Hero's Journey Part 4.
The Tower

As a 26-year-old, I moved to New York City with a friend of mine. We had grand ideas of creating an art cooperative. We and 2 roommates moved into an affordable apartment on a rundown street. After a short period of calm, we understood that the super of our building was an abuser who raged at his family. One night, I woke to a crowd swarming and yelling in front of my building. I heard shots fired, and saw a crowd dispersing from my window. Within an hour, a detective visited my door asking what I'd seen. Days later, I was called into the DA's office for more questioning. During a sequence of calls and interviews, detectives were asking, then demanding that I testify in court about what I'd seen and heard. I was afraid. I told them no, I would not testify for fear of my violent neighbor. The detectives said they might issue me a subpoena, requiring me to appear in court. One day the detectives informed me that another neighbor had stepped in and testified in that case, and I was not needed. A few months later, I moved out of my apartment when the super of my building stabbed a guest at his party.

In Hero's Journey Part 4, Emily Schleiner focuses on a life experience called to mind by the Tower, a Tarot card that tears away solid sense of stability, indicating unexpected change and outer transformation. A gun is fired into a swirling cloud as an image of Emily Schleiner looks on from a window in the background.