I was watching the news this evening at dinner and saw that here in Long Beach there was going to be a memorial vigil honoring the 399 teenage soldiers who have died serving their country since 9-11.  The service was supposed to happen just minutes away, so I grabbed my camera and headed over to where everything was happening.

The first thing that hit me when I got there was the string of crosses and stars of David that lined Ocean Blvd all the way from Redondo Avenue to the Long Beach Art Museum.  Each symbol had its own sandbag ready to be lit at sunset along with the photograph and name of the service person being honored.  It caught my breath because looking at these guys and girls, they were about the same age as my dad when he went into the service during World War II.  I immediately felt a wave of gratitude that my dad made it through WWII and the Korean War when he was called back to serve.  These soldiers weren't so lucky.

I met a number of wonderful, warm people at this memorial  -- just regular people who had family serving our country.  I'm glad I took the time to show up.

The Finger.  Part of my social commentary series, this image I put together to show the indifference of the top 1 percent of the people in our country economically to the plight of the other 99 percent.

Another Successful Mortgage Modification.  This is part of a body of work I am working on that are a commentary on what's going on with our nation.  This image relates to the growing homeless population in our society -- boosted by the the growing jobless rate and people's inability to stay in their homes.

"50 Million People Go Hungry Every Day."  In 2001 Andreas Gursky created a diptych photograph called "99 cent" which depicted an overhead view of a 99-cent store (depicted below).   This image speaks about the overwhelming passion Americans have for consumerism while there are so many people around the world who do not have food to eat.  This image became the most expensive photograph in the world when it sold in 2007 for $3.34 million.   One day Joe came home after shopping; and after I put away some of the groceries in one of the cupboards, I was taken back by how full and almost obscene the cupboard looked compared to the abject poverty in which so many Americans live.  Being reminded of Gursky's "99 cent" image, I created this shot to make my own statement discussing consumerism.