Sisters

I went down to Zuccotti Park today with Sarah, but I didn't take any pictures. We walked all around the neighborhood, zigzag-ing through the tourists and endless barricades, police and horses. History and the passing of time are the themes that occupy my mind, especially today when we were walking through the tent city. There have been tent cities in New York before. I hazily remember Tompkins Square Park as a kid, and Central Park was filled with people struggling to make it through the depression in the early 1930s. I wonder how history will remember the people down in the park now? I can't say I really understand the message, but my thoughts are with them as the nights get longer and the frost sets in.

I will say this, it is a great country that lets such voices be heard. These freedoms have not been lightly won, and they are to be cherished. There are many places in the world today were you can and would be killed for much less. Here are two sisters, ancestors of mine on my grandmother Roys Jeffris' side of the family. "Aunt Hart" from Connecticut on the left and "Grandmother Roys" on the right. These are probably from the 1860s. Many voices were left out of the political conversations back then, and in the wide eye of history, that was 15 minutes ago.

Wounded soldier

Here is an ancestor of mine. I do not know what his is name is, or where he was born, or what his injuries were. I am pretty sure he was an American Civil War veteran, because this is either a tintype or ambrotype, which were developed in the late 1850s. My family has been here a long time, at least 150 years before this was taken. I wish I knew his name. I am going to try and find out. Can you imagine what it must have been like here when this was taken? The death toll of the Civil War was greater than all the American deaths of WW1, WW11, Vietnam and the Korean War combined, and all in our backyard. What this man must have seen.

Tintype cat, July 2008

It takes a while to make a tintype. Prep the glass, set up your picture, get it all ready, pour the solution, run over to camera, get the picture, run back, develop it and pray. I remember John Coffer telling me a cat was not good subject matter for a tintype because you know, cats really listen and obey. This was 2008 at a tintype workshop I took with John and some other really talented folks in Dundee, NY. Except this kitty was my friend and he was ready for his closeup. The fact that the cat is almost off the frame is entirely my fault, that cat was super special. He had many toes and followed me everywhere I went for 3 days. John offered that I could take him with me if I wanted. I was pretty sure he would have been psyched about the constant supply of food, but not about the little Brooklyn apartment compared with 30 acres of fields to mouse.

Tintype of amazing cat in the grass, July 2008Positive print on treated paper of same image