Tiny Moments in an American Small Town.

"...The documentary “45365” (the town’s ZIP code)  drops in on the residents of Sidney, Ohio, to observe their lunches and haircuts, trials and transgressions, but it could be anytown in America. ...This remarkable patchwork of unremarkable lives was assembled by Bill and Turner Ross, brothers, native sons and natural filmmakers..."  

By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS, Published: June 17, 2010.   

   

 Scenes from the documentary “45365,” set in Sidney, Ohio.

There are 20,000 people residing in Sidney, Ohio.
The filmmakers didn’t interview the residents of this town,  they simply recorded life as it happened over a nine-month period, editing it down to an hour that seems.  I loved it!

The trailer and a clip of this documentary. 



 

A day with the jets.

In November 21, I spent with my friend Manu a big part of the day in New Meadowlands (New Jersey) to see the game JETS against TEXANS.


How to make a great tailgate food on the New Meadowlands Stadium parking, Sunday morning during football season? Standing in front of the grill, wearing the team’s Jets colors, a sandwich in one hand and a cold beer in the other, does life get any better than that ?

And what a surprise! Just before the game, we saw the United States Army jets flying over New Meadowlands Stadium.

But don't forget for a good game the New York Jets Cheerleaders!

And now the game !!!!

 

Santonio Holmes caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Mark Sanchez with 10 seconds left, lifting the Jets to an unlikely 30-27 comeback victory against Texans. 





Clip video of the last touchdown by Santonio Holmes.



New York Jets "Empire State of Mind" tribute video for the 2009 - 2010 AFC Playoff wins over the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Diego Chargers, with the radio edit of the song by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.

New York City Marathon

This year, there were 45,344 runners who participated in the 2010 New York City Marathon.

Every November, the first sunday, throngs of runners gather at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and crowds of spectators line the route that snakes through Brooklyn and the western edge of Queens before dipping into Upper Manhattan and the Bronx and ending in Central Park.

The trailer from the documentary: "Run For Your Life".



"...This documentary, "Run For Your Life" offers a salutary and touching reminder that the race, like nearly everything else great about New York City, was largely the creation of an odd, stubborn visionary.
Until his death from brain cancer in 1994, Fred Lebow was more than just the director of the race and the president of New York Road Runners... An immigrant from Romania (where he was born Fischl Lebowitz) with a background in the garment business, Lebow helped turn running from a solitary and eccentric pursuit into a major sport and a staple of American culture..."

Some videos during this marathon 2010 in Harlem and on fifth avenue.

the new poor

"The Great Recession might have officially ended in June 2009, but high unemployment continues to vex the economy ...   New statistics paint a grim picture... Forty-one million people are now on food stamps, up 45 percent since 2008.  And one in seven Americans is living in poverty — the highest in decades..."  (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/).


During the trips I made along  different states in U.S.A, I saw people trying to make a little money by selling , along the road, second-hand items: clothing, jewelry, trinkets, ...
 Here is, some people I met.

Larry Riddle in Damascus with his dog "Sally" (Virginia),  in 2008.
 Larry: "I am 47 years old... I have been in and out of prison in my younger years ...
About seven years ago my thinking began to change. I was running from the law and living on the Appalachian Trail. And it was out on that trail that I began to write. Shortly there after I had a profound spiritual experience and my thinking changed for ever".
 Visit, Larry Riddle: "The only wanderer". 

          Greenwoods Springs (Mississippi) Jimmy and Ray with my friend Mateo,  in 2009.

This video is  an intimate portrait of a husband  and wife in Portland, Oregon.  This couple built a life and a business, only to see their world quickly fall apart. At this time, the Crandalls are behind in rent and have received two eviction notices to leave their house.



http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/pitchroom/joblessness-in-america-share-your-stories/4068/

Guns In Bars

"...Tennessee   is one of four states, along with Arizona, Georgia and Virginia, that recently enacted laws explicitly allowing loaded guns into bars  and restaurants that serve alcohol. (Eighteen other states allow weapons in restaurants that serve alcohol)..."

"...The new measures in Tennessee and the three other states come after two landmark Supreme Court rulings that citizens have an individual right to keep a loaded handgun for home defense... The attitude from the gun lobby is that the 300,000 handgun permit holders in Tennessee should be able to take their guns wherever they want...Under Tennessee’s new law, gun permit holders are not supposed to drink alcohol while carrying their weapons..."         By MALCOLM GAY  Published: October 3, 2010. The New York Times.

  Pictures: Members of the Virginia Citizens Defense League gathered Thursday, July 1 2010, at Champps in Reston to celebrate their new-found right to carry guns in bars, so long as they don't drink alcohol. Saturday, July 3, 2010. Washington Post.


  I made  these pictures  during a trip  in Virginia in 2008.

Nikki Goeser is one resident of Nashville who supports the measure,  allowing registered gun holders to carry loaded guns into bars and restaurants.

      

"The way we get By"

"Bangor, Maine is the main exit and entry point for the majority of soldiers going to Iraq and Afghanistan and returning home. A group of senior citizens who gather daily at a small airport to thank American soldiers departing and returning from war..."

 

"Joan has a deep connection to the soldiers she meets. The sanguine Jerry keeps his spirits up even as his personal problems mount. And the veteran Bill, who clearly has trouble taking care of himself, finds himself contemplating his own death..."

Filmmakers Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly talk about their film, "The Way We Get By".

Jesus Camp

I watched this amazing documentary about an evangelical Christian summer camp for the kids,  in the US.

"Ms. Fischer, an evangelical Christian, helps run Kids on Fire, a summer camp in Devils Lake, N.D., that grooms children to be soldiers in “God’s army.” ...  Ms. Fischer understands full well that the indoctrination of children when they are most impressionable (under 13 and preferably between 7 and 9) with evangelical dogma is the key to the movement’s future growth...The majority of the children in “Jesus Camp” are home-schooled by evangelical parents who teach them creationism and dismiss science...".         By STEPHEN HOLDEN Published: September 22, 2006    
 

“Jesus Camp” (2006) is the second film by the documentary team of Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady to explore the molding of young minds. 

In this extract, some kids are praying  in tongue language.
There is an  interpretation can be summarized as follows: praying in tongues is a personal prayer language between a believer and God. 




Bill Maher discusses the new documentary 'Jesus Camp' on Real Time.

 


Jesus Camp Filmmakers interview clip.

Arizona Immigration

  

Now, after passing the nation’s toughest immigration law, one that gives the police broad power to stop people on suspicion of being here illegally, Arizona state finds itself in perhaps the harshest spotlight in a decade.

         
Joseph M. Arpaio, Sheriff in Arizona.    

"Joseph M. Arpaio, the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, is a hero to those who campaign against illegal immigration and a pariah to immigration advocates. A publicity magnet and television darling, Mr Arpaio calls himself  ''the toughest sheriff in America.''...

"...In February 2009, members of Congress asked the Justice and of Department Homeland Security to investigate accusations that the sheriff has engaged in a pattern of racial profiling and other abuses against Latino residents...."

  
"...As sheriff, Mr. Arpaio first gained national attention in the 1990s for forcing inmates to wear pink underwear, housing them in tents and feeding them food of a green hue, and provoked an outcry when he marched 200 illegal immigrant inmates in the streets from one jail to another.

Though he has at times been at war with various municipalities in his jurisdiction, Mr. Arpaio has been re-elected four times, by a double-digit margin, since taking office in 1993."  Oct. 7, 2009. 
 

  In Phoenix, immigrants and advocates for the illegal marched Friday April 23, 2010, outside the State Capitol.

                                  
                                               In  Phoenix,  Maria Luis fears losing her sons Lambert (l.) and Jose

Luis family fears approval of Arizona's immigration law will break them apart.  BY EDGAR SANDOVAL  DAILY NEWS. 
 ....The family is divided by their birthplaces: Jose Luis and his mother are from Mexico; his two siblings were born in Arizona. The legislation, the toughest in the nation, gives cops the power to arrest anyone who can't prove he lives in the U.S. legally. The state's estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants include Jose Luis and his mom, who launched a new life in Arizona when she was 19 and her baby boy just 1.                           "I never thought the law would get this far. Now I'm afraid to lose some of my children," said his mom, Maria, 39 years old...

Demonstrators protest Arizona's new immigration enforcement law outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs building in Phoenix.