This morning after dropping off my daughter at day camp I heard a long story on the radio about the successful social media branding campaign that ISIS has carried out through the use of psychotically brutal videos of torture and execution. The news anchor was incredulous that anyone might see these things and say, “I want to be a part...
Growing up in Chapel Hill, I often came across a local magazine called "The Sun". As a kid interested in punk rock I was vaguely repelled by its intense hippie vibe. As a young photographer I was excited by the possibility of having some of my photos published in its pages. "The Sun" featured interviews with thinkers and healers, fiction,...
We're sitting around laughing about my dad. My wife is telling our friends that whenever our daughter asks where something is she says, "You know what Grandpa would say...
Next week the Municipal Arts Society is going to give their annual Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis Medal to Bruce Ratner and MaryAnne Gilmartin. This award was created to honor Ms. Onasis' preservation efforts. Giving it to Bruce Ratner makes as little sense as giving President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize. The Historic Districts council feels the same way. “We claim no ownership...
Imagine for a moment that you move to a place where you don’t know the customs, or speak the language. It feels like you are living in a dream most of the time, and things don’t make sense in ways that you can’t put into words. While you can quietly observe what’s going on, when you try to speak or...
When I was in college I started a band with some friends. We played noisy chaotic music. When we were putting out our first 7 inch single we added the phrase “confusing the body to exploit the mind” to the cover art. The idea of getting lost in music to access some part of the mind that one was normally...
I started taking pictures voraciously in high school, and took many of the pictures in the school newspaper and the yearbook. However, the day after graduation was the first time I photographed what could be called a news event. I have no visceral memories from that day. I can’t tell you what it felt like, and I can’t really remember snapping...
Cecily McMillan, a 25-year-old organizer, and has been politically active for over a decade — most notably in the Democratic Socialists for America, the anti-Scott Walker mobilization, and Occupy Wall Street. However, on March 17, 2012, Cecily’s attendance at Zuccotti was a point of party, not protest. It was St. Patrick’s Day and as a McMillan, she vowed for this...
This picture, from my childhood home, was taken in the summer of 1984, when my mother was 49 years old. 30 years later I have moved back into that home, and I sit in the same spot to eat my dinner, and do my work. Throughout my life my parents have sat there reading the newspaper and paying bills. For...