Spring forward but don’t trip over the Sgnomes

The days getting longer. Ducks and geese returning. Setting our clocks forward an hour for Daylight Saving Time. All of these are clear signs that spring is nigh. But no other sign fills our hearts with more joy than the annual migration of Sgnomes.

Once a common sight throughout the northern part of USA and Canada, global climate change has tragically had a devastating impact on Sgnome populations. Their migratory paths require a unique combination of heavy, sustained snowfall followed by a gradual warming as spring approaches. However, with the shift in climate, the Sgnome migration is coming earlier and earlier and, in some years, doesn’t happen at all.

Thankfully, this year’s Sgnome migration has been epic. My wife, Anne C. Savage, was there to capture it with her camera and we offer it to you today as you set your clocks forward an hour, to cheer your spirits and prepare you for the glorious spring that has nearly sprung.

Click through for the Full Monty.

Awww….

From consummate animal photographer Anne C. Savage, also my wife, it’s Sunni the BSBOL* and Spooky the TSBOL**:

All together now: “Awwwwww…”

* Big Squishy Ball of Love
** Tiny Squishy Ball of Love

Click through for a second photoblog from the second inauguration of Barack Obama and Joe Biden including two exclusive interactive panoramic images.

Four more years!

Yesterday, Anne and I attended the 57th Presidential Inauguration Ceremony in Washington, D.C. along with about a million other people. Attendance was down from nearly 2 million in 2009 but still dwarfs the 400,000-person crowd at George W. Bush’s second inauguration. While the crowd may have been smaller, the enthusiasm and the pure joy in the voices and faces of the people who were there was not diminished.

Anne’s photos along with President Obama’s speech, the Inaugural poem, and some reflections of the day after the jump.

More genius from Anne C. Savage:

Larger version suitable for sharing and pinning after the jump.

DNC photo-extravaganza!

I would have loved to have shared more images with you last week but there just wasn’t enough time for uploading and editing images, unless I wanted to lose more sleep, and that wasn’t an option. However, for those of you who were there, the timing of this photo post is probably just right giving you the weekend to catch up on sleep and email.

LOTS more photos after the jump.

If everyone in the US voted…

Anne has started a new meme called “If everyone in the US voted…”

Combined with her eye-catching photos, it’s designed to show how things could be different if only everyone voted. Share around on Facebook, pin it on Pinterest. Join in on the fun!

(And make sure everyone you know is registered to vote! Great site for that here: GottaRegister.com.)

Here’s the latest edition:

Larger image after the jump.

Michiganproud

Enjoy.

“It’s pretty cool knowing when you represent your country, you’ve got a president and a vice president who represent you. We’ve had tough times in Michigan, but we never give up. We just get up and keep going. We keep fighting with the president and vice president who’ve got our backs.”

— Claressa Shields, 1st female Olympic middleweight boxing gold medalist

This needs to go viral. Share widely.

Larger version suitable for sharing and pinning after the jump.

Corporations should not win elections

Last Friday, June 29, 2012, David Cobb from Move to Amend spoke to an energized crowd of about 100 Washtenaw/Ann Arbor-area activists about the corrosive influence of money and corporate personhood in our elections.

Photos from the event taken by Anne Savage after the jump along with information about how you can join our local group, Michiganders to Keep Big Money Out of Elections.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs

This is a collage of photographs I took during the Vaginas Take Back the Capitol event last week.

Click on “Read Full Story” below to see an interactive image of the poster where you can zoom in on the image to see the signs better or download the large file to print.

Energized for the work ahead

This was my first year at Netroots Nation. I was one of the Netroots Nation staff photographers, and feel very privileged to be included in such a talented group. My first experience with Netroots might have been quite different if I had just bought a ticket and gone. I tend to be a little shy in those kinds of settings. I would have gone to the talks that interested me, hung with people I knew and maybe spent more time on my computer than I needed to. I would have had a great experience, but being a staff photographer enabled me to experience it in a unique way and it has inspired me to write this as a prologue to my clearer voice, my photographs.

Photos after the jump.