Photo of the Day: MS Barrier Islands

This week, leading up to the Broken Gulf benefit on Saturday, I will be posting a picture and some information about the damage each morning.


Image Courtesy NASA (Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon and NASA EO-1 Team)

Slick Around Mississippi Barrier Islands
As of June 27, 2010, the entire gulf-facing beachfront of several barrier islands in eastern Mississippi (offshore of Pascagoula) had received a designation of at least “lightly oiled” by the interagency Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Team that is responding to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. A few small stretches of Petit Bois Island had been labeled heavily or moderately oiled. (Caption via Rebecca Lindsey/NASA's Earth Observatory/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

For more NASA images of the oil slick, check out the gallery here.

Help us fight back against the destruction of the Gulf by attending Broken Gulf: A Benefit for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade Saturday, July 31 at Eatonville Restaurant. Tickets are available online and are only $10. A raffle will take place at the event with amazing prizes from local businesses such as ACKC and Fiddleheads Salon, and from a Mississippi Eco-Friendly Clothing Artisan.

Photo of the Day: Barataria Bay

This week, leading up to the Broken Gulf benefit on Saturday, I will be posting a picture and some information about the damage each morning.

Courtesy of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade's Photo Stream on Flickr, an image of Barataria Bay soaked in oil.

Photo Credit: Cesar Harada

Barataria Bay, in Southeastern Louisiana, was used as a hide out for Lafitte's pirates, and before the oil spill, was a rich source of wildlife, including shrimp and muskrat.

Help us fight back against the destruction of the Gulf's wildlife and history by attending Broken Gulf: A Benefit for the Louisiana Bucket Brigade Saturday, July 31 at Eatonville Restaurant. Tickets are available online and are only $10. A raffle will take place at the event with amazing prizes from local businesses such as ACKC and Fiddleheads Salon, and from a Mississippi Eco-Friendly Clothing Artisan.

Photo of the Day: Memorial for What's Lost

This week, leading up to the Broken Gulf benefit on Saturday, I will be posting a picture and some information about the damage each morning.

 A gathering of crosses memorializes what has been lost to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.


Image Courtesy Michael Rothenberg

To help fight back against corporate greed and the needless pollution of our fragile resources, purchase a ticket now: https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/357/p/salsa/event/common/public/index.sjs?event_KEY=61421

Photo of the Day: Waveland, MS

This week, leading up to the Broken Gulf benefit on Saturday, I will be posting a picture and some information about the damage each morning.

The following photos are links, which I encourage you to visit. Waveland, MS was leveled 5 years ago by Hurricane Katrina. David and Kimberly King documented the damage to their neighborhood here. The pier, a popular attraction, just reopened this spring.

Now, Waveland is seeing destruction of a different kind: fish dying from exposure to oil. This photo from May 9, 2010, shows the environmental costs to Waveland's community of the oil spill. Another photo from the slideshow is captioned in part: Now, in the face of this man-made disaster, we’re utilizing things we learned from Katrina recovery — like directing energy toward volunteer training for eventual clean-up. In ways as diverse as our culture itself, we’re finding comfort and strength in the kinship of community.

Help us celebrate this diversity of culture by purchasing a ticket to the Broken Gulf benefit today.

For more reader submitted pictures, please see the full New York Times slideshow.

Photo of the Day: Pelicans

This week, leading up to the Broken Gulf benefit on Saturday, I will be posting a picture and some information about the damage each morning.

In this image, pelicans sit on oil retention boom. Raccoon Island, the largest pelican rookery in Louisiana, was devastated by the spill, leaving huge numbers of adult pelicans dead, and many immature birds suffering.

Image courtesy Getty Images.

For more images of the horrific toll on wildlife, the Today Show has compiled a grim slideshow. Please note, while informative and urgent, some of these images are graphic.

Photo of the Week: City Lights Bookstore

Building up to the event "Howl" in the City, the Photo of the Week will feature one of Ginsberg's photographs, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.

Bob Donlon (Rob Donnelly, Kerouac's Desolation Angels), Neal Cassady, myself in black corduroy jacket, Bay Area poets' "Court Painter" Robert La Vigne & poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in front of his City Lights Books shop, Broadway & Columbus Avenue North Beach. Donlon worked seasonally as Las Vegas waiter & oft drank with Jack K., Neal looks good in tee shirt, Howl first printing hadn't arrived from England yet (500 copies), we were just hanging around, Peter Orlovsky stepped back off curb & snapped shot, San Francisco spring 1956.

Photo of the Week: William Burroughs

Building up to the event "Howl" in the City, the Photo of the Week will feature one of Ginsberg's photographs, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.

We went uptown to look at Mayan Codices at Museum of Natural History & Metropolitan Museum of Art to view Carlo Crivelli's greenhued Christ-face with crown of thorns stuck symmetric in his skull—here Egyptian wing William Burroughs with a brother Sphinx, Fall 1953 Manhattan.

Photo of the Week: Peter Orlovsky

Building up to the event "Howl" in the City, the Photo of the Week will feature one of Ginsberg's photographs, courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.

Peter Orlovsky at James Joyce's grave, Zurich Switzerland December 1980, we climbed up the cemetery and found Joyce's statue snowcovered, brushed it off his head.

Photo of the Week: Melissa Tuckey and Sarah Browning

This feature highlights a different photo each week from the 2 Split This Rock Festivals. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



Melissa Tuckey and Sarah Browning at the 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Festival opening ceremonies.

Photo Credit: Jill Brazel

Photo of the Week: Mark Doty

This feature highlights a different photo each week from the 2 Split This Rock Festivals. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



2008 Featured Poet Mark Doty reads at the 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Festival.

Photo Credit: Jill Brazel

Photo of the Week: Deanna Nikaido and Andrea Carter Brown

This feature highlights a different photo each week from the 2 Split This Rock Festivals. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



Deanna Nikaido and Andrea Carter Brown at the 2008 Cento.

Photo of the Week: Sonia Sanchez

This feature highlights a different photo each week from the 2 Split This Rock Festivals. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



2008 Featured Poet Sonia Sanchez laughs at the 2008 Opening Ceremonies at Busboys and Poets.

Photo Credit: Jill Brazel

Photo of the Week: Hope is the Thing With Feathers

This feature highlights a different photo each week from the 2 Split This Rock Festivals. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



Two festival participants at the 2008 Cento.

Photo Credit: Jill Brazel

Photo of the Week: Colorado T. Sky

This feature highlights a different photo each week from the 2 Split This Rock Festivals. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



Poet Colorado T. Sky reads at the 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Festival's Friday Open Mic.

Photo Credit: Daniela Schrier

Photo of the Week: Stephen Kuusisto

This feature highlights a different photo each week from the 2 Split This Rock Festivals. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



Featured poet Stephen Kuusisto reads at the 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Festival

Photo of the Week: Esther Iverem

This feature highlights a different photo each week from the 2 Split This Rock Festivals. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



Esther Iverem reads at the 2008 Festival during the DC Poets Against the War panel.

Photo Credit: Jill Brazel

Photo of the Week: Carolyn Forché

This feature highlights a different photo each week from the 2 Split This Rock Festivals. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.


Featured Poet Carolyn Forché reads at the 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Festival.

Photo Credit: Jill Brazel

Photo of the Week: Lynda Koolish and Alicia Ostriker

This new feature will highlight a different photo each week from the 2008 festival. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



2008 Featured Poet Alicia Ostriker and Lynda Koolish at Busboys and Poets for the 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Festival opening night.

Tonight is the 2010 Festival Opening Night which will begin at Busboys and Poets (14th and V) at 6:00 PM. Come help us kick off with Featuring young DC voices, including the Young Women’s Drumming Empowerment Project, the Shakti Brigade, winners of Split This Rock’s World & Me Youth Poetry Contest, and members of the DC Youth Slam Team. With readings of poems by Dennis Brutus, Lucille Clifton, and Mahmoud Darwish, plus the inspiring words of Howard Zinn.

At 8:00 our Featured Reading takes place at Bell Multicultural High School, with Andrea Gibson, Wang Ping, Cornelius Eady, Holly Bass, Beny Blaq, and Derrick Weston Brown!

Photo Credit: Jill Brazel

Photo of the Week: Naomi Shihab Nye

This new feature will highlight a different photo each week from the 2008 festival. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



Featured Poet Naomi Shihab Nye reads at the 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Festival.

Photo Credit: Jill Brazel

Photo of the Week: The Empty Seat

This new feature will highlight a different photo each week from the 2008 festival. For more photos from the last festival, check out Split This Rock's Flickr.



The Empty Seat at the 2008 Split This Rock Poetry Festival.

Photo credit: Jill Brazel