Growing up in a small northwestern New Jersey town, I learned early on about what it means to be part of a community — from zone defense parenting to knowing there was always an open door if you needed help, from post game passing the hat for ice cream at Herbie’s to firemen’s festivals straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Thinking of those around you was a natural part of my childhood.
When we moved to Doylestown, Pa., about 15 years ago, we found ourselves part of a similar community. One of the bricks in its foundation is the human tour de force, Kimberly Cambra. Kimberly is the spark and fire behind an organization called the CB Cares Educational Foundation. She and her team have an inimitable way of rallying their fellow community members to support the foundation’s mission of delivering programs and grants to promote resilient and responsible youth.
For the past four years, I’ve volunteered at the foundation’s annual Celebrity Chef & Waiter Gala, channeling my inner Mark Seliger to bring a little portrait magic to the festivities. Two of my favorite chefs, Elaine and Jeff Cohen, always come dressed in their finest themed garb. This year’s theme was Italy. Joining them in my gallery for the first time was Aldo Nerone Bove, Altomonte’s wine educator, who sported a killer Ventresca jacket that matched the vino in his glass.
Woke up to see that an old – I mean, OLD – iPhone image I shot and licensed under Creative Commons chosen to help illustrate an article about Huawei on MSN. I shot the image from Mel Gibson’s apartment in Cannes during the 3GSM conference. The company I was working for at the time rented it out for press meetings.
Tomorrow, residents of Bucks County head to the polls to vote in the Pennsylvania primaries. One of the most important races on the ballot is for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. I encourage you to cast your vote for Jordan Yeager for this vital judicial role.
I have had the pleasure and privilege of helping Jordan’s campaign as a communication strategist and photographer. I know Jordan to be thoughtful, compassionate, fair and, above all, human. He was raised in Bucks County and used his personal experience growing up to dedicate his career pursuing justice for all.
Jordan is a tireless advocate for the environment and the powerless. He has broad litigation experience across the many types of cases that come before the Court of Common Pleas. His work has earned him the distinction as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer and an entry in the history books when he won the first case in history to have a state law declared unconstitutional because it violated the environmental rights of Pennsylvania residents.
Jordan has been overwhelmingly endorsed by a who’s who of organizations and politicos — including the Conservation Voters of PA, which, for the first time in its 10 year history, has backed a candidate for the Court of Common Pleas. I join them with my full and unequivocal support for Jordan Yeager. I encourage you to give Jordan your support, too.
Judicial candidates are cross-filed, so they will appear on both sides of the ballot:
DEMOCRATS, push 11A REPUBLICANS, push 7B
Every vote is crucial tomorrow. Cast yours for Jordan Yeager to ensure a future of justice for all.
As children, our parents and teachers drilled it into our heads that we should never talk to strangers. I’m sure they meant well.
Luckily, that sage advice of my elders faded away as I got older. Today, camera in hand, I’ll talk to just about anyone. Because everyone’s got a story to tell. Everyone has something in their life that makes them different. That one thing nobody has the nerve to ask them about that makes them interesting.
So it went a couple of years ago when Jenn and I were in New York City with our good friends for a weekend of fun. While exploring The Whitney Museum of American Art, I noticed a man sitting on a bench against the wall while everyone walked by the large scale stained glass installation in front of him. I took a seat next to him.
“It’s an interesting piece of work,” I said. “Are you the artist?”
“Flattered, but no. You don’t recognize me?”
I took a longer look at him, wracking my brain to see if he was a movie star I should have known at first sight. “I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
“I’m the Mayor of the Meatpacking District.”
Which, sadly, still meant nothing to my IMDB-searched memory. But damn if I wasn’t going to spend some time talking to someone with a title like that. Jenn and my friends continued on. I stayed seated next to him as he regaled me with pieces of the story of his life.
His given name is Roberto Monticello. He’s lived in the Meatpacking District for a quarter of a century and New York City for 40 years. A Cuban immigrant, Monticello has lived a life that could be measured well beyond the years he has lived. He has directed more than 50 plays and 28 films, including a documentary exposing the human trafficking of hundreds of children annually from Malaysia, Philippines and Cambodia to the greater New York City area. He spoke about the larger meaning of his work and how he used it to help others.
I was fascinated by Roberto. When I returned from the weekend, I did some digging and discovered I had only scratched the surface of the life this remarkable man has lived:
Swimming for his freedom in Guantanamo Bay at 17 Journeying to Ethiopia three times during the famine, once as a refugee camp director Surviving beatings in South America while traveling in pursuit of Nazi war criminals Living with Peruvian Indians in the Andes Recording human rights abuses in Afghanistan during the Russian presence Accompanying the U.N. at Hotel Rwanda Suffering 3 gun shot wounds, one in Guatemala, where he was investigating the killings of Native Indians; another, taking medicine to his home country of Cuba, and the third in Darfur (on his 4th trip there), where he was on a mission for the Red Cross Bringing boatloads of medication twice a year back to his home country, Cuba, and working to end the U.S. Embargo and Travel Ban there Winning the Film Humanitarian Award from the Queens Film Festival for his work in Darfur, Cuba, Serbia, Rwanda and Sri Lanka Recipient of the UNICEF Relief Dag Hammarshjold Medal
I stole a few more minutes from my friends and thanked Roberto for telling me his story. I asked him if I could make a portrait of him and he thankfully obliged. I knelt down, framed his red hat against the wall, and pressed the camera shutter twice, honored to have the opportunity to further the mayor’s story.
I had a blast shooting with the inspiring and fun loving Dev Everett the other day near a small airfield overlooking the Delaware River. The airfield sits high above the Delaware River a few miles north of where George Washington and his troops set out on their historic march to Trenton.
Dev thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail last summer, roughly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. This spring, she’ll tackle its west coast counterpart, the Pacific Crest Trail, adding another 2,560 miles to her hiking boots. This hike is as much about her soul as it is, well, her soles. Dev has teamed up with HIKE for Mental Health to raise funds and reduce the stigma associated with mental health.
Over the past few years, I have struggled with managing my anxiety and depression but I have always found nature to be a source of comfort.
As Dev points out, one in four families are affected by mental health. It’s something we as a society don’t like to talk about, despite the fact our brains are the very core of our being. That stigma is changing though, because of the honesty and efforts of brave people like Dev and Christian Reilly.
You can donate to Dev’s effort here. I also highly encourage you to follow her on Instagram as she makes the journey up America’s Pacific Coast.
Today is International Women’s Day, a century old celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women around the globe.
Women who lead.
Liz Dooley leads thousands of marchers in a protest rally in Doylestown, Pa.
Women who inspire.
Dev Everett through hiked the Appalachian Trail and will tackle the Pacific Crest Trail this summer.
Women who serve.
Kara DeFrias served as Director of User Experience for Vice President Biden at the White House, where she led the Cancer Moonshot work around cancer clinical trials.
Women who resist.
Young women march for women’s rights down the main street of Doylestown, Pa.
Women who push.
The fastest women bike racers in the world compete in front of thousands of fans at the Bucks County Classic.
Women who nurture.
Broadway actress (A Christmas Story, Rocky, Forbidden Broadway, Spamilton and the national tour of Jersey Boys) and mom, Jenny Lee Stern.
Women who teach.
Judy Siegle, first grade teacher at Doyle Elementary School, who has taught in the Central Bucks School District for more than 20 years and played an integral role instilling a love of reading in her students.
Women who rock.
Kayleigh Moyer, badass percussionist currently on tour with pop artist Whitney Woerz opening up for Jesse McCartney.
And the women who make me a better human every day.
My oldest daughter attends college roughly an hour’s drive from our house. She’s studying vocal performance and music history. Despite being relatively close to home, I’m a believer that college should be a time of personal as well as intellectual growth, an opportunity to experience those first tastes of independence. So, I do my best to let her have her space, to let her experience new things and make and learn from her own mistakes. I’m proud to say she’s doing just that.
But the school’s music program has put on more than 250 open to the public performances so far this year, several of which she’s taken the stage for. Now, I know I just went on about how college is a time for independence, but you, dear reader, are kidding yourself if you don’t think I took advantage of only being an hour a way to make sure I was in the audience for most of them.
Giggles rose from the backseat of the car the first time we drove past the dilapidated Beury Building on Philadelphia’s famed Broad Street. Seeing the words “Boner Forever” tattooed on the side of a 14 story building will do that to teenagers. And their father. Not so much his wife.
The once majestic Art Deco movie theater was built in 1926 but has stood vacant for more than 40 years. It was originally the home of the National Bank of North Philadelphia and later took the name of Charles Beury, the bank’s first president and former president of Temple University. My oldest daughter attends the university’s Boyer School of Music, giving us opportunities to travel down Broad Street to watch her perform. And while the Viagra mural still makes me chuckle, I’ve since learned that Boner and Forever are actually two graffiti artists who collaborated on the prominent tag.
Broad Street cuts through roughly 13 miles of the City of Brotherly Love. It was one of the earliest planned streets in the United States, designed by Thomas Holme for William Penn in 1687, and remains one of the country’s busiest and longest urban boulevards.
It’s a street paved in history. It intersects with Clearfield Street on the exact location of the 40th Parallel. It’s shared corner with West Glenwood Avenue is the former personal gym of Joe Frazier. Just up the street from my daughter’s dorm is the 50,000 square foot Uptown Theater. Built in 1929 and opened on the eve of the Great Depression, the theater played an integral role in rhythm and blues, soul and gospel music. Names like Sam Stiefel, Georgie Woods and Sid Booker produced weeks long shows on Broad Street. Daryl hall, a Temple student like my daughter, got his start at the Uptown.
Broad Street was also the flashpoint for the Philadelphia race riots in 1964, one of the first in the civil rights era.
Traveling up and down Broad Street is a reminder of the history that traveled one of America’s most storied streets.
I shot these images with my Olympus E-PL1 street camera while stopped at traffic lights heading north on Broad Street.
Mike Maney 