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red is a color that fades easily
Those curtains tell the story of how the color red fades a lot faster than other colors.
(If you want to know the science – it’s something to do with red objects reflecting red light, but at the same time absorbing short-wavelength light) – you can read this explanation. But otherwise you can look at this photo and know it’s the truth.)
Boston, Massachusetts
photographed 8.27.2022
it was moving day
Here’s a thing: if you live in an apartment in Boston there’s a real good chance you moved into it on September 1. (Read this stuff if you want more information.)
The weekend before there was already quite a bit of moving-related activity, like these two happy guys moving a sofa to a moving truck that was right behind me. (I also *may* have followed a couple moving a futon for about 6 blocks, trying to get a good photo of them. And on a corner, I saw a coffee maker, box, and some other random stuff that was apparently there for the taking.)
The whole thing made me glad I’ve lived in the same location for this entire century, plus some. Moving seems like a hell of a lot of work.
Boston, Massachusetts
photographed 8.27.2022
below the street
So, I started the journey from Lubbock to Sicily by heading to Boston. That’s a little bit of a non-traditional route, but there were some logistical considerations that figured into the decision and it made more sense that you might think.
Anyway.
One year earlier (almost exactly to the day), I’d been lucky enough to walk around the Haymarket and the North End with a local fellow* who knew some things about where photographers would like to go. So, on my free day in the city, I went back to those places on my own.
Looking back through all those photos-with-people that I started taking in Sicily makes me think this was a bit of a practice run…
Haymarket
Boston, Massachusetts
photographed 8.27.2022
*It was Don. Don Toothaker. Maybe you know him?
the committee, at rest
The men who are entrusted to carry the saint on her procession are all members of a family that’s been doing this important task for centuries. When we asked how that family was originally chosen, our guide said it was so long ago that no one knows. That sort of dedication to a saint, to personal beliefs, to a community is admirable. And is something that I do not believe I’ve witnessed before.
Thank you for your patience as I presented all these photos of Sicily. It took me several months to commit to making the trip; finally making the commitment to go was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. So, here’s my Big Important Advice: don’t put off doing that thing that you think you want to do but aren’t sure about it because this might not be the best time or your schedule might be too tight to make it work or what about that other thing that you’ll miss at home (or at the office) if you go. If you CAN, you should.
Bivona, Sicily
photographed 9.4.2022
preparing for the move
“How weird that my eyes are so sweaty.” -actual thought I had, standing on that church balcony.
Our group was in Bivona, Sicily, on the feast day for the their patron saint, Santa Rosalia. Following Mass, the church members prepared to move the saint from her niche in the front of the church. Later that day, men of the town would carry her on their shoulders as they processed through the narrow streets. It was the first time they’d been able to hold the Mass and procession since 2019. It was clearly an emotional event.
Through our outstanding tour leader, Allison Scola, from Experience Sicily, we had remarkable access to the day’s events, including getting to watch the process of moving Santa Rosalia from a vantage point that gave us a unique view.
And this is the part I cannot explain – and I’ve been trying to understand it every day since it happened. The faith shown by the townspeople seemed so pure, so real, so honest, so truthful, so much a part of their lives. It was the most honest expression of faith (and maybe even of Faith, since that’s two different things, perhaps) that I have ever witnessed. I didn’t understand what anyone was saying. I don’t have any particular knowledge of Catholic traditions. I am generally a skeptical person. But this: it wasn’t so much that my eyes were sweating. It was in fact tears, tears I couldn’t stop, tears I was surprised to be shedding, tears at the beauty, the faith that I was witnessing.
I still don’t understand it in ways that I can write down. But, I know what I saw. I know how it impacted me. I know I will never be the same.
And that’s a lot.
Chiesa Parrocchiale di Santa Rosalia
Bivona, Sicily
photographed 9.4.2022
One Day | One Image 