Eric Thayer / Reuters

An art installation called "Salvation Mountain" is seen in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 15. A former military base that was closed after World War II, Slab City is a place on the fringe both geographically and philosophically and attracts a variety of people, including jobless and financially struggling recession refugees who can no longer pay for food and housing.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

Rob Walker kisses Dayna Lambert as Walker's son Andy walks toward their campsite in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 16. Walker said he retired and bought a motor home, and has mixed Slab City into his traveling destinations.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

An art installation is seen in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 15.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

A man shaves in a hot spring in Slab City on Feb. 16.

Reuters photographer Eric Thayer recently spent some time with the fringe community living off-the-grid in Slab City. The former military base located in southern California was closed after World War II, and is on the fringe both geographically and philosophically. It attracts a variety of people, including jobless and financially struggling recession refugees who can no longer pay for food and housing. There is no water, no electricity, the landscape is dotted with expensive rv's, beat-up trailers, tents and art installations.

This is a place people go to get away from society, to escape, to go into self-proclaimed exile from the mainstream, into a society of travelers, hippies, snowbirds, artists, outcasts, the down on their luck, the slightly unhinged and the downright crazy.

On Reuters' Photographers Blog, Eric Thayer describes:

Along the road Salvation Mountain rises up, a hill that was covered in what looks like concrete, in its shadow a small society goes on. A checkpoint, most likely from the military base that this place once was, is painted with a welcome message to Slab City, named after the slabs of concrete leftover from its days as a military base that served as foundations for the buildings.

I drive past newer looking recreational vehicles, along dirt roads, some camps have signs, addresses, or are decorated, while others are unmarked. Painted signs mark roads like Edge, The Low Road, among others, stopping at a colorfully painted trailer on the northern edge.

For a place that people go to get away from society, the people of the Slabs still have a need to stick together, there is still a sense of belonging here, even in a place for those few who don’t really belong anywhere. The Slabs welcome just about everyone; whether or not they stay is based on their own ability to endure the elements and the primitive living conditions out in the desert.

Read Thayer's complete post.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

Timothy, Zack and Casey Spyder are seen in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 17.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

Jack "Two Horses" stands at his campfire in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 15.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

People eat lunch in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 16.

Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com

Masanori Sato, 34, looks at the empty land where his village used to be in Minamisanriku, Japan on Feb 4, 2012, near his half destroyed house. The 2011 tsunami swept away 34 houses in the village. Only three survived including Sato's house.

Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com

The remains of the town hall stands in Minamisanriku, Japan on Feb 5, 2012. The March 11, 2011 tsunami swept away the entire town, killing over 800 including 20 who were in the building at the time it struck.

Kuni Takahashi

Masanori Sato plays a guitar in his debri-filled-house in MInamisanriku, Japan on March 31, 2011 following a massive earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan on March 11.

Kuni Takahashi reports:

Masanori Sato, 34, is the son of a Shinto priest from the village of Minamisanriku in Japan's Miyagi Prefecture. He has been thinking about the future of his community in the Nagashizu district since the tsunami on March 11, 2011 swept away 34 houses there -- leaving only his family’s house and two others standing.

“At first I didn’t have a clue where to start, but I slowly began to see things clearly after moving out of the evacuation center into temporary housing," Sato said recently. "I felt myself settling down a bit. I want to put our village together again. The land has changed but the people are not all gone. We are talking about reviving our community just like it used to be – including both good things and bad things.”

People from all over the country came to the disaster-hit area to help last year --providing food, medical services, cleaning up, etc. The townspeople were impressed by the volunteers' selfless attitude and Sato said they made enormous contributions during the first stage of the recovery. Though the number of volunteers had dwindled, there are still a few helping with the reconstruction and supporting seniors in temporary housing.

Now the focus has shifted to long-term recovery. Sato and his neighbors are hoping that the government will allow them to rebuild their community on a nearby hill because Nagashizu is situated too low for rebuilding now. His family is still living in temporary housing about 2 miles away while they continue the renovations needed to make their house livable again. Even if the government approves the new site on the hill, they expect it to be three to five years before the community can resettle on new land.

But Sato is willing to wait.

“Being a tsunami survivor changed my way of thinking. I guess I learned from it. I realized how important the community is to help each other. I was too selfish before.”

• More from Kuni Takahashi on the survivors of the 2011 tsunami in Japan.
• Slideshow: Then and Now -  the 2011 Japan tsunami in pictures

Kuni Takahashi, a photojournalist based in Mumbai, returned to his native Japan in 2011 shortly after the earthquake and tsunami. He recently revisited some of the people he met there— as well as some of the people that msnbc.com profiled in its After the Wave series -- to find out how they were doing nearly a year after the devastating natural disaster.

Joe Raedle / Getty Images, Toby Talbot / AP, David Maxwell / EPA

Super Tuesday voting. From left:
A polling station setup in Froehlich's Classic Corner, Ohio.
A voter casts his ballot in Montpelier, Vt.
Justin Blake prepares to vote at the town hall in Rootstown, Ohio.

Here's the skinny on Super Tuesday courtesy of msnbc.com's First Read:

Eleven states across the country will hold contests awarding a combined 424 delegates. Here are the 11 contests, plus the delegates at stake in each: Alaska caucus (24), Georgia primary (76), Idaho caucus (32), Massachusetts primary (38), North Dakota caucus (28), Ohio primary (63), Oklahoma primary (40), Tennessee primary (55), Vermont primary (17), Virginia primary (46), and Wyoming caucus (5 of its 26 are elected tonight).

The GOP presidential candidates have different strategies and strongholds in these 11 races. Romney hopes to lock down his home state of Massachusetts, Vermont, Virginia (where only he and Paul are on the ballot), and Idaho. Santorum is expecting wins in Oklahoma and Tennessee. Gingrich has focused on his home state of Georgia. And Paul has concentrated on the caucuses in Alaska, Idaho, and North Dakota, as well as the primary in Vermont.

 Download the NBC News Guide to Super Tuesday (opens PDF).

John Amis / AP

Mary Lou Andrews stops to fill out a voter certification card as others go in to Medlock Bridge Elementary School to cast their ballots in the Republican primary in Johns Creek, Ga., on March 6, 2012.

Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

LA Nightlight's Thomas Taylor (2nd right) runs to head a goal as Philadelphia Killawatts' team members chase him with stun guns during an Ultimate Tak Ball (UTB) game in Bangkok on March 2, 2012.

Reuters reports — The rules are simple: throw a ball into the goal to score a point. But what makes this game unlike any other is that all the players are armed and ready with stun guns.

It's Ultimate Tak Ball, the brainchild of a few hardcore sports fanatics who say it is the sport of the future.

Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

Philadelphia Killawatts' players select their stun guns before the game.

Each game consists of three periods that last for 7 minutes each, with two teams of four players each. Any player in possession of the 24-inch medicine ball is open to unlimited shocking by the players on the opposite team.

The stun guns pack 3 to 5 milliamps of electricity, which is only about 10 percent of the power of the taser stun guns used by police. Fired on contact with an opponent, the guns produce a twitching feeling, according to players.

"It never gets better, you just get less afraid of the stun," a smiling Damien Ryan, 24, said during a break in a match in Bangkok. "But it's one of the best feelings ever." Read the full story.

Navesh Chitrakar / Reuters

Any player in possession of the ball is open to unlimited shocking by the players on the opposite team.

Manish Swarup / AP

Samajwadi Party supporters, faces smeared with colored powder, celebrate election success by burning firecrackers at their party office in New Delhi, India, on March 6, 2012.

Reuters reports from New Delhi — India's Rahul Gandhi failed spectacularly to deliver a promised comeback for his Congress party in crucial state elections, casting fresh doubt on his capacity to become the next member of a storied dynasty to lead the country.

The Congress party flop in India's most politically vital state was also a blow to the already-tottering government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, reducing his scope to re-launch reforms and reverse a slowdown in economic growth.

"It has been a disaster for the Congress, it's an even bigger disaster for Rahul Gandhi and the Gandhi family," political analyst Amulya Ganguli said as results came in from Uttar Pradesh and four smaller states that went to the polls.

• Indian election officials order cover-up of statues ahead of poll

With the count nearing its conclusion on Tuesday, the Congress party was trailing in fourth place in the big northern state of Uttar Pradesh, which with 200 million people would be the world's fifth-most populous country if independent.

Sajjad Hussain / AFP - Getty Images

Congress party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi (in white) comes out from his residence to address the media in New Delhi on March 6, 2012.

"I accept responsibility for the fact that we did not perform well. After all, I was the main campaigner ... the Congress party fought well, but the result is not good," the 41-year-old Gandhi said.

• Previously on PhotoBlog: Rahul Gandhi, India's 'leader in waiting', meets his people

There was also mostly disappointing news for Congress from other states that went to the polls over the past month. It was heading for a loss in Punjab, Goa and possibly Uttarakhand too, but was set to win in the far-flung border state of Manipur. Read the full story.

Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP

Samajwadi Party supporters celebrate in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on March 6, 2012. Their victory means former wrestler Mulayam Singh Yadav will become chief minister for a fourth term since 1989, ousting the flamboyant lower-caste leader Mayawati.

Mohammad Ismail / Reuters

A graffiti piece by Shamsia Hassani and Qasem Foushanji on a wall in Kabul, March 5, 2012.

Reuters reports from Kabul — Encased in a head-to-toe burqa, the image depicts a distraught woman slumped on a cement stairwell, the work of Afghanistan's first street artists who use graffiti to chronicle violence and oppression.

The female-male duo surreptitiously spray-paint the crumbling and dilapidated walls of buildings in the capital city, abandoned and destroyed during 30 years of war that still rages today.

Talking of her woman on the steps, Shamsia Hassani, 24, said: "She is wondering if she can get up, or if she will fall down. Women in Afghanistan need to be careful with every step they take."

Omar Sobhani / Reuters, file

Shamsia Hassani signs one of her works in Kabul on Dec. 19, 2010. A group of women in burqas rises from the sea to symbolise cleanliness, while further down the factory wall a bus with no wheels and crammed with passengers is a stark comment on war-torn Kabul's appalling public transport.

The somber depictions of Afghan women on Kabul's rutted streets offer rare public insight into their lives, still marred by violence and injustice despite progress in women's rights since the Taliban was toppled over a decade ago.

In an abandoned textile factory, Hassani spray-painted a wall with six willowy figures in sky-blue burqas, who rise out of the ground like ghosts.

"In three decades of war, women have had to carry the greatest burdens on their shoulders," Hassani, who also works in the faculty of fine arts at Kabul University, told Reuters. Read the full story.

Daniel Munoz / Reuters

Parts of North Wagga are submerged in floodwaters in Wagga Wagga, Australia on March 6, 2012.

Lukas Coch / EPA

Volunteers load sandbags onto a truck at the State Emergency Services headquarters in Wagga Wagga on March 6, 2012.

Dannielle Upfield / Wagga Wagga City Council via EPA

Floodwaters on the Sturt Highway in Flowerdale near Wagga Wagga on March 6.

msnbc.com staff and news services report — Floods across eastern Australia forced more than 13,000 people to evacuate their homes on Tuesday after record-high summer rains drenched three states over the past week, swelling rivers and forcing dams to overflow.

In the worst-hit state of New South Wales, authorities ordered 8,000 people to leave their homes in the inland city of Wagga Wagga, where flood waters were expected to breach an 11-meter levee and swamp houses and the main business district.

Thousands of people in Wagga Wagga moved to shelter at local schools, while the center of the town, home to around 60,000 people, was deserted on Tuesday. Continue reading.

Lukas Coch / EPA

Volunteers fill sandbags at the State Emergency Services headquarters in Wagga Wagga on March 6, 2012.

Daniel Munoz / Reuters

A rescue team navigates in a flooded road in Wagga Wagga on March 6, 2012.

Efrem Lukatsky / AP

A man displays a two-headed turtle 'Testudo horsfieldi' at National Museum of natural history in Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, March 5, 2012. Besides the two heads the reptile has six legs.

Related content: Animal Tracks

Philippe Huguen / AFP - Getty Images

A snow-covered farm house, on March 5, 2012 in Armentieres, northern France, after heavy snow-falls which disturbed the traffic around Lille.

Related content:

• PhotoBlog posts from Europe's harsh winter
• Slideshow: Winter Wildness

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Johanne Giles, 5, stands in front of the shack she has shared with her family since the earthquake rocked Haiti.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

A man walks past a camp for people displaced by an earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

A man sells drinks in a street market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Garbage litters a canal on March 5, 2012 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Two years after the 7.0 magnitude quake that killed an estimated 316,000 people, much of Haiti is still in a crisis situation with tens of thousands living in tent camps in and around Port-au-Prince. 

Related links:

• Haiti's Martelly wants camps of ex-soldiers cleared

A woman living in a "safe house" for families victimized by sexual assault hands up water from a well on March 5, 2012 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

A young sexual assault victim stands in a home with her family after they were relocated from a camp with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on March 5, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

A growing problem in the tent camps has been sexual victimization of women.  Sexual assaults have risen to epidemic levels in the temporary housing where an estimated 500,000 Haitians who lost their homes in the earthquake still live in crammed conditions.

Currently the UNHCR is helping hundreds of sexual assault victims and their families through safe houses, counseling and income assistance programs that seek to give the woman and their families a new start in life. However, donor money to support these programs is beginning to dry up and Haitians are growing increasingly angry with the slow pace of reconstruction.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP - Getty Images

A couple walks through a labyrinth made with blocks of recycled materials at Parque da Juventude (Youth Park) in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Monday. Brazilian artist Eduardo Srur installed three 300 square meters labyrinths in the city, each of which is made with 30 tons of recycled blocks.

Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP - Getty Images

Detail of the outer wall of a labyrinth by Brazilian artist Eduardo Srur, made of blocks of recycled materials at Parque da Juventude (Youth Park) in Sao Paulo.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Manu Brabo / AP

Libyan men carry coffins of victims, discovered in a mass grave, at a funeral in Benghazi, Libya on Monday. Thousands of mourners gathered Monday in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi to bury 155 bodies unearthed from a mass grave of people were killed during last year's civil war. It was the largest grave yet to be discovered from the conflict that began as a popular uprising and ended with the capture and killing of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi last October.

Manu Brabo / AP

A woman holding a picture of a missing relative cries during a funeral in Benghazi.

Esam Omran Al-Fetori / Reuters

Men pray around the coffins of dead rebel soldiers in Benghazi on Monday. The bodies of around 160 rebel soldiers were found in a mass grave in Bin Jawad, the site of fierce battles during last year's uprising.

Manu Brabo / AP

Libyan men bury bodies, discovered in a mass grave, at a funeral in Benghazi.

Manu Brabo / AP

A Libyan man prays for a relative, one of many discovered in a mass grave, at a funeral in Benghazi.

Esam Omran Al-Fetori / Reuters

A child points at pictures of people killed during last year's uprising.

AP reports that thousands of mourners attended the burial in Benghazi of the bodies found in the mass grave:

Forensic specialists with the government say most appear to have died from gunshot wounds and rocket strikes starting in March. Some were executed, while others were severely disfigured from rocket attacks, they said.

Benghazi resident Maher al-Maghrabi said the body of his 23 year-old brother, who was a rebel fighter, was among those found in the mass grave.

He expressed anger at Libya's new leaders for taking nearly three months to excavate the bodies from the mass grave, which was first discovered in December. The Ministry of Martyrs, Wounded and Missing Persons began digging up the bodies on Friday.

"They knew about this grave, and they should have worked quicker to excavate the bodies," he said. "This is unacceptable."

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Carl De Souza / AFP - Getty Images

Kenyan tribal elders (R) and Samburu tribemen (L) dance in front of a statue of Buddha at the Gallmann nature conservancy near Kinamba, Laikipia, northern Kenya on Sunday. High Priest Shinso Ito and a group of Shinnyo-en priests arrived in Kenya to perform a Buddhist fire and water ceremony for the first time ever in Africa. The ceremony was attended by over 300 spiritual leaders and was streamed live on the internet to millions of viewers and devotees globally. The ceremony involved Kenyan tribal elders and members of the Njemps, Pokot Samburu, Kikuyu and Turkana communites.

Carl De Souza / AFP - Getty Images

Head Priestess Shinso Ito of the Japanese esoteric Buddhist sect, the Shinnyo-en is greeted by Kenyan Pokot tribal women as she arrives at the Gallmann nature conservancy.

Carl De Souza / AFP - Getty Images

A Njemps tribesman blows a horn at the Gallmann nature conservancy.

Carl De Souza / AFP - Getty Images

Japanese Buddhist Shinnyo-en priests light a ceremonial fire at the Gallmann nature conservancy.

Carl De Souza / AFP - Getty Images

Pokot tribeswomen are pictured at the Gallmann nature conservancy.

The interfaith ceremony took place ahead of a conference held by the Global Peace Initiative of Women.

Follow @msnbc_pictures

Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com

Fukuko Hatakeyama, 81, poses at her temporary house in Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan on Feb 6, 2012. The 2011 tsunami swept away her house and all her belongings, including all her cash savings.

Kuni Takahashi reports:

Fukuko Hatakeyama, 81, is living in temporary housing in Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture. The tsunami that hit northern Japan on March 11, 2011 swept away her house and all her belongings, including her cash savings.

 “Since I was sick with cold and my legs were weak, my son told me not to go back to the house but I kept sneaking out (to look for the missing money)," said Hatakeyama, who ended up spending four months in the hospital after injuring her back while sifting through the debris. She never found any of the missing money.

Kuni Takahashi

Fukuko Hatakeyama weeps near the debris of her house in Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan on March 29, 2011, following a massive earthquake and tsunami that hit northern Japan on March 11, sweeping away her house and all her belongings.

The lot where her house once stood is in a zone where the city prohibited rebuilding because of the risk of another tsunami. In many coastal areas, the land sank as much as 3 to 6 feet, making it even more susceptible to flooding. Many residential plots will be converted to public and industrial spaces.

Hatakeyama went to the Kesennuma city office to find out about her land.  “I complained to them that it’s my land and you can’t change it into park," she said. "But they even don’t know what’s happening and how long it’ll take to make a plan.”

Many residents are living in temporary houses built by the government, including Fukuko Hatakeyama and her husband Kojiro Hatakeyama, 83, who had been living in a nursing home prior to the tsunami. The expectation is that they will be allowed to extend their  tenancy beyond the planned two to three years because many will not be able to find new land to build on or new homes to move to. Meanwhile, though they are not paying rent for their temporary home, there has been no compensation or plans for their land and nearly a year later, they are still living in limbo.

 “I don’t know anyone outside of my town," Hatakeyama said. "At this age, where can I go with my sick husband staying in bed?”

 “When I'm sleeping, sometimes I have to sing a song. Otherwise I feel like I'm going crazy. My husband liked to hear me singing but I can’t sing as well as I used to …”

• Read our previous piece on Fukuko Hatakeyama from 2011, shortly after the devastating tsunami.
• More from Kuni Takahashi on the survivors of the 2011 tsunami in Japan.

Kuni Takahashi, a photojournalist based in Mumbai, returned to his native Japan in 2011 shortly after the earthquake and tsunami. He recently revisited some of the people he met there— as well as some of the people that msnbc.com profiled in its After the Wave series -- to find out how they were doing nearly a year after the devastating natural disaster.

Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com

Fukuko Hatakeyama, 81, front, lives with her bedridden husband in a temporary house in Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan.

Kuni Takahashi for msnbc.com

A fishing ship remains on the ground among the foundations of homes in Kesennuma, Miyagi, Japan on Feb 6, 2012. A Massive earthquake and tsunami hit northern Japan on March 11, 2011, sweeping away many coastal towns like this, killing over 15,000 and 3,000 are still missing.

Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP - Getty Images

One of the detained, Other Russia movement activists who tried to hold an unsanctioned protest outside the central election commission, shouts from a police bus in central Moscow, on March 5.

Tatyana Makeyeva / Reuters

Police detain a participant during an opposition protest in Moscow, March 5. Russian police detained at least 100 people during protests calling on Vladimir Putin to resign after a presidential election they say was unfairly skewed in his favor.

Alexander Demianchuk / Reuters

Russian police detain a participant during an opposition rally in St.Petersburg, March 5.

Reuters reports: Police detained at least 50 people at an unsanctioned rally of about 3,000 people in St Petersburg, witnesses said. Police said they had detained 50 in central Moscow but allowed a protest by thousands more people to go ahead nearby.

Previously on PhotoBlog: Moscovites square off following Putin's re-election.

Patrick Fort / AFP - Getty Images

A man sits among the debris left by yesterday's explosion at the Mpila district of Brazzaville, March 5. The Congo issued a plea for international help Monday as soldiers began recovering bodies from an area devastated by huge explosions at a munitions depot that left more than 150 dead and 1,000 injured. President Denis Sassou Nguesso announced a curfew in the capital Brazzaville and set up an exclusion zone around the devastated eastern district of Mpila, following an emergency cabinet meeting in the early hours of the morning.

Guy-gervais Kitina / AFP - Getty Images

Police and residents walk through the debris of the Lycee de la Revolution school near the military barracks in the Mpila district of Brazzaville, March 5.

Patrick Fort / AFP - Getty Images

A calcinated tree stands on March 5 in the middle of homes devastated by a huge explosions at a munitions depot in the Mpila area Brazzaville. The government said an electrical short-circuit likely caused a fire, which triggered a series of blasts so powerful they devastated the surrounding area and blew out windows in Kinshasa, the capital of the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo situated across the Congo river.

When I saw these photos today, they looked a lot like the scenes in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky which were devastated by tornadoes. But this was a man-made disaster and the death toll is significantly higher, with some reporting the death toll as high as 200. Full story. 

Previously on PhotoBlog, the plume of smoke following the explosion.

Denis Sinyakov / Reuters

Opposition supporters gather before a protest demanding fair elections in central Moscow, March 5. International monitors said Russia's presidential election was clearly skewed to favor Vladimir Putin, a verdict that could spur more protesters.

Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters

A Russian police officer stands by a barricade as supporters of Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wave flags during a rally in central Moscow, March 5.

Thousands are gathering in Moscow today following the presidential elections in Russia to show support or protest Vladimir Putin's continued reign. According to the Globe and Mail, some protesters are planning to establish a tent city Monday night similar to those used by Ukrainian protesters during the 2004 Orange Revolution and Egyptian activists on Cairo’s Tahrir Square last year. Such rolling non-stop protests on a central Moscow square – less than a mile from the Kremlin walls – would pose an unprecedented challenge to Mr. Putin’s rule.

Story: 'Serious problems' with vote that kept Vladimir Putin in power, monitors say

Dita Alangkara / AP

Evie, the former nanny of U.S. President Barack Obama, stands at the doorway of her room at a boarding house in a slum in Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 27, 2012. Evie, who was born a man but believes she is really a woman, has endured a lifetime of taunts and beatings because of her identity.

The Associated Press today published an exclusive interview with the transgender former nanny who looked after Barack Obama during his childhood in Indonesia. Evie, who was born a man but believes she is a woman, has fond memories of the young future President, who was known back then as "Barry":

Evie was 8-year-old Barry's caretaker, playing with him and bringing him to and from school.

Neighbors recalled that they often saw Evie leave the house in the evening fully made up and dressed in drag. But she says it's doubtful Barry ever knew.

"He was so young," says Evie. "And I never let him see me wearing women's clothes. But he did see me trying on his mother's lipstick, sometimes. That used to really crack him up."

Evie, who has faced a lifetime of taunts and beatings because of her identity, says that she has now decided it's better to hide her true feelings. Read the full story.

Dita Alangkara / AP

Evie holds a picture of herself, left, dressed as a woman for a pageant.

Ivan Sekretarev / AP

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who claimed victory in Russia's presidential election, tears up as he reacts at a massive rally of his supporters at Manezh square outside the Kremlin on March 4, 2012.

Msnbc.com news services report — His eyes brimming with tears, Vladimir Putin defiantly proclaimed to a sea of supporters that they had triumphed over opponents intent on "destroying Russia's statehood and usurping power."

Putin said the presidential election, which official figures said he had won with more than 63 percent of the vote, had prevented Russia from falling into the hands of enemies. Complaining of widespread fraud, his opponents said they would rally near the Kremlin on Monday night.

Monitors cited "serious problems" with the vote and called for alleged electoral violations in Sunday's election to be thoroughly investigated.

See more images of Vladimir Putin on PhotoBlog.

Maxim Shipenkov / EPA

People look at the screen providing images from a network of surveillance webcams installed at polling stations all over the country at Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) in Moscow on March 4, 2012.