An interview by Esther Sassaman for an upcoming text

The following is a personal interview by Esther Sassaman:

Bloggers are known for strong political opinions and too much openness about their love lives. A growing number have taken the expressive power of the blog into new realms. Many bloggers of all interests and political viewpoints have debunked inaccuracies portrayed by the mainstream media, maintained compendia on rapidly developing stories more quickly than big broadcasters, and established their own live news services in conflict zones. Jacob Applebaum is one of this last category, publishing photojournalism from Iraq, Houston, and New Orleans that has often surpassed the news value, narrative power, and beauty of photography produced by longstanding news service photographers. Appelbaum went to Iraq in April 2005 as a photographer and to visit friends, and visited Houston’s Astrodome after Katrina to help set up a low power FM radio network and wireless service [http://www.prometheusradio.org] for details. He is currently in the poor, black Algiers neighborhood of New Orleans, administering a data center at the behest of community organizer and former Black Panther Malik Rahim.

Jacob’s photographs have gained a new audience with the Houston Astrodome series [http://flickr.com/photos/ioerror/sets/905698/], which has become widely distributed. I reached him on Tuesday, the second day of his stay in Algiers. We talked about the situation in Algiers on Tuesday, but also about his personal motivations for coming to activism, and his background.

You can read the rest of the interview off site.

On censorship

To those that feel negativity towards me. To the people that have insulted me, spit on me, denied me and called me the insult of the day:

Thank you. Without your negative praise I wouldn’t be motivated to fight for things I consider to be just. Without you I would feel like my efforts aren’t of any significance. Please keep the death threats coming. Perhaps even a pot shot at my motorcycle while I’m driving it. I know I’m doing something right when I get under your skin enough to waste hours of your time reading things that make your blood boil. I’ll never stop. You have yourselves to thank. You should be proud of yourselves. All of you. You’re a bunch of world changing winners.

Yours with love and devotion to something better,
Jacob Appelbaum