Haley asked me to take some pictures for the cover of the MCG telephone directory (yeah, the major one that gets sent out to thousands of people). Excited to get my photography out there, I jumped on opportunity. I wanted to get a really good shot of some of the buildings on campus and decided to go out early to get either a night shot or early morning sunrise shot. So, picture me standing out on the corner of the "busiest" intersection on campus: Where Laney Walker Blvd. meets 13th street. It is 6:00am and I have my tripod pointed at the MCG cancer center (pictured here) and begin taking pictures. Not three shots later, a black and white came screetching across 4 lanes of traffic (well, more like 4 lanes, no traffic - it is really early), flying onto the curb in front of me. Of course I smell some harassment coming on, but continue to take pictures. The cop gets out of his car, I explain what I am doing, he asks for some ID (which of course I didn't need because it is lawful for anybody, let alone a student of the institution to take a picture). I show him my ID and it should be over, right? Well, he then proceeds to call it in, then call every other cop on duty, then the local chief on duty, and then the head chief that wasn't on duty. I then point out to him that anybody can take a picture of anything in public at any time and that he was, in my mind, harassing me. He then said something about security and a post-9/11 world. I let him know that I understood, but by showing him my ID, I should be good (even without an ID, I should be good). He then proceeded to ask me questions for a half hour. Yes, a half hour. Interspersed in this half hour, they guy repeatedly made phone calls asking people what he should do with "this kid." I was very tempted to just walk away at this time, knowing full well that I had every right to do so. Better yet, I should have continued to take pictures and ignore him - but I didn't want to provoke him. Oh, and officer Barbara (yeah, real name, and yeah, it was a dude) wasn't the brightest star out that morning. He had to repeatedly ask me what group I was taking the picture for, even when he had it written down in front of him. He had previously asked me the same question 3 times. I ended up having to make a couple phone calls on my own in order to get a name of some faculty on campus who would back me up. This guy was an idiot. When he was finally satisfied, he left me with a parting message "hey, buddy, at the end of the day I got a job to do just like you." Thanks, officer Barbara, for that deep thought. You still harassed me for a half hour over nothing.
I really think it may have had something to do with my slightly darker skin. I wanted to tell him that I descended from the same Northern European ancestry that he did, but I didn't want to push my luck.
p.s. this isn't the picture we are using, but it is my favorite.
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4 comments:
Ha thats pretty funny! NIce picture too!
Ha thats funny!! nice picture too!!
Dude, that's kind of funny, but also annoys the crap out of me. We can't let the terrorists win! That's pretty ridiculous for a white boy who doesn't look Arabic (though maybe a bit Jewish) to be harassed like that. That picture you took is freakin' awesome. I enjoyed reading your blogs and plan to read them more often. Very funny and insightful. I've got to get on the ball and start writing on our blog. Oh yeah, you've got to take me shrimpin'!
Dude, that's kind of funny, but actually annoys the crap out of me. That a white boy like you, who doesn't look Arabic at all (though maybe a bit Jewish) would be harassed for that long over nothing is pretty ridiculous. We can't let the terrorists win! That picture of MCG is pretty freakin' awesome. So is your picture getting published?
I really enjoyed reading your blogs. That fishing excursion sounded like so much fun. You're definitely going to have to take me shrimpin'. I'll have to keep up with your blogs. They're good reading.
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