Benita Christian was the subject of a Sunday story in The Day about New London’s Thames River Apartments, otherwise known as the Crystal Avenue high-rises. She was one of 18 people who signed up to testify about her living conditions for a class-action lawsuit that was resolved before it went to trial. Some of our readers, however, did not seem sympathetic to her plight in comments posted to the article.

Would you volunteer to go before a judge and talk about your home life?

When I called Christian a couple of weeks ago and asked to interview her, she welcomed me and photographer Tim Martin into her eighth-floor apartment on Crystal Avenue. She openly discussed her finances and living conditions.

Would you be willing to air your personal information in the newspaper?

A former crack cocaine addict who has been clean and sober for 17 years, Christian works full-time as a recovery aide for Stonington Institute, earning a little more than $13 an hour. She pays $565 to live in the small one-bedroom apartment at the federally subsidized public housing project. She was living with a man prior to moving to Crystal Avenue, but it didn’t work out.

Would you be be satisfied with that salary? Do you think she’s getting her money’s worth at Crystal Ave.?

There’s often urine in the elevators and stairwells, and Christian, who works second shift, often has to walk from the parking lot through a group of young men who probably don’t live there who are smoking and drinking in the courtyard.

Would you like to come home to that environment after a hard day of work?

Christian has made the best of her living situation by decorating her apartment with family photos and other art and keeping it spotless. She said her mother always told her, “It’s not where you live, but how you live.” Eventually, she hopes to move into better housing.

Would you be as positive as she?