How I exist in my head

I think we all have an idealized mental image of ourselves that we refer to. This picture, by Hannah Chodos, comes very close to mine: with a few good friends in an all-you-can-eat southern cooking diner somewhere in Alabama, mid-road-trip, sunglasses in teeth, map out.

with magnets

If you've seen War Photographer, you've no doubt been jealous of James Nachtwey's magnetic bulletin board:


Well, now you can be jealous of my magnetic bulletin board:

I had the boys down at McNeil Sheetmetal in Claremont whip this up last week. It's made of a single piece of 22-gauge galvanized sheet steel, a little over four feet high and nine feet long, and shaped like a sideways Nevada to accomodate the cathedral ceiling. Throw in a few dozen rare-earth permanent neodymium magnets from K&J Magnetics, dig up a few prints out of the archives, and it's ready to go.
I've got everything from silver gelatin prints from sophomore year to my old Texas license plate (recently replaced with NH tags reading "RCS") to my passport up there to a shot Jessica Talley took in Cameroon, and room for a few more things.

Finally, this wouldn't be complete without a tribute to Principal Seymour Skinner, whose fondest wish was for

"...a state-of-the-art detention hall where children are held in place with magnets."

Wedding photos

My friend Rachel gets hitched in the sweet home, Alabama

from the deep archive

flipped through a couple rolls of ancient (i.e. August/September 2004) slide film.