In Africa, a step backward on human rights
Mar/100
Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people are part of so many families. They are part of the human family. They are part of God’s family. And of course they are part of the African family. But a wave of hate is spreading across my beloved continent. People are again being denied their fundamental rights and freedoms.
Hate has no place in the house of God. No one should be excluded from our love, our compassion or our concern because of race or gender, faith or ethnicity – or because of their sexual orientation. Nor should anyone be excluded from health care on any of these grounds. In my country of South Africa, we struggled for years against the evil system of apartheid that divided human beings, children of the same God, by racial classification and then denied many of them fundamental human rights. We knew this was wrong. Thankfully, the world supported us in our struggle for freedom and dignity.
A crisis in Sudan
Feb/100
One of the most urgent responsibilities the international community faces is in Sudan, which is facing a renewal of nationwide violence.
One of the most urgent responsibilities the international community faces is in Sudan, which is facing a renewal of nationwide violence.
Many accomplishments hang in the balance. The Bush administration helped to orchestrate a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) there in 2005. One of its key provisions is that a referendum will be held in January 2011 in the southern region, so that citizens can decide whether to secede or remain part of a unified nation.
Grant Gunderson: Ski Season (9 photos)
Feb/100
© All Photographs by Grant Gunderson. Bryce Phillips skiing powder at night under star trails in the Alta backcountry.
Grant Gunderson is a Mt. Baker Washington-based ski photographer. His work has appeared in magazines like Powder, Skiing, and Backcountry, and he is the photo editor of The Ski Journal.
Adam Ü tele skiing powder at Revelstoke mountain resort.
Dana Flahr throwing a very large lawn dart front flip over the Mt. Baker road gap at dusk while filming for Teton Gravity Research.
Zack Giffin skiing at Mt. Baker, Washington.
Zack Giffin skiing at Mt. Baker, Washington.
Carston Oliver skiing at Mount Baker backcountry, North Cascades Washington.
Rene Crawshaw skiing powder at Revelstoke Mountain resort.
Early morning at Red Mountain, British Colombia.
Matthias Giraurd skiing powder at Mt. Baker, Washington.
Visions of the Decade: One Night in Tal Afar, 2005
Jan/100
© All photos by Chris Hondros/Getty Images
Among the photos readers of PDNOnline voted as among the most influential photos of the decade was this series taken in 2005 by Chris Hondros as he accompanied a US battalion in Iraq. Below, Hondros shares the story of what happened after the images were published around the world, and the fate of the boy injured in the incident.
TAL AFAR, IRAQ – JANUARY 18, 2005: US Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division out of Ft. Lewis, Washington approach a car while a wounded boy tumbles out after shooting it when it failed to stop and came toward soldiers despite warning shots during a dusk patrol in Tal Afar, Iraq. The car, which held a frightened Iraqi family, was riddled with bullets and the mother and father were killed. Their five children survived in the backseat, one with a non-life threatening flesh wound.
An Iraqi boy is treated for a flesh wound in the back.
A terrified Iraqi girl screams after her parents were killed.
Iraqi children cry after their parents were killed.
A terrified Iraqi girl screams while a soldier checks her for wounds after her parents were killed.
Five years later, Hondros says he’s received emails and letters about the images from people around the world, but his feelings about the photos are “mixed.”
“I think some well-meaning people imbued the pictures with expectations they couldn’t possibly live up to, like ending the war in Iraq or even being of much help to the orphans themselves. Yes, the family’s oldest boy, 12-year-old Racan, was seriously wounded in the incident and was indeed flown to the United States for medical treatment as a result of the outcry these pictures prompted. But then he was returned back to Iraq at his family’s behest, and a few years later, tragically, he ended up getting murdered by insurgents in his new home. We don’t know if the attack was tied to the high-profile incident and to his receiving medical care in America. But I suspect that it was.
“When I give talks or lectures people often ask me my personal feelings about war, usually I dodge the question. Sometimes I say that I don’t expect my pictures to stop wars, but rather I hope they help citizens to understand what going to war means. On that level at least I think the Tal Afar pictures fulfill my goals as a photographer; for they shine a rare and unsparing light onto war’s brutal-yet-routine realities. And people should know about them.
Robert Fripp joins Keynote Speaker Patricia Fripp at NSA
Nov/090
My brother, legendary guitarist, Robert Fripp will be speaking with me at American Payroll’s Pay Heroes convention May 2010 in Washington DC.
Our presentation will be “How to Be a Hero for More Than One Day.” Brother played guitar on David Bowie’s song Heroes. Many consider Robert as brilliant a public speaker as he is a guitarist. As a proud sister I agree.
Enjoy this video clip of us speaking together before the National Speakers Association.
For more information on engaging Robert Fripp to speak before your group visit:
http://RobertFrippSpeaks.com