Pete's Tree Farm

12/15/2010 - Brad Schneider and Justin McGuire are employees of Pete's Tree Farm in Rochester, New York.

Brad moves a tree from the bailer, which wraps them in twine, to a machine that drills a hole in the trunk that allows them to work with a special tree stand.

Brad laughs as he grabs the top of a "Charlie Brown" tree that is too small to fit in the drilling machine properly. Although "Charlie Browns" are the smallest, scrawniest trees on the lot, at prices under $5 they are one of the best sellers.

Corinne Scott

10/11/2010 - Corinne Scott gets advice from her teacher during acting lessons. Corinne left voice school and is now pursuing a career in theater.

Maria Sikic, Casey Staff, Janet Zimmerman and I did a multimedia project with Corinne last quarter for Will Yurman of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Jay's Diner

11/8/2010 2:45am - William Burns takes a cigarette break outside of Jay's. William works as a waiter during the overnight shift five days a week.

2:55am - William brings dishes out to a group of college students from Monroe Community College. "This is one of our busiest shifts. Being near three schools means we get a lot of business from the post-party drunk crowd."

Sherry Wolf

10/15/2010 - Sherry Wolf takes “City Newspaper” to task for its front page article “Labor’s Love Lost,” which she says falsely represents the American working class as the base of the new political right wing.

Click on image for full story (Rochester Institute of Technology Reporter Magazine)

Euthanasia

The project I am working on with Animal Services is centered around the euthanasia of healthy animals, and why city pounds are forced into this awful position.

This is Scooter.



Scooter was turned over to Rochester Animal Services because his owners couldn't handle it when he peed in the house. Thousands of animals like Scooter go through Animal Services every year, but because of severe space issues and a lack of interest in adoption, many will never leave.

Rochester Animal Services

I finally started working on my Animal Services project. I'm going out with Animal Control officers on their duties in Rochester and documenting what they do using still photography and audio. One part of the job is vaccinating and impounding animals that come in.



An unnamed dog reacts to his unfamiliar surroundings after being brought in by Animal Control.

"Gucci," an abandoned puppy brought in by officer Denise Lybrand, about to receive an oral vaccine. Healthy incoming animals are held in case someone comes to claim them, but most go unclaimed. Identified animals are held for ten days; unidentified animals are held for five.

Space and financial constraints mean that most of the animals that aren't claimed are euthanized. The shelter has a policy against adopting out Pit Bulls, and these make up the vast majority of dogs that come in. These and any dogs that don't pass the test to be adoptable are euthanized, and even some that go up for adoption are ultimately euthanized because of a lack of interest.

Loose Bear on RIT Campus

Slideshow of full story

A loose bear runs across the Sol Heuman quad after getting hit by a tranquilizer dart by a Department of Environmental Conservation staff member (DEC).

A DEC official holds his tranquilizer gun at the ready just after the bear ran across the Sol Heuman quad.

Students hope for a glimpse of the bear in a residential stairwell. The sign in the window reads "ETA on Tranq[uilizer]? This is UN-BEAR-ABLE"

After two tranquilizer darts, and about five minutes after getting hit by the first, the bear succumbed. It was then put into a net and loaded into a trailer.




A DEC official closes the bear trap after showing it to the media.

Edit: Changed DEC officer to staff members/officials. I don't have information on whether or not they are officers or biologists.

Genesee Valley Hunt Races

The Genesee Valley Hunt Races are a series of family and sporting events that take place on the second Saturday of October each year. Centered around the Genesee Valley Hunt Cup, a serious horse race with a large cash prize, the festivities include less serious horse races, dog races, kids' races, and tailgating competitions.

Competitors in the three-year-old category head for the finish line, and their parents' outstretched arms, during the "Stick Horse" races.

One boy looks for dogs willing to be petted during the "Parade of the Hounds."

RIT Hockey: Exhibition Opener vs Wilfrid Laurier

A young fan sings along with the National Anthem before the game starts.

Jan Ropponen enters the arena amidst eager fans looking for a high five. Ropponen played half of the game and stopped 15 out of 16 shots.





RIT's Sean Murphy and Wilfrid Laurier's Kyle Van De Bospoort get into a scuffle in front of WLU's goal.

Cameron Burt and Jeff Smith celebrate after Smith gave RIT a 2-1 lead in the second period.



Chris Saracino, Daniel Spivak, and Adam Hartley celebrate Hartley's insurance goal in the final period that brought the score to 3-1, RIT.

WLU's Ryan Daniels and RIT's Taylor McReynolds shake hands after the game. RIT won 3-1.

Anthony Hayward

Anthony is a rapper who works at the Lux Lounge in Rochester, NY. I am working on a project about him along with Casey Staff, Maria Sikic, and Janet Zimmerman for a multimedia class we are taking.

Today, we met Anthony, took a few photos, and began to interview him.


Anthony playing a banjo he bought recently. He plans to try to incorporate it into his music.

Even the tattoos Anthony knows were a mistake are a big part of who he is. Here, he shows us the star tattoos he got with ballpoint pen ink when he was 14.

9/11 in New York City

Michael Conti and I drove down to New York City from RIT on Friday the 10th to cover September 11th protests around ground zero.

We got to our "hotel" at about 3am.





As it turns out, $48 per night gets you a closet in chinatown.

There were several groups of protestors the next day. The first ones I came across were 9/11 "truthers."




The largest rally of the day was organized those that oppose the group that plans to build n Islamic Center at Ground Zero. They also sparked a counter-protest several blocks away that attracted around 1,900 people. Police were mainly monitoring the roads between the two groups to make sure they wouldn't combine. While a handful of members of opposing groups did show up to the other protest to spark arguments, both rallies were largely uneventful.

One man left the counter-protest and entered the cordoned area for the anti-mosque crowd. He walked around saying "Allah Akbar," and was immediately became a huge source of controversy. While one man repeatedly screamed "Fuck Islam, Fuck Towelheads," most others were more civil. The majority recognized that he was attempting to spark controversy and simply told those around themselves to ignore him, but were also willing to engage in heated arguments.






Within a few minutes, a police officer grabbed his arm and led him out to cries of support from surrounding rallyers.

A different group of people tried to stage a counter-protest in the middle of the crowd as well. They were also led out by police officers, but on the way a man snatched and broke one of their signs, and a woman grabbed one of their sticks and broke it. In both instances the surrounding police officers were able to keep the counter-protestors safe, but only under threat of assualt charges against both parties.


A New York City police officer argues with the leader of the counter-protest about whether or not she has the right to tell them to leave the anti-mosque rally.

The woman responsible for attacking the counter-protestors rejects the NYPD's attempts to stifle her. "My family died in the 9/11 attacks. They don't understand what I'm going through."

She refused to be identified by name.

Lucy Shaw stands with the sign that was broken when she was attacked.


The majority of people in the anti-mosque rally were undisturbed by the counter-protestors. The two groups were kept far enough apart that there was very little mixing of conflicting ideas.


One of the favorites of the anti-mosque crowd was a man wearing a fake beard and a turban with a fake bomb in the top. He refused to identify himself as anything other an "a concerned citizen." He said his reason for being there was to show people that the United States has nothing to fear from Islam.




One man was roaming the crowd with a Qu'ran that he offered pages from. He advertised it as the nicest toilet paper money can buy. Members of the crowd were encouraged to take sheets, tear them up, and show them to people.

A woman holds out a page of the Qu'ran that she shredded in protest of the planned Mosque near the site of the World Trade Center.

Several men from a church in Florida came up with a cross. They both lived in the city, and the man in the foreground was a part of FDNY on 9/11. They were here to promote tolerance. Though they thought the decision to build a mosque near ground zero was "ill-informed," they did not disagree with it. They were more concerned that the country is fractured over the issue.

"There was no crime in the city for 4 months following the attack. Why did it take such a tragedy to bring us together?"