Oh! The Places You've Gone - 2010 in Photos

...Leaping, stumbled: better to hold hands. A six-word memoir may encapsulate the most important message, but plot quirks--and supporting characters--require more images. So in the spirit of procrastinating before beginning my resolutions for productivity, I've made a second Year in Review:

In an instant, so much was lost:


Wasn't in the mood for real goodbyes, but I received a sweet surprise send-off from the my classmates:


LSTH---the door to the nursing school where 3 dorm rooms were converted to ORs. In Cessna's landing on the highway outside Leogane, people showed up, taped on nametags, and worked as hard and long as humanly possible:


The same mishmash, heroic group--Jean Marc, Chris, Josh, Ralph...--got the tent pods set up a few weeks later:


Becoming more than just a trauma center, we were now a 24/7 general hospital. Dan's first on-call board offered a template, and we kept going. Working as hard and long as humanly possible. Or more:


Peter, my colleague, rose to every challenge. What we did is best expressed by a single Kreyòl word degaje "to make it work, to find a way":


Kristina (pictured) and Abbey (not) were my other comrades. One attempt at dancing Michael Jackson was more than enough:


Ralph Plastics & Mo Ortho bandaging 2-year-old Garvensly, badly burned but to fully recover with diligent care from our nurses & docs, and his grandmother:


Dan, Lars, "T", and Sony acting as transport team. Doubt that wearing shorts in the OR will be acceptable in the Mass General:


Robenson---translator, smooth operator, and my friend & protector:


Roosevelt---carpenter, and my other friend & protector:


Williamson---one special orphan:


Williamson---taken in by Manoucheka to join her son, Jonas, in a loving family:


Emily Ann---March 12, moments after birth, two-months premature, in respiratory distress. Her young mother abandoned her the next day:


Emily Ann---April 29, after two months in the Medishare NICU. 8 weeks old, 6 pounds:


Emily Ann---December, with her adopted mother, Natacha. (photo courtesy Steve Seidel). She's grown a bit:


Junior---was in constant pain since March 2009 moto accident, now in Maine recovering from a recent hip transplant arranged by Dr. Kevin. Junior calls himself my "gran frè" and is continuing his work as an artist:


Playing a little before the pain of leaving work unfinished in a place I love:


Yet, the Union Square Farmer's Market is another lovely place:


With impressive street performers:


Another life-enriching experience, the Coney Island Mermaid Parade:


Visiting my friends at the Farm of the Child in Honduras, impressed by their skills of cooking for mass community over a wood-stove:


Within and among El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua...this is how I rolled. Hours and hours and hours of rolling:


But sometimes there was entertainment:


Thousands of Salvadoran women, children, and men demanding justice in healthcare, never giving up in the long struggle:


So, while I witnessed much natural beauty (here Volcan Concepción, the one I climbed/stumbled up):


...The human beauty was far greater (girls dancing for the San Geronimo festival in Masaya, Nica):


Leaving mi familia:


To return to my family:


And to the Farmer's Market:


And our view:


We had a happy Christmas---even saw the Radio City Rockettes!


December 26, it started snowing. A lot. With thunder cracking and lightning flashing. Wikipedia "thundersnow":


Being our last night after a two-year NY hurrah, however, we still dressed up and went to Brooklyn for dinner (check out the chocolate bridge dessert):


And so in order to find (thank goodness) a subway home, we tromped ten blocks through windy 15-inch drifts:



Tomorrow is not only a new year, but the 207th anniversary of a land of slaves winning freedom---a new beginning since marked by much abuse, yet still a story of pride, and courage:


The St Rose de Lima church in Leogane collapsed completely, except the altar. People kept gathering around it, with hope and love. What was built, destroyed. Daily harm continues, ever stronger. But perhaps not everything lies in ruins:

The Year in Clouds & 6-word Memoirs

I just read the New York Times "Words of the Year," which has inspired me to think about the words that personally defined this year. Also, enjoying a requisite annual screening of Love Actually with Mom and Barrick prompts me to muse. [Watching the trailer alone is joyful.]

60 blog entries in 2010---so, what happened? Where did I go? Whom did I encounter? How was I moved, surprised...changed?

I probably can't answer those questions; instead, I took all I've written here over the last year and made a cloud, with word frequency reflected by size. Lots of conjunctions and adverbs, yet I was happy to see "People" as the clear leader. Along with "friend" "Haiti" "salvador" "Leogane" "Spanish" "family" "food" "team" "home" "help" "need" "care"..."hope"


(click to enlarge)

Let's not mince words, so I'll sum it up with only six. Remember that first attempt at shared "6-word memoirs" on this blog, now two years ago? See the first and second installments. Add your own narratives by comment here, or to just me by email. Simply ponder, because it is fun. My 2010 gave these to me:

"Leaping, stumbled; better to hold hands"

11 and Counting...

Today was not dramatic. It marks 11-months since the pillars collapsed in a Caribbean country already pillaged by colonialism, militarism, and neoliberalism. Yet like yesterday, millions of Haitians simply awoke homeless, jobless, increasingly ill with cholera, and desperately seeking change. Despite the heartwrenching footage sure-to-be-shown by major media one month from today, January 12 will probably not bear transformative significance either.

In its annual review of top Google searches, Zeitgeist found Haiti to be 2010's "fastest riser" in the news category. [Justin Bieber topped multiple categories.] Haiti's climb to attention started 11 months ago today, with both news and public interest ebbing & gushing since then.

This week added a few new taglines of Haiti woes, which make litany-form in most stories: "riots" "civil unrest" "flaming barricades" "Sarah Palin"...[Regarding that last one, the Grizzly Hunter's brief chopper tour was apparently neither helpful to, nor noticed by, any Haitians.]

Our challenge is to not reduce Haiti to the headlines it will undoubtedly continue making. Rigorous reporting about the country often doesn't make major outlets, except AP's Jonathan Katz. Ansel Herz also does a stupendous job. As I've mentioned, I keep watching Twitter feeds from people on the ground, and re-tweeting the info to this blog. From Twitter to Wikileaks---now is the time for us to seek information at its source.

And so, helping give voice to this unremarkable anniversary, I'll offer three things:

1. A concise and honest look at the intensifying social mobilization (i.e. the foundation of the protests, expression of collective voice) in the Boston Haitian Reporter, written by Haiti grassroots human rights worker Melinda Miles.

2. Photoessay depicting the subtext of the last 11 months. It was produced by Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye, a Kreyòl newspaper that serves as the major way Haitian camp residents learn the world news that affects them.

3. I close with Melinda Miles' words from a recent blogpost as she refers to the above photoessay. They are an eloquent tribute to Haitians and an entreaty to us.

"When will things begin to change for the better? Haitians never expected to be rescued, and in recent months a new grassroots mobilization for change has begun to grow throughout the IDP camps, the neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, and the peasant movements of the country as a whole. Through peaceful protests and popular university discussions, people are beginning to envision their own path for the future. Where those least affected by the quake have failed to solve the problems, those most affected by it cannot fail. They must create a new path forward, because Haitians cannot remain under tarps for years.

These photos are heartache in images; they depict the most painful moments of confrontation between nature and the frail human bodies under tarps, between powerful international forces and the valiant young people, women and men who demand something better for their lives. They take us from pain to protest to action. Hopelessness is a luxury Haitians cannot afford, and so the challenge is to spend a moment with the Haiti of today and still find the hope you need to get up and do something."