Taryn Simon

I went and saw Taryn Simon's photography exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum. I had seen an ad in the Shepherd Express that really struck me. It was a color photo of a man in a disgusting, degraded motel room, "hiding" between two mattresses. The image made me uncomfortable and was almost frightening. When I got to the exhibit, it was great to see the photo enlarged. It was so vivid and the place where the man was trying to hide was so pitifully desperate. The collection of photos was called The Innocents. It was photos of people who had been wrongly accused of a serious crime and had served significant jail time before they were proved innocent. The photographs were of them in locations that had something to do with the crime-such as the place where they were arrested (the man between the mattresses) or the location the crime took place. The photos gave me chills and made me feel very emotional thinking about what happened to the victims of the crimes and the victims of the judicial system who spent years in jail when they were actually innocent.

Armadillo

On Friday September 30th I saw Armadillo at the Union Theatre. It was great! I had just watched it's American "equal", Restrepo. After watching both of these films, I was in a pretty deep, weird funk. Sometimes it just hits me how different and intense some people's lives are. Lately my worries have been homework and keeping my house clean, and these soldiers in Afghanistan wake up every morning not knowing if they will be ambushed or someone will whip out a gun during their regular village inquiries and then that will be their last day. Nuts. I can't imagine carrying around a large gun everyday out of necessity and being surrounded by such danger daily. It made my life and worries seem a little trivial. While I don't agree and believe all of the reasons "why" we're Afghanistan, I still appreciate the dedication and sacrifice those soldiers make.