Photo Essays: River Streets

Tragedy immerses those living in the New Orleans area, especially those staying behind. Floods so high, the houses are half full of water, or rather half empty. Some of the lucky ones are rescued; a boat takes them past the houses engulfed by the dark water. A look of horror is displayed on a man's face, holding onto his family member for warmth around all the lifeless disaster surrounding them. The woman he beholds squeezes tight on her dog keeping comfort in knowing they survived. A Louis V bag is spotted among the remains of those on this tiny boat, and it takes all of me not to acknowledge that maybe those being rescued are richer than those still waiting to be introduced to the resurrection. It's quite clear these are not times of fairness, in any way shape or form.

Rainy Dreams: the hut

My hut is located deep in the forest, under a willow tree, right along the Dupage river; hidden, secluded and peaceful. This is oriented from past memories of mine, taking long runs into the forest both in the winters and summer and finding a casual place to just relax and take in the beauty around me. It was a place to help me think and look deeply into my life. From the outside my hut is a deep red color with windows. On the inside, it is very colorful, shining mainly of a persons favorite color every time they enter, so the colors are ever changing and the wall colors change with moods as well. It holds and long table looking out onto the river for writing or just relaxing and also a swimming hole of crystal clear blue water, so deep but not as wide. Looking at it, it almost seems like a puddle but once you fall in its a place to dive and explore underwater. As you get deeper it gets wider underneath and there's more places to explore and places to breathe with fish of all different colors swimming with you. The hut is made of wood with red waterproof cloth around it and windows on the outside. On the inside there is terrycloth carpet for drying feet off after a swim. The main things to do in my hut is either relax and sit in it while its raining to take in the scenery around the forest or go swimming of course. I'd of course need lots of scuba equipment and oxygen tanks to last long times underwater exploring. With this being said, I'd bring my friend Sara to come to the hut, who is just as adventurous and an even better swimmer than I who wouldn't ever tire of this hut. Music would be played in hanging Ipod deck from the ceiling, so as for it not to get wet. The music playing will probably be playing relaxing music or any music that I need to chill to when I just want to think, such as some Chemical brothers, or Andrew Bird and Ashtar Command. It's decidedly so that the hut of mine would smell of rain and lake water. Audrey Hepburn would be invited to come to the hut, because she was always so quirky in her movies and had a bit of taste for adventure like in Roman Holiday. Inside I'd display my favorite artwork, The Great Gatsby and one of my writings to keep the hut a place with a creative feel and intrigue. Someone visiting me would find out that I wear my emotions on my sleeve half the time and that I have lots of ideas swirling in my head that either need to be written down into stories, or taken out literally with adventuring while swimming. They'd see my need to see new things, colorful things so as so I can keep up with my imagination. Inside I'd serve lots of different kinds of food, but mainly vegetarian, clean meals and lots of colorful fruits and veggies, so that we always have energy to keep exploring underwater but not get weighed down by greasy, bad food. Probably lots of pasta, rice and maybe some fish for the non-vegetarians as to get ready for the swim. Also lots of chocolate if we need something extra sweet and sugary to get us going. A memory I'd commemorate here would be mine of times in my old town Westchester where my old friends and I made our own actual little hut to get away from the grownups during the summer with a tarp overhead so we could hang there even if it rained. To commemorate this I'd have people visiting my hut paint one wall in the hut together, because at the shack in Westchester we made, we each painted the one of the walls on the inside our favorite colors. I'd include this photo of a time that holds a feeling I want to feel every time I step into this hut:
Then I'd include a picture of my best guy friends on an adventure of their own:


After all that's said and done I'd include one of my favorite drawings I've done (not good at all). But it's of a girl on a beautiful night on ISU campus and its raining and she's holding a red umbrella and everything around her is colorful and lit up wherever the raindrops hit it. Everything is radiant. I'd want it in my hut to establish colorfulness and a rainy day feeling.

Naperville, IL riverwalk

I come from a town five hours away from here, and represented in the photo is a tiny but significant part of that town. It is the river walk, full of life and beauty, just a few blocks from our downtown area. It is hidden, yet treasured by all who seek it, and finely seperated from the busy cars and buzzing downtown. Long brick sidewalks get you so close to the water that you can see into the depths of the current which sometimes overflows on heavy rain flow days. Here you sometimes see animals drifting past on a warm day, or the bridge that goes over it where people take wedding, prom, and day photos to soak in its wonderous beauty that it has bestowed on Naperville. I sometimes find myself here, underneath the bridge on super rainy days in the summer, trapped in a book or with friends goofing around to jump in the Dupage River. Here people find peace, tranquility, time, and sometimes themselves if they walk the low curbsides long enough.