side projects
Guy selling grilled corn outside the Garges-Sarcelles RER station, in the northern banlieues of Paris.
Reviving My Tumblr
I’m currently in Paris for the 2011-2012 academic year thanks to the wonderful support of one of Harvard’s post-graduate traveling fellowships. The project I proposed has to do with questions of national and social identities in first- and second-generation French immigrants of West African origin. Namely, I’m trying to understand the nature of the all-too-revered notion of “national identity” in France, and then also to see how West African immigrants and their French-born children fit into this schema. So far, I’ve noticed that words/phrases like « l’Islamophobie » and la question/le problème de « l’intégration » and du « communautarism » are used here to refer to the kinds of issues I’m interested in. But these terms also seem to have encoded in them multiple shades of meaning that I haven’t yet fully unpacked.
I’m clearly not an expert in these issues, especially since I spent the last four years studying evolutionary biology and global health. And I don’t think I’ll come up with some unique insight that the myriad of more learned and thoughtful researchers haven’t already expounded upon. But I do think that this will be a personally enlightening year for me, and I’m grateful to have the time to ponder a compelling intellectual and social issue that I have never had the opportunity to study before.
So I’ve been in Paris for almost exactly one month now, and I still have yet to write about what I’ve been doing here since I arrived. I’ve been trying for ages to start up some sort of Paris blog to chronicle this fellowship year, but I keep getting bogged down by annoying details about how I’m to properly present this material.
All I want is a space for me to jot down interesting conversations and interactions I’ve been having, and to share my thoughts on some of the books and articles I’ve been reading, without the pressures (albeit self-imposed) of having to come up with some sort of fully-formed opinion about them.
But I can already feel that those questions I initially wanted answered coming into my year in Paris are slowly being revealed to me in bits and pieces, and I don’t want these bits and pieces left forgotten in the dusty corners of my brain. I think that reviving my Tumblr and recording my experiences here might help me sort things out in a more haphazard way, but in a way that is more true to my day to day experiences.
Staten Island isn’t just about ‘Mob Wives’
Photographer Glenna Gordon, no stranger to AIAC, is working on a new project in Staten Island, home to the largest population of Liberians outside of Liberia. I asked her if I could publish some of the work here. You can view the full set here. She also sent this note:
Most New Yorkers still think of Staten Island as working class Italian, but mainly due to the huge influx of West Africans from Liberia, Guinea, Ivory Coast and elsewhere, the black population of Staten Island has grown by 12 percent in the last decade. It’s hard to say how many Liberians and others live in Staten Island since many people haven’t sorted their immigration status. But there are plenty-o. I’m now splitting my time between New York and West Africa, and I’ve started a new photo project on Staten Island. I first went out there for a visit in mid-April. I attended a meeting of the Staten Island Liberian Community Association, which was a mix of formalities, community news, and a very loud argument between two old ma conducted in rapid fire Liberian English. I was invited to come back and photograph a special mother’s day program a couple of weeks later. And that’s how I found myself riding a white stretch limo around Staten Island on a Saturday night with a group of old Liberian ladies dressed in their fanciest lapa. I’m excited about working in New York for a change, and where this project might go.
During my freshman year of high school, the administrators pulled all of the Asian kids out of class and made us take an English proficiency test. At first we thought it was a joke, but sitting at the desk was a privileged white woman with scantrons who talked to us like we had just arrived in this country. I subsequently cussed her out.
when: high school in california 2004. Made me feel angry, but slightly triumphant.
(Source: microaggressions)
110 notes (via microaggressions)
Beautiful acrobatic photography by Bertil Nilsson. Bertil’s unique tribute to the human body is all a part of his forthcoming book.
Acrobatic photography by Bertil Nilsson.
Gay couples wed legally in New York: Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples say ‘I do’ in New York on Sunday as the state becomes the sixth to recognize same-sex marriages.
Photo: Connie Kopelov gets a hug from her new wife Phyllis Siegel, her partner of 23 years, on the steps of the City Clerks office in Manhattan. They are the first couple to get married under the new gay marriage law in New York. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times
i cannot look at this photo without crying. in fact, i could not even describe this photo to someone without crying. (i tried! tears!)
Making sure old queers are safe being out in their long term care facilities is the only reason I would willingly go into geriatric care.
(Source: Los Angeles Times)
2,367 notes (via sexartandpolitics & latimes)
Coffee is great, but even die-hard coffee lovers might want to give tea a chance. The other beloved warm beverage, tea imparts to its drinkers some formidable health benefits, an extra boost of alertness without the same caffeine slump of coffee, and a considerable variety of choices.
NBC put together this handy guide to the many faces of Ron Swanson. It’s pretty great. But could it get even better? Yes, it could.
600 notes (via sirmitchell & funnyordie)
Marc Johns inspires tattoos, is lovely on Twitter and constantly draws “serious drawings.” This is one of this latest, THE HIGHLIGHTER KIDS:
An exploration of the ongoing “borrowing” (theft) of tribal culture by western (white) folks. One more thing that I believe can be addressed in an amusing way. Pen and highlighter markers on paper, 8x10 inches.
This post is by Lindsey Weber as part of Photojojo’s Show & Tell week.
