Here lie some layered rocks, ominously shaped but softened by the white snow. There lies a pool of water, not frozen up quite solidly by the temperatures. To my right there are small fields of tall yellow husks and grasses growing silently against the cold cement wall. I close my eyes and breathe in the fresh air and pure nature; smoke and car fuel find themselves diluted in these scents. A concrete bridge overheads the layered rocks and the pool of water reflects a nearby condominium. Tasked with a photoshoot in nature I start pulling out my gear and making myself at home. The marks of human influence didn’t bother me in my pursuit of a natural shoot. I understood how mankind had influenced this natural world and how this natural world has influenced us. Regardless, I could photoshop the signs of industrialization out of the photos anyways, all I needed was a base resemblance of nature for me to work with and manipulate later. I set up a self-timer on my camera and skidded down the rocks in the 10 seconds I had to pose on the cliffs of the rocks and manifested humanity into this picture – perfect construction of a natural world.
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Fried rice, bok choy, roasted eggplant, and oxtail soup – the dinner table is overflowing with a feast of delicious foods that my eyes challenge my stomach to intake. I’m an eight year old girl, and my sister four, but my appetite is a ruthless, angsty 13-year old boy. My sister picks at her tofu and half bowl of unfinished noodles whining about being full while my dad piles more food onto my plate. Voices from around the dining table chime in to remind us that post-consumer waste is the most blasphemous sin of all.
“Finish all the food in your bowl.” “Remember, there are children starving in Africa and we don’t want to waste any of it.” “No leaving the table until every last grain of rice is eaten.” Communal distrust towards government, inequality through environmental injustice, and a fighting coalition for basic rights – these classic and individual tales that have been tirelessly repeated in history finally coagulated to become the Flint Water Crisis in 2014. The Flint Water Crisis is a case where the public water supply wasn’t up to federal regulation standards and the city didn’t take action accordingly. The water chemistry and treatment resulted in lead poisoning and toxicity from chemicals, particularly in young children, but adults included. Lasting from April 2014 to December of 2015 the water contamination elevated the blood lead levels of the population causing adverse health effects ranging from decrease in intelligence, creativity, and behavior to causing rashes, E. coli breakouts, and hair loss for others (Masten 2016). Even one woman named Nakiya Wakes, as seen in the documentary on the Flint crisis, Nor any Drop to Drink, suffered multiple miscarriages and witnessed significant behavioral issues in her young and developing son.
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