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Photo March 31, 2005

Terri Schiavo — A Postscript

Because of the difference between blog time and real time, I felt it worth stating that my last post was delivered before hearing that Terri Schiavo had passed away.  Given the news, I have regrets about my timing and perhaps some misgivings about the tone.  The comments, of course,...

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Timely Look At The Right To Die

One of the unique things about America is that, in it’s self-importance, it always seems to lose it’s memory. On the TIME website, the publishers regularly profile past issues, often re-running editions that have some relevance to current events.  I was struck by the TIME cover from March 19,...

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Faith Focus Photo March 30, 2005

The Window

I was speaking yesterday of the Pope’s dignity in the face of death.  I was speaking of the eloquence of his communication in the absence of speech.  I alluded (through the link to a NYT Week In Review piece on Sunday) to the possible irony — given the Schiavo...

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Uncategorized Photo March 29, 2005

Your Turn: The Shrine

(click on image to examine larger version) In what seems like a growing consideration of the price of the Iraq war, the media is full of stories. Particularly fateful are losses suffered by immigrants who enlisted in the U.S. military in hopes of a quick path to citizenship and...

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Faith Focus Photo

Palm Sunday

I have to admit, I’ve only had one eye on the story of the Pope’s declining health  — until now. With the Pope’s respiratory problems and tracheotomy coinciding with the debate over medical intervention at life’s end, one could easily envision some tortuous days ahead for the Vatican (link). ...

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Culture Focus Photo March 28, 2005

Can't See the Forest for the (Lack of) Trees

Sometimes, one gets so caught up in the content, it’s easy to overlook the context.  James Wolcott had a post this weekend that was right up the BAG’s alley.  However, it also revealed how narrow that alley can become.  Given all the political and media hoo-hah over the Schiavo...

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Culture Focus Photo March 26, 2005

Air America

I can’t tell you how lost I felt after listening to liberal columnist Robert Sheer on the radio yesterday.  Sheer was worked up over how the right wing has appropriated the Terri Shaivo case, and how nobody in authority seems to be countering it.  He brought up the hypocrisy...

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Uncategorized Photo March 24, 2005

Friday Forum: Faces of the Fallen

(To open in separate window — click here) If you’ve been following this site for awhile, you know I often refer to it as a collaboration.  Over the past few weeks, this has never been more true.  As BnN becomes better known, one thing it’s becoming known for is...

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Campaign '08 Photo

Raining Down From On High

With the fateful medical unfastening almost ancient history and the Congressional fireworks also fading fast, can anyone imagine a calm end to the Terri Schiavo story?      After studying images of mouth-sealed protesters; potential trespassers; Terri with Michael, and Terri with Mom, maybe I’m ready for my own...

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Campaign '08 Photo March 23, 2005

Seeking Cover

Feeding off on the current Lakoff craze, the latest issue of The New Republic has a cover story by Robert Reich about “the lost art of Democratic narrative.”  In the piece, Reich proposes a series of “story lines” the Dems can use to better package their policies. As you...

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Faith Focus Photo March 22, 2005

Terri's Mom

Some pictures are so strong, they almost refuse to come apart. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to do something with it.  At the same time, I felt it was too loaded to deal with head on.  So, thank goodness for the right wing radicals, who blew...

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Faith Focus Photo March 20, 2005

Curb Appeal

(To examine/refer to larger version — click here) This is the shot the NYT chose for its front page on Saturday, the second day of the Terri Schiavo rescue.  The photo shows protesters praying outside the home of Michael Schiavo. What I was particularly interested in was the “No...

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Culture Focus Photo March 19, 2005

Gag Reflex

Back in graduate school, I had a professor who liked to talk about “Bubbe logic.”  If your not familiar with the term, it refers to a simple method to tell if something is logical or not.  In my instructor’s case, he would take anything he wasn’t sure made sense...

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Uncategorized Photo March 18, 2005

Your Turn: Winging It

The BAG’s crack team of image analysts did such an acute and thoughtful job of deconstructing the NYTimes Magazine Mahmoud Abbas cover (Fitting the Fabric – link), I thought I’d offer additional stimulus for commentary.  Obviously, the one liner here is: “The fly on the wall.”  However, I think...

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International Focus Photo March 16, 2005

In Love With Lebanon

This picture was everywhere yesterday, as was talk of the media obsession with the  “Girls of Cedar.”  What I was interested in, though, was how the photo signals a shift in the sexual gaze in the span of one week.  One thing that’s obviously different is the scale.  All...

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Media Focus Photo

All The Hues That Fit To Print

When it comes to massaging the news, what are the standards of disclosure? The NYT is all over that question (Under Bush, a New Age of Prepackaged TV News – link) in their Sunday analysis of the media’s ready use of pre-packaged Bush Administration video news reports (VNR’s).  In...

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International Focus Photo March 14, 2005

Fitting the Fabric

If my tendency is to overanalyze a photograph, it feels like this portrait of Mahmoud Abbas on the latest NYT Magazine cover has lent some brakes. I’ve been looking at it off and on since Sunday, and I still haven’t grown tired of it.  However, I also can’t pin...

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Iraq and Afghanistan War Photo March 13, 2005

Eye Foreign Eye

I picked out this image inspired by the many fine comments posted to my last couple Beirut entries.  Specifically, I was thinking about the factors in play when we see more “westernized” images of women wearing the hijab. As BAG readers quentin and aethorian point out, this style of...

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