Bye bye, neighborhood

Above, from top to bottom: 1)this building is right next to the prison in the old neighborhood. I've seen guards with AK-47s hanging around in towers there, and there is always black smoke rising from its innards. I've heard it's horrific. I would love to visit and photograph. 2) Right down the block from me is this produkty(shop) in the lower left-hand corner of this image. In the fog, these buildings are beyond imposing, they become oppressive. 3) Some men dangle from wires as they put up styrofoam as insulation on a building near the prison. They turned away when I pulled out my camera, as most Ukrainians do. I took their pictures just to piss them off. 4)A woman walks to the bus station in the fog near the road outside the neighborhood. In order to reach my workplace at 8:30 for class, I have to leave at 7:45 to avoid rush hour. If I don't get on a bus by 8 am, I might as well walk and be 15 minutes late. Traffic's so bad you could wait an hour in it.

Brett and I have officially moved out of the old neighborhood and into the new one. I will post photos of my new, splendid accomodations soon enough, but till then, revel in the images of a soviet-envisioned, communist-version of Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood.

Portraits at the University, I'm going to be in a gallery!

Above, top to bottom: Bozena Hrycyna, an english teacher from Toronto, Canada, with her class at Khutorivka(Holy Spirit) Seminary in Lviv, Ukraine. Robert Marks, a Fullbright Professor from Dominican University in Michigan, poses for a portrait with Greek Catholic nuns at the seminary.

I like assignments. As a photographer, I can either shoot for myself(which often doesn't produce much money, at least not now) or shoot what someone else wants. The first is evermore gratifying, and the second is evermore lucrative, but rarely do they intersect.

I've been shooting for RISU, a university department that functions as a type of religious news service. But really, RISU does just about everything. I've been editing stories for them, designing a yearly brochure in InDesign that goes out to every donor by Christmas, and photographing on occasion.

I'm currently pursuing a story on mental health recovery in Ukraine that started with a wild car trip with a priest two months ago. I'm currently photographing for the Faith and Light program that runs several mental health workshops around the city. In a country where just a few years ago, the horrific collaboration of pimps and corrupt administrators allowed mental health patients to used as sex slaves for money, the university I work for is performing miracles. Someone actually cares what happens to these people and the quality of life they live.

In February, my work will hopefully be displayed in an art gallery in downtown Lviv as a part of the project. We shall see, but I don't have a specific date yet.

On this busy week, why I'm behind on posts

Readers,

I have been unusually busy these last few weeks, and am running behind on several stories. I wanted to let you all know that I am fully aware of the problem and am, by no means, going to become lax and a "once a week blogger." I am making up the missing posts and will continue to post every day with new photos, videos, stories and multimedia presentations as long as there are readers. 

The arrival of my grandmother and father in Lviv, giving my first test, moving out of my apartment, the election, and many other factors have contributed to my missing posts. Not to worry, I'm not welching on you! 

Thanks for reading,

Mike

Election Day Portraits

Above, from top to bottom: Vlad Polikhun, 22, of Kiev, Ukraine is a trainee at Promova, a company that organized the election party in Lviv, the first of its kind in Ukraine. He's getting his bachelor's in marketing at Kiev University. "I'm glad Obama won . . . he looks like nice person to me . . . I don't know[if he will positively impact Ukraine] . . ., because, as for me, the government doesn't function at all in Ukraine," said Polikhun. ; Linda Knudsen Mcausland, 60, of Seattle, Washington, has been in Lviv working with the Peace Corps since June 2007 and will be staying till July 2010. "In this world, change happens in one day, like the 60s, this will be a catalyst . . . a huge majority of people will begin this process of change," said Mcausland who voted for Obama. "It will be really interesting five years from now to look back and see what this has changed."

Irene Danysh, 48, of Seattle, Washington, USA lives in Lviv, Ukraine as a volunteer at Ukrainian Catholic University where she works with the mentally and physically disabled in the Emaeus department. She voted for Barack Obama, and says the election is so exciting for everyone because "the Ukrainians are excited that we had a good process, and we're so excited that we had a good process," said Danysh. "At this moment in time I feel so good and prouder to be American than I have been in my entire life."

Brett McCaw, 23, of Rockford, Illinois is working for the Institute of Ecumenical Studies at Ukrainian Catholic University as the administrator for the distance learning program. McCaw voted for John McCain while visiting family in the United States in September. 

The Palace

I have moved into a gorgeous, renovated apartment just built in 1962(recent, considering most building here were built 80 years ago) on top of an old Austrian apartment building. It is lovely and fabulous. Our friend Irene at the university lives right above us, which is perfect when I need to borrow a couple eggs to make potato pancakes. 

A quick recap of this week:

Saturday: I showed up at Irene's apartment ready to salsa dance and realized I was getting ripped by living 30 minutes outside the city in a horrible little apartment in a bad neighborhood. I decided we were moving out and Brett was unanimous.

Monday: "She is an average muckler," says Natalia about the agent who showed us around our first apartment. "Don't believe anything she says, it is all lies. She wants you to pay her right away for the apartment, but I lied to her to get away." 

The first apartment showing, with Brett's girlfriend Natalia as our translator, is a fluke after we spent hours combing the periodicals for listings. We narrowed down our price ceiling to about $450 max.

Tuesday: Squeezing through the doorway of apartment number two, I have to duck and slide sideways. It's smaller than our current dump of an apartment but doesn't have any beds. 

Number three is huge, and Brett and I think the Coca-Cola sign over the bathroom is a psychological thing to get you to pee. However, it's run down, the paint is coming off the ceiling and the landlady is clearly doing very well by the look of her diamond rings and pearls. 

When we arrived at Irene's building for apartment four after waiting 30 minutes for the agent to get through traffic, we're met by a burly man who looks like he drinks hard and plays harder. His hair is cut in a style that reminds me of a fourth grader that I know. He's not the landlord, but another agent. 

Brett and I fall in love with the place as soon as we walk in and an hour later we call them back to say we'll take the place.

Wednesday: We sign the rent deal, spend 30 minutes interpreting the contract into english, pay the agent and the landlord and move in. I'm so excited once they leave that I run all over the apartment jumping on furniture and break the bed. Woops! Still, I am elated and Brett and I know it's just the boost we need to make it through the year. I almost don't want to leave now.

I'm on Wikipedia!

Soledad O'Brien takes a moment to talk with Catholic Herald Reporter Amy Guckeen after her lunch with students at Marquette University on February 7th. O'Brien shared how faith has deeply influenced her and how faith, family and motherhood has played a role in her career.

In my email box today:

"Hi, I sent you a message on Flickr, asking if I could use your images
from Flickr on Wikipedia.

Here it is again:

Hi, this is a great photo you have taken: flickr.com/photos/rudz1985/2360089849/

I was wondering if you'd be willing to allow us at Wikipedia to use
the photo for Soledad O'Brien's biography, here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soledad_O%27Brien

The page currently has no image, and yours would be perfect there. All
you'd have to do is change the copyright on the image from "All rights
reserved" to "Attribution Creative Commons". This would allow us to
use the image.

Thanks in advance!
Gary"

The image was taken when Soledad O'brien visited Marquette this past spring and gave a speech on catholicism in the workplace. Surprisingly, she is not only sweet, an excellent reporter, and attractive, but overall down-to-earth and a good person. I was impressed by her genuine personality and had a brief conversation with her while taking pictures for the Milwaukee Catholic Herald. You can see the series on my flickr page here: flickr.com/photos/rudz1985/2360089849/

She does a great job on CNN and I was impressed by her speech. Great person.

Salsa Dancing! . . . in Ukraine

"We used to play this when I was a kid growing up in El Paso," said Irene as she held up a vintage Sons of The Pioneers' vinyl record.

She gently drops the needle of her 50's era Soviet record player and the sweet southern twang of classic American country music floods the room. A cowboy croons about his lost mexican love as we practice tango, my fifth dance of the night. 

"So he leaves her," said Irene, explaining the lyrics, "after he kills the man she was with, but then realizes he can't live without her and he comes back."

We're sitting on the wood floor of Irene's apartment just north of downtown and right next to the Wysoki Zamok("Vih-sohk-ee Zam-uk") or "High Castle," which is a big hill with a radio tower overlooking the city. We've been salsa dancing for over an hour, and my curiosity led to an explanation of childhood memories of Herb Alpert, why the radio can tune into Rome, Moscow and Athens, and the benefits of vinyl. 

In short order I am merengue-ing to "El Solo Toro" and avoiding the dangerously low chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Salsa is all endurance from what I can tell, practice is the most important thing for me. 

"I only have four records from home that I keep with me," Irene, who's been abroad most of her life, said. "These are the best memories."