https://www.emmahtobin.com/portfolio daily 0.75 2026-03-07 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541174673351-AY0DF58BG8OSB5CFALX8/IMG_5195%281%29.JPG Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1695765388517-R7XOPO1H742JIXBIA610/meteor+still.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1616527248608-NI19H5A16SP9PFSXC5RO/20181203_Tobin_CaretakerReshoot-9.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1702300194286-OCK2PUJH9ZX3275XR88S/Ooty_163.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1702300194286-OCK2PUJH9ZX3275XR88S/Ooty_163.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1705322712600-CA0ZHZN9ZPTAF5GG4GW8/_Z0A3921+2.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1707331327539-YQQKRXER2HM6MN2ELWR7/_Z0A3450+4.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1702300194286-OCK2PUJH9ZX3275XR88S/Ooty_163.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1702300194286-OCK2PUJH9ZX3275XR88S/Ooty_163.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out A boy peeks out of a train car on the Nilgiri Mountain Railway in Ooty, India on Nov. 21, 2023. Nicknamed the ‘Toy Train’, the railway is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and a living example of the engineering enterprise of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/794044bd-7af7-4f55-a4d6-e56085edbbbf/EmmaTobin_Varanasi-2.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Hindu men gather at funeral pyres along the Ganga River on Dec. 26, 2023 in Varanasi, India. Believers say that those who are cremated in Varanasi attain "Moksha", or freedom from the cycle of life and death. Hundreds of bodies are cremated a day in Varanasi, and the pyres burn 24 hours a day, seven days a week. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1707331327539-YQQKRXER2HM6MN2ELWR7/_Z0A3450+4.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out A boy chases pigeons in Jodhpur, India on Dec. 1, 2023. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/c6fc5075-adc8-49b3-aa2b-be1eb5c13172/India-20240126-Export-1.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Two men pause for a portrait in Kochi, India on Nov. 17, 2023. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/5e3298a0-8aad-4dbb-8642-9c02abfae0c2/EmmaTobin_Varanasi-1.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out A Hindu sadhu offers an arti to Hindus on Dec. 25, 2023 at a religious ceremony at Dashashwamedh ghat in Varanasi, India. Believers wave their hands over the fire to venerate gods and bless themselves. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/ef46a00f-38c1-4c50-837c-4d6657fb948a/EmmaTobin_KochiSelects-12.JPG Portfolio - Make it stand out A man works on the street in Kochi, India on Nov. 17, 2023. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544392873512-NXL9BH5OMER241F2FA6F/20181203_Tobin_Soccer-10.jpg Portfolio Fans from Jordan High School in Durham, N.C. react to a goal by Cary High School during a varsity soccer playoff game on Oct. 25, 2018. The Jordan Falcons won the game 3-2. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/db9dac0d-19aa-4174-b049-d0a9ddd3bdf7/20180215_Tobin_JakeAngel-113.jpg Portfolio Jake Pacheco poses for a portrait on Feb. 15, 2018 in Chapel Hill, N.C. "I used to consider myself a religious person, but at some point I lost it. There is still a part of me that longs for the sense of understanding and purpose that those with religion often exude. But at the same time, losing my faith has instilled a faith in myself that I didn’t have before; without the thought of a higher power or something to come after this life, I feel a sense of control and determination in regard to my future. I have found spirituality in my own agency,” Pacheco says. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1ac6cfce-6f2c-43f8-9eb6-c1be48431255/EmmaTobin_Varanasi-3.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out A boat operator in Varanasi, India yells at other boats on Dec. 26, 2023 after attending the religious Ganga aarti ceremony at sunset. Tens of thousands of people watch the ceremony, significant for Hindus and Jains, from boats on the Ganga River and on land. The crowd of boats on the water is packed in, and it’s hard to maneuver in and out of the viewing area. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544392942249-AWM12JU7DC83QOF49488/20181203_Tobin_Soccer-7.jpg Portfolio Alex High and Payton Leary run down Ian Klevans during a game at Green Hope High School in Cary, N.C. on Oct. 23, 2018. The game ended 1-0 for Green Hope. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544433358063-0BEADMSE57TJA4DN7TCB/20161208_Tobin_FinalPhotoStory1_SEQUENCE-01.jpg Portfolio Sam Tobin, an 11-year-old urban chicken farmer, sees the very first egg his chickens laid on Nov. 1, 2016. He has been raising chicks for 18 weeks in Charlotte, N.C. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544434987588-UFG6BPIYGJLZTKWWX9ZH/20181010_Tobin_Caregiver_SELECTS-3.jpg Portfolio Lora Bradley, Andrew Ross’s caretaker, looks on as Rebecca West tests Ross’s breathing with a new respiratory machine in Oct. 2018 in Chapel Hill, N.C. Ross was diagnosed with ALS a year before, and Ross says the disease is “especially aggressive.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541174833146-B4BIO8WLD4JIS8RXY31O/IMG_5195%281%29.JPG Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541446629033-M6M2GFRZVPJS5Z8OY88A/Tobin_Final_Alcohol_02.jpg Portfolio “I see alcohol now as a trap. My dad drinks all throughout every day. He wakes up and takes shots. I haven’t seen my dad sober in years. He got Hep C one time from needles in the military, and he thought he was going to die, and the doctor told him he couldn’t drink so it didn’t compromise his immune system. And so he stopped drinking and he was doing so well and lost a bunch of weight, and wasn’t being an asshole anymore. And they tried some experimental treatment and eradicated it from his body somehow, so he started drinking again and everything went back to how it was. But honestly my dad almost dying from Hep C was the happiest time in my life because he wasn’t drunk all the time. My dad suffering through a life threatening illness was more peaceful than his day-to-day life being an alcoholic. Which is sad, but that’s the reality.” - Jordan Stinnett https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541446631436-W3F8K4RKSRZMKVBF51EY/Tobin_Final_Alcohol_05.jpg Portfolio “The biggest theme of alcoholism's impact on my life has been that of cycles. My dad's alcoholism has gone in cycles, which I'm sure is why I now have diagnosed anxiety. I just never knew what to expect, which kept me high-stress. My dad could go from being completely fine to irate and dangerous at a moment's notice, and my family always had to be on our toes ready for an explosion. I never invited friends over to my house wen I was young because I was scared about what was going to greet me when I walked through the door.” -Dawson Lane https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541446633771-AN73DFHQ2472V9Q797S4/Tobin_Final_Alcohol_08.jpg Portfolio “One of my reoccurring memories from when I was too little to know what was going on was my mom being passed out everywhere. Obviously, it was because she was too drunk, but as a child, I always thought it was because she was sleeping. But I could never wake her up, no matter how much I tried. I would always try to pry her eyes open. I distinctly remember one time when my mom was passed out in the carpool line with the car running. Instead of letting me get in the car, the teachers scurried me away back into the school and I had to wait there for a long time. I didn't know what was going on, but remember the teachers talking in hushed tones about how horrible my mom was, and I was so mad because I could hear them talking about her like that.” -Lexi Conway https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541446631481-ZIKEZ6TK65F7D59YPH38/Tobin_Final_Alcohol_03.jpg Portfolio “My sister started being an alcoholic when I was 13, and I hated her with every fiber of my being. We used to play lots of cards and board games, but at some point it stopped. I viewed alcohol as something that only created fear and anger. It destroyed our relationship. Even after she became sober, it was a situation where she would reach out to me ten times and I would respond once. I was so affected. Now we are best friends though. We have slowly rebuilt.” -Caroline Owens https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541130364593-ID46E6PPSV32HU9FH8VZ/Nat+Keyboard.jpg Portfolio “I struggle and still struggle with the idea of myself in the field of computer science because it is not an active lifestyle, and I try to lead a very active lifestyle. I am not someone who wants to spend hours and days behind a desk coding. However, I have found both in my course work and in other computer science endeavors, the end result of developing a working program or application is an unparalleled experience. Therefore, this is something that I will have to find balance with. I am looking forward to the day when I can say that something that I have coded has impacted and been useful in somebody’s life.” -Nat Harris https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541130428434-11ZJMPHEICDKZ5D0CHZA/Nat+computer+hard+drive.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541130501070-29EGGYWIH12041ENZQDY/Alison+hammer.jpg Portfolio “I want to pursue this because... understanding our earth and its processes is crucial in preserving our resources and finding more sustainable ways to live...I have definitely struggled with this career choice. Most people see geology as “just rocks” and don’t really respect it as a science, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I feel as though the majority of my friends and family don’t fully understand what exactly it is that I am studying. Geology definitely isn’t a common major or career path, so it definitely feels odd to be doing something that is so different from what everyone else is doing. But I think that is also part of what makes it special.” -Alison Hafner https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541130484945-2JUFBVIOEWO59XXIOIK5/alison+rock.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541130524085-UYG0SM9Z5V5A59X2VW6Z/kacey+book+stool.jpg Portfolio “I want to be an English teacher because of the great teachers I’ve had. My English teachers in high school were such a formative part of my experience growing up, and I would love to be that for someone else. I know that I was so privileged to have access to such great educators, and I want to take advantage of that and do what I can for kids who might not otherwise have the same opportunities I did.” -Kacey Rigsby https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541130539423-TAPHME5V71S0C205BZNE/Kacey+peeping.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/94c9243c-280d-4e26-845d-a0fbd5401ee7/image-asset.jpeg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/94babbbc-093e-465a-8938-be90230a1eeb/seals+.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/199855bc-114e-46f5-ad4f-6cd1df5bf480/_MG_0867.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1515539275975-HBOUXHZIGW4OHQ3NGUBF/DSC_0144+copy.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1515539182562-JVE5OU9BHEXDNE2N57ET/DSC_0038+copy.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/2834e749-0cf5-45ce-806f-488646dcc1cc/India-20240126-Export-14.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/e99e52a4-2f26-4d67-ac6b-bc64159ffbef/Munnar_161.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/050ddf45-11f2-4628-ae6c-6ef5b7257fa4/India-20240126-Export-3.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/923f47b5-55c1-4023-b78b-050f3e367697/KillarneyJuly2023_692.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/b48d00b8-373a-46e0-b2c7-e990f86a8910/India-20240126-Export-15.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/2f347acb-e7e6-46d8-a4d0-6442b345e970/_MG_0719+2.jpg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1515606791716-ZISV57OT91IDPXU9SNV4/DSC_0501+copy.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1515540842817-0N306F50L5Y8GE38845W/IMG_2818.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544466939825-HKV0BPBARQ7HLNAUUMYY/IMG_2912.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/cd1b6ef8-03c7-4b16-93f5-356baf734771/image-asset.jpeg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1606841687472-QXF5D0PQVJOXHUCJCDQ5/DorrigoNSW-1.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1515697570264-FE6C7MQNY8ODFJIMF6HY/DSC_0431+copy.jpg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1606840018891-1CQKLHNJ9F95XCPK8XEF/workforce+cnn.jpeg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1606840050140-1UUHRGF2Z0B38N94BZLF/amazon.jpeg Portfolio https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/122cf653-0947-4021-838c-7d1c14af72b8/weed+5.jpeg Portfolio - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541449969785-GSWAFB06SHNBVRYSOUMX/Ross_Tobin-1.jpg Portfolio On Oct. 9, 2018, Lora Bradley helps Dr. Andrew Ross walk across his apartment in downtown Chapel Hill, NC. Dr. Ross was diagnosed with ALS in April 2017, and in August 2018 he decided that his ALS was bad enough that he needed around-the-clock care. Andrew now receives care mostly from Lora, employed by HomeWatch Caregivers, and due to the debilitating nature of ALS and the amount of time they spend together, Bradley and Dr. Ross have a very intimate relationship. “We are like mother and son,” Ross says. “She takes care of me while I slowly lose control of my body.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541449969415-W1XQFCAVX21V3EUN257Q/Ross_Tobin-2.jpg Portfolio Dr. Ross keeps this ALS band on his wheelchair as a reminder to just take his life day-by-day. The average life expectancy for people living with ALS is three to five years, but Dr. Ross’s is especially aggressive and progressing more quickly. “With ALS, every day is a new challenge for us, and we have to come up with innovative ways to solve whatever is coming next based on how Andrew’s body is working,” Bradley says. “He keeps me on my toes!” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544298812254-RV3PMX7HHW2M4COD6WWV/20181118_Tobin_RossGallery-59.jpg Portfolio Bradley often transports Ross in a big body sling when he is not strong enough to walk. He uses the sling in order to use the restroom and be lifted into his bed at night. “ALS doesn’t stress me out,” Dr. Ross says. “The fact that I’m dying doesn’t stress me out. I can’t think about that because it seems too far out. All I know right now is that I’m waking up tomorrow and doing something, and I take each day as it comes. But I do feel like I’m living someone else’s life.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541449971815-63XV6U208AN8XN3C9FN9/Ross_Tobin-4.jpg Portfolio Irene Zhu, a UNC Chapel Hill senior planning on going to school to be a physician’s assistant, walks with Dr. Ross through the floors of his apartment complex on the evening of Oct. 25. On every floor of the apartment, the walls are filled with original art donated by residents of the building, forming a sort of gallery. Before being diagnosed with ALS, Dr. Ross was a photography professor at Radford University in Virginia, and still thoroughly appreciates art. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541449976209-OOHO5U0P6XHTD9AALXCG/Ross_Tobin-7.jpg Portfolio Most weeks, Dr. Ross receives new technology to cope with his ALS, which is why Rebecca West dropped by the apartment with a new breathing machine. Lora Bradley sasses Dr. Ross while West jokes about death. “There are so many people going in and out of my house all the time, and I have so many caretakers. Not all of my caretakers are as great as Lora is either. I’ve had to fire some of them. Because of this, I never know where things are in my own house. So I don’t feel like this is my home anymore. I’m just living here.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541449977462-YTHODJ3MV4GXNLTUPNTA/Ross_Tobin-8.jpg Portfolio Bradley helps Dr. Ross shower every other day. “My privacy is the thing I miss the most,” Ross says. “My whole life in all of its forms is wide open for the whole world to see. That’s what the disease has made me give up.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541449979387-8LKCDTVFVX80X2WF103W/Ross_Tobin-9.jpg Portfolio Andrew Ross talks to his mother, Mary, about her recent visit with Andrew’s father on Andrew’s behalf to Radford University. Andrew felt too sick that day so didn’t go. Mary Ross shows Andrew a past photo they all took at the university together, and Dr. Ross tells his mother about the people she spent time with this time around. Mary Ross has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t remember the people she met, so Dr. Ross is very patient with her. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544298447984-J15B5OZTFYXQ10GOQI42/20181203_Tobin_AndrewRossCaregiver-8.jpg Portfolio Mary Ross does her best to entertain her son by rubbing his feet during his monthly ALS check-up at the Duke ALS Center in on Nov. 8. She can’t do a lot for him, but still dotes on him a lot. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544298471054-IEAZIH6RVZ3BI8CVIAOY/20181203_Tobin_AndrewRossCaregiver-9.jpg Portfolio Mary Ross and her husband John look on concerned as a doctor attempts to figure out why Dr. Ross has been coughing so uncontrollably in the last week. Dr. Ross doesn’t believe that his lungs are getting weaker or that his ALS is the reason he is coughing, but the doctors say that it is. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541449979734-4WOU8IHBL9CWJLOEA08T/Ross_Tobin-10.jpg Portfolio Dr. Ross goes to bed at the end of the day with oxygen to help him breathe more easily and comfortably. “At night is when I feel most helpless,” Andrew Ross says. “I don’t have the ability to move, and I don’t have my phone or computer with me, which helps me communicate. People also can’t hear me with this mask on, and my caretaker is in the other room at night. So there are a lot of things that could happen at night, but I wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1694016248266-O5JIOQYSF08B2HDJTNSJ/ChildCareStory-1.jpg Portfolio Ellen Tobin reads an email update from her sister, Mary, on Jan. 29, 2021, as she is about to get ready for the day. It reads,” I will be going to see Mom today. I can't believe that I'll finally be able to step inside to see her, hold her and pray with her. I will treasure every minute that I can sit by her and say, ‘I love you’ and ‘Thank you.’” Tobin’s stepmother, Ron’s, health has been declining rapidly after she was diagnosed with dementia a year ago. No visitors have been allowed into her memory care unit to visit during the past year due to COVID-19. Now, Ron Hurley has decided she doesn’t want to try to live anymore and is barely eating or drinking and won’t pick up the phone. It’s a big deal that Mary is finally being allowed in to visit her. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1694016248302-8FSRK63AD8TSHSPSTRPL/ChildCareStory-2.jpg Portfolio Tobin works out at 5 a.m. the morning of getting the emotional email. “Exercising does give me extra energy and perspective to make me feel more capable, like now anything that happens [with Ron], hopefully I can better handle the day. It's hard for me to articulate to anybody the impact she had on me,” Tobin says. Tobin’s own mother died from cancer when she was a teen. “Something about the person you could always count on no matter what not being there anymore. And who has loved you unconditionally and has known you your whole life. She’s one of the rocks I always stood on. I’ll miss her. She just made such a big impression on me. I think she was just such a welcoming, compassionate, intelligent, caring person, and when she entered my life, challenged me as probably someone older than a 16 year-old.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1694019638880-S2Z7PT2Q4F5I1DZVDI9S/ChildCareStory-3frame.jpg Portfolio Tobin meditates every morning for ten minutes before she welcomes babies into the child care she runs out of her home. She has been running her child care for over a decade, after raising six children of her own. “I hope that I translate some Ron Hurley traits into my mothering because I think those are super important,” Tobin says. “I feel like I’m mothering these babies. I’m invested in what they learn. I’m not just giving them a bottle to pacify them. I care that they are potty trained. I care that they are self-soothing. I care that they don’t turn into monsters by the age of two because that will follow them for a long time. But I’m also aware that whatever the parents do is going to trump what I do. This child care is a very important place, but not the most important.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1694016251182-R2VL9C8B632Y0D0ZNS2N/ChildCareStory-4.jpg Portfolio Sarah Haverland waves hello as she drops off her daughter, Elizabeth, at Tobin’s child care on Jan. 29, 2021. The work day begins. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1694016254337-X5PAKJC6H54DL7GN4FBG/ChildCareStory-5.jpg Portfolio On Jan. 29, Tobin starts crying again thinking about her stepmother so close to death. “By observing Ron and how she treated me, I thought, ‘Wow, I feel like a real person.’ You know, I was a bit older [when she came into my life], so it's not fair to say my mom wouldn't have done that or didn't do that. [My own mother] was just very stoic and didn't have the space or the time. And by the time I was fourteen, my mom was very sick. By the time I was 16, she had died. So when Ron entered in, and she was so emotionally adventurous and a school psychologist and talking about things my mom would never have talked about, and it was kind of cool. Not that I got a second chance [at a mom], but I had frosting on the cake with Ron.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1694016254957-HVFHIZQGVGMPTCOVNB8R/ChildCareStory-6.jpg Portfolio Tobin laughs at Larkin Flanagan, one of the children in her child care, while she goes on their daily walk. Macy Harrison, Nellie Pfeiffer, and Elizabeth Haverland sit in the stroller. She usually either takes them to a playground or to see something new going on in the neighborhood, like construction or big trucks. “So much of it can be about me to a point, but it's so much more meaningful to focus on the next generation,” Tobin says. “Other mothers might not say that. They might feel like there should be a lot more balance, or they're not as committed to being a mother. But for me, I feel like for everything I've done in life, that's the reason for everything.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1694016257120-AN7O5KJWNCK6J03Q63X4/ChildCareStory-7.jpg Portfolio Tobin scolds Larkin Flanagan after she wasn’t playing nicely with one of the other children in the child care. She puts her in the “Thinking Corner” for a few minutes before asking Flanagan to apologize to her friend. “All the effort and time you put in when they're young matters, because you have to remember that kids are in our lives as adults for so much longer than they are children,” Tobin says. “Eighteen years is very short compared to a lifetime.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1694019654248-N6G55G0L8XDIPA7JCKW2/ChildCareStory-8frame.jpg Portfolio At the end of the day, Tobin waits with the kids from her child care at the front window as they wait for their parents to come pick them up. Every time a child moves on from the child care, Tobin writes a letter to the family, who she works to develop a close relationship with over time. “I feel like it's really the same feeling I have when each one leaves, you know, it's not even a variation of it,” Tobin says. “My letter to the families always says, ‘Well, at this point, words just diminish my feelings for your family. I can only hope that day to day over the past years, you felt the genuine love we have for you. My primary hope is that your child developed a core belief that: (1) they are loved by many, (2) they belong, (3) they are capable, and (4) they are so, so special. The world will teach them all the rest. Life has been more fun with your child in it. Thanks for sharing so much of your lives with us.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1694016259311-R8AKP5ZBVH5V6QB9R1IX/ChildCareStory-9.jpg Portfolio “Ideally as an adult going through [losing a mother figure], you can rationalize more things and intellectualize,” Tobin says. “Better equipped to cope. Not that it’s not going to hurt. It will when [Ron] dies. And it’s going to set off old alarms. The “mother” and “loss” alarms. But it won’t take years and years to get through this time. And as a mother, I can hope I’m putting something good into the next generation of children while I’m going through it.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409884558-AQFHCJYJLHTR7Q4FXXZ1/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-1.jpg Portfolio "For me it’s shadows. Every day I walk across the dam, I watch for my shadow marching below me, down the hill, and some days, when the wind is still, even across the water and up the hill at the other end of the earthen dam that creates Jordan Lake. In the painting there is one small human figure surrounded by rushing water, darkly threatening clouds, with only a small window of blue that could be sky but is probably water. That little shadow is very persistent as she trudges along. Even in a wind, she doesn’t hesitate, pulls her hood up to protect her neck and ears. A step at a time a great distance can prove possible. But, oh for the courage to believe in that shadow. I like to think that when I’m gone, and even if storm clouds dominate, and water boils and foams, and wind is cruel and relentless, that my shadow– all that is left of me and whatever words on paper survive my death–will keep on walking with firm steps, seeing more than I can see now, accepting storms, even lightning, but refusing to be dismissed, ignored, or turned aside–something eternal or stubborn, or so part of the nature of things that it simply won’t let go." - From Judy Hogan's original poem book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409887094-0F03ZDQYIB6GP0G6H18H/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-2.jpg Portfolio "How to tell it? I have a new friend in the midst of my aging, when new friends are rare. She’s a bird-watcher. I’m a people-watcher. What I learn, I scarcely know until I put it in my books. Some mistrust other people first and foremost. I attend to them with my mind open. She talked to my dog, and Wag listened. Wag is tolerant now of other people but skeptical, too. It takes time for her to trust, but the bird-watcher turned out to be a dog-whisperer and spoke Wag’s language, baffling to me. Mind over matter maybe. Wag would stop, hesitate, and then touch her nose to the outstretched hand. Me she pulled in, too, to tell of the sixteen eagle nests around our Jordan Lake. I asked how they would have fared during our hurricane. She said they have favorite places to hunker down during storms, but we had four days of wind and rain, so she’s checking on them. She watches for them to fly by, way up there and catches them in her camera the way she caught Wag and me as we walked toward her, both smiling, she says," - From Judy Hogan's original poetry book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409890925-CDK8XMDDC8H4QMMXWTDQ/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-3.jpg Portfolio "Erik Erikson said Ghandi found his true identity when he was fifty. I was seventy, still healthy, writing and publishing books, teaching writers, a small farmer with a flock of White Rock hens, and a leader in my community. At eighty, I take that diversity of tasks for granted. I don’t debate. It is a balancing act, and my balance ability is distressed by my age. Still, I rake and dig. I hold onto tree branches and my chain-link fence. I’ve said I’m both Penelope and Odysseus. I did have my once-in-a-lifetime love–across the ocean, despite the language barrier, and our different lifestyles. We fought, but we held on. He became one of Homer’s shades, reduced to shadows in the Underworld, but still alive, still speaking and foretelling the planet’s future if we don’t attend to the signs. I’ll be a shade, too, before too many years have passed. Some of that is beyond my control, and some is up to me. The doctors urged a cane four years ago, but I said no. “I can’t farm with a cane.” They said medicine, but I was wary of the side-effects, the medicine worse than the complaint. My body heals while I sleep. It puts me to sleep a lot. But my aches and pains go away. I tell them I have good telemeres. They listen. The symptoms which puzzled them have disappeared. Eighty isn’t so bad if you accept that your pace will be slower… No, I’m not a shade yet, and life still pulls surprises out of my lucky grab bag. I can’t complain." - From Judy Hogan's original poem book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409895928-QRD5SRTMI6YODNI7HKXO/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-4.jpg Portfolio "I was afraid my heart would rebel and keep me from leading a workshop on writing poetry. My friend had said to rest more. I had things to do, but I did stop to rest. Then six people came to learn what I knew about poetry. “What is a poem?” I asked. They suggested it was condensed words, that it was like a stream running through the soul. I told them the fourth grader’s understanding: “A poet is someone who writes poetry, someone who loves all living things.” I told them about Homer’s Muse, about the Old Testament prophets who cried: “The Word of the Lord came to me.” About how words could seem to take off, and the deeper mind to throw up words we weren’t expecting. I mentioned Jacques Maritain’s hexis– a gift we have in our unconscious that we need to take care of and listen to. If the poem starts in the grocery store, make more room in your life for the Muse. Then I asked them to write a simple poem, and they all did, even the librarian. To my surprise, they all read their new poems. They trusted me and each other enough on very short acquaintance. My heart behaved and was quieted. Another unexpected gift." - From Judy Hogan's original poem book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409895827-KIN8I4MOEKPG3OTG2KSL/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-5.jpg Portfolio "Some see the world as a dangerous place. I don’t. One says, “You see it as a safe place.” I say, “No, but I see it differently. I know there are dangers, but I’m focused on trying to be in tune with the grain of the universe, with the way it’s made. I follow my deep intuition, even when it doesn’t make sense. It makes me accident-unlikely. I may have accidents, but usually they’re not as bad as they could have been. So, yes, I had that flat tire on Thursday, but it happened in my front yard. I drove it across the road and turned. When it was still bad, I pulled over and stopped to look. I had a very flat right front tire. Or I have car trouble as I pull into a service station. I work toward peace with my neighbors and fight for all of us for cleaner air and water. They respect me and protect me. I’ve never been harmed by my neighbors, and I’ve often been helped. You don’t need to worry about them harming me.” I have a very different orientation to the world. There are dangers and evil people. If people are determined to be my enemy, I stay away from them. In the meantime, I try to have friendly relations with everyone, if it’s possible. I’m outspoken, and some people hate what I say and can’t forgive me. One day I might be harmed, but this way to live suits me." - From Judy Hogan's original poetry book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409900691-NBUYGUSULI4W8YYP7T5S/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-6.jpg Portfolio "Resting is hard for me. I have so much I want to do before Shadows take me from this life. Maybe I don’t need to be so inactive. Can I let go fear, slow myself down but not stop, not let fear put its claws into my soul, my trust that, if I pay attention, all will be well." - From Judy Hogan's original poetry book, "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409909057-OTPUEQRKVD4J6PUXQ6QP/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-7.jpg Portfolio "Beginnings are hardest. In the morning I sit up slowly, inch my way closer to a place to hold on, rise carefully, balance before I walk. I make sure I don’t go too long without eating and sleep early. As the day waxes, my confidence returns. I remember what I need to, see to the hens, make notes in my diary, in which I tell the whole story. Sometimes I start to fall, but I catch myself. At the dam I walk steadily, don’t fear falling. Back at home I’m warmer, shed layers, resume morning tasks and rituals, with enough energy for the day. By myself I see the years of faithful work to leave my legacy of stories and insights alive behind me. Among others I see their discomfort. They don’t look at me. They forget my place in the line-up of poets. I make them nervous. Why? Maybe because I look into Death’s face and am not afraid. How does one find that particular courage? It arrives in time to be useful in the last years, but I realize I’ve practiced going my own way most of my life, since age twenty-one, to nearly eighty-one. Not dismissing urgencies that would keep me whole and safe, not denying love when it defied logic. Those who hated me? I stayed away, and generally, they did, too. I sometimes lose things or forget them, but I’ve never forgotten to safeguard my soul and keep it whole, no matter what my circumstances are." - From Judy Hogan's original poetry book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409909034-HHPA06WQOPU5C141ITBH/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-8.jpg Portfolio "Proust thought Time destroyed us, those hidden memories our only salvation. For me, Time allows fulfillment, to come into my own, to learn, to heal, and even to be recognized and valued. There were people who hated me, but they didn’t stop me. My own body slowed me down, reminded me I had done well and to think of those I love. I persuaded my friends and my doctor to trust my way of life, my faith in myself; to let me continue my independent way. My son and I learned to live together. We lost some crops, but harvested bushels of tomatoes. I made spaghetti sauce and soup. Now there are grapes to make Muscadine jelly, pears to make preserves. I do my work as a writer, editor, teacher. I celebrate Jaki, whom I first published forty-five years ago. I will teach poetry and story writing. Like the moon’s slow, steady increase of its light, I resume my own life of work and love." - From Judy Hogan's original poetry book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544707967673-SNEN54ZSWM9K14GOHZ01/Judy+fridge+poems-1.jpg Portfolio "I slowed down, did easy work, nothing strenuous. The hurricane left us to mop up and dry out. Sun came back, the better to see the devastation. Here, where we escaped the worst, life was almost normal despite rivers that flowed upstream, the milk we couldn’t buy, the flooded roads we couldn’t pass. I wanted more work. I made a list I’m crossing off. Something in me wants serious work, to tell some story more than poetry tells or my diary. A new book then about aging and adapting. There is more to tell than I have admitted so far. At eighty-one, how many women tell what it’s like, to lose the capabilities we always assumed, to have gates closed, but the mind still open, still able to articulate paradox and justice, when everything in the human being or in the state works easily and smoothly together, each part doing its own work? Mine has been to write, tell my mind’s story. I’ve written many books, but there is still more to tell. I will." - From Judy Hogan's original poetry book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409915737-YJNVFO9ALVO6T5S2O00V/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-10.jpg Portfolio "How do I describe my faithfulness to my deepest knowledge, to what I see but can’t easily reveal in words. I tried not to be good as a child is good. I rebelled against old formulas, trite words. I loved Thoreau’s wisdom: “If I see someone coming to do me good, I run for my life.” I rejected that impulse to “do good.” Yet I have always worked against evil when I saw it blazing up in corporations, in those fearful of rocking the boat, or who were terrified to be seen as bad, as trouble- makers. So I’ve been castigated, dismissed, written off. It hasn’t been so bad. Some tender hearts have loved me, and even tough-spirited strangers have helped me out. I have a few fans of my books. I don’t need acclaim, but I do need to feel loved and acknowledged by those I love and trust, those who can see with clear eyes who I am, what I care about. I’ve been told many times that what I want is impossible, will never happen. They say life isn’t like that. You don’t get what you wish for. In short, the power of evil is too great. I don’t give up, however, and then people love me. Things begin to change. What my skeptics have forgotten is the power of transformation and what love can do when it’s unleashed, when we see clearly, when other people’s minds open like a book that wants to be read. I can’t make that happen. I can’t stop it. I can, however, give it my gratitude and let it go to work." - From Judy Hogan's original poetry book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409921756-35CWLDRM3ZISXGXM4O9A/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-11.jpg Portfolio "Milosz helped me see, at age eighty-one, that our worship of science and technology, our allowing a dictator to be elected president, is killing us off. The big electricity corporation has brought us a present we couldn’t refuse of seven million tons of poison. They say they’ll stop now. They’ve done enough damage. Instead, they’ll burn the coal ash again and kill us faster. No one stops them. People are getting sick. They don’t want to fight any more. They forget: when we fight, we love each other. We can live with our differences. Black, white, and Hispanic; church-goers and non-church-goers. Andrew says, “You’ve won a victory. Have a victory party.” Rhonda says, “You’re defying the doctors. I predict you’ll have a stroke.” She’s angry at her body’s weakness, and at me, for trusting myself and challenging doctors, our techno- masters in a sickening world. The human body knows how to heal itself. Instead, they give us pills and then more pills, and the body then is truly sick, won’t fight any more. Milosz lived under the Nazis, under Stalin. He fought and he survived. I, too, am fighting, and I, too, am surviving. Love can conquer. Give it a try." - From Judy Hogan's original poetry book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1544409920796-LRDC685FWMAAIJN6Y4EO/20181207_Tobin_JUDY-12.jpg Portfolio "Even love has its misunderstandings. Sometimes my son and I knock heads. We’ve learned to let go when arguments go nowhere. Everyone has her own world view, her own life story, fears, and dread. Agony is human, but so is joy. We watch the exultant eagles join the circling vultures. For one, it’s work-related, for another, it’s ecstatic. When our hopes and desires merge, worry disappears. When pain returns, we are constrained to work free. I write my troubles down, the better to let them go. When they reappear, I’m prepared. We all learn as fast as we can, which means some more slowly than others. A lot depends on our heritage and even more on work we’ve already done to cope when people hated us, when our loved ones turned their faces away. The late years lead to a homecoming or some call it a home-going. We have some say-so. For me, there are many rewards in this last stage, which Erik Erikson called “Ego integrity versus despair.” We find rewards for our self-defense, our ability to listen and give a helping hand. People we scarcely knew turn up to help us. A young woman wants to study me for clues to living a benign life as a freedom-fighter. Another woman in her middle years is drawn to my relaxed humor. Most terrible things draw our tears, but some that can wrench us later make us laugh. My doctor, as I eluded the medicines and survived, calls me Trouble, but she’s smiling. Another older woman says we’re both eccentric, but a good eccentric. My son is learning to protect garden spiders, cherish poetry, and love my homemade bread. I still walk without a cane, urged upon me five years ago. Some work I’ve let go. I rest more, but I do all I can do–gratefully. Look around: I have students and friends. I’m cherished by those I want to cherish me. I’m alive and writing down what my last years are like. Already I inherit that persistence I fore-see in my shadow after I’m gone. She’ll be okay." - From Judy Hogan's original poetry book "Shadows" https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1543357188181-0G6VMRINMIQECVH17TLA/20181112_Tobin_MidtermElectionAnitaEarls_SELECTS-2.jpg Portfolio On the evening of Sunday, Nov. 4, Anita Earls sits in the pews of Union Baptist Church in Durham, N.C among fellow N.C. democratic candidates. The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People invited democratic candidates they endorsed to each speak on their platforms for one minute. Anita Earls has been a civil rights attorney mostly in North Carolina for the last 30 years. She founded the Southern Coalition for Social Justice 11 years ago, and is now running to be the hundredth justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. “After my brother was murdered and the killer never prosecuted, I personally experienced what it means to not get your day in court,” Earls said. “If we are going to protect families and make communities safer, we need equal justice under law. People’s lives are impacted every day by the decisions that the Supreme Court makes. After 2016 in particular, I felt that the federal courts may no longer be a sympathetic avenue for civil rights claims. And state constitutions are rich and robust sources for protection of our rights. Our state Supreme Court can make a lot of decisions about things that impact their lives daily.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1543357188320-P9B2UC3CKT4HN0OL684S/20181112_Tobin_MidtermElectionAnitaEarls_SELECTS-1.jpg Portfolio A pile of abandoned voting day materials advocating for Anita Earls lays abandoned on a table at the North Carolina Democratic Party headquarters in Raleigh on election night Nov. 8. “I became an attorney because I grew up in a mixed race family,” Earls says. “My father was black and my mom was white. When they met and fell in love in Missouri it was illegal to get married. As I was growing up, the Supreme Court decided a case that said those covenants cannot be enforced. So I overtime saw the law as a way that could be used to break down barriers. And I saw the role that lawyers could play in that. Crossing that racial divide was essential to our survival as a family, essential to my survival. And I think equally now, coming together to bridge that divide and fix our democracy is essential to our survival.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1543357188901-HF212LSDP3Z72U7NU4OH/20181112_Tobin_MidtermElectionAnitaEarls_SELECTS-3.jpg Portfolio On election day, Nov. 6, Earls sits alone in front of a food table before her “war room” party at a hotel in downtown Raleigh. The rest of her campaign staff are taking up the rest of the chairs in the suite doing work. “I’m really nervous. I have no clue what I’m supposed to be doing right now. I have no idea how this works,” Earls says. “Am I supposed to call my opponent if I win? What is that timing like? Do I wait for her to call me? How long? What if she wins? I’m really in the dark here. I’m really not a politician.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1543357189079-FCZJEQWKTLVWRSVPBT7W/20181112_Tobin_MidtermElectionAnitaEarls_SELECTS-4.jpg Portfolio Anita Earls, Brenda Richardson, and Caroline Spencer, Anita’s campaign manager, laugh at a photo on Richardson’s phone of a nearby polling place in Durham. A sign at the location says, “They don’t want us to vote for Anita Earls.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1543357189394-WLFMSDXMPMH82ETAXRBL/20181112_Tobin_MidtermElectionAnitaEarls_SELECTS-5.jpg Portfolio Anita Earls nervously watches the results from other state races come in on the television on election night, waiting for her own race to be called. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1543357189547-LUINL0JT7V5A71BTJODZ/20181112_Tobin_MidtermElectionAnitaEarls_SELECTS-6.jpg Portfolio After Justice Barbara Jackson, Earls’ leading opponent called her and conceded, Earls, Caroline Spencer, and José Morales scream in celebration in their hotel “war room” in Raleigh, N.C. “This is a moment I will never forget,” says Caroline Spencer, Earls’ campaign manager. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1543357189955-YSHW4DBZB1TB8JALCGML/20181112_Tobin_MidtermElectionAnitaEarls_SELECTS-7.jpg Portfolio At the North Carolina Democratic Party headquarters in Raleigh, Earls is met with a vivacious crowd of supporters after her victory is announced as the 100th justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1543357190227-PUZE90MU5TM21T0GD90E/20181112_Tobin_MidtermElectionAnitaEarls_SELECTS-8.jpg Portfolio Anita Earls takes the stage at the North Carolina Democratic Party headquarters as her supporters cheer below. Juju Holton and Caroline Spencer, who both worked on the campaign, shed tears and celebrate behind her. “We have a president who believes that he can by executive order erase the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution,” Earls says in her speech. “We have misguided misguided partisans in our state who believe they should impeach justices that don’t rule in their favor. I promise to resist partisan attacks on the judicial branch, which must remain independent and impartial in order for our democracy to succeed and thrive. Thank you for believing in the possibility that a civil rights attorney can run a state-wide campaign and win the trust of voters. Thank you for believing that you can make a difference because you have. And now, let’s move forward without fear or favor.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1543357190841-CZG22833ZPQZ442CD0EA/20181112_Tobin_MidtermElectionAnitaEarls_SELECTS-10.jpg Portfolio Even after midnight on election night, Anita Earls doesn’t relax, despite her victory. She continues researching how undeclared races are being counted while she drinks champagne. “In the words of Nelson Mandela, ‘After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb,’” Earls says. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541430675460-X70RLZ4FCV8GTYRX4GUK/20180926_Tobin_Labor_SELECTS-11.jpg Portfolio On Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2018, Steven Watkins, one of the longest-tenured flight instructors in the U.S., flies above Person County, N.C. He has clocked over 9,000 hours flight instructing – one of about one hundred in the country with this kind of accomplishment. Watkins owns his own tiny flight instructing company, called Watkins Aviation, of which he is the sole instructor, and operates out of Person County Airport in Timberlake, N.C. “The single biggest thing is freedom,” Watkins says. “There’s a sense of escaping the rest of the world when you’re up there. A lot of my students over the years have not liked their jobs, but then they come out here flying, and they don’t think about anything but flying. So, it’s an escape. For me, it’s not an escape of pressure, but an escape into my own little world. And in a lot of ways, it’s very peaceful… My workplace is the sky.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541430671358-JTSAI3N1FXBD0637WJFO/20180926_Tobin_Labor_SELECTS-8.jpg Portfolio In preparation for Hurricane Florence hitting the east coast, Watkins flies one of his planes back from South Boston, V.A. Watkins and his partner in the plane’s ownership, Carl Chambers, push the plane inside the hangar so that it doesn’t get damaged due to sporadic hurricane storming. “I started flying when I was 14,” Watkins says. “A dentist by my family farm taught me. He didn’t give me formal flying lessons; he just brought me up and said ‘Here are the controls.’ The airplane in those days ran for $8 an hour and $4 for the instructor. He was just a nice guy and bought planes and made them available for people to use. Today, I charge $60 for the instructor, which is me, and $130 for the plane per hour, which sounds expensive, but I try to keep costs low. I’m paying it forward.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541430660891-G09DUSAQE1RX3WPHLEM4/20180926_Tobin_Labor_SELECTS-2.jpg Portfolio Watkins changes the fuel on the plane he uses the most for instruction, a Cessna 150. “I love this work. I’m 68, but to me, retirement is something you do if you don’t like your job. Most of retirement got rolling when manufacturing took off in the teens and twenties and so people would go to work and they’d work hard at manufacturing…. In my world, if you work for somebody else and it’s a job and you get paid and you go home on the weekends and you do what the average person does, then retirement is something to look forward to… I’ve been fortunate my entire life, pretty much, to do things I wanted to do on my own schedule. And if you like what you do, why do you want to quit?... So depending obviously on physical health and mental health, I figure I’m pretty much going to flight instruct for at least another 8 or 10 years. Maybe longer, as long as I possibly can. I can’t really imagine retiring anyway. It’s never been on my radar.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541430667755-6HRVNZ9WMB6XXO6AA6Q9/20180926_Tobin_Labor_SELECTS-5.jpg Portfolio On Thursday, Sept. 13, Watkins warily watches the weather forecast as Hurricane Florence is predicted to hit the N.C. coast hard. “I’ll likely have to cancel my students for the next couple days,” he says. “Also have to make sure all the planes are tied down or put in the hangar.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541430666878-EL7E42B82AO5STVKD3KE/20180926_Tobin_Labor_SELECTS-6.jpg Portfolio Watkins watches the weather outside when his daughter Carey Anne comes to visit. Once he cancelled his flight students due to the hurricane, Watson spent a lot of time sitting in the airplane hangar building a plane for his daughter. “He doesn’t like to admit it, but I think tinkering on planes is my dad’s favorite part of his job,” Carey Anne Watson says. “When my brother and I were little, he had a plane in our garage and all you could ever see was the fuselage. He just tinkered away on it but never finished it.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541430668579-APG9SVXFUNG8F1GKLR8P/20180926_Tobin_Labor_SELECTS-7.jpg Portfolio On Friday, Sept. 14, Watkins parks himself in the airplane hangar for the day while Hurricane Florence dumps rain outside. He tries for hours to fix a shattered work light. “I see it, so it’s my responsibility to take care of it, regardless of how it got broken,” Watkins says. “I can learn something from this... If we decide we are spiritual beings living in a human existence, maybe the suffering isn’t the important lesson. Like this light situation is frustrating. I think I also bought the wrong bulbs to fix it. Maybe the lesson is what you learn from what goes on in your life instead. I hear people say that everything happens for the best, and I don’t particularly believe that, but I believe there’s something to be learned from all things and people in all situations.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a552064f9a61e74e2121c2c/1541430674666-P2123HY5GT6F5HWO7IS4/20180926_Tobin_Labor_SELECTS-10.jpg Portfolio By the time Saturday, Sept. 22 rolls around, Steve Watkins is in the swing of giving flight lessons again after Hurricane Florence passes. On this day he is teaching Douglas Appleton, who is training to get his private pilot’s license. “The thing about teaching flying is that you tend to bond with a lot of your students,” Watkins says. “More than other professions. You spend more time with them and you share a common interest… I feel fortunate to be both an instructor and a mentor. About 20 years ago I started questioning what makes me run. And it’s not money. Some days I wish it was. The greatest sense of fulfillment comes from helping other people… One of the things I tend to believe is called the law of reciprocity. My belief in life is that if you help enough other people, you’ll be rewarded. If you make it about you, life can get pretty miserable. 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