Steven Velásquez - Granting "Sirenity"

The Audacity To Charge Over 20 years ago, I moved to another state to attend paramedic school.  While there, one of the many jobs I had was working for a psychiatrist in a group home for troubled adolescents.  I was over 800 miles from home, flat broke and uninsured for the first time in my young life.  Having worked as an EMT in North Jersey for several years, I had grown accustomed to occasionally asking a Dr. friend if they could write me a prescription for an antibiotic (for example), to deal with what was ailing me at the time. Some would oblige.   One time I had gotten a pretty mean sinusitis and upper respiratory infection and was unable to pay for a full medical exam etc..., I tried to call in what appeared to be an innocuous favor from my boss.  I asked if he could whip out a script for me. He seemed upset, or more so let down with my query and instead, like a good psychiatrist would, offered me a lecture.  He explained that my request, ...

by Steven P. Velasquez November 22, 2012 Nicolette, my first born (now 16) When she was a little girl, every holiday was celebrated at her grandparent s' house.  Whether we were up in the Pocono's with Pop Pop and Grandmom or in Rutherford at Abuela and Abuelo's house.  Regardless,  the food was always delicious, the house warm and the family -- beloved. Abuela's Thanksgiving ham When she was a little girl, I used to hold her little hand and cros s her across this street.  Today, for the first time,  I watched her park her mother's car in front of Abuela's house. When she was a little girl, I used to pick her up out of her child se at from my vehicle and throw her over my shoulder with a blank ie. I'd hold her close and li sten to her breathe while protecting her from the col d.  Today, she lets herself in and out of the car on her own, and from the driver's seat (no more booster).

Ambulance Aides Mourn Loss by Steven P. Velasquez, MICP November 20, 201 2 The headline above is a direct  stab at the irresponsible media outlets that have had over thirty five years to learn who we, in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS), are.   It appears that even if we sacrifice our lives (or have them taken from us), these drones, who insist on ridiculous politically correct terms for everyone but us, can't get it right. We are not ambulance attendants, ambulance aides, stretcher tenders, ambulance drivers or, as we were so shamefully bunched during the attacks of September 11, 2001 - first responders.  We are your municipalities third service. We are an extension of the hospitals. We are mobile health services. We are Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), Paramedics (MICP) and Registered Nurses (R.N.'s).  We are an essential part of the trinity of public protection, Police, Fire and EMS.  We have earned ...

MIC 3 Give Me the Air! (pronounced as mick) by Steven P. Velasquez November 11, 2012 "MIC 3 Urgent!! Give me the air!!"  (A paramedic's voice panting and confused, only able to process the name of one of the two intersecting streets they're on)   "I'm on Central and... (long pause)  I'm just east of 1st Street....  (another pause)  MIC 3 I'm on Central Ave...." (radio silence) Dispatcher - "Units clear the air! MIC 3, your location!?  Are you injured!?"  (The sound of a microphone keying up, but only labored breathing is heard).   Dispatcher - "MIC 3 repeat your last!!" This is the kind of radio transmission that no one in public safety wants to hear.  A unit, clearly in distress and disoriented is calling for help but can't clear their thoughts enough to articulate a clear message.  Their vehicle has been struck by another, at a...

Seasons Change - In the "Borough of Trees" by Steven P. Velasquez October 22, 2012  Today's absolutely gorgeous weather and a clear calendar made the perfect storm for a brief photowalk in my hometown of Rutherford, NJ .   I had finished some errands and was contemplating picking up a night shift at one of my employers.  I was equally balancing my desire to not work and just take a night to myself to go out, like normal people do. The delightful sights, sounds and ambient temperature lured me to Rutherford 's downtown area to shoot some shots of things going on.  Rutherford is known as "The Borough of Trees" for obvious reasons.  So the months of October and November become a deciduous delight to the casual observer and visual potpourri  to those armed with a single-lens reflex camera. St. Mary High School - Rutherford, NJ I loaded an 80's themed Internet radio station on my phone to set the sights to music and so they did.  I fel...

August, 15, 2012 by Steven P. Velasquez “They're going to put y’all back in chains.”   (Vice President of our country and President Obama's 'Chief of Gaff' Joe Biden) The great panderer Joe Biden addressed a group of Virginian's yesterday, first with his pandering, then with his all too common, and often offensive, blundering.  First, the Veep addressed the crowd as "Y'all" (not Biden's speech pattern EVER, except of course when pandering).  Y'all, south of the Mason Dixon line, is a southerner's endearing way of saying "you all" (that's a contraction for the publicly schooled).  Here in NJ, a group might be addressed as "you guys" or "you's guys" depending on the region.  In Obama speak, he refers to everyone as "folks," almost to a fault.  He drives me  a little crazy when he uses that term.  In fact, I believe  had O been a founding father, we might have evolved as a nation " Of th...

by Steven Velasquez July 7, 2012 A photographer can only claim to be one when they are ever ready to capture the moment.  They often have their equipment within an arms reach at all hours of the day and night.  They make awkward guests at your party because while everyone is laughing, dancing, drinking or frolicking about, they're up in the rafters composing their next shot, the party masterpiece.  They brazenly place their silly lens in your or your guest's face, sometimes much to your dismay.  You, not being a supermodel, feel uncomfortable and sometimes try to avoid them and their creepy cameras. Sometimes, they can be quite the nuisance!  And sometimes they're the authors of your photographic legacy.  They have masterfully and creatively bent light, isolated time, captured a moment in just a way that leaves you -- and others breathless.  They have composed an image that may serve as a family heirloom for generations to come.  And now, you s...

by Steven P. Velasquez June 29, 2012 The sound of bells, buzzers, perhaps a lover's or child's voice; maybe even a rooster's crow in some places, are all sounds by which to wake; some more desirable than others.   Well my partner, aside from occasionally crowing about whatever his transient topic of the moment is, serves none of those purposes. There, tucked away in a county park, awaiting our possible activation into another's personal nightmare we sat.  It's been a great couple of days with balmy temps in the 80's and finally, for the first time in weeks, no rain!  Well, except for that wicked thunder and lightning storm that blew though here about an hour ago.I startled so badly, I almost pee'd!  It sounded like that thunder clap was just over my right ear, and boy did the night sky turn to day for a moment.  I straightened up in my seat and looked around, as one never knows exactly who is lerking in the darkness.  One look over my shoulder ...

by Steven P. Velasquez June 20, 2012 Grumble, grumble, f'in', frigga, frassa, stupid privacy Nazi's!!!!!  Why can't we photograph what we see in the hospital?  Sue this you idiots!  This privacy crap and hysteria about photographing in certain places deserves a counter suit!  I'm suing these nuts for robbing us (the people - as in "We the People") of our God-given (that's right I said it!) right to humor!  Humor is good medicine and I believe certain people are put on this Earth to provide a healthy dose of humor -- for the rest! Some will provide humor as their choice of career (Billy Crystal).  Some will provide social commentary (Jackie Mason).  Some will act (Robin Williams).  Some will pretend they have what it takes to be president (see current occupant)(snort).  And some... some will just be themselves and bring laughter to us all by their very, and often pathetic, existence.  Some people, due to their lack of sophistication...

by Steven P. Velasquez May 29, 2012 I love this job. Where else does a person punch in and get briefed by their boss, manager, supervisor or in my case, chief -- that there's danger in the air and that we may be sent right into it? A shooting the other night turned into a homicide and our intel says to be ready for expected retaliation, particularly between this street and that ave., so watch your six. Dangerous sounding right? I ag ree. But having lived the corporate life with all of its' consistencies, I choose the uncertainty, the disorder, the calamities inherent. My job is never boring. I call my co-workers and esteemed colleagues brothers -- and sisters; and now that I'm getting older, many of them are like my sons and daughters too. My job provides perspective .  I don't just watch the seasons change, I live them, I experience them. I don't just read about the weather, nor watch it on T.V., I'm enveloped in it.  My job puts me in the midst of t...

by Steven P. Velasquez "I once carried the weight of a 110-story office  tower made of concrete and steel.  That was the easy part.  Today, I carry the memories and tears of  millions, the weight of a nation, a people."

by Steven P. Velasquez April 8, 2012 People who do what I do for a living (Emergency Medical Services) know the frustration of going out, diving headlong into someone's personal nightmare, exposing themselves to illness, danger and sometimes, even mortal danger while doing so, just to read the morning daily and have some story written about something that you remember being directly involved in, less than 24 hours ago, that looks, sounds and is nothing like what you just experienced!  In the northeastern U.S., we call this 'News'  [ nooz ,   nyooz ]  Noun    usually   used   with   a   singular   verb   ) 1. a   report   of   a   recent   event;   intelligence;   information. One has to have special education to collect, analyze and report the 'news' in either verbal, written or video form.  We call these people 'journalists.'   I've always admired journalists dating back ...