The Helpers, According to Mr. Rogers.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.”
– Mister Rogers

Grieving for all the precious little lives lost today, and praying for peace for their parents and families.

Euro Tour 2012 on Film: Part Four.

Stockholm, Sweden

Barcelona, Spain

Paris, France

Lisbon, Portugal

Part One // Part Two // Part Three

Music Video Monday #54: Rihanna’s “Diamonds.”

It’s no secret that I’m a major Rihanna fangirl, but I think this video has taken me beyond normal fandom into the realm of pseudo-creepy infatuation. I’ve watched it about twenty times in the past couple days and it continues to, for lack of a better word, thrill me. There’s an unexpected beauty in the imagery–the tiny diamonds spilling out of a rolled joint, the pair of horses running free through a gorgeous valley, the ardent grip of tattooed hands slipping from each other–that belies the danger of love that feels like a drug. “Diamonds” reminds me of “We Found Love,” but where the latter seemed to acknowledge that such a love is a double-edged sword, the former seems to revel only in the beauty, the feeling in the moment that you’re alive and that nothing can surpass that high. I continued to be impressed by the trend of pop stars releasing music videos that are cinematic to the degree of high art, employing gorgeous cinematography and a focus on nuanced details that speak volumes without saying a word, and “Diamonds” is a great example of that.

Heavy.

Where Children Sleep.

I stumbled across a photo essay on Mother Jones a couple days ago that took my breath away: photographs of children around the world and their bedrooms. James Mollison began this project as a way to engage the issue of children’s rights, and over the course of a few years, he had a collection of photographs of children, aged seven to fourteen, and their rooms that spanned 18 different countries and a diverse range of cultures and socio-economic statuses. His stunning and unsentimental photo series is now collected in a book titled “Where Children Sleep.” Of the project, Mollison says:

“I found myself thinking about my bedroom: how significant it was during my childhood, and how it reflected what I had and who I was. It occurred to me that a way to address some of the complex situations and social issues affecting children would be to look at the bedrooms of children in all kinds of different circumstances. From the start, I didn’t want it just to be about ‘needy children’ in the developing world, but rather something more inclusive, about children from all types of situations. It seemed to make sense to photograph the children themselves, too, but separately from their bedrooms, using a neutral background. My thinking was that the bedroom pictures would be inscribed with the children’s material and cultural circumstances, the details that inevitably mark people apart from each other, while the children themselves would appear in the set of portraits as individuals, as equals, just as children.”

As a child my bedroom was a personalized sanctuary to me, and even now as an adult, I continue to regard my bedroom as a space that represents who I am as an individual. I don’t have the same posters of Hanson that I had on my wall as a tween in Michigan, but every detail of my room has been carefully curated to reflect my personality and project an aesthetic that’s in keeping with my identity, or at least the identity that I choose to present. It’s fascinating and sobering to observe how much that is not the case for most children around the world, and to put the idea that, as Mother Jones puts it, “wherever a child lies down at night is not so much a retreat from as a reflection of the world outside” in perspective.

To see more of James Mollison’s photos from “Where Children Sleep,” click here.