http://victorblue.photoshelter.com/gallery/Hold-Marjah/G0000pyLn0f._P5s

Afghan cell working again. Go figure. Off to the Arghandab. Hold down the fort.

Captain Manuel Zepeda, Commander of Fox Co. of 2nd Battalion 6th Marines speaks privately with local powerbroker Haji Bozgul during a shura with local block elders and at COP Turbett, Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Tuesday, July 27, 2010.

Very limited email availability. The Afghan cell phone doesn’t work down here. I can receive calls and text on my US cell-

415.867.9615

Marines from 3rd Platoon Fox Company of 2nd Battalion 6th Marines help evacuate a wounded Afghan National Army soldier after a firefight in Marjah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan Tuesday July 24, 2010.

Hit me up.

Shir Gul adjusts his cap after washing a car for money on the shores of the Qargha Reservoir outside Kabul.

Back in Afghanistan for the next 6 weeks. Embedded with the 3/3 Marines in Helmand, and the 1-71 CAV and 101st Airborne in Kandahar, until the end of August. Gonna be a long hot summer.

Afghan Cell# 079 411 7105

From the US- 011 93 079 411 7105

Holla at me.

Edith Willingham, center, is surrounded by family and friends outside the home she shared with her husband, deceased miner Bennie Willingham in Corinne West Virginia Tuesday April 7, 2010. An explosion in the Upper Big Branch mine, a Performance Coal operated and Massey owned mine, claimed the life of Mr. Willingham and at least 24 other miners. Bennie Willingham, 62, had been a coal miner for 30 years, and was only 5 weeks from retirement. CREDIT: Victor J. Blue for the Wall Street Journal

Went to West Virginia last month to cover the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster for the Wall Street Journal. Long days, chasing the news. It was a mess, hard to work- when the satellite trucks are lining all the roads, you know the whole thing has become a different beast, and it’s hard to make the kind of sensitive, thoughtful pictures a story like that deserves. It was tense, the whole media circus packed into a little elementary school that was on spring break, journalists hovered over laptops trying to balance in chairs made for 5 year olds, waiting for word of the next press conference. It took a few days for the residents of Whitesville, Montcoal, Naoma, and the other small towns in the area that had lost their miners to get used to so many cameras, lights and fake hugs from TV personalities. Frustrating. But it ended up good, the third day I got to take off and work on a story with intrepid Journal reporter Doug Belkin on the family of Bennie Willingham, who was killed in the explosion. We drove an hour and a half away from Montcoal to Corinne where we found the whole family at the house, visiting, bringing food, and pouring over a lifetime of family photos for the upcoming funeral. We talked, we told them that we wanted to tell the story of Bennie, his family, and their loss, and they opened their home to us. Shared their memories and their pain with us. We left as the night settled over the hills, and they went back to missing Bennie. The story that ran on the weekend paired two families, one in China and the Willingham’s in WVA, that had both lost members to mining disasters. It was a great concept, and I was glad I got to work on it. Here are some more of the pictures.

A mine rescue team stages at the entrance to the Upper Big Branch mine near Whitesville WV, Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Michelle Averson, left, and Judy Walker, right, sit inside the New Life Assembly Church and wait for word on the remaining miners trapped in the Upper Big Branch Mine.

Parishioners at the New Life Assembly Church wait for word on the trapped miners.

A portion of the Upper Branch Mine in Montcoal WV is shrouded in fog in the early morning, Tuesday, April 6, 2010.

Family and friends gather to grieve at the home of deceased miner Bennie Willingham, two days after he was killed in a coal mine blast, in Corinne West Virginia Wednesday April 7, 2010.

Edith Willingham, wife of deceased miner Bennie Willingham, is consoled by family and friends.

The boots worn by coal miner Bennie Willingham when he died.

.

I moved to Ohio back in the fall. Might be time to catch up a little around here.

.

.

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/

A dog lunges at a soldier of 1st Platoon Charlie Co. of the 2/87 Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade 10th Mountain Division based at COP Sayedabad as he searches a house during an air assault on the village of Lachikhel in the Tangi Valley in Wardak province, Afghanistan Friday June 5, 2009.

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

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.

Amen Virk, of Punjab state in India, prays to the Sikh holy text, the Guru Granth Sahib.

Sikh faithful gather at the Stockton Sikh Temple before the start of the 11th annual Sikh parade.

Harp Singh plays a "Dohl," a traditional drum, as Sikh faithful march in the 11th annual Sikh parade in Stockton.

Kulwant Kaur, left, and Gurdiyal Kaur, right, prepare naan, and Indian flatbread, in preparation for the Sikh Festival at the Sikh Temple in Stockton CA Saturday April 15, 2009.

Women cook a large curry in preparation for the Sikh Festival at the Sikh Temple in Stockton CA Saturday April 15, 2009.