current – JonKPhoto

On the way to a friend’s house in Southfield, MI, I drove over an intersection with good visibility and saw a plume of smoke on the horizon. Thinking it would be something close, small, and insignificant, I picked up my buddy and we went to check it out. (We are photographers after all).

Well, as we were heading in the direction of the smoke, we realized it must be bigger than I thought because we didn’t seem to be getting closer. Turns out it was actually 20 miles away.

From what I gather, it was an abandoned factory complex on Detroit’s West Side and the PD have no idea what happened.

To reiterate the scale, we met up with a volunteer firefighter from a northern suburb. He was there because he saw the fire from Auburn hills – almost 40 miles away.

Here are some of the shots.

– Jon

In case you haven’t heard of the “Idle No More” movement, it’s essentially a continent-wide collective of all indigenous peoples, who are now using their numbers and modern media channels for a wide array of purposes. These may include forming political pressure to have sacred locations renamed, re-appropriated, and/or recognized as such. There is also an internal movement designed to teach their own members ways and reasons to respect their heritage and culture.

There is also, of course, the long standing cause: to finally get legislatures’ attention regarding their complete and utter disregard for nature. Well, as we all know, short of a smack in the face (that might not even work) the only way to get noticed when it comes to creating new policy is by getting EVERYONE to say something about it. This is where Idle No More comes in.

For quite a while now, the movement has staged “protests” in cities across the continent, drawing attention to the people and the problems.

Today (Sunday, January 20th, 2013) they held an event in Detroit, discussing their cause, giving a blessing to the Detroit river, and presenting in front of Cobo Hall.

Here’s some of the goings-on.

– Jon