30th Post

Late again posting. My time here in Maine has been focused on just one thing- photography. This has led to not keeping up with this blog. But, plans are in the works for next weeks more planned out post.

It's my 30th post and I wish I could offer something free like a t-shirt or photograph...which now that I mention it I think I will do in the near future (minus the t-shirt offer).

As school moves through the last stages of winter I find myself looking towards the summer and finding a long-term story to document. If anyone out there reading this has an idea they think worth documenting - overseas in particular - let me know. More soon.

Bangladesh - from the street to the press

There are a lot of things I could be writing about in this post but feel it necessary to provide an update about what is going on in Bangladesh.

I am in the process of finding out, from my friends there, what exactly is going on. So I'll leave that part of this post out. And while I don't want this blog to turn into a link-to site there are a few good articles from reputable sites worth reading from. They are:

Mutiny Aftermath...

Bangladesh Mutiny calls for...

Mass grave found...

The challenge of trying to keep the situation going on in Bangladesh from afar is no simple task. What to say from the safety of distance? How to report 'the word from the street' while no longer on the street? Rhetorical questions abound. From what I have heard the new government means business in trying to create stability prior to and after the horrific event took place last week. These are not just words but tangible actions.

Bangladesh has become ingrained in my thought. As such I plan on keeping a close eye on the country both now and in the future.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig

I'm drinking freshly pressed apple cider. It's snowing outside. By this evening we're supposed to get 8-12 of snow. The radio was just playing Neil Young's Sugar Mountain. I'm home... in the sense that I am living in a rented apartment back in my beloved New England. More specifically I'm in Maine which I have long considered my second home.

It's snowing outside. The radio just switched tunes to someone I don't know but keeps my interest as I write. I've been back from Dhaka almost a month now. A month of flights, packing, unpacking, packing again and finally unpacking one last time (till I have move again).

There have been a few interesting things going on in Bangladesh since I left. Most recently a rebellion took place within the capita, Dhaka, leaving some 140 officers dead. The stand-off between the countries Bangladesh Rifles (BDR)- boarder guards, over pay and command structure lasted for two days. Some 1,000 suspected BDR attackers are currently being tracked down. To read more about this fluid situation please see: Bangladesh Manhunt for Mutineers .

It's difficult to get an accurate sense of what it is actually like to be in Dhaka now. I hope to find out more and if I do will post what I find in next weeks posting.

Way late in the week post

Well there is a first time for everything and for me it's posting well into the week instead of my normal Monday deadline. Caulk it up to full time documentary/photography school schedule.

I am right in the throws of completing a multi-media project so can't write tons. Seems to be a theme as a I transition from Dhaka to the US.

Plans are in the works to nail down my three documentary projects and look for work post-school this spring. But for now I must get back to photoshop then most importantly dinner!

-For now

My old familiar home

Two weeks and entering my third since I left Bangladesh to begin my switch from volunteer to photojournalist. It's snowing outside and I realize that winter didn't seem real to me until now. My brain is spilt between the snowy scene out my window and that of the one I woke up to every day in Dhaka.

The program I chose to participate in has already proven well worth my time. I plan on talking about it more in future posts but for now I'm still caught between the world I left, the world I am in, and the one I want to enter in to.

Dhaka, so many miles away, still feels like it could be just around the corner.

Moving forward, moving on

Right. Given the title of this entry one can guess, assume, or draw several conclusions all of them near, far, or right on the dot as to what has unfolded over the past few weeks.

The short version is that I left Bangladesh to attend an intensive course in photography/journalism back in my home country. The decision to do so was not easy nor one I took lightly. It was also one that was needed so that I may return to Bangladesh, and other places like it, to better document and report on global issues pertinent to both myself and the world at large.

Prior to leaving Dhaka I had the opportunity to have an Oped piece be published by the Christian Science Monitor. The link to that article is here. It was a great opportunity to say good-bye (for now) to a place I plan on returning to for many years.

The blog will continue on so check-in every Monday as while the location of my writing has changed the subject matter and emphasis of the blog has not.

-From my newest location to yours be well.

A (thought) Development- Part Four: All said and done

IV. The countries population continues to grow by roughly 2% each year. Under current population projections Bangladesh will see its boarders fill to an estimated 190 million people by 2025 and a larger population of 231 million people by 2050. Trying to fathom the first 150 million people already existing in this tiny country is like trying to count a sack of pennies while in the front row of Metallica concert of as 747 lands over your head. It’s just not going to happen. Dhaka is a vibrant pulsating city. The streets are filled with Rickshaws as colorful from the first days of Technicolor movies- saturated and overdone. At night, the only chance to dart around from shop to shop without gaining the attention of dozens of onlookers seeing a foreigner walk down the street, the city changes tone dramatically. Calls for the evenings last prayers from the mosques reverberate off of the buildings. Neon bulbs from the markets become beacons for last minute shopping. One is all of the sudden left with the overwhelming sensation of trying to deal with a day of never ending noises, people insistently asking you “where are you from”, “what is your name”, and dodging traffic.