A Lot of Protesting

Sometimes I feel like Andy Rooney, who considers himself a newspaper man. I still consider him a TV man because he sure can talk a lot without saying anything. But his observations of the world come to mind when I or he points out things we see around us. With this climate of politics and economy everyone has an opinion. And we should. As the saying goes, "If your not outraged, you're not paying attention." Or as I heard on the paintball field receintly, "If you're not gettin hit, you're not playin." People often like to have their issue out there in the form of a protest, march, picket. And even better if it makes the paper. It is hard to keep track of all the people who do not want their budget cut or need more money, especially in California with this economy. So today I photographed some Union workers yelling at the San Bernardino County Govt Center. I guess the basic point is when everyone is underpaid and Calif. Governments are making cuts which protests are going to be heard? At least with Prop 8, 20 million voters are passionate about one issue.


Members of the SEIU Local 6434, United Long-Term Care Workers Union, held a march and rally with about 40 participants at San Bernardino County Government Center in San Bernardino to spur negotiations between workers and officials.

What is Lost?

An Annual Event: Residents of the Grass Valley Lake area of Lake Arrowhead Cindy Chavez-Gastel and Michael Bainbridge look over the ashes as they return to their homes to survey the damage and sift through the ashes of the homes lost, October 30, 2007. Eric Reed

It's hard for many people to comprehend the loss that others endure when dealing with the aftermath of fire. The fires in Southern California have become a yearly event. With hundreds of homes lost each year from fire due to Santa Ana driven winds, drought starved vegetation and Global Warming enhanced destruction, we can expect to see more. That does nothing for those who loose everything. People take on the grief of loss in many different ways, just like the grave yard vandalizing post, loss is relative. Some are thankful for the truly important things in life like their lives and those of their loved ones. Some are in grief over the loss of things. Those things that mean the most to us are usually connecting us to the past and people who have passed on. I have learned a lot about attachment to the things around us from my many years of talking personally with those who have gone through these experiences. Probably more than most. They almost invariable impart this wisdom: they truly are grateful for what they do have and will continue on, living. That's good advice, even if we never have to experience this first hand.
Resident of the Grass Valley Lake area in Lake Arrowhead, Sid Lewis stands in the ashes of his Medera Lane home as many return to their homes to survey the damage and sift through the ashes of the homes lost, October 30, 2007.

Thank a Vet

I had the opportunity to spend a day at Rebuilding Together's Heroes at Home with local volunteers as they worked on the home of disabled U.S. Marine Sgt. Jeremy Weissmiller's home in Crestline, California. I thought that THIS was a good way to thank a vet. After all the Veterans' Day activities this was a fitting end to the week. A real gesture of gratitude toward the men and women in uniform. Jeremy was injured while negotiating a load in a cargo net from a helicopter. He was among the first wave of military personnel to arrive in Afghanistan. The load dropped on top of him. Rebuilding Together has helped more than 300 veterans and their families in the last year with their project Heroes at Home. http://www.rebuildingtogether.org/

The Great Southern California Shakeout

November 13, 2008 Redlands, California USA - Nine-year-old Victoria Elementary School student, Tina Ngo ducks under a table with classmates as her school participates in the Great Southern California Shakeout, which is the largest earthquake drill in history intended to prepared residents for the disaster. More than 469,000 county residents had registered to participate in "duck, cover and hold on" events, Thursday, Nov., 13, 2008.

We live with the threat from underneath. Anytime. Anyplace. The problem is that people in denial will not properly prepare. Remember Katrina? The projected magnatude for the drill was 7.8, on the Richter Scale. That could drop freeway overpasses and make getting about or help very slow. The difference between here and New Orleans is about 15 million people.Martha Rendon of Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton takes off the fake wound or moulage from Redlands Adult School Student Earl Leong as Students from Chaffey College and Redlands Adult School participate with the staff of the Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton during the Great Southern California Shakeout.


Lionel Lee, Resident Physician at Arrowhead Regional Mecical Center in Colton works with mock earthquake victim Amanda James, a student Redlands Adult School during the Great Southern California Shakeout.

Pushover In The Afterlife

About 22 gravestones and markers were pushed over during the night at the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in San Bernardino. Wednesday, Nov., 12, 2008. Eric Reed/photographer

It is interesting how different people react to such an image. Everyone has a different idea about the afterlife and what that means. Some people hold on to the sentiment of the grave. A marker or stone where ones final remains were interred. It is not for the dead it is for the living. Keeping a connection to a loved one here on earth as a symbol of our attachment to it. What would happen if one did not have that to hold onto? My Grandfather's ashes were spread from and airplane over a lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. My Grandmother at Forrest Lawn. I do not visit either location but choose to remember them and our connection. These graves will be fixed but it gave me pause today to remember people while they are here and let them go when they are not.

Vets Day

I had the opportunity to cover two different Veteran's Day events here in San Bernardino and Bloomington. A few people come out to see what ceremonies are going on, probably many others just see them in the next days newspaper. I understand that no living WWI vets were living on this Armistice's Day, the last two, one German and one French, both died earlier this year. And the WWII vets number are fading fast. The living history and their stories are important to the people who follow them because those who fail to understand where we came from are in danger of going back and repeating the mistakes of the past. One vet said in his speech that he did not want to see the Unites States of China. I of course agree. But I an not totally sure what he meant. Was it a fear-based message of an impending attack or a tie to the economy and its woes? At another event it came to me (when I was handed a pin of the American Flag that was "made in China") that we need to stop selling ourselves and our jobs to the global economy and start thinking about sustainability. Not isolation. We are making our own bed by finding the cheapest way of doing or making something as being the American way. Well that thinking is going to be the Chinese way soon if we don't look up.

The Day After

It is hard to look for stand alone art or an image with no pre-concieved story. It takes patients and imagination. Looking for a political related photo the day after an election on a cold start is even more daunting. I demand luck in my photography and I always get it. So I drove straight on to campus at Cal State Berdoo and found this image like I was assigned to it.
—California State University San Bernardino’s campus radio station, Coyote Radio has student DJs Diana Lepe and Erik Hunter discussing political issues and their aftermath the day after the election, Wednesday, November 5, 2008. Hunter’s program on Wednesdays and Firdays, called Sports Madness, will focus on issues related to Tuesday’s elections by talking about sports personalities who ran for office in local elections across the country. Coyote Radio en Espanol is Lepe’s program airing Monday and Fridays from 12 to 2 P.M. “We will have some time before my next show on Friday to digest the issues.” Said Lepe, “That will be a good time for people to call and talk about what happened on election day.” Student DJs are grateful to be able to use their “Air time” to communicate with the student body through their music program available on iTunes. “I don’t think there were many reasons for the youth to vote in the past but this time there was a candidate who energized the student movement, he addressed the issues we were thinking about.” Said Hunter. Eric Reed/Staff photographer

Changing the Vote

Changing America one vote at a time is how I saw this election day coverage in Sun country. I have been photographing and voting for over 20 years and have never seen people so happy to stand in line and actually pump their fists in the air in victory after voting at the polling place. Record turnouts despite early morning rain, although I think I saw more people voting in the days prior to Tuesday in order to avoid long lines. The catch was only a few locations were open before Tuesday and today there are many.



If anyone had doubts about the hope for the future of this country this is a day to remember for those who never thought they would live to see this day.