Here’s a very rough track. I’m recording using the laptop’s built-in mic and an acoustic guitar, then processing it with Garage Band effects. It’s quick and easy, but not exactly pretty. I added some drums to fill it out a bit, which points out my wandering rhythm. You can grab the full mix, guitars, effects, or rhythm track to use as you will.

This work by Nathan Gibbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.

Rosario surprises her nephews with a few cascarones, hollowed out eggs full of confetti (luckily these weren’t full of flour!). This is a great example of the innocent play and spontaneous laughter that fills our time in Tijuana.

The rolling hills above Tijuana’s sprawling suburbs define the physical landscape of a city not often thought of for its geology. The highest peak, Cerro Colorado (Red Hill), stands about 500 meters (1,640 ft) above sea level. The western edge of the summit is marked in white with the phrase “Jesucristo es el Señor” (Jesus Christ is Lord). Local radio and television stations broadcast from antennas on top of hill. A dirt trail carved out by maintenance trucks runs up from the eastern edge of its base in the neighborhood El Florido. People use the trail to hike to the top. In addition to the panoramic view, there are a couple small caves along the sides of the peak.

Here are a few photos and a video from a recent trip up Cerro Colorado:

Justine Bursoni is a graduate student in art education at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and an editor for the online magazine Smile Politely. She came across my Self-Portrait art piece online and wanted to include it in a lesson plan for a group of fifth and sixth grade students. She asked how I created my piece, and after giving her some tips, she had her students create their own paint swatch portraits.

“During the lesson,” Justine wrote in email, “the students were quick to note how identity comes in different forms, parts of identity can be shared… but mostly, one’s identity is unique and multi-faceted and how all should be recognized and tolerated.” It’s humbling to have my work aid that learning process, and even more humbling to be included in the list of self-portraits she used in her lesson plan:

• Charis Tsevis, “Barack Obama” (2008)
• Chuck Close, “Self-Portrait” (2007)
• Michael Mapes, “Poor Boy Michael Strange” (2006)
• Nathan Gibbs, “Self-Portrait” (2002)
• Grammy Posters (2009)
• David Hockney, “Mother I, Yorkshire Moors” (1985)
• Paul Klee “Senecio” (1922)

I also want to thank Justine for allowing me to post her PowerPoint presentation and lesson plan. The PowerPoint notes include her comments on the students’ reactions:

• Download PowerPoint Presentation
• Download Paint Swatch Lesson Plan

In the vein of open collaboration and online sharing, I put together some notes from our email conversation to provide a list of steps to help others create their own pixelated portraits.

How to Build a Portrait Out of Square Blocks of Color

In my case, I used Photoshop to create a reference image first. For best results, choose an image where the face has a solid color background. You’ll want to follow these steps in Photoshop to get the right result. These steps assume you’re printing the reference image on a standard 8.5×11 inch sheet of paper.

Photoshop Instructions

• Open and Crop: Open your image in Photoshop. Using the Crop Tool, crop it down to just the face. For this exercise, hold the Shift key while using the Crop Tool to make the crop a perfect square.
• Reduce to Pixels: Go to Image Size (on the top menu, Image > Image Size). Under Pixel Dimensions, change the units to “pixels” and adjust the width and height to 8 for both. This will end up giving you an 8×8 grid of one-inch squares. Important: Make sure the check boxes for both Resample Image and Constrain Proportions are checked. Select OK.
• Set Document Size: Your image is now 8×8 pixels. But you still need to make a second adjustment to the image settings before it can be printed correctly. Go to Image Size once more. Important: Uncheck the Resample Image check box. Under Document Size, set the units to “inches,” type in 8 for width and 8 for height. Select OK.
• Print: Everything is done and you’re ready to print. From the File menu, select Print :)

The final step in creating your pixelated portrait depends on your eye to match the colors. One tip I can offer is that the “value” or black and white levels of each color are more important to recognizing the final image than the “hue” of the color itself. For people to recognize the original image, it’s more important that it have the right amount of contrast than perfectly matching the nuances of each color.

If you do use this process to make your own, I’d love to see your project. If you have a place to upload images, post a link and describe your project here in the comments. Otherwise, send me a note and I can help you post it online.

Special thanks again to Justine for allowing me to publish her class materials and for sending the photo. Seeing that image of them working on their self-portraits puts a huge smile on my face. It’s truly rewarding to see an idea I had almost seven years ago come back to life in the hands of these young minds.

No, this moment won’t solve racial inequality or erase a history of injustice. But it is a blossom of hope, a testament for future generations not to give up. The final chapters in the rulebook of race and power are undone with the image of a brown-skinned president.

Here’s the problem. The legality of cameras inside polling places isn’t black and white; the laws vary state by state. Plus, some poll workers have only received basic training and will apply their own judgement. The Citizen Media Law Project suggests four things to avoid getting yourself into trouble: follow the rules, be discreet, don’t interfere with voters or the process, respect the buffer zone.

In California, election codes aren’t particularly clear. They prohibit recording within 100 feet of anyone entering or exiting the polling place with the intent to dissuade others from voting. This is where the above guidelines come in; stay low-key and they’ll likely leave you alone. I spoke with the San Diego County Registrar of Voters and they said photography and video will be allowed up to 25 feet away.

While inside the polling area, California Elections Code says you must be in the process of voting (i.e. not using a camera), are limited to 10 minutes, and can’t show your vote to others (i.e. not documenting your vote). While it doesn’t specifically state “no cameras allowed,” legal precedent hasn’t cleared up the specifics. Government officials err on the side of caution. The California Secretary of State’s office says it has “historically taken the position that use of cameras or video equipment at polling places is prohibited, though there may be circumstances where election officials could permit such use.” When I spoke to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, they said they won’t allow cameras inside the polling place except for credentialed journalists.

From a certain angle, this all seems very oppressive. This is a free country and I should have the right to video my vote, right? Yes, but other voters should also have the right not to be surveilled while voting. Poll workers are commissioned to protect the vote and can kick you out, even calling the police if you cause enough of a disturbance. This can all be avoided by sticking to the suggestions mentioned above. Pay attention and be careful not to record other people unwillingly.

Publish Your Photos and Videos on Election Day

• YouTube and PBS have partnered with Video Your Vote to gather first-hand accounts on election day. They’ve arranged the videos on a map to note voter intimidation and other problems at the polls.
• The New York Times’ Polling Place Photo Project collects images to create “an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America.”
• Video The Vote is a watchdog group organizing people to document voter suppression and other problems.

In July, I was fortunate enough to get the photo assignment to shoot presumptive presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama. They visited San Diego for the National Council of La Raza conference.

Barack Obama at the National Center of La Raza Conference

Obama delivered a speech punctuated by applause. But it was still a bit lukewarm compared to what I expected. I’d heard stories of his charismatic delivery and rockstar-like receptions. That was all there, I guess, but there was a lingering stress in the air. Obama needed to get defeated Hillary Clinton supporters excited about voting for him. He got loud cheers in reference to oppressive immigration raids, but applause was absent from his discussion of details: securing the border first, path to citizenship starts at the back of the line, fines for non-legal status, etc. When the speech was over, he shook hands with the students seated behind him and made his way slowly through the front edge of the crowd.

The press were given a sideline area at about half-court in the convention center’s large ballroom. My 70-200mm zoom lens only got me close enough for a decent medium-wide shot. I had to crop the shot above by 50 percent to get something usable. At this distance, my lens looked pretty weak compared to the pros bumping shoulders next to me — the ones you see at sports games with what look like space-age sniper rifles. I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to get closer and, more specifically, that we weren’t allowed to get any closer. The only concession was being taken two-by-two into the center aisle for about 60 seconds, once.

John McCain at the National Council of La Raza Conference

McCain’s appearance had a dramatically different tone. For starters, his wife Cindy McCain accompanied him on stage. It felt warmer than Obama’s solo performance, somehow less formal and more classy at the same time. I couldn’t help thinking McCain scored a few extra “family values” points with the Latino crowd. He spoke not as if he were trying to impress, but as if he were having a conversation with friends. He took questions from the audience after his speech. And after conference organizers said the Q&A session was over, McCain threw the microphone into the crowd to take another question.

Before the speech began, there were rumors that we’d be escorted in small groups to the front lines. Apparently the McCain people caught wind of photographer’s complaints and agreed to allow us better access than during Obama’s speech. The conference staff members I spoke with said the campaign staff set the rules in terms of press access, not the conference itself.

Conclusions

McCain’s performance was definitely the most interesting of the two candidates, not only in terms of his interaction with the crowd but in his campaign’s interaction with the press. But I’m not sure how much of a difference it makes in the end. Of the photos I uploaded to Flickr, Obama’s mediocre shots have been viewed more than twice as much as McCain’s more dynamic photos. And of McCain’s, two-thirds of his views come from the photos of his wife Cindy.

We don’t learn anything terribly valuable from these numbers. Yeah, Obama has more buzz than McCain. And on average, Cindy McCain has more than either of them. Perhaps it’s really only an indicator of the superficial nature of the statistical mob. We can only hope the people vote based on their version of who will be the best president, not merely on who will be a best looking one.

Spanish Transcription:

En México hay muchos tipos de agave, y dependiendo del tipo de agave, se puede producir una bebida diferente. Y para producir tequila, el agave que se debe usar se llama “agave azul.” Es el único agave que se usa para producir el tequila.

Aquí valente es un jimador y esta es una planta de agave, así de ese tamaño es como se planta en el campo. Una vez plantado, hay que esperar aproximadamente de ocho a 10 años para que el agave crezca y llegue a su madurez, así como vemos a todos estos agaves. La madurez del agave se puede apreciar en todo lo que es esto, la penca. Esa penca seca ya está indicando que está madurando, que ya está maduro el agave. Entonces, el jimador es el que se encarga de precisamente de jimar el agave. “Jima” es una palabra Nahuatl que significa “cosechar.” Es la herramienta que se utiliza y se llama coa. Entonces con la coa el jimador, lo que hace es cortar la penca e ir descubriendo el corazón, el corazón que vamos a necesitar para continuar con el proceso.

El primer paso es el cocimiento. Tenemos los hornos, son hornos de piedra. Cada uno tiene una capacidad de 48 toneladas de agave. Entonces, hay que llenar los hornos con agave a mano. En seguida, vamos a cerrar los hornos con esas puertas de madera y hay que cocer este agave a puro vapor. Y lo vamos a cocer por más o menos 26 horas a una temperatura de 90 grados constantes. Después de 26 horas hay que abrir el horno para dejar que el agave ya cocido se enfríe. Vamos a dejar que se enfríe por 24 horas, así que lleva como dos días para cocer el agave.

Vamos a pasar a esta barrica para que prueben el agave cocido. -”Sabe rico? Dulce?” –”Como miel.”

Una vez que ya tenemos este agave cocido allí, y ya se enfrió, por este lado del horno vamos a sacarlo. Hay que sacarlo a mano. Allí podemos observar a los compañeros como van a sacar ese agave ya cocido a mano. Van a poner como pueden observar en esas bandas y van a subir … [no audible] … que empiezan a girar, empiezan a aplastar ese agave y extraerle el jugo. El jugo se va en esa dirección y la fibra, o el gabazo como le llamamos, se va al otro lado. Allí vamos a dejar para su fermentación natural por más o menos tres o cuatro días. Entonces en estos días, los millones y millones de microorganismos del medio ambiente, lo que hacen es tragar dulce y producir alcohol. O sea, no se agrega nada. Es una fermentación cien por ciento natural. Pero para entonces, ya nos convirtió ese dulce a más o menos siete grados de alcohol volumen.

Entonces una vez fermentado el jugo, hay que mandarlo por tubería a la siguiente etapa, a la destilación. Al jugo fermentado también se le puede llamar “mosto muerto.” Este es el jugo que se manda por tubería y vamos a llenar esos alambiques con ese jugo fermentado. Se cierra, y luego hay que ir calentando lentamente ese jugo con vapor, hay que irlo calentando. Cuando ya está muy caliente empieza a ebullir. Y cuando la temperatura del alambique nos marca más o menos 85 o 90 grados constantes, 90 grados, 75 a 90 grados Celcius, es cuando entonces lentamente van a empezar a evaporar los alcoholes que van a ir subiendo por ese tubo ondulado allá llamado “cuello de cisne” y van a ingresar a aquella flauta. Es un condensador de agua fría. Entonces allí el vapor gira, se enfría, y se convierte en liquido y pueden observarlo allí. Después de una primera destilación, podemos obtener un liquido llamado “ordinario.” Este liquido no es tequila porque cuando mucho tiene 25 grados de alcohol y para que sea tequila de menos necesita 35 grados de alcohol. Como no es de 35 grados es un producto ordinario. ¿Que vamos a hacer? Vamos a hacer una segunda destilación. Con este producto de 25 grados vamos a llenar otro alambique para ir con la segunda destilación que es igualita a la primera pero es más lenta. Entonces sí, después de la segunda destilación ya podemos obtener tequila blanco. Podemos obtener tequila blanco Jimador de 35 grados, podemos obtener tequila blanco Jimador de 38 grados, o blanco Herradura de 46 grados.

De ese tequila blanco podemos producir o laborar tequilas reposados y tequilas añejos. Y para ello, necesitamos barricas. Son barricas de roble blanco Americano y se compran siempre nuevas de Kentucky. Tiene cada una de ellas una capacidad de 200 litros y una barrica la podemos usar por más o menos 10 años. Lógicamente la barrica lo que cambia es el color, el olor, y el sabor del tequila blanco. Entre más tiempo se pone más oscuro y el olor va cambiando. Desde tonos herbales, vainilla, canela, el sabor a maderas, a frutas secas como nuez, avellana et cetera. Entre más tiempo más concentración de olores y de sabores. Entonces, si queremos producir tequilas reposados, el tequila blanco se debe dejar en la barrica mínimo dos meses y máximo 11 meses. Ese es un tequila reposado de dos a 11 meses, no más no menos. Si queremos producir añejos, como su palabra lo indica “añejo” significa “año.” Entonces el tequila blanco debe permanecer en la barrica de un año a tres años. Es un añejo. Pues en Marzo de este año [2006] se declara una nueva categoría de tequila y se llama “extra añejos.” Bien, un extra añejo permanece más de tres años en barrica. Pero aquí, desde hace poquito algo así entre 10 años, se produce el único extra añejo en México y se llama Selección Suprema de Casa Herradura. Tiene más de cuatro años en barricas.

Les damos la bienvenida al pasado. Estamos en la fábrica antigua, ya es un museo. El tequila Herradura se empezó a producir aquí por primera vez en 1870. Ya cocido ya frío, se sacaba el agave a mano y se cargaba aquí. Es el area de molienda, o sea el agave se ponía en el piso alrededor con los caballos que jalaban el tronco por fuera. Entonces esta piedrita pesa dos toneladas. Se llama “tahona.” La piedra empezaba a girar e iba aplastando el agave para ir extrayendo el jugo. Este lugar lleno de hoyos en el piso era el area de fermentación. Pero aquí, la temperatura es muy baja muy fría, aquí en vez de dejarlo tres cuatro días, lo dejaban más o menos de 12 a 15 días.

Aquí podemos observar el area de destilación. Nada más que hay alambiques de cobre y hay condensadores de piedra. Igual se traía el jugo para aca a mano, por aquí llenaban el alambique con jugo a mano, lo cerraban y por debajo le ponían leña para calentar ese jugo. Igual, ya muy caliente empezaba a ebullir ese jugo y luego empezaban a evaporar los alcoholes vienen por ese tubo, ingresando a esa piedra que era el condensador. Y ese se llama “serpentín.” Iba adentro de la piedra, conectado al tubo, y rodeado de agua fría. Allí giraba, atravez del serpentín el vapor se enfriaba, se convertió en liquido. Primera destilación, se acuerdan? Producto ordinario. Con ese liquido, llenaban el otro alambique para ir con su segunda destilación igual. Pero aquí, después de la segunda destilación, había un señor al que le llamaban “guardavinos.” Ese señor siempre traía un cuernito de vaca en su mano. Entonces, se la pasaba cachando producto o el tequila en la segunda destilación, se la pasaba echandose sus traguitos. Por eso se llamaba guardavinos porque lo guardaba en la panza, no? Poco a poco. Después ya de muchas probaditas, dice “Sabes que, este tequila ya está bueno y si no está yo ya estoy.” Y se ponía a llenar las botellas a mano. Pues, ese señor era como quien dice en el laboratorio, con su experiencia y su paladar sabía cuando el tequila blanco Herradura ya estaba bueno. Y llenaban las botellas a mano. Entonces, como pudimos observar, el proceso fuera de aquí es lo mismo. Lo que cambia es la experiencia, la fuerza y los materiales. Aquí se producía puro tequila blanco, puro blanco Herradura. Y esta fábrica la dejaron de usar más o menos en 1970. Lo cual quiere decir que trabajaron 100 años produciendo este tequila Herradura.

English Translation:

In Mexico there are a lot of kinds of agave, and depending on the type of agave you can make different drinks. And to make tequila, the agave that is used is called “blue agave.” It’s the only kind of agave you can use to make tequila.

Here we have a “jimador” and this is an agave plant, this is the size that’s planted in the field. Once planted you have to wait approximately eight to 10 years for the agave to grow to maturity, like all these agaves. The ripeness of the agave is determined by these, the stalks. This dry stalk is showing it’s ready, that the agave is ripe. So, the “jimador” is the one to “jimar” the agave. “Jima” is a Nahuatl word that means to harvest. This is the tool he uses called a “coa.” So with the “coa” the “jimador” cuts the stalks to uncover the heart, the heart that we need to continue with the process.

The first step is cooking. We have the ovens, they’re stone ovens. Each one holds a capacity of 48 tons of agave. So, the ovens are filled with agave by hand. Next, we close the ovens with those wooden gates and steam the agave. And we cook it for about 26 hours at a constant 90 degrees. After the 26 hours, the ovens are opened to let the cooked agave cool. We let it cool for 24 hours so the process takes about two days to cook the agave.

We’re going to go to this barrel and taste the cooked agave. -”Is it good? Sweet?” –”Like honey.”

Once we have the cooked agave there, cooled, on this side of the oven we take it out. It’s taken out by hand. There we can observe how the men take it out by hand. They put it as you can see on these belts and it is carried … [inaudible] … that begins to spin, starts to smash the agave and squeeze the juice. The juice goes over here and the fiber or “gabazo” as we call it goes in the other direction. Here we’re going to let it ferment naturally for more or less three to four days. During this time, millions and millions of microorganisms from the environment, what they do is eat the sugar and produce alcohol. That is, nothing is added. The fermentation is 100 percent natural. But after that, it’s converted the sugar to more or less seven percent alcohol by volume.

Once the juice is fermented, it’s sent by tubes to the next stop, distillation. The fermented juice is also called “mosto muerto.” This is the juice that’s sent through the pipes and we fill those stills with the fermented juice. It’s closed and then it gets heated slowly to steam. So we’re heating it. When it’s really hot it starts to boil. And when the temperature of the still shows more or less 85 to 90 degrees constantly, 90 degrees, 75 to 90 degrees Celcius, that’s when the alcohol is slowly evaporated and goes up through the curved tube there, called a “swan neck,” and it comes into that pipe. This is a cold water condenser. There the water spins, cools and converts to liquid and you can see it there. After the first distillation, we get a liquid called “ordinary.” This liquid isn’t tequila because it has 25 percent alcohol and to be tequila it needs at least 35 percent. As it isn’t 35 percent it’s an ordinary product. What are we going to do? We do another distillation. With this 25 percent product we fill another still to go through the second distillation that’s exactly the same as the first but slower. So yeah, after the second distillation we now have tequila blanco. We produce tequila Jimador blanco at 35 percent, tequila Jimador blanco at 38 percent, or tequila Herradura blanco at 46 percent.

From this tequila blanco we can produce or make tequilas “reposados” and tequilas “añejos.” For that we need barrels. These are barrels of American white oak and are always bought new from Kentucky. Each one has a capacity of 200 liters and we can use a barrel for around 10 years. Logically the barrel changes the color, the smell and the taste of the tequila blanco. The more time it’s inside, the darker the color and the smell changes. From herbal tones, vanilla, cinnamon, the flavor of woods, nuts like walnut, hazelnut, et cetera. The more time, the more concentrated the smell and taste. So, if we want to make tequila “reposado,” the tequila blanco is left in the barrel a minimum of two months, maximum 11 months. That’s a tequila reposado, between two and 11 months, no more, no less. If we want to make añejo, like the word indicates “añejo” means “año” [year]. So the tequila blanco stays in the barrel between one and three years. That’s añejo. Well, in March of this year (2006) a new category of tequila was declared and it’s called “extra añejo.” Well, an extra añejo stays more than three years in the barrel. But here, for a little less than 10 years, we’ve produced the only extra añejo in México and it’s called Selección Supreme de Casa Herradura. It stays more than four years in the barrel.

Welcome to the past. We’re in the old factory, now a museum. Tequila Herradura was first produced here in 1870. Once cooked and cooled, they took the agave out by hand and placed it here. This is the milling area, meaning the agave was put on the floor with horses around pulling the log by force. This stone weighs two tons. It’s called “tahona.” The stone rolled and smashed the agave to squeeeze the juice. This place full of holes in the ground is the fermentation area. But here, the temperature is really low and cold. Here, instead of leaving it three or four days they left it around 12 to 15 days.

Here we can observe the distillation area. Except there are stills of copper and condensors of stone. The same way they brought the juice by hand, here they filled the still with juice by hand, closed it and put firewood beneath to heat the juice. The same way, once heated it started to boil the juice and then started evaporating the alcohol through these tubes, coming into this stone which was the condensor. This is called “serpentín” [coil]. It went inside the stone, connected to the tube, and surrounded by cold water. The vapor spun through the coil, cooled and converted into liquid. First distillation, remember? “Ordinary” product. With this liquid, they filled another still to go through the second distillation. But here, after the second distillation, there was a man that was called “guardavinos” [wine keeper]. This guy always had a bull horn in his hand. He would take the tequila in the second distillation, he’d have his shots. That’s why they called him “guardavinos” [wine keeper] because he kept it in his stomach, right? Little by little. After a lot of sips, he’d say “You know, this tequila is done and if it isn’t then I’m drunk.” And they filled the bottles by hand. So this guy was like a walking lab, with his experience and palate, he knew when tequila Herradura blanco was ready. And they filled the bottles by hand. So, as we can see, the process outside is the same. What’s changed is the experience, the force and materials. Pure tequila blanco, pure Herradura blanco was produced here. And they stopped using this factory in about 1970, which means they made tequila Herradura for 100 years.

In typical tape sync fashion, Robert Siegel spoke to Race by phone. I stood next to Race, holding the mic six inches from his mouth — my recording of his voice would later be combined with the host’s voice by NPR editors, giving the conversation a higher quality, natural sound. Unfortunately, we had to stop the interview every few minutes because of the military flights going in and out of MCAS Miramar. We were also interrupted for trash collection. And again for recycling.

Race explained the process of pouring the powder in the tray, setting the percussion cap in place, pulling the trigger to ignite the cap, and the explosive flash that follows. The first flash lamp he demonstrated with wouldn’t fire. He was using toy paper caps, but the humidity or bad luck kept it from firing. He switched to another flash lamp that uses rare, original percussion caps. That definitely did the trick. The massive smoke cloud was pretty impressive.

Take a look at the final video, listen to the interview and hear the flash lamp sound. Race Gentry also has his own flash lamp videos on YouTube.

The Tijuana Convention & Visitors Bureau offers $500 to the best video birthday card for Tijuana’s 119th birthday. The deadline is July 9th by midnight. Submit your video to the Tijuana Birthday group on YouTube. Judges will announce the winner on Tijuana’s official birthday, July 11th.

Rules:

• Videos should be between 60 to 90 seconds in length
• Video must reference Tijuana’s 119 years and its birthday
• Video must include images, icons, or visual references to Tijuana
• Videos can be in Spanish or English or both
• Video must include text promoting “TijuanaOnline.org” at end
• Video must not be vulgar, offensive, negative, or in bad taste
• Submit your 60-90 seconds video no later than July 9th