Rights

This photo was first posted five years ago, and yesterday the women of Iceland walked out of their jobs again. An estimated 80,000 protesters throughout the country took part in this year's official Kvennafrí.

This is the the text from my original post:
Here is just a sampling of the nearly 50,000 women (and a couple hundred men) who took to the streets of Reykjavik on Monday to protest wage discrimination here in Iceland. At 2:08 pm, many thousands of women left their jobs for the day to meet up in front of Hallgrímskirkja and march down Skólavörðurstígur.

Why the odd time of day? Well, some clever statisticians figured out that that is the time of day when men, on average, make what it takes a woman to make for a full 8-hour work day. Not such a pretty picture, is it?

The date, October 24th, commemorates thirty years since women throughout Iceland walked out of work, all work. Even the daily chores of home and hearth. Iceland basically shut down for a day. The men were in shock, the children hungry. It was an amazing moment in Icelandic history...

The day was successful in raising awareness, once again, of women's place in modern society. But it's ultimately up to us parents, aunts and uncles and instructors to teach our children, boys and girls alike, to respect and value each other as members of the same nation and, ultimately, the same human race.

P.s. the signs say "We deserve better"

Sport

Sport, originally uploaded by blue eyes.

This photo was first posted in October 2006. I love the colors, so it's getting a re-post four years later.

Airwaves

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Manny Santiago Iceland Airwaves has been going on this weekend, and as usual, our little city has been throbbing and pulsing to the sounds of the over 250 musicians who have graced the festival's many stages. The annual influx of visitors that fill the Reykjavik city streets during the five day fest are a welcome bit of international flavor, and the city is always a bit duller when they have gone.

In this photo by Manny (a Chicago-bred DJ and event producer who most recently did a stint at Gogogic, an Icelandic multi-platform game design studio) Swedish electropop artist Robyn dazzles a wild crowd at the Reykjavik Art Museum. Manny, and many others, were absolutely thrilled.

Skorradalur

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Tómas M.

This gorgeous and evocative photo is of the woods at Skorradalur, in the Borgafjörður region less than an hour's drive north of Reykjavik. To see more of his work, please visit his photo site here.

It's in times like these (see here for details) that scenes of natural beauty, both in its growth and in its decay, remind us of the inevitable cycles of life, and that taking moments aside to re-commune with our outdoors is the very best remedy for the pains of our personal, and national, souls.

Tómas, who goes by the alias of Tomio Newmilk, is, as well as being a fantastic photographer, also a musician in the duet Quadruplos. You should check out their page here.

Trash

This photo originally appeared on Iceland Eyes in October 2007. It was also selected by my editor to be in our book, Reykjavik (you can read a review of the book here). It's a somehow evocative shot, and fits well with Vala Arnadóttir's image in the previous post : )

From the original post in October 2007: Something about this scene, even though it involves a trash can, seemed pretty to me. Probably the colors, and the idea that the owner of this double stroller has passed out of that phase of their life and is moving on. Out with the old and all that.

The city of Reykjavik has also been cleaning house recently, saying good riddance to our mayor of a year and a half due to a scandal involving a public utility and private profiteers. It's a complicated series of events involving power plays, money and alliances that, frankly, are beyond my desire to understand. Ahh, politics. Sometimes a simple scene like the one above and the story it seems to tell are very welcome in our often overly-convoluted civic lives.

Our political situation is not any prettier three years later but is, as a matter of fact, much worse. As usual, I will let the Reykjavik Grapevine tell you all more about our latest protests.

In the meantime, perform a little random act of kindness, ok?

Eyðibýli

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Vala Arnadóttir

Vala writes: On one of my trips last summer we found an old abandoned summer cottage by a beautiful lake called Hreðavatn in Borgarfjörður. The human residents had abandoned this lovely orange and pink cottage but these adorable sparrows had moved in and made their nest on the kitchen shelf next to the coffee-filters. The children thought this to be such an adventure. we found little treasures in the house, like old colouring-books, retro tin cans with psychadelic- and disney-prints and handpainted platters. On the second floor there were 6 built-in bunks for children: this had obviously once been a house filled with children, laughter and good memories. My children were so sad that "the family" had abandoned this adorable cottage and left it to rot that we decided to leave the treasures to honor the children if they would change their minds and come back for them..

Away

GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER: Gustavo Marcelo Blanco

Gustavo writes: I was living close by this street that leads up to Hallgrimskirkja and always wanted to capture it. The name is an inside joke. I gave it to a friend as a wedding present. I have actually seen it on the wall in his house. I shot it digitally twice, the later time off the computer screen, hence the funky effect.

The street is Skothúsvegur, which crosses over Tjörnin, the Reykjavik city lake. The name derives from the city's Shooting Club, which had it's headquarters at Tjarnagata 35, a house that sits just off of this road.

Many thanks to Gustavo, who currently resides in Amsterdam where he is earning his BA in Filmmaking (he is also a movement recoding artist), for supplying this beautiful image. Please be sure to check out more photos by him at Squared Image Dump.