By Shannon Stapleton

Every time I have to cover a story related to the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center I always hope that I will be able to forget that day and the so many lives affected by the tragedy.

Today was not different. It’s a beautiful spring day and being down near the Ground Zero site was probably the last place I wanted to be. But covering one of the last pieces being hoisted onto One World Trade Center did provide a glimmer of closure.

It’s taken way too long but the site is being transformed into more of a place of remembrance – a place, at least for me, that I can go near and not be totally engulfed by the memories of what I saw and what happened on that tragic day.

While walking around downtown to find spot to show the hoisting, I found a mural honoring those that were lost. Putting that in the same frame of the spire being lifted I thought would say a lot: a piece of the past with that of the present.

As I made frames I noticed people stopped taking photos of that last piece being hoisted. And I even saw some people smiling as they looked up: closure for some, maybe, and for others maybe not.

It’s a good thing that once again the skyline will soon be marked with the tallest building in Manhattan, in the location that once carried that claim to fame.

By Shannon Stapleton

Driving into the city I was listening to NPR talking about it being the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy.

At first I couldn’t believe it had been six months already, and then I thought more about it and it seemed like years ago. The last time I was in Breezy Point and the Rockaways not much had changed.

The area of Breezy Point was still littered with fire and storm damaged homes throughout the seaside community. Arriving today the specific area that was ravaged by fire was completely different. The remains of homes had been taken away and the land flattened and filled with sand.

Shells of houses’ foundations and patriotic flags were all to be seen. A few heavy construction vehicles were busy working and served as the only real sign of life around the area.

I made a photo of a man inside a home in silhouette that for me defined what I was seeing. A once lively seaside community that in the past would be preparing for another summer by the sea is now a bit of a ghost town with few residents back to welcome spring and cherish another summer at the beach.

From there I drove to the Rockaways because, like Breezy Point, I hadn’t been back in some time and wanted to see how the boardwalk was progressing.

This has always been a special place for me. My son learned to skateboard there and we were looking forward to surfing the waves this summer. While you can tell much work had been done to clean up the area, the boardwalk was still a ghost of what it once was.

Men were working hard behind construction fences, but it was evident that being ready for summer was going to be a tough chore and likely not possible. I saw two girls walking onto the beach despite a gloomy spring day which gave me hope that a summer in the Rockaways could be a possibility for those looking to escape the concrete jungle.

I hope so.

By Shannon Stapleton

It had been a couple months since I traveled somewhere to cover an assignment and I have to admit I was really looking to get out of town.

So when I heard that the Reuters text operation was covering a story in Williston, North Dakota on the Bakken Oil boom I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to visit a place that I had never been before. That same day I picked up the month’s edition of National Geographic and saw on the cover that one of my favorite photographers Eugene Richards had spent some time there this past summer. I was excited to embark on an adventure to the western frontier and see for myself this modern day gold rush.

GALLERY: NORTH DAKOTA BOOMING

I should have known that the average daily high temperature in March doesn’t exceed 35 degrees Fahrenheit in western North Dakota with a wind that bites right through you. But I was getting out of town and having the opportunity to work on a story that had significant news value. So, on Monday I took a 6:30 am flight from New York to Minneapolis for a layover then on to the wild frontier of Williston, North Dakota. During the layover I noticed that I was the only guy wearing sunglasses and a North Face jacket. I was surrounded by burly guys in Carhartt work clothes waiting to head back to a place that I found was a home away from home that afforded these men the opportunity to provide for their families that most of them had left back in areas all over the United States. I arrived in Williston and the temperature was a balmy 23 degrees. I picked up my rent a car and drove to my “luxurious” weekly rental located right off the main drag of Highway 85.

That day I met our text reporter Ernest Scheyder and even after a long day of traveling was excited see the various oil drilling sites that were everywhere around the vast snow-covered wheat fields. About an hour into our venture a snow storm came out of nowhere and caught us a little off guard. It was blinding and thank God for the iPhone’s GPS and Ernie’s four wheel drive we made it back to the motel. Over the next few days I encountered several men and women that had very similar stories about coming to Williston for work in order to survive and make a better life for them and their families in such troubling financial times in our country. Other than the daunting task of finding an affordable place to live, the jobs were there and ripe for the picking. Experience was not required in some cases. Wal-Mart was advertising starting jobs at $17 an hour with benefits merely because they were having difficulty finding people to work for those low wages.

All in all it was a mirage unlike anywhere else in the country that had an unemployment rate hovering around three percent, some five points lower than the national rate. Jobs were plentiful and there was a lot of money to be made.

With all that said I have to admit when my time was up I was more than ready to go home. The freezing cold temperatures, dirt roads, lack of eating options, lack of cultural diversity and, even though I’m happily married, the men to women ratio got to me after five days.

Authorities scrambled to prepare for the storm, which had already touched off a massive traffic pile-up in southern Maine and prompted organizers of the nation’s sledding championship in Maine to postpone a race scheduled for Saturday, fearing too much snow for the competition.

From New York to Maine, the storm began gently, dropping a light dusting of snow, but officials urged residents to stay home, rather than risk getting stuck in deep drifts when the storm kicks up later Friday afternoon.

Even in its early stages, the storm created some panic. Drivers lined up at gas stations to top off their tanks, grocery stores were swamped as shoppers stocked up on bread and milk, and travellers were forced to confront flight delays and cancellations.

The early edge of the storm led to a 19-vehicle pile-up in southern Maine, snarling traffic on a major interstate highway north of Portland. No major injuries were reported.

“It was close to whiteout conditions, it’s sort of a precursor of what’s coming later,” said Stephen McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine State Police.

Officials across the region closed schools and more than 3,000 flights were cancelled. Several thousand customers lost power in New Jersey and points south, though officials warned the number was likely to rise as the snowfall got heavier and winds picked up.

Governors and mayors ordered nonessential government workers to stay home, urged private employers to do the same, told people to prepare for power outages and encouraged them to check on elderly or disabled neighbours.

The light snow falling across much of New England on Friday morning was a taste of the weather to come, said Jerry Paul, senior meteorologist with Weather Insight, a unit of Thomson Reuters. <TRI.TO(TRI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)

“That’s going to be gradually building today as time goes on,” Paul said.

A wide swath of New England, including northeastern Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, and the Boston area, will likely see 24 inches to 30 inches (60 centimetres to 76 centimetres) of snow, with some areas seeing more than three feet (one meter) by the time the storm ends on Saturday morning, Paul added.

At the storm’s peak, winds could gust up to 65 miles per hour (105 kilometres per hour), he said.

Boston’s record snowfall, 27.6 inches (70.1 cm), came in 2003.

CHEERING ON STORM

Organizers of the country’s championship sledding race, that had been scheduled to get underway in Camden, Maine, on Saturday, postponed the event by one day.

“As soon as the weather clears on Saturday and it is safe, the toboggan committee will be out at Tobagganville cleaning up the chute as quickly as they can,” said Holly Edwards, chairman of the U.S. National Toboggan Championships. “It needs to be shovelled out by hand.”

Some 400 teams were registered for the race, which features costumed sledders on a 400-foot (121 meter) chute.

After two years of very little snow across the region, people whose livelihoods depend on skiers and snowmobilers cheered on the storm.

“It affects restaurants, lodgings, everything if those people aren’t up here to play,” said Scott Senecal, manager of the VIP Discount Auto Center in Littleton, New Hampshire, in the White Mountains. “All those people that come up here they’re going to have flat tires, batteries that die … Cold weather causes people to have to spend money whether they wanted to or not.”

FUEL WORRIES

In New York City, still not fully recovered from the effects of October’s devastating Hurricane Sandy, officials said they had 1,800 Sanitation Department trucks equipped with snow ploughs ready to be deployed.

Motorists, mindful of the severe fuel disruptions after Sandy, rushed to buy gasoline, leading to shortages in New York City. A Reuters photographer reported at least three service stations had run out of gas in the borough of Queens on Friday morning, with long lines formed at others.

Sandy knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes, taking gasoline stations out of service, and damaged port facilities, exacerbating the shortages by preventing operable stations from refuelling.

“We’ve seen some lines at stations in the southern part of the state, ahead of the storm, which may actually help prevent problems after the storm,” said Ralph Bombardiere, executive director of the New York State Association of Service Stations and Repair Shops. “I’m not expecting anything like the vast power outages and problems we had with Sandy.”

Life was not any easier for those who planned to fly. More than 3,000 flights were cancelled on Friday, with close to 1,000 planned cancellations for Saturday, according to the website FlightAware.com. The hardest-hit airports were in the New York City area, Boston and Toronto.

Major Boston financial companies, including State Street Corp (STT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Fidelity Investments, said many employees worked from home on Friday rather than risk travelling. (Additional reporting by Jason McClure in Littleton, New Hampshire, David Sheppard and Scott DiSavino in New York and Dave Warner in Philadelphia; Editing by Daniel Trotta; and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Authorities scrambled to prepare for the storm, which had
already touched off a massive traffic pile-up in southern Maine
and prompted organizers of the nation’s sledding championship in
Maine to postpone a race scheduled for Saturday, fearing too
much snow for the competition.

From New York to Maine, the storm began gently, dropping a
light dusting of snow, but officials urged residents to stay
home, rather than risk getting stuck in deep drifts when the
storm kicks up later Friday afternoon.

Even in its early stages, the storm created some panic.
Drivers lined up at gas stations to top off their tanks, grocery
stores were swamped as shoppers stocked up on bread and milk,
and travelers were forced to confront flight delays and
cancellations.

The early edge of the storm led to a 19-vehicle pile-up in
southern Maine, snarling traffic on a major interstate highway
north of Portland. No major injuries were reported.

“It was close to whiteout conditions, it’s sort of a
precursor of what’s coming later,” said Stephen McCausland, a
spokesman for the Maine State Police.

Officials across the region closed schools and more than
3,000 flights were canceled. Several thousand customers lost
power in New Jersey and points south, though officials warned
the number was likely to rise as the snowfall got heavier and
winds picked up.

Governors and mayors ordered nonessential government workers
to stay home, urged private employers to do the same, told
people to prepare for power outages and encouraged them to check
on elderly or disabled neighbors.

The light snow falling across much of New England on Friday
morning was a taste of the weather to come, said Jerry Paul,
senior meteorologist with Weather Insight, a unit of Thomson
Reuters. <TRI.TO

“That’s going to be gradually building today as time goes
on,” Paul said.

A wide swath of New England, including northeastern
Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, and the Boston area, will
likely see 24 inches to 30 inches (60 centimeters to 76
centimeters) of snow, with some areas seeing more than three
feet (one meter) by the time the storm ends on Saturday morning,
Paul added.

At the storm’s peak, winds could gust up to 65 miles per
hour (105 kilometers per hour), he said.

Boston’s record snowfall, 27.6 inches (70.1 cm), came in
2003.

CHEERING ON STORM

Organizers of the country’s championship sledding race, that
had been scheduled to get underway in Camden, Maine, on
Saturday, postponed the event by one day.

“As soon as the weather clears on Saturday and it is safe,
the toboggan committee will be out at Tobagganville cleaning up
the chute as quickly as they can,” said Holly Edwards, chairman
of the U.S. National Toboggan Championships. “It needs to be
shoveled out by hand.”

Some 400 teams were registered for the race, which features
costumed sledders on a 400-foot (121 meter) chute.

After two years of very little snow across the region,
people whose livelihoods depend on skiers and snowmobilers
cheered on the storm.

“It affects restaurants, lodgings, everything if those
people aren’t up here to play,” said Scott Senecal, manager of
the VIP Discount Auto Center in Littleton, New Hampshire, in the
White Mountains. “All those people that come up here they’re
going to have flat tires, batteries that die … Cold weather
causes people to have to spend money whether they wanted to or
not.”

FUEL WORRIES

In New York City, still not fully recovered from the effects
of October’s devastating Hurricane Sandy, officials said they
had 1,800 Sanitation Department trucks equipped with snow plows
ready to be deployed.

Motorists, mindful of the severe fuel disruptions after
Sandy, rushed to buy gasoline, leading to shortages in New York
City. A Reuters photographer reported at least three service
stations had run out of gas in the borough of Queens on Friday
morning, with long lines formed at others.

Sandy knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes,
taking gasoline stations out of service, and damaged port
facilities, exacerbating the shortages by preventing operable
stations from refueling.

“We’ve seen some lines at stations in the southern part of
the state, ahead of the storm, which may actually help prevent
problems after the storm,” said Ralph Bombardiere, executive
director of the New York State Association of Service Stations
and Repair Shops. “I’m not expecting anything like the vast
power outages and problems we had with Sandy.”

Life was not any easier for those who planned to fly. More
than 3,000 flights were canceled on Friday, with close to 1,000
planned cancellations for Saturday, according to the website
FlightAware.com. The hardest-hit airports were in the New York
City area, Boston and Toronto.

Major Boston financial companies, including State Street
Corp and Fidelity Investments, said many employees
worked from home on Friday rather than risk traveling.

Blizzard warnings were in effect from New Jersey through
southern Maine, with Boston expected to bear the brunt of the
storm. The day began with light snow and winds that were due to
pick up with much heavier snowfall by afternoon.

Officials urged residents to stay home, rather than risk
getting stuck in deep drifts or whiteout conditions.

In New York City, still not fully recovered from the effects
of October’s devastating Hurricane Sandy, officials said they
had 1,800 Sanitation Department trucks equipped with snow plows
ready to be deployed.

Motorists, mindful of the severe fuel disruptions after
Sandy, rushed to buy gasoline, leading to shortages in New York
City. A Reuters photographer reported at least three service
stations had run out of gas in the borough of Queens on Friday
morning, with long lines formed at others.

Sandy knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes,
taking gasoline stations out of service, and damaged port
facilities, exacerbating the shortages by preventing operable
stations from refueling.

“You always get long lines ahead of a storm, but as the
wounds from Hurricane Sandy are still so fresh, it’s not
surprising that people are rushing to fill up,” said
Michael Watt, executive director of the Long Island Gasoline
Retailers Association. “It’s understandable. Even people like me
who would normally think it was foolish to panic buy will be
thinking about it.”

Boston and surrounding communities said schools would be
closed on Friday, and city and state officials told nonessential
city workers to stay home.

Officials across the region ordered nonessential government
workers to stay home, urged private employers to do the same,
and told people to prepare for power outages and encouraged them
to check on elderly or disabled neighbors.

In New Jersey, also hit hard by Sandy, state officials
expected major coastal flooding, high winds, and possible
blizzard conditions in the northeastern section of the state.

“This is a dangerous storm, and we ask motorists to be
careful while driving,” said Colonel Rick Fuentes, director of
the New Jersey Office of Emergency Management. “(The) evening
commute will be treacherous throughout much of New Jersey.”

The National Weather Service, warning of a “major, maybe
even historic, snowstorm,” said Boston and much of New England
could get up to three feet of snow (90 cm) on Friday and
Saturday, its first heavy snowfall in two years. Winds could
gust as high as 60 miles to 70 miles per hour (95 to 112 km per
hour).

If more than 18.2 inches (46.2 cm) of snow falls in Boston,
it will rank among the city’s 10 largest snowfalls. Boston’s
record snowfall, 27.6 inches (70.1 cm), came in 2003.

Cities from Hartford, Connecticut, to Portland, Maine, were
expected to see at least one foot of snow.

Airlines have canceled more than 3,000 flights for Friday,
according to website FlightAware.com, with the largest number of
cancellations at airports in Newark, New Jersey; New York City;
Chicago and Boston.

Another 881 flights were canceled for Saturday, according to
the flight-tracking site.

Boston’s Logan International Airport warned that once the
storm roars in, all flights would likely be grounded for 24
hours.

United Continental Holdings Inc, JetBlue Airways
Corp and Delta Air Lines Inc all reported
extensive cancellations.

ECHOES OF ’78

For some in the Boston area, the forecast brought to mind
memories of the blizzard of 1978, which dropped 27.1 inches
(68.8 cm), the second largest snowfall recorded in the city’s
history. That storm started out gently and intensified during
the day, leaving many motorists stranded during the evening
commute.

Dozens of deaths were reported in the region after that
storm, many from people touching downed electric lines.

Officials warned of a high risk of extensive power outages
across the region due to the combination of heavy snow and high
winds. Residents were also at risk of losing heat at a time when
temperatures would dip to 20 Fahrenheit (minus 7 Celsius).

Across the region, store shelves were picked clean of food
and storm-related supplies such as shovels and salt as residents
scrambled to prepare.

Some big employers said they were considering pleas by
officials to let workers stay home, including State Street Corp
, one of Boston’s largest employers in the financial
sector.

I woke on the morning of July 20th happy and looking forward to a great weekend with my son at his last lacrosse tournament of the season.

That feeling of happiness changed quickly when I looked on the phone and it said “Can you get on a plane to Denver as soon as possible, there has been a mass shooting at the screening of Batman with 12 people dead and numerous injured.” My heart started to race and all I could think of was how just five months prior I had responded to the senseless killing of three high school students in Chardon, Ohio. A place close to my heart because it was near where I grew up and had played my last high school football in 1987.

Colorado and the Rocky Mountains have also been a place of very fond memories in my life. I spent the years of 1991 to 1995 there and never forgot the majestic feeling of the mountain lifestyle. I just couldn’t believe this was happening again and especially in the Denver area where I cherished the years spent in the region.

My wife woke and asked what was wrong as I was trying to gather my thoughts, answer emails and figure out the quickest flight out. I said there was a mass killing in Denver and I had to leave as soon as possible. I told her I was sorry because my daughter was supposed to have her first sleep over at our house and I was supposed to take my son to Pennsylvania for his lacrosse tournament. All those plans would have to be scrapped as I frantically tried to book a plane flight out of New York. This is my job – I signed up for this and she knows that. Covering the big assignment is why I became a photojournalist. Explaining to your kids that Daddy has to leave right now is never easy and trying to explain why even harder. I booked a flight, packed my bags and said I love them and would see them in a week.

In my career I have covered my share of death, despair and sorrow. It never gets easier to prepare for mentally. Anybody that says it does is fooling themselves. I knew to expect the sorrow and grief that would emanate through the family, friends and the entire community. But you can’t prepare yourself for the woman who lost her 6 year old niece, the kids who lost a classmate or the overall sorrow that such a tragic event can have on a community. Grief is genuine and not something that can be faked. Capturing the images surrounding such a tragic event is why a photograph is worth a thousand words.

Like in Chardon, Ohio, I was overwhelmed by the sense of community and outpouring of good will. When I first arrived a small memorial site had been started on the hillside behind the theater where the killings took place and a prayer vigil was held.

There were prayers for the victims, injured and some even prayed for the killer. Something that reminded me of the community feeling in Chardon. Forgiveness among the devout extends all boundaries. By the time I left on Wednesday that memorial site had became massive with letters, flowers and crosses honoring the deceased victims line up along the whole hillside.

Even Batman himself, Christian Bale, showed up to pay his respects. On Sunday thousands of people attended a more formal vigil that was held behind the Aurora Public Library. Every day people came to pay their respects at the site and the outpouring of emotion was never-ending.

For five days straight I kept looking to the west at the Rocky Mountains in the distance saying to myself “I really need to get up there and clear my head.” It wasn’t the 100 degree heat on the lowlands that was drawing me to them. It was that I remembered how being at 9,000 plus feet above sea level on top of the world with nobody else around can really cleanse the soul. I got that opportunity on Tuesday and drove to the little mountain town of Georgetown, Colorado where I drove up to pass and took a hike. I saw deer running wild and while perched on a mountainside a silhouette of a moose swimming in a lake.

Living in New York this tranquility is unheard of. I will always cherish those moments of serenity after a really tough five days of covering what I hope and pray no community will have to endure again – something I also realize may be a delusion of grandeur.

Throughout my career I have covered my share of despair caused by senseless killings, war and natural disasters in other countries and within the United States. You become kind of jaded and realize that when you get the call to go cover one of these assignments that you are going in as a journalist and your job is to cover the reality of the situation no matter how bad it is. Little did I know that I would someday be covering such tragedy in a place around 25 miles from where I grew up.

I received the call on Tuesday to get on a plane to Chardon, Ohio, a blue collar town of 5,000 outside of Cleveland a day after the senseless shooting of five high school students, that ended with three dead by the end of the week. I boarded a plane as soon as possible and arrived in Akron, Ohio around 5:00 pm where I drove for an hour to make a candlelight vigil honoring the victims of the shootings at St. Mary’s church in Chardon, Ohio.

When I arrived at the church there were thousands of people that had gathered inside and outside dressed in red to honor the victims. I got quickly to work and was amazed at the outpouring of support from throughout the community and the other schools nearby. Kids had their school name jackets on from around the area and everyone had candles listening to the church service outside in the cold. When it was over people hugged and cried and walked hand and hand back to their vehicles. Walking back to my car was when it really hit me. I hadn’t been back to Chardon in 25 years when I played one of my last high school football games on a field that had now been replaced by a newer one with Astroturf.

Over the course of the next five days I was able to reflect and remember where I was brought up and how it had made me the person I am today. Some things I admit I had forgotten and will make sure to incorporate into my daily life. Living in the New York City metropolitan area for the last 15 years has changed me. I don’t go out of my way to say hello to people or smile and just nod when passing a complete stranger on the street. The sense of pride in living in a community outside of New York is something I’m only now starting to feel on a small level through my son Zander’s involvement in sports. But while I was in Chardon I realized that even in the midst of such a tragic event people can forgive, persevere and be kind to others even if they are members of the press invading their community while the story still has the interest of the nation.

Please don’t get me wrong because I was there on the horrible events of 9-11 in New York City and I saw how people came together in such a heroic effort to preserve life and help others but the experience I had in Chardon, Ohio was something completely different. It wasn’t the outpouring of people showing up to support students or the memorials set up around town, I had seen plenty of that throughout my career. It was the forgiveness by the community for the 17 year-old shooter Thomas “T.J.” Lane that truly overwhelmed me and actually made me remember where I came from. I had forgotten what it was like to grow up in a community where everyone knew everyone and when one member of the community was hurting, everybody hurts. There is a reason they call the Midwest the Heartland.

“This isn’t Chardon, I would pray for him” sophomore Peter LeMaster responded when asked how he felt or what he would say to to T.J. Lane. Click here or on the photo above for portraits of Chardon students and their sentiments on T.J.

I interviewed around ten students and former graduates of Chardon High School and out of all of them only one feeling of anger was ever felt towards T.J., the shooter. A feeling that I believe I would harbor as well if my friends were killed in cold blood. The others, while puzzled by his horrific actions, were forgiving and just wished he would have asked them or someone for help to get him through whatever pain he was going through in his life. The remorse for their lost friends and students was coupled with a noble sense of sympathy for T.J. that he was so troubled in his life that he would commit such a heinous act.

I often tell people proudly I’m a New Yorker after living here for 15 years. I often would say how glad I was that I left Ohio in 1987 and traveled and lived in other parts of the country. This assignment grounded me and made me realize that I should have cherished the fact that I grew up in a small town in Ohio raised in a community that was unique. While still proud to consider myself a New Yorker I now know for certain that I’m truly a Midwesterner and proud of that as well.

After an emotional display of community support on Thursday, when students and parents marched through the streets of the small town east of Cleveland to the quiet applause of their neighbors, all Chardon schools continued what Superintendent Joseph Bergant called a “journey of rebuilding.”

Buses rolled in to the high school about 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled opening Friday morning, greeted by faculty and staff who could be heard clapping. Some students walked to the campus where flags remain at half-staff and others parted from parents after a big hug.

Stopping for a moment near a memorial to the shooting victims, Peter LeMaster, 15, had a short message of forgiveness when asked what, if anything, he would say to the shooter.

“I would pray for him,” LeMaster said.

Students and their parents were free to meet Thursday with counselors at the Chardon schools, with classes resuming Friday.

Prosecutors on Thursday formally charged T.J. Lane, 17, as a juvenile with three counts of aggravated murder, two counts of aggravated attempted murder and one count of felonious assault.

Prosecutors have said they plan to request Lane is tried as an adult at his next scheduled hearing on Tuesday.

Lane confessed when he was taken into custody shortly after the shooting on Monday morning to firing 10 shots from a .22-caliber handgun at a table of students he told police he had selected at random, prosecutors have said.

Daniel Parmertor, 16, Demetrius Hewlin, 16, and Russell King, 17, died from their wounds. Nick Walczak, 17, remained hospitalized on Friday in serious condition from wounds and a female student has been released from a local hospital.

Visitation for Parmertor will be held Friday at a funeral home in Eastlake, Ohio, followed by his funeral Saturday. Hewlin’s funeral is scheduled for Tuesday and King’s funeral has been scheduled for Thursday, March 8, at a Chardon church.

King’s obituary said his family donated his organs and “so far, his gift of life, through Lifebanc has saved 8 lives, including a small child. His heart still beats.”

On Thursday, one heartbeat was a common theme expressed on a number of red and black home made T-shirts and sweatshirts worn by students and in messages outside the high school.

(Reporting by Shannon Stapleton and Kim Palmer; Writing by David Bailey; Editing by Paul Thomasch)

When asked, “What do you see for the future of Iraq now that the United States military is leaving the country ?”, 12-year-old student Kharar Haider replied, “I don’t think we will have more problems and it is better than when Saddam was here. We have no heating or light in school. I don’t think that is going to get better.”

Upon arriving in Baghdad on Dec. 1st of 2011 for my first time in Iraq, the question that I couldn’t get out of my mind as we made our way through a maze of military checkpoints was “What will be the future of Iraq after we leave?” If security was this tense now, I could not imagine what was going to happen after the U.S. troops finally pulled out of this war-torn country.

Thoughts of a new sectarian war among the various factions involved in a power struggle over the government dominated my outlook on the future of Iraq. The threat of suicide bombings, mortar attacks or kidnappings for Iraq’s people created a sense of paranoia that I couldn’t possibly imagine living with on a daily basis. I was eventually going to be leaving the country on a military embed. The Iraqis who told me about their hopes for the future would stay behind.

When asked, “What do you see for the future of Iraq now that the United States military is leaving the country?”, fishmonger Saad Moslem replied, “Iraq is more stable now. I hope everything is going to be fine. All depends on God. In my neighborhood there is no electricity, no water. We have to buy water to drink. Hopefully nothing will happen.”

So I decided in my daily work to ask that same question of the people who were going to be part of this moment in history:

“What will be the future of Iraq after the Americans leave?”

I decided to do a series of portraits, all shot in the same format with a Canon Mark II 5D and a 50 mm lens all shot at 3.5 vertical head to toe. To be honest, I had never worked that way. Usually on assignments, I am chasing the light or working on composition or specific moments. This was different. The subjects spoke for themselves. I met a fishmonger, a little boy in his soccer uniform, two mothers, a garbage truck driver, a security guard, a retired teacher, a local photojournalist and others to complete my series of ten people.

Eighteen-year-old mother Roaua Mansour said, “I was just a young girl when the Americans came. I used to walk with the U.S. soldiers and take pictures with them and they talked with me. They gave me pencils, and school books. I hope things get better but security is still the main problem here.”

There were various answers to the question. Like any question there are always different ideas and thoughts. But most were apprehensive, unsure of their country’s future after nearly nine years of American military presence. I leave on December 14th for an embed with the military with hopes of making it home by December 20th to be with my family.

I can’t think of a better word than the one I learned here in Iraq to answer the question “What will be the future of Iraq after we leave?” and my getting home for the holidays. Inshallah!