I'm in the second leg of a week-long escape from CR -- will be back Thursday with photos from McCain's visit to Iowa last week, Iowa's loss to Pittsburgh, and Chicago adventure photos. Until then, I wanted to share this from Joe McNally's blog today...

It ain’t the way it used to be, but what is? There’s never been any guarantees, or forgiveness, or for the last 10 or more years, fairness, in this industry. But here’s the thing.

We are out there, in the air, in the world. We don’t go to a cubicle farm everyday and stair at dismaying numbers on a screen. We make pictures. At the end of the day, we create something potentially significant that did not exist at the beginning of the day. We go forward, despite the uncertainty. Because this is an act of love and passion, which defies reason and prudence.

And we make that occasional good frame, the one that sings, the one that lifts our hearts and the hearts of everyone who sees it. That well and truly is as good as it gets.

Witnessing history

This is not a photo that will win any awards, but, in the 30 minutes it took me to photograph and process it for print in today’s paper, I was reminded of my own experience with 9/11. I was a senior in high school in 2001, and remember hearing from another student before class started about the first tower being hit. Once class started, we all turned on the classroom TVs with their fuzzy reception and watched as history was made before our eyes. Now, it gets a few paragraphs boiled down to bare facts in a high school history textbook, with a brief history of the Middle East and terrorism. Oddly enough, this does tie in with the job I have today: after school I went to my internship at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and remember being astounded at the photos I saw coming across the wire from New York. I was amazed at how powerful even a single image was, and how photos from Ground Zero let us all witness and experience the events of that day, even if to a very small degree.

Powwow

I'm attempting to catch up after a little blog slacking, so, here are a few photos from the Meskwaki Powwow in Tama last month. Looking over these photos now, it seems that what caught my eye most was the involvement of the younger generation of Meskwaki.


Dancers line up before the start of the 94th Annual Meskwaki Indian Powwow at the Meskwaki Casino arena in Tama on Thursday, August 7, 2008. The powwow was relocated to the casino due to this year’s flooding, which affected the usual powwow site on the Meskwaki Settlement, and continues through Sunday.


Drake Keahna, 10, of the Meskwaki Settlement near Tama, makes a face as his mother Tia Keahna adjusts his headdress before a ceremonial dance at the 94th Annual Meskwaki Indian Powwow at the Meskwaki Casino arena in Tama on Thursday, August 7, 2008.


Derris Keahna, Jr., 18, of the Meskwaki Settlement near Tama, performs the Shield Dance during the 94th Annual Meskwaki Indian Powwow at the Meskwaki Casino arena in Tama on Thursday, August 7, 2008.


Stephanie Snow holds her son Tenoch Snow, 22 months, both of the Meskwaki Settlement near Tama during the 94th Annual Meskwaki Indian Powwow at the Meskwaki Casino arena in Tama on Thursday, August 7, 2008.


Denny Keahna, 14, of the Meskwaki Settlement near Tama, performs the Buffalo Head dance at the 94th Annual Meskwaki Indian Powwow at the Meskwaki Casino arena in Tama on Thursday, August 7, 2008.