Tuesday, March 3, 2009

t(r)opical anaesthetic


If there's one thing that I like about going to my dentist's - apart from my dentist - it's the lobby, which is, in its steamy tropicality, like walking into south-east asia, but without the smells of wood smoke and durian fruit (though who knows, in Princeton? - the other day, eating a quite wonderful birthday meal at Elements, we were offered durian sorbet...).   Here, though, the palm trees are quite obviously indoors, and you can see yesterday's snow on the bottom of the window frame.

No documentary here - but I was blown away by the variety and inventiveness of my class's group choices of projects for (theoretical) documentary photography: in chronological order of presentation: child prostitutes in India; the effect of the recession on an east-coast fishing community; dog-fighting in New Jersey; the diversity of things that go on in Rutgers (a composite of that particular group's individual interests, from LBGT and Muslim communities to the after-effects of partying on individuals and the environment); a LOL-cats style tracing of a rescued kitten's life; and 365 days in the life of a NYC bus stop.   Such a fun class...even if I have 51 individual papers on particular possible documentary subjects to read...

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