Shivratri

The communities in Jersey City are beautifully diverse. This assignment sent me to Little India for just a quick stand alone picture. But with the incredible color of the story, I had to try and explore it a bit deeper. This is the Govinda Sanskar Center where many of the Hindus in Jersey City worship, a place that recently celebrated Shivratri. The experience was like walking into any crowded street and temple in India, and left me hoping to save a bit of money for a ticket out to some place still foreign.

Shivratri

Comic Con

I was lucky enough to convince one of my lovely editors to let me spend a few hours over in Manhattan and attend the 2009 Comic Con; a comic book convention with over 75,000 people. Pushing through the throngs of people, and knowing I had a limited amount of time to come back with a project, I focused on the alter egos. Many fans dressed the part and lived out the role with incredible dedication to the character. However with most of the fans walking through the convention as if they were strolling through any other part of the city, dressed in normal clothes and pushing strollers, "It just never got weird enough for me."

2009 Comic Con

A gallery from the bottom to the top

From Career Academy Art

"Not a lot of people root for these kids," Ms. Maria Rubio tells me amongst a crowd of her students. "So this is a big deal for them. They can see that they can succeed for themselves."

A gallery opening at City Hall celebrated Black History Month by showcasing the works of primarily African American and Latino students from Career Academy in Jersey City. The high school focuses on students that have problems in traditional educational systems, focusing on education plans with career preparation and contextual academics. The school tries to help refocus those students that face multiple challenges from harsh environments. Ms. Rubio tells me how she has witnessed the rough paths these kids face each day, many regularly facing drugs and violence and poverty. She tells me how some of her 18 to 16-year-old students are already parents.

One black and white picture hanging in the gallery is a blown up ultrasound of the student's girlfriend's womb, his soon to be son looking down from a wall. It is a beautiful reflection of life and transience. Most all the student's works are inward reflections, snapshots of their passing life. These self-portraits tell the stories of their lives, curious of their world and circumstance. Some pictures hint at outrage and suggest discontent.

"Yeah, I want to go to college. I want to get into music, I want to get into graphic arts and photography. I like all this," Bilial Steed says, pointing up at the high ceilings of City Hall. "But I'm just working on surviving right now."

Hard Times for the Dogs (and Cats)

In the small, but crowded city of a quarter of a million people, there is only one animal shelter. Every stray cat, dog and occasional ferret in Jersey City is brought to the Liberty Humane Society. And there are a lot of animals that need homes. I recently visited the shelter to view their very limited space and resources and see the cats are confined to cages in a single upstairs room. There are not enough beds for the dogs. And in these hard economic times, there are more and more animals are coming in.

However, the shelter is attempting to help itself with a long shot. In an online contest, the Liberty Humane Society is currently second in the rankings to win one million dollars to expand and improve their facilities. They have great reviews from anyone who has adopted from the shelter and run a wonderful facility despite limited resources. I encourage you to visit the contest online and cast a vote for Jersey City.

Click here to visit the contest and help.
And click here to read Lisa Zimmerman's story.

Citizen Journalist

Running along the Hoboken waterfront, I was one of many photographers chasing US Airways Flight 1549 as it floated down the Hudson River. Framed against the Manhattan skyline painted with the setting sun, the scene was surreal to say the least. The entire city seemed to stand still as the plight of the flight unfolded. All traffic came to a stop along the river so people could get a glimpse of the plane in the icy water. Much as we slow to down to look at a car crash, everyone seemed fixated to the could-be-catastrophe. I got my first shot of the plane from atop a firetruck stopped in the middle Park Ave. I ran up to the firefighters frantically asking if they had a view, and they let me stand with them on top of their hoses and ladders.

The shot was through thick trees and too far away for my meager equipment, but it was a start to an interesting spot news phenomena.

While I was happy with some of images I collected, I noticed something about the wealth of photos that surfaced from the incident. I raced back to the office to file a few frames for an online gallery, as The Jersey Journal published some of the very first shots of the plane in the Hudson. But as material came in from the wire, the most engaging images came from the general public shooting from camera phones. There were even photos taken from people aboard the ferry boat that was first to the plane. I was amazed the general public felt the need to document the event, eventually composing a great well of material of the whole ordeal on the Internet. The citizen journalist truly shined that day.

And I for one am thankful. Spot news takes so much dumb luck, it often feels impossible to cover these events that are over within minutes. Spot news might best be left to using the citizen with his or her iPhone, having the brilliant stroke of foresight to record these moments of history through photography. The journalist will always be there to verify and dig deeper within a story. Our focus is between the apparent action and catastrophe, examining the intricacies of the whole story.

Amongst the madness of that day, my friend and fellow Journal photographer Byron Smith photographed a student taking pictures of the plane from the Hoboken waterfront. Byron discovered the kid was actually suppose to be on that flight to Charlotte, NC, but cancelled three days prior. Now that's a journalist at work.

To read Byron Smith and Tom Shortell's story click here.
To view a slideshow of The Jersey Journal's fine photo staff's coverage click here.

Fire Leaves Us Cold

My first day back after a quick vacation, and there is a fire. There seems to be several fires each day in Jersey City, so we often wait for the number of alarms. One and two is a no-go. Three we'll listen closer. Four I'll grab my bag. And five I should already be there. This is not a five-alarm fire, but there are flames. So I grab my bag.

Jersey City firefighters are clamoring all through the three story house, the blaze still licking the back of the building. It is the first scene I have arrived on with real, orange flames. And of course I like the photo without any actual fire in it. But I do think it conveys the horrible beauty of these fires. The courage it takes to fight them, and the cold reality it leaves. No one was hurt, but the blaze left about ten adults and several children homeless two days before the new year.

Below is a slideshow by our chief photographer, Reena Rose Sibayan and myself.

Click here to read the full story by Mike Conte click here.

Christmas Reptilian Rescue

It's Christmas Eve in the newsroom, and I'm working. The same rattling of taps on keyboards and clicks on computers fill the office, devoid of holiday cheer. There is no red, white and green splashed about, no Christmas songs on replay. I kind of like it. Of course as the media, we must be relevant. So our crime reporter Mike Conte and I go about looking for Christmas spot news.

For whatever reason, Mike and I have it in our heads we are going to find a burning Christmas tree. Several fires had already started around town, but the Jersey City Fire Department is incredibly aggressive. Any blaze is almost always out by the time I arrive. No flaming holiday trees to be seen.

As afternoon starts dipping into the evening, and stories and photos are filed in for the night, we hear one more call over the radio for a fire only several blocks from the office. I grab a camera and run.

It can't be more than 5 to 10 minutes after we hear the call when I arrive at the scene. And the fire is already out. The Jersey City firefighters have hosed down the two story house and are already clearing out charred remains. A young girl in a pink robe is sobbing and muttering someone's name. I realize that there is something she lost in the blackened room. I wait out in the cold with the girl, trying to figure out what she is so worried over, a cat perhaps. I am hoping it is not a person.

Suddenly a firefighter comes walking out of the house holding a three-foot, green iguana. "What do I do with it?" he yells out, holding the reptile.

"For God's sake, get it back in the house," the captain yells. "It'll freeze to death out here."

As the firefighter is about to turn back in, I run up and snap a quick picture. The captain later explained that the girl had two iguanas in her apartment. One escaped its cage and knocked over the heating lamp used to keep the animals warm, thus causing the fire. One of the two unfortunately perished in the blaze, although it was not determined which of the iguanas was killed in the flames.

To read the whole story please click on Mike's Story here.

From Saved Iguana

A killer coincidence

"You hear about that crazy homicide over the weekend Conner?" our crime reporter Mike Conte asks me as I come into work. "Police went into an apartment and found a naked body stuffed into a push cart."

I look down at our cover. The headline reads, "Body stuffed in cart" accompanied by a picture of a red push cart.

"Apparently the cops walked in and the guy's toes were pointing to the ceiling," Mike says.

Although fairly gruesome, the incident is not totally outside the realm of normality here in Jersey City. The next day, a teacher was shot in the head (to read that front page story from very the next day click here). Our part-time photographer / local EMT Bill Bayer added to the conversation about how he once arrived on a scene to find someone high on PCP, stomping a cat to death. Jersey City can a be a violent, crazy place.

Over the next few days, Mike begins to dig up the full story. Carmen Matos, 47, her 17-year-old son and the son's 18-year-old homeless friend, Christopher Gonzalez were partying over at Matos's apartment in Jersey City. The victim, Tyrone W. Counts, 43, was also there enjoying a night of drinking and "possible" use of illegal drugs. Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said at some point, Counts said something that was interpreted as being disrespectful toward Matos, which then inititated the homicidal attack (the "homicidal attack" being Matos and the boys repeatedly stabbing and bludgeoning Counts to death with a knife and baseball bat).

The body was then stripped naked, for reasons unknown, and placed head first into a push cart. These efforts seem to have been made with the intention of disposing of the body, but rather Matos and the two boys continued to drink and party into the night. The next morning Matos walked into the North District police to tell them there was a body in her apartment. Matos and her son were charged and arrested on Friday and Gonzalez was brought in and charged Monday.


That brings me to Tuesday, reading Mike's latest story on my lunch break. Looking down at the front cover and the first released photos of the perps, one of them looks familiar. Looking down at Christopher Gonzalez's mug shot, I know I recognize that face. And than I remember where I met him.

"Ken," I yell, running out of the lunch room, waving the front page at my editor. "Did you guys realize we ran a photo of Gonzalez on the front page for a different story?"

"What?" Ken asks.

"When you sent Paul and I out for the homeless shelter story, Gonzalez was our interview. I took a bunch of pictures of the guy."

Ken pauses and looks down, trying to remember the front page story we ran on a Monday in November. His mouth suddenly drops, and he looks back up at me. "Oh yeah man, that's the guy?!"

Nineteen days before the murder, I had met Christopher Gonzalez on the steps of St. Lucy's homeless shelter in Jersey City. Writer Paul Koepp and I were sent out on a relatively slow news day by our editor, Ken Thorbourne to make a story about how the homeless community was handling the cold. Christopher was a young kid we found smoking outside, and was one of the few homeless people comfortable speaking with us.

What struck me about Christopher was his normality. He was well spoken and polite. His demeanor came across as kind. He was even fairly well dressed and clean, besides a pair of dirty white sneakers. My editors complained that he didn't look homeless enough.

He was unremarkable regarding any perception of violence. I sensed no threats while we talked. I felt no fear when I shook his hand. Thinking back now, I would have never guessed he was capable of such an act from our encounter.

When I cover murders and death, there is a faceless perp. It is usually a grainy mug shot or a vague description of someone acting out evil acts. It is often hard to apprehend someone enacting violence. The experience has left me feeling quite capable of murder myself, as I saw little difference in Christopher and I. He was going in for his first day at a new job last time we met, trying to begin supporting himself at eighteen. The only difference I saw in him and I was a matter of luck. He didn't have a home or family to lean on, something I am lucky enough to have. It seems more a matter of where we started life, rather than of character. While obviously there is a very large gap in our integrity, our potential and capabilities seem no different. It's left me feeling the banality of evil.

"That's a crazy coincidence man," Ken says as we look up the front cover from November. "Did he seem like a crazed, murderer when you guys met?"

Paul and I both reply, "No."

List of stories mentioned (in chronological order):

"COLD COMFORT" by Paul Koepp
"Body found stuffed head-first in folding shopping cart" by Mike Conte
"Third charged in "shopping cart" homicide case" by Mike Conte
"THIS PARTY IS DEAD" by Mike Conte