Observations from the Edge 1.30

Interesting concept actually,

"Be it resolved that we, THE NINETY-NINE PERCENT of the PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in order to form a more perfect Union, by, for and of the People, shall elect and convene a National General Assembly the week of July 4, 2012 in the City Of Philadelphia to prepare and ratify a Petition For Redress Of Grievances on behalf of the Ninety-Nine Percent of the People of the United States to be served upon the United States Congress, United States Supreme Court and President of the United States prior to November 6, 2012."

link
The 99% Declaration

Observations from the Window 1.29

Last Tuesday night I watched President Obama's State of the Union address. I'm not going to get into the content of the speech other than to say it was heavily into the wealth inequality that seems to be the signature issue of out time. It was a good speech that showed the President back in campaign form and maybe ready to finally take on the GOP head on. One can hope.

As watched the speech I chatted with a friend and tried to keep up with a wildly out of control twitter. It seemed as if everybody was watching and had an opinion on it which was good to see because it shows that as the election year begins people are far from turned off by it. They know what the stakes are this year and just want to get past the joke that is the GOP primary season and get to the main event. One way or another I think this is going to be a very interesting year.

I truly love politics and take some pride in usually have a good guess about what is going to happen but these primaries are driving me insane. Newt Gingrich, the very antithesis of the conservative GOP, just wont go away and at times is the front runner. Willard Romney, who I once thought was the GOP's best hope, cries of wealth envy and has most of his own wealth in the Cayman Islands. Than there is Ron Paul who continues to amass delegates but to what end? He has nowhere near the money to spend as the other candidates but seems to only need a bus ticket to the next state to add to his delegate count. What Paul plans to do with them is the first big question of the campaign.

Some election year randomness.

The always popular Rick Santorum on President Obama's policy in Libya, “We should never go to war simply to topple a dictator.” Somebody needs to hand him a history of the war in Iraq. After the GOP debates in Florida it seems Santorum is running more to be Willard Romney's running mate than anything else.

In Georgia a judge ruled President Obama must appear in court in a case which challenges his being on the Georgia ballot for the November election, once again the question is his citizenship. The President's lawyer boycotted the hearing saying it was “baseless, costly and unproductive” while lawyers for the challengers said the president should be held in contempt for not complying. Recently I talked with somebody who said he thinks Obama was born in Kenya at which point I just wanted to shake the crap out of him. In all seriousness, what must the man do for these people?

And finally as the US and Iran drift back and forth from the brink some Republicans still have the gall to accuse President Obama of appeasement. One has to wonder what Osama bin Ladin, Muammar Gaddafi, and some recently deceased Somali pirates would have to say about that.

Observations on JoePa

I wasn't planning on writing more about the passing of Joe Paterno even though I know I could. I could write to try and help you understand why we Penn State alumni feel the way we do but at times it seems a totally hopeless proposition. Than I came across this column by Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer and it just made me think, from the first paragraph to the haunting question at its end, it made me think about Paterno's death in a way I hadn't done before. It really is worth reading the entire column but I'm just posting the beginning and end here because they are the two parts that I just can't get out of my head. The two parts that seem to sum it all up. (full column here)

"Once upon a time in the Valley called Happy, there lived a man with monarch powers. And with these powers he bestowed upon the Valley great wealth and fame and philanthropy and enviable reputation, and buildings for football warriors and diligent scholars....

....And here, finally, is the chilling question, the one that you dread giving voice to, the one that sits on your shoulder making you squirm, the one that will haunt you for a long, long time: Did Penn State kill Joe Paterno?"

Joe Paterno was laid to rest late Wednesday after two days of public viewings at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center which his donations had funded. An estimated 30,000 people stood in freezing temperatures to file through, lines so long the doors had been opened a half hour early. A private service followed than the funeral procession wound through State College, past the Paterno Library, and finally past Beaver Stadium, its parking lots once again full, and a lone blue and white tent representing Paternoville. A sign held outside the stadium read “We Are Because You Were.” Joe Paterno won 409 games as head coach of the Nittany Lions, 409 wins at one school, something that never will be repeated.

Over the past couple months I have tried to explain to numerous friends why I, why we, feel the way we do. I'm not sure I ever succeeded completely. Late today fellow Penn State graduate Becky Murdy put better than I ever have when she posted this on twitter, "From the outside looking in, you can't understand it. From the inside looking out, you can't explain it."

Goodbye JoePa, You will be, are, missed.

Observations on Art 1.24

To me visions of Yosemite will always be black and white and always taken by Ansel Adams, maybe some of the greatest photos ever taken. Many people know Yosemite by name but may more know of it by sight because of his classic photos. This video may be in color but it's simply stunning.

Yosemite HD from Project Yosemite on Vimeo.

"This video is a collaboration between Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty. All timelapses were shot on the Canon 5D Mark II with a variety of Canon L and Zeiss CP.2 Lenses."

Observations from the Coffee Shop 1.24

For better or worse Fridays always seem to be something special. The date or the moon can make them even more so but no matter what Fridays definitely are different.

Last Friday morning I was sketching/thinking on a notepad as I usually do at breakfast. Now Ash seems to have a more thinking artsie type of mind than I do, yes scary, more analytical where I tend to be theoretical. Anyway, out of nowhere she told me to write down whatever word popped into my head. Not necessarily from our conversation, just whatever word was on my mind. Than she told me to do it all day long.

For what it's worth here is my list of words. I didn't quite make it through the whole day because I knew I would post the list here and I could see where it was heading.

waffles, ugh, coffee, euros, Euros, effing euros, étrange, des conneries, putain, weather, speed, sushi, bold, ignorant, skittles, indigo, sapphire, newt, toad, asshat, miley, NOH8, trend, ignorance, tolerate, cubist, impressionist, crap, queer, abstract, blue, tension, sopa, 1Q84, style, stoner, Cuba, loathe, vq, hipster, ice, word, indulgent, silk, black, Corona, crayons, yakuza, tattoo, ninja sex ….

Observations

"Believe deep down in your heart that you're destined to do great things."

Joseph Vincent Paterno,
JoePa

December 21, 1926,
January 22, 2012

Observations on JoePa

Speedy, near instantaneous, information is a blessing of the age we live in. It makes possible something like Wednesday's SOPA blackout or the organization of protests worldwide. Tonight I saw how it also can be a curse.

All day I had been hearing rumors about Joe Paterno's declining health. How the family had been called to his side and the Penn State Catholic chaplain had visited him. When I got home tonight I checked and at 8:45 PM Onward State, a Penn State news organization, reported Paterno. had passed away. Seconds later the phone began to ring, texts flew, and emails were sent back and forth as the Penn State diaspora began to grieve the passing of our legendary JoePa. Minutes later the report was picked up by CBS Sports and quickly spread everywhere.

The problem was the initial report was wrong. Devon Edwards, managing editor of Onward State, wrote in an apology, "I never, in a million years, would have thought that Onward State would be cited by the national media, and today, I sincerely wish it never had been." I have no idea what happened but as always I have a pet theory. Twenty minutes before that initial report an email had been sent to Penn State football players probably explaining coach Paterno's condition. Now even at Penn State football players aren't always the smartest chicken in the coop so maybe one of them read it wrong and told somebody who told somebody who ran with it.

Sadly, whatever it was, it happened. Enough said.

But I also have another reason for writing this, call it a study in human nature. I have somebody I currently follow on twitter, currently being the key word, who endlessly tweets about liberal causes. Equal rights, economic equality, an end to the death penalty, health care for all, and on and on. Tonight this person reveled in the reported death of an 85 year old man whose only failing was that when needed most he was all too human. And that is what I'll always remember her for.

Again, enough said.

update - Joe Paterno died at 9:25 am Sunday, following complications related to his lung cancer, according to a press release from Mount Nittany Medical Center.

Observations on the 2012 Election

With the 2012 Presidential election campaign kicking into gear I thought it was time to have an official title for my election coverage. This weekend brings the South Carolina primary and President Obama's first campaign commercials airing in ten states.

Campaign coverage, well I don't take myself all that seriously. Honestly I'm sharing this short video for purely entertainment purposes.


link

Observations from the Window 1.18

In my post earlier today I mentioned a column by Mark Schaefer in which he compared those participating in the SOPA blackout of social media to lemmings blindly following their leaders over a cliff. I really was irritated to the point of leaving a rare comment on his post (my comment). I did notice that he answered most comments so checked back later expecting the worst. With a little pride touched with guilt this is what I found.

"I think we are in violent agreement : )

I would never use an absolute like "all" or "none" to describe people and I'm appreciative that you are taking a thoughtful approach to the issue. My larger concern is about the many people who ONLY use social proof to make decisions and build momentum. Here is a small but accurate illustration. I recently had a controversial post tweeted by a powerful social media celebrity with 200,000 followers. It crashed my server. Despite the fact that my blog was down for more than an hour, the celeb continued to get Rt'ed by people who could not have possibly read the post, let alone agree with it.

A very minor thing. But it just shows how mindless the actions of the social hive can be. SOPA is a much bigger deal and just the beginning of the debate really. I can only hope there is a critical mass of people like you who will put on the brakes and think things through on these very important issues that will determine the future of our lives, and in a real way, our world.

Thanks for being a great example Katie."

Observations on Art 1.18

A friend of mine sent me this short film yesterday which I'm not going to comment on because it speaks rather well all on its own. I will however agree with what she said in the email, this girl had one hell of a year.

2011 from hey_rabbit on Vimeo.

"I shot a little video every day of 2011 on my Canon Powershot, then I edited it all down to a little over a second each. It's interesting to be able to look back on my year and remember these little moments. I love living in LA. I love the friends I've made. And I love seeing how much has changed over just one year being here. Sure, I guess now that I see it, I got sick and worked a lot this year (lots of driving, running around doing errands all day). But oh well, it's motivation for 2012!"

Observations from the Road 1.18

I'm currently on a train travelling back to the Village and just a little bored as I observe a self imposed twitter blackout in support of the Stop SOPA campaign. Honestly I think the only person hurt by my blackout is myself as I have to try and occupy my time with other things. The pun was fully intended and you can take it any way you want.

One thing I took away from J17 yesterday was a connection it has with the stop SOPA blackout of today, that being the almost total lack of serious coverage in the mainstream media. The only major msm coverage of Occupy Congress came late in the day when some fool threw a smoke bomb of some sort over the White House fence. As the White House was locked down the sudden explosion of headlines would have you think it was the modern version of the storming of the Tuileries Palace. In fact is was probably the only negative occurrence of a long day filled with protests and marches.

If not for the Wikipidia shutdown I wonder if the SOPA blackout would have gotten any positive coverage at all. Most of the msm outlets are of course owned by organizations that are members of or own members of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The MPAA is the main force behind SOPA and in all likelihood its lawyers wrote the bill. The MPAA calls the blackout a  “gimmick… designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals.” MPAA president, and a senator for thirty years, Chris Dodd was crying on all the morning news shows while Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was nowhere to be seen. Dodd said on one show that the blackout turns web users into "corporate pawns." I think just maybe he should look in the mirror more often.

One blog post that totally irritated me said that the twitter blackout wasn't a political issue at all but simply a meme and its participants lemmings following the leaders over a cliff. I was forced to post a rare comment and you can read it here.

Maybe I should just play Angry Katies, emm, birds.

Observations from the Edge J17

Today was the Martin Luther King holiday and I found my own strange way to celebrate it, riding a train south from New York to Washington for tomorrow's little get together in the nation's capital. Tomorrow is J17, the opening day of the Congress, and the day the same Congress will be "Occupied" by protesters streaming in from all over the country. Given the weather forecast and the time of year it will be interesting to see how many people actually attend but as of now, considering all the buses arriving in the morning, it looks like it will be big. The idea is to have a mass demonstration on the first day of the session and let the members of Congress know that, even though it's an election year, they waste another year of our lives at their on peril.

Although I had thought about going I hadn't actually planned on making the trip until Ash came up with the idea of my doing some work for her while I was in Washington. So that is why I found myself on a train heading south, gazing out the window at the cold landscape and cities along the way, and thinking about somebody totally unrelated to my destination. I've been told I get my love of history from my great grandfather, a man I never met. His name was Bill and he worked for the railroad most of his life. I have seen photos of him in the station he ran, those totally awesome grainy old photos that so simply show us where we came from. Everybody has them somewhere, tucked away in drawers, books, or in boxes in the attic. Those photos are a link to a past we never met but somehow feel we did. I heard someone ask today what Martin Luther King would have thought of the Occupy movement. I want to know what Bill would have thought.

While this trip is strictly for observation and photo taking it's nice to have some friends offer help should the need for bail money come into play. For the record bail in DC ranges from $50 to $100.

Observations from the Window 1.14

Lambda Legal (Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund) is the oldest legal organization in the US that focuses solely on the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender people, and those with HIV. It specializes impact legislation and includes among its victories a 1983 decision which made it illegal for insurance companies and disability laws to discriminate against people with HIV. In 2009 it won a historic unanimous decision in Iowa Supreme Court, which ruled that denying marriage to same sex couples was unconstitutional (Varnum v. Brien). This decision made Iowa the first state in the nation with same sex marriage.

Yesterday Lambda released this video which stars a virtual who's who of the antigay world. But rather than piss me off I thought it thoroughly entertaining and found myself laughing at it. I just figure if this is the best they can do I'm not going to lose much sleep
dwelling on it. 

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Sh*t Homophobic People Say: no spoofing necessary, 100% real commentary by antigay public figures.

Observations from the Window 1.12

I was looking out the window at the rainy wet street and thinking how much better that is than the blizzard swept streets of a year ago. Sometimes rain is good, sometimes it just fits the mood.

Many times I have said how much I love a good quote and I sprinkle them liberally through my tumblr pages (Quotes). It's rare for one of them not to get a like or two and some turn out to be quite liked. Below are some of the more popular ones from the past few months. Each one has a minimum ten likes or reblogs with the first having a total of 366 so far. Taken together they seem to tell a story all their own.

(I'm going to break all the rules of writing here and not use quotation marks so they flow better or maybe because I'm an aesthetics freak as much as a quote one.)

Show me a hero, and I’ll write you a tragedy. - F. Scott Fitzgerald

She looked at me like I was crazy. Most of my lovers do, and that’s partly why they love me, and partly why they leave. - Jeanette Winterson

Yesterday’s weirdness is tomorrow’s reason why. - Hunter S. Thompson

If you want to work on your art, work on your life. - Anton Chekhov

But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself. - Albert Camus

Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations. - George Orwell

One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.
- Jack Kerouac

'Think how you love me,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t ask you to love me always like this, but I ask you to remember.' - F. Scott Fitzgerald

In many ways a good quote is like a good photo. You may not agree with what the quote says, you may not even like it, but once you see or hear the quote it makes you think. It is short but with its few words it can make you think more than an afternoon of reading.

Sound bites from the past.

Observations from the Coffee Shop

Today is the New Hampshire primary and it seems a perfect moment to drop some random bits of political information on you.

The Keystone XL pipeline is one of brother's favorite things to complain, vent, and curse about. It would carry oil and diluted oil sands from northern Canada to locations throughout the US, going as far as the Texas coast. Supporters claim it would create tens of thousands of jobs. Opponents counter that it would create less than one hundred permanent jobs, wreak havoc with the environment of the mid-west, and just further our dependence on fossil fuels. Two of the main people pushing for faster approval of the pipeline are Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. For the record Boehner has received $1,111,080 from the petroleum industry during his time as Speaker, McConnell received $1,277,208. Take that for what you will.

Kansas' Republican Speaker of the House Mike O'Neal sent an email to friends and supporters when he 'discovered' Psalm 109. He wrote in the email, "At last, I can honestly voice a Biblical prayer for our president! Look it up, it is word for word! Let us all bow our heads and pray. Brothers and Sisters, can I get an amen?" And what is Psalm 109? Bible.org describes it as a prayer for the punishment of the wicked. "May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. May his children be wandering beggars; may they be driven from their ruined homes. May a creditor seize all he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. May no one extend kindness to him or take pity on his fatherless children." I take that to mean that O'Neal wouldn't mind seeing the President dead and I really think the Secret Service needs to look into that the with same seriousness they would if a random drunk in a random bar threatened him.

This is a short one because I can't bare Rick Santorum being in my thoughts for any length of time. I saw him on Morning Joe this morning and he said a couple of things that make me think of the words revisionist history. He called a nuclear armed Iran the greatest threat western civilization has ever known. Greater than the Islamic expansions of the 8th century, the Mongol invasions of the 14th century, greater even than Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia. Seems like more of the GOP tactic of winning elections through fear, just another excuse for another war in the middle east. Santorum also stated that he felt the working families of Pennsylvania could relate to him and his family history, I would remind the former Senator that the families of Pennsylvania showed him the door after his 2006 election campaign.

And last something only marginally political but something that may become more important as we move into the new year. Vibe is a new application for iPhones, iPads and Android that allows the user to send messages that are only visible to other Vibe users, and not to police or other outsiders. Vibe messages are anonymous, and users can control how far they are broadcast, from 150 feet to worldwide. The user can also control how long the messages are visible, they disappear after a set time period ranging from 15 minutes to thirty days thus leaving no trail.

And so it goes.

Observations from the Underworld

It honestly doesn't fit me at all but I have this love of history that came to bloom while I was studying for my degree. New York is filled with history of every kind from how Wall Street got its name to the secret galleries at Saint Augustine Church where escaped slaves could listen to church services without being seen. What really fascinates me are the abandoned stations and tunnels of the New York underworld. The MTA is in no way thrilled with people wandering around these abandoned or never used portions of New York's subway system but my friend Stacy does just that for a hobby. She told me the following story about one of her favorite spots of the New York underworld.

About four blocks north of Grand Central Terminal and 200' below the Waldorf Astoria Hotel is one of the greatest secrets of the city's modern history. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was paralyzed from the waist down from polio and was convinced that allowing the public see him in a wheelchair would end his political career. When he traveled to the northeast he rode in a specially built armored train which included a car carrying his Peirce Arrow limousine. This train would stop short of Grand Central, beneath the Waldorf, where Roosevelt would exit onto the platform already in his limo, drive into the freight elevator, and secretly enter the city.

On March 29, 1945 the secret train was sitting at the secret siding when Roosevelt died in Georgia. The armored Pullman car that carried his limo hasn't moved from that spot since.

Locked brass doors on the 49^th street side of the Waldorf, which open to a staircase leading down to the platform, are the only above ground evidence of this secret station. The neighboring doors to the elevator itself have been welded shut for years so it's a topic of debate as to whether this elevator opened onto 49^th Street only or also into the original Waldorf ballroom. To me the later seems to defeat the whole purpose of the secret siding far below. Seriously, how can you keep secret the arrival of the president's armored limousine in the ballroom?

The official designation of this hidden siding is track 61 but it was known to station workers only as the Roosevelt platform. Until just a few years ago officials from the FDR Museum and the MTA denied the very existence of the platform or the ghost train sheltered there and to this day the spur isn't shown on any maps of the subway system.

But for those who know the secrets of this underworld there is always a way in, another more secluded entrance, or an even more secret tunnel.

I think maybe it would be a totally awesome spot to celebrate New Years Eve. But I suppose I'll never know that will I?

Observations from the Edge J17

The question that is posted under the video asks "Where will you be on January 17, 2012?" Good question because I've suddenly begun to ask myself that very thing. Stay tuned.

link

"Where will you be on January 17, 2012?"

Music: Coldplay "In My Place"
For media inquiries: media@occupyyourcongress.info
Website: OccupyYourCongress.info
Twitter: twitter.com/Re_Occupy
Facebook: Occupy-Congress January 17th

Observations on 2011

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"2011 was the year the bottom shook the top, the year the ballerina danced on the bull, and "The Protestor" was named Time Magazine person of the year. The faces in our Year in Pictures pay testament and tribute to our contribution and to the benefit of standing up and taking action."

Observations from the Gallery 1.4

A friend of mine sent me what follows in an email this morning and as much as I love quotes and politics I had to admit I had never seen it before. All she knew about it was that it had been written anonymously, photocopied, and handed out during the 1992 presidential campaign. With a little digging I found it had been written anonymously but was later attributed to artist and photographer Zoe Leonard. Leonard was a founding member of the San Francisco artists collective known as fierce pussy which described itself as a "collective of queer women dedicated to creating public art and direct action addressing issues of lesbian identity and visibility."

It's a perfect thing to read the day after the Iowa Caucus ended in a virtual tie between two men. One a habitual liar who changes his positions with the breeze and the other a throwback to the Middle Ages who would ban birth control.

"I want a dyke for president. I want a person with aids for president and I want a fag for vice president and I want someone with no health insurance and I want someone who grew up in a place where the earth is so saturated with toxic waste that they didn't have a choice about getting leukemia. I want a president that had an abortion at sixteen and I want a candidate who isn't the lesser of two evils and I want a president who lost their last lover to aids, who still sees that in their eyes every time they lay down torest, who held their lover in their arms and knew they were dying. I want a president who has stood on line at the clinic, at the dmv, at the welfare office and has been unemployed and layed off and sexually harrassed and gaybashed and deported. I want someone who has spent the night in the tombs and had a cross burned on their lawn and survived rape. I want someone who has been in love and been hurt, who respects sex, who has made mistakes and learned from them. I want a Black woman for president. I want someone with bad teeth, someone who has eaten hospital food, someone who crossdresses and has done drugs and been in therapy. I want someone who has committed civil disobedience. And I want to know why this isn't possible. I want to know why we started learning somewhere down the line that a president is always a clown: always a john and never a hooker. Always a boss and never a worker, always a liar, always a theif and never caught."

Thanks again for sending me this.

Observations on Art 1.4

As always Court sent me some new fims and videos to look at and this one I think is perfect for what I can only describe as the first brutally cold day of this winter. Personally I think I'm already in the mood for spring.


The Arctic Light from TSO Photography on Vimeo.

"This was filmed between 29th April and 10th May 2011 in the Arctic, on
the archipelago Lofoten in Norway.
My favorite natural phenomenon is one I do not even know the name of, even after talking to meteorologists and astrophysicists I am none the wiser.What I am talking about I have decided to call The Arctic Light and it is a natural phenomenon occurring 2-4 weeks before you can see the Midnight Sun...."

Happy 2012

I'm not in quite as serious a mood as I was yesterday and I would feel totally remiss if I didn't share this video after posting the Christmas edition. After watching this I'm sure I could come up with a New Years wish  or two.

link
Victoria's Secret Angels Erin Heatherton, Adriana Lima, Candice Swanepoel, Lindsay Ellingson, Doutzen Kroes and Lily Aldridge let you in on their resolutions."

Observations from the Window 1.1.12

No I'm not really sitting in the window as 2012 dawns, though it probably wouldn't be a bad spot to be. I wrote this earlier in the day and the uber geek in me set it to post at midnight. I have no idea where I will be at midnight because in all the years I have been coming to New York I have never been here on New Years Eve. I toyed with the idea of going to Times Square but I saw all the barricades and such and just thought better of it.

But anyway here I am starting my third year in the Village and my third year of writing this probably not always exciting blog. The past year was one of change for myself and for the world in general and this year promises more of the same. But before I begin to ramble off on a tangent I just wanted to say thanks for reading and I hope all your dreams come true this year.

Joyeux Nouvel An mes amis