Dave Pokorney was also filming my poem at the Vets for Peace Concert. Here's his video, from Vimeo. Diane Delange is the incredible ASL interpreter next to me. Thank you Diane.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Bill Massie's American House 08
Bill Massie, head of Architecture at Cranbrook, has designed and built a beautifully lyrical, modern, pre-fab home called the American House 08.
Above is a photo from the Cranbrook website, of the house during assembly.
In its finished state, walls undulate and light glows from porous segments. Texture, material and form interplay. The roof dips down becoming a seat (the truest extension of A Pattern Language's suggestion that part of a roof be reachable from human height).
The American House 08 was installed on the lawn of the Cranbrook Art Museum, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, this summer during an exhibition at the museum, on Massie's work.
When I was a student at Cranbrook, Bill Massie gave a lecture on his work and discussed the intricacy of the development of his designs. His process is unique in that he owns a warehouse in Pontiac, Michigan (a formerly thriving auto manufacturing town that now has seen better days, like most of Michigan) in which he is able to assemble his designs in pieces and walk through them, spending significant time in them as he goes along. This allows the flexibility of experiencing the space in 1:1 scale, and making changes, as you create it; a smart and necessary idea to me.
An article with great photos of the finished American house 08 is featured in the current issue of Dwell magazine.
The Cranbrook Architecture Department is a fifteen person crew of some great, creative architecture heads; there's a lot of interesting experimentation and materials research going on there. Bill Massie, as the department's Artist-In-Residence (department head), certainly leads this effort well.
Above is a photo from the Cranbrook website, of the house during assembly.
In its finished state, walls undulate and light glows from porous segments. Texture, material and form interplay. The roof dips down becoming a seat (the truest extension of A Pattern Language's suggestion that part of a roof be reachable from human height).
The American House 08 was installed on the lawn of the Cranbrook Art Museum, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, this summer during an exhibition at the museum, on Massie's work.
When I was a student at Cranbrook, Bill Massie gave a lecture on his work and discussed the intricacy of the development of his designs. His process is unique in that he owns a warehouse in Pontiac, Michigan (a formerly thriving auto manufacturing town that now has seen better days, like most of Michigan) in which he is able to assemble his designs in pieces and walk through them, spending significant time in them as he goes along. This allows the flexibility of experiencing the space in 1:1 scale, and making changes, as you create it; a smart and necessary idea to me.
An article with great photos of the finished American house 08 is featured in the current issue of Dwell magazine.
The Cranbrook Architecture Department is a fifteen person crew of some great, creative architecture heads; there's a lot of interesting experimentation and materials research going on there. Bill Massie, as the department's Artist-In-Residence (department head), certainly leads this effort well.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Above the Streetlights
My most recent poem, with mention of Austin at the beginning, performed at a Veteran's for Peace benefit concert in Gainesville, Florida.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Joshua Allen Harris Street Art Piece
This street art piece by Joshua Allen Harris makes me nostalgic for New York. I only feel that way because I miss casual encounters with intelligent art. Notice the folks on the street who just happen to be walking by and get to have their day marked by stumbling upon these inflatable pieces on the street.
It would be interesting to create a similar thing in Austin, based on Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake. Perhaps the flow of the water could push kinetic sculptures, or the sun could heat up air inside an inflatable causing it to expand and contract.
The Graffiti Abatement Program here is very quick to paint over all the graf art and street art murals that get painted up around town, but street art pieces that are three -dimensional would perhaps be more enduring.
It would be interesting to create a similar thing in Austin, based on Town Lake/Lady Bird Lake. Perhaps the flow of the water could push kinetic sculptures, or the sun could heat up air inside an inflatable causing it to expand and contract.
The Graffiti Abatement Program here is very quick to paint over all the graf art and street art murals that get painted up around town, but street art pieces that are three -dimensional would perhaps be more enduring.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thank goodness for the internet and the oddness it cherishes.
On Halloween a girl took a picture of me and said "before you know it, you'll be an internet meme." I'm not one yet but there seem to be a million other internet fashion beings out there rocking memes.
The profusion of internet sites documenting out-there (and yet mainstream) contemporary fashion is real. Lookbook.nu is a compendium of photos of outfits submitted by stylists and clothing nerds from around the world. It's an invite-only site, but one can also apply to be part of the site. The invite/apply part is an interesting creation that I'm sure has generated some cravings amongst folks wanting exclusivity. In general though, there are some amazing and interesting things going on on Lookbook, especially for these amped-experimental-fashion starved Austin eyes.
Connected to LookBook, I found HEL LOOKS, a similar website though all the photos are taken by one person. On HEL LOOKS I found the coolest 11 year old fashionista of the world. Note that she says her hat is from a rock festival in China. She is either a very old soul or has some super cool parents. Perhaps she is the combined mixture of the reincarnated souls of Mama Cass, Janis Joplin and Gianni Versace. With self-awareness around fashion like this, how could she not be?
Friday, November 28, 2008
Dark Friday: Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death
It's been time to re-think our brand of capitalism for a while, but this story is pretty pure evidence of our need to enhance empathy for others and tone down competitive consumerism.
New York Times Article: Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death by Customers
You may think that situation sounds absurd and you would never be a part of something so crazed, but really how often are we passive parts of this same system that creates behavior like the aforementioned? Let us stand up for something better in each small situation in which money and materials take precedence over cooperation and compassion so that larger, more obvious examples, like a Wal-Mart stampede, never occur.
A local example of this can be found at Blue Hanger (the Goodwill outlet on Springdale) when the employees are re-filling the bins and people wait like eager lions ready to elbow each other out of the way once they're allowed to start grabbing items. Just watch, and feel what it feels like instead to be a serene presence amongst that mayhem. See how it affects others and see how the feeling of competition even affects you when you're there. We are all connected! Let's start acknowledging it with our behavior!
New York Times Article: Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death by Customers
You may think that situation sounds absurd and you would never be a part of something so crazed, but really how often are we passive parts of this same system that creates behavior like the aforementioned? Let us stand up for something better in each small situation in which money and materials take precedence over cooperation and compassion so that larger, more obvious examples, like a Wal-Mart stampede, never occur.
A local example of this can be found at Blue Hanger (the Goodwill outlet on Springdale) when the employees are re-filling the bins and people wait like eager lions ready to elbow each other out of the way once they're allowed to start grabbing items. Just watch, and feel what it feels like instead to be a serene presence amongst that mayhem. See how it affects others and see how the feeling of competition even affects you when you're there. We are all connected! Let's start acknowledging it with our behavior!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Dance People!!
I love Gloria Estefan for her fearless hottie-bear-ness in this video.
Why is she so contemporary stylie in this white silken jacket and jumpsuit?
Sadly I can't embed it. But here's the link:
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Transgender Day of Remembrance, Austin
November 20th was TENT's (Transgender Education Network of Texas) Austin vigil at City Hall for International Transgender Day of Remembrance. Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day in honor of the lives of people who were killed because they did not conform to traditional gender norms. Some of those killed identified as transgender, transsexual, or none of the above, some dated someone who identified as something other than the traditional gender binary and were killed for doing so.
Each attendant was given a glow stick instead of a typical vigil candle. This proved to be a very sentimental symbol, as my sweetie and I still have our glow sticks sitting in our room and their glow fades a little more each day.
TENT's vigil honored those who were murdered for their radical gender identities by having twenty-nine empty chairs on the stage, one for each person murdered for their gender identity in 2008. At the very end of the vigil, one of the organizers read the full 2008 TDOR Names List, and as each name was read, someone from the crowd came up and sat in one of the seats. Live, human bodies, transgender, transexual, beautiful beings in varying expressions of gender, emerged from the crowd to populate the chairs. They then sat in silence and we all soaked in the reality of these killings.
There is still no legislation banning hate crimes based on gender identity. Some states still do not have legislation protecting transgender people from job discrimination. As a sidenote, Vermont, is the only state in America that has never had an anti-transgender murder occur in it.
Each attendant was given a glow stick instead of a typical vigil candle. This proved to be a very sentimental symbol, as my sweetie and I still have our glow sticks sitting in our room and their glow fades a little more each day.
TENT's vigil honored those who were murdered for their radical gender identities by having twenty-nine empty chairs on the stage, one for each person murdered for their gender identity in 2008. At the very end of the vigil, one of the organizers read the full 2008 TDOR Names List, and as each name was read, someone from the crowd came up and sat in one of the seats. Live, human bodies, transgender, transexual, beautiful beings in varying expressions of gender, emerged from the crowd to populate the chairs. They then sat in silence and we all soaked in the reality of these killings.
There is still no legislation banning hate crimes based on gender identity. Some states still do not have legislation protecting transgender people from job discrimination. As a sidenote, Vermont, is the only state in America that has never had an anti-transgender murder occur in it.
East Austin Studio Tour Recommendations
Of the art I saw yesterday on the East Austin Studio Tour, I was most impressed with the work of Yale MFA grad and San Marcos, TX-dweller, Annie Simpson. She's a guest in the studios on Bolm Road this weekend.
The work Annie is showing at the Bolm studios is all maritime, figurative, and extremely well-made. The video above, from her website, is a great introduction to what you'll see. Annie Simpson's work at the Bolm studios includes intricate pencil drawings of ships, oil paintings of ship captain-esque hot lezzies, and large black and white oil paintings of waves. All the work is oceanic in some form except a patterned pink and green canvas that Annie threw in for fun. Her mastery of the craft of painting is abundantly evident and I highly recommend going to see her work.
Other highlights of the tour include:
-Basically all the Big Medium artists, (on Bolm Rd) with the biggestmedium nod to Joseph Philips' paintings/drawings of remaining wilderness being hemmed in and propped up by plywood in the emptiness of white voids.
-Emily Hoyt and Debra Broz (with an emphasis on her revised porcelain figurines actually), both at the Pump Project Art Complex.
-Most of the work at the MASS gallery on Springdale, with a huge special emphasis on a collaborative piece by Anthony Romero and another artist involving hair, orange flowers and a contact paper covered box that seemed to reference a speaker box. It was a fucking gem of greatness. That's my review.
-Co-Lab_A New Media Project Space, had a fun, collaborative piece going on if you want to get to make some art in the midst of looking at so much.
As a sidenote, this google map of E.A.S.T. is just so good looking.
Out to see more today.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Adrienne Brabham is nice and different.
Adrienne Brabham, an Austinite living outside Detroit and attending Cranbrook Academy of Art, has just started Nice is Different, a blog for her work. Her etsy store already features small items of her work for purchase: felt pins, drawings and fabric-art wall-pieces, etc.
Now, her larger, Cranbrook, studio work is up for view. She's only posted one piece so far, but it's worth investigating further. A conglomeration of small drawings on paper and fabric, the wall worth of installation is a beautiful representation of Adrienne's unique aesthetic rubric. Soak it up with your eyes!
Adrienne's sweetie, Scott, is the lead singer of the local indie dance band the Black and White Years. The band has a show coming up at Emo's on December 11th. Go see them and dance. The B&WY go on at the Independent Workforce Christmas Party that night at 8:20 pm.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Beyonce as Sasha Fierce
Here's my version of a VICE Do & Don't:
DON'T- Beyonce as "Sasha Fierce," her alter ego who is "wild" and out there with French writings on her myspace page and a robot hand as the profile picture, oh my! It was myspace hype for maybe ten minutes as her marketing team of hundreds tried to get people to care....
How did no one, on the long line of thousands who were part of this marketing effort, see "fierce" for what it is: a co-opt from Christian Siriano, who ripped it off from Tyra Banks, who probably sniped the gay cliche off one of her photographers...? How did no one vet that and find something actually interesting and original?
And what's more:
Beyonce is a good being,
but the corporate heads who thought this shit up are ignorant balls of capitalism at its most lackluster.
This is consumerism actually begetting something so un-art it hurts art just to look at it.
DON'T- Beyonce as "Sasha Fierce," her alter ego who is "wild" and out there with French writings on her myspace page and a robot hand as the profile picture, oh my! It was myspace hype for maybe ten minutes as her marketing team of hundreds tried to get people to care....
How did no one, on the long line of thousands who were part of this marketing effort, see "fierce" for what it is: a co-opt from Christian Siriano, who ripped it off from Tyra Banks, who probably sniped the gay cliche off one of her photographers...? How did no one vet that and find something actually interesting and original?
And what's more:
Beyonce is a good being,
but the corporate heads who thought this shit up are ignorant balls of capitalism at its most lackluster.
This is consumerism actually begetting something so un-art it hurts art just to look at it.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Photos of the Proposition 8 Protest in Austin
My photos of the Proposition 8 protest in Austin at City Hall. To see them at a higher resolution, click on "link" which will take you to the photo hosted on my flickr page.
For more photos see the Austinist's post.
Organizers said there were about 3,000 people in attendance. It was a big and nicely varied crowd. Kate X Messer, of the Chronicle's Gay Place spoke at the very beginning but I missed it.
I arrived as a ten year-old boy was speaking. That was my favorite part of the protest. He had lesbian moms and talked about how he wanted his moms to be able to be married. He spoke on the definition of a "normal" family in the U.S.: a married dad and mom, with kids. He said that if that's "normal" then only 23% of families in the U.S. are normal and all the other types of families: kids raised by grandparents, single moms, single dads, gay dads, lesbian moms, transgender parents, must all be queer! Which means, the majority of families in the U.S. are queer, just like his family! Precious. He made a great point.
There were activists in attendance passing out flyers to get domestic partner benefits at the University of Texas at Austin, and young artists selling t-shirts they had silkscreened that morning that said "Texas Queers" on them. A remarkable number of dogs were present at the protest (see the photo above of matching lesbo chihuahuas in a stroller) and lots of really cool little kids who have great parents (see photo of baby in slideshow above). The baby's mother told me this was the baby's first protest of many to come.
At the official end of the march, some younger homos, likely UT kids, led the crowd off down the street in a march along Guadalupe, over on 4th by the gay bars and then up Congress to stop at the Capitol building for a bit before heading back. Lots of great chants happened and traffic certainly enjoyed the show. As we passed Rain on 4th, (incidentally it is owned by a straight man but he's an incredible gay ally and supporter of Project Transitions) and as we passed Oil Can Harry's, the doormen of both places thanked us for marching and cheered for us.
For more photos see the Austinist's post.
Organizers said there were about 3,000 people in attendance. It was a big and nicely varied crowd. Kate X Messer, of the Chronicle's Gay Place spoke at the very beginning but I missed it.
I arrived as a ten year-old boy was speaking. That was my favorite part of the protest. He had lesbian moms and talked about how he wanted his moms to be able to be married. He spoke on the definition of a "normal" family in the U.S.: a married dad and mom, with kids. He said that if that's "normal" then only 23% of families in the U.S. are normal and all the other types of families: kids raised by grandparents, single moms, single dads, gay dads, lesbian moms, transgender parents, must all be queer! Which means, the majority of families in the U.S. are queer, just like his family! Precious. He made a great point.
There were activists in attendance passing out flyers to get domestic partner benefits at the University of Texas at Austin, and young artists selling t-shirts they had silkscreened that morning that said "Texas Queers" on them. A remarkable number of dogs were present at the protest (see the photo above of matching lesbo chihuahuas in a stroller) and lots of really cool little kids who have great parents (see photo of baby in slideshow above). The baby's mother told me this was the baby's first protest of many to come.
At the official end of the march, some younger homos, likely UT kids, led the crowd off down the street in a march along Guadalupe, over on 4th by the gay bars and then up Congress to stop at the Capitol building for a bit before heading back. Lots of great chants happened and traffic certainly enjoyed the show. As we passed Rain on 4th, (incidentally it is owned by a straight man but he's an incredible gay ally and supporter of Project Transitions) and as we passed Oil Can Harry's, the doormen of both places thanked us for marching and cheered for us.
Austin Proposition 8 Protest
The protests are occurring nationwide at the same time. 1:30 PM EST all the way to 8:30 AM in Hawaii. To find the protest nearest you, to upload photo or video of the protests or get more information go to: JointheImpact.
Check back here later today for my photos and documenta of the Austin event.
Check back here later today for my photos and documenta of the Austin event.
In Austin the protest will be at City Hall:
301 W 2nd St
Austin TX
301 W 2nd St
Austin TX
To see more of Lydia Marcus's work, see her blog, Fotonomous.
Protests against Proposition 8 Today
Today in Austin, at City Hall, at 12:30 PM there will be a rally and protest against the passing of Proposition 8 in California (and Proposition 2 in Florida, Proposition 102 in Arizona, and a measure in Arkansas banning gays and lesbians from adopting).
I'll be there, with a dance mix cd in hand and Sasha is bringing a boombox so we can at least have some fun while we make our dissent known. I think it's going to be an enormous rally, some of my volunteers from work e-mailed me and I never thought they'd be going. Good. It should be big. It's insane that human beings would be denied rights.
If you want to have a good laugh—and I really encourage you not to take seriously the profoundly ignorant viewpoints expressed—read the comments on the LA Times article about Proposition 8 protests. We need more education in this country. We need conscious, intentional evolution. We need cultural competency trainings. We need to evolve past viewpoints like the ones expressed in those comments.
I'll be there, with a dance mix cd in hand and Sasha is bringing a boombox so we can at least have some fun while we make our dissent known. I think it's going to be an enormous rally, some of my volunteers from work e-mailed me and I never thought they'd be going. Good. It should be big. It's insane that human beings would be denied rights.
If you want to have a good laugh—and I really encourage you not to take seriously the profoundly ignorant viewpoints expressed—read the comments on the LA Times article about Proposition 8 protests. We need more education in this country. We need conscious, intentional evolution. We need cultural competency trainings. We need to evolve past viewpoints like the ones expressed in those comments.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
PandaToes Music Blog
A reminder: There's a Dartmouth kid named Greg who has a pretty extensive, established and cogent music blog called PandaToes. You should check it out. From his site you can download most of the songs he mentions and I think he might even be from Austin. Enough reasons, go look at it.
Keith Olberman on Proposition 8
A compelling expression of thought by MSNBC's Keith Olberman on California's recently passed Proposition 8:
Renewal Where Once Was Rust
This is a late re-post and a worthy one; the green revitalization of the American manufacture industry needs to be discussed and furthered at all possible junctures. When I lived outside of Detroit last fall it was apparent the cars there were dying breeds, weighty American dinosaurs. An innovative, ecologically-efficient vision was needed. That vision could save the auto economy and thousands of jobs. I'm grateful the bigger wigs finally got the idea as well. Here's to sustainable invention permeating our society, moving us all forward with its lift.
Link to the November 1st, 2008 New York Times article "A Splash of Green for the Rust Belt."
Link to the November 1st, 2008 New York Times article "A Splash of Green for the Rust Belt."
Janelle Monae's "Many Moons"
There are aspects of Janelle Monae's Metropolis referencing, android-creation with which I am in love. Too, there is a part of me that experiences the marketing budget she has more than the actual message she is providing. I appreciate it and feel it but wish it came less from the pockets of P. Diddy and more from her own straight-ally, nimble, talented hands.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Fun Fun Fun Fest
Not an Obama post!
This weekend was the third annual Fun Fun Fun Fest, put on by Transmission Entertainment, at Waterloo Park in Austin.
Fun Fun Fun Fun Fun Fest had many moments of goodness and question marks and badness but here are EIGHT:
-Tim Fite's hi-quality, med-fi, transmedia, beautiful little show!
-The dust! Kicked up in round grey clouds, swirling into nostrils.
-The misogyny of Kool Keith as Dr. Octagon ("girrl, let me touch you there, I want to feel you!")(and then boys in the crowd thinking it was okay to then touch the girls they were with). The truth that he's also very talented, just needs to examine his gender and sexuality views.
-The National being so polished and tight I felt like I was sleeping inside a cold piano. I loved it when I was able to be awake for it. The horns, the piano, all. The men in the band are precious and clearly utterly musically skillful though almost too tight (in all ways) for their own good.
-A surprise band: St. Vincent. I didn't know I liked her work. I walked in at the beginning of her set and was drawn in like a moth. She's from Dallas originally and was a musical gem and also clearly a little nutbar. She reminded me of my friend Jordana who's poppa dated Hillary Clinton back in the day—hot and gently off the handle. (The video that links to is just a catchy song, really her stage presence was the slightly off the handle part)(though maybe she's just a goddamn good performer).
-Writing poems on the ground while sitting on the "bad trip" sidewalk at the back of the Minus the Bear show.
-Biking to and from the festival with Jason, our bikes covered in lights. I had seven on. Feeling swift, safe and human. Biking around the capitol building at night, all heft and pink granite, rough and elegant.
-The kindly, OLD-souled five year-old on the halfpipe with a mohawk who, while waiting for his turn for the halfpipe (among fifteen adults), would use his skateboard as a guitar, thrashing it around to the sounds from the nearby punk stage.
-Okay, there's a ninth. Why were there no queer bands that I could find? If it was radical dykes rapping "girl let me touch you there, I want to feel you," at least it would explore the meaning of that phrasing more.
This weekend was the third annual Fun Fun Fun Fest, put on by Transmission Entertainment, at Waterloo Park in Austin.
Fun Fun Fun Fun Fun Fest had many moments of goodness and question marks and badness but here are EIGHT:
-Tim Fite's hi-quality, med-fi, transmedia, beautiful little show!
-The dust! Kicked up in round grey clouds, swirling into nostrils.
-The misogyny of Kool Keith as Dr. Octagon ("girrl, let me touch you there, I want to feel you!")(and then boys in the crowd thinking it was okay to then touch the girls they were with). The truth that he's also very talented, just needs to examine his gender and sexuality views.
-The National being so polished and tight I felt like I was sleeping inside a cold piano. I loved it when I was able to be awake for it. The horns, the piano, all. The men in the band are precious and clearly utterly musically skillful though almost too tight (in all ways) for their own good.
-A surprise band: St. Vincent. I didn't know I liked her work. I walked in at the beginning of her set and was drawn in like a moth. She's from Dallas originally and was a musical gem and also clearly a little nutbar. She reminded me of my friend Jordana who's poppa dated Hillary Clinton back in the day—hot and gently off the handle. (The video that links to is just a catchy song, really her stage presence was the slightly off the handle part)(though maybe she's just a goddamn good performer).
-Writing poems on the ground while sitting on the "bad trip" sidewalk at the back of the Minus the Bear show.
-Biking to and from the festival with Jason, our bikes covered in lights. I had seven on. Feeling swift, safe and human. Biking around the capitol building at night, all heft and pink granite, rough and elegant.
-The kindly, OLD-souled five year-old on the halfpipe with a mohawk who, while waiting for his turn for the halfpipe (among fifteen adults), would use his skateboard as a guitar, thrashing it around to the sounds from the nearby punk stage.
-Okay, there's a ninth. Why were there no queer bands that I could find? If it was radical dykes rapping "girl let me touch you there, I want to feel you," at least it would explore the meaning of that phrasing more.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Where are the TV Lezzies?
Grey's Anatomy is firing their one "outed" lesbian now, and the L Word begins its final season this year. Where am I going to get to watch people like me on TV?
Friday, November 7, 2008
Maya Angelou Writing a Poem about Obama
There's an associated press article out today about Maya Angelou beginning to write a poem about Obama. On election night, I wrote one too. I couldn't help but write; I had to keep myself from vaporizing into thrill beams.
The whole night, once the networks were seriously projecting that Obama had won, my cells spun dizzy like thimbles on their edges, dimpled with light. I watched, and was part of, a takeover of the streets in downtown Austin (I'll post a piece I wrote about it soon). We danced, we chanted "Si se puede!" and "Yes we did!" We stopped traffic. I hugged random people. Random people hugged me. Instead of New Year's it was New Era. The world change was booming down upon us and we had created it.
It was the ultimate in feeling one's ability to change the world. If you re-watch Obama's last speech of the campaign, posted here under the heading: "Virginia, let's go change the world," you'll see again the eloquent emotion-journey Barack takes his audience on. He moves from the microcosm to the macro in speaking about one person's ability to change the world (it's very near the end of the speech).
It was this feeling that I could feel on Tuesday night as we chanted in the streets. We all felt part of this victory. We had ownership over the outcome. Most of us had gone beyond just voting: some had driven others to the polls, some had called voters to get them to the polls, some had worked for the campaign for months. But most importantly, because Barack's intention was to empower citizens to feel like change was possible, that empowerment had taken root and threaded through our beings affecting all that we do.
We had changed. The molecules in our bodies had shifted and brightened up with energy. We felt our own power through the mass collective power that had worked together from all parts of the country to get Obama elected. We were all churning towards a common goal of changing the United States and thus the world.
As Obama said in his acceptance speech on Tuesday night:
"This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other."
I think that's the heart of this change, working together to elevate the collective. And so we begin...
The whole night, once the networks were seriously projecting that Obama had won, my cells spun dizzy like thimbles on their edges, dimpled with light. I watched, and was part of, a takeover of the streets in downtown Austin (I'll post a piece I wrote about it soon). We danced, we chanted "Si se puede!" and "Yes we did!" We stopped traffic. I hugged random people. Random people hugged me. Instead of New Year's it was New Era. The world change was booming down upon us and we had created it.
It was the ultimate in feeling one's ability to change the world. If you re-watch Obama's last speech of the campaign, posted here under the heading: "Virginia, let's go change the world," you'll see again the eloquent emotion-journey Barack takes his audience on. He moves from the microcosm to the macro in speaking about one person's ability to change the world (it's very near the end of the speech).
It was this feeling that I could feel on Tuesday night as we chanted in the streets. We all felt part of this victory. We had ownership over the outcome. Most of us had gone beyond just voting: some had driven others to the polls, some had called voters to get them to the polls, some had worked for the campaign for months. But most importantly, because Barack's intention was to empower citizens to feel like change was possible, that empowerment had taken root and threaded through our beings affecting all that we do.
We had changed. The molecules in our bodies had shifted and brightened up with energy. We felt our own power through the mass collective power that had worked together from all parts of the country to get Obama elected. We were all churning towards a common goal of changing the United States and thus the world.
As Obama said in his acceptance speech on Tuesday night:
"This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other."
I think that's the heart of this change, working together to elevate the collective. And so we begin...
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
More tears
From The New Republic
Dreams From My Father by Stephen Rodrick
"Why, as the son of a Navy pilot, I couldn't bring myself to choose a candidate until today."
Dreams From My Father by Stephen Rodrick
"Why, as the son of a Navy pilot, I couldn't bring myself to choose a candidate until today."
Virginia, Let's go change the world.
I actually didn't think anything else could get me crying, but then, of course, hearing the man himself, makes the tears of inspiration come again. The last speech of the campaign:
It's been a long time coming. But I know...
Today has felt momentous. Beyond words. I work with a lump lodged in my chest. I talk with co-workers, friends, loved ones, strangers, about race in such unearthing ways as we've never spoken before. That is what this election is doing. It is opening a portal for us all to evolve, to end racism, to see privilege for what it is, to grow together.
I connect to all I love through phone and e-mail, call Democratic voters in Florida to tell them where their polling locations are, and read everything I can online. Tomorrow we will know. All these months of excitement and work, will coalesce into tonight's results.
This snippet from Dartmouth, my alma mater, punched me in the chest. (In a good way).
I connect to all I love through phone and e-mail, call Democratic voters in Florida to tell them where their polling locations are, and read everything I can online. Tomorrow we will know. All these months of excitement and work, will coalesce into tonight's results.
This snippet from Dartmouth, my alma mater, punched me in the chest. (In a good way).
The View From Your Election: Dartmouth College
A reader writes:
Those who are wondering if the youth will turn out ought to see what I saw this morning.
One well-known government professor here told me that she has never seen so many students vote in the first hour of voting as she saw this morning. And I've never seen so many students up and alert at this hour. They're normally stumbling out of bed to make it to their 10 a.m. courses. Today, the campus has been buzzing for hours this morning. It appears that many of them decided to go to the polls as groups of twos, threes, fours and more when the polls opened at 7 a.m. The number of students I saw by 8 a.m. walking around with "I voted" stickers on is astonishing.
At breakfast, I sat next to a table of four black students, all of whom had voted. The three men were wearing ties. I asked them why. The answer: It was their first election, and they wanted to mark the occasion.
First Time Voter
The View From Your Election: DC
A reader writes:
At 3 p.m. on Election Day, the Foundry Methodist Church voting station in Dupont Circle was doing light but brisk business. As I signed my name to receive my ballot, one of the poll workers loudly asked another to ring the small bell on their table. "Everyone please listen up for a moment," he boomed while holding on to an old black woman standing perhaps 5'2" with a huge grin. "This is our special voter of the day. She's 95 years old and this is her first time voting."
As everyone in the room took her in and the thundering applause echoed through the old church basement, her glinting eyes quickly teared up and she somehow managed an even bigger smile.
The quote above is from Andrew Sullivan's blog, The Daily Dish. People are writing in with their voting experiences from the day.
Visualize President Obama
From: http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gsxkmk
(I'm doing this now. This had Anna Sian and I teary-eyed).
Please join us on November 4th and invest ten minutes to one hour visualizing President Elect Barack Obama on inaugural day and being sworn in with Michelle by his side. See the flags flying, hear the crowd cheering! BE in the feeling of joy and celebration of such a triumphant moment.
During the primaries, this event had almost 1200 people signed up from more than 18 countries.
Now it's time to reconvene and use the power of prayer, mediation, focused intent and emotional visualization to bring this thing home.
Please sign up and tell us where you will be during your visualization time. Our last event had people from all over the US as well as from these countries: Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Jamaica, Kuwait, United Kingdom, Japan, South Africa, Nigeria, France, Finland, Costa Rica, St. Lucia/St. Kitts, Zambia, Sudan
Remember to let yourself see the inauguration in great detail. Imagine the weather, the motorcade, the world-wide attention, the crowds, the beautiful Obama family on the stage, etc. Allow yourself to FEEL the excitement you know will be reverberating through billions of people around the world. THIS IS OUR MOMENT! THIS IS OUR TIME!
I suggest we do this in two steps:
1. Before you go to bed on November 3rd spend from 10 minutes to 1 hour focused on the inauguration. Push aside any doubts about election day or whether the race will be called any particular time.
2. As soon as you awake on November 4th, before you even get out of bed, just allow the images of the inauguration to flow across the screen of your mind, almost like a dream. Maybe you even imagine the inaugural ball and Michelle and Barack dancing.
Throughout the day, you can return to this image. If you are doing GOTV like me, working the polls, serving as a lawyer to protect voting rights, or simply waiting in lines for AS LONG AS IT TAKES to vote. Be comforted by this image. FEEL the joy of it in your bones.
Remember to remain unattached to how things unfold on November 4th and focus instead on January 20th, 2009 - the first day of the Obama presidency.
(I'm doing this now. This had Anna Sian and I teary-eyed).
Please join us on November 4th and invest ten minutes to one hour visualizing President Elect Barack Obama on inaugural day and being sworn in with Michelle by his side. See the flags flying, hear the crowd cheering! BE in the feeling of joy and celebration of such a triumphant moment.
During the primaries, this event had almost 1200 people signed up from more than 18 countries.
Now it's time to reconvene and use the power of prayer, mediation, focused intent and emotional visualization to bring this thing home.
Please sign up and tell us where you will be during your visualization time. Our last event had people from all over the US as well as from these countries: Netherlands, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Sweden, Germany, Jamaica, Kuwait, United Kingdom, Japan, South Africa, Nigeria, France, Finland, Costa Rica, St. Lucia/St. Kitts, Zambia, Sudan
Remember to let yourself see the inauguration in great detail. Imagine the weather, the motorcade, the world-wide attention, the crowds, the beautiful Obama family on the stage, etc. Allow yourself to FEEL the excitement you know will be reverberating through billions of people around the world. THIS IS OUR MOMENT! THIS IS OUR TIME!
I suggest we do this in two steps:
1. Before you go to bed on November 3rd spend from 10 minutes to 1 hour focused on the inauguration. Push aside any doubts about election day or whether the race will be called any particular time.
2. As soon as you awake on November 4th, before you even get out of bed, just allow the images of the inauguration to flow across the screen of your mind, almost like a dream. Maybe you even imagine the inaugural ball and Michelle and Barack dancing.
Throughout the day, you can return to this image. If you are doing GOTV like me, working the polls, serving as a lawyer to protect voting rights, or simply waiting in lines for AS LONG AS IT TAKES to vote. Be comforted by this image. FEEL the joy of it in your bones.
Remember to remain unattached to how things unfold on November 4th and focus instead on January 20th, 2009 - the first day of the Obama presidency.
New York Times Word Train Graphic
The New York Times website has an amazing visual representation of the mood of the country right now. You can type in the word that best describes how you're feeling and it'll go into the data. The most frequent words are the biggest at the top and you can re-describe your feeling each hour. The words are even divided by McCain and Obama supporters so you can get a pulse on how each camp is feeling.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/04/us/politics/20081104_ELECTION_WORDTRAIN.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Russian boys singing to Sarah Palin
I don't fully buy that these boys are in Russia, looks like part of Brooklyn in the background to me, but who cares? This video is catchy.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Gay Thoughts, Race Thoughts
Something about living in Texas makes me get teary-eyed when I see beautiful, solid, media representation of gays (see example below). Austin is safe for gays as a whole and celebratory in some ways too, though there are always weird incidents that happen. Sometimes the incidents are far worse than just weird; there have been a few recent bus-beating incidents in Austin that definitely made me think about my safety as a lesbian.
I will say that Austin is a largely happy and progressive town, but there is a lot of general ignorance here about race, sexuality, and gender identity. The ignorance is remarkably high and un-checked compared to my experience in New York/ New England. I can only attribute it to the relative isolation of this enormous state holding down the center of our country far from the big cities of both coasts.
I was talking to my friend Amber about this last night: We all, from whatever racial background we are, need to be doing as much intentional anti-racism work, and pro-inclusion work around sexual and gender identities as we can. Let us allow each other the space to be honest and challenge each other for the parts of the collective, societal racism that we carry. It is all the unchecked bits and pieces of institutional racism we allow to survive in us that keep the collective racism alive. It is all the little unchecked pieces of racism, in even the most tolerant among us, that allow people to still be uncertain a bi-racial man could lead our country.
Now for what got me teary-eyed. I just watched the preview for a new film coming out November 21st, "I Can't Think Straight." The film is transnational writer Shamim Sarif's directorial debut and is a romantic comedy in which the lead protagonists are both women of color. More on it from the film's website:
[In] “I Can’t Think Straight”...the cultural backdrop forms an intelligent base for [the protagonists'] journey towards self-awareness and each other.
Tala, a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian origin, prepares for an elaborate wedding with her Jordanian fiancé, when she encounters a timid Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend Ali.
I Can't Think Straight opens in New York and Los Angeles Nov. 21. For more on the movie visit its official website.
I will say that Austin is a largely happy and progressive town, but there is a lot of general ignorance here about race, sexuality, and gender identity. The ignorance is remarkably high and un-checked compared to my experience in New York/ New England. I can only attribute it to the relative isolation of this enormous state holding down the center of our country far from the big cities of both coasts.
I was talking to my friend Amber about this last night: We all, from whatever racial background we are, need to be doing as much intentional anti-racism work, and pro-inclusion work around sexual and gender identities as we can. Let us allow each other the space to be honest and challenge each other for the parts of the collective, societal racism that we carry. It is all the unchecked bits and pieces of institutional racism we allow to survive in us that keep the collective racism alive. It is all the little unchecked pieces of racism, in even the most tolerant among us, that allow people to still be uncertain a bi-racial man could lead our country.
Now for what got me teary-eyed. I just watched the preview for a new film coming out November 21st, "I Can't Think Straight." The film is transnational writer Shamim Sarif's directorial debut and is a romantic comedy in which the lead protagonists are both women of color. More on it from the film's website:
[In] “I Can’t Think Straight”...the cultural backdrop forms an intelligent base for [the protagonists'] journey towards self-awareness and each other.
Tala, a London-based Jordanian of Palestinian origin, prepares for an elaborate wedding with her Jordanian fiancé, when she encounters a timid Leyla, a young British Indian woman who is dating her best friend Ali.
I Can't Think Straight opens in New York and Los Angeles Nov. 21. For more on the movie visit its official website.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Living City
Tomorrow night (Saturday, Nov. 1st) at Club de Ville, the non-profit I work for, Project Transitions, is hosting the first annual Living City benefit show.
Project Transitions provides compassionate, supportive hospice and housing to people living with HIV/AIDS in Austin.
The Black and White Years are headlining the event, with Corto Maltese, Amy Cook and Zest of Yore playing earlier in the night.
Project Transitions provides compassionate, supportive hospice and housing to people living with HIV/AIDS in Austin.
The Black and White Years are headlining the event, with Corto Maltese, Amy Cook and Zest of Yore playing earlier in the night.
Doors at 8! Zest of Yore at 9.
Raffle for $3 to win:
FIRST PRIZE
Raffle for $3 to win:
FIRST PRIZE
Dinner for 2 & t-shirt from Home Slice Pizza
SECOND PRIZE
$25 Gift Card to Whole Foods
Charles Alexander meets Barack Obama
The Austinist's photo essay right now is a beautiful documentation of a meeting between Charles Alexander, an 86 year-old Boulder, Colorado resident and Barack Obama. Charles Alexander volunteers for the Obama campaign and entered a raffle at the local field office. Then, never having won anything in his life, we won the opportunity to meet Barack Obama.
Charles Alexander has had a long and remarkable life: He was born in East Texas and lived through the Great Depression, and military service in two wars. Charles has volunteered on political campaigns for forty years of his life. This year, Mr. Alexander's wife of 69 years passed away. Patrick Dentler, the writer for the Austinist, says this:
Charles Alexander has had a long and remarkable life: He was born in East Texas and lived through the Great Depression, and military service in two wars. Charles has volunteered on political campaigns for forty years of his life. This year, Mr. Alexander's wife of 69 years passed away. Patrick Dentler, the writer for the Austinist, says this:
Charles entered the volunteer raffle contest to meet Barack Obama at the Boulder field office where he works--and won. He was able to shake hands, engage and even show off a picture of his wife with the man who might very well be the first black president of The United States...Charles, a man who cast his first ballot for FDR, just voted early for Barack Obama.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Together with you
The Avatar Professional Course just finished in Orlando, Florida on October 17th. (I’m just now getting to post this). Twelve hundred people from thirty countries came together for one week to learn how to connect to others across many types of borders, how to help others, how to work more efficiently and powerfully, and ultimately to contribute to the creation of an enlightened planetary civilization.
The borders we connected across went beyond countries and languages, to personalities, beliefs and behaviors. We connected as beings, present with each other lovingly. And, everyone was there because they wanted to make the world a better place. Everyone wanted to help others feel better, feel happier, feel more powerful and in control of their own lives. The beauty of that earnest goal, and the fact that 1200 people from all over the world wanted to make the world better (rather than hurt each other, fight, complain, suffer or kill) had me smiling, laughing and crying often.
One of my favorite aspects of the course was the young people there. There were harajuku kids from Japan, techno kids from Israel, former farmers and surfers from New Zealand, girls in kimonos, young monks, German kids with modified mullets, Irish girls in patterned tights and dresses, and American kids in t-shirts. All of us wearing our different national costumes and personality costumes, putting on and playing with different identities. At our cores, it became apparent, all of us humans are limitless beings. We are limitless beings enjoying the playtime of taking off and trying on different viewpoints, life experiences, and goals. In this we have simultaneous individuality and unity.
Over 70,000 people from around the world have gone through the basic Avatar training, over 12,000 have taken the Avatar Masters teacher training course. Avatar’s largest goal is to catalyze the integration of belief systems, to create world peace. “Once we realize that the only thing that separates us is beliefs, and beliefs can be created and dis-created with ease, the right and wrong game will cease, and world peace will ensue.”
I feel forever changed by the experience of looking into the faces of so many people from all over the world, whom I didn’t even know, and connecting with them with ease, smiling and sharing love. There is a lot to be learned there. And, I would add, now that I’ve been back at work for two weeks, there’s a lot we do as humans to keep other people from really knowing us. We do a lot of protecting, avoiding realness and pretending. Let’s change this! Let's begin now.
The borders we connected across went beyond countries and languages, to personalities, beliefs and behaviors. We connected as beings, present with each other lovingly. And, everyone was there because they wanted to make the world a better place. Everyone wanted to help others feel better, feel happier, feel more powerful and in control of their own lives. The beauty of that earnest goal, and the fact that 1200 people from all over the world wanted to make the world better (rather than hurt each other, fight, complain, suffer or kill) had me smiling, laughing and crying often.
One of my favorite aspects of the course was the young people there. There were harajuku kids from Japan, techno kids from Israel, former farmers and surfers from New Zealand, girls in kimonos, young monks, German kids with modified mullets, Irish girls in patterned tights and dresses, and American kids in t-shirts. All of us wearing our different national costumes and personality costumes, putting on and playing with different identities. At our cores, it became apparent, all of us humans are limitless beings. We are limitless beings enjoying the playtime of taking off and trying on different viewpoints, life experiences, and goals. In this we have simultaneous individuality and unity.
Over 70,000 people from around the world have gone through the basic Avatar training, over 12,000 have taken the Avatar Masters teacher training course. Avatar’s largest goal is to catalyze the integration of belief systems, to create world peace. “Once we realize that the only thing that separates us is beliefs, and beliefs can be created and dis-created with ease, the right and wrong game will cease, and world peace will ensue.”
I feel forever changed by the experience of looking into the faces of so many people from all over the world, whom I didn’t even know, and connecting with them with ease, smiling and sharing love. There is a lot to be learned there. And, I would add, now that I’ve been back at work for two weeks, there’s a lot we do as humans to keep other people from really knowing us. We do a lot of protecting, avoiding realness and pretending. Let’s change this! Let's begin now.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Vote No on CA Prop 8 and FL Prop 2
Florida is currently voting on Proposition 2, an amendment to the constitution that would define marriage as between a man and a woman and deny marriage rights to same-sex couples. California has similar legislation, Proposition 8. The cast of Ugly Betty stepped up to register their dissent about Proposition 8 in this video:
And here, in English as well:
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Soil Lamp
Dutch Design Week is this week in Eindhoven, Netherlands. One design in particular stood out to me as a genius creation and a gratifying reminder of the need for intelligent creativity in contemporary times. The Soil Lamp, designed by Marieke Staps, runs on mud.
From the designer:
Support this designer! The implications of this lamp are great. One can imagine a whole household full of lights running solely on energy created by microorganisms, and even larger appliances running on compost, running on decomposition, passively working for us and for the environment. The lamp is a lovely design as well. The aesthetics of this lamp on their own would be ample to encourage me to buy it, but knowing what it does, makes me want to seek it out across the ocean and get one. The lamp is not yet available for sale, and seems to be still in a prototype stage. The direction Marieke Staps is headed is a great one, and clearly ripe with opportunities.
Mocoloco has more coverage of the work at Dutch Design Week.Saturday, October 11, 2008
Artists & Intuitive, Collective Simulacra
In the past couple of months, I have discovered versions of things I have made, especially things I made at Cranbrook, popping up on the internet made by the hands of others. There's a sense that certain memes run through our culture in undercurrents and it is we, the artists, the simultaneous creators and dissectors of culture, who tap into them. In some cases, the end artistic products appear identical, as though we were exposed to each others work and replicated it without thought. However, in many of these same cases (my Migration project and the design image below for example), art works were made in the seclusion of a studio, as insertions into culture, not replications of things we artists had already seen. This further emphasizes my thought that we're all inadvertantly, intuitively creating collective simulacra.
Examples follow. Below the images, I've reposted the Wiki definition of simulacrum, especially in relation to philosophy because I find that to be the most textured definition.
First, we have my Migration project and Taschide's veneer wall stickers from left to right. Below that, we have another part of my Migration project, a little video Tim made.:
Next we have a piece I made last fall. I made a few pieces in this series and they were all investigations of patterning through wall drawings and drapings of chain on the wall. Here's one example from me and then Sarah Cihat's porcelain with Michael Miller's chainwork around it rocking the same design meme:
To be continued....
Simulacrum in philosophy
The simulacrum has long been of interest to philosophers. In his Sophist, Plato speaks of two kinds of image-making. The first is a faithful reproduction, attempted to copy precisely the original. The second is distorted intentionally in order to make the copy appear correct to viewers. He gives an example of Greek statuary, which was crafted larger on top than bottom so that viewers from the ground would see it correctly. If they could view it in scale, they would realize it was malformed. This example from visual arts serves as a metaphor for philosophical arts and the tendency of some philosophers to distort truth in such a way that it appeared accurate unless viewed from the proper angle.[6] Nietzsche addresses the concept of simulacrum in The Twilight of the Idols, suggesting that most philosophers, by ignoring the reliable input of their senses and resorting to the constructs of language and reason, arrive at a distorted copy of reality.[7] Modern French social theorist Jean Baudrillard argues that a simulacrum is not a copy of the real, but becomes truth in its own right: the hyperreal. Where Plato saw two steps of reproduction — faithful and intentionally distorted (simulacrum) — Baudrillard sees four: (1) basic reflection of reality, (2) perversion of reality; (3) pretence of reality (where there is no model); and (4) simulacrum, which “bears no relation to any reality whatever.” Baudrillard uses the concept of god as an example of simulacrum.[8] In Baudrillard’s concept, like Nietzsche’s, simulacra are perceived as negative, but another modern philosopher who addressed the topic, Gilles Deleuze, takes a different view, seeing simulacra as the avenue by which accepted ideals or “privileged position” could be “challenged and overturned.”[9] Deleuze defines simulacra as "those systems in which different relates to different by means of difference itself. What is essential is that we find in these systems no prior identity, no internal resemblance."[10]
Friday, October 10, 2008
Vote for Fear
Below, a repost of a great article Julia Whitty wrote for Mother Jones Magazine online. I find this relevant because the primary difference between McCain/Palin supporters and Obama /Biden supporters right now seems to be fear. It is fear of "the other," fear of gays, fear of Muslims, fear of the Middle East, and so on that fuels the McCain/Palin devotees. While Obama/Biden inspire and encourage hope. Read on.
Vote Your Fears
People who react strongly to bumps in the night, spiders, or the sight of a victims are more likely to support more defense spending, more government resources for fighting terrorism, and tighter immigration controls. This according to a new study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln published in the current issue of Science.
The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and tested 46 people who identified themselves as having strong political opinions. The subjects were shown threatening visual images—pictures of a spider on a person's eyeball, a dazed person with a bloody face, an open wound with maggots in it. The subjects' skin was monitored for electrical conductivity—an indicator of emotion, arousal, and attention. As a separate physiological measure, the subjects were surprised by a sudden, jarring noise, while measurements were taken of their blink reflex.
Those with the strongest eye or skin reactions to unexpected noises or threatening pictures tended to endorse political positions emphasizing protecting society over preserving individual privacy. These people were found to be more willing to sacrifice their privacy in return for what they perceived as government protection. Conversely, the subjects who reacted less strongly were more likely to favor policies that protect privacy and encourage gun control. . . It's all in the biology. Even for disbelievers of biology.
Julia Whitty is Mother Jones' environmental correspondent, lecturer, and 2008 winner of the Kiriyama Prize and the John Burroughs Medal Award.
The Village Petstore and Charcoal Grill
Banksy, the UK-based artist and street artist, has an installation in New York right now in a storefront in Greenwich Village.
It'll be open to the public daily through Oct. 31.
The NY Times describes it as following:
It'll be open to the public daily through Oct. 31.
The NY Times describes it as following:
“Open for Pet Supplies/Rare Breeds/Mechanically retrieved meat” says a sign in front of the shop. Bales of hay dot the sidewalk, along with a kiddie dolphin ride, wrapped in a fishing net like the day’s catch. But it is the leopard in one of the storefront windows that stops passers-by first. “Is that — real?” a woman asked on Wednesday, peering at a large furry object perched on a tree branch, its tail swinging.
It’s not: it is an ingeniously arranged fake fur coat. The robot monkey is more lifelike: it sits, breathing, in a cage inside the store, wearing headphones, holding a remote and watching a television clip of some fellow monkeys in an amorous moment.
A rabbit wearing a pearl necklace files her nails in a window; the coop in the next one has chicken nuggets with legs, busily dipping themselves in sauce.
More videos of the installation available on the Village Petstore and Charcoal Grill website.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Vote for Hope
This video was made by MC Yogi as a pro-Obama message. An excerpt of MC Yogi's bio is below the video.
MC YOGI (aka Nicholas Giacomini) grew up in Northern California, painting graffiti and listening to hip hop.
Inspired by artists like the Beastie Boys and Run DMC, he began writing and performing his own raps for friends at house parties. He spent most of his high school years at a group home for at-risk youth, and Hip hop culture provided both a soundtrack and a creative outlet during those turbulent teenage years. Then at age 18 he discovered yoga.
On a whim, he joined his father for a yoga and meditation intensive with a famous spiritual teacher from India. Deeply moved by this powerful experience, MC YOGI devoted himself to learning everything he could about the ancient discipline. He began studying the physical forms of yoga, as well as meditation, philosophy, and devotional chanting.
By combining his knowledge of yoga with his love for hip hop music, MC YOGI creates an exciting new sound that brings the wisdom of yoga to a whole new generation of modern mystics and urban yogis.
Inspired by artists like the Beastie Boys and Run DMC, he began writing and performing his own raps for friends at house parties. He spent most of his high school years at a group home for at-risk youth, and Hip hop culture provided both a soundtrack and a creative outlet during those turbulent teenage years. Then at age 18 he discovered yoga.
On a whim, he joined his father for a yoga and meditation intensive with a famous spiritual teacher from India. Deeply moved by this powerful experience, MC YOGI devoted himself to learning everything he could about the ancient discipline. He began studying the physical forms of yoga, as well as meditation, philosophy, and devotional chanting.
By combining his knowledge of yoga with his love for hip hop music, MC YOGI creates an exciting new sound that brings the wisdom of yoga to a whole new generation of modern mystics and urban yogis.
Palin Flow Chart
I'm only posting this because I love flowcharts. Also, it does resonate with some truth.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Wow.
from the Austinist's daily photo.Ha ha ha ha ha! Brilliant. Good one friend.
Sidenote: We need better schools.
Sidenote: We need better schools.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
String Theory and Planetary Evolution
Some very out of this world thoughts.
Professor Kaku's book sounds magnetic.
REGISTER & VOTE
REGISTER in Texas by October 6th
(next Monday)
& VOTE on November 4th.
for more info:
www.VOTEXAS.org(next Monday)
& VOTE on November 4th.
for more info:
You can also pick up an application at the post office,
or go to VOTEFORCHANGE.com
From BarackObama.com:
In less than a week, voter registration will have ended in over two dozen states. The deadline to register in Mississippi is this Friday. The deadline to register to vote in Nevada, Utah, Washington, Rhode Island and South Carolina is Sunday.
Monday, October 6th is the deadline to register in 17 additional states. (Including Texas).
No matter where you live, if you have three minutes to spare, you can check your registration status, register to vote, request an absentee ballot, and find your early voting site or polling location at VoteForChange.com.
In 2004, George Bush won Nevada by less than 2.5% of voters, New Mexico by less than 1% of voters, and Colorado by less than 100,000 votes. In Ohio, Bush won by just over 100,000 votes -- less than 10 votes per precinct.
This time, we can't leave anything to chance.
This is your choice: three minutes spent registering to vote -- or four years spent wishing that you had.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
A Brief Visual History of Recent Political Art
Abraham Obama, by Ron English
I've seen a handful of blogs lately that are dedicated solely to documenting all the art being made about, and for, Barack Obama. I see it as a bright sign that the cultural creators of our society finally feel positively inspired enough by a political candidate to devote their minds, hands and hours to make art about it. I, like many other young artists, have made my fair share of anti-Bush art; it's grand to see pro-Obama art.
Let's use Shepard Fairey, of OBEY fame, as an example. Fairey is donating all proceeds from sales of his Obama art to the campaign ($400,000 last I heard). And from his same hand, we have this:
To now these:
Both pieces are successful and compelling. The new work though, has something else, optimism. Not images of bombs, HOPE. Not red and black and talk of global supremacy, bright blues and kind uplifted eyes. Not critique and criticism, inspiration. Obama inspires positivity. Obama's message of unity transcends. And we, the artists, are clearly lifted. The stigma on optimism incinerates.
As a sidenote, if you aren't familiar with him, Shepard Fairey is a severely adept street artist. He's most known for his work as OBEY. The pieces he put up for the last hurrah of the famed street art/graffiti hub 11 Spring St. in the fall of 2007 were visually rich blends of pattern and portrait. Most of the art from 11 Spring was incredible. Here's The Gothamist's great story on it. Below, one of Fairey's pieces from 11 Spring:
After years of seeing anti-Bush visual art and hearing anti-Bush slam and performance poetry, I feel thoroughly refreshed to see creatives using their skill to inspire. Fairey's was the first big design for Obama. Then many artists followed suit. For example, the Abraham Obama at the top of this post, one of many designs commissioned by Upper Playground (see one by Burlesque Design of North America below). Countless more Obama art is displayed on The Obama Art Report. In this way, Fairey has been an art leader, just as Obama has incited a sea change in political dialogue and, I would argue, a transcendance in our way of thinking.
I'm all for hope. I'm all for energetically creating what we want, rather than constantly resisting what we don't.
The anti-Bush art served its purpose. It allowed us to speak our frustrations, to release our profound sense of collective disenfranchisement. The Bush era was a dark period in our nation's history. During it, our collective evolution was stunted in many ways. Our ability to speak up through non-normative communication channels was not. We found the alternative avenues in which to speak, from blogs to street protests to art shows. Now as we get to leave behind that dark Bush era and step forward into the glow, we carry with us our new ability to speak.
We carry with us our art, our words, our inspiration. We are all now, empowered agents of change.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
