Taken in 1999.

Every August, Seattle celebrates Seafair. This includes visits by U.S. warships and, with the exception of last year, flyovers by the Blue Angels jets. Inevitably, this leads to endless local debates about the value of high-priced spectacles that glorify military prowess and hardware, even as we fail to meet the basic needs of millions of citizens. Supporters of the event adore the spectacle, and truly, it is a spectacle. In 1999, when the event was even bigger, visitors were allowed on the U.S. Carl Vinson aircraft carrier. That is when I snapped this photo of young boys literally groping the nose cone of a navy jet. There is something profoundly male and telling about this. We boys grow up loving and then using these tools of war.  I believe were I that I age, I would be one of the guys reaching up to touch the icon. (Click on the photograph to see a larger picture on a separate picture page.)