Recently, I searched for “Cleveland” and found this great picture of the ghetto surrounding downtown:

This far from downtown in any direction that isn't the lake, and you get the same view.

The photo is hosted on a blog called Ghetto America.  The website features pictures of some of the worst landscapes in the United States.

It’s a cool blog, but I do have to object to the name.  Anyway, here’s an interesting excerpt:

Lately I have been getting many e-mails from people in different parts of Europe and Asia, outside the US. that are shocked at these images on this blog. People are saying such things as

“I cant believe that there is really a ghetto in America because America is a rich country..and i always dream of going there too, that’s why I’m very shocked.”

And so forth, this got me thinking. Does most of the rest of the world think that North America is a rich country where we all sit around in leather couches, eating expensive food, counting our gold while lighting our cigars with 100 dollar bills? If you think that way you are completely wrong.

It’s true that if you think estadounidenses are all rich, you are wrong.  But I love how the author has to specify that Europe and Asia are outside of the U.S.

Also, North America is not a country, it is a continent.  Believe it or not, there are two other countries up here with us.

Another example of a continent would be South America.  In fact, when you say “America,” most of the world thinks “North and South America,” NOT the The United States.

I doubt people outside the U.S. are picturing Mexicans or Canadians lounging in leather while lighting cigars with money.

However, I’m sure some people are shocked to learn that this photo was taken in Cleveland, not Cuba:

I went to Koffie’s Coffee on West 25th for breakfast and walked to Gorilla Headquarters on Lorain Avenue.  I decided recently that I’m going to start spray painting, so I’ve been watching graffiti closely to get ideas.

I wish I had a better camera, but I have to admit that for the internet my Blackberry Pearl is OK.  I never bought a memory card, but with the Flickr application I am able to upload the images as soon as they’re taken and just delete them.  By the time I got to the office I already had all my pictures online and tagged.  I did go in and auto-correct them all with Picnik.

To see the rest from today and a few others, check out my Cleveland Street Art flickr set.