![]() ![]() She exchanged a few words with the guy, then picked up the phone again. Lloyd watched Sandy pick up the intercom phone outside the cockpit, speak briefly, and hang up. General Electric employees Al Cavalieri (left) and Lloyd Pedersen were the last passengers to board the flight headed to Boston. If Lloyd had to be on a plane, he longed for the time when everyone dressed in their Sunday best. To Lloyd, he looked like just another hippie - they were everywhere these days. Even though the cabin was dimly lit, he was wearing dark sunglasses, as well as a ragged suede coat. Sandy, the stewardess, was walking toward the cockpit, trailed closely by a young, thin guy with thick sideburns and shaggy brown hair. When he glanced to the left, though, he spotted something bizarre. Lloyd could see Boston’s lights coming into view out the window. The plane would soon be making its descent. Just after 8 p.m., the pilot turned on the fasten seat belts sign. She was pleasant and efficient, and soon moved on to the row behind them. Airlines subjected stewardesses to regular weigh-ins, and many women resorted to diuretics and laxatives to stay below their mandated limits. All three were in their 20s, attractive, and slim - they had to be. A third stewardess, who had black hair, was in the back of the cabin. One of the stewardesses was blonde, the other brunette. Lloyd eyed him enviously - he was always too anxious to sleep on flights. Others flipped through magazines to pass the time, including one who perused a Reader’s Digest article titled “Is There a Substitute for God?” The man in the window seat next to Lloyd and Al dozed. ![]() When the no smoking sign went off, passengers were free to light their Winstons and Marlboros. It was scheduled to land in Boston in under an hour. Within minutes, the plane, with its 68 passengers and five crew members, was in the air. A sociable 48-year-old, Al was a mechanical engineer with a wife and houseful of kids back in Topsfield. Although he didn’t know his colleague Al Cavalieri all that well, he had found him to be good company. Now, after a late connecting flight, he just wanted to get home to his wife and two kids in Peabody. Despite being an Air Force veteran, he dreaded flying. A 43-year-old supervisor at General Electric’s plant in Lynn, he had flown to North Carolina the day before to review new equipment. NYC, New York, May 25, 2007.Lloyd clambered into the middle seat. Nina’s Purple Hearts: Back from Iraq website / purchase ![]() >If you have questions or comments for Nina, she is available to answer in the discussion thread<<Īsking Questions About America: Fleet Week #1 What I’m curious about, however, is how - just weeks after the Virginia Tech shootings (and the lost opportunity to have a public debate about hand guns) - neither the military, the police, nor the anti-gun Mayor seemed to have much reservation about discouraging the public (no just looking?), and especially, children, from getting their hands on a piece. And who could deny that the small arms weapon is a necessary implement in any military arsenal. Granted, the military came to NY for a (PR) show of hardware. In image #1, are we witnessing a loss of innocence, or, in our violence-saturated culture, simply the lack of it? In #2, factoring those facial expressions the girl’s “girlish” and incredible “Go Nuts” top the face paint (kids love face paint) and the fingers on the triggers, I’m wondering, is this the new cover of the American family album? And, in #3, besides the appeal to gangster chic, there is no escaping the double entendre of “a boy’s equipment.” I was interested in how these three images, all emphasizing the hand gun, have a slightly different pull. Today, I’m interested in a more narrow aspect of these gun-saturated images, which is the prevalence of hand guns in these exhibitions. In the second post, I focused on military recruitment and race. In the first post, I noted the public’s unremarkable response to American militarism and the public display of weaponry. Today, I offer the last in a series of posts featuring images by photojournalist Nina Berman of this year’s Fleet Week naval extravaganza in NYC. ![]()
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