12.20.2009

Braving the snow

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I survived the crazy snow storm that bombarded Long Island on Saturday. I drove all over the Island, braving snow-covered icy roads, blinding snow, freezing feet, and crazy drivers, to take pictures of said snow for Newsday. It seems the stress and frozen toes were well worth it, my pics will be A1 in tomorrow's paper and are already up front on Newsday.com. check it out! newsday.com
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12.09.2009

Living with Leukemia

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November, 25, 2009. Stonybrook: Six-year-old Julianna Buttner ignores the breathing aparatus she wears during an oxygen treatment while she draws in her hospital bed at Stonybrook Medical Center the day before Thanksgiving. Julianna needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Newsday photo by Mahala Gaylord.
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November, 25, 2009. Stonybrook: Lynda Buttner hugs her six-year-old daughter Julianna, who needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Mother and daughter rest in a cafeteria at the Stonybrook Medical Center the day before Thanksgiving after eating the hospital's Thanksgiving dinner. Newsday photo by Mahala Gaylord.
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November, 25, 2009. Stonybrook: Six-year-old Julianna Buttner, left, and her twin sister Jessica lie on Julianna's hospital bed at Stonybrook Medical Center the day before Thanksgiving. Julianna needs a life-saving bone marrow transplant. Newsday photo by Mahala Gaylord.

The Bath

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November, 12, 2009, HUNTINGTON. Sister Luiza bathes Ann Christ who has a heart condition and needs assistance. They bathe once a week or as needed, the nuns assist for protection and safety.  Newsday photo by Mahala Gaylord.

The Missionary Sisters of St Benedict are the only traditional convent on Long Island. I had the pleasure of spending the day with the sisters and their wards for a Newsday assignment and I have plans to return for a more long term project. The Newsday article was a profile on the convent as part of the papers coverage of the Vatican's investigation of American Nuns. I am more interested in the relationship between these nuns and the elderly they care for. The nuns have what you might call a motto that came from St. Benedict: 'work and prayer.' The prayer part is pretty obvious, but work for these nuns is about taking care of the elderly. The convent runs what might be compared to a nursing home called St. Joseph's Guest Home. The 43 elderly residents are completely cared for by the nuns and even the most intimate of tasks like bathing, as above, are done with care, affection and dignity. I would like to explore the family that exists between these nuns and the residents of St Josephs.

Getting Skinny

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 The Peppermint Twist body treatment at the Bocu Salon in Commack involves wrapping the whole body in seaweed and peppermint soaked wraps. Newsday photos by Mahala Gaylord.

12.03.2009

12.02.2009

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Gillian at her house in Syracuse. disposable camera photography

point's unpleasant

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I took my sisters to the Jersey Shore in August. Point Pleasant turned out to be Point Unpleasant, they didn't appreciate the garbage floating in the water very much. Note the unsmiling faces. I was using AJ's Zenit film camera that day so these pictures took a while finding their way onto the interweb. enjoy!

My Mom

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Many years ago my mom gave me a book by Maya Angelou called "Even The Stars Look Lonesome." Now, you should know, my mom is always giving me these self-help, self-esteemy-type books because she thinks I need to become a happier, less-stressed person. She is most probably right, but for years I have been fighting it, holding on to my crazy stress-filled existence and packing those books away in the bottomest parts of my closets. But this year, when I moved by myself out to Long Island, to really live on my own for the first time, for some reason I brought that Maya Angelou book with me. And one night, alone, (I'm always alone at night here on Long Island) I started reading it. I actually ended up loving the book, and as I was reading the last paragraph of the book, it  almost seemed as if my mom was channeling Maya Angelou to send me a message. It went like this:

"Many believe that they need company at any cost, and certainly if a thing is desired at any cost, it will be obtained at all cost.
We need to remember and to teach our children that solitude can be a much-to-be-desired condition. Not only is it acceptable to be alone, at times it is positively to be wished for.
It is in the interludes between being in company that we talk to ourselves. In the silence we listen to ourselves. Then we ask questions of ourselves. We describe ourselves to ourselves, and in the quietude we may even hear the voice of God."


I think living out here on Long Island on my own, I have begun to see who I am. Part of who I am is this blog, and being able to put into words the ideas about photography and journalism that I am learning out here. Another part of me is being able to see my mom as a complete human being; a beautiful woman and not just a mom and to be thankful that she loves me so much.