordable access to a community darkroom, gallery exhibitions, educational programs and collaborative outreach.<\/p>\n

I also want to thank\u00a0CatchLight<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Report for America<\/a>\u00a0for supporting my work as Signal Cleveland\u2019s visual journalist. A few years back, they partnered to create a program that places photojournalists in local newsrooms throughout the country. Signal Cleveland and I joined that program in July.<\/p>\n

Homes on Archwood Avenue. Credit: Griffin Randle-Neely<\/p>\n

Bushes lining the sidewalk on Archwood Avenue. Credit: Sam Fuller <\/p>\n

A note Brooklynn wrote reflecting on a picture she took of two Cleveland Police officers. Credit: Brooklynn White<\/p>\n

A cat resting in a driveway next to Shalom & Tranquility Community Garden. Credit: Charlee Malee Burns<\/p>\n

A friend rides his bike alongside the group. Credit: Sam Fuller<\/p>\n

A hot dog vendor on Pearl Road. Credit: Brooklynn White<\/p>\n

A friend rides his bike alongside the group. Credit: Brooklynn White<\/p>\n

A home on Archwood Avenue. Credit: Charlee Malee Burns<\/p>\n

My editor Rachel Dissell and I take a look at some of the kids\u2019 pictures while we walk down Archwood Avenue. Credit: Sariah Fuller<\/p>\n

Cleveland Police officers stand in front of their cruiser for a picture. After the kids got their pictures, the officers let them take turns ringing the cruiser\u2019s siren. Credit: Brooklynn White<\/p>\n

A note Serenity wrote reflecting on a picture she took of two Cleveland Police officers. Credit: Serenity Meyer<\/p>\n

A page from Griffin\u2019s notes. Griffin taped tow pictures onto the page. The first shows his mother Ebonie with neighbors, and the second shows a mural on a tattoo shop on Dennison Avenue. He wrote short reflections about each picture. Credit: Griffin Randle-Neely<\/p>\n

Neighbors sit on the porch of their home on Archwood Avenue. Credit: Sariah Fuller<\/p>\n

Trees lining the sidewalk on Archwood Avenue. Credit: Charlierose Neely<\/p>\n

A note Charlierose wrote reflecting on a picture she took of small flowers blossoming on trees on Archwood Avenue. Credit: Charlierose Neely<\/p>\n

The Super Garden Kidz stand in front of a firetruck at Cleveland Fire Station 20 on Pearl Road. Credit: Ebonie Randle<\/p>\n

A home on Archwood Avenue. Brooklynn White<\/p>\n

Two men sit on a bench outside the Renee Jones Empowerment Center on the corner of Archwood Avenue and Pearl Road. Credit: Charlierose Neely<\/p>\n

A flower blossom in the shape of a heart. Credit: Charlee Malee Burns<\/p>\n

A baby in a stroller on a walk down Pearl Road with her mother. Credit: Samir<\/p>\n

Vines and trees growing over a home. Credit: Griffin Randle-Neely<\/p>\n

Serenity Meyer. Credit: Sariah Fuller<\/p>\n

Ebonie Randle and her children Charlierose Neely and Griffin Randle-Neely. Credit: Serenity Meyer<\/p>\n

A home on Archwood Avenue. Credit: Charlierose Neely<\/p>\n

A note Charlierose wrote reflecting on a picture she took of a home on Archwood Avenue. Credit: Charlierose Neely<\/p>\n

The sky, seen through a fisheye filter. Credit: Sam Fuller<\/p>\n

A note Sam wrote reflecting on a picture he took of the sky. Credit: Sam Fuller<\/p>\n

Super Garden Kidz hold spotted lanternflies on their hands. Credit: Samir<\/p>\n

A note Samir the sun setting over a home next to Shalom & Tranquility Community Garden. Credit: Samir<\/p>\n

A cat resting in a driveway next to Shalom & Tranquility Community Garden. Credit: Sariah Fuller<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I first met Ebonie Randle, she was tending to the beehive in one of the handful of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,9266,100,99,9267,9268,9269,9,24,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-11639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brooklyn","8":"tag-brooklyn","9":"tag-brooklyn-centre","10":"tag-brooklyn-headlines","11":"tag-brooklyn-news","12":"tag-cleveland","13":"tag-cleveland-photowalks","14":"tag-k-12-education","15":"tag-new-york","16":"tag-new-york-city","17":"tag-nyc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}