Questions

A person's a person no matter how small - Dr Seuss

It is early on  a Tuesday morning and here I am typing away to you. I am confused. Confused by what happened in Ferguson, MO, confused about the national conversation, confused about everything.

You already know what has happened in Ferguson, MO. You already know what happened in Cleveland. If you are looking for answers here, you aren't going to get them from me. I'm afraid all I have are more questions.

A questions that has yet to be asked in this mess is; why is a black person's life only worth anything if they are killed by a white person?

I don't see protests for injustice when there is black on black crime. Why do we need to classify it as black on black crime? Why do we need to classify it? A human being took the life of another human being, yet we aren't protesting in the street. Outside of the police shootings crime happens daily, in those places you only talk about but rarely go. There are hundreds of thousands of cases that are open right now that are more violent, heinous, and disturbing than what happened in Ferguson, MO. Still no one is protesting about those because people write it off as that the victims were just victims of their environment.

What is happening in Ferguson has been smoldering for years, and this shooting was the lightning rod that lit the powder keg. There isn't just perceived injustice in this city, it is real. I have seen it with my own eyes. I lived not far from there when I lived the St. Louis area. I left there for two reasons, I missed home and I didn't like the racially charged atmosphere that was there. It was on both sides.

I had a friend who lived in Ferguson, I would visit her and we stopped at a Denny's in Florissant and you could hear people on one side talking about the crooked cops, and the cops on the other talking about at the <insert you favorite racial slur here>. White dudes who hated black dudes, black dudes that hated white dudes. This was back in 1999-2000. The most ridiculous thing I heard while living there was; if you were a black guy driving through Missouri, fill your car up in St. Louis and don't stop til Kansas City. It was crazy.

But what we are missing is that we need to stop meeting violence with violence.

Somewhere in this whole mess we stopped respecting human life. As a species we are a flawed bunch. We have contradictions that make no sense; but we also have each other. No matter what we think, a human was killed by another human. That is a tragedy. It always is. But I ask the question again; why does a black man's life only mean something if they are killed by a white man?

Dr. Seuss was right. We need to realize it.

The Township 5: Video

Olmsted Township Fire Department from dlayphoto on Vimeo.

I couldn't just sit around and watch this happen. I couldn't watch 5 guys get laid off because the powers that be were sacrificing safety for financial solvency. I couldn't watch 5 guys go through what I went through nearly a year ago and get fired, laid off, or whatever buzzword is happening to denote that you are no longer working where you work. It was a travesty in my eyes to just sit back and watch it happen, especially because some of these guys were some of the first firefighters I ever shot, while on-scene for a live fire training. I had to do something.

So when I called and asked to come out and get some photos, Olmsted Township Fire welcomed David Lay and I with open arms. Our mission was to show what would happen when 5 guys were no longer there to keep the fires out and get the sick to the hospital. I was shooting the stills, David was shooting the video. We wanted to show you the faces of the men leaving, because they are not just a number on a community's spread sheet, they are a person, with a family, and with a major mission to serve the community regardless of the politics involved with their employment.

Take a look at the video, share it, because this is a problem in not only the small community of Olmsted Township, but all over the United States. Awareness is what will save us. 

Inside the Zombie Apocalypse

Somewhere in Cleveland, Ohio 4 days after Hurricane Sandy hits Northeast Ohio - You can smell the stale coffee in the air, the coffee machine has been running continuously since Monday morning. Public Information Officers (PIO) from various agencies are huddled over their laptops, fingers curled on the keys punching out messages for the general public. Cleveland Public Power is working on a piece about downed power lines. The mayor's office is monitoring their social media feeds. The Department of Public Safety is on the phone with the Fire Chief getting a report on what they are seeing. They are all collaborating together keep the message consistent. It is about quality, and volume. 5 voices are better than 1. This is all happening in real time at the Joint Information Center (JIC). These are the PR people of public service. Their job is to get information to all forms of media.

Press releases are sent to traditional media outlets, PIOs are engaging followers on twitter to monitor and disseminate information to those who are tuned in on social media. All of this is just one cog in the machine of public information. It gets bigger. 

Down the hall lined with photos of SWAT equipment is an even bigger room. Huge projection monitors are at the head of the room. One has an internal program to share information across agencies, the other the local news. On the left wall is another local newscast, on the right wall, CNN. This room is nearly empty except for a member of the Red Cross working her phone and checking in  on the various shelters scattered across the region. 

There is still a lot of work to be done, but everyone's left for a short few hours to take a shower at home, kiss their husbands and wives, and then will head back and continue to monitor the situations across the city. Where are power crews needed? Do we need to shift assets to a certain part of the city for security? What new crisis has come up that need to be dealt with?

When you are watching the news and you hear them say, "Officials say..." this is the room where all those "officials" craft what we are hearing, seeing, and even feeling. If there is a situation, they are on it and trying to solve what ever problem has come up. 

These are the silent partners of our safety. These are the unsung heroes that work late into the night working together to solve problems to help the boots on the ground. No one is in the EOC and working the JIC unless they can get things done. They are all decision makers, policy makers, and doers. The power outage on W 54th and the power outage on E 72nd, only enough crews to fix one, this is where the hard choices are made. 

The Zombie Apocalypse

Cleveland, Ohio skyline from Edgewater Park © acgercak

It felt like the zombie apocalypse. The streets were empty and flooded in some places and trees were across the roads with power lines tangled among the mess. Power was out all over and you could smell the fires in fireplaces as people try and keep warm.

So what happened? I live in Cleveland, Ohio which is close to 500 miles West of Ocean City, NJ where Hurricane/Super storm/Frankenstorm Sandy made landfall. This storm was unlike anything I have ever seen or experienced before, and this from a guy who spent a year in Tornado Alley. In Cleveland, winds off the lake are nothing new, but the velocity and duration of the winds we got were unreal, and to a emergency junkie like me, something completely awesome.

When the storm started to hit Monday morning, I grabbed my camera, got some drinking water into the fridge and set out with my friend Patrick to try and get photos of the predicted 15-20 foot swells on Lake Erie. I have lived on the lake for years, never have I seen waves that large on the lake. I had to see it.

Veteran's Memorial Park Avon Lake, Ohio 

We made our way to Avon Lake, Ohio which is 18 miles West of Cleveland to start the adventure. Avon Lake was the western edge of the large wave zone. So I figured starting out and moving in would be the best. As I stood on a 10 foot cliff over looking the lake, I was getting battered with spray as the waves crashed onto the cliffs and sprayed all over the place. The waves were large, but nothing that I haven't seen before having grown up here and body surfed these waves.

Satisfied, we moved East to Huntington Beach in Bay Village, Ohio in hopes of larger waves. We got all the way down to the beach before seeing siding ripped off the tower of the ice cream stand. The waves were larger here. The rain stung our face from the howling winds. And this was at the very beginning of the storm. I could only imagine what was on the way.

Huntington Beach Bay Village, Ohio

After we were done there, we met up with a couple of friends, George and Mandy Gomez; both are adventurous and wanted to see the lake as well. As we made our way East the wind picked up and started moving the car around as we drove. The next stop was Edgewater Park in Cleveland. From there I could get a perspective of the lake and the city. I was there 5 days earlier at sunrise; Monday was much different.

Through the greyish haze you could make out the city. In the big surf on the beach there was a kite surfer. Unreal when you look at it all. We made our way down to the beach and there we saw it littered with surf boards and people in full wet suits getting ready to surf Cleveland. Again these waves were small compared to what was on the way. I put these waves at 8-12 feet at times.

Our last stop of the day was the E. 55th St. marina. At this location there isn't a beach to absorb the energy of the waves and they crash directly into the break wall just feet from I-90. In Cleveland this is where the big waves were. Like Banzai Pipeline on Oahu, HI; E. 55th was the place to see the big ones.

Waves at E55th St Marina Cleveland, Ohio

 The parking lot was packed with curious people. We all wanted to capture and experience the waves, the spray, and the wind. A hurricane in Cleveland is rare, we all wanted a piece. Again this is all before the big winds of the storm were coming. I looked at the waves crash, made a few frames, then George said, we should go out to that walk way that runs along the Shoreway for a different perspective. I was, at first, a little gun shy about going out there. The waves were crashing almost over the walkway, we would be sitting ducks, but we went any way.

In the end, that is where I got a different perspective. The waves would crash on the dock and roll up the break wall rocks and drench our feet. I got a few more frames, and we headed home. The worst was still yet to come and we didn't want to get caught in it.

View from the walkway along the Shoreway Cleveland, Ohio

Around 8 o'clock that night, the winds really started to pick up. I heard trees bending in the wind. Around 11:00 I lost power and we were in the dark. We were prepared, and honestly we were expecting power to be lost a lot sooner than it did. The next morning we got up to scope out the damage around town, and because we didn't have power, stopped at McDonald's for breakfast and news. My mom asked that I call my Grandma and check on her. Instead we made the drive out there. I checked her foundation and made sure it wasn't leaking, checked her sump pump which was on battery back-up was still functioning, and her siding is still on the house.

I walked up and down the street to see what I could see. Just south of her house there was 4 downed trees, one on a house. To the north there was a power line in the road that had been closed. Around a little street called Coveland, which is right on Lake Erie there was a tree across power lines, trees on cars, houses, bushes missing, decking in the water, and waves crashing so hard on the cliffs that you could feel them thump at your feet.

Despite the damage, we dodged a bullet. We got hit, and hit hard, but because much of us were prepared and ready, there were not any deaths associated with the storm in Cleveland and there wasn't widespread flooding. Most of us were inconvenienced by no power, unlike the East coast where there is no power and also a lot of no houses, no cars, and a crane dangling hundreds of feet in the air.

Coveland Dr. Avon Lake, Ohio

Cleveland didn't have it bad, but we got through it thanks to great info from Emergency Management folks and spot on reporting from local TV and radio stations.

Aspirations

Your senior year in high school can be classified as a pinnacle of an adolescent's life. Since kindergarten our children are groomed to be pushed out of the nest when they are 18 and fly. Their first flight will be either working or going to college. With Brittanie this is no exception. She has worked all through high school taking all her classes for high school at the college level. She is going to graduate high school with an Associate's Degree and her high school diploma. This is a huge accomplishment for any person, but for Brittanie it is just the beginning. From here she has a choice to make. Where to go to college?

As I sat her down on a bridge in Cascade park over a moving stream, it was the perfect metaphor for what is to come. Right now she has built her bridge from childhood to adulthood. Rushing below is all the adversity she has had to over come to get to where she is. As she continues her journey she will dip her toes into adversity, but I hope she remembers what it feels like to accomplish a feat most of us never did at such a young age.

Brittanie aspires to be a doctor. After spending an afternoon photographing her, her aspirations and dreams are what I thought were missing on the youth of America. She will be a success and we all can say, "I knew her when..."

Beaches in Ohio

Cleveland may not be the first place you think of as a beach destination, but it can be. This photo was taken when I went to a beach in Lorain, Ohio to take photos of the kids for a Mother's Day present for my wife. Picturesque light houses, small waves, and a nice blue lake are all you need besides two great kids to walk around and be themselves. We had the beach to ourselves and we had such a great time. 45 minutes and 180 photos later, we had some great ones to print and frame for Mother's Day.

Super Moon

The Super Moon over Cleveland last Saturday was amazing. Large, in charge, and lighting up the night sky. We made it a family affair and my daughter and I along with my best friend gathered all our gear, and headed out to find this Super Moon. On a weekend where the Avengers were opening, it seemed like a good time to see the Super Moon.

We found the Super Moon hiding behind these clouds in Avon Lake, Ohio.

Sunset

Living on the shores of Lake Erie most of my life, you often take sunsets for granted, but every once in a while you take pause. There is no other place I would rather live that right here.