"The Open Stage 2009"

"Gordon Parks"
Voices in the Mirror

Gordon Parks - "Another significant realization had taken hold - a good documentary photographer's work has as much to do with his heart as it does with his eye. The smoke from those bonfires in Washington gave off some more signals about using the camera to serve a humane purpose. I had learned that it can lie; that not only was it capable of being untruthful, but also that it could be Machiavellian. It all depended on how its users chose to see things. They could wait for a pleasant smile or a frown to cover their subject's face before tripping the shutter. With deliberate intent, an extremely low angle could change a comely face into one of ugliness, and the most righteous human being could be made to look evil. What individuals actually stand for, good or bad, now urges me to try to catch the truth of them. I learned to use the camera as a means of persuasion as long as that persuasiveness is conducted with a sense of fair play. Yet, I remained aware of the possibility that what may appear as truth to me may not be acceptable as truth to others. That's the way things are." (p.87)

"Staring at ASARCO"

Recently, I came across a photo essay request at Newspaper Tree titled "Asarco Smoke Stack" click here. I thought I had a picture of the giant cigarette and wanted to submit it. About three years ago I visited my grandmother's grave in Juárez. At the time I had a Logitech Pocket Digital 130 camera with me, my first digital camera. In (2006) it had been several years since I'd visited Juárez. Most of my life up until the late 90's, every Sunday my mother, father, younger brother and I would visit my grandmother and have dinner with members of my mother's family. I believe the street my grandmother lived on was called Arroyo de las Viboras. Especially during the late 80s early 90s and especially on cold nights, the sky above us would be low and thick with smoke. When my grandmother passed away, they said her lungs were like rocks. She never smoked. No one knew my grandmother's true age and for the last few years of her life her breathing was assissted with treatments.

When I was in middle school, our basketball team was headed out towards the West Side of El Paso in a school bus for a game. It was around the time that the Arrested Development song, "Revolution" was making a lot of noise. I recall a teammate and I redoing the song when we passed by ASARCO, replacing the word "Revolution" with "Pollution". As we sang the revised lyrics out loud we laughed at our impression of the song. When I think about it now it plays back like a strange gray memory with no sound.

One of the last times I saw my grandmother, I sat at the end of her hospital bed. The room was dark and like most visits of grave circumstance in a hospital, the machines supporting my grandmother silenced the life around her. At that moment, I recall wanting to talk to my grandmother and to remember as much as I could about her. However, she was deep in her sleep with her eyes cracked open staring past the realization that anyone was there.

I'm glad ASARCO is never going to open again. I guess no one can prove if the copper smelter had any health implications on people that have lived around it, but sometimes I wonder.

The picture above was taken when I visited my grandmother's grave in 2006. My camera didn't have any zoom. The intention was to capture the smelter pipe that seems to hover above everything else that surrounds it.

Whenever I pass by the ASARCO or am at a location where I can see it, these thoughts cross my mind.

"Blackberry (Pearl Flip)"

*Got a new cell phone, 2 Megapixel Camera,

"Chess Nights"

"PSP (Video Games 09')"

The new generation.

"Zoo (Kodak)"

*Courtesy of my lil' brother, Isaiah. A pic from his first camera session.

"2009"

"Cell Phone View"
-King, Obama & X-

Cover of a shirt my younger brother got me.

"Taekwondo Dad S.Korea (70's)"

"Montana Street, TX"

A shot from my cell phone.

"2008"

Life and times.

"Rus, Me & Don Haskins (1991)"
-Click on image to Enlarge-
 

In 91', my Mom & Dad signed me up for the Desert Storm Camp that was being provided at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX. It was a free, week long camp. I'd get dropped off in the morning for hoops and basketball drills, was fed lunch at the military mess hall (with a selection of hamburgers, fries, pizza and drinks) and then we'd go back for some more hoops... later in the week they also took us swimming and ended the camp with prizes and an opportunity for us to play against each other in front of our parents. It was a great experience. And for families with parents that were in Desert Storm or that had a hard time forkin' up the hundred or so (+) dollars that most other camps would cost, the free camp gave us kids at that age something fun to look forward to as the summer approached. Up above is a picture taken back in July 1991 for the El Paso Times with Rus Bradburd, myself (big headed kid with the black hair in the back) and Don "The Bear" Haskins. A decade later I began taking poetry classes with a poet/professor named Connie Voisine who would become my advisor/mentor through my time as an undergrad/grad student at New Mexico State University and later the wife of Rus, who after 15 years of assistant coaching at UTEP with Don Haskins and NMSU with Lou Henson, took up writing and teaching at NMSU. He's recently had some great b-ball articles published in the Slam Magazine and is also author of Paddy on the Hardwood, a memoir about his time coaching in Ireland. I wanted to share this in memory of Don Haskins and the camp. Also to Rus & Connie & the camera man at EP Times who without knowing introduced people over a decade before they actually got to know each other.

DON HASKINS 1930-2008

"Jus vs. Lee (Chess)"

Hip Hop Alumni.com

"May 10, 2008"
 

The end for a whole new beginning.

 "Karate Kid pt. V"

A master of various expressions. My lil' bro', Isaiah.

"The Real Mist"

An early morning in the January before this one. 2007.

I almost went to see that movie too. Click on the image to view full.

-brownhornet, ©2007

The Sky is Falling

2007 came and went. I've archived hundreds of photos that I've taken since 2006 and plan on updating this blog more often. Above is snow in El Paso, TX. The lens shooting up. Winter in America.

Soccer Trees

Pelé

A lost soccer in the trees. Northeast EP.

Pecan Sniper Position

"Pecan Since 1932"
((Sniper Position))