Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I forgot to mention this last Monday cause it had slipped my RADAR. The Computer Mine doesn’t care about civil rights all that much, so while government employees, schools, and bankers get the day off, I’ll be working it to the bone all day.

I don’t know if it the type of holiday where you say “Happy (insert holiday here)!” While it is definitely good to honor the man and all of the civil rights accomplishments this country has made over the years, there are large swaths of this country where basic human rights are not only being threatened, they are being walked backwards by regressionist political policies.

I mean, they are banning books! You want to know who the bad people are. Every single time in history, the bad people were the ones banning books! Always!

As always, I like to share a photo when celebrating a holiday. Here is a picture of the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.

The Civil Rights Museum was built on the same property where Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. One of those rare times where a place that was the scene of tragedy was turned into a place of veneration and education.

As you celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. today don’t act like the battle for basic human rights is over. The fight is as alive today as it was in King’s day.

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UGLY! This was a theme I thought I might struggle with. After all, I’m a person that doesn’t find much to be UGLY. I mean, more than a few of you have had me text you pictures of public bathrooms. I love old. I love rusty. I love the unusual. I love the weird. It is hard for me to find something that is UGLY. Besides racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, antisemitism, xenophobia, jingoism, misogyny… you know… the basic tenets of hatred. But to find out if other people took camera in hand to photography something UGLY, you will have to keep scrolling to find out.

As of 12:01 PM on Monday, January 8, this was the current list of ACTIVE streaks (ignore the numbers in parentheses):

1-Suzie Brannen – 1 week
2-Lowell Davis – 1 week
3-Susanna Funk – 1 week
4-Michelle Haupt – 1 week
5-Willy McAlpine – 1 week
6-Alexis Stensland – 1 week
7-Brandon Kahler – 2 weeks
8-Mary Green – 3 weeks (2)
9-Scott Degeneffe – 20 weeks
10-Sabas Hernandez – 21 weeks
11-Mike Vest – 26 weeks
12-Sheri Fakhouri – 30 weeks (2)
13-Logan Kahler – 31 weeks
14-Nathanial Brown – 32 weeks
15-Jesse Howard – 32 weeks
16-Tamara Peterson – 35 weeks (2)
17-Mindi Terrell – 47 weeks (2)
18-Linda Bennett – 76 weeks (2)
19-Sarah Toot – 77 weeks
20-Angie DeWaard – 81 weeks
21-Dawn Krause – 85 weeks (2)
22-Kim Barker – 91 weeks
23-Joe Duff – 92 weeks
24-Teresa Kahler – 103 weeks (2)
25-Carla Stensland – 103 weeks (2)
26-Micky Augustin – 105 weeks
27-Andy Sharp – 106 weeks (2)
28-Bill Wentworth – 107 weeks
29-Cathie Morton – 111 weeks
30-Elizabeth Nordeen – 112 weeks (2)
31-Shannon Bardole-Foley – 114 weeks
32-Kio Dettman – 116 weeks

Heading into this week, this is the 2024 THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE SUBMISSION MAP:

Maybe the map will get more filled in today!

Reminder. Here is the updated list of rules for Year 11 of THE WEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE:

1. The picture must be taken between 12:01 PM today and 11 AM next Monday. This isn’t a curate your photos project. This is a get your butt off the couch and take pictures challenge!
2. There is a limit of 2 submissions per person per theme. If you send me more than 2, I will use the first 2 that you submit.
3. Deadline to submit your submission is 11 AM next Monday.
4. To be considered the photographer of an image, you have to be the one that clicks the shutter. If you hand your camera over to somebody else to take a picture of you, you are NOT the photographer of that image.
5. No screen captures. This is a photography challenge. Not a “look at what I found on the internet” challenge.

There are still 2 ways to submit:
1. Email your submission to bennett@photography139.com.
2. Text your submission to my Google Pixel 5.
3. Sometimes, for special people, for special circumstances, we can negotiate something.

But you didn’t come here to listen to me talk all tommyrot about participation rates or streaks or the rules of the challenge or how to submit. You came to see the submissions and what streaks continued and what streaks flamed out:

Micky Augustin (Iowa) – 106 weeks

Shannon Bardole-Foley (Sommerset, Iowa) – 115 weeks

Kim Barker (Iowa) – 92 weeks

Christopher D. Bennett (Boone, Iowa)

Linda Bennett (Kansas) – 77 weeks

Linda Bennett (Kansas)

Suzie Brannen (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Boone, Iowa) – 33 weeks

Nathanial Brown (Boone, Iowa)

Lowell Davis (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Scott Degeneffe (Rural Boone County, Iowa) – 21 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Iowa) – 82 weeks

Angie DeWaard (Iowa)

Joe Duff (League City, Texas) – 93 weeks

Joe Duff (League City, Texas)

Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa) – 117 weeks

Kio Dettman (Boone, Iowa)

Jen Ensley-Gorshe (Rieman Music – Ames, Iowa) – 1 week

Sheri Fakhouri (Mercy Hospital – Des Moines, Iowa) – 31 weeks

Sheri Fakhouri (Mercy Hospital – Des Moines, Iowa)

Susanna Funk (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa) – 4 weeks

Mary Green (Iowa)

Michelle Haupt (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Sabas Hernandez (Ankeny, Iowa) – 22 weeks

Jesse Howard (Iowa) – 33 weeks

Monica Jennings (Boone, Iowa) – 1 week

Brandon Kahler (Ames, Iowa) – 3 weeks

Logan Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 32 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa) – 104 weeks

Teresa Kahler (Boone, Iowa)

Dawn Krause (Iowa) – 86 weeks

Cathie Morton (Norwalk, Iowa) – 112 weeks

Elizabeth Nordeen (Iowa) – 113 weeks

Tamara Peterson (Iowa) – 36 weeks

Andy Sharp (Boone, Iowa) – 107 weeks

Alexis Stensland (Iowa) – 2 weeks

Carla Stensland (Boone County, IA – 216th Dr. Near Ogden) 104 weeks

Carla Stensland (Boone County, Iowa)

Mindi Terrell (Iowa) – 48 weeks

Mindi Terrell (Iowa)

Sarah Toot (E. Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania) – 78 weeks

Mike Vest (Madrid, Iowa) – 27 weeks

Bill Wentworth (Omaha, Nebraska) – 108 weeks

34 participants! That is a pretty great week!

There were submissions this week were taken in the following places:

+ Kansas
+ Iowa
+ Nebraska
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

No new states added this week.

Here is the Year 11 list of states where submissions have been taken:

+ Kansas
+ Iowa
+ Michigan
+ Nebraska
+ Pennsylvania
+ Texas

There were some big milestones this week. Sarah joined the Year and Half Streak Club! WooHoo! Both Carla and Teresa both joined the 2 Year Streak Club! WooHoo!

But it wasn’t all happiness and rainbows. Willy couldn’t build on last week’s submission. His streak is over before it even began.

But enough dwelling on the past. Time to look to the future. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. And remember my friend, future events such as these will affect you in the future! This week’s theme:

BREAKFAST

BREAKFAST! What a great theme for Year 11 of THE WEEEKLY PHOTO CHALLENGE!

I look forward to seeing your interpretation!

That is all I got, so if the good Lord’s willin’ and the creek don’t rise, we will all be sharing your idea of BREAKFAST in this place that like a little #wafflelife next Monday.