Ruth's Roots: Part I

Ruth & I visited Bardonia, New York, a community that's really just a few neighborhoods in Rockland County: a quiet suburb of New York City that she moved to from the Lower East Side when she was ten.
We visited her old home, her synagogue, and schools.

Then we had pizza.

Memory. Learning. Bonding.

Driving & Daisies

Ruth driving, daisies spinning.

On the road again...

Bread & Puppet

Visited Bread & Puppet's museum in Glover, Vermont. Thousands and thousands of huge papermache creations in a 145-year-old barn. Forty plus years worth of giant puppet heads.

In the words of my friend John Moremen, "I dig it the most!"

These folks are dedicated to creating 'cheap art' - gently prodding our tense and addled society to resist the dangerous vices of greed, hatred, and violence. They tour widely, and continue to provide spectacular, provocative, and wise messages to our divided, adrenaline and money-fueled world.

I first encountered their puppets at Nixon's Counter-inaugural parade in 1973.

Do not pass Go. Breathe. Eat an apple.
Then link at your leisure to:
www.breadandpuppet.org

Caledonia County Fair

I love county fairs. I love every bloomin' thing about them.
This one is in Lyndonville, Vermont, near the Canadian border. Lots of dairy farmers thereabouts.

Ruth & I rode bumpercars and ate lunch at the pavilion operated by the local Methodist church ladies (grilled cheese for me, egg salad for her).

Elvis lives, eh?

Moo.

Lake Willoughby

Views from around Lake Willoughby, in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom.

Normally I don't make sunset pictures, but beauty is... beauty.

Ruth & I stayed with friends Steve Dentel & Carol Post, plus parts of their extended family. Thanks to Aaron Dentel-Post for teaching Ruth Texas Hold 'Em, and to Steve and Carol for the extended and thoughtful discussions.

Famous Dead Writer

The grave of Henry David Thoreau, in Concord, Massachusetts - near the resting places of the remains of Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

From dust to dust.
Returned to the garden.

Words and ideas may live on, at least for some time longer than our mortal coils.

Guided this day by my dear friend Carol Krauss, who graciously shepherded Ruth and me on the second leg of our vacation.

Scene of a Crime

While driving through the Anacostia area of Washington DC as part of my Washington Monuments documentary work, I came upon police investigating a shooting that had just occured. There was a large, mostly silent crowd outside the shabby apartment building where the victim lay.

There is a brutal slow war in our cities, right here in America, devastating many thousands of people yearly, even right here in DC alone - and we are largely ignoring it. Familiarity oftimes breeds contempt, or just numbness, I suppose.

Tears.

Ethiopian Community Development Council

Dr Tsehaye Teferre and Ms. Konjit Moges of the ECDC, a program in Arlington, VA, well-regarded for providing effective services to the many immigrants to the area. Dr. Teferre is the president and founder of the organization.
www.ecdcinternational.org

These portraits are from the ongoing Columbia Pike Documentary Project, in collaboration with photographers Mimi Xang Ho and Paula Endo.

A Couple of Clowns

Making kids happy every day at the hospital.

A good thing.

Honk!