t.gaston – Multimedia Reporting Fall 2017

Pitches

I am going to be follwoing a group of adolescent urban photographers who get into NYC’s most private nooks. The focus of the piece is the photograher Focvsd, who is only 17 years old and well known in the photography realm.

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Search and Destroy

St. Marks’ hardcore punk subculture has dwindled in the years yet one store still manages to produce the people your parents warned you about. Bondage and lace are a must have in Search and Destroy, one of the city’s last punk stores dedicated to music only. Here to tell you about the myriad of sex toys and spiked vests you can buy is Teamare Gaston.

Radio Pitch

Fat Cats

fat cat offers uniquely fun interdisciplinary educational programming, tailored to suit all ages.
class trips and groups are welcome for daytime and evening visits, where they can design a focused or diverse range of activities for participants, such as introductory and master music classes, group clinics for chess, table tennis, arts, crafts they use games as media to introduce and explore elements of math, geometry, science and technology, with a growing body of interactive curricula and exhibitions.

The 30-year Old Conversation

With all of the talk about Cuba and its travel status, it only seemed fair that I share this story about two brothers separated by politics and injustice.

My time in Cuba was meant to be an escape from the city yet it turned into a favor. Without disclosing too much, I can say that from a young age I have known about the United States’ justice system more than a child should know. From my time spent visiting family members at facilities, I have gotten to know some of the inmates as well as their stories. One inmate in particular always stood out. His name is Paito and he has been incarcerated since 1984, resulting in him losing connection with his family back in Cuba.

After finding out that I was going to be visiting Havana, Paito requested that I take a letter to his brother, Lazarus, if he still resided in Varadero , a small town just outside of Havana.

Fisherman walking along the coastal wall.

The rough sea seen from the coast in Havana.

The old Theatre in Havana’s central.

While Havana was a spectacle of untouched culture and history, the communist influences can still be seen throughout the island from billboards lauding the revolution, to streets named after generals who played key roles in the revolution. Tank in Revolution Square.

Che Gueverra’s Portrait on the side of a building.

After exploring Havana my travel guide and I made our way to Varadero to the address given to us. Upon arriving we noticed the unusual amount of Santeria shrines outside of homes. Dilapidated mansions lined what were once crisp white marble streets. Zapata street.

Looking among the wreckage of the houses, the only lively home was being guarded by five small, sadly diseased looking dogs.

Kujo

Stepping into the property a tall man came from around the home and asked who we were. Without hesitating I asked him if he was the brother of Paito, sending him in a flurry of tears and fast questions.

“Is my brother alive?!”

“How do you know Paito?! Oh god please tell me my baby brother is alive.”

He became so overwhelmed his sister came from upstairs and had to pull him back inside.

Lazarus taking a seat trying to calm down.

Marina, Paito and Lazarus’s sister.

Lazarus listening to our travel guide explain why we are here.

After learning of his brother’s incarceration, Lazarus rushed to the backroom and pulled out old photos of Paito exclaiming how his brother was always a trouble maker but not a bad person. Political tension between the U.S. and Cuba has made it so that inmates arrested on U.S. cannot be extradited back to Cuba.

Old family photo.

Lazarus’ son, a high priest for the Yaruba religion listening to our tour guide.

Cuban woman overlooking the balcony.

After establishing a way to send one another letters, Lazarus and his family offered to a blessing for us in their Yaruba fashion.

Dated picture of the family.

Giant statue of Jesus Christ where Santeros usually congregate.

Photoville assignment

At the photoville festival I was fascinated by the Body Talks exhibit presented by Refinary 29. Known for always pushing the envelop on women’s issues and engaging in the conversations concerning women, The body talks exhibit was filled with photography featuring transgender, gender fluid, and general LGBTQIA+ members. The photographers featured in this exhibit were several from Refinery29 and are known for their advocacy in the community.

The female photographers focused on Israel, Liberia, South Korea, Mexico, Russia and Iceland, particularly the bodies of water in these countries, to discuss body positivity and its cultural variations among women around the world. “To further explore this notion of how beaches can be both a source of empowerment and anxiety, “Body Talk” weaves in works by photographer Lia Clay, which illuminate the transgender experience during the summer and what ‘safe spaces’ mean to the community.” Said the bio at the exhibit in the Brooklyn site.