I'm on a plane right now, headed out to The Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. A lot of people hate flying. I don't love being stuck on a plane, but I tend to get a lot done while flying - catching up on books or writing. Today I re-read Steve Ozanich's follow-up to "The...
Yesterday I was in New York to shoot a quick interview with Dr. Mindy Fullilove, author of "Root Shock." I first met Mindy when I filmed her meeting with Brooklyn community members who were fighting to save their homes in our 2012 documentary Battle for Brooklyn. Mindy's area of study focuses on the long-term health effects on people displaced via...
George Orwell was working with profound insight when he envisioned the “two minute hate” in his novel “1984”. When we are enraged, our ability to reason goes out the window; rage leads to blindness. It is hypnotizing and intoxicating; enraged people are much more susceptible to the power of suggestion, and more easily controlled. The more...
George Orwell was working with profound insight when he envisioned the “two minute hate” in his novel “1984”. When we are enraged, our ability to reason goes out the window; rage leads to blindness. It is hypnotizing and intoxicating; enraged people are much more susceptible to the power of suggestion, and more easily controlled. The more...
When you see, or hear, the word "science," what do you think of? Do you picture pristine labs with gleaming black counters, bright lights, powerful microscopes and workers in white coats? Does the word give you more of a feeling than an image? Does it make you think of the concept of discovery, knowledge, or of truth? When we think...
I have been a professional artist for 30 years. By professional I mean that I have been occasionally paid for my work ever since I first had images published in The Sun Magazine in 1987. I was still in high school and it was a big deal to me. I kept making images but I also started to pour my...
It's hard to believe that it is coming up on 30 years since I climbed into a Toyota Corolla with my friend Sebastian and drove across the country to take pictures in malls. It was the summer of 1989 and I had just finished my sophomore year of college. The previous semester I'd taken my first college photo class;...
Trump's victory is without a doubt an unmitigated disaster for many vulnerable communities and individuals. I personally abhor much of what he says and does. However, it would be a mistake for those opposed to Trump, Bannon, and Co. to vilify all those who voted for him, while ignoring the deeper problems that his victory revealed. While Trump has condoned...
We have to be smarter. Yesterday Trump settled 3 civil lawsuits for fraud regarding Trump University for 25 million dollars. That's a big news story, and it very quickly grabbed the headlines. That evening, Vice-President elect Mike Pence went to see Hamilton and was roundly booed. After the play, the cast delivered a very civil message to him,...
We just went to NY for the world premiere of our film about Dr John Sarno, "All The Rage (saved by Sarno). We left from North Carolina two days after Trump won the election. When we went out in the city that Friday we encountered a number of spontaneous protests. First as we crossed Union Square a group of people...
I am exhausted today; just totally wiped out. I just got back from New York where we premiered our new film "All The Rage (saved by sarno)" at the DocNYC film festival. When I travel I do a lot of photographing- mostly with my phone- and the energy that I expend "noticing" the world is enormous. When I first moved...
Month One from rumur on Vimeo. A couple of days ago I wrote about getting whacked in the head by a tree that I was trying to cut down. When it happened, I thought about the words of Ram Dass, who asked that his hospital room be cleared out when he was having a stroke. Everyone was reacting to...