NAG delivers again with this photograph, "Amanda and her Cousin Amy" from 1990. It surfaced again because the photographer, Mary Ellen Mark, died recently.
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In light of Mark's passing, NPR sought to find out more about the two children in the photograph, particularly Amanda: Why was she smoking and wearing makeup and fake nails at age 9? What does she remember of the photo shoot? And what has happened since that sunny afternoon in 1990?
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They found her in Lenoir, N.C., and as you may have guessed the story isn't pretty.
The other girl, cousin Amy says...
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"I mean, I had a rough childhood," Velasquez says. "But I will say this: that youngin', she was put through things that would probably make the hair stand on your head if you really knew."
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By her own admission, Ellison's adulthood is still tumultuous. She has served time in prison and says she is still "surrounded by crazy people and drugs." But she says her life has improved, and she wishes she could talk again with "that photographer lady." "If I had to guess," Ellison says, "I would say she would be, I don't know, overwhelmed with joy that I have made it this far."
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