My name is Jonathan Foster. I'm a 3rd year photojournalism major at RIT and this is my exploration of the ideas of truth and freedom. “In my anguish I cried to the Lord, and He answered by setting me free.” Psalm 118:5
“There is no such thing as a little freedom. Either you are all free, or you are not free.”- Walter Cronkite
“My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.” - Jack Kerouac
"Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."-Thomas Jefferson
Written and photographic work may not be reproduced without permission, available at jdf9658@rit.edu.
Thank you,
-j. foster
true Freedom
40 Wall ST Building Supervisior Mike Falsia stands with security guards during the Occupy Wall St protest, September 17, 2011. “It’s not gonna have any impact whatsoever. They need to be where is it, the Lincoln Memorial.”
Officer Jean-Pierre of the Queens South Task Force jokes,”All the moneys underground, so you just have to go to the subway and start digging,” with Swiss tourists at a roadblock on Nassau and Pine, September 17, 2011, during the Occupy Wall St protest.
Officer Breslin directs two women off of Wall St during the Occupy Wall St protest, Saturday, September 17, 2011. An area in the financial district was secured by New York City Police Officers after threats to property from protestors.
Marco Golandrea waves an Adbusters corporate American flag along Broadway, near Zucotti Park in Manhattan, New York City, New York, Saturday, September 17th, 2011 during the Occupy Wall St protest.
More to follow 9/18/2011.
Mohamed Elakrady, 20, of Cairo, Egypt, holds a copy of a J-1 payment statement while chanting in solidarity with some 300 students in front of the Hershey museum, Wednesday, August 17, 2011.
I shadowed at the Patriot News yesterday, which was great. I spoke with the DOP, Mark Pynes, and with some of the photographers. I went to a protest to shadow John C. Whitehead, but I had to run by Dillsburg to pick up a charged battery. When I showed up, JCW was probably on his way to his next assignment, so I ended up staying and photographing the event.
Foreign students are brought to the U.S. on J-1 student visas as part of a “cultural exchange” where they work low-paying jobs to earn travel and living money. Most students paid between $3,000 and $6,000 USD to come here from countries like Turkey, Romania, Maldova, the Ukraine, Egypt, and China. Once here they are often employed in tourist destinations like Ocean City Maryland or outside large National Parks.
There are nearly 400 student workers employed at the Exel chocolate warehouse in Palmyra, PA. These students began raising complaints of unfair working conditions and unfair pay. They work less than forty hours a week for around $7.85 an hour. From their weekly pay, Hershey makes deductions for busing, badges, and “DRG BAK”. Workers complain of being hassled continuously to “Work harder, work faster or go home.” “When we Joined this program, this is our American Dream, now it’s our nightmare,” says Cosmin Isvorainu, 24, of Romania, “We have no money for travel and we work hard.” “It’s like work and sleep not work and travel,” added Andre Acalugaridii, 21, of Maldova. For these students, Hershey, PA is far from “The Sweetest Place on Earth.”
The SEIU, AFL-CIO, NGA (National Guestworkers’ Alliance), and the Local Chocolate Workers Union 464 showed support during the protest. Three demonstrators were arrested by police for trespassing as the student workers and laborers rallied outside the plant. The protest was then moved by school bus to downtown Hershey where some 200 students occupied the sidewalk in front of the Hershey Story Museum, voicing their grievances to the public and watching museum employees. The police response was peaked, with a state police helicopter circling overhead, a K-9 unit, several cavalry officers, uniformed officers from multiple jurisdictions, and even two officers that appeared to be sharpshooters with trapezoid rifle cases. Thankfully the event was carried out peacefully, but publicly, on Hersheypark Drive and down Chocolate Avenue.
Nick Malawskey and John C. Whitehead’s work for the Patriot News can be found here.
More photos:
Photos of an enlarged employee paystub:
The shadowing was great. I had some excitement, but I still learned a lot, especially from Mark Pynes and John C. Whitehead. I went to the newsroom to after the event where he went over my photographs with me. His words that caught, that are something I need to control, “You have that many soft frames and you might not get a second chance at some places.” I got a bit caught up again yesterday, and although I shot some okay stuff, I shot too much, and a lot if it isn’t worth seeing—over-exposures, soft frames, too-slow shutter speeds… It needs work, and so does my toning. This one’s done, but given the growing trend for student-led protests, I might get another shot at it in the near future.
