Here’s his outfit:

Spyder Evade Systems Jacket - Blizzard/Atlantic [$239.96]

Spyder First Tracks Insulated Pants - Blizzard [$165.00]

Now we just need to buy some goggles and we’re set!  Any goggle recommendations?

Also, time to start hitting the gym again.  I hear snowboarding is tiring.

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I’m starting to get an itch for an HD video camcorder.  Maybe the prices will drop with the bad economy?

It rained a lot last night. It was kind of a weird rain though. There were times where I felt like I was on the set of The Truman Show and someone was flicking the rain switch on and off.

The husband is out of town this week which means I’m left to fend for myself.  Fend against my own paranoia, my own laziness, and my own bad habits.

I’m a little paranoid about writing that he’s out of town because I worry that someone will read it and decide now is a good time to rob us.  Yeah, I know.

Usually I get pretty lazy about school work.  And usually, it’s the husband that’s getting on my case to hurry up and finish during the week so we won’t be stuck at home all weekend.  I finished writing a paper last night but I didn’t get around to putting together my powerpoint presentation on pathological gambling.  I’m almost done reading the memoirs of a pathological gambler (that has been pretty fascinating) called Born to Lose by Bill Lee.  I can’t wait until I can start devouring my to-read-for-fun list.  It’s runs 14 books deep, not counting that whole magical wizard kids series.

Luckily, we haven’t had to turn on the A/C in about two weeks (I love double paned glass & insulation!) so I haven’t had the opportunity to forget to turn off the A/C.

The strange phenomenon that always happens is that I see myself becoming ultra-responsible in his absence.  I wake up earlier in the mornings for fear of oversleeping, I clean the house more often, and I eat healthier.

Unfortunately I have a big stack of school work waiting for me so I can’t indulge in me-time with good books, shopping, web surfing (I’m way behind on TED talks!) and television.  So my nights are quiet, in front of my laptop, at the dining room table, with one of my cats sleeping on my lap.

I’m actually an introverted person, I’ve always loved spending time alone, I think the husband has just become an extension of self (or the other way around?) and it’s a weird feeling to miss yourself.

I really like Twitter.  Thanks to everyone who has kept me entertained on there.  Special shoutout to RawkHawk who reviews music albums.  A recent fave tweet: “Snow Patrol - A Hundred Million Suns: Sounds like a mega-church’s dream worship band creating mostly secular ballads in moody chords.”

Haha, I knew that album sounded familiar.

Good thing the husband’s coming home soon.  If he weren’t, I’d probably start undertaking projects like the two below:

Miss Vickie’s Creamy Buttermilk Ranch Chips. I love chips.  I can easily eat a full sized bag of chips in one sitting.  It’s disgustingly great.  I really like the ever so popular kettle cooked chips and this is my new favorite flavor: Buttermilk Ranch.  I was a bit wary about anything milk related being in a chip bag and I remember something about our minds not naturally associated blue colored things as edible (which was an explanation why it took so long for Hershey’s to add blue M&M’s — this could be completely false and maybe it was a dream but I think there might be some truth to it) but they are delicious!  It’s weird because it looks a little like they’re going to taste like Sour Cream & Onion but they taste more like Cooler Ranch Doritos.  But imagine it on a kettle cooked thick potato chip.

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The Boiling Crab. I love this place.  The place is totally kitschy with all the wooden tables and booths and fishing knicknacks — complete with a boat’s steering wheel at the front counter.  They cover your table with a large sheet of paper, take your drink orders (which comes in Styrofoam cups) and then dump a bunch of limes on your table.  They also place these small plastic containers filled with salt and pepper for each person.  Luckily I love Vietnamese food and I know that this is like what you dip Bo Luc Lac (Shaken Beef) in.  We ordered 3 blue crabs for each of us — one crab of each seasoning flavor (Garlic Butter, Lemon Pepper, and Cajun).  Unfortunately we didn’t try the Whole Shebang seasoning.  We also ordered some corn on the cob which was obviously microwaved and heavily buttered but still good.  It’s hard to ruin corn.  Everything comes in plastic bags.  It’s kind of a strange setup, but it works.  The crabs were incredibly fresh and I loved the seasoning.  The Cajun and Garlic Butter crabs were a lot better than Lemon Pepper crabs.  I loved dipping the sweet crab meat into the salt, pepper, & lime dipping sauce.

The most delicious part of the meal was when the bill came out.  The blue crabs are listed at $5.99/lb and we had no idea what that translated into as far as how many pounds a crab was.  Our total bill for two sodas, 6 blue crabs, and 3 corn on the cobs was $32 before adding tip.  Cheap!  We’ll definitely be frequenting this place a lot during crab season.

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Brasserie Max & Julie. We went here last night to celebrate Carlos’s 30th birthday.  I’m not really a fan of French food.  I like their breads and pastries (especially savory pastries like quiche; wait, does that qualify as a pastry?) but I’m not a real fan of the food.  I mean, I’m okay about it.  I was really pleased with my meal here.  The food was pretty good, I had the Rabbit Confit and the husband had the Duck with Honey and Lavender.  I think his duck was better than my rabbit (I’ve had better rabbit) but I’m also really partial to duck so I don’t know if that’s a good assessment.  The bone marrow appetizer was a bit disappointing because there wasn’t very much to spread on the toast.  The profiteroles we had for dessert were pretty standard.  It’s hard to mess up cream puffs, vanilla ice cream and warm chocolate syrup!  The prices were really reasonable and overall it was a good meal.  The service was top notch here and I think that made the whole dining experience a good one.  The atmosphere of the place was really cozy and unpretentious which is sometimes hard to find when it comes to French food.

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Mark’s American Cuisine.  We went here for our anniversary dinner.  Easily one of my favorite meals in Houston.  We started out with the smoked seafood platter.  I love smoked anything so I was really happy with this appetizer.  For our entrees, the husband had the veal and I think I had the tenderloin medallions.  That’s the thing about New American cuisine.  I always really enjoy it when I eat it (it might be my favorite kind of fancy food) but it’s never that memorable.  I liked the interesting sides that came with the entree; there were several vegetables I didn’t recognize.  They paired the flavors really well!  I also liked their bread basket — especially this one type of onion bread that tasted a lot like Chinese Onion Bread (literally translates as Flower Roll).  Dessert was really good — but I can’t remember it!  Haha man.  The service was excellent here.  The husband let them know it was our anniversary and they brought out our desserts with a candle.  The place is as cozy and romantic as advertised.  We were on the farthest table from the door on the first floor so we had a great view of the place.  I’ve always thought that churches were romantic.

We had a miracle fruit party this past Saturday at our place and it was a lot of fun!

Here’s Jin (our supplier) and the berries!

Here’s our lineup of foods that we tried:

• raspberries
• tabasco sauce
• extra stout Guinness beer
• shiraz wine
• grapefruits
• limes
• 100% cacao
• balsamic vinaigrette
• saint arnold’s divine reserve
• harvest moon pumpkin ale
• kim chi
• salt & vinegar chips
• pickles
• sour gummies

The berry’s effects weren’t as powerful as advertised — for example, the balsamic vinaigrette did not taste like caramel.  But some things were really great.  My favorite was the lime.  Denver described it as a fruit that tasted like a limeade.  It still had the lime flavor but it was sweet enough to where you could bite into it like an orange.

It was really interesting to see something and expect a certain flavor but then taste something very unexpected.

Everyone experienced the effects to a different degree.  Some people’s taste buds were altered completely while some people didn’t experience any changes.

Curious about it?  Buy your own berries here and host a party or look for a local party to join!

“I can’t believe I did it!  I got it out!”

“What? Got what out?  What are you doing?  Why were you doing it outside?”

“I’m fixing the sink.  This is actually really cool.  I figured out how it all works.  I can show you later.  I needed to get this one broken part out because Kohler didn’t send us all the parts so I have to mix the old parts and the new parts…”

His voice faded as he ran upstairs.  I took my shoes off (because sometimes cultural habits die hard) and chuckled to myself.  It’s really rare that the husband shows himself in this form.

Let me back up.  Hurricane Ike came and went almost two months ago but its effects still linger.  Many of my classmates are still displaced from their homes and some have no homes to return to.  We were incredibly fortunate and did not suffer any hurricane related damages.  Not a single plank in our fence or a single shingle on our roof was affected.  During the hurricane, my parents evacuated from Clear Lake to stay at our house and we evacuated to stay at my brother-in-law’s house.  While my parents were at our house, the sink somehow broke and the knob to turn the water on and off was stuck in the on position.  The husband contacted Kohler because they have a lifetime warranty (which apparently only applies to the first owner of the house) and they sent out some of the parts.

Okay, fast forward to the present.  Well, two nights ago.

Some hammering, wrenching (I don’t think this word is used correctly here), and sealing…

… the sink was fixed!

The husband is not really an engineer by personality.  He doesn’t have a top of the line computer setup, he doesn’t have any engineering projects of his own, and he enjoys socializing more than I do.  So it’s a lot of fun to catch him in these rare engineering moments.  And it’s also really nice being married to someone who knows how to figure this stuff out because I know I would have tried to Google it and then I would have chickened out by calling Joe the plumber.  Juuuuuuust kidding.

But I wanted you to know that I think about it daily, I really do.

Maybe next semester I’ll get back to posting 3-4 posts a week.  Those were the good old days.

In other news, I’m really worried that these carved pumpkins are going to start rotting before we can show them off this weekend.  Any tips on pumpkin preservation?

When I wrote a blogpost about Ron Paul, cyberspace political bullies crawled out of the woodwork to tell me how ignorant and foolish I was.  I’m not sure I can prevent that here but I will say that I am not trying to definitively prove why one candidate is better than the other– I’m simply stating why I, as an Asian-American Christian, with all of my intellectual and theoretical limitations, am voting for Barack Obama.  Perhaps there are economists, military strategists, and theologians out there that will disagree with me, but I feel compelled to vote based on my personal values, principles and observations.

First of all, I’m not a Democrat.  I do not agree with everything in Barack Obama’s platform.  I don’t even know if Barack Obama agrees with everything in Barack Obama’s platform.  I think you would be hard-pressed to find a pure Republican or a pure Democrat these days but people strangely feel the need to align to one party or another.  I have actually tried to align myself but have been unable to.  I think a lot of the issues are too complex and too nuanced to choose “for” or “against”.  Unfortunately, this is how people operate and this is how our political systems cater to the voters.

Second of all, most political debates are pointless.  When people think about the government from completely different paradigms and different values — it is usually futile to try to discuss policy.  Policy is ultimately driven and defended by values (well, they are supposed to be, even though in reality it’s more about money and lobbying special interest groups) and if you don’t share the same values with the person you are talking to, it is extremely difficult to even start discussing logistics or the financial implications– you need to first agree on why the policy should or should not exist!

So I write this post for people who share the same values as I do.  If you are a Libertarian who believes that the government should do as little as possible — this post will do nothing for you.  If you don’t believe in redistribution of wealth or the importance of strengthening of the middle class — what I say will make no sense to you.  If you do not believe that we have a moral right to make sure that no child goes hungry or uneducated in the United States, that such as thing exists as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (cool video of UDHR, thanks Carlos!) — then you can pretty much stop reading.

Okay, for those of you who are left.  I’m just going down the list of issues on Obama and McCain’s webpages to organize my thoughts.  Something neat about this presidential campaign is that both candidates agree on quite a bit!  But there definitely are some differences:

• Civil Rights — I appreciate that this is listed as an issue on Obama’s page as it doesn’t make it onto McCain’s.  I am an advocate for things like pay equity between males and females, reducing crime recidivism by providing ex-offender support, eliminating sentencing disparities between powder cocaine and crack cocaine, and the increased use of drug courts.  These are basic problems that have been in our country for a long time and I believe more superficial “tough on crime” policies are just going to make private prison owners richer and waste more tax money.
• Defense/National Security — Both candidates seem to agree here on modernizing our defense.  I would have chalked this one up for McCain — especially because Obama coasted through the primaries on the idea of pulling the troops out ASAP and since then, things have changed in Iraq to the point where that would not seem prudent.  I think it was wise of Obama to choose Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations committee — his VP pick evens the playing field a bit.  And I do think that the democratic party has a slight edge in foreign relations because unfortunately, I think people around the world associate Bush’s policies as synonymous with Republican policies.
• Disabilities — Again, this is an issue that is addressed on Obama’s website and not on McCain’s.  We would be kidding ourselves if we thought that disabled people currently had the same rights as able-bodied people in the United States.
• Economy/Family — This is an issue that I have changed my opinion drastically about in the past year or two.  I used to think that the less the government was involved in our economy the better (i.e. deregulation of the financial markets).  Unfortunately, this hasn’t worked out for us as evidenced by the mess we are in right now.  And I won’t pretend to completely understand the mess we are in right now but I do think that more regulation is needed.  McCain (and the Republican party in general) has always been supported by large corporations and because of this, I think it will be difficult for McCain to create any policies that reign in their greedy practices.  I disagree with trade tariffs on imported goods but I agree with eliminating tax cuts for countries that outsource their jobs from overseas.  I also agree with Obama’s plans for tax credits (for those making less than $75,000 as an individual or $150,000 as a couple) to help the middle class and I support his focus on making work more desirable than welfare or government assistance.  I also really like that Obama preaches fiscal responsibility instead of just promising to increase government assistance.  During his recent speech in Toledo, Ohio, “Obama – who regularly preaches tough love to audiences– said that people need to take responsibility for their own financial situation; that the crisis on Wall Street and Main Street has contributed to their woes – but now is the time for fiscal responsibility in their own lives.“
• Education — This is one of the areas that I am most passionate about.  Since entering the graduate social work program, I have spent a considerable amount of time learning about society’s ills and hearing from various experts about society’s ills.  By society’s ills, I’m referring to the overrepresentation of minorities in the criminal justice system, the lack of social mobility between classes, crime, ethnic discrimination, and even the loss of competitive technology produced in the United States.  No Child Left Behind was horribly underfunded and schools that were not deemed worthy by parents armed with school vouchers had no resources to improve or change to compete with other schools.  I believe in higher teacher pay and more parity in funding and resources for all public schools.  A school teacher should not have to pay for paper and supplies out of her own pocket because she is in a less wealthy school district.  The American Dream is rooted in education.  Without a strong and healthy education system, the American Dream will never be a reality for most people.  The barriers to higher education also need to be reduced.  It is a shame that some students from a low socio-economic background work so hard from K-12 and are accepted into highly-ranked four-year universities but are unable to attend because they cannot afford the tuition.
• Energy/Environment — Both candidates talk about energy independence from the Middle East but I believe the future lies in renewable energy and not in Alaska’s pipelines.  I am really excited that both candidates are talking about a cleaner environment and that they have both committed to protecting nature.
• Ethics — Government reform is one of the biggest reasons why a lot of people are drawn towards Obama.  A quote from his speech in Des Moines, IA: “I am in this race to tell the corporate lobbyists that their days of setting the agenda in Washington are over. I have done more than any other candidate in this race to take on lobbyists — and won. They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House, and they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I am president.”
• Faith — Obama’s Call to Renewal Keynote Address.  If you are a Christian who is voting for McCain simply because you think that is the Christian thing to do, please read/watch that speech.  I have always struggled with the abortion issue but after working with Child Protective Services I can firmly say that I do not believe in “a woman’s right to choose.”  I know I’ll probably get slammed for this by the progressive community because reproductive rights are a huge point of advocacy (especially in oppresive male-dominated countries where women are sold as brides and raped by their husbands) but after working with all the different children in foster care and listening to their awful, broken childhoods and histories (some born out of rape/incest), no matter how awful their lives, I could never look at any of them and tell them that they would have been better off not having been born.  When I helped them fill out a worksheet on their future goals and dreams, I realized that I could never value their mother’s choice (whether it be based on convenience, financial hardship, or trauma) over the life of this hopeful child sitting next to me.  I strongly feel that the Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice debate is not helpful and that both sides should concentrate and join their efforts on working towards lowering teenage pregnancies.  For those of you who are voting for McCain simply because he picked Sarah Palin who is a super Pro-Life supporter, please consider all the other issues that are raised in this election.  Also keep in mind that President Bush, a staunch Pro-Life advocate, was in office for 8 years and did not end the practice of abortion.  The issue of abortion should not be your single reason for voting.  I don’t even know if abortion could ever be made illegal without resulting in a lot of dangerous black market abortions — I think this issue is better remedied through improved sexual responsibility and sex education.  Now for the other Christian hot topic, I am against banning gay marriage.  I don’t know why Christians, who have never tried banning marriages that are not representative of marriage described in the Bible (which is utlimately a picture of God’s relationship with believers), suddenly want to ban gay marriage.  It has always bothered me that Christians arbitrarily oppose homosexuality more than other things deemed as sins in the bible such as adultery, promiscuity, etc.  A church can decide who they accept and don’t accept in their congregation (although this is still biblically questionable to me) and a pastor/preist can decide which couples he wants to marry and which he doesn’t, but I believe the government shouldn’t be able to decide who a person lists as their spouse/family on his/her legal documents.  Especially when it affects legal rights such as insurance policies, and hospital visitations.
• Fiscal — The Democrats are usually the big spenders so it’s refreshing to read that Obama supports government fiscal responsibility.  I am also in favor of limited the abuse of no-bid contracts.  And this is coming from a former Halliburton employee!
• Healthcare — I am currently poorly informed about this topic.  I just know that there needs to be serious reforms when it comes to healthcare.  I think people are quick to point to Canada’s problems with their healthcare system but I think it is foolish to become paralyzed by the problems of existing single-payer healthcare systems instead of trying to envision a healthcare system that is efficient and universal.  Also, with so many healthcare and insurance corporations supporting McCain, I think it will be difficult for his party to make any significant reforms.
• Immigration — I’m at a loss here.
• Poverty — This issue, like education, is something that I am passionate about.  I am really confused as to why ending poverty, instead of banning abortion or gay marriage, is not the top Christian political issue.
• Judicial Philosophy — I agree with McCain on this one.  I do not think Supreme Court judges should legislate from the bench.

I realize that most politicians are not able to implement everything on their platforms.  But I feel compelled to vote for the candidate that I agree with the most.  This is the first time I am voting.  Since I live in Texas, my vote is for democracy as much as it is a vote for Obama.  It is also potentially a vote for electoral college reform!

I welcome your thoughts as I am not firmly set in my political views and still have a lot to learn.

Thoroughly enjoyed Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  It was hilarious, sweet, and just plain old fun to watch.  We watched a late showing on Thursday night with a really fun crowd that laughed as hard as we did.  I downloaded the soundtrack Friday morning and have been listening to it ever since.  The iTunes reviews were pretty annoying to read.  There are a lot of the snobby indie music listeners who are disturbed that the general masses are discovering their precious little bands.  They call the movie soundtrack a big sellout from the bands.  I think these people are more concerned about being an indie music guru than they are about the success of the band or enjoyment of the music.  I don’t keep up with the indie music scene (anymore?) and I welcome a soundtrack like this to show me the highlights — regardless of how old they are!

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The Cat Power concert was good last night.  Warehouse Live is a really cool venue.  People weren’t kidding about how clean they keep the place.  I was unsure whether they were going to let me bring in my D200 but after consulting the Yelp forums I decided it was worth a try.  As we approached the door I saw a girl with a dSLR camera slung over her shoulder.  The door guy let her in without a hitch so I breathed a sigh a relief.  When the door guy saw my camera bag, he asked to see what was inside and called over another guy to ask if my camera was okay.  The head security guy said that I had to put it back into my car and that I could take pictures with my cellphone if I wanted to.  So we walked back to the car.  I’ll admit that I was a little upset that the other girl got away with it.  Fortunately, as we were walking back to the door guys, we saw that the head security guy was escorting the girl with the camera out and telling her that she had to put her camera in her car.  Not that I wish misfortune on others — I just appreciate consistency in rules.  I’m not sure if that’s Warehouse Live’s policy or Cat Power’s policy.  She had her own camera guys taking photos of her during the show so I’m guessing it’s a Cat Power policy.

I had the same gripes last night that I always have about concerts.  Body odor, lack of personal space, obnoxious drunk girls (or just plain obnoxious underage girls as was the case last night), and all of the waiting!

I know everyone keeps talking about how our generation is all about instant gratification and people don’t know the value of waiting anymore.  I think the concert-going subculture is one of the remaining groups of patient people in the world.  With really long attention spans!  We waited in the studio for thirty minutes before they opened up the doors to let us into the ballroom.  (I’d really like to see someone in the studio in the future, the place is so intimate and cozy.)  Then we waited standing up near the stage for quite some time until the first act came on stage.  The opener was Appaloosa who played music from her Macbook (which was covered in stickers) and sang along to it.  Truth be told, it was actually pretty good music — but there was nothing to look at.  She did not have the star power or stage presence to really draw in the crowd.  She wore a strapless glittery red dress over blue jeans and cowboy boots which I guess was interesting.  Besides doing an awkward dance now and then and her constant readjusting of her dress so that her boobs wouldn’t fall out — there was nothing to see.  Then there was a LONG wait between the opener and Cat Power.  Stagehands came onstage to check the mics and the cords, tape setlists on the floor, place water bottles and towels around the stage, place a huge fan, etc… is this on purpose?  To create so much suspense and buildup that by the time the band comes on stage you’re delirious with happiness that it’s finally starting and you cheer so loud — slightly unsure if you’re cheering for the band or if you’re cheering that it’s finally starting.

Haha, I know I sound like I didn’t like the concert but I really did.  Chan Marshall is incredibly talented.  Her songs and her voice are both so emotional.  She was really in the zone for some of the songs.  I didn’t feel like she connected very well with the audience even though she did turn the fan towards us to cool us off, hand a girl in the audience her onstage cocktail, throw flowers out to the audience at the end of the concert.  Why is it that when musicians smile, it makes everyone watching want to smile back?  Musicians are mesmerizing.  I did feel that she was in her own world for a lot of the concert and she didn’t really say anything to us.  I have a suspicion that she was instructed not to talk during the concert to avoid a repeat of this.

Anyway.  This is a really disjointed post but it’s Saturday morning and I’m not used to being up on Saturday mornings.

Go horns!

There are only a handful of women who read sockparade so I’ll keep this brief.  It’s really important that all women who are sexually active get their annual well-woman exam.  There are so many things that can go wrong with the female anatomy and most of those things are better handled with early detection.  Most health insurance plans cover one well-woman exam a year (you just have to pay the co-pay) so you might as well take advantage of what you’re paying for with your premiums.

I won’t lie, it’s awkward and uncomfortable but it’s important for your health and good for your peace of mind.

Guys, please remind the females in your life.

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While I was at the doctor’s office today, a woman went on an extended tirade because she had to wait thirty minutes to see the doctor.  I personally think a thirty minute wait at the doctor’s office is acceptable.  Especially later in the afternoon.  The receptionist handled it really well but the woman refused to let it go.

“Is this how it usually works?  If so, I’ll just show up 30 minutes late next time so I get seen right away!  That way I won’t waste my time!  Is that what you’re suggesting?”

Everyone quietly looked up from their magazines to watch the confrontation.

It kind of reminded me of that Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Larry David goes nuts in the waiting room about the appointment vs. sign-in policy.  In both scenarios, the angry, outspoken patient just seems even crazier because all the other patients in the waiting room are so quiet and docile– no one is usually willing to support the angry patient even though they are most likely also upset for having to wait an unpredictable amount of time.

You’ve gotta love waiting room dynamics.

I’ve recently been reading a new (new to me) blog “Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist: Advice at the intersection of work and life“  I don’t even remember how I came across it and I don’t know why I like it so much.  It’s just one of the most honest blogs I’ve read in a long time.  Sockparade’s not very honest.  So it’s nice to read from the other side of the spectrum.

I like the name Penelope.  I’ve considered naming my future daughter that — but only if I can stop the husband from trying to rhyme it with “Cantaloupe”.

Anyway, today is when Rosh Hashanah ends.  Wiki says that it is a day of rest and things that are prohibited on the Shabbat are also prohibited today.  Here’s a quote from her post about it:

“All this to say: you don’t need the Jewish holidays in order to learn something about yourself. Force yourself to isolate for a day. Don’t allow yourself to do all the usual things. You will learn something about yourself. It’s impossible not to.”

If it were a Saturday I think it’d be pretty easy.  I isolate on a lot of Saturdays.  But a Tuesday or Wednesday?  That’s pretty rough.  I’d really like to set a date for a day of rest on a weekday.  I’d also like to spend some time fasting and praying.  And then my next thought is: But maybe next semester though because this semester is really busy.

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After Hurricane Ike passed through Houston I didn’t really watch the news coverage of it.  So I’m really glad a family friend sent my husband this link of Ike photos.  Impressive photography and just solid photojournalism.  As a warning, the photos are hard to look at without wincing.