Observations v.2

Observations from the Edge 1.30

2012-01-30T00:45:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-29T13:22:00.000-05:00

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

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

I truly love politics and take somepride in usually have a good guess about what is going to happen butthese primaries are driving me insane. Newt Gingrich, the veryantithesis of the conservative GOP, just wont go away and at times isthe front runner. Willard Romney, who I once thought was the GOP'sbest hope, cries of wealth envy and has most of his own wealth in theCayman Islands. Than there is Ron Paul who continues to amassdelegates but to what end? He has nowhere near the money to spend asthe other candidates but seems to only need a bus ticket to the nextstate to add to his delegate count. What Paul plans to do with themis the first big question of the campaign.

Some election year randomness.

The always popular Rick Santorum onPresident Obama's policy in Libya, “We should never go to warsimply to topple a dictator.” Somebody needs to hand him a historyof the war in Iraq. After the GOP debates in Florida it seemsSantorum is running more to be Willard Romney's running mate thananything else.

In Georgia a judge ruled PresidentObama must appear in court in a case which challenges his being onthe Georgia ballot for the November election, once again the questionis his citizenship. The President's lawyer boycotted the hearingsaying it was “baseless, costly and unproductive” while lawyersfor the challengers said the president should be held in contempt fornot complying. Recently I talked with somebody who said he thinksObama was born in Kenya at which point I just wanted to shake thecrap out of him. In all seriousness, what must the man do for thesepeople?

And finally as the US and Iran driftback and forth from the brink some Republicans still have the gall toaccuse President Obama of appeasement. One has to wonder what Osamabin Ladin, Muammar Gaddafi, and some recently deceased Somali pirateswould have to say about that.

Observations on JoePa

2012-01-25T21:24:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-24T18:30:00.000-05:00

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

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

For what it's worth here is my list ofwords. 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

2012-01-22T20:27:00.000-05:00

"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

2012-01-21T22:57:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-20T23:58:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-18T19:50:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-18T11:17:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-18T09:15:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-16T22:41:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-14T16:22:00.000-05:00

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.

link

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

Observations from the Window 1.12

2012-01-12T10:31:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-10T10:28:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-07T22:30:00.000-05:00

It honestly doesn't fit me at all but Ihave this love of history that came to bloom while I was studying formy degree. New York is filled with history of every kind from howWall Street got its name to the secret galleries at Saint AugustineChurch where escaped slaves could listen to church services withoutbeing seen. What really fascinates me are the abandoned stations andtunnels of the New York underworld. The MTA is in no way thrilledwith people wandering around these abandoned or never used portionsof New York's subway system but my friend Stacy does just thatfor a hobby. She told me the following story about one of her favorite spots of the New York underworld.

About four blocks north of GrandCentral Terminal and 200' below the Waldorf Astoria Hotel is one ofthe greatest secrets of the city's modern history. President FranklinDelano Roosevelt was paralyzed from the waist down from polio and wasconvinced that allowing the public see him in a wheelchair would endhis political career. When he traveled to the northeast he rode in aspecially built armored train which included a car carrying hisPeirce 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^thstreet side of the Waldorf, which open to a staircase leading down tothe platform, are the only above ground evidence of this secretstation. The neighboring doors to the elevator itself have beenwelded shut for years so it's a topic of debate as to whether thiselevator opened onto 49^th Street only or also into theoriginal Waldorf ballroom. To me the later seems to defeat the wholepurpose of the secret siding far below. Seriously, how can you keep secretthe arrival of the president's armored limousine in the ballroom?

The official designation of this hiddensiding is track 61 but it was known to station workers only as theRoosevelt platform. Until just a few years ago officials from the FDRMuseum 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 subwaysystem.

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

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

Observations from the Edge J17

2012-01-05T21:29:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-05T07:49:00.001-05:00

link

"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

2012-01-04T15:26:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-04T12:48:00.001-05:00

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

2012-01-01T16:49:00.000-05:00

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

2012-01-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

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

Observations on 2011

2011-12-30T18:30:00.000-05:00

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

Observations from the Window 12.28

2011-12-28T13:19:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-27T00:34:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-22T07:51:00.000-05:00

link

yes Virginia, we are still at war

2011-12-21T16:14:00.000-05:00

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^ndArmy 1^stLieutenant 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

2011-12-18T19:30:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-17T08:05:00.000-05:00

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^thbirthday 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

2011-12-16T18:00:00.000-05:00

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^ththe '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^thbut 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.

link

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

2011-12-15T20:57:00.000-05:00

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.

link

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

2011-12-13T18:45:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-13T18:20:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-10T22:18:00.000-05:00

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

“ALERT: Midnite tonight: Fun actionin solidarity w @Occupy_Boston! Charge yr phone, dress warm, hang outsomewhere downtown, await info!”

That is the tweet that initially got my attention and more factsbegan to emerge quickly, 140 characters at a time. Producers of the TVseries Law & Order had set up a fake Zuccotti Park inFoley Square to film an upcoming episode. At midnight the trueoccupiers of the real Zuccotti Park were going to descend on the fauxZuccotti 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 enoughso I grabbed my camera bag and headed out into the frigid night tosee what was happening. Even with Boston in the back of my headI couldn't help but laugh as the tweets flew endlessly. I got there justin time to see a very real NYPD preparing to raid a mock camp thatwas that looked very real down to the functioning, and fully stocked, kitchenand library. There was even mock netting for rounding up fake protestersat the fake Zuccotti in the real Foley Square.

“NYPD Captain saying, "i need tofind someone from Law & Order." “Whose fake Zucotti? OURfake Zucotti.” “Police are holding fake Zuccotti. Someone justyelled "whats are your demands?!" "U guys just cleareda fake Zuccotti Park," I said to Cpt Jaskaran. "We didntclear a fake Zuccotti," he insistd. "Theyr takng the setdown."” “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 istrending, 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

2011-12-10T20:53:00.001-05:00

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

link

Observations from the Gallery 12.8

2011-12-08T17:30:00.000-05:00

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

2011-12-07T18:45:00.000-05:00

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

One of the stranger conversations I'vehad recently concerned the artistic merit of Resident Evil:Afterlife versus Resident Evil: Extinction. No decisionwas 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 thelegs in the opening sequence, deff a point in its favor.

In geek news I just discovered a Twitter appcalled Buffer. The free version allows you to load up to ten tweetsin your 'buffer' and have the tweets spread out over preset times.The awesome part is you can download a Google Chrome extension thatadds a button to Chrome. Click the button and it writes a tweet forwhatever 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 spreadingfarther and farther apart. My brother spends most of his days in thewilds of northern Pennsylvania working. I'm really happy for himbecause he always wanted a job where he could work outside and that is what this is. Asalways with us though he seems a little torn by it all. It's a good job, pays well, andhe gets to go four-wheeling in his new jeep but in the end his salaryis paid through his employer's contract with Shell Oil and its newfracking operation. The sis is continuing to move down her own beatenpath and will be transferring out of Penn State after this semester.From art school to uncommitted to a political science major all inone year, seems we have more genes alike than we ever knew. I so missspending time with her so hopefully we will get to over the holidays. Asfor myself, I'm always just a dream flight away from Paris. It iswhat it is, I guess the three of us will just conquer theglobe one day.

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

Maybe some wine is called for too.

Rihanna - We Found Love

Observations from the Edge 12.6.2

2011-12-06T18:33:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-06T12:10:00.001-05:00

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

2011-12-04T18:30:00.000-05:00

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.

link

Observations from the Edge 12.4

2011-12-04T18:06:00.000-05:00

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^thedition 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

2011-12-02T08:49:00.001-05:00

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 EqualBut 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

2011-11-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-29T18:35:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-28T22:43:00.001-05:00

No words necessary....

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Observations from the Coffee Shop 11.28

2011-11-28T17:30:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-28T07:47:00.000-05:00

"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

2011-11-26T15:30:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-26T14:15:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-23T08:54:00.001-05:00

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

One thing we came up with was thepopularity of a shadowy practice called 'third party guarantee' inwhich the auction house sells the work before the sale begins. Thisguarantee becomes the what eBay calls the reserve price, the pricebelow which an item will not sell. There was a time auction housesguaranteed a minimum price themselves but after losing $200 millionduring their fall 2008 sales they increasingly looked to thirdparties for their guarantee. The first third party guarantee isthought to have occurred in 1999 when Sotheby’s found an investorwho pledged $40 million for Pablo Picasso’s “Seated Woman in aGarden.” Guarantors also can make millions in financing fees so ineffect they get the works at discounted prices.

With some looking I came up with a fewnames of dealers who provide guarantees. The list includes AcquavellaGalleries owner Bill Acquavella, former Goldman Sachs partner BobMnuchin, and billionaire art dealers David Nahmad and Adam Lindemann.More ominous guarantors to those who would rather major works stay inpublic view are theTaiwanese Yageo Corporation andthe Qatari royal family.

Very little is publicly known aboutthese agreements other than the symbols Sotheby’s and Christie’spublish in their catalogues to distinguish between the lotsguaranteed by themselves and those backed by third parties. Theidentity of the guarantors and the level of the amount of theguarantee remain a secret. Less well connected bidders have none ofthis information so start their bidding at a total disadvantage.Because of this many dealers think the guarantees simply distort themarket 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 themarket would be much fairer and open if the auction houses justreported the real prices, disclosed the reserve prices, and named thethird party guarantors as well. A level playing field would be better foreverybody involved.

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

Observations from the Edge 11.21

2011-11-21T15:37:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-20T09:45:00.001-05:00

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 threetours in Iraq and Afghanistan, confronts riot police the night ofOccupy Oakland's general strike and was recorded by artist andphotographer Neil Rivas. "It was uncalled for. There were nocurse words. He was telling them he was a war vet, a resident ofOakland, a business owner," Rivas said of the confrontation.Sabeehgi was beaten to the ground and suffered a ruptured spleen. Ina way it is reminiscent of the Tienanmen Square tank man photo exceptin that confrontation the tank turned, it didn't drive over the man.As somebody commented on one of my flickr photos, these are the menhired 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 ChancellorLinda Katehi leaves a meeting and walks through an utterly silentcrowd of students. The meeting and press conference that followedwere relating to the Friday incident in which seated studentsprotesting in support of Occupy Berkley were pepper sprayed by UCDavis campus police, specifically Lt. John Pike, who said they feltsurrounded and feared for their safety. Chancellor Katehi initiallyrefused to leave the building and told the media she was being heldhostage. The group of students formed a large gap and chanted “justgo home” but for hours she refused to leave the building. Thestudents only convinced Katehi to leave when they sat down andsilently linked arms. This video was shot by Lee Fang, aninvestigative reporter and blogger.

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

Observations on Art 11.18

2011-11-18T17:51:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-15T20:39:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-15T12:49:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-12T22:41:00.001-05:00

After a long emotional day I wassitting 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 PennState campus and past it to Nittany Mountain where tonight a brightmoon was rising. I was thinking about the day and the moment thatbought a tear of pride to my eye. Just before the game between PennState and Nebraska began both teams gathered in a group in the middleof the field. As the teams listened to a prayer by a Nebraska coach110,000 people stood and looked on in utter silence. You could haveheard the proverbial pin drop.

The low point of the day came earlywhen I received a school alert text advising a bomb threat had beenreceived but Beaver Stadium had been checked and was clear. Than wearrived for some subdued tailgating only to find state trooperspatrolling the edges of the parking area on horseback. As with OWS italways seems to be the sight of the horses that elicits a feeling ofdred.

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

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

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

It was a long sad week with possiblyevery negative emotion you can imagine swirling around. But a weekfilled with anger, sadness, and disgust ended with renewed pride andhope, 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

2011-11-12T08:28:00.001-05:00

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

2011-11-10T16:54:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-09T22:21:00.000-05:00

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

2011-11-09T18:30:00.000-05:00

This just hurts. Ever since the Jerry Sandusky sex abusescandal broke I have been avoiding the subject like the plague. I didn't wantto 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 tosurvive more than anything other than my family and friends so itdoes 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 coordinatorJerry Sandusky is alleged to have sexually abused eight boys overmore than a ten years, both before and after his retirement from theteam in 1999. One incident in 2002 was witnessed by an assistant coachand reported to Joe Paterno who reported it to other athletic departmentofficials including Athletic Director Tim Curley who was chargedMonday for failing to report the information to the police, a crimein Pennsylvania. He was also charged with perjury in testimony to agrand jury and he resigned later in the day. Paterno, who was notcharged or investigated, has been criticized for not calling thepolice himself or simply following up on what he had been told.Pennsylvania state police Commissioner Frank Noonan said Monday thatPaterno fulfilled his legal requirement when he told his superior ofthe 2002 assault but he also questioned whether Paterno had a moralresponsibility to do more. He did.

One of the blessings of Penn State isthat it is situated in the mountains of central Pennsylvania with thenearest major media outlet an hour to the south in Harrisburg, literally down themountain. That blessing is turning into a curse now with everybodyfrom the BBC to Al Jazerra swooping into Happy Valley with seeminglyone thing on their mind, Joe must go. I read one article in which thewriter went so far as to call Beaver Stadium an “empty cavernousmonument to JoePa's failed program.” Tarnished yes but to call aprogram with the highest graduation rate in the NCAA history failedis just shear stupidity. As long as I have been associated with PennState there have been people both inside and outside the Universitywho just wanted to bring Paterno down. I'll call it the LanceArmstrong effect, you can't possibly be that good with out cheatingso there must be something hiding somewhere and if they just dig deepenough 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 knowhow I would feel under any other circumstances and I know how I feelnow. I just can't bring myself to turn on a man who has meant so muchto my school. I do believe Paterno, how can I not, but I also know heis terribly wrong. At the bare minimum he should have pushed hissuperiors for some kind of public investigation and he should havecondemned 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 towrite it probably is time because there will be no moving on for theschool until he does step down. But there is no need to fire the manwho has made Penn State his life for 61 years, his contract is up atthe end of this season. Just don't renew it.

As my dad reminded me yesterday thelast time the the voices calling for Paterno's ouster were this loudin the valley I was a freshmen and Paterno was in the middle of hisworst season ever. One of the men these people would have replacedhim 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 arrestedfor 40 counts related to allegations of sexual abuse of young boysover a 15 year period. Sandusky is currently free on $100,000 bailpending trial and could face life in prison if convicted.

Saturday #12 Penn State faces #19Nebraska 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 atear jerker in the best of times. I haven't made up my mind if I'llbe making my planed trip to the game but I can't see myself not. Ifit is JoePa's last game in Happy Valley I'm going to have to bethere.

Observations on Art 11.6

2011-11-06T18:17:00.000-05:00

I was reading an article on ArtInfoabout Occupy Museums and a thought came to mind. Maybe they do have apoint, maybe there is a major problem in the art world, but I'm notsure 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

2011-11-05T18:30:00.000-04:00

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

It was a stunningly beautiful fall dayin the Village so I boldly decided to jump in Foxy and make my escapefrom the city for some hi-speed relaxation. In a baggy black sweater,jeans, and a pair of Timberland hiking boots I was prepared foranything, or so I thought. What I wasn't prepared for was runninginto all the perils of driving in this city and all of them in oneday. I drove down one street only to have it closed because of acrime scene, than shot down a side street to get to Canal where Iturned right into a jam caused by a double parked semi. Here Iwitnessed a scene straight out of Independence Day as people stoodoutside their cars, cabbies yelled in middle Asian dialects, and asfar 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 theside street but there was no getting to the tunnel. My escape thusthwarted I settled for a drive up the Hudson River as far as Harlem,across 112^th, than down Second Avenue and home. Not quitewhat I had in mind but Foxy did get some exercise.

Today also marked the 50^th dayof 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

2011-11-05T08:57:00.000-04:00

If you follow me at all on twitter youprobably have noticed that other than sports I seem to do moreretweeting than anything else. One reason is that I find it very hardto say what I want to say in 140 characters or less. But when itcomes to OWS related things it's also because there are already somepretty awesome women out there reporting from the street every day.Sometimes I'm more than a little jealous because I know there is noway 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 TheseTimes, The Nation and writer of The Uprising blog for The Nation. Imet Allison the morning of the “cleanup eviction” of LibertySquare. She is the kind of person that seems to be everywhere at alltimes, quite possibly VQ material.

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

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

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

Specialhonors for Susie Cagle (@susie_c), Oakland. Graphic artist, cartoonist, and founderof the Graphic Journos collective. Cagle was teargassed twice andarrested 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

2011-10-31T18:30:00.000-04:00

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.

link

Observations from the Edge 10.29

2011-10-29T13:05:00.000-04:00

I was at Liberty Square a couple daysago and had an interesting conversation. As we looked at the ring ofinterlocking steel barricades that now completely surrounds the parkwe started to talk about what the police in this country have become.In major cities they have become militarized to the point that it'shard to call some of the police departments anymore as they are morepara-military organizations. They have all the toys and, in the caseof Oakland, they want to play with them. I honestly think New YorkCity probably has one of the best small militaries in the world,large enough to suppress all of Jersey in the event of any futureDevils' Stanley Cup win.

You could use the so called 'War onTerror' as a reason for all that but none of these toys would havestopped the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. They don't seemto be able to stop drugs from entering the country or people fromcrossing the borders illegally. So what is their purpose? A questionwhich we may all have to be answer one day soon.

But back to the barricades whichstarted this whole ramble. I searched the New York Times archive andfound an article from 2003 called “Steel Barriers Reinforce aThinner Line of Blue at Parades, and the Bottom Line” (l, not sureif the link works without a subscription). At the time the NYPDalready owned 12,000 of the stunningly beautiful things. I readelsewhere that the city now owns enough of them to completely surround theisland of Manhattan in steel and right now they are everywhere,surrounding Liberty Square, the New York Stock Exchange, creating averitable maze in the Financial District. Supposedly they are to keepprotesters in the park and out of the street where they can restricttraffic yet the damn barricades themselves are in the street.

At a recent community meeting localresident Sabrina Espinal said “My biggest issue is the barricades,don’t care if they stay in that park 'til kingdom come. I just wantthe barricades down.”

Maybe the New York City Police Department is the real one occupying Wall Street.

Observations from the Window 10.27

2011-10-27T18:44:00.000-04:00

I received a rather weighty package from Amazon yesterday that may signal the beginning of a cold weather reading binge, something I think my brain needs. It also seems to be the time to put Patti Smith's Just Kids on the shelf for a long deserved break. I first read the book back in April and have been rereading parts of it ever since, partly because I live near where so many of the scenes took place. But one part I have stayed away from is the end because it always brings tears to my eyes.

In late February of 1989 Smith saw Robert Mapplethorpe for the last time. In the book she shows the following note which she wrote to Mapplethorpe, but doesn't say whether she actually sent it to him than or was writing it to him in the book. If I should ever meet her that's the first question I'm going to ask.

Dear Robert,
Often as I lie awake I wonder if you are also lying awake. Are you in pain or feeling alone? You drew me from the darkest period of my young life, sharing with me the sacred mystery of what it is to be an artist. I learned to see through you and never compose a line or draw a curve that does not come from the knowledge I derived in our precious time together.
Your work, coming from a fluid source can be traced to the naked song of your youth. You spoke than of holding hands with god. Remember, through everything, you have always held that hand, grip it hard, Robert, and don't let go.
The other afternoon, when you fell asleep on my shoulder, I drifted off too. But before I did, it occurred to me looking around at all of your things and your work and going through years of work in my mind, that of all of your work, you are still your most beautiful.
The most beautiful work of all.
Patti

Mapplethorpe died a few days later on March 9, 1989.

Like I said, tears.

Patti Smith - Paths That Cross

Observations from the Edge 10.27

2011-10-27T12:51:00.000-04:00

Leave it to Jon Stewart to say it best and with the fewest words. "What the fuck happened in Oakland?"

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Cry for Oakland

2011-10-25T21:48:00.000-04:00

Jane Tyska for The Oakland Tribune via owsbot

One has to wonder what has gone wrong in this country when a scene like above can be played out in a major American city. In the predawn hours Tuesday hundreds of police from Oakland and maybe a dozen other central California communities assaulted the Occupy Oakland camp in Oakland's Frank Ogawa Plaza. I use the word assault because police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash grenades in the surprise raid. It can be debated where the blame falls for the eviction but what can't be debated is that the show brute and, in the case of rubber bullets, possibly lethal force was totally uncalled for. It all made New York Mayor Bloomberg look rather tame in comparison.

As I write this Tuesday night hundreds of protesters are marching on Oakland's City Hall and the days total arrests for the day in Oakland stands at over 150.

In another bit of OWS news protesters arrested during Occupy Wall Street's march onto the Brooklyn Bridge may turn down a deal offered by prosecutors. The deal would drop all charges in six months if the individual hadn't been arrested again in that time. Most of the 780 arrested were charged with disorderly conduct and have been offered the deal but the National Lawyer's Guild, the group that represents them, says most may turn the deal down and demand a jury trial clogging the legal system in New York City.

And so it goes.

late update - All hell broke loose in Oakland tonight and the words police riot come to mind. Welcome to George Orwell's America....

link

Observations from the Coffee Shop 10.23

2011-10-23T18:30:00.000-04:00

This morning I was looking at one of my recent OWS photos with a friend when she commented on a button the girl in the shot was wearing. The button said “2planes 3buildings 911wtf?” Now I know I have seen that line before but I didn't have an answer when my friend asked what it meant and all Ash knew was that it was a 9/11 conspiracy theory. Even though I may be superstitious at times and read my horoscope now and than I do try and stay away from wacko conspiracy theories because I don't need any more crap clogging my brain. I did look into this one a bit today because I have a soft spot for 9/11 and I wanted to know the answer to her question.

The 2planes party is easy, two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. I found the 3buildings part stands for the twin towers and Building 7 which collapsed during the afternoon of September 11th. Conspiracy theorists seem to use that later collapse to prove that the towers were bought down by a controlled demolition rather than by the airliners. They don't seem to believe that being 400' away from a collapsing 1300' tower would cause enough damage to bring Building 7 down. You might be wondering who would want to do that but I'm not even going to get into it other than to say they believe it was super cabal involving everybody from oil companies, to the CIA, to your local hair dresser's cousin Louie. It was done to justify invading the Middle East and seizing oil fields.

To me the one critical flaw in the whole theory is this. The Bush administration failed at everything it did yet I'm supposed to believe it pulled off and than covered up the greatest conspiracy in the history of the planet? Even if I wanted to I couldn't do it. Along with them the cover up would have had to involve the FDNY, the NYPD, the Port Authority, the FBI, the FAA, NORAD, and on and on. Even scrap yards in the New York City area would have had to be involved because they sold scrap steel before it was all tested as probably they were asked to by the Bush people. Which means Mayor Bloomberg couldn't have been involved because at the time he asked the yards not to sell it.

Omg, I drank the tea, I understand now and I need one of those buttons of my own.

Seriously even conspiracies with a few people are doomed are to fail, like Watergate. The more people you involve in it the more likely it is to fall apart. The amount of people needed for this conspiracy could fill both of the towers so it's just absurd to think this many people could keep a mass murder a secret for this long. Totally effing absurd.

Yet people still believe.

Observations from the Edge 10.23

2011-10-23T18:13:00.000-04:00

Friday night I was watching a live feed of an OWS march from 95th Street to Columbus Circle that featured the 92 year old Pete Seeger leading a march of almost 1000 people. It was 1 AM till the group reached Columbus Circle but there they stopped and they sang. Now I'm not about to start buying folk music but even just watching the feed it was one of those nice calm moments in time. Even the NYPD officers present seemed to relax and enjoy it. I have shared enough bad scenes since the protests began, I thought I would share the good too.

Link

Observations on Art 10.21

2011-10-22T08:10:00.000-04:00

It may seem as if OWS is now taking over even the art portions of my blog but I have to mention something that irritates me a little. One of the problems of not yet having a central message is the fact that every small group within OWS is treated as if it were speaking for the whole of OWS. That is what happened this week with Occupy Museums which is the brainchild of Noah Fischer and his Art and Culture Group. It's message seems just heated rhetoric about "a corrupt hierarchical system based on false scarcity and propaganda concerning absurd elevation of one individual genius over another human being for the monetary gain of the elitist of elite." Fischer said in an interview that Occupy Museums isn't a personal project and was approved by the group but really I think the group itself is his personal project. He also said that all statements read will be approved by consensus but again this is in the group and not at the OWS general assembly.

Yesterday Occupy Museums descended upon a strange, and probably befuddled, group of institutions, the Museum of Modern Art, the Frick and the New Museum. I have no idea how they missed the Met other than my theory that Fischer has something there and you don't seem to see anybody from the group stopping the Smithsonian from collecting flyers and signs in Liberty Square. Another complaint I saw was that public museums charge a fee to get in, currently $25 and $14 for students at MOMA. It seems like almost nothing compared to a ticket to a major concert or sporting event. Will the group be occupying stadiums next? Count me in on that one if they protest a Flyers - Rangers game.

Occupy Museum's manifesto also stated, “Recently, we have witnessed the absolute equation of art with capital. The members of museum boards mount shows by living or dead artists whom they collect like bundles of packaged debt. Shows mounted by museums are meant to inflate these markets.” At the risk of stabbing myself in the back I tend to agree with this but they are blaming the entirely wrong people. I think this is becoming a problem the art world will have to deal with at some point but the problem comes more from the larger galleries and art shows and not from the museums. The museums are just an easier target with a much better chance of publicity.

As Kyle Chayka said in ArtInfo's gossip blog, “museums, public institutions as they are, don’t really seem to be fitting targets for such vitriol. Try Gagosian gallery, maybe?”

10/22 update - After I posted this yesterday I found a couple of things that add some to it. The first is a Twitter account I ran into called @OccupyArtWorld that is similar to Occupy Museums. It's about two weeks old and again filled with misplaced rhetoric. Among other things it calls out the art blogs Hyperallergic and Art Fag City for taking ads when these are two blogs that made their reputation before taking any ads at all. It fails to mention ArtForum whose posts seem to go with whoever is buying ad space at the time.

The other thing was a post in yesterday's New York Times ArtsBeat (l) blog that gave a good description of the protest. You can follow the link and read it if you want but I love the last paragraph of it so I'm posting it here.

"At the New Museum, a protester mentioned White Box, a small gallery off the Bowery that was having an opening that night. After a consensus vote, the group marched their protest over to its doors. But the exhibit there, “WALLmART,” turned out to be in solidarity with the 99 percent movement. So after a few minutes, the Occupy Museums group abandoned their sidewalk chants and went in.“We occupied, and now we’re going to schmooze,” Mr. Fischer said."

Artists, what are you going to do with them?

Observations from the Edge 10.17

2011-10-17T18:30:00.000-04:00

Liberty Square turned one month old today and in that month Occupy Wall Street has received over $300,000 in donations to it's website. Some randomness.

I stopped at home lunch today and caught some of Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC. What is so ridiculous about most media coverage of Occupy Wall Street is they just don't seem to get it at all. Before going to a commercial Mitchell said the next report was on OWS, basically she said it's getting too big to ignore but is it drawing the right kind of attention. Well no, not when your 5 minute OWS report is following a 15 minute report on the record money being raised for the next presidential election and your “expert” for the OWS report is Jim Kramer from CNBC. Unreal.

Did you ever want a pen pal? A pen pal to share your problems with, your hopes and dreams, that can help when you lose your job or home? Thanks to a website called Occupy the Boardroom now you can. From here you can send an email to all the top execs at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo. Alas they can't release the email addresses because of the Computer Fraud and Abuse act, funny how your bank can sell your email address though.

This is just a follow up to the previous post on the message of OWS and is from a post on their website marking the one month anniversary of Liberty Square. “Occupy Wall Street is a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. #OWS is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people are writing the rules of an unfair global economy that is foreclosing on our future.”

However there are problems with not having a central demand. In today's New York Times there was an article titled “Protesters Debate What Demands, if Any, to Make.” The article talks with and about the Demands Working Group which was formed over a week ago. The problem is the group was self formed by its members, not by OWS itself, and I have heard it's being called a hijack attempt. Another group has formed to formulate a response to the demands group and talk about principals not demands.

Finally today Citigroup announced a third quarter profit of $3.8 billion, its seventh consecutive quarterly profit, and a 74% increase from last year.

Is it any wonder people are pissed off?

the Message

2011-10-17T09:48:00.000-04:00

If you listen to main stream media coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement one of the complaints you hear is that they have no stated goals. I find it so funny that they all seem to feel the need to suggest appropriate ones. But the left and the Democratic Party have always been that way, it's both their curse and their blessing. It has always been a far more inclusive party and movement than the right. As I wandered through Zuccotti Park I saw people of all ages and backgrounds who all seemed to have one thing in common, they are terribly pissed off at a system that is totally messed up and corrupt. They are all just tired of it and aren't going to take it anymore.

Still there is a message to be heard if they would just listen.

(updated 1/4/12 with a youtube version of the video, the vimeo one has apparently been deleted.)

Occupy the World

2011-10-15T08:23:00.000-04:00

Today, October 15th, people will protest in over a thousand locations in 87 countries. There are almost 7 billion people on this planet and maybe it's time a majority of them are heard from.

In Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chez Republic, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hawaii, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenia, Korea, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisie, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, Uruguay, USA and Venezuela they will Occupy the World.

Link

Observations from the Edge 10.14

2011-10-14T23:08:00.000-04:00

I went down to Zuccotti Park earlyFriday morning where the city was poised to use the cover of parkcleaning to evict Occupy Wall Street. If what follows seems a bitconfusing it may be because I was running, and still am running, onthree hours sleep and most of it is off the top of my head because Iwas traveling without my usual backpack of toys. All I took along wasAsh's old Nikon, the largest cup of coffee I could find at 5 AM, myphone zipped tight in my jacket, and the cell number of Ash's lawyerwho I am quite sure was already expecting my call.

When I got to Zuccotti around 5:30there were already thousands of people crowding the park. Broadwaywas partially blocked by steel barricades and maybe a hundred NYPDofficers, a sight which sort of blew my mind. Not so much seeing allof them there but the fact that they were blocking one of the mainarteries of the Financial District just before rush hour. Not onlythat but it was perfectly timed to be broadcast live on all themorning news shows and I began thinking somebody really hadn'tthought the whole thing through. That may have been the scariestthought of the day. Ringing the park were cameras from networks allover the country and the world. I could easily pick out ABC 7, NBC 4,CNN, Univision, AP, German ARD, and the BBC.

I found a nice clean and comfy trashcan to sit on than settled in to drink my coffee and see what dawnbought. My trash can was in a good spot just outside the park with anopen street behind it so I figured I had a nice exit route should Ineed one. Just after 6:00 my escape plan went to hell when about adozen officers arrived on scooters I could only think they borrowedfrom meter maids. I have to admit that made me more than a littlenervous so I quickly double checked that lawyer's number. Not longafter the scooter cops arrived a rumor began to spread through thecrowd that the whole operation had been postponed if not canceled andit was officially announced at around 6:45. It was a slightlyemotional moment because the crowd began chanting “we won, we won”over and over and I know I saw some of the younger cops smiling. Bynow I had my phone out and was back in contact with the rest of myworld.

At this point hundreds of protesterspoured out of the park and headed north on Broadway in an impromptucelebratory march on City Hall. I hoped off my perch and followedpart of the way but turned back when I started to see riot police,horses, and those damn orange nets the police used to gather upmarchers on the Brooklyn Bridge. During this march protesters clashedwith riot police outside City Hall and this is where most of the daysarrests took place. I wandered back through Zuccotti taking photosand talking a little including to a guy who had just been arrested inthe big Occupy Boston arrest, got out, and than traveled to New Yorkfully expecting to be arrested yet again. One of the most discussedtopics is also one of the least reported facts of the day. DianaTaylor, Mayor Bloomberg's live in girlfriend, just happens to be onthe board of directors of Brookfield Office Properites, the owners ofZuccotti Park.

Personally I don't think the cleaningoperation could have been planned without the approval of MayorBloomberg himself and so the decision not too do it must have beenhis as well. Probably laying it on Brookfield Properties was an easyway for him to wash his hands of the whole affair should it have gonebad. I have to agree with what a Village Voice writer said in acolumn later in the day. If the decision not to clean the park hadbeen made the night before why the hell didn't they announce it than.Announce it before thousands of people, some of them very heavilyarmed, stood in the early morning light of Zuccotti Park just waitingfor something to happen.

What I do know is that the wordpostponed was burned into the minds of everyone there this morning.Not cancelled, just postponed.

Observations from the Gallery 10.13 Randomness

2011-10-13T18:53:00.000-04:00

Some days I just get all kinds of things in my mail, for instance today I got an invitation to the 12th Istanbul Biennial which runs through November 13th. Now I'd go in a heartbeat because I would love to see the Hagia Sophia and museums but it seems the folks at the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts forgot to send along the airfare. I suppose I need to pass on Istanbul this year. I also received an invitation to a Halloween party at a major gallery in the Village, now that could be fun and far cheaper than Istanbul, but it seems a $100 donation is necessary to attend this event. I guess I pass on that one too or maybe we'll just have our own Halloween party that night. I spend far too much time on my multiple tumblr blogs but I like looking at photos so I would probably be looking anyway.

One thing I have discovered is I'm far from the only person alive who loves quotes. I rarely get photos reblogged, well rare for the number I post, but the quotes always seem to get a couple likes or reblogs or likes. Two of the most popular are Hunter S. Thompson quotes, "life has become immeasurably better since I have been forced to stop taking it seriously," with 98 reblogs and "who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed," with 52. Seems there are a lot of Thompson fans out there.

Another thing I've been spending some time on is trying to keep up with the Occupy Wall Street protests and others around the country. There is a video on YouTube of the Boston Police breaking up a demonstration and tearing a flag out of a man's hands. I wont bother sharing because it isn't of the best quality. What I want to share is a comment to the video that just shows how damn myopic some people are in this country. The comment said, “Boston Police officers are doing an outstanding job. These so-called "protesters" are the most ignorant and arrogant misfits around. They were repeatedly told to leave the area. The fault clearly lies with these ignorant misfits. It is a shame that the Boston Police officers are forced to put up with these arrogant crapheads. Keep up the good work, Boston Police!!!!” The group protesting was the Veterans for Peace, a non-profit humanitarian organization of vets dedicated to increasing public awareness of the costs of war.

Finally today was one of those days where one topic of conversation seemed to linger all day in the gallery. That would be thanks to Ash who, when I got the party invitation, commented that before she dies she would just like to get a little respect from those, well, people. I shan't elaborate on the exact language she used but I will say she has a point because the bigger galleries do tend to look down on the smaller ones. Respect is a tricky thing in that it's earned, given, and sometimes taken for granted, sometimes until it is gone. But should a large gallery have our respect simply because it is large or should there be more to it than that? I suppose more art world bridges have been burned over that one simple word than almost any other reason. Damn arrogant artists.

My only fear is that any hits taken out during Ash's campaign for recognition will have to be handled by me.

Michelle Branch - Loud Music

Observations from the Edge 10.13

2011-10-13T09:30:00.000-04:00

This short film is a little overboard in its fervor but it does contain some awesome clips and it is rather well made. I especially like the scene at 5:30 where the protester thanks the police for "participating in our media publicity campaign." The comment I added below the video was posted on YouTube by the person who posted the video. It gives a better explanation of the vid. Also the powers that be have deemed it should be age restricted so I have no idea how that effects the embed, there is a link below.

“Hypocrisy has its own elegant symmetry.”
Julie Metz

Link

"I appreciate your thoughts, just wanna be sure all is clear with the video. It is NOT a comparison, rather a WARNING that if the police keep repressing people's rights, America COULD turn into Egypt. If the police arrest the War Vets who risked their lives to protect the police, how long can you Americans stand for this?! It is their blood that makes USA possible. All americans should agree and demand a? stop to arrests now. The First amendment trumps local ordinances."

Observations on Art 10.9

2011-10-09T18:08:00.000-04:00

As you may or may not know for the past week or so I have been wandering around the Occupy Wall Street protests. I've been taking photos, taking it all in, honestly trying to understand what it means and I want to write about it some but that isn't what this post is for. You can ask ten people what makes a good photo and get ten different answers most of which have to do with composition or lighting. Depth, lines, perception, all have their place in a good photo but I have my own opinion. I really don't worry about any of it much when I'm taking shots, I just shoot what I see, and I don't think my work is any better than average.

I took this photo yesterday near the OWS protest in Zuccotti Park. To me a good photo needs no title and I posted this on Flickr (l) without one. A good photo tells the viewer everything he or she needs to know, it pulls at your heart and kicks you in the gut at the same time. It makes you think. You may not think this is a good photo, you probably don't think this is even the best I have ever taken, but it fills all my criteria.

I look at her and I just hurt.

Observations from the Edge 10.8

2011-10-09T08:53:00.000-04:00

I was sitting in the bar watching the Penn State game as a crowd reported to be in the thousands was forming in Washington Square Park, just blocks away from our apartment. After the game I'm going to go and see what is happening there because I heard most of the protesters were planning on moving back to Zuccotti Park in a march they don't have a permit for. There is also a large NYPD presence around the Square and they are saying they will not allow anybody to remain in the park after the midnight curfew. The curfew thing was rather surprising to me because in my almost two years here I never knew there was one. I figure they can't arrest me anyway because I live there but I'm hoping it doesn't turn into a repeat of last weekend's Brooklyn Bridge fiasco and its 700 arrests.

This video has some totally awesome photos in it but I'm not so sure about the choice of music. I would have gone for a Muse tune or something like that because one can be an anarchist but one doesn't have to be a bore.

Occupy Wall Street from Vas on Vimeo.

sunday update - Penn State beat Iowa 13-3 and now have an overall record of 4-1 and are 2-0 in the Big Ten. Far from the best State team ever, no settled quarterback and the wins are sloppy, they have an awesome defense and they do seem to win. JoePa continued his trend of leading the team onto the field and coaching the first half from the sideline and the second half from the box. Attendance was announced as over 100,000 compared to 46,000 at Friday night's Phillies game.

As for Washington Square Park, until I got there everybody had left except some NYPD officers and a man with green skin. I honestly didn't want to know about green skin man so I just wandered through and kept going. As far as I know no arrests were made at the WSP protest and the crowd was supposedly around 3,000.

Observations from the Window 10.8

2011-10-08T09:35:00.000-04:00

This blog has evolved into something part vent, part, thought, and part directionless rambling. Sometimes I just want to share something without sending out emails and that is what you have here. I ran into this blog post following one link or another and the problem is the actual links for the blog don't seem to work. It was written by Rosemarie Urquico and I hope she doesn't mind my using it here, it's doubtful she will ever know anyway. What caught my attention is the title of the post, "CarrollBlog 9.30," you gotta like somebody that thinks like me. It's not anything I would have written but I really like it and wish I had.*

"Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes. She has problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag.She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow. She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book. Buy her another cup of coffee.

Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does. She has to give it a shot somehow. Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two. Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilightseries.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are. You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype. You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes."

*a little update - With some help I managed to track down the blog where the post originated. The line at the top of it is simply brilliant, why don't I think of these things? "A friend asked yesterday if this blog is addressed to anyone in particular? I said yes– it’s a love letter to someone I haven’t met yet." Jonathan Carroll

Observations from the Coffee Shop 10.7

2011-10-07T08:32:00.001-04:00

At times I 'm just so disgusted with the conservative holier than thou tea party politics in this country that I sometimes wonder if any of them care about anything other than money. Than something comes along that snaps me back from the edge and makes me realize that it's not them all, it's just that far right lunatic fringe that somehow has come to dominate politics in this country, that applauds executions, and cheers allowing a cancer patient to die because he doesn't have health insurance. They don't all want to do away with Social Security and cut first responder funding to pay for hurricane relief.

While I probably don't believe some of what I just wrote it was good to think it for a moment and it is nice to see that some of the right do have a mind of their own and didn't drink the tea. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is far from my favorite politician but it was nice to see him decide not run for the GOP nomination for President not because he thinks it isn't his time, it probably is, but because he doesn't want to drink the tea. Even he is too moderate for the current version of the Republican Party.

Than there is this which prompted this post. David Frum is a former economic speechwriter for George W. Bush and in his column for the National Post yesterday he wrote that the Republican Party is seriously flawed in its plans for recovering from our current mess.

"It is wrong in its call for monetary tightening.

It is wrong to demand immediate debt reduction rather than wait until after the economy recovers.

It is wrong to deny that “we have a revenue problem.”

It is wrong in worrying too much about (non-existent) inflation and disregarding the (very real) threat of a second slump into recession and deflation.

It is wrong to blame government regulation and (as yet unimposed) tax increases for the severity of the recession.

It is wrong to oppose job-creating infrastructure programs.

It is wrong to hesitate to provide unemployment insurance, food stamps, and other forms of income maintenance to the unemployed.

It is wrong to fetishize the exchange value of the dollar against other currencies.

It is wrong to believe that cuts in marginal tax rates will suffice to generate job growth in today’s circumstance.

It is wrong to blame minor and marginal government policies like the Community Reinvestment Act for the financial crisis while ignoring the much more important role of government inaction to police overall levels of leverage within the financial system.

It is wrong to dismiss the Euro crisis as something remote from American concerns.

It is wrong to resist US cooperation with European authorities in organizing a work-out of the debt problems of the Eurozone countries.

It is wrong above all in its dangerous combination of apocalyptic pessimism about the long-term future of the country with aloof indifference to unemployment."

That about covers it.

Observations on Art, The Muse

2011-10-04T11:04:00.000-04:00

The muses of the ancients were divinities. In Greek mythology Apollonis,Cephisso, and Borysthenis were known as the three muses, thegoddesses who were said to inspire works of art and literature. Theword museum finds its root in the Greek word mouseion which was aplace where these daughters of Apollo were worshiped. The mythological muses mettheir end in Dante's Devine Comedy which was inspired by his veryearthly muse Beatrice Portinari who he claimed to have met when theywere both 9 years old. From than on the muse has come to be known as an artist'ssource of inspiration, whether real or imaginary, and generallyrefers to a person who inspires an artist.

During the Renaissance the model fortwo of Raphael's most famous Madonnas was a Sienese baker's daughternamed Margharita di Luti, who was probably Raphael's lover. In one ofmy favorite stories the painter Fra Filippo Lippi went in for ariskier muse relationship when he seduced a young nun named LucreziaButi and went on to live with her, using her as the model for severalportraits including one of the Holy Mother. Renaissance muses were subordinate to their artists, bound to their sexual needs while the artists were free to do as they pleased.

Modern muses seem to be powerful andcreative women in their own right like Georgia O'Keeffe who didn't justinspire photographer Alfred Stieglitz, but influenced the directionof his art as well. I could write all day about Patti Smith andRobert Mapplethorpe, mutual muses and collaborators. They were in and out of each others lives and art for over twodecades until Mapplethorpe's death from AIDS in 1989. People will debate till the end of time on whether Yoko Ono was good for John Lennon's music but nobody will ever debate the effect she had on him.

Than again artistsand muses seem to traditionally take a toll on each other. SalvadorDalí's wife Gala shrewdly tortured her sex-averse and masochistichusband with her affairs and the dancer Suzanne Farrell, GeorgeBalanchine's astonishingly beautiful muse, married another dancer theday his divorce was finalized. Pablo Picasso met Marie-Thérèse Walter in Paris when she was 17 and immediately made her his mistress, sometimes having his chauffeur wait outside her school to pick her up and take her to the artist's studio where she modeled for countless paintings. Walter later bore him a daughter though he refused to marry her, and killed herself in 1977, four years after Picasso died.

So what do I think a muse is? Somewherein the past or present is a person that comes back to you again and again in yourthoughts and dreams. You may have barely known them or you may knowthem well but either way they left an indelible impression on you. I had aprofessor who used Carl Jung's animus when she described her muse andthe idea works for me too. Jung described the animus as theunconscious male dominated part of the female psyche. In myprofessors description this core part of your being, part of your very soul,is projected to the other person and when you look at them you seeits reflection. You want desperately to speak to it but find itimpossible and so turn to the only language that works, your art.

In an LA Times article on the death of the muse UCLA sociology professorDavid Halle wrote, "Theconcept of the muse is part of the Romantic tradition and this isjust not a romantic age.” I don't agree at all and I'll finish withthe words that best sum it up for me.

Everything I did I did for you.

Observations

2011-10-03T07:34:00.000-04:00

With all the things going on right now this seems a strange post for a Monday morning but I was paging through an old book, saw this, and it made me smile. Too long for twitter and not right for tumblr I'll just post it here and hope it makes somebody else smile too.

“If I knew that today would be the last time I’d see you, I would hug you tight and pray the Lord be the keeper of your soul. If I knew that this would be the last time you pass through this door, I’d embrace you, kiss you, and call you back for one more. If I knew that this would be the last time I would hear your voice, I’d take hold of each word to be able to hear it over and over again. If I knew this is the last time I see you, I’d tell you I love you, and would not just assume foolishly you know it already.”

Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

Observations from the Edge 10.2

2011-10-02T00:26:00.000-04:00

This is a segment of The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell from last week that shows, rather graphically, the pepper spray incident I mentioned in my last post. The video speaks for itself so I won't say much but I am a little amazed how little attention it has received in mainstream media. Keep in mind the officers wearing the white shirts are actually senior commanders and don't miss the part about the video camera.

Below the video I added a link to the blog post that he mentions in the clip. I like the first comment found below the blog post. Charles wrote, "Soon some of these "heroes" will be explaining to their children why Daddy lost his job."

Link
Rewriting Police vs Protesters

Observations from the Edge 10.1

2011-10-01T14:08:00.002-04:00

After being warned by Ash not to 'get maced and bring back the smell' I wandered over to Zuccotti Park to see what was going on and and take some photos. Ash was referring to the unprovoked macing of four protesters by a senior NYPD commander. It was a move that made it look as if New York's Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly is a closet supporter of the protests because they seemed to be heading nowhere and getting no national media attention until that incident. It now seems that shouting and annoying bankers is grounds enough for getting maced.

People were beating drums, blowing whistles, carrying signs, and chanting “Banks got bailed out, you got sold out!” and “We are the 99 percent!” Many of the protesters carried computers as they marched and I found out that this was for tweeting and live streaming what was going on. I heard no mention of plurking so I guess that's left to me.

At one point I listened to a never ending lecture by an unemployed professor looking type about how corporate CEOs and Wall Street chieftains had staged a silent coup in America. I also learned what a human microphone is, it's when one person shouts something and everybody else repeats it in unison. They use a human microphone because the protesters are forbidden from using amplified sound. After all one doesn't want to disturb the executives on the 20th floor does one.

Next week New York labor and community groups including The United Federation of Teachers plan on joining the protest and MoveOn.org will help promote it. "We're getting involved because the crisis was caused by the excesses of Wall Street and the consequences have fallen hardest on workers," a spokesman for Transport Workers Union Local 100 said. A solidarity march scheduled for Wednesday that is expected to start at City Hall and finish a few blocks south at Zuccotti Park. By the end of the week there could over two dozen 'solidarity occupations' across the country.

My two trips to the park have me thinking and I'm sure I'll stop back from time to time. I just won't tell Ash about it ahead of time.

Rage Against The Machine - Testify

Observations from the Edge

2011-10-01T08:22:00.000-04:00

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.”Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Quote seen on a sign seen in Zuccotti Park

We Are The 99% from socially_awkwrd on Vimeo.

"On September 27th, 2011, we marched on the Financial District's Luxury Night Out, where couples wore outfits that cost more than we will ever make in a month and looked at cars that cost more than we will ever make in a year, afterward, they went back to one of their many houses that cost more than we will make in our lifetime."

OccupyWallStreet

Observations on Sports 9.28

2011-09-29T15:44:00.003-04:00

With the frightening 8 game losing streak behind them the Phillies regular season comes to a close tonight. Hopefully it will end with a win and a series sweep of the Atlanta Braves. With a win the Phillies will finish the 2011 season with 102 wins and break the record for most wins in a season currently held by the 1976 and 1977 Phillies. A win will also move Charlie Manuel ahead of Gene Mauch as the winningest manager in club history with 646 wins. If they win I can get back to arguing with my dad about which Phils team truly is the best ever.

link
September is almost over.

9.29 update - The Phillies won in 14 innings last night and with the win became the winningest Phils team in history and Charlie Manuel has now won more games than any other Phillies manager. "This has been exciting, this has been good," Charlie said after the game. "It has been a good trip, but at the same time we haven't finished the journey. We have a little ways to go yet. That's the way I look at it." As a bonus the Boston Red Sox lost to finish the greatest September swoon in MLB history wiping away the 1961 Phils collapse in the process.

Today I learned something that I honestly didn't believe at first, since 1969 no NL team has been in more World Series than the Phillies. How is that possible?

The Phillies win over the Braves, combined with a St. Louis win over Houston, eleminated Atlanta from the playoffs and clinched a spot for St' Louis. The Phillies will face the St. Louis Cardinals in the Divisional Round beginning Saturday at 5PM.

Observations on Sports 9.24

2011-09-24T22:28:00.001-04:00

The Phillies lost to the Mets tonight in the second game of a doubleheader, they lost the first game too, and the six before that. Eight losses in a row. The Phillies haven't lost 8 in a row since September of 2000. according to Elias Sports the losing streak is the longest in major-league history by a team that had already won 98 games. It is also the longest losing streak by a team that has clinched a playoff spot.

After his awesome game was wasted earlier today Cole Hamels said “I know the pitchers and we're ready to go. We're gonna go out there and t try to throw nine-inning shutouts. I know it's not possible, but that's our plan, so everybody just needs to get on board."

Today the Phillies played 18 innings and scored only three earned runs. They have scored three or less runs in 14 of their last 16 games.

If they lose to the Mets Sunday with Roy Halladay on the mound all bets are off. Than again the Mets have already beaten Cole Hamels this weekend so in all honesty I won't be surprised if they lose again. They now need to win all their remaining games to set a new Phillies record for wins, something they could have done a week ago.

The baseball gods do indeed taunt me now.

Observations from the Window 9.23

2011-09-23T10:01:00.002-04:00

For my own reasons I did something rather extraordinary yesterday. To clear my head and do some thinking I completely shutdown the 'empire' for the day. For the most part I stayed away from flickr, tumblr, twitter, and everything else. I left my comp at home, ignored most of my email, and let the lights flash on my Droid until they gave up and stopped. A very introspective day that probably cleared up nothing at all but solidified a description. An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in mystery. As of now it seems the world has done just fine without me.

I woke up to this horoscope today and realized I may have just possibly picked the wrong day for reflection.

“The melodramatic Leo Moon joins feisty Mars in your 1st House of Personality, encouraging you to let others know exactly how you feel. But you could come on too strong if you forget to consider their opinions, too. Slow down and think about what you're going to do instead of just doing it. Adding a short time delay to your responses will improve your chances of making the best decision the first time around.”

Damnit.

A Phillies update from the dubious record at best category. The Phillies became the first team to lose six in a row after winning their 98th game since the 1904 Giants. My dad will be laughing like hell when he hears that one.

The gods of baseball taunt me now.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - The Adventures of Rain Dance Maggie
(tune!)

Observations from the Window 9.20

2011-09-20T22:32:00.001-04:00

I always carry a real paper tablet in my backpack because I like to scribble, doodle, and sometimes just plain scratch. I also have a terrible short term memory so I write myself notes telling what I should but won't do. Somebody actually asked me today why I always have one, well it's to save these momentous thoughts. I did do a little editing and added some explanation so they make some sort of sense.

I love waking up and seeing Mika Brzezinski on my TV but lately Joe Scarborough has been pissing me off so I tend to turn the sound off until somebody is on I want to hear. She used to have competition over at CNN but I forget her name but there still is Stephanie Abrams on The Weather Channel.

Best tumblr titles I saw today, "Love Ends Hope Dies" and "Shit You Need To Know." In saying 'today' I'm saying I look at too damn many tumblrs. I wonder what happens when somebody reblogs a photo I already deleted? I wonder because that happened today. And why do so many tumblr blogs disappear the day after I find them? I'm getting a complex.

Sanity is relative but insanity, well, the jury is out on that.

Blog ideas.

List of food I should buy tonight but won't. I never seem to have food in the apartment, coffee and alcohol but no food. What's up with that? I drink way too much coffee, DP, and beer and nowhere near enough of that watery thing.

I sketch my own tat designs that I want to get and know I never will because I have a thing for needles, which also means I can't sew or knit worth a damn. Not that I ever really wanted to do either. I have absolutely no fingernails left, where have you gone my long black shiny nails? I miss you.

Mary is just hot, straight as the proverbial arrow but so effing hot.*scribbles this line out quick before anybody sees it.

Notes to call my sis, dad, Ash, and the paint free sample salesman guy sometime today. New paints are sweet but the dark shades seem a bit dull. I have to so get around to finishing a couple of art posts I was doing for somebody. Call Karson and see if she had enough shots, she would prob call me but it doesn't hurt to follow up. Talk to Ash at dinner about her internet art idea.

The whole Troy Davis thing make s me want to hurl. Seriously a former FBI Director, and President Reagan's no less, pleads for his release and the good ole boys of Georgia shrug and get out the needle. Pathetic.

Why do the Phillies just suck all of a sudden? Yeah I know the games don't matter at all but still. Wouldn't it be awesome to have Charlie Manuel as a granddad?

Chinese, Mexican, or burgers?

And this goes on every day.

Moby - New York New York

The End

2011-09-19T21:51:00.001-04:00

Text of the memo ending "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in the U.S. Army. DADT ends throughout the military at one minute after midnight tonight, or 00:01 AM, 9.20.2011.

"Today marks the end of "Don't Ask Don't Tell." The law is repealed. From this day forward, gay and lesbian Soldiers may serve in our Army with the dignity and respect they deserve. Our rules, regulations, and policies reflect the repeal guidance issued by the Department of Defense and will apply uniformly without regard to sexual orientation, which is a personal and private matter.

For over 236 years, the U.S. Army has been an extraordinary force for good in the world. Our Soldiers are the most agile, adaptable, and capable in history and we are ready for this change.

Over the last several months our Leaders, Soldiers, and Department of the Army Civilians have discussed, trained, and prepared for this day. The President, Secretary of Defense, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs have certified that the repeal is consistent with military readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, and recruiting and retention. Your professionalism, leaderships, and respect for your fellow Soldiers will ensure that this effort is successful.

At the heart of our success is adherence to the Army Values. The standards not only infuse every facet of our culture and operations, but also guide us as we adapt to change. Loyalty, Duty, Respect, Selfless Service, Honor, Integrity, and Personal Courage are not mere words - they are the very principles by which we live, train, and fight.

Accordingly, we expect all personnel to follow our Values by implementing the repeal fully, fairly, and in accordance with policy guidance. It is the duty of all personnel to treat each other with dignity and respect while maintaining good order and discipline throughout our ranks. Doing so will help the U.S. Army remain the Strength of the Nation."

It was signed by Sergeant Major of the Army Raymond F. Chandler III, United States Army Chief of Staff General Raymond T. Odierno, and Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh.

Observations 9.19

2011-09-19T16:23:00.002-04:00

Circumstance is a movie I first read about when it won the Audience Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. I had never actually seen any of it until I ran into this trailer today.

Four years ago during a speech at Columbia University Iranian President President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated that there were no gays in Iran. Seems he was wrong. Circumstance is the story of a forbidden lesbian romance in Iran and was made by a bi-sexual Iranian director Maryam Keshavarz. The leading roles are played by Iranian actresses Sarah Kazemy and Nikohl Boosheri. For safety reasons Circumstance was filmed in Lebanon but even there the local authorities weren't told the film's subject matter.

In Iran homosexuality is punishable by death.

YouTube Link

Observations on Sports 9.18

2011-09-18T07:30:00.000-04:00

I've been wanting to write a stand alone post about my Phillies but never seem to get around to it so I'm sitting at the bar and I'm going to do it right now. I just started watching them play St. Louis and with a win they will lock up their 5th straight National League Eastern Division title.* One more win after that and they can clinch home field throughout the playoffs and with currently 97 wins the Phillies team record of 101 wins should easily fall before the end of the season.

A look at current stats shows an offensive monster. Ryan Howard leads all of baseball with 113 RBIs while in the National League Hunter Pence is in the top 10 in hits, doubles, and batting average, Shane Victorino is 2nd in triples, Ryan Howard is 3rd in home-runs, and Jimmy Rollins is in the top 10 in stolen bases.

But it is the starting pitching, which leads baseball with a 3.00 team era, that fuels the Phillies machine. The Phils' five headed monster starting rotation is made up of Roy Halladay (18-5), Cliff Lee (16-7 including 6 complete game shutouts), Cole Hamels (14-8), rookie Vance Worley (11-2), and Roy Oswalt (7-9). Halladay and Lee are both front runners for the National League Cy Young award with each one having pitched over 200 innings and each having over 200 strikeouts.

So why all the stats? Because I have been having a running argument with my dad for weeks now. If it wins the World Series, a big if, is this the best Phillies team ever?

I don't think my dad will ever yield in his belief that the team of the late '70s is still a better team. That team won the Phillies only other World Series Championship in 1980 and included two future Hall of Fame members in Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton and one should be member of the hall in Pete Rose. The team also included Greg Luzinski, Larry Bowa, and pitcher Tug McGraw, a man I know better as the father of country music singer Tim McGraw. The 1980 team led the league in almost every offensive category and had the league MVP in Schmidt and Cy Young winner in Carlton.

My argument is that if they should win the World Series in the last five years this Phillies team will have won 5 division titles, 3 National League pennants, and 2 World Series Championships. How can I not be right?

I guess I won't go looking for a job as a sports writer any time soon.

*The Phillies won the game 9-2 and with it their 5th consecutive division title. The game included a 6 run 8th inning highlighted by a 2 out grand slam by Raul Ibanez. Hunter Pence makes his first trip to the post season after being drowned in champagne. Total awesomeness.

Observations from the Window 9.16

2011-09-16T07:30:00.001-04:00

After that last post I figured this blog needed a little comedy releif. Stephen Colbert asks Al Gore if he will endorse former Democrat Rick Perry for President as Perry endorsed Gore in 1988. He also challenges him to choose between Galileo or Global Warming. I'm a big fan of both Colbert and Gore so I totally enjoyed this.

Link

Phillies update - After beating the Florida Marlins twice yesterday the Phillies record stands at 97 wins and 51 losses. Their magic number to clinch the National League East is to and they can lock it up later today with a win over St. Louis and an Atlanta loss to the hated Mets. I guess I actually have to cheer for a New York team tonight. Also the Phils magic number for home field throughout the playoffs is 3.

Observations on Politics 9.15

2011-09-15T09:55:00.001-04:00

A quick look inside the Tea Party's America.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said “When you look at people in the bottom 5th of the economic ladder — those at the bottom — only 5 percent are there after 16 years. People move up, the American dream does exist…The rich are getting richer, but the poor are getting richer even faster.” Maybe only 5 percent are still there because the other 95 percent died off.

At Republican Presidential debate Monday night people actually cheered the idea of letting people die because they don't have health insurance. This after executions in Texas got a standing ovation at the first GOP debate. In 2007, the last year I could find the data for, 52 people were executed in the United States. That's enough to put us 5th in the world behind only China, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Good company all.

After Hurricane Irene House Majority Leader Eric Cantor announced “The House has passed $1 billion in disaster relief funds that is fully offset, which we will look to move as quickly as possible.” Where do the offsetting cuts come from? It slashes founding to train and equip first responders by 40 percent. The Homeland Security Appropriations bill now contains just $2 billion for first responders in the US while the House defense appropriations bill provides $12.8 billion to train and equip troops and police in Afghanistan.

ThinkProgress used data from the CIA to chart how income income inequality in the United States is greater than in the Ivory Coast, Pakistan, or Ethiopia. We seem to be on the level of Uganda. In education the United States ranks 33rd in reading, 27th in math, and 22nd in science worldwide.

“We humans have the brains and the means to reach real planetary sustainability. The problem is with us and our focus on short-term growth and profits, which is likely to cause suffering on a vast scale. With foresight and thoughtful planning, this suffering is completely avoidable.” Jeremy Grantham, the so called Wall Street environmentalist, in the August 14th issue of The New York Times Magazine.

In Republican controlled Pennsylvania a GOP plan would change the way electoral votes are allocated in presidential elections and there is no legal way to stop it. Instead of winner take all it would give each congressional district its own vote and due to redistricting guess which party controls the most districts. A candidate could easily win the state's popular vote yet lose the electoral vote. Seems your vote counts less every day.

'Legally' speaking more and more the Republican party operates less like the party that gave us Abraham Lincoln and more like the one that gave us Adolf Hitler.

What the hell is going on in this country ?

update - I really hate that Hitler analogy but all the voting rule crap just reminds me of the NSDAP (ok, Nazi) rise to power in Germany. All perfectly legal and all perfectly immoral.

Memories

2011-09-11T08:00:00.002-04:00

On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was on my way to a class at Penn State when I first heard news of the attack. I heard a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center and I just naturally thought it has to have been a small prop plane. When I heard the first tower had fallen I didn't believe it, it wasn't possible. I had been there so many times, stood on the top, looked out over the world, and I just couldn't believe bringing it down was humanly possible. I never got to class but sat in the HUB for hours watching the news with hundreds of other students and teachers, for the most part all silent, stunned. Finally I just wandered off to the hockey complex.

I never played field hockey in college but this was my sophomore year and I still helped out with the team because it was a way to keep a stick in my hand and get a good workout. All the days activities had been canceled but the team still seemed to gravitate to Bigler Field as if we we had no where else to go or just belonged there. We sat on the field talking some but mostly thinking and here is where I noticed something that, other than the news itself, is my main memory of the day. It was just a stunningly beautiful day in the mountains. Cool early fall air, a cloudless blue sky, and not a sound to be heard because of the grounding of any aircraft. It was just gorgeous and didn't seem fair, there is no way it should have been such a beautiful day.

A month later in October a friend and I drove up to New York because I wanted to see it myself. As I have a habit of doing I snuck around some barricades and wandered around the area taking photos until I was caught by the National Guard and escorted out. I will never, ever, forget the things I saw that day. I've tried writing about it a few times but words just can't describe what I saw, smelled, or how I felt. I took hundreds of photos while I was there but pretty much have kept them to myself ever since. I decided I wanted to show some as my little memorial to that day and those that died. I picked out some of my favorites, maybe not the best of the lot and far from the best work I have ever done but still my favorites. I think taken together they give the best idea of what I saw.

Ten years later one thing does trouble me. The idea that even though most of the masterminds of the attack are dead the terrorists may have won in the end. I'm 29 and I still remember this country before 9/11, before it was bled by ten years of war, before police carried sub-machine guns, before we began to resemble Orwell's Oceania. Somebody my sister's age has no memory of the time before and and to them it is a completely natural way of living. That may be the saddest thing of all.

the photos - (flickr set) (Picassa album)

Obervations from the Mountains 9.10

2011-09-10T10:40:00.000-04:00

What a god awful crazy year it has been in so far. The snowpocalypse, heatpocalypse, an earthquake, a hurricane, and than the rains came. I was beginning to think this is what Bombay feels like during the monsoon season which is not something I need to do with my life. More than 4”of rain fell in the Village over the past few days and that is added to the over 18” we (Central Park) officially received in August. The summer of 2011 is now the wettest in New York City history.

Back home in central Pennsylvania some places received well over a foot of rain. While all that rain fell around him my Earth science geek brother sent a constant stream of giddy texts talking about a fifty year storm whatever that is. Near Harrisburg the Susquehanna River reached levels never seen before and closed the main highway north to State College just as I was planning to head into the mountains for my first Penn State game of the year. This forced a drive up the two lane road on the left side of the river and a four hour drive from New York became six but I'm here. I'm in my mountains, a place I've been away from for too long.

Alabama traveled 900 miles to reach Happy Valley and play Penn State later today, #3 vs. #23, in one of the biggest early season games Beaver Stadium has seen in years. For now it's time to tailgate, have some of Sean's 'world famous' chili, and than maybe a few beverages. But first I have to find myself a white sweatshirt to wear because it's White House day and like a dumb ass I didn't bring anything white to so I'll have to wander downtown on my way to the stadium and pick something up.

A little trivia, Penn State has played Alabama 15 times and ten of those times both teams were nationally ranked. Only twice was neither team ranked.

Skylar Grey - Invisible

Observations on Art 9.9

2011-09-09T17:18:00.003-04:00

With the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks just days away it's becoming a little depressing to turn on the news and see it over and over again. To me it's one thing to remember but another to glory in it like a badge of honor as some people seem to be doing. It was the murder of nearly 3,000 people including over 400 emergency personal who lost their lives while trying to save others.

Court sent me this video a bit ago but today it came to me that this would be an awesome way to honor that day ten years ago. Wrap Battery Park in paper and let everybody remember in their own way.

COPENHAGEN PAINT PARTY 2011 // from Yabba Yabba on Vimeo.

Observations

2011-09-08T18:19:00.000-04:00

"I will remind the people I love how much they mean to me."
Posted by Brittany Lott

I Will - 9/11 Tribute by Pam Thomas from Steam Films on Vimeo.

911Day.org

Observations from the Bar 9.5

2011-09-05T18:20:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everybody a Happy Labor Day, I hope it is or was a good one. If you don't live in the US or have no idea what I am talking about feel free to crack your favorite beverage and skip ahead to watch the vid. Keep in mind it's not arrogant, it's German.

Tropical monsoons permitting tonight the Phillies finally get to play Atlanta again and hopefully start to lock up the division. One of the amazing things of this totally amazing season is the fact that as good as the Phillies are the Braves have been right with them all season long. Maybe that starts to change tonight.

I want to add a small postscript to my writings on Hurricane Irene. The GOP's wingnut choirboy Eric Kantor says the Federal Government can pay for hurricane damage but only if we make cuts elsewhere in the budget. The total estimated damage from Hurricane Irene now stands at 40 to 60 billion dollars. Coincidentally the congressionally appointed Commission on Wartime Contracting has found that over the last three years we have wasted, you got it, $60 billion through fraud, waste, and payments to warlords in Iraq and Afghanistan. That breaks down to $12 million a day.

Rammstein - Amerika