Any Given Sunday: Honoring the Dead in Santa Monica

Arlington West in Santa Monica

For the past nine years, Arlington West has been a fixture every Sunday on Santa Monica beach next to the amusement park on the pier. The memorial honoring American casualties of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is the work of Veterans For Peace and other volunteers. Each week they set out red, white and blue crosses, stars of David and crescent moons.The white markers represent one dead soldier; the red ones, ten. Blue markers signify the most recent casualties. In August a symbolic tombstone was added, commemorating the seven soldiers who take their own lives each week. In the  week ending August 19th, 11  American soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. On Sunday, two symbolic coffins were carried out and 11 pairs of boots were placed in front of 11 blue crosses to honor them. 

I asked Arlington West volunteer Linda Marasa what changes she has noticed over the years. She told me the tone of visitors has changed. She seldom meets any passerby who is offended by the memorial. People seem to feel the need to bring the soldiers home more than ever. Veteran and antiwar activist S. Brian Willson, who lost his legs while protesting an arms shipment to the Nicaraguan Contras, thinks the memorial's visual statement is a powerful reminder of the cost of war. He believes since there is no direct taxation for funding war and no draft, it is easy for most Americans to detach themselves from what is going on. But the memorial is a constant reminder that we are still at war. Willson thinks the memorial should be much bigger than it is, with markers for each dead Iraqi, Afghan, and Pakistani killed too.

The Veterans for Peace plan to continue setting up the memorial every Sunday until the war is over. They hope another war isn't started before this one ends.
 To see more images and read more about Arlington West check out my set on flickr from years past.

Carrying out coffin

Bringing Attention to Military Suicides

Santa Monic Beach on Sunday

Visitor book

Adam J Crumpler

Anti War activist S. Ryan Wilson, who lost his legs trying to stop a train carrying weapons, visits Arlington West.

Visitor at Arlington West

Vietnam veteran Kenny White writing the weeks dead count 

Red crosses signify  ten dead; white signify one. Among the crosses are  stars of David and crescent moons.

Homage to Flo McGarrell

Flo McGarrell wearing one of his fiber art creations

When I first heard of the earthquake in Haiti I thought of Flo McGarrell. I knew he was there. I called his mother Ann, and I conveyed my sense that Flo would be fine, leading the rescue efforts of others. I was wrong. Despite Flo's strength, the earthquake's suddenness made survival more an act of luck than will. He was killed instantly on January 12th when the Peace of Mind Hotel in Jacmel collapsed. His body still remains trapped under the hotel. A friend who was with him at the hotel and the remaining members of FOSAJ, the art center Flo ran, have been unable to dig him out. The State Department may send some heavy lifting equipment to Jacmel so the body can be recovered.

One natural disaster put me on the path to meet Flo and another has taken him away. Ann McGarrell, Flo’s mother, contacted me after seeing a series of photographs I did about post–Katrina New Orleans. We collaborated on a book using photos she selected from my series and a poem she wrote inspired by my photos. This collaboration also brought Flo and James, Ann's husband and Flo’s father, into my life. Both are fine artists of the highest caliber.

I was privileged to share a Thanksgiving with them. Flo prepared raw food concoctions that were scrumptious. That weekend I took pictures of Flo’s crocheted hats so he could enter them in a fiber-art competition. Ann, James and Flo acted as models on a cold Vermont autumn day. He talked to me about the art center in Haiti he was going to be running and invited me to visit and teach a workshop there, an offer I will always regret not having accepted sooner.

Flo was multi-talented and had a generous spirit, openly sharing ideas and help. His life and his work were interconnected. Working and living in Haiti was a synthesis of his many interests. He had started making "agrisculptures," using plants and recycled materials to make a statement about sustainability. In Haiti, he ran the art center on a shoestring, committed to bringing the local art community in Haiti together. His optimism and positive outlook were infectious.

In a recent interview Flo said, "I have a few guiding principles, which I think must propel me toward this artistic freedom you speak about: Don’t hide, don’t lie. Do that which scares me. Resist the urge to settle. Be as many things as possible in this lifetime.” From what I know of Flo that is exactly how he lived. Flo’s commitment to these principles and his life’s work are inspirational. The randomness of his death is difficult to grasp.


On Friday, Jan. 15th I went to a banquet hall on Wall Street to photograph a benefit for FAR, the Fund for Armenian Relief, a humanitarian organization formed to aid the victims of the earthquake that hit Spitak, Armenia 25 years ago. I arrived early and followed voices I heard in the distance near the Stock Exchange. There was a rally, tying many issues together. A mishmash protest of sorts by the Bail out People Movement . The crowded chanted that Wall Street should bail out Haiti, return the riches it has stolen. Councilman Charles Barron on Brooklyn, stated the $100 million Obama pledged to Haiti amounted to $50 per person and demanded more help be given to Haiti.

At the banquet a few of the speakers mentioned Haiti, but their focus was Armenia. The evening was a reminder of how long it takes an impoverished nation to recover. I write this waiting for a flight back to New Orleans, a city still hardly better and stronger than ever, as Bush had envisioned it. It is unfortunate there is no end in sight to war. Cleaning up the wrath of nature seems task enough for the world. The earth's moving plates know no boundaries, and when they shift, we are all equally in peril.

To Flo’s family and friends, I reiterate my deepest condolences. To everyone else, I want to share Flo’s life and work.

The McGarrells wearing Flo's fiber art creations

To see more of Flo’s work go to www.gowithflo.net

The Rutland Herald wrote the following
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100115/THISJUSTIN/1150333

To read more of Flo’s own words read a recent interview in Art : 21 Blog
http://blog.art21.org/2009/08/28/inside-the-artists-studio-flo-mcgarrell/

To see James McGarrels site created by Flo click here http://www.redwingstanza.com/index.html

Protest on in NYC for more aid to Haiti

Protest in NYC for more aid to Haiti/ Councilman calling for more aid to Haiti

In Honor of Primo, a New Orleans Police Dog

Today in New Orleans there was a memorial for Primo, a police dog who died on May 27th. He was left in a vehicle by his handler on an 88 degree day; he ripped the interior of the vehicle up, struggling to get out. The dog suffered a number of seizures, and heat shock. Primo’s temperature was 109.8 before he died. Primo’s handler has been transferred out of the K-9 unit. This is the third K-9 death in New Orleans this year. Now all three are under investigation. Here is a link to the story that has images of the car's interior from the Times Picayune ( warning disturbing images): http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/07/heat_killed_police_dog_left_in.html

In Primo's honor I'm posting another story from Iraq on other service dogs.

To see a video dispatch Phin Percy Jr. and I created with John Snell for Fox 8, New Orleans click here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYXRzFwXI9c

On March 5, 2009, on Camp Victory I met bomb-sniffing dog Rain, and his handler Corporal Perkins. Perkins had Rain run through the training course before bringing out the rest of the training dogs and their handlers. The dogs are trained to find IEDs (improvised explosive devices) without setting them off. Still, setting them off remains a threat to both the dog and the handler, as do snipers who try to eliminate them while they are on the job. Rain found 17 IEDs on his first deployment in Afghanistan. His work has saved countless lives.

The unit lost one team in Iraq. Seargant Cooper, another canine, and Corporal Wiens, his handler were killed by an IED on July 6, 2007. Copper's kennel was turned into a shrine. Cooper’s collar and Wien’s backpack, sit on top of the empty kennel, a reminder of the dangers the unit faces