Michael Bailey

ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPH:

My picture is a selfie with my Middie hat on. My hoodie, it says ‘My block, my hood, my city.’ And it's in front a place that I call home. I graduated from Milton High School in 1972. And I bleed purple. And I just love my community. I am empowered with just the Middie Pride that I believe needs to be like a wave that everyone's getting on all over this city. 

I took this selfie picture and posted it on my Facebook to say I had Middie Pride when I joined the rest of those individuals in our community that were expressing their middie pride. I do believe it starts with each individual. If you understand Middletown—how it evolved, from a paper mill, steel mill, tobacco, Coca Cola companies—you can understand the different parts of our community. We are a very loving, kind, generous community. We may scrap it a little bit. We may fuss a little bit. But whenever there's a crisis, we come together to make sure that we're protecting one another and demonstrating our pride that we love this city. My 70 plus years in this community, and the struggles and the challenges in life, the racism, the poverty, the classes, I mean, I can go on and on and on. But it's still a wonderful place to raise your kids, a wonderful place to get up in the morning, walk wherever you want to walk, talk to whoever you want to talk to.