Interesting Uproot
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Living in Three Centuries – The Faces of Age
The photographs for this portrait series were taken in various locations around the world between 1987 and 2005.The idea to photograph people who have lived in three centuries evolved over the course of the project. First, I was simply interested in taking portraits of people who appear worn beyond their years by living extraordinarily hard lives. Those experiences drew me to centenarians, and on to supercentenarians and their stories.
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Born again, Vegas style
I met Heather Veitch and Annie Lobert at the Cheesecake Factory, across from the Green Valley Ranch casino. We had to wait for a booth because Lobert’s stories about her years working as an escort in the Vegas resort corridor can get graphic.
Many years ago Veitch used to be a stripper in Vegas. Now both women are Christian activists trying to reach out to women in the Las Vegas adult industry.
They are in the midst of gearing up for Adult Entertainment Expo, the biggest adult industry convention in the country, which takes place in Vegas every January. This convention includes the adult movie version of the Oscars, the AVN Awards.
I discovered the duo through a series of popular YouTube videos they did called “Saving Sex City.” Episode 3 features the two walking the Strip as showgirls carrying placards with Christian messages.
Even before uniting for the video series, Veitch received a lot of media attention. She thinks it is because she doesn’t look like your typical Christian preacher. In fact, her look has been a major factor, she says, in the Christian community being slower than the worldly people of Vegas to accept her.
One Vegas topless bar allows Veitch to come at night to buy lap dances and use the time to talk to the dancers about Jesus. I have been invited along for a future trip and am very curious to see how that works out. Veitch says she has received almost no hostility from the people she is trying to reach in Vegas, even those not at all interested in her message.
On the other hand, selling her fellow Christians on her project has been difficult. Veitch has found that some churches are not interested in populating congregations with strippers she has invited to services. And then it always comes back to her look. Veitch says, “The Christian community can be very judgmental. But we think our look lets girls in the industry identify with us.”
Conclusion: BagOfNothing.com Christmas Card Experiment 2.1 – Your chance to help fight lupus
With the holiday season come and gone, now is the time for me to give my readers a tally of the BagOfNothing Christmas Card Experiment 2.1.Â
Last year was the first year I decided to post my mailing address to see who would send me a Christmas card and I received a total of 24 cards: 10 from Texas, two from New York, and one from each of the following states: Ohio, Indiana, California, Colorado, Oregon, Florida, Michigan, and Minnesota. I also received four from out of the U.S. – one from Germany and three from Canada.
This year I intended on creating a bit of a gimmick to get Christmas cards by offering a chance to win $50 (version 2.0), but several of you had a better idea of raising money for charity, perhaps something in honor for my mother. So I decided to donate a dollar for each card sent to me (up to $50) and offering my readers a chance to donate either by donating funds directly to the Lupus Research Institute and having an acknowledgement sent to me or including a donation with their Christmas card (version 2.1).
This year I received a total of 23 cards: 12 cards from Texas, two cards from NY, and one from North Carolina, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado, Canada, and Italy. Â
Inside the cards were donations for Lupus Research which totaled $96.50. There were also two online donations of which I do not know the amount; and I know I mentioned I would donate a dollar a card, but I’m going to donate $50 I intended to give away. So that means BagOfNothing.com readers help raise over $146.50 for lupus research! Heck, I’m going to chip in a little more to round it off and make it a $150 donation.
Thank you for visiting this silly website.
Thank you for the Christmas cards.
And thank you for your donations to help fight lupus.
This blogger is very humbled and thankful.
Grace and Peace,
Geeding
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