Observations on 2011

#STATEOFREVOLUTION: A 2011 Visual Retrospective of Activism in New York – SNEAK PEEK from Rhodes Pictures on Vimeo.

Observations from the Window 12.28

Last Thursday marked the 1 year anniversary of President Obama's signing of the bill ending “Don't ask, don't tell” (DADT) and was also the 3 month anniversary of its official end. The end of DADT didn't bring the collapse of the military or the end of society as predicted. All it seems to have done is make many people extremely happy and freed gay members of the military and their straight friends from the constant fear of discovery or accusation. All this at virtually no cost to anybody and actually saving hundreds of millions of dollars that had been wasted on investigations and prosecutions, waisted on spying on our own troops. The only question remaining is does it even matter anymore? The Rick Perrys of the world be damned, there is no going back to what was in essence legalized prejudice.

As it did with the equal rights for black Americans the military might possibly lead the way for the rest of society. We were told that the open serving of gays would weaken the military, lead to a mass exodus of others, and destroy western civilization. Now the same arguments are used to oppose equal rights for all gays and the lesson learned from the military can't be overlooked. Still if you think the fight will be easier now think of General Colin Powell who was an outspoken opponent to DADT's repeal even though he directly benefited from the courage of earlier leaders.

Between the end of DADT and the legalization of gay marriage in the state of New York 2011 was a historic year. With the coming Presidential election one can argue about what President Obama promised to do and what he has done. That argument should always be made in the context of the Congress he was forced to deal with. Even though there is so much yet to do what has been accomplished shouldn't be forgotten.

If you look through history you will see that generational shifts are rarely easy and this one has just begun. Still, for me, the photo at the beginning of this post says it all. That photo of Petty Officers Gaeta and Snell's kiss was the most popular one online for days after its release with hardly a bad comment to be heard. How could there be?

As Dan Savage remarked, "Wow, just wow. I love me some smart, articulate, photogenic lesbian sailors!"

Don't we all?

Observations from the Road 12.27

Christmas always seems to come and go in a heartbeat. Shopping, stressing, and traveling and than you wakeup on the couch at 1:30 in the morning and realize it's past for another year. I always stress and get a bit depressed this time of year and this year was no different but it was better than it has been. Either I have been keeping so busy I didn't think about or it is true that time heals all things, I just didn't let it get to me this year. At the same time I had this lurking suspicion that after this year Christmas will never going to be the quite the same again. I don't necessarily mean this in a bad way, just the feeling that we as a family have reached one of those moments in time where the dynamics change. My brother with a girl friend, my sister a constantly amazing young woman who is soon to be a political science major, and me with my mind drifting off to other things.

For better or worse I now seem to be more at home in the Village than I ever have. I woke up in the middle of the night Christmas morning and never did get back to sleep. Even though I had nothing special on my mind but I couldn't stop thinking. The only theory I can come up with is that it was just too damn quiet. I love going home and go every chance I get but lately I can't stop wondering what is happening while I am there, maybe a sure sign I need more downtime.

And what was happening? Christmas Eve night about one hundred protesters held a candle light vigil outside the New York Stock Exchange. The hand made candles were a clinched fist with a raised middle finger, the flame rising from the tip. On Christmas day, in celebration of both Christmas and the hundredth day of occupation, OWS planed a potluck supper at the still fenced off Liberty Square. In a totally petty move straight out of Dickens NYPD stopped some from taking trays of cookies and pies into the park. Not to be stopped the Christmas dinner, and for some a communion, was held on the sidewalk outside the barricades.

I found this in a blog, “Just as you don’t need a tree to celebrate Christmas, you don’t need a park to Occupy Wall Street. Merry Christmas, Wall Street. You are still occupied.”

And so it goes.

A belated Merry Christmas to everybody.

The Corrs - Merry Christmas, War is Over

Observations on 2011

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yes Virginia, we are still at war

Sunday morning after 9 years, $800 billion, and 4,474 American lives the last US troops drove out of Iraq and the war came to an end. There is a video that was taken by a drone flying over the last convoy as it drives into Kuwait at dawn. If you watch till the end the camera zooms in as the Kuwaiti border guards close the gate behind the convoy and close a tragic chapter in our history (l). Very few people know who David Emanuel Hickman was, probably fewer still will remember him for long, but he has his place in history. He was the last to die in the senseless war. 

When asked if we had won the war President Obama answered, "I would describe our troops as having succeeded in the mission of giving to the Iraqis their country in a way that gives them a chance for a successful future."

I'll let you decide what that means but before you get too celebratory let we remind you, as Mother Jones tweets each day, we are still at war. With that reminder comes a sad update. Back in July I wrote about a photo of an unknown woman who was one of the first female commandos in the US military and a member of a team of women deployed to Afghanistan (l). I'm not going to repeat what I said than but I was simply proud because, even though I might not agree with what she was doing, there she was proving that a woman can do any so called man's job and do it just as well.

On October 22^nd Army 1^st Lieutenant Ashley White was killed along with two other soldiers in southern Afghanistan by a roadside bomb while serving with this Cultural Support Team. She was 24 years old and is survived by a husband, both parents, a bother, and a twin sister. Lieutenant White was the first member of this special team to be killed.

I don't know if the photo I wrote about is of her, I like to think that it's not, but yes we are still at war and too many people seem to forget that fact.

Observations from Amerika 12.18

Some updates on my post of 12.2....

The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) passed both the House and the Senate this week. Despite earlier promises to the veto the bill President Obama now says he will sign it yet outside certain sectors barely a whimper can be heard. It seems the American people don't know about or more likely simply don't care about the provisions that allow the military to detain US citizens without trial. My cynical side can almost hear them thinking “well as long as it doesn't happen to me.” Supporters of the bill say it no longer requires the military detention of suspected terrorists, but it does allow it. President Obama has said that if the provisions negatively impact the nation he and the authors will work to fix it, don't hold your breath on that one. So what we are left with is the Constitution of the United States turned on its head and the knowledge that everything Adolf Hitler initially did was perfectly legal.

Any vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has been pushed back but probably not for long. An 11 hour committee hearing stalled Thursday after Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) tweeted that Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) was “boring.” Any further discussion was put on hold until next week. Over fifty amendments have been added to the bill by opponents yet Congress still seems dead set on destroying the internet as we know it. One interesting provision would grant immunity to financial companies that choose to boycott suspected pirate sites even if they haven't been told to do so. You might ask why they are singled out but it seems obvious to me, always follow the money. The hacker group Anonymous announced the beginning of Operation Blackout, what it calls its declaration of war on Congress because of SOPA.

This could get very interesting.

Observations from the Edge 12.17

Today is D17, the three month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street, the one year anniversary of the self-immolation of Tunisian vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, and the 24^th birthday of alleged wikileaker Bradley Manning. A strange karmic brew if there ever was one.

The schedule calls for an all day music and arts festival reminiscent of Occupy Broadway beginning at noon in Duarte Square, a mixed public and privately owned lot. Scheduled performers include Lou Reed and there is rumored that Patti Smith is to appear. If the Patti Smith rumor turns out to be true all my shopping plans are out but as of now she doesn't appear on the schedule. What happens after the festival is anybody's guess at this point. 

Trinity Church, now known as Trinity Wall Street, was founded in 1697 and now its Trinity Real Estate arm is the 3rd largest property owner in Manhattan with holdings valued close to $10 billion. It is the single largest land owner in lower Manhattan, even the NYSE sits on land it owns. The members of its vestry include high placed executives currently at or retired from Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, the insurance giant AIG, and the ever present Brookfield Properties. Under the Episcopal governing system this small group, many of whom aren't even church members, have complete control over Trinity's land holdings and thus the decision on whether or not OWS can use Duarte Square. Trinity Church has repeatedly said that they won't allow the occupation.

A forced occupation of Duarte brings with it a potential downside as any reports on event will note that the land is owned by Trinity Church and not the City of New York or evil Brookfield Properties. It is after all a church and a church that has previously supported OWS with free food and meeting places plus allowed the use of its bathrooms and WiFi network.

Many New York clergy members who disagree with Trinity have called on the church to allow OWS use of Duarte and plan on attending today's event. On Thursday they along with protesters erected a nativity scene outside Trinity that featured Joseph, Mary, Jesus, and a tent with a sign that said "there was no room for them at the inn, you have plenty of room Trinity." Over a dozen clergy members have said they will help take down the fence surrounding Trinity's part of the lot and thus risk arrest. Among them will be retired Bishop George Packard, formerly the Episcopal Church's chief chaplain and a decorated Vietnam Veteran, the Occupied Bishop.

"The story of Christmas starts with Mary and Joseph's search for a home," said Reverend Michael Ellick of Judson Church. "It's thus especially ironic, and tragic, that Trinity Church, one of the largest landowners in New York City, refuses even a tiny, unused piece of its vast land to OWS, which points to the same spirit of transformation that Jesus represented. This is truly a theological line in the sand."

Stay tuned.

Observations from the Coffee Shop 12.16

I mentioned yesterday how I don't have much use for the year end best of lists but I do like to look back at the past year. The Google video I posted had me looking at some others and I started to think of what I would pick as the story of the year if anybody cared to know my opinion. To me the Egyptian rebellion and its protests in Tahrir Square are the rather obvious choice. Why wouldn't I pick the Occupy movement? Because I think without Tahrir Square you would have never had Zuccotti Park, the first led directly to the idea for the second. Obviously something was bound to happen in the US sooner or later but I don't think it would have taken the form it did.

The Arab Spring actually began on December 17, 2010 when a street vendor in Tunisia set himself on fire to protest government harassment. This act sparked the Tunisian Revolution which forced President Ben Ali to resign on January 14^th after 23 years of power. That act inspired Egyptian opposition groups to declare January 25^th the 'Day of Revolt' and tens of thousands of protesters flowed into Tahrir Square where they would remain for weeks, sometimes in the hundreds of thousands. President Hasni Mubarak resigned on February 11^th but the military remains in power to this day and protests continue.

As I finished writing this I saw a report that protesters and Egyptian military police met in a series of bloody clashes in Cairo today. The clashes were sparked by a military predawn raid on the protester's camp near Tahrir Square. And so it seems to go all over the world.

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Interview with pro-democracy activist Miral at Tahrir Square Feb 1. 2011 for documentary Zero Silence. Interview by Gert Van Langendonck, camera work by Jonny von Wallström.

"Among other topics, the production will explore the impact of the Internet and non-traditional media such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter and whistle-blowing sites on the Arab world and beyond and to what extent these digital media tools can spur society change."
Zero Silence

Observations from the Window 12.15

It's that time of year again, all the best of lists are coming out now. The best of this, the best of that, the best movies, tunes, reads, and the best new toys. I should clarify, the best new electronic toys. It's really something I could do without but I do have a sentimental side that likes looking back at the past year before moving on to the next. Today I saw this video made by Google that made me think back.
It really has been one hell of a year.

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Zeitgeist is "the spirit of the times" or "the spirit of the age." Zeitgeist is the general cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual or political climate within a nation or even specific groups, along with the general ambiance, morals, sociocultural direction, and mood associated with an era.
Wikipedia

"To compile the 2011 Year-End Zeitgeist, we studied the aggregation of billions of queries people typed into Google search this year. We use data from multiple sources, including Insights for Search and internal data tools. We also filter out spam and repeat queries to build out lists that best reflect the spirit of the times. All of the search queries we studied are anonymous, no personal information was used."
Google Zeitgeist 2011

Observations on Art 12.13

You know I just love time-lapse videos and this one is way cool. It's something about the swirling colors and the scooters weaving through each other but never touching. I'd love to try and do a time-lapse of an NYPD scooter parade, maybe I should pass on that given the current situation.

Rob Whitworth is a freelance photographer who specializes in time-lapse and lives in Hoi An, Vietnam. He graduated from the Norwich School of Art & Design with an honours degree in Graphic Design and currently works for The Guardian and the BBC among others. Unlike normal time-lapse this short film was made by sequencing 10,000 RAW images of Ho Chi Minh City. A camera's RAW image file contains unprocessed data not ready for printing or editing.


Traffic in Frenetic HCMC, Vietnam from Rob Whitworth on Vimeo.

"Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is an amazing up and coming city.
This time lapse is a culmination of 10,000 RAW images and
multiple shoots capturing some of the cities relentless energy
and pace of change.
Everyone who has visited Ho Chi Minh City,
Vietnam knows part of the magic (love it or hate it) is in the traffic.
Ever since I first set foot in HCMC I have been captivated by the
cities energy. Saigon is a city on the move unlike anything I have
experienced before which I wanted to capture and share.
Thanks to everyone who helped with the film and thanks also
to the numerous kind people who allowed me access to some
amazing locations."

Observations from the Edge 12.12

A confusing day when I was supposed to be getting some work done at home, some thoughts.

There was a rather small OWS march in support of the west coast port protests today. It culminated in a comparatively large police reaction at the World Financial Center where, after entering the Winter Garden, protesters were met by a man who said if they didn't leave they would be arrested. The World Financial Center just happens to be owned by Brookfield Properties who also own Zuccotti Park. The police said the man worked for Brookfield but Brookfield had no comment when asked. After the announcement something quite disturbing happened. Police moved in and arrested targeted people first, targeted for live streaming video and carrying cameras, for simply broadcasting or recording the event. Reporters were pushed outside, electronics were confiscated, and dozens of arrests were made. This just weeks after Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly sent a memo to all members of NYPD reminding officers not to interfere with members of the media covering news and warning that members who do so could face disciplinary action. Maybe the financial industry's yearly $5 million in donations to the New York City Police Foundation speaks louder than even commissioner Kelly.

The march began earlier at a freezing cold Zuccotti Park, the wind blowing from both the harbor to the south and the Hudson to the east. Still a few hundred marchers headed off too Goldman Sachs to go squidding. Yes I said squidding, something I didn't quite grasp at first but than I saw a sign with a quote and the sometimes dark light bulb went off in my brain. “The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it's everywhere. The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” Those are the first two lines of an article in the April 5, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone titled “The Great American Bubble Machine.” It was written by Matt Taibbi who also wrote “The People vs. Goldman Sachs” for the May 11, 2011 is of the same magazine. Both are worth reading if you want to try and understand what the hell happened to this country's economy.

In an unrelated matter, over lunch I saw some of President Obama's press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in which he said these were truly times of homecoming. I truly wonder what all the thousands of troops stationed in Afghanistan will think when they hear that line.

Finally one of those you just have to laugh at. During this morning's march came this one, "@PennyRed: Chant from inside van - 'whose tweets? Our tweets!' (people arrested for tweeting)."

12/13 update - Matt Taibbi in his Rolling Stone blog today, "I almost shed tears of pride this morning when I read this hilarious passage in the Daily News: Earlier Monday, about 300 protesters in squid costumes surged outside the offices of Goldman Sachs investment bank shouting, "We fry calamari!" and "Everyone pays their tax – everyone but Goldman, Sachs!" You can read the rest here.

Observations from the Edge, Mockupy

There is an old saying that a fool and her sleep are soon parted, or something along those lines. Thursday night I was at the apartment trying to read but at the same time keeping an eye on some of my twitter lists because after a judge's ruling opened the door it was assumed Occupy Boston would be evicted that night. In the end Occupy Boston wasn't raided, possibly because close to a thousand people descended on Dewey Square in support.* A couple even got married as they awaited the arrest that never came. But to the south, in New York, something truly surreal was about to happen.

“ALERT: Midnite tonight: Fun action in solidarity w @Occupy_Boston! Charge yr phone, dress warm, hang out somewhere downtown, await info!”

That is the tweet that initially got my attention and more facts began to emerge quickly, 140 characters at a time. Producers of the TV series Law & Order had set up a fake Zuccotti Park in Foley Square to film an upcoming episode. At midnight the true occupiers of the real Zuccotti Park were going to descend on the faux Zuccotti Park using the hash tag #Mockupy.

“We have reoccupied.” “We're a revolution not a plot point.” “We can take a joke but fauxcotti is just too soon man.” “Livestreamer to cop: "are these real barricades, or a set piece?” “Chants of "NYPD does not respect law and order!" as cops rush in.”

Just before midnight I had had enough so I grabbed my camera bag and headed out into the frigid night to see what was happening. Even with Boston in the back of my head I couldn't help but laugh as the tweets flew endlessly. I got there just in time to see a very real NYPD preparing to raid a mock camp that was that looked very real down to the functioning, and fully stocked, kitchen and library. There was even mock netting for rounding up fake protesters at the fake Zuccotti in the real Foley Square.

“NYPD Captain saying, "i need to find someone from Law & Order." “Whose fake Zucotti? OUR fake Zucotti.” “Police are holding fake Zuccotti. Someone just yelled "whats are your demands?!" "U guys just cleared a fake Zuccotti Park," I said to Cpt Jaskaran. "We didnt clear a fake Zuccotti," he insistd. "Theyr takng the set down."” “NYPD tells occupiers to leave #Mockupy so crew can remove set. Isnt that the cops' job? After adequate pepper spray, of course.”

Every tweet included or ended with #Mockupy and at 1:07 AM Friday morning I tweeted #Mockupy is trending, and it was, worldwide.

Not long after my phone went to black as I had failed to follow those very important initial instructions.... I didn't charge my damn phone.

*postscript - I wrote most of this Friday at the gallery but never got it finished or posted. After ten weeks Occupy Boston was evicted from Dewey Square in a pre-dawn raid Saturday morning. For a change it was a rather peaceful raid that lasted barely an hour and included 46 arrests for trespassing and disorderly conduct. His Majesty the Mayor Mike Bloomberg and what he calls his 'army' could learn a lesson from this raid.

Observations from the Edge 12.10

I wanted to try out the new twitter's embed option and this seemed like a good one to use. I rarely fav tweets unless I want to save a link for later but this one I rather like.

WE DID THAT!!! “@KcNightfire: #mockupy is trending”

— OWS_Tactical (@OWS_Tactical) December9, 2011

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Observations from the Gallery 12.8

With longer holiday hours at the Gallery I have some time to kill so I've been working on something new. My first crude attempt at translation.

Samedi Matin

Pendant que vous dormez hors de la cognac, petit,

ma main pourrait trouver son chemin de retour à l'endroit

il sait si bien, maintenant. Même avec votre visage

s'est détournée de moi, de dormir dans jusqu'à midi,

vous déplacez à travers moi. 

Après que nous ayons fini de parler, que le cognac, jusqu'à quatre

AM, vous, dans l'obscurité, a joué trois chansons pour

moi pendant que je m'assoupis, si fatiguée que je ne pouvait pas venir

lorsque vous avez essayé pour moi. 

Ainsi vous vous êtes assis sur le plancher

à la guitare, à côté de moi, troubadour,

puis, nu, vous m'avez réveillé pour vous, m'a acheté

vers le bas sur votre bouche, il a acheté le bas et m'a attrapé

dans l'aube grise, dont le rayon de soleil était votre nom

comme le cognac dans ma bouche que je suis venu et est venu.

"Amour, la Mort, et le changement des saisons."

from "Love, Death, and the Changing of the Seasons" by Marilyn Hacker

Observations from the Gallery 12.7 Randomness

Governor Rick Perry, gay or not gay? All the world wonders. Maybe all the world doesn't wonder but rumors do continue to swirl. If you have never seen it this would be a good time to watch Outrage a documentary by Kirby Dick about politicians who push an anti-gay agenda to cover the fact that they themselves are gay. Methinks you doth protest too much.

One of the stranger conversations I've had recently concerned the artistic merit of Resident Evil: Afterlife versus Resident Evil: Extinction. No decision was made but my thinking is Mila Jovovich looks rather stunning in either one so I don't really care. Extinction does have that slow cam shot up the legs in the opening sequence, deff a point in its favor.

In geek news I just discovered a Twitter app called Buffer. The free version allows you to load up to ten tweets in your 'buffer' and have the tweets spread out over preset times. The awesome part is you can download a Google Chrome extension that adds a button to Chrome. Click the button and it writes a tweet for whatever page you happen to be looking at. Now if you happen to follow me on twitter don't be surprised if I seem to be constantly tweeting, I'm not really there. 

It seems my little family is spreading farther and farther apart. My brother spends most of his days in the wilds of northern Pennsylvania working. I'm really happy for him because he always wanted a job where he could work outside and that is what this is. As always with us though he seems a little torn by it all. It's a good job, pays well, and he gets to go four-wheeling in his new jeep but in the end his salary is paid through his employer's contract with Shell Oil and its new fracking operation. The sis is continuing to move down her own beaten path and will be transferring out of Penn State after this semester. From art school to uncommitted to a political science major all in one year, seems we have more genes alike than we ever knew. I so miss spending time with her so hopefully we will get to over the holidays. As for myself, I'm always just a dream flight away from Paris. It is what it is, I guess the three of us will just conquer the globe one day.

With the holidays the days get longer at the gallery and the weekend days even longer. I think I need to get home, light some candles, slip into a hot tub filled with those black raspberry vanilla bubbles, and soak.

Maybe some wine is called for too.

Rihanna - We Found Love

Observations from the Edge 12.6.2

I was talking to my sister earlier today and she happened to ask me how the Occupy Wall Street thing started. It's actually something I have wanted to write about but other things always seem to come up and I never do. This is a little something I wrote up for another project that does a good if spare job of answering that question.

A short history of the beginning of Occupy Wall Street....

It all started with an email sent out by Adbusters magazine that included a hashtag, #OccupyWallStreet, and a date, September 17th. It quickly spread with the help of a poster depicting a ballerina dancing atop the Wall Street charging bull statue. When September 17 finally arrived, people came from all over the country but they numbered closer to 2,000 than the hoped for 20,000.

The plan was to hold a General Assembly meeting at Chase Manhattan Plaza and then figure out the next step from there. But the plaza had been closed off the night before. Leaflets showing a map and alternate locations were circulated through the crowd and a decision was made to go with plan B, Zuccotti Park, right between thoroughly barricaded Wall Street and the World Trade Center site. The name Zuccotti Park once had is still on a building across the street and it was too good to be true. Zuccotti Park was quickly renamed Liberty Square, not unlike Tahrir (Liberation) Square in Cairo. The first week there was rarely more than a few hundred protesters at Liberty and they were constantly harassed by police. The began to call themselves 'the 99%' as opposed to the 1% who control majority of the wealth.

Each time there was an incident with the police media attention increased. It sometimes seemed as if the police were trying to do the occupation a favor. Young women pepper sprayed without provocation, teenagers slammed onto the pavement, about 700 arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge, each episode brought more cameras, more sympathy, more people and more momentum.

The movement was born.

Observations from the Edge 12.6.1

At the end of my day of wandering Saturday I stopped in at a bar close to home for a quick drink. While I was there I ran into a guy I had meant weeks ago at Liberty Square but hadn't really talked to since. I honestly don't know if he knows as much or knows as many 'insiders' as he said he did but we did have an interesting conversation about where OWS goes over the winter.

One thing we agreed on was that the eviction of November 15th probably wasn't a bad thing. There really was no way the camp could survive a winter like the one we had last year. Being close to the water the winds would howl up the streets in a storm and anything approaching last year's snowfalls would have buried them, all their energy would have been spent simply surviving. Imperial Mike may have done everybody a favor in shutting Zuccotti down and would have better served himself by letting everybody freeze.

That being said the winter months are going to be very important to the movement's future. A time to organize, grow, and prepare for its part in the coming presidential election campaign including the rumored occupation of both the Democratic and Republican conventions. During a recent visit to OWS Jesse Jackson said, “At some point, movements must take on some form, some identifiable agenda. At some point, water must become ice.” Whether those in attendance liked hearing it or not, and I'm thinking not, this is very true. Not that I think the movement needs some set of concrete demands, everybody seems to have their own, but I do think it needs a clear direction, maybe destination is a better word, an end game to strive for.

I'll have to get back to that conversation some other time because I wanted to mention something that began today and ties in somewhat. Organizing for Occupation (O4O), a 200 member squatter group, and Occupy Wall Street today launched the Occupy Our Homes campaign. The idea is to disrupt foreclosure proceedings, liberate foreclosed properties, and help people facing eviction. With squatting on the rise O4O was formed months before OWS but in recent weeks over 50 new squatting support groups have sprung up, many affiliated with local occupy groups. Banks seem to be sitting on foreclosed homes at record levels akin to the trillions of dollars in cash they are sitting on overseas. In parts of the Bronx as much as 40% of the housing is foreclosed and empty as the unemployed go homeless.

“The Occupy Wall Street movement and brave homeowners around the country are coming together to say, "Enough is enough." We, the 99%, are standing up to Wall Street banks and demanding they negotiate with homeowners instead of fraudulently foreclosing on them."
You can read more at OccupyOurHomes.org.

Tis the Season

And so it seems the Christmas season is here, grudgingly on my part. I may have mentioned last year that I have a love/hate relationship with this time of year but I'll stay away from that for now. I did some uptown shopping and wandering yesterday that included visiting the ice at Citi Pond and I suppose it has put me in a better holiday frame of mind. One thing is certain, this little holiday video will keep making me smile no matter how grumpy I get.

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Observations from the Edge 12.4

I just wanted to pass along a pair of things I think are worth reading. The first is an article from today's New York Times and but the second a report from the Cato Institute so it's a bit longer.

"Riot police officers tear-gassing protesters at the Occupy movement in Oakland. The surprising nighttime invasion of Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, carried out with D-Day-like secrecy by officers deploying klieg lights and a military-style sound machine. And campus police officers in helmets and face shields dousing demonstrators at the University of California, Davis with pepper spray Is this the militarization of the American police?"

From "When the Police Go Military" an analysis by Al Baker of the New York Times and published in the December 4^th edition of the paper.

"Americans have long maintained that a man's home is his castle and that he has the right to defend it from unlawful intruders. Unfortunately, that right may be disappearing. Over the last 25 years, America has seen a disturbing militarization of its civilian law enforcement, along with a dramatic and unsettling rise in the use of paramilitary police units (most commonly called Special Weapons and Tactics, or SWAT) for routine police work. The most common use of SWAT teams today is to serve narcotics warrants, usually with forced, unannounced entry into the home."

From the summary of "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America" by Radley Balko for the Cato Institute and also quoted in the Times column. This report is rather long but a pdf file can be downloaded free of charge. 

Observations from Amerika 12.2

It should come as no surprise that what follows occurred in the dark of night. I don't know how 93 US Senators, elected by the people of this nation, can look themselves in the face this morning. It boggles my mind how little media attention this whole thing has gotten.

Yesterday the Democratic controlled US Senate quietly passed the 680 page National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 (s.1867) by a vote of 93-7. Included in sections 1031 and 1032 of the bill is wording that for all purposes declares the whole of the United States, actually the whole world, a battle zone. As such the US Military could for the first time since the Civil War be allowed to detain United States Citizens within the US and hold them indefinitely without charge or trial. These same US citizens could conceivably face a military and not civil court. That is if they are given a trial at all. As it always seems today the purpose of the provisions is to make it easier to fight and prosecute terrorists but now it seems we are all suspect.

The sections are opposed by President Obama who promises he will veto the entire appropriations bill if they are included. Its is also opposed by the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and many retired military leaders. Friday morning the White House said the veto threat still stands.

"The bill is an historic threat to American citizens and others because it expands and makes permanent the authority of the president to order the military to imprison without charge or trial American citizens," said Christopher Anders, ACLU senior legislative counsel. It should be noted that a compromise was reached in order to pass the bill. The compromise? It only includes US citizens “if we want it too.” One can only wonder what any future President Dick Cheney would think of that.

It all reminds me of a quote....

“For once Benjamin consented to break his rule, and he read out to her what was written on the wall. There was nothing there now except a single Commandment. It ran: All Animals Are Equal But Some Animals Are More Equal Than Others.”

George Orwell, Animal Farm

notes:
Those voting against the bill were Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Mike Lee (R-UT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Rand Paul (R-KY), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and Ron Wyyden (D-OR).

update - To clarify what "if we want it to" means.
A compromise amendment was passed which just pushes the entire matter down the road. The compromise simply leaves it to the Supreme Court to decide should some future president decide to assert the authority the bill specifically authorizes him to do. Our current crop of politicians can't even seem to get taking away our freedom right.

Observations from the Edge 11.30

One would think the chances of me posting anything about Miley Cyrus would be about as good as the temperature hitting 70° in the Village during the last days of November. Well that day seems to have arrived. "It's a Liberty Walk" is a song and video released by Cyrus in support of Occupy Wall Street. Some might say she did it to reclaim some of her time in the limelight but I'm giving her the benefit of the doubt for multiple reasons. Cyrus herself appears nowhere in the video, something you could never say about Madonna, and the video contains scenes that in no way endear her to her former employers at Disney.

Just remember that nowhere here did I say I liked the song but you just have to support the admitted pot smoker and now occupier Miley Cyrus.

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Observations from the Edge 11.29

I rarely reprint anything here but this is something I wanted to share. What follows was written as an open letter to police by Quinn Norton who is on an extended assignment covering the Occupy protests and Anonymous for Wired magazine. You can read her introduction to the project here. It was published yesterday as both Occupy L.A. and Occupy Philly awaited eviction.

"Dear Police, upon the occasion of the eviction of Occupy Philadelphia and Occupy LA:

It is not my place to say whether what you are about to do is right or wrong, and it doesn’t matter what I believe either way. You are going to evict this occupation, and all the resistance this ragtag band of sleep-deprived community organizers, volunteers, and chronically homeless could put up might, at best, delay you by a matter of hours. You, the occupiers, and we in the media: we all know these conflicts can only have one outcome.

What I am asking you to change is your demeanor. I have seen you be confrontational, frivolous, spiteful, insulting, self-righteous, and even at times, solemn.

There is something I’d like you to know about what you’re about to do. You don’t know these occupys like I do. This isn’t your fault; you can’t. You’re largely not welcome in many of them, because we all know what you will eventually do to them. Even if you’ve visited, you have to hold yourself distant from their story, even as I immerse myself in it. You’d no more want to hang out and get to the know the camps the way I have than you’d want to cuddle and name a calf that’s meant to be tomorrow’s veal dinner.

These camps, these collections of tarps and tents, are more than you see. They are the sweat and treasure of hundreds, sometimes thousands of people trying to learn how to take care of each other. The fucked-up kids, street kids and old homeless are as important as the community organizers and grad students.

They’ve all come to this place and tried to build a way to talk to and take care of each other, after giving up on a system they believe has failed them. This is what they’ve poured their hearts and their best thinking into. It may not be legal. It may, in your opinion and many others, not even be a good idea. But they’ve built a village. There are libraries and kitchens, places for women, places to provide shelter and clothing. There are even little temples here.

People have sanctified this space with their hope. It is imprinted with their lost nights, their spare money, their effort and their bodies. The places you see covered in plastic sheets and bric-a-brac are thick with memories: the echos of unguarded conversations, of commitments made, of love and struggle and compromise.

When you go in and wipe this place clean, and you will, what I ask is that you do it solemnly.

Do it with the gravity of the execution, not the frivolity of the easy triumph.

When people scream at you, think of them as the family members of the condemned, not as your enemies. Be, insofar as you can, gentle. Remember that when you are gone tomorrow and there is nothing left, these people will remain, not merely angry but emptied of effort. They will be hunting for friends lost in the fray, for scraps and bits of the life they built together. They will have lost their place to be in the world.

Remember that these people, whether misguided or not, stayed because they all found here something they needed. Some of them were listened to for the first time in their lives here; others found a place where people accepted them. A few were told hard truths about their own failings.

There are middle-class professional occupiers here who did something they believed in for the first time in many years. They’d lived outwardly successful but inwardly desperate lives, drained of the sense that anything they did could ever matter.

A few even came to prey on this place, but found something that mattered more than their own appetites for the first time. Almost none of them were good at being these new people, and it will show. I’m sorry for that. These people were weeks in on years-long journeys to be new.

Be merciful in the execution of your orders. Respect, if not the thing built, the hearts behind the building."

Observations

No words necessary.... 

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Observations from the Coffee Shop 11.28

After a rather mellow holiday weekend with the family I was ready to stay mellow and write something about the end of the Penn State football season. However I have a few things that are irritating me, surprisingly all are coming out of DC, and all of them just drive home the point that those running this country are either totally out of touch with today's world or they just don't give a damn about it.

The first is the Stop Online Piracy Act, HR 3261 or SOPA, which would start the United States down the same road as China when it comes to censoring the internet. Sponsored by the Republican dominated Congress it is just a hand out to entertainment corporations that can't seem to find a way a legal way to make a profit in the 21st century. Forget that the latest installment of The Twilight Saga just had a worldwide weekend box office of almost half a billion dollars, the corporations need our help.

SOPA would give the Department of Justice and copyright holders a fast track to court orders shutting down websites accused of copyright infringement. It would bar internet advertising and payment sites from doing business with the accused pirate sites. Search engines would be barred from linking to the sites and service providers would be forced to block them. Another section of the bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted media a felony.

A major force behind the bill is the Motion Picture Association of America which is using the tried and true fear tactic to push for passage. The MPAA claims that 2 million American jobs hang in the balance and need to be protected. MPAA congressional testimony is frequently quoted by the bills sponsors while testimony that for every job lost the internet creates 2.5 jobs is totally ignored.

Not at all surprising is the fact that a group that includes Google, Yahoo, and Amazon is leading the fight against SOPA. What is surprising is that Microsoft, long a proponent of stronger copyright laws, is also quietly fighting it. Opponents say the bill as written would overturn the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act which allow warned websites to take down questionable material before further action is taken, the principals YouTube operates by.

A partial list of supporters of the bill includes the MPAA, the Recording Industry Association of America, NBCUniversal, Macmillan Publishers, Viacom, Comcast, the AFL-CIO, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and various other music, cable, and movie companies.

A partial list of opponents includes Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, AOL, eBay, the Brookings Institute, the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, the American Library Association, Reporters Without Borders, the Business Software Alliance, and TechAmerica which is a tech trade association with 1,200 member companies. Senator Ron Paul said SOPA would cause "an explosion of innovation killing lawsuits and litigation," thus costing not saving jobs. If passed as written the internet as we know it would cease to exist. Flickr, YouTube, and Vimeo would would probably shut down. Twitter would become virtually useless.

We might as well all learn Mandarin and get it over with.

If you want to voice your opposition to the bill click this link to StopCensorship.org and fill out the simple form. A letter will than be generated and sent to your representatives. Also Senator Ron Wyden will read your name from the House of Representatives floor during his flilibuster when and if it comes up for a vote.

Observations from the Window 11.28

"Morning Joe" on MSNBC is the only morning show I watch. I mean seriously where else does the conversation jump from the latest political news to the current Premier Soccer League standings? So this morning I pulled myself away from a Britney Spears takeover on Fuse to see what they were talking about and this is what I found. I can totally relate.

[useless embed] video

Well this is kind of a stupid post but I had it all posted with the video embedded than I saw that due to restrictions the embed doesn't work. Somebody explain to me why they have an embed link if you can't use it. What the..... MSNBC?

Observations from the Road 11.26

So another Thanksgiving dinner with the family is past and I survived yet again. My parents always had a big family dinner for Thanksgiving and my dad continued that tradition after my mom passed away. To understand the dynamics of our Thanksgiving dinner you have to understand a little something about my family. I grew up in a predominately religious conservative Republican area which most of central Pennsylvania is. My dad, however, is a left of center Democrat and my mom was probably as liberal as one can get. Throw in the arrogant radical lesbian daughter and you have quite a family. The problem is all my dad's brothers and most of their families are typical of the area, conservative Repubes. This small but very important item may be the reason wine has become a very important part of my Thanksgiving tradition. Over the years I have taken great pleasure in driving them totally insane.

As always conversations flowed from one wonderful subject to another. The Penn State mess, President Obama, the occupy movement, and why does that girl, wear black so much? That girl in the question would be me and it's a rather traditional holiday subject. Normally I just dive in and wind everybody up but I seemed to have another one of those maturing moments this year. I drank my wine, looked around, and just thought I'm right, they're wrong, and I'm never going to change their minds. It just didn't seem to be worth the dead brain cells anymore. Still I had some revenge, Lady Gaga in my kitchen and no country music anywhere in the house. People, even family, can push me only so far.

One thing I enjoyed more than I had any right to was lying under my brother's new jeep for an hour as I helped him take the running boards off it. I really don't get many opportunities to play with cars in the Village and I miss that sometimes.

My sis dragged me out of bed early to do some Black Friday shopping, girl has no respect at all for a hangover. We hit a lot of stores and shops but gave Walmart a wide berth because we didn't want to get caught up in any rioting, not that I would be caught dead in one of those stores anyway. I should have given Bath and Body Works the same treatment because when I left there I had a bag full with a whole new flavor for my bath, Black Raspberry Vanilla. Thing is I can't buy just the lotion, I have to have it all, lotion, body spray, and bubble bath. I'm going to smell absolutely yummy though.

As I write this Penn State is about to play Wisconsin in the final regular game of the year with the winner plating Michigan State next week in the first ever Big 10 championship game. For a change I'm going to watch the game with my dad and brother.

A belated Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

I'm Not Dead

I know this is just an ad but it's just gorgeous, or maybe it's just her. Either way I thought I would share it. After all the seriousness lately I just wanted to prove, well, I'm not dead.
 
Megan Fox for Emporio Armani Underwear & Jeans SS11 from F.TAPE on Vimeo.
Full length version of the SS11 Emporio Armani Underwear & Jeans campaign featuring Megan Fox shot by Mert & Marcus.

Observations on the Art Market

We had an interesting running conversation at the gallery yesterday. With the world's economy a wreck why is the art market still thriving? At their big sales earlier this month the three major auction houses, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips de Pury, sold a combined $633 million worth of art. Evidently that top 1% of the population with all the wealth has some cash to spare.

One thing we came up with was the popularity of a shadowy practice called 'third party guarantee' in which the auction house sells the work before the sale begins. This guarantee becomes the what eBay calls the reserve price, the price below which an item will not sell. There was a time auction houses guaranteed a minimum price themselves but after losing $200 million during their fall 2008 sales they increasingly looked to third parties for their guarantee. The first third party guarantee is thought to have occurred in 1999 when Sotheby’s found an investor who pledged $40 million for Pablo Picasso’s “Seated Woman in a Garden.” Guarantors also can make millions in financing fees so in effect they get the works at discounted prices.

With some looking I came up with a few names of dealers who provide guarantees. The list includes Acquavella Galleries owner Bill Acquavella, former Goldman Sachs partner Bob Mnuchin, and billionaire art dealers David Nahmad and Adam Lindemann. More ominous guarantors to those who would rather major works stay in public view are the Taiwanese Yageo Corporation and the Qatari royal family.

Very little is publicly known about these agreements other than the symbols Sotheby’s and Christie’s publish in their catalogues to distinguish between the lots guaranteed by themselves and those backed by third parties. The identity of the guarantors and the level of the amount of the guarantee remain a secret. Less well connected bidders have none of this information so start their bidding at a total disadvantage. Because of this many dealers think the guarantees simply distort the market and keep prices artificially and dangerously high. Also there is no clear way to tell what any given work is actually worth.  

With all the money involved I think the market would be much fairer and open if the auction houses just reported the real prices, disclosed the reserve prices, and named the third party guarantors as well. A level playing field would be better for everybody involved.

Maybe I'll just sit back and wait for the bubble to burst.

Observations from the Edge 11.21

I found this video on the AnonOps website and I just think it's a classic. The video was all filmed on November 15th during the OWS eviction from Zuccotti Park. Two not to miss moments are the tour bus at 2:19 and the NYPD checkpoint at 2:43 that I myself had a minor run in with that same day. The title of that blog post was "The Raid on Zuccotti Park by Frank Sinatra" and you'll understand as soon as you start watching.


the raid on zuccotti park from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

"My office isn't far from Zuccotti Park and when I heard it was being cleared I went down with my camera. I ended up filming for 18 hours until the Park was reopened at 6pm on November 15, 2011. The police presence was overwhelming, more than I've ever seen - more than during the blackout, more than the days after September 11th."
Casey Neistat.

Neistat, a documentary film maker and artist based in New York City, spent 18 hours filming and than was one of the first to enter Zuccotti when it was reopened. You can see some of his other photos and videos on his blog here.

Observations from the Edge 11.20

Since the OWS protests began two months ago I have have looked at more photos and watched more videos than I care to remember. Over the past few days I have seen two videos I may never forget. Both are short and simple videos probably taken with a phone or personal cam yet both are stunning in their content Both are haunting in their own way.

In the first video Kayvan Sabehgi, a former marine who served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, confronts riot police the night of Occupy Oakland's general strike and was recorded by artist and photographer Neil Rivas. "It was uncalled for. There were no curse words. He was telling them he was a war vet, a resident of Oakland, a business owner," Rivas said of the confrontation. Sabeehgi was beaten to the ground and suffered a ruptured spleen. In a way it is reminiscent of the Tienanmen Square tank man photo except in that confrontation the tank turned, it didn't drive over the man. As somebody commented on one of my flickr photos, these are the men hired to preserve and protect, the only question is who. This video just totally disgusts me.


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In the second video UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi leaves a meeting and walks through an utterly silent crowd of students. The meeting and press conference that followed were relating to the Friday incident in which seated students protesting in support of Occupy Berkley were pepper sprayed by UC Davis campus police, specifically Lt. John Pike, who said they felt surrounded and feared for their safety. Chancellor Katehi initially refused to leave the building and told the media she was being held hostage. The group of students formed a large gap and chanted “just go home” but for hours she refused to leave the building. The students only convinced Katehi to leave when they sat down and silently linked arms. This video was shot by Lee Fang, an investigative reporter and blogger.

link

As I said before, welcome to George Orwell's America.

Observations on Art 11.18

A friend of mine sent me this video a couple days ago commenting that though she liked it but couldn't imagine working in a gallery like this. I think some earbuds and good tunes would take care of the sound but I don't even want to think about keeping the pieces clean. In all seriousness I'm glad she sent it to me because I really do like it. In the end I have to agree with her because I can't imagine working with installations like this either. After watching it a few times I realized it isn't the sound or the cleaning but the constant motion that would drive me totally insane.

Zimoun : Compilation Video V2.8 | Sound Sculptures & Installations from ZIMOUN on Vimeo.

"Using simple and functional components, Zimoun builds architecturally-minded platforms of sound. Exploring mechanical rhythm and flow in prepared systems, his installations incorporate commonplace industrial objects. In an obsessive display of curiously collected material, these works articulate a tension between the orderly patterns of Modernism and the chaotic forces of life. Carrying an emotional depth, the acoustic hum of natural phenomena blends effortlessly with electric reverberation in Zimoun's minimalist constructions." Bitforms NYC.

Observations from the Edge 11.15

My horoscope today said that I feel like I am in the eye of a hurricane right now and that isn't too far off. By this past Sunday I was so tired of seeing Penn State trashed I stopped watching the news and didn't go anywhere near twitter. Than I woke up this morning to the green light flashing on my Droid and was surprised to find that the NYPD had raided Liberty Square like thieves in the middle of the night, arrested over a hundred, and tore down all the tents. Once again they used the excuse of cleaning the camp for Brookfield Properties but this time there was no warning. Rather than spiraling it down even farther the news seems to have pulled me out of my funk for now.

I felt guilty for having slept through the eviction so I went down to Liberty Square to see what was left and found absolutely nothing. Everything was gone and replaced by about 50 of New York's finest leaning on the barricades that now held back nobody. All that was left of the encampment was a single middle aged man holding up a sign that read “re-occupy Wall Street.” I was taking some shots when I saw one of the cops walking towards me and thought better of adding to the morning's arrest tally so I moved on to Foley Square where I found maybe a hundred survivors of Bloomberg's raid.

At Foley I heard a rumor that the mayors of the occupied cities were working together to clear out the encampments. The idea being to flood the media with so many events no one city would take the a beating in the coverage. It didn't take much looking to see this might be true as Denver and Salt Lake City were cleared on November 12th, Portland on November 13th, Oakland on November 14th, and New York City today. Maybe it's all a coincidence and maybe it isn't. This rumor later morphed with a printed report that many of the raids were planned with the assistance of the Department of Homeland Security which quickly sparked a new hashtag, #PoliceState.

Mayor Bloomberg evidently thought he could get away with no coverage at all this time as reporters were held blocks away from Liberty where many were arrested and some beaten. One reporter for Mother Jones was told if he stayed in the park he could get hurt. This after he tried to photograph an injured protester being loaded into an ambulance. In the possibly the biggest crock of bull I have ever heard Mayor Bloomberg said the decision to clamp down on coverage was made to "protect the members of the press. We have to provide protection and we have done exactly that." Beating as protection, what a concept. Another tactic of questionable legality was the clearing of the airspace over Liberty during the raid, something NYPD has no authority to do.

Thanks to a court order OWS members are streaming back into Liberty Square as I finish this. It may however be a pyrrhic victory of sorts as the judge ruled OWS may be there but may not camp or set up tents in the park. As temperatures dip lower and lower at night I fear it's now only a matter of time.

In all likelihood the weather option has been his highness the Mayor's option of choice all along.

Observations on Penn State and JoePa

Just a small post here to put to rest for now this Penn State chapter of my writing. It really has consumed me for the past week, creating a roller coaster of emotions I need to get a grip on. I tend to take things personally and to see cable pundits and newspaper columnists suddenly discover Penn State for all the wrong reasons totally depressed me. For now I figure if the asshats can't see past this total tragedy to what is good about my school I shouldn't let it get to me. Their total loss.

I wanted to pass along a column Sean sent me yesterday. Titled "Joe Paterno's Code - Reckoning with the Penn State betrayal" it was written for Esquire by Chris Raymond who is a former editor of The Daily Collegian, the Penn State student published newspaper. It is the one thing I have read that sounded somewhat how i feel, how a lot of us alumni feel. Really the final line says it all....

"In the meantime, we will rebuild on the scorched earth of Happy Valley, and I will abide by this simple truth: If the Paterno way is discarded along with Paterno, then this tragedy will have been miserably, terribly compounded."

Observations on Penn State and JoePa

After a long emotional day I was sitting at what was always one of my favorite spots in State College. From Court's kitchen table you can look out over the deck to the Penn State campus and past it to Nittany Mountain where tonight a bright moon was rising. I was thinking about the day and the moment that bought a tear of pride to my eye. Just before the game between Penn State and Nebraska began both teams gathered in a group in the middle of the field. As the teams listened to a prayer by a Nebraska coach 110,000 people stood and looked on in utter silence. You could have heard the proverbial pin drop.

The low point of the day came early when I received a school alert text advising a bomb threat had been received but Beaver Stadium had been checked and was clear. Than we arrived for some subdued tailgating only to find state troopers patrolling the edges of the parking area on horseback. As with OWS it always seems to be the sight of the horses that elicits a feeling of dred.

As we entered the stadium an organization formed this week by a group of students and alumni, Proud to Be a Penn Stater, was accepting donations for charity at all the gates and most people I saw donated something. The group is partnered with RAINN, the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network, and has a goal of raising $500,000 for the charity. In three days of existence it has raised $297,000 which includes over $20,000 at todays game.

The stadium itself was an amazing and surreal sight. Blue is the color associated with child abuse prevention and today Beaver Stadium was a sea so blue it almost seemed like a night game. The blue S in the normally white stands was now inverted to white and sported a blue ribbon, even the band's flags were now blue. The blue out was a success beyond anybody's wildest dreams, organizers had hoped for maybe a quarter of the fans, it was nearly total.

"I can't tell you how proud and pleased I am, especially with the students and athletes and the character and class they displayed," interim Penn State president Robert Ericson told reporters. That may be the only statement by university official I heard this week that I fully agree with.

It was a long sad week with possibly every negative emotion you can imagine swirling around. But a week filled with anger, sadness, and disgust ended with renewed pride and hope, touched with exhaustion.

"When we stood at childhood's gate,
Shapeless in the hands of fate
Thou didst mold us, Dear old State"

From the Penn State alma mater, rather fitting given the week.

Observations on Penn State and JoePa

One of the great days in Penn State football history will be just that but for reasons none of us could have imagined until a perfect storm of misery swept through Happy Valley earlier this week. I just sent a friend an email in which I described today as a homecoming from hell and I can't think of any better way to put it here. Ash and I arrived late last night, Sean early this morning, and it seems like nobody can stay away. In the end we still are Penn State and nobody is going to take that away from us no matter how hard they try.

I have no idea how this game is going to play out, honestly nothing will surprise me. The prevailing opinion is that the player's heads aren't going to be in it so it's going to be ugly but I'm not so sure. I won't even try to comprehend what these players must be going through. I do know from experience that, no matter how depressed I was, when the game started habit and training took over and I just played.

The 'blue out' is born. During today's game donations will be accepted throughout Beaver Stadium with the proceeds going to two Pennsylvania organizations, Prevent Child Abuse Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape. So far at other events, including the women's soccer game yesterday and a candle light vigil last night,  over $200,000 has been raised for these charities.

To put this day in perspective a person would have to be close to 70 years old to remember Penn State without Joe Paterno. That being the case I doubt they would remember it anyway.

To state the obvious this is going to suck.

Observations on Penn State and JoePa

The cover of my hometown newspaper this morning with the three words that say it all. After 61 years JoePa is gone.

Observations on Penn State and JoePa

Tears

morning update - Yes tears, tears for my school, for the kids abused, for the alumni, students, everybody involved, and tears for JoePa because I'm just so sad it had to end this way. But no tears foe Sandusky, if there is a hell hopefully there is a very special place there for him and his kind.

Stay by the phone Urban Meyer.

Observations on Penn State and JoePa

This just hurts. Ever since the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal broke I have been avoiding the subject like the plague. I didn't want to talk about it and failed, I didn't want to read about and failed, and totally didn't want to write about it but I can't help myself. Penn State has been my anchor for years, it really has helped me to survive more than anything other than my family and friends so it does hurt like hell to see it all end this way. No matter how it plays out the name Joe Paterno will never sound quite the same again and that's just sad.

Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky is alleged to have sexually abused eight boys over more than a ten years, both before and after his retirement from the team in 1999. One incident in 2002 was witnessed by an assistant coach and reported to Joe Paterno who reported it to other athletic department officials including Athletic Director Tim Curley who was charged Monday for failing to report the information to the police, a crime in Pennsylvania. He was also charged with perjury in testimony to a grand jury and he resigned later in the day. Paterno, who was not charged or investigated, has been criticized for not calling the police himself or simply following up on what he had been told. Pennsylvania state police Commissioner Frank Noonan said Monday that Paterno fulfilled his legal requirement when he told his superior of the 2002 assault but he also questioned whether Paterno had a moral responsibility to do more. He did.

One of the blessings of Penn State is that it is situated in the mountains of central Pennsylvania with the nearest major media outlet an hour to the south in Harrisburg, literally down the mountain. That blessing is turning into a curse now with everybody from the BBC to Al Jazerra swooping into Happy Valley with seemingly one thing on their mind, Joe must go. I read one article in which the writer went so far as to call Beaver Stadium an “empty cavernous monument to JoePa's failed program.” Tarnished yes but to call a program with the highest graduation rate in the NCAA history failed is just shear stupidity. As long as I have been associated with Penn State there have been people both inside and outside the University who just wanted to bring Paterno down. I'll call it the Lance Armstrong effect, you can't possibly be that good with out cheating so there must be something hiding somewhere and if they just dig deep enough they'll find it. They failed every time but now it seems they have been handed a nuclear option with the timer winding down to zero.

I'm just terribly torn because I know how I would feel under any other circumstances and I know how I feel now. I just can't bring myself to turn on a man who has meant so much to my school. I do believe Paterno, how can I not, but I also know he is terribly wrong. At the bare minimum he should have pushed his superiors for some kind of public investigation and he should have condemned Sandusky's actions, friendship only goes so far. Another cop-out is for anybody to say it was out of his hands because of one thing I am certain, whatever Joe wants in Happy Valley Joe gets.

Should Joe go? As hard as this is to write it probably is time because there will be no moving on for the school until he does step down. But there is no need to fire the man who has made Penn State his life for 61 years, his contract is up at the end of this season. Just don't renew it.

As my dad reminded me yesterday the last time the the voices calling for Paterno's ouster were this loud in the valley I was a freshmen and Paterno was in the middle of his worst season ever. One of the men these people would have replaced him with?

Jerry Sandusky.

evening update - This statement was released by Joe Paterno today:

"I am absolutely devastated by the developments in this case. I grieve for the children and their families, and I pray for their comfort and relief.

I have come to work every day for the last 61 years with one clear goal in mind: To serve the best interests of this university and the young men who have been entrusted to my care. I have the same goal today.
That's why I have decided to announce my retirement effective at the end of this season. At this moment the Board of Trustees should not spend a single minute discussing my status. They have far more important matters to address. I want to make this as easy for them as I possibly can. This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.
My goals now are to keep my commitments to my players and staff and finish the season with dignity and determination. And then I will spend the rest of my life doing everything I can to help this University."

notes:

On November 4th Sandusky was arrested for 40 counts related to allegations of sexual abuse of young boys over a 15 year period. Sandusky is currently free on $100,000 bail pending trial and could face life in prison if convicted.

Saturday #12 Penn State faces #19 Nebraska in what is in all probability Joe Paterno's final home game as head coach of the Nittany Lions. It is also senior day which is a tear jerker in the best of times. I haven't made up my mind if I'll be making my planed trip to the game but I can't see myself not. If it is JoePa's last game in Happy Valley I'm going to have to be there.

Observations on Art 11.6

I was reading an article on ArtInfo about Occupy Museums and a thought came to mind. Maybe they do have a point, maybe there is a major problem in the art world, but I'm not sure they themselves realize what the problem is.

No matter how you figure it, only about 10 percent of the works major museums show in New York were created by women. Gallery shows are much better but still only about a quarter of all solo shows are by female artists. Every year the major art blogs put out their "power lists" and every year few of the names are women's.

Why is their such inequality in the art world?

To have ones work shown in a major market one has to get the interest of a small group of curators, collectors, and critics. A group that for the most part is male. It isn't any big secret that the social make up of the art world is cliquish and elitist. For any artist, but particularly for a women aartist, to get anywhere you must go to the right schools, meet the right people, be willing to push your work, and be extremely lucky. Even with todays explosion of social networking to get invited to the parties where these power-brokers schmooze over drinks is next to impossible. Over the years some women's groups have tried to duplicate this male dominated world but to what end? To create a permanent sanctioned second class in an otherwise unchanged art world?

I think the time for anything of that sort has long passed. But for now female artists lack the resources needed to counter hundreds of years of informal discrimination against them. They lack the money, influence, and quite literally the space necessary to have any kind of major impact. For now most of the art works you see will still be created by only the male half of the artist population.

One way or another things need to and will change, the only question remaining is how it will be accomplished.

Observations from the Window 11.5

Remember, remember, the 5^th of November, Happy Guy Fawkes Day. Be sure to watch your Blu-ray V for Vendetta Special Addition today. What? Are you trying to tell me that not everybody owns a copy?

It was a stunningly beautiful fall day in the Village so I boldly decided to jump in Foxy and make my escape from the city for some hi-speed relaxation. In a baggy black sweater, jeans, and a pair of Timberland hiking boots I was prepared for anything, or so I thought. What I wasn't prepared for was running into all the perils of driving in this city and all of them in one day. I drove down one street only to have it closed because of a crime scene, than shot down a side street to get to Canal where I turned right into a jam caused by a double parked semi. Here I witnessed a scene straight out of Independence Day as people stood outside their cars, cabbies yelled in middle Asian dialects, and as far as I could tell the truck driver had disappeared without a trace. Luckily I saw it all soon enough to do a quick reverse back into the side street but there was no getting to the tunnel. My escape thus thwarted I settled for a drive up the Hudson River as far as Harlem, across 112^th, than down Second Avenue and home. Not quite what I had in mind but Foxy did get some exercise.

Today also marked the 50^th day of Occupy and it was dominated by Bank Transfer Day, an event organized by Los Angeles gallerist Kristin Christian. Bank Transfer Day originated with Christian's Facebook event which she started October 4th because she was irritated with Bank of America's announced $5 a month ATM fee. The idea is to have massive numbers of people pull their money out of major banks an open accounts at smaller local banks and credit unions. According to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders more than 650,000 people have moved an estimated $4.5 billion into credit unions during the last four weeks alone. That compares to 600,000 new credit union accounts in all of 2010.

To date the number worldwide Occupy related arrests now stands at 3200. The total number financiers arrested for causing this economic meltdown still stands at 0. 

And finally I end on a better note, I seem to have been tumbled and reblogged twenty times so feel free to have a look. It is as always a perfectly safe shot. kaetlinn

Observations from the Edge 11.5

If you follow me at all on twitter you probably have noticed that other than sports I seem to do more retweeting than anything else. One reason is that I find it very hard to say what I want to say in 140 characters or less. But when it comes to OWS related things it's also because there are already some pretty awesome women out there reporting from the street every day. Sometimes I'm more than a little jealous because I know there is no way I could ever compete with them.

Here are some of the the best....

Allison Kilkenny (@allisonkilkenny), New York and the world. Citizen Radio co-host, contributing reporter for In These Times, The Nation and writer of The Uprising blog for The Nation. I met Allison the morning of the “cleanup eviction” of Liberty Square. She is the kind of person that seems to be everywhere at all times, quite possibly VQ material.

Faeza Moghul (@FaezaMoghul), Oakland. Her twitter profile says “Seeker of Sacred Knowledge. Roamer of Ancient Lands. Pakistani Indian American Muslim Sunni married to an Irish Jewish American Shi'i.” She literally exploded onto my timeline during the Oakland general strike with on the scene reports and some amazing photos.

Laurie Penny (@PennyRed), London. “Journalism, feminism, tea and sedition.” Penny writes for New Statesman, Independent, Guardian, Al-Jazeera, The Nation and others.

Lucy Kafanov (@LucyKafanov), Washington DC. “News junkie, policy wonk, skeptic and voracious consumer of stories neglected by mainstream media.” Kafanov is the senior TV news producer and on-air analyst for Russia Today's Washington bureau.

Special honors for Susie Cagle (@susie_c), Oakland. Graphic artist, cartoonist, and founder of the Graphic Journos collective. Cagle was teargassed twice and arrested once during the Oakland protests and general strike.

Also here are some good lists to follow to keep up with news you wont find in the mainstream media....

Occupy The World - Unify Movement
Occupy Wall Street - Kaycee Nightfire
Progressive Politics - Alison Kilkenny
Smart Snarky Lefties - Sarah Jaffe
The 99 Percent Movement - Think Progress

Observations on Sports 10.31

On Saturday afternoon Penn State beat Illinois 10-7 when Illinois kicker Derek Demke missed a 42-yard field goal with 5 seconds left on the clock. With his 409th win JoePa moved ahead of Grambling State’s Eddie Robinson for the most ever wins among Division I coaches.  Penn State is now the only unbeaten team in Big 10 play (5-0 Big 10, 8-1 overall) and moved into the 16th spot in the BCS poll.

If you ever wondered why I so live for Penn State football just watch this vid taken at the end of the Illinois game, it should give you a pretty good idea. Keep in mind that this crowd was about 40,000 short of the normal crowd of 110,000 due to it being snowtober.

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