Russ Dodge
Administrator, Photographer, and Biographer.
Russ was born in 1969 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, raised in southern New Jersey, lived in northern New Jersey (he considers himself a New Jersey Philadelphian with duel citizenship), and now has returned to the South Jersey-Philly area. His love of grave hunting and grave photography grew out of his passion for American History (a subject he will teach once he grows up and stops screwing around). History to him is more than abstract names and dates in a colorless text book. It is thoughts, ideas, efforts and experiences of people - real, living breathing people who pass on and become intangible words in a book. Visiting and photographing their graves, where their physical remains rest, does two things for him. One, it allows him to honor them and, for at least a brief period of time, for them to be remembered by someone. He believes too many of past Figures have been forgotten, and have passed into obscurity. Two, it helps him with the realization that this Famous person from History was as alive as himself. Both of these have a profound effect on him that in some ways he can't describe to others. His two primary photography subjects are Civil War figures (especially Union and Confederate Generals) and Major League Baseball figures. These represent two of his passions. He knows that many people see his hobby as morbid, and it unnerves them sometimes. However, if asked, he likes to tell them it's his way of traveling back in time. As Benjamin Franklin once said "Show me your cemeteries, and I will tell you what kind of people you have."
Favorite Graves: Favorite cemeteries are Laurel Hill in Philadelphia, Arlington National Cemetery, The West Point Academy Cemetery and Green-Wood in Brooklyn.
Favorite Books: Right now they are "Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power" by Max Boot, "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown, any one of Harry Pfanz's three "Gettysburg" books, any Harry Turtledove alternate history work, any of the historically brilliant works by Stephan Sears, Edward Longacre, William C. Davis, Brian Pohanka, and Edward Bearss, and works/novels by Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, Isaac Asimov, Orson Scott Card, Alan Steele, Harlan Ellison, James Tiptree Jr, Lucius Shepard and John Norman.
Favorite Movies: Blade Runner, Rollerball (the original), Soylent Green, Highlander, Gettysburg, Glory, Saving Private Ryan, and Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure ("Bill.. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K...")
Hobbies: His hobbies are finding graves, reading, dilaletical coversations, eating Frosted Mini-Wheats, honing his extraordinary ability to quote Bugs Bunny Cartoons from memory, and ruling a small South American country as its benevolent dictator, with the title of "El Presidente for Life" ("My people.. They Love Me!"). He also spends a lot of time in the shadowy underworld of the International Spork Black Market. He is presently single and available for Bar Mitvahs, Smokers and Saturday Night Bingo.
Email: russ@findagrave.com