All it Took was a Phone Call

Imagine how many drinks in plastic bottles are consumed in the little league field of one town in one season.  You would think they would have recycle bins next to every garbage...... not in this case.......

After three years of taking a passive roll in watching this atrocity play itself out game after game and  year after year I decided to take this baby on. Okay, where do I begin? I guess the first call should be to the little league field manager. Initially he wasn't amenable and couldn't see beyond more work and money.  Once I thanked him for his volunteer work, convinced him I wasn't criticizing and I was willing to take it on myself and that it was our duty as the adults to set the example for the next generation the door opened a crack. I made sure to point out that it's actually more expensive to cart away garbage than it is to recycle.  After a while of  back and forth he agreed to make an inquiry to the carting company.I was fully expecting the project to stop there. Much to my surprise, on opening day after the usual house keeping announcements just before the National Anthem there was one last announcement....... "Wallkill Little League wants to help the planet, we are now going green". The crowd of three hundred was silent(in preparation for the National Anthem),  I took it upon myself to hoop, holler and cheer, the crowd was obliged to joined in. LET'S PLAY BALL. One phone call is all it took!  

It all right in front of us.

A close friend passed away a couple of weeks ago from melanoma. In a moment of reflection in the last e-mail, she wrote, " What we have to be happy for is all right there in front of us so just enjoy and don't sweat the small stuff." Something pretty simple that I've heard before, in this context it resonated....… I 'm working on applying the notion to my photography. I have a tendency at times to over think where I'm heading with a project, what the outcome will be, what if it fails , etc., all that self doubt that comes with being an artist( in many cases). So often I talk myself out of something before I even begin.  It truly is all right there in front of us and we just need to trust the ideas, give them a chance to come alive and eliminate the self inflicted judgement.  It is our job to just put the work out there. So that's where I'm at,  just trying to enjoy the process document what speaks to me. 

Monday is Freddy Hubbard's memorial at St John the Divine I'll be there shooting.

The Earth Day parade was a slight disappointment, a very watered down version of last year.

The spirit was there and the tradition of the tree planting ceremony and parade are now in place for years to come.

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!

Before I begin I would like to thank my dedicated followers.

I am so sorry for abandoning all of you this winter. No excuses,  I will try hard never  to do it again and if I do, please give me a nudge to show you care........thank you Eve thank you Lizzi! 

If you are a newby, welcome! 

I figured Earth Day would make for a suitable day to resume my blog.  Anyone read Elizabeth Kolbert's comment in the New Yorker this week? It could likely inspire me to start planning now for next year's Skraptacular 40th anniversay Earth Day Parade, doesn't Macy's begin their planning the Day after Thanksgiving? 

This year I will be celebrating Earth Day on Monday April 27th with the PS 178 community. We'll have a parade first thing and hopefully I'll be able to convince the princiPAL to allow the children to stay in the park for the day with a no waste picnic lunch and a tree planting ceremony......I'm also envisioning tree rubbings, tree identifying and other fun Earth Day activities. I'll let you know how it all goes.....

My dreams of organizing  a construction camp to help build a studio/learning space using sustainable materials is beginning to emerge into a reality more than a dream. Anyone one know an architect to help me with the initial plans? 

Please don't think I have forgotten about my show I was planning this spring it has just been postponed.  It's been a busy winter, well not really but everything takes longer than you think.

More good news, my website is days away from being launched! As my followers you will all be  first to have access.

and MORE good news, my nephew Ben's film The Harpist wins Best Film, Critic's Choice, Best Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Sound at the 2009 Boston College Baldwin Awards. Great job Ben!

That's it for now.

.........stay tuned for more.....I promise!

Keep up the good work, what ever that maybe.

Forging into the future

Mrs. Mcfee was my favorite inauguration encounter. While Obama was speaking, she pulled me close to her heart and pointed to him and said, "my husband handed that man his high school diploma."  Sadly, he died a month before Obama was elected

                                            Mrs. Mcfee: 2nd row on the right in the fur hat

Here I go, entering into the blogesphere, podcasting, viral marketing new world, at what feels like a vigorous pace, one I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with. Embrace it, I say, forge ahead don't be left in the dust...... 

I'm still trying to overcome my technical difficulties # 1 being my malfunctioning hard drive argh.... If any of you are interested I do have images from the inauguration up on my Facebook page or on my flickr site.......choose your poison.

www.flickr.com/photos/delguercio/

Inauguration observation:

I have never seen as much fur as I did down in Washington last week. But, the feeling was just too good for even PETA, no spray paint that day. 

After the event I must have seen 100 single gloves on the ground in just the area where I was standing.

Here's to eight years! 

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Good bye and good riddance!

 A collective sigh of relieve filtered down the mall followed by jubilation. Here's to a new day!

please be patient, my hard drive is still out of commision and the dog ate my home work. I hope to have all pictures up by Monday. I'm hoping you will come back:)

Michelle and the golden ticket

I was working for Obama on election day with my son Nico and neice Isobella in Philadelphia. Because we were working hard there wasn't much time to document the historical day.  I felt such deep regret over this that I vowed I would do what ever it took to be down in Washington during the inauguration. As the weeks passed, still with out a solid plan, accomodations not coming through, the weather getting colder, and 5 million people expected to attend, my grand idea was rapidly disipating until I abandoned the idea altogether.  An exciting turn of events happened just after I let go.  My lovely friend Melissa who I hadn't been intouch with in a while handed me an inauguration package.  So my Obama photo series continues....... Stay tuned, images from the inauguration will be posted here beginning this Sunday after the kick off party at the Lincoln Memorial.  

Though the inauguration plans are consuming my time recently, I continue to work dilegently on my upcoming show(date to be determined) of medical imagery on salted paper prints.  This show has been waiting to come into fruition for ten years now!!  Also, my new website is expected to be launched this month. 

I look forward to sharing my images with all of you. Sorry, no pictures tonight due to a broken hard drive.

As this is the first post of the year....... 

Happy new year to all my peeps and best wishes for an AWESOME 2009!