San Judas Tadeo

Interviewing some vendors in the Metro this morning, I looked over. Two teenage guys caught my eye. The classic Mexico City look of "bad ass, light," they both carried statues chest-sized statues of San Judas, with wreaths and necklaces hung around them. Right. Its the 28th today.

The 28th of every month in Mexico marks the day of San Judas, the patron saint of lost causes. In Mexico City, thousands upon thousands go by the templo de San Hipólito to hear a service, and mingle with fellow creyentes. The metro - especially on the blue line once you get close to Hidalgo - fills up with "bad ass light," teenagers from all corners of the city, and most of all, families.



Although the Catholic church doesn't support San Judas worship, most believers who attend his service seem to also attend traditional Catholic masses with some regularity. In this sense, it is a bit like Santa Muerte worship (many have told me they also attend her service as well), though the two are by no means the same thing.



I've gone a few times to talk to people, shoot fotos and hang out at, and outside, the service. Its a really nice vibe. These are a few shots. Happy 28th!

What to Play?

Excerpt From A Speech

I'm not a huge fan of the whole obituary scene. But, the deaths of top-notch journalists Anthony Shaddid and Marie Colvin in the span of a week is a huge loss for journalism.

Reading David Remmick's piece on Colvin in the New Yorker this morning, the excerpt he included from a speech of hers in 2010 really caught my attention. The full speech can be found here - but you have to scroll down and click on the link with her name to expand it.

Your Royal Highness, ladies and gentlemen, I am honored and humbled to be speaking to you at this service tonight to remember the journalists and their support staff who gave their lives to report from the war zones of the twenty-first century. I have been a war correspondent for most of my professional life. It has always been a hard calling. But the need for frontline, objective reporting has never been more compelling.

Covering a war means going to places torn by chaos, destruction, and death, and trying to bear witness. It means trying to find the truth in a sandstorm of propaganda when armies, tribes or terrorists clash. And yes, it means taking risks, not just for yourself but often for the people who work closely with you.

Despite all the videos you see from the Ministry of Defense or the Pentagon, and all the sanitized language describing smart bombs and pinpoint strikes, the scene on the ground has remained remarkably the same for hundreds of years. Craters. Burned houses. Mutilated bodies. Women weeping for children and husbands. Men for their wives, mothers children.

Our mission is to report these horrors of war with accuracy and without prejudice. We always have to ask ourselves whether the level of risk is worth the story. What is bravery, and what is bravado?

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/02/postscript-marie-colvin-1957-2012.html#ixzz1n8KvLaUN

Synapse of a Mañana

Across the street, walking out the door early this morning, a rotund man in his forties running full speed in his grey and red wool sweater. I just kinda stared, fiddling with both bike door in the blue-grey light. He bolted, picking up speed. He dodged a tamale cart, deftly cleared some kinda orange box strewn on the road, let out a whistle and disappeared behind the quick-moving delivery truck. The truck quickly passed, and he appeared behind it. He pushed his balding tuft of hair downwards - creating a final five-step burst of speed - jumped up, grabbed the bar, and slammed the edge of the truck with his open palm, spurring it onwards into the day.

I said "wow" loud enough that the 60-something woman with the frizzy hair and the frizzy dog looked me in the eye with their respective, quizzical stares.

Historical Blip In Time, And a Lifetime of Luz

This pic was spotted by either companera D o M, while sitting a in a family's living room in a religious village up in the mountains. It marks the day that said village got the first transformer, roughly 25 years ago. It's had the lights on ever since.

Pedro Pardo Gana un Premio en el World Press Photo

Wow! Muchas felicidades a Pedro Pardo !!! Acaban de anunciar que ganó tercer premio por el World Press Photo, en la categoria "Historias Contemporáneas." Ganó por una foto de un equipo de forenses analizando una escena de un ejecutado en el estado de Guerrero. Pedro cubre la guerra del narco desde Acapulco, el municipio mas violento en México en 2011 despues de Juarez. Muy buenas fotos wey, y bien hecho!

Puedes ver 5 de sus fotos sobre la violencia en la guerra del narco en Guerrero aqui.


Big congrats to Pedro Pardo!! They just announced that he won third place for the 2011 World Press Photo "Contemporary Issues" category. He won a photo of a forensic team analyzing a crime scene in the state of Guerrero. Pedro covers the drug war our of Acapulco, which in 2011, was Mexico's most violent city after Ciudad Juarez. Amazing fotos, and way to go!

You can see 5 of his photos of Guerrero's drug war violence here.