Shortly after being diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, Alex started a journal. Her mother found it on Alex’s computer shortly after Alex passed away. There were only a few entries. Here’s how she described her introduction to cancer. The Wake Up Call It was very early in the morning, before sunrise, when I awoke; one of […]
“Let me tell you something you already know.” “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It is a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.” “But it ain’t how […]
I sat down at my computer on September 1, 2022 and saw a Facebook post from Alex’s doctor. It had been more than three years since Alex passed away, but I stayed in touch. Alex admired her. So did I. She was brilliant, kind and deeply committed to her patients. I could see how much […]
Today marks the beginning of Childhood Cancer Awareness month. For me, awareness isn’t about the fact that childhood cancer exists. We all know that—and we are all horrified by it. Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is more about the facts surrounding childhood cancer—things that, even as Alex was battling Ewing’s Sarcoma, I still didn’t know. Let’s […]
Jill and I reconnected in the summer of 2018. I was visiting my parents in Wisconsin when she responded to a birthday greeting I sent earlier that week. “I see you’re in the Midwest,” she said. “Do you want to meet for lunch?” I told her I would be passing through Chicago on my way […]
In 2014, I photographed a conference where one of the speakers was former NFL lineman Matt Birk. He said the most successful people he knew, athletes or otherwise, were fanatic about fundamentals. When Birk started to play center, his coach asked him to come to practice 15 minutes early. He did, and he spent that […]
I saw a video once titled, Brutal Truth: Nobody Cares About Your Photography. The narrator described a friend who didn’t post his photos on social media. When asked why, he said, “The truth is, nobody cares about my photography. Nobody cares about your photography. Nobody cares about anyone’s photography.” This struck a chord with me because […]
This is a picture I took at the National Baseball Hall of Fame a few years back. It is the jersey Frank Robinson wore in his debut as baseball’s first African-American manager. And the reflection is me remembering what it was like to be 12 years old and watch him hit a home run to […]
When I was a young boy, I was forbidden to cross the main street. If I was caught, there would be dire consequences, perhaps the worst things that could happen from a nine-year-old’s point of view. I would have been grounded. My father might have taken a belt to me. My favorite toys would have […]
In the fall of 1986, I returned to the photojournalism lab at Northern Illinois University. I was two years out of college and supporting myself by delivering pizzas while struggling to establish a foothold in the journalism profession. There had been other jobs. I caught on with Young Athlete Magazine right out of college. Young […]