Team Anders

Thinking about today's assignment was a lot of fun for me. Unfortunately, I don't live anywhere near the small town in Illinois where I grew up or I could throw a couple real doozies in here...I'm sure my girlfriends are OK with that though ;) It was a lot of fun to take a stroll down memory lane to try and figure out what I could take a photo of to represent a childhood memory. I settled on this - a photo of my bear. This bear was a gift from Santa (oh how I love that man) in 1980-something. Photo Specifics: 1/30 f/3.5 ISO 500 I've had this sucker for SO long that I honestly can't remember not having him around. I believe he was a Mistletoe Bear from Marshall Fields but it's been eons since he's had his cute little hat and actually looked white . His head's been sewn back on twice (thanks, Mom) and the reason I decided to photograph him is because there's one story that actually comes to mind every time I look at his sad little right eye... ...

September 11th...always a day filled with deep reflection and, certainly, plenty of longing for the way things "used to be". Sadly, I honestly can't remember the pre-9/11 world since I've lived all but two years of my adult life in a post-9/11 military. Unlike numerous events that my memory struggles to recall, I don't even need to close my eyes and try to replay that Tuesday morning ten years ago today. I don't want to dwell on the topic but I do want to quickly document my memories because, if you know me, there's a chance I may not remember my name in another 10 years. Jace and I were juniors at USAFA and we both lived in Vandenberg Hall so I'd always swing by to say hello on my way to class before the chaos of the day began. At that time we had room inspections on Tues AM so everyone's doors were open as the normal churn of the morning got underway. As I was walking down the hall I saw a few people's televisions displaying crazy "B...