Feeding My Passion

I left California in 1990 after graduating from Elk Grove High School to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia (aka MU). After going to school (and not finishing…yet, hence my current status as a student in my very last class), living in Boston, back in Columbia (without finishing school, of course), getting married, working in Oregon and Indiana, getting divorced, working in Michigan, I’m now living with my family in Merced, California (again!).

One of the requirements to become an English teacher in S. Korea is a criminal background check, and I need to get one from whatever state I’m a resident of. Since I’m not required to get a California driver’s license until my Michigan one expires, I haven’t gotten one and therefore I’ve been a Michigan resident. Getting a background check in Michigan while living here would be more of a hassle, and I want to get started on my paperwork to get to Korea, so it was time to do it.

On Thursday, I spent about 3 hours at the Department of Motor Vehicles (it’s BMV in Michigan and Indiana, as in “Bureau”) getting my license (only missing 2 on the written test – boo-yah! – although calling it written is a huge stretch since it only involves reading rather poorly worded questions and checking the corresponding  boxes) and registering to vote, both of which help officially establish my residency.

So I’ve got my little temporary paper license with my even littler plastic one coming in 2-4 weeks (“Usually 2,” said the nice lady at the counter who works in easily the busiest job I’ve ever seen in my life.)

It feels like in many ways I never left, or more accurately, like I never gave up my California mental and spiritual citizenship. I’ll always carry it wherever I go, and I suspect most people carry (lightly I hope, and not drag) their past with them in one way or another.

Nice to be back.

I’d already gotten my daily photo assignment in the can (the senior exercise class), but I didn’t think I was going to get another day this beautiful for a while, so I checked to see if there was any new construction going on in the new subdivisions in Merced. Score!

This puts me one ahead for my daily photo assignment, but I only count multiple assignments in one day to catch up, not to get ahead. It feels very nice to 1) not be behind, and 2) actually looking for photos when I don’t have to make any.

Since the beginning of the recession, Merced has been one of the hardest-hit areas in country, with unemployment over 10% since April 2007. It’s estimated to currently be at 22%. Before the recession, there was a lot of construction on the north side of town since the University of California just built its newest campus (and the first research institution of the 21st century in the US) on the north side of Merced.

Plumber Alan Callahan (in the top set of photos), who started working on the Bellevue Ranch subdivision four years ago, had to stop two years ago. He and Victor Vasquez (bottom set) just started working on the home recently.

I made this photo on 3 March as well, so this catches me up, yay!

Finally got permission from the Merced Fire Department to take photos at one of the stations. While I admit testing and fixing the breathers (the masks they use hooked up to air tanks) isn’t the most exciting stuff to photograph, I wasn’t exactly looking to go out on a call with them, which they wouldn’t have allowed anyway, so I was just happy to have some access to fulfill my 30-day assignment.

Fire captain Tony Giotta shows fireman Matt Alley how to fix a breathing regulator that failed to pass an initial test.

Actually the station call letters are KABX, an oldies station, at 97.5 on your FM dial if you’re in Merced. The DJ Dave Luna, a 27-year radio veteran, is an extremely exuberant guy, far too peppy for so damn early in the morning.

I didn’t get a photo on Monday, so I’m a day behind on the 30-day assignment. This afternoon I’ll post the pictures I took of a radio DJ this morning (7a!), along with the pictures I’m going to take at the main Merced Fire Department. That will catch me up, and then I’ll have another 7 days of photos. Then I’ll do my 1-Day project, do a book report on Loup’s book, pitch my essay, and photograph it!

Oh, I need to get a portfolio together and submit it, but that might be challenging since I’ve moved 11 times (no kidding) since I left Columbia in December 1999, and my photos aren’t as together as they should be for this type of thing. I’ll talk to David about it for some guidance.

Steve Peña changes out a car’s oil and oil and inspects while it’s up on the lift at Caton’s Auto Machine in Merced, Calif.