Roma Parade

Avoiding the inevitable...

Taking pictures of shadows is very unobtrusive. But its getting old. Today I learned how to say, "May I take your picture," "I am a photography student," etc so that people will stop looking at me strangely. I'm used to it, but I'd rather be able to explain instead of looking like an uber tourist. Besides, I've got beautiful fisheye lens (Thanks Nancy) and I havent been able to do anything good with it because, of course, you gotta get up close and personal... right up in their smelly European business... to give it justice.

We've just finished sitting through two 8 hour a day Czech lessons. I can't remember the last time that I sat through class for that long. Dont get me wrong, it was very interesting, mostly because our professorka got bored of teaching us Czech when she realized its almost impossible to learn anything but the basics in two days and instead went on rants about politics (she loves the Green Party, hates the communists... I had no idea how many were still around. They've got 20 seats in the Czech parliament. Shocking), movies, the "Roma" culture (pc word for gyspies. In the end she came to the conclusion that they've caused an insolvable problem... It may be self generating, but I disagree with her on this), and a particularly feisty one about Russia.


The interesting thing about Russia is that it seems like they're having trouble accepting their lowered position these days. Its a long fall from the top, I'm sure. They are continuing to fight to be a world superpower, but its really a very outdated method, I think. Apparently they've got rockets pointed at the Czech Republic and other smaller countries right now, according to Dzvelka. Maybe its not so outdated, but I got the same feeling that I think my mom must have felt in middle school during duck and hide drills.

Bush is coming next week. The P1 headline of the Czech paper today read something like "Lock your doors, close your windows, hide your babies and your children. Bush is coming." Ha. No one knows the exact reason that he is coming either. It is something to do with a proposed defensive radar to be stationed in the countryside of the Czech Republic that will protect against threat from Russia and Iran.

I'm sure there will be lots of protesting. I'm excited to take pictures. When I first heard about it I immediately and perhaps wrongly sided with dissention against the building of the radar. But today I talked with Dzvelka and our translator, who is a student here at Charles University and very Green, so I was surprised when he said he supported the radar.

The thinking is that the Czech Republic needs some kind of defense system against Russia. Plus, they are part of NATO now, so help from the US should be welcomed. The opposition's platform is that they don't want American military type bases after already dealing with occupation from Germany and Russia, I mean of course they would be skeptical. But our translator pointed out that if they do build the radar it would have to be first approved by the Czech parliament. Therefore the comparison to Russian activity is unfounded because Russia never asked for permission, they just came in and did as they pleased.

He also pointed out that much of the protesting is soley because no one likes Bush. He said that most people separate Bush from the rest of the US because they know that no one in the US really likes Bush either. He doesn't like Bush, but welcomes support from the US because Bush won't be around forever. I was comforted by the fact that Europeans can separate us from ol' GW.

Okay, sorry. This is a photo blog. I'm done now. Protest photos to come tomorrow.

More from the streets

From the streets of Prague.

This morning began my first full day in Prague. A combination of jetlag, street noise and the incredibly bright and early sunlight forced me to get out of bed at about 5:45 am. So I decided to take a walk by myself. The beautiful light and long shadows that I can usually only catch right before the sun goes down were the plus side to the ungodly hour of my awakening. The language barrier is a lot more intimidating that I thought it would be, so I did a bunch of shooting from the hip and from afar. Hopefully I can get over that soon and buck up to the challenge. In the meantime, here are some not so gutsy photos.

Christmas remains.

Rainer

Agua

A day in Westport

alternative forms of transportation.

on a jet plane.

Catherines Fiesta

My little sister is graduating from high school this year. Sniff. My how time flies. She'll be off to Auburn this fall to conquer the south. She's smart and beautiful and I'm sure she'll be the best thing Alabama has seen in years.

This weekend I went to Dallas to help with a graduation fiesta in her honor. Lots of food and fun and friends.