Author Marques Vickers returns to his hometown of Vallejo, California with his memoir “You Can’t Return Home Except Through Photographs and Memory”. The personal narrative traces his formation within a community that through his eyes has slipped a notch from both the middle-class and affluence. Vickers employs a light but candid tone on a gravely perceived subject, Vallejo’s regressive deterioration. The suburban San Francisco Bay Area town of 120,000 was formerly the California State Capital twice and home to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The base closed in 1996 creating an employment void that prompted stagnation within the downtown core. Vickers was raised locally during the 1960s-70s. He traces the specific causes for decline as the proliferation of long simmering racial tensions, homelessness, aggressive criminality and drug trafficking. Returning in 1987 as an adult following a twelve-year absence, he was struck by the town’s smallness of scale. In spite of the successful recruitment of Marine World Africa USA in 1986, the addition has not elevated Vallejo into a desirable extended stay tourist destination. He observes that seemingly for every positive step forward, the city tends to relapse two steps backwards. Despite the deterioration, most Vallejoans he knows are proud of their grounded heritage. His text is far from bleak and bitter. He cites the town’s distinctiveness, attractions and diversity that positively impacted his personal development. His photo compilation was prompted by a return for the funeral service of a 90-year-old friend Andy who died on New Years Day 2017. Andy, a former longtime resident, avoided local visitations noting the degenerating conditions from his residence in adjacent Benicia. The author’s own series of memories were exhumed at the same time as the body of his friend was being lowered into the ground for burial. Vickers surveys the present tense community with his camera lens portraying a bittersweet reality. Although he cannot overlook the obvious, he hopes the current downtown may ultimately be viewed as an isolated puzzle piece fitting into a larger positive legacy. Balancing his criticism with objectivity, humor and insight, Vickers attempts to accurate portray a subject he mourns and knows intimately.

Shadowlands is a photographic concept edition accentuating contours, silhouettes and dominant color compositions of 150 photographic images. Many of the images are recognizable icons and landmarks. They are transformed into graphic arts appearance by employing photo imaging software. The accompanying shadows create a foreboding and often sinister impression. The result is a glimpse into the unconscious white space that frames and lightens photography. Photographer Marques Vickers has assembled a diverse portfolio of internationally compiled images. Their reverse lighting reinvents the impression, often upsetting our conventional interpretation of their substance and matter. The effect mirrors the surrealists’ notion of superficially unseen structures that open the portal for interpretative meanings. Imagery is enabled to transcend precise and simplistic definition.

Michael McCaffrey continues to wrestle with his own alienation and detachment from the teaching profession, direction of his life and personal relationships. He is compelled to deal with unexpected loss and abandonment on multiple levels. Throughout his ordeals, he maintains his sense of humor and perspective. His setbacks, distractions and inertia make forward progress challenging. He observes the similar difficulty and indecisiveness experienced by two of his former university classmates. His intentioned departure from teaching following his ninth year does not materialize. His ambition towards cultivating a stable relationship evaporates for reasons initially uncertain to him. He has difficulty coming to terms with his fragmented life that only periodically offers glimpses of hope and clarity. An encounter with a former high school girlfriend prompts him to consider what might have happened had he never left his hometown. Another classmate, a self-professed business success, lectures one of classes and illustrates the contrast between McCaffrey’s present stagnation and a vocational path he abandoned early in his career. As his narrative enters into his thirteenth year of teaching, his observations and caustic opinions become more pronounced and unwelcome. He’s aware of the estrangement with his current faculty peers. As his closet confidants leave, he realizes St. Elizabeth-St. Ignacious High School has changed irrevocably. He is not an integral part of the shift and has become professionally expendable. During his tenth teaching year, a new Principal, Brother Morton Brickell replaces the departed Brother (Mumbles) Moody. McCaffrey compares Moody to a flute and Brickell to a brass trumpet, often loudly overstating the obvious. Brickell’s own tenure and influence becomes abbreviated due to a change in school management. During the summer following his eleventh year, the financial allure of shifting back to corporate employment coupled by a seemingly healthy relationship nearly changes his fate. Despite the promising prospects, McCaffrey is destined to continue teaching and remaining alone. Brickell’s replacement, Sister (Stoneface) Stanley clashes with McCaffrey her initial year following scrutiny of his teaching and religious commitment. The frigidity of their interactions prompts him to question how long she will tolerate his continued employment. McCaffrey continues his satirical exchanges and pranks with faculty foils and adds additional victims. He charts the meteoric influential rise of the maintenance duo of Sid and Barney that culminates in a faculty Christmas party implosion. He assists a faculty peer in formatting teaching credential assignments that concludes with him doubting the substantive value of academic professional training. McCaffrey documents his lively and playful interactions with his students. Tense moments intervene. He is confronted by a failing student that nearly erupts into a physical altercation. He must also calm the religious proselytizing from one of his zealous students seeking to convert him. He attempts to keep his lectures varied and relevant despite his flagging enthusiasm. One of his classroom discussions addresses the increasingly escalating violence in his hometown when one of his students nearly becomes a casualty from a drive-by shooting. A former favorite student returns on campus basking in an acclaim that eluded him while attending SESI. Another returns as a polished and attractive woman completing a teaching internship and introduces complications into McCaffrey’s relationship void and loneliness. McCaffrey’s forebodings about Sister Stanley’s motives reach fruition during contract negotiations following his thirteenth teaching year. Will McCaffrey survive a decisive effort to get rid of him? If he is destined to leave, who will ultimately determine the terms of his departure?

The second edition of “Murder in California: The Topography of Evil” is Marques Vickers’ visual return to 108 infamous crime scenes detailing the shocking and often searing narratives behind each tragedy. Over 225 images amplify insight by escorting the reader to the crime location, offering a critical context and perspective for understanding. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location’s unique significance. California has been the residence for many notorious profiled individual and serial killers including the Zodiac, Ted Unabomber Kaczynski, Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Jim Jones, Richard Allen Davis, David Carpenter, The Menendez Brothers, Juan Corona, Rodney Alcala, Phil Spector, Dan White, Juan Corona, Richard Ramirez and Scott Peterson. The media has christened some monikers including the Trailside Killer, Children of Thunder, Co-ed Killer, Vampire of Sacramento, Zebra Killers and the Death House Landlady. The state has been the death site of notable victims including Senator Robert Kennedy, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Supervisor Harvey Milk, Mobster Bugsy Siegel, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Nicole Simpson-Brown, Rapper Notorious B.I.G., Polly Klaas, Lacy Peterson, the Heaven’s Gate cult, singers Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke and actors Haing Ngor, Ramon Novarro and Sal Mineo. The Murder in California edition profiles are segmented into nine categories including assassinations, abductions, historical legacies, reckless homicides, chance encounters and manslaughters, law enforcement fatalities and controversies, unsolved murders, rampage and serial killers. Within the context of examining each profile, many important issues and questions are raised without necessarily culminating in resolution. These include capital punishment, racial perceptions, contributing parental influences, media reporting, public opinion, juvenile sentencing, self-incrimination protections and the impartiality of our judicial system. An extensive and updated listing of fatality victims is included along with convicted and deceased killers. Each living convict still registered within the United States penal systems is identified by their current penitentiary residence. Vickers’ own introduction to the consequences of murder began with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author’s hometown. Faraday was an acquaintance of Vickers through Boy Scouts and his older sister knew both victims. His reflections on the trauma inflicted on his intimate suburban community correspond with the realization that a single homicide affects far more individuals than simply the victim. Hundreds and often thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely. Cases Profiled (By Sequential Order and Category): Assassinations: Oakland School Superintendent Dr. Marcus Foster, Mobster Bugsy Siegel, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Mickey and Trudy Thompson, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, Rapper Christopher Wallace (Notorious B.I.G.), The Marin County Courthouse Shootout Massacre, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Hitman Joseph The Animal Barboza, Vic Weiss and the Wonderland Gang. Abductions: Patty Hearst, Nicholas Markowitz, Brooke Hart, The Onion Field Killings, Polly Klaas, Ramona Irene Price, Cal Poly Student Kristin Smart, Kevin Collins, Rachel Newhouse, Aundria Crawford and Karen Mitchell. Historical Legacies: Fung Little Pete Jing Toy, Charles Crawford, US President Warren Harding, Ned Doheny and Hugh Plunkett, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Orcutt Freeway Sniper, Miles Archer and Eastside Salinas Gang Killings. Chance Encounters and Manslaughter Killings Ennis Cosby, Diane Whipple, Haing Ngor, Huey P. Newton, Johnny Stompanato, Barbara Graham, Marvin Gaye, Phil Hartman, Phil Spector, Ramon Novarro, Ronni Chasen, Sal Mineo, Sam Cooke and Father Eric Freed. Unsolved Murders: The Black Dahlia, Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen, Bob Domingos and Linda Edwards, Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders, Crips Gang Founder Raymond Washington, David Nadel, Geneva Ellroy, Virginia Rapp, Kym Morgan, William Desmond Taylor, Ted Healy and the Visalia Ransacker. Rampage Mass Murders: Elliot Rodger, The Helzer Brothers, Bruce Pardo, The 101 California Building Rampage, John Linley Frazier, Edward Charles Allaway, Golden Dragon Restaurant, Meritage Salon, John Kenney, Frederick Martin Davidson, Lynwood Jim Drake, High School student Andy Williams, Oikos University Shootings, Nicolas Holzer, the Cleveland Elementary Schools in San Diego and Stockton and Marcus Wesson. Premeditated Murders: Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, Laci Peterson, John Morency, Artie Mitchell, Nicole Brown-Simpson, Menendez Brothers, Bonnie Lee Bakley, Vincent Brothers, Marin County Barbeque Killings and Ewell Family Executions. Law Enforcement Fatalities and Controversies Captain Walter Auble. Oscar Grant III, Newhall CHP Massacre, Office Thomas Guerry, Oakland Macarthur Boulevard Shooting, Demetrius DeBose, Policeman Matthew Pavelka and the North Hollywood Bank of America Shootout. Serial Killings: Zodiac Killer, Charles Manson, Dorothea Puente, Efren Saldivar, Ted Unabomber Kaczynski, The Two Night Stalkers, The Zebra Killings, Heaven’s Gate Suicide, Edmund Kemper III, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, Juan Corona, Richard Trenton Chase, Speedfreak Killers, Herbert Mullin, David Carpenter, Reverend Jim Jones and the People’s Temple Massacre, Hillside Strangler and Rodney Alcala.

Over forty years after the groundwater table of the Silicon Valley was declared contaminated, the source remains tainted and unfit for human consumption. Twenty-five former toxic waste sites are profiled “In Search of Toxic Silicon Valley: The Subterranean Poisoning From High Technology Manufacturing”. The edition focuses on visually documenting the contemporary redevelopment of these properties decades after they have become removed from closer public and media scrutiny. During the 1960s through early 1990s, an environmental disaster originated from leaking hazardous chemicals and solvents employed in semiconductor manufacturing. A lethal combination of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) seeped through on-site industrial storage containers. These concentrated leakages formed toxic plumes that penetrated between thirty and five hundred feet beneath the ground surface. The plumes ranged from three hundred feet to ten miles in length. Drinking water, regional creeks, streams and estuary lands were affected. The result has left the technology heartland with an extended network of contaminated groundwaters. The resulting contamination of soils and waters created a large-scale clean-up dilemma for a region that has sustained prosperity from the evolution of the technology industry. Neighboring public health consequences have included documented elevated statistics on cancer rate spikes and birth defects. Limited follow-up litigation has generally resulted in no-fault disclosure financial settlements. Only one individual has faced criminal related disposal charges and was convicted of ten misdemeanors. Federal Superfund clean up projects began in the 1980s, coordinated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Silicon Valley has the highest concentration of Superfund sites in the United States. Reclamation projects transported polluted soils to federal hazardous waste sites. Water excavation pumping, filtering and monitoring stations were established. These ongoing treatments have reversed groundwater contamination levels to acceptable EPA standards. They have not completely eliminated the toxic compound presence or eradicated the risk of vapor intrusion aboveground. Silicon Valley groundwater remains unacceptable for public consummation. The most affected cities currently outsource drinking water from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite, Sacramento Delta, San Luis Reservoir and long-established municipal and private wells. The subsequent reuses of formerly contaminated parcels currently include residential, retail and commercial developments, a shopping center and church. Only a small percentage of lands remain dormant and these are targeted for future development. The Silicon Valley manufacturing era remains a discreetly mentioned blight to the legacy of the industry. The semiconductor manufacturing process has subsequently been relocated offshore. Instead of prioritizing hygienic solutions for production and waste disposal, the shifting has reportedly created an equally dangerous source of dioxin pollution transported globally by prevailing winds and ocean currents. The author’s research is based exclusively from EPA archived documentation and related contaminant databases. The text and photographs are best summarized in his chilling opening paragraph: This is a story about unhappy endings. This is a narrative about how the manufacture of technology has potentially forever poisoned the subterranean strata of the Silicon Valley. In brief, this is a horror story.

“The Lafayette White Cross Protest Memorial” is a pictorial edition of Northern California’s most striking and poignant monument established for soldiers who have died in the Iraqi, Afghanistan and overseas battlefield conflicts. Established in November 2006 as a protest against American involvement in Iraq, the Memorial has become an important symbol of remembrance with over 4000 rustic white crosses implanted on a hillside in suburban Lafayette. The inclined property overlooks one of Contra Costa County’s freeway arteries and the Lafayette BART transit station. Photographer Marques Vickers 120 images capture the intimacy and personalization of the panorama, which began as a spontaneous and controversial movement. His images start in mid-2014 and extend beyond a two-year cycle. The hillside has freshened green once again following the ravages of the California drought. During this period the casualty tally has increased from 6809 to an excess of 7,000. In one of two accompanying essays titled “Conflict and Remembrance” Vickers observes that the changes in warfare have currently shifted conventional battlefield deaths to urban terrorist actions targeting civilians. The Crosses of Lafayette are probably the largest American memorial of its kind in post 9/11 and likely the most personal. Traditional white crosses are accompanied by some bearing the Star of David, Islamic crescents, Buddhist prayer wheels and other religious symbolism. Several feature attached photographs, writings and other personal mementos. Vickers photographs heighten the emotional expression and familiarity with a project entirely conceived by volunteers who maintain the Memorial. These caretakers battle deterioration by nature, organized opposition and vandalism. The images accurately capture the manifestation of collective and individual grief that transcends this simple expression of loss into a more powerful manifestation by how we remember those fighting and dying so far away from their home.

“Death of a Post Office: The Bruised Legacy of Architect William H. Corlett” details the abrupt 2014 closure and aftermath of the Franklin Street Post Office in Napa, California. The Art Deco style building, constructed in 1933 sustained significant structural damage during the August 23rd Napa earthquake closing the facility to public access and mail sorting operations. Author Marques Vickers began photographing the exterior damage on the morning of the quake and continued in intervals until January 2017. Over 70+ images display the building’s exterior wounds. Vickers’ narrative follows the history and complexity of restoring local architect’s William H. Corlett’s design, originally financed by Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration. The brick edifice features exterior terra cotta friezes of shields, ram heads, eagles, and decorative cornices. Sizable bronze urn lanterns front the entrance and exit doors. The interior showcases an elaborate lobby featuring detailed woodwork, ceilings and lower walled marble paneling. In 1985, the building was added to the National Register of Historical Places. The repair cost evaluation in July 2015, prompted the US Postal Service to announce their intention to demolish the building. A subsequent concerted public outcry resulted in the authority modifying their decision and offering the building for sale. The stipulation that the structure be restored to its original architectural integrity has become problematic. Napa is destined to lose their main post office but potentially gain a commercial development. The book photographs another Corlett designed building, the Alexandria Hotel that sustained significant damage during the quake. Privately owned, restoration work began immediately and was completed in 2016. An additional 30+ photos document the stages of repair and five additional Corlett structures in Napa. Despite the severity of the structural destruction, Corlett’s legacy remains intact.