Matt Mireles is a junior at the Columbia University School of General Studies. At the moment, he is paying his way through school by working as a paramedic in the South Bronx and writes for the campus newspaper in his spare time. In the future, he hopes to land an internship at a real publication and dazzle his editors with his ample talent, carefree charm, and sensuous odor.
As a writer, Matt tries to delve past the news of the day to unearth the deeper issues and problems of life at the dawn of the 21st century, but he is no novelist: as a journalist, he is known for reporting stories to the point of overkill, a habit that allows him to speak with unusual authority as a young writer.
Email: MattMireles@gmail.com
Read about Matt's life as a paramedic on the gritty streets of New York City at www.FlatlineNYC.com
Francis Bartus is a freshman at Columbia University. He is a working class kid from the suburbs of Detroit. In his short time at Columbia, he has impressed the Spectator staff with his crisp, beautiful photos and his knack for making each image tell a story. He possess a rare brilliance that combines formidable artistic talent with unusual technical skill, allowing him to push the creative envelope first in the traditional confines of the Columbia Spectator, and now in his latest project, The Faces of Iraq.
In the last few days, Francis has taken the lead in designing www.facesofiraq.com and the Flash multimedia slideshow that is its
hallmark. While he and Matt worked together on most of it, Francis
clearly took the reins in designing this clean, beautiful site.
Email: Francis@thoughtemporium.org
View his portfolio at www.FrancisBartus.com
The Faces of Iraq was an idea born out of close observation and dumb luck in the fall of 2005. While covering a speech on campus by Iraqi President Jalal Talibani, Matt noticed a tall kid sitting in the back of the room. His pant leg was caught on something, revealing a shiny, metal leg. Matt talked to the guy, and as it turned out, he was Garth Stewart. Since then, Matt has dug up dozens of Columbia students with personal experience in the Iraq war, as soldiers, filmmakers, aide workers, or innocent civilians. Even though a lot of people have blown him off, Matt--and now Francis, who first accompanied him on assignment to Washington DC--continue to seek out and tell the stories of students who--in one way or another--have taken part in the most formative political event of our generation: the war in Iraq.
The Faces of Iraq is not a critique of America's warfighting
strategy, but rather it is an attempt to make the war feel intimate
and real for people here in the United States who might be tempted to
think of Iraq as distant, peripheral to their own lives, and ultimately
foreign. We have mixed feelings about the war, but this much is
clear, even to us: the war in Iraq is important, very, very
important, and people need to talk and care about it. We hope that
you share this site with your friends and discuss it thoughtfully
afterwards.
