Pajareo sin fronteras

This last weekend, I was one of about fifty students from Middlebury College to travel down to Washington, D.C. to take part in the "largest climate rally in US history" against the Keystone Pipeline. I don't want to make this post terribly political (as this is a photo blog), but suffice it to say the main arguments against the building to the pipeline are the risks of building such a large pipeline over sensitive land, issues of indigenous sovereignty that have not been resolved, the incredible uncleanliness of oil from the Tar Sands, and of course opposition to the fossil fuel industry in general. Anybody interested in more information on it might want to start here  or  here .  It was also a good opportunity to take some pictures. Be warned- lots of them follow. The rally began beneath the Washington Monument, where ground rules for activism were laid down and several famous figures, including Bill McKibben, Van Jones, Rosario Dawson, Reverend Yearwood, and th...

A couple days ago, my family decided to skip the snow and cold of upstate Michigan to go visit relatives in downstate Michigan. Naturally, we drove down only to find that the lower part of the state was being hit by a huge blizzard, so the first part of that plan didn't work out so well. However, it was nice to see aunts, uncles, and cousins, and the best part was that we got to visit Detroit briefly, to eat lunch and see the Detroit Institute of Art.  Detroit is still the largest city in Michigan, but it's a study in desolation and destitution; the population has shrunk by about half, and it's mostly a maze of torn-down or abandoned buildings and ruined neighborhoods. There is a small section of the downtown that is still relatively vibrant, but there are even more parts that look post-apocalyptic. It's hard to escape the fact that it's a violent, poverty-stricken city, haunted by the ghost of former glory. I wish I had pictures of some of the huge, grand old bui...