After a little hiatus

I want to be as reverent towards the sky as the sunflower can't help but express every single day.

theme of the week: 07.mar.10

"health"

diptych of the week: public transportation
(click for larger version)

Hey friends,
We know, we know, it's been way too long.  Something like exactly 3 months since our last post.  We're hoping that we can go back to being good about this blog since it was such an inspired idea to begin with. We also didn't realize how many "fans" we had until the emails started pouring in durinng the hiatus (ok maybe not pouring, but streaming).  Thanks to all of you!!
To relaunch our collective, here's the latest diptych.
Cheerio from the West Coast(s),
string fever collective


 

[left]: btown's pic at the Foggy Bottom metro station in Washington, DC.
"This is one of my favorite pictures of all time and definitely one of the top 5 pieces of work I've ever seen btown produce." -- shelley

[right]: At the Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station in Delhi, India

theme of the week: 06.dec.2009

"public transportation"

diptych of the week: light

mixed politics

I'm in DC this week with a 10-20mm Sigma wide angle lens on my camera- my friend J loaned it to me right before I left. I've never worked with anything but the 18-55mm that came with the Canon Rebel lens kit, so having this beautiful clean lens mounted on my camera is novel. It has heft and weight. I also get to see what comes of it when I use it indiscriminately, because it's the only lens I have other than the 18-55. Shooting EVERYTHING with a 10-20 is going to be interesting. I don't have the ability to upload photos this week, so it'll have to wait til I get home.

For now, I just want to report that I happened to be here in DC when the House put the health care reform bill to the vote late Saturday night. I was at the SisterSong conference with 400 other women (of color) who work for reproductive health and justice. When it became known that the House would be voting on the Stupak amendment, which would essentially ban abortion coverage from any public or private insurance plan in the health care exchange, there was talk of marching to Capitol Hill to make sure that abortion and women's health were not once again, as they eternally are, the compromises that Democrats were willing to make. Thanks to a bunch of setbacks, we did last-minute legislative visits instead. The Stupak amendment was ultimately passed as part of the larger health reform bill. My confusion and mixed emotions feel intensified when I'm here in DC with the magnitude of this week's politics literally in the air. I understand that passing a health reform bill was very, very important this weekend, for Obama's presidency and for the momentum of this thing, but Stupak is devastating. It is a huge step backwards in health care accessibility, especially for the women who don't need any more limitations in their options. This amendment was about achieving a pro-life victory and/or about Democratic compromise, not about protecting and expanding health. What a dangerous, ugly, frustrating compromise.

more thoughts to come- thanks for reading.
b.

foie gras

I just posted on my personal blog about a photo essay on foie gras. Mike Belleme is a photographer in North Carolina, and he did this piece on the controversial practice of force feeding the ducks a few weeks before they go to slaughter. It's gruesome, beautiful, and informative. Be prepared for moving and haunting images; but also, be prepared to leave duck liver (and maybe other types of meat) for at least a good long while.

cheers,
s

bike fun

going east, part II


I'm flying east to DC tomorrow night... Redeye, which is the only way to do it. Or at least apparently the only way I do it, because who needs to sleep when you can instead spend six hours half-awake and twitching for the reward of landing at 5:40am? To commemorate this particular redeye flight, I found this photo of me and Shelley when we first met in DC in the summer of 2006.

theme of the week: 08.nov.2009

"light"

diptych of the week: shadows

kite strings

man dying kite strings in gujarat before a festival

little ones

spent some time with my niece and nephew last week. cute as buttons.

praying

everything but statues

for all your worshiping needs

bikes on the beach (and other findings)

with...brooms? It's India: anything's possible.

Power Rangers



A weaver preserving a generations-old method of weaving (called Tangalia) in a rural village in Gujarat. How I love his shirt.

Diwali Celebrations

here's some of the kitschy things you can get in the markets in the days leading up to Diwali (The Festival of Lights/biggest holiday of the year in India). can't get enough.

theme of the week: 25.oct.09

"shadows"

diptych of the week: photo of a photo

going east


GOING EAST

Elsewhere,
a babe's first words might be
ma ma, or da da
In Berkeley,
babies are born in a
lotus position
Their first word is
Karma
There might be more
Buddhists in Berkeley than
in Tibet
Some are from Tibet
but many are from
Brooklyn
Bishop George Berkeley
you got it backwards
It's "Go East, Young Man,
Go East."

-Ishmael Reed

theme of the week: 11.oct.09

"photo of a photo"

diptych of the week: red

corner of MLK and MacArthur

classic mumbai

i cannot name all the reasons i loved this moment.

The palm trees, the perfectly tended grass, the architecture...this scene makes me feel like I've time traveled back to 1930 and I'm looking out on some British admirals playing cricket. I half expect to see a turbaned Indian pop into the frame carrying chilled lemonade to serve them.

at the harbor. please don't make me leave here. ever.

taj hotel. (yep, the one from 26-nov-08). one thing i love about living here, as in california, is seeing so many birds. birds birds birds.

pappa. gateway of india.

snapshots of a weekend

getting ready for garba

I was in Gujarat last week to celebrate the end of Navratri, which is a pre-diwali 9-day celebration, and a big part of Navratri is a dance festival called Garba.

Here's a couple of pics from that night, but if you want to read about what all went down, check it out here.

cruising in Vadodara


I didn't have anywhere to put my cell phone, so here are some important numbers which I hoped wouldn't rub off.

my cousin looking for our car at the end of the night

jingle, jingle

at our mini after-party