Here There and Everywhere

So a few days ago I was on the 2 train going to School of Rock, when a man who looked to be in his 40’s-50’s, pretty tall, and wearing a turban, waltzed into our subway car. He was holding a photo of a very youg girl. He began his speech in the typical way: “I’m not begging, but…” He then continued on to tell us how his 5-month-old granddaughter, whose picture he was holding, had been shot last weekend. He said he was asking for money simply to buy flowers for her funeral. He also rambled on about how no one cares about the people living in “the ghetto” and how he has a brain tumor and he cannot work.

It was sad. I don’t know how truthful it was, but it sure was a tearjerker. I actually almost cried, and I rarely cry. So this got me thinking: why are we shipping all of our aid money to Africa and other faraway places, and not just helping people here who live in our city, our community? There is really so much we can do here in NYC.

Pumpkin shortage means no pumpkin pie for thanksgiving :’(

holga!

If you haven’t heard already, the DOE of New York City banned all NYC public schools from having bakesales. http://docs.nycenet.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-41/A-812.pdf (for more information about the ban).

The main problem with the bakesale ban is that most clubs and teams cannot raise any money. This is bad. Some people have argued that clubs can raise money by using tee shirts, etc. but that means we have to put down more money in the first place, which we don’t have. The ban is meant to combat childhood obesity, but, in the wise words of a nameless protester: “It’s like putting on a bandaid when you need surgery” (something like that). Trust me, kids will go out and get their own overprocessed sugar-laden goodies from other sources (such as the “ghetto truck” at bronx science). Having a bakesale once a month won’t kill you. Honestly, this ban is pointless, and nothing positive will come of it.

So, My friend Luisa and I decided to fight the power and head down to City Hall to attend a bakesale organised by students from various NYC public schools, including Beacon, Laguardia, Brooklyn Tech, SI Tech, Stuyvesant, Environmental Studies, and others. We arrived at the steps of City Hall with a bunch of other students (and we got a bit lost on the way), and we saw a mass of people holding signs and talking to the press. Some of the signs were pretty funny yet thought-provoking, a personal favorite being “Great, Now we’ll have to sell weed instead!” Various members of the press were assembled at the foot of the steps, including photographers, camerapeoples, newscasters, etc. But most importantly, at the bottom of the steps, was a TON of baked goods! People brought cookies, brownies, cupcakes, muffins, and even green tea cookies! I wonder how those tasted…Well anyways, I indulged in a few too many cookies haha. A group of people was also handing out communist newspapers (Called The Challenger, I think). I have yet to read it.

My friend and I sat on the steps and talked to a few fellow protesters. Soon enough, the City Gov’t kicked us off the steps and we had to protest outside the gates. Another news crew, from Channel 11, came and filmed and reported on the protest (you can see the video they took below this post). You can see my cat-hat in a bit of the video! Anyways, we waved around our posters, attempted to get people to sign the petition (which has over 5,000 signatures, so I am told), talked to the press, and chanted. Some chants included “whose school? OUR SCHOOL! whose money? OUR MONEY!”, “flour milk eggs butter, our school system is in the gutter”, “who wants bakesales? WE WANT BAKESALES! when do we want them? NOW!”, and so on. We moved around city hall block and continued to wave our signs and chant. After awhile, my hands began to get cold and my friend and I departed. But, I definitely think the protest made an impact and brought the issue to public awareness.

Rants are such a great way to complain and let off steam! So, where should I begin?

Well…Let’s start with lomography cameras.

I won’t be a total hypocrite and say “blah blah blah these suck” because I actually own two of them (they were both presents), but the company pisses me off. In case you didn’t know, Lomography is a company that makes extremely overpriced reissues of old toy cameras. “Toy Cameras” are cameras with plastic lenses. I am an avid toy camera photographer.

So, these cameras may be cool and take interesting picture, but, they are incredibly overpriced. The original “Diana” camera, a cult toy camera from the seventies, was priced at $1. That’s right peoples, one. freaking. dollar. Of course if you converted it to what it would be now it would be much more than that, but probably it wouldn’t cost much more than $10 or so. But now, the Lomography company sells it for $45! And it can be over $100 if you get the F+ (flash). I’ve seen photos from this camera, and I love the aesthetic, but unfortunately it is way out of my, and many other toy photographers, price ranges.

My other current rant is about people who think buying the most expensive camera with the biggest lens will make them an amazing photographer. That is not the case. Although high quality lenses and cameras will give you pictures with better focus and quality, it will not buy you good technique. Framing and composition is the most important part of photography, and even if you only have a digital camera from 1997 or a disposable, you can still take better photos than the fanciest digital. I’ve seen enough people taking photos of themselves making kissy faces and peace signs (ugh) with their giant cameras and thinking that that makes them works of art. One other related topic is people digitally changing their photos to black and white to make them more “artsy”. Ugh, I hate that word. I think it’s used to describe something that certain types of people think is unique or slightly out-of-the-ordinary. Turning a photo of you and your friend doing the kissy face and peace sign in a poorly lit room into black-and-white will not make it more “artsy”. It just means you desperately want to be creative and “different” without putting in much effort.

Well, that’s your daily rant! Expect many more in the future!

Actually, I should probably keep myself under control so to not alienate everyone…

lols

take that rape culture!

Thank you Sophie.