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After my embed, I spent a few days shooting a story on day laborers in Kabul.  So strange, exactly the same situation as in the US- out of work men, standing on street corners, hoping for just a few hours of work.  The unemployment in Afghanistan is rampant, there is almost no economic development, and it all provides kindling for the insurgency.  

Day laborer Abdul Moihd, 23, rests with other laborers in the cheap hotel where he sleeps after a day looking for work at the Chowk-E-Kut-E-Sangi circle in western Kabul, Afghanistan Tuesday June 16, 2009. Abdul is from the district of Chak in Wardak province, an area where Taliban militants operate freely. He has come to Kabul seeking work to help support his family at home. According to a report by the Asian Development Bank, unemployment in Afghanistan is an estimated 40% of the labor force. Day laborers like Abdul have little other options for work in a country where chronic unemployment is believed to contribute to instability and fuel the Taliban insurgency.

http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/victorblue/gallery/Kabul-Day-Laborers/G0000rhY_8tol7oo/

Pictures from an air assault into the Tangi Valley with 1st Platoon, Charlie Co., 2/87 Infantry, 3/10 Spartan, up on the archive now.  Give them a look.  

http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/victorblue

Currently in Afghanistan.  Embedded with 3/10 Spartan in Wardak and Logar.

Afghan mobile # 0795942678

from US: 01193795942678

Holla.

Abel Bartanas, center, pats the head of a sikh child as Sikh faithful march through South Stockton in the 11th annual Sikh parade in Stockton CA Sunday April 19, 2009.

Stockton’s annual Sikh parade was last month.  I was excited to get to cover it again.  15,000 Sikh folks parading behind the holy book and handing out food to everyone in south Stockton, what’s not to love.  

So I am following along, trying to find the picture that says what I want it to about the parade- that got behind the exotic look of it, that communicated how all these cultures, all these people from all these worlds come crashing together in the worn streets of this town, part of the striving that is the real story of Stockton.  I was drawn to the families sitting out on their porches, lining the sidewalks, watching all these men with long beards and swords and women in the blazing colors of their punjabi outfits stroll by.  I stopped for just a second in front Abel and his families’ house.  As he reached out, I reached up, and made a picture of a connection; brief, fleeting, but it was there.

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Photographed a Passion Play put on by the youth group at St. Gertrude’s here in Stockton.  It was fun watching them get all dressed up like jesus and his persecutors.  I love youth group.  I was the president of mine in high school.

Sandra Abundiz, 20 left, prepares with other youth group members before a passion play at St. Gertrudes Church in Stockton CA Thursday April 10, 2009.

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The Sandra Cantu story has been a tough one.  It was so sensational, but so sad at the same time.  Tracy seems shellshocked by the whole thing.  Unfortunately, it will probably only get more out of hand as the trial gets underway.  I only covered a little bit of it.  People were really affected by her death.  This vigil the night after she was found was strange, people genuinely moved enough to come out, leave flowers, hold candles.  No media coordinators or PR people.  Just overbearing tv reporters with those weird headlights on their cameras muscling through the crowd.

Maria Ramirez, right, remembers Sandra Cantu, 8, at a vigil in her memory in Tracy CA Tuesday April 7, 2009.

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Caltrans decided to evict a homeless camp from underneath a couple of bridges here in town.  They gave them a few days to get their stuff together.  I visited a couple times before the eviction, which happened yesterday.  Seems pretty pointless, they all just headed further along the river to camp, everyone knows it’s a matter of time until they head back.  It’s rainy.  

Ignacio Geronimo clears out his encampment in anticipation of an eviction scheduled for Tuesday February 17 under a bridge in Stockton CA Saturday February 14, 2009.

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Nothing like a horse picture to turn around your day.  My personal belief is that all pictures with horses in them are good pictures.  

San Joaquin County elementary school students pet Tank, a Shire breed of draught horse, at AgVenture, an educational program to teach kids how the food they eat is produced, at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds in Stockton CA Wednesday January 28, 2009.

Inauguration day, here in Stockton. I got to watch it with Lola Hodges and Angela Bernard at a senior care center in town. Lola is 105, grew up in Texas. Sharp as a tack. “I Don’t care if he’s green, purple or tea green, it’s OK with me what color he is, as long he do the things that are right for the people. Now I hope things will be able to be straightened out, and everything will turn out to be much better.” 105. No kidding around. It’s her day.

My story on All Saints Day can now be seen on Lovebryan.