Big News in the Neighborhood — Neighborhood Nomads

March 26, 2013, Washington, DC: It's 6:00 pm on a major news day. You've scrolled through the Tweets, liked the Facebook statuses, seen the Instagrams, clicked through the slideshows, read the analysis. By this time of day, you've consumed all there is to consume in this virtual world of ours. There's likely nothing more I can tell you about today's monumental day at the Supreme Court. But man, it sure was something to be there.

It's always different in person. Music we hear at home fills us more wholly at the concert. A touchdown we watch from the living room is far more joyous in the stadium. The energy of a crowd and the presence of a community change us every time. To see the plaintiffs of an historic gay marriage case descend the steps of the Supreme Court hand-in-hand felt substantially different than reading about them online.

This is the civil rights fight of our time. The world is evolving. This is a community's case. We're all in it together. I heard these comments on the cold air this morning as I began my freelance photography assignment before the sun came up, before my feet thawed, before daylight finally crept over the back of the Court to warm the crowded sidewalk. Inside the Supreme Court, oral arguments got underway in the watershed case known as Prop 8; outside, thousands were gathered to voice their opinions about gay couples' right to marry. It was a day that filled our neighborhood with families -- daughters atop their father's shoulders, uncles introducing their nieces to friends, husbands and wives supporting their neighbors. They gathered convinced that sometimes there's no substitute for witnessing these moments in person.