AMBRIDGE RESERVOIR, Pennsylvania — The Ambridge Reservoir was built in the 1950s to accommodate the water needs of nearby towns and villages in southwestern Pennsylvania, one of them being the town of the same name. Incorporated in 1905, Ambridge takes its name from the industry and the company upon which its inhabitants once thrived – […]
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador, 1989 — I never liked El Salvador. It had extracted too much blood from too many people and too many of its victims were my friends and colleagues. A tiny and overcrowded country, El Salvador had a menacing, sinister feel about it. Death squads prowled the streets at night and frantic, […]
NEW YORK, NY, 1983 — I waited to tell my mother during her visit to New York City. So I took her out to dinner on the last dying breath of my credit card, wanting to keep the intensity and the drama of the discussion within the accepted parameters of a restaurant full of people. […]
MANAGUA, Nicaragua, 20 June 1979 — As it became clear that the U.S.-backed Somoza dynasty was in trouble, journalists from around the world converged on Managua to cover this “David vs. Goliath” story: An impoverished people rose up to cast off a cruel, oppressive regime supported for decades by the most powerful nation on the […]
MULUKUKÚ, Nicaragua — We had been hanging out with the Sandinistas for only a few days so we were still fresh, not yet strung out from fatigue, lousy food, exhausting days, uncomfortable nights, tension and fear. We were ready. Or as ready as you can be, to nearly get killed. Mexican photojournalist Arturo Robles and […]
In one of my mother’s photo albums there is a picture of a young family. Her father, Tada, is too big for his suit and his hands are too big for his body. Her mother, Nana, is heavy-set and sturdy. She married my grandfather when she was 15 years old. And the children look like, […]