The Common Place of Law by Patricia Ewick & Susan S. Silbey

Author:Patricia Ewick & Susan S. Silbey [Ewick, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2014-12-09T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

Against the Law

Bess Sherman

Two of the five buildings remaining on Bess Sherman’s block are empty or boarded up. Standing virtually alone, with vacant lots on either side, Bess’s building seems, at first sight, empty as well. The ground floor of the building is covered with a wall of plywood, painted a bright blue. The door is over to the side, hidden in a recessed foyer. A makeshift buzzer system (a loud doorbell shared by the tenants) summons two young children, who let us in. In the dimly lit hallway, the paint is peeling and the stair treads are badly worn.

Bess Sherman lives at the top of two flights of stairs in a one-bedroom apartment. She’s black and sixty-four years old and has lived in this building for the past twenty-six years. Sitting in her living room, windows open to the street and door open to the hallway, Bess told us, “I got old in this building.” This statement lies somewhere between a boast and a simple report of fact.

The number twenty-six is an important milestone to Bess, marking not only the length of her residence but of her most intimate relationships as well. Her best friend, Agnes Ross, moved in at about the same time twenty-six years ago. Agnes has since moved three times within this relatively small building (with eight apartments), each time to be closer to Bess. When we spoke with Bess, Agnes sat across the hall, her door also ajar, watching TV and occasionally participating in the interview.

My friend lived in this apartment, but she lived in front, and she lived downstairs, and she moved two years ago, then she moved upstairs. [Interviewer: Found a nicer apartment up here?] No, it’s not nicer. I guess we wanted to live closer to each other. See how our doors are open all of the time? As long as we’re both here, we leave them open. When we’re not here we don’t leave them open because it’s still bad, it’s a jungle out there, don’t you know.

Compared to the “jungle out there,” Bess Sherman described the apartment building as a familiar and safe place. A couple of children sat playing on the narrow staircase. A number of apartment doors were open, the collective hum of televisions and radios muffling the traffic outside. Speaking of her building, Bess said,

See, that’s the way we live. In this house we look out for each other, I put it that way. That’s why we don’t just let anybody move into the building. And I’m supposed to be the superintendent . . . That’s why I know what kind of people we have. The landlord, he don’t care. He don’t live here, he lives in [New York], what did he care, all he wants is the rent.

Bess made a number of references to her job as superintendent. She performs a variety of jobs—taking out the garbage, sweeping the halls, and collecting the rents every month—and seems to take her job very seriously, particularly the responsibility of screening prospective tenants.

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