Night and Day

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Stephanie Schneiderman @ Alex's

Stephanie
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Compassion (or lack thereof)

Downtown Ashland is a world all its own, with glittering store windows set in tudor-style buildings and the inescapable presence of the bard. While designed to attract the wealthy and elite, downtown is also a home to the homeless and a prime location for panhandling. I sought out these parts of downtown thinking that I would at be able to get at least one shot of a random donation being made for the sake of compassion.

Zeke Brandov-Ysrael (on guitar) and Danny Cornett.

What I found was an almost total lack of compassion from each passerby. I waited for hours and never saw a single cent given to the group of six or more rotating people occupying the corner of E Main and S Pioneer streets. The individuals in the group seem unfazed by the lack of acknowledgment from those walking past, but it is clear they hope for a world filled with sharing and compassionate people. "When the world sleeps, I'm more comfortable," says Nicholas Sebastien. "People spend all this time judging when they don't need to."

Zeke
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David
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Tricky
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Sebastien
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Tara
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What I also found was a group of people who maintained a great deal of compassion for one another as well as the rest of the human race in spite of the lack of compassion they'd been shown.

Every so often someone carefully rearranges the hat, the bills and coins inside, and the flowers adorning it all.

At the end of each day the money is divided up equally among all. An average day might earn them $12 - $15 total and the cash seems to be spent primarily on coffee and cigarettes.

Once in a while someone will buy a cigarette off a stranger with funds from the hat, sharing it with everyone else.

Those who can play take turns with Zeke's guitar. Sebastien once had a Fender of his own (better suited to his wide vocal range) that he claims was stolen from its downtown hiding place and sold for more than three times its purchase price.

Zeke employs a method of guitar playing seldom seen among musicians.

I found myself fixated somewhat on a song that Zeke had written titled "Shades of Gray," which includes the following lyrics:

I've been watching as my friends all fade away
and their sorrows turn a darker shade of gray
How do we forget compassion
and what is up with the latest fashion today?

Danny entertains himself by performing stunts off of the various landscape features.

Zeke reads messages lining a mysterious colored cinderblock.

According to Tara the rock appeared in the vicinity one day, bearing the message "From Key & Ree to YOU!" Since then it has been lovingly cared for by the group. "We have to hide it every day cuz the cops'll steal it," explains Tara.

"I like the quote about the butterfly," says Tricky.

Tricky and Zeke hide their faces as Sebastien launches into a rock version of the song he'd been singing.

Monday Morning Milieu

A European starling hunts for berries in Ashland. By summer its white spots will have disappeared, leaving its feathers a glossy purple-black.

Nearby, a fly lands on an ivy leaf.

Hyacinths, another harbinger of spring

A magnolia tree, just starting to bloom.

Yes, I'm one of those nerds that photographs their own cat all the time. But he's such a pretty orange...

Hands

Mikayla Schroeder, age 2, plays with a Cabbage Patch doll. Like many toddlers, she is obsessed with babies.



Starting this assignment I found myself most strongly drawn to the hands of children. When we are born, we instinctively use our hands to explore the world. During those first few years of a child's life, that child will use his or her hands in ways that are entirely different from adults.


Children find hands especially useful for putting things into their mouths.




















SOU student Shayla Davis uses her Macbook for research on Friday morning. It is probable that a typical student's hands perform the action of typing more than any other.

As we grow older, our hands become increasingly devoted to repetitive activities. Typing, writing, pushing phone buttons, gripping steering wheels- we seldom have time for anything that allows free range and movement of the hands.


When not on the computer, Shayla spends much of her free time making beaded jewlery. You can find her jewelry at etsy.com



Student Jake Prahar's hands are most commonly found on his guitar, as he practices for hours each day. In this photo he demonstrates a unique playing style sometimes used by guitarists.

My observations over the course of this assignment have led me to notice a trend in human beings: the more time spent on activities that make one's hands happy, the more smiles one will experience overall.

























High school student Keenan Richmond plays Zelda for the Wii on Friday. Wii controllers require a much wider range of hand motion than most other standard controllers.

Blog Birth

How does one christen a new blog?

By giving it a worthy first post, I would imagine. As this blog's birthday happens to be April Fools Day, my first post will have to engender this theme.

This little hut is a popular site for smoking breaks among employees of the Ashland Food Cooperative. Those employees arrived at work today to find their hut had magically turned into a cute little yellow house, complete with flowers and windows and emblazoned with a message of April Fools cheer.