Renee Rosensteel Photo, Video in Pittsburgh PA

I did a short piece for the Keystone Edge on technology that helps people with disabilities to communicate. The company, Dynavox, makes devices that uses head movement so that even if a person has no hand function, they can get their ideas out.
The thing that got me about this process was the unexpected complexity of what Sarah, the woman using the device, said. The way she put her words together was more like a writer and less like the casual sloppy conversation that we so often take for granted. Here’s to tech opening the doors and the people who have the inspiration and drive to go through them.

I just returned from the estuaries of Southern Florida.

Florida Wetlands – Images by Renee Rosensteel

Back in December, I had the privilege of making 4 videos of Pittsburgh Steelers for the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern PA. Those videos were just picked up by Serve.gov
Check them out here
The Mentoring Partnership helps out THOUSANDS of kids in western PA–all kinds of kids. They do good work.

After finishing a shoot recently, a photographer who I was working with asked the desk clerk about locally owned places to eat. The clerk wasn’t sure what we were talking about. We said “Ma & Pa type places–not chains.” The clerk gave us the name of a place that was obviously a chain. We thanked her and went on our way.
The point is that even though this woman was old enough to know the town pre-TacoBell, she didn’t get the idea that we wanted our money to stay in her town.
So we went just past the place the clerk had suggested and found a cooool Mexican restaurant just beside a vegetarian place. (Get it? This has nothing to do with ethnicity and everything to do with dollars landing back in the hands of hard-working local folk rather than corporations.)

It took a second to look, but we were able to give back a little to the community after our gig.

I try to do that with the purchases I make. Here are a few of my recent ideas:

• picking the closest vendor in the Amazon used book list
• Just bought a pair of Oboz hiking boots (best boots I’ve had yet!)–made in Montana. And they plant a tree when you buy their product
• Check out Clear.com for Internet service. Their customer service is in the USA.
• SideshowHosting.com is a reseller that I own for domain and hosting services. Customer service is located in the USA. I got into them through GoDaddy.com which is owned by a US Marine.
• Otherworld Computing has great prices, awesome how-to videos, hard-to-find parts and has helped me get another two years out of my laptop among other things. The embrace green business practices in a serious way.

Please help me add to the list.

I just got done project-managing an event in Florida! Whooo! The good folks at Clear let me borrow the Clear 4G+ Mobile USB Series S modem for the project. It worked perfectly!

I never believe that a hotel *wireless* services will work–and true to form–other members of the team trying to use hotel wireless had problems, but not me! I just plugged the USB modem into my Macbook pro and was off and running.

I got great coverage and good speed. It took me a second to get things running. First, I had to be on Snow Leopard–so it took me a second to get everything up to speed.

When I plugged the modem in, it seemed slow–BUT that was pretty easy to solve. I just went into the ADVANCED settings and switched from the default dial up to GSM/3G under the Advanced tab/Modem/Model. It is nearly as fast as my home system.

It made made my life easy on a job with a ton of variables.

A quiet night in Market Square, Pittsburgh, PA.

To all those conservatives out there: Don’t worry. We won’t shoot. We have more important things to do. Here’s the short list:
1. Stop climate change.
2. Stabilize the economy.
3. Get healthcare
4. Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan and be a good guest in other countries.

Please join us if you’d like. We’d really love the help.

Who gave you a hand up? None of us gets far alone. Take a minute to remember your mentor. I produced four short videos of Pittsburgh Steeler players for the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern PA.
I’d like to share two quotes from my mentors:
“Get up!” I learned perseverance and tenacity from my father.
“Help each other out, ya yardbirds!” My first photo teacher, Mr. Pfaff, really meant this.

Let’s look at what Ryan Clark of the Pittsburgh Steelers had to say:

I am increasingly frustrated by the double-standard that the right-wing embraces. Talkshows, newscasts and websites that show little regard for fact and delight in stirring the most base instincts in us–fear, greed and hatred. parade as journalism. One of the basic tenets of public relations is that repetition constitutes validity…the right-wing has been exceptional at this. It is time to call out lies.

A member of our Congress, Gabrielle Giffords, has been struck down by an unstable right-winger with a gun. A judge and a nine-year-old girl are dead.

I am disgusted. It is time to give sanity, tolerance and common sense some air.

My thoughts and prayers are with the fallen and their families.

There is no news in this blog, but I am writing it to add my voice to those who oppose the hijacking of civil society.

In my photos as in my writing, I am fascinated with human behavior–our passions and our shortcomings, our kindness and our cruelty.

I make it my responsibility to bring ideas into my work that include education, arts, human rights issues, developing world issues, progressive politics, environmental issues and technology…there has got to be something in the mix for you.