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Photo Essay: Exhibition 03.20.2021

Photos from a talk and exhibiton about the Formosa Plastics Global Archive, held on March 20, 2021 at 柏林廢墟Tacheles in Taipei, Taiwan. All photos by Jiao Enguan 焦恩光.

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Joshua Moses

Joshua

I teach anthropology and environmental studies at Haveford College, just outside of Philly. Currently, I'm holed up in a cabin in the Adirondacks in upstate New York with several family members, including my spouse and 4 year old daughter and 3 dogs. I started working on disasters by accident, when one day in 2001 I was walking to class at NYU and saw the World Trade Center buildings on flames. I have known Kim for a few year and I contacted her to connect with folks around Covid-19 and its imacts.

I'm particularly intersted in issues of communal grief, mourning, and bereavement. Also, I'm interested in the religious response to Covid-19.

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The article refers to dozens of police and fire officers, including Battalion Chief Joseph Pfeifer the first chief at the towers, Assistant Chiefs Callan and Burns who faced radio communication issues, and Lt. Dan Williams form Ladder Company 16 where off duty firefighters disobeyed his direct orders to go home. Many other officers are quoted in the article. Two of the significant actors included are Thomas Von Essen, the fire commissioner and Police Commissioner Kelly, who acted as the public faces of the departments during the subsequent interviews and investigation.

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Data visualization is primarily determined by the type of data being gathered and the system for data collection being used. The app integrates data in order to both make large quantities of data easily viewable and understood, as well as compare studies with existing data stored on the system.

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  • I looked into the accusations of fraud and wrongdoing against the government that were made in the article, much of which is true. The director of FEMA, Michael D. Brown, was initially praised for the response but later forced to resign over accusations of recklessness. The New Orleans Mayor at the time, Nagin, was arrested in 2014 for fraud and corruption.
  • The article mentioned separating children from their parents during the initial evacuation of survivors, I looked into the rationale behind separating families. The only reason I could find for the separation of children was to prioritize their evacuation, children were rescued from houses first and then bussed to other cities while the resources to transport their parents were still unavailable. While this is an admirable goal, to rescue as many children as possible, in a disorganized situation such as an evacuation this can lead to families separated for months due to a lack of available information.
  • The article provided statistics on the growth of New Orleans after several years, I looked at the current state of New Orleans. While the city has been mostly rebuilt many residents still claim that the city is not the home they had before Katrina. The process of rebuilding massive parts of the city has changed it significantly, and not all residents are happy with the changes.