Link to What's New This Week Marsha Walker's Comments on Photoessay

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Created: April 15, 2003
Latest Update: April 15, 2003
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Site Teaching Modules Marsha Walker's Comments on Photoessay

Site Copyright: Jeanne Curran and Susan R. Takata and Individual Authors, April 2003.
"Fair use" encouraged.

On Monday, april 14, 2003, Marsha Walker wrote:
Subject: yosemite pictures comment

hello jeanne curran, marsha walker speaking. My Jonathan is still visiting with his brother Kelly. He will stay another week with him, Kelly said he is doing good so not to worry myself. will see you on wednesday.

COMMENTING ON YOUR PICTURES AND RELATIONSHIPS

THE FACT THAT YOU ARE WITH ARNOLD IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FACT. YOU GET TO SHARE THE RIDE UP AND BACK, TALK, LAUGH, TELL ABOUT ALL THE THINGS YOU BOTH ENJOYED AND DID. I MEAN YOU HAVE A BAD BACK AND YOU CERTAINLY CANNOT SCALE A MOUNTAIN, AND I KNOW YOUR PAIN, BECAUSE I LIVE WITH PAIN EVERY DAY MYSELF, BUT YOU CAN AND DID ENJOY THAT BEAUTIFUL HOTEL AND ALL ITS AMMENITIES AND YOU DID SHARE THAT WITH ARNOLD AND HE HAS THE PICTURES TO TELL YOU ALL ABOUT THE THINGS OUT THERE ON THOSE ROCKS AND THE SCENIC VIEW FROM BOTH THE MOUNTAIN AND THE HOTEL SURELY EACH OF YOU DID SHARE WITH EACH OTHER. BEING TOGETHER DOESN'T MEAN 24/7 IN THE SAME SPOT, BUT IF YOU ARE TOGETHER AT THE SAME PLACE, EACH CAN EXPLORE AND SHARE WHAT THEY HAVE SEEN. LOOKS LIKE HE HAD A LOT OF FUN AND IF IT HAD BEEN ME AND DWAIN, I WOULD HAVE ENJOYED THE HOTEL JUST AS MUCH AS YOU AND WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST AS CONTENTED IF DWAIN WANTED TO GO MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. TOGETHERNESS IS WHAT COUNTS IN MIND AND SPIRIT AND IN SHARING AND MAKING SURE THAT THE PERSON YOU ARE WITH CAN ENJOY THEMSELVES WITHOUT BEING SUFFOCATED BY THE OTHER. AS I READ ABOUT THE THINGS YOU SAY ABOUT ARNOLD, OF COURSE HE IS GENTLE JUST AS YOU ARE....BYE FOR NOW

On Tuesday, April 15, 2003, jeanne responded:

Marsha, I am amazed as I ponder each of your reactions to these photos. Your analysis emphasizes the differences between me and Arnold; my need not to climb, especially after the broken neck. So you took the position that sharing "doesn't mean 24/7." What a neat way to put it. You're right about my enjoying that particular hotel. It's beautiful, and I was painting. And you're right about sharing that which fits. Arnold's photos did that for me, and my paintings for him.

Out of this photo essay so far, we've learned the interdependence of the viewer with the photo, suggesting that we can take from any work of art that which fits our own perspective and lived experience. We've learned that we do draw from our knowledge of the context and /or the people in the photos to create our own meaning for them. And we've learned that photos, like other tools of communication, are ways of shepherding and strengthening illocutionary discourse right here, in our own reality.

love and peace, jeanne