February 28th, 2008 – 23:27-0800
For Valentine’s Day, Binita gave me a Holga. I was aware of some other Lomography cameras but never interested enough to buy one. I also had zero experience with medium format, 120 film. True, my father had a couple box cameras I played with as a kid, but I had never exposed any film outside of 35 mm.
The Holga was a good first step. It’s entirely plastic, including the lens. It costs $30. So I flocked the interior and swaddled it in gaffer’s tape. It’s sold with the motto “Shoot, then think.” And this goes against all my habits as a photographer, as I’m prone to spend more time composing than exposing.
In other news, I believe I have NAS.
February 5th, 2008 – 13:46-0800
The AP is reporting Peace Corps has suspended its operations in Kenya. I completed my two-year service with Peace Corps/Nepal just before that program was suspended.
Given the nature of the work, the program’s suspension will be wholly disruptive to both the lives of projects of PCVs, who were likely just told to drop everything, leave their homes, offices, etc., and—poof!—gone. Sad.
January 16th, 2008 – 17:04-0800
At the end of my service in Nepal, Maoist-affiliated groups were gaining influence and growing violent in the Terai. While rhetorically identical, the backgrounds of these groups differed drastically.
Conflict, Maoists, and the People War by rangichangichha
Rangichangichha now has an amazing collection of photos from Janakpur, Dhanusha, of a Maoist-affiliated group, the People’s Liberation Army. Wild. Very different than I imagined what such a group would ‘look’ like.
November 27th, 2007 – 14:07-0800
If I hadn’t read this on a .gov website, I would have thought it satire.
September 11th Security Fee: A September 11th Security Fee of $2.50 USD applies per flight segment.
So here’s a security fee bearing the name of security failure.
Reality as satire.
November 2nd, 2007 – 17:29-0700
While in Kathmandu, I met a number of Binita’s family for the first time. Maybe 50 people. Lots of characters and a lot of khana.
Outside of family, we also managed to meet Prashant Tamang. Binita was happy.
