Fotografaire - Blog and Photography

Studs Terkel Dead at 96

Historian, actor, radio host, activist, author, Louis “Studs” Terkel died today at the age of 96.

Dan Terkell said his father died at home, and described his death as “peaceful, no agony. This is what he wanted.”

You can read about his life, here. The Studs Terkel article is very touching, read it through to the end.

He was was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his book “The Good War”. His books are astounding. His book, “P.S.: Further Thoughts From a Lifetime of Listening” comes out in paperback November 3rd.

Studs Terkel’s voice will be missed.

I Am Family: Photographic Memories and Fiction

I Am My Family: Photographic Memories and Fictions, by Rafael Goldchain is a very unique and interesting look at one man’s family through ancestral photographs.

The unique perspective regarding I Am My Family, is the fact that Goldchain has literally infused himself into the ancestral photographs.

“Rafael Goldchain’s I Am My Family is a family album of traditional portrait photographs with an unconventional twist: the only subject is Goldchain himself. In an elaborate process involving genealogical research, the use of makeup, hair styling, costume, and props, Goldchain transforms himself into his ancestors and captures their personifications with the camera.”

I Am My Family: Photographic Memories and Fictions, looks to be an intriguing and fascinating look at Jewish culture, through Rafael Goldchain’sself-portraits. His tribute to his ancestral past is an excellent legacy for his family members of the present and the future.

Does the Soul Survive?

“Does the Soul Survive?” (A Jewish Journey to Belief in Afterlife, Past Lives & Living With Purpose) is Rabbi Elie Kaplan Spitz’s extremely thought-provoking book. We travel with him on his steps towards awareness.

Does the Soul Survive? is a compilation of experiences from firsthand accounts that were told to him by others, from experiences his own wife had, to his own experiences with a friend who is dying, and other experience of his own, the book will leave you considering the role that the “afterlife” and the role that “past lives” play in your current life.

Through Rabbi Spitz’s own observations and his participation with individuals (both living and dying), he has documented events that border on the conscious and subconscious levels of these individuals. Through his exploration of immortality, his writing is stimulating, yet written with sensitivity to the issues within Judaism, regarding eternal life.

He doesn’t force his opinion or his finding on anyone, but rather gently tries to evoke us to consider his information with an open mind, and not with a narrow one. The pages are filled with inspiration and purpose. For him, the end result would be for each reader to search for meaning, both in Judaism and daily life. He realizes the problems within the theory of soul-survival, yet, in my opinion Elie Kaplan Spitz has achieved his goal with his insightful, and inspiring Does the Soul Survive?.

It’s About Time They Were Honored

The Tuskegee airmen were finally honored in Tuskegee, AL, where the grounds/field they trained on during WWII became a National Historical Site. You can read the AP article here.

“An interpretive center was also opened in a hangar at the site. In a surprise announcement, Gov. Bob Riley unveiled a huge green and white sign designating part of I-85 as the “Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Highway.”

It’s about time these airmen were honored. Most are in their 80s. Some have recently died, not seeing this memorial come to fruition.

May G-d bless them all, wherever they may be.

“The Oxford Project”

The Oxford Project book is an interesting and compelling photographic journey of black and white photographs of individuals, that were taken in 1984, and then taken of the same individual, again, in 2004.

It is being heralded as a “backbone of America“. Each individual story is a contribution to rural or small town USA. In fact each story depicts the residents of any small or rural town in the world, as each story is a part of the planet’s whole. Small town USA and the small towns of the world are not that dissimilar as we might think we are. The Oxford Project sheds a new meaning on that.

You can read about the book and the project here.