This is Ishmael. My friend Adam introduced me to him today. He is a native Moroccan but homeless on the sidewalks of Washington DC. He lives in Rawlings Park, a duck park by the Corcoran Gallery. According to Adam, Ishmael also spent a good part of his life drifting around Italy. He is a part of the photo essay I'm working on picturing immigrant and non-citizen homeless people in Washington DC.
This is one of my friends Peabody. He has recently been released from the hospital among other places. He had a very bad infection in his foot. It was caused by a shard of glass. Today was the first time I've seen him in weeks. I'm glad he is out and doing better.
Antonio Canova sculpted the lions that guard Pope Clement's tomb in Rome. The Corcoran Lions are copies of Canova's Lions, reproduced in 1860. I really like these lions, as I am sure a lot of visitors do. Their popularity may be apparent from the gift shop's apparel.
I bought this handmade kaleidoscope when I was driving through Central Pennsylvania a few years ago. Kaleidoscopes were invented by the Scotsman Sir David Brewster in 1816. The kaleidoscope was used as a special cinematographic effect in the early silent Russian film Man with a Movie Camera.
Friday night I went to the Greek Taverna with some of my friends. We all ate one variety or the other of gyro. It is my mom's favorite place to eat in DC. Not only does The Greek Taverna have the best gyros in DC, they also have Saginaki -- Flaming Cheese!
Native Americans no longer seem a politically correct symbol of Thanksgiving, even though it started out as a harvest celebration from American Indian culture. Today the historical context of the Thanksgiving tradition is easier forgotten than explained. Aside from eating, to today's individuals it marks the beginning of Christmas decorating.
You'll have to take my word for it that these birds are above the White House. I walked over there today to see the concrete foundations they poured for the Inauguration platform. I recently updated some photos in my portfolio. That, you can see for yourself.
I saw this man fiddling with a flask in his jacket. I waved and the conversation started. Peter told me he was the president of the World Bank. He said they made him president because he was a general who won many wars. He said his hat was native to his home country the Ukraine. When he took his wallet out to offer me a dollar for taking his picture he also displayed an Anchor Mental Health identification card. I can at least be pretty sure he was Ukrainian from his accent. He is a real pleasant man and one of the many internationally vagrant persons in Washington DC.
Sandra, my dear friend since high school flew back to Chicago today. I think she'll have had a good time looking back, but we began to irritate each other. Over the past couple years DC has become my home, so every time she criticized it for its crappy metro ticket system, or bus fare machines that don't give change, or the incompatibility of the subway and bus payment systems I became defensive (even though I'm known to complain of the same things). She did say that our trains are cleaner and more comfortable, but at the same time couldn't believe people didn't drink coffee on their morning commute (no food or beverages on the trains). In Chicago they may eat breakfast on the train to work, but this is the U.S. Government's city and the government likes to keep a clean appearance. For instance, every time I see someone painting, or polishing brass fixtures I immediately think of sailors. One thing you can be sure of is that every single ship in the Navy's Fleet, at this very moment and always, is being painted. I swear.
I have been eating a lot of rice lately, along with half of the people of the world. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization rice supplies nearly 900 calories a day to those in China. However, less than 100 calories per day per person are gathered by rice here in the US, where our staple foods are genetically modified meats and sugars.
Tower cranes in Southeast Washington DC hover over the area around RFK Stadium. This area may be the future site of DC's baseball stadium, if not a revamped RFK itself.
Rehearsal Thanksgiving
I went to a Thanksgiving Dinner at my friends' parent's house. There was excellent Thanksgiving Ham and Turkey and plenty to talk about after dinner ... and for weeks to come. I am thankful for the invitation.
My friends Chad and Cat talk "Art Speak" in the Corcoran 3rd Year studios. Everyone prefers these studios to the senior studios because they are down stairs and the senior studios are up and up the stairs. Art Speak goes something like this ... Creativity comes from mothers and grandmothers, craftsmanship and skill from fathers, and I can personally root my interest in Modern Art to my oldest sister Gina. She had me looking at Lichtenstein, Kandinsky, and Mondrian at the LACMA in early grade school, maybe before. I remember her asking me if I liked Modern Art. I responded negatively at first, but had a good idea of what Modern Art could look like - a jagged Cubist collage, the blank canvas Conceptual Art, "Broadway Boogie-Woogie," and the limited-color paintings of Color Field painters. Now I watch the future of art and its artists, and they're pretending to ignore me. That is Art Speak.
Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House reopened to foot traffic a couple days ago. It seems like it's been closed for almost a year. Tonight there was a BBC Television reporter there. Tony Blair is planning to visit the CONUS to meet with the POTUS on Friday.
I was walking home from downtown when I saw a man bleeding from his head on the sidewalk. Another urban injury, a bump on the head in the night from a tripping mishap. A few Fridays ago I saw a woman trip and knock her two front teeth out on the curb. The sidewalks are dangerous out there.
Today was the last day of my internship at Sandy Spring Friends School. I'll miss my slow, un-crowded commute out of town in the mid-morning. I'll also miss the school, the instructors and students, and the memories they bring back from my earlier years. Like when I was in the library and saw three middle-schoolers making Xerox copies of a drawing book - it reminded me of my past fascination with copy machines. The sun coming through the window, reminded me of an interesting website of high contrast "street photography." The website is called In-Public.Com.
Many Sundays I never leave my apartment. Today was one of them. Then I attempt to take an interesting picture at home. This is one of them.
I took this picture just as the wind caught this stroller. Its two front wheels are nearly 6 inches off the ground. See how the shadows line up?
Today I had a mid-term test in David Haberstich's History of Photography Class at 8:30am. We met at The Smithsonian Museum of American History; Haberstich is their curator of photography. After the exam we looked at numerous invaluable photos, plates, and prints. One of the most intriguing objects was a glass color plate (Lippmann Plate) that dates back approximately 100 years made by Gabriel Lippmann. Amazing, considering color photography has only been in mainstream use since the early 1980s [actually 1970s]. Lippmann won the 1908 Nobel Prize for Physics for his color photography.
This is Yemi at the security desk on the ground level of the Corcoran Gallery. He has lived in the United States for approximately a year. He emigrated here from Nigeria. His people are the Yoruba. I analyzed some of their artifacts for an interesting history class I took last year. I didn't ask him why he moved but when I look at this picture I like to think it was in search of a better life and opportunity. The same as when the young people of America move from rural to urban areas.
A bus load of kids ride home the day after election day. The elections have a pivotal effect on the future. It's good to remember the future doesn't lie in the hands of a single person.
There was a lot of talk about young people not turning out to vote as projected. I didn't vote the first nor the second time I was eligible. I would have been an extra vote for my parents. Democrats need to have more children.
I went and voted mid-morning today at the Mount Pleasant Library, Ward 1, District 39. The line went down the sidewalk, across and alley, and down the side stairwell into the basement of the Mount Pleasant Library. Right at the bottom of the step going into the basement doors was a leaf-covered specimen of human feces. I couldn't wait to get through the door!
When I got through the door I was breathing again, and talking to the people in front of me. We noticed some of the election officials turned their attention toward the door. We turned around and saw that the woman who was directly behind me had stopped at the door, 50 feet behind. I yelled back asking if she couldn't smell the "poop"? The officials made her move forward through the door. She may have been drunk.
I saw my friends Solomon and Susan, and Michael a customer from Swing's Coffee Shop, and my old neighbor Spencer at the polls. I joked loudly with Solomon about voting for George Bush. I had the choice to vote by pencil ballot or electronically. I chose paper ballot, as did most people. I fed my vote for John Kerry into the mouth of the electronic ballot box. On my way out the door I pointed to the leafy pile, revealing the source of the stink to the other voters in line (to their chagrin).
This is Stich the Hairless Cat in his owner Moana's travel bag. I lifted this cat out of its bag and it bit me. It didn't have sharp teeth though. When petting this cat, your finger will stick to its skin.
