Mayor of Chicago Announces Measures to Curb Use of Deadly Force by the Police by Mitch Smith December 30, 2015 CHICAGO — Under intense pressure to change the behavior of the police force, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday announced a series of steps intended to rein in the use of deadly force, promising to buy hundreds of Tasers and to train officers to be less confrontational. […]
This was a year of terrorist attacks, mass shootings a-plenty, mass exodus from the Middle East, North and East Africa and the AfPak region which does not include India but a small number from Bangladesh, rising xenophobic far right sentiment, and an uptick in hostility towards Muslims unprecedented since immediately after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The far right so far has been kept on the back burner, but the slow slide into what I liken to the Brezhnev years of the Cold War for the Global War on Terror (GWoT) years is upon us. The American presidential elections offer little reason or occasion for hope. The state of affairs in Syria, too, offers little occasion for hope. “Assad must go” has converted into the new “red line,” as US Secretary of State John Kerry concedes Assad can stay because the US has no one else to pluck out of an abyss of alternatives. The whole world has heard of the Islamic State and the international media relishes any opportunity to put the group’s name …
The Year in Pictures 2011 The annus horribilis of 2011 is coming to a close – a year that will go down as one of dramatic upheaval and revolution alongside 1789, 1848, 1917, 1989, and now, this year. In Egypt, young revolutionaries overthrew the government of Hosni Mubarak after 31 years of subservience to a one-party state bolstered by an omnipresent muhabarata, or secret service, further bolstered by an overreaching military, after Egyptians witnessed similar events in Tunisia lead to the removal of that country’s former leader Ben Ali. Consequently, the domino theory made a surprise return as events in Egypt triggered revolts elsewhere in Bahrain, Libya, Syria and Yemen. Of these, only Libya’s leader fell after rebels received aerial support from NATO war planes; Qaddafi was found hiding in a drainage canal near his hometown of Sirte (or Surt, depending on your news source and spelling) and subsequently dragged through the streets, sodomized with a knife and otherwise tormented before being shot in the head. In the Libyan conflict three photographers lost their lives, …
I received three honorable mentions this year at the Lucie International Photography Awards for work in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Hungary, and Chicago. The entries are below with brief descriptions. You will have to scroll down pretty far in the same “Honorable Mention” gallery to find these entries in the environmental, political, photo essay and feature story categories here. From the entry description: Entry Title: “Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline” Name: Amanda Rivkin, United States Category: Professional, Photo Essay and Feature Story The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Oil Pipeline traverses three nations, skirts five conflict zones, and covers land held by believers in at least two of the world’s great religions. A major post-Cold War victory for the West that sent one million barrels of oil a day pumping from the oil fields of Azerbaijan with room to expand to transport energy from elsewhere in the Caspian and Central Asian regions, the BTC pipeline – as the project is known – has helped to redefine energy security in the early 21st century. (This work has previously appeared at National Geographic.) — …
Jury Finds Blagojevich Guilty of Corruption By MONICA DAVEY and EMMA G. FITZSIMMONS Published: June 27, 2011 CHICAGO — A jury on Monday convicted Rod R. Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, of a broad pattern of corruption, including charges that he tried to personally benefit from his role in selecting a replacement for President Obama in the United States Senate. Mr. Blagojevich, a Democrat who former aides say once envisioned himself as a future presidential contender, was found guilty of most of the 20 federal counts against him: 17 counts of wire fraud, attempted extortion, soliciting bribes, conspiracy to commit extortion and conspiracy to solicit and accept bribes. As the verdicts were read aloud in court, one “guilty” following another, Mr. Blagojevich, who has always proclaimed his innocence, turned, his jaw clenched grimly, to look at his wife, Patti, in the front row. By then, she was already slumped back in the arms of a relative, eyes closed, wiping away tears. The verdict appeared to be the conclusion, at last, to the spectacle of …
This is a pretty special newsletter for me concerning announcements. First, I have graduated from the Georgetown University Graduate School of Foreign Service, which ends a two-year chapter of my life first in Washington, DC and then commuting between there and New York over the past year. While it was a fascinating educational experience, I am ready to move on to new projects and pastures. As a photographer, my work grew as well over those two years, for me most notably last summer when I was a recipient of a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant which facilitated travel photographing the social and economic life along the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline which delivers Caspian crude to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan by way of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey. Recently, this work was published on the National Geographic website in a photo gallery entitled, “At Five Years, BTC Pipeline Moves Oil, Culture,” with accompanying text by Marianne Lavelle. Lastly, the biggest bit of news. As a consequence of this work and my interest in the people, culture and …
Last week, was a busy one. Rahm Emanuel was inaugurated mayor of Chicago and I graduated from Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Foreign Service. I drove 2,000 miles between here, there and several other places in between. From the corn fields in the plains of the Midwest, to the backyard patios of Brooklyn, to the gates of the highest office in the land. It all ends just before the rapture that was said to end the world but did not manage to. Some postcards from the last week:
Newsletter just went out: Greetings!, A round-up of recents publications and news from Amanda Rivkin, photographer to kick off the springtime – because what says rebirth like a look back in time: AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHY 26 The American Photography 26 photo annual arrived recently, featuring photographic highlights from 2009 in photojournalism, fine art and commercial photography. Included is this image I took (at left) from January 29, 2009 of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich in the Illinois State Capitol his final day in office for The New York Times: More on American Photography 26 both on the AI-AP website and the amanda rivkin, photographer blog. RAHM EMANUEL IS OUR NEW DALEY On February 22, 2011, Chicago got a new mayor – a rare, once-in-a-generation event if someone named Daley was in power at the time of your birth, growth or development. For the first time in more than 21 years and after nearly half a century of Daley family-rule at the helm of Chicago politics, a new mayor was anointed: Rahm Emanuel. Receiving 55% of the …
May 16, 2011 Chicago gets a new mayor after nearly half a century of Daley family rule at the helm of the city. Looking back some images from Rahm’s victory celebration last night at the Plumbers Union Hall in the West Loop. — Rahm’s stubby amputated middle finger is almost as famous (or notorious) as he is. The result of a meat slicing accident as a teenager working at a suburban Arby’s, President Obama once joke that it rendered Emanuel “practically mute.” — As mayor elect, everyone wants a piece of you: — AKPD Media/Emanuel campaign centcom for projecting election returns into the Plumbers Union Hall: — For more images of Rahm Emanuel, please visit amandarivkin.photoshelter.com. — For more on Mister Mayor Elect Rahm Emanuel, previous posts and articles: Fortnight Journal “The Chicago Way,” February 14, 2011. “From the Archive: Two Years Ago Almost to the Day, Former and Present White House Chief of Staffs Rahm Emanuel and William Daley at Obama’s Inauguration Luncheon,” January 21, 2011. “The Full Emanuel: Running with Rahmbo, Best Pictures …
The Chicago Way Fortnight Journal February 14, 2011 I. The Chicago Tribune arrived on the ledge outside my family’s kitchen. It was December. I was home for the holidays from graduate school. On the front page, the Tribune featured an early poll of 721 likely voters in the Chicago mayoral race. This was the first real contest in 21 years for the highest office in the city; The Fifth Floor; the mayor’s executive suite at Chicago City Hall. The poll showed a clear and early divide had emerged: There was Rahm Emanuel. And then there was everyone else. Or rather, there was Rahm Emanuel with a double-digit, 32 percent lead, and then a fragmented spread that delegated mere single-digit percentage points to the other six candidates, in alphabetical order: Roland Burris, Gery Chico, Danny Davis, Miguel del Valle, Reverend James Meeks and Carol Moseley Braun. As of this writing, the race has dwindled considerably. Davis and Meeks bowed out and endorsed Moseley Braun, making her the de facto black candidate in the race. Burris announced …
Amanda Rivkin 