Lorenzo Dominguez:  

A Different Sort of Picture New York City, March 1, 2012: Today, I offer a different sort of picture. Usually, my photos focus on the here and now, a contemporary peer into the beauty of everyday people of our present day and age—everyday folk making their way to work, grinding through life in this grand metropolis, New York City. Today, however, I’m looking back, way back, 1979 back. Several recent events have prompted this trip back into time for me. Most pressing is that my wife, Chelsea, and I are teetering on the very precipice of having our fourth son. We literally believe—today is the day. She’s 9 months pregnant and although the due date is 10 days from now (March 10), she has been having contractions for a month, she’s dilated 4 cm and there were other signs this morning—I will spare you the details. Second, our oldest, Enzo, is about to officially become a teenager on April 5 and I fear we have already lost him to the abyss of adolescence. My mother, Delia, claims that I was likewise a troublesome teen, but I still find that quite difficult to believe. Me? Our other two sons, Dominic, 10 and Sidney, 9, are both in 4th grade and thus constantly hail me back to my beloved Trace School years, especially since all three complain a lot about how “boring” school is and I usually respond in disbelief with a genuine general, albeit ambiguous, regaling of how great my grade school years were. Not that I remember much from way back when, apart from the fact that I had fun, that I loved my teachers, especially Mrs. Riding who gave me a parting peck on the cheek in second grade (which I will never forget because I had a deep crush on her) as I went off to Hester Elementary for a two year stint; and Mr. Stebbins, because he was always was this genuine giant of an Elmo, always smiling and unabashedly wearing the most colorful outfits I have ever seen any adult wear. I also fondly remember some of my classmates that I used to play tag and dodge ball with in the misty cool fog of the playground—Edwin Anderson, Michelle Sandoval, Tisha Mendoza, Jennifer Bruce, Becky Armstrong, Michael Haggerty, Mary Pedone, Christian Tobias, Kal Avera, Sam Luton, Lance Wagner, Chris Long, Danny McGee, Steven Swenson, Janet Shaffer, Rodney Dunham and Suzette Johnson, among others. However, I also don’t remember a lot about those years and lost touch with almost everyone. Although many of us went to the middle school across the street, Herbert Hoover Junior High, eventually some of us went our separate ways. Whereas most of my classmates went to the high school down the block from where ...Expand for more