Protest Foul

One of the things that makes America a great place is the right of the people to peacefully assemble. HOWEVER.... In my personal opinion it is WRONG to recruit a child to protest with you. Regardless of whether or not the protest supports something that would benefit a child, they cannot make up their own mind and make an educated decision about what the protest stands for, so they should not be recruited into protesting at the rally. There were many people who had their children with them which I do not find questionable, but when you hand the kids a picket sign.... that is something I have a problem with!

This is a protest by the Westin Workers in downtown San Diego - they want free medical care for their families. There were probably about 30 people assembled here, but they made more noise than the #occupy protesters did!

Dear America: Learn Spanish!

All of my Republican friends are now angry at me, but my reason for saying this is not politically motivated at all. I am indifferent about such things.

What I hope to change about my country is that we are at times ferociously-hostile toward other people who speak in other languages, and I do not understand why this is. I can understand the country desiring people who work in the USA to speak English. Our laws are in English, and it is the language that most people in our country speak, so I can definitely understand Americans wanting people to be able to communicate in English.

What bothers me is that Americans go to OTHER PLACES and then get angry when people don’t speak English there. A photographer and a supermodel both went to Venice to model and photograph the beautiful Italian city. For some reason, they EXPECTED all the Italians they encountered to know English. Why is this? When people tour America we are extremely hostile toward them if they don’t know English? What is with the double-standard? When we as photographers get a job in Italy we should at least make an attempt to learn Italian - just like we would expect them to do.

My first entry? Here you go: If you go to Panama, you will save time by being able to ask directions IN SPANISH.

Por favor, ¿dónde está el Canal de Panamá? Me gustaría tomar una fotografía de ella para una revista de viajes de Norteamérica.

Not everyone can easily learn multiple languages, but everyone should be able to learn ONE other language or at least how to carry out a simple conversation. After all, that is what we are expecting from the rest of the world. Historically America has always sought to the the absolute best at everything, and this motivation has created a great country. Why should we not be the best at communicating as well?

I am going to start a long-term photography project that is intended to illustrate why it is paramount for Americans to learn another language. This is a project that will be very near and dear to me as a photographer and linguist. I will be posting photographs advocating this on my website and on Google Plus.

There you go, my friends. You now know where I am coming from.