Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Long Island Shelter (2007)
On Tuesday we visited Long Island Shelter, a shelter for the homeless on Long Island in Boston harbor. The island and facilities used to be a TB sanatorium a century ago, but it got converted into a homeless shelter several decades ago. The shelter provides many facilities and programs for getting homeless "back on their feet" that I won't get into now. There is a bus service that brings the homeless in and out of the island everyday. We were not allowed to take pictures of the "clients" or "guests," so these pictures may seem especially eerie.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Not much about anything
I'm slightly torn whether I should make this a blog, in the traditional internetty journal sense, or a photo-blog, as it has pretty much been up to now. I'm a terrible writer and have never been able to keep up an interesting journal for either myself or for others. Interesting... being the operative word. So in this post I have decided to experiment with a little bit of both, I will *blog* about my first week with my study abroad program in Boston and will also add some unrelated photos.
This past week's packed schedule has conjured up somewhat unpleasant memories of 8 hour days in high school. Regardless, I've thoroughly enjoyed this past week and have already learned a lot about many things I was previously uninformed about. I'd say that the most enlightening thing we covered was the complexity of insurance schemes, especially the mess that we've made out of health insurance here in the states. Most students seemed pretty convinced that Canada's single-payer system is the best alternative, where the government is responsible for EVERYONE's healthcare, yes, every1, and everyone receives the same care and service. Larry (see below, or as he would say, "See Last!") noted that while many Canadians complain about long waits and other small aspects of their healthcare system, Canadians by and large would not trade it for anything else. Certainly not ours.
You may be asking, what about Massachusett's new healthcare law, which is supposed to provide universal healthcare? Good question. Well, I'm pretty convinced too that the way it is being implemented is not going to work, if providing adequate healthcare and low cost is your goal. I'm not going to get into specifics, but the policy basically works by "filling in" the gaps in patient coverage, and fining those who don't have insurance. Yes, think about that last one.
We have three dedicated and admirable professors who juggle several jobs and literally commute between countries. There is Larry, the affable avuncular (token) MD/MPH who is a model human being. His powerpoint lectures always draw much laughter; during one lecture he made students walk around aimlessly while he talked instead of mindlessly scribbling down his slides. There is Janneli, a midwife/medical anthropologist who has spent a great deal of her life in the rural community of Raramuri in northern Mexico, and apparently has recently been teaching at the WashU college and med school. She has a warm and wonderful laugh and a sweet syrupy voice. Finally there is Ellen, the polemicist. She comes to class with so much energy and enthusiasm for her cause-- creating reasonable labor laws for the world's workers (she works at the UN's International Labor Office/Org.(?) in Geneva). This reminded me of Sebastiao Salgado's excellent photo book, "Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age."
This semester will definitely be challenging. It will force me into situations that I might otherwise avoid and confront realities I might normally conveniently ignore. And it will be difficult, too, for sure. But I am so excited and passionate and eager. Several students were asking on Friday, "will I still care about the problems in the U.S. after three months?" A very good question, indeed, but I feel proud to say that I feel like I've moved beyond that. The kind of 'structural violence' we've talked about is as rampant in India, China, and South Africa as in the U.S. This reminds me of Amartya Sen's graph about life expectancies in Kerala (the state we will be visiting in India, not-so-coincidentally), China, and the U.S., with the U.S. given in terms of Blacks and Whites. Somewhat to my surprise, Blacks in America had a lower life expectancy than both the Chinese and Keralans (?), for both sexes. A higher GDP and higher wages don't necessarily translate to better health outcomes. The point is, while conditions and quality of life in the U.S. may *seem* better for the poor, that isn't necessarily the case. I mean, infant mortality in Harlem is worse than in some "Third World" countries like Cuba. C'mon, U.S. We can do better than that. And as Americans, we have a both a political and moral responsibility to do something about it.
Perhaps the most important thing that I've gotten out of this first week is the reaffirmation that public health is not, in fact, a commodity. STOP PRIVATIZING HEALTHCARE!!! We need to stop treating it like it's something that can be traded and bought for the highest price. It seems like a truism to restate that healthcare is a public good, and for that matter, so is public health. The funny thing is, most people would answer "Yes" to the question of whether or not we should have universal healthcare. This is not to say private practices can't exist. But a comprehensive public one MUST exist.
It might also be worth noting that a single-payer system in which the gov't pays for universal healthcare would be more expensive. It won't be. We spend a lot of money already on healthcare, often on treatment that doesn't work. The money we spend for healthcare goes to private insurance companies that have responsibilities to their shareholders, and many insurance companies have essentially bribed doctors to NOT treat patients. Essentially, if a doctor can convince a patient to forego treatment, the insurance company won't have to pay the doctor as much, but pays the doctor enough so that the doctor makes money and saves time. And doesn't treat the patient. Go capitalism. A single-payer system would get rid of all those nasty insurance companies that make life so difficult when you get sick.
Don't get me wrong, I love capitalism, it has given me a computer, camera, and other wonderful technological wonders I hold dear to my heart. Without these gadgets I wouldn't be able to share with you the photos below. Perhaps you'd have wished capitalism didn't exist after you see these pictures, but I hope that's not the case. So here are the pictures, whether you wanted them or not:
My grandma's apartment on Liberty Ave in Queens, NYC.
Another attempt at a photo posted previously:
My grandma lives above Chopsticks, a restaurant my uncle opened ages ago. It is a Chinese fastfood restaurant in the heart of a predominately Indian neighborhood. Even though my uncle is gone and the restaurant is no longer run by my family, I still enjoy going back to that neighborhood. Returning to that neighborhood opens the door to memories that have been stored away, memories that are only retrieved when I return to Chopsticks or write posts like this.
Until next time,
This past week's packed schedule has conjured up somewhat unpleasant memories of 8 hour days in high school. Regardless, I've thoroughly enjoyed this past week and have already learned a lot about many things I was previously uninformed about. I'd say that the most enlightening thing we covered was the complexity of insurance schemes, especially the mess that we've made out of health insurance here in the states. Most students seemed pretty convinced that Canada's single-payer system is the best alternative, where the government is responsible for EVERYONE's healthcare, yes, every1, and everyone receives the same care and service. Larry (see below, or as he would say, "See Last!") noted that while many Canadians complain about long waits and other small aspects of their healthcare system, Canadians by and large would not trade it for anything else. Certainly not ours.
You may be asking, what about Massachusett's new healthcare law, which is supposed to provide universal healthcare? Good question. Well, I'm pretty convinced too that the way it is being implemented is not going to work, if providing adequate healthcare and low cost is your goal. I'm not going to get into specifics, but the policy basically works by "filling in" the gaps in patient coverage, and fining those who don't have insurance. Yes, think about that last one.
We have three dedicated and admirable professors who juggle several jobs and literally commute between countries. There is Larry, the affable avuncular (token) MD/MPH who is a model human being. His powerpoint lectures always draw much laughter; during one lecture he made students walk around aimlessly while he talked instead of mindlessly scribbling down his slides. There is Janneli, a midwife/medical anthropologist who has spent a great deal of her life in the rural community of Raramuri in northern Mexico, and apparently has recently been teaching at the WashU college and med school. She has a warm and wonderful laugh and a sweet syrupy voice. Finally there is Ellen, the polemicist. She comes to class with so much energy and enthusiasm for her cause-- creating reasonable labor laws for the world's workers (she works at the UN's International Labor Office/Org.(?) in Geneva). This reminded me of Sebastiao Salgado's excellent photo book, "Workers: An Archaeology of the Industrial Age."
This semester will definitely be challenging. It will force me into situations that I might otherwise avoid and confront realities I might normally conveniently ignore. And it will be difficult, too, for sure. But I am so excited and passionate and eager. Several students were asking on Friday, "will I still care about the problems in the U.S. after three months?" A very good question, indeed, but I feel proud to say that I feel like I've moved beyond that. The kind of 'structural violence' we've talked about is as rampant in India, China, and South Africa as in the U.S. This reminds me of Amartya Sen's graph about life expectancies in Kerala (the state we will be visiting in India, not-so-coincidentally), China, and the U.S., with the U.S. given in terms of Blacks and Whites. Somewhat to my surprise, Blacks in America had a lower life expectancy than both the Chinese and Keralans (?), for both sexes. A higher GDP and higher wages don't necessarily translate to better health outcomes. The point is, while conditions and quality of life in the U.S. may *seem* better for the poor, that isn't necessarily the case. I mean, infant mortality in Harlem is worse than in some "Third World" countries like Cuba. C'mon, U.S. We can do better than that. And as Americans, we have a both a political and moral responsibility to do something about it.
Perhaps the most important thing that I've gotten out of this first week is the reaffirmation that public health is not, in fact, a commodity. STOP PRIVATIZING HEALTHCARE!!! We need to stop treating it like it's something that can be traded and bought for the highest price. It seems like a truism to restate that healthcare is a public good, and for that matter, so is public health. The funny thing is, most people would answer "Yes" to the question of whether or not we should have universal healthcare. This is not to say private practices can't exist. But a comprehensive public one MUST exist.
It might also be worth noting that a single-payer system in which the gov't pays for universal healthcare would be more expensive. It won't be. We spend a lot of money already on healthcare, often on treatment that doesn't work. The money we spend for healthcare goes to private insurance companies that have responsibilities to their shareholders, and many insurance companies have essentially bribed doctors to NOT treat patients. Essentially, if a doctor can convince a patient to forego treatment, the insurance company won't have to pay the doctor as much, but pays the doctor enough so that the doctor makes money and saves time. And doesn't treat the patient. Go capitalism. A single-payer system would get rid of all those nasty insurance companies that make life so difficult when you get sick.
Don't get me wrong, I love capitalism, it has given me a computer, camera, and other wonderful technological wonders I hold dear to my heart. Without these gadgets I wouldn't be able to share with you the photos below. Perhaps you'd have wished capitalism didn't exist after you see these pictures, but I hope that's not the case. So here are the pictures, whether you wanted them or not:
My grandma's apartment on Liberty Ave in Queens, NYC.
Another attempt at a photo posted previously:
My grandma lives above Chopsticks, a restaurant my uncle opened ages ago. It is a Chinese fastfood restaurant in the heart of a predominately Indian neighborhood. Even though my uncle is gone and the restaurant is no longer run by my family, I still enjoy going back to that neighborhood. Returning to that neighborhood opens the door to memories that have been stored away, memories that are only retrieved when I return to Chopsticks or write posts like this.
Until next time,
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
No photos this time
Our program began last Saturday the 20th of January at the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM). Every day we have to walk about 25 minutes from our hostel to get to class at 9 AM, and we're basically at the BUSM until at least 5 PM with an hour lunch break and a couple 15 minute breaks in between lectures and class. I think we'll have about 3 hours of class each day, and the rest of it is filled in with guest lectures/activities/field visits (we start those tomorrow).
The class is great, and I'll chime in with the rest of the kids and say we have so many talented and interested and intelligent people on the program. I am surprised, however, that it seems like a lot of kids are kind of shy, and perhaps it's somewhat a weakness of mine, but many of them don't fit the stereotype of the kind of kid who would attend a program about health and community (for better and not for worse, of course). There are only 7 guys on this program of 31 students, and frankly we tend to self-segregate.
i gotta go, sorry to be abrupt, see you all soon.
The class is great, and I'll chime in with the rest of the kids and say we have so many talented and interested and intelligent people on the program. I am surprised, however, that it seems like a lot of kids are kind of shy, and perhaps it's somewhat a weakness of mine, but many of them don't fit the stereotype of the kind of kid who would attend a program about health and community (for better and not for worse, of course). There are only 7 guys on this program of 31 students, and frankly we tend to self-segregate.
i gotta go, sorry to be abrupt, see you all soon.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Faces of Middletown (September - December, 2006)
These photos were shot over the fall of 2006 in Middletown, Connecticut. In general, I asked people whether I could take their portrait, usually with a tripod. I usually shot with two cameras, one medium format camera and a smaller 35mm camera to take candids in between. All were developed and printed in a traditional B&W darkroom.
For some of the shots, I had to do very little artistically. For example, the portrait of Mia sitting down with a cigarette and the two portraits of Jeff are mostly technical portraits. Mia told me she used to be a model, and appeared slightly spaced out (for whatever reason...) when I tried to talk to her. Jeff at first refused to allow me to take a picture of him, even as we chatted for about twenty minutes about life, his unemployment and accident over twenty years ago. Only when I realized I had a couple of portraits I had taken of other people, and showed them to him, did he finally agree.
For the Lama, I ran into him one day on the street as he was walking to the bank. He offered me his business card with two addresses, one in Middletown, CT and the other in the Tibetan exile community in Dharamsala, India. Phone numbers were given for both locations. He is a Tibetan lama with little English ability and when he gave his Dharma talk he spoke through an American interpreter who sat next to but below him. I arrived early to take pictures, and stayed after as he gave his talk.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
Queens, New York City (2007)
Queens, New York
So recently I acquired a new digital SLR (a big fancy expensive camera) off eBay and have been experimenting with color. This idea came about while at a BP gas station somewhere in Missouri on Highway 55 South, going from St. Louis to Memphis. BP's company colors are yellow and green apparently, and everything at this gas station seemed to be some mix between these two colors.
I went to New York on Thursday immediately after flying home from Memphis. We always stop by my grandma's place in Queens, wherre she lives above a Chinese fast food restaurant my uncle opened many years ago. These two pictures were taken just outside here apartment. I should note that on that January afternoon, it was 65 degrees Fahrenheit. In the second picture, I was sort of waiting around by the car when suddenly three red elements came together... the car, the post thing, and the girl's backpack.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
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