Ruby Tuesday: Summer Carnavale

Red.

Ruby Red for Ruby Tuesday. 


ps. In case you're wondering,
I just got back from a VSP Photography Workshop
in Venice called "Summer Carnavale." 
We worked with models in carnival
and period costume for four of the five days.

Mosaic Monday:Night Market in Cairo

Still trying to sleep off the jet lag

and haven't gotten my photos of Italy sorted,

so today I'll show you the Khan el Kahlili

in Cairo. So exotic to American eyes!

Lens Day Wednesday: Glass

This one is a slam dunk

because I love glass.

Art glass.

Ruby Tuesday: While I'm Away

While I'm away

(just about to finish a photography workshop

in Venice)

I thought I'd entertain you with this,

one of my favorite photos from Egypt,

"Getting Water in Edfu" © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian

just to let you know

that I haven't forgotten you or how much

our visits mean to me, even though I haven't

been able to spend as much time at your sites

investigating as I usually do.

These darn gondolas are so distracting!

Whine, whine, whine. . . 


For more Ruby Tuesdays,
click on the button on my sidebar .

Mosaic Monday: Blue Leaning Green

If I had to pick one color

as my favorite

and stick with it,

no matter what

well I guess I'd be happiest

if I chose that shade of blue

that's just leaning a bit into green.

(Though I do love pink. . . )

Sepia Saturday: Dorothea Lange and the Migrant Mother Images

During the Great Depression, 

the federal government created

 the Farm Security Administration, 

an agency intended to improve the lot

 of poor farmers and their families.

One program was designed to

buy out small, unproductive farms

and introducing more efficient collective farms.

Fueled by demands from Congress,

loans were eventually made available

to help tenant farmers purchase land of their own. 

To emphasize the needs of the rural poor,

 the FSA hired a cadre of photographers to make

 "public relations" photographs.

One of these photographers was a young woman

named Dorothea Lange.

She traveled around the country,

snapping images of agricultural workers

who had little to nothing in terms of income

and financial security, like this ex-tenant farmer

in Imperial Valley, California who had a small'

"relief grant."

Her photographs of a migrant worker/mother

 are images of iconic standing.

This woman was a 32-year old mother

of seven hungry children.

Her husband was a native Californian

and itinerant farm worker in Nimpomo, California.

Her worn and troubled face became a symbol
of the hardships faced by rural Americans
during the Depression.


Interestingly, the plight of the rural poor
changed dramatically with the outbreak 
of World War II, because there was a surplus
of unfilled factory jobs in major cities. 
These jobs offered a way out of rural poverty.

The FSA was eventually replaced by the Farmers Home Administration, which was a major part of

President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty 

in the 1960s. 

The photographs are in the archives of the Library of Congress 

and because they were created under government auspices,
the photos are in the public domain.

Photo Theme Thursday: Urban

I love city skylines.

Especially at night,

when lights dance and lighted windows

give the impression that the city never sleeps.

So the first thing I did

when my friend and I arrived

at our Manhattan hotel room

on about the 32nd floor was

throw back the light-blocking curtains

to enjoy the view.

"Which bed do you want?" I asked,

still looking out the floor to ceiling windows

at the glitter and twinkle.

"I'll take this one," she said from across the room.

I turned to see her nearly imprinted in the hotel-room wall.

"Did I mention I'm afraid of heights?" she inquired.

I didn't know that about you.

I took the bed next to the window.

  Luckily she was fine on the top level

of a double-decker tour bus.

Ruby Tuesday: Red Things on Shelves

My mission was to find a wedding present

at Williams-Sonoma, something from the bridal registry that the bride had her heart set on.

 But, oh my,

there was an Anthropologie store

right next door and there's no harm in looking,

is there?

 Especially since 

it's at least an hour from home.

 Nope.

I didn't think so either.

p.s  The bride and groom weren't forgotten.

For more Ruby Tuesday,
click the button on my sidebar.

Mosaic Monday: Viva Italia

Forgive me, please.

I'm recycling a mosaic of Italy

that I posted earlier the year,

the one that made me realize

just how much I wanted to go back to Italy,

even though this time, my first time

without the company of the man I loved

more than I should have,

it will be a whole new experience. 

By now, I'm in Rome.

Signed up for an after-hours tour

of the Vatican Museums this very

Mosaic Monday.

I'm doing a day trip to Pompeii 

and the Amalfi Coast tomorrow,

then off to Venice by train on Thursday

(barring a rail strike).

My photo workshop kicks off Thursday evening.

Wish me luck!

Sepia Saturday: Mathew Brady's Photographs

Mathew Brady was borne

Mathew Brady was the father

of modern photojournalism,

and most especially, the first photographer

to undertake documentation of the U.S. Civil War.

Pennsylvania 31st Infantry Camp (photo by Mathew Brady Studio) from Library of Congress

Historian and filmmaker

Ken Burns has said that his documentary

"The Civil War" could not have been made

were it not for Brady's amazing photographs.

Encampment at Brandy Station, Virginia. Generals George Meade, 
John Sedgwick, and Robert O. Tyler with Staff Officers. February 1864. Library of Congress Collection.

Brady was said to be Abraham Lincoln's 

favorite photographer and took photos

of the Lincoln family, 

as well as photos of the execution 

of those complicit in Lincoln's assassination.

The four condemned conspirators in the Lincoln Assassination await death on the gallows.  July 7, 1865. Library of Congress Collection

Towards the end of his life,

Brady said of his photographs,

"No one will ever know what they cost me.

Some of them almost cost me my life."

Charleston, S.C.  The Mills House, with adjacent ruins.  April 1865.

Library of Congress Collection.

He died in 1896, penniless and unappreciated.

Lens Day Wednesday:Lighting

When the light is right

and the wind is calm

colors dance on water.

Ruby Tuesday: Dancing Queens

The music was ear-splitting,

pounding a drum beat through the floor,

through the utility space and into the ceiling

of the guest rooms on the seventh floor.

Or so I've been told by

a couple of unfortunate conference-goers

who happened to have rooms right below

the penthouse bar.

But if you were there,
writhing to the insistent rock beat,

drinking Margaritas or microbrews,

you learned how women lawyers behave

when they think no one is looking. 

( I was the one with the camera, annoying everyone.)


For more Ruby Tuesday interpretations,
click on the button to the right.

Mosaic Monday: Mixed Media Pieces

Though I haven't had time for

art play recently because my so much of my time

is invested in writing these days,

I thought I'd share a photo montage

of some of my mixed media pieces.

There are some snippets of fatbook pages,

artist trading cards, mini collages,

and Moo cards all mixed in.

Sepia Saturday: National Women's Party and Alice Paul

Do you know about Alice Paul?

 Alice was a suffragist and, with Lucy Burns, a co-founder

 in 1916 of the National Women's Party.

The National Women's Party focused on achieving

the right to vote for women via

 a federal constitutional amendment.

They picketed for women's rights in front of the White House

and were especially critical of President Woodrow Wilson.

Their picketing was tolerated initially, but after

the US declaration of war in World War One

(which the NWP opposed),

women picketers were arrested for "obstructing traffic."

They were jailed under frightful conditions at Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia. Many jailed suffragists

went on hunger strikes to protest their treatment.

Some, including Alice Paul and Lucy Burns (pictured below), were force-fed by jail personnel through hoses forced down their throats or tied to iron bars to limit their movement.

The resulting scandal and its effect on the U.S.'s image

at a time when Woodrow Wilson was attempting to create a reputation as an international leader in human rights

was a major influence on Wilson's eventual decision

to publicly urge Congress to pass the 19th Amendment.

After securing for women the right to vote,

the NWP turned its attention to passing laws eliminating gender discrimination.

Though the Equal Rights Amendment authored

 by Alice Paul was never ratified,

it was an ally of the NWP and close friend of Alice Paul

Virginia Congressman Howard W. Smith

(chairman of the House Rules Committee)

who inserted the word "sex" into the list

of protected classes in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Alice Paul died on July 9, 1977 in New Jersey.

Later that summer, a memorial service was held

at the National Cathedral. The officiant was one of the first

women ordained by the Episcopal Church.

I was in the congregation, paying tribute

to this Mother of Women's Rights.

  

 For more detailed information

about Alice Paul, click HERE.


For an HBO movie about this struggle,
find a copy of 
Iron Jawed Angels. 

Photo credits: Photos downloaded from the Library of Congress collection.

Photo Friday Challenge: Aqua

What's the old saying?

It's something like

being calm and unruffled at the surface

while at the same time 

you're paddling like crazy below.

For more Photo Friday participants,

click the button on the sidebar.

Lens Day Wednesday: Light

Light makes everything

in the farmer's stand

sparkle, entice, beg to come home with you.

 

The music of street players entertains.

Flowers beckon from buckets.

It's a tourist destination, an historic public market,

a perfect shelter from Seattle rain.

* * * * * * * *

For more Lens Day Wednesday entries,

click the button on the sidebar.

Theme Thursday: Family

Not every little boy has

parents

grandparents

and

great-grandparents

to shower him with love.

But this one does. 

(To see other Theme Thursday Challenge entries,
click the button on the right). 

Lens Day Wednesday: Rock (Revisited)

I checked the Lens Day (Wednesday) site

again this morning

and the Rock theme selected last week

hadn't yet been replaced.

Hmm, I thought. Let's try something new.

Rock.

Well, I did the obvious last week.

"Kim Archer at the Swiss" © 2009 Meri Arnett-Kremian

So this week

ROCK ON with THE KIM ARCHER BAND