Portrait of a peace maker : senior honors thesis (HONRS 499)

In an environment surrounded by man made laws, structures, norms, and boundaries it is often easy for a person to lose hope. People lacking in the most basic needs such as food, drink, shelter and human affection have a hard time understanding how people can spend money on extravagant homes, possessions, marketing, and expansion of economy and ignore their needs. This lack of understanding is the cause for much of the class, racial, and worldwide tension we are feeling in the twenty-first century.For these reasons and others, I have decided to dedicate over two years of my life serving in the Peace Corps. The people that I will go help have nothing and lack everything. I know that they will learn just as much from me about life and how to get by, as I do from them. The following thesis had been put together in hopes to explain how I came about to my Peace Corps decision, who and what influenced me along the way, as well as my photojournalism aspirations for the future.Born and raised in Catholic schools in Louisville, Kentucky, I was brought up in good morals and values, as well as in good education. My hobbies were and always will be basketball, photography and community service. In high school I loved playing basketball on the varsity team, but more so, I loved being the chief photographer for the school yearbook. This position spawned the birth of my photographic career. Through journalism class, I chose to attend Ball State University s School of Communications where I would dedicate myself to becoming a photojournalist.At the same time, throughout all of grade school, high school and college, I have enjoyed volunteering for a plethora of non-profit and community service organizations. In high school I was involved in Beta Club and National Honors Society, as well as ACTS (A Christian Through Service) where I did anything from Nursing Homes to Soup Kitchens. Once at Ball State, I began volunteering to be a non-paid photographer at the Daily News, and later gave that up to volunteer at A Better Way (a shelter for abused women and children.) While studying abroad in Mexico one summer, I did community service with the children of Cuentepec, Mexico. It was after this experience that I knew for sure that I would be joining the Peace Corps to help the children of Latin America, a passion that was blossoming in my heart. Currently I volunteer with children at ECHO (Exploited Children s Help Organization), and I m just waiting for July 23`' to toll around so I can head off to Ecuador with the Peace Corps. Over 9,000 children die every year in Ecuador from preventable diseases. I plan to work to decrease this number by as much as possible.But just because I m not getting a job at a newspaper or magazine upon graduation doesn t mean I m putting my camera down to rest. I plan on beefing up my portfolio by documenting my service in Ecuador through photography. Upon my return from Ecuador, I hope to be a photographer for a non-profit organization. This way, I am continuing my dreams of serving others through my career in photojournalism.The following thesis contains my photo resume as well as my service resume. You will find information about my trip to Mexico, as well as my Peace Corps motivation and information on the Peace Corps organization. I have also included a paper on my photography mentor, Henri Cartier-Bresson, as well as numerous examples of my own photography.In our day and age, peace is something that gets talked about very idealistically. The world has never been at peace as a whole since human civilization has been in existence. Greed and power are vexations that seem to never disappear from human nature, but without those attempting to rid of these vices, we will never accomplish this dream of a happy, healthy, peaceful world. The following is a portrait of a peacemaker.Honors CollegeThesis (B.A.