The Mystery of the Downward Spiral...(S_S's 2000th post)

[side_show]

And for my 2000th post, I introduce you to a mystery I've been ruminating over for several years:

Back when I was young and more callous, I was a fan of rotten.com, but as I became a more whole human being, I stopped visiting the site.  But... back when it was first posted on the site, I was mesmerized by this series of photos(don't worry, completely safe for work, just don't go 'round to the rest of the site).  So mesmerized that I printed them off and have them in my special "work in progress" file.  The photos tell a story, and somehow, somewhere, I felt that they would find their place in some of my work as a writer.  So today, I was doing my annual purge of files, and there it was again, the photos, with my brief notes.

If you search the net, you will find that this series of photos has been used on sites varying from the fundamental Christian to the pro-anorexic community , all to prove whatever point they want to make about how bad the human condition can get.  People refer to the women depicted as a crack whore, heroin addict, prostitute, meth addict (not likely - look at the dates!), but never, ever by name.

If you're much of an internet person, you've probably seen this set of images before.  I know that since the first time I saw the images on Rotten, I've had them emailed to me via a chain letter about addiction, found it printed (without any story) in a Canadian Magazine, and saw a news story about bill boards of the images being used in the US as part of an anti-drug campaign.  But no one tells the particular woman in the images' story.

Through more searching, I've found brief mention of this image having come from a news article about the woman, printed somewhere in the U.S., and that her name may be Maria Ramos.  This posting is from a long dead message board thread, and people follow up with questions, but the original poster never responds.  Oddly enough, the only other posts I've found in regard to this young woman are by a journalist from my own city, who has created this blog .

Looking at the images, I doubt the last one fits.  I also wonder what's blacked out on all the other placards that she holds - her name?

When searching the name Maria Ramos, I find several references to a Mexican documentary titled "1973" which I can't find locally.  The imdb synopsis notes one of the interview subjects is a Maria Fernando Ramos, refers to her as a drug addict, along with a brief description of a story that would fit with the photos, but no mention of the infamous collections of mug shots, so this could be a dead lead.   (Some other Mexican sites list this woman as Maria Fernanda Ramos Macin).

Several of the searches I made list the woman as having died X number of months after the final photo, but this just smacks of urban legend to me...  How can someone claim to know she's dead if they don't even know her name?  So many varied problems are ascribed to her that they can't possibly all be true!

Since I've spent the last 2000 posts tell y'all stories, can you tell me one?  Who is this girl?  We've got people here from all across the U.S., search engine geniuses and so many smarty-******.  Who can CortJster this one?

I feel that this woman deserves a name.  And that beyond the sometimes exploitative use of her image, there is a human story there worth telling.  Or is that just further exploitation?  I don't know... but all these years, I've carried her image from home to home, wondering... who is she?

[linnea]

When I was living in Denver, similar projects were posted by Denver investigators. I think that there is this pervasive attitude that prostitution is a "victimless" crime, but I vigorously disagree with that. One look at those photos and you realize what these women have  literally gone through hell. The first photo, she could be anyone's daughter. By the middle you are praying that she will find someplace safe and get out of that life somehow, and the end photos are just heartbreaking.

Britons are somehow protected, but apparently it's okay to publish American mug shots. Here are some terrible pictures of another woman who was an addict: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/3973979.stm

[smick]

Acording to a poster on the snopes message board, her name is Maria Ramos

There was a similar picture series that was done by the LAPD of a blonde lady that looks like she collapsed in on herself.

I'm having trouble locating it.

[side_show]

Yeah, I read that too smick.

(Also... I think the other lady you're referring to is the one linnea posted the link to, and is also linked to in the article you linked to yourself... )

[smick]

Well yea, it totally is the lady, however all of them are missing several pictures.   There were more, and the image was more like the one you posted.

Here's a better one.   http://zekesgallery.blogspot.com/2005/03/damien-hirst-does-roseanne-holland-and.html

Though it's not exactly like what you've posted.

This... this is what I was looking for.

http://www.nwsmf.org.uk/english/drugs/crack_image.htm

More recently, I was going to add that perhaps you may be interested in this google thing.  I didn't, because it would have the feeling that I'm being snarky and that you could have looked this stuff up yourself.  That's not what I would be saying.  That statement would be me giving you more information on things that you already know about.   

Because reading is hard, and I have difficulty with it.

Mea culpa.

[linnea]

Acording to a poster on the snopes message board, her name is Maria Ramos

There was a similar picture series that was done by the LAPD of a blonde lady that looks like she collapsed in on herself.

I'm having trouble locating it.

Dammit smick, I just posted the link to the blonde lady on the bbc.co.uk link above:

Britons are somehow protected, but apparently it's okay to publish American mug shots. Here are some terrible pictures of another woman who was an addict: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/3973979.stm

[smick]

Well yea, it totally is the lady, however all of them are missing several pictures.   There were more, and the image was more like the one you posted.

More recently, I was going to add that perhaps you may be interested in this google thing.  I didn't, because it would have the feeling that I'm being snarky and that you could have looked this stuff up yourself.  That's not what I would be saying.  That statement would be me giving you more information on things that you already know about.   

[linnea]

(Also... I think the other lady you're referring to is the one linnea posted the link to, and is also linked to in the article you linked to yourself... )

Heh! I am all pissy, like Pat!

THIS one, smick?

[side_show]

Now now...

Yeah, I've seen those other images too, but the ones I'm talking about were circulated long before those.


As I mentioned in my first post, I have found a few sources claiming her name is Maria Ramos, including the snopes one you mention, but none of these are substantiated.  Some random person on a message board could say anything.  For example: I say that this is a photo of Linnea.  Do you now believe this is a photo of Linnea?  


Don't worry about it kid, your avatar redeems you.

And at any rate, what I'm talking about is the woman's "spiritual" right to a name, and perhaps, more over archingly, the right to an identity beyond her well proliferated mug shots.  This is what I am looking for.  

[theinevitable]

goodness, linnea, I had no idea. You are not the cute one any more.

[linnea]

And at any rate, what I'm talking is the woman's spiritual right to a name, and perhaps the more over achingly the right to an identity beyond her well proliferated mug shots.  This is what I am looking for. 

She definitely has a right to an identity. I hope that people are able to view her photographs and still see her essential humanity behind the pictures. I think that it is her humanity despite addiction that makes the photo set so compelling to me.

Anyway, who decides which photos get used? They have the "Meth Makeover" billboards, and they have the "Faces of Meth" posters and whatnot...how do they decide whose photos to use? How do they get permission to use them? Do they have free license if the individual has since died? Are mug shots somehow public domain? I am confused.

**EDIT: dammit smells, now my reputation is ruined! theinev, I do not look like that.

[theinevitable]

yes, I believe mug shots are in the public domain.

I base this on the time the father of this kid I know (really conservative, large accent, hunts regularly, talks about how Democrats don't have "family values") was arrested for soliciting an underage prostitute. And we found his mug shot.

[Doc]

Linnea I would only feel good things about you if you looked like that.

I found the Maria Ramos thing re-interated on another site by someone who said they'd read it in a newspaper article (I think this is the one you mentioned earlier SS), I messaged the person to see if they could provide further information but the post was made a year ago so I am not hell of hopeful.

[slink]

I'd be proud of being like Pat. I guess I can be...
Aside from the new gay thing. As far as I know.

I had a search around, but no luck other than the, 'it may be a Maria Ramos' thing. You may be out of luck seeing as she appears to have been unnamed at the point she hit the internets, and teh interwebs is not always good at catching that.

[smick]

Now that I've studied up for class, I'm fully on board, Show.

If one of us could get ahold of that documentary that would put the Maria Ramos thing to bed, but just a name kind of misses the point.  You're trying to flesh her out a bit as a person and let the universe know that her suffering didn't go unnoticed under the glaze of the gawkers.

I guess the first thing would be to figure out if she's still alive out there somewhere.