This Photo Needs A Bad Ass Theme Song
Art, TV & Film References.
5 Police Stories.
What Makes A Good Photo?
MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS.
A nice lady at the Sumter art gallery educated me on Norman Rockwell. Back home, down the rabbit hole I found “Runaway”. It got me to thinking about my run-ins with “the police”. Some were actually cool.
5 POLICE STORIES
1. Growing up, every other yard in my neighborhood had a basketball hoop. Backyard and at the local gyms, the neighborhood cop hooped with us. Bro hacked a lot, but he was nice. He had post moves and could shoot the three. Are we due for another Above The Rim?
2. Years later, I was riding motorcycles with a group. A sheriff pulled onto the highway and separated me from the group. I raised a thumb-up to the sheriff, for permission to catch up. He raised a thumb-up back. “Drop a gear and disappear.” Are we due for another Biker Boyz?
3. While in NYC trying to do street photography, I asked an officer if I could take his picture. Nostalgia. It felt like I was the camera man in the comics sneaking a picture of the hero in action. As the cool kids say-“Bro got aura”. Are we due for another Police Academy?
4. An agent tried to radicalize me at a George Floyd rally. In a weird hypnotic kinda way, he suggested that the police needed to be held accountable. It felt like he was tryna plant the idea in my head that I personally needed to hold the police accountable. That experience helped me develop the profile of an agent provocateur. Are we due for another Judas and the Black Messiah?
5. Did I ever want to be the police? Back in the day, there was a tv show called “Profiler”; I wanted to be that. Then I wanted to be a forensic investigator like on “CSI”. Now I want to produce a tv police series. Are we due for a Leonid McGill series?
WHAT MAKES A GOOD PHOTO?
Color feels noisy. Digital feels like cheating. I like some of the blurry ones. Sharp ones are cool. Sometimes grain is good. Staging feels corny. Low light feels right. Landscape matters. Busy frames are fun. I don’t know if I know yet. I’m still trying to figure out if I’m taking pictures on purpose or on accident.
MENTAL HEALTH MATTERS: I recently coached a young person through bullying and it got me to thinking-bullying isn’t just a youth exchange. “Gangstalking” is the new bullying. More adults are speaking out about their experience as “targeted individuals”. Solutions seem few and trivial, leaving some with dark options.
“WHO YOU GONNA CALL?”
Does your city have a Co-Response Team (CRT)? I recently read about a program in NYC that pair mental health practitioners with law enforcement officers. One of the goals is to direct people to wellness services instead of jail (when appropriate). For TIs it could be helpful to have a MH advocate bridge the trust gap with law enforcement.
Sweden may have the answer-TRAVEL. I recently saw an article where doctors in Sweden can now prescribe travel for wellness. Being able to use healthcare dollars for wellness travel is a leap into the future. Plus, it’d be hard to gangstalk you while you’re snorkeling in Fiji.
A CINETHERAPY solution: ART IMITATING LIFE-In The Matrix Neo is gangstalked by Agent Smiths. LIFE IMITATING ART-Ask yourself “What would Neo do?”. Get yourself an Oracle, a Morpheus, a lawyer, and a screenwriter. Narrate/orate your experience. Gangstalking stories is the new wave.
“Recognizing the good apples from the Agent Smiths is - TherapeuticLiving.”