On Wednesday, I happened to walk home past the New England Holocaust Memorial and decided to stop for a moment.

About the Memorial:

The New England Holocaust Memorialwas built to foster memory of and reflection on one of the great tragedies of our time, the Holocaust (Shoah). The effort was begun by a group of survivors of Nazi concentration camps who have found new homes and new lives in the Boston area. Dedicated in October, 1995, over 3000 individuals and organizations from across the community joined in sponsoring the project.

The design utilizes uniquely powerful symbols of the Holocaust. The Memorial features six luminous glass towers, each 54 feet high. The towers are lit internally to gleam at night. They are set on a black granite path, each one over a dark chamber which carries the name of one of the principal Nazi death camps. Smoke rises from charred embers at the bottom of these chambers. Six million numbers are etched in glass in an orderly pattern, suggesting the infamous tattooed numbers and ghostly ledgers of the Nazi bureaucracy. Evocative and rich in metaphor, the six towers recall the six main death camps, the six million Jews who died, or a menorah of memorial candles.

Good reminder.

What did we know — and when did we know it?

Posted By Michael Dobbs Tuesday, January 24, 2012

The photograph above is a unique historical image. It captures a massacre actually in progress near the United Nations “safe area” of Srebrenica around 17:15 on July 13, 1995. What makes this image even more remarkable — and worth studying by anyone interested in the subject of genocide prevention — is that it became a public document one day after the massacre, on July 14. It was part of a video reportage on events in Srebrenica aired by a Belgrade television station.

…

If a lone reporter was able to reach such conclusions on the basis of examining a few seconds of video footage, think what a powerful intelligence agency would have been able to do had it been explicitly tasked to gather evidence of war crimes. We now know that the CIA had additional imagery of the Kravica events that was captured in real time, but not analyzed for many weeks. Signals intelligence could have provided further information, but the United States government has been unwilling so far to release this evidence.

via What did we know — and when did we know it? | Michael Dobbs.

A snowy bike:

Sledding on the Common:

Even the poles in Jamaica Plain needed a scarf to keep warm. (Just like the ducks in the Public Garden).

A confused robin:

Snow in the Public Garden:

The statue at the Public Library draped in snow:

The snow didn’t stop a demonstration against military rule in Egypt:

A snowy sculpture in Kendall Square:

Reblogged from Low-Commitment Projects:

Love this.

And for fun… we saw Scooter Dude!

Even the Ducklings needed scarves this weekend.

Splitting time between Minneapolis, where he was born, and Brooklyn, Crouser teaches classes about “finding your voice” in photography. It boils down to part trial and error, part instinct, he explains.

He offers an analogy: “I don’t think that musicians always have a choice in the kind of music that they make. The style sort of presents itself once you’ve been experimenting.”

People often criticize (amateur) photographers, saying they can only see the world through the camera lens and don’t stop to truly ‘experience’ it.  This has always frustrated me.  One of the reasons I’m drawn to photography is that it helps me see the world in a different way.  When I’m in ‘photographer mode’ I’m always on the look out for the unusual, the beautiful, the photograph-able.

A recent example of this was this week’s assignment for my urban landscapes workshop: take photos within 100 feet of your front door.  Part of the assignment was to see if we really consider where we live ‘home’.  I initially struggled with the assignment.  For a number of reasons – we’re only there for a few months, the surrounding area is more business park than ‘neighborhood’, the building is new construction – our current living conditions feel more like an extended hotel stay than ‘home’.

This assignment helped me see where I live in a new way.  Rather than just rushing through the cold New England wind to get in the door, I stopped outside, looking for the unusual, the beautiful, something I could photograph.  Knowing those things are there now helps me feel more of this place.

A few of the results:

Photos from Manchester, New Hampshire the Saturday and Sunday before the New Hampshire primary.

My favorite photo from the weekend – PETA pig protestors and a giant hay ball as protest art.

More photos after the jump.Right off the bus:

The Atlantic and National Journal event with Sen. Santorum:

Media truck at Saint Anslem’s College:

Occupy Maine visits Occupy the New Hampshire Primaries:

Vermin Supreme, Presidential Candidate:

At the pride parade/Occupy march:

Gov. Buddy Roemer’s Campaign Announcement (you should really follow him on twitter):

We visited as many campaign offices as we could.  A few snapshots…

Gov. Huntsman had the cutest campaign puppy:

Speaker Gingrich’s front desk display (they also had cake pops):

Signs at Gov. Romney’s offices:

A welcoming penguin at President Obama’s campaign offices:

A few more:

My favorite Occupy bandana ever:

A small business owner there to talk with candidates about manufacturing in America.  And to show of the bras they sell:

Candidate Fred Karger: