04.22.07
Rejects in Toledo
The All American Rejects played on campus at UT tonight and although they aren’t as cool or interesting as my friend Raena’s concert photos, I thought I’d post a few anyway. Hope you like them.
04.18.07
Rant warning: Virginia Tech witch hunts
Ok, this is a warning that I’m going into full Rant Mode.
The tragedy at Virginia Tech (note my refusal to use the word massacre) doesn’t bother me nearly as much as the response to it. I don’t mean to belittle the deaths of 32 innocent people but what saddens me the most is our society’s incessant need to assess blame. Someone must be held accountable and it’s apparently not satisfying enough to blame the lone deceased gunman.
A dead man can’t be put on public trial in a press conference so we turn to anyone else we can find. Everybody wants their pound of flesh and nobody is more guilty of this than the television media. CNN, FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC, and all the small affiliates desperate to emulate their network brethren.
So far I’ve heard people blaming Koreans, the university president, the police chief, the teachers and students who didn’t blow the whistle, the people who were told but didn’t immediately act, the family of the gunman, the gun laws in the state, the gun laws in the country, video games (thank you Dr. Phil - dumbass), anti-depressant medication, and even the shooting victims for not defending themselves aggressively.
Broadcast media was first to bring up most of the topics in an attempt to beat every other media outlet to that particular punch. QUICK, buy an expert talking head to go on camera and blame something new before someone else thinks of it! The coverage doesn’t need to be justifiable or correct, it just need to “more comprehensive.” Quantity over quality.
The media isn’t completely to blame though. Every person consuming this brand of garbage without complaint is equally culpable. If they don’t perceive a demand, the media outlets shouldn’t provide the continuous stream of “continuing coverage.”
The harm cause by all this is the further justification for witch hunts and in the reaction of those being held responsible. The best proof for this is the over reaction of the U.S. government to 9/11. We get oppressive security measures designed not to increase the chances of stopping a terror attack but to show that the criticized administration is doing something. The same will now happen on college campuses all over the country. Presidents and police chiefs, afraid of the public backlash if anything occurs, will over react with measures that couldn’t possibly stop the violent actions of a disturbed person.
We seem to have forgotten that sometimes the bad things that happen to innocent people are the responsibility of a single person not some massive bureaucratic failure.
Edit: There’s a good editorial in the Wall Street Journal that touches on a few of the same issues.
The Cliffs of Toledo
Sometime over the past year, a mated pair of Peregrine Falcons began nesting in The University of Toledo’s clock tower. We’ve been keeping an eye on them and after the ODNR installed a nesting box, there are apparently two eggs.
I shot these photos at the top of the clock tower by leaning out over the edge of an opening on the South side while the naturalists were there scouting the area out.
Cityscape
I really love night photos.
I was on my way home from an assignment (that somebody forgot to tell me was cancelled) and I noticed how incredibly still and unseasonably warm it was. Since I was going to pass the Anthony Wayne bridge and the Toledo river front on my way home, I thought I’d see what kind of photos I could make.
