Haiti

I lived Léogâne, Haiti for a year, working as a communications fellow for Kore Timoun. In my role, I managed the organization's social media, produced videos, took photos and wrote.

India

The Rev. Hector D’Souza stands beside the altar, delivering the daily homily at Loyola Secondary School in Northeast India. The day’s message draws on Christianity’s greatest commandment: Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The lesson is simple but the surrounding communities in the state of Meghalaya need to hear it. Dawagre, like other villages in the region characterized by ethnic diversity, is under attack by militants bent on independence. The seven northeastern states, approximately the size of the U.S. state of Colorado, are home to more than 160 different tribes, according to the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.

​The Indian government has long been criticized for failing to recognize immigrants and native tribes in the area, which has spurred groups to fight for both regional and state autonomy. This fractured resistance, made up of militants fighting the Indian government as well as each other, rarely discriminates between armed enemies and innocent villagers. Jesuits have received bullets in the mail for refusing to comply with the militants. “Someday, they will come for us,” D’Souza said, though he continues to preach a message of peace.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip to Northeast India, taken in March 2015.

Milwaukee

I work as a reporter for the Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, a news organization dedicated to providing balanced and objective reporting on central city neighborhoods. Working at NNS provided me with the opportunity to do print, audio and photo journalism. You can read my articles by looking at my portfolio.

El Salvador

Our Marquette University delegation was made up of 34 people, the largest university delegation to visit El Salvador for the commemoration. We consisted of students, administration and faculty. In a group this large the backgrounds were inevitably diverse. Our academic interests and connections to Marquette ranged from a criminology major to a nursing professor to the director of a spiritual center. Yet, one thread connected us — we all arrived willing to have our hearts broken.

Twenty-five years later, the events of the morning of November 16, 1989 have not been forgotten. The echo of the gunshots intended to end the Salvadoran civil war still ring out. The events at the Universidad Centroamericana for the 25th anniversary celebration were not ones of sorrow. As the candlelight procession weaved through the UCA campus, I was struck by the sense of resilience I had seen again and again in the eyes of the Salvadoran people. The commemoration masses, the re-enactment and the artwork all found a way to make beauty out of brutality and create hope from horror. Continue reading on Medium.