Talking to Derby Girls about Joan Jett
Last weekend, I took my new derby persona, P Giddy, on the road to Santa Cruz. I also took my family. We live about 2 hours from Santa Cruz, and my persona did not adjust until I walked into the new Kaiser Permanente without the kids … and Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation played. If P […]
Country Roads Take Me Home
Lately, I have wondered if God were my D.J. At the exact moment I need to hear a song, Pandora, Whole Foods, or some random person selects the song with the appropriate message. During the last two weeks, I have heard John Denver’s Country Road two times. I am not from West Virginia, yet the […]
On a Sunday in the Sunshine
When I fell in love with women’s flat track derby, I was already a fan. Derby answered a nagging question… or rather, derby helped me answer all those people at UC Santa Barbara who nagged me with the question, “So, what is a man gonna do with a BA in Women’s Studies?” This man is gonna […]
Rock My Derby
On Saturday, March 2, 2013, I became an official derby photographer when I photographed The B.ay A.rea D.erby Girls’ first bout of 2013 between the San Francisco ShEvil Dead and the Richmond Wrecking Belles at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond, California. I have photographed several other bouts, but last time I was way too serious.
San Marin High School Football Season Ends Short of First Section Title
Two years ago, I taught multimedia at San Marin High School in Novato, California. I love teaching and I loved the San Marin community. I was especially fortunate that the year I worked at San Marin, the boys basketball team won its first NCS Section Championship in school history and the baseball team shared a […]
Fresno High School Senate 2012 Stogie Bowl
The Fresno High School Senate was established in 1890. Until the 1970’s, the club only admitted boys. (There was an equivalent for girls during part of the first 80 years, but the club is so old, American women did not have a Constitutional right to vote when the Fresno High Senate started. ) We’re talking […]
Every Convention Tells a Story – JEA San Antonio
True story: While I was preparing for my final presentation, a sales person approached me in my hotel lobby. The woman wanted to sell me something similar to a timeshare, “but it was not a timeshare.” I stopped preparing my presentation while my tea finished steeping. She continued asking me questions loud enough so that […]
Bay Area Derby Girls Advance to Nationals
Since the top two teams at the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association West Region Tournament automatically advance to the national tournament in Atlanta, the third place game between the Bay Area Derby Girls and the Rose City Rollers was probably the most dramatic of the tournament. The bout was especially exciting since the BAD Girls hosted this year’s West […]
Best Bout of the Besterns
Was there any doubt that the bout between Angel City Derby Girls and the Sacred City Derby Girls was the greatest match of the 2012 Women’s Flat Track Derby Association Western Regional Tournament? The two teams are bitter sweet rivals with a relatively long history. When the bout ended, Angel City’s tournament MVP Jammer Fifi Nomenon […]
Maxwell Park Day in the Park
Yesterday was the “Seventh Annual Day in the Park” in our Oakland, California Maxwell Park neighborhood. The Day in the Park is the signature event for our neighborhood. The event is held at a little park with the same name as our neighborhood. There is also an old Maxwell Park Elementary School just down the […]
Sundial Bridge
A year ago today, my family returned from Redding, California before our kids began school. My younger child was beginning kindergarten and my daughter was starting second grade. I am posting these photos from the Sundial Bridge at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park. I have learned that when I am in the middle of processing […]
Napa Valley Oxbow Public Market
Napa seems far away from Oakland. Napa Valley is not really part of the Bay Area, but Napa is closer to Oakland than other Bay Area cities. If traffic is light, I can make it to Napa in about an hour. On Friday, I went to Napa to spend the night with my wife. We […]
On a Mission to Santa Barbara
I attended UCSB and lived in Santa Barbara for twelve years. Two weeks ago, I returned with my daughter to meet many of my good friends. I wanted her to meet the people who shaped me and to learn how to create community. We visited my old school and my old church. My daughter met […]
California Election Day
Tuesday June 5, 2012 was election day in California. The last time there was a California Presidential Primary, President Obama and Hilary Clinton competed for the Democrat nomination. Clinton won California. McCain defeated Romney. In 2008, California held its primary on February 5. In November 2008, Obama won California and the presidency. The same day […]
NCS High School Baseball Championships
Last June, the North Coast Section 3 baseball championship was shared between San Marin High School and Acalanes High School. I have photographed some unusual events, but the game that ended in a 4-4 tie might have been the strangest. After ten innings, the umpires called the game because of darkness. Nobody celebrated winning. Photographing the […]
Oakland May Day Education
As a former Oakland school teacher with two children in the Oakland public school system, I can sympathize with the families who protested on May Day. Five OUSD schools will close next year; communities will be displaced. Children will be forced to attend different schools. If our Spanish immersion public school were closing, I would be […]
Vapiano Restaurant – Washington DC
About three years ago, I changed my diet. I forgot how much I enjoyed restaurants until my recent visit to Washington, D.C. when I ate at Vapiano three times. The last two times I photographed the chefs. [photoshelter-gallery g_id=’G0000njDWkFVpkmc’ g_name=’Vapiano’ f_show_caption=’t’ f_show_slidenum=’t’ img_title=’iptct’ pho_credit=’iptc’ f_link=’t’ f_enable_embed_btn=’t’ f_send_to_friend_btn=’t’ f_fullscreen=’t’ f_bbar=’t’ f_htmllinks=’t’ f_mtrx=’t’ fsvis=’f’ width=’590′ height=’393′ bgcolor=’#AAAAAA’ btype=’old’ bcolor=’#CCCCCC’ […]
Live Music with the Wil Gravatt Band
One month ago, I traveled to Washington DC for the National Walk for Epilepsy. The night I arrived, the Wil Gravatt Band was performing downtown at the Hill Country Boot Bar. Wil Gravatt operates Wil Gravatt Entertainment when he is not performing. Wil also helps my friend Chad Barth organize the Concert for Epilepsy. [photoshelter-gallery g_id=’G0000jK1hyrA.Uok’ g_name=’Wil-Gravatt-Hill-Country-DC’ f_show_caption=’t’ […]
Sacramento Press Conference
How should journalists cover traffic accidents? Should journalists cover every aspect of a murder trial as if it were a sporting event? What is the impact on families each time journalists trivialize tragedy? How can journalists tell richer stories without becoming lost? After several years photographing families whose children have died, I am still asking […]
Distracted Drivers Vigil
I live in Oakland, California. Depending on traffic, Oakland is about thirty minutes from Concord, California. On Saturday April 7, I was listening to the news when I heard that a Concord family was beginning a horrible journey that started when a teenager lost control of his Cadillac Escalade. The father, Solaiman Nuri, had taken his […]
Student Journalism on the Edge
Student press supporters often claim that students “do not shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” At a recent national journalism education conference, I noticed a different version of this quote. Outside the schoolhose gate, students express themselves too. [photoshelter-img width=’590′ height=’413′ i_id=’I0000mQ7qAY_byQI’ buy=’1′] Fourteen year old Malcolm […]
Portfolio Presentation at National Convention
At the 2012 JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention, Mark Murray and I presented a photography portfolio workshop. We have presented thirteen portfolio workshops at the last twelve JEA/NSPA national conferences starting in Nashville, Tennessee. (We have also presented at other conferences separately.) At last year’s Anaheim convention, we presented with Jim McNay. Jim is an influential photojournalism educator who helped […]
2012 National Walk for Epilepsy
The Epilepsy Foundation of America organized the Sixth Annual National Walk for Epilepsy on March 31, 2012 in Washington, D.C.
Penn Station Baltimore Maryland
Just as I am about to lose faith, I meet someone like Tyrone. I am in the Washington, D.C. Metro area for the 2012 National Walk for Epilepsy. Yesterday, I flew into Baltimore Washington International Airport. I spent the night in Baltimore and took the MARC train this morning from Baltimore’s Penn Station to Union Station. Since I visited […]