Occupy Wall Street

 

 

Exposed: The American Dichotomy

To fully realize the affects of things like movements, protests, even elections, one must wait. The responsibility to evaluate the impact of an event of that nature lies in the hands of the historians — to try to evaluate them in the moment, while you are sure the affects are still evolving, is difficult, imprecise, and often incomplete. Writing this, four years after the first tents were pitched in Zuccotti Park, it’s obvious that the impact of Occupy Wall Street is incomplete. In fact, it’s fair to argue that its impact is still in its beginning stages. While many viewed the Occupy Wall Street movement as leaderless and lacking a clear path to action, the coming together of all different kinds of people brought attention and light to an issue that affects, well, 99% of us, and it brought the extreme problem of income inequality into the national conversation. The protests and occupations, no matter how they were erected or maintained,  sparked debate and forced politicians and pundits to start talking about this monstrous issue.  Their actions helped the nation realize that everyone is in this together — and even branded us with the unifying vocabulary to describe it all: the 99% vs the 1%.

Occupy Wall Street’s inception was in an unlikely place: Canada. In mid July of 2011, the Canadian anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters began the idea for the occupation to be on September 17th,  American’s Constitution Day, calling for “20,000 people to flood lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months” (Adbusters). Soon after, other activist groups began working together to make the occupation a reality. A month before the occupation began, a blog was launched entitled We Are the 99%, and it “encouraged contributors to post complaints about how the 99 percent have been set against each other, fighting over the crumbs the 1 percent leaves behind” (WeAreThe99%). Beginning on September 17th, 2011, 1,000 protesters began to occupy Zuccotti Park and participate in the first march on Wall Street, as well as a protest in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Within only a few days, the “Occupy movement spread to Chicago, where protesters marched from the Willis Tower to the Federal Reserve Bank” (Greene). Chicago, Portland, San Francisco, Oakland, Minneapolis, Madison, Washington DC and Boston all saw, at some point, occupations, protests, or both. President Obama finally spoke out on October 6th, saying “I think it expresses the frustrations the American people feel, that we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country … and yet you’re still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on the abusive practices that got us into this in the first place.” On October 15th, the Global Day of Action, thousands marched from lower Manhattan to Times Square, as well as in various cities within Asia, Europe, and Australia. The main occupation of Zuccotti Park lasted from September 17th through November 15th, when NYPD forcibly evicted everyone from the park. For the following year, smaller protests and demonstrations still popped up throughout the country, even though the main occupation was over. Adbuster’s call to action had manifested itself beyond it’s wildest dreams, and above all else it began forcing politicians to talk about wealth in America.

The main time line of the occupation and the demonstrations nationwide happened to coincide with the 2012 election cycle, and Republican candidates were quick to opine about its merits. While anchors often had them on to talk about the protests and the occupation itself, it inevitably lead to glimpses into their beliefs, and began a conversation about their opinions on wealth inequality. Most notably, and representative of a majority of the Republican candidates, Herman Cain said “Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!” This same sentiment was all over the Fox News Network, with their most prominent host, Bill O’Reilly saying: “Most of these people don’t know the big picture. They’re just out there protesting whatever beef they may have. The commonality here is that the protesters despise capitalism, believing it unfair,” and then went on to call them dangerous, violent, and loons, two of which could be proved definitively not true as Occupy was known for being surprisingly civil. Prominent figures from the left voiced support, with then Speaker Pelosi saying “I support the message to the establishment…change has to happen. We cannot continue like this. People are angry.” President Bill Clinton voiced the most enthusiastic support yet in an interview with Forbes magazine: “I think what they’re doing is great,” he said. “Occupy Wall Street has done more in the short time they’ve been out there than I’ve been able to do in more than the last eleven years trying to draw attention to some of the same problems we have to address.” While he did believe that their lack of a platform was a downfall, he believes that it ignited a national conversation. While these representatives of each political party seem starkly different, mainstream America seem to lack the same contrast.

In a piece for Slate, Jordan Weissmann dissects the results of two studies from 2011 completed by Dan Ariely from Duke University and Michael Norton from Harvard — its results will both bring you hope and despair. In the 1st study, “participants were shown three unlabeled pie charts meant to depict possible wealth distributions: one that was totally equal; one based on Sweden’s income distribution, which is highly egalitarian; and one based on the U.S. wealth distribution, which is wildly skewed toward the rich.” The subjects were then asked where they would like to live if they would be assigned a spot on that economic ladder randomly, leaving their fate to chance but within the economy of their choice. Surprisingly, with American’s general abhorrence to anything related to the word socialism, “92 percent of Americans opted for Sweden’s pie chart over the United States,” with Sweden being one of the most socialist countries in the world. Weismann goes on to reference that 45% of Republicans specifically believe we need to address income inequality, even if there are partisan divides on how to do it.

The second study that Weismann refers to helps to explain why Americans find themselves overwhelmingly choosing the economy that depicts a country drastically more egalitarian, though not equal, than America itself. He asked participants to make two estimation graphs, one of how wealth would be distributed in an ideal world, and one of how they believe it actually is distributed in American today. “Americans had little idea how concentrated wealth truly was. Subjects estimated that the top 20 percent of U.S. households owned about 59 percent of the country’s net worth, whereas in the real world, they owned about 84 percent of it. In their own private utopia, subjects said that the top quintile would claim just 32 percent of the wealth.”

In a short You-Tube documentary, a group entitled “Politizane” helped everyone understand this study better. In it, the narrator puts it this way: “The top 1% has more of the country’s wealth than 9 out of 10 American’s believe the entire top 20% should have. The ideal is as far removed from our perception of reality, as the actual distribution is from what we think exists in this country.” While how unaware we are is startling, there is also hope within this. People are agreeing, “people from all walks of life—Democrats and Republicans, rich and poor, all over the world—have a large degree of consensus in their ideals: Everyone’s ideals are more equal than the way they think things are” (Ariely). This leads to two conclusions: One being that, as a whole, Americans are completely clueless as to how bad it really is. Secondly, we unanimously agree that there is too much inequality, even if we disagree on when there will be enough and how to go about getting more of it.

The results of those studies make it easier to believe this: 59% of Americans said they strongly supported Occupy Wall Street. Another statistic shows only 27% of Americans in opposition to a 5% surtax on those earning $1 million or more per year (Cooper). With an overwhelming majority of people supporting Occupy Wall Street’s cries, and agreeing that the path to resolution should begin with increased taxes on the wealthy, the next logical step would be politicians speaking out, attempting to be the voice for this issue that was finally being articulated. And while there isn’t definitive proof, I’d bet that there is a correlation between the protesters and supporters of Occupy to the millions of Democrats flocking to the likes of Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who, just a few years ago, would have seemed like unelectable radicals.

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, elected in 2012, quickly rose to fame in the wake of the economic recession and of Occupy Wall Street. As the conversations began about the 2016 race, more and more people began bringing up her name. A group entitled “Run Warren Run” has been attempting to draft her into the race due to her position as “the anointed leader of the most progressive portion of her party” (Kruse). In a piece about the draft efforts, Noam Scheiber of the New Republic spoke about this, saying that there are “a majority of Democratic voters, who are angrier, more disaffected, and altogether more populist than they’ve been in years. They are more attuned to income inequality than before the Obama presidency and more supportive of Social Security and Medicare. They’ve grown fonder of regulation and more skeptical of big business.” He goes on to say that voters under 30, who identify as overwhelmingly Democratic, “are increasingly hostile to Wall Street and believe that the government should rein it in.” Based on participation in Occupy Wall Street following the financial crash, and even more importantly, the media coverage of it, people were starting to learn about and comprehend the hurdles we are faced with, and their reactions are unmistakably progressive. In response to the question of just how progressive, realize that voters under 30 now “view socialism more acceptable than capitalism” (Shreiber). Cue Bernie Sanders.

Even more than Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders is the answer to the cries of the core Occupy crowd. A self-proclaimed democratic socialist, Sanders has even gained the support of Occupy itself, with a headline on their website stating “Why Bernie Sanders is the Only Populist Candidate for President.” In Sander’s announcement speech, he asked a few rhetorical questions that are perfectly emblematic of why he is the embodiment of the spirit of Occupy:

• “How does it happen that despite a huge increase in technology and productivity, Americans are working longer hours for lower wages?”
• “Income for the median family is about $5,000 less than that same family earned in 1999. How does that happen? Why?”
• “The top 14 people in America, between 2013 and 2015, saw a $157 billion increase in their wealth. That’s more wealth in a two-year period than what the bottom 40 percent of American people have. Is this what the people want, or is this economy rigged completely in favor of the wealthy?”

When he announced, the beltway press did not give him a chance at winning the nomination — they didn’t even really view him as a valid candidate. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC interviewed Sanders and disagrees with the beltway, not believing that he’ll necessarily win, but that he is doing extremely well for a candidate that other news stations aren’t giving a chance. He’s drawing huge crowds and raising more money in the first few days than any candidate on the Republican side, all without the aid of super PACs or billionaires. Huffington Post even wrote a piece entitled “Dear America: Meet Bernie Sanders. Properly, This Time,” after his unpredictably successful launch. Sanders is undoubtedly the voice of the occupiers and supporters alike, and “by critiquing [Hillary Clinton] from the left, he could pull her in his direction in order to satisfy primary voters,” and lead to an overall more progressive Democratic campaign, even if he isn’t the nominee (Waldman).

It will never be known whether or not his candidacy, or the surge in popularity for Warren, would have been possible if not for Occupy, but the correlation does exist, and there was undoubtedly a shift in the climate of opinion regarding wealth inequality in America during and after the occupation. It is unlikely that the affects of Occupy Wall Street will ever be fully known, but coupled with the economic recession, there is little doubt that this will be historically marked as a turning point in how we view what is truly the modern issue of our time. While racism and sexism still fully exist in today’s society, this distinction of social class and the lack of social mobility due to inequality, is truly the overarching issue of our time.

When I began delving deeper into the subject of American inequality and the systemic roots of what caused the financial crash, I was in awe. I couldn’t believe everyone had let it get this bad, couldn’t believe we let this all happen. My heart ached for the epitome of the 99%: the person that worked 3 jobs and still found themselves living in squalor, and my blood boiled at the thought that all the financial titans in charge then are not now behind bars. My mind failed to comprehend how we can allow Congress to be bought and sold like a precious commodity, and how we can spend trillions of dollars on a war based on lies, and welcome our troops back from that same war and allow them to become homeless — flinching at every sound because we can’t even provide proper health care. It makes me want to scream at the top of my lungs. It is often said, in regards to a number of things, that if thing A happens, the result will be “marching in the streets.” It is an overused phrase that often really means that the country will collectively sigh and shake it’s proverbial head. But Occupy was different. It was started by a group of people who didn’t know what else to do other than to, literally, start marching in the streets. So I can’t help but smile when people say “it’s wasn’t organized,” or “there was no agenda or leader.” I smile because that meant it was real, it means it was real people fighting for real change in the only way they knew how. It wasn’t a well oiled, fully funded, properly marketed, non-profit political organization — it was Americans that were mad as hell.

Driving to California – iPhone Style

Reflection of the Salt Lake Mormon Temple

At the end of August, I will be leaving the Chicago area and moving to Santa Cruz, California to begin school at the University of California-Santa Cruz. My mom moved out there early, so my friend and I drove her car to her filled to the brim with things for my dorm.

Truck stop history

We drove through Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California before reaching our final destination. It was a total blast, and it was a great way to wrap up the summer and prepare to move.

Yosemite

I brought my camera, however there is an astoundingly small amount of picture worthy things in the places we drove through. Most of these are from the few days we spent in Santa Cruz once we got there before heading back home. All of them were shot with my iPhone using the Hipstamatic app. Enjoy!

Yosemite

Feeding the ducks

Peace protest

 

Golden Gate

China town

Art

Art is free

For my AP Art class, our version of the AP test is a thematically related 12 piece compilation of images from the whole year, exploring an idea. The exploration is supposed to get deeper, and the quality is supposed to grow all year as well (1-12).

With it, I am able to include a 500 character statement explaining my theme:

Art is free. It’s in the graffiti you drive by everyday; in the depths of the abandoned buildings you forgot existed; or hiding within a new perspective that makes you clearly see again how beautiful this world is. Throughout my concentration, I used my camera as a tool to explore the “free art” that surrounds us everyday. I chose graffiti, decay, and new perspectives as the forms of free art to focus on because they are the ones most easily missed by our fast-paced society. 

Europe Trip Day 8

We had the whole day in Barcelona today, which was wonderful! Out of both of my trips to Europe, Barcelona is my favorite city by far. We began the day with a city tour with a local guide, and were able to drive through the Olympic Village and the Gothic quarter.  

From the Olympics in Barcelona

 

Europe Trip Day 7

Today we traveled from France and into Spain, which was nearly a 7 hour drive. We stopped for lunch in an adorable French town, Collioure, 15 miles from the border. After admiring the sea, we had a great lunch as the French military did drills in the ocean and then ran past us repeatedly. After a few more hours in the bus, we finally made it to our hotel in Barcelona. After a quick check in, we took the subway to Las Ramblas, a wonderful shopping and performing arts street. We explored a huge market and did a little shopping before going to get the best dinner of the whole trip, tapas!

We enjoyed my favorite, shown above, which was fried mozzarella with shrimp inside. We also had chicken and vegetable kabobs, a fish dish with crostinis, and a spectacular caesar salad with parmigiano reggiano flakes. I will definitely be getting these again.

Europe Trip Day 6

 

Our first stop this morning was the Pont du Gard, an aqueduct built by the Romans 2000 years ago. We hiked to the aqueduct and were able to walk across it and then go to the museum depicting how it was built. We then traveled another hour or so to the city of Nimes. We had free time to get lunch at a local french market and go into a few shops. 

We were then able to go on an audio tour of an Amphitheatre similar to the colosseum but much smaller. 

 

Another fun day was concluded with dinner at the hotel and some free time, in which we discovered our airline was on strike. Panicked phone calls back and forth from home ensued on whomever’s phone had minutes on it. We all sort of wanted to be stranded in Barcelona, but we also realized we would probably just be stranded at the airport for up to a week or more, so we were not looking forward to it. 60 people in one group, 48 kids that have to be with chaperones, needing to be on a new plane all together with a new airline from a new airport would have been tricky. Luckily, Lufthansa striked Thursday and Friday, then the following Monday and that entire week. Normal service on Saturday and Sunday, and we escaped Sunday morning. Close call!

 

Europe Trip Day 5

 

Today we left Nice to drive to the Provence region, but because of the long drive, we stopped for a day trip in Avignon. We were able to tour the city on our own, and then go on a guided tour of the Papal Palace. 

 

 

Most of the day was spent driving, but even that was fun! We had internet the night before, so we came prepared with games to pass the time. Our tour guide, Alex, was also able to put on a movie for us in the bus, which helped to make the trip go by much faster. Tonight we are staying in beautiful apartment style rooms and having a late dinner in the hotel. 

Europe Trip Day 4

Unlike all the mornings so far, we did not have to pack today. We ate a nice breakfast and made our way back to the bus for a 45 minute drive to a town called Eze. This small town is known for its Perfumerie, Fragonard, and we got a tour of the factory.

 

They showed us how they extract the essence of the local flowers, and how they make the perfume and soaps. We then spent some time in their shop, where we all realized that it was a bit more expensive than we thought. I bought a ducky shaped lemon soap for a little kid I babysit and a bottle of lemon verbena cheap perfume. A 1 oz bottle of the good stuff was €35, close to $50 USD. Not happening.

We were then given an hour of free time to hike to the small town of Eze, which was truly a hike. There were decrepit stairs carved into the mountain, and we finally zig zagged our way to the top. We walked through a castle built for defense of the hilltop town, and through a couple small shops built within the caverns of the mountain. It took so long to hike up we had to head back fairly soon, but not before we got some photos of the incredible view.

Once we got back on the bus, we headed to Monaco, which somehow is it’s own country no matter that it is 1 sq mile. Home to the rich and famous and the Monte Carlo casino, we were in for a treat.

We parked the bus in a parking garage and walked to the top via botanical gardens which were stunning. The Mediterranean Sea was finally what I remembered it to be, and I was again mesmerized by the vivid varying shades of blue.

We had 2 hours of free time to shop, eat, and explore. We watched the pomp and circumstance changing of the guards at their parliament building, and then explored a bunch of touristy shops. I didn’t love the stores or the glamour, but there were the best views of the water so far. I got a ham and cheese sandwich for lunch, and a hat for my friend. I caught up with a different group and we tried to get away from the touristy parts and find cooler areas. We found an adorable crepe shop inside this alleyway and indulged in a giant Nutella crepe. We then walked to the park bordering the water for more incredible views, and took our time getting back to the bus. My friends and I found our tour guide and hung out with her for a while on an overlook before heading back. I’m still amazed how much freedom we are given, and even more amazed that we are always able to find our way back to the meeting places, the bus, or the hotels totally on our own.

We left Monaco around 2 and headed back toward Nice. We stopped at Florian Chocolate Factory and got a tour and some time in their gift shop. Like the perfumerie, they use local flowers in some of their chocolates and sweets. I was able to try sugar coated flower petals and violet and rose chocolate. After buying a few goodies, we boarded the bus again back to the center of town. We stopped at the main square, where we could then choose whether or not we wanted to go to the New Town, or the Old Town for 3 hours of free time. The New Town consisted of shows like you would find on 5th avenue, and Old Town were the unique boutiques and cobblestone alleys. We headed for Old Town and ended up finding the beach, which was a natural pebble beach. We collected some cool stones and then hiked the mountain behind Old Town toward a waterfall. We asked for directions in French multiple times and made our way.

 

We discovered a lot of beautiful lookout posts and a Jewish cemetery with quite a view. We eventually made it to the waterfall at the top and hung out after getting some great photos. We made our way back down the way we came and had a few minutes to shop in Old Town. We then walked a couple blocks back to our meeting place and then headed to dinner as a group. A vegetable quiche was followed by a meat dish and caramel covered sponge cake. We got back to our hotel at a record early of 8:30, and hung out in our room and on our balcony with friends. By 10:30 we all had to be in our own rooms to prepare for the early wake up of 6 to head to the bus for Provence!

Europe Trip Day 3

Today, we got up, ate breakfast, and got on the bus by 8:00. We traveled to Cinque Terra, which literally means 5 lands or villages. Serjo, our bus driver, took us to a town at the bottom of the mountain and we all took a train up to the first village. After 10 minutes flying up the side of a mountain overlooking the Mediterranean, we stopped at the first village for an hour of free time.

We walked together to the center of town, and then went our own ways and into adorable little shops. I got my mom a tin of olive oil and a bag of pasta from this tiny old Italian guy whose shop was actually inside of a cave overlooking the water. We went in a few more shops and then made our way back to the meeting place. We caught the next train up to the 4th town, and spent 2 hours there. It was much larger but just as beautiful and quant. We were supposed to get lunch here, so we all went off and found where we wanted to eat before shopping. I had a personal sized Margarita pizza that was made on a focaccia and baked in a stone fire pit. We ate and sang The Eye of the Tiger, which for some reason was on the radio (our school fight song) and then went exploring. After stopping in most of the stores, I was able to buy a beautiful pair of lava stone earrings for my mom and two bracelets for friends.

I ended with meeting up with my friend from AP Art on the trip, and we decided to explore the back alleys and back roads in our free time. I wanted to take photos and he wanted to take pics of things he wanted to paint when he got back.

We still had extra time, so we found a few more stores and looked for gifts for mutual friends. We found a small stone cathedral in the middle of the road with candles in it, and we both lit one for those we have lost. We then grabbed some gelato and headed back to the train around 2. We met back up with Alex, our tour guide, and made our way back to the bus at the base of the mountain. A few more hours passed and we a arrived in Nice. We got dropped off a few blocks from the hotel so she could point a few meeting places out, and because our bus was too obnoxiously big to fit down the streets. This hotel was also family run, and super old. The elevator was incredible; it only held two people and looked just like the one from the Lizzie McGuire movie. You had to pull the first large metal door open and then slide the other door across, then close both and slowly make it upwards. Because we were in a hurry, most of us ended up climbing the stairs with all of our bags. Now, in Europe, when you are on the 4th floor you have to remember you started on floor 0 not 1, so we ended up walking up 5 flights of stairs with all of our luggage. We then ran back down and headed to dinner. Somehow, 1 of the teachers thought a kid was still at the hotel and was waiting for them (there wasn’t) and 2 other teachers (husband and wife) didn’t make it back down in time to leave with us. They are so worried about forgetting or losing kids that they never thought to count the chaperones. The husband of the one teacher finally realized his wife was missing, and we only then realized the other couple was to. We called the hotel and they were not there, plus their phones don’t work, so a bit of a panic ensued. We kept walking toward dinner though, and eventually learned that they had lost us around a corner and gave up and went to dinner on their own. After a late dinner, we walked back to the hotel and went to bed.

Also got got another piece for my AP Art Concentration!

 

Europe Trip Day 2

Day 2 Milan – Tuscany – Viareggio

The next morning, we woke up to a wonderful breakfast in the hotel, in which I think everyone indulged in multiple espresso shots. We then boarded the bus into the center of Milan, where we happened to need to get exactly one block further than allowed due to a marathon.

We watched the marathon and cheered, which was a blast, and were then told to run when we could. So there we are, a bunch of teenage American tourists, randomly running through a bunch of Italians in race gear and spandex. On the other side of the marathon awaited the church containing The Last Supper, which was spectacular. Learning about the how Romans kept it safe through the wars was especially interesting, but already knowing most of the history, I was most fascinated by the conspiracy theories surrounding every detail of this painting. Unlike the disappointment that swelled inside me when we saw the Mona Lisa 2 years ago in Paris, this wall sized masterpiece was made to impress. It is so delicate now that you have to walk into a chamber and the air has to be purified before the door to the actual room will open. After years of trying, it looks like they will finally be able to protect this treasure forever.

Having gone to see it in 2 groups, we were able to have 30 minutes of free time after. My friends and I went to Cafe Grazie across the street for the best cappuccino in world history. Standing at the bar doing espresso shots and speaking the little Italian we knew was exactly what I wanted this trip to be. 

 

We then boarded the bus for a 3 1/2 hour drive to Tuscany. We pulled into white caps on the Mediterranean, which is odd, and noticed that it was very windy. As we parked the bus, I literally watched a huge tree slowly pull out of the ground and crunch the cutest white fiat ever. No one was in the car thankfully, so it was pretty amusing to see. We then walked a few blocks to our hotel and checked into our rooms. After a quick unpack and checkin, we met back downstairs for a short walking tour of the town and one of our teachers bought us all gelato on the beach. We then walked to the stunning beach, took a few pictures and then explored the town on our own. We had 2 hours before we had to meet back at the hotel, and there is nothing better than free time to do what we please. We went into the adorable shops, i got a beautiful scarf, and on the walk back we found amazing cobblestone alleys behind the stores. We met back at the hotel around 7 for a fantastic dinner. The first plate consisted of 5 small portions of local delicacies, the second plate was incredible baked lasagna, the third was tiramisu. The hotel was family run, so all of the food had that great homeade feel. Because we were at the hotel already, we then could just go to bed, which was welcomed by all after a long jet lagged day.

After running down 3 flights of stairs to buy wifi for the night, my friends stopped me at the door and begged me to go grab another towel. We had 4 people and 3 towels, so I went downstairs and asked one of the teachers. She didn’t know so we went together to the front desk and she asked the man standing there. After about 3 minutes of awkwardness, it was clear he knew absolutely no English and that we knew absolutely no Italian. After being offered a free computer to use in the lobby and a bottle of water, and after resorting to a sort of strange charades, we asked the tour leader teacher what to do. He google translated it on his phone, and showed it to the man. I then waited 10 more minutes and finally got another towel. When I got up to the room, I told this whole story to my friend. My other friend then came out of the shower and immediately said “oh we found that other towel.” After a good 5 minutes of uncontrollable laughter, they joked that I could have 2 now and then I proceeded to take a shower, in which I forgot any of the towels and was left with none. This entire situation caused a good hour of intense laughter, and with even the slight mention of a towel, I can induce hysterical laughter from all of us. While the sites and towns are memorable on this trip, moments like this are equally as fun and treasured.

I also think I found another photo for my AP Art Concentration – with the theme of urban decay.

Europe Trip Journal Day 1 – Milan

Have you ever been so tired that you don’t even understand what is going on? After landing in Milan after a 9 hour flight from Chicago to Frankfurt, a 5 hour layover in Frankfurt, and another 1 hour flight to Milan, we literally couldn’t even remember what country we were in. All of us, including the teachers, went to school for a half day, so by the time we went to bed, we had been awake for 44 hours straight. It was a combination of slap happy and downright crabbiness, and add on to that a 3 hour walking tour in the rain. There is nothing more difficult than the dichotomy within you when you know how lucky you are to be in such an incredible place, and yet you hate everything and want to go to bed more than you want to continue breathing.

The first stop in Milan was the Duomo, an ancient gothic cathedral, second in size to St. Peter’s Basilica.

 

We were given some free time, in which we were allowed to stray from the group and just meet back later. We met in the square in front of the Duomo, and were repeatedly assaulted with extremely friendly, low flying pigeons. Locals would sell seeds to tourists and the pictures of people with pigeons on their arms are priceless. It was also quite a nightmare for the few that were deathly afraid of birds!

 

We then met up with a Milan tour guide and she wore a microphone and spoke into it while we had headphones. It worked great until we got outside and it was raining, and for some reason she became inaudible. We walked for a good mile with no idea where we were going, and then we got to a large castle. We were so tired and bored that in order to stay awake, we just started taking a bunch of selfies in which we look like drowned rats. Drowned, exhausted, rats.

We finally made our way back to the bus and then to dinner. We had spaghetti with Bolognese for a starter, then a veal dish, followed by chocolate dessert. When we finally got to the hotel, I was barely able to speak I was so exhausted. The teachers that come on the tour come to check that we are in the rooms at 10 every night, and making it until 10 was a huge challenge. After a quick shower, some serious converter issues and importing my pictures, I was out like a light.

No Trespassing

Shot at a 15 second exposure straight up an open silo

So I’ve officially broken a law. I am one of those kids that always wins at games like “never have I ever,” except most people think those kids are lying. I don’t lie about it, I just really am that boring and rule/law abiding. However, this past weekend, my friend and I broke into an abandon coal fueled power plant in Chicago. Perhaps the fact that I consider climbing through a barbed wire fence and ignoring giant no trespassing sings is “breaking the law” is truly the best example of just how not law breaking I am :).I found the site on http://www.roadtrippers.com, which is amazing for anyone looking for a fun weekend or an incredible photo adventure. I am doing urban decay for my concentration for AP Art and the above photo is the first one in the series of 12. The rest are just fun. Enjoy!

I believe…

For the past two months or so, I have been helping to plan an art show in my community comprised of all the high schools in the district. The basic things were completed with ease – press releases were written, flyers were designed, and art was hung. I do this whole thing a lot – helping to plan events for the venue in which the show was held. This time was a little different though, more joy and excitement was added because I was a part of the show, and because I got to work with someone that I could write about for pages, but will leave you with that she simply is a terrific steward to the artistic future of my community.

As the show grew closer, the stress grew slightly as well. All I could really do was hope that we had done enough to get the word out. When you’re a part of the planning, it is easy to forget the entirety of what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. I knew that it would be great for the community to see the artistic abilities of the students, and I knew that it would be exciting for the students to see their work in a gallery, but what truly transpired was beyond my hopes.

The show began at 6pm, and by 5:15 people were arriving. We all ran to change and get ready, got everyone in their places. People started arriving, and never stopped. Thrilled, I constantly was walking around, overhearing people and talking to them.

Before I continue, I should say that just like most schools in America, the arts are not “prioritized,” per se. As an art student, working with an art teacher, there was an intrinsic motivation within both of us to show off the work we have all created together, and to give students the chance to show their possibly unsupportive parents their work up in a professional setting.

That being said, seeing so many teachers from my school, along with my Principal and Dean, was deeply rewarding. I heard many times over that they knew that there were art classes going on, but never dreamed anything like this was being created. I don’t know if anything will transpire directly because of this show, but I think that it will change the way that all of the them will look at art teachers and art students alike.

What was even more meaningful to me than hearing that from teachers was hearing it from the community and parents. As I walked around, I was constantly hearing things such as “You made that? Seriously?!” and “I’m so proud of you.” My favorite moment though was when I overheard a father whisper to his wife “maybe she can do this,” as their daughter held up a sign for a photo saying “I’m off to art school.” I also saw many students with parents whom I knew did not support them going to art school. As a Senior, college is on the mind of everyone, and for students who want to go to art school, many are running into parental roadblocks. For these students, I really believe that this show could have helped them get to where they want to go.

As 8 o’clock approached, I grabbed the counter from the greeters in the front that tracked how many people came. Seeing 558 was astonishing and I ran to show my teacher.

Out of everything I have assisted with at The Dole ( the venue ), I don’t think anything has ever had a greater impact upon so many people. I am not naive enough to think that this show was completely life altering for all of the attendees, but I do believe that the next time a student brings up art school, parents are going to think twice. I believe that the next time a family sits down for dinner, they will ask if the student has made anything else in school. I believe that teachers will pause before yelling at a student sketching in class. I believe that teachers will view the students in the show differently, and for the better. I believe that community members will drive by high schools and have a fond memory instead of the negativity associated with teenagers. I believe that students will create more art after seeing theirs hanging in a gallery with hundreds of people admiring it. If any of these things happen to even one person, it was worth it. But based on what I saw last night, it effected many, many, more than that.

Love Thy Self

Everyday when I walked into my third grade class room, my teacher would have us sing a song, then hug the people next to us, and then hug ourselves. Yes, hug ourselves. I didn’t see the meaning of that act then, but today, it is all I can think about.

I texted a friend of mine the other day, saying, “be nice to you please.”

While this text had a comedic ring to it, I really meant it. Nothing breaks my heart more than when people I care about are blind to the things I so love about them. I don’t know if this is common, I don’t know where this feeling came from, but I truly find it incredibly sad.

Everyday I get to be with one of the most caring and inspiring people I’ve ever met – and I cherish every moment to not only also be inspired by her, but also to witness and learn from how she inspires others. Every second of every day, she goes above and beyond what is necessary and positively impacts lives because of it. Her heart has room in it to care about so many people – and her mind has room in it to constantly be thinking of ways to help and inspire these people further. She dedicates her time, her energy, and her spirit to everything she does. She believes in people oftentimes much more than they believe in themselves, and has an unwavering desire to do what is right instead of what is expected or required.

And yet, I constantly hear her saying the things to herself that she would yell at someone if they were saying it to themselves. Heart breaking is a dramatic term, but it literally makes me ache.

Some say it’s humility – and I get that. But there’s a difference between truly not having self worth or pride in any of your actions, and being humble. You have to realize there is something to be proud of before you can be humble, and that is the step I find it so sad people aren’t able to take. I want people to own their accomplishments and be able to recognize when they make an impact on someone’s life. I truly believe that when you are aware, you are proud, and what you are proud of, you can learn to live by and enhance. When all we focus on is our flaws, it’s depressing – and while we do learn from our mistakes, we don’t grow by dwelling on them. No one is perfect, but some people are really fucking awesome and deserve to know it.

 

A Day…6 years in the making.

When I was in 6^th grade, I read a book about a high school senior taking a class called Humanities. He was learning about religions and cultures and he said a line I will never forget: “Humanities class taught me how to cohabitate better with my fellow humans.” I don’t remember much else about the book – not even the title; but I do remember that I finished it with one goal: get to senior year and take that class! When I finally got to high school, I saw a play titled The Laramie Project. This play depicted the reaction to the murder of a gay student, Mathew Shepard, in Laramie, Wyoming while attending University of Wyoming. I saw it on a Friday night, brought my parents back Saturday night, and on Sunday they came back with many of their friends. It was truly remarkable. I went with a friend of mine who was a year ahead of me, and I asked her immediately who the teacher was introducing/producing it. He looked so proud – and I was just convinced that someone who would choose that play and be that proud of it must be spectacular. I then went to my first improv show, of which I saw the same teacher again hosting it, and by that time I had heard many rumors of his greatness. At my school, there are teachers that kids literally hate, teachers that are neutral and never get talked about, and the teachers that kids worship. He’s one of the worshipped ones, and guess what class he teachers? Humanities!

First day of senior year finally was upon me, and I finally got to walk into Mr. Kingston’s Humanities class. It was a really neat experience for me to truly attain a goal I had for so long. I realize this is a bit odd, but I’m a bit odd. Anyway, I couldn’t control the ear to ear smile for at least the first week of his class. The class is honestly exactly what I expected and more.

Anyway, this long introduction was all leading to a field trip I took for his class. We went to a mosque, the Bahai temple, the House of Blues for lunch, an architecture cruise, a catholic church, and a Hindu Mandir in Bartlett.

The first stop, the mosque, was definitely the most eye-opening. I don’t think any of the girls on the trip, including myself, had ever experienced being treated differently because of our gender. We were ushered in a separate, back door, and made to sit upstairs overlooking the men in the actual worship hall. You had to look through glass and we could only hear what the men were saying through a sound system. I knew this would happen and was expecting it, but when I realized that I was looking through one way glass and that they couldn’t even see me, I was really moved. We were literally hidden.

The men downstairs took turns speaking about many different aspects of their faith – and let’s just say they had a really good PR person write all of their speeches. I learned much more from what they didn’t say than what they did say. Anyway, after the last man spoke, they turned off the sound system and the girls were able to speak to a few Muslim female students. They were our age, and they were studying to become scholars. A couple of them had the intention of dedicating their lives to memorizing the entire Quran. We were allowed to ask questions and someone asked why they wear the head scarves. This girl went on to answer that she believed her God wanted men to see her as more than a sex toy, and by covering herself and wearing loose clothing, they would respect her not for her body but also for her mind and soul. I found this answer wonderful, and I wished it was true…and maybe it is for her and the people in this mosque. But it seems to me in countries with a Muslim majority, men treat their women with the smallest amount of respect physically possible. When I was thinking about this and thinking about how I felt being hidden, I couldn’t help but realize that, stereotypically, women are ghost-like. Covered from head to toe, with no individuality, often no education, and no voice, they seem to be not only men’s punching bags, but also ghosts, a mere portion of their potential.

The next question was whether or not they believed in an afterlife. The answer was more stunning to me than the sexual divide. She stated that they believe their afterlife is eternal, and this life is short, so all they want to do is dedicate their lives to understanding the Quran and how to get to heaven. I thought about this for a long time after she said it, and all I could think was how big of a bummer it’s going to be if there is no afterlife – if this is it and all these people have devalued the current moment so much so that all they live for is the next life…of which none of us, NONE OF US, know for sure really exists. I don’t have the answers either, but it seems a middle path of worship and life would be a smarter choice.

After the mosque, we traveled to the Bahá’í House of Worship in Wilmette.

In complete opposition to the prior religion, this faith is centered around the equality of all people, a seeking for world peace,  and unity with all.

            “Beware…lest ye walk in the ways of them whose words                differ from their deeds.” —Baha’u’llah

“When freedom of conscience, liberty of thought & right of speech prevail, development & growth are inevitable.” – ‘Abdu’l-Baha

“See the truth in all religions, for truth is in all & truth is one!” -‘Abdu’l-Baha

“God has created the world as one—the boundaries are marked out by man.” -‘Abdu’l-Baha

Their main principles are as follows:

“There is one God

All humanity is one family

Women and men are equal

All major religions come from God

Science and religion are in harmony

The independent investigation of truth

The family and its unity are very important

World peace is the crying need of our time

Our economic problems are linked to spiritual problems

All prejudice – racial, religious, national or economic – is destructive and must be overcome”

 

Let’s just say it’s officially my new favorite religion.

We then proceeded to the House of Blues for lunch and then on an architecture cruise down the River.

After this, we proceeded to St. Mary’s Catholic Church.

Our last stop of the day was to the Hindu Mandir in Bartlett. More amazing than the religion was the building itself. It was an honor to be able to go inside. I was not allowed to bring my camera inside, and never before have I literally ached to take photos. The following are from the website.

Photo credit: BAPS Hindu Mandir

Photo credit: BAPS Hindu Mandir

The entire building was carved in India and shipped here in pieces. I have never seen such impressive craftsmanship.

All in all, this day – 6 years in the making – was eye opening, fun, and educational. Even with all of this exciting religious exploration though, my fundamental belief has not changed:

So whatever faith you find yourself to be, all I hope is that your behavior defines you as a quality human being.

Peace-

Typography Portrait

CLC vs. Hampshire

I enjoy shooting my school’s football games for two reasons: 1) It is way out of my comfort zone and 2) I love working with the light.

I am finding that every time I shoot, I end up doing less and less editing afterward. Exciting!

Chicago

 Had a blast going to the Field Museum with AP Art kids. I wasn’t sure exactly what we’d be able to shoot, but we made it work! 

Starving Artist

Chicago is riddled with the homeless – every few steps your heart breaks from the sound of change shaking in a cup. Some beg, some don’t. The one’s that don’t make me even more sad than the beggars, because I know if that were me I would be silent too. Lately though, the homeless have started to look less and less like ‘homeless people’ and more like my family and friends. Some wear suits, in need of a few washes- but a suit nonetheless. This woman’s sign caught me off guard and I actually stopped and talked to her. Let me repeat, I STOPPED AND TALKED TO HER. Not only is this a pretty uncommon occurrence in the hustle and bustle of most Chicagoans, it is unheard of for me to even make conversation with the checkout person at Jewel. (I actually just use the self check out, who I am I kidding.) Anyway, I stopped and asked her if I could photograph her and she was really grateful I asked and totally okay with it. She asked if my friend and I knew what we were going to study in college, and I said no. She suggested art, which I found ironic and awesome. She casually added a business double major might not hurt. And of course, I gave her a 5 dollar bill.

 

Along our walk through the city, I asked a few more people for their photograph. Peace-

 

Life’s Audiences – A review of sorts on “The Things They Carried”

Life’s Audiences

As I flipped the pages of Tim O’Brien’s masterpiece, The Things They Carried, the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson would not leave my mind. Every page gave increasing amounts of validity to every claim that Emerson had made in Self Reliance. The Things They Carried is a more modern, contextually specific version of Self Reliance, with the principals  in both being identical no matter the years that separate them. According to Emerson, “Society everywhere  is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue  in  most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion.” It as if Self Reliance is the guide book to life, while The Things They Carried  is the example of the consequences of conformity. Using the Vietnam War as his subject, Tim O’Brien vividly explores the emotions – and the consequences – of going against your “own constitution” and instead following the impulses of society.

For as long as I can remember, words like bravery and courage were easily associated with American soldiers. Rarely do I turn on the news and not hear of something to do with brave men and women dying for our country, fighting  for our country, and so on. We celebrate them, we celebrate their sacrifices and we appreciate what they do. Maybe it is because I cannot actually remember a time where our country was not at war, but I cannot think of any other occupation that gains so much public  intrigue, so much public prowess, as that of a soldier. There is not much shame any more of not going to the war; of being of age but not enlisting. However, during the Vietnam War, the draft was a way of the government actually demanding that you fight, no matter your beliefs or circumstance. 

Dodging the draft during Vietnam as compared to not enlisting after becoming of age now are very different things. A draft notification was a way of your country saying you were needed, and not answering that call was, in society’s eyes, a traitorous thing to do. The amount of energy that society as a whole puts into honoring soldiers morphs into hatred toward the “draft dodgers.” Instead of being the one that fought for your country, you are thrown to the other end of the spectrum and looked at as the one who refused to fight for your country. The draft notification letter gains whole new meaning when you know that the two choices bear so much weight: run to Canada and die of embarrassment, or go to the war and die of a bullet. 

On The Rainy River is the chapter, or short story, of which this claim bears the most credence. O’Brien is on the edge per se, between Canada and Vietnam, between public acclaim and public disgrace, contemplating what to do:

All those eyes on me – the town, the whole universe – and I couldn’t risk the embarrassment. It was as if there were an audience to my life, that swirl of faces along the river, and in my head I could hear people screaming at me. Traitor! they yelled. Turncoat! Pussy! I felt myself blush. I couldn’t tolerate it. I couldn’t endure the mockery, or the disgrace, or the patriotic ridicule. Even in my imagination, the shore just twenty yards away, I couldn’t make myself be brave. It had nothing to do with morality. Embarrassment, that’s all it was. And right then I submitted. I would go to the war – I would kill and maybe die – because I was embarrassed not to. (O’Brien 57)

Emerson would appreciate this passage because it is a beautiful way of describing the impact that society can have on us. The idea that there is an audience to your life is undoubtedly  a driving force in many, if not most, things that we do and choices we make. Like  an audience for a play, we constantly wonder what they will think of our actions. Will  we get a standing ovation, simple applause, or will we get food thrown at us?

For the rest of the book, there is a play on the words courageous and brave. Instead of relating  these words to going to the war and fighting, he uses them to describe running away to Canada. This is in juxtaposition of what society views as bravery and courage. He also ended a common viewpoint of the opposite spectrum in society, where going against the Vietnam War would have been a good, moral action. His going to the war was not brave, nor courageous, and his almost going to Canada was not moral. He was simply going because he didn’t  know how to bear not going. 

When  asked what his book is really about, Tim O’Brien responded,

”It is a writer’s book on the effects of time on the imagination. It is definitely an antiwar book; I hated the war from the beginning. [The book] is meant to be about man’s yearning for peace.”

This is almost contradictory to everything else I just wrote – almost. I see this book as an anti-war book, yes. I see that he is yearning for peace, yes. But in my interpretation, it is as if he is also yearning for peace from societal ridicule – yearning for peace in the sense of a peaceful mind free to live by his own nature. It is a war story, but it is also a warning; a warning to others that choices should be made by yourself and for yourself. 

I’ve never been nowhere before…

I’ve never been nowhere before. I have traveled a lot, but most of my actual time has been spent on coasts or at least in bigger cities. Today, my dad and I decided to go check out Kenyon College, which I’ve been considering for a while. And wow, is it nowhere.

We got to Mt. Vernon, OH and just drove through, with the destination of campus in mind. It looked like a cute, normal town and I was happy about that. As we followed the signs for Kenyon, I was praying I’d see a hill or something soon. You see, Kenyon is advertised as a school literally by itself on a hill. Named the most beautiful campus in the country, I was expecting the marketing to be correct this time. We finally started ascending a mountain of sorts and I saw the entrance to Kenyon. Just from the sign and the way you enter, you know it’s going to knock your socks off. With only 1600 students, it is a tiny school that has created it’s own little world atop a mountain. The buildings and the ground seep an aura of utter intelligence and global consciousness that’s infectious. It is unlike any college or university I’ve ever been to. John Green, one of my favorite authors and basically one of my favorite human beings on the planet, went to Kenyon and describes it as “incredible minds flourishing on a hilltop, away from the noise of the world so as better to hear the world for what it truly is.” Anyway, I couldn’t have loved it more.

Shockingly, the more amazing part of this adventure was when we descended from the hill top of Kenyon back in to Mt. Vernon for what appeared to be an art festival. Now, my dad and I are into art fests – like real ones. We, of course, weren’t expecting anything grand, but we had no idea what we were walking into.

I must have said “I’m so confused” 50 times. As we walked around what turned out to be more of an odd fair, I was completely stunned. It was like the twilight zone. I think we were tripping on 5 hour energy, but my imagination isn’t creative enough to hallucinate this “art festival.” As we walked in, we were greeted by a stage with approximately 20 randomly dispersed people listening to what appeared to be a family sing a song about how many pickled peppers Peter Piper picked, while wearing such old fashion clothing it seemed they may have robbed a museum to find them. The audience seemed to be enjoying it, which was equally strange. As we walked down the half block of tents, I couldn’t help but notice that every 5 seconds someone was shouting across a crowd because they saw someone they knew and they were saying hi. I think everyone literally knew everyone else there. Also, not a single person was on their phones. No calls, texts, time checks – nothing.  The entire time we were there, I didn’t see a single electronic device with any of these people. I also didn’t really see any brands, I think they really may sew all their clothes themselves. After all, they do have a Singer store on their main square. The next thing I noticed was the diversity, or should I say, lack there of. Black, hispanic, asian – nothing. It was startling. As we walked toward another awkward bandshell of sorts, we contemplated getting something to eat. Shall we eat fried pie, fried waffles, fried veggies, or fried salami? You get the drift.

1/3 of the population doesn’t know who our Vice President is. I think most of those people come from places like this. I felt like I was in a time warp, or possibly on a movie set. I’ve never been anywhere like it. I feel like all of these people are still in the darkness of the cave, to use Plato’s analogy. It was not my kinda place, but thankfully when you go to Kenyon, I think you rarely come down from the hilltop.

Here are a few shots from our trip, which also included going to Oberlin College.

Peace-

He was the only person I ever saw using a phone…

This made my day! A church on gay street.

Ugly Duckling series

 

A Letter to Teachers

A letter to teachers from Matt Damon:

The Art of Learning
“I had incredible teachers. And as I look at my life today, the things I value most about myself — my imagination, my love of acting, my passion for writing, my love of learning, my curiosity — all of these things came from how I was parented and taught.

And none of these qualities that I’ve just mentioned — none of these qualities that I prize so deeply, that have brought me so much joy, that have brought me so much professional success — none of these qualities that make me who I am … can be tested.

I said before that I had incredible teachers. And that’s true. But it’s more than that. My teachers were EMPOWERED to teach me. Their time wasn’t taken up with a bunch of test prep — this silly drill and kill nonsense that any serious person knows doesn’t promote real learning. No, my teachers were free to approach me and every other kid in that classroom like an individual puzzle. They took so much care in figuring out who we were and how to best make the lessons resonate with each of us. They were empowered to unlock our potential. They were allowed to be teachers.

Now don’t get me wrong. I did have a brush with standardized tests at one point. I remember because my mom went to the principal’s office and said, ‘My kid ain’t taking that. It’s stupid, it won’t tell you anything and it’ll just make him nervous.’ That was in the ’70s when you could talk like that.

I shudder to think that these tests are being used today to control where funding goes.

I don’t know where I would be today if my teachers’ job security was based on how I performed on some standardized test. If their very survival as teachers was not based on whether I actually fell in love with the process of learning but rather if I could fill in the right bubble on a test. If they had to spend most of their time desperately drilling us and less time encouraging creativity and original ideas; less time knowing who we were, seeing our strengths and helping us realize our talents.

I honestly don’t know where I’d be today if that was the type of education I had. I sure as hell wouldn’t be here. I do know that.

This has been a horrible decade for teachers. I can’t imagine how demoralized you must feel. But I came here today to deliver an important message to you: As I get older, I appreciate more and more the teachers that I had growing up. And I’m not alone. There are millions of people just like me.

So the next time you’re feeling down, or exhausted, or unappreciated, or at the end of your rope; the next time you turn on the TV and see yourself called “overpaid;” the next time you encounter some simple-minded, punitive policy that’s been driven into your life by some corporate reformer who has literally never taught anyone anything. … Please know that there are millions of us behind you. You have an army of regular people standing right behind you, and our appreciation for what you do is so deeply felt. We love you, we thank you and we will always have your back.”

~ Matt Damon, Save Our Schools March 7/30/2011

A video of the full speech can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7Jh3Z52KV0

Chicago iPhoneography

Worth a watch…

I love this guy. Somehow, I found him long before he ever became this famous and have been following him and his work ever since. His voice is great, but his words are what are truly magical. Enjoy.

Unfuck the World, please…

Two of the people that I look up to the most have very different opinions on swearing. My dad believes that “fuck” is the most versatile word in the English language – adaptable to almost all situations. The other person I’m referencing here hasn’t sworn in 13 years I believe, and if I remember correctly, his reason for not was because he believes that swearing (and emoticons) are excuses for not taking the time to think of real words to express oneself.

I agree with both of these people. I think language is the most incredible thing, and I love words like most people love chocolate. I do think swearing can sometimes be a copout for not having paid attention in high school english class, however, I don’t think the standard English language can adapt – I don’t think it can have as many different connotations as profanity.

I posted this photograph earlier this morning on Facebook. Immediately, these two people commented, but to my surprise, they both loved the shirt. The guy that hasn’t sworn in 13 years said he would break that vow to wear it.

And that’s because it accounts for the magic of the world. It accounts for the unexplainable. For the stuff that we can’t imagine happening, that happens all the time. We’ve fucked up, and in immeasurable and incomprehensible ways. Climate change. Iraq. Chi’raq. Newtown. Aurora. 9/11. Rwanda. Columbine. Kony. Slavery. Boston. Katrina. Congo. Syria. Vietnam. Guns. Video games. Drugs. Gangs. The Kardashians. 

Can you think of any other word that describes these things? Humans, actively and readily participating in things that will lead to their imminent demise because “hybrids cost to much” and “priuses look weird?” Sitting in your penthouse in Chicago while less than 10 miles away, children are being shot for walking in the wrong neighborhood? 6 and 7 year olds being shot with a machine gun? Games on a tv or gameboy that your 12 year old is playing, acting like he’s that gunman? Meanwhile, we’re “Keeping up with the Kardashians?” As SNL says after their parody news reports, “Really?”

This shirt, it says so much. It ASKS for so much. So I ask you, in everything that you do, and even as a life goal, vow to try to unfuck the world as much as you can.

Farm Life

Silent People Have the Loudest Minds

As I was contemplating what to wear to my friend’s birthday party, I was also contemplating going at all. So many people – people I didn’t know. The card said there would be a trampoline, and a jump house, which worsened my anxiety. As I searched for the perfect outfit, I found my knee brace from a few years back. My problem was solved! My 10 year old self wore that knee brace to the party – and when I was sitting inside with one or two other people, everyone just assumed I was resting my knee. Jump house? Trampoline? Of course not. No jokes would come my way about being boring. No assumptions that I am “no fun.” The knee brace I wore to that party was more a brace for my mind than a brace for my knee. It was an excuse to be who I am.

Who am I? I am an introvert, tried and true. For many years, I was unaware of the two differing personality types dominating our world. I would often be left confused at why I hated doing all the things that made my peers look so happy. I never understood that it wasn’t that I didn’t like to have fun; it was just that my fun was different from theirs. Reading a book by the fire with my parents is much more appealing to me than going out to eat with a large group. My friends are few, but my connections to them are deep and lasting. I enjoy long conversations about things that matter and I love time to think and write. I am an artist, obsessed with photography and the written word. I am not quick to react out of emotion, but take a more logic based approach to dealing with life’s conflicts. I listen – listen to everything around me, and often end up being the person someone calls on in a time of need. I enjoy leading, and speaking in front of large groups of people. I very rarely take risks that could result in public ridicule, and am very easily embarrassed in front of people I don’t know well.

Before I started studying the introvert-extrovert spectrum, I did not associate myself with either extreme. I did not feel that any part of me listed above fit into either side of what I thought the spectrum was. I wasn’t shy, rude, anxious, depressed, and I didn’t hate people. I think I’m the opposite of all those things, so because that was who I thought an introvert was, I thought maybe I was an extrovert. But I had none of the qualities that my mind associated with extroverts either, such as the constant loudness and need for attention. Because of this lack of an obvious answer, I researched more into what introversion and extroversion truly meant, beyond the haze of what society epitomizes them to be. The definition of an introvert: ME. The definition of an extrovert? OPPOSITE OF ME. Everything about who I was, what I like and don’t like, what I do and don’t do, what makes me cringe and what lights me up; all of it lined up identically with everything I learned an introvert to be, and none of what I learned an extrovert to be. Extroverts are built for action, and they reflect and react simultaneously. This leads to a feeling of comfort within the unknown. They have social skills, and are often the life of the party. They are the gossip; and often, you will know everything they are thinking because they will voice it. They are often involved in conflict with their bounty of friends, and are generally not naturally artistic. “Introverts, in contrast, have strong social skills and enjoy parties, but after a while just wish they were home in their PJs. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, and colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict and many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions (Cain 39).”

I had grown up trying to be what society glorified: loud, charismatic, sociable, and over all, a part of the crowd. But as I continued to grow and mature, I realized that for one, I didn’t often like what the crowd stood for; and two, I just didn’t like crowds at all. As I progressed into junior high, I realized I could fake it pretty well – fake it all. The smiles, the gossip, the useless chit chat. The group projects were nightmarish, and my strive to get the A gave everyone else an A, which made me even more angry. Wanting to work alone began to seem like a bad thing, and I often tried to change my habits to fit societal expectations.

My research has resulted in an affirmation that society as a whole does idolize the more extroverted person. As beautifully put by introverted op-ed columnist Bryan Walsh, America is land of the loud and home of the talkative. We vote for the relatable politicians, instead of the smartest ones. We see the chit chatty people as happy, and no matter what, we strive to be that. “From classrooms built around group learning to open-plan offices that encourage endless meetings, it sometimes seems that the quality of your work has less value than the volume of your voice (Walsh).” However, Susan Cain, best-selling author of the book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, is bringing to light the immense gifts that introverted people bring to this world.

Albert Einstein, for example, was a supreme introvert, and once said, “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” This is an idea that most introverted people would understand, and it is also why the few introverts that reach leadership positions end up doing extraordinarily well. My father is deeply introverted, but he is also the CEO of a real estate company, with thousands of employees under his leadership. Traits of his introversion are very obvious, but these traits directly correlate to the traits that everyone loves about him, and they are what make him so successful. In the face of conflict, he always reacts out of logic first, wanting to gain all the facts and determine the actual consequences before all else. Extroverted leaders often react out of raw emotion, which usually makes problems worse and often alienates employees. Introverted leaders also have more individualized relationships with their workforce, psychologically leading to enhanced employee performance. Psychologists have determined “that effective leaders should focus on mentoring, empowering, and developing people, behaviors that are more consistent with introverts than extroverts (Williams).”

While introverts should not be passed up for leadership roles, leaders must also not pass up the needs of their introverted employees. In this new ‘conceptual’ age, businesses like Zappos and Google are transforming their offices into playgrounds meant to foster growth and innovation for the company, via increased happiness levels from their employees. Many companies are slowly following their example, and with that comes many open plan offices, team rooms, boards, get togethers, and the creation of a family/team like atmosphere. This is a great new model for American businesses, but there must also be a place for the introverts among us to go. While the rollerskating and segwaying around the office is fun for all, there are some that only want to do that for a little while, and then would prefer to go work alone. Because one out of every two or three people identify themselves as introverted, businesses would have much to gain by giving them the ability to also function at their highest intellectual level – a level of which can only be reached in solitude.

This favoring, per se, of the extroverted mind is not necessarily our natural tendency; however, because of the rise of what Susan Cain calls ‘groupthink,’ many children are raised in environments that award extroverts and shun introverts. This creates a predisposition that follows them into their lives and their careers. As Susan Cain recently said in a piece in the NY Times, “Today, elementary school classrooms are commonly arranged in pods of desks, to better foster group learning. Even subjects like math and creative writing are often taught as committee projects.” Tests are being given to the group, with only one grade, forcing the rest to get the grade of the loudest and most persuasive person. Not only is this unfair, it is beyond uncomfortable for an introverted student. And while we can’t attempt to make everyone happy, we must try to allow for more autonomy within schools, so that introverted students don’t grow up to be fake extroverts.

The amount of ‘fake extroverts’ we have surrounding us, I guarantee, is staggering. What is also staggering is the amount of intellect and knowledge we are losing by not catering to their need for more autonomy, in the schools and the workplace. This is about much more than making your employees or your students comfortable – this is about providing them the space at which their brain is literally designed to work better in.

Introvert’s brains are designed to work alone – and were designed to be uninterrupted. On the same token, one would think that an extroverted brain is designed to work with others; however, it is not. Solitude is a large ingredient within good ideas, revelations and epiphanies. “Solitude has long been associated with transcendence. Moses, Jesus, Buddha, went by themselves,” off into the quiet wild and ended up becoming historical figures that most will always remember. And, as observed by psychologist Hans Eysenck, “concentrating the mind on the tasks in hand, prevents the dissipation of energy on social matters…” It is as if introverted people were simply born with the innate knowing of how to get the most out of their efforts. Extroverted people may thrive on the camaraderie of group activities; however, they are still going to be more efficient, innovated people if they give themselves time to think, alone.

In this loud, fast paced, technologically group based society we live in, where charisma is lionized, we must remember the way in which we are engineered to think most effectively if we want to leave a meaningful impact. In schools and the workplace alike, we must allow for more readily available, optional autonomy. The best, most neutral way to handle these two diverse personalities in this world is to work autonomously on individual pieces of the puzzle, and then come together at the end to figure out how the pieces all fit. “Culturally, we’re often so dazzled by charisma that we overlook the quiet part of the creative process,” a scientifically significant part.

But as to most problems, there are also answers that lay within us, and the problem of honoring both personalities is no different. There exists two distinct personality types for a reason, and balance is essential. Opposites attract, and oftentimes, introverts and extroverts collaborate to create extraordinary things. Apple computers, for example, were created by a man named Steve. No, not Steve Jobs. Steve Wozniak, a self proclaimed introvert who designed the first Apple sitting in a cubicle at HP. He would also work on it at home, alone. He unveiled his amazing creation to his friend, Steve Jobs, and together co-founded Apple Computer (Cain). Steve Job’s supernatural magnetism got the company to where it is today, but it would be no where without the quiet skills of Steve Wozniak. In Wozniak’s memoir, he gives this advice to aspiring inventors:

Most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me … they live in their heads. They’re almost like artists. In fact, the very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone …. I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone… Not on a committee. Not on a team. (Wozniak)

Apple Inc. is now one of the most successful companies in the world, having a net worth greater than most third-world countries. This immense level of success could not have been achieved without the extrovert, but it also could not have been achieved without the introvert. This marriage of the two personalities has created something all of us have come to rely upon and enjoy, and it is a partnership that we should all take note of. So while I focused on the hidden power of introverts, maybe we should look also at the hidden power of the two working together. With balance, and respect, awe inspiring things can emerge.

Education Rant

I’m one of those people. Yep, I admit it. I’m the kind of person that lies in bed at night, staring out the window, unable to sleep – confused and lost about the sheer amount of obstacles this world faces. I think about fixing one, and all of a sudden, a hierarchy begins to appear. Something that is more important than that other thing, that will effect that other thing if I can just fix that first. For years, I’ve tried to figure out how to dedicate my life to the thing that will effect the most other things, to dedicate my life to the top of the pyramid – to make the biggest ripple of change. And as I’ve searched, I haven’t found anything. Every time I think I’m on to something, something grander and grander always appears. And then, I read Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and I thought, ok, I get it now. Maybe, just maybe, the biggest change we can make is within ourselves. I can do that…but I also need to pay the bills here eventually. Being self reliant, sadly, is not a paying job. Also, I am just not that simple minded. I need a tangible thing to fix. (I’m one of those people too, the person that likes to fix everybody and everything.) After all this time, I still needed an occupation to satisfy my desire to tackle the top of this pyramid that I have created in my head. I then began to learn about the education system, of which I am currently entrenched in, and the flaws it has. I hadn’t ever thought about it being a career though, or anything more than just another thing to add to my pyramid.

You see though, I’m kind of obsessed with education. Obsessed with learning, with the psychology of the different processes of each teacher, and with the teachers themselves. I’m in constant awe of the selflessness of the teachers I’m graced with everyday. It all started in Kindergarten. I have had some incredible teachers, and I’ve often times connected with them on a deeper level. And of course, I thought my obsession with education and my obsession with learning and my obsession with being amazed at these people, these teachers, that were shaping me and everyone around me and being so utterly selfless, I just thought it was because I was a kid. I was a kid, and I was being taught, and of course I would have this notion about teachers and education because I was surrounded by it. But as my horizons began to expand, and as I searched for the top of that pyramid in my head, I began to realize that education is not something I was passionate about because I was a student. That maybe, i was passionate about it because what else forms a person, other than their childhood, and what is a greater part of childhood than their education? These teachers, they are with these kids constantly, and they are forming them, informing them, and we must begin to realize, and I must begin to realize, in my search for the top, that the way to change most things is to start at the very, very bottom. Just start fixing, and healing and changing the next generation by starting young. By starting when it all begins. By starting when society makes its first, and most lasting, impact. If we can make their first impact, a positive impact – if we can make those 12 mandated years a positive experience, imagine the ripple effect.

Recently, a piece I wrote titled The Benefits of Abundance was awarded national recognition through the National Coalition of Teachers of English. It was focused on how education kills creativity, and how our educational system is extremely outdated. Hopefully, I will be reading the piece at an upcoming school board meeting, and my paper is already sitting upon my principals desk. The idea of even one more person reading this essay swells me with pride, but not for the reasons you may think. This is not an ego tripping joy ride for me. I could not care less about whose name is at the top of that paper, I just want people to hear what it says.

Another reason I’m pretty overjoyed right now is because, on my way home from work, I discovered that I could listen to TED talks through my car speakers. Yes, I am that huge of a geek. Anyway, TED recently did a series on education, all of which I listened to on my drive home. New ideas and new challenges flowed in and out of the speakers. The need for teachers to get more feedback, the need for horrible teachers to be fired, the need for teacher turnover rate to be lower, the need for school to be year round, the need for poor kids to get the same education as rich kids in the suburbs, and the need for even those rich kids education to be elevated, to a more creative level. We are giving these kids standardized tests, yet their educations are far from standard. Just as the disparity of wealth in our nation continues to rise, so does the disparity of education. I was recently at an admissions meeting with the University of California at Berkeley, and they said that they look at your “achievements within your context.” Wow, Berkeley, way to go. Except, as much as I’d be inclined to believe that people who work at UCB have super powers, I know that they don’t. I know that they aren’t going to be allowed to look at the achievements of an inner city gang banger, because his context is so bad he won’t ever get an application to their door. I also know that everybody’s achievements are not as great as they could be- should be– because of the deeply outdated mechanics of the American education machine.

One of the TED talks in the education series was the song True Colors, sung by John Legend. I played it over and over again, amazed at how unbelievably fitting it was. Almost every teacher I’ve ever had could have been the narrator of that song, of that meaning, and every word would have fit.

 You with the sad eyes

Don’t be discouraged

Oh I realize

Its hard to take courage

In a world full of people

You can lose sight of it all

And the darkness inside you

Can make you feel so small

But I see your true colors

Shining through

I see your true colors

And that’s why I love you

So don’t be afraid to let them show

Your true colors

True colors are beautiful,

Like a rainbow

Show me a smile then,

Don’t be unhappy, can’t remember

When I last saw you laughing

If this world makes you crazy

And you’ve taken all you can bear

You call me up

Because you know I’ll be there

 The teachers that I remember – the teachers that made an impact on me, sing this to their kids every single day. They meet kids where they are at, they see the potential through the haze of circumstance, and they will be there for you. They are not only educators, they are therapists, parents, friends, and often times, truly amazing warm hearted people. Now, I have never really had a teacher serenade my class with the words of the great Cyndi Lauper, but they all have gotten the same points across in their own ways. My current art teacher, for example, is everybody’s therapist, friend, motivator, college advisor, homework helper, and essay editor. Oh, and that’s on top of teaching art and cultivating all of our creativity.  She is so aware of the inner workings of everyone around her she probably could tell you the last time she saw you laugh. Her room is always open, and she is always there. She is selfless and she is an educator and she cares.

 I’d love to end that by saying that’s just how teachers are, except that’s not true. That’s how good teachers are. That’s how teachers should be.Teachers have a responsibility to realize the impact they have. Some of mine have, and some of mine haven’t. But FYI, I live in a rich white suburb. If I’m getting a few great teachers here and there, imagine how many the kid an hour away from me in the south side of Chicago is getting.

On a last note, these great teachers I’ve had – they are ready. They are ready for a sweeping change within the system. They are doing everything they can within the boundaries of the curriculum and the rules, but they’re also ready, willing and able to help make these indescribably necessary changes. But they need help. They need school board members that will listen, they need parents that are engaged, they need lawmakers to sit down with them and hear their personal stories, they need resources and they need advocates.

The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again expecting different results, so if we can come to the realization that what we have doesn’t work, and if we want to bring sanity back into the American educational system, a change has to happen. And we have to make it happen. Let’s open our eyes and honor the umbrella of which education holds over all else, and change it for the better.

Microcosm of Humanity – NYC

Taken while riding the Roosevelt Island Tramway over the Hudson River

So far, my favorite shot of the trip. I also took this on the Tramway over the river.

I have this huge map in my room, and there is a pin at every city I’ve ever gone to. I’m blessed to have traveled more than most people my age, and love every second of it. San Francisco to Paris, London to New Orleans, Switzerland to LA,  Munich to Seattle, and yet somehow I had yet to visit New York. An hour plane ride, a $130 ticket, and yet we’d never been. My dad and I went, as we do every spring break, on a trip just me and him. I had no idea what to expect. Just another Chicago? I’d heard of things like 5th Avenue and Central Park, but had no real knowledge of the place. As I investigated things to do while there, I became a little more excited but was still pretty clueless.

It so happens that in my American History class, we were studying the Harlem Renaissance. My teacher is amazing and is full of wacky, awesome stories from his life, and he expressed to us countless times about how we must visit NYC. Him and I agree on pretty much everything – we have very similar outlooks on life and the state of our union – and so I was thrilled to hear he loved it there.

From the second we set foot in the city, you just felt it. An electric current runs through the whole place. Everyone is alive and and everything is alive. The amount of diversity that people talk about there being is an understatement. People there are almost united in how purely different they all are. It’s not just ethnicity either, its everything. Swear to god, I saw two white guys with afros. Huge ones. Women dressed better than I actually thought possible were walking on the same streets as men in purple sparkly pants, and guys were holding hands, and hundreds of languages were being spoken, and dogs were on subways and in Sak’s 5th Avenue (ON 5TH AVENUE!) – it was just beautiful. Everyone was just doing their own thing. It isn’t like people are just super accepting there, it just isn’t even a thought. With LGBT rights in the news (and as FB profile pics) lately, I’ve been trying to wrap my mind on how they could possibly not overturn DOMA, and having been to NYC, I feel even more stunned that there is anyone opposed. It sure seems that the most important part of our constitution is the “pursuit of happiness,” right? Or, at least, that’s the only part we fully educated American’s can remember. Maybe it’s just me, but seeing as how homosexuals are nicknamed “gay” which literally means happy, I think it’s safe to assume they are in line with that. I can only hope that New York is a glimpse into the future of how all American’s will treat each other. I digress.

Because of all these grand aforementioned things, NYC is the world capitol of people watching. It is at least 75% of the experience. In Soho, every person that walked by literally took my breath away. Man, woman, young, old, black, white, brown you name it- stunning. My dad and I came up with the acronym GCH, or God Chiseled Human. Their bodies, their hair, their clothes, their shoes, everything! My dad and I were both wearing $200 jeans, I was in a Marmot, him in a Northface, both in nice scarves, and we looked like utter trash. Most stores we didn’t even go into we felt so uncomfortable. And it’s not that other people weren’t wearing jeans, it was just that their’s were literally custom sewn onto their chiseled bodies by gods. But of course, it’s New York, so we were the only ones that would have been uncomfortable. I did manage to go into the Leica store, after running across the street squealing after seeing the red dot flag in the air, only to leave sad at knowing I will likely never afford one. 😦

That’s only Soho though, and you have to understand, every neighborhood is a completely different place. Every time we emerged from the subways, it was like we landed somewhere completely new. The subways themselves are a whole other world. You can walk multiple city blocks underground, filled with wonderful music and preaching and the wind of passing trains. Here are a few iPhone shots from the “underground world.”

The trip overall was amazing. We didn’t have a car, and I bet we walked over 50 miles. We took the subway a ton, and I felt totally immersed within the city. Our feet ached but we just couldn’t stop walking, seeing, feeling. I’m already planning my next trip and can’t wait to be back! Here are some random shots, enjoy!

In Pursuit of Magic

Peace!

NYC, iPhone Style

Made my day!!

 

I literally stopped and stared when I saw this… so beautiful!

20 Seconds

Rumspringa

In my AP Language class, we had to write responses to the 2009 annual “edge” question. This is my response to “What would change everything?”

Rumspringa

Change is something most people struggle dearly with. When it enters one’s life, it is often uninvited and often feared. Status-quo requires us to simply keep on keeping on; it requires little effort apart from the effort we have chosen to exude.  Any change, big our small, requires us to look up, pay attention, and readjust. Because of this societal commonality, global shifts in actions, policies, and consciousnesses are hard to imagine ever coming to fruition. However, change is growth and growth is necessary. When I look around, I see the need for change and growth in many areas – but I also see an overarching change that would encompass the others. A change that would change everything.

The idea of a unanimous uprising of only living by the integrity of our own minds seems farfetched, but just because we don’t see plausibility doesn’t give us the right to ignore the need. It doesn’t grant us the right to ignore the global necessity. We live in a time where less and less people know who they really are and who associate more with the masses and with labels than with personal values and constitutions. Political parties, religious affiliations, and occupations are all just happenstances of this society; however, they must not define who you are. We must strive to first acquire the beliefs, and then find the affiliation that matches in order for them to really have personal credence.

Religion and politics are perfect examples of how little we strive to know our own selves. What we are raised into too often becomes what we are. We just accept the ideologies of our nearest elders to be true and rarely strive to determine whether or not the beliefs align with our personal constitutions and nature. Being born as predisposed predecessors of your parents ideologies too often gives us the loophole to climb through to then not actually care about politics or religion. When we are forced, or when we choose, to investigate these matters for ourselves, we invest ourselves in them and then have a larger impact on our society.

The Amish raise their children exactly how I’m proposing not to – very strict religious adherence along with equally as strict behavior requirements.  However, between the ages of 14-16, Amish children leave the community and go experience the “real world.” It is called “rumspringa” and the goal is to find their own self, to evaluate and determine whether or not their personal beliefs and prospective life path aligns with the Amish community’s. Now, what if we applied this to our lives and forced ourselves to pause for a year or two, to simply disconnect from everything we’ve been raised with and discover what our constitutions truly align with. Possibly, you’ll have been right where you belong. But you also may have been traveling down someone else’s path, not your own.  Perhaps the unanimous uprising of living by the integrity of our own minds is not so farfetched. Rumspringa anyone?

 

 

Barn

The Benefits of Abundance

Once again my AP Language and Composition class is making it on to the blog…I wish I could accurately describe my love for this class, but it simply can’t be done. Anyway, below is an essay for that class regarding the same articles of which I spoke about in this blog. Enjoy and please feel free to leave responses or additional opinions!

The Benefits of Abundance

A few hours ago, I spoke with my parents about an ACT preparatory class that I need to sign up for. There are many options, ranging from $599 – $3700…all so the piece of paper in the mailbox will have a higher number on it…so I can get into a school that will eventually just cost even more money. You see though, I have been preparing for this test all my life – from Kindergarten until the moment before I take the test. Education is conformed to meet this standardized test in order to help colleges choose which students are suitable for attendance at their institution. One number simply quantifies your value to them. This test determines the curriculum for schools, because aforementioned, it is all just a long, drawn out prep class for this exam. The exam questions and school curriculum are determined by the conception of economic utility. People have determined the qualities in which one should have in order to be useful in an economic sense. Everyone is groomed to be someone that has an occupation relevant to society and the economy as a whole. Accountants, doctors, lawyers, and engineers would all be at the top of anyone’s list when asked what a “good job” is. Our brain has two metaphorical hemispheres, and educators cater to the left brain focusing on analytic and academic skills because these are skills needed to get that “good job.” These two hemispheres work as muscles, one strengthening with practice while, inevitably, the other weakens. But that is okay because left brain work is better for the economy – or so we think.

So, hypothetically, I take this ridiculously expensive prep class after already taking the longest prep class of all, and I get the piece of paper in the mail with a 30 on it. This means that I can get into some fairly highly selective schools. I go to college, graduate with an MBA, and go off and try to find a job. Here lays the problem. Up until this point, the conceptual idea of education prioritizing economic utility has worked just fine. Many classes made me fall asleep, but I made it through with a good GPA and managed to get into college, which is the ideal path for many Americans. Now I have the dream job, and I’m relatively happy doing something I somewhat enjoy and am pretty average at. A year goes by and the company announces its downsizing and will be laying some people off. I end up being the first person to get let go.

This is becoming a reality for many workers of all ages and calibers. In a world of economic globalization, outsourcing, automation, and downsizing, new skills are arising that not only get you the job, but make sure you keep it. Daniel Pink, author of A Whole New Mind, puts it best when saying, “In a world in which more and more average work can be done by a computer, robot or talented foreigner faster, cheaper “and just as well,” vanilla does not cut it anymore. It’s all about what chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherry you can put on top.” Op-Ed columnist Thomas Friedman calls the chocolate sauce, whipped cream and cherries “untouchabilities.” Additional qualities are needed in order to stay prevalent in the workforce – to make you untouchable. These qualities are derived from the metaphorical right brain – the location of creativity, imagination, innovation, empathy, compassion, problem solving and design abilities. For many years, the so called “non-academic” crowd has been viewed as useless and less than. Education is fully centered on the left brain, always exposing a hierarchy of math, science, and English, followed by humanities and lastly, by the arts. Students with right brain nature slowly lose the strength of that muscle due to our educational system. But this isn’t a case where a few kids are left behind because they were born more in their right mind – this is how most kids are. In a study cited by Sir Ken Robinson in his TED talk, 98% of Kindergartners are at what is considered genius level at divergent thinking, which is completely right brain driven. This particular test was a simple question of “How many ways can you think of to use a paper clip?” These same kids were continually tested and got significantly worse every passing year of schooling. By the time they graduated college, only 2% were considered genius level. Those Kindergarteners were as untouchable as it gets, yet schooling, the entity that was supposed to have enriched them, actually diminished their abilities.

The necessity for these new qualities seems to have been caused by outsourcing, automation and the state of the economy, but it is really much more than that. “Those who are waiting for this recession to end so someone can again hand them work could have a long wait,” said Friedman. The introduction of entities such as outsourcing and our ability to automate simple tasks has a source truly responsible for it all, and that is abundance. Abundance is everywhere, and it has opened the door for a new generation – a new hemisphere of our minds – to thrive. No more are the days when men are out in the field, growing food for the family, while women stay in and sew the clothes and teach the children. Abundance comes from the fact that, at some point, our daily lives became secure enough to invent products outside the realm of necessity and into the realm of want. This is where the “keys to the kingdom” changed dramatically. All of a sudden, you had to be able to convince people that they “needed” something they didn’t even know existed 10 minutes prior. You also must create a product in a way that makes it unique when compared to the hundreds of other similar products. On top of you needing to be untouchable, you also must be able to make whatever product you represent or create untouchable as well. Apple, and Steve Jobs, are the epitome of this concept. There are many mp3 players out there, but then there is the iPod. It is almost a category of its own. Why though? How did it get so popular so fast? The short answer is that it is a piece of art. An utter masterpiece, from the inner workings to the outer wrappings, it is simply beautiful. I think it is safe to call iPods untouchable, and it is untouchable because of the aesthetic. And aesthetic, of course, is all right brain thinking.

Time is something that we are taking advantage of more and more frequently and it allots us the ability to use, what Pink calls, the new 6 senses. He often refers to these new senses as the “benefits of abundance.” They include:

Design – moving beyond function to engage the senses

Story – Narrative added to products and services – not just an argument

Symphony- Adding invention and big picture thinking

Empathy- Going beyond logic and engaging emotion and intuition

Play- Bringing humor and lightheartedness to business and products

Meaning- the purpose is the journey, give meaning to life from inside (Pink)

Pink believes that these so called senses became relevant because of our “culture of abundance.” A benefit of abundance is the ability to move past just keeping your product alive to actually making it beautiful and stand out from the crowd. Many companies such as Google and Zappos are incorporating play into the work place with roller blades as transport, basketball courts for break time, and an over all happy-go-lucky work environment. Empathy is being used in many more commercials nowadays, as well as story. We have all seen that ASPCA commercial that makes you want to cry, right? Simply story and empathy being put into play. It also seems we have moved from the technological age into a more conceptual age, one where we are given the chance to wonder why we are here and strive to live a life with meaning. Lacking in these new senses could equate to lacking a job, especially for students who have been prepared for the workforce using outdated priorities.

As Sir Ken Robinson put it “education does not need to be reformed, it needs to be transformed,” but exactly how to do that can be a tough question to ask. It seems that the educational system has molded itself to meet the requirements of standardized testing, and in that fashion it would seem that if we first changed the content of the standardized tests that educational systems would soon follow. Colleges, universities, and trade schools also need to rely less on the ACT and SAT. Interviews, recommendations, and essays should be of greater importance because they represent more of who you really are versus bubbles on a scantron. Another universal change that needs to be made is the hierarchy of subjects. The arts are instrumental to this new conceptual age, and we need to begin treating art as if it is as important as current core subject such as math and science. When choosing classes, there needs to be more encouragement and acceptance of artistic choices. There also need to be more artistic choices available as core classes and not add ons. Many students are discouraged from taking chorus, drama, speech, and improv because it is an after school or add on activity that often results in the loss of a lunch period. It also seems that when entering higher-level sciences and mathematics, kids should be able to opt out if they do not feel passionate about them. It does seem that sometimes interests form due to the fact that they were forced to take the class, but it seems rare and avoidable by some sort of system to identify students that seem to truly know what they want to do with their lives versus students still searching. The current mandate of having four years of high school English is appropriate based on it being an essential part of all occupations and future endeavors. Also, right brain thinking can be greatly aided with exposure to literature.

Change is always hard, but it is inevitable and utterly necessary in the case of education. The world is changing and in order to give the next generation the best possible tools for success, something has to change. The time has come for students to be valued for the content of their character instead of the quantity of their scores. In this new age, we must honor the benefits of our abundance and begin giving our youth the greatest gifts of all: untouchabilities.

Forgotten photos

Hipstamatic double exposure. Exposure 1= camera lens Exposure 2= quote

A few iPhone/DSLR shots I haven’t gotten around to posting. Have a great holiday!

Christmas bouquet

Happy Holidays

The Loss of Self-Reliance

While the shooting in CT was truly terrible, we can’t forget about all the other mass shootings that have taken place within the past decade. Something has shifted within our society, our universal mindset, to give an opening for these types of behaviors. I went to see my mentor today and the shooting came up. He referenced that America has become a “godless” society. I wouldn’t call myself a follower of any particular faith, nor even a believer in God, but I saw validity to what he said. Maybe for those who don’t relate to the term “God” could relate better to the idea that America is becoming a compassion-less society, void of empathy, emotions, and unadulterated human-human contact. This conversation brought me back to what my AP Language class has been covering recently. We began reading “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, a must read if you never have. Our discussions were truly incredible; we really “got” this piece. It was so multi-faceted that we all honed in to a particular quote or line and really owned our individual meaning of what it meant. My personal summary of it was that we simply can not imitate others nor society. He actually states that society should be our biggest enemy, and that only a man who is a non-conformist is really a man. We didn’t stop here though; we went on to read “The New Untouchables,” “It’s a Flat World After All,” and watch “Did You Know 4.0.” The two articles talked about how qualities far beyond your GPA, ACT, and IQ are required in the workplace nowadays – if those are your only assets, you’re expendable. Assets are being redefined as energy, passion, commitment, ingenuity, and creativity – all things that the school systems are falling a little behind on teaching. The video is one you’ve probably seen, but also one that could be watched a thousand times. It gives statistics that are mind-boggling, focusing mainly on technology. We then watched Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk, which happens to be the most watched TED Talk ever, about school’s killing creativity. The same creativity that comes from being self-reliant and is a new untouchability. At the end of his speech, he relays the story of a young girl. This girl’s teacher asked her mother to take her to a doctor for her inability to sit still and concentrate. At the doctor’s office, he asked her mother to speak alone outside. Before he left, he turned on his radio. He told the mom to watch her daughter, and within seconds she was on her feet. The doctor told the mom, “your daughter isn’t sick, she’s a dancer.” The mother then took her daughter to a dance school and she is now a multi-millionaire with her own dance studio after years of performing at the Royal Ballet. This is what society is missing. Imagine if we had just gave her a prescription for Ritalin? We all have to figure out who we are before anything else. We have to follow our passions, our untouchabilities, and figure out what will lead us to being happy. Nothing matters more than being happy. We have to see through the mask of society. When you really pay attention, you’ll see that the happiest people generally have pretty simplistic, steady lives, waking up and just doing what they love every day. The idea that success is fame, that for your life to have had meaning everyone must know your name, is so deeply untrue. Technology is simply hastening a societal turn for the worst. Kids, the same age of the 20 that passed away on Friday, are sitting at home right now killing people on mini screens, tuned out to the world surrounding them. Teenagers are watching tv shows that should literally make us run away, screaming and crying. Yet we watch them while doing math homework without it phasing us. We are communicating more and more on a technological level. Entire relationships via email, texting and facebook. It’s as if more friendships is becoming better than having deep friendships. Everyone has been in the situation of receiving a text and “taken it the wrong way.” Could that have something to do with not hearing the inflections in their voice, the positioning of their body or the gestures they create? DOES CAPS MEAN I’M MAD OR EXCITED? No one knows. One of the things that makes us unique as humans is our ability to be curious, to care, and to love deeply. This is being lost by the replacement of type for the spoken word. For using technology as a replacement for ourselves. For not being self-reliant. 

Here’s the thing though. My favorite show is Criminal Minds, one of the most violent, horrible shows out there. I hate being locked up in a school, yearning to be out in the world, yet here I am. And in a year, off I’ll go to another batch of schooling. And tomorrow, I’ll probably have a Facebook fight. And I’m ending this blog post because I remembered I have a math test tomorrow on the most ludicrous stupidity in the world. And walking through the hallways, I’ll probably disconnect and blast music to escape it all. I don’t have the solution. But I’m starting to think we could have a problem on our hands. I’ll leave you with an anecdote from my eighth grade science teacher: “My dear, the time for thinkers has come. Avoid the temptation to follow any portion of the crowd. Use your God-given capacity to reason, to think, to pursue the truth with relentless vigor. Everyone is given a rare set of gifts; use them. Use them to generate the ripples of change that you long to see.”

Peace-

The National Ache

I’m in the car right now heading toward our family Christmas for my day’s side of the family. Can’t say I’m feeling the Christmas spirit though, listening to NPR trying to explain this horror. Im just going to type and hope something worthy appears, because I feel drawn to write about this, but then again, what is there to say? Its shocking to me how the world keeps going after events such as these. This tragedy is completely unimaginable, and it has left me with this knot in the pit of my stomach. The horror is multiplied by the fact that it is so relatable. Parents are hugging their kids, kids are thinking about the fact that it could have been them, teachers are putting themselves in their classrooms figuring out what they would do. Everyone knows a student or a teacher. Everyone knows the beautiful innocence within all kids. I’m left thinking of all fellow students, as well as past teachers, some of whom I consider family. I was most moved hearing the story of the 27 year old teacher that hid her kids in the closet, told the gunman they were in the gym, and ended up being killed while leaving all of her students unharmed. As a student, there are teachers that I consider family and teachers that I can’t stand, but there isn’t one that wouldn’t try to protect all of us in a situation like this. Teachers, especially teachers that are parents, have a goal to protect their students as their own, and it’s truly a beautiful thing. In all of our moments of prayer, silence and remembrance, let’s also honor all the teachers that would do the same thing this young woman did if put in the position.
I hope everyone effected, in big or small ways, can heal and take “meaningful action” to add more love to this crazy world.
Hug someone today.
Peace-

My Heart Cries-POD 331

Layered 2

Layered

 

 

Portraits

We are playing around with the idea of portraiture in my photography class, and we are lucky enough to have a pretty decent studio set up to use. I decided to bring in a couple masks for my “subject” to wear, and I really like the end results. The masks made her more comfortable and brings an interesting layer to the photos.

 

 

CLC Pep Rally

I shot all of these at my high school’s pep assembly on Friday afternoon. For the first time in our school’s history, our football team made it to sectionals (I think) in IHSA, which is kinda fun. The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is actually the same thing that I am planning on competing in, except for journalism. Anyway, I’m really not into football, but it is cool to see the whole school come together and rally around the players. When we lost on Saturday, the team was crying on the field and it was great for everyone too see exactly how hard they had tried. There were some pretty deep facebook statuses Saturday night, I must say. For a lot of them, it was their last high school game and I can imagine that being pretty tough. In my personal experience, endings in general just suck. The Dr. Suess quote “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” is really cute and a nice thought, but pretty damn hard to actually enact. Anyway, these are a few of my favorites from the pep assembly that I shot for the yearbook.

Basketball challenge

 

Sing off

 

Football dance off

 

Flash mob senior prank

 

This last one I will touch up in photoshop later. I was trying out the new app “Color Splash.” Not so great.

Peace!

 

Obama Rally featuring Katy Perry

Bored mass of humanity

I had an amazing day yesterday. Friday night, two of my friends slept over and by 4:45 the next morning, we were up and getting ready to go. We drove to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and waited from 7:30am-11:30am in line outside, then waited inside from 11:30am-3:00pm. Finally, we heard the long awaited words “Please welcome President Barack Obama.” His speech was truly incredible and the wait was totally worth it. Katy Perry preformed before him, and she was pretty good. All in all, it was a great and exhausting day! I had fun taking photos and short people really enjoyed watching everything through my screen 🙂 I was also expecting a protest outside of the center, but I was pleasantly surprised to only see one old dude running around with a Romney sign. He could only gather himself to protest…that’s a good sign!

Enjoy

;

Antigone CLC Fall Play

 

Last night, I attended my high school’s fall play. We truly have an amazing play director and they are always spectacular.

I barely followed the plot because I was having such a good time shooting for my yearbook! Tomorrow, I’m off to the Obama rally in Milwaukee featuring Katy Perry – hopefully they let me bring my camera in!

Peace

A to Z

 

As I was getting ready this morning, I had my music blasting as always. About halfway through my morning routine, John Mayer’s Waiting on the World to Change came on. I knew all the words and sang along as I always do. I love music, but I love words more and the power that they have, so I end up listen more to the lyrics and the meaning behind them then the actual tune of a song. The song starts out with:

“Me and all my friends

We’re all misunderstood

They say we stand for nothing and

There’s no way we ever could”

and ends with:

“It’s not that we don’t care,

We just know that the fight ain’t fair

So we keep on waiting

Waiting on the world to change”

I guess I can see where he is coming from. I think he’s talking about the younger generation of which I am part of (I’m 17). But I just can’t see how waiting is a plausible option. If we wait for the world to change, who is changing it? There are things that we need to work on NOW. No need to wait. It also seems like people just give up because this “changing the world” business seems complicated, so why try? My personal answer to this question came from a writing assignment from my incredible eighth grade teacher. It was something along the lines of “What do you want to do with your life” and I remember really having a hard time answering it. I ended up saying, “I just want to change people’s worlds. I don’t know if I can change the world, but maybe I can change individual people’s worlds.” And newsflash, we can all do that. By changing one person’s life, you create a ripple effect that eventually touches (and changes) the whole world.

 

This past weekend, Mal Keenan, the founder of A to Z Literacy Movement, gave me the opportunity to do just that – change individual people’s worlds. I had the honor of running A to Z’s book give-a-way station at Immanuel Lutheran Church’s “Clinic.” It is truly an amazing day to be a part of. Immanuel gathers general physicians, eye doctors, photographers (for family portraits), barbers and dentists to give the less fortunate folks in our area the opportunity to take advantage of all of these services for free. Later in the day, a food truck comes and folks are able to leave with groceries free of charge as well. Last year was A to Z’s first year participating, and I hope we continue to. We are one of the last stations and we have the honor of giving kids books to take home. The smile on their faces when we say, “take as many as you want!” is unforgettable. My favorite moments are when adults come and want to take books for their kids Christmas or birthday presents. It’s one thing to make a kids day by giving them books, but to know you are also making some kids have gifts to open on their birthday or on Christmas morning is priceless. I believe we set up eight or nine boxes of books and left with one small box. Proof that we made an impact! I truly hope A to Z continues to help at this incredible community event and I know Mal and this organization will continue to make ripples of change in the world through the gift of literacy.

Peace! : )

Still Life – Garlic & Onions

 

 

Run and Roll for the Dole

 

This weekend, I had a blast photographing the Run and Roll for the Dole for a second time. I photographed it last year, and the differences in the quality of the photos is shocking, to me at least.

These are a few of my favorites from Race day! Enjoy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Car wash

What I do when I’m bored in the car wash 🙂

A Final Farewell

A few weeks ago, I wrote of a dear family friend that passed away from ALS. On his birthday, which was only a few weeks after his passing, his wife hosted a celebration of his life for family and friends. The photos I’m posting are mainly of a surprise dove releasing that her sister arranged, which was truly beautiful. Also, we all signed balloons and released them. It was really a beautiful day.

Dole

These are the steps inside the historic Dole Mansion. I worked here over the summer and continue with part time through out my school year. More about my connection to the dole can be read about here.

365lifephotography

I went to Kindergarten like it was a normal day. I was their age approximately, which is why I chose to use this photo, not to mention it’s incredibly powerful. I don’t remember anything of the day before the “announcement.” I remember the loud beep signaling the presence of someone about to speak to the school as a whole. The principal was so startled he was only really speaking to the teachers, using big and scary words like attack and Twin Towers and New York. I remember my teacher started crying and then immediately stopped when she saw us staring at her, so confused. Then I remember being at home with my mom, watching CNN. She was on the phone with my dad the whole time. He was in Arizona for work and I remember her saying that it’s going to be hard for him to come home. Being 6…

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Lonely Art

Forcing a bunch of high schoolers to sit in a giant room together, some having homework and some not, can lead to some pretty interesting pastimes. For example, my friend drawing this and me sitting in front of him creepily taking pictures of it.

I really like this drawing though. I feel like it represents life perfectly. All the boxes are just moments in our lives. Some colorful, some bland, some longer or different than others. Moments that surround us and literally become our surroundings. Engulfing us.
Peace!

Madison day 2- iPhone

Madison via iPhone

A look to the past…Italy 2005

Far left (me), my dad, Joyce, and Ed

In 2005, my family and two of our good friends, Ed & Joyce, went to Italy together. It was the second day of 4th grade, and off I went. Two weeks ago, Ed died of a 6-month battle with ALS. For the wake, his wife did the normal photo boards, and we looked through ours too from the trip we took together. I think my mom did most of the shooting. I wasn’t into photography until the end of my eighth grade year (now a junior). Anyway, I will do my best to caption them from my memory!

Ed, looking out from a water taxi in Capri, Italy

Coast of Positano, Italy

My dad and I on the water taxi in Capri

Gardens in Ravello, Italy

Doorway to room at hotel in Capri

Me, in Ravello, Italy

Water taxi

Zip line up Anacapri

Me, resting in the Vatican

 

I think this had something to do with government…remember it was nicknamed the wedding cake. Rome, Italy

A photo taken by Ed of my mom, dad, me and Joyce on water taxi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brookfield Zoo

 

Cousin Photo Shoot

Just finished watching the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. I would not consider myself overly patriotic, but I do love the Olympics. It seems to me it is the only time that the entire planet is truly united. All of the countries march together, smiling and proud. I bet you could research it and find a country in line next to one they are at war with. And yet, they march on. We put aside our differences and send our people out to test the limits of something we all undeniably share – the human body. I’m also a sucker for tradition and you can’t get anything more tradition based than the Olympics. Also, it’s a blast to see parts of London and point out things to my family. Even back in March when I was there, people were buzzing about the Olympics. Anyway, on to the point of this post! Today, I took my two cousins to Pleasant Valley Conservation District to photograph them. It was a total blast, and toward the end I found an incredible circular stone stage area in complete shade. Here are a few of my favorites!

Wedding

Flower girl

Ann Arbor

self portrait

This past weekend, my parents and I drove up to Ann Arbor, Michigan from Chicago, IL. Our goal was two fold: explore the largest art fair in the country and see the University of Michigan. We had a total blast, and I really like the campus and the town. Not a fan of the fact that the weather will be the same, but I suppose I can deal a few more years. Compared to my other top picks for college, Berkeley and Madison, it was different. Berkeley and Madison are politically charged, awesome, and artsy towns, bursting with a vibe that is unmistakable. Ann Arbor is artsy, but it feels people keep their views to themselves. There is still a fun vibe but it’s not nearly as intense. I’m okay with that…however, if I got into all three this would not be my pick.

 

Giant sculpture swing

Drive home

 

 

Ann Arbor- Graffiti Alley

This weekend, my family and I traveled up from Chicago to Ann Arbor, Michigan. We planned on touring the campus of the University of Michigan, as well as exploring the Ann Arbor Art Fair, which is the largest in the country. The town is almost shut down by tents and tents of art. I think in two full days we’ve covered most of it, but I don’t think there is actually a way to be sure. Anyway, yesterday I stumbled upon a alley that a ton of people were turning into. As I got closer, I realized it was covered in graffiti. Both walls, the sidewalk, the pipes – everything, covered. It was incredible. I personally love graffiti. I feel like people tell the truth because of their insured anonymity, and they do it beautifully.

I love the colors, the messages and the freedom of it. It felt like I was in Europe again, where it is a frequent form of accepted expression.

Sometimes it doesn’t make perfect sense, but theres still a beauty to it.

gum

Peace

Lakeside Fest 2012 & 4th Parade

10 years ago, a local mansion in my town was going to be torn down. Instead of that happening, a group of people decided to rally the community together toward a common goal – save that mansion. Once it was saved, no one knew what to do with it. So, again, that group rallied the community to save it; not from demolition, but from obscurity. The idea of an Arts Park was born, and has only grown from there. Today, we have many artists that call the Lakeside Legacy Arts Park their home, and many community members that see it as the pride and joy of our town. My father was in that founding group, and today serves as the Executive Director after many years of being the President of the Board of Directors. He brought me into this unique place at young age of 6, and just like Lakeside, I have done nothing but grow. Lakeside became a huge part of my families life, and as I began to develop my own life, it only became a larger part. I now work with the Advancement Coordinator for marketing, and it’s the perfect place for me because it is about getting the word out about this fantastic place we have created. Lakeside has been a part of me for as long as I can remember, and I hope it forever will be. I am not one of those girls that dreams of her wedding dress and of getting married, and yet, everyday when I pull in to the lot, I see myself reciting my vows on the steps of this amazing place.

Aforementioned, it was started by a small group of people with a vision and mission. It originated as a grass-roots organization, and has morphed into an incredible center for the arts. Blood, sweat and tears from tireless volunteers has created what it is today. Lakeside Festival is an annual event we host that is our main financial support for the year. During Festival, my dad runs the finance room, handling all the money that fest creates as it happens. I assist him as well as doing whatever else needs to be done. This past Lakeside fest was a complete success, as well as a total blast. It began with me hating the sun on the hottest day since 1977, and ended watching (and shooting) fireworks with great friends on the roof of Lakeside.

Here are a few too many of my favorite shots of the parade and fest in general. Firework pictures are in my other most recent post.

Carny fun

Parade viewing

Fireworks

Wedding!

I had another opportunity to tag along to a wedding reception with a lady that I am interning with. We had a total blast. It was in “Little Italy,” in Chicago, and at a beautiful restaurant. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Sunset & a Cow

As I was driving home the other day, I saw a farm within the sunset and I debated whether or not to turn around. I was coming home from an event I photographed, so I had my camera with me. I pulled over and got out my 70-200mm lens and basically laid on my trunk to stabilize so I could capture a longer exposure. It worked out pretty well!

cow silhouette

 

Hipstamatic Birthday Party!

Cousins birthday party at a local park (Veterans Acres) last Sunday afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buddha Day

I received the opportunity to photograph and attend the opening ceremony at Blue Lotus Temple in Woodstock, IL and it was held on “Buddha Day,” which is a celebration in honor of Buddha’s birthday.

Cousins

Friday nights lately have been spent babysitting my cousins. Tonight is the first night of nice weather while watching them, and we decided to walk over to my high school so they could skate and bike in the parking lot. I decided to shoot :-).

Chicago – Hipstamatic

After a few months of the Hipstamatic app being on my iPhone, a friend of mine finally taught me how to use it. Today, while in Chicago, I decided to only use it and see what happens. Here’s a few of the best!

d47 Art Show

Recently, I became the Event Photographer for the Lakeside Legacy Arts Park. This will be a job that I maintain into the next school year I think, however, I also have a position there during the summer as a marketing intern. Should be an adventure!

The most recent show I shot was the District 47 art show. This event is special for two reasons: 1, I was in it at one point and remember how proud I was of my piece and 2, kids run around proud of everything – showing their family’s their artwork and their friends artwork. The beautiful, happy things that are so evidently going through these kids minds when they created these pieces is inspiring and beautiful.

Peace!

coloring pages

Dachau

Modern mutilated body statue

 

Every time I have shown someone my photo album from my trip to London, Paris, Switzerland and Germany, they are most affected by my photographs of Dachau, Hitler’s first concentration camp. This is not surprising I guess, but it is interesting to watch everyone’s different reactions. Some sigh, some say they would have cried, all say “wow.” Being there, I can say that this statue, even though modern, was the most unnerving. Against the still blue sky, it just spoke wonders. I didn’t have my camera out. I wanted to experience it and not just try to capture it, except what I learned a few moments later was that searching for the shot made me SEE more. Anyway, the photographs really speak for themselves, so I’ll shut up now.

 

 

Boy in the Striped Pajamas - like scene

 

 

 

 

Claimed to be lockers, but now historians think they were chambers and the holes were of which to breathe

 

Original beds

 

 

Poles on which people were hung cast an eerie shadow.

 

Land of the Heavens-Day 1

Bern = Bear in German

Journal entry from Switzerland:

2 days ago, we all woke up early and gathered on “the coach” to the train station. We were off to Switzerland! We first stopped in Bern, a small town with a lot of history. We had free time and a group of us went to grab lunch. $55 francs (63 USD) for 3 bowls of pasta…wow! Anyway, after a walking tour of Bern, we took the coach to Lucerne, the capital of Switzerland. We got a glimpse of the Alps from our amazing hotel, but weren’t really in the heart of them yet. We ate dinner in the hotel and got to go to bed early, for once!

Yesterday was the best day of the trip so far, and by far! We all woke up and had breakfast, then were off to downtown Lucerne. It is an old town with wooden bridges and castles, even a lake infested with swans. Like Paris, it has extremely old, amazing buildings but with funky modern shops inside. Unlike Paris, it isn’t really a city, more of a quaint town on a lake. We had about an hour and a half of free time for shopping in which I found my mom an amazing briefcase/purse/bag. Finding gifts for other people is much more enjoyable for me than getting ones for myself, but I did finally end up getting myself a fabulous hippie shirt.  After some shopping time, up the mountain we went!

We took a good 45 minute drive switch-backing up a mountain. It was then that we all gained our first view of the Swiss Alps. Our bus driver, Josef, was the first to point them out. A simultaneous “WOAH” echoed through out the bus. We finally came to a stop with views of gondolas in front of us. Our amazing tour guide, Tom, passed out our tickets and we all loaded into tiny gondolas and headed UP. The views were indescribable. We barely spoke during the ascent except for the sudden whispered “wow…” and for 50 teenagers to be taken aback by natural beauty is proof it was really something special! We got off and then got on another, much larger lift that held our entire group. It was circular and the floor spun, so we all could see everything. After 10 minutes of that, we got on yet another lift of similar nature and that took us all the way to the top. 10,000 feet in the air! The lyrics “I’m on top of the world, looking down at creation” were very fitting. It was 5 am back home in Chicago, but I didn’t care. I called my parents until they woke up and tried to explain to them what I was seeing; aforementioned, indescribable!
Our tour guide, with a doctorate in British Literature, explained it perfectly. It was “sublime” he said. He explained that to simply mean ” cannot be comprehended, only apprehended.”
After an hour of being able to just enjoy the top, we went back down one lift to the snow park. There were tubes and sleds, and amazing paths for them. The snow tube one was more like a lazy river type set up, just on ice and with the view of a lifetime surrounding you. It was beyond fun.

I won’t say that it was the best day ever, but I will say that my eyes have never seen anything more beautiful nor have my lungs ever breathed air more clean.

 

Tom the tour guide!

Paris – Days 1&2

• What a late night again! We ended up adding something to our plans and not getting back until 11:30. Then the elevators didn’t work and we had to all carry our luggage to our floors via the stairs. Anyway, I’m having a great time. Yesterday we took the Eurostar from London to Paris and went straight to the Louvre. I loved it, but we were so tired and there was so much to see that my friend and I went to the Mona Lisa and then went to lunch. The Mona Lisa is not cool. I feel so ignorant saying that, but seeing it in person was not much different than seeing it on google – at least for me. I did love seeing the building itself though, and I enjoyed photographing people in the plaza at the center.
• After the Louvre, we took the metro to Notre Dame cathedral where we stopped and had the opportunity to enter. There was a service being preformed and it was fun to listen in French. I took a ton of pictures, mainly out of shock and yearning to share it with my parents as much as possible. I lit a candle again and loved it. I’m sentimental like that. 
• 
  
• After Notre Dame, we crossed the bridge into the Latin Quarter for dinner. It was the second time that day that I became positive that I like Paris more than London. There are small alleys and shops that create a vibe I just love, and London lacked that. I also love the hurry of it. All I can describe Perisans as is efficient, and efficiency is something I respect deeply. They are not mean like everyone makes them out to be. I found them to simply have a different culture, one of hustle and rush. Tomorrow will be a jam packed day again, beginning with a 5 hour train ride to Switzerland!

Street shot... LOVE IT!

Louvre

 

Strollin' at the Louvre.

 

Black market Eiffel towers!

 

 

Street shot, LOVE

 

 

 

Notre Dame

 

Sketching

 

 

 

 

 

Riding on the bus

London, Paris, & The Swiss Alps – Day 1&2 – London

Two weeks ago, I was strolling around London with 42 of my classmates and 10 of my teachers. It was truly the trip of a lifetime due to it’s uniqueness in the sense that I was with friends, teachers, and thankfully a fabulous tour guide that gave us the opportunities to do in one day what most people wouldn’t do in a week. I took many photos, however none of the hotels had good enough wifi to upload anything to my blog. I still wrote though, so that is what I will begin posting today.

Day 1- London

I’m contemplating even writing this right now. I have slept for 3 hours in the past 3 days and should probably be sleeping, but I’m not tired at all. Weird. Our first stop on the class trip is London, and it’s been really great so far. I miss my parents A LOT when I talk to them and going to bed without them is hard, but during the day I do well so I just have to get myself to the next day. My favorite part so far has been watching kids take pictures. They all see something at once, stop, and all take a picture of it. My friend is so confused about why I have this nice camera and never take photos of the “attractions,” and this is why…everyone else does! I see things differently from most people, and I think when I started my journey with photography it translated directly into my style and my “eye.” My goal on this trip: try not to take pictures of things that can be googled. Of course I have a shot of every attraction, just not ten thousand of the same thing.

During take off from O’Hare, I was shaking and on the verge of crying and I have no clue why. I almost got off the plane. I have a little bit of that feeling now having just talked to my parents. I think I am just struggling to believe that I’m old enough to be in a foreign country alone, and am struggling with the fact that soon I won’t get to always be with my parents. Shocker but I actually like them. When I say that to other teenagers, they look at me like I’m possessed, but it’s true. I never slept over at friends houses and intentionally tried to break bones in my body to get back to them during a two-week camp I went to.

Anyway, I had fun today. Deepened and started some friendships that I think will last due to how much we are sharing with each other these next 9 days. Who knows. Tomorrow is going to be a much busier day than today was, so I should really get some sleep. Feels so weird to not be with my parents, yet my social studies teacher just came in my room to check on me. Major disconnect – and kind of creepy!

"The Tube." 50 people trying to stay in a group on this quick transportation system was quite a challenge!

First dinner! Fish and chips

National Gallery

Day 2-

Wow! Today was a whirlwind! This morning feels like last year. We woke up at 6, had to be on a double decker tour bus by 8:10 to go pick up our extremely British tour guide. He took us to see Westminster Abbey, Parliament, the UN, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and my favorite, St. Paul’s Cathedral. When we got to St. Paul’s, we were allowed to go inside. Not many people other than me went in, but I’m so glad I did! Their was a service just starting that I got to sit in on for a few minutes and then I lit a candle as I left. I really liked lighting the candle. I am not religious, but it still felt “cool” for some reason. A lot of people have died recently in our circle of friends, and a friend my age died of cancer last year almost to the day, so something just felt sacred about lighting a candle and saying a prayer for all of them. All of the candles lit were just beautiful to me. There’s something amazing knowing that they are all lit in honor of a person. To me it was like turning the light that they will always shine into something tangible, and I think that tangibility is a very good tool for humans – at least it is for me!

 After the tour, we took the Tube (underground rail system) to Covent Gardens and shopped for an hour and had lunch. It was free time, which means we didn’t have to be with our teachers, and it was a blast to just be completely free. We all met up at our meeting point and then went to the National Gallery, which is where most of Van Goethe’s work is displayed along with many other famous artists. After that, we headed to the British Museum. I LOVED IT. ( Major nerd alert). The Rosetta Stone is one of the first things we saw, and I just loved seeing it. I don’t know a lot about history, but I honor it’s meaning and I loved seeing the building blocks of our today. My favorite room was the “Book Room.” I have never seen so many books at once, and I loved seeing the process of writing on tablets to writing in tiny print in binded books. Anyway, we saw a ton and I can’t imagine we even saw half of it. Apparently it would take a full day (24 hours) to actually lay your eyes on every single piece inside. Crazy!

From the museum we went to Hard Rock Café for dinner. It was nice to rest for a little bit and look through pictures with friends. We all ate extremely fast and ran out though because we were all dying to get to the London Eye. If you don’t know what it is, it’s basically a giant ferris wheel, except you are really in huge glass domes that are so smooth you stand the whole time with no problem. It had just gotten dark by the time we got to the top, so we got to see parliament and Big Ben illuminated in the night over the Thames river. Definitely an unforgettable sight!

We finally got back to the hotel about an hour ago. I have that feeling in my stomach again of missing my parents. I am really confused by it, because I’m totally fine during the day, yet the second it gets dark I get an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach. Anyway, we have to get up at 5 tomorrow to catch the Eurostar, which will take us under the English channel to Paris, so I should probably go to sleep. Good night!

I think the queen has safety issues

iPhone

Sadly, the camera I have with me the most is my iPhone 4S camera. Thankfully, it’s pretty good!

I think I’m going to start posting on Fridays of the cool photos I’ve taken thru out the week on my iPhone, and whenever for my “good camera” moments. We’ll see!

Buses

Stuck

It seems everyday I am stuck behind a train at some point. If its not the 7:01am it’s the 4:05pm. It also seems everyday that I am stuck in an endless cycle that I’m not terribly fond of. I’m 16 years old and passionate about global affairs and writing and photography and poetry and reading and analyzing, yet I’m forced to learn about triangles within circles and how to measure the energy it takes to ionize substances. I am so sorry, but I DON’T CARE. When I see a rainbow, I want to see magic and beauty, not particles and spectral emissions. I don’t want to roll my eyes when my mom applies perfume in one big plume, knowing in my head that the particles need energy from her skin to overcome their IMF’s to become a gas of which humans can smell. I don’t want to know any of this. I want to write a poem about a rainbow or take a picture of it, not write an equation to calculate it!

I can persevere, and I will, but man does it suck.
The other day, 2 cheerleaders from a school near us died in a car accident. My friends and I were talking about them and how, if it would have been us, what the point of last two years of our lives would be. We are all in advanced honors classes, and we all hate it. None of us are “naturally” smart and all have to work our butts off to do well. We go in early and leave late, wake up early and rarely go to bed, all to benefit our futures. But what if we had been in that car accident? The last 2 years would be pointless. Finding a balance seems to be the answer, however it also seems that anything but what we are doing is dooming ourselves for chances of getting into the colleges we want.

I hope that our fast-paced world hasn’t made it impossible to enjoy the present moment without dooming our futures.

Liquefaction

iPhone Photos-Towers, sunsets,trains, teenagers and “OMG it’ raining snowballs!”

9 days ago, I received my driver’s licence. Since then, I haven’t been able to resist the urge to shoot while driving. It’s crazy. I’ll take an hour to get home because I was chasing an angle of a sunset or something. Anyway, this is a compilation of the shots I’ve taken in the past month.

I like the motion in the train one… I get emails everyday with photography tips and interviews with photographers and one of them taught how to get a shot looking like this one… Probably would have been better with my camera, but it still worked out! Lighting is pretty fab too.

As I was driving home yesterday, it began raining snowballs. I am not exaggerating in any way. Wouldn’t surprise me if someone said we got an inch within a half hour. I was being extremely safe and driving with my knees shooting out the open window…got some good shots though!:)

Swamps & Ray-Bans

Bald Knob Cross of Peace, Alto Pass, Illinois

 

 

 

 

 

Yard

photo 11

photo 22

photo 31

photo 4

photo 51

-Sent from my iPhone
“Rammentiamoci di sorridere”
http://www.365lifephotography.wordpress.com

I love my school

As I “co-hosted” a booth at 8th grade night tonight at my high school, a woman came up to me and said straight up, “Good school?” I didn’t even hesitate to respond with a resounding yes.
Now let’s rewind to the episodes of Full House where you see everyone verbally attacking everyone else, smoking and doing whatever else in the bathrooms, and over all making high school look very scary. That’s not my school. At all!
I don’t know if I’m naïve, deaf, blind or stupid, but I swear, I don’t see or hear any of the things that high school is “supposed” to be. As a big picture, everyone is just simply learning together in community. Sounds crazy right? It’s even in the little things, like how everyone holds the door for you and everyone smiles at you in the halls. It’s even in the bathroom stalls…

And are we even smart enough to edit grammar in graffiti? 🙂

photo 2

photo 3

 

-Sent from my iPhone
“Rammentiamoci di sorridere”
http://www.365lifephotography.wordpress.com

31 January, 2012 20:32

-Sent from my iPhone
“Rammentiamoci di sorridere”
http://www.365lifephotography.wordpress.com

 

“Of course my eyes were always open, but with a camera it felt like I was truly seeing for the first time. Photographic gifts were out there, everywhere, in unlimited supply and free for the taking. Not only was photography fun and rewarding, but it was a way for a shy kid to communicate and share his vision and passions with the world.” – Steve Simon

-Sent from my iPhone “Rammentiamoci di sorridere”
www.365lifephotography.wordpress.com

College adventures

This past weekend, the snow storm detoured us from our original plan of checking out the university of Michigan. Instead we drove down to U of I and explored.
Here’s some photos from the trip!

Angel crossing!

h

Wedding!!!

Yesterday, I was able to help a local photographer shoot another wedding. It was a blast! It was a smaller one, but still very nice. Also, I got to use my new lens, a Canon ultrasonic L f2.8 IS 70-200mm. It’s awesome!!
Here’s a few of my favorites!

Sky

A beautiful night in crystal lake!

5 January, 2012 20:26

Happy new year

Someone rhetorically asked me why new year’s is a holiday – why it’s such a big deal. Logically I guess it isn’t, but there is something nice about feeling like you’re starting over and having something as definitive as a calendar back you up on it. In my life, it’s the equivalent to a new semester where the grades are erased, the teachers are all new and you get another chance.

I found it humorous to read facebook this morning and see a magnitude of different ways that people celebrate. You have the hung over people complaining, the clean kids saying haha we had just as much fun but now you’re hung over, and you have people like me, who keep it to myself and don’t post a thing, but truly enjoy reading everyone else’s.

Anyway, for the past 12 years, my family (just me and parents) and one friend of ours get together and make collages of what we want our next year to be. We go thru magazines and just cut out whatever inspires us, moves us, touches us in anyway and then we glue it to something and morph it into art with modgepodge. It started out just on canvas, but then my dad created one on a piece of redwood when we were in California and since then, we have all turned it into a piece of art.

I love doing them. 3 years ago was the first year mine felt comparable to the “adult” ones. I guess that’s acceptable seeing as how I started doing them when I was 5. Anyway, last year, mine was pretty incredible. The stuff I cut out was deep and meaningful and I was really proud of myself, but the even cooler thing was that over the year, I realized that most of it came to be. I went to San Francisco again, I became a better listener, I continued to read and write, I increased my “giving,” I started this blog which helped my photography immensely, I smiled more, I found more balance, I found more opportunities to lead, I honored and continue to honor the fact that “behind every person is are fabulous teachers,” and I hopefully began learning that success or failure is all heart.

Then I compared it to this year’s.

Unwrap a new language

Focus on the possibilities, the details are under control.

My happy place has never heard of a hammock

Freeing the macro artist within

California: where heaven meets earth

Survive

Visionnaire

Live and learn

Explore!

Unstoppable

Effective

Live like a Californian

Europe, London, Germany, Peru, Mexico

Point, shoot, upload, sell

A mind is a terrible thing to waste

2 pictures of the golden gate bridge

God without religion

Something is missing in my life without a belief in something greater than myself

I was getting frustrated that I wasn’t finding more meaningful things like I did last year, and then I stumbled upon those last two. Hmm…damn. Maybe that’s about all a year can handle? And truthfully, the things I put on last years collage are not thru being completed. I can become an even BETTER listener etc..

Happy New Years!

photo 3

photo 4

Above is my dads 2011 one on a piece of redwood we found.

18 December, 2011 21:29

Blood Drive

Above is the sticker I received yesterday after donating blood at my school. Couldn’t exactly take any other photographs of the experience!

I was excited to give blood for numerous reasons. My grandpa needed blood transfusions when he was alive, and my old friend from elementary school that died from leukemia last May needed blood often. I found it somewhat ironic, for lack of a better word, that I was donating blood in honor of Brandon in a gymnasium that he should have been able to play basketball in. Next to me was the only adult, my old math teacher, and I knew he was doing it for his friend and colleague that died last year from cancer. My teacher was donating in honor of his friend in the gymnasium that he should have been coaching volleyball in.

Anyway, as I sat up from getting it drawn, the lady said “Thanks, you saved 3 lives today.” She said it like a drive through person says how much your burger costs, but it still meant something. 3 people? For 15 minutes of my time? I’ll definitely be doing that again.

Dia de los muertos

 

Frosty morning on the bus

Today, a group of kids who are taking Spanish got the chance to go on an all day field trip to the National Museum of Mexican Art. I was excited to go, and of course, excited to shoot as much as I could.

Mural

The drive to Chicago was long, but we went through neighborhoods rich with art and color.

Fading

When we finally arrived at the museum, we had to wait at a nearby park for the previous tour to end. Thankfully, there was a nice man selling churros that we all ran to.

Churro man

Before our tour, we got the chance to go into the museum gift shop.

Finally, we drove to a huge Mexican restaurant for lunch.

 

It was a really fun day. It was surprising how much we all spoke in Spanish to each other just because we could. I will say that Spanish is one of my hardest classes. There is just a disconnect for me to be learning all these advanced honors subjects and then walk into a class and attempt to learn a whole different language. But, today was fun and made me realize how much I really do know, which is always shocking when it’s finally put to the test.

Peace

 

Run & Roll

Today I helped run a dualthalon at our community center called Run & Roll for the Dole. It’s a 2 mile run, 20k bike, then another 2 mile run. It’s a blast to see people’s dedication. Before the race, we had people bouncing up and down, stretching on their cars, lunging around the parking lot and warming up in whatever way they know how. I wish I could have taken more photos, but I was busy jumping in front of cars trying to get them to let the racers pass – not to mention it was down pouring for the first half!

 

 

11 October, 2011 23:19

“Life is like photography; we develop from the negatives.”
-Sent from my iPhone

happy birthday to me

 Occupy Wall Street Rally

We went to Madison this weekend to celebrate my 16th birthday. My birthday is actually on Monday, so I’ll take this chance to publicly thank Columbus for giving me a day off of school for my birthday for 11 year straight. I’ll let the photos tell the story of our adventure…

We spent the evening walking around town and had a blast.

  

Totally natural lighting... LOVE!

Saturday morning, we went to the huge farmers market that surrounds the capital.

To me, not posting for a while means one of two things; either I’m living in a gross cycle of redundancy that isn’t worth talking about let alone taking a photo of, or I’m so busy I just physically can’t find the time.

Lately, it’s been because I’m way too busy. But today, on the day I have the most homework of all the days this week, I decide to have fun. My friend and I ran home, grabbed my camera, and drove to our favorite farm market to get the best apple cider in the world. His birthday was on Monday and mine is coming up, so we did it as a present to ourselves. We were little kids again, running around the corn maze and totally not getting lost because I’m such control freak. It was a blast. Then we drove back toward home, drinking apple cider out of our individual ‘birthday’ gallons and eating warm apple cider doughnuts instead of cake. On the way, we pulled into a conservation district where I got a few shots, but it reminded me of my favorite one that we haven’t been to in a while. We got completely and utterly lost, but eventually made it right at sunset. It was beautiful and all in all a great afternoon. Tomorrow we’ve decided to go to the apple orchard we saw when we were lost. If you can’t tell, fall is my favorite season… : )

Here’s a few shots from the day!

love & death

This may sound odd, but when Michael Jackson died, I wrote a poem. I was intensely in to poetry back then and was attempting a daily journal in poetry. When I watched his memorial on CNN, I was confused at how he could be so harshly ridiculed in life, yet so mourned over in death. Hatred was constantly directed over him, yet when he died, love. I found it sad that he wasn’t here to hear his praises. Confucius died and only then did we see the beauty in his words. I felt like that’s just how it was; only praises after death, and only “normalcy” in life. I thought the greatest amount of love came after death.

I was wrong.

It actually seems that the prospect of death, just the prospect, brings the greatest amount of love. I was driving down the road today and I saw a man pushing a wheel chair. In the wheel chair was a man with some type of tube in his mouth, and with clear physical deformities. The man pushing the wheel chair was singing and smiling and almost skipping. It was beautiful, in a rare, sad, kind of way. It’s amazing how well we can do things when it feels there is no other option. I would bet, that if you asked the man if he thought he could handle taking care of whoever the man was to him in the wheel chair, he would have said no. I bet he would have said no, and I can assure you he would look at you like you were crazy if you asked him if he pictured himself singing and skipping while taking him for a stroll. But, he’s doing it.  He’s doing it because he loves that person and to him, there is no other option.

The crazy thing is I saw this scene right after running in to a friend of mine and talking with him about my grandma who has dementia/Alzheimer’s. He actually took the photograph below, which completely describes all I’ve been rambling about. In way too few words, Paul had Alzheimer’s and his wife, Mary, took care of him until he died. The story is sad, as was the scene I described earlier, however you can’t deny the love and the hope they both give us. As I experience this whole thing with my grandma, and see the scene I described earlier, and see this photograph of Paul and Mary, I realize that the most profound love comes in the prospect of death, not after.

Click on the photograph to go to the photographer's site and read the story behind this photograph.

 

3 October, 2011 20:57

“Life is like photography; we develop from the negatives.”
-Sent from my iPhone

Friend’s of ours little girl, Charlotte!

football

Taking advantage of our horribly bad seat! : )

 

photo project

This is a must watch! Fabulous idea and story!!

Wedding!!!

Saturday night, I did what I always do – in a sense. Not be a normal kid. Yep, I was very not normal. Skipped homecoming dance to intern with a local photographer. It was a beautiful little wedding on a farm. She normally does much bigger, more extravagant weddings, however this was a friend of hers and it was a good small one for me to start on.

Here’s a few (ok, a lot) of my favorites!

The bride's little boy, Rider.

 

f

LOVE... Should totally be a coke add...

New family!

Ringed hands through crowd

Brides' grandfather was into photography...

Happy new family!

32

Every house where love abides
And friendship is a guest,
Is surely home, and home sweet home
For there the heart can rest.
~Henry Van Dyke

Hopefully, by the end of our lives, we can all think back and have many places that we can say were “home.” Home isn’t a house or a place; never any bricks and mortar involved. It’s a feeling. When you walk in, you’re embraced. When you walk in, you can see the footprints you’ve left behind. Nothing is expected, and whoever you are in that very moment is completely accepted. You automatically become calm and at peace. You’re safe and loved.

photography 101

 My friend is getting a camera sometime next week, so today he came over and wanted to walk around and shoot with mine. I couldn’t let him have all the fun, so here are a few that I caught through out our walk around town.

 

sunflower

 

Today I met with a local photographer who I will be interning with soon. My first “gig” with her will be a wedding on Saturday. It’s pretty unusual; on a farm in Harvard. I’m pretty excited! She is okay with me sticking to the more candid style, which I’m grateful for. I can’t wait to learn and have fun!

 As I was driving home, I saw this cool sunflower so my mom and I walked over to it later. Enjoy!

9/11

I went to Kindergarten like it was a normal day. I was their age approximately, which is why I chose to use this photo, not to mention it’s incredibly powerful. I don’t remember anything of the day before the “announcement.” I remember the loud beep signaling the presence of someone about to speak to the school as a whole. The principal was so startled he was only really speaking to the teachers, using big and scary words like attack and Twin Towers and New York. I remember my teacher started crying and then immediately stopped when she saw us staring at her, so confused. Then I remember being at home with my mom, watching CNN. She was on the phone with my dad the whole time. He was in Arizona for work and I remember her saying that it’s going to be hard for him to come home. Being 6, that scared me more than anything. Then my great aunt called my grandma, who then called us. My cousins lived in New York, NY and called their mom, (my great aunt) to say good bye. They really thought they were going to die. The only other part of the day I remember was going to my grandparents farm with my mom and laying in the field, looking at all the stars. It was a beautiful night, a million stars and not a single plane. I can still picture that sky perfectly.

Then, over 9 years later, I was laying in bed. My phone rings and it’s my best friend telling me to turn on the news. He said Bin Laden had been killed. I woke up my parents and we all sat around the tv in our pajamas, sleep in our eyes. Listened to our President explain what had happened and that he was finally dead. I went on Facebook the next day and saw tons of posts of euphoria that he was dead. My thought was that I wanted him gone. I just didn’t want him to be here anymore. I can’t actually say I wanted another human being dead.

That same friend and I were babysitting a while back and I brought a few books to read to the kids for fun instead of watching TV. I brought one of my favorite books “Man Who Walked Between the Towers,” and read it to them. At the end, there is a photograph of NY without the towers and an blurb about why they weren’t there anymore. I guess we assumed that they knew. How could ANYONE not know? When they asked where the towers went, we didn’t know what to say. I think we went with something along the lines of “bad people took them down because they didn’t like us.” We both realized then what innocence truly is. No wonder little kids are always so happy?

Anyway, in honor of the day I thought I’d post a few of my favorite photographs from a collection called “Here is New York.”

 

 

 

Kids Motivating Other Kids to Blog! (via About a Teacher)

Love this idea!

As we get ready to start our blogging journey, we decided to host a special event in our classroom. We invited my last year group to share their blogging adventure with us. What would be more motivating for my students than to learn about blogging and commenting from other kids? It was amazing to see how engaged in the conversation every kid was. It was powerful to see how everyone wanted to participate either to ask questions or to answer them. … Read More

via About a Teacher

Service

Last week, I had to give a speech in Honors Sophomore English about a word that we feel best describes us and why. The goals were two-fold; us getting to know each other and the teacher getting to know our public speaking abilities. Above is the collage I created to go along with my word, “purposeful.”

I began by saying how terrible my freshman year was. I’m not being dramatic in my mind, because I truly wasn’t happy the whole year and it was hard. I got too caught up in my school work and forgot about the things that make me who I am. I didn’t have time to volunteer at the Dole or A to Z and I felt useless, and like I wasn’t making a difference. Completing my math homework is not changing the world, and I need to be at least somewhat impacting it. It’s just who I am. If you know me, you know that my friend from elementary school passed away after an 8 year battle with cancer, and you’ll know my grandma is entering the beginning stages of Vascular Dementia/Alzheimer’s. However, I think if I had maintained my community involvement, I would have been stronger to better deal with those situations.

So, a huge goal over the summer was to volunteer as much as possible and while doing that find a sustainable way to continue doing it into the school year. I knew I had to find a way to balance it all, otherwise I just wouldn’t be happy. I started an internship at the Dole on top of all the random stuff I do there, and I got as involved as possible with A to Z. I am still working at the Dole, but I am now working on projects that can be taken home and worked on for a period of time. Also, for A to Z I am working on strategies for gathering sponsors for a fundraising event.

But now I ask the terrifying question of “WHY?” Why do people like to volunteer? Why do I like to volunteer? Is it for others, for me, or both? Everyone says that volunteering is good for the soul, and the lessons and moments impact who you are for the better. But, the real question being asked is am I doing it for others or am I doing it to make me feel good? I would love to say I’m doing it for others, but I can’t be sure. How can you ever be sure? I can hope but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to know. Does a life of service mean a life of not paying attention to our own flaws? We volunteer, so does that compensate for our flaws? In my mind, it’s probably a continum. Some let it compensate fully, while others not at all, with many in between.

All I know for sure is that I love making an impact. Whether I do it for recognition, for compensation of my flaws, or for the greater good, I do not yet know.

Central vs. South

This is my favorite shot from the day. Love the entire band as the reflection in the tuba.

Yesterday, Crystal Lake Central had a game against Crystal Lake South, and it was our first time playing them at home since 2006. In the morning, we had NBC5 there for their morning news and a dueling band competition. My friends and I were there bright and early at 5 to be in the excitement.

School spirit is even more intense when you're on TV!

And needing to say "Hi" to mom is a must...

After a long day in 100 degree weather with no A/C, it was finally game time!

Love the motion in this

Would it have been weird if I asked if I could borrow that for a little while?!

Fun game, and really fun to photograph!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day no clue- peace

I haven’t posted in a while. A long while actually for someone who is supposed to be doing a post every day for a year.
My reason for not posting in a while is two-fold. I have been crazy busy starting my sophomore year of high school in all honors and accelerated classes and haven’t had much to photograph or much time to find something to photograph. Also, I have a confession. I didn’t tell a soul about this blog for about three weeks. My reason for starting it was truly for me to have an outlet for photography as well as writing. I was happy with 7 views a day from random strangers. When I decided to post it to facebook, I got about 60 hits a day and was fine with that. It was when family members and people in my community started commenting about it to me in person. I can’t explain it; I almost feel like they read my diary. It’s, of course, stupid to think that a blog is as private as a diary, but I kind of started it as that and it feels weird now that I have so many people “following” it. Don’t get me wrong, its a good thing, just something I have to get used to.

I hope to be posting once in a while, but it’s not realistic for me to commit to an every day thing. So welcome to 365ishLifePhotography!

“Life is like photography; we develop from the negatives.”
-Sent from my iPhone

Day 38-concerts

When I was 7, I went to my first concert (that I can remember). It was “Alabama” and all I remember is a woman behind me smashing a beer can on my head repeatedly. Tonight, we went to see “Train” for a second time and I was attacked with a cane. I was in this woman’s way and she had a cane so she hit me with it on my back. I moved, then a few minutes later she came up behind me and grabbed my arm really hard and demanded I move. My reflex was to throw my arm back; I would have been mortified if I knocked her over, thank god I didn’t. Anyway, that entire thing was rather awkward. I hate being touched and her grabbing me scared me so much my heart is still racing. Ridiculous, I know. All in all the concert was great!

photo 1

photo 2

Now on to a random topic that I thought about while I was there. The lead singer called a bunch of women and girls up on stage to sing a part of a song. I freaked out and hid behind my dad because I was so unwilling to go up. I saw all those girls up there and couldn’t help but think, “What is wrong with me?” 1) I had no interest in being up there. 2) I would not have danced, moved, or done anything other than stand there. Ive been called serious, no fun, anti social, party pooper etc.. I wish I was fun. I wish I wanted to do that, but I really just don’t. It kinda sucks. Just another addition to my oddness in comparison to “normal.”

We had a blast and the last song was the same as last time we saw them. It was my friend and i’s favorite song, and we went together specifically to hear it. It had a special meaning to us, and we freaked when we heard the opening notes. Then we left and rode home in the trunk, and ended up sound asleep on top of each other. A lot has changed since then, and her and I are no longer friends. The song was really tough to hear but I was happy then and I’m happy now, so life’s good. And I apologize for the horridness of these photos. Cameras with “removable” lenses were not allowed.

“Life is like photography; we develop from the negatives.”
-Sent from my iPhone

Day 37

My secret: I am obsessed with books about WWII. Elie Wiesel’s “Night” was fantastic and I am just starting the second in the trilogy titled “Dawn.” My other favorite WWII books are “The Book Thief” and “City of Thieves.” The quote below is from the author’s note of Dawn and I love it.

“There is nothing sacred, nothing uplifting, in hatred or in death. In this story, which calls religious and cultural ideas into question, I evoke the ultimate violence: murder. It aims to put on guard all of those who, in the name of their faith or some ideal, commit cruel acts of terrorism against innocent victims. And yet, this tale about despair becomes a story against despair.” -Elie Wiesel

“Life is like photography; we develop from the negatives.”
-Sent from my iPhone

Day 36-gracie

I am trying to start bringing my camera everywhere, and I’m glad I did today! I ended up babysitting our friend’s daughter, Grace. Enjoy!

 

She knows how to use my iphone as well as I do! She's 3!!

Day 35-madison

Today we spent part of the day in Madison for my grandma’s birthday. I attempted to do street photography, but it didn’t go so well. I mainly did what I normally do. I tried so hard to capture people, but we were walking fast and I always ended up too close to the person to take the shot. The ones of people that I will post were shot without looking through the viewfinder though, so I am proud of those few!

What kids do when their parents aren't paying attention...

The entire town is in unanimous hatred for Walker

 

Bumper stickers are my favorite things on the planet

 

I LOVE this photo and I LOVE opinionated buttons!

 

Lucky little guy...

I debated a little bit about posting this shot. I did shoot it without looking through the viewfinder, so I am proud, but I didn’t know how people would receive it. Anyway, I thought she was adorable and I love what it turned into with cropping and going black and white.

Day 35-religion, family, & butterflies

A few days ago, I saw a notebook in Walmart while school shopping that said something quoted and then it read “John 3:16.” I asked my mom what it was because it seemed like that’s how stuff from the bible was quoted. She spouted off the whole verse and I just kind of started at her. She then said “Don’t you know 3:16? Everyone knows John 3:16.” I mumbled back, “I guess I’m not everyone then.”

I don’t have a religion, don’t know what I believe or what I should classify myself as, and here’s why: I am much closer to my dad’s side of the family, and that is where most of my religious opinions and confusions came from. My biological grandfather is a brilliant scientist/professor and is an atheist, as is his twin brother. My biological grandmother I don’t think really has a religion. She believes in free thought/expression and is very into spirituality and “divine order”, or things happening for a reason. Peace and love and John Lennon would be probably her top 3 favorite things, ones that give you a good idea of who she is. Her father, my great grandfather, I believe helped build a Unitarian Church, so that tells me she was possibly raised Unitarian. My biological grandfather’s side of the family, besides his twin brother, are all somewhat religious. Christmas with them is usually hymns being sang in the living room, cheese being eaten in the kitchen, and religious debates in the dining room. I must add that our best friends since the day I was born are Sufi Muslims, thus I was exposed to it all and not forced to or guided to follow any of it.

Of course, these are small pieces of people and events, but I do think it gives me somewhat of an explanation for being so confused!

As long as I’ve tried, I still don’t know a way to describe my parents beliefs. They believe that everything happens for a reason, they speak of being waited to be guided to the next thing, they believe there is a higher power, but they don’t follow a certain book and we don’t go to a certain building on a certain day of the week. For sure though, they have let me have my own experience regarding spirituality/religion, and I thank them for that.

I’m confused. Agnostic is truly the perfect word for me because I don’t know. I truly don’t. Logic is my best friend in the sense that I like everything to have evidence and reason, and that makes faith very hard for me to grasp. But I feel like I’m missing out. For example, am I really the only person out there that doesn’t know John 3:16? For lack of a better word, that’s slightly awkward. I hear my friend talk about her mission trips and all these events and charity efforts and the such huge sense of community that places of worship seem to create and I’m envious. Not really so much of the religion part of it, but for everything else that comes with it. I’m envious of being able to say I go to church and envious of the normalcy that having that would envelop me in.

However, this freedom I’ve been given has created a fascination within me of all religions. I wouldn’t say that I’m searching for the right one or anything like that, but I am truly interested in the specifics of each and every one. Two years ago, I had a teacher that I would truly describe as brilliant. She is brilliant in every sense of the word and one of the most learned persons I have ever met. For the beginning of the year, I was convinced she was a liberal “free spirit” because she went to Berkeley, but everything else I had come to learn about her didn’t fit that mold. One day after class, we sat and talked for a little over four hours. The topic of religion came up, probably because I came right out and asked her, and she explained. She explained to me her religion and went really in depth with me about why she believed what she believed and some experiences she has had, but she was not trying to convert me, she was simply sharing. It was the most amazing thing. She completely honored me in my unknowing and shared her beliefs simply to share them. She didn’t pick out things to say that would convince me, she shared her life and let me take from it what I wanted. Never to this day have I had an experience like that. No one has ever really bashed me for not having a set belief because I’m not very vocal about it, but I have never been so honored before and I’ve never had someone as kind as her take the time to explain their lives to me and how their beliefs have played out in their lives. I’ll always be extremely grateful for her for that. At the end of the year, I wrote her a note explaining how grateful I was. I left it on her desk and she never commented on it. But that night, when I walked up to her, she gave me a hug and I knew by the way she hugged me that she had gotten the note. I’ll never forget how clear that wordless communication between us was. Moral of that story was that it was the first time my lack of religion was honored and it actually led to the deepening of a relationship. For all I know, that deepened connection could be the entire reason I don’t have a religion, and I’d be okay with that.

Anyway, I got home from Walmart and searched our book shelves for the bible that I knew was there somewhere. For some reason, I felt a need to familiarize myself with this seemingly “famous” verse. I opened it up to the contents and started searching for the page. A ribbon book mark was at the beginning of “John” and the passage I was looking for was highlighted…

Now for the slightly random addition of butterflies. I wrote this on my porch and right before I pushed the publish button, a yellow swallowtail (I think) landed on a flower by my pond. Apparently he wanted to be included in my post today!

Day 34-manual focus

Last night, I had an idea. We have a community center/art school in our community called Lakeside Legacy Arts Park & Community Center and my family and I helped start it. So, I had an idea to do a show revolving around photography in it’s main gallery. Between 7 o’clock when I started it and 3 o’clock in the morning when I finally went to bed, I got the whole thing completely planned in my head and the postcard/flyer already made. Now to get it approved! I made this postcard in Adobe Illustrator and I’m beginning to like it. Played around a lot with the main images but decided to stick with the film theme.

What I am hoping I’ll be able to achieve is at least 1,000 students (high school and jr high) from the area to submit 2 photographs each. Then have a gallery night where each wall has a local photographer exhibiting their work, then down the center of the gallery, somehow suspend 2 fishing lines with the students 5×7’s on them. Hold them by closepins or something like that and have one photo on each side so people can walk along both sides. If I receive enough to do 2 sections of this that would be awesome. Then have a first place winner get a camera that is either donated from a store or sponsored by a donor, and give free photography classes to the second and third place winners.

Now to get it approved…time will tell! : )

Day 33-please!

My very first reaction when I found out I was “Freshly Pressed” and realized that I have 7o or so subscribers was, “What do I do now?” This blog and project started out simply because I wanted to become a better photographer and gain practice using my camera. After the “Homeless Garden” post, I felt like I had more to live up to because so many people were paying attention now. But the truth is, I’m not at a cool project like that every day. I’m not in California everyday. I’m not in gorgeous places or doing spectacular things. I’m just a 15 year old kid enjoying summer. So, my decision is to not let people actually reading this thing now change it at all. So some days it will be inspirational and great photos, others it will be my friend and I grating chocolate with a cheese grater because we forgot to buy cocoa and can’t drive. BUT, today I am going to take advantage of all my new “followers!”

I’m simply asking that everyone who reads this click on this link. A friend of mine was put on the “Freshly Pressed” page as well, and if you haven’t yet seen it, you truly must. It will make you smile, cry, and maybe remember. Please please please take a moment out of your lives to just click it! You’ll be happy you do!

Thanks,

Jorian

Day 32-cake!

Today, my friend and I practiced making a cake for my aunt’s baby shower. We are going to make a 3-D Teddy bear cake! Wait, scratch that. We are going to attempt to make  a 3-D Teddy bear cake. Today, all we were practicing was getting a hang of piping correctly and making frosting thick enough to work.

We made a bit of a mess, and the first cake we made we forgot to put canola oil on the bottom of the pan so it stuck and basically broke into a thousand pieces when we tipped it over. Baking is not our forte.

Okay, so yes this is chocolate and that is a cheese grater. We got baker’s chocolate and then realized we needed cocoa, so we made cocoa with a cheese grater. Inventive, right? (Oh, FYI, unsweetened  baker’s chocolate is not chocolate. It’s nasty.)

 

Day 31-afraid

As I fall more and more in love with photography, I fall more and more in love with this photograph. My family purchased it at an art show, and this is just a cropped photo of our framed copy. It’s funny, her and I now have the same camera. I love it because it can mean so many different things for every individual out there. We (people who like photography) can picture ourselves being that girl, holding that camera, and decipher the word “afraid” for ourselves. If I was that girl, this shot would show my love of photography and my fear of hiding behind it too much. I remember a small event I was at where a woman basically sat with her camera up to her face the whole night. I found it to actually be sort of creepy. I don’t want to be like that! 🙂 But I fear it would be easy to fall too much in love with getting the perfect shot that you forget to look through your eyes instead of your lens, especially if photography becomes your profession. Also, I fear that in scary situations I would hide behind the excuse of shooting instead of interacting with people, and dare I say the word, mingling. God I hate mingling. Anyway, I also would say the “afraid” represents a fear I have of street photography, which happens to be my favorite style (next to graffiti and street “art”). I am scared of the obvious which is people giving  me a funky look for taking a picture of them, but also for the possibility that I might disrespect someone. I love taking photos of homeless people, but I only keep them if there is some sort of hope or positive spin to it. (I’m still set on finding the moment where a hand is dropping a coin into a guitar case and I catch the coin and hand in mid air.) I am “afraid” of valuing the shot more than I value the soul in the shot. But, hopefully being aware of these things will keep them a fear and never a reality.

Day 30-people photography

Wow! Freshly pressed works! Thank you so much for all the views and comments and likes!

So, enough with the frilly flowers. While the macro shots were fun, I love people photography the most. I’m just not very good at doing it, so frilly flowers are easier. 🙂

Street performers in San Francisco

I didn’t have time take photos today because we were traveling, so I went back thru previous trips to find people photography. Enjoy!

Military man with tuba on street corner

That's so going to be me one day! I love birds.

Flute player in Golden Gate Park

I think he caught me! Hopefully he didn't mind 🙂

BY FAR my favorite photo I've ever taken. Beggars on the corner of Haight and Ashbury, a pictorial sign begging for what appears to be money and pot, dreadlocks and a pit bull. God I love San Fran.

Day 29

This photo says it all. Best car in the best state in the best town by the best ocean. Need I say more?

Flock of pelicans over pacific ocean

Graffiti in redwoods

California's artichoke fields!

Beach photographer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 28-homeless garden take 2

I say homeless garden “take 2” because the last time I went there, my camera was stolen hours later so all my photographs of that day were lost. However, that could be a good thing because these shots are a lot better.

I ended up getting a camera almost twice as nice as my old one. I went from a 12 mega pixel sony alpha 330 with a 18-55 mm lens and a 50-200mm lens to a 18 mega pixel canon rebel t2i with a 18-55 mm lens and a 55-250 mm lens.

Love the blur of the teddy bear sunflower in the background

The Homeless Garden Project in Santa Cruz, CA is a place where homeless citizens go to volunteer and in return receive job training. Some become staff at the garden shop. Basically, there is a open field filled with beautiful flowers and vegetables and it’s open to the community. A bouquet, that you pick yourself, is only about $4.

The job training comes in the form of creating and maintaing beautiful gardens while also helping the community when they come to gather them. It teaches discipline and social skills.

I’ve been having a blast with cropping and zooming. I can go much farther due to the increase in mega pixels in my new camera. I had a hard time choosing shots to post, so bear with me thru a few too many!

They're teddy bear sunflowers were incredible

This almost looks like the main flower has a reflection.

This one looks like it's giving the hand signal for love

The first thing I thought of when I saw these was Rastafarians.

LOVE. Just by cropping, it turned a photo of a boring flower into what almost looks like an oil painting

While I do believe that powerful, worthy, meaningful, inspirational, impactful photography has a “heartbeat” or “soul” in it, or at least a message, I do believe that nature and other objects can be fun and beautiful. Peace!

Day 27

 

5 August, 2011 20:09

“Angels exist, only sometimes they haven’t got wings and we call them friends.” -Sent from my iPhone

Day 25-big sur

Purple sand foot print at Pfeiffer beach in Big Sur

Ocean, seaweed, photographer 🙂

This is our dog when we're in california. Her name is Tolinka which is just awful and she's really ugly but has a cute personality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 24-DIRTY hippies

While I am not a complete hippie, a friend does call me a dirty hippie, although I’m not dirty…till today. Today. Today was an interesting day. We drove down the mountain from our cabin and took a hike down a railroad track along the ocean. On the way back to the car, we walked thru an artichoke field and the sprinklers turned on. As we approached our car, we noticed the backseat window was smashed and my camera was gone. I immediately started sobbing. A friend that is with us lost her purse and all identification to get on a plane. We spent at least 4 hours on our iPhone’s trying to cancel accounts, replace stuff that was stolen and get a new car. After being on the phone with 45 million different people, we found a car that would be returned to a location in a few hours. It, of course, never came back and after waiting all afternoon we were cranky to say the least. We decided to leave the car at the dealer and rent from another company. My mom and I convinced this dude to wait 10 minutes after they closed, only to get there and find out that all he had was a Toyota Yaris (which with 4 people is the equivalent of a rice cooker on wheels). We decided to call the place at the airport and drive the car all the way back and switch it. Only bummer is its like an hour away and glass shards were flying into the car from the broken window along with freezing cold air. Now our plan is to have some tow truck dude from the original rental car company come and switch cars with us in a mountain town market in the dark. YAHOO. Due to the fact that my camera was stolen, today’s blog post is now a picture I took with my iPhone, which, thank you God, was in my pocket.

A final thought on that subject is that I forgot my original camera battery at home and had to get one at some place out here. When we plugged it in it started on fire, so they took that and now we’re thinking they won’t know it starts on fire……………….

We actually went to a place called the Homeless Garden Project in Santa Cruz before that all happened and if my camera hadn’t been stolen, my photos would have been something like this. Basically it’s a store where homeless people make stuff that teaches them how to have a job and there’s also a garden built on open land that homeless people work in to train to have a job. People from the community can come and pick flowers or vegetables/fruits and can buy products from the store. It’s a pretty cool gig and I captured some awesome shots.

 

 

Day 23-san fran street photography

Day 22

Day 21-tree hugging dirt worshipper?…yea…that’s me.

My dad at our favorite look out on the loop road around Big Basin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 20-heaven

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 19-CALIFORNIA!

I’m finally back! While I live in Illinois, it feels more like I’m visiting there and actually live here. I don’t quite know why, but we just love it here. This trip we are here for 12 days, and it’s nice to just wake up and be able to bum around town. A ton has happened since the last time I was here in March. We try to do a trip in July, October, December and March. Since our last trip, the worst year of school ever ended, I finally am at peace (kinda) with losing two friends-one from death and one from life-, I gained an internship with my favorite place on the planet so I get to spend a ton of time there, and I got invited to possibly go to Zambia, Africa with one of my best friends. All in all, last time I was here life was good, and it’s good again for this trip.

 

Day 18-dogs

This is Bob. He is the best dog ever. It’s amazing to think that you can love an animal so much, but you so can. He is my best friend. We all have someone who we can tell everything to, but wouldn’t you secretly love it if they never said anything back? Just did something to make you smile, laugh, and feel loved? That’s what dogs are for. They are humans but lack the complexity that usually just annoys us. We all want to be loved, and want someone else to love. Thats the strand of the code in which we are all similar, and that’s exactly how dogs are. Maybe we should catch on to there simplicity?

Day 17-a to z

Today, my town (Crystal Lake, IL) held something called “The Clinic” at a church. Basically, there was a room with dentists, a room with optometrists, hair stylists with optional family portraits to follow, and a mobile food pantry.  A to Z Literacy Movement is an organization in which I am associated and have been since pretty early on, and we had a room at The Clinic for families to pick out books for their kids or for the kids themselves to take home. A to Z mainly ships collected books to third-world countries, but the ones that we find unfit (ex:barbie/disney) go to places in the United States. My friend (left) and I (right) were in the room the whole time and we had a blast helping kids find books, but also helping adults make choices for their little ones. My favorite part of the day was when a Spanish speaking woman came in and asked, in Spanish of course, if we had any books that could teach her English. No one else but my friend and I spoke any Spanish, and we totally knew what she was saying, which was so much fun! A lot of folks that came in only spoke Spanish and translating was really a neat experience. I loved when grandmas would come in looking for their grandchildren or when new moms and dads would come in wanting to start their little one’s library. I loved the smiles when we tried to help the kids and the look in their eyes when we’d say “You can take as many as you want!” My friend and I have different reading tastes but are both big readers, so between us we’d read almost everything. It was fun knowing that they would read the same books we enjoyed so much.

The one thing that I struggle with when I share about my involvement in A to Z is when people talk back about it being in Africa when we live in America. Even though we are helping in America as well, that is our main location and it just kills me when people undermine it just because it’s far away. I’m 15, and not to be frank but I feel like working with this organization in my spare time is a lot better than the alternatives, and seriously, if you want A to Z to be working here, thank us for what we do there first and offer your involvement to change it to the way you want it, don’t just criticize. And if you don’t want to get involved, shh! Not everything can please everyone. If there is good in the effort, that’s all that can really matter.

My goal is to go to Zambia, Africa (A to Z’s main output destination) soon! I would love to be with the kids there and just have that type of experience.

All in all, great day!

22 July, 2011 22:50

Headed home from the Five For Fighting concert… While most try to get shots of the act, I couldn’t help but capture the woman in front of me skyping on her phone. She eventually turned around and explained that she was skyping her friend in Honduras. Got to love technology.

“Angels exist, only sometimes they haven’t got wings and we call them friends.” -Sent from my iPhone

Day 16-six days!

I had only had my camera for like a week when I shot this… I am convinced a little bit of photography is luck, and this shot was definitely luck. I’ll be back here in six days and I hope I get this lucky again! While I do feel the best photography has a “heart beat” in it, this is pretty good too….

Day 15-san francisco

This is my favorite photograph I’ve ever taken. There is something about the graffiti pole framing the left and the fact that the two people are gazing into space but the dog is staring right at you. The cardboard sign with drawings almost makes you wonder if they’re illiterate or if they were just high when they did it. What makes it even better is that they are sitting on the corner of Haight Ashbury. I did not take this photograph today but since I’m going back in 6 days I can’t help but be focused on that.

Day 14-here? no. there? yes!

I have a slight obsession with the entire state of California… My dream is to go to University of California Berkeley and that has been my dream for four years now. Santa Barbara and San Diego are on the list but not any where near as amazing to me as Berkeley. I have been to the state five times and in nine days I will be returning. It’s outline is a pendant that never leaves my neck and it truly is where I’d always like to be. Illinois is not the place for me. Combine that with McHenry County and it’s like oil and water. This is a poster in my room combining my inner “dirty hippie” with my extreme love for the home of all dirty hippies, California.

Day 13-the storm

 

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but I missed a few days in the beginning of my blog. I’m in Crystal Lake, IL and we had a pretty bad storm about two weeks ago. My family specifically was without power for six days, and this is why… Truly amazing!

Day 12-ick

My family and I watched a documentary last night about this guy who did a vegetable juice fast for 60 days and lost like 80 pounds. We were inspired and we went to the store and bought $42 worth of vegetables. Beets, ginger, cucumbers, lemons, apples, pears, collards, parsley, zucchini, yellow squash etc.. I bet the lady who checked us out at the store thought we had a rabbit farm or something. We got home and followed a recipe for lunch. First of all, you must know that we are a very healthy family, but eat almost no vegetables. Just not our thing. So when the Vitamix was done blending and an air bubble arose and popped out of green slime, I couldn’t help but think of a nasty pond. Then, as the lid was removed, the smell of pure wretch was erected into the air. I did taste it, and literally gaged and was nauseated for hours. When we all convened in the kitchen tonight, we were all exhausted, sick, crabby and yearning a sandwich. We made one more attempt, failed, and I had a sandwich. I am pretty disappointed in my will power, but trust me, it really did not taste good. At all. We were supposed to go 10 days…so not happening.

Peace…(I’m going to get a cookie.)

 

Day 11-bathroom graffiti

I love bathroom graffiti. It is just such truth. For some reason, people expose themselves in ways they would never normally. High school bathrooms are high school students truth…sadly…

People who do that ^^ then write stuff like this…

Then they do this…

Then people like me with common sense think it’s…

It’s all truth though. Which can be good, and it can be bad. I wish people would draw and write positive and happy things. Better said like this…

Peace.

Day 10-how to matter

How to matter is an awesome website that I stumbled upon a while ago. This is what I would love some of my photography to turn into.

Day 9-photography

I love photography, but I’m scared to love it too much. I am confident that it will stay a hobby and not a career, but even so I worry. Antisocial personality disorder does not describe my personality, but I don’t “mingle” well and I’d rather be with a select few. Big crowds kinda freak me out and parties are not my thing. When I bring my camera, I hide behind it. I look through the viewfinder instead of through my eyes. Its a mask. But I’m aware of it, so I’m mindful of it. But some aren’t. Photojournalists and professional photographers sometimes grow into their cameras, like it’s molded to their faces and gives them the ability to only see the screen and the possible headline photo, instead of the pain and the grief surrounding them – engulfing them. They are human, it’s affecting them, just not right at that moment. Their focus is diverted and the scenes in which they witness must eventually come crashing in around them. Right? I know that this does not describe all photographers, but when you see them swarming horrific scenes with no sign of any emotion, it gets you thinking.

This photograph was taken of a poster in New York, NY after 9/11. While people around the world were grateful for the footage, it is a different perspective to many of us to think what the people  being photographed are thinking. While everyone agrees that there is power in photographs, she has a point in saying “what makes us think that we can capture the pain.” We can’t. They can’t. No one can. To put yourself in her shoes, it would be hard to be weeping amongst the wreckage and then be asked to move by a stone faced stranger with a camera.

When I was in San Francisco last, I had my camera and came upon an homeless man sitting on a bench. He was extremely over weight, and his legs were calloused and wounded. He wore a winter hat while it was 72 degrees, and wore many layers of clothing. His one arm was propped on his shopping cart, the other draped over his slightly exposed beer belly. And of course, he was asleep. The farmers market was prospering behind him, and it would have been literally the perfect photo. I put my eye to the view finder and then heard the words of a friend in my head. I felt his presence more than I heard his words, but either way I turned off my camera. My heart told me not to take that photo; I think he would have told me to not take that photo. Not to make this man’s pain and suffering on a bench my pride and joy in a frame. Not to let my camera win over my heart. I passed him again on the way back to the car, and while my dad begged me to get the photo, I never touched my camera. Instead, I silently wished him well and thanked my friend.

So my goal is to use my camera as a messenger of art and avoid hiding behind it. Also, to keep myself from having a more intense yearning for the perfect shot than my yearning to be kind and respectful to others.

Day 8-day in the life

I got the chance to spend the day with Robin Pendergrast who was doing a photo shoot for a recipe book. I had a blast and learned a ton.

I enjoyed shooting the shoot.

Day 6-hoards of humanity a.k.a summerfest

Summerfest was a very interesting experience, and a prime location for people watching. This “arial” like shot was taken on some ski lift thing that took us over the whole park.

Above: There was a USMC booth with Marines there and they were trying to get people to beat them in pull ups and arm hangs. Shocker, I know, but this fellow did not beat the Marine.
 Below: The main attraction of last night for us was Amos Lee, but Todd Rundgren rocked the stage next door so we couldn’t help but run in for a while. 

Day 5-quinceanera

A few weeks ago, a scroll arrived in my mailbox inviting me to a quinceanera. The girl who was having it is a pretty good friend of mine and I felt pretty obligated to go. I went with a few friends and ended up having a blast. The picture below is of her and her dad, and it sucks! I searched my house for a nice purse to shove my camera in and fit my extra zoom lens, but of course I left it in the car. I was really bummed, but I would have probably “hidden” behind it too much anyway. I have to be careful of letting my camera become my shield and photography an excuse to be a recluse.

Day 4-my tree

This photograph has so much meaning to me. I shot it from my iPhone 4 on HDR mode. I know what it stands for but no clue really what it does. I took this picture on accident while my friend was walking up this tree. It turned out really neat, and to me almost has an angelic feeling. Some people may call it a mistake but I like it. Now for the meaning. This tree is in the back yard of the Dole Mansion, which is my favorite place in the world. It has been struck by lightening a recorded seven times, and it will not die. It keeps getting closer to the ground, but every spring it comes back to life. It’s limbs reach out and are like cupped palms of human hands greeting the sky. It’s my tree. I hate when people act like they own their back yards; its earth, you can’t own it! But that is my tree. It’s my place. I’ve buried pictures of broken friendships there, I’ve had picnics there, I’ve cried there and laughed there. I’ve spied on people from the protection of it’s magnificent limbs and branches. It’s my childhood. Another piece of meaning in this photo is the yellow Livestrong bracelet on my friends wrist. Our friend Brandon got diagnosed with cancer when we were in third grade, so my friend begged his mom to get him this bracelet and he’s never taken it off. Even when we got all dressed up to go to Brandon’s funeral this past year, he still wore it proud. He got me one but I wasn’t as religious as he was about keeping it on, but I am now.
When I approached his casket, he still had it on his wrist. I would guess the family had it put back on, and because of that I will never see a Livestrong bracelet without thinking of my friend.

Day 3-basketball

Sports have never been my forte, but my best friend is obsessed… She has a park by her house and we play basketball a lot. It’s fun and I envy her community. I’ve lived in 17 different houses and 16 different neighborhoods,  whereas she has lived in the same place her whole life. She knows everyone and we don’t ever go to the park and not run into a bunch of friends. It’s a blast, and I’m glad I can sneak into that life style for a few hours here and there.

Day 2-baby olive

 Today I babysat this little girl who came into this world eight weeks early! She’s only five pounds and yet her posture during her nap was that of any ole human, which will always amaze me.

Day 1-Black umbrella on a sunny day

This past weekend was the Lakeside Festival in Crystal Lake, IL. It is held on the grounds of the historic Dole Mansion, the mansion that my family and I were instrumental in saving back in 2002. We turned it into an art school, where artists can have private studios or classrooms. During the festival, my father and I run the “finance room.” Basically, we count all the money. I love it mainly because I crave control and those are five days of the year where people respect me and listen to me. Remember, I’m fifteen with the mind of a 35-year-old. This year, I decided when there wasn’t money to be counted that I would do street photography. For the first time, we had a resident artists tent. One of our resident painters sketched an outline of the mansion for the community to paint, and put out a blank canvas for kids to play around on. It was a beautiful sunny day, 85 degrees and this lady was walking around with an umbrella. I would assume she has a medical condition or something, but no matter the reason, she created an interesting moment. The shadows of sunlight rarely seen on a dry, jet black umbrella was breathtaking. The thing I love most about this woman is that it’s so clear she has a good story to tell about her life. But the photo as a whole has a great story too.

Below is the final result of the communities efforts.