Mike Barajas Photography

Recents

2011-03-16T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here's the past week or so in photos, along with links to the related stories:

City nuclear talks stall with third Japanese nuclear explosions, locals protest

Thousands rally against education cuts at Capitol

Plans to gut mental health spending in Texas will not only destroy lives, but overwhelm jails, emergency rooms, and taxpayers’ wallets

SA

2011-02-26T20:09:00.000-08:00

I'm finally settled up in San Antonio working for the Current. Here are a some shots from work over the last week or so. The first few are from a rally in Austin protesting the litany of bills filed in the legislature that would crack down on undocumented immigrants in the state.

Island

2011-01-03T10:22:00.000-08:00

South Padre Island, 1/2/2011

1/1/11

2011-01-01T15:15:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year - McAllen, TX, 1/1/2011

Feliz Navidad

2010-12-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

As the country's drug war continues to rage along the border, struggling families in northern Mexico are looking for help now more than ever. In addition to a death toll now over 30,000, the violent conflict between the country's drug cartels and military has frightened away the thousands of Americans who used to venture into northern Tamaulipas every year - visitors whose tourism dollars used to keep many of these small Mexican towns alive.

The ongoing violence in northern Mexico has also scared away several American groups (medical aid orgs, churches, other local volunteer groups) who for years have made it their mission to aid the Mexican poor. This year, as some of these towns needed help the most, it seemed one of the only local groups still crossing into northern Mexico was a small group of mostly retirees that go by the name Amigos de los Ninos de Mexico. I followed them on Christmas as they handed out presents and food to hundreds of families in Nuevo Progreso, a small Mexican border town that once drew thousands of tourists every year. A wave of storefronts in the town have shut over the past year or so, the owners blaming the closures on the lack of tourism and violence hitting nearby cities like Reynosa, Matamoros and San Fernando.

Remember the bourbon at the Alamo...

2010-11-28T22:06:00.000-08:00

Last Thanksgiving landed me in the West Bank, walking along the Israeli-Palestinian separation wall and touring Bethlehem. This year I found myself in San Antonio sipping a nice glass of bourbon outside the Alamo. Needless to say, a lot can change in a year.

The short trip to S.A. was pretty interesting - a weekend surrounded by booze and Texas pride...and I'm fairly certain the former helped me deal with the latter.

Veterans

2010-11-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

Some shots from a small-town Veterans Day ceremony yesterday:

James Greer, 88-year-old WWII veteran, spent almost a year in a German prison camp after he and some of his men were captured trekking through Poland in 1943.

Vietnam veteran Sisto Barrera.

Mauricio G. Flores, 85, a U.S. Navy veteran who fought aboard the USS Massachusetts in the Pacific during WWII.

Reginald Rody, 93, fought in the U.S. Army under Dwight D. Eisenhower's North African campaign during WWII.

halloween

2010-10-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

Trapped Chilean miner...I thought this was pretty good.

untitled

2010-10-24T13:59:00.001-07:00

Last month I spent some time working on a story with some guys that used to run with local street gangs in South Texas. After a while they were surprisingly open, each sharing some vivid stories of their past of violent crime. They had some insightful remarks on how abusive homes and criminal family histories pushed them toward gangs in the first place - each credited a religious conversion of sorts as being the catalyst that drew them out.

Here are a few shots from following around a couple of the guys.

Jose T. Meza used to run with gangs in the Alamo area, pushing drugs and sometimes involved in violent shootings. He now helps lead services at a makeshift church he built in a trailer behind his home.

Luis Vidal is still on probation for a violent shooting he was involved in about two years ago in the Brownsville area. After pushing drugs in the Brownsville area with a local gang, Vidal said he became a cocaine addict by the time he was a teenager. He now works at a Brownsville drug rehabilitation center and, as an aspiring rapper, performs throughout the community under the name "X-Triste".

Laguna

2010-10-05T21:24:00.000-07:00

Laguna Madre, South Padre Island - Oct. 3, 2010

burnin'

2010-10-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

The other day I caught dozens of firefighters rushing out to a house that had erupted into flames near La Feria - it eventually burned to the ground.

The crews let me roam around up close once the flames subsided and the house had basically disintegrated into nothing. It was actually really interesting to watch the smoke billow up as the firemen continued to pound the smoldering rubble with gallons and gallons of water.

Here's one of the shots I thought was decent:

Hermine

2010-09-11T19:07:00.001-07:00

Here's something I shot recently while working on a story looking at the wind damage from Tropical Storm Hermine.

gadgets

2010-08-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

So, this new toy is already eating into a substantial amount of my free time. Still, it's nice to be writing/playing again.

While on the topic, I recommend swinging over to my friend David Glivar's site. I've listened to some of his pieces countless times and I still can't get enough. Take a listen - the guy's ridiculously talented.

http://www.davidglivar.com/

Progreso

2010-08-09T00:02:00.000-07:00

Nuevo Progreso, Mexico

August heat

2010-08-05T23:00:00.000-07:00

An interesting case popped up over the weekend - two men gunned down in their Ford Mustang convertible while cruising downtown. Here are a couple shots I took while following the case, from the arrest of some of the suspects to going out with a crew of investigators and divers scouring an irrigation canal for the high-powered rifle that killed the men.

Here's part of the story.

South of the Border

2010-07-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

Reynosa, Mexico

Water, Water, Firewater

2010-07-20T22:08:00.000-07:00

4th of July...sort of

2010-07-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

Instead of partaking in cookouts, parties, fireworks, or any other sort of 4th of July staple, I worked most of this weekend - well, worked and watched after this little pup.

I had hoped that looking after Dora, a coworker's dog, for the weekend would help me get rid of this dumb idea that I should get a pet. I'm afraid it might have had the opposite effect.

Hurricane Alex

2010-07-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

I was stuck on South Padre Island for the past couple days reporting on Hurricane Alex, which just missed the Texas Gulf coast and instead hit Mexico roughly 100 miles south. Still, the outer bands of the storm dumped heavy rains and high winds that shut down the only road on and off the Island and left me stranded for a day or so. Once the storm subsided, the general feeling: the Island dodged a bullet this time.

Corpus

2010-06-14T21:32:00.001-07:00

Some shots from a short road trip I took up to Corpus Christi recently.

Details

2010-06-03T22:51:00.000-07:00

These are some details from the past month or so living down here. Nothing cohesive, just some shots I like that didn't really take any editing.

Mexican Mafia

2010-05-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

(Though I have mainly relegated this blog to photos as of late, I thought this was a decent piece. Here's a link to the article on the paper's website.)

MEXICAN MAFIA

By MICHAEL BARAJAS

One night in early April, Bobby Leal, Israel Banda, Abraham Serna and another unidentified suspect put a gun to someone’s head, beat and stabbed him repeatedly, then left him for dead in front of the Harlingen Sports Complex.

Roughly one week later, violence broke out again in Harlingen when Leal and Alfredo Aguilar attempted to kidnap a Harlingen man at gunpoint outside his brother’s house. Aguilar was shot in the stomach and taken to the hospital after the victim fought back. Both Aguilar and Leal were arrested soon after the incident.

What has concerned local police is both the violent nature of these two incidents and that the crimes appear to be connected to one of the largest and most violent gangs in Texas.

Court records and interviews with local enforcement show that the participants in both attacks were members the Mexican Mafia.

The gang, one of the largest in Texas, is widely known for its hand in drug trafficking and heinous crimes committed around the state, gang experts and local law enforcement said. Over the past two decades, the Mexican Mafia in Texas has grown into an organized, far-reaching criminal enterprise, active both in the state’s prison system and on the streets.

Although Harlingen police keep a close eye on Mexican Mafia activity in and around the city, both cases last month were alarming because they broke through the surface, the violent nature of each attracting the attention of local law enforcement, Harlingen police Sgt. Stephen Mayer said.

Mayer, the head of the Harlingen Police Department’s Gang Eradication Unit, remarked that it is highly uncommon to see violent acts committed by Mexican Mafia members in the Rio Grande Valley because the gang is intent on keeping a low profile.

“This is very uncommon here,” Mayer said. “We are looking into the situation and attempting to gather intel … We have identified a spike here and we’re investigating it.”

The Mexican Mafia in Texas functions separately from the original Mexican Mafia, which sprang from the California prison system in the 1960s. Maryanne Denner, a gang expert and former gang sergeant with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, explained that Heriberto “Herbie” Huerta started the Texas offshoot in the mid-1980s, after which the gang spread throughout the state, both on the streets and in the prison system.

“‘La Eme’ ” — the gang’s well-known moniker — “is a huge organization across the state now,” Denner said bluntly.

Miles Hutchinson, a supervisory senior resident agent for the FBI in Brownsville, noted that while numbers of confirmed Mexican Mafia members in the Valley aren’t remarkably large, their reach in the Valley is troubling. Hutchinson estimated that between Brownsville and McAllen, there are anywhere between 50 and 100 Mexican Mafia members.

Still, their connection to local street gangs is alarming, Hutchinson explained.

“What’s dangerous is the violent crime associated with them — the kidnappings, the home invasions, all of that,” Hutchinson said. “They’ll co-opt and recruit these young street gang members … They’ll try to insulate themselves with young impressionable kids to do their dirty work,” he said.

The gang, Hutchinson explained, is known to be involved in drugs and weapons smuggling, drug rip-offs and money rip-offs throughout the Valley.

La Eme in Texas conducts itself much like the original Mexican Mafia spawned from the California penal system.

“They’re basically the same: they promote extortion, murder for hire, prostitution, and things like that,” Denner said.

“They generally control the street gangs; they use the street gangs for their activities,” said Dionicio Cortez, a gang investigator for the jail division at the Cameron County Sheriff’s Department. “If a street gang member is, for example, selling in an area, they collect on that and control it,” he said.

Tim Flores, HPD’s gang intelligence officer, said the Mexican Mafia in Texas operates within a “paramilitary type” structure, with a president and vice president who “control all aspects of the Mexican Mafia in Texas,” generals who oversee regions within the state, and captains and lieutenants who “keep the soldiers in line” in various locales.

It is generally accepted that San Antonio is the hub for the Mexican Mafia in Texas.

“San Antonio is kind of considered their capital,” Denner said. Local smugglers and drug peddlers pay a “dime,” or 10 percent of their profits, up through the chain for the right to sell in any particular region, she said.

It is often tough for law enforcement to gauge Mexican Mafia activity, local law enforcement and experts said, because most crimes are unreported.

Flores, HPD’s gang intelligence officer, said, “Much of what they do is criminal on criminal … Often they’re violent amongst themselves.”

Court records indicate that the victim in the April 2 Harlingen stabbing knew at least one of his attackers. According to the arrest warrant affidavit for Israel Banda and Abraham Serna, the victim identified Bobby Leal, one of the attackers, as his “friend.”

When picked up by McAllen Texas Department of Public Safety troopers soon after the attack, officers noted that Serna had “tattoos that pertain to the prison gang known as the ‘Mexican Mafia,’ ” and that DPS gang experts later confirmed that Serna was Mexican Mafia, the affidavit shows.

Further investigation confirmed Bobby Leal and Israel Banda were both Mexican Mafia, the affidavit states.

Flores said that the victim in the April 2 stabbing was also a Mexican Mafia member, adding, “He had tattoos that visibly connected him to La Eme.”

Flores said police are still looking for the fourth suspect in the stabbing, who, according to court records, goes by either “Smiley” or “Hometown.”

The tattoos Mexican Mafia members sport, Flores and other gang experts said, are often intricate, ornate and rich with cultural significance.

“Every item in the tattoo means something to them,” said Cortez, the Cameron County gang investigator. As with so many other gangs, studying tattoos is one of the most effective ways to identify a Mexican Mafia member, he said.

“Many are based off Mexican culture and Aztec symbols ... They use the symbol of the two-headed serpent, they use the Mexican eagle,” Cortez said.

Mexican Mafia members in the Valley are also known to work with the Mexican drug cartels, local experts said.
Members have been known to move drugs for the cartels, Flores said, explaining, “They’ve definitely been known to work with the Zetas.”

Although they are known to work together, the connection between the Mexican Mafia and the cartels is “very loose,” Hutchinson insisted. “(The cartels) sometimes supply drugs for them to move,” Hutchinson said, but associations between the Mexican Mafia and a particular cartel are not direct. Both the gang and the cartels are part of organized underground crime syndicates, and it is inevitable that sometimes their paths will cross, Hutchinson said.

“They may use them to rough up people, move drugs, collect debts; I mean, we’ve definitely heard of that happening,” he remarked.

Cortez explained, “They’re basically like a gun for hire: when the drug cartels need somebody to assist them, these guys do it.”

Kiteboarding

2010-05-03T18:55:00.001-07:00

Local companies and kiteboarders kicked off a nine-day kiteboarding event at the Island this weekend. They all set up shop on the Island's bay-side shores, so I was able to trudge through the shallow water out to where some of these guys were boarding. The weather was great and these guys were all real chill and fun to talk with. Overall good weekend:

Nuevo Progreso

2010-04-25T22:33:00.000-07:00

Some shots from a recent trip into Nuevo Progreso, Mexico.

Misc.

2010-04-21T22:31:00.000-07:00

Some recent shots from the past couple of weeks:

Cloudy day at the Island

From an event in town the other day

Easter

2010-04-08T20:21:00.000-07:00

from an easter egg hunt this past weekend.

bike ride

2010-04-06T10:03:00.000-07:00

Golden Knights

2010-03-24T09:13:00.000-07:00

I recently got a chance to go up with the United States Army Parachute Team, the Golden Knights, on one of their jumps. The Knights are one of three aerial demonstration teams under the umbrella of the Department of Defense - alongside the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels.

The Knights buckled me in on the edge of one of the jump doors on their C-31A Fokker "Troopship", a pretty incredible experience.

mexico

2010-03-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

I took a short trip down to Mexico over the weekend. As luck should have it, I ended up running into a parade, Tecate girls and some half-decent shots.

spring break pt 2

2010-03-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Spring Break isn't so much fun for some people

Texas week

2010-03-16T21:53:00.000-07:00

It's about that time - Spring Break at South Padre Island, complete with debauchery, absurd amounts of alcohol and thousands of scantily-clad college kids. More to come.

reminiscing

2010-03-16T21:43:00.000-07:00

Some photos from the past 6-8 months or so:

West Bank popular resistance leader Abdallah Abu Rahmah (right), who was arrested roughly one month after this photograph was taken

Israeli soldiers standing guard over a seized Hamas weapons cache in the Israeli port of Ashdod

island pt. 2

2010-03-02T22:18:00.000-08:00

When I visited on my day off, I saw the first grumblings of spring break at the Island. The next month should be interesting...

They also lined a dredge pipe all along the coast, pumping sand and water from the south end of the Island up north. It looked odd, this giant rusty obstruction snaking all the way up and down the shore:

Island

2010-02-25T09:43:00.000-08:00

This is from a little bit back, valentines day at South Padre Island:

new scenery

2010-02-13T23:25:00.000-08:00

I'm switching scenery for a bit. Here's a little bit of my short time back in the Midwest...then down to the south.

Diego

2010-01-15T09:53:00.000-08:00

Dead Sea

2009-12-20T13:57:00.000-08:00

I went down to the mountains by the Dead Sea - it's been almost two months since I've been. The weather was much better this time around.

Hebron

2009-12-12T08:57:00.000-08:00

These are a few shots from a trip about a week ago to Hebron, the largest city in the West Bank. It's home to around 180,000 Palestinians and around 300 Jewish settlers living in a small compound at the heart of the city. The Israeli army evicted all Palestinian homes and shops in the center of the city to prevent clashes between the small settler population and local Palestinians - making much of Hebron's center a ghost town. The city was a hotbed of violence during the last intifada, and it continues to be one of the most tense spots in the West Bank. Scores Israeli soldiers continue to occupy and patrol the city.

Settler Protest

2009-12-09T22:11:00.000-08:00

Around 10,000 West Bank settlers and their supporters protested in the streets of Jerusalem Wednesday night, vowing to defy the Israeli government's new 10-month restrictions on settlement building.

Ever since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision in late November to institute a temporary freeze on building, he's faced vehement opposition from Israel's settler groups - a segment of society that was once his largest base of support.

The protesters gathered Wednesday night claiming they'll continue to build no matter what. In recent days, settlers have blocked government inspectors from entering their communities, with police even arresting some demonstrators.

Protesters carried signs blaming both the Netanyahu government for going soft and the Obama administration for pressuring Israel - the U.S. has continued to call for a full settlement freeze, hoping the gesture would bring the Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

The Palestinians have already regected the offer, calling the 10-month curb on building an empty gesture since it doesn't include homes where construction has already begun, east Jerusalem - which Palestinians claim as the capital of their hoped-for state - and some 3,000 buildings already approved for construction in the West Bank. An Israeli rights group issued a report yesterday saying that construction in settlements is still continuing at a staggering pace.

Still, protestors Wednesday were outraged at the very notion of a compromise on settlements in the West Bank - many consider the land promised to them by God.

The Netanyahu government is using the freeze, and the backlash from some of its most ardent supporters, to its political advantage, saying it proves that Israel is ready to make deep, hard sacrifices for peace, while at the same time criticizing the Palestinians for failing to make any gesture of their own. Netanyahu has already said publicly that the freeze is only temporary, and that construction will continue unfettered after 10 months.

Settlement blowout

2009-12-03T08:55:00.000-08:00

I spent a little bit of time in Jewish settlements over the past couple of days reporting on the fallout from the government's declaration of a 10-month settlement freeze. Settler leaders, infuriated, have vowed to keep building, organizing demonstrations and protests against the government's decision. Many have even barred government inspectors from entering their communities. Here's a story the AP did yesterday that I did some reporting on.

And here are some photos from the settlements Har Gilo and Efrat from the past couple of days:

Outside Har Gilo

A Palestinian construction worker building in Har Gilo

Settler leaders pour cement for a new structure in defiance of the new settlement freeze in Efrat

A settlement leader pouring cement in Efrat

Families in the settlement of Efrat came by to cheer on the symbolic act of defiance

East Jerusalem

2009-11-28T10:44:00.001-08:00

Al-Mehbash, East Jerusalem

2009-11-28T00:49:00.000-08:00

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Bethlehem

2009-11-28T00:43:00.000-08:00

Some shots from Bethlehem from this weekend. Most around the Church of the Nativity and the separation wall on the edge of the city.

Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T03:07:00.000-08:00

What I did Thanksgiving morning:

2009-11-11T12:43:00.001-08:00

This really is a great city for long walks. I got out of the office today and took a nice long walk...

Israel seizes massive weapons shipment

2009-11-05T09:55:00.001-08:00

Wednesday the Israeli navy seized a ship carrying an enormous illegal weapons cache off the coast of Cyprus. The Israelis claim they have shipping documents showing the weapons were sent from Iran to arm the Islamic militant group Hezbollah in the south of Lebanon.

I was lucky enought to spend most of the day reporting from the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, where the army brought the ship. The military walk me around the nearby dock where they had lined up row after row of shipping containers, their contents spilling out onto the pavement revealing the hundreds boxes of rockets, grenades and other munitions. The stash contained hundreds of the same type of the rockets Hamas and Hezbollah have used to attack Israel in the past.

The Israelis are calling this the smoking gun that proves Iran's determination to arm militant groups that continue to threaten the Jewish state - Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

All of this comes at a time when Israel is under fire for its conduct in last year's harsh Gaza offensive, with a U.N. report accusing the country of war crimes for deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians. Israel says the report's claims are outrageous and that it debases Israel's right to self-defense.

Israeli politicians and experts explained to me today that Israel is sure to use this incident for its benefit, shifting the focus to Iran - to which Israel insists the international community needs to take a more hard-line stance - and drawing attention away from the damning U.N. report.

Showing that it plans to fully publicize the incident, Israel has already invited swaths of foreign ambassadors to tour the weapons stockpile, which is both stunning and unsettling to see first-hand.

Read the story here.

Rachel's Tomb

2009-10-29T10:19:00.000-07:00

Rachel's Tomb is believed to be the burial site of the Jewish matriarch Rachel, and a major site of pilgrimage for Jews on the anniversary of her death. And though the tomb is technically in the West Bank on the outskirts of Bethlehem, it has been surrounded by an Israeli barrier to separate it from the rest of the West Bank. You can only get to the tomb by coming through Israel, and access is generally restricted to tourists and Jewish pilgrims.

The area feels more like a heavily militarized zone than a tourist/pilgrimage site. The tomb is almost unrecognizable and blends in with the high walls, fences and razor wire surrounding it.

2009-10-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

Near Lions' Gate in Jerusalem's Old City, Sunday Oct. 25, 2009.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hYTesV9e3EbcBnE0OuFYyfEX0UcQD9BIA1N00

2009-10-26T22:36:00.000-07:00

Sunday I was sent down to the Old City to report on violent clashes that broke out between Palestinians and Israeli police at the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews. Here's a contributing report I got for the story, which ended up all over the place:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/25/world/AP-ML-Israel-Holy-Site.html

I also got a byline yesterday for a story on this new Amnesty International report that was - big shocker - critical of Israel. It's nothing really new, but a good byline:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/26/AR2009102602783.html

2009-10-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

Local Palestinians and international activists have protested the Israel-West Bank separation barrier in the West Bank villages of Bil'in and Ni'lin for almost five years. The barrier cuts into significant portions of the villagers' farm land. Israeli soldiers typically fire tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters, who gather weekly.

Protesters meet in Bil'in's village center and march down to a ravine near the barrier.

A Palestinian teenager in Bil'in covering his face after running through a cloud of tear gas.

A Palestinian boy hurling rocks at Israeli soldiers in Bil'in

A Palestinian protester in the West Bank village of Ni'in

2009-10-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

Here's a recent byline about U.S.-Israeli military defense testing: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/20/AR2009102001593.html

I've been feelin these lately:

2009-10-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

Recent observations:

2009-10-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

This past week at the AP was pretty great. Our bureau chief and another writer were putting together this bigger analytical piece on the political fallout from the U.N.'s Gaza report that accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes.

There's been a lot of buzz over this report ever since I got here. Though it was originally meant to be a blueprint for holding both sides accountable for whatever atrocities may have been committed, the focus has become Israel's vehement opposition to the report, and how it has widened the rift between moderate and militant Palestinian factions.

I ended up doing a couple interviews that made it in the finished story. I also got to spend a day reporting from Ramallah, and was able to ask the Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad some questions at a press conference - something I never thought I'd be doing at this point.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/14/world/AP-ML-Mideast-War-Crimes-Fallout.html

2009-10-16T10:31:00.000-07:00

Tel Aviv

2009-10-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

I went to a press conference for this right-wing Israeli cabinet member, and got a quick write-up for it.

Also, ever since I got here, I've had the impression that Jerusalem is in a constant state of construction. Signs of it are everywhere you look, in every part of the city. It makes it feel like this city's shifting, changing. Maybe it's just rebuilding.

And, of course, I've become completely fascinated with the market. Maybe it's because I walk past it to and from work each day. It's so interesting, it's like a living entity with varying moods - during the day it's mayhem, at night it's a ghost town.

Rights Group: Israeli military drags its feet prosecuting its own soldiers

2009-10-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

Today I did a write-up about a report by the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din, which says that the Israeli military has a backlog of cases and complaints against its soldiers for allegedly abusing Palestinians in the West Bank. According to the rights group, it takes so long to investigate these cases that the chances of actually prosecuting any of them are slim-to-none. The particular cases sighted in the report are pretty serious, and some were filed years ago, still awaiting military approval to even open up an official investigation.

And, it got picked up by the Washington Post almost immediately.

2009-10-11T10:32:00.001-07:00

Just some details from the past few days in Jerusalem:

2009-10-11T09:11:00.000-07:00

Since Saturday was my day off, and all things Jewish were shut down for Shabbat, I decided to go to the Old City and see some of the Christian landmarks.

The most impressive had to be the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - the supposed sight of Christ's death and resurrection. The site has been drawing pilgrims from all over since the fourth century when Constantine's mother turned it from a pagan temple into a Christian shrine commemorating the life of Jesus.

Immediately through the entrance to the church is "The Stone of Annointing", the supposed spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial.

The larger of two domes in the Church, underneath sits a rotunda which supposedly holds a piece of the stone used to seal Christ's tomb, and the burial chamber of the tomb itself.

Up a narrow stairway near the entrance marks Calvary, or the purported site where Christ was crucified.

2009-10-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

Benny, my roommate's dog. He's great:

2009-10-07T10:16:00.001-07:00

So, I'm coming up on the end of my first week interning with the AP. So far it's been pretty slow, but my editor warned me that this holiday week would be just that. But, I still did some fun work:

This is a story about tensions around the Temple Mount at the beginning of this past week. I did some of the contributing reporting from the Old City (you'll see my name at the bottom).
This was my first official byline, which got picked up by the Toronto Star, about some ruins in southern Israel that were vandalized (It still sounds odd to me - sources kept saying "destroyed ruins"...). I also did another short brief the next day about two men arrested in connection with the destruction, though our news briefs don't carry bylines.
Here's another short brief about a civilian plane accidentally entering Israel's nuclear reactor site...

There's been a lot of chatter in Jerusalem recently about "riots," "outbursts of violence", and so forth. From what I can tell, things here already snowball quickly, and the local media can push things out of control even faster. This past weekend there have been a couple of incidents at the Temple Mount site, where Muslim men were turned away from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and some (predominantly teenagers) responded by throwing rocks, bottles, etc. at Israeli police. By Monday, the start of the Jewish Sukkot holiday, thousands of additional Israeli security had been dispatched to Jerusalem, expecting some grand outburst of violence.

The only thing is, that outburst never happened. And thousands of Jewish worshipers made their way to the Western Wall site (right below the Muslim holy site) and celebrated the start of the holiday without a hitch.

Here are some shots I took while at the Western Wall:

Though there were a couple scuffles, mostly outside of Jerusalem, everything was relatively calm in the city. The result was a massive bump in police presence, for what in reality only amounted to the arrest of a dozen-or-so teenage boys for throwing rocks.

But by reading some of the reports, you would thing Jerusalem was once again a hotbed of violence. Knowing how volatile this region can be, it's unbelievable that some local (and even international) media started throwing around phrases like "third intifada" so haphazardly. Things are tense enough already in this city. It'll be unfortunate if something larger and more dangerous grows out of something so small as a result of the past couple weeks of coverage.

Anyway, here are some photos I from the past few days that I like, both from Jerusalem:

West Bank, pt. 1

2009-10-04T10:24:00.000-07:00

I thought this shot from Jerusalem was a good segue into the West Bank, and all that the land evokes. When I took this photo, I had just been reporting down the street at the "Free Gilad Shalit" tent next to the president's house, where Israeli activists gather every day demanding that the government secure the release of the Israeli solidier who has been held by Hamas for over three years now. I spoke at length with the woman stationed at the tent. She was the perfect example of how the story of Gilad really hit a nerve in Israel, where everyone serves and has this personal connection to the military. As a former soldier, a mother and a sister, she wept at the fact that one of Israel's own had been in captivity for so long. The woman insisted that while the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory is unfortunate, it's necessary for the security of Israelis.

Just another example of the conflicting ideologies that are so visible here...

The next day, I ventured out to Ramallah with my roommate and spent my first day in the West Bank. Though East and West Jerusalem are so different, when you enter the West Bank you really feel like you've left Israel. I think Ramallah's a good example of that difference. For the first time since I've been here, I felt like I was in the Middle East. Though it's a bustling city, the infrastructure is clearly more worn down. Once you get out of downtown, empty, barren lots pepper row after row of limestone apartment buildings. Trash riddles the streets and sidewalks.

Yet, there's something charming about Ramallah, and the West Bank. The people seem genuinely happy that you're in Palestine and can't wait to show you around. On the ride out of the city, one of the men with us stopped the driver, jumped out and bought baklava for all of us. Here are some flavors from Ramallah:

After Ramallah, we went up to the small Palestinian village of Taybeh, where the Taybeh Brewery was hosting an Oktoberfest. Fun, but the whole event seemed kind of out of place - small, quiet West Bank village on the outside, and a boisterous party on the inside. Some teenagers danced the Debka, a Palestinian hip-hop group performed, and people drank a lot.

Going back into Jerusalem, I saw for the first time how imposing an Israeli checkpoint can be. Our driver dropped us off about a quarter of a mile away from the Kalandia checkpoint, right next to a giant burning trash heap, and said that's as far as he would go. Thankfully, an American passport sends you straight through.

finally in jerusalem

2009-10-01T12:50:00.000-07:00

I landed in Israel a couple days ago. There's so much to say about the trip thus far. This land, this country, is so important to so many people. On my flight into Tel Aviv, an American-Jewish man began to weep as soon as we could see the Mediterranean run into the city's coastline through the cabin window. People on the flight even began to clap and cheer as soon as we touched down in Israel - something I've never seen before.

Jerusalem itself is such an odd mix, with the very religious (of three different religions) and the very secular living so close together. You see a little paradox almost everywhere you go - in my neighborhood there's a bar right on the edge of a pretty staunchly religious orthodox community. Anyway, it's pretty early to comment too much on the city itself. I've been here for such a short time...

I started at the AP today. It was great, despite a little problem getting my gov't press card. I'm going in tomorrow because Israel is set to release 20 Palestinian women prisoners in exchange for a video proving an IDF soldier captured by Hamas is still alive. So there's bound to be some news.

So, here are some shots I took my first couple days here. They're mostly from the Old City and the Shuk (market).

Chicago

2009-09-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

I had a great trip to Chicago this weekend. A couple who went with us had never been to the city, so we did some touristy stuff I haven't done since I was a kid, like an architectural boat tour on the river - pretty fun. Next week, I'm leaving for Jerusalem.

Vincent van Gogh's "The Bedroom" in the impressionist wing at the Art Institute of Chicago

Georgia O'Keeffe's "Sky Above Clouds IV"

Formerly Sears Tower, renamed "Willis Tower" this past summer

2009-09-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

Troy, OH - 9.16.09

2009-09-15T14:46:00.000-07:00

Chris, 9.15.09

2009-09-14T17:00:00.000-07:00

2009-09-13T18:34:00.000-07:00

Night shot

2009-09-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

Dayton Greek Festival

2009-09-12T09:37:00.001-07:00

2009-08-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

2009-08-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

Road trip to Syracuse, NY

2009-08-13T17:50:00.001-07:00

Unexpected hospital trip

Piqua

2009-08-13T14:52:00.000-07:00

untitled

2009-08-04T12:30:00.000-07:00

Piqua

2009-08-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

2009-07-27T12:48:00.000-07:00

So, a fairly odd entry - my brother has been pretty fun to photograph lately.

2009-07-20T12:52:00.000-07:00

More animals - peanut and bella:

2009-07-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

The weather was great today, so I spent some time outside with the dog.

2009-07-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Some photos from the past week

2009-07-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

My brother is making his final film for school this week, so I helped take some production stills during a couple days of the shoot. The film's called Raspberry.

2009-07-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

I finally ventured home from Chicago. Here are some of the pictures from my last week there.

2009-06-30T20:08:00.000-07:00

So I skipped out to Chicago about a week ago. Most of these shots are from the Chicago Pride Parade up in Lakeview on Sunday, which was probably one of the more insane events I have ever been to.

2009-06-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

Some details from the past week:

2009-06-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

Troy, OH

2009-06-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

My little cousin Katy visited this weekend. Katy was adopted from Russia a little over three years ago.

2009-06-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

Dayton Ohio, The Oregon District - June 13, 2009

2009-06-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

Lots of fire recently, for some reason.

2009-06-04T07:42:00.000-07:00

Originally published June 4, 2009 in the Athens NEWS

After year of hard work, students premiere their first feature film

Students shooting a scene with a trailer fire for the film "Trailerpark"

Written by Mike Barajas

After a year of tireless planning, grueling shooting schedules in the rain and snow, and work-filled weekends, a class of media arts and studies students have finally pulled it off. The long-awaited student feature film “Trailerpark” premieres this Sunday at Ohio University’s Memorial Auditorium.

What started off as a Media 419 class project has been molded into a professional-caliber film, said Frederick Lewis, the associate professor of media arts and studies who taught the course. In the fall, Lewis pulled together the class of 70 students, divided them up into crews, and put them to work at a daunting pace to complete the program’s first student feature film by the end of the year.

“Man, they really killed it… The concept that we originally talked about, it’s there,” Lewis said. “I had high expectations at the beginning of all this, and you know what? It’s surpassed them.”

The progression from beginning to end has been long and hard. Several students late last year began adapting screenplays for “Trailerpark,” based on a book of short stories by acclaimed author Russell Banks. The screenplays were so good, Lewis said, they just had to be turned into a feature. Lewis decided to have his students collaborate on one full-length film, instead of a series of shorts.

The project quickly snowballed into a $55,000 undertaking. “It was a gamble; we all really took a gamble,” Lewis said.

Patrick Muhlberger, co-director on the film and a junior in the School of Media Arts and Studies, has been involved with the project from beginning to end, helping write the screenplay last year. “I can’t believe how much I’ve learned about the film-making process over this past year,” he said.

At the outset, many of the students were pretty raw and inexperienced, Lewis said. “None had been on a set of this magnitude… but they really ramped up,” he said.
Throughout shooting, the students worked around the clock, once taking a trip to Michigan to shoot some pivotal scenes, and even giving up their spring break to stay in town and shoot non-stop.

Pierce Martin, a sophomore audio production student on the film’s audio crew, said he had little to no experience with doing audio for film before working on “Trailerpark.”

“I hadn’t really done a massive amount of work like this prior to this film,” he said. Martin and the rest of his crew are currently working around the clock to put the finishing touches on the film, and he said that they hope to finish up audio post-production work in the next 24 hours.

Jonny Look, the other co-director on the film and a senior media arts and studies student, said this project has been crucial to his education in filmmaking. Look said he has learned how to communicate as a filmmaker, with the crew as well as with the audience. Look, who also helped develop the screenplay, said the writing process gave him invaluable lessons in how to create characters, develop story lines, and write meaningful dialogue.

“I think I really learned how to write lines that mean something,” he said.

Prior to working on “Trailerpark,” Look said he knew what he wanted as a filmmaker, but had a hard time conveying it. “I think before this project, everything I knew about filmmaking was subconscious,” he said, explaining that he can now better articulate the direction he wants to see a film take.

“By far, the most I’ve learned in school has been on this project,” he said. “The only way you’re really going to learn about how to make a film is out of the classroom, behind a camera and being actually on set.”

Lewis said he’s proud of his students, and noted that they have had an experience many undergraduate film students will never get. “At most schools, you don’t even touch a camera until you’re a junior… and even then it’s rarely a feature like this,” Lewis said.

The progression of the students working on the film, Lewis said, has been profound, adding, “Some have said it was a ragtag group at the beginning, but they’re a well-oiled machine at the end.”

Lewis, just back from the last class with all the students, said one of his favorite moments of the project was the night shooting wrapped. “I think I realized how special of a period of time it was for all of us,” he said.

Muhlberger agreed – “It’s been one of the most important parts of my life for such a long time now.”

The film premieres Sunday at 7 p.m. in Memorial Auditorium. Tickets can be bought in the RTVC building, suite 202 or online at www.trailerparkmovie.com.

2009-06-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

This I found rummaging through old stuff.

2009-05-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

2009-05-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

A story I wrote about the arrest of Eric Jones, an Ohio University photojournalism student, got picked up by the National Press Photographers Association for their news site - http://nppa.org/news_and_events/news/2009/05/arrest.html

2009-05-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

rain today

2009-05-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Some photos from the past week

Jared McCathren at Tony's

2009-05-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

This story originally ran in The Athens NEWS.

New legislation cracks down on credit-card pitches to college students, excessive fees and interest-rate hikes

Written by Mike Barajas

Last Friday in the White House Rose Garden, President Barack Obama signed a landmark bill meant to change the way credit-card companies treat their customers.

The new law, which proponents tout as a credit-card consumer bill of rights, puts heavy restrictions the companies’ ability to jack up interest rates, charge high fees, and market cards to young college students.

The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act (CARD) is an important new piece of legislation that protects consumers against predatory credit-card company practices, said Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program director for the consumer advocacy group the National Association of State Public Interest Research Groups.

“This is a major step forward over the hegemony the banks have had over the Congress in the past 20 years I’ve been [in Washington],” he said, after having just attended the Rose Garden signing ceremony on Friday. The new law, he said, “prevents banks from cheating their customers” and stops a number of other consumer tricks and traps.

Speaking at the signing ceremony Friday, President Obama slammed credit-company practices, calling them deceptive and saying that too often “[credit-card] contracts are drafted not to inform but to confuse.”

“Just as we demand credit card users to act responsibly, we demand that credit card companies act responsibly too,” the President said.

The legislation marks a turning point in how the companies treat college students, protecting students against aggressive credit card marketing and even limiting who can get approved for a card. The bill also sets out to change the relationship between colleges and credit-card companies, requiring that any arrangements between universities and those companies be disclosed.

With this bill, Mierzwinski said, “College students are protected from the worst unfair practices.”

The legislation received wide bipartisan support and passed easily through the House and Senate, despite heavy opposition from the banking industry and credit card companies, which have said the new regulations will force them to raise rates and tighten up credit. They say the new law may reduce lending to consumers who need the credit.

Card companies have said the new legislation will also reduce company profits, which will in turn hurt customers because the companies will have to apply higher costs and take away many of the perks long cherished by big spenders.

The concern comes after credit-card companies have already begun to worry about the effect of changing consumer habits on their profit margins during this recession, with consumers spending less and defaulting more often on their loans. Last month, Harper’s Magazine reported in their Harper’s Index that total U.S. consumer credit-card debt fell almost $350 billion from the year before.

Mierzwinski, though, said he doesn’t believe the threats coming from banking and credit card industries, and added, “I think the garbage that banks are putting out, and that they’re going to raise rates on others or their good customers is just that, garbage.”

Though most of the provisions will not go into effect until nine months from now, the new law forces card companies to make these major changes:

No one under 21 can get approved for a card unless they have a parent, guardian, or spouse cosign. If they have their own sufficient income, and can prove it, they’re exempted from the rule. The co-signer must also approve any increased spending-limit increase on the card.

The legislation puts an end to retroactive interest rate hikes on existing credit-card balances, unless a payment is at least 60 days late. In that case, if the following payments arrive on time for the next six months, the company has to restore the card to the original lower rate.

Card issuers cannot increase rates on a card within the first year after an account is opened.

Among the provisions that have to do with billing, companies have to send out bills no later than 21 days before the payment is due, ensuring that customers actually have enough time to send in their bill. Also, if a payment arrives by 5 pm on the due date, it’s on time (no more early morning deadlines). Companies also can no longer charge payment fees, whether by mail, phone or electronic transfer- unless it’s to make an expedited payment.

Customers will not be charged a late fee if a bill’s due date is a Sunday or holiday and the payment arrives one day later.

Banks can no longer arbitrarily “allow” customers to spend more than the credit limit on their card, and then charge them a fee for letting them do so. Companies have to get customer approval before increasing any spending limit.

Companies also must provide cardholders with at least 45 days notice before any interest rate or fee increase. They must do the same for any significant change to the terms of service – for example, no more surprising customers with unforeseen changes in rewards programs after they’ve already saved up points.

Payments that exceed the monthly minimum must go to pay off the highest interest rate first if cardholders have different interest rates applying to separate debt on a card.

Companies are required to disclose how long, and how much in interest, it will take to pay off a card balance if only minimum monthly payments are made.

Promotional rates that companies offer have to last at least six months.

Companies have to post card agreements on the internet, and provide those agreements to the Federal Reserve Board to post on its website. The bill also calls for the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Trade Commission to review the consumer credit card market and look at terms of agreements and company practices.

2009-05-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

This story originally ran in The Athens NEWS.

Photojournalism student says he'll fight assault charges from fest

Written by Mike Barajas

Eric Jones, a photojournalism student at Ohio University, recalled being knocked to the ground by Athens Police officers, handcuffed and arrested while photographing the deterioration of Palmer Fest May 9.

"I kept telling [the officers] that I was a journalist… I tried to make it very clear that I was a journalist and not a participant," the third-year student said, recalling the incident.

Police have charged Jones, 21, with assaulting a police horse, participating in a riot, and obstructing official police business, each charge a first-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison and a $1,000 fine. Last week at his arraignment, Jones pleaded not guilty to all three charges.

Of the 74 arrests in connection with Palmer Fest, Jones was among those with the most serious charges.

Jones said he had visited a friend’s house on Palmer Street earlier that day, but left in the afternoon. He came back later that night, he said, to get photographs of police breaking up the block party. "I came back specifically because I wanted to take pictures," he said. "Our [photojournalism] program always encourages us to go out and cover local events."

Officers have said that Jones disobeyed police orders and assaulted a horse with his camera. He was using a Canon 5D with a 22mm lens, a camera worth several thousand dollars according to the Amazon.com Web site.

Jones said he was especially baffled by the assault charge. "I was told later that it was my camera… They said the lens gave the horse a gash. I couldn’t believe it."

Jones said he only came close to horses when the mounted officers were running them through the crowds. "Seriously, I mean, most people just laugh when I tell them about [the assault charge]," he said.

Athens Police Chief Rick Mayer made some general comments last Monday about police treatment of news photographers caught up in what he called the "near-riot" at Palmer Fest. "We were trying to move people out of the area… They very well could have been told to get out of the area," he said.

Mayer said that if photographers didn’t leave when asked, they could have been subject to arrest, even if they weren’t overtly breaking any laws. "It doesn’t matter who you are," Mayer said. "You can’t go violating the integrity of the scene." He noted that officers let photographers back into the street to get shots of the damage once the area was cleared.

Will Klatt, an OU senior who has been a vocal critic of the university administration, said he was at a house on the corner of Mill and Palmer streets when police were breaking up the crowd, and witnessed Jones’ arrest. "All that shit went down on the grass, on private property," he said.

Klatt said he saw an officer hit Jones with a baton before "harshly shoving" him to the ground.

Police have confiscated Jones’ camera and memory card, along with 100 or so pictures of that night, as evidence.

After being arrested, Jones was shipped off to spend the night in a cell in the Southeast Ohio Regional Jail. Jones remembers the officers telling him the alcohol needed to leave his system before he could be released. Typically, those picked up for public intoxication or drunk and disorderly conduct are taken to Nelsonville to sleep it off, but none of Jones’ charges is alcohol related.

"I hadn’t been drinking; I wasn’t drunk in any way," he said.

His first time ever being arrested, Jones said he’s shaken up by the whole ordeal. He stressed why he was there in the first place – to document, not to party. "It wasn’t my intent to hinder police business," he said.

Jones’ pretrial date is set for June 18. He has already consulted a lawyer and said he plans to fight all the charges.

2009-05-18T16:27:00.000-07:00

Recent pictures

In the name of God

2009-05-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

Each spring, Brother Micah Armstrong and his wife, Sister Elizabeth Armstrong, make a stop in Athens, Ohio as part of their open air preaching tour with a group of evangelical Christians that targets college campuses. And each year, they incite the same reaction – anger, taunting, and confrontation.

Grasping their Bibles, the evangelists take turns standing in front of a group of students, condemning them for their corrupt and degenerate ways, and pleading for them to repent.

Brother Micah shouted at the top his lungs, chiding young people for smoking marijuana, drinking and having rampant casual sex. Sister Elizabeth sauntered up to preach next, saying it’s allowed because her husband gave her the permission and authority to do so, after himself preaching first.

Sister Elizabeth quickly drew fire from a handful of students, many of them black, after she yelled, “If you voted for Barack Obama, you need to repent!” She alluded to Obama as the antichrist, also calling him “a baby killer.” Alternating between loud arguments and scripture readings, Sister Elizabeth seemed to revel in the student confrontation.

Each year the group of evangelicals draws a crowd of students ready to listen, argue, mock and yell back. Though some students have genuine questions, most come for confrontation, as if it’s some sort of religious circus act.

The Poet

2009-05-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

This is an interview I did this weekend with Javon Johnson, a nationally recognized poet and poetry slam champion. The story originally ran in The Athens NEWS.

By Mike Barajas

Javon Johnson says he strives to make himself vulnerable while on stage, vulnerable in a way that black men, even poets, rarely show. In his shows, Johnson, a national poetry slam champion, strives to present a humorous, deep and multi-faceted view of race and masculinity.

Johnson, born and raised in South Central L.A., has performed on HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” and BET’s “Lyric Café,” and gives readings all over the country. Before his show Saturday night at the Front Room, I sat down and talked to Johnson about his work. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

What drew you to poetry and spoken word?

JJ: The narrative that I always tell people, and it’s a very true story, is that I started like I think most young boys start out doing this prior to “Def Poetry Jam,” which is a young girl said, “I heard you write poetry,” and my answer was, “Uh, yeah I do. Do you want a poem?” And that was the first poem I ever wrote. It was just to talk to girls at first; they think you’re deep when you write a poem. That was initially the start of it, in high school. What kept me going in it was I had read a book called “Burning Down the House”; it was the 1998 Nuyorican slam team. The members, which I think are most important, were Roger Bonair-Agard, their coach, Guy LeCharles Gonzales, Alix Olson and Lynn Procope. And I was like, “This stuff is amazing!” I was like, “Holy shit” and then I wanted to find more stuff with this so-called slam poetry. I ended up watching the movie “Slam” with Saul Williams and Sonja Sohn… and I ended up watching a documentary called “Slam Nation”… And then when I started writing it myself and started performing, I went to a spot called 33 1/3 in Silver Lake, which is sort of a gentrified area of Los Angeles.

What do you get out of spoken word and poetry?

JJ: I think, you know, you’ll hear from a bunch of poets, you know, “it’s moving, it’s makes me empathic, I understand, I’m connected and communicating with people,” and I don’t want to get away from any of that. I think all of the meaningful communicative aspects of it are beautiful and brilliant. But I think what we all forget to say sometimes is that it’s just fun. It’s just flat-out fun up there. And I’m funny at times in some of my poems, and I like to have that fun on stage. It’s fun for me to perform and read what I write and share what it is that I wrote. But, all of those other things too, that it is meaningful, that there’s nothing quite like the comment of somebody coming up to you going, “Hey, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that poem,” or “You don’t know what that poem did for me.” You know what I mean? Those kinds of comments, all of that stuff.

What inspires your poetry?

JJ: A lot of different things, you name it. Everyday life, mostly things that happen to me. I write real stories, like I don’t really make up a lot of stuff. Most of the stuff I write about is extremely real. If you ever hear me say, “He said,” or “She said,” that stuff happened for real. And that’s recent, and that’s partially sparked by Shihan, a very well known poet from “Def Poetry Jam”… One of the things he inspired me to do is write more personally, to just really tell my story. Because prior to that, I didn’t really share much, and there’s a remarkable difference between what I used to write when I started out and what I write now. And part of that is growth; you should always look back at your work and do something different.

What do you want people to take away from what you write?

JJ: There’s always stuff behind my poems that I think I want people to get, but I understand that people will take from whatever it is that I write whatever they need. People aren’t empty vessels waiting to be fed. We come to these engagements with all of our baggage and cultural capital. And we pick and choose what it is that we need, and we decipher things how it is that we need them. This is how people can engage in the same exact event and see entirely two different things.

But a lot of my stuff, for me at least, has a deeper meaning behind it, even the funny stuff. Like, for example, I have a poem called “The Black Poem” and it was written after I went to a poetry venue on the south side of Chicago, which is a very black part of town. But one of the things was a lot of these people were reading these stereotypically black poems. They were defining blackness so narrowly that no one gets to be black. And for me, I wrote that poem, which is absurd and it just goes off about how black the poem is – it’s somewhere between 11:59 and 12-midnight black, you know? It’s genetically predisposed to the kind of athleticism that would give you more airtime than Michael Jordan black. You know? These kinds of things, and [the poem’s] humorous, and it goes on. And the key part of that poem for me is that when we write those kinds of poems seriously, I think we often define blackness so narrowly that not only white people can’t hear me, no one else can either, and so obviously no one gets to be black. That’s initially what that poem’s supposed to be about. So I try to engage in critiques that I would engage in on an academic level, so to speak. I try to critique, but I just do so in poetry.

You inject social and political critique into your poetry?

JJ: The simple and skinny answer is yeah; I mean, there’s a lot of race critiques, there’s gender critiques about gender inequity, there’s class stuff in other poems. It just really depends on the mood. Sometimes I write about love; sometimes I write about politics straight up. I like to think now that I always write about love, because even if it’s not a love poem per se, and even if it’s a political rant, I’m writing it out of a place of love for somebody or for something. So now, I like to think that I always write love poems.

I tackle things in different ways, through different kinds of poems. It’s just a matter of what I’m feeling at the time. I just wrote a poem about gender issues with men, and their inabilities to engage themselves emotionally on a proper level. You know, all those kinds of things.

I think the biggest thing that I do is I am vulnerable on stage in ways that were never prepared for black men to be vulnerable. What we expect from a black male poet is someone who’s yelling, someone who’s frustrated with “the system” and “the man.” And while that stuff is valid on many levels, and I’m not downplaying that at all, what we don’t expect is for black men say is, “I hurt too.” What we don’t expect for a black man who’s heterosexual is to say, “Yes, I love my other black men, I want them to be well.” We don’t expect men to say, even in some liberal spaces, is that men need to get their shit together and stop doing XYZ and perpetuating patriarchal practices. We don’t expect that kind of vulnerability. We don’t expect men to cry on stage, like that’s not “manly.” And I personally think men, and especially black men in a different way, have an unhealthy preoccupation with what constitutes “manly.”

International

2009-05-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T01:32:00.000-07:00