I brought my camera and two of my daughters with me when I visited Auschwitz (Oswiecem) in the spring of 1997. After passing under the Arbeit Macht Frei portal I could not bring myself to photograph anything, but I did scribble this shoe that stood in a pile of "personal effects."

I wasn't invited to be part of the entourage when President-elect Barack Hussein Obama and Vice President-elect Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. retraced part of Abe Lincoln's 1861 "Inauguration Train" trip from Philadelphia to Washington DC, but I had made the journey many times before and witnessed the spreading rust and crumble along the route. Maybe the next time I ride Amtrak to The Nation's Capital, I'll start seeing something different. I sure hope so.