Splash!

 

This is exactly what I felt like doing after I got out of work today. Sadly I am nowhere near such an inviting body of water so I just have Jose Villa's photos to peruse (which is not such a bad consolation activity). 

We're off for dinner soon so I'm keeping this one short. I just came to say hello and wish you a happy Friday!

Memento Mori

I just started reading a fascinating book purchased from my beloved Kramer's Bookstore. On Photography is Susan Sontag's perspective of photography's purpose and its effect on society. First published in 1973, Sontag's analysis draws on the works of a range of photographers from Stieglitz to Arbus, Warhol to Muybridge. I'd like to share a more thorough write up with I'm done but even the introductory chapter is full of thought-provoking conclusions that I have to share. As one reviewer put it, "Not many photographs are worth a thousand of (Susan Sontag's) words." I'm not sure whether I'm in agreement with all of her words yet, but here are a few that I had to underline regardless:

"In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notions of what is worth looking at and what we have a right to observe"

"...photography is not practiced by most people as an art. It is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power"

"All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person's (or thing's) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time's relentless melt."

"To take a picture is to have an interest in things as they are, in the status quo remaining unchanged (at least for as long as it takes to get a "good" picture), to be in complicity with whatever makes a subject interesting, worth photographing - including, when that is the interest, another person's pain or misfortune."

"That most logical of nineteenth-century aesthetes, Mallarme, said that everything in the world exists in order to end in a book. Today everything exists to end in a photograph."

Do you agree with any of Sontag's conclusions? What do you think the purpose of photography is?

Millions of Peaches

How beautiful are these peaches? It's like a sunset in a box. 

I recently discovered that I'm allergic to raw peaches but bizarrely (and thankfully!) can still enjoy cooked peaches. I'm dying to try this recipe with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream. I can't imagine anything tasting more like summer.  

Jack's Boathouse

This weekend we went to Jack's Boathouse for a friend's surprise goodbye party. I'd never been before and was pleasantly surprised. Located almost directly beneath the Key Bridge, this colorful place rents kayaks and canoes for $14/hr. and is the perfect place to watch the sun set over the Potomac.

Can't wait to go back to Jack's before summer's end!

 

 

 

Let's Chill

This weekend we are supposed to get triple-digit temperatures in DC. The best companion in such scorching weather? Aside from sunscreen and a hat (I love this one) is a chilled bottle of rosé.

Stay cool, my friends!

Another Me

It's been tricky getting back on the blogging bandwagon after a week off, but I've been eager to share the "Another Me" project. I was first introduced to this project when conducting undergraduate research on human trafficking and sexual exploitation in Southeast Asia. After an interview with ECPAT International, I was handed a publication by the Another Me project featuring the work of documentary photographer Achinto Bhadra.

A collaboration between the Lausanne-based Terre des Hommes and Indian NGO Sanlaap, Achinto's striking portraits were of women and girls who have seen some of the darkest corners of our humanity. The part-photography/part-counseling sessions were to support these girls in "transforming their pain into power".

"Through the months of the project, the girls and women were guided by the counselor and the photographer to seek an expression of themselves... something, anything, they wanted to be... What originated as a simple photography project had become a healing experience." 

I personally love that the props and make-up used to protect the identities of his subjects further enhanced the portrayal of each girl's resiliency of spirit...

(clockwise from upper left - A Budding Branch; Durga the Powerful; A Sheltering Tree and; The Parrot)

The Doors

Here's a GRE analogy question for you - 

Leave: Return::

A) Fun: Smile

B) Up: Down

C) Open: Close

D) Left:Right

E) Oven: Baker

In case you couldn't guess from the title of this post or the pictures below, the correct answer is C) Leave: Return::Open: Close. True question from my study guide. Fun, right?

I spent a good part of my Sunday taking pictures of beautiful doorways around DC. It was exactly what my brain needed after spending a week immersed in analogies and quantitative comparisons. 

While on the subject, check out this song from Mumford & Sons - I just a-door it (pun totally intended)!

(the first is actually in Singapore and the rest are from Dupont & Georgetown...)

Fly!

"And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human being is the most valuable thing in the world... I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for that is one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost" - John Steinbeck

My friend Pete lent me his copy of Steinbeck's East of Eden, which I've been slowly making my way through over the past couple weeks. I read the above passage yesterday which particularly struck a chord with me, as I prepare (read: cram) for the GRE next Saturday. I've never been particularly good at standardized testing but understand its utility. At least Kaplan is telling me to. Funny true quote from my Kaplan study guide, "Too many people think of standardized tests as cruel exercises in futility, as the oppressive instruments of a faceless societal machine. People who think this way usually don't do very well on these tests". Yikes - got it.

What are your thoughts on standardized testing? What value do you think it has, if any? I'm curious to hear your thoughts!

Just a note - my activity on this blog for the next week will be minimal. Catch you on the flip side and in the meantime, let your free minds soar!

(photo credit: unknown)

Inequalities

I'm taking the GRE next Saturday which means that, among other things, I've been studying these types of inequalities....

...so I can go to grad school and study these kinds of inequalities....

China

Brazil

The United States

These photographs by James Mollison are featured in his book, "Where Children Sleep". This collection of portraits of children's bedrooms all over the world tells a sobering story about the disparate environments children grow up in. You can hear Mollison discuss the power of photographs in creating a meaningful narrative here.

Infinity and Beyond?

Today's successful launch of Atlantis marks the beginning of the end of the United States' 30 year old shuttle program, causing some mixed feelings about the program's discontinuation. It has been a roller coaster ride from the beginning. From its highs to its lows, it has never been short of breathtaking.

Check out these stunning photos of Earth taken from space. 

(clockwise from left: Time Magazine; Unknown; NASA ; Guy Laliberte)

Fresh Air

Happy Belated Birthday, America!

Yesterday we went for a hike on Maryland's Billy Goat Trail. It was great to get out of the city and take in the serene scenes of the Potomac River. The trail involved more rock scrambling than actual walking, but we were happy to get our hiking boots dirty.

When we returned, we headed over to an Indian restaurant for dinner - nothing like celebrating the 4th of July with steaming bowls of matar paneer and fluffy pillows of garlic naan! Nearby the restaurant, there's a section of 18th St. near the Marie H. Reed Recreation Center that offers a fantastic - and free! - view of the fireworks by the National Mall.

America's Riches

The Fourth of July holiday is usually a time to be outdoors with some buddies, catching up over BBQ and beer, perhaps go tubing or catch a fireworks show. I’ll certainly be enjoying some of these things this weekend, but I’ve also been thinking about what it means to be a U.S. citizen.

The word “America” draws to mind many things – privilege, power and prosperity come to surface in my mind more prominently than others. While I’ve never been one to join patriotic rituals (not for nation, nor any school*), I do inherently believe that America is a land of freedom and opportunity.

I attended 2nd grade at an elementary school in northern Virginia. From my class, I can remember only one fellow student. Hussein was a shy, skinny kid. His family was Muslim and so every morning, he sat at his desk quietly scribbling while the 25 kids surrounding him stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance. At the time, I thought, no biggie. Now I’m awed at the integrity and bravery of this 7 yr. old boy who said, no thanks, I’ll sit this one out.

I also remember Kesha (no dollar sign), who joined our 4th grade class after his family moved to the VA suburbs from Russia. Where in Russia I don’t know – it was just an expansive, snowy place somewhere far away. He was pudgy with short, spiky hair and I remember him being incredibly polite. A lot of boys teased him for his thick Ruski accent. Then, the summer before 8th grade, Kesha hit puberty. Soon, all the girls were after him and the boys started asking him to join their pick up basketball games.

These memories are among many that have led me to always cheer diversity over division. I find the recent “coming out” of children of illegal immigrants living and working in the U.S. such an important movement, especially at this time when certain states are pushing forth regressive immigration policies. We need more Americans to understand that immigrants are not a strain on resources, they are resources - resources making America a richer and more enriching nation. To quote the wise words of Cher Horowitz, “By the end of the day, it’s like, the more the merrier… And may I remind you, it does not say R.S.V.P. on the Statue of Liberty!”

My friend Steph introduced me to the awesome photo essays of Mother Jones. The mosaic below was plucked from Matt Slaby's photo essay entitled, "Can You Spot the Future Americans?"

* that marching band stint in 9th grade was mandatory. No, really.

The Right Equation

Friends + rooftop + salty margaritas = the perfect start to a long weekend.

Thanks, El Centro D.F.!

The Adventures of Milk Teef

I went to the dentist a couple weeks ago and he told me I needed to get my two remaining wisdom teeth removed. While I think they're perfectly happy hanging out in my cozy gums, these pictures from the blog My Milk Toof (perfect browsing for Friday afternoons, after being neck deep in MS Excel all week) make me think my teeth could possibly have better things to do...

  

This next one is my favorite. When my former neighbor Andrew and I were kids, I'd love jumping out at him from around a corner to hear him squeal (sometimes I still try to do that to Pem but my snickering usually gives me away!).