Mom

Once again it's Mother's Day and once again I find I can't say anything that I didn't say now two years ago. It was what I felt than, what I felt last year, and what I feel now. I will add a quote from Mitch Albom's novel "For One More Day." The book is the story of a man and his mother and how one might spend one more day with a lost relative. If only ....

"But there's a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother's story, because hers is where yours begin."

Here is my original Mother's Day post.

"I was reading a Mothers Day blog post today that had me thinking. As you all know by now thinking is not always a good thing for me to be doing. But I could so relate to this girl because her mom had died of cancer at a young age.

I owe my mom so much. She was the first one to see something special behind my dark eyes. She would drag me around Philadelphia museums when I was barely old enough to walk. She was the first one to stick my fingers in paint, which was something that ended in quite a mess if I remember it correctly. And the first one to take me to wander the streets of New York and to visit MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) which was one of her favorite places in the world. She always praised my art but was also never afraid to criticize it.

When, as a teenager, I suddenly informed my parents I was gay she just hugged me and went about her business like I hadn’t just changed her life forever. From than on I knew I would be fine. She was the one who, in my rebellious high school years, kept me grounded when things could have gone so wrong.

She was always there for me until one day she wasn’t.

Everything I’ll ever be as an artist I owe to my mom and every time I look at a painting I wonder what she would have thought of it. Every day I wish I could thank her somehow.

I’ll leave you with a very fitting quote from the blog I read.

'This mother’s day be sure to tell them how much you care for all they have done for you, for you may never get another chance. Learn about their lives and you may learn something about yourself.'"

Happy Mother's Day

Observations on Art 5.10

A good friend of mine emailed me the link to this video yesterday afternoon. It made an already amazing day just a little bit better.

Allo Allo {Deux Américains à Paris} from Land of Nod Inc. on Vimeo.

After screening their film "Dot" at the Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival in Saarbrücken Germany, Land of Nod Inc founding members, Robert Kolodny and Bennett Elliott, took the train to Paris for a week of couchsurfing and wonder. Accompanied by their filmmaker friends from Mexico Rodrigo Quintero and Marissa Bolaños they explore all of the idiosyncratic magic of Paris. French Friends Matthieu, Tomas, and Benjamin make appearances as well.

The music is "Allo Allo" by the incredible and amazing
Les Sans Culottes.

Observations from the Window 5.9

It all happened so fast, barely an hour past between the first hint that something big was happening and the moment President Obama spoke these words.

"I have to tell you that over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I've just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married."

Hours later my mind is still trying to come to grips with what he said. It wasn't so much that Mr. Obama said he supported equal rights for same sex couples, it was that President Obama said it. The President of the United States said it. No matter what the Tea Party thinks it is still the single most powerful position on this planet and he said those words. It may have been symbolic but when coming from the White House even symbolic gestures matter. The only thing that could have been better is if I could have typed she said those words.

Unless you are queer you just can't fathom how historic a moment this has been. I've only begun to think about it myself.  When I was in high school marriage equality wasn't something I wasted my time thinking, about because I only knew one person who saw it in the future. That person was my mom she was special, in her mind anything was possible. Beyond that I can't begin to put into words how I feel or what I think the significance of today is.

One thing I find fascinating is the story put out by the Obama campaign. They said Obama had planed all along to make just such a statement sometime at the start of the Democratic National Convention which just happens to be in Charlotte, North Carolina. Supposedly when Vice President Biden came out in support of gay marriage on Sunday the President was forced to do the same sooner. It's a very plausible story but my warped political mind came up with this question. What if the President himself pushed Biden out thus making it easier to make today's statement? Somebody needs to ask that question.

No matter what happens in the coming months President Obama made history today. It was a politically courageous statement and time will prove he was indeed on the right side of history.

Thank you Mr. President. 

Observations

From today's Charlotte Observer. The last time North Carolina amended its constitution on marriage, it was to ban interracial marriage.

Observations on Amerika 5.8

Today the state of North Carolina voted to amend the state constitution to ban same sex marriage. Actually they voted to define marriage as between a man and a woman, the politically correct way to say fuck you to the state's gays. The grand old state of North Carolina, the 12^th state to ratify the Constitution of the United States, allowed the people to speak.

But wait ....

North Carolina allowed just 19% of the voters to speak. A tiny fraction of registered voters in the state defined marriage for the rest of those who I suppose had better things to do. Wash the car, the dog, hell wash the wife if you are lucky enough to constitutionally have one.

The recent French Presidential election had a voter turnout of over 75% which is something this country will never see. It's much more fun and easy to bitch about what is wrong with the country than get off your lazy ass and vote. Seriously, you cant't blame me cause I didn't vote, not my fault. I wouldn't have voted that way but I just didn't have the time.

Your country is a mess and you have nobody to blame but yourself. All those people in Washington you blame for all your problems were actually elected. They were elected while you sat at home watching American Idol and VOTED for Scotty, whoever the hell he is. You can vote during a TV show but you can't bother to vote for something that actually means something, that effects the lives of your fellow citizens.

Tonight Amerika, because of the 19% in North Carolina, you suck.

You all suck.

Observations

Non-hockey related violence in Canada? Seriously?? In Canada???

"Riot between Students and Police ,
Rock and Tear Gas Out at Quebec Canada May 4, 2012"


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Observations from the Edge 5.5.1

One of the sadder traits of Americans, myself included at times, is that we tend to think everything is about us.  Seriously, Americans think what happens in the good ole USA is just as important to the rest of the world as it is to us. The only case where I think that might be true is when they watch us argue over stupid social issues as the country itself falls apart. It is true that if the US crashes the rest of humanity crashes right on top of us. It's a small world people and gets smaller every day. Get over it.

"Podrán Ucortar todas las flores,
pero no impedir la llegada de la primavera."
Pablo Neruda

Happy Cinco de Mayo. It continues.


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Please refrain from any New York City jokes. Someplace
still has to be the center of the universe.

Observations from the Edge 5.5

I hadn't originally planned on wandering the streets of Manhattan for 15 hours on May Day. The plan was to see what was going on, see if there were any shots to be had, than do some errands until it was time to settle into the bar for some cold beverages and the Flyers game. As they often say, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

The day just got a bit more interesting than I thought it would. Interesting to the point that Reuters was forced to change their byline. In an obviously pre-written article they called the OWS "resurgence" a dud due to wet weather and poor turnout. A few hours later, when there were an estimated 30,000 people marching down Broadway, the Reuters twitter account posted "Live coverage of #MayDay protests show Occupy Wall Street resurgence far from being a dud." Noon deadlines must be a bitch.

At one point I found myself leaning over a roof near Grand and Broadway to take a shot of the protesters in the street (l). The march stretched as far as I could see in either direction, supposedly one end was arriving at Wall Street just as the other end was leaving Union Square, or about two and a half miles. At the protest's peak crowd estimates ranged from 30,000 to over 50,000 but the lower one seemed about right to me, not that I have a clue. Still there were only about 100 arrests made during the entire day.

One high, or low, point was being called missie not once but twice. The first time was early in the day, a male midget cop telling me to keep moving and I laughed and smiled, perfectly acceptable at the time. The second time was later in the day, a female pseudo amazon security guard asking if I had a problem. Not as acceptable and i fought to keep my hand, well my finger, down. I swore to more than one person the third lucky person to utter the word was getting laid out. By that point I don't think I was kidding.

Maybe it was a spring awakening as some claim, maybe it wasn't. Since the eviction from the Liberty Square camp in December the group seems to have gotten even more decentralized. This is a worry if it is to survive as a major player this election season. Either way it was a huge turnout that showed OWS hasn't gone away over the winter. It will be interesting to see how and if the May Day energy carries over into the summer with the political conventions and the NATO summit in Chicago.

In closing a sign of the impending apocalypse or at least of the world we live in. One of the official hashtags of the day was M1GS. By evening it had been "occupied" by pornbots.

Observations from the Edge 5.1.1

I jumped ahead of a large march heading towards Washington Square Park so I could stop in at the apartment and grab some fresh batteries. There are three large marches moving in different parts of the city including the huge "guitar army march" led by Tom Morello that is marching from Bryant Park to Union Square, right through the heart of Manhattan.

I wanted to get back to the Fox News piece I saw this morning. The theme of the studio chat was that shutting things down is not how Democracy works, that strikes are counter productive. Well I beg to differ because if a worker hasn't the right to strike what right does she have? The right to quit? Mass strikes have happened repeatedly in American history, a small history lesson.

In 1877, during a deep depression and the destruction of trade unions, workers shut down the country’s railroads, factories in major cities, and battled police and militias. They were only stopped when the US Army killed more than a hundred participants.

In 1886, more than 500,000 joined a May 1st strike for the eight-hour day. The movement was broken by a reign of terror that followed a police attack that is usually referred to as the “Haymarket Riot.”  May Day became a labor holiday in honor of the “Haymarket Martyrs” who were tried by a judge so prejudiced against them that their execution has often been referred to as judicial murder.

More recently, in 1970, during the Vietnam War protests, the civil rights movement, and a widespread cultural rebellion, postal workers, teamsters, and others took part in a wave of wildcat strikes, while miners held a month long political strike in West Virginia to successfully demand justice for victims of black lung disease.

For the record, I happen to have an uncle who just happens to be a local union officer but I'm still fair and balanced.

Observations from the Edge 5.1

May Day arrived rainy and fairly quiet but as the weather cleared some things began to get a bit more interesting. If nothing else the morning gave us the return of the scooter cop posse and steel cattle chute barricades everywhere in the city. New York, it's a tourist friendly town.

Fox News did report this morning in which they scolded the Occupy movement for trying to rejuvenate itself at the expense of "normal" Americans. I think I saw their normal Americans huddled at the upper floor windows of the Chase Building while the entrance of the temporarily closed building was shielded by barricades and a phalanx of NYPD's finest. Fox opened its report with video of Stalinist era Soviet Mayday Parades and hinted that today's movement was communist inspired. As a public service here is a partial list of non-communist endorsements the general strike organizers received.

AFSCME DC37, AFSCME DC 1707, AFSCME CSEA Region 2, AFSCME Local 371 (SSEU), AFSCME Local 372 DC 37, AFSCME Local 375 DC 37, AFSCME DC 37 Retirees Association, AFT - PSC/CUNY, American Federation of Musicians Local 802, Anakbayan NY/NJ, Answer Coalition, BAYAN-USA, Brandworkers, CentroGuatemalteco Tecun Uman, Coalition for a District Alternative, Coalition for Public Education (CPE), Committees of Correspondence, Community Development Project at the Urban Justice Center, Community Farmworker AllianceCSEA 1000, CWA District 1, CWA Local 1180, CWA Local 31003 The New York Newspaper Guild,
NABET-CWA Local 16, Domestic Workers United, Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE), Freedom Socialist Party, Frente Unido de Inmigrantes Ecuatorianos, GABRIELA USA, Greater NY Labor-Religion Coalition, Green Party of NYC, Green Party of NYS, Guyanese American Workers United, Honduras USA Resistencia, IBT Joint Council 16, IBT Local 808, IBT Local 814, IBT Local 210, IBT Local 272, Immigrant Workers Movement, Immigrant Solidarity Network, Industrial Union Council New Jersey, International Action Center, International League of Peoples Struggle, International Migrants Alliance, International Socialist Organization, Jersey City Peace Movement, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Jornaleros Unidos de Woodside, Kurland Group, Labor Network for Sustainability, La Fuente, La Pena del Bronx, Labor for Palestine, Left Labor Project, LIUNA Local 10, LIUNA Local 78, LIUNA Local 79, Long Island Workplace Project, Make the Road New York, May 1st Coalition, National Alliance for Filipino Concerns (NAFCON), National Domestic Workers Alliance, New Immigrant Community Empowerment, National Immigrant Solidarity Network, New York Broadcast Trades Council, New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO, New York City Labor Against the War, New York City LCLAA, New York Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (NYCHRP), New York Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador, New York Communities for Change, New York Immigration Coalition, New York New Jersey Regional Joint Board, Workers United, New York Taxi Workers Alliance,  NYS Nurses Association, Occupy Sunset Park, Occupy Wall Street, Operation Power, Organization of Staff Analysts, Pakistan USA Freedom Forum, Philippine Forum, Radical Women, Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York, Retail Action Project, School of Americas Watch (SOA Watch), SEIU 32BJ, Senegalese Workers Association, Sisa Pakari Cultural & Labor Center, Take Back the Future TWU Local 100, UAW Region 9A, UAW Local 1981 National Writers Union, UNITE HERE Local 100, United Federation of Teachers, United NY, Veterans for Peace Chapter 3 NYC, Workers United, SEIU, Workers World Party, Writers Guild of America.

Observations from the Window 4.30.1

The changing seasons, warm breezes carrying the sweet smells of hot asphalt and garbage. Wait, this isn't about the city ....

Unlike nature, or the way nature once was, my mind only acknowledges two seasons, warm and cold. Technically more because there are the grass, ice, and dirt sports seasons but this isn't a sports post and it just gets confusing. Everything suddenly changes, my thinking, my attire, and the tunes I listen to. The later is the surest sign my seasons have changed as I found out over the weekend.  Over the protests of the techno-pop gallery crowd I rediscovered an old friend. No Beach Boys here, my kind of summer tunes.

One other thing about the warm season, Foxy puts her top down
and we play the tunes really really loud.

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Observations from the Window 4.30

The was a big article in The New York Times today about an upcoming biography of Joe Paterno so maybe I was already softened up when I got my sis' email. She also has the uncanny ability of knowing what to send me even when I don't know it's just what I need. Whichever the reason, when I saw this video I just had to smile. It's just a short thing, and isn't even about what I saw, yet it made me think about what it is like in my mountains this time of year.

May was always a fun yet hectic time at Penn State as I'm sure it is at any school. The end of the school year, finals, graduation, and the beginning of summer role into each other as the month moves by. There is something special added in the mountains though, a feeling of renewal that comes from the woods being reborn around you. I love that feeling and I'm thinking I may have to make a little spring road. Excuse? Well I still do know some people up there and I really need to visit my paintings.

Than again maybe I should just tell the truth.
Sometimes I'm just a softie.

Yeah that works too.


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Observations on the 2012 Election

As I said in my last post the first chapter in the 2012 Presidential election has come to a close. What was totally surprising is how fast the second chapter began and the somewhat overlooked 'big gun' of the Democratic Party was turned loose. President Obama's campaign released a video today narrated and I suppose starring former President Bill Clinton. The implication of "One Chance" is that Willard, like Dubya, wouldn't have had the guts to take out Osama bin Laden. I think it is something we are going to hear again and again over the next few months.

"It's not worth moving heaven and earth spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person," said Willard in 2007.


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Observations on the 2012 Election

With the end of the Santorum and Gingrich campaigns the first chapter of the 2012 presidential campaign comes to a close. All we learned is what we knew at the beginning, it will be Willard facing President Obama in November. You know Willard, the man whose time has come, who waited his turn, who will be the first to tell you he is entitled to the job.

It was a fun ride while it lasted. The Republican primaries gave us the war on women, the war on birth control, the war on the poor, and according to Hugh Hefner the war on sex. They gave us a quarter billionaire nominee who will possibly be the only man to run for President who has had a horror movie named after him. They also gave us a cast of characters that included but was in no way limited to a bishop, a historian,  a mad woman from the north who was not named Palin, a pizza salesman, and Le Mitt Romneaux, a satirical twitter account of unknown origins. The nightly news will suffer their exiting the stage and they all will be missed greatly.

Upon further review, history is sure to judge us harshly.

Rick Santorum Aborts Presidential Campaign from Ashley Judd

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