transgender warrior

'Casualty of an undeclared war'

2011-08-30T07:45:00.000-04:00

My health has declined. I have to get off all text-driven work so I can continue to put up a fight. But I want to bring this important information I've compiled for you:

'Casualty of an undeclared war': www.transgenderwarrior.org

Please share widely.

My heartfelt thanks to Torry Mendoza for his enormous contribution of labor as web weaver.

pottery_tower

2010-08-30T05:44:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

night_conversation

2010-08-27T06:17:00.000-04:00

click on photo for larger view

screened-in_sunset

2010-08-26T06:19:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

bird soar

2010-08-25T07:04:00.003-04:00

click on photo for larger view

screened-in_dawn

2010-08-24T03:23:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

tree_me

2010-08-23T04:24:00.002-04:00

click photo for larger image

playground_chained

2010-08-20T05:27:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

new photo: "painting_scale"

2010-08-19T06:36:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

caber toss_onlookers

2010-08-18T04:41:00.002-04:00

click photo for larger view

Minnie Bruce Pratt_sunglasses

2010-08-17T06:16:00.003-04:00

click on photo for larger view

caterpillar_sunglasses_audience

2010-08-16T06:03:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

fire escapes_summer shadows (3 of 3)

2010-08-13T06:13:00.002-04:00

[click on photo to view larger]

elder, walk-up tenement, summer swelter (2 of 3)

2010-08-12T05:36:00.001-04:00

click on photo for larger view

willow_gentrified tenement (1 of 3)

2010-08-11T06:19:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

no access = disability

2010-08-10T06:38:00.006-04:00

click on photo for larger view

two families: two-parent, single-mother

2010-08-09T06:14:00.001-04:00

click on photo for larger view

blue suit

2010-08-06T04:05:00.001-04:00

click on photo for larger view

fit the fashion, or fashion that fits?

2010-08-05T06:51:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

piano_player_park

2010-08-04T06:20:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

fence_flowers prevail

2010-08-03T04:31:00.002-04:00

click on photo for larger view

going to work_monday am_sunrise

2010-08-02T06:41:00.006-04:00

new photo: for some reason the photo just won't post,
so please click on this TEXT to view photo.

shoes, gender

2010-07-30T06:13:00.001-04:00

click on photo for larger view

early Monday morning rush hour, Port Authority

2010-07-29T07:27:00.003-04:00

Click on photo
for larger view

Click HERE to view
on black background

today's photo: 'Niagara Falls, first light'

2010-07-28T05:42:00.003-04:00

click photo for larger view

(click HERE for more photos)

yesterday's photo: 'point of view'

2010-07-28T05:36:00.007-04:00

click on photo for larger version

(click HERE for more photos)

between hammer & anvil

2010-07-27T09:52:00.003-04:00

To new friends and old friends:

My health is forcing me to change how I communication with you at this time.

My primary battles are against 3 serious tick-borne infectious diseases that have been entrenched for more than three decades: Babesiosis, Bartonella and Lyme. Since 1995, I've survived infectious endocarditis, atrial fibrillation, an electrical change in the rhythm of my heart rhythm that required an invasive procedure to "solder," extreme high-low swings of pulse, similar extreme swings in blood pressure, in addition to bouts of life-threatening infectious diseases.

After 13 months of anti-malarial medications, I seem to have pushed back the Babesias. Babesiosis is similar to malaria, and treated with the same medications, which are "ototoxic--they cause toxic damage in the brain that can cause ringing in the ears, vertigo, hearing loss or deafness.

I wasn't worried about losing my hearing. My body recalls the vibratory memory of Deaf generations united inside Gallaudet University's gymnasium--everyone on their feet, rhythmically stomping the wooden bleachers underfoot, demanding in signed language (ASL) as one: "Deaf president now!" My experiences with Deaf languages, cultures and struggles have enriched my life and understanding, enhanced my visual awareness, and has had an impact on my own self-expression.

The medicines left me with only mild hearing loss. However, the toxic drug damage left me with excruciating pain and high-frequency noise in my ears.

Bartonella treatments also rely on antibiotics which are similar in their damage, and could quickly or gradually increase the pain and noise to even more unbearable heights, removing all quality of life. I'm already the threshold of pain that I can endure, in my ears and my body as a whole. So when I decided not to begin medication for Bartonella, the decision was based on longevity with quality of life.

Recently, however, I'm experiencing cardiac problems again. Both Bartonella and Lyme infections do damage to my heart. So after much consultation with my doctor and Minnie Bruce, I will be beginning treatment for Bartonella in early September with the least damaging antibiotic.

I have a lot of preparatory work to do. And I need to change the way I'm working and communicating right away. I have to leave my language-driven work, including attempts at analytical reading and writing, spoken and written dialogue. That part of my brain is a painful and frustrating workspace that engages my central nervous system and leaves me weight wasting. Instead, I will be continuing to make photographs, develop and print them.

I flickr'd up a new photo I call "point of view" to share with you this morning on my online stream of photographs this morning:

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/transgenderwarrior/

I will try to upload a photo each morning in order to communicate with you and to stay connected.

I have also been writing something about information you may never have read before about the Lyme epidemic. I've been working on it over the last year and I am trying to finish it before my Bartonella treatment begins. Look for: "Casualty of an undeclared war."

solidarity in struggle,
Leslie

my flickr photo sets: http://www.flickr.com/photos/transgenderwarrior/sets/

health update: 'fast forward'

2010-05-14T07:04:00.003-04:00

I've been chelating high levels of lead from my body for the last 9 weeks. I wouldn't want to go through it again, but I got to be in much more social interaction. It was glorious--like an extremely painful vacation.

The treatment began with excruciating damage to my ear, resulting from an allergic reaction to the pharmaceutical chelating agent. For the time it lasted, I experienced total loss of quality of life.

As a result, I began a non-pharmaceutical protocol--all of which was healthy for me to ingest. What a relief from fighting infectious disease with pharmaceuticals!

I felt more able to read and write snippets, although analytical reading and writing in English is still a very painful work space in my brain.

Before being treated for lead exposure I had been almost confined to bed from muscle loss during the last antibiotic treatment. So the lead protocol gave me time to heal and try to build my strength for the next round of pharmaceutical treatment.

By the end of the 9 weeks I actually marched 2 miles on May Day in heat and humidity, and even ran a little (well, trotting a little) to get ahead of the march to make images. [* see link to my photos below.]

However, while I was getting stronger from having pushed back the Babesiosis and detoxified from lead, the untreated diseases are worsening, quickly and increasingly dragging down my strength and stamina.

The plan was to treat the Bartonella next--the tick-borne disease that may well account for my endocarditis in 1995 and loss of balance that resulted in falls and one broken wrist.

Clinical experiences advise Lyme patients to try to eradicate Lyme co-infections like Bartonella first, in order to isolate and weaken the spirochetes. But the class of medications used to treat Bartonella (a relative of World War I trench fever) has the potential to cause even more permanent damage to my ears. That danger lasts for up to a couple of months after the antibiotic, as well.

At this point, the level of pain and noise in my ears is a threshold I can't go beyond without complete loss of quality of life. After extensive medical consultation, I am not going to attempt to treat the Bartonella.

Instead, I will be immediately beginning antibiotic treatment for Lyme--maybe as soon as tomorrow. It's not clear how long I will be able to physiologically tolerate these antibiotics. My ability to tolerate any medication, even traditional herbal-based medications is narrowing. That's why I'm in integrative medicine.

In order to focus myself for what is going to be an isolating treatment, during which I need to stay out of sunlight, I will be trying to post one photo online each day the during the first month of treatment.

The last two months were precious and productive for me. Each course of treatment has its trials and tribulations. But treatment is life--I'm ready!

solidarity in struggle,
Leslie
5/14/10

*May Day 2010
Buffalo, New York
through my lens:
http://tiny.cc/3s371

All out to defend our immigrant co-workers, neighbors!

2010-04-26T11:21:00.005-04:00

(double-click photo to see more of my flickr photostream)

It's a lie that immigrants "take jobs" from workers born in the U.S. There's no fixed number of jobs in society: In addition to creating wealth through their labor, each worker also creates the need for more jobs, goods and services. But in this economic crisis of over-production--abundance--bosses are trying to blame immigrants for the widespread suffering caused by capitalist production for profit

... so ...  

Minnie Bruce and I are already making our plans to travel to Buffalo on May 1, from 2-5 pm, gathering at Main and Goodell, marching to MLK Park

There we'll raise our voices with others to vow: "No human being is illegal! There are no borders in the workers struggle! Workers united will never be defeated!

Where will you be on May 1?  
Boycott Arizona tourism!
Divest from the apartheid state of Arizona!

BUFFALO, NY:
May 1
2:00pm - 5:00pm
gather at Main and Goodell, march to MLK Park

NEW YORK CITY:
May 1
noon
gather at Union Square rally
march to Wall Street!

SU students vs. bank

2010-04-19T07:16:00.010-04:00

[Please help spread the word]

Here is a link to an album of photographs I just flicker'd up, SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera):
[click here]

These are photographs from an April 16 rally organized by Syracuse University students. They are angered that the SU administration has invited top banker from JPMorgan Chase to deliver the 2010 graduation address.

SU students are leading the protest: "against using the 2010 commencement to restore the public image of the banking industry and validate the anti-environmental and anti-humanitarian interests of JP Morgan Chase."

No matter where you live, PLEASE take a moment
to sign this student-led petition:
www.petitiononline.com/SUGRADUA/petition.html

Buffalo, N.Y.: anti-fascist protest

2010-04-13T07:40:00.008-04:00

click URL below for more information about this struggle on April 12, 2010:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/transgenderwarrior/sets/72157623845622396/

Say "NO" to "Tea Party" neo-fascism

2010-04-10T07:47:00.004-04:00

Minnie Bruce and I will be traveling to Buffalo, New York (northeast U.S.) for this important protest. Please join us!

From the Buffalo International Action Center:

"The Tea Party will rally in Buffalo this Monday, April 12, at 11am at the foot of Pearl St and Scott with the racist millionaire developer Carl Paladino as their speaker.

IT'S ABOUT TIME WE STAND UP TO THESE EXTREME RIGHTWING RACIST, ANTI-IMMIGRANT, ANTI-WOMEN, HOMOPHOBIC NEO-FASCISTS!

It's time we let everyone know they don't speak for us! We're going to be there. Bring your own signs, or pick up one of ours."

2010-04-09T08:19:00.002-04:00

After reading this article by Minnie Bruce:

Students organize against bank ‘takeover’ of commencement

please take a moment to sign the student-led petition and please help spread the word:

http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?SUGRADUA&1

Protest top banker as SU commencement speaker (please sign & help spread the word)

2010-04-06T09:16:00.007-04:00

Syracuse University bosses approved head banker of JP Morgan Chase to deliver the 2010 commencement address. Please take a moment to click here to sign the protest petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/SUGRADUA/petition.html

Today we're being told that the cupboards are bare, as millions lose work in a jobless recovery and the banks have foreclosed on miles of former neighborhoods.

But the money is there, as Pete Seeger sings (click on YouTube link below). Six decades after he sang these words--brave to speak or sing in those McCarthyite days of anti-communist witch hunt in the U.S.-- the working class has changed in this country. The historical images that accompany this recording today need more labor of workers of color, immigrants, women, youth and elder--and more pronouns are needed in these lyrics, too.

The living struggle will refresh the lyrics of demands through chant and song and lift up more music from the international working class and oppressed, as well. But the truth in this song still resonates as we struggle today.

click here for: Pete Seeger singing "Banks of Marble" / YouTube

Heavy metal (not the music):

2010-03-18T08:32:00.005-04:00

(click photo)

After 13 months of treatment with three different anti-malarial approaches, I have finished treatment for babesiosis. The treatments have left me with inflamed, sore, ringing ears but without soaking sweats and painful chills.

I had hoped to wait to begin antibiotics to treat the late-stage lyme, but I needed them for these early battles. By day 13 of treatment it was clear that antibiotics won't be an option for long. Hopefully I will be able to get through at least 30 days treatment for bartonella--similar to WWI trench fever. Unlike the medicinal herbs, this new phase of pharmaceuticals are more debilitating and more isolating. And there's no medication "holiday" in the lull between drug treatments. I'm having a difficult time stabilizing after the last antibiotics so I'm not ready to take more antibiotics to try to eradicate the bartonella.

I have tested high for lead exposure, so I will be spending the next month trying to chelate to reduce the toxicity. Although the treatments can be quite miserable to go through and are not expected to make me "feel better" I'm doing so to help strengthen my immune system.

I'm so relieved that I've been in reality about the degree and impact of illness and treatment. Last year, between treatments, I worked at the Community Darkrooms. Now tat I can't get outside very often, I need to work on photos at home. I'm prepared and set up to do so. Last year I was working on large-scale printing and thinking in RGB color work space. Now I'lll be paying more attention to size/cropping and the saturation of my sRGB conversions for the web, as well as grayscales and duo/tri-tones.

While it may be hard for me to develop photos during the next four weeks due to headaches and other symptoms of treatment for lead exposure, I look forward to working on photos and posting them online to share with you. During the last 45-day treatment, Minnie Bruce and I made it to two demonstrations in Buffalo: one in support of Gaza and the other to stop daycare cuts. After the treatment, I was able to take some photos in New York City at dawn just before an early morning doctor's appointment. Just before starting the heavy metal chelation, Minnie Bruce and I traveled by car to Niagara Falls.

Minnie Bruce's poem from Niagara Falls trip is in her facebook notes:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/note.php?note_id=374448393479&ref=mf

I'm raring to develop and post photos. In the meantime, here is my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/transgenderwarrior/sets/

yours in struggle and in solidarity,
Leslie

red thread (2 of 2)

2010-02-17T05:57:00.003-05:00

[click photo for flickr source]

[click here for more photos]

sewing machine, typewriter tattoo (1of 2)

2010-02-16T06:08:00.002-05:00

[click photo for short caption & more photos]

the role of labor

2010-02-15T05:28:00.004-05:00

[click here for more photos]

[click photo for slightly larger view]

#30 hands, rainbows

2010-02-14T10:00:00.002-05:00

[click photo for short caption]

#29 communication

2010-02-13T06:18:00.005-05:00

[click here for short caption]

[click here to see 2nd photo, few minutes later]

#28 moving forward

2010-02-12T16:04:00.004-05:00

[click photo for caption]

more photos soon

2010-01-30T06:10:00.006-05:00

My hard drives crashed almost simultaneously after an OS reformat/upgrade. I've reconstructed a database of the developed photos, but I couldn't recover them all.

Check back here in upcoming days and weeks for more photos.
In the meantime: http://www.flickr.com/photos/transgenderwarrior/sets/

#27 Minnie Bruce Pratt, moving day

2010-01-30T06:02:00.004-05:00

[click photo for short caption]

#26 Minnie Bruce and Ben

2010-01-29T04:44:00.002-05:00

[click here for caption]

#25 Minnie Bruce Pratt triumphal

2010-01-28T03:44:00.006-05:00

[click on photo for short caption]

#24 Minnie Bruce Pratt writing

2010-01-27T06:02:00.006-05:00

[click here for more photos]

[click photo for short caption]

#23 vultures

2010-01-26T06:26:00.006-05:00

[click here for more photos]

#22 women, children

2010-01-25T06:13:00.007-05:00

[click here
for more photos]

#21 pink hats (2 of 2)

2010-01-24T07:57:00.002-05:00

[click here
for more photos]

#20 blue hats (1 of 2)

2010-01-23T08:15:00.004-05:00

[click here
for more photos]

#19 archers

2010-01-22T05:45:00.003-05:00

[click here for more photos]

yours in struggle

2010-01-21T14:09:00.011-05:00

As I get deeper into pharmaceutical treatment, it gets harder to work and to communicate on as frequent a basis.

I have heightened respect for photographers who have posted 365 photos daily for a year. I still strive to post 30 photos in 30 days--the last archiving of my large-sized prints, but it's a stretch. And it's hard for me to take new photos at this time. So, during winter and spring here, I'll try to develop some of the photos I already have into photo narratives, slide shows and panoramas.

In the meantime, I offer you my photographs. My photos all have a Creative Commons copyright, requiring only attribution; and no derivative or commercial use without permission--my gift to you all personally:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/transgenderwarrior/sets/

#18 Erie canal, terminus

2010-01-21T06:00:00.004-05:00

[click here

for more photos]

#17 recruiters, New York State Fair

2010-01-20T06:01:00.002-05:00

[click here for caption]

#16 lion, gift, captivity

2010-01-19T07:22:00.005-05:00

[click here for more photos]

#15 blue dog, pink dogs

2010-01-18T06:24:00.003-05:00

[click here for more photos]

#14 neighbors

2010-01-17T04:50:00.003-05:00

[click here for more photos]

#13 yield

2010-01-16T08:05:00.001-05:00

[for caption, click here or on photo]

#12 haircut

2010-01-15T07:14:00.002-05:00

[click here for more photos]

#11 deteriorating factories

2010-01-14T06:51:00.002-05:00

[click here for more photos]

#10 man, pigeons

2010-01-13T07:18:00.004-05:00

[click here for more photos]

#9 gift for beloved neighbors

2010-01-12T07:02:00.003-05:00

[click here for more photos]

#8 shoulder, dragon, wing

2010-01-11T06:34:00.004-05:00

[for more photos,
click here]

#7 Minnie Bruce Pratt, orange ring

2010-01-10T08:46:00.004-05:00

[double-click here for more photos]

#6 matching gender

2010-01-09T07:28:00.004-05:00

[click here
for more photos]

#5 under the same moon

2010-01-08T07:44:00.015-05:00

for caption, click photo

for more photos,
double-click here

#4 reaching out

2010-01-07T07:19:00.005-05:00

[for more,
double click photo]

#3 conversations

2010-01-06T06:38:00.006-05:00

[double-click on photo]

#2 man, cane, cat

2010-01-05T06:02:00.006-05:00

[double-click photo]

#1 freedom in necessity

2010-01-04T08:41:00.008-05:00

[click on photo]

as earth tilts towards sun, where I live

2010-01-03T14:18:00.014-05:00

Tomorrow morning I begin a new stage of chemical treatments. I'd hoped to postpone beginning the long road of antibiotic and aggressive pharmaceuticals to give me a fighting chance against entrenched Lyme spirochetes.

After decades of illness and massive pharmacological interventions, eating food and drinking liquids is already a constant challenge, dawn-to-dark. So my doctor has guided me through early treatment using powerful herbal-based medicines to see if I could tolerate them. I could not.

After many years of being treated so arrogantly and cruelly by medical authority, I had demanded a moratorium on invasive diagnostic testing and pharmaceutical rule-outs. I was searching for science--not psychologizing drawn from the polluted well of prejudice.

Now that I have a doctor who respects me as a member of my own health team, and am proceeding along the path of evidence-based care, I can appreciate the art she also brings to my struggle for quality of life.

I've spent the last weeks before treatment archiving all the photographs from the last year at the Community Darkrooms here in Syracuse. For just the cost of milliliters of ink, I was able to work in the comfort of darkness with mentors and use my own rolls of paper to print on large-scale Epson equipment.

I've used my flickr photostream albums in cyberspace to organize my printed photographs and to facilitate labeling and archiving. I have at least 30 photos I didn't upload last year.

So as I begin pharmaceutical hibernation, in which treatments will escalate by the week, my goal is to post one of the photos each morning (U.S. Eastern Standard Time), in a non-narrative order on my blog and flickr it up at the same time. I will only post one photo a week to facebook , myspace and twitter.

It's a good time to just post photos because I've temporarily lost my typography tools for type line breaks; rags, skews.

If you'd like to find your way back to see the new photos, you'll find the button to follow this blog on the sidebar.

¡Walter Trochez, presente!

2010-01-03T10:15:00.027-05:00

'birds, barriers'

Walter Trochez: a leader in Honduras of the National Front against the coup
and L/G/B/T activist.

"On Dec. 4, Tróchez was kidnapped by four masked armed men, severely beaten and interrogated about individuals associated with the National Resistance Front. He managed to escape, and courageously went public to denounce the attack. Nine days later, he was shot twice in the chest by a gunman driving by in a car, killing him." ...

[to read rest of protest statement: click here]

video: Coalicion de la comunidad LGTBI -- Honduras

thank you, Ransom Weaver

2009-12-31T18:56:00.019-05:00

thank you, Rob

2009-12-29T09:30:00.034-05:00

for mentoring
with such a light touch,
and for helping me conceptualize
--even as I'd just begun--
the complex web organism
that can be aggregated
from digital cells.

Well-known and respected photographer Alejandro Garcia made this portrait of Rob, part of an album [click here] that Alejandro made as a gift for me. [Alejandro Garcia / all rights reserved]

Mil gracias,
Don Alejandro!

thank you, Carrie Mondore

2009-12-28T14:02:00.018-05:00

my mentor/teacher for digital developing of photographs.

You've guided me through Photoshop

and taught me to love digital printing.

Thank you for your patience, care and artistry.

I'm dedicating this photo of mine to you

(I think it was your favorite)

on my flickr photostream.

visit: Carrie Mondore

CarrieDee.com

thank you, Torry Mendoza

2009-12-28T13:31:00.016-05:00

for your graphic design of the
banner logo for my blog,
and for your art.

You are a patient and inspired
mentor/teacher. Thank you
for training me on the
power tools of
digital web 2.0.

And thank you for bringing
so much joy into my life!

visit: Torry Mendoza
http://www.torrymendoza.com/media.html

thank you, Marilyn Humphries

2009-12-28T13:28:00.012-05:00

for your work and for the use of your original photograph for the banner logo of my blogsite.

I recall you took this photo circa 1996 in an alleyway in Cambridge, Mass., outside the bookstore before a reading. I was on an intravenous antibiotic treatment while you took this photo; a hep-lock taped to the back of my hand; the medication pumped from my pocket. The sunlight was painful--I was already developing photo sensitivity.

This photo has a lot of meaning for me. Thank you for granting me permission to use this cropped photograph for my blog.

For permission to use this photo, contact:

Marilyn Humphries
http://www.humphriesphotography.com

'santa drag'

2009-12-23T06:58:00.007-05:00

now in flickr album:
'gender thru my lens'
[click here or on photo
to see album]

As an secular Jewish communist, I don't celebrate Christmas. But to all my friends who do, I hope you have a happy and restorative winter holiday!

'where we live'

2009-12-21T05:31:00.014-05:00

'where we live'

second of two gifts for
Minnie Bruce Pratt
winter Solstice
[northeast U.S.]
2009

double click on photo
to see more

'happiness'

2009-12-20T11:46:00.012-05:00

I have a
lot of love
in my life.

'happiness'

first gift for
Minnie Bruce Pratt
winter Solstice
[northeast U.S.]
December 2009

double-click photo
to see more

'walled in'

2009-12-18T12:58:00.006-05:00

click photo:

'walled in'

On January 1, 2010 (by the calendar that rules where I live on this planet)--I am beginning Round 3 of anti-malarial medications.

I'm in late stages of three tick-borne diseases which went undiagnosed and untreated for more than 30 years: Lyme, Bartonella and Babesiosis (sometimes characterized as the malaria of the Northeast United States. because the organism is so similar and the treatment is the same).

For me, treatment is a challenge. As the tick-borne diseases went undiagnosed, I was prescribed so many antibiotics and other powerful pharmaceuticals to fight off life-threatening secondary infections and medical conditions that now it's hard for me to tolerate those medications, at a time when I need them.

I had to stop the first two rounds of anti-malarial medications because of excruciating permanent damage to my ears and hearing. I am beginning a more aggressive pharmaceutical treatment now, shortly after winter Solstice (where I live on this planet).

I'm just at the very beginning of this battle. The diseases, symptoms and treatments keep me at home and impact greatly on my ability to communicate. I still have many, many unread messages since I was finally felled by illness in October 2007. But reading and writing has become increasingly more difficult.

However, over the course of my lifetime I've developed skills to care for my self and to struggle to stay alive in a violently hostile, profit-driven economic system, or else I would not have survived this long.

Most of my work now is through photographic labor, using an area of my brain that is a less painful work space. You can view my photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/transgenderwarrior/sets/

Thanks to Torry Mendoza [http://www.torrymendoza.com/about.html] I now also have the ability to blog directly with you. If I can get my sea legs in anti-malarial treatment, my goal is to blog a photo every day. I follow flickr community guidelines, which means that photos re-posted online include a link back to their site on flickr: All of my photos are my personal gift to you via Creative Commons copyright: attribution, non-commercial, non-derivative.

I hope my photographs will bridge distance and language--spoken and signed--and build connection.

Check back here for updates or click on the "follow" button in the right-hand column. I look forward to connecting with your thinking on your blog, as well!

transgender warrior

'Casualty of an undeclared war'

My health has declined. I have to get off all text-driven work so I can continue to put up a fight. But I want to bring this important information I've compiled for you:

'Casualty of an undeclared war': www.transgenderwarrior.orgPlease share widely.

My heartfelt thanks to Torry Mendoza for his enormous contribution of labor as web weaver.

pottery_tower

night_conversation

screened-in_sunset

bird soar

screened-in_dawn

tree_me

playground_chained

new photo: "painting_scale"

click on photo for larger view

caber toss_onlookers

Minnie Bruce Pratt_sunglasses

caterpillar_sunglasses_audience

fire escapes_summer shadows (3 of 3)

elder, walk-up tenement, summer swelter (2 of 3)

willow_gentrified tenement (1 of 3)

no access = disability

two families: two-parent, single-mother

blue suit

fit the fashion, or fashion that fits?

piano_player_park

fence_flowers prevail

going to work_monday am_sunrise

shoes, gender

early Monday morning rush hour, Port Authority

today's photo: 'Niagara Falls, first light'

yesterday's photo: 'point of view'

between hammer & anvil

health update: 'fast forward'

All out to defend our immigrant co-workers, neighbors!

SU students vs. bank

Buffalo, N.Y.: anti-fascist protest

Say "NO" to "Tea Party" neo-fascism

Minnie Bruce and I will be traveling to Buffalo, New York (northeast U.S.) for this important protest. Please join us!

From the Buffalo International Action Center:

"The Tea Party will rally in Buffalo this Monday, April 12, at 11am at the foot of Pearl St and Scott with the racist millionaire developer Carl Paladino as their speaker.

IT'S ABOUT TIME WE STAND UP TO THESE EXTREME RIGHTWING RACIST, ANTI-IMMIGRANT, ANTI-WOMEN, HOMOPHOBIC NEO-FASCISTS!

It's time we let everyone know they don't speak for us! We're going to be there. Bring your own signs, or pick up one of ours."

Protest top banker as SU commencement speaker (please sign & help spread the word)

Syracuse University bosses approved head banker of JP Morgan Chase to deliver the 2010 commencement address. Please take a moment to click here to sign the protest petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/SUGRADUA/petition.html

click here for: Pete Seeger singing "Banks of Marble" / YouTube

Heavy metal (not the music):

red thread (2 of 2)

sewing machine, typewriter tattoo (1of 2)

the role of labor

#30 hands, rainbows

#29 communication

#28 moving forward

more photos soon

#27 Minnie Bruce Pratt, moving day

#26 Minnie Bruce and Ben

#25 Minnie Bruce Pratt triumphal

#24 Minnie Bruce Pratt writing

#23 vultures

#22 women, children

#21 pink hats (2 of 2)

#20 blue hats (1 of 2)

#19 archers

yours in struggle

#18 Erie canal, terminus

#17 recruiters, New York State Fair

#16 lion, gift, captivity

#15 blue dog, pink dogs

#14 neighbors

#13 yield

#12 haircut

#11 deteriorating factories

#10 man, pigeons

#9 gift for beloved neighbors

#8 shoulder, dragon, wing

#7 Minnie Bruce Pratt, orange ring

#6 matching gender

#5 under the same moon

#4 reaching out

#3 conversations

#2 man, cane, cat

'Casualty of an undeclared war': www.transgenderwarrior.org

Please share widely.