Curator Julian Schnabel stands in MOCA’s new “Dennis Hopper Double Standard” exhibition on Thurs., July 8, 2010 in Los Angeles. The exhibition is the first comprehensive retrospective of Hopper’s work and runs July 11 through September 26, 2010, at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA.
“Here I am having multiple sclerosis and being stuck in my bed for the rest of my life,” Supplemental Security Income recipient Donjean Gardner. Gardner stands in her room in front of paintings that she’s done at her home Thurs., June 25, 2010, in Echo Park, Calif. Gardner sold her car to pay rent and put food on her table relying solely on $845 allotted by her welfare check. California is the only state that does not allow its 1.2 million recipients of federal Supplemental Security Income to apply for food stamps, instead adding $10 to its portion of monthly benefits checks. “I’m not the only person in this situation,” Gardner said.
Charlotte Barron was one of the original owners of Rose’s Bar in Miami. During the 90′s the venue was the hottest spot in Miami for live music, but the venue closed in 1999. Barron helped plan a reunion concert featuring bands from the club’s peak.
Medical Director of the Transplant Program Dan Hayes stands for a portrait at Carolinas Medical Center on Sat., Nov. 8, 2010, in Charlotte, N.C. Benton received a liver from former NFL player Chris Henry, who died from injuries related to falling from the back of a pick up truck in Dec. 2009. After he was declared brain dead by doctors at Carolinas Medical Center, Henry’s mother decided to donate his organs which saved the lives of four people.
Jethro Mann runs the only “bicycle lending library” of its kind. Mann repairs old bicycles and donates or lends them to children and organizations like the Boys and Girls Club. Mann’s living room is filled with old bicycles that need repairs done. He says that he has around two hundred bicycles but at one point had at least 1,000. Mann has received much recognition for his work.
Attorney Michael Pines stands outside of the mansion he is helping former baseball player Lenny Dykstra fight to keep in bankruptcy court on Fri., July 16, 2010, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. Dykstra’s fortune is gone, and he risks losing the multi-million dollar mansion he bought from Wayne Gretzky at the height of the last housing boom.
“I have a feeling that he’s trapped somewhere in the lonely jungle,” Daniel Luong (right) said of his father’s spirit after he died in a Communist-run “re-education” prison camp following the Vietnam War. “It’s more comfort if we bring him home.” Luong and his mother, Nhung Thi Ngyuen (left) are traveling to North Vietnam to recover the remains of his father and give him a proper burial in South Vietnam.