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As a parent who believes in public schooling, it offends me to the core to see these educators being disrespected as they are. And it offends me even more that Mayor Emanuel has chosen to send his three children to one of the most expensive private schools in the country, the University of Chicago Lab Schools, which costs an average of more than $25,000 a year per student. This personal choice sends a very public message: The Chicago Public Schools are good enough for more than 400,000 of your kids, but they are not good enough for mine.
Jim DeRogatis of WBEZ in Chicago, “What the media isn’t telling me about the Chicago teachers strike” (via emilyheroy)

(Source: emilyfillingham)

I met this kid the day after he got his skull cracked open by Chicago’s finest. I won’t give out his name, but can reveal that he was sincere and not the least bit threatening. To his credit, he turned out to protest Boeing with staples sticking out of his head. He was wearing the same bloodstained shirt when I met him wandering around on the near west side. Unfortunately, that shirt had an Anarchy symbol on it, so naturally the press descended. He fended off several interviewers before giving in. The cameraman trained his lense on the shirt’s red lettering before panning up in time to catch the first question. I’m sure the kid never intended this, but he was no doubt regarded as a spokesperson for the throng of rebels reportedly descending on the city. As much as I liked him, he was the posterchild for all of the fearmongering leading up to the NATO summit.I saw numerous examples of the news media selecting people of similar appearance for interviews. It was clear they were looking for protesters who fit the prevailing narrative that all hell was breaking loose. By all appearances the media’s framing of this event was unquestioningly adopted by most people. Businesses, including the one where I work, shut down before a single protester hit the streets. The unfortuneates forced to venture into the city during the summit were warned to blend in. There were reports of businessmen being doused in urine and even the possibility of a warehouse containing a stockpile of feces. The reporting and the fear it inspired justified brutal police tactics and the militarization of the city. Though security was no doubt required, the cavalier attitude about the use of violence was disturbing.
Zoom Info
Camera
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV
ISO
2000 		Aperture
f/5
Exposure
1/2500th 		Focal Length
251mm

I met this kid the day after he got his skull cracked open by Chicago’s finest. I won’t give out his name, but can reveal that he was sincere and not the least bit threatening. To his credit, he turned out to protest Boeing with staples sticking out of his head. He was wearing the same bloodstained shirt when I met him wandering around on the near west side.

Unfortunately, that shirt had an Anarchy symbol on it, so naturally the press descended. He fended off several interviewers before giving in. The cameraman trained his lense on the shirt’s red lettering before panning up in time to catch the first question. I’m sure the kid never intended this, but he was no doubt regarded as a spokesperson for the throng of rebels reportedly descending on the city. As much as I liked him, he was the posterchild for all of the fearmongering leading up to the NATO summit.

I saw numerous examples of the news media selecting people of similar appearance for interviews. It was clear they were looking for protesters who fit the prevailing narrative that all hell was breaking loose. By all appearances the media’s framing of this event was unquestioningly adopted by most people. Businesses, including the one where I work, shut down before a single protester hit the streets. The unfortuneates forced to venture into the city during the summit were warned to blend in. There were reports of businessmen being doused in urine and even the possibility of a warehouse containing a stockpile of feces.

The reporting and the fear it inspired justified brutal police tactics and the militarization of the city. Though security was no doubt required, the cavalier attitude about the use of violence was disturbing.

Here are some of the photos I took during the NATO protests in Chicago. One of the things that really interested me was the media’s focus on a subset of the protesters: people who looked out of the mainstream, or who seemed threatening. For example, I watched the guy in clown make up, Casper, get interviewed by no less than four media outlets, both print and TV. The nice old lady protester, Nan, on the other hand was interviewed by public radio and some journalism students. You would expect that Casper really must have had something important to say, but he was just some young kid, who rightly has realized that the game is rigged. He was there because opportunities once available to him and his friends have all but disappeared. He has also spent much of his life watching his country be engaged in a perpetual state of war. He wanted to speak out, to do SOMETHING. He was all heart, but frankly lacked the life experience necessary to inform ‘outsiders’ about his cause, or even the reason for his makeup. After Listening to Nan’s interview with the journalism students, I sat down and talked with her for a while. I was captivated. Her presence alone was inspiring, but even more amazing was the fact that she traveled from Oregon to take part in the protests. She spoke to anyone who approached her and was able to describe in very simple terms why everyone (making less than 300k per year) would be foolish not to participate in this movement. I was honored to have met her and truly inspired by her commitment. It is a sad commentary on the state of the press that such an inspirational figure isn’t newsworthy.
Zoom Info
Here are some of the photos I took during the NATO protests in Chicago. One of the things that really interested me was the media’s focus on a subset of the protesters: people who looked out of the mainstream, or who seemed threatening. For example, I watched the guy in clown make up, Casper, get interviewed by no less than four media outlets, both print and TV. The nice old lady protester, Nan, on the other hand was interviewed by public radio and some journalism students. You would expect that Casper really must have had something important to say, but he was just some young kid, who rightly has realized that the game is rigged. He was there because opportunities once available to him and his friends have all but disappeared. He has also spent much of his life watching his country be engaged in a perpetual state of war. He wanted to speak out, to do SOMETHING. He was all heart, but frankly lacked the life experience necessary to inform ‘outsiders’ about his cause, or even the reason for his makeup. After Listening to Nan’s interview with the journalism students, I sat down and talked with her for a while. I was captivated. Her presence alone was inspiring, but even more amazing was the fact that she traveled from Oregon to take part in the protests. She spoke to anyone who approached her and was able to describe in very simple terms why everyone (making less than 300k per year) would be foolish not to participate in this movement. I was honored to have met her and truly inspired by her commitment. It is a sad commentary on the state of the press that such an inspirational figure isn’t newsworthy.
Zoom Info
Here are some of the photos I took during the NATO protests in Chicago. One of the things that really interested me was the media’s focus on a subset of the protesters: people who looked out of the mainstream, or who seemed threatening. For example, I watched the guy in clown make up, Casper, get interviewed by no less than four media outlets, both print and TV. The nice old lady protester, Nan, on the other hand was interviewed by public radio and some journalism students. You would expect that Casper really must have had something important to say, but he was just some young kid, who rightly has realized that the game is rigged. He was there because opportunities once available to him and his friends have all but disappeared. He has also spent much of his life watching his country be engaged in a perpetual state of war. He wanted to speak out, to do SOMETHING. He was all heart, but frankly lacked the life experience necessary to inform ‘outsiders’ about his cause, or even the reason for his makeup. After Listening to Nan’s interview with the journalism students, I sat down and talked with her for a while. I was captivated. Her presence alone was inspiring, but even more amazing was the fact that she traveled from Oregon to take part in the protests. She spoke to anyone who approached her and was able to describe in very simple terms why everyone (making less than 300k per year) would be foolish not to participate in this movement. I was honored to have met her and truly inspired by her commitment. It is a sad commentary on the state of the press that such an inspirational figure isn’t newsworthy.
Zoom Info
Here are some of the photos I took during the NATO protests in Chicago. One of the things that really interested me was the media’s focus on a subset of the protesters: people who looked out of the mainstream, or who seemed threatening. For example, I watched the guy in clown make up, Casper, get interviewed by no less than four media outlets, both print and TV. The nice old lady protester, Nan, on the other hand was interviewed by public radio and some journalism students. You would expect that Casper really must have had something important to say, but he was just some young kid, who rightly has realized that the game is rigged. He was there because opportunities once available to him and his friends have all but disappeared. He has also spent much of his life watching his country be engaged in a perpetual state of war. He wanted to speak out, to do SOMETHING. He was all heart, but frankly lacked the life experience necessary to inform ‘outsiders’ about his cause, or even the reason for his makeup. After Listening to Nan’s interview with the journalism students, I sat down and talked with her for a while. I was captivated. Her presence alone was inspiring, but even more amazing was the fact that she traveled from Oregon to take part in the protests. She spoke to anyone who approached her and was able to describe in very simple terms why everyone (making less than 300k per year) would be foolish not to participate in this movement. I was honored to have met her and truly inspired by her commitment. It is a sad commentary on the state of the press that such an inspirational figure isn’t newsworthy.
Zoom Info

Here are some of the photos I took during the NATO protests in Chicago. One of the things that really interested me was the media’s focus on a subset of the protesters: people who looked out of the mainstream, or who seemed threatening. For example, I watched the guy in clown make up, Casper, get interviewed by no less than four media outlets, both print and TV. The nice old lady protester, Nan, on the other hand was interviewed by public radio and some journalism students.

You would expect that Casper really must have had something important to say, but he was just some young kid, who rightly has realized that the game is rigged. He was there because opportunities once available to him and his friends have all but disappeared. He has also spent much of his life watching his country be engaged in a perpetual state of war. He wanted to speak out, to do SOMETHING. He was all heart, but frankly lacked the life experience necessary to inform ‘outsiders’ about his cause, or even the reason for his makeup.

After Listening to Nan’s interview with the journalism students, I sat down and talked with her for a while. I was captivated. Her presence alone was inspiring, but even more amazing was the fact that she traveled from Oregon to take part in the protests. She spoke to anyone who approached her and was able to describe in very simple terms why everyone (making less than 300k per year) would be foolish not to participate in this movement. I was honored to have met her and truly inspired by her commitment. It is a sad commentary on the state of the press that such an inspirational figure isn’t newsworthy.

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