THEY DON'T JUST GO AWAY

MEMORIES THAT HAUNT

     A documentary that aired recently stirred memories that I have been unable to put out of mind.

     The HBO series Witness, that chronicles the work of photo journalists in troubled spots, dredged up scraps of my past.  The piece on Eros Hoagland in the slums, "favelas," of Rio jarred me back to the time I too was there.

      My assignments took me to slums around the globe and I had conveniently pushed those realities to the back of my mind, until seeing how unchanged those bleak realities are.        I am particularly haunted by a slum in the south of Brazil.  It is an island in the Guaiba River, made mostly of trash, hauled out of Porto Alegre and the city of Guaiba.  

           Trash and refuse were scattered everywhere.  The homes were built with what ever the people could re-use.

       Pigs, dogs and chickens, roaming free, fed on the offal of the cities up river.  Each morning men and boys took carts up river to haul away the trash and garbage which they brought to their island favela where it became food, building material or where it rotted. The smell is unimaginable. 

    As bad as it was, there was less violence here than in the urban slums.  In that was a small blessing.

     It was just as the military dictatorship had given up decades of rule and turned the government back over to an elected civilian control.

     The currency was in crisis and sustained repeated devaluations during our assignment.

    What haunts me now are the kids. What has become of them? There were so many.  One of those is the boy in the frame below.  His name was Marcos and he trailed photographer Steve Starnes and me all day.

    Steve helped him look into the camera on play-back, to see himself and his family. The smile of fascination he wore

   moved me to tears.  We told him if he was a good boy, and studied at school, maybe he too could someday become a photo journalist.

     A Belgian nun who had worked with the people of those slums for more than 60 years, told us we have given Marcos a gift, that of hope.  She had devoted her life to doing that.

Teaching hygiene, training children of the favela to become teachers for their brothers and sisters, teaching men carpentry skills, instructing women how to weave.  I wonder  about Sister Marie Eve, Marcos and if anything ever gets better for the residents of the slums.  And I wonder why I could easily filter away that reality.  And though it seems there is little that I can do, I appreciate that HBO stirred these ghosts to life.  And I appreciate the generation of journalists who are in the slums, refugee camps and battle zones of the world today.  

     There is a cautionary note.  Hoagland wondered aloud about how he could fly away and return to a clean, safe world while those he caught on film stayed behind.  I remember that conversation with myself, many times. How easily I forgot.  Shame on me.

    See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) ANIMAL HIJINX & THE MOB GETS SERENADED

ECLECTIC TREATS

    It's a real mixed bag THE WEEKENDER :) brings you this June weekend.

BETTER THAN PET TRICKS

     Thanks to Brian and a couple of other friends for alerting me to some incredible video. These are lots of fun.

        This piece from Brazil is fascinating and speaks volumes about species interaction.  What an uplift! The video was shot and is copyrighted by Gerd Traue.

THEN THERE IS THE EXERCISING SEA LION

No explanations needed-

but who came up with the training idea?

     Neither of these pieces are earth shaking, but they are evidence of how the world can share and enjoy, thanks to YouTube. And after all it is the weekend and THE WEEKENDER :) is about enjoyment and maybe a nap.

DAY BOOK

CAT TIMES

     Nap time comes easily to Hemingway and Luke.

    Daughter Kristin was working on a shot of the buck when

out of no where up pops "stealth kitty" Hemingway.  

    Then there was the time when Hemingway encountered

a new gate for the first time.

FRIDAY LUNCH FLASH MOB GETS SERENADED

    Have a great weekend.  See you down the trail.

IN THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON

BREATHING DEMOCRACY

LIVING A REPUBLIC

One of the great joys, and thus a reason for

gratitude in this season of thanks, is the 

vitality of conversation and political engagement

at Lilly's, one of the world's most unique coffee shops.

On any day you will see animated cliques of 

conversation as various knots of people gather on the deck.

Actually it is a kind of porch, partially under roof, set

amidst a trellis and arbor like construct that works

only in our mediterranean style climate.

The charm of the place is not the story.

It is the people and the earnestness of

the conversations.  There are conservatives, liberals, libertarians and critics. Musicians,

artists, writers, free thinkers, business people

and educators also abound and everyone

comes with a life of experience. So,

as you might imagine, the conversations

are vivid, eclectic, sometimes loud,

and always completely switched on.

I love it.  By nature, and training,

I want to hear all sides, so just listening is a joy.

It reminds me of an assignment in Brazil years ago.

It was just after the military dictatorship ceded control

to the first elected government in 20 some years.

The place was intoxicated with ideas of democracy

and republic.  Newspapers and radio stations that had

been shut down and boarded by the dictatorship

were opening again.  The cafes and bars were alive

with conversation.  Brazilians were quoting

Jefferson, Madison and American principals.  It

was a heady time.

We are lucky to have a little of that every day at Lilly's.

Thanks.

UPDATE FROM BOB

Here's the latest from my friend and former colleague

Bob Foster.

It's all good. My prayer has been that God would show the doctors what He wanted them to do. He has. Loudly. Clearly. 

One of the Mayo doctors consulting on my case recently attended an international symposium on CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia). Research conducted at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, WA, proved that CLL patients, meeting certain criteria, do not need to have their bone marrow below 50% involvement to successfully transplant. 

I meet that criteria. Further heavy chemotherapy only increases the risk of an infection closing this window of opportunity. We will maintain my relatively good health with weekly, low toxicity chemo treatments until transplanting in late January 2012. We are again moving forward.

Transplant is a 50/50 proposition. There is a highly promising, post-transplant clinical trial underway at MD Anderson. That is our back-up plan. Failure is not something I dwell on, but at least we know there is a "plan B." Anyone who worked radio field production with me knows that I lived for plan B. In this case, plan A would be just fine.  

Foster

DAY BOOK

AT THE MARKET

CHEERS!

SEE YOU DOWN THE TRAIL.